The SurvivalRing Blog...what's going on in Saving The World...

2005-12-30T15:33:00.000-07:00

Just an update to remind folks of my currently active blog, now running DIRECTLY on my SurvivalRing.org website. It even has its own domain name....

CosmicEchoes.org

Lots of current content, tools, and fun stuff there, including audio and videos.

Check it out.

Rich

2005-10-12T12:01:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the delay between postings. I've got my own site run blog running now, and you can view it at

http://www.survivalring.org/wordpress

LOTS of new comment there....drop on in!

Rich

2005-05-11T18:00:00.000-06:00

Discovery Channel comes a'callin'.....

Every few months, someone representing a media organization, a journalist, or a producer comes across my website, and asks for my participation, or assistance, or suggestions, or something similar...to help them along in THEIR project.

I always offer my help, and give details on how I can help them, based on the meager, or almost cryptic, way of how that *specifically* want me to help. Many times before the run-up to Y2k, and many times after September 11th, I gave phone interviews, multipage email response, and more...to all that came calling. Even started a webpage on SurvivalRing called "Y2k Media Help" back in 1999, and connected some of my friends with global media wonks wanting location specific contacts. I helped dozens and dozens of folks around the world make connections, and was mentioned by name ONCE that I know of, on the front page the Canada's National Post, immediately after 9/11, and was "referred to indirectly" in Time and Newsweek.

Today, Yet Another Media Person has asked for my assistance in creating content for more "media" stuff. Yet Again, I have offered my time, talent, experience, and knowledge to *try* to spread the message of preparedness to an ever more hostile and threatening world.

Thought you might like a preview of what "might" happen this summer. Anna works for WAGTV in the U.K. Among other things, they have produced shows for the Discovery Channel.

I replied to Anna's request below, and will keep you up to date on what, if anything, happens.

This is WAGTV's second contact with me this year, so MAYBE something might get done after all.

Enjoy, and comments welcome.

Rich

-----Original Message-----
From: Anna Abbott
To: Rafleet@aol.com
Sent: Wed, 11 May 2005 17:43:10 +0100
Subject: Discovery Channel documentary series
Dear Richard,

My colleague Jo Balcanquall was in touch with you in March, regarding a series we are making for the Discovery Channel. I am associate producer on the series. I’m sorry we have been out of contact. We have been working on numerous other stories, and doing a lot of filming, so things have been very busy!

We have already completed one US shoot, and are planning to come over again in June to film some more. I would very much like to talk to you about your background in the area of survival, and see if you might be interested in doing some filming with us.

Would it be ok for me to give you a call? I’m sure you must be very busy – can you suggest a convenient day time for me to call you? What is the best number to call you on? Also, can you let me know where you are located, so I can work out the time difference!

Thanks very much for your patience. I look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes,

Anna Abbott

ANNA ABBOTT
Associate Producer
Wag TV
Tel: +44 207 503 8606

---------- My Reply ---------

Hi Anna,

Yes, I'd be glad to help you, in any way I can. Currently I am back in college here in Central Wyoming, but I will be done for the year this Friday, and getting my first college degree (in broadcasting...also earning Web Design and Emergency Management dgrees soon). In June, I'll be teaching here on campus to some of our summer students, but classes are only one day a week for the month.

I'd be quite happy to help you with any interviews, discussion, filming, background, research, etc. you need, and would feel just as comfortable behind the camera as I would in front.

I read about your current productions on your website, and they look like some interesting programs. Could you give me a few details about particulars you would like to see me help you with?

I can give you quite a bit of background material, show you stacks of US government survival materials covering 64 years of civil defense, and provide my take on the citizen perspective to dealing with large crises, and many other things.

My ultimate personal goal is to visit our nation's leaders in Washington DC, and visit them one on one and show them what our nation USED to have in place, and how we lack it now...and how we could create something better to give peace of mind and easy to learn skills and tools to every citizen, for minimal investment.

I have recently received a job offer in the DC area that is open ended, meaning I can finish my college work, and have a job waiting. This may be the opportunity to get there and make those visits.

Of course, getting a chance to help you, and describe those same things on the small screen of TV, and having millions of folks see how easy it is, sure wouldn't hurt to get congressional attention either.

I've spent many years studying all things deadly, from the smallest car wreck, to the biggest global extinction level event, and everything in between. That may be sort of obvious in the large range of data and freely downloadable ebooks from my website. I've also put together a private online group of professionals nationwide who can look at any local or regional threats of any kind, and provide some thoughtful and innovative solutions and ideas to dealing with All Things Bad.

This "think tank" includes active and retired military, public safety, civil defense, media gurus, authors, and more, and I depend on them to help me see things in a different perspective sometimes. I also am very happy to call all of them my good friends.

I work here at the college campus, for Wyoming Public TV, as a master control operator and broadcast assistant, as well as act as the student manager for the college radio station as well. The TV job is overnight hours, and the radio show is for afternoons, but very flexible. I think I can get you access to our TV studio here, if you need studio shots for interviews, unless you want to shoot out in the mountains and valleys around here...some great shots all around here.

Also, many of my fellow production employees here at Wyoming Public TV would be very interested in helping in any way they can, should you require production assistance.

My contact info is below, including my phone number. For the next few weeks, until June, I should be available most days at 307-856-**** until 12 noon (mountain standard time), and some afternoons. Simply email me beforehand, when you think you'll have a chance to call, and we'll set up an appointment to sit by the phone to take you call.

Look forward to hearing back from you, and best wishes for many successful productions to come.

Rich

P.S. If you have a few moments, check out some of my new video productions available on the front page of my website. All are right around a minute long, and are being shown on local TV stations, as well as through the governor's office.

http://www.survivalring.org

2005-03-05T23:37:00.000-07:00

Here's one of my latest posts, recently added to my personal blog on the SurvivalRing website. Unfortunately, the PHP scripts on my host are misbehaving, and the blog is not working as planned, so I thought I would share the latest going's on from The SurvivalRing Project, from the educational perspective...

2/6/2005
Rich’s State of the Blog Address…

Filed under: College, Family, Radio — Richard @ 6:08 am

Back after a long delay …. some of you have probably been running that infamous line from the movie, “Dances With Wolves”, thru your minds over and over again….
“Now why don’t he write?”
- (in reference to, for those who may have missed it, the bleached skeleton of a victim of native american vengence and scalping, laying in the grass of a sunny afternoon)

No, I’m not dead…or even mortally wounded…
In case you were wondering, I’ve been REALLY BUSY with college again.
(better have been! geez….*9* months since your last post here on May 2004!)

Being a middle-aged old fart, with a wife and two of my kids -ALL of us- in college at the same time is nerve wracking, to say the least. Annie and I are entering our fourth full semester, and both of us took summer classes as well.

I’ll be getting my Broadcasting (Electronic Media Production) Associates of Applied Science Degree on May 13th, 2005, and will be breathing a BIG sigh of relief when I take that walk across the stage.

I’ll be the first in my family to have earned a college degree on my dad’s side of the family. Dad (1936-2000) came within one semester of getting a Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M but dropped out in the late 1950s when we kids started being born. He tried going back to get those last few classes, but never did finish the degree, even though he worked nearly 40 years as an electrical engineer at Texas Instruments.

I’ll have worked my royal buttocks off in getting this first degree, and will be back next fall after this May graduation to continue my work on my SECOND degree…this one an Associates of Applied Science Degree in Web Design, a degree taking a bit longer as CWC only has one Web Design instructor, who also doubles as the college’s webmaster.

Annie will have earned two associates degrees during this same time frame, including English and Social Science, and daughter Laurie will have earned both Theater and English Degrees by then.

Next year, our youngest son Kenny, (visit his website at http://www.kennyfleetwood.com/) will be coming to college after he graduates from Riverton High School, to work on degrees in music.
He already has done tremendous work on his own, getting his first DEMO CD done last fall, and writing more than 40 songs, with lyrics and music, as well as playing several concerts at local venues… including producing a multi-band concert night at the Riverton Fairgrounds to raise money for the Asian Tsunami Relief fund of the Red Cross, sponsored by the Riverton Library, Coca Cola Bottling Company of Riverton, the Ledge Coffee House, and the Armory.

He was invited to sing at the Wyoming Mens Choir event in Gillette on Jan. 16th of this year, with 170 men, making the largest men’s choir ever in the state. He also sang the national anthem at the High School’s basketball playoffs last month as well, and is a member of the Riverton H.S. Jazz Band, Concert Choir, AND Jazz Choir. He’s also played parts in two college theater productions, and is practicing for an upcoming role in the next production here on campus.

He has his own recording studio setup in his bedroom, with hi definition microphones, multichannel recording hardware, his own PC with multitrack editing capability, and his collection of acoustic and electric guitars, midi keyboard, and amps (we’ve helped a little bit with hardware needs for him).

He spent most of the fall contacting record companies nationwide with a letter campaign seeking permission to forward his DEMO CD to them, and got contacts back from Brand New and Victory Records, and has found an advocate in a friend of mine, who spent 3 decades in the music world (country music), who still has contacts all along the east coast. Maybe Ken will hit it big sooner than he thinks…he sure has the talent.

Anyway, enough about the family, the degrees, and parents…
School for me has been exciting, enlightening, and EXHAUSTING.

Up to now, I’ve been working three part time jobs (tutoring, doing an overnite DJ radion show on 100,000 watt KTRZ-FM, and working master control at Wyoming Public TV three nites a week for the graveyard shift) to make ends meet, while taking between 16 to 20 hours of classes a semester. The homework load has been incredible, the labs for web and media ungodly in requirements, and the completion of the past semesters VERY much looked forward to.

Just what have I accomplished here at Central Wyoming College, since walking out of McDonalds in Worland on June 1st, 2003, to seek my destiny, after taking the final straw from a tyrant of an owner/operator, who made threats to my livelihood and family’s future for not working 100 hour weeks anymore?

Well, the summer of 2003 was spent at Worland Cleaners, where I made $100 more a week as a Plant Manager, than I did as a General Manager at McDs.

I decided mid-July to go back to school, if the funding and student loans could be worked out. They were, and the last week of August, 2003, the family and I moved from our little old, drafty rent house in Worland, to a two bedroom dorm on the CWC campus. My wife Annie joined me in going back to school full time, and Rob and Laurie took classes as well.

I’ve done a lot of good, made a lot of friends, and done EVERYTHING I didn’t do at college the first time around (1978-1986 at Richland Community College in North Dallas).

I’ve sitting on a 3.89 grade average, after getting my first 2 B’s last semester (I *was* taking 20 hours of courses, and working those 3 jobs, mind you!), and have been on the Presidents Honor List three times, and the Deans List once.

What have I accomplished with my school work?

4 new student oriented websites, for the entire student body of just over 2000, here at Central Wyoming College.

A series of college student recruiting videos for the college, to help make future students aware of some of CWC’s many programs.

A full 20 hours of music shows producted, directed, and edited for the college radio station (think space and ambient music).

Several full length video productions of campus events, including the September 2004 convocation with Gerry Spence (2 hours), the 2004 Theater Department medeviel “Madrigal Feaste” (2 hours), and the January 2005 Wyoming Men’s Choir in Gillette, Wyoming (1.5 hours, 170 men, 6 songs, two cameras, one operator….me).

