Month: January 2007

Odds ‘n Sods:

Former CIA energy analyst Tom Whipple reports: The Peak Oil Crisis: Congressional Hearings – Round #2    o o o Cathy Buckle reports from Zimbabwe: Police crackdown on illegal small scale miners leads to deaths. Just more of the same government heavy-handedness in troubled Zimbabwe. The once quite productive and prosperous nation is now chronically racked by hyperinflation. Speaking of inflation, be sure to scroll down to Cathy’s January 6th post, which includes this: “Before Christmas a loaf of bread was 295 dollars, now it is 850 dollars – the bakers say its still not enough to cover their costs …




The Next Pandemic: Starvation in a Land of Plenty

At the dawn of the 21st century, we are living in an amazing time of prosperity. Our health care is excellent, our grocery store shelves burgeon with a huge assortment of fresh foods, and our telecommunications systems are lightning fast. We have relatively cheap transportation, and our cities are linked by an elaborate and fairly well-maintained system of roads, rails, canals, seaports, and airports. For the first time in human history, the majority of the world’s population will soon live in cities rather than in the countryside. But the downside to all this abundance is over-complexity, over-specialization, and lengthy supply …


Letter Re: Advice on Silver Coins and Silver Certificates

Dear Jim: I am new to survival preparedness but I am learning by reading SurvivalBlog every day and your book Patriots. I do have a question about junk silver. My dad always collected coins when I was a kid and he always told me about saving the ones from before 1965 as they were silver and I have a small stash from those years. But what about the [Eisenhower] “silver dollars” from the 1970’s? I always got those as gifts when I was a kid and I have a small stash of those too. Do these “silver dollars” have any …


Letter Re: Streamlight Incandescent/LED Combo Flashlight

Dear Jim, I just picked up a Streamlight Twin Task 3C from Flashlight Outlet. They were set up at the Indy 1500 Gun and Knife Show near my tables, and are great people to deal with. This light is solidly machined from aluminum, small enough for use, large enough to make a handy baton, and gets 1 hour at 57 lumens of xenon bulb, 100 hours at 21 lumens of LED, and has a laser pointer. I didn’t really need the laser pointer, but it was $1 cheaper with it than the version without. It takes 3 common C cells. …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Ben L. mentioned this one: Bird flu reports spreading in Asia. Ben’s comment: “Scary stuff. The S.E. Asians appear (!) to be holding their end in check, but the way these things tend to get out of control, I’d have to say November 2008/February 2009 would be the time to watch out for. Yes, time to stock up on animal-protein goodies from your advertisers such as Freeze Dry Guy and PrepareTV.com. (My my; their Gourmet Supreme Pack looks to be delicious.)”    o o o Hurricane-force winds and rain lashed northern Europe on Thursday    o o o I …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever." – Thomas Jefferson


Notes from JWR:

The high bid in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction for a pair of MURS band handheld transceivers, with extended range flex antennas is now at $150. These radios were kindly donated by Rob at $49 MURS Radios. Check out his products. What Rob sells are a lot of radio for the money. I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews from the SurvivalBlog readers that have bought these. As previously mentioned in the blog, Kenwood 2 watt MURS handhelds have far better range than FRS radios, they require no license, and can be custom programmed for, MURS, 2 Meter Band frequencies and/or weather …


Letter Re: Observations on the Recent Oklahoma Ice Storm

Jim: Well, I just got back online. I had to go up to the roof and thaw the wireless [Internet] antenna with a heat gun. It seems the ice grounds out the antenna. It was an easy fix with my heat gun for heat shrink tubing. More precipitation is on the way but colder. It will probably just be snow. We never lost power but were ready anyway. I have friends with no power and they have been without power for days and no idea when it will be back on. The further out you live, the less chance of …


Letter Re: Veterinary Antibiotics and Medical Freezers

Jim: A lot of folks, myself included, have been buying fish/aquarium grade antibiotics for a while now. Recently my favorite source dried up. I called them to ask why they no longer had the products and they stated that it is becoming difficult to carry them because the FDA is scrutinizing the industry. What was told to me was that the capsules were still available, in packs of 12. I did find other sources, but some publicly searchable web pages can no longer be found via Google – hidden pages that I couldn’t navigate to through the web sites search …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Chuck sent us this link: Peak Oil Update – January 2007: Production Forecasts and EIA Oil Production Numbers    o o o I noticed at the RWVA Blog that there are a whole bunch of Appleseed shoots and clinics already scheduled for this year, all over the country. (Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.) More locations may be announced later. Check the schedule for a shoot near you.    o o o The big “Container load sale” at Survival Enterprises that I mentioned last week …



Note from JWR:

For the many folks that have been asking about how to get an autographed copy of my novel Patriots: The quickest and easiest method for those here in the States is to simply PayPal me $22, directed to my primary PayPal account: rawles@earthlink.net. Be sure to mention your mailing address where you’d like the book(s) sent. For all other ordering methods and pricing on larger quantities, see my mail order catalog. If you prefer to pay by credit card, I also sell some autographed copies through Amazon Shops. And BTW, un-autographed copies of the the novel are now available through …


Letter Re: Advice for a New College Grad on How Best to Prepare?

Hi Jim, I’ve been reading Survival Blog for a few months now, and I enjoy it. I really like how there is such a wide variety of topics to read about. I recently graduated from college with a four-year degree in computer science, and I am currently living with my parents until I get a full-time job. My question for you is this: What is a good way to start out in gaining survival/preparedness skills for someone in my situation? I’ve been doing some basic things such as reading a lot and learning some gardening skills. It does seem that …