SHTFPlan: North Korea may have "Super EMP" Weapon

According to SHTFPlan.com, sources believe that North Korea may have access to a powerful EMP Weapon. How powerful? Potentially One Second After powerful.

Luckily, I do not think North Korea has missiles with the necessary range to hit the U.S. (correct me if I'm off!), but they definitely could hit allies and trade partners in the region (South Korea, Japan, China). And the analyst behind these reports is a member of an EMP lobbyist group, so it would be in his interest to stir up concerns, so he may be looking for an EMP weapon when, in reality, the North Koreans were testing a fairly unsuccessful, primitive, low-yield nuke.

However, I'm never comfortable with crazies like the North Koreans holding WMDs, and unfortunately, WMDs will only become more prevalent as time wears on. We can't hope to invade every potential WMD country, Iraq-style, and, sooner or later, some nut job who isn't afraid of mutually assured destruction will set something off. It is, in my opinion, a matter of time.

SHTFPlan.com has the detailed report >

SafeCastle Survival Shelters

One of my "uber" survival goals is to have a well equipped bomb/storm/fallout shelter. Found these videos of a 700 square foot shelter built by SafeCastle...the videos are during the construction process, but they give you a tour of the inside, the layout and features. Pretty cool! Installed, it's $185k, which is actually not that bad when you consider everything.

Nuclear test photos are scary beautiful

Nuclear test photography...it's fascinating, awe-inspiring and a little bit frightening. The Atlantic, a site I am otherwise totally unfamiliar with, has collected a gallery of some classic nuke blast test photography.

Check it out here >

Nuclear Weapon Archive

Stumbled upon this while looking for high resolution images of nuclear blasts/mushroom clouds for another project. While the test images are low quality, they are spectacular. The site is rife with information about nuclear weapons, their development, the testing process, etc. I have only briefly poked around the site, but it looks good!

Nuclear Weapon Archive

On a side note, if anyone knows a source for high-res nuclear test images, let me know!

Fun & Random stuff

For those who haven't seen them, I thought I'd put in a plug for a few "newer" finds that I hadn't seen before.

SurvivalBlog's Retreat Owner profiles: I came across these earlier today from the link on SurvivalBlog's main page, and have admittedly only read through about half of them, but these are some very prepared people. Very interesting read, and we all enjoy fantasizing about what our perfect retreat/end of the world fortress would be. These profiles can give you a good look at exactly how prepared you'd like to be...pick up some ideas, set some goals, and work towards them. The profiles can be found here.

Note: Would there be an interest in profiles for the new or more urban prepared? Not everyone can, for whatever reason, relocate to a fortified, self sufficient retreat in the boonies, but that does mean they can't prepare and share their experiences with others.

Ray Mears: Hadn't heard of Ray Mears before spending some time in Europe this summer, but having seen several episodes of his various shows, I've been very impressed. Mears, a Brit, is a master of surviving in the wilds and making the best of it. His bushcraft skills and seemingly endless knowledge of wild edibles is most impressive. His shows do not operate on the pretense of him surviving on his own, like his contemporaries on Survivor Man and Man vs. Wild. Mears offers advice, demonstrates techniques, and relates survival stories without any of the acting/theatrics of Man vs. Wild, and without stranding himself in the middle of nowhere like Survivor Man. Mears is the real deal, and he doesn't need to prove it...there are some of his books/DVDs available on Amazon, some video clips on YouTube, or you can visit his website at RayMears.com. Ray Mears on Amazon.

Deal on Hydration Bladder: I've been hunting for a good deal on a CamelBak style hydration bladder for a long time, and finally found one from Blackhawk.com's clearance section. I know many aren't fans of Blackhawk and their high-levels of marketing hype, but I've had good experiences with them so far, and this was too good of a deal for me to pass up. I haven't seen it yet, so it may be a piece of useless trash, but I'm hoping it turns out good. It looks pretty good, though. I'll post a review in a few weeks when...I'm not affiliated with Blackhawk at all, so if it's steaming llama crap, I'll let you know. They've also got some other good deals on packs, if you're looking for something for your BOB/GHB.

Monster Attack: J.J. Abrams, creator of one of my favorite shows (Lost) is brewing up a monster/disaster flick, currently referred to as 1-18-08, the film's release date. Check out the teaser here. I'm not usually a fan of giant monster movies, but Abrams is talented and the teaser looks promising!

I Am Legend: Old news, but I thought I'd pass along the link to the trailer for I Am Legend, the third film from the book of the same name--Omega Man being one of them. See my review of Omega Man here. I think Arnold Schwarzenegger was originally intended for the starring role, but I think Will Smith can handle it. The trailer looks very good...hope it delivers!

E-Bay: For those bargain hunting, check E-Bay. I just got a nice, brand new headlamp for about half of what I would pay elsewhere. Deals-a-plenty to be had! And then there's fun stuff like this. Be careful with E-Bay though, especially when selling--I've been screwed in the past!

Nito-Pak Affiliate: We've added Nitro-Pak as an affiliate. Click on the link to the right, order something, and we get a cut of the action...sounds good to me! You know you want to order a year's supply of MRE's!

Survivalist Blog: Added a link to Survivalist Blog, they've got some good stuff over there!

Fallout 3!

I hadn't heard about it yet, but Bethseda Softworks (makers of famous Elder Scrolls RPGs) is working up a third Fallout game, creatively entitled Fallout 3.