One new fully realized website for the SurvivalRing Online project - http://www.myfalloutshelter.com/ , done for my Dreamweaver/Fireworks class project.

Two visits to Cheyenne for Wyoming Public TV to televise State Government events, including last July’s special session, and this years opening sessions and State of the State Address by the Governor. I got to meet Governor Dave Freudenthal twice (see a pic of him and I shaking hands in his office with the Wyoming State Seal behind us on my SurvivalRing homepage at http://www.survivalring.org/ ), as well as the speakers of the house and senate, and my local state representatives, while roaming the floors of the house and senate running cables and checking connections, and then running the audio board of our satellite truck during live digital broadcasts.

I have made the National Deans List, the American Scholars Award, been initiated into Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society, and was one of only two people from our campus to be nominated by the CWC Student Senate for the Wyoming Community College Council Commission’s Student Leader award (7 campus’s statewide, so I’m one of 14 nominated, and we leave Monday for Cheyenne for a special get together on this), and I have voted as a Central Wyoming College Student Senator for Spring 2005 by the student body. Not bad for an old guy, huh?

I’m also president of the CWC Web Development and Tutor Clubs, President of the Alpha Chi chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa, and participate heavily with CWC Student Activity committee each week. And, in my *spare* time, I’m the campus geek, fixing other student’s computers, or saving them from virus infections. It’s nice to feel wanted.

Lot’s of stuff sure has been going on, ya say? Yep…you could say that.

After we finish our coursework here in Central Wyoming, we are making plans to head back south to warmer climates, as the cold here has put Annies bad hip through major stress. We’re looking at Jacksonville State University in Alabama as a possible next stop, where I’d like to earn my Bachelors Degree in Emergency Management, with a minor in Public Safety Telecommunications.

This program is one of only a dozen or so listed in FEMA’s Higher Education Program website as offering 4 year degrees in Emergency Management, and I think this is where I need to be. We’ll know for sure in a year or so.

There….I think that ALL the above should cover the “nine months” of missing bloggingness on this site…I’ll try to be more timely in the future.
There’s much more to come, and many more things to accomplish. SurvivalRing is about to go places even *I* never expected.

Thanks to ALL OF YOU for hanging in there thru the thick and thin, and I hope that you’ll keep coming back for more.

RichSunday Morning….SuperBowl 2004

2004-08-28T02:26:00.000-06:00

Back to the blog this evening, to do a little catching up...

IN THE NEWS...
Terrorism hits another nation. It looks like Russia may have been hit this time, with the loss of two airliners within minutes of each other, resulting in 86 deaths. News reports claim the debris of one of the jets shows signs of explosive residue, and two bodies ( one from each jet ) have not been claimed/identified yet, pointing to possible terrorists... some unsubstantiated internet stories mention that "bad fuel" may be involved in these two accidents.

Also in the news, VA hospitals may be in the planning stages as targets for future attacks by Al Queda, simply because of the large number of (former and active) soldiers that may be there... and unarmed. A very low blow, if it happens.

Throughout the summer of 2004, there has been fear ( and multiple venues ) of new terror attacks, including either of the political party conventions, the G8 summit, or even the Olympics. So far, nothing...but the GOP convention starts next week, and the Feds are pulling out ALL the stops to keep anything from happening, including investigating VERY actively any and every PAST activist organization about possible events planned for convention week. The news is also carrying, although in the back pages, news about such groups as the "Weather Underground" doing some nasty business at the convention. It looks to be a very interesting week next week.

Way off the news, and hidden deep in the that oft mentioned "chatter", is word of possible spoiled attacks on U.S. soil, including word of 3 nukes that were set somewhere in the northeast U.S. to go off, and two found and shut down, while a third was supposedly transported at hi speed to the depths of the Atlantic and allowed to detonate since it couldn't be shut down. Of course this is all unverifiable, and NOTHING has been printed, spoken, or reported that backs up these claims. If, however, a nuke of any size was allowed to go off off the east coast, even in deep water, there would have been some kind of seismic event recording the explosion, and some release of radioactivity to the atmosphere. Time will tell if there is any truth to this rumor.

In the sky the past month, the "Perseid Meteor Shower" gave a great show for the northern hemisphere ( at least for areas NOT under cloud cover). Here in Central Wyoming, the show was nothing short of spectacular, with hundreds seen of all sizes and colors in just a few hours. ALso in space, the Hubble Telescope has developed hardware problems...again, a new extrasolar planet has been documented using "small" telescopes, the Mars Rovers are going into overtime finding even MORE proof of water on that dry planet, and the space shuttle MAY get back into space next year, even though the scientists still don't have safer measures in place to protect the leading edge of the Shuttle's wings. Finally, the $10 million prize for PRIVATE space craft making it to space is about to be challenged by more than one contender in the next month. Best chance seems to be Burt Rutan and his crew, with ONE successful proof of concept flight to 61 miles already under their belt.

In the weather, Florida is still recovering from a major Force 4 hurricane hit causing billions of dollars in damage, but minimal death. In Reno, and many parts of southern California, wildfires are wreaking havoc again, and through many parts of the nation, and the world, cooler than normal temperatures are being seen. One EMA professional watching the El Nino effect for the past several years, stated last week that the southern hemisphere is suffering very powerful and more widespread storms than recent years, and claims that El Nino is going to be heading north to visit the US in the next few months and bring with it those same powerful storms and stronger than usual winds, rain, snow, and other natural nasties. Keep an eye out for this effect in your neighborhood. As a side note, another hurricane is now heading into the Carribean that is still hundreds of miles out, but already rated a Force 4 storm...this could be a problem late next week for anyone living on the gulf or east coasts, so keep an eye on it.

Heading back to my local area, college classes start in two days, and it is going to be another tough but promising school year. Gerry Spence, the famous Wyoming lawyer, best known for defending white-seperatist Randy Weaver against the U.S. in the Ruby Ridge standoff, will be giving the Central Wyoming College 2004 convocation keynote speech here next Wednesday, and it should be interesting. I'll be pulling 19 credit hours this semester, while working 30 hours a week, and doing about 10 hours a week in labs. Looks like I'll have to schedule my sleep patterns again to get everything done.

As an side note, I applied last week for a new part time job, off campus....that of Airport Security Screener. You know, that job where SEVERAL folks on the East Coast let ALL those 19 terrorist get through the gates and metal detectors to generate the carnage seen at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11th, 2001? Adverts appeared in my local paper a couple weeks ago, for openings at our local airport, and the pay looked better than anything I've yet to see in this town...including full time work...up to $17 an hour.

Applications were taken online, including posting a digital resume. A quick questionaire took some more info, and within 24 hours, email back to me from the automated TSA system gave me some good news...I would get to take the test (phase I) the coming weekend. I showed up on that Sunday afternoon, along with 5 other folks who made the first internet cut, and took the 4 part test in a couple of hours...online it seems, thru a unique setup. The first part was a 414 question "psych profile" section, and the rest somewhat technical, and for the most part well designed to find the best and brightest.

Needless to say, I thought I did pretty darn good, being a computer geek, graphics hobbyist ( think of looking at sample xrays for you-know-what ), and just a smart guy. Seems, however, that the "profile" part didn't like "my" profile...I think my outspoken ways, ability to communicate with anyone, and general interest in media, computers, research, and understandings of terrorism, preparedness, and survival issues, just didn't quite "mesh" with what the TSA is looking for. I received a "Thanks, but maybe next time" email within 4 hours of getting home from the test, verifying that the test MUST have been online.

Regardless of the outcome, I'm a little disappointed. I really do want to make a difference to my community, my country, and the world at large, and being on the very front of domestic security, after the events of 9/11 really excited me in the same way as a soldier going to war to fight for his country, because "somebody" has to be "right there", and having already spent 10 years of my life as a federal employee, I felt that great feeling of serving my fellow man again, as so few actually get a chance to.

There are many other ways I can still do the above service to my country, and my countrymen...so it's not a problem. I'll just get back to scanning in some of the thousands of pages of government survival info I've been collecting for years.

Coming in my next posting to this blog..."Survivalist vs. Nuclear War". I got a few emails from a lifetime nuclear survivalist a few days ago, sort of feeling me out, almost demanding for me to give details of "my nuclear survival plans" to him, BEFORE he would even consider offering to share some of his gov. docs, thoughts and processes, and general "expertise" from building a 7500 square foot nuclear shelter in the southwest U.S.

This fellow authored some articles 20 years ago in a defunct survival magazine, which I've yet to find any copies of, and really just didn't seem "friendly". What he made me think of, to get to the point, is that of the "classic survivalist"...the one the media hints around, that fiction and action novels refer to, and that a LOT of people who don't know better on the web ( think newsgroups, new sites, etc.) hold up on a pedestal as a GOAL to aim their lives toward. This guy was basically standing fast to the argument "no one will listen to me, or help me, so let the flesh melt off their bones, when the all out nuclear attack, that IS coming, hits our shores...serves those sheeple right!"

He asked me a LOT of personal questions, in three different emails over a week, and I feel the need to do a little introspection over some of those questions, and do some writing for YOU GUYS to learn from, based on what I've learned, have in hand to share, or want to know more about. I'll share his emails (name withheld) with my replies, and my thoughts and ideas, based on that "introspection" I mention. I think you'll find it interesting and worth a few minutes of your time.

Until next time, take care, and keep an eye on the horizon.

Rich
Founder - SurvivalRing.org

2004-07-19T17:38:00.000-06:00

SurvivalRing News Update...

More new files have been added to the Civil Defense Now download section, and all the broken links are being fixed. I have also been working on the NEXT generation of SurvivalRing, with entire new sections, new navigation layout, and lots more online resources for you. Still in development is a database system for searching, listing, finding, and reading ALL the hundreds of megabytes of authentic civil defense and homeland security information that we have online right this very moment. It is going to be amazing, I promise. For a preview of the navigation and NEW areas, just click here!! (new window)

Radio
Probably the greatest news is that the SurvivalRing Radio Program is coming close to being a reality. Since November of last year, I have been working part time as a radio announcer at a REAL radio station ( KTRZ in Riverton, Wyoming ), for the VERY specific reason of getting real world experience in writing, producing, recording and actually BEING a live radio host. Of course, KTRZ is "only" a 100,000 watt FM station, and I'm "only" of the three main DJs, covering the 8pm to 5am shift, and certainly not least, our station signal covers "just" one-third of Wyoming...but I consider it swell training for my MAIN goal, of being "the source" of online preparedness and survival information with downloads, links, audio, and soon VIDEO. SurvivalRing Radio is going to start small, but eventually will have full archive of available shows, either in MP3 format, or streamed. Topics? You name it...if I've mentioned it on the site, in emails, or in articles, it will be covered on SurvivalRing Radio. I'll be interviewing all those same folks you've heard about for years, but without the sensationalistic, opportunistic angles that Art Bell or similar talk show hosts have used in years past. My goal, Facts...not Fiction.

College
My return to college is going great...a 4.0 GPA for the fall 2003, spring 2004 and summer 2004 semesters, which put me on the president's honor list at Central Wyoming College, as well as being invited to join the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society...something I *never* expected. With this kind of luck ( and continued hard work, obviously ), I hope to get a few more scholarships (I have two small ones for next fall) to get even farther with my college goals. To top off this great turn of events, I just added "another" part time job to the list of current projects of "Richard's Career Enhancement Plan for the future".

