What it takes to keep this site online…constant battles…

An Update ::
The SurvivalRing website is back up, as of 05/30/22, and backend work is still ongoing…

Granted, it’s missing thirteen years of content, but it’s ok…really. I had my host tech support move my account from my previous shared server to a more secure server. Don’t worry. Absolutely EVERYTHING has been fully backed up, including all databases, all downloads, all images, and all … everything.

Why?

This is an intentional move on my part. I’ll be streamlining the site, optimizing absolutely everything, and there will be massive speed improvements. All the download sections are offline for the next week or two. They’re actually already completely uploaded, but not ready for you to access just yet. They will also be cleaned up and optimized for all users, before turning them back on.

A little history ::

SurvivalRing has been online since November 1st, 1997. In 2008, AOL deleted all “Hometown” user web content, which was tens of millions of websites. My Blast Shelter site was one of those. It was backed up way before the delete button was pushed. 

What about the big, massive physical disk set you used to sell…what, maybe seven years ago?

The SurvivalCD package is also coming back this summer…it’s grown a bit larger. The last package was sold in December of 2015, before I suspended sales. I had several health problems, including major surgery that took a few months to recover from.

The last version of the package contained 14 CD/DVD disks of survival, preparedness, self reliance, and education material. 25,000 unique ebooks, 3.2 million printable pages, and 32 gigabytes of data.  Boy, that’s a mouthful…

Bigger…faster…longer

Over the last year, I’ve been working on a little update. I’ve scoured the web, looking for several other open source material packaged and found quite a few, and it’s bumped up the library to just over 463 gigabytes of that same kind of information.

Yes, you read that right…four hundred and sixty three gigabytes of that same information that was on the SurvivalCD package.

We’re talking dozens and dozens of dvds of  info, at 4.7 gigabytes each. An astounding increase of survival material…fourteen times more info than my original set. So, I’m changing the name to SurvivalRing Media, and I’m nicknaming it the “Alexandria Survival Project, after a certain mythical library of eons ago. I’ll also call it the “ASP” library, which slides off the tongue a bit easier

Killing me softly (uhm…the hardware, I mean)

I’m not about to burn this enormous, gigantic, astoundingly huge and overall massive library onto dvd disks one at a time. Yes, I’m retired. No, I can’t sit in my comfy office chair for more than a couple of hours, because of constant, unending, high levels of pain from my neck to my tailbone. So, not going to be going on optical disks again.

Several times before I took the package offline, I’d get orders for twenty, thirty, and sometimes many more sets. I had a four disk dvd duplicator, and burned thousands and thousands of disks with it…to the point that after several years, the power supply started failing, and two of the four dvd drives starting giving errors while making copies…thank goodness for automatic error checking on the duplicator…I never had a single customer contact me with a bad disk.

The UPDATED library…

The ASP library will NOT be available on DVD. Yes, you read that right. I might make a set (or three) for archival purposes ONLY. It will be very pricey, but it will be complete. The new library will be available on the following  devices::

  • Pen/thumb drives (several in a set) 128gb, 256gb, 500gb, 1 terabyte
  • SDRAM chips (64/128/256gb) several adding up to 1 or 2 terabytes of storage
  • MicroSD chips (same as SDRAM size)
  • Pocket hard drives (1 to 2 terabytes)
  • SSD drives (1 to 2 terabytes)
  • I can provide devices, or you can send your chosen storage. Must be new, not used,
  • Questions, ideas, suggestions? Use the contact page.

The library is 463 gigabytes in size in ARCHIVED format. Once opened and in readable format, the full library may be larger than 1 or 2 terabytes. Currently the de-archived library size is not known yet. Once the programming phase is done, that information will be posted here.

What about the big, massive physical disk set you used to sell…what, maybe Seven years ago?

When a large set of orders came through, such as a buyer telling all his friends on a forum with lots of users about this nifty and MASSIVE SET OF FILES, I’d get maybe 40 orders. With 40 orders, times 14 disks per order, I’d spend evenings for almost two weeks burning 560 disks, error checking them, printing labels, applying labels, printing dvd case full color wraps, cutting them to size with a paper cutter, inserting the wraps, collating the disks into two multi disk dvd cases, printing out 40 Pages of instructions, how to’s, gift certificates, and similar pages, collating and stapling the printouts, pulling out a stack of Bruce Beach newspapers, folding them, and then inserting everything, neatly and completely, into flat rate USPS priority 9×12” envelopes, taping them closed (and all the edges after two packages burst open in shipping and I had to replace the entire sets), printing all the mailing labels with PayPal and taping those onto the envelopes just right (and taping those labels so they wouldn’t get ripped off in machinery), and finally filling three postal buckets with all the now finished packages, and delivering them to the dock of the local post office. I’d get home and crash in my recliner for a couple of days.

That was the entire process, from start to finish. Now, consider these packages were selling for $35 each, including priority rate postage.  The raw materials consisted of blank disks, labels, ink cartridges, dvd cases, etc. roughly $8 and change total…for EACH set.

Me in the right, wearing suspenders, at one of dozens of wild mustang adoptions I was part of at the Wyoming Honor Farm

Me in the right, wearing suspenders, at one of dozens of wild mustang adoptions I was part of at the Wyoming Honor Farm

Add in five hours a night, for ten to twelve nights. All the above was VERY labor intensive. All said and done…very little profit…but I was helping hundreds and hundreds of people with every set…in my mind it balanced. That’s why I’m still here…and planning on helping millions more.

