Ok…this is getting fun. I was asked Francis “Frank” Steffan to appear on The Frank Show, on American Voice Radio. This makes the second time in less than a week to be on that network.

This being my second “real” radio interview on big time radio, I felt a lot better and was much happier with how the show went, including topics covered, and some darn good questions.

So, please give it a listen, by clicking the Play button below, or download the mp3 and add it to your Ipod to listen to later.

Comments are most welcome…

Rich

 

 Rich Fleetwood on FEMA, InfraGard, CERT, and Family Prepping: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Well, looks like it’s time for an update from yours truly on the CE blog. Lots of news, updates, software projects, business opportunities, and more…a virtual plethora of digital goodness.

Yet another school year has passed here at Central Wyoming College, and we’ve added yet another college graduate to our family, as my son Kenny earned his music degree. As an extra treat, he arranged and sang a duet right before commencement began on the stage of the Robert A. Peck Arts Center here in Riverton. What was really cool was that the entire commencement exercise was broadcast via Wyoming Public Television for the entire town to see on the college’s education access channel.

I’ve got a DVD of the events, and will create a Youtube video of Kenny’s performance for his blog at www.automaticboymusic.com. Kenny’s graduation brings the total number of degrees earned by our family in the last three years here at CWC to SEVEN college degrees. I am very humbled by my entire family working so hard for full and complete educations, and pursuing further college goals in the coming months.

I’ll be starting classes via the University of Wyoming this fall, and will continue working towards my bachelor’s degree over the next couple of years, while working on my home business project. I’ll keep you updated on any news associated with UWyo from this end.

In other family news, we’re going to taking care of our grandchildren for the summer (and possibly longer) so our time for summer fun and travel plans have been put on the back burner for a while.

The SurvivalRing website is undergoing a MASSIVE redesign over the next three months, with EVERY webpage, every documentn, and every download being upgraded to state of the art web design and content management systems. Once all editing is done, changes are tested by a host of SurvivalRing supporters, and hundreds of downloads are added and cataloged into a database tracking system, we’ll flip the switch and let you run with it. Wanna peek at the new design? Check it out at www.survivalring.org/sr to get just a taste of what is coming.

While we’re doing the long awaited update, I’ll also be finishing off some entire new sites that will be part of the *new* SurvivalRing. These new tools include a Product Reviews website for prep and survival gear, a complete EVERYTHING FALLOUT SHELTER site with all the documents I have put all in ONE place for ease of use (and using the www.myfalloutshelter.com domain), and some over yet to be released projects still in the planning stages.

Once nearly all projects are up to speed, the new homepage for SurvivalRing will be a portal into all areas of the entire SurvivalRing network, that loads fast, gives a short bio of each site section, and let’s you just jump right into the area you are most interested in, without having to jump through any hoops.

As SurvivalRing moves forward, and the major updates are done, we’ll be creating a series of podcasts, videos, and new ebooks (and possibly even hardcopy versions) on all areas of preparedness.

Our Podcasts, to be called SurvivalRing Radio, will start broadcasting in July, and will include news, alerts, threat analysis, prepping tips, interviews, reviews, and a whole lot more. I’ll be producing weekly 30 minute shows at first, but the long term goal, after things are all said and done (all major projects for the site are finished), is to have a daily one hour show, which if things work out, may go on broadcast radio through any of a number of web/on air broadcast organizations.

Our Video Projects, to be called SurvivalRingTV, will start appearing after the first of the year, and will feature hands on tips, outdoors adventure, survival how-to’s, preparedness tools and uses, and eventually a complete series on fallout shelter building, designs, systems, and use.

As all these creative outlets are being worked on, I’ll be building up the business side of SurvivalRing as well, to support upgrades to dedicated hosting of the entire SurvivalRing network, HD video cameras and tools, audio mixing systems and needs for live radio broadcasts from my home studio, and a variety of other tools to create unlimited potential for online education for all website visitors. The business at SurvivalRing consists of CD ROM publications, online digital media content, membership sections, our new forums system, advertising opportunties, home business creation packages for anyone needing extra income.