A TV Career
Starting a few months ago, I'm became a "Broadcast Assistant" for Wyoming Public TV. It's only 10 to 18 hours a week, but it's simply one of the most astounding opportunities I've had yet to get my foot into the door of the media world. WyoPTV is based here at the CWC campus, where I'm taking classes, and almost 97% of the state gets their public television signal from us. My job is to sit in Master Control, maintain the logs and update them, grab shows from the main PBS satellites for rebroadcast, keep tabs on all the sat signals, servers, and video players, and even all the tapes for all the shows on a weekly basis. In other words, I am responsible for the "entire" Wyoming PBS network when I'm on shift. How often does ANYONE get the chance to learn skills like THAT! And, if you read the previous post below, associated work with this job includes Production Assistant jobs that bring me into direct contact with very powerful folks, including the Governor of Wyoming.

Tools
And probably the my most favorite news, and best thing yet for EVERYONE...my tax refund came in, and I have finally, after almost 40 months, been able to upgrade to "state of the art" computer power. My laptop, which I replaced with another used system last summer ( exact same make, model, speed, etc) with GREAT thanks to many of you who sent donations, and allowed me to be able to continue working on all the projects, is going to be put to rest ( meaning, sold on eBay).

System
My new system, purchased as "factory recertified", via an online computer discounter I've dealt with for a couple of years now, is almost 3 gigahertz in speed, has 160 gigs of harddrive space, a DVD burner, CD Burner, 512 meg of ram, 128 meg video card, USB2.0, firewire, TV tuner card, and more, gives me ALL the power needed to create, edit, produce, market, and burn any and every video project I can come up with, create all the audio needed for the radio show, and literally handle ANY digital project I can dream up ( and believe me, you don't have enough waking hours available to hear MY list).

Power
With the 80 gig external harddrive, and 52x external CD Burner I bought for the laptop staying with the new system, I can burn twice as many CD's, compile DVD data CD's of unbelievable content specs ( like half a million pages of documents on ONE DVD data disk with 4 gigs of storage), and have ONLINE and AVAILABLE nearly one quarter of a TERABYTE of info at my immediate disposal.

In other words, yes, things are going well. This new system, with extended 2 year warranty, and without a monitor ( I have 3 unused 17 inch moniters sitting around the dorm ), cost me only $900, and with my sale of the good laptop, the dead laptop, and the laptop accessory cards (USB 2.0 card, Realport Ethernet cards, etc.), I'll have less than $500 cash invested in this powerful system.

Selling the laptop was the deal I made with my wife to enable me to get the new system, and still be able to use our refund and pay on all our other monetary needs ( 4 out 5 family members in college, one approaching wedding for my oldest son, minor car repairs, etc.). The incredible power of this system, and sheer speed, will let me get that oh-so-behind scanning of all these HUNDREDS of unscanned civil defense documents sitting here in sealed boxes, DONE...faster, easier, and yes, better.

You will be the recipient of the new documents, which is the BIGGEST reason for upgrading with the focus on POWER.

As always, you're continued support and interest of EVERYTHING I do with SurvivalRing, is why I KEEP doing it. If it can be done, and it helps folks to learn ANY aspect of how to better take care of themselves in good, and bad, times, I will do what it takes to make sure EVERYONE has a chance to know about it.

Til Next Time,

Richard

2004-07-18T16:03:00.000-06:00

Sometimes things just go good for a change.

Step One

On my end, Friday, June 16th was a very good day. I was in Cheyenne, Wyoming (the state capital) with Wyoming Public TV, as a production assistant, covering a special legislative session, and Friday was very exciting for me personally. We had a bit of slack time before taping in the afternoon, and we made a few rounds about the town.

First, one of my fellow cameraman and I dropped by the Herschner building, where a lot of the state's main offices are, and visited the main Wyoming Homeland Security office. I met the Head Guy there, and spent about a half hour with the Public Information officer, and explained to her what I was doing with my website, gave her two copies of the latest update of my CD, and expressed to her my interest in doing a documentary about Homeland Security as seen from the role of the private citizen, and how one can become more involved with any of the various aspects of local, regional, and state level organizations.

She was very receptive to it, and we exchanged email addresses, and she is going to make sure I have access to info, contacts, and any tools I can use for the video project. This would be a project that I would be putting together with the goal of gaining more video production experience for my college media production degree, as well as a possible project to be shown on our TV station sometime after it is done. I am really excited about the possibilities here.

Step Two

Around 4 in the afternoon, we had an appointment with the Governor, Dave Freudenthal, and I was the cameraman for the shoot, for a segment for our station's special news coverage of the legislative session. Afterwards, during the small talk, while we were putting the equipment back in the storage bags, I was able to talk to him for a few moments, and handed him a copy of the CD as well, and got a picture of he and I shaking hands with the State Seal right behind us. It was a big moment for me, and I hope it bodes well of good things to come.

Here's the picture...

( I'm the cute one on the left!)

Governor Dave, although a Democrat, seemed to be a heck of a guy. I met him once before (before he was governor) when I was working in his home town for a few days at the last restaurant I managed, and the guy is about as good as we can get for this state.

The one step back, as mentioned above, is quite interesting...

Also located here in Cheyenne is Warren Air Force Base...which just happens to be an ICBM nuclear missile base. While filming all the shows this week at the State Museum, we had a little time there. In the main entrance hall, is a very large display rack with brochures for nearly all the special and interesting places in the entire state of Wyoming.

One of these was a brochure for the Air Force Base, for the "ICBM missile museum" they have there. The brochure mentions free admission, and weekday hours, and "Bring the Family." Well, we went. And basically got the boot. Kicked off the base, that is...Outside the main gate is a visitors center, where every nonmilitary person must stop and check in.

Picture ID, vehicle registration, and car insurance verification must be provided, says the sign in the small parking lot.We park and walk in, paperwork in hand. There's a small line of about 6 folks.

We get up to the counter, and provide the paperwork, and show them the museum brochure, and ask if it is currently open today."Oh, no...you can't go in there. It's only open to military personnel, and those with military sponsors."

I assume a military sponsor is a family member in the military, or someone assigned by the military to give tours of the base to officials and preselected groups. I was wearing my travel vest with my "Official TV Station PRESS Pass" attached, but it didn't work.

The nice Air Force Lady behind the counter looked at us upon saying the above, than without saying another word, we knew we had to look for the nearest exit.

Maybe the fact that it WAS open to the public at some point (because of the plethora of those informational brochures) but is NOT now, should be SOME kind of DOT...I mean, they didn't even check my ID on their computer system, just glanced at the brochure, and said "No".Big Bummer.

I was really looking forward to this all week. Alas, it was not meant to be. NEXT time I come down this way, I am going to PREARRANGE an official tour, for that documentary video I am going to be working on.

Anyway, just wanted to let you folks know that A) your leaders in government ARE approachable...and B) Something is worrying Big Bro Big Time.

Just thought I'd share my two cents, after getting home late today...

Rich
Founder - SurvivalRing.org
http://www.survivalring.org

"Study Yesterday...Prepare Today...Live Tomorrow"

2004-07-03T13:41:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday America!

Tomorrow is the 4th of July. Today is my grand daughters 2nd birthday. Yesterday I got my first grades from my first summer classes here at college...still got a 4.0 going for my GPA, so I am VERY happy.

Major updates have been done to the SurvivalRing website lately, including the addition of over 200 megs of civil defense and homeland security PDF Documents...more to come, but what is now there, adds over 6300 pages more of AUTHENTIC government produced survival information that was NEVER online before. There is a lot more where that came from as well.

Stay tuned, more later...

Richard

2003-11-04T12:32:00.000-07:00

(Sun just came out...bright and clear...hopefully enough to melt most of the snow from our first winter storm of the season late last week...only 12 inches of snow 8^p )

Wowsers...what a past couple of weeks! First illness, then loads of homework, then mid-terms, then a huge snow storm. Doing better with all, so I am catching up all the little things I've been missing, including this BLOG. Hope you missed me.

SurvivalRing as a site is doing fine...lots of new visitors, astounding quality within Google Searches ( SurvivalRing came up 58 out of 488,000 yesterday in a search on something that had NOTHING to do with SurvivalRing!!), and some repairs being done to the broken parts of the system, such as a complete reinstall of the Ikonboard Message system, available at SurvivalRing Forums. I've done a full link check on the entire system, and the report prints out to about 600 pages, but the details about what to fix that is broken is only around 1 1/2 pages. I will get that done this weekend.

Have a collection of around 100 megs of files, in about 30 NEW files, never before on SurvivalRing, that I will be getting online as soon as I fix the problem links, and will have a new document search and download system online when they are available. Promise you will enjoy it, and you'll be amazed at a couple of the titles.

CD number two is almost done, having been set back for a couple of weeks to deal with mid terms, but now can polish it up and ship it out. Stay tuned for a full file listing to be put on the website when done.

On the school front, read more below....you'll see I've not slacking off...

Classes are doing well. 3.85 average right now, on 17 hours of credits, so I'm happy. WebDev club is slowly growing, and we've had corporate support from Macromedia, Microsoft, O'Reilly, and McGraw Hill publishers, with more in the pipeline to come. I've sent out a press release thru the college to hit the local papers in the next week or two, and we should have an influx of members bring the meeting attendance level up quickly.

There is also a new club starting up to create a campus newspaper, which oddly enough, doesn't currently exist( the paper that is), so I jumped on the wagon and will be helping edit, then doing the layout for printing...great skills building, some interesting work for my future journalism career, and it also opens up the door for JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIPS, which I am definitely going to need to reach my goal in of Bachelors ( and maybe even Masters) degrees in Journalism.

Websites are keeping me busy also. The page count for the WebDev club website is over 130 individual pages. I am also creating a new subsite for the Student Senate and all Central Wyoming College campus clubs, that will offer multiple scripts for EACH club, at CWC Student Senate and Clubs. It's going to be quite impressive, though I'm not yet at the point of doing a fully dynamic (such as PHP) system, that is a future goal. This site will use server side includes (SSI), , and a few other semi-dynamic tools to make it smooth, but it is an upward move in my web progress, and a great resource for every single student (1800 plus) on this campus. I did talk with the college webmaster yesterday about getting a server set up for the student body, and running it thru the IT department's high speed net portal, but the entire IT department is in reorganization, so we will probably wind up with the full site on a remote host such as Hostrocket.com when done.

Finishing up a business site for my ex-boss, and just got a call yesterday to put together a small site for an employee of the college, for his son's white water business, which will help a little bit for grocery money.

Speaking of which, my part time work study job vanished week before last, so I am currently looking for off campus work to take care of bills. If you need any web work, graphics design, or anything computer related, PLEASE give me a shout. I'm quick, cheap, and know what I'm doing.

Personal projects right now include research into the federal grants program, and I've found the grant I need to pursue my civil defense document archive project to completion, but I need to become a registered non-profit entity first. May take a while, but I hope to make it happen. Taking SurvivalRing Unlimited to a 501(c)3 non-profit organization has been my goal from day one, and I know more about it now than I did even a few months ago. Wish me luck with it.

Gotta run to class...ten minutes until my WinXP OpSys class, and I get my mid term exam score then, so I don't want to miss that.

