Celente Predicts Terror in 2010

Many of you follow Gerald Celente and his Trends Journal.  In the interest of full disclosure, I'm a paying subscriber to his product.  I find it a very good and informative read in the midst of the mainstream dribble being produced for public consumption.  The motto for Celente's Journal is simply to "Think for Yourself" and it promotes just that.



Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano actually had the nerve to say that there are "no indications that it is part of anything larger" when referring to the recent Christmas attack onboard Northwest Flight 253.  Most Americans on the street right now don't even remember it happening.  American's have the gift of positive thinking, i.e. everything is going to be just fine.  This attitude is what makes us unique and gives us the resilience to overcome hardships.  Unfortunately this attitude is also what could end up allowing future attacks to be successful.  Everything is not fine on the homefront a terrorist attack was attempted and were it not for the brave passengers, things could have turned out much worse for flight 253.

It was not the thousands of times that passengers took of their shoes for TSA that saved Flight 253.  It was not the forcing of hundreds to throw away their water bottles at the security checkpoint, or making a 70 year old woman discard her nail file.  It was simply the passengers doing what it took to save their lives, thousands of feet above ground Christmas Day.

In closing, I'd like to warn the readers of SurvivalThinkTank.com that I am with Mr. Celente on this one.  It looks like 2010 is calling for more economic decline with a side of terrorism.  Do what you can to prepare for the possibility of both where you are.

Happy New Year, TRW

Survival Think Tank Beta Launch

To all the fans and subscribers of Theroadwarri0r YouTube channel, thank you for watching.  I've just launched SurvivalThinktank.com beta to supplement Theroadwarri0r channel with extra information and commentary regarding survival, economic trends and other things.

To be clear, Theroadwarri0r channel will remain online.

I've also launched a second YouTube channel: YouTube.com/SurvivalThinktank where I'll upload videos and then post them here on the website.

Long story short, nothing will change, I'll still upload videos to Theroadwarri0r channel and it will be supplemented by SurvivalThinktank.com beta and YouTube.com/SurvivalThinktank.

Stack it deep,
TRW

Determining Direction in an Urban Environment

In nature there are signs and markers available to you to help you determine direction.  In certain parts of the US, moss grows on the north side of a tree.  Did you know that there are also urban markers to help you determine direction?

One of my favorite urban markers to determine direction is the DirectTV satellite dish found in many neighborhoods these days.  If you should find yourself in an urban survival situation without a clear view of the sun or stars you can use these satellite dishes to your advantage.  Most if the time they point in a south or SSW direction.  Take your compass and walk around your area and test this out.

Using this method you can find your way, albeit a rough estimate.

Arrow Trucking - A Sign of Things to Come?

The Tulsa, OK based Arrow Trucking Company closed doors, stranding their drivers all over the United States, three days before Christmas.  The drivers were instructed via in cab message and voice recording to turn their rigs into the nearest dealers and await instructions on bus tickets home.

The troubled trucking company filed bankruptcy back in April.  Arrow is one of the major trucking companies in the US and you can bet that this is only the beginning of the shipping world's woes leading into 2010.  I would not be surprised if we saw more shipment companies fail in the coming months.  I wonder what the customers thought when they were informed that their loads were to be abandoned all over the United States?

There are some good videos on the subject being uploaded to YouTube.  The one I prefer to watch is from the YouTube channel DEMCAD, done by a man named Reginald from Flint, MI.  Here it is:

God Bless Arrow Truckers.  We will be thinking about you here at the STT in 2010.

Nickels - Your Hedge Against Hyperinflation

We have all read the headlines.  $12.2 trillion dollars in debt.  The Federal Reserve is printing money.  Outrageous fiscal policy in Washington DC.  Unemployment in double digits.  If you analyze the trends and try to project logically where we are headed as a country and as a major world economy you will come to the frightening realization that we are headed for a collapse.  If the leaders and decision makers of our country do not take immediate and drastic action, the U.S. economy will suffer even more than it already has since the crisis of 2008.