Finally, to round everything out, our long overdue SurvivalRing Newsletter will begin production again in June. Expect weekly updates, free download links, news, tools, and commentary on the world of survival and preparedness, from someone who’s spent a lifetime living it. Yep…me.

More to come later. Stay tuned. This is The Summer of SurvivalRing.

Rich

Cosmic Echoes has not been getting its fair share of my attention the last few months, and it is in a great position to help a LOT of people. I should be doing a better job of keeping this blog updated.

So, in that state of mind, I’ve made a commitment to myself, and to you, the reader, to make this blog a USEFUL, interesting, and cutting edge look at all things preparedness…again.

This year, after 3 years of heavy college student involvement, resulting in two college degrees, many awards (All USA Academic Team, New Century Scholar, Video Telly Award, and others), I am taking what we students like to call “a breather”, and do some half time college work and invest the majority of my time this next 18 months doing a specific set of projects. In no specific order these are…

• 6 to 8 credit hours of college classes towards my bachelors degree in Journalism(instead of 12 to 20 credit hours per semester…as I have been doing for my first two degrees)
• major update of SurvivalRing.org..the ENTIRE website…into a database driven, Web 2.0, easily manageable, and entirely up-to-date system. See the first glimpse here
• the addition of a citizen driven, science backed, and thoroughly complete compendium of BIRD FLU prep..including some deep discussion of the effects a very possible pandemic outbreak might bring to our society
• a greatly enhance fallout shelter compendium, with lots of comments, suggestions, and insight….versus just a ton of free downloads. You’ll have the info in your hands to print out with the downloads. Now, I’ll tell you the things you’ll really need to understand..if you’re considering actually building one. The Build A Fallout Shelter Page, in other words, is due to a massive overhaul.
• Podcasts….yes, long promised, yet, not online. I’ve been doing weekly music radio shows for my college radio station for over a year…now it’s time to make the SurvivalRing Survival Podcast a reality. Everything is ready (computer hardware, software, recording equipment, mics, etc)…but that ACTUAL podcast recordings. That will change, very soon.
• A lot of new articles from yours truly, on a wide range of preparedness topics and genres. These articles will also be making the rounds of magazine editors, to hit the real world between the eyes with what can be done with very little work, when it comes to being preparede.
• New CD Rom projects. I’ve published two multimedia CD projects in the past 4 years…I’m doing at least 3 more in the next YEAR. Watch this space for more news.
• New digital publications. I’ve mentioned here many times that I have hundreds of original government produced, unscanned survival and preparedness documents…some of which you never knew existed. I have at least a dozen ready to finsish and upload in the next month, and new scan projects queued and prioritized. You’ll love what is coming…
• Interactivity for you, the site visitor. I’ve had polls up for several years on the main SurvivalRing website, and had forums up for years as well, until spammers wreaked total chaos and havoc. I’ve got the old archives saved and updated, and will be opening the new SurvivalRing forums this spring, in a much more secure and stable software package. Chat has been working fine, but with little traffic. Comments in the new site design may be posted in ANY page or article, much like commenting is available on THIS blog. Take advantage of it!

That’s just the start. A new year, a new sense of adventure, and a lot of work to do…and a lot of work that has ALREADY been done.

Many things are happening in the background that will change the way we all see our future. SurvivalRing, Cosmic Echoes, and I will be here to help you get through what we fear will be tough times ahead. Consider me your friend, mentor, and guide…we will get through this together.

Rich

The events of the last few weeks have been…shall we say…interesting?

The supposed testing of a nuclear weapon by North Korea. The warning the U.S. received from CHINA…20 minutes before the test was lit up. The concerns of Iran and THEIR nuclear program (did you know that Kim Jung Ill (aka …lil Kim or Pajama Boy) had IRANIAN scientists right there to see the test through? Does ANYONE know if the test really was nuclear, and not some huge-ass amonium nitrate bomb hidden in that old horizontal shaft of an old mine?