Look for more later...

Richard

2003-10-11T17:05:00.000-06:00

Busy week at school...

Got an email on the mailing list yesterday, and since it affects a lot of folks, thought I would post the answer to it here as well.

My response...

In a message dated 10/10/2003 2:41:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time, sally@allidaho.com writes:

> I know you've been busier than a paper hanger with an itch, and I'm not
> complaining or criticising, but I have a question...have you sent out the
> cds to those who helped with Bubba's "doctor bill"? Because
> I still have not
> received them...kind regards
> Sally

HI Sally, and all...

I have a stack of the first two cds ready, and am finishing the last cd soon. CD 3 is the one that HAS EVERYTHING I HAVE fallout and shelter oriented, including half that is not even on the website yet. Labels are printed...just finishing the final navigation and file layout. My first cd production of 10,000 on CD #1 went out the door last year with TWO major links missing, and I do NOT want this next cd to have ANY problems.

You folks will be the first to see it, and I truly hope that you will really dig into it and look for any problems that might be on there (bad files, bad links, or any little thing).

For any and all who give me feedback, positive OR negative, I will make sure you are mentioned in the final release of CD #2 when I take it national....such as on a "THANKS TO..." page at CD bootup. This could include anything you want to say as well, including web links if you want.

FINAL release of #2 will have fancy graphics, fancy label, links, and such, but ALL THE CONTENT will be on both cds. It will also include any errors being corrected, that you guys help me find.

I hope you will give me some feedback as well on the first cd release, even though I have a couple of great testimonials ( Jim Benson of ModernSurvival.net and Bruce Beach) I want LOTS more feedback.

At this point I am sending out over 30 full sets, totaling 90 cd roms, and I am including two collectible paper docs in every package, which I purchased JUST for this reason. SurvivalRing will also get updated shortly with the PREMIUM Section promised a few months ago, just for those who have donated to this project over the last couple of years. There are many of you, and it is just another way for me to say THANKS.

Sorry for the delays, and here's why...working two part time jobs at college($6.00 an hour for financial aid work study), taking 17 hours of classes, assisting with the re-do of the college website (cwc.edu), chartering a new club on campus (http://cwcwebdevclub.survivalring.org), and learning all about radio and tv production in 12 hours of labs each week (Wyoming Public TV is based on this campus)...so to answer your question, yes, I am busier than a 'no-armed' paper hanger using his toes to do everything...

Someday maybe I can get myself cloned and stay caught up.

Until then, thanks again to all of you...you are most appreciated and most definitely NOT forgotten.

Richard

====================

My goal is for the CD sets to hit the mail before the end of the month. Lots of work, but everyone should understand, when they receive the packages, how much data is on there...will take years to read all the way thru.

Take care, til next post...

Richard

2003-09-25T19:22:00.000-06:00

Busy week at school this week....lots of work, lots of lab time, and lots of new ideas popping into my head.

Spent a few hours Sunday evening redoing the SurvivalRing homepage, to speed up initial entry into the site, as the page have grown to over 200k in size with everything finally loaded. Also updated the US Nuke Targets page with new links, a couple of extra maps, and extra features, and editing a couple of other small files as well.

Other than that, I am doing some major rework of my site tools, and will be focusing on fixing and upgrading every single file download on the website. Of course, having to use automation, because of the extremely large collection of files, but will be working on it.

Still having dialup problems, staying online, and connecting over 20k speed, so until DSL gets installed here in a couple of weeks, I'll have to do little bits and pieces.

Got to run to class...more audio lab tonight....more tomorrow...

Richard

2003-09-12T23:46:00.000-06:00

Hi friends,

Below is an email I got a few minutes ago, and it made me think for a minute, about whether to respond to it or not.

I was going to blow it off....then I stopped in mid stride. Why? Some one might be asking a REAL question, and I almost did NOT answer it. In answering the email, it also gives me a chance to bring real world perspective to a stranger who may really want to know WHY anyone prepares.

I thought you might get something out of it, which is why I personally share this email with you, my real and true friends. I've known most of you now for more than a couple of years, and YOUR feedback and perspective would be greatly appreciated as well on the thoughts included in the message below.

Please respond on the SurvivalRing mailing list if you would, so that everyone can learn more about how "we" prepare, and "why". "How" is not neccessary for the time being.

If not a member of the email list, simply send a BLANK email to

SurvivalRing-subscribe@topica.com

and verify your followup email message to join the list.

This is great time, in history, to reach a VERY wide audience. How do I know? Just ONE of my pages on SurvivalRing ( and not the home page ) has received 26,000 hits in 11 days. Which page? The nuclear targets page. Why? I don't know, other than that the anniversary of 9/11 came and went. Thankfully without ANY surprises or events.

People around the world still have great concern, with great reason. We don't need to stop our lives and all go and hide. We need to know what the threats MIGHT be, and know what to do IF SOMETHING HAPPENS.

Until then, soccer moms can load the minivan, bass fishermen can still hit the backwaters of all the good spots, and the kids can still have fun in their treehouse...and be real people. We can ALL live our lives as normal.

I just want them to at least THINK for a moment...and then continue on with their lives.

Please, respond....pro and con, near and far, but not to the person who sent the email...just me or the email list.

Thanks,

Richard
Founder - SurvivalRing.org
---------------------------------------------Message below-----------------------------------------

In a message dated 9/12/2003 9:50:40 PM Mountain Daylight Time, rowley4@adelphia.net writes:

Why in this day and age would you even sell stuff like this?
--------------------
Question from: shack_o_shirts
Title of item: Nuke Target Maps FEMA book &CivDef CDROM
Seller: nuclear*nexus

Hi there, Mr./Ms. Rowley,

YOU have aroused MY curiosity now. I undeniably sense some negative vibes going on here, but I really would like to know why, because of your statement, you actually took the time to email me the question in the first place?

I have some honest and real answers for you, if you care to hear them, or you can even read them on my website by visiting it below....

I don't intend to poke fun at you, browbeat you, degrade you or anything negative, since YOU did take the time to ask a real question about a real concern.

I really would like to have a dialog with you, however short or long, to see what you think about preparedness in general at any government level, family level, or personal level. You very obviously have some strong opinions, which shows in your urgent need to question this particular auction, and I would really like to hear about them.

I did not write the book in question in this auction...our Federal US government did...only 14 years ago....even as the Soviet Union was crumbling. I have many copies of it. It is a COLLECTIBLE. The CDs in question offer tens of thousands of pages of historical reading material regarding our Cold War years, natural AND manmade disasters, and tons of shelter information. I PERSONALLY created one of them with my own hands and years of work.

I would be glad to quote from ANY newspaper printed in the past year, about the real and true threat of terrorist use of a radiological dirty bomb, on US soil, in the near future. Old John Ashcroft himself warned us it IS inevitable. I offer educational info completely free on my website, without any cost, signup, or user tracking..simply click and download. I do it because the terrorist threats THESE days are more real than they have EVER been in all of our nation's history.

I will quote you a number....three thousand and sixteen.

You may ask, what the heck does that have to do with anything?

It was in the paper today. USAToday, of all things.

So, what's the number for?

It's the exact number of people who died on 9/11 because of the terrorist attacks on the WTC, the Pentagon, and Flight 93.

My blood runs cold, thinking there are still citizens of this nation who STILL don't think bad things can happen, even "in this day and age", to quote your words from above.

3,016.

That's why.

Please, I am serious about hearing your thoughts on why you would even care about what some one who lives in the middle of NO WHERE, selling one used book, and two pieces of plastic, has to sell on a popular service such as ebay.

I have spent thousands of dollars collecting REAL government documents the past few years to be able to share it ALL freely. A few bucks made on extra copies shouldn't be any skin off your nose, now should it?

Still, I wonder. I've been around the net long enough to know what a "troll" is...and I don't think this is one. I simply want to know what someone as yourself thinks, about personal preparedness.

You wrote me. I replied in rational and respective manner, hoping for an interchange of information, to better MY understanding of the majority thought of my fellow Americans.

If you don't reply, I'll understand.

If you do, and do so honestly, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks for taking the time to ask.

By the way, my personal and website motto is below...and yes, I really believe in it.

Richard

Nuclear*nexus on Ebay

Richard Fleetwood
Founder/Author/Webmaster - SurvivalRing.org, The Blast Shelter, Civil Defense Now, and MyFalloutShelter.com

http://www.survivalring.org

"Study Yesterday...Prepare Today...Live Tomorrow."

2003-09-10T19:31:00.000-06:00

Ouch...over a year since the last post to this BLOG!!!

So sorry...hope you'll forgive me. Why this update, today? Just created a new blog for my current BIG project....A COLLEGE EDUCATION. Yep, dropped everything, quit a full time job, got a PELL grant, and now living in a dorm.

Read it at Rafleet's School Blog.

Have amassed a massive mass of new, original copy, civil defense docs in the past few months via ebay, and am finishing up the SECOND cd rom in my vast plan of world domination...er, um....I mean world education...in all things preparedness.

I believe in the SurvivalRing and Civil Defense Now projects so strongly now, and with more passion and energy than ever, that creating a resource of authentic, real, and published preparedness information in an easily obtainable and usable format, and continueing work on mass communication and file sharing worldwide, is going to be my life's work.

I've returned back to school to get those skills I need, and will be spending every other moment not needed for school creating more scanned docs, editing and updating the sites, and communicating with the world daily with email and these BLOGS.

I hope you'll support me in this quest to learn how to better serve my fellow man, in helping them prepare for the bigger problems in life...the one's they'll never have control over... and will continue to strive for the best and most useful outcome in all the things I do...

Hang in there....I think you'll find the trip down this path quite useful for just about anything the future brings.

Richard

2002-08-21T10:18:00.000-06:00

Hi again my friends...long time no post. Not from lack of want, however...

Today is a great day for the future. I have been putting the finishing touches on my first cd rom release, and am very proud of the result. The first release of the Civil Defense Now CDRom Library Achive is about to be produced. A first run is being readied and will be back in my hands in a few weeks. I will also be having OTHER cds prepped on this end of things that JUST DIDN'T fit on the first one.

Amazingly, this first cd has more then 20,000 pages of information in PDF files, text files, and webpages. 649 megs of data, graphics, maps, pictures, training manuals, field manuals and more are on it. A resource that would literally take you MONTHS to read thru, if not years....all on one small, thin wafer of plastic.

Other things are in work, including massive function additions to the SurvivalRing website...several new CGI programs, including onsite chat, threaded message boards, site based AUCTIONS!, printer friendly pages, download tracking, bandwidth savers, and more ...

Oh, and many NEW civil defense manuals have come into my posession the past two months, including the COMPLETE FEMA manual..all nine chapters...of the ATTACK ENVIRONMENT MANUAL...a presentation based curriculum for the EMA world on just exactly HOW to deal with NUCLEAR terror and attack...from 1987 (pre-fall of Soviet Union).

More is to come, and the infrastructure in place is going to be mindblowing. I now have a full network of three power systems hooked up via ethernet here at the homestead, and have over 60 gigs of storage capacity...(soon to be 160 gig), and enough material to fill THAT up in the next year or so...

