Anyone Can Track You: Make changes where you can to protect yourself

In this day and age a person can be tracked any where and a majority of it is self inflicted. Take a look: http://news.yahoo.com/report-nsa-broke-yahoo-google-data-centers-171452135--finance.html While I'm sure you're all aware of the NSA spying its apparent that the net is much larger than anyone ever though. So with all of the spying that our government believes is necessary lets look at some ways to negate it.

1. Unplug

While not practical, just turn it off. Turn off the phone and the laptop. They cant track what isn't there. But lets be honest. If you function in the day-to-day rat race this isn't really possible.

2. Limit what you share

Lock your social media sites down. Review your settings on a regular basis on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, etc. Facebook is notorious for changing these settings without letting folks know.  There is also facial recognition software operating in the background of facebook. If your settings arent set properly you could be caught in the background of a photo and facebook could recommend that you be tagged in a random persons picture because it recognizes you face.

3. Turn off your phones location services

Take 10 seconds and turn off your location services on your phone. If you let it your phone will relay your location 24/7. While the only fool proof way to stop this is to turn the phone off and remove the battery, turning the GPS function off will help.

4. Get a Stupid Phone

If smart phones scare the hell out of you go to Walmart and get a pay as you go phone and use that. These don't have GPS and the aren't tied to you personally. I like to keep a pay as you go phone as a back up in the event that I ever need to have a phone and don't want my number recognized. Push comes to shove I toss the phone and get a new one for around $15.

These are just a few options. If you dive in and do some research you'll be scared to death of what is possible. We will come back to this topic at some point but until then Stand Up and Survive!

Hedging My Bets with Gold

So most preppers arent big fans of the stock market and I can understand why. Typically, its a monstrosity that is influenced by politicians and a$$holes with money. While I dont really like the whole situation either I recognize the fact that the stock market is about the most effective way to make your dollar grow over time. Stop and think about it for a second. Overall the politicians are going to do everything in their power to make sure they make money and that their buddies make money if its within their power to do so, so get on the train and ride.

Currently the stock market is enjoying record highs which allows the pessimists/realists of the world, like ourselves, a great opportunity. Stock market 101: If stocks are on a roll, generally speaking, money safe havens like gold are cheap. Now, if you are a prepper you naturally believe that things at some point are going to come crashing to a halt. Now, there are only so many beans, bullets, and bandaids that you can buy. Take some time and look into buying a gold ETF now.

An ETF is an exchange traded fund and is bought and sold like a stock but is actually a fund that consists of many stocks to allow for diversification. Right now the IAU iShares Gold Trust is around 12.50 a share. A few months ago it was trading at an all time high of $20 per share. I fully believe that we're going to get trapped into this government shutdown nonsense in a few months again anyway. The stock market will fall off its current record highs and the sheeple will start hiding their money again. When this happens gold will go back up and you can make a few extra bucks.

We as preppers tend not to follw the sheeple and are pessimists in general. We might as well try to profit a little off of this screwed up contraption that we call government and the stock market. Besides, who wouldn't like a few extra bucks to put toward a new Barrett .50 right???

Trying to Avoid the Doctor

So I went this past Saturday and signed up for Weight Watchers. I have done WW in the past and had great results but the holidays would usually derail me. I'm hoping that since I signed up in late October my enthusiasm will carry me to the New Year and then I can ride the surge of resolution setters until spring. My starting weight was 227 which for me isnt terribly out of line. Not good mind you but it has been 20 lbs higher before in the past! Its no big deal really. I like WW because I know that there will be someone waiting for me at the end of the week and the scale won't lie. I'm the type of person that if I'm not held accountable then it doesn't get done. I'd love to get down around 195. I've been lifting pretty heavy so if I can get down to 195 I ought to be pretty stout. Anyway.... that has been my latest change. I'll start posting the weigh ins. Wish me luck!

Need a Reason to Start Prepping?

Here you go! A co-worker sent me this today. http://www.ksla.com/story/23679489/walmart-shelves-in-springhill-mansfield-cleared-in-ebt-glitch There are a few lessons here. One, be prepared because you never know when the masses of asses are going to go nuts. Two, this was just an opportunistic raid. Had it been an emergency this would have gotten nasty, Three, if the government ever shutsdown to the point where food stamps stop these are the folks who will take to looting and theft because its easier. Theyve been living on a free ride too long. They would rather take than earn. Four, own and carry guns. When the Walmart runs out the same people you see here will start going door to door. You need to show them that the only hand outs you will be providing is hot lead. That is all.

More Government Non-sense

I'm sure that everyone has noticed that the government seem to be making a mountain out of a mole hill once again. I mean, how hard is it to understand that you cannot spend more than you bring in or else you're going to have long term problems? I must not be enlightened enough to understand how higher level economics work.

The government shutdown needs to be a wake up call for Americans everywhere. If you rely on the government for anything I suggest you start trying to figure out how to unplug to avert your on personal shut down. I just wrote an entry about how this shutdown has a silver lining on my other blog:

 http://makingachangeonedayatatime.blogspot.com/

Check it out. I have to warn you though that I'm trying to have a more positive outlook on life with this new blog. As far as Stand Up goes I reserve my hard core conservative views for it and in the spirit of hard core conservative beliefs invest in lead and brass and dole it out liberally when the time comes.