The Urban Survivalist

Hey, everyone. If you haven't noticed by now I've been focusing a lot on self defense lately. It seems to be almost completely ignored by people in preparedness circles. I can understand why. It takes a long time to get good at it. There's a lot of getting sweaty and rolling around with other sweaty people. It's pretty easy to get hurt. Especially, if you're just rolling around with your buddies in your backyard. Quality training is pretty expensive. Besides, why learn how to fight when you can just carry a gun? Realistically, though, there aren't too many situations that we should be prepping for that are more likely than getting jumped on the street and sometimes pulling a gun will get you in a lot more trouble than it's worth. Here are some really good videos on self defense basics. Stephan Kesting has a lot of BJJ videos online and he's one of the better "youtube instructors" that I've found. He sticks to the basics and he ...

Today I've got a guest post for you all. If you've got an idea for a guest post you can shoot me an email at artyboy at gmail dot com. If I like it then I'll post it up. Just make sure that it's original content and not something that's been posted on a million other blogs all over the internet please. Anyway, on to the post. About the Author: This article was written by 2MCCTV Surveillance , international supplier of surveillance cameras and complete systems . They offer complete security solutions for home and small to enterprise-level businesses. 1-877-926-2288 The past decade has been filled with natural disasters. These recent disasters have had drastic consequences on the environment and the people affected. Tsunamis and earthquakes destroyed homes and displaced millions. What are your plans for a natural disaster; do you know what to do? There are thousands of recorded videos on the internet depicting the tragedies. Here we’ve compiled 10 natural ...

"Where there's discomfort there's fear. In these very tough positions you're in a little piece of hell. And through this daily suffering, you learn to survive in these situations. You have to find comfort in uncomfortable situations. You have to be able to live in your worst nightmare. Jiu-jitsu puts you completely in the moment where you must have complete focus on finding a solution to the problem. This trains the mind to build that focus, to increase your awareness, your capacity to solve problems. Sometimes, you don't have to win. You cannot win. But that has nothing to do with losing." -Rickson Gracie This is why I continue to train jiu-jitsu. At a good school you'll do a lot of live grappling (we call it rolling). You get choked out, arm barred, leg locked and put into plenty of other uncomfortable situations all the time till you get used to them. Then you start learning how to defend. Then you find yourself submitting people. Then a...

I've been a Joe Rogan fan for a while. I've followed the UFC for years and he's always on point. That got me to take a look at his standup comedy and that's always been entertaining. Until recently I had no idea that he does podcasts until one of the guys I train jiu-jitsu with started posting them up on facebook. Interestingly enough, the dude is pretty freakin brilliant. He digs pretty deep into politics and human nature. Here's a pretty good sample of what you can expect from his content. This one is much shorter but it's still good. Check it out. More to come.

Things have been pretty crazy around here. I somehow managed to download a virus on my laptop that made it pretty much impossible for it to do anything. Trying to write up posts on my phone has proven to be very frustrating so I've just been neglecting the blog. I've also been ridiculously busy. I've lost 45 pounds since I started training mma/jiu-jitsu. I didn't really consider myself fat to begin with (5'11" 220) but I was getting there. Training for 2-4 hours a day 4-5 days a week, holding down a real job and being a dad tends to cut the schedule down to pretty much nothing. I've still got some posts in the works and now that my laptop is fixed I should be able to find more time to get them written up. Thanks for reading. If you need to get in touch with me you can email me at artyboy at gmail dot com.

I'd like to take a moment to welcome two new sponsors to my blog. I had the pleasure of meeting both of them at the Denver Self Reliance Expo. The first one is LPC Survival . If you've ever been to a survival blog with direct banner ads then you've probably seen one of their banners. For years they've supported several of the survival blogs in the prepping community. I'm happy to be the latest one on the list. They sell several different Berkey water filters and the parts to make your own (you did see my DIY Berky bucket filter post that I did sometime last year, right?) if you don't want one that's made out of nice, shiny stainless steel or that has a built in LED lighting system . They also sell everything from Wise food storage survival buckets (keep an eye out for an upcoming review) to emergency seed banks . Go check out their site, have a look around and patronize them if you find something that you need. Forge Survival Supply is anothe...

So this weekend the Denver Self Reliance Expo was held at the Denver Western Stock Show Complex. It surpassed all of my expectations. Granted I didn't expect much. I'm not even sure what I expected, exactly. Regardless, at the end of the day I was impressed by everything. Everyone was very professional, friendly and willing to make a deal. I managed to pick up some needed preps at a good price, I met some great people in the prepper community, I got some great ideas for future posts and I even landed a couple of sponsors. I will welcome them all within the next few days in dedicated posts. The majority of the booths consisted of storage food. "Survival buckets" were the most popular item for sale by far. You've probably seen them before. They generally consist of several packages of individual, freeze dried entrees sealed in mylar, packaged in lightweight, space saving buckets. There were also a lot of vendors selling #10 cans of everything from free...