Many of you have seen the commercials.  You can't turn on a TV set these days without seeing a "buy gold" commercial.  With gold at $1100 per oz this may not be a viable option for many to consider in these troubling economic times.  There is one type of US currency that is at the time of this writing (26DEC09) worth the same in melt value as face value and that currency is the US nickel.  If you were to point your browser to Coinflation, you would see a list of all the coins in circulation and their relative melt values.  This may be a wake-up call to some of you.  The US nickel is actually a viable way to store wealth on a smaller scale ($100s, not $1,000).  $100 in nickels is a little smaller than a loaf of bread so storing a large amount would take up considerable space.

Lets look at possible situations in which owning some nickels would pay off:

• Bank Run:  If there is a run on the banks you may will not have access to your money.  If you have stockpiled tangible goods and commodities you can still use those for barter and trade.  The nickel would be a recognizable currency and it's content would be widely known to those living in economic collapse.
• Hyperinflation: Paper money would quickly devolve into worthlessness, a la Weimar Republic or Zimbabwe.  Your nickels could go exponential in value (not as likely as a bank run, but you never know). 
• The Federal Reserve begins to realize that it costs more to make a nickel than the nickel is worth and they take the current nickel (75% copper and 25% nickel) out of circulation.  They would then replace the old nickel with a new, worthless plastic or silver flashed steel nickel.  Gresham's Law would take effect (bad money drives out good money) and those that had stockpiled the good nickels would profit greatly from their foresight.

To read another article on the subject of stockpiling nickels, I encourage you to point your browser to survivalblog.com.  It is an invaluable resource.  Donate if you can as it is worth it.  In closing, it may not be a bad idea to acquire some nickels and save them somewhere for a rainy day, Zimbabwe style.

Shooting on the Cheap

Low on ca$h but still want to shoot?  Join the club. I know some great tips to save you some money at the shooting range.  Don't be one of those guys with the expensive guns but no money to buy ammo!  Buy cheap, stack deep! Use your own cheap index cards for targets. Don't be duped into buying police targets for $3.00 each.  Look at it this way, you are only shooting at your money.  If you are buying a target for that much money, just staple your $1.00 bills and shoot at them instead!

Just a few quick tips if you don't have time to watch the below video:

1. Buy cheap ammo from places like Ammo Man. (Remember, you are spending money every time you pull the trigger, why spend more?)
2. Don't buy expensive targets.  Things like paper plates, paper index cards, playing cards or anything else will work.  As stated, if you buy expensive targets you are only shooting at your money.
3. Dry fire.  Don't forget to dry fire your weapon (unless it's a rimfire).  I dry fire my Glocks hundreds of times to get the feel for the trigger and to conduct holster drills.  I draw from the holster, acquire the target and dry fire.  This saves ammunition and money.
4. Find a range with reasonable annual or monthly rates.  You save money by paying the range fees for the year and going once per week instead of paying a daily range fee.
5. Don't purchase weapons that shoot expensive or hard to find ammunition.  The bulk of my shooting is 9mm or .22 LR (shooting the .22LR conversion kit on my AR).  This is the cheapest way to shoot.
6. Reloading may not be feasible for you due to the complexity or the time, but it is always an option if you wish to realize deep discounts.

Winter Storm Preparation

In December of 2009 my area was hit by a winter storm to the tune of 24 inches. Many were not prepared. At a minimum you will need water, food and a way to stay warm in the event power gets knocked out and you are stuck in your home for a few days. An ounce of preparation was definitely worth a pound of cure for some that did not prepare.

A case of bottled water: $5
A few cans of chili: $5
A good sleeping bag: ~$200

Is your survival worth that?

Essential Items to Acquire Before Economic Collapse

I hope this finds everyone having a very Merry Christmas. I know that many of us are sometimes dazed by the years of consumerism programming that we receive growing up and well into adulthood. May I suggest that instead of putting "made in China" plastic trinkets and electronics on your wish list, put survival items. All indications and warnings point to a possible economic collapse.

Think tank reactor online and active

First, first for everything. Here is the first post in a series of urban survival related materials on this blog. Good luck.