Watching the Dollar Today

Important Market Ticker post here today (31Jul09) about the dollar currently getting trashed and gold skyrocketing as the GDP numbers for 2Q also show a revision to 1Q GDP of a -6.4%

Link: The Market Ticker - Uh Oh . . . .(GDP Interpretation)

Excerpt:

What is this all telling us?

It appears to be that traders in the FX market (who by the way tend to be smarter than the average equity or bond trader) have deduced that the entire "improvement" in 2Q GDP came from government spending.

Well that's not hard to figure out - it did.

They also appear to be making a bet that the US Government will attempt to continue this, along with The Fed monetizing the debt through its buyback programs to destruction of both the government and currency.

This is not positive for our economy. At all.

But this is the meme today - traders are piling into bonds expecting more Fed buybacks, they are shorting dollars like crazy, and Gold is of course reacting to these two facts.

This is a "collapse of government due to spending into bankruptcy" play folks, or at minimum "currency crisis around the corner."

Right or wrong this is the trade being put on in size; the dollar selling in particular is especially pernicious and troublesome - that chart is essentially straight down since the GDP release this morning.

Read the whole post (and all the others for today while you're there) at The Market Ticker

American Preppers Radio Net

The American Preppers Radio Net has published their schedule for this week:

Net Schedules for July27 - Aug2

DATE / BAND / FREQUENCY / TIME / NET CONTROL

Tues. July28 / 40M. / TBA / 9PM EST / KI4HEE Bob

Thur. July30 / 20M. / 14.320 MHz. / 9PM EST / W4DMH Dave

Sun. Aug.2 / 160M. / 1.860 MHz. / 9PM EST / K7DLB Dave

If you are a licensed HAM Radio operator we invite you to call in and say hello any or all of these times that you'd like. Tell others, invite your friends, all are welcome!

You can stay up-to-date on the APRN schedule by checking their website at the link below:

American Preppers Radio Net

Swine Flu: Getting Ready For Fall

Okay. We're about 2 weeks away from school starting here in my "neck of the woods" in West Tennessee. Registration starts August 4th - city and county schools back in full swing on August 10th. Are you ready for a possible surge in swine flu in your area as school and school activities get underway?

What have you done to prepare? Have you given it any thought? Made any plans about self-quarantine issues or what you'll do if your children can't go to school or parents can't go to work?

Even if this is not a very deadly version of the pandemic flu, have you thought about the impact it could have on medical services in your area? If the hospitals start to get over-run with people with flu symptoms and start to shut down services due to lack of beds, or start delaying surgeries due to lack of beds - how could that impact you? Think it won't happen? It is already happening in Australia and New Zealand, where they've been in the midst of their winter season.

What if you are in a car accident and need surgery? What if you go into labor - would you really want to head to a hospital full of swine flu patients to give birth? Are you in a "high risk" category for this strain of flu? (High risk for H1N1 are children under 5, those who have obesity, those who have diabetes, those who have asthma, and those who are pregnant. It is hitting young, healthy adults particularly hard.)

Following are some things to think about. This list is not all inclusive, there could be lots more, but this should get you started. Please don't wait until the last minute to try to think this through. Be prepared in advance. Best case you won't need to use any of your preparations, but it would be certainly nice to have them already in place should you need them.

Considerations:

~ Do I have enough food and water on hand for at least 30 days if I had to stay in place and could not get to the store? (Minimum water usage is considered 1 gallon of water per day per person and this would not include any washing, laundry, etc. which you most certainly might need to do with a sick person in your home). How will you store it? Where will you store it?

~ Do I have enough of my usual prescription medications on hand for at least 30 days if I am unable to go out and get more? Do I have the usual prescriptions for any of my family members for at least 30 days?

~ Do I have enough over-the-counter medications on hand for my family to help treat the signs/symptoms of flu? Things like ibuprofen, acetaminophen, electrolytes (Emergen-C and the like), Vitamin D, Vitamin C, cough drops, etc.

~ Do I have items on hand to make a "quarantine" room for a sick family member if needed? Things like plastic drop cloth or shower curtains to cover doorways, N-95 or better masks to protect caregivers and to cover the sick to help contain spreading of the virus, rubber gloves, rubbing alcohol and other disinfectants, plenty of linens, laundry detergent, and the like?

