Day: December 11, 2005


Muddying The Waters on EMP–Jack Wheeler and the BLOS Imponderable

SurvivalBlog reader Joe. K. mentioned in a recent e-mail that one of my heroes, Dr. Jack Wheeler, posted a dismissive article about the EMP threat, back in June. (It was posted at Wheeler’s excellent “To The Point News” subscription website: http://www.tothepointnews.com/  )  Wheeler is a fascinating fellow. Back in the 1960s, he swam the Hellespont, climbed the Matterhorn, and went tiger hunting as a civilian in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. All of this before he was 25 years old. He also spent a lot of time living with head hunters in the Amazon jungle. But I digress…  Wheeler’s article, …


David in Israel Re: Firearms for Survival

James: I’ll start with a confession: It is hard for me, a true “heavy battle rifle/ M1911 .45/ one shot is all it takes” kind of guy to advocate hosing down and running. Reading posts about the tinkering and modding is fun but as I hear the Arabs across the wadi from me get all fired up and shoot into the air (I hope). I realize it is not about looking cool but staying alive. Attacking the most controversial issue, let’s sit back and watch the flames spread from this! 1-Concealment and deception. Be “The Gray Man” (see my post …


Letter Re: Potential for Earth Strikes by Large Asteroids

Jim: See: http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ A sub part of this site was mentioned in the article that you posted Friday, but I’d recommend posting this main page of the site. People forget we had an asteroid pass very close to us last year, just 2/3 the distance to the moon. (Called a lunar distance or “LD”). Let’s look at two more things. 1.) NASA just recently proved they can hit an asteroid with a satellite. Doesn’t that strike you as at least a little odd they would spend the money to do that just for researching the impact? 2.) Now, did you …


Letter Re: Faraday Cage Grounding

Mr. Rawles, I have been enjoying reading your excellent blog. Some thoughts for you on the post from Rourke and the troubles presented by EMP. The only circuit breaker that could possibly open before an EMP surge could do damage are some large (400+ pounds) industrial types and they start at about $40,000. Be quite the installation. Any breaker you can get for less than that just ain’t nearly fast enough. You want to be a bit careful about installing a grounding system in your house that isn’t connected to the house’s grounding system, if it has one. The National …


Letter Re: Online Sources for Military Manuals

Jim, Most all of the current US Army field manuals (FMs) are available for download directly from the Army at: http://atiam.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/appmanager/soldier/start?_nfpb=true&docGroup=official&_pageLabel=rdlservicespage Note: Some are restricted access to those with a .gov or .mil address, but many can be downloaded by anyone. BTW, the Army for some reason decided to ‘modernize’ the numbering system and the 5-series manuals are now 3-series. Generally, though, the older manuals (some of which are available, as mentioned, from globalsecurity.org or FAS.org) are also useful. The newer manuals are more technology intensive than the older ones. It’s good knowing the current state of the art though. …


Odds ‘n Sods:

I just discovered that SurvivalBlog reader Matt C. has his own blog: www.parallaxadjustment.blogspot.com. Matt’s blog centers on his tactical firearms training. He is a regular shooter at a weekly class taught by a certified CHL/Lethal Use of Force trainer. Matt chronicles these lessons and passes on some great pearls of wisdom. Be forewarned that he uses a bit of off-color humor and language, but I recommend his blog. Good stuff. … Some disturbing reading on GWB’s opinion of the Constitution: http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_7779.shtml … I heard that George at The Pre-1899 Specialist has put some of his hand selected Model 1893  8x57mm …