Month: August 2006

Five Letters Re: M1911 Pistol Modifications

Dear Jim, Consider getting a copy of Tiger Mckee’s The Book of Two Guns. You won’t be disappointed. (I happened on it quite by chance and it’s been on my what-to-get-for-the-shooter-who-has-everything list since.) With respect to “injured shooter drills”: The slide on a 1911 may be racked using the rear sight and your belt, provided you’re not equipped with Novaks. Hook the rear sight on the upper edge of your belt, strong side, and you’ll find you can actuate the slide very rapidly and without difficulty. Novaks are, IMAO, a nice fashion feature, but little else. (Heresy!) If you consider …



Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"The preacher man says it’s the end of time And the Mississippi River she’s a goin’ dry The interest is up and the Stock Markets down And you only get mugged If you go down town I live back in the woods, you see A woman and the kids, and the dogs and me I got a shotgun rifle and a 4-wheel drive And a country boy can survive Country folks can survive I can plow a field all day long I can catch catfish from dusk till dawn We make our own whiskey and our own smoke too Ain’t …


Note From JWR:

Are you getting your 10 cents worth? If you find that what you read here is worth ten cents a day or more to you, then please become a Ten Cent Challenge subscriber to SurvivalBlog. Subscriptions are entirely voluntary, and gratefully accepted.


Polling the Blog Readership: Best Places for Retreats in the Eastern U.S. and Overseas?

I’m in the final stages of writing my upcoming nonfiction book, “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation”. In it, I give my recommendations on retreat locales in 19 western states. As you know, I am not a proponent of retreats east of the Mississippi River, due to the higher population density of the eastern states and their downwind location. That would make them vulnerable to a full scale nuclear attack. And I’m the first to admit that I’m biased toward the Western U.S., since I like my “elbow room.” But for those of you that do choose to stay in the …


Letter Re: RFID Chip Hacking and RFID Chip Skimmer Technology

  Dear Jim, Here’s a link on RFID that you might find interesting. I think the implications for NAIS are obvious. Here are plans for a low-cost RFID “skimmer” that can read chips surreptitiously. The clear implication is that it would be a simple matter to capture codes and clone fake RFID chips. Also, an RFID “blocker” chip that floods the interrogating transmitter with garbage. Of note, current RFID transmitter software is likely to be vulnerable to malicious code (“viruses”) transmitted by altered chips. I submit it’s only a matter of (a very short) time before we see security disasters …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Rourke recommends this great site for NBC preparedness. It has a lot of useful maps, target structure data, and details on how to survive a nuclear attack.    o o o Jake Stafford mentioned that copies of the “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course currently at a special sale price are starting to fly off the shelf. The sale ends August 11th.    o o o AK in Costa Rica mentioned this article about safety and security for ex-pats living n Panama. AK notes: “This guy may not be a security expert, but his article presents some interesting issues about …




Letter Re: Purifying Water with Bleach

Mr. Rawles, I’ve received and read the “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course package. It made me think twice about a few things, since I do most of my prepping at Costco. I notice that someone has already mentioned the vitamin thing. Thanks for the tip about bear liver! I also noticed that you recommended having bleach on hand, and in the storage life section, bleach is listed as having an indefinite shelf life. I’m sure you already know that is not the case. Regular liquid bleach is not stable, it breaks down gradually and eventually becomes just salt water …


Letter Re: Selecting a Martial Art and a Dojo

Sir, I’d like to suggest yet another art for you to consider: Arnis. (often referred to as FMA, or Filipino Martial Arts.) It is also referred to as Escrima or Kali. It is a predominately stick and knife based art, with open hand techniques following. Most Eastern arts I have been exposed to stress the empty hand and move towards weapons, Arnis is exactly the opposite, the thought being a stick is easier to defend one’s self with than bare hands, and it is more logical to begin as such. Another fundamental difference between Arnis and other arts is the …


Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog reader Jim K. sent us a link to this interesting tale from the web: A lucky fellow in New York City has the notebook in his jacket pocket stop a bullet.    o o o Michael Z. Williamson pointed us to a site that proves that Glocks can take a lot of abuse and still function.    o o o Zimbabwe’s hyperinflated currency follies continue: They are lopping off three zeroes. Now (at least for a few days) a loaf of bread costs only $1,000 instead of $1,000,000. To solve the fundamental problem, some observers in Harare suggest that …



Note From JWR:

Today is the First Anniversary of SurvivalBlog! Thanks for making the blog such a great success.Wow! We’ve had 566,000+ unique visits in just the first year. Special Announcement: To celebrate the First Anniversary of SurvivalBlog, Jake Stafford is putting the “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course on sale for just the next seven days. The course is on sale at a very special price. If sending payment via snail mail, be sure to have your order postmarked no later than August 11th to get the special blog anniversary sale price.


Letter Re: Real Estate Crash Followed by a Hyperinflationary Recession?

Mr. Rawles, Again, for your very useful posts, thank you. I have a question if you have the time. It was in regards to your real estate post: “My advice to home owners is pay it off and my advice to prospective home buyers is wait for the crash and pay for it with cash.” This is my current plan: I’ve sold my home and am renting now. But do you believe (in the hyper-inflation scenario) that there will be a lull to allow for your statement above? Will there be a time in between when recession/depression and when hyper-inflation …