Oh, and I was working full time for the state of Wyoming, as an administrator for the State of Wyoming’s minimum level prison, at the Wyoming Honor Farm. Loved that job more than any I’ve ever had.

Now, about SurvivalRing…the website

A little history ::
SurvivalRing has been online since November 1st, 1997. In 2008, AOL deleted all “Hometown” user web content, which was tens of millions of websites. My Blast Shelter site was one of those. It was backed up way before the delete button was pushed, and it will be coming back to SurvivalRing this summer. You’ll realize why once it’s up and ready.

In 2009, the entire SurvivalRing site was converted from static html, to the latest version of WordPress (at that time maybe version 2.2  or so). WordPress is now the leading content management system in the entire world now, running 40% of all websites…as of April 2022.

Trends and choices…

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say…being an early adopter with anything, can pay off greatly if you keep paying attention…and in this world that we have now, with the onset of world war three, what seems to be one planet wide pandemic after another (several strains of Covid-19)  a resurgence of bird flu (being used as the reason for culling millions of chickens and other fowl all over the world), tiny outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever (mostly in Africa again), and now monkey pox.

All this and so much proof that people, corporations, and health organizations that actually have patents on these diseases…just what the hell is going on?

I started my first website pages in 1996, when I first got online. We had moved from north Texas to Birmingham, Alabama in March of 1993. In the next 8 1/2 years, we suffered just about every calamity, natural hazard, and stupid people (three wrecks, two of which broke several vertebrae in my mid and upper back), and on top of that, we lived in a hundred year old house.

My site pages were my first attempts at blogging my interests, connecting with others on the same topics, and sharing shelter info because of the huge number of tornadic events where we lived. I also started using what used to be called webrings. Now you know where my domain name came from,

In the coming months

Please have no worries about this planned update and upgrade.  I promise you it will be back very quickly. Many, MANY updates, tools, and fresh downloads will be added quickly. Once fully updated, multiple daily posts will be coming. Fresh pdf scans of hardcopy government survival manuals will be coming to all as well. I also have nearly a hundred steam age technical books circa 1870 to 1925. These are public domain and will be added in the coming months. Didn’t see that coming, did you?

Everything that has to do with the “Alexandria Survival Project” library starts with this main SurvivalRing site update. This includes new podcasts, weekly YouTube channel vids, with my commentary, similar to other YouTube channels with talking heads trying to sell you something, but they are ALWAYS repeating over and over and over the same drivel that millions of other wannabes keep talking about, but with very little original thought.

==> THIS IS IMPORTANT <==

I’m NOT one of them…everything I do is original and usefully actionable. I don’t do fear-mongering. Ever. I do provide sources for my content, and provide rare and topical digital documents that NO ONE else has…unless they’ve stolen it from me.

In fact, tens of thousands of other survival websites over the last twenty years share my own file creations, without a single reference to my website or myself. That’s ok. Nearly all of the first generation files have a first page of the pdf files that gives the story of SurvivalRing, and where many other free downloads exist.

What sets me apart from all the other Prepper/survival websites in the world

You KNOW I have decades of skills and survival knowledge in putting SurvivalRing online.

You KNOW I have the original documents that ALL my downloads are based on.

And, you KNOW I went back to college from 2003 to 2008, to add degrees in radio and electronic media, broadcasting (real radio station work), television master control and production, all aspects of web development, computer networking, and several industry certifications.

Who else in the niche of preparedness can say ALL of that? THAT is how serious I am in continuing EVERYTHING that I do, or have talked about.

I’ve also paid off $32k in student loans in the last fourteen years, from five years of college classes with my wife and three kids all living on campus and taking classes as well. Now medically retired, I can work on all of the above full-time. That’s news. And I have the plan you are reading right now.

I hope this post makes sense to all of you. If not, I’ll be glad to answer questions.

My most sincere gratitude to all of you for your support over the years. Many more years to come.

So, stay tuned. I know the world is about to go up in flames because of the Russian/Ukrainian situation, and all of you need info. It’ll all be back shortly.

If the world decides to burst into flames threatening every living soul it n the planet, you WILL NOT find a larger library of EVERYTHING about nuclear preparedness. NO ONE else can make that statement. NO ONE

Thanks, Rich

Me at Venice Beach, California in August 2017, on my crews off day working with Apple Maps. Beautiful place, great weather, didn't do so well trying to surf...still had a blast...

Me at Venice Beach, California in August 2017, on my crews off day working with Apple Maps. Beautiful place, great weather, didn’t do so well trying to surf…still had a blast…

Updated: December 8, 2022 — 1:38 pm

The Author

Rich Fleetwood

Rich is the founder of SurvivalRing.org, now in it's 25th year, author/creator of 14 multimedia CD/DVD set known as SurvivalCD.com, (soon to be SurvivalRingMedia.com). He's an author, coder, podcaster, multipassionate creative, nature photographer, designer, award winning videographer, loves the outdoors, 6th generation Texan, 3 kids, 5 grandkids, 1 great grandson, married 41 years to his high school sweetheart, loves his family and lives in rural Wyoming... Sharing History is what he does… Study Yesterday...Prepare Today...Live Tomorrow.

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