Prepare Yourself - Project 2 - Survival Bracelets

Well, I'm hoping you had plenty of time to try out Project 1 - Firearm Finishing, or are obtaining the necessary supplies to start the Project. Its now time to discuss different survival techniques that can and will come in handy in the event of a Zombie Apocalypse, natural disaster, mass destruction of the Union, a camping trip, getting lost in the mountains or being stranded on an island. Actually, I have found these survival bracelets handy in many different instances around the house and city, maybe you need to tie something down on the go and don't have access to rope. This project is fun and a necessary skill to learn. You have probably seen these Paracord Bracelets, Survival Bracelets or Cobra Knots as they are called by different people, no matter what you call it or where you get it, it serves one purpose, to store a substantial amount of rope in a fashionable accessory, quickly and easily accessible from your wrist.

Legend has it that these bracelets were first invented by our troops in Desert Storm. Paracord is used for many odd jobs around base where our troops are stationed and it comes in handy for almost anything. The reason why it is used as a rope substitute is simple, it does not fade, it does not rot or mildew, it floats on water, and it has a 550lb breaking point per a single cord. Your average bracelet will produce 10' to 15' of rope when taken apart. With that said paracord might just become your new best friend! Doubling and tripling up paracord or tying specific knots with it, just makes it that much stronger. I've seen some wild projects using paracord, toe straps to pull Army Jeeps out of quick sand, belts, hammocks, guitar straps, bracelets, necklaces, watches, weapons (monkey's fist), cat toy, and more! The possibilities are endless and the uses are limitless, it comes in any color imaginable and many different variations of camo's, multi-colors and stripes, it is also cheaper than most string and rope used for similar purposes. 100' runs about $8 to $10 with 300' running $12 to $15. It can be purchased in 25', 50', 100', 300' and 1000' increments from many different suppliers. The best place to obtain paracord locally is any Army Surplus store and sometimes craft stores will have a small selection. Online there are many suppliers but my favorite is Parachute-Cord.biz a sister website of Armed Forces Outfitters. This is my favorite because they offer 80 different colors and patterns, a few different sized buckles for bracelet projects, and they ship quickly for a great price! Honestly, their selection and service can not be beat by any of the other suppliers on the web.  Amazon also offers a small selection in different lengths, search: parachute cord.

Project 2 - Survival Bracelets

There are hundreds of different styles to choose from when tying these Survival Bracelets, for simplicity and to teach you the basics we will be tying the most basic of all knots, and the easiest to untie in the event that you need rope. This is the original bracelet that started it all! Note, all other knots for creating survival type bracelets and accessories are not made to be untied, some are made to add strength for tasks like towing a car, while most are purely for looks. If you are wanting to make a true survival bracelet, that looks good, and can be untied when needed, this is the knot to tie.

I purchased a Paracord Starter Kit from Cheaper Than Dirt to learn the art of paracord knot tying. It included, 50' of Black Paracord, 3 or 4 buckles and instructions to create these bracelets. These instructions are by far the best I have found to date so I have included them here. First, you will need to pick the colors you would like to use, for this project, the bracelet can be made from one or two different colors, no more. You will also need a buckle of some sort, 1/2" and 5/8" work best for these size bracelets. Remember, click on any picture to view an enlarged copy.

My collection of Paracord that I use for bracelets and other projects.

Different size buckles. The bags are full of buckles from Parachute-Cord.biz. They come 50 to a bag for $5.

Alright for the instructions. I forgot to mention you will also need some way to measure your wrist, a measuring tape of any kind will suffice. Measure your wrist and then on the chart below, find that measurement and use the lengths provided to cut your paracord appropriately.

Now follow the steps in the pictures provided to create the bracelet. Written Instructions and photos are included.

  

When done the finished product should look like these

Some of the paracord bracelets I have made, notice some have buckles and some have ball and loop knots on the ends. This is an example of another style of paracord knot. I will discuss advanced paracord knot tying in another project toward the end of the month.