And then there is Al Queda.

Ramadan approaches…on clumsly little feet. Threats are flying all over the news, the web, back alleys, and more…chatter from the enemy combatants being lifted off the radio waves by scientists (on our side) on multiple continents.

Suspects are being observed…in some cases rounded up…in other cases stopped dead….literally…in their tracks by our team…thanks to folks like those scientists above…average citizens with a skill with computers, or language, or greater powers of observation. It is turning into World War Three…it is here.

Preparedness is hitting the main stream media. Survivor, after many years, is still running strong…but not for reasons having ANYTHING to do with Being Prepared. The Main Stream News is starting to Get It. Glen Beck is talking on a weekly basis now, on his radio show, and on his daily TV show on CNN. Glenn is a little bit TOO right wing in some of his comments, but many thoughts of his are spot on. Take a look at his store, and the top listed T-shirt is labeled with a pseudo fallout shelter shape, and the words, “We’re All Gonna Die”.

Here’s the cool thing about Glenn. He IS seeking out REAL pros in the preparedness genre. Namely, my good friend, Shane Connor of Ki4u.com, was on both Glenn’s radio show, and the following day, his TV show on CNN…talking about that think we like to call NUCLEAR PREPAREDNESS.

Shane did well…but toward the very end of the interview, Glenn pulled out the old DUCK AND COVER video from the 50’s, and downplayed the fact…again..as ALL MSM does…that nuclear fallout…nuclear terror…and family survival are mutually exclusive. As Shane mentioned…those in the immediate vicinity of a terrorist nuke, will die from the blast wave…the thermal wave…and flying debris or major flamage from the actual explosion. But, Shane’s main point…is that 95 percent of those in the area WON’T. Die, that is.

A nuclear detonation does NOT mean the end of the world, except for a very unlucky few in the immediate area.

A little knowledge…a little preparedness…and a level head…will see the vast majority of nuclear victims live to see another day.

I’ve known Shane since 2000. He is one of the GOOD GUYS. Check out his products. Do some research on tools and skills to survival a nuclear threat. And don’t hide in a hole…waiting for the end of the world.

Learn how to take care of yourself, and your family…and LIVE.

I’ve been recovering the past couple of weeks from this past semester, and haven’t been posting as I should.

It’s called “exhaustion”.

Three solid years of 17 to 20 credit hours per semester, climaxing in two solid college degrees, two national recognitions of scholarly work (New Century Scholar for Wyoming 2006, and All-USA Academic Team/2nd team), and finally been voted back into Student Senate and becoming the CWC Student Senate President for the 2006/2007 school year. Did I mention that I’ve been working an average of THREE part time jobs each semester?

What, you might say? Didn’t you just graduate?

Well…yes…BUT, these two college degrees are Associate of Applied Science Degrees. I’m beginning work on my junior and senior college years, online, with Upper Iowa University this fall. Being an accredited online degree, I can stay here at CWC, and continue working on campus as the Student Radio Station Operations Manager at KCWC-FM, 88.1, The Stargate. I can also continue doing local volunteer work with the high school, city, county, and state, as well as freelance work for Wyoming Public Television.

In other words, the continuation of my college education towards a Bachelors of Science in Emergency Management, to be followed by a Masters in Homeland Security (also 100% online), can be done from the very dorm at which I’ve been living here with my family for the past three years.

Some of the classes that I need for my B.S. can also be taken right here on campus, as CWC and UIU have a collabortion agreement (pdf) (which also means I get a tuition cut, among other things).

Because of THESE classes (psychology, sociology, spanish, etc…classes I didn’t need for my applied science degrees), I can continue as a student…and therefore, a student senator…and student senate president.

So, I have a plan…and I’m sticking to it.

At the same time, I’m going to continue doing what I’ve been doing for three years here on campus…helping my fellow students learn how to be more resourceful, better thinking, and happier students, while learning how to help others while they help themselves…

A very cool opportunity.

