Special Note from JWR:

My much awaited non-fiction book, Rawles on Retreats and Relocation has just been released, in time to order for Christmas! It is available as a wire-o bound “print-on demand” book from CafePress – Click here for details Topics in the book include: Retreat Locales, Detailed State and Local Statistics, Weapons Laws, Climate Zones, Property Selection Criteria, Zoning and CC&Rs, Self-Sufficiency, Emerging Threats, Terrorist and WWIII Targets, Offshore Retreats, Privacy, Stocking Your Retreat, and Much More! 225 pages, fully indexed, with detailed maps and retreat locale analysis. Covers 19 western states. A considerable portion of the content in this book has …




Letter Re: Mapping Tools For Selecting Retreat Locales

Mr. Rawles, I’ve been researching retreat areas and found a couple web site useful. National Geographic has a “MapMachine” program which allows for generating satellite, road, physical characteristics maps and, best of all, theme maps. The theme maps include weather, farming, vegetation, and population density. The MapMachine can be combined with [gardening] hardiness zone maps. These may help others in their planning. Thanks, – John H.  




Letter Re: Non-Nuclear Electro Magnetic Pulse Weapons

James: One tidbit I recently learned less than a week ago: non-nuclear EMP bombs are actually easy and cheap to make Its a permanent magnet, a coil, an antenna, and a bomb to push the magnet past the coil. The enormous electrical energy is released through the antenna causes a powerful EMP to be released, depending on the size of the device used. These tend to be heavy so I doubt you’ll see big ones flying around but a truck or railcar sized bomb would be really potent, possibly covering a dozen mile radius. Shipping containers probably won’t work that …




A Preliminary Analysis of the USDA’s NAIS User Guide of November 2006 by Mary Zanoni, Ph.D., J.D.

The following are preliminary points meant to contribute to the early and continuing discussion of this newly released (as of November 22, 2006) USDA document concerning the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). I plan to write further on some of the key issues related to the User Guide in the near future. At the close of the discussion is a list of suggestions for further action. The only real “difference” from this year’s prior Implementation Plan documents is the absence of stated dates for certain target levels of participation. The document still envisions making everyone comply with NAIS eventually. (See, …




Two Letters Re: Build Your Fallout Shelter From Barter Goods, by Mr. Yankee

Jim: Regarding Mr. Yankee’s article: Salt in some water softeners is potassium chloride, not sodium chloride. Both are ‘salts’ but they behave differently. Be sure you are storing the sodium chloride variety.- SF in Hawaii   Mr Rawles, Hope this finds you and your family doing well. I’m not sure if this link has been disclosed in the past, and I am certainly no expert in this field, but this seems like a well thought out presentation for a fallout shelter. Keep up the good work, – R.C.




Odds ‘n Sods:

There is a very lively thread of conversation over at The Claire Files Forums, titled “Preparing for Abrupt Climate Change”    o o o From WorldNetDaily: Debunking the debunkers–Snopes snookered by 10 Commandments hoax.    o o o Don’t miss out on the Free Shipping special, this month only at Ready Made Resources. They are SurvivalBlog’s oldest and most generous sponsor. Please visit their web site and check out their wide range of products and place your order soon to take advantage of the free shipping special. (Shipping charges can otherwise be considerable, especially on storage food!)