Arm Yourself - Project 1 - Firearm Finishing

The single most important thing anyone can do in preparation for any type of disaster is to be armed. That's right, keep one up in the chamber, all of your mags loaded, and a small supply of extra ammo on hand and easily accessible to anyone in your house or group that is qualified to use the weaponry.  Notice, I said qualified to use the weaponry. If you are a live by yourself, then you could keep a gun in every drawer of the house, as long as you aren't expecting guests anytime soon. If you have young children that have not used a gun then you will have to take a different approach so as to keep everyone in the house safe. I know children can and I believe they should be taught how to properly handle a weapon, whether it be a gun, machete, or a grenade, if its in your house and you expect that they might have to use it at some point then they need to know how to use it. However, this is a different subject for another day as every parent will have their own ideas on teaching gun handling and safety to their kids so I will not go into too much detail here.  Different people will have different perspectives on how to raise children around guns and I am not one to tell you how it should be done, but I will say, be smart and be safe.

During any disaster you should be armed. Some of you reading this might only own one firearm and that is fine, you need to learn to use it well, field strip it for cleaning and have the ability to assemble it again in the dark or blind folded if necessary. Some reading this might have the luxury to pick and choose the weapon based on the circumstances and task at hand.  Either way, your gun needs to be tailored for the environment in which you will be using it to defend yourself or to put food on your plate.  For the rest of the month, all of the posts about Emergency Preparedness and the Zombie Apocalypse, will be tailored for a worst case scenario, which is what everyone should prepare for even if the worst thing you experience is a small tornado that runs through the adjacent city or a hurricane that makes landfall 200 miles from your home. It could be a hell of a lot worse than that.

State of the Union

Here is the disaster that we will prepare for - a global disaster that causes widespread power outages, mass looting and rioting, downed cellular/tv/radio towers, and mass hysteria in general.  All governments declared military rule a couple months back, but the few remaining troops have not heard from any of the countries leaders in a few weeks and are now taking the law into their own hands. Most fire and police departments have disbanded and their offices have been looted. Some of the nations jails have been broken open while other, max-security prisons are running on backup power with a 24 hour lockdown in place, all inmates are locked in cells, and all prison guards have fled the premises.  No stores are open for business, Wal-Marts, gas stations, and all other stores are constantly being looted, people are entering at all hours and taking whatever they need. Pharmacies have been closed and most have been looted, those needing medications have died or will die if they do not have access to extra meds. Hospitals have been turned into shelters and field triage centers, some have the luxury of having a few National Guardsmen, with what little supplies they have left, stationed on the premises. Since most of the country has no power, gas stations can't pump gas, traffic lights are out, no one drives the streets due to the millions of cars stopped in the roads.  Some of America's houses still have running water, but it is starting to turn brown - the only one's with clean, running water live in smaller towns close to a lake or have access to their own well water.  All communications have been compromised, cell phones do not get signal, Televisions and radios receive one broadcast if they are even capable of picking it up, it is an emergency signal sent out by the government, it varies based on where you live, some people are being told to evacuate, some are being told to stay indoors. Many of America's major cities have been destroyed, and cities that do stand are not functioning and in decay, as city services and maintence are non-exsistent and garbage continues to litter the environment. American's have not heard from out President or anyone from the White House in a couple of months, the last we knew he took to the sky in Air Force 1 minutes before DC was destroyed.  It is estimated that less than 100 million Americans are still alive, hundreds if not thousands die each day many because of starvation the rest due to the lack of medical services and clean water. Before the disaster began the United States population was 311.5 million strong.

What has been described is the State of the Union that we will be preparing for this month. It will not be easy to survive these hard times, it will take strong people with strong minds and people with different skill sets will have to band together in order to survive and start to rebuild. Keep the above in mind as you complete the projects and read the different posts this month. Good luck and God Bless!

Project 1 - Firearm Finishing

As you can see it is a mess, and those that are armed are the ones that are surviving. Since I will be on foot and walking to meet my family who live 700 miles away, my weaponry and supplies have been customized for this journey. Everything of mine has to be packed in waterproof storage so that it does not ruin in the event of rain.  I have decided that the majority of my travels will be done in wooded areas, through National and State Forests, and Mountain ranges. I have customized my rifle for this environment by applying a waterproof, rustproof, scratchproof, and chemical resistant, bake-on coating of Coyote Tan Alumahyde II  available from my favorite supplier, Brownells. Due to the nature of the disaster, gun parts will be hard to find, so I have to make sure all the internals of the rifle can survive long periods of extended fire and severe abuse from the environment without wearing out or breaking. I had the bolt carrier group and hammer Exo Coated by FailZero. Exo Coat is harder than chrome and self lubricating, so the rifle will never have to be oiled and the internals will last for more than 950,000 rounds of firing!

