Letter Re: “The Rift” by Walter J. Williams

Jim, I’ve scanned the [poll results for] favorite Survival Book entries and haven’t seen one of mine (unless I’ve missed it). It’s “The Rift” by Walter J. Williams: an edge-of-your seat novel based on the New Madrid earthquake of 1811 occurring again in our time. I highly recommend it to your readers and have enjoyed learning from them of other works that I wasn’t familiar with. Regards, – AdkNoah




Odds ‘n Sods:

James in Pennsylvania found a link to the Tearfund International Learning Zone (TILZ) that has some interesting publications. His comment: ” Take a look at the technology section of Footsteps 21. Lots of practical information.:   o o o The PC crowd finds survivalists too “negative”    o o o Half of China on flood alert as rainstorms plague millions




Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"If an American is to amount to anything he must rely upon himself, and not upon the State; he must take pride in his own work, instead of sitting idle to envy the luck of others. He must face life with resolute courage, win victory if he can, and accept defeat if he must, without seeking to place on his fellow man a responsibility which is not theirs." – Theodore Roosevelt




Letter Re: Solar Power, Wind Power, 4WD Electric Vehicle, Wood Fired Brick Ovens

James, I am new to SurvivalBlog but I thought that I would share my experience and thoughts with everyone. I have a totally off the grid ranch that is powered by wind and solar. We have more electricity than we can use with a 40 kilowatt (KW) battery bank, 2 KW of photovoltaics and 1.4 KW of wind power. First I highly recommend a hybrid system, solar and wind. Usually when the sun isn’t shinning, the wind is blowing, especially when a storm is blowing in. My batteries are usually full by 1100 hours in the summer and 1200 hours …




Letter Re: From Russia With Love

It is quite strange heading for the letter to the site like yours, isn’t it? But it is really so. My name is Andrei, I am Russian living in the suburbs of Moscow, Russia. I do have a lot of fun reading your great site. Of course, circumstances in Moscow, Russia and Moscow, Idaho, differ significantly, but there is a lot of the same stuff we must take care of if we are going to survive, be it in Western hemisphere or not. Surprisingly, actually there are no local web sites like yours while your site is a great source …




Letter Re: Analysis of Poll Data: List Your Top Five Survival Fiction Books and Top Five Survival Movies

Jim: I was bored, so I compiled the “raw data” that you recently provided in SurvivalBlog: TOP 3 SURVIVAL BOOKS (# of votes) Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse by JWR (10) Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank (6) Lucifer’s Hammer by Niven & Pournelle (5) HONORABLE MENTIONS (3 votes) Lights Out by David Crawford Earth Abides by George Stewart Malevil by Robert Merle Wolf and Iron by Gordon Dickson Tunnel in the Sky by Robert Heinlein TOP 3 SURVIVAL MOVIES Red Dawn (6) Panic In Year Zero (5) The Postman (4) HONORABLE MENTIONS (3 votes) Threads The Road Warrior Testament Regards, …




Odds ‘n Sods:

JLM sent us the link to this Washington Post article: Switching To Biofuels Could Cost Lots of Green   o o o MWR flagged this article: Drought now covering more than one-third of the continental USA.    o o o CountryTek e-mailed us with a reference to a piece about a method discovered by MIT researchers for the wireless transmission of electrical power via materials resonance. His comment: “So far, they’ve been able to power a 60 watt bulb from about seven feet away. This non-technical article doesn’t talk about transmission efficiency, but the implications are huge.”










Letter Re: Greenspan, Gold, and the Safe Store of Value

Dear Mr. Rawles, Regarding the use of gold as a store of value, it’s important to realize that gold often functions as a fiat currency. It does have intrinsic value for jewelry, electronics, rust-proofing, and some chemistry applications but the vast majority of its value comes from the shared expectation that people will accept it as being valuable in the future. The only difference from fiat dollars is that it’s harder – but not impossible – to increase or decrease the gold monetary supply, and that supply isn’t controlled by any government. In a disaster situation things get even worse, …




From #1 Son: Proposed Expansion of Designated Wilderness Areas a Cause for Concern

The House of Representatives is currently considering H.R. 1975, the “Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act.” This is of interest to survivalists because it will be converting a huge amount of public land into “designated wilderness areas.” The affected land currently has roads and is open to public use. However, if the wilderness area expansion passes then public access use will be severely restricted. Many of you own or would like property with forest service land adjoining or nearby. With the act, all roads will be blocked off or removed, and hunting and wood cutting will be illegal. You will even …




Odds ‘n Sods:

As noted at NewsMax.com: Al-Qaeda’s American Recruit Releases Something Entirely New   o o o The “Where’s he Fence?” anti-illegal immigrant amnesty campaign picks up speed. Meanwhile, the immigration bill (including an amnesty provision) is stalled in the Senate. Could they be feeling the heat and seeing the light?    o o o A Canadian Member of Front Sight Purchases 100 Lifetime Memberships for Deserving US Marines







Notes from JWR:

Wow! We’re about to surpass the 1.5 million unique visits mark. Thanks for making SurvivalBlog such a huge success. Your SurvivalBlog graphic links (at your web sites and in e-mail footers) are helping tremendously. The high bid is still at $350 in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction for a selection of 17 survival and preparedness books. The auction ends on June 15th.




Letter Re: What if I Can’t Leave WTSHTF?

Mr. Rawles: I have been reading your blog for some time. I have found it quiet interesting and informative. I’m a former combat vet and security professional for most of the 1990s. I moved back to North Carolina and started a company. I was raised by parents and grandparents that were survivalist long before the term became popular. I have made extensive preparations for the upcoming events that will befall the United States . I read the [blog] site and I think about us folks that do live in the east, a lot will be in a sad shape. I …