Our goal is to double the readership of SurvivalBlog by the end of 2007. Reader R.A. mentioned that there are already 719 different web sites that link to SurvivalBlog, but we could use a lot more links! If you have a web site or blog and don’t yet have a link to SurvivalBlog, then please do so. It is quick and easy to add a SurvivalBlog link logo or link text. That would be greatly appreciated!
James: Great letters on thinking about skills as the ultimate portable “barter goods”. If you have a specialty skill, just make sure that you have enough tools and supplies to be a post-TEOTWAWKI supplier. It’s a big time commitment to become qualified in a specialty outside of your current work, but if you can leverage your current expertise with some more training and/or tools and/or supplies that would be ideal. I would add that much the same criteria apply for skills as for goods. The best skills would be the ones that are mission-critical for survival in a horrific TEOTWAWKI …
Mr. Rawles: I couldn’t agree more with Ron D’s article on the need for basic fitness. The most perfect Bug Out Bag in existence and the best hidden cache of beans, bullets and bandages won’t do you any good if you have a heart attack getting there. I would add, though, that for strength training you don’t have to invest in a lot, or even any, equipment. Bodyweight calisthenics can help build strength rapidly using only your own body as the weight you are lifting. Unlike machines, or even free weights, bodyweight exercises don’t just target individual muscles but also …
James, Another safety item for melting lead: When done pouring bullets, it is important that any remaining lead should be poured out of the pot, rather leaving it to solidify in the pot. Lead like all other materials will expand when heated. Lead will also melt from the bottom up and if trapped by a solid layer at the top, may erupt when it breaks through that top layer. – R.H.
Hawaiian K. flagged this article from Cosmos magazine: Coat of paint could halt pandemic o o o Rocky O. sent us this story about a minor panic in London caused by a single live .22 rimfire cartridge found on a sidewalk: Bullet found in doorway. When I read this article, I laughed so hard that I nearly cried. Rocky’s comment: “Imagine what you could do with a whole box of .22s. Probably tie up their police force and bomb squad for weeks.” o o o Vic at Safecastle just launched a new private “Safecastle Royal” buyers club that …
“It is a sad commentary on human affairs, down to our day, that ‘sweet reasonableness’ and sensible quiet argument never get very far as such-that nothing gets done until a sizable bloc of people gets organized and starts raising enough h*ll to persuade those in power that they had better start listening to what is being said.” – George F. Willison “Patrick Henry and His World”