Disassembly and Cleaning

The gun must be completely disassembled and cleaned. I used Gun Scrubber to degrease everything and remove carbon deposits. You might find this pointless if you clean your guns as well as I after every shooting, but trust me, if the firearm has been function checked there will be carbon somewhere, plus all that oil you applied after cleaning it has to come off. Anywhere oil and carbon are left, the paint will flake right off instead of setting into the pores of the metal (not good). After everything had been degreased, I bagged up all the internals so that I wouldn't loose any of those little springs and pins necessary for the gun to fire. I then took only the main pieces of the gun that I wanted to apply the coating to and put them in the dishwasher.  Your wife or girlfriend may object to this at first but it is completely harmless and will make that gun sparkle like her champagne flutes!  Use both racks, heavy parts on bottom, lighter weight stuff on top. I placed the quad rail, disassembled upper and lower receivers, disassembled stock, and pistol grip into the washer. Add a little powder cascade or whatever other fine dishwashing detergent is used at your house and run the dishwasher on a pot and pan cycle! For an added cleaning effort, I sprayed Shout laundry stain remover on every part after it was placed into the dishwasher and before I started the wash cycle, this helps to ensure all the grease and dust particles come off.  You do not want to let the gun stay in the dishwasher for the full length of the washers cycle as the heat dry can cause rust to form in a matter of minutes that would normally take a couple of years! I stopped the dishwasher a few minutes after the dry cycle had started so that the parts were soaked with water. I gave everything a final rinse in the sink and then hand dried everything with a kitchen towel.

Metal Prep

I purchased a brand new stripped lower for this project. I relocated from Northwest Arkansas, where I grew up, to Houston, Texas two years ago and found a new favorite gun store, SOG Armory, located off E Beltway South just south of 59 (take the Airport Blvd exit). SOG manufactures their own lowers and AR-15s here in Houston. No matter where on Earth guns are manufactured, they must be stamped with the city they hail from. So, all of SOG's lowers are stamped Houston, TX. Check out these two photos, you'll see the SOG logo engraved in the first and a close up of the Houston, TX engraving in the second pic. As you can see, SOG manufactures these lowers to standard US Military specifications which adhere to NATO specs as well, so one can conclude that these lowers, made in Houston, are interchangeable with any AR-15/M16/M4 and it's parts no matter where on this planet they were made, as long as they too were made to Mil-Spec standards (which most are - 99.998% being most).

Close up of entire SOG Armory stripped lower receiver for manufacturing a rifle or pistol chambered in 5.56mm/.223

This is just a close up of the manufactured location engravings on a SOG lower - H-TOWN!

Moving on to the details of Metal Prep so that you can begin coating your gun with the appropriate finish for the environment you will be fighting to survive, you will need to gather you sandpapers! I had a collection of Wet/Dry Sandpaper on hand for metal and wood from some Automotive fiberglass and Bondo projects I had done years back, I found that the higher grits available on Wet Auto Sandpapers were ideal for this project. You can pick these up your local auto parts store and I did acquire some 800 grit from Home Depot in the paint department. The following grits are necessary for this step: 220, 400, 600, 800, 1000 or 1200. To save some cash you can substitute the 600 grit for 800 or vis-a-versa but to achieve the ideal finish use all grits in the order listed above. These automotive sandpapers are typically black in color.

The lower the grit the more material removed, the surface of a brand new lower that was cleaned along with all the other parts only needs to be sanded lightly with the highest grit paper you have on hand. I used 1200. This did not remove the Mil-Spec black finish it merely softened the surface for me. Be sure to wipe the lower off thoroughly, use air duster or an air compressor to ensure there is no dust left as this will cause the finish to bubble. The lower is done once clean, set it aside as you will need to coat all parts at once so as to ensure an even and matching color across all.