~ Do I have enough cash on hand to make any needed purchases should I be unable to get to the bank?

~ Is there a point when I would decided to "self-quarantine" my family because of swine flu in my area? What is that "tipping point"? How will I define "self-quarantine" for my family?

~ If both parents work, what is our plan for childcare in the event schools close? What if one or both parents become ill?

~ What if a "worst-case" scenario hits and there are travel restrictions? What if you can't even cross from one county to the next in your home state? What if you work in one county, but live in another - could you get home if needed?

Take a little time to think some of these issues through and have a game plan ready, just in case you need it. I'd much rather be prepared and not need to use it, than not be prepared at all.

Here are some recent news articles that you might also want to review:

Officials Scramble to Prepare Swine Flu Vaccine - Vaccine Strain Growth in Culture Much Slower Than Expected

WHO: Swine Flu Epidemic Still In Early Stages (100,000 cases in England last week alone)

Swine Flu Vaccine Poses Challenges to FDA

Explosion of UK Pandemic H1N1 Cases Causes Concern

Up to 40% in US Could Get Swine Flu

US: 160M doses of swine flu vaccine due in October

Swine Flu Fears Prompt Run on UK Pharmacies

Stay on your toes and don't wait until the last minute to get prepared.

Sorting Through Headlines

Yes, the DOW was up 188 points today. I'm sure people who have managed to still have any money left in their 401k accounts are exceedingly happy.

But, it pays to step back from the main-stream media headlines and decide for yourself how you think things are going in our nation and in the world. You can't be necessarily swayed by any one headline, good or bad, but have to stay the course to be prepared for whatever might come your way.

Take stock of what is actually going on around you. What you can see and feel and know, not what other "experts" are supposedly telling you.

Are you or your neighbors unemployed?
Are there houses that are empty or foreclosed on your street, in your neighborhood?
Are you and your friends/family/neighbors watching your pennies more closely? Are costs for items you buy on a regular basis getting more expensive?
Is your state having budget problems?
Is your state increasing taxes? Laying people off?
Is unemployment in your area increasing or decreasing?
Are businesses going out of business?
Is commercial real estate getting empty due to loss of leases?

Pay attention to what you can see and know, not always what you read or hear and stay the course that you think is best for you and your family.

Some other headlines of the day you might want to preview, besides the ones about the market going over 9000:

Headlines, July 23, 3009

ATF Rejects TN Firearms Freedom Act

Received this alert in my email today from the Tennessee Firearms Association that the ATF is rejecting the Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act:

Tennessee Firearms Association, Inc.
Legislative Action Committee

---

The ATF - as expected - has issued a letter in which it disregards the 10th Amendment restrictions on federal power ( as seems to be the trend since the late 1930) and has notified Tennessee's federal firearms dealers that the Tennessee Firearms Freedom Act is meaningless. Essentially, ATF is saying to the state of Tennessee that the 10th Amendment no longer exists.

We expected such from a tyranny that no longer lives within the bounds of its express authority.....

Here's a link to the full letter the ATF sent to all TN FFLs:

Letter July 16, 2009

Lovely, eh?

Canning Time!

Whew, this is turning out to be a very busy week! I've been canning every day!

Our Asian pear tree set a ton of fruit this year; while the fruit isn't as large as last year, it is more abundant. I've picked approximately 1/2 of the tree which yielded 55 pounds of pears! I'll pick the rest of the tree in the next week.

So far, I've processed about about half of the harvest. I've made 8 pints of pear butter and 8 pints of pear pickles. I have another batch of pear pickles to put up tomorrow, which will yield another 8 pints.

This leaves about 1/2 the pears I picked still left to process - most of those will be pear butter. The pears I pick next week will be brandied pears, pears in syrup and possibly some pear mincemeat.

I also purchased 33 pounds of mixed yellow squash, zucchini and cucumbers from a friend who has a large garden, and today I worked to turn that into hot pickled veggies. I added some banana peppers and sweet peppers from our garden, some cauliflower and carrots I got at the store, some jalapeno peppers, garlic, onion - yum. I made 17 quarts of this today and it is still being processed as I type this evening.

