Letter Re: Questions on the Pickup Truck as a Multi-Purpose Retreat Vehicle

Hello James, I have much to say about plow trucks, and so do many of your readers I see. I must preface the following with my history. I am born into the Ford bloodline, therefore I cannot successfully discuss alternative pickup truck durability except by that of close acquaintances. I have been plowing for 22 years. All but the past seven years have been strictly gasoline powered F-150s, F-250s, and Ford Broncos. The only difference between the F-150 and F-250 is the weight rating for cargo. There has not been a time, or snow condition that I have plowed in …




Letter Re: Anonymous Web Surfing Resources

Dear Jim, Tor (“The Onion Router”) has been up and running for some time. It’s a free and highly secure system for anonymous browsing. It requires installation of free, open source software on the host machine. Also of potential interest is the current release of Freenet, which supports a “scalable darknet:” A freeware, open source distribution of PGP (named, appropriately, GPG). A GPG for Windows front end. TrueCrypt (a freeware/open source hard drive encryption/steganography program) The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) tools page Hushmail: secure, free web mail Secure, free hard drive/file erasure Disclaimer and warning: Strong cryptography isn’t legal …







Odds ‘n Sods:

“Florida Guy” pointed us to a neat new shotgun variant from Mossberg for the nautical types among us.    o o o A SurvivalBlog reader mentioned that he sells surplus VHF portable two-way radio that operate in the Multi Use Radio Service (MURS) allocated frequencies. These radios come complete and ready to use with antenna, battery, belt clip and drop in charger for only $49 each. Yes, they have a few scratches and they’ll have a sticker that covers the original emergency service department engravings, buy hey, just $49 for a 2 Watt transceiver is a great deal. MURS frequencies …




Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Discrimination is simply the act of choice. When we choose Bordeaux wine, we discriminate against Burgundy wine. When I married Mrs. Williams, I discriminated against other women. Even though I occasionally think about equal opportunity, Mrs. Williams demands continued discrimination.” – Dr. Walter E. Williams, George Mason University




Note From JWR:

The winner of Round 6 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest is R.E.M., for his article “Maximizing Food Storage Life.” The second prize goes to R.J.C. of Pennsylvania, for his article “Water, Water Everywhere.” Congratulations to both of them. You gents will be contacted by e-mail to arrange for delivery of your contest prizes. Round 7 of the contest begins to day, and end on the last day of November. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up to $1,600.) Second prize is another copy of my …




Letter Re: Legality of Converting Replica Blackpowder Revolvers to Fire Cartridges?

Jim, I recently watched the 1985 movie ‘Pale Rider‘ with Clint Eastwood and noticed in the movie that he used what appeared to be a 1858 Remington pistol, I didn’t notice if it was a cap and ball or if it was converted to use conventional ammo. Where can you get those cylinders you mentioned? Seems like a very cool pistol advertised at Cabela’s. But wouldn’t BATFE be all over a loophole that allows a non-FFL firearm to be converted? Just curious..- Jason North Idaho JWR Replies: Here in the U.S., if it is the end user/owner (a non-FFL holder) …




Two Letters Re: Chevron’s Deep Oil Strike in the Gulf of Mexico

Mr. Rawles I read your blog often, thanks for the entertaining and informative site. I would like to comment on David from Israel’s post regarding Chevron’s oil strike in the gulf. I work for a very large E & P company and have many years experience in drilling and production. There is nothing holding back the exploitation of this field except time to build the facilities and and acquiring the drill ships (cost $500,000+ per day for the ship) to punch the holes. We routinely produce gas and oil from 24,000′; the depth of the water does not really matter …




Odds ‘n Sods:

Mountain Brook Foods of Tracy, California has announced a special one month sale just for SurvivalBlog readers. From now until the end of October, the following discounts will be available for in-stock items only: 20% off Orders of $100 to $249 30% off Orders of $250 to $499.99 40% off Orders over $500, not to exceed $2,500. To place your order go to www.mountainbrookfoods.com. There you will see there full line of storage foods and books. Note, however, that their web site lists only their standard pricing. To get the SurvivalBlog October special pricing, enter “SurvivalBlog” as the coupon discount …