Safecastle | One Shop For All Emergency Essentials: February 2011

Food Storage, Emergency Preparedness, MRE's, Freeze Dried Food, Water Storage, Dehydrated Food, Survival tips

Monday, February 28, 2011

Go For It! -- 2011 Safecastle Freedom Awards -- a "New Media" Survivalist Contest

"I'm pleased to announce the 2011 Safecastle Freedom Awards--a program in which we will provide the talented, deserving winners with some great preparedness-related prizes!" said Vic Rantala, owner of Safecastle.

"What we aim to do is find and recognize the best, original, web-based content of the year, related to survivalism and preparedness."

This is essentially a contest of skill. Eligible entries will include new non-fiction articles written and originally posted online at a recognized, participating blog or forum and new survival/preparedness videos originally posted this year and "sponsored" by or posted at a participating blog or forum (see below for participating websites).

Every one of our finalists will be a winner and will receive an engraved "Safecastle Freedom Award" as pictured here, signifying the noteworthy achievement of contributing materially to our country's preparedness.

The creators of the articles and videos judged to be the very best of the best will be awarded the prizes described further below.

Competition Guidelines are few, but what there are, are there for good reason:

1.  Keep it clean and family-friendly.

2.  Modern attention spans are short. That means, in this new media, we are looking for articles that are concise. 1500 words in a non-fiction article is the maximum length please. For the short-form video, 6 minutes is the limit. Note that shorter just may be better.

3.  Submit your own original article or video to ONLY ONE of the participating blogs or forums for entry into this contest. Note your intention to enter this contest with that submission to the participating website so that there are no mistakes. If it becomes apparent that an entry was submitted to multiple websites as an original sole entry, it will be disqualified from the contest.

4.  Do not plagiarize anyone else's work. The author is solely responsible for the content of his or her article or video. Plagiarization results in the forfeiture of any prizes that may be awarded as well as any potential legal ramifications.

5.  Article and video submissions must be posted originally at a participating blog or forum. For videos such as those first posted to YouTube, they must appear on the sponsoring blog or forum within one week of that YouTube posting to qualify as an original creative eligible for prize consideration in this contest--and not appear somewhere else first.

6.  Original article authors and video creators can enter as many different stories and videos as they wish--but again--see #3 above. To be clear--you MAY submit one creation at one participating website and another creation at another participating website--but not the same original piece at more than one site.

7.  Authors and video producers retain ownership rights to their work, but they also agree that those articles and videos may be subsequently posted at Safecastle's blog, Refuge and/or on Safecastle's store site,  www.prepared.pro without further renumeration.

8.  Contest prizes are awarded only to residents of the continental U.S. where there are no legal constraints to such a contest awards program. Prize winners are responsible for paying any taxes that may be due as a result of their prize awards.

9.  Each participating website will be fully responsible for selecting their own article and video finalists (one of each if they have suitable submissions) by Dec. 31, 2011. Then in January of 2012, a panel of expert judges assembled by Safecastle LLC will manage a playoff judging system to determine the prize winners from among the many finalists.

10. Owners, employees, and their family members of Safecastle and the participating blogs and forums are NOT eligible for participation, recognition, or prizes in this contest.

Pocket
11.  Contest winning decisions are final and cannot be challenged or altered, except at the sole discretion of Safecastle LLC.

The PRIZES are very nice! ...
September 26 note: The economic collapse and marketplace difficulties have forced Safecastle to reduce the prize package in this contest from what was previously announced.

1.  First prizes in the article and video categories will be awarded a Katadyn Pocket , value $320.

2.  Second prize in each of the two categories will be Excalibur 9-Tray Dehydrators, value $275.
Excalibur Dehydrator

3. All finalists will receive a Safecastle Freedom award trophy.

4.  Sponsoring blog/forum owners for the grand and first-prize winners will receive Safecastle gift certificates worth $250 each.