Pictures will post soon, I've taken them but haven't had a spare minute to upload them.

More soon!

Basic Math 101

I know that I mention The Market Ticker on here a lot, but his no-nonsense explanation of what is going on with America's economy, why the stimulus plans aren't working and what we need to do to get America on positive economic terms once again are so straight-forward and easy to understand that it should be required reading.

So, I'm sharing yet another excellent post from The Market Ticker today, one that clearly illustrates the reason we are in such bad financial shape in America today - overuse of credit. Spending what we did not have to spend. And thousands continue to do so each day.

Read and understand. Then act.

Excerpt: Economic Fundamentals

Steve Forbes is yammering about how "we must restart securitization" instead of putting forward the truth about the matter: we have hit the wall because we have spent twenty years pulling forward demand via more and more debt load; the current economic mess is a consequence of what happens when you start to pay interest on interest - debt levels spiral upward until you hit the wall of debt service requirements .vs. income - a mathematical fact that is staring all of these commentators square in the face and cannot be refuted.

The gap between "as reported" consumption as a part of GDP and per-capita income is impossible to ignore and cumulatively, since 1981, is close to 40%.

40% X 70% of GDP = 28% GDP contraction, and this assumes that the debt and its service requirement is simply wiped out - that is, it is discharged in bankruptcy.

But nobody is willing to talk about forcing all this unsustainable debt to be discharged in bankruptcy and re-basing the economy to a sustainable level - to return to a time when most of our GDP is in fact a function of human production (wages earned) instead of cheating by charging up the credit card, intending to pay by HELOCing the money out of your house!

This is the math folks. It is the math that nobody wants to debate or discuss. It is what CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, ABC, CBS, NBC and Congress and President Obama all refuse to put on the table, despite the fact that it is staring us in the face.

Notice that nowhere up above is there any complex derivation, differential equations or calculus. There is in fact no math contained in any of this that an ordinary fifth-grader cannot handle and understand.

How is it that we have 300 million Americans with over 250 million of them able to understand the above, but we still refuse to sit down as a nation and address the facts?

How do we "get the economy growing again" when the math is crystal-clear and obvious: Per-capita income is up 2.95 times from 1981 to 2005, but GDP was up 4.0 times over the same period, a gap of 30%, or almost exactly the GDP contraction up above that I have, for more than two years, cited as what must happen to bring the economy back into equilibrium with incomes, ignoring debt service requirements added since 1981.

More here.

This is one of the main reasons why "preppers" are "preppers". Americans simply do not seem to be willing to understand this basic math principle and continuing down this road of credit will lead us to our financial ruin.

TN Families Living in Tents

Sobering article - happening right here in Tennessee. So many are just a lost paycheck or two away from this very circumstance.

Link: After Losing Homes, Families Move Into Tents
Tennessean.com
July 12, 2009

Excerpt:

Home these days is a cluster of tents covered by a blue tarp in a back corner of the Timberline Campground in Lebanon. Surrounding them are the tents, campers and recreational vehicles of other families in similar straits, living full time in campgrounds because they can no longer afford to live anywhere else.

No one knows how many people are living in campgrounds in Middle Tennessee. But visit any area campground and it's easy to pick out the permanent residents among the vacationers.

Look for the decks built on to campers with scrap lumber, and gardens planted next to campfire pits. Look for the air-conditioning units hooked up to tents. Look for the children boarding school buses at the front gates, and parents closing up the camper before they head off to work.

The space between a comfortable life, a nice home and a good job and living out of a campground is closer than most people could imagine. Lose a job, fall suddenly ill or end a marriage, and quickly the bills and mortgage payments start piling up high enough to bury an entire family.

More . . .

Tire Garden Update

Our garden is still chugging along this year - we've had some interesting weather once again, lots of rain and some cool temperatures in May that we don't usually have, then straight into those 90-100 degree days with little in the way of rain or even afternoon showers.

