Day: December 3, 2006

Note From JWR:

In response to those that asked for details, my newly-released nonfiction book, Rawles on Retreat and Relocation is 225 pages, in 8-1/2×11 format, and wire-o bound, so that it will lay flat when open. There are lots of maps and a comparative table. In answer to those of you that asked for details about the contents, here is how it is organized: Introduction Chapter 1: Population Density and The Golden Horde Chapter 2: The Self-Sufficient Retreat Chapter 3: Climate and Growing Season Chapter 4: Water, Power, and Fuel Sources Chapter 5: Property, Income, and Sales Taxes Chapter 6: Weapons Laws …


Book Reviews: Last Light and Night Light, by Terri Blackstock

James: I am writing to recommend two novels that may be interest to your readers. Written by Terri Blackstock, I would like to recommend a series of two novels: Last Light and Night Light. These are novels that are written in a series, and while they can be read one at a time, are better read in sequence. As survival junkies, we are always in search of decent fiction centered around survival motifs – a rare genre of writing. Terri does a pretty good job of producing some entertaining and page-turning yarns. I will admit for those of us that …


Letter Re: Communications for Disasters–Are Scanners Useful?

James: The hot thing in scanners right now is digital trunking. Most public-safety services use this approach, without scrambling or encryption. Analog scanners are useless, but the new generation of scanners include direct support for digital trunking. I recently bought a Uniden/Bearcat BCD 396T, which totally restored my ability to listen to common public-safety traffic where I live. Some more sensitive government agencies use encryption on top of digital trunking, but there’s no strong survival-oriented motivation to listen to their transmissions. Unless you’re trying to survive an FBI manhunt, I suppose. In an emergency, being able to monitor fire and …


Letter Re: Yukon Gen 1 Night Vision Rifle Scope – A Product Review

Jim, I had delayed writing a review of the Yukon night vision rifle scope because I have to wonder who else is reading your site. I don’t want to do a disservice to all the good folks that visit your [blog] site. I surely don’t want the bad guys knowing the following. Unless they stumble on it themselves. If they are going to use one I would rather they use one of these gems. I may buy a few other night vision scopes just to see if the problem is in the design or I got a bad one. Here’s …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Thad K. suggested this link on how to grow your own luffa sponges. His comment: “What a great survival plant, eat them when young, wash with them when they are mature!”    o o o The previously mentioned special promotion at Northern Tool & Equipment (one of our affiliate advertisers) ends tomorrow. (December 4th) Northern is offering sitewide Free Gift Cards with purchases over $100. You will need to enter keycode 94660 in order to receive their free gift card.    o o o I got a note from Freeze Dry Guy, with good news: They are extending their November …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of …