My quad rail needed the most sanding as it was a used part and has seen some action it is day. I started removing the Mil-Spec black finish with the 220 grit paper went over all edges to ensure that any blemishes in the metal, from attaching accessories to the rail, were smoothed out. DO NOT REMOVE THE ENTIRE FINISH!! You just want to scuff up the original finish so that the new finish has something to stick to, you can remove the original finish and expose the bare aluminum but I do not recommend this as it can rust much quicker. Plus having a Mil-Spec coating under your new finish just makes the guns coating that much more impermeable to the elements.  Continue to move up in grits until there are no deep scratches, the finish is even and grey in color from scuffing the black finish up. The edges and grooves of the rail should be smooth. I forgot to mention earlier but will now, if your rail has white T markings on it, you do not want to remove these so just use higher grit papers in these grooves (600/800/1000/1200 are adequate). These markings are laser engraved into the metal and then a paint is applied to give them the white appearance. It may not appear to have depth but these markings are engraved in the metal so there is some depth to them, you DO NOT want to sand the depth out of these, you'll see why once the project is done.  The rail is done and can be set aside.

Using the same techniques as described above you will want to do every metal part that is going to coated with the new finish. Plastic parts, like the pistol grip do not need to be sanded unless they are smooth in texture then the sanding will help roughen up the plastic so that the new finish will stick better. The butt stock should be sanded with a high grit paper just to remove any protective coating applied and to allow the paint to stick easier. I completely disassembled my Magpul Buttstock taking all the screws out. This allowed me to paint what I wanted so that when I put it back together all the screws were still black and so was the rubber buttpad, it gave it a really cool look!

Applying Some Color

On to the finish. Applying the paint can be difficult especially since the entire part being coated must be coated at once, so you can conclude that the part can not be sitting on any one side as you won't want to touch the part until it has completely cured.  The best way I found to paint the parts was by turning the garage into a paint booth.  I used invisble thread (fishing line with a really low test, so that it is thinner, makes a great substitue) to suspend some parts from the garage rafters to where they were at eye level. Most every part on a firearm will have some hole that you can feed the line through. On an AR you can use the takedown pin holes or screw holes on the rails. I drove long skinny nails into some of the studs and placed the pistol grip on one and hung smaller pieces of the quad rail on others. I even made some stands out of wood to place parts on so that they could be moved into the sunlight to cure.  Depending on what type of coating you will be using, there should be instructions on the finish instructing you on how to apply it. Since I used Brownells Aluma-hyde II I will be using it as an example. It took two cans of Coyote Tan Aluma-hyde II to complete one AR-15. I had purchased a can of clear but it turned the Tan color to an Olive Green so I discontinued its use, sanded the part I applied it to and refinished with the Tan. Don't make the same mistake I did.

 

As you can see by the pics above, instructions are posted on the back of the aerosol cans. I also purchased more spray nozzles and was very glad I did as Gasoline, Paint Thinner, and Mineral Spirits will not remove this finish from the nozzles, since it is a very thick coating (probably due to its scratch resistant properties) it clogs nozzles quickly. Having extras on hand is a must

That is everything you need to know to start and finish this project. Now check out pics I took as I did this project. FYI - Click on any picture in this post and anyother post to see the pic in full resolution and at its highest quality. You may save any picture in this post to your computer, if you would like to use them in anyway for profit, please contact me first so that I can be made aware of what pictures you will be using. Thanks!

I removed the plug on the grip before painting so that it would have the bi-tone effect

Notice the rubber buttpad has been removed

I did not want the buttpad painted so that I could achieve the bi-tone effect here as well

Same as the pistol grip, I did not paint the buffer tube.

When re-finishing a firearm it provides an excellent opportunity to change out parts for upgraded ones as you have the entire gun disassembled. I purchased this Tactical Charging Handle Lever from SOG Armory for about $8 USD. It was a PITA to install, I chipped the finish on the Charging Handle and had to refinish it entirely. Lesson learned - don't attempt reassembly until the entire finish has completely cured.

The finished product, completely reassembled. The color, Coyote Tan, was exactly what I was trying to achieve. I also wanted the bi-tone coloring black/coyote tan and it turned out exactly how pictured in my mind, if not better. Guntastic!