More later…

I’m sick. I had a one time part time job at the local Arapahoe Casino south of town yesterday, doing three hours of live radio broadcasts for the Casino, for their $40,000 pot of gold contest for the weekend. The broadcasts went fine, we gave away a ton of prizes, and it was over all too quickly.

Unfortunately, it was like every other casino I’ve ever been in (which in itself is another long story…suffice it to say, it was when I was driving cross country in 2000/2001, and only with my then-business partner when we were in the same town together, heading in for a load, or heading out from picking up one…he had a Very Bad gambling habit…and this was probably the major cause of this)…well, each and every casino in Vegas, Mesquite, Reno, Montana, New Mexico, etc., wreaked of second hand smoke, had clouds of smoke in them, and there seemed to be no escape from the smell when you were in one of those buildings.

This local casino, which has just been granted state aproval to build a class 3 gaming casino, has been creating an economic boom on the reservation for a select few, while unemployment still runs high. The local area around the reservation, including Riverton, has also seen the same boom.

But, back to the topic at hand. After being in the casino for over 4 hours, my head was pounding, my nose and sinuses were stopped up, and I just wanted to get out of there. After the broadcast was over, I went straight home. In my apartment, I still smelled that smoke. I immediately changed my clothes, and went to the laundry room here in the dorms to get them started in the washer.

Back home, I took a benadryl, and a sudafed, to see if I could get my head opened up to breath easier. No luck. I STILL smelled the smoke. Finally, I took a shower and scubbed the heck out of my face, washed my hair twice, and more. That seemed to help the most, but for the past 48 hours, I’ve still got a nasty hacking phlemghy cough, and my head still hurts…

So, we’re finally to the reason for this post. Should you take a job when you KNOW it’s going to physically affect you so much? When you KNOW that the area will open you up to deadly poisons that are KNOWN to cause death? When you have a LIFETIME of having been affected by those chemicals in negative ways?

Sure, folks do dangerous work all the time around the world…policemen, fireman, miners, soldiers, etc. BUT, we’re not saving the world with a live broadcast this time, are we?

As a life-time non smoker, whenever I visit a place that is literally “smoke filled” from a huge amount of smokers, I always suffer. It’s not really allergies. It’s not something against those individuals with the habit of lighting up cigarettes every other minute. It’s literally the poison that is contained within the tobacco that is affecting me.

Last semester here at my college campus, I was the chairman of a sub-committee for the student senate, tasked with doing the research, discussions, backgroup references, and visits with people all over campus about the topic of “campus smoking policy”. When I started, the original smoking policy was simply “outside”. Using two different full day voting polls, plus an open forum one afternoon, campus users, students, faculty and staff all had a chance to share their thoughts about keeping policy, or changing it.

Using their input, a new smoking policy change was drafted. The only change was to put a 20 foot buffer outside designated doors on every building on campus. This change to policy was brought before the board of trustees, and then turned over to the administration to make a final decision. They passed the policy change last month, and will put it into full effect starting July 1st.

The main idea was to give non-smokers the ability to enjoy their right to clean air, and not suffer second hand smoke, which is the third leading preventable cause of death in the U.S. killing 38,000 to 65,000 nonsmokers every year.

On this campus, there is a huge amount of the campus population that smokes or uses tobacco in some form. Over 50% of adults on the nearby Wind River Reservation are tobacco users, according to the Fremont County Tobacco Coalition, of which I am a member, via my Young Adults Against Addiction project here in Riverton. The campus smokers that spoke up about the potential policy change, were downright rude, threatening, and vicious in their response. Why? Their right to smoke was only moved twenty feet from the door…not completely from the campus…or even the city, as some have done recently.

It became a personal issue for them…against me. A very sad, yet not completely unexpected outcome.

As part of my career while attending college, I am doing various websites for local and other groups, and just finished a major one this morning in the wee hours. It’s for one of our local high power FM stations…one I worked at for a year and a half as a DJ.

Check it out at http://www.myktrz.com. It’s a very custom installation of Wordpress, and the management tools for their use are second to none.

Rich