In other words, while I haven't done much page updates this summer, I HAVE been spending every waking moment NOT at work at McD, working on the above. The "project" is well ahead of where I EVER thought it would be, and I can promise everyone here reading this....it is going to change the world soon. Why the government hasn't done this yet is beyond me...but the fact that I am doing it and getting it DONE, means the world to me, and I will put every fiber of my being into seeing it into completion. I ask anyone else wanted to join in getting this scanning/digitizing project done, to PLEASE...COME HELP US.

Every pair of hands, every scanner in work, every NEW manual of document of civil defense nature that we can COLLECT...has the potential to save MILLIONS of lives, should the next terror attack contain radiological output.

People, I can't stress this enough....here on the eve of the first anniversary of 9/11, we HAVE to be thinking and ACTING, to mitigate any MORE major attacks and loss of life...just by thinking ahead. There has never been a better time. Act now and help one another...help me...and help yourselves....

No rocket science here..only basic common sense and elbow grease. CONTACT ME if you can....if you will.....help.

rafleet@aol.com

...will be the fastest, best way.

Think on what you can do...then do it.

I'll do everything in my power to help you get there...

Until next update,

Richard

The SurvivalRing Homepage

2002-06-02T18:38:00.000-06:00

Hi friends,

Well, we got moved cross state weekend before last. No losses like last move. Still missing a box o' stuff that came from my little apartment here in town...one that has ALL the really good civil defense stuff ready to scan in, in a specific order I've set up. Pretty sure it got buried under the hundreds of other boxes still in our house to be sorted thru and put away.

Have been super busy at work. Serious busy....maybe even wicked busy....

However, I have not been sluffing off while NOT running a restuarant. What, you may ask, have I been doing lately...when I should have been sleeping?

Scanning....digitizing....programming....and uploading. Lots of uploading...I mean, incredible uploading.

And, in a new format. Some of you who have been cruising the latest additions to the site have seen the new format, should you have visited HS4....here....

From www.SurvivalRing.org - FEMA HS-4 - Preparedness Planning for a Nuclear Crisis (link to full doc is on SurvivalRing Homepage - http://www.survivalring.org )

Well, Hold Your Breath.

Tons of stuff await you below....incredible amounts o'data.

How does over 20 gig of files grab you...all in html, webpage, any browser readable format....

A couple were uploaded a few weeks ago...the rest last nite/early this morning.

I love finding ways to automate the creation of data after a little hard work and lots of planning...getting closer than ever now.

Most of the files below were scanned in by me...meaning the FIRST TIME they have ever been on the internet...period.

Some were files I have collected via the net, found in PDF acrobat format, and CONVERTED into webpage html format.

ALL are the EXACT kind of resources YOU need to know about, read up on, and UNDERSTAND...if you are to make it safely thru the world of "terrorist threat at every turn" that America faces right now.

Go to them....read them, and pass the links on. PLEASE....

Beware that some of the page have what are called "remnant data" from the conversion process, and may not be as clear as you or I would like it to be...mostly simply, little graphic thingies that are irritating. Will work on cleaning them up as the summer progresses. Until then, lots to still learn.

So, I'll shut up now. Click on the links below, and BOOKMARK the page that loads on each link. THEN go read them. All these books and much more will be on the CDROM I am working on. More on that later.

Comments welcome,

Richard

Links to ALL these docs and more on the SurvivalRing homepage

From - www.survivalring.org - Fallout Shelters In New Homes

From - www.survivalring.org - Accidental Nuclear War - New England Journal of Medicine

From - www.survivalring.org - Citizens Preparedness Guide

From www.SurvivalRing.org - Civil Defense Tech Bulletin - TB-5-3

From - www.survivalring.org - Fallout Shelter Survey Guide for Architects and Engineers part a

From - www.survivalring.org - Fallout Shelter Survey Guide for Architects and Engineers part b

From - http://www.survivalring.org - Family Fallout Shelters 1959

From - www.survivalring.org - FEMA National Warning Operations part a

From - www.survivalring.org - FEMA National Warning Operations part b

From - www.survivalring.org - FEMA National Warning Operations part c

From - www.survivalring.org - Using Radiological Instruments

From www.SurvivalRing.org - CivilDefenseCommunalAirraidShelters-1941

From www.SurvivalRing.org - Family Shelter Designs ( Fallout Shelters ) 1962

SurvivalRing - FEMA - Recovery From Nuclear Attack

From www.SurvivalRing.org - Home Shelter 12-4-0 ( Fallout Shelters ) 1987

2002-01-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

SurvivalRing Update....The Past...and The Future...

Hi friends,

I hope everyone receiving this email had a great Christmas holiday, and I hope your New Years celebrations bring you much to look forward to for the rest of the year. With the past few months, we have had danger and death, threats and smaller attacks, but at the same time incredible response and resolution by our friends and neighbors to victims and their families. I hope we can continue to see more of latter, and less of the former.

The past year produced some of the most horrible scenes the world has ever met...and some of the greatest as a result. 09.11.01 will be etched for all time and eternity as the turning point of this great nation of the United States of America, regarding the need for REAL security for our borders, our leadership, our communities, and our families. Almost 4000 thousand Americans and visitors to our nation died in the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon, and the aircraft that crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Hundreds of public safety personel gave their lives trying to save others. Tens of thousands of other Americans turned out to help recover the victims and casualties at Ground Zero, and many hundreds are working around the clock still, over a hundred days after the disaster, continuing to sift for remains and personal belongings, to return whatever is found to families still waiting in limbo.

Tens of millions of dollars of donations have been given freely from individuals all over the world to help families of those lost, and congress last week released details to the nation about how fdonations would be dispersed to the families. Those that lost loved ones will have their futures helped immensely by the outpouring of love shown by those of us on the outside looking in.

The most amazing things have been both big and little. Hardly anyone alive on September 11th could have missed the massive amount of coverage produced around the clock by ALL the worlds news media. I don't think a single individual who saw, either live, or on tape, the planes crash into the towers, or the towers crumble to the ground, will EVER be the same. The incredible magnitude of the destruction...the unbelievable turns of events...the courage shown by those who escaped the towers...and the courage of those who stayed behind or ran in to help and rescue others.. What love for fellow man...what bravery in the face of absolute danger and most certain death....what immense care the world has shown in the shadow of truly the most repulsive evil yet to exist on this planet...it all is almost too much to fathom. What can ever top these events and raise the tide of the future to top this outpouring of warmth and loving spirits to help one another.....or cold, calculated, steely resolve to cleanse the world of the demons that brought forth this hell on earth? Whatever it is....it will be breathtaking to behold, and most assuredly more dangerous to humankind than we can yet imagine.

Everyone within view of televisions, earshot of radios, or passing another person on the sidewalk ANYWHERE in the world would have heard what happened within 24 hours of the event, thanks to the very human need to share tragic news, followed by sympathy in any way they could.. Even in remote sections of the world, news coming from shortwave raced across countrysides by travelers and word spread of the immense level of the tragedy. And as the news spread, support from such places raced back the other way. The world stopped on that day...and became one...even for a little while.

As with every year, as it comes to a close, news folks look back and discuss how things went. In every single case, Ground Zero Day is THE leading event that happened this year, and may be the single most important event of this young century. Such a massive attack on innocents, by such a small and clearly dangerous group of people, for absolutely no reason but PERSONAL vendettas. The "war on terrorism" has done much to cripple the networks used to deal out death so easily. And while those almost 4000 people died in the initial attacks on US soil, MILLIONS of Afghani people are now FREE...out from under the crippling and dangerous Taliban regime that instigated the attacks in the first place.

Good has returned to the world again, yet much work is yet to be done. The war still has a long way to go, and worldwide, recovery of damaged economies will take years to complete. Changes to freedoms enjoyed before Ground Zero Day are something that will also tighten as time goes on. Freedom to travel has been severely crippled for those who use the nation's airlines. Intense scrutiny of EVERY traveler through airports has cost billions of dollars of income, countless hours of waiting in long lines, and loss of personal freedoms like this nation has NEVER seen since its inception. Invasive personal searches and patdowns, the ability to do formerly illegal searches and seizures passed by presidential proclamation and executive orders, biometric recording of individuals WITHOUT reason or warrant, using millions of video cameras and the latest high tech computer technology in areas of mass populations, including airports, malls, football stadiums and the like...all to help with the 'fight against terrorism'.

"Carnivore" and "Echelon" computer systems used by the FBI and NSA have the power to digitally extract from the streams of terabytes of data ANYTHING considered a threat. They can trap and report ANY threats, thoughts, or ideas sent via the web, or phone lines used by computers in any way. This only helps to strengthen the belief that Big Brother finally exists in its long feared, often suggested state. Visits to people across the nation by federal agents, are being reported by individuals for reasons as simple as not liking some specific part or action of government..and having that "conversation" reported to authorities by worried individuals...are occuring with alarming frequency.

At what point in all of this does "urban legend" actually become "truth and the American way"? What will it take to push those who fear government over the edge, even more than before? At what point will those who call themselves "anarchists" actually go over that very same edge, and become domestic terrorists themselves, for their "own special causes"? We as a nation have seen the threats grow the past decade from those who linger on that fence of sanity called "social activists". These are folks that take it on for themselves to act to right a "wrong" that they feel must be fixed NOW. Whether it is PETA freeing animals from a laboratory or farm, or Greenpeace sinking a boat or damaging equipment, or tree huggers spiking trees or destroying heavy equipment in the fields or burning down ski lodges, or any of a number of other groups or individuals bring death, destruction, or pain to those THEY feel deserve it....ALL of them are going to wind up responding in even more illogical ways, should the current trends continue.

Now you may be asking yourselves at this point...."what does ALL THE ABOVE have to do with me? I'm just a lil' old country bumpkin working my buns off everyday at the factory/retail store/office/school/(insert American Job Here). I just want to bring home a paycheck, buy food, pay rent, drive my car, and have a little fun on the weekends."

I agree with you....that is my goal in life, too. That is....to start with. I have many other things I am doing with my life as well, beyond those basics. I won't bore you with them here...but I could ( ask my kids ).

Problem is, the war on terror has been delivered to our virtual doorsteps, thanks to Osama and his cohorts. It IS personal. What can "possibly" happen to us, in theory, is a whole lot closer than ever before, in actual fact. The use of anthrax on postal mail in the eastern seaboard has killed less than half a dozen people, yet made hundreds of Americans ill. Being a retired letter carrier, and seeing that THAT would have put me on the front lines in this invisible war of germs, truly puts the fear into me that MOST of you reading this can not truly fathom without much time spent studying the events that have occurred. How would YOU like to go to work one day, handle one SINGLE item in your workplace ( such as a first class letter ) and DIE because of it. Two postal workers did.

The latest news on the subject suggests that the anthrax attacks probably originated with genetic anthrax material originating in US labs....a very disturbing thought. Following up on this line of thinking, could this possible mean that AMERICANS, however schizophrenic and disturbed, released the germs in sync with EXTERNAL attacks? If so, are they working with the attackers, or in spite of them? Besides missing catching the murderers behind the attacks on September 11th, by missing or misreading intell material or data at ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT ( CIA, FBI, NSA, and any other number of "alphabet agencies"), what are they STILL not understanding....what are they missing...and what are they maybe even behind?