Angled view of the new finish on AR-15

Close up of Lower and Upper Receiver equipped with Mil-Spec Black finished parts

Top: Complete Billet AR-15 w/ 16" Diamond Fluted Barrel in Mil-Spec Black Finish. Bottom: Mil-Spec 16" M4 Contour Barreled AR-15 in Aluma-hyde II Coyote Tan Finish.  Both guns features KNS Non-Rotating Pins and JP Enterprises Lightweight Springs, creating a crisp and clean trigger break.

Notice the top AR-15 is built on a Side Charging Upper and equipped with a Young Manufacturing Chromed Side Charging Bolt Carrier Group. The Tan AR-15 on the bottom is equipped with FailZero's Exo Coated Bolt Carrier Group which is self lubricating eliminating the need for any oil or lubricants, EVER and the Exo Coating is 10x harder than Chrome so it exhibits almost no wear even with long periods of sustained full-auto firing.

FailZero's Exo Coated Bolt Carrier Group

Another view of the FZ Exo Coated BCG

The Zombie Virus

Hey you, yeah you, before you read this article I want to give you a heads up! Would you like to learn more along the way? If not then you shouldn't be here in the first place, thats right, get lost. Alright, those wanting to get educated, check it out, I have created many "hot words" within the blog, these "hot words" are links, click on them and they will open another page, outside of the blog and tell you more about that particular word. Some words will take you to wikipedia, some take you to that companies website, if it is a product that is being mentioned you can click the word and you will find yourself able to purchase that product within minutes! Pretty cool huh? Yeah, yeah enough instructions, go on, start learning about Zombies why don't you.

 Background Info

Everywhere you look these days you will see something about Zombies! They are making movies about Zombies, TV Shows about Zombies, writers are writing books about Zombies, while illustrators are drawing up comic books about Zombies. Even Corporate America has the Zombie craze! Many big businesses, manufacturers, wholesalers, and distributors are aligning their products, services, and advertisements so that it has something to do with Zombies.  Now, for people that have been avid Zombie fans since the days of Resident Evil (the first Resident Evil not the 5th or 6th film that is now in 3D at the movie theater), Zombies are nothing new, in fact our Zombie craze has been going on for 10+ years.....maybe longer! Resident Evil is an excellent series of films that best describes what will happen to America and other parts of the world as the Zombie virus continues to spread. This is the part where I ask, if you have not seen any of the Resident Evil films, where is this rock that you have been living under located and what cool things did you guys do there for fun the last several years?? So, with that question asked, if you have not seen any of the Resident Evil films or played any of the video games, do yourself a favor - educate yourself. Go out today, Now, as soon as your done reading this article and buy Resident Evil. The original film was released in 2002 and followed up in 2004 by Resident Evil: Apocalypse, which was then followed by in 2007 by Resident Evil: Extinction, which was of course followed by Resident Evil: Afterlife in 2010, and the newest film which is about to be released this year is Resident Evil: Retribution. Wow, a mouthful! I will warn you with out giving any spoilers, the first film was a little slow and a little cheesy, but its budget was ridiculously low as it was a movie being made after a video game. Most movies made from video games are complete flops and would never have a sequel, if they do have one, it wouldn't be one worthy of release in theaters, it would go straight to DVD.  Here is what I can say about Resident Evil:

First, and foremost, Milla Jovovich, who stars as Alice (main character, that the movie follows) in all of the Resident Evil films is one hot, zombie-ass kicking, heroine! So, if you don't care for Zombies, at least see the films to see this sexy babe blow some zombie's heads off with a pair of Uzi sub-machine guns! The only word that describes the actions she takes is "badass"!

Secondly, the story of Resident Evil is loosely based off a true-story. Now, I use the word loosely because somethings have been extremely exaggerated and all names, including the corporation and it's employees have been changed.

Lastly, as the series progresses the story only gets better, some really well known actors are introduced, and you will soon realize how much more realistic it is getting....as a matter of fact you will probably recall hearing some of the stories mentioned within the movie on the news not that long ago!

Some actors you can expect to see in the Resident Evil series:

Milla Jovovich

Michelle Rodriguez

Mike Epps

Ashanti

What is the Zombie Virus?

