A beautiful brand new copy of Gray's Anatomy (the medical textbook, not the show!) from family for Christmas and some other texts to help me in school this fall! Hope Christmas and New Years was good to you all!

Nice gift RachelM. A tough year ahead. Are you attending medical school at UofT, Western, McMaster, Ottawa, Queen's, or NOSOM?

The difference between canning meats, versus most vegetables is that the acidity of pickling veggies and fuits usually allows you to simply do imersion canning. (Dunk in pot of boiling water) With meats this is not enough, because the lack of acidity can allow Clostridium botulinum bacteria to grow. This bacteria produces the toxin that causes botulism (botox) which is one of the most lethal poisons known. One contaminated bite and you'll likely die. So for meats (get a proper list from a good canning manual, they often come with the canners) you need to use a pressure cooker to make sure there is no chance of any botulinium surviving in your can of meats. Only combined heat and pressure can assure a clean canning.

I don't think there is any reason to shy away from canning meats. But you must follow the instructions exactly. So much pressure for so long depending on what you are canning.

My girlfriend and I discussed botulism, I asked if you can cook it off and she said no, so given that, if I had an expanded can say during an shtf situation that I had to eat, could I "after the fact" use a pressure cooker and proper heat to kill botulism? By this I mean even if I can improperly can I still kill it later?

Botulism is not directly caused by the bacteria, but by a toxin the bacteria produce. So even if you reheat and kill the bacteria, that toxin is still present. Never eat anything canned that you even remotely suspect is off. I just threw out a ton of my pickles because while they don't smell or taste rotten, they also don't taste or smell right. The reward is not worth the risk. I'd rather starve or eat grass.

Nice gift RachelM. A tough year ahead. Are you attending medical school at UofT, Western, McMaster, Ottawa, Queen's, or NOSOM?

I haven't got a medical school offer yet, but I've applied internationally to Newcastle, Keele, Birmingham, and Cardiff in England/Wales. Medicine is a direct-entry there from high school, so I don't need a bachelor's first. But I do have an offer to my back-up program, Biomedical Science at Newcastle. I'm hoping to find out if I got an interview for medical school in the next week or two, but some of the schools have until May to inform you.

That's great! Best of luck with your application.

I have a friend who's an emergency medicine physician who studied in the U.K. He wanted to practise in Canada, but the hoops were a little much. He graduated top of his class and had several offers and ended up in Sidney Australia.

With Canada's need for Physicians, I can't fathom why so many qualified physicians are discouraged (or at least not fast-tracked). There is a long wait for accreditation, so they end up going elsewhere. It's a shame...

Got a surprise bonus this year, so paid off the little that was on the credit card, added to the mattress, and started saving towards a new vehicle for 2019. My 2011 F150 is sitting at 250k, so I need to start thinking down the road. Also looking into the new BCL 102 AR10 that is non-restricted (from Black Creek Labratories). It's getting positive reviews on accuracy and quality of build.

This week (thanks to Martha) I obtained a Royal Berkey water purifier with 4 filters. So I'm good for 12,000 of clean water. I also added about 10 pounds of medical bandages, tape, sponges and other Items.

Thanks to helicopilot, I was made aware of a sale at Lowe's where 4.450 watt generators were 50% of the regular price, with free shipping. I hope to take delivery later this week.

All-in-all, this has been a good week! Now it's back to saving my pennies; this can get to be expensive... 🙂

Hello fellow preppers got a wow for ya I mean I just found it cool
Kelly Kettle Scout, check it out on you tube I love love love it!!!!!!

Picked up a copy of On Killing by Dave Grossman. $5.25 at value village.

Picked up a copy of On Killing by Dave Grossman. $5.25 at value village.

this is an excellent book to read. Several times over. Glad you have a copy. I wish more preppers owned this book.

Here is a digital copy of "On Killing." In pdf. Format.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oqfd3bfvhzqzl0y/grossman.psicologia_guerra.pdf?dl=0

Thanks for posting the link Crownsown. Digital is great until you can lay hands on a paper copy. Check this site out sometime.

https://archive.org/stream/On_Killing/On_Killing_djvu.txt

agree totally. I have the book copy also and anything digital thats important should be in paper! 🙂

Thanks or sharing the book. I'm looking forward to reading it. I had the chance to meet Dave Grossman and attend his lecture, it was extremely interesting.

Thanks or sharing the book. I'm looking forward to reading it. I had the chance to meet Dave Grossman and attend his lecture, it was extremely interesting.

https://www.killology.com/presentations

I envy you. I've heard he does some really interesting talks. His book on linking violent video games to murders was stunning. (Cantremember the name of it now..) Lt. Col. Grossman shows how many of the techniques he implemented at West Point to train normal humans to kill...are the same in video games we play. Absolutely interesting his research.

And he isn't some "internet researcher" A certified Psychiatrist, and lord knows how many accredations.
(If it sounds like I'm boosting this guy..its cause I am. His reading was highly recommended and pushed in Krav.)