Day: May 10, 2007

Notes from JWR:

This morning we counted 17 elk at our livestock salt lick blocks just 50 feet from our house, and another eight from the herd farther down the pasture, toward The Unnamed River. Oddly, they seemed less skittish than the deer that we see nearly every evening. (Since elk are generally more wary.) It is amazing how thick the wild game is at the Rawles Ranch. We certainly will never starve here! We begin today’s posts with the first round of results from our current poll that was recommended by SF in Hawaii.


Poll Results: Why are You Preparing to Survive?

Here is the first round of responses to this question: Those who are well educated enough to see a societal collapse of some sort or another in the making fall into two groups, the merrymakers and the preparers. The merrymakers don’t see life worth living post-SHTF, so they live it up now. We on SurvivalBlog are the preparers and have chosen to survive, but why? Our children? To rebuild civilization? Because the collapse will only be temporary? Because we can and we’re stubborn with a stronger than normal will to survive? The following is just the first batch of responses. …


Letter Re: The Importance of Proper Hearing Protection

Jim: Regarding the [recently mentioned] Peltor tactical 6S (sound trap) [electronic earmuffs]: While the battery power for these is somewhat of a concern, they are well worth what you might spend keeping a few extra sets of AAA rechargeables (two for each ear) around. I, too, have been running these muffs for a number of years and really like them, especially under a helmet. The radio part works well too. On the qualification range with all the M4s going off, you can hear a hammer fall. So here is my quandary and request for advice. I’ve tried NiCd and NiMH …


Odds ‘n Sods:

The Secret Squirrel mentioned this great gardening and woodworking tool supplier: Lee Valley Tools.He particularly recommended their U-bars for gardening. (These were also recommended by the late Carla Emery.)   o o o Floods and drought: Insurance giant Lloyd’s of London assesses climate change. Meanwhile a study examining the national security consequences of climate change has been released by a senior U.S. military advisory board.    o o o RBS mentioned a fascinating book available for free download, The Upside of Down:Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization, by Thomas Homer-Dixon


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Clearly, there remains to this day a horrible, condescending attitude toward armed American citizens. Haven’t the British yet gotten over the fact that a ragtag, often disorganized force of American colonials, wielding their own arms, was able to defeat what at the time was the most powerful armed force in the world? Our forefathers, armed with their own flintlock rifles and pistols, and an assortment of muskets—the ‘assault weapons’ of their era—threw off the yoke of oppression under which they were forced to live. When British broadcasters today demand to know just what it is about gun ownership that Americans …