**Warning - What you are about to read can be graphic in nature and is recommended for a mature audience only. However, it is vital to know what you will be going up against in the case of a Zombie epidemic. Children should be equally educated on the topic as a means of survival.**

Good question. Before I tell you what it exactly is, I'm going to tell you where you can learn more about it. Besides the obvious source, Resident Evil, you could look up AMC's The Walking Dead, an excellent TV Show based upon a post-Zombie Apocalyptic United States, where only a handful of people scattered across the states has survived and have not been bitten....yet! The show follows a group of these survivors as they journey across the US looking for other survivors and a place to live out their remaining days without having to battle Zombies every waking second of each day. The Walking Dead, although based upon the same idea as Resident Evil, takes a slightly different approach to the Zombie virus and is also loosely based upon actual events. 

I have to take a time-out here. FYI - I do not have Dish Network, I subscribe to Comcast's Xfinity service. My parents have Dish but not for political reasons. I looked at getting Dish before I got Comcast but I wanted a service provider that could give me Internet, TV, Phone, Home Automation, and Home Alarm in one. Now, I don't utilize all of the services Comcast has to offer but I will at some point in my life. I like to stay with a company once I subscribe to their services, my cellular service is through AT&T and before they were bought by AT&T it was Cingular. I have been a loyal customer as they say for 9 years now. I feel you get treated a different way when a service rep of the company knows this. Anyways, I have strayed way off topic here, back to the Dish Network ordeal which is sort of off the topic of Zombies and has more of a political theme than anything but it is vital information that you NEED to know. I inform everyone I meet of the following story, and you should as well. So, If you have Dish Network and did not know this, they have dropped AMC from their lineup, only after moving it to channel 9345 without notice to their customers. Dish, a subsidiary of our primarily democratic government, was angry that The Walking Dead had been renewed for a third season, due to the nature of the subject of The Walking Dead, Dish was instructed by the President to remove AMC from their lineup. This is a coverup and another example of how the government attempts to control our lives! Don't believe me, read this excerpt from President Barack Obama's Press Conference in regards to Dish Network cancelling AMC from it's lineup -

"I am proud to announce today, that with recommendation from myself and my advisors Dish Network has agreed to drop AMC Networks from its current channel lineup. AMC has continued to wrong the American people by airing TV programs that are based entirely on lies. We saw this with the show Breaking Bad, where AMC taught American children how to create methamphetamine in their own homes using lab equipment that can be taken from any elementary school. AMC showed a complete disregard for human life when they renewed the show for another season, time and time again. AMC is responsible for the Methamphetamine Epidemic that plagues our country and continues to claim the lives of so many innocent Americans. We saw AMC attempt to brainwash Americans again with the show Mad Men that was renewed for a 6th Season despite Senate recommendations that it be cancelled entirely and no re-runs ever aired again. AMC ignored the United States Congress and aired this entirely fictional show depicting extreme sexual content while subliminally conveying their, Pro-Cigarette Smoking campaign, funded by Big Tobacco Companies, to our children. Again, research shows a direct correlation between AMC and the increase in youth tobacco use in the United States because of this TV show and its funding from companies like, Phillip Morris, RJ Reynolds, and American Tobacco. We saw AMC exploit my people - the African Americans, the Chinese and the American Indians in its new show, Hell on Wheels. It is this show that depicts the supremacy of the white-man and how he forced African American and Chinese slaves to build his railroad at gunpoint, while murdering American Natives so that his railroad could route through their lands! AMC then launched a show, The Walking Dead, in which it showed our Government, my Government, failing to stop the spread of a man-made virus created by the CDC. The Walking Dead's lies and anti-governement propaganda was the breaking point for myself and Dish Network. When AMC decided to renew The Walking Dead for a third season I asked Congress to pass legislation penalizing Dish if they did not cut the network from it's channel lineup. We did this to protect our country, its citizens, and our children from being exposed to any more of AMC's wrongdoings." - President Barack Obama, July 1st, 2012, 09:31:27 EST

Okay, so now that's been explained lets get back on topic. A book that everyone should read to learn more about the deadly Zombie virus is "The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead" written by Max Brooks (actor Mel Brooks' brother). The book can be found in the non-fiction section at any reputable book seller. I recommend Amazon.com for the purchasing of books.

