Survival Homestead

Source: Reuters

Southern Californians simultaneously dropped to the floor and huddled under tables and desks for two minutes of imagined seismic turmoil on Thursday in the biggest U.S. earthquake drill.

The Great Southern California ShakeOut was organized by scientists and emergency officials as part of a campaign to prepare the state’s 22 million inhabitants for a catastrophic quake that experts say is inevitable and long overdue.

The drill is based on the premise of a magnitude 7.8 quake striking the southern portion of the famed San Andreas Fault, a subterranean chasm between two massive plates of the Earth’s crust that extends hundreds of miles (km) across the state.

The hypothetical quake, similar in strength to the devastating tremor that hit China in May, also is the basis for this year’s annual Golden Guardian exercise — a days-long disaster simulation for emergency-response agencies statewide.

“This helps us hone our skills,” said Patricia Aidem, a spokeswoman for Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in suburban Los Angeles, whose trauma center is taking part in the larger mass-casualty drill.

“We live in earthquake country, so being prepared to help the public is just an amazing advantage for the community.”

Teaching people quake survival skills also “means fewer patients for us,” she added.

Full Story

Technorati Tags: Great Southern California ShakeOut

Source: TheStar.com

What should you do if you’re stranded outside in -15C weather? According to survivalist lore, burrow into the snow.

Weather researchers agree, and they provided the supporting scientific evidence in a recent issue of the Bulletin of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (CMOS).

During most winters, York University buries electronic thermometers at ground level beneath snow at a campus weather station. This past Feb. 29, when the air registered -15C, the temperature at the ground surface was a comparatively balmy 0. Three days later, when the air temperature rose to 12C, the ground surface remained at 0.

This is nature’s thermostat at work. The 10-centimetre-deep snow insulated the ground from the cold air. Also, any heat conducted up from the earth goes mostly into melting snow rather than raising temperatures.

Finally, when melted water freezes, it releases what’s known as “latent heat,” again maintaining the temperature near 0 at the spot where ground and snow meet.

But the survivalist thermostat fails when air temperatures are really frigid, says atmospheric science professor Peter Taylor in the CMOS Bulletin.

York also operated a weather station last winter at Iqaluit, Nunavut. The late February temperatures there were -25 to -30, both in the air and just beneath the snow surface.

“If you are stranded, burrowing under snow is still a good plan to conserve body heat,” writes Taylor, “but do not expect to find a -5C layer after several months of -30C temperatures.”

survivalism

Source: OrlandoSentinel.com

Donna and Joel Brinkle used to own 5 acres in Geneva. That’s where they raised their family. Joel worked as a manager at Florida Power & Light Co. Donna is a former deputy court clerk.

Then, in the 1990s, they stopped paying taxes and declared themselves independent of all government authority. They have been battling government ever since.

Joel, 76, went to jail. The IRS went after their money, and Seminole County sold their home because of unpaid taxes.

Now, they face a new battle: Florida’s attorney general is suing them, accusing them of fraud and harassment for filing a lien naming four Seminole County officials: Sheriff Don Eslinger; State Attorney Norm Wolfinger; Clerk of Courts Maryanne Morse; and Clayton Simmons, chief judge of the 18th judicial circuit.

The couple recorded the lien in April, claiming ownership of every piece of property held by those officials.

The suit asks a judge to throw out the claim and to ban the Brinkles from filing any more liens against public officials, unless it is done by an attorney or with a court order. It also asks a judge to bar the state and the county from accepting any more liens from the couple unless they are done by an attorney or with a court order.

Dozens of liens in 6 years

Full Story…

sovereign citizen

Source: Hayward Fault Scenario Earthquakes

In 2008 the USGS led a collaborative effort with URS Corporation, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Stanford University, and the University of California at Berkeley to create computer simulations of large, anticipated earthquakes on the Hayward and Rodgers Creek faults. The most recent large earthquake on the Hayward fault was in 1868, 140 years ago. Because the past five large earthquakes on the Hayward fault have been about 140 years apart, the Hayward and Rodgers Creek faults are the most likely faults to produce a large earthquake in the Bay Area. These computer simulations of scenario (or anticipated) earthquakes provide detailed pictures of what shaking we should expect in such earthquakes. These computer models capture the shaking at length scales larger than about 300 ft (100 m), so they do not include the effects of very thin, soft sediments, such as Bay Mud around the perimeter of San Francisco Bay. For areas with these thin, soft sediments the shaking would be stronger than what is shown in the animations.

The computer simulations include a total of seven earthquake scenarios: three magnitude 6.8 scenarios with different starting locations (epicenters), three magnitude 7.0 scenarios with different starting locations, and one magnitude 7.2 scenario. The next large earthquake on the Hayward fault will likely fall in the range of magnitude 6.8-7.0. The magnitude 6.8 and magnitude 7.0 scenario earthquakes provide detailed examples of the type of shaking we should expect in such an event. The magnitude 7.2 scenario earthquake, while possible, is a much less likely event involving simultaneous rupture of both the Hayward and Rodgers Creek faults.

Full Story…

earthquakes

Source: MyFox Philadelphia

The bomb squad and police conducted an investigation Tuesday in Conshohocken at the Millennium Riverwalk Complex, which was the scene of a major fire last summer.

Police responded to an 11:30 a.m. report of a possible explosive device found in apartment building 4000 and remained at the complex for several hours.

Montgomery County authorities later said they recovered several weapons — all of which are believed to be legally owned — as well as other items from an apartment that was left uninhabitable by the August blaze and the presence of mold.

The items removed from the apartment belonged to a man described as a survivalist who was never allowed to return to the residence. He was said to be cooperating with the police investigation, Fox 29’s Joyce Evans reported from the scene.

Investigators were taking the items — including about 50 containers of rice — to a crime lab to ensure that there was nothing illegal there, and that process was expected to take several days.

After arriving at the scene Tuesday morning, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department Bomb Disposal Unit first X-rayed a black bag found near the complex entrance. It was found to have nothing inside.

Police then searched inside of the building and said, based on what they found inside, they felt further investigation was warranted.

The apartment complex told residents that a security company noticed a box of ammunition in the building, prompting the call to police.