Fallout and Fallout 2 are both incredible post-apocalypse RPGs, made by Black Isle studios, one of the best computer RPG studios of all time. They were hailed by critics and fans alike; I played through both--great games. All kinds of variation with your character--different skills to specialize in, attributes, and special abilities. Fun artwork/style, and a classic post-nuclear war environment, battling everything from giant scorpions to killer robots. Black Isle did a great job, as they did with most of their games; unfortunately, Black Isle closed their doors a few years back. Bethsada is new at the game, but they have an established track record for successful RPGs.

The Fallout 3 trailer, courtesy of YouTube:



Also see http://fallout.bethsoft.com/ for the official site.

Unfortunately, we have to wait until fall of 2008 to see the game. I'll be following its development and posting news as I come across it!

A look at Swiss bomb shelters

If there's any country that comes across as well prepared, it's Switzerland. Along with cheese, wine, cows, skiing, and army knives, the Swiss take theirnational security very seriously. This stems back to the days of WWII, where the threat of Nazi invasion forced them to build up their defences and prepare for the worst. Switzerland, despite their neutrality (or perhaps because of it) has not let up on their preps in the years since. They take their national security seriously, and theirnational bunker/shelter system is a good example.

By Swiss law, all inhabitants of the country must have access to shelter space. For many Swiss citizens, this space is in a large civil defense shelter, but for others, and specifically non-Swiss, this shelter space comes in the form of a heavy-duty basement shelter. The bomb shelter isn't a nice-to-have or a government recommendation, but mandatory. Yep, mandatory. If you or I were to move into a Swiss house, it would have a bomb shelter in the basement. Not bad, huh?

These aren't just namby-pamby, feel good shelters, they're serious, heavy-duty bunkers. Most Swiss houses are ruggedly constructed from concrete, and this continues in the bomb shelter, with thick, reinforced concrete walls. Thick steel and concrete, vault-style doors. Air-filters. Exactly the kind of thing most surival-minded Americans aspire to--standard in a Swiss home.

In the image below, you can see the big, heavy duty, vault-like door to the shelter.


Another image, the blast door open. Here you can see the locking mechanism and the thick concrete walls. The door is heavy and requires a fair bit of effort to move.


Another image, a close up on the steel hinges. These are solid.


The shelter seals shut with a simple, but rugged and high strength lock. These can be opened from the outside, but the large screw and wrench (see the "door open" image) can be used to lock the shelter from the inside.

The opposite wall of the shelter, where the locks nest to seal it shut.

Finally, an air filter inside the shelter to provide fresh air in case of nuclear, biological, or chemical attack.

These shelters are typically converted to a storage room (this particular shelter is full of stuff), but if well stocked and supplied, a family could be ready to outlast most any attack or natural disaster. And yep, once again, these are standard for Swiss houses.

World War Z

World War Z, a zombie novel by Max Brooks. I finished reading this about two weeks ago--read it in about two days. Very good book--great book for what you'd expect from a book about the "zombie war". The author writes from the view point of a reporter, interviewing survivors of the Zombie War. His subjects include people from all walks of life--each with a different, unique, and very creative story to tell. The execution is smart, sharp, and very well done.

Brooks approaches his subject--zombie survival--realistically and seriously. And it works. Set in the near future, the zombie plague begins in remote villages of China--it spreads quickly, but the Chinese government does their best to put a lid on its existence. Refugees flee from the growing hordes of undead, seeking medical attention for their ill family and friends. The zombie infection spreads quickly, engulfing the world in a pandemic of the living dead.

Brooks writes his interviews of people from all over the world--a rogue chinese sub commander, Japanese hacker, U.S. army grunt, the vice president, a Russian priest, the list goes on and on.

The creativity of the book is what really stood out to me. Brooks clearly spent weeks thinking "What if..." and considering what could happen in a world-wide zombie outbreak. The war against the zombies is truly a world-wide war, stretching to every corner of the globe, and Brooks considers dozens of different angles and scenarios.

The book is not a "perfect" read by any means; some of the survivor's stories are more interesting than others. Some of Brook's ideas are riveting and unique, while others may seem implausible and fall flat. World War Z throws lots of fun, creative ideas and stories at the reader, but does not take the time to fully explore any of them. There are several really great novels that could be written here...maybe Brooks will fully flesh out some of these tales at a later date. As the book jumps around from interview to interview, it can be hard to form any kind of attachment with the characters, and even some confusion about who is being interviewed. I think a second read could be beneficial here.

Nit Picks: As with a lot of zombie fiction, there is a healthy dose of violence, gore, and vulgarity (if you mind those things). For those who are into guns, World War Z may leave you a little wanting--many of the weapons are fictional, post-zombie outbreak creations.

All in all, as far as zombie books go, World War Z is very smart, interesting, and creatively done. It exceeds expectations and sets the imagination running.

Four stars ****

Check it out at: http://www.worldwarz.net/ (The website also has a zombie war survival quiz--take it to see your survival rate, although no one scores very high! Last time I took it, I scored 39% chance of survival)

The Beginning of the End...

Welcome to the first installment TEOTWAWKI Blog--your source for daily news, ramblings, reviews, tips, and web links about anything and everything concerning the end of the world. Over the next few months, I hope to post on a regular basis--3 to 5 times a week as my schedule allows.

As the blog title suggests, posts will be about all things apocalyptic, from movie and book reviews, to thoughts and ramblings about survival and emergency prep and links to great resources on the Web.

If you have any topic requests or suggestions for post, feel free to pass it along!