Now that you are armed with the resources to learn more about the Zombie virus, I will begin to educate you on what exactly the Zombie virus is. After years of researching into the subject and reviewing many sources, what I am about to present to you is a consolidated knowledge of the Zombie virus. The Zombie virus, also referred to as the T-Virus by some sources, is known to be a man-made virus. Man-made by whom, I do not know, you will have to figure that out for yourself by doing your own research, but it is believed that either the CDC (Center for Disease Control) itself created the virus or a privately held corporation with Government funding created the virus. Which ever may be true, we do know that the virus does in fact exists and is safely locked away (for now) at the CDC's facility in California. It is at this facility that living and dead strains of every disease, virus, and bacteria known to man (some naturally occurring and some man-made) are held under strict quarantine procedures. People often ask, what is the reason for holding the Bubonic Plague that killed more than half the population of England a little more than a century ago? What if terrorist broke into this facility and stole this viruses and bacterias to use as weaponry? These concerns should be a concern of everyone of Earth's citizens, for we are not the only country in the world that practices this procedure (collecting viruses) as we are not the only country in the world that employs scientists whose sole job is to create the most deadly virus 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Viral warfare is possible and probably more likely that nuclear warfare will ever be. After all, somebody has to have an antibiotic or an antidote for these bad germs, there is no coming back after being Nuked! Research shows that the T-Virus does not kill you and bring you back from the dead all mutilated to feed on flesh, as it is common sense that it's not possible to bring someone back from the dead...yet. What the T-Virus does do though, is start to destroy it's host's cellular structure while keeping vital organs intact so that the host can live, this causes discoloration of the skin (hence the grey and leathery skin appearance of zombies). The T-Virus does cause it's host to crave living tissue and flesh, blood and organs for sustenance, therefore causing the infected to feast upon the living. The T-Virus causes insomnia in most of the hosts due to the elevated body temperature, cellular decay, and blood-borne pathogens transmitted when the host feeds on live flesh from another human being. It is speculated that this is the reason Zombie's move slowly, afterall, if you hadn't slept in weeks and your entire cellular make up was breaking down, you probably wouldn't move very fast either!

Currently there is no means of treating or curing those infected with the Zombie virus, and the only known way of eliminating the infected (preventing them from continuing to feed) is to destroy the brain's communication with the rest of the body, either by removing the infected's head from the rest of the body or scrambling brain matter until it can not function any more with bullets, ice picks, and screwdrivers or blunt objects like a baseball bat, crowbar, or by curb stomping the infected.

August Blogust

The Blog so Far

Much to my surprise the blog has been a bigger hit than I had expected. Unfortunately, only a few people have left comments and the majority of people are not discussing but, I have faith this will all happen in good time as more articles are posted. BTWTCF is recieving 150+ hits a day! 100 of those come from Windows PC's, 30 are using Mac's, 10 are using Mobile Phones, and the remaining 10 are mix-n-match Operating Systems such as Ubuntu, Linux, and Unix. I am glad blogspot keeps track and graphs all of this for me because these results are amazing! Now ~150+ hits is nothing compared to facebook but hey, for a blog that is barely a week old and it's existence was communicated by email, text and Facebook status updates to maybe 30 people, having the blog and its articles acessed 150 times daily is damn good in my book! My ultimate goal is to have it at 500 hits a day by the end of the year, I would love to have so much traffic that Google will require me to start paying for the bandwidth...and I'm going to get 500 hits a day I promise you that.

What's Happening in August, dude??

Okay enough with the technical details.  I have dedicated this month to one of my favorite topics and a very important one at that - Weapons and Preparedness.  You will enjoy reading articles and guides to help you prepare for Exodus or a Zombie Apocalypse.  Whether you are aware of the deadly T Virus or you are a skeptic, all of the articles, projects, products, pictures, videos, and links that will be discussed here at By the Way the Crow Flies, will help you and your loved ones survive any type of emergency. I will also help foster an understanding of the importance for disaster preparedness education, weapon knowledge, and basic survival techniques.  Be sure to check daily as I will be updating the blog on a daily basis and on weekends I hope to be able to update at least 2 times a day.
One last thing, something I have decided to start on the blog - I will be posting a daily quote. The quote will pertain in some way to what I have blogged or what kind of day I have had. You are in for a treat!