Our pepper plants are doing very well in the tires - I have one banana pepper plant that I'm harvesting 6-8 peppers from just about every day. One of our green bell pepper planst is really setting nice fruit - I've harvested one pepper and there are 4 others on the way. We have several pepper plants and they are all doing well. Here's a photo of one of our Banana Pepper plants:
Our tomato plants are going great - the plants are as tall as our 6-foot privacy fence and are full of nice green tomatoes. I'm watering them consistently just about every day in this heat, so hopefully the plants will stick with me and not bolt from the heat.

We finished harvesting all of our greens and carrots a while ago. We have now planted mustard greens and some swiss chard in their place. These photos were taken at the end of June, this swiss chard is much taller now and just about ready to harvest this week.
We planted some bush black bean seeds for the first time this year - I'm anxious to see how these perform. So far they are doing great - they actually were sprouted up through the soil within 3 days of planting the seeds! And we've also recently planted some bush green beans, okra and a new round of pepper plants.

Our potatoes in tires have been a good experiment this year. We started with 6 tires of potatoes. After reading and research online, we learned that you can continue adding layers of tires and dirt as the potato foliage comes through and it will force the potatoes to continue setting more fruit - the hope is to get a very large yield by forcing the potatoes up and up through the dirt.

Well, our potatoes started to die off at about the 3rd tire and had to be harvested. We got about a dozen or so potatoes from each tire - we've harvested 3 of them so far. Here's a photo of the harvest from one plant - not too shabby:

Well, it turns out after looking into this a little further that there are only certain varieties of potatoes that do well when grown in tower conditions, that will continue to set fruit as they head to the top of the soil. Other potato varieties only set fruit in the bottom 6 inches of the soil, no matter how much dirt you put on top.

Turns out that the red and white potatoes that we planted (just regular old red and white potatoes from the grocery store that had sprouted) are the kind that set fruit in the bottom 6 inches no matter what.

Here's a great link to a blog in Seattle that chronicled his potato tower growing efforts. Even though we're not in the same growing zone here in TN - there is good information that you could use from this detailed info: Sinfonian's Square Foot Garden - Build As You Go Potato Bins.

The potatoes we did harvest were delicious, even though we didn't get a large enough harvest to hold over through the winter as we were hoping. We will be planting a succession crop of potatoes in the next several weeks that we'll harvest just before frost this fall.

Our garden is not anywhere near the size that I really want - I'd like to double the size for next spring. The difficulty here is the dirt is just so hard and not at all fertile. It takes bringing in a lot of rich, composted soil to get good gardening dirt from the start - which is expensive. We also don't have a tiller at the moment, so getting the dirt ready is a major task to undertake.

Hubby decided to find a "natural" way to get our ground started for next spring - he invested in what he is fondly calling our "hog-a-tiller". Yep, you guessed it - he came home a few weeks ago with a 10 week old pot-bellied piglet - children named her Wilma. We've made a 16x16 foot pen out of hog panels for her in the backyard over one of the spaces where we want to garden. She's happily rooting around and loosening the soil for us - I'll post more on this soon!

Did you plant your veggie garden this year? How is it growing? How is your harvest?

TFA Shelby County Meeting July 16th

From my TFA email alert - anyone in Shelby County or surrounding areas that would like to attend, this meeting is open to the public:

TFA / Range USA Seminar: How To Legally Carry & Protect Yourself with Firearms

At Tennessee Firearms Association events we have people from all walks of life, concerned about the rampant violent crime in the Memphis area, ask us how they could take responsibility for their safety and that of their families, by arming themselves. Additionally, I have had e-mails and phone calls from people asking how and where they can learn about getting a handgun carry permit.

As a service to the community, the July meeting of the Shelby County TFA Chapter will be devoted to answering these questions. And, there will be valuable information for those of us that have been carrying guns for years too.

As with all of our meetings, we welcome new TFA members, but IT IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

The Shelby County Chapter of the Tennessee Firearms Association will meet Thursday, 7/16/09 at 7:00 PM at Range USA:

http://www.rangeusa.com/

2770 Whitten Rd. in Memphis.

Range USA, Inc. is the number one issuer of handgun carry permit training certificates in Tennessee. Range USA Owner, Scott Kilby, is one of TFA's biggest supporters and a true friend to Liberty. Chip Holland, Lead Instructor and Training Director for Range USA, will conduct a seminar on protecting yourself with, and legal carrying of, firearms.