As part of my continuing research on civil defense material, including a LOT of historical stuff, I have come across files that blow my mind to think of as being "real"...meaning they were created for the reasons intended...to DOCUMENT real events, real planning, and real goals...and not to create propaganda to divert people into thinking something else was going on than really was. One of the things continually coming up on many email lists I am on keeps "alerting" folks that maybe, just maybe, denizens of "the dark side" of our bureacracy created this event to bring about the so-called "one world odor"...I mean, "one world order". Personally, I think this is hogwash. Yes, really.

But then, I come across a document that is dated March 13th, 1962...with the words "top secret special handing NoForn" across the top of the page, marked out...the section below it stamped "Unclassified", the Seal of the Departement of Defense on the left upper side, the letterhead signifying "the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, DC", addressed to the "Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense", and the subject stated as "Justification for the US military intervention in Cuba (TS)". This is a PDF file, digitized document, 778 kilobytes in size, 15 pages long, found because of a mention in an email list. What is special about this document, among all the tens of thousands of documents to be found in online and personal searches in libraries and repositories? The mention of MANY ways that the US could "simulate" or "actualize" terrorist events, and blame them on secondary parties, as a means to turn public opinions against those same secondary parties, and result in political victories, for whatever reason ( most presumably personal profit for some small group of political honchoes ).

Amazing is the detail and visualization that is in this short document. Worrisome is the fact that is just "might" be authentic. Troubling is the thought that history has truly shown that leaders of some governments in real world history have actually done things such as this. Disastrous and catastrophic are the words that come to mind if what has recently happened on American soil is a result of the same kind of disturbed thought processes that created the document mentioned above, and that our own people just "might" have done this to our own citizens. Again, I *still* think it is all hogwash....but stranger things HAVE happened.

But back to our little group of "Real Americans". Yes...you, me, our families, our neighbors, our friends, our coworkers, and anybody else that comes and goes through our own, personal, little bitty "spheres of influence". In your busy lives, going to work, coming home, buying groceries, washing the cars, the clothes, the kids, and the dogs....how can some evil person on the other side of the globe hurt me? Why would they? What would they gain? How could they find *me*? Interesting thoughts...titillating conversations...maybe a little bit of personal concern...and then it passes. You continue your merry little lives until the evening news brings details of the NEXT terrorist attack somewhere on the planet...or somewhere in America....or somewhere in your town. You, at some point in all of this, finally *know* somebody who is personally affected in one of the attacks...somewhere...somehow.

NOW IT IS PERSONAL.....FOR YOU.

Is this the time you finally decide to act...to prepare...to study...and to make some changes in your life, knowing that what used to be a passing thought, on those days you actually took time to just "sit and think...of many things", is now something that is an everyday thing to think of in your passage through this world? Do you go buy some food storage supplies...a water filter...some survival manuals...shelter information...medical response and first aid books...a shortwave radio...a police scanner...a gun, or guns....lots of ammo....a gas mask.....or more? Any of the above? ALL of the above? Where do you start...and where do you stop?

How DO you respond to a threat that may, or may not ACTUALLY, PHYSICALLY affect you? Will yours be a knee jerk reaction to a gut based fear of death? Will it be a measured response to threats yet to materialize in your neighborhood, yet still very possible? Or will it simply be study, a little deep research, and then filing away of details and contacts...just in case for the future?

The past has shown us, all too clearly, what can happen when defenses and protective measures go down, fail, or just outright AREN'T GOOD ENOUGH. With every bit of the security, hardware, military, intelligence gathering capability, and more that the US has to offer, we STILL suffered the single greatest terrorist disaster in WORLD HISTORY....on our HOMELAND.

What has to be done is slowly unfolding in many needed and unique areas. Some are being done by the government, as they should be...but probably not enough. The Office of Homeland Security is one, although for the time being it is NOT bringing the average man on the street into the loop. Smaller organistions such as the ANSER INSTITUTE and other thinktanks are researching national security issues and consequenses in much deeper levels than before, and will delve into issues much more then the government will, and then share their knowledge with those lucky enough, or more probably determined enough, to dig thru the web and look for it.

The best solutions for ALL of us in this nation of 280 million Americans is a grassroots agenda that gets right down to our level.of living. Currently there exists tens of thousands of TRAINED individuals on our soil who are familiar with the effects of nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological threats, and their uses by terrorists ( either individuals or nations). These folks have had the best training that money can buy, know what to look for, how to prepare, how to defend, and how to help others stay safe. You may know some of them without knowing what they know. You may be lucky enough to call some of them your friends, neighbors, and maybe even FAMILY.

I am talking about MILITARY VETERANS. These guys and gals have spent weeks and months training over the years for all possible aspects of war, including NBC threats. Some may even SPECIALIZE in NBC warfare (offensive AND defensive). What they can share with the rest of us, and should in every way, is how WE can stay safe, prepare, and maybe even train OTHERS to know what to look for and what to avoid. Most will consider it a duty to help their fellow man, and will do all they can.

Some are currently working on a grassroots level to prepare a training manual and document for public consumption, and after that, get volunteers across the nation to introduce the manual and cover basic training and preparedness techniques in communities in every locale. I am proud to be sponsoring this group on my website, in the SurvivalRing BBS. It is doing quite well, and is going to be ready soon.

Another area that is helping the grassroots goals of sharing information is providing access to it, with all the many preparedness possibilities. Shelters and technology, threat assessment, nuclear and radiological safety, rescue and recovery information, and a myriad of other items within these domains have been produced by agencies of federal governments WORLDWIDE over the last few decades. Most of it was hidden, buried away in region library repositories, sitting in basements of courthouses, federal buildings, warehouses, basements, garages, or worse. Others were available, but only to local citizens, and not to the world. And finally, NONE of it had been collected, studied, collated, and DIGITIZED to share with the larger group we have come to know as MANKIND.

Having contacts in certain areas let small groups of individuals within certain circles get their hands on this material, but only for planning purposes, some training, and in many cases, historical interest only. Not nearly enough was being done to share with EVERYONE wanting to learn EVERYTHING they could on the full spectrum of preparedness issues.

Guess what? Yours truly has broken thru this wall of silence, this vaccuum of inaccessibility, this sad excuse for NOT being prepared. As I have mentioned many times the past few months, I have incredible resources and documents of ALL of the above here in my presence. I have stacks of ORIGINAL documents from the US, Canada, Switzerland, England, Norway, Singapore, and OTHER national and INTERNATIONAL federal Civil Defense Agencies.

I have MANY books on the cold war, nuclear war, medical aspects, and other areas of preparedness things that most folks don't even know exist. I have the hardware now, ALL of it, to produce digitized documents and images of ALL that I have, with a powerful laptop, a PORTABLE full page flatbed scanner, pocket sized mini digital camera, and cd rom burner. I have software( after all this time of planning, learning, and getting ready ) to produce full blown acrobat PDF files of the above documents, webpages, 3-d graphics, VRML virtual reality files for shelters, and much more....all to help with ABSOLUTELY ANY ASPECT of shelters, preparedness, and more. I have 350 megabytes of ONLINE webspace storage for as much as I can get uploaded to my website for you to download.

I also have over 1.5 gigabytes of preparedness files, reports, documents, military field manuals, NBC preparedness files, FEMA files, Red Cross files, preparedness software, and more....IN MY POSSESSION NOW.

In other words, I have my work cut out for me....and you. With time, I will have the greatest civil defense resource website EVER to exist on the internet. I will have my documents scanned in, online, and downloable for the WORLD, not just you. I will have FREE information created at TAXPAYERS expense YEARS ago, historically archived and documented for all time and eternity. And I will keep adding to it and producing for it for as long as I live ( which I know is going to be a VERY long time).

Why am I doing this? Because I can. Because somebody needs to. Because nobody else has. And because you want it....you need it...and you deserve to have access to every iota of survival data that exists in this world of continuously growing threats and disasters.

Having access to ALL the information above gives YOU the power to make your futures, prepare your families, and KNOW EXACTLY what to do if (and when) the next terrorist of WHATEVER nationality or "Jihad Of The Day" visits your city or neighborhood, football stadium or shopping mall, and wreaks terroristic havoc far and wide. Having access to GOOD material is what will keep you and yours safe. The only catch is YOU have to take the time to read it, study it, understand it, and then SHARE it far and wide. The first part isn't worth a damn if you don't follow thru with the second part. Of all the time in recorded history of this world, NEVER has it been so easy to learn from the BEST sources, almost instantly....and freely. Take advantage of the current paradigm...how it all comes together for you now, and GET WHAT YOU CAN, WHILE YOU CAN.

If you have materials, skills, articles, documents, books, videos, or ANYTHING civil defense preparedness in nature, PLEASE consider sharing it with me for this project. Contact info is available on my website.

I am finally getting some help from folks nationwide as well, SPECIFIC to the goals of creating this incredible resource of information and techical assistance. Packages of docs, files and page scans of info, help scanning in originals, and some small donations of cash are making ALL of this possible.

My thanks to all of you for your interest and support, and specifically the following folks for their wonderful help in PRODUCING the work so far...

Jay Griffin - Lander, Wyoming (scanning docs, specifically the FULL 130 page FEMA book, Risk and Hazards State By State - 12.8 meg PDF)

Jerry Paquette - West Union, Ohio ( scanned page images of the FEMA book, Radiation Safety in Shelters)

Jim Green - Boston, Mass ( donation of original materials including

Technical Standards for Fallout Shelter Design, DOD #TM72-1
Design of Structures to Resist Nuclear Weapons Effects, ASCE #42
Suggested Building Code Provisions for Fallout Shelters, DOD Office of Civil Defense #TR-36
Wind Resistant Design Concepts for residences, DCPA #TR-83
Living with Radiation, AEC
Protective Construction in a Nuclear Age, The RAND Corporation)

Arnold Jagt - Oregon ( shared the full digital version of NUCLEAR WAR SURVIVAL SKILLS he created for Art Robinson and OISM)

ALL the folks who gave donations for the site costs in the webhost changeover, and more.

Friends, there is SO much to be done, by all of us. Last year proved to us, and the world, that evil still exists, and ALL levels of preparedness MUST be taught and shared. Lives ARE at stake...every single day. You and I are the first defenses to protection and safety of our families. Be an active participant in your future, and consider, ALWAYS, the bigger, community picture. We are IN this world, and OF this world, and we MUST take responsibility for what we do or don't do. Don't let failure to follow thru be your epitaph. Leave the world better, and safer, then it was when you got here. Use the tools and info available here and else where to do it with.

I hope this little rant and info within helps you in some way, and I will be glad to continue assisting everyone via email. You know where to find me.

Richard Fleetwood
Founder - SurvivalRing, Civil Defense Now, and The Blast Shelter

http://www.survivalring.org

January 2, 2002

2001-12-08T13:53:00.000-07:00

SurvivalRing BLog

Hi friends,

The upcoming week is going to be interesting for me...but maybe not as interesting as the past week.

I will be offline from today until this coming friday, as I will be in Denver for a management seminar for my new career, and will be back home friday. Unfortunately, my laptop is back at the factory for minor repairs so I won't be able to take it with me. drats.....

