Day: November 20, 2006

Note From JWR:

We had three nice days of weather in succession here at the Rawles Ranch, giving us a chance to get into town in comfort. The nearest large grocery store is more than 50 miles away. We saw several large flocks of wild turkeys while en route. Even though I try my best to show restraint, I usually end up with two or three times the canned goods that I had planned to buy. (I can’t resist sale prices on staple items, and the “squirrel” in me always wants “a little bit more” to keep on hand for winter.) Invariably the …


Letter Re: Prowlers and Lighting

Jim: What do you and your readers suggest for someone living in a rural area who needs a good strong light for prowlers? I live on top of a mountain in a cove surrounded by three sides by hills. On occasion, we have trespassers at night riding the ATV trails along the hills who are out to steal tools, gas, etc. There have been more than a few occasions when I’ve walked out to my car late at night to get something and realized there were people in the trees. One night I turned my rather anemic Surefire 6P [flashlight] …


Letter Re: MURS Radios, Dakota Alerts, and PIR Sensors

Jim, I for one I’m very happy that your novel “Patriots” back in print. For a long time I gave this book away to friends who I thought might like it, and to some whom I wanted to “feel out” as to whether they thought preparedness was a good idea. I had to stop this of course when your book went out of print, and the cost went skyward. Now I can stock up again. Also I wanted to thank you for turning me on to MURS Radios. I just made an order with Rob, and will be making another …


Letter Re: Herbal Medications and Remedies

Dear Jim: I read ‘The Gray Nineties‘ [an early draft edition of the novel “Patriots”] back when it was shareware, and did some gun accessory business with you back then. [In the early to mid-1990s.] I finally got around to perusing SurvivalBlog. One of the old posts includes a plea for ‘hard data’ on effectiveness of herbal medicines. My wife used to work for a ‘neutriceuticals’ company, doing literature reviews, and as an M.D. I have some exposure to the literature as well (though not as much as I should — I keep wasting time reading things that might have …


Odds ‘n Sods:

In my latest issue of Disaster Recovery Journal (DRJ) magazine, I noticed that the the magazine, in conjunction with researchers at Pepperdine University conducted a survey of disaster recovery professionals (mainly computer types) about pandemic preparedness. 49% of the respondents said that they had “not determined the potential impact on business related domestic and international travel of a pandemic.” and 42% said that they had “not yet started to identify essential employees and other critical inputs.” The statistics from several DRJ surveys, including the Pepperdine survey are available online. OBTW, although subscriptions are free, I don’t recommend subscribing to Disaster …