Chip is a Lieutenant with the Madison County, TN, Sheriff's Department with over 20 years of law enforcement experience. He is presently the Assistant Commander of the Madison County Sheriff's Department Tactical Unit. He has served as a counter sniper, entry team member, and currently serves as the entry team leader. His accomplishments are too long to list here, but we will do so at the meeting.

There will be a drawing for a Range USA range pass. We'll promptly adjourn at 8:30. I look forward to seeing you there.

In Liberty,

Pat McGarrity

At Your Service - Shelby County TFA Director

-----end of email message-----

Amateur Radio Class Starting Soon!

Just a quick post to let you know that we have a FREE Technician Level Amateur Radio Class starting Mon, July 27 - Thur, July 30 from 8:30 A.M. until 12:30 P.M. for those of you who live in and around the Memphis, TN area who might be interested.

This class is primarily geared toward children ages 10 and up, although there are a few parents who will be attending as well. If you know someone who would be interested, please pass this info along and have them get in touch with me via the contact button on my sidebar.

Upon completion of this 4-day class, the student will be able to sit on Thursday evening through a study/test prep session and then take the actual exam to receive their Technician Level Amateur Radio Operators License.

Time is running out to get the workbooks in place for this session, so get in touch soon if you'd like to attend!

New World Currency Sampler

Straight from Bloomberg:

Medvedev Shows Off Sample Coin of New ‘World Currency’ at G-8

Click on the word "coin" in the article to see a sample of the currency he was illustrating.

Excerpt:

By Lyubov Pronina

July 10 (Bloomberg) -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev illustrated his call for a supranational currency to replace the dollar by pulling from his pocket a sample coin of a “united future world currency.”

“Here it is,” Medvedev told reporters today in L’Aquila, Italy, after a summit of the Group of Eight nations. “You can see it and touch it.”

The coin, which bears the words “unity in diversity,” was minted in Belgium and presented to the heads of G-8 delegations, Medvedev said.

More available at the link above.

Swine Flu Hits Lungs Hard

An excellent article to read from the National Post. Remember, school starts up again in many places in about 5-6 weeks:

Link:

Swine Flu Virus Unpredictable, Scientists Warn

Excerpt:

Anyone who develops serious flu-like symptoms should seek immediate medical attention, because no one can predict when the H1N1 flu virus, or swine flu, will turn life-threatening in otherwise healthy people, infectious disease experts are warning.

Severe cases are occurring, in which the infection starts off like regular seasonal flu, with fever and cough, but then the lungs rapidly become inflamed and stop functioning.

"It looks to most of us like a primary viral pneumonia that deteriorates five or six days into therapy," says Dr. Allison McGeer, director of infection control at Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital. "It's really severe illness."

"If you're young and healthy, you can recover from that severe lung injury. People do. But it takes a very long time," Dr. McGeer said.

"Sometimes we're talking about a month, five weeks on a ventilator before you are breathing on your own. Some people can be left with so much residual lung damage, they will have abnormal lungs for their lifetime."

More . . . .

HAM Radio - Check It Out!

We decided earlier this year that HAM Radio skills and equipment would be a great addition to our preparedness plans. We had a few other major purchases on the list ahead of this, but made our plans to get our HAM Radio licensing and as much of the equipment we felt we needed by the end of this year.

I purchased my study guides about 3 weeks ago, deciding to go the route of self-study. With little ones at home still, it is hard for me to make evening workshop classes. We have a couple of local HAM Radio clubs however, that offer free evening workshops to prepare you for all levels of the HAM Radio license exam.

Many counties in TN and throughout the U.S. have local clubs and most offer workshops for exam prep (usually for FREE) - you can check this link at ARRL to see if there is a club in your area. Clubs are usually very welcoming to visitors and guests, the members are great at helping introduce HAM Radio to newcomers and it would be well worth your time to find a local club if you want to learn more about HAM Radio activities.