I have lots of work in progress right now on my cd rom set, and at this point will have a set of THREE cdroms ready for all of you that are interested sometime around the first of the year. Almost 1.5 gigabytes of files, documents, software, my entire website system, and tens of thousands of pages of civil defense, NBC preparedness files, military manuals and more.....all on three itty bitty pieces of plastic 5 inches in diameter and less than a quarter inch thick when stacked together. While I have many dozens of civil defense things to scan in still, what I do have digitized will keep you up at nite for months reading all of it.

Stay tuned to the website and the email lists for the latest info on this set. I guarantee it will be worth the wait.

The BIG news is something I am very proud of. I assume MOST of you on these mailing lists have heard of a little online publication called

WorldNetDaily.com

Well, I have spent over 7 hours in the past three days talking to Elizabeth Farah, wife of Joseph Farah. Elizabeth Farah is co-founder of WorldNetDaily and serves as senior vice president of marketing.

Go to this URL to read more about her and all her articles up to now....

Elizabeth Farah

She came across my website this past week while looking for FEMA documents that are NO LONGER AVAILABLE....including nearly ALL shelter information for fallout purposes. She had to dig into my domain info to get my contact number, and called me to see if I can help her with her doc search...I can. Have a big heavy box of FEMA Docs, Swiss docs, and more going via FedEx tomorrow afternoon.

Here is her current project. WND has a magazine called WHISTLEBLOWER. Each issue is on a specific topic that the government in most ways is NOT delving into, for whatever reason. The goal of the magazine, and very successfully in past issues, is to highlite in whatever way possible, the details of whatever the failures and shortcomings are, and possible solutions to remedy the situations, for the good of the entire nation. The topic of the UPCOMING issue?

Civil Defense.

I spent almost three hours today giving her a taped interview of the entire area of civil defense....as I see it...and brought to light many details that seemed to enlighten even her in some areas. She was quite delightful to talk to, and unlike MOST of the media interviews I have given the past few years, really seemed to have quite the same goals I have had since the beginning of the projects I have brought online. What is most interesting is that Art Robinson, of the Oregon Institute of Science and Techology, the source of ALL hardcopies of NUCLEAR WAR SURVIVAL SKILLS, lives just minutes from her in Oregon, and she knows him well. Small world, huh?

The issue, when it comes out, will simply be a blockbuster. With the events that have struck this nation this year, there has absolutely, without ANY doubt, NEVER been a better time, nor reason, to create a real honest to God, VIABLE, civilian defence corps, of American citizens and volunteers, to help make, and KEEP, this nation safe. My goal since the beginning of the first small thoughts of SurvivalRing, and The Blast Shelter, was to help in any way I could, bring this to fruition. Now, it looks like it is closer than it has ever been.

I am not sure of exactly what will be in the magazine...only that a few of the civil defense docs I am sending her will be quite well highlighted, and that my websites will be in sidebars of the articles as sources of further info. Every question and thought she had on the topic gave me much to share with her, in ways that I have NEVER seen in print yet, and that really do have basis in fact and science, and of future opportunity, and I am hoping to take great advantage of this coverage...seems that WND gets MILLIONS of hits a month...and is read by some of the highest echolons of government bureacrats...so...maybe I will get a little bit further ahead with my idea of bringing back YOU and ME into the NEW Civilian Defense Corps....with the backing of our entire nation at some point. Never had a better opportunity than we do now.

How do any of us expect to make a change in the direction and end results of our nation's future, if we DON'T try to speak loud and long when we have the ears and pencils of those with much farther reach then just our neighbors, family, and local community? I have had many chances the past couple of years to share my thoughts and opinions in preparedness with media THE WORLD OVER. I have helped make contact between media and local volunteers all over this nation. I have only seen my name and website actually singled out a couple of times, but feel that that was NOT the ultimate goal I had in mind. The fact that ANYONE can live thru ANY disaster with a little foresite and planning has ALWAYS been my message. It seems to be getting thru now. For Real.

Pass this email along to every other email list, message base, bbs, or news source you can think of. Let us get as many people involved as we can in trying to get our nation back to the path of PROTECTING OURSELVES. The military, all three major branches of our nations government, and every other agency you can think of FAILED in keeping the WTC attack from happening....thousands of Americans died needlessly because there was NOT any defensive mechanism in place to STOP THE ATTACK before it happened.

I want to get the foundation in place so that it NEVER happens again. You can help me...as well as every other American alive today. Let us get it going, and let us make it happen.

Pass the word. Americans WILL take care of our own....in EVERY way that we need to.

Richard Fleetwood
Founder - SurvivalRing, Civil Defense Now, and The Blast Shelter

http://www.survivalring.org

December 2001

2001-10-16T00:07:00.000-06:00

With THIS update....

First, a couple of links....

My mirror of the incredible survival resource,
Nuclear War Survival Skills is RECOMMENDED. In these times of heightened global tensions, having ways to stay safe SHOULD the ultimate nightmare occur, is just good common sense. Tested in REAL nuclaer tests, expedient shelter could save MILLIONS of American lives. Read the book, order a paper copy, and pass the word....it could be YOUR life that is saved someday in the future...

Another new function on SurvivalRing, as mentioned in my last update here, is my SurvivalRing BBS. Threaded messages, lots of interesting topics, great FAST ways to communicate...all make it worth your time to check it out. Drop in today, and leave us a little piece of your mind....

Now, the main addition of this weeks SurvivalRing BLog addition....

As I mentioned last time, many media reps are contacting me about who.what.where.why when it comes to Being Prepared. For the first time, I have seen SurvivalRing mentioned by name.

Of course, as I expected, the author of the piece in question, used every possible intricacy to make his article stand out as much as possible, with as much subtlety as a lead pipe, in making OTHERS seem somehow "extra-normal"....odd....worthy of closer scrutiny to see that not EVERYONE is wierd...only people of certain...shall we say...."taste"...or better yet ...."unique background". In other words, the main message should have been .....PREPARE for REAL LIFE....not "make fun of the fool on the hill."

Enough comment, for the moment. Read the article below, and then read my pithy statement of fact afterwards. The truth WILL set you free....

###

News
The Fear Factor
Since Sept. 11, everyone wants survivalists' advice: Inquiries flood web
sites: 'All of a sudden ... I became real smart and mainstream'
Jonathon Gatehouse
National Post

10/03/2001
National Post

National
A03
(c) National Post 2001. All Rights Reserved.

Long derided as kooks and wackos, North American survivalists are finding
vindication in the Sept. 11 terror attacks, as a frightened public seeks
out information and equipment to protect their families from chemical and
biological strikes.

Sales of bomb shelters are booming and traffic on Web sites that preach the
inevitability of the apocalypse is at an all time high.

"For so long, anyone interested in defence issues was labelled as a
right-wing radical nut," Sharon Packer, owner of Utah Shelter Systems, an
American manufacturer of survival systems, said yesterday. "All of a sudden
three weeks ago, I became real smart and mainstream."

Ms. Packer, whose company also distributes elaborate Swiss-made air filters
that claim to offer protection against toxic chemicals and malignant
microbes, is now fielding as many calls in a week as she used to in a
month. Since Sept. 11, she said, the firm has sold six of its blast-proof
steel huts, at prices ranging from US$16,000 to US$34,000, and more than
two dozen of its US$5,000 filter packs.

"I'm getting a lot of calls from New York and Virginia," said Ms. Packer.
"It's mostly people I've never talked to before."

Many customers are looking to upgrade 1950s-vintage fallout shelters,
adding protection against more modern threats. Ms. Packer, said her clients
are generally professionals. "Survivalists don't have this kind of money,"
she said.

The new-found willingness of American politicians to openly discuss
worst-case scenarios -- on Sunday, Tommy Thompson, U.S. Health and Human
Services Secretary, told 60 Minutes his government has stockpiled enough
antibiotics to treat two million people for 60 days in the event of an
anthrax attack -- also appears to have caused a virtual stampede to
Internet sites and chat groups dedicated to sharing survival knowledge.

Bruce Beach, a retired Ontario school teacher who owns what is perhaps
North America's largest private bunker -- a complex of 42 buried school
buses -- said traffic on his Web pages is off the scale.

"I get more e-mails in a day now than I used to get in a year," said Mr.
Beach.

Two well known American survivalist sites have been shut down because the
overwhelming number of people trying to log on was crashing servers, he
added.

Mr. Beach said most of the people contacting him are looking for very
specific advice -- where they can move to be safe or what they need to
survive an all-out war.

Although his shelters were recently welded shut by court order after the
Ontario Fire Marshall deemed them a hazard, Mr. Beach said he and the 50 or
so people in his group are at a high state of readiness. "We're more
prepared than you can comprehend."

A search of the Internet reveals similarly heightened interest in other
survivalist Web sites.

The "Survival and Preparedness" chat room hosted by the Dominion Group,
another Canadian organization, has 437 posted messages.

"Is it better to dig a cave verses a whole (sic) covered three feet with
earth?" a visitor using the name Mentor4U, asked earlier this week.

The survivalring.org, a series of information pages and links run by a
Wyoming McDonald's manager, claims to be receiving several hundred hits a
day.

"Get your butts in gear and get some personal storage around you -- a
backpack, an athletic bag, a big purse -- and keep at least a litre bottle
of water, personal meds, some storable food, copies of important personal
docs, a pocket radio/TV, flashlight, batteries, contact names and numbers
of your loved ones," reads a recent entry from Richard Fleetwood, the
webmaster. "Keep your pack/bag with you AT ALL TIMES."

Even official government disaster planning bodies are reporting a surge in
interest.

The Department of National Defence's Office of Critical infrastructure
Protection and Emergency Preparedness, says requests for information have
soared. "The same thing happened with Y2K," said Tom Kelly, an information
officer. "It's a big awareness thing."

# # #

Yes, in an HOUR long phone interview with Mr. Gatehouse, all that he got from the conversation was NOTHING....the snippet he mentions in the article above, comes from a recent UPDATE to the SurvivalRing homepage. Nothing mentioned about simply preparing for things such as storms, natural disasters, accidents, health emergencies...only PREPARE NOW ( for the next terrorist attack ).

Thanks, Mr. Gatehouse. At least you got the URL right, for my website. Now, thousands of folks who take the time, can get a HECK of a lot more information then you could EVER give in a THOUSAND of your articles.

Folks, bad stuff happens..Current trend infers mostly terrorist threat, by way of warning from OUR Ameican government....

*I* am listening...I hope YOU are, too...

Richard
Founder of SurvivalRing

2001-10-04T08:23:00.000-06:00

It's been a couple of weeks since the WTC attack, and the world has shifted to a much more serious, tension filled, atmosphere. Things are different...everywhere. The feelings of safety, of trust, of freedom have all been tightened to the point of snapping.

Everyday events have taken on a tinge of "is THIS another terrorist attack?", such as the Greyhound bus incident in Tennessee. Little things that were always taken for granted, aren't.

Personally, this paradigm shift has turned surreal for me. As happened with Y2k, I am getting several inquiries a week from reporters for newspapers, magazines, and news agencies....all looking for a unique perspective on current events, and how PREPAREDNESS and SURVIVAL afficianodoes are changing their habits and lives to take in the REAL threat of another terrorist attack on US soil. Last week was an interview in the largest newspaper in the state of Wyoming. Two days ago was a phone interview with a reporter with the CBS affiliate in Phoenix, Arizona. Yesterday were two emails from newspaper reporters, one in Canada and one in London.