This weekend the Self Reliance Expo is coming to Denver. Adult tickets are $9 ($7 if you're a senior or you preorder online). Kids 12 and under are free. It will be held at the National Western Stockshow Complex on September 16th and 17th. It's open from 10-8 on Friday and 9-6 on Saturday. Dave Canterbury from the Discovery Channel's "Dual Survival" series will be the keynote presenter. Jack Spirko, the host of "The Survival Podcast" will be speaking as well. There will also be several workshops going on throughout the weekend. You can read all about those on the website. Of course, there will be several exhibitors offering everything from firearms to kitchen appliances. If it relates to preparedness you should be able to find someone who's selling what you're looking for. There's also a casting call going on for the National Geographic channel's upcoming prepper reality show. I have no idea what the details are behind th...

After a few weeks of working out at my gym I posted up some before and after shots on facebook. I had lost about 20 pounds and the results were very noticeable. One of my coaches made a comment that kinda stood out to me. "Results start when you do." I'd known the guy for a few years. Every time I saw him I'd tell him that I was going to start training at his gym. Money was always too tight or I couldn't find the time. Finally, I decided to stop making excuses and just did it. Once I started going finding time was easy and it went from seeming really expensive to being a total steal. So how does it pertain to preparedness? That statement can be applied to just about anything. Whether you're planning on starting a food storage plan, getting serious about paying down debt or just learning a new skill it's easy to make excuses and procrastinate. You've got to start doing it and stick to your plan or you'll never get results. Once you sta...

I'll admit it. I have absolutely no discipline when it comes to working out. I'm the guy who walks around the gym for 5 minutes, does 10 reps then walks around for another 5 minutes. Then I get on the treadmill and walk at a pace that's barely fast enough to get me to break a sweat for 20 minutes while I watch Fox News. When I have a partner things are a lot better. It's easy to stay motivated when you're competing with someone. Unfortunately, I've never had much luck with finding a workout partner that lasted more than a week or two. Then I had my kid. At that point my workout sessions went from half assed to non existent. Waking up, going to work, coming home then taking off again to go to the gym wasn't sitting well with the wifey. So for the last couple of years I've been doing basically nothing. I guess that walking my dog burns a few calories. I keep the beer in the basement so that when I want to go grab one I have to take the stairs...

Here's a pretty good song I heard on a local radio show. There should be a "clean" version and an "x-rated" version which isn't that bad imo. He says the f word...once. Oh my. The production value isn't phenomenal but the content makes up for it in my opinion. Anyway, check it out if you've got a second. Here's a crappy youtube video: You can also download it here. My Country My Ass | Peter Boyles - TalkRadio 630 K-HOW#article_comments

Some "bombs" went off at a local mall today. My wife was actually in the mall. She's fine and wasn't in any danger. Apparently, a couple of knuckle heads went into Borders and set off a couple of worthless, homemade explosives. It was taken very seriously and the bomb squad, the FBI and homeland security all showed up. You can read the sad attempt at a full story here. Here's the statement from the FBI: "The two small crude devices partially functioned in a nominal manner causing no damage to the Mall and only minimal damage to a small area of the interior of the Borders Bookstore." Who knows where this story will go. I'll be watching next week. I'm sure that it will catch a few headlines. It might even get a lot of attention. I wouldn't be surprised if it just gets swept under the rug, though. No one got hurt. Damage was minimal. Should the msm make a big deal about it when someone lights a firecracker? The initial shock v...

I've been playing with TVP quite a bit lately. I've found it to be very versatile and one of the cheapest shelf stable alternatives to meat out there. You can buy #10 cans of freeze dried ground beef for $60 a can (if you can actually find someone who isn't backordered by 3 months) or you can get TVP for a fraction of that and not have to worry about getting put on a waiting list. Before you go all out and buy a 10 year supply on Amazon I encourage you to find a store in your area that sells the 10 oz bags of Bob's Red Mill just so that you can try it out. You may not like it. Anyway, onto the recipes. Red Chili: 1 cup TVP 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes 1 15 oz can tomato sauce 1 15 oz can pinto beans 2 tbsp dried onions 2 tbsp chili powder 1 tbsp red chili flakes 1 tbsp garlic powder 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp oregano This is a pretty basic chili recipe. Just dump everything into a pot, bring it to a boil then let it simmer for a couple of hours. You can tweak...