I also got a chance to attend a few hours of the Field Day activities of one of our local clubs during the last weekend in June. The club had a GOTA (Get On The Air) tent, which allows visitors a chance to do just that. I was able to operate on the 20 meter band and make 20 contacts throughout the U.S. in about 2 hours. It was a ton of fun! Here are a couple of photos from our local field day:

The very nice gentleman who showed me how to make contacts in the GOTA tent:

The Field Day Welcome Tent for Visitors:


My children got to go with us and we saw 3 primary stations set up - the CW or Morse code group, the 2-meter band and some people working 2 different multi-band radios. Everyone was friendly, we had a bite of lunch and were able to watch and learn! Here's a photo of a couple of my children watching a club member make a few contacts:


After studying for the past couple of weeks, last night I took my Technician level exam, which is the first level of licensing available. I passed no problem and should have my call sign sometime toward the end of the week. This level allows me to mainly communicate within my local community on the 2 and 6 meter bands.

I'm studying now to take the next level exam, General, which will allow me to work all the bands and make contacts world-wide if I want to. The next testing date is July 18th and I plan to be ready to take the General exam on that date.

We've purchased our first VHF radio for making our local contacts and are actively saving for the multi-band radio that I have my eye on for making those long distance contacts!

If you've never given much thought to HAM Radio, you really should. You can operate HAM Radio under emergency power conditions and during most emergencies, it is the HAM Radio operators who end up helping coordinate emergency services.

If you are interested in being more involved with emergency communications during a time of emergency, there are organizations dedicated just for this:

RACES - Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service

ARES - Amateur Radio Disaster Service

MARS - Military Amateur Radio Service

While some of the terminology seems confusing at first, as you get started it begins to make sense. I've never had a physics or electronics class ever, but the ARRL study guides do a great job of explaining the basics for the test, then spending time with experienced operators and just getting practice now that I have my license will go a long way toward improving my skills. There are even contests just about every weekend and these are also an excellent way to improve skills.

You can find more information about HAM Radio at the following links:

QRZ.com - How To Become a Ham (they have practice exams)

W5YI Group - Resources for Amateur Radio

ARRL - the National Association for Amateur Radio

eHam.net - Amateur Radio on the Net (they have practice exams)

Ham Test Online - study for your tests all online

Contesting Info - Wiki Contesting - what is contesting all about, anyway?

Good luck if you decide to start exploring the world of Amateur Radio!

RECALL: MRE Dairyshake

From: Stars and Stripes
July 3, 2009

Link:
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?s...&article=63567

Excerpt:

Quote:

A militarywide recall has been issued for Dairyshake powders found in Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs) and Unitized Group Rations-Express (UGR-Es).

Plainview Milk Products Cooperative in Minnesota issued the voluntary recall after a Food and Drug Administration inspection found salmonella contamination on some of the facility’s equipment, according to an FDA news release dated June 29.

The dairy cooperative might have shipped nonfat dry milk, fruit stabilizers, whey protein, and gum products contaminated with the bacteria between June 2007 and June 2009, according to the Defense Supply Center.

People should not consume the Dairyshake powder rations and should destroy any Dairyshake powders contained in the meals.

The products affected by the recall are the vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and strawberry-banana flavors of the Dairyshake powder.

"The remainder of the MRE/UGR-E menu is consumable and should not be discarded/destroyed," a DSC news release said.

Field Dentistry Class in TN

Found this on SurvivalBlog - class will be held in TN on August 14-15, 2009

Link:
http://www.survivalblog.com/2009/07/...ps_offeri.html

Excerpt:

Quote:

I thought that SurvivalBlog readers might be interested in a Dental class being conducted by Dr. Loomis (DDS) in Tennessee. Tom Loomis has been teaching at our classes for almost as long as we have had the school. On August 14-15 he will be teaching a Field Dentistry class near his office in Tennessee. The student will get the unheard of chance to fill cavities, replace broken or missing crowns, extract teeth and use a high speed dental drill. The drill is the same type used in any dental office. Several years ago I asked him if he could convert the air turbine drill to run off a simple [compressed] air tank which could be recharged with a bicycle air pump. He did and we now use EMP proof high speed dental drills. In fact some class members have even purchased these rigs for their survival retreats. If any of your readers are interested in completing their training with a good dental course, please contact:

Dr. Tom Loomis, DDS
423-337-9834
tandsloomis@bellsouth.net

Best Regards, - Chuck Fenwick, Director, Medical Corps

HAM Radio Class Starting

I'm very excited to let everyone know about this fantastic opportunity for those of you in the Memphis-area! I've been studying to take my HAM Radio Technician's test this coming July. My husband and I have been visiting local HAM Radio clubs, researching amateur radios to purchase and even attended the FIELD DAY event of one of our local clubs - Delta Amateur Radio Club - on Sunday, June 28th.