More on the Judging

Participating forums and blogs will solicit original entries from their readers. It is up to those websites to use whatever method works best to determine their chosen contest finalists (one for each category--article and video). Entries must have been first posted to those websites during 2011.

In January of 2012, the various finalist entries will be submitted to Safecastle LLC. The final prize winners will be determined by selected playoff system managed by a panel of judges chosen by Safecastle. Prizes will be awarded no later than February 2012.



To Participate:

Contact the webmaster/site administrator at one of the following 15 survival-related blogs and forums to find out how to submit your work and to make sure it fits their particular perspective on things. (Note that our blog here, Refuge, is NOT posting contest entries until the finalists themselves are identified.).

Of course, do be sure to frequent these sites to marvel at the ongoing quality of preparedness-related knowledge being shared so freely:


If there are any questions about this contest, please submit a "comment" here on this blog entry and I will do my best to answer it or clarify the rules as needed.
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Get Ready ... Seriously -- www.prepared.pro

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The System is Taut and Fraying

Time for some anecdotal reflection ...

I've got my fingers in a lot of different business pies--and what I want to talk about here is mostly the operational aspects of the many businesses I am connected into--transportation, technology, internet, commerce supply lines, food production, and manufacturing.

We all know and have been following the macro numbers (however true or untrue they may be) reflecting the current state of the economy and how many of our neighbors are unemployed. We are perfectly aware how much of America has literally been exported and outsourced, to even include unimaginable sums of our precious tax dollars.

But what I want to bring up here is the very real sense I am getting in my day-to-day work that what we do have left in America is reaching the breaking point ... functional systems operated by those who remain employed and overworked, who are trying to keep things running and maintaining ... it's increasingly obvious that understaffed, under-qualified, under-capitalized business operations all around us are beginning to come apart under the strain.

Performance to previous standards of quality is suffering in MANY areas and expectations are falling. We are left now to settle for whatever we can get whenever we can get it. The next phase in this process is to add "at whatever price."

From where I sit, I now have to call a near-term risk of total system failure. It won't take much to make it happen. "The system" is operating beyond capacity and we don't have the means, financially or spiritually, to recover and rebuild anytime soon.

It's beginning to look and feel like eastern Europe could be our future, sooner than later.
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Get Ready ... Seriously -- www.prepared.pro

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Our New Bugout Teardrop Trailers

Check out our new Bugout Trailer video. It provides a good view of our sweet, new teardrop trailer line--customized for off-the-grid escapism.

Running from the four horsemen of the apocalypse or fleeing the 9-to-5 weekday humdrum--these handy little vehicles deliver just the right balance of adrenaline and peace of mind.

Each of our four models are constructed to exacting measures by Amish craftsmen. The trailers are built standard with such features as aluminum alloy mag wheels, insulated fiberglass and aluminum walls and ceiling, steel frame undercarriage, heavy-duty axle, entry doors on each side, rear hatchdoor galley, carpeting, mattress, cabinetry, ventilation, and a powerful 12V solar/marine battery package. You also receive a trailer cover and wheel lock at no extra charge.

Available options include heater/ac, sink & stove, a sight & sound DVD player/monitor/radio package, and an external toolbox, not to mention a side-mount room tent for added space.

Well-worth the bargain price

Our trailers, as with everything we sell, ship free to the lower 48. Our buyers club members just need to login to the store to get their 20% off these teardrop trailers.

But for the next two weeks, thru February--buyers club members ALSO get $600 off each trailer purchased, simply by adding this coupon code in to coupon field during checkout:
BUGOUT600


Need I also remind you? - For 2011, members also have our Cache-Back program which these trailer purchases count toward! Can you count all the savings here?

We have several trailers built and ready to ship. If they go fast, it will take up to 6 weeks to get yours built for you. And yes--you can have any color trailer you'd like, on request ... black is just our trademark color for these bad boys.
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Get Ready ... Seriously -- www.prepared.pro

Sunday, February 06, 2011