Month: December 2006

Letter Re Maglite Flashlight LED Conversions

I just purchased a Maglite Brand LED conversion for a two D-cell Maglite.[These replace the original filament light bulb holding “head” of the flashlight.] It was $20 at a Lowe’s [hardware store] in Oregon, with no sales tax. These take only three minutes to install. The focus feature still works great, but the best feature is that it is very bright, almost blue/white. Much better battery life and outstanding bulb life, not affected by dropping. All in all, a very good conversion for one of the best lights made. They also have them for 3 D-cell , and 4 D-cell …


Odds ‘n Sods:

From Tom at www.CometGold.com: Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez is directing a growing share of the country’s oil profits into euros as the dollar and crude prices fall.    o o o I noticed that recent short-term strengthening of the U.S. Dollar has pounded down the spot price of silver from around $14 per ounce to about $12.50. Buy on these dips!    o o o Hawaiian K. forwarded a link to some gloomy predictions from The Market Oracle: Three-Pronged Collapse … Stocks, Bonds and Real Estate




Letter Re: Advice on Affordable Yet Reliable Night Vision Scopes

Jim: Who makes the best Gen 1 and Gen 2 night vision optics? I am not sure I can afford to purchase Gen 3 for five people at this time. I can afford Gen 1, maybe Gen 2. Thanks, – Martin JWR Replies: I’d recommend that you purchase a professionally re-manufactured U.S. military contract Gen 2 scope such as the AN/PVS-2B. Beware the many “kitchen table” re-manufacturers out there! Buy a full mil spec scope from a reputable vendor such as Ready Made Resources or STANO Components, that will have a genuine, new, Gen 2 image intensifier tube with a …


Letter Re: America’s Interstate Highway and Freeway System in Decline

Hello James, Another indicator of America’s decline: our interstate highway system. [The following was in part excerpted from a Department of Transportation history web page. and from an article at The Tax Foundation web site.] The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1952 authorized the first funding specifically for construction of the interstate highway system, but it was only a token amount of $25 million a year for fiscal years (FY) 1954 and 1955. Legislation in 1954 authorized an additional $175 million annually for FY 1956 and 1957. Under the leadership of President Eisenhower, the question of how to fund the Interstate …


Odds ‘n Sods:

The late James Kim should have had one of these. (Thanks to Ben L for sending this link.)    o o o From Novosti: Record high winter temperature set in Moscow    o o o For those of you with a fast Internet connection: An interesting video interview with Aton Edwards, the author of Preparedness Now. (Preparedness from a New York City perspective.)



Letter Re: MURS Alert Intrusion Detection System Product Review

Jim, I received my MURS Alert intrusion detection system last week, and have given it a good preliminary test. So far, so good. I am very impressed with this unit. All I had to do was turn a couple of dials to tune it to the channel and sub-code that I wanted it on, and it was good to go. Although I did disable the red “walk test” light, because with it turned on, it looked like a one eyed beast at nighttime when it tripped. The only other thing I did and that I highly recommend is that you …


Letter Re: Glock Grip Reductions and Replacement Frames

Dear Jim: A very attractive option to make your Glock pistol point like a M1911 (and reduce the grip size) on your Glock is the CCF Race Frame. This is an aluminum, titanium and stainless steel replacement for your Glock polymer frame that can keep the traditional Glock grip angle, or change it to 1911 angles and reduce the grip size. Plus they have tweaked the frame for many other ergonomic upgrades, plus an alloy frame gives a crisper trigger pull. (See the website.) Alas, they aren’t out for the .45 caliber Glock, but they are “studying the G21 market.” …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Ron Holland recently penned some prescient commentary on the fate of the U.S. Dollar, as quoted in the Sovereign Society Offshore A-Letter, under the heading Sacrificing Your Dollars for the Housing Market:.”Most Americans could care less about the value of the dollar. But with the 2008 Presidential Election coming up, the public will be closely following their real estate values, so you can expect the Fed to hold or lower rates. This almost guarantees a far weaker dollar. But when the other central bankers really switch more of their dollar holdings to the other major currencies, expect a major collapse …



Note From JWR:

We were recently invited to a friend’s Christmas party. The hosts have a nice sturdy log house, heated entirely by a wood stove and lit entirely by propane mantle lamps. When some of the refreshments were accidentally spilled on the carpet, one of the host’s kids went outside to power up the generator so that they could run the vacuum cleaner. I gather that their generator is reserved only for such “emergencies.” Something tells me that if and when TEOTWAWKI occurs, it won’t be much of a life-changing event for that family.


Letter Re: Robert A. Heinlein Didn’t Just Talk and Write About Preparedness

Dear Jim, I’m not sure if you have covered Robert A. Heinlein’s shelter that featured in his novel, “Farnham’s Freehold.” This site describes the house that Heinlein built in Colorado Springs before NORAD moved into the area And here’s an archived link of the shelter underneath, which included both air bottles and ventilation, escape routes, and antenna mounts.- Michael Z. Williamson


Letter Re: Total Tax Burdens of States as a Determining Factor in Relocation

James: I noted the snippet [from the recently released book Rawles on Retreat and Relocation] about tax burden by state recently on SurvivalBlog. This is a topic that has always confused me. You can find this kind of information in several places online, but it is often contradictory and it is very difficult to figure out how they come up with the numbers. I have lived most of my life in New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. In Wyoming, we had no state income tax, limited sales tax (5% state and a max of 1% local, if I recall correctly), and …