If you've done much research on any of the long term, freeze dried, canned storage foods besides Mountain House that are being heavily marketed then you probably already know what TVP is. Otherwise, you'd have to be a pretty hard core health nut/vegan to know what it is. For those of you who don't know what it is it's a high protein meat substitute made from soybeans. Soybean oil is separated from the soybean flour. Then the soybean flour is superheated and shot through a nozzle to create the desired size "nugget". When the "nuggets" cool they're completely dry, can store for years and, by adding some boiling water, you have a product that's the equivalent of ground beef. Is it a replacement for real meat? I don't think so. Is it a viable alternative when real meat isn't available? Yes it is. Like I mentioned before, if you're buying a long term, canned storage food solution that isn't produced by Mountain House t...

Bank of America Gets Pad Locked After Homeowner Forecloses On It We need to see more of this. Go ahead big banks.... Keep trying to sweep people under the rug.

Here's a freaky story for you. Apparently, a woman was cooking with a pressure cooker when it fell off of the stove and exploded, severing her leg. Luckily, whoever was home with her knew how to apply a tourniquet. Be careful when you're cooking with a pressure cooker. As fantastic as they are for cooking (and absolutely necessary in some cases) they can also be extremely dangerous. Use high quality, newer models. Keep the seals and gauges in good condition. Be extremely careful when moving them around. Don't skimp on your pressure cooker. All American pressure cookers are the best on the market. There are plenty of other's out there, though. I use a Presto for canning and a smaller one (can't remember the brand) for normal cooking. In other news, despite the "good news" about the economy that the current administration is trying to get people to believe, some really rich guys are still investing in aerable farmland . We're talking abou...

So the CDC finally owned up to the prospect that a deadly plague could strike at any time that turns people into flesh eating maniacs. You know the one. A few people get sick and then they get REALLY hungry. Before you know it they're taking a chunk out of Aunt Lili's arm. Then Aunt Lily gets really sick and before long SHE starts to get hungry. By the time people realize that you have to shoot anyone who's been bitten in the head there are already way more people who have been bitten than there are bullets. By then your only hope is to put all of those years of preps and training to use to keep your own ass from getting bit. The zombie scenario is always a fun one. I maintain that it does a great job of getting people interested and thinking about preparedness who otherwise would never think twice about it. Hell, that's how I got into it years ago. Just about anyone who gets past "Dude, what would you do if a horde of zombies were breaking down your...

It wasn't so long ago that I made a post about smartphones . I'm still loving mine. With the extended battery I can go all day without charging it as long as I don't play video games or watch movies. As cool as it is, though, it doesn't replace my laptop. They're faster. They have a better, more customizable user interface. They're easier to fix if they break. The screen is bigger and they're much better at multi-tasking. Some of the batteries last several hours. You just have a lot more options with a laptop. So what should you think about when you're picking out your survival laptop? First of all it needs to be small enough to take with you. That's why I like netbooks. A netbook with a 6 cell battery (I think that they make them with 8 or 12 cell batteries now) will last several hours between charges. The screen is smaller and everything in the system is bare bones so they're energy sippers. They're powerful enough for the b...

So my aquarium has been going strong for a few weeks now. I decided to go with zebra danios and some cory's that look like plecostomus. According to the pet shop they only get a few inches long. The run of the mill plecostomus that most pet shops sell can get two feet long! That's way too much fish for my little 20g tank and I don't really want to find a home for one when it gets too big. I also added some neon tetras today. From what I've read they're pretty fragile and need very specific water conditions. We'll see how they do. I also found a tub that should be the perfect size for my grow bed. Once I'm sure that the nitrogen cycle is established and the fish are doing well then I'll go ahead and set it up. I've been using the water from water changes to water my house plants and they have exploded. That's encouraging. I'm looking forward to the results. If you listen to talk radio then you've probably heard the commercial...

I've decided to put my aquaponics project on hold for a little while. My biggest hurdle has been finding a suitable grow bed to match up with a 20 gallon aquarium tank. I tried a few different storage totes but none of them worked out. It's too hard to get a good seal for the siphon and drain that has to go on the bottom because the plastic is so flimsy. I need to find or build something that's a lot more sturdy. The hydroponics grow beds that I looked at were too shallow for an aquaponics system to work properly. Everything that I've read so far says that the grow bed needs to be 12 inches deep. I haven't given up. I'm just going to set up an actual aquarium for now. I need to learn how to keep small fish alive under normal circumstances before I go crazy and try to do it on a large scale using unconventional methods. A lot of the principles that go into setting up an aquarium are used in an aquaponics setup, anyway. The nitrogen cycle is the core ...