I was able to work a 20-meter HF station with a very nice gentleman, Mr. Joe Lowenthal - WA4OVO, who is the Director of Training for Delta Amateur Radio Club.

I had a conversation with him and he has generously agreed to offer a day-time class geared for children ages 10 and older (and any parents) who are interested in becoming licensed HAM Radio Operators!

The entry level of HAM Radio Operation is called a Technician License. He is willing to teach a one week class that would enable the student who completes the class to sit for their Technician License at an upcoming exam date.

You do not have to own a radio to take the class. THE CLASS IS FREE - all you have to purchase is the ARRL Ham Radio License Manual for the Technician Level. This can be purchased at Memphis Amateur Electronics on Wells Station Road for about $24.

The class would be open to children ages 10 and up and their parents. It will probably be a 4-day class - for 4 hours each day, starting around the end of July / first of August. Classes will probably be held in the Bartlett/Cordova area.

Getting started in HAM Radio doesn't have to be expensive. This class is being held for just the cost of the workbook. Taking the test costs $15 and a test is offered at several locations in the Memphis-area every month. You can get a basic radio for $100 or less to get started. Visit this link at W5YI: Resources for Amateur Radio to learn more about HAM Radio and how it works. Having a HAM Radio operator license can open up the world to you and your children!

ACTION ITEM:

To get the class scheduled, I'm trying to ascertain interest level as quickly as possible.

If you are interested in attending, please email me by July 8th via the contact button in the right sidebar. Be sure to include the NAME(S) and AGE(S) of those interested in attending and a way to email you back once we get everything scheduled.

Then stay tuned and I'll be in touch as soon as we get all the details in order!

The Best Defense

New show starting tonight (01 July 2009) on the Outdoor Channel -

The Best Defense, with Michael Bane. Sponsored by Midway USA.

Info: http://www.downrange.tv/bestdefense/episodes.htm

Excerpt:

July 1, 2009:
Episode 1: Welcome to SURVIVAL!
From Disaster City, the premiere training facility for first responders dealing with community wide disasters, Michael Bane introduces us to our new series The Best Defense: SURVIVAL!

We meet Bob McKee, the director of the 52 acre Disaster City training facility. Bob gives us important information about his facility and, more importantly, some general guidelines for your safety during any disaster.

Rob Pincus and Mike Janich return as co-hosts, and introduce us to the SURVIVAL gun range: a 300 square yard disaster area made for firearm training in unique situations. Rob and Mike give us a review of the firearms we will cover during this special ten week series.

Finally, we go through what is referred to as the Survival Mindset; how you need to start changing the way you think and consider what you would do if the unthinkable were to happen.

Future Episodes:

Episode 2: Dirty Bombs and Terrorism
Episode 3: Wildfires and Urban Fires
Episode 4: Pandemic Event
Episode 5: Hurricanes and Tornados
Episode 6: Riots and Urban Unrest
Episode 7: Earthquakes
Episode 8: Nuclear Event
Episode 9: Economic Collapse
Episode 10: Chemical Spill and Hazardous Materials

Intro:

The Best Defense: Survival!, hosted by Michael Bane, is an exciting new show that features defense methods and survival techniques to help men and women be able to quickly analyze, respond and react accordingly to some of the most dangerous and unimaginable situations ever encountered. Terrorism, natural disasters and emergencies of all types are featured.

As a companion show to the hit program The Best Defense, the survival edition of the series travels the United States visiting military and civilian training centers to educate the viewer through life-threatening scenarios. How would you survive a building collapse? What's the first thing you do if your car is sinking in a lake?

Host Michael Bane is a gun writer and veteran competitor who is recognized as one of the most knowledgeable people in the firearms field. He is the creator of the acclaimed NSSF Media Education Program and has authored numerous books covering both practical shooting & self-defense.