All asking for thoughts on what normal, everyday people should do ...just in case. I've shared my feelings and my ideas as I have published on my website the past couple of years. I have also spent quite a bit of time thinking on what *I* can personally do to get the word out EVEN MORE than I have yet.

I've added a few new features to my website, the SurvivalRing. A custom BBS program is now online, as well as several Chem/Bio preparedness files, yet to be linked to, but ready to download. I have many other things in the works, all offering greatly enhanced features that make it that much easier to find REAL survival info for these trying times.

It is so wierd to be at the position that I am....seemingly the center of the survivalist/preparedness crossroads, helping people worldwide, connecting folks with like interests, offering info I spent YEARS collecting and studying.....all just to try to make a difference and save a few real human lives in times of disaster, by simply showing how to prepare for LIFE and its follies.

I feel good about what I am doing, and only rarely do the infantile minds rise from the dung heap of life to make salacious remarks and idle threats to me because of their inability to comprehend my work. The lack of sleep, the precious funds spent supporting the infrastructure and hardware, the constance barrage of email questions on details that come to the minds of visitors to my sites wanted MORE info yet...yes, they are ALL worthwhile.

I wake in the middle of the night, like this morning, my mind cranking away deep in thought of the mechanics and needs of NEW things to add, new ideas to reseach, and new functions to create or add to KEEP building my dream and website. Sometimes I can shut it down, and get back to sleep and precious rest...other times, like today, I get up after two hours of restless sleep and start writing, searching, and programming new things to make available.

I truly feel it is a calling....a commandment to me almost...to do these things....

Not many people will, or can, do these things I am doing right now. Even less would ever want to. But I do. Because I can....because I want to, and because there is global need for these things.

Maybe I feel more secure in my life because I spend so much time on and offline, thinking these thoughts of what to prepare for, how to prepare for, and where to go for whatever, and know that I can communicate on an incredibly planet wide scale...a mind-boggling thought at times.

Finding such tools as this weblog you are reading right now, and being able to have my thoughts online in mere moments of hitting the key of my laptop, instead of an hour or more of multiple program usage, ftp uploads, and page verifications....make it all the more important to KEEP thinking the way I am, of HELPING others in every thought and action.

Folks, the times are definitely changing. The world in a much more worrisome place than it was just a few short weeks ago. Civilization and society are absolutely going into a new paradigm of thought and action...and of consequence. War, possibly global again, is around the corner. tens of thousands of lives may evaporate in the next few weeks or months...in many lands...because of the WTC attack.

It is all we can do to keep our eyes open, our lips silent, and our prayers earnest. It is a time of introspection and deep concentration...and by God a time for preparing for the worst. In my lifetime of 41 short but full years, I have NEVER feared death...and still don't. However, I do fear for the future of the world if things get out of hand.

Why? Well, let us think for a moment. Nuclear weapons are a reality. What is NOT common knowledge is the fact that all those tactical nukes that the US had deployed over the past few decades, and were called HOME by Clinton during his time in office, have in fact, been redeployed out in the field, in small numbers, but deployed just the same. It is very possible that the manhunt for Bin Laden, and other terrorist factions may well see the use of nukes on earth ....again.

Escalation? Inevitable. Preparation? Required. Consequences? Dire.

People, if you don't think it can get any worse then the past few weeks, just wait. Stuff will surprise you more than you could ever imagine.

Just two words for you here and now......BE PREPARED. PLEASE.

Until the next update,
Yours in preparedness,
Richard

2001-09-15T04:12:00.000-06:00

Ground Zero Day....the World Trade Center...Survival...and all their entwined implications....PREPARE NOW.

I have spent most of the past 4 days since GROUND ZERO (9/11/01) working double shifts at work AND forwarding as much intel as I could go thru that I was receiving via MANY lists I am on. I also have had phone calls with folks across the country...including a friend who has spent YEARS with the NYFD.

In fact, today at my job as a manager of a McDonalds in Lander, Wyoming, two thirds of the way across the country, I met a couple who had left from Wisconson via plane to come to Wyoming to see the natural treasures of our state, who had had to drive most of the way after the nation's airlines were grounded. Elderly and retired, they were enjoying their life together on this trip, and had PERSONALLY been affected by this unspeakable crime. Their closest friend had a sister who was in Tower 2 when it collapsed, who had been on the phone saying goodbye when the line went dead. The tears in this woman's eyes were real...truly torn...as her voice cracked and softened telling my boss and I about the event. So sad...so tragic...all too real.

I have the following info to share ... as told to me by someone I IMPLICITLY trust..someone I have known for years, and someone with the most outstanding background I know...of all the thousands of folks I have met in thru my online journey, as well as offline.

The word is, as short and sweet as possible...

DON'T DRINK THE WATER.

That is it...that is all *I* have been told....can be told, and have been requested to forward.

You may have heard about some dams in Colorado and Nevada being patrolled, or in some cases, roads over them SHUT DOWN, or extremely guarded...this is happening nationwide.

Yes, the folks behind the horrible atrocities at GROUND ZERO (what Lower Manhattan is NOW being called) are the sneaky, zealot, anti-American idealists who will die to kill as many of their enemies as they can take with them, and yes, their hijackings and following murders of possibly 20,000 people in the WTC towers is just the opening volley, in a long, bloody, deadly, and PERSONAL attack to help THEM...these rotten treacherous bastards, make their own worthless journey to Allah all that much more appealing to Allah.

Their precious Holy Jihad....brought to our shores and now spread with OUR blood....has opened opened up the heavens above to the MOTHER of ALL JIHADS. That of the AMERICAN JIHAD against TERRORISTS WORLDWIDE.

The ease in which BioChem attacks can be perpetrated by ANYONE is horribly easy...the ability to do it cheaply, quietly, silently, in darkness, and in municipal water systems NATIONWIDE in mere moments of quick and silent death, with one man able to kill hundreds, thousands, or more...with a single container of poison....in just ONE large metropolitan water supply......the utter thought of it staggers the imagination. The mere possibility of it weakens every knee.

SO...now is the time.....the time to PREPARE. You should NOT have to ask why....especially now.

I suggest everyone reading this list now, either by being on the list, or receiving it via forwarding do the following...

1. Know your friends...and help them.

2. Know your enemies...the real ones....and help support a full, frontal, FINAL assault when our nation GOES FOR IT.

3. Get your butts in gear and get some PERSONAL storage around you...a backpack, an athletic bag, a big purse...and keep AT LEAST a liter bottle or more of water, personal meds, some storable food, COPIES of important personal docs and info, a pocket radio/TV, flashlight, extra batteries for each, contact names and numbers of your loved ones and where you MIGHT find them AT ANY TIME, one extra set of clothing(pants,tshirt,underwear), plenty of CASH ( hidden, where you know but others won't), and anything else you simply cannot live without, that will fit into your bag/pack.

4. KEEP your pack/bag with you at ALL TIMES. Either in your locker, under your desk, in your car, or ON YOUR SHOULDER. Do NOT let it out of your sight if you can avoid it.

5. Pay attention as often as possible to LOCAL radio stations. Every radio station in America is part of the National Warning System, and local EMA and public safety officials will have ready and full access INSTANTANEOUSLY, when needed. Listen for warning tones, and stop and listen.

6. Help if you can, in real situations, and GET OUT OF THE WAY if you can't.

7. TRY to develop a plan of action SHOULD THE NEED ARISE for evacuation to safer areas. Have a place to go, a way to get there, and the physical energy to fight to what ever degree is required to SURVIVE the situation.

8. Practice SITUATIONAL AWARENESS. Know what the threats are, where they will come from, and how YOU can avoid them. Watch the weather, watch the news, watch the strangers, and watch OVER your family. YOU may be the only thing between life and death for someone close to you...IF you are paying attention.

It is all too real now, folks....death has struck this nation from afar, and right under the bloodied noses of our fearless leaders. Will they be able to DEFEND THE HOMELAND from any more vicious attacks? Time will tell.

Will more in this nation die from this diabolical and heinous evil faction that has now befouled our shores...our mainland...our homes, and is probably spreading as we speak? Probably.

Will we.....the rightful heirs of the freedom our forefathers gave birth to, fought.. and died for, take this assault and just lay down and let our heritage be overrun by hate and fear? No....never....ever.

Will YOU....the average American....the one who pays the bills....the taxes...the cost of rebuilding the destruction so far wrought, and to come....will YOU fight for our nation....when and if it actually, totally, comes to YOUR town...your neighborhood...your front door? You bet your sweet ass.

The world knows what this sleeping, yawning giant can do....has done....will do. It knows from whence we come, from what we've borne, from where we've helped. It knows that the near and distant future is about to be a frightful thing, for all. Fear will visit many doors, maybe all.

The world will darken and seem to shrink in small and large ways, as America buries its dead .... sheds a million tears .... says goodbye to those who've left .... then stands up, dusts itself off, straightens its red, white and blue tie, pulls its sleeves up to its elbows, and deafens the planet as 100 million triggers are cocked, hats are pulled down, eyes narrowed, and assorted asses kicked.

It may well tremble at what we all know COULD happen...should buttons, be punched, missiles launched, shelter sought. The world KNOWS that we, as Americans, want swift and assured justice....revenge.....simply, assuredly, completely. We well dole it out in measures....but big heaping, steaming ones at that. And the world will know that should this ever happen again....after our reply....that no one will ever want to try our mettle again.

Beauty....freedom....safety....have all been here. And they will return. We WILL, as Americans......ASSURE the world of this. And Make It So. And not just for OUR land....

Behold, foul and wretched demons of hell on earth to those who perished. Methinks you do not yet know what Real Hell is .....

Yet.

But you will.

By God, You will........

God may have mercy on your souls....

But America...and Americans.....will NOT.

Richard Fleetwood
rafleet@aol.com
Founder - SurvivalRing
http://www.survivalring.org

2001-09-14T23:45:00.000-06:00

Hi, to all those who wander this way....traveling on a little foot path from my big ol' website, to a small corner I will consider a hidden place...a quiet place. A place to sit and think on those things that happen in a day...a week...or a month. Those things that happen to modify or shift the bigger picture...things that affect my world in small or big ways. Or yours.....things that affect us all, really.

My goal in creating, maintaining, and continually adding to the SurvivalRing in many shapes and forms, is to create a historical archive of information not easily found in the world. Information, data, thoughts, suggestions, commentary, warnings, and more....all having to do with the ultimate goal....staying alive in absolutely ANY situation that affects life, health, or family in dark and recurring ways. Natural, manmade, accidental or not....too many ways to die or get hurt...where quick thought and action would make the difference of life or death.

Some things you just can't see until it is too late...but most you can. Cyclical....natural...or full of portence from previous similar experiences.

Deja vu...intuition...or outright threat. ANYTHING that can kill you, can also NOT by YOU paying more attention in life and activity. I study every possible tangent and node I come across in my travels to compile my survival and preparedness data. I find things you have NEVER heard about that in some small way could help you if you spent a few minutes processing the new info into your life and thinking....just thinking...what would YOU do...if it happened to you.

I am hear to help, and want to. I have much to share, and will. I will always try....and so should you...to help anyone else with anything I can....because I can.

Stop here every so often and rest a while...think on my thoughts...and maybe raise some of your own. It might bode well for all of us if we can do for each other what we should do for ourselves....

Richard