Year: 2006

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors; they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men." …


Rethinking Global Oil Reserves by Michael Z. Williamson

Ah, oil. It’s close in everyone’s minds because we rely on it absolutely. It fuels our vehicles, some houses, provides lubricants, is used for all our plastics and in many industrial applications. The first major factor in the chain is surveying and drilling of crude. As recently made the news, a massive reserve in the Gulf of Mexico has increased our domestic supply by 50%. There are also newer technologies coming on board for extracting oil from tougher resources (Shales, sands, deep wells, from under permafrost) and also manufacturing oil from organic waste, in a process called Thermodepolymerization (TDP). The …


Letter Re: Walking Blood Banks and Interceptor Body Armor

James, Here’s a link to an e-mail written by a Marine Corps Intelligence officer in Iraq. It’s humbling to read first hand the sacrifices our troops endure for us. But in all dark clouds, there is a silver lining (in this case from a preparedness perspective). In the near future, there are going to be a lot of medical personnel returning to civilian life that know exactly how to treat gun shot wounds and conduct “walking bloodbanks”. May the Lord bless you with one near your home. Other stray thoughts: keep an eye out for the new [Interceptor] body armor …


Odds ‘n Sods:

You gotta love Idaho: It has been proposed that every household in Greenleaf, Idaho have a firearm as part of a larger emergency preparedness requirements. Sounds good to me.    o o o Moriaty told me about a great site with articles and essays on Renaissance weapons.    o o o John the Bowhunter mentioned this amazing series of posts over at Archery Talk: A youngster has taken 77 big game animals with a 42 pound bow. With that bow he got penetration “to the feathers.” Notice the picture of the boy next to pro-gun and pro-archery rock-n-roll legend Ted …



Letter Re: Some Light on the Subject–An Amazing Coincidence

I had major dental surgery yesterday. Sure, I could have ignored it, but most animals are dead when they can’t eat. I consider dental health an excellent investment. In any case, I digress. I brought a flashlight in with me and the office staff and doctor looked at me like I was nuts. “What happens if your power goes out and there I am with a mouth full of blood, power tools and incisions and you can’t see how to stitch me back up?” They told me they hadn’t lost power in over 10 years but I put my flashlight …


Two Letters Re: Swords and Bows for that Dreaded Multigenerational Scenario

Jim, This is the first time I’ve written. I have been following with interest the posts regarding the use of archery for multi- generational thinking that surely someone else would bring this up, but that appears not to be the case. I’m fairly surprised that no one has yet mentioned the chu-ko-nu (see: It is commonly know as the Chinese Repeating Crossbow and is essentially a semi-automatic crossbow. It was used extensively in warfare as late as the 1890’s against the firearms of the Japanese to a fair amount of success. It is legendary for being rugged on the battlefield …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Frequent content contributor Jim K. send a link to an article in New Scientist about “microdiesel”–a genetically modified bacteria that can churn out biodiesel. It looks very promising. Jim K. notes: “If this takes off, it will be a huge jump in the potential for energy independence. Note that it doesn’t require plant oils, instead using the large amount of plant waste that is a byproduct of all farming. It also cuts out the need for toxic chemicals that are used in biodiesel production, which is great both environmentally and financially. This is the first bit of good news I’ve …



Notes From JWR:

Please continue to spread the word about SurvivalBlog. Tell your friends. Just adding a SurvivalBlog icon to your web site or mail .sig adds tremendously to our exposure. Thanks! The bidding is now up to $180 in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction for a fully tested and recently professionally calibrated U.S. government surplus Civil Defense CD V-717 fallout survey meter with remote sensing capability. The meter was donated by Ready Made Resources (one of our first and most loyal advertisers). This auction ends on October 15th. Please submit your bid via e-mail.


Some Thoughts on Ammunition Handloading, by Inyokern

I’m a bit surprised at how little discussion there is of ammunition reloading. While the .223 Remington (5.56×45 NATO) is an imperfect military round, its very easy to reload and the cases last pretty well if you are precise and careful about your loads. Midsized calibers like .308 loads even better, and is less fussy than small calibers are. I realize than an autoloader doesn’t take well to reloads, nor is it reasonable collecting spent brass ejected from one on a battlefield. In addition, most milsurp brass is Berdan primed which is almost impossible (very difficult) to reload. Same with …


Letter Re: Invitation to a Blog “Carnival” on Preparedness and Survival

Hi Jim, I’ve been a sometime reader of your blog since last year, and wanted to invite you to submit an article for the first issue of the Carnival of Preparedness & Survival. If you are willing, you can also extend the invitation to your readers. I can’t promise to use everything that’s submitted, but some of your readers have had interesting things to say, and I’d like to have as much variety as possible in this Carnival. Best Regards, – D.S. Rawles     Disaster Preparedness   SurvivalBlog   Blog Carnival   The Bugout Bag


Odds ‘n Sods:

MurrDoc mentioned that some very durable and water tight 25mm cannon ammo cans are back in stock at Sportsman’s Guide at what he called a “not-too-bad price.” See: Item JX – 6M106293 described in their catalog as a “25 mm cannon Shell Case” $11.97 each plus shipping.    o o o From The Australian: Modern Cities are More Vulnerable Than Old. (Many thanks to Felix for sending the link to this thought-provoking article.)    o o o Front Sight has just posted their 2007 training class calendar. I highly recommend the training there. The Memsahib and I have both trained …



Notes From JWR:

To generate some cash for an upcoming major purchase, I have reduced the prices on many of the guns, gun accessories, and books in my mail order catalog. Please take a look. The bidding is now up to $155 in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction for a fully tested and recently professionally calibrated U.S. government surplus Civil Defense CD V-717 fallout survey meter with remote sensing capability. The meter was donated by Ready Made Resources (one of our first and most loyal advertisers). This auction ends on October 15th. Please submit your bid via e-mail.