Quick Movie Review - and some things to be aware of

Welcome to another episode of the Be Prepared Channel. Today I just want to mention a few things that have come up and things to be aware of. Also a quick movie review that you might enjoy.

Prepping can be expensive
One of the things that everyone is probably all to aware of is the fact that prepping can get expensive very very fast. It doesn't take long to sink a pile of money into this "hobby" of ours. For many this can be a source of great frustration and maybe even a few arguments with spouses and family members when your talking about putting your vacation money, or even some savings into supplies and preps. Trust me I think we have all been there and done that. So I thought now would be a good time to mention a tool that can help you if you live in an area where this tool is useful to you. The tool is called Craigslist. Craigslist is a free classified type advertisement web site. You can advertise something for sale, post that you want to buy something, and there is even a section called free where people have stuff to just give away. Of course there is the typical news paper classified ads you can check as well. But these online resources are an excellent way to find stuff you need for your preps, or even good stuff that you can barter for or get at a good price and sell it or barter with it. So if you haven't checked out Craigslist go to www.craigslist.org. Find your state, and look to see if there is a posting for a town or area that your nearby or in that can help you.

Don't forget to check out garage sales, flea markets, Goodwill Stores, estate sales, and storage facility seizure sales. There is no reason to spend a fortune if you don't have to. Use all the tools at your disposal.

Movie Review - The Book of Eli
I watched the movie called "The book of Eli". It is a end of the world as we know it flick with Denzel Washington. I am not a fan of Denzel, but I have to say I thought he did a good job in this movie. It is about a world after some major solar event has fried the planet. The main character is Eli(Denzel Washington) who has a mission to go west. The encounters in this movie are fairly realistic. The typical Capital One hoards raping, killing, stealing everything in sight. Overall fairly well done. There are a few things that make you scratch your head and ask just how that would be possible, but luckily the movie has an interesting story and the story sticks together fairly well. Overall I would give it 4 out of 5 stars. It is certainly worth seeing if your a survivalist, or prepper. Some stuff to make you think, and some good entertainment value. Here is the trailer for the movie:



Current state of the economy
Fortunately it appears that the fraudsters and tricksters have managed to keep this sinking ship floating longer than many people would have thought possible. The funny money from the massive stimulus and debt is running out and big business is sitting on a pile of cash. They aren't willing to spend it because there is no demand. Last weekend I went out to eat for the first time in I don't know how long. I cannot recall the last time we actually went somewhere and ate. Well we did last weekend and the restaurant was practically empty, no waiting to be seated, only 4 or 5 tables busy and the waiter was hovering over our table. So things don't look so rosey. The economic indicators are clearly showing an economy that is slowing, and of course the talking heads are saying we won't see a double dip. Well they seem to have a creative definition of double dip. You see to get a double dip you would have to first recovered from the first dip by getting back to where we were when this all started and we have not even done that. So by the very definition we are still in the first recession. So the dishonesty continues by the talking heads and the media outlets. Really I would love to see the film and news papers of the day during the great depression. I bet they told the same filthy lies while trying to cheerlead the economy and markets. Never fails that those with the most to lose and are largely tied to or are responsible for these types of events are the ones to rush out there to spin their web of deceit.

Overall the economy continues to slow. Housing sales and values continue to fall. The stock market is still as rigged as a Vegas Casino and the poor poor president is out today saying "The poor economy might affect Democrats this November!". OMG this guy is either dense or so disconnected from reality that he must from Mars or some far away land where they don't habla. It appears the Greeks lied about the amount of debt and massively raising taxes has brought in a small fraction of what they expected. Looks like Ireland is in the same boat. So it is just a matter of time for the roosters to come home to roost.

The good news out of all of this is we still have some time to get our preps together. Hopefully you have worked on your garden this year, found your local farmers market, or have gotten involved with a CSA and are establishing a relationship with a local farmer. Hopefully you have been thinking about your water situation, water capture, filtering, storage, and treatment. Hopefully your thinking about your energy needs, transportation needs, fuel needs. And of course there is always the security needs. So each day that the fraudsters push the ends of the economic string even an inch they are buying us time that we all need. So don't waste a day without getting something done, learn something, acquire something, make something that gets your basic supplies and needs together. Of course this is yet another day you can tell a friend or family member what they need to do.

We will make it through this, and those that are preparing will fare the best out of this mess. Hopefully we will be able to build community locally, but also we can hope that this internet community will stay online. It is such an incredible resource. Don't take it for granted. Any time you can buy, or barter for good reference books you should get them. If we lose this resource called the internet our sources of information will be word of mouth, things you know, and whatever reference material you have or can find. Books could once again become a hot commodity. So don't overlook the obvious. Movies, computers, cdroms all require electricity. Books don't have this constraint so don't overlook books.

Take care,
Longsnowsm