Month: July 2007

Odds ‘n Sods:

Tom at CometGold.com flagged this piece: The Real Morons of Orange County Why America’s most reckless real estate investors come from Irvine, California. About a year ago, I coined a name for this crowd: contrapreneurs.   o o o The high bid is still at $300 in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction for a brand new Big Berkey water filter, kindly donated by Ready Made Resources. They are one of our most loyal advertisers. The auction ends on August 15th. Just e-mail us your bid.    o o o Courtesy of our friends at SHTF Daily: Europe in fire and water …



Three Letters Re: Advice on Generators?

Dear Mr. Rawles, On the subject of generators, I was wondering what your thoughts were on fuel. Recently, the municipality I live in equipped it’s municipal buildings with large generators powered by propane. My thought was that a wiser choice would have been diesel. My reasoning was: Propane can only be provided by large trucks with specialized equipment or by smaller, but heavy, containers. In a situation where the roads may be blocked or impassable, a propane truck would not be able to get through. It’s hard to convince a propane dealer to come out with his truck for a …


Letter Re: M1 Garand En Bloc Clip Ejection–Modify or Leave it As-Is?

Jim: I’d like you advice on buying the Holbrook “Thumb Saver” modification device for M1 Garand Rifles. Do you have any experience with this device or thoughts on it? The following is John Holbrook’s description of his Thumb Saver Device. It has been advertised in Shotgun News for a long time. The Device is a replacement for the GI op[erating] rod catch and it stops automatic bolt release when loading a clip. It also prevents auto clip ejection when the last round is fired. With it installed, the Garand operates much like the M14/M1A. When a full clip is inserted …


Odds ‘n Sods:

DV forwarded this one: Goldman Sachs guru warns of war-debt failure — Is America becoming a global credit risk?   o o o Thanks to B.H. for sending us this: Ammo Makers Prepare for Drop in Demand    o o o J. from East Tennessee Sterilizer Service sent us what might be the answer to the honeybee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) mystery: A Spanish researcher blames an Asian parasite    o o o The Army Aviator sent us this one: Economist: World Is One Hedge-fund Collapse Away From Crisis. The article begins:”The problems in the U.S. subprime mortgage market could …



Note from JWR:

Today we welcome our newest advertiser, Liberty Mags, in Casper, Wyoming. They offer a 17 round magazine for the Saiga .308 series rifles. These magazines work without any modifications to your existing rifle. They are based on modified steel HK91 (G3) magazines and retain the original feed lips and reliability. All the magazines are made with new surplus magazines and are completely refinished using zinc phosphate Parkerization. Their price is $35 each for each freshly-modified and refinished magazine, or $25 each with your steel 20 round HK91/G3 magazine supplied as a trade-in. These mags are guaranteed for 100% function in …


Five Letters Re: Advice on Generators?

Jim, I have backup generators at my home and at my retreat. Both are propane powered. The generator at the retreat is a low speed (1800 RPM), liquid cooled generator. I have run it for up to 10 hours straight, with no problems. The vast majority of us “off the grid” folks have low speed propane generators. They are very reliable and fuel storage is not an issue since propane does not go bad. Most residences that I have seen, run the house and generator off of the same 500 gallon tank. My generator has a dedicated 500 gallon tank, …


Odds ‘n Sods:

RBS mentioned this interesting/frightening piece from the Dr. Housing Bubble Blog: The Foreclosure Story: What Does the Process Look Like?   o o o From NewsMax: Homeland General: Attack ‘Could Happen Any Day’   o o o A hat tip to Matt B. for this alert: Castleberry’s canned food recall.


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“The number of deaths from violence will be far exceeded by deaths from cold and hunger. The total casualty list will include a remarkable number of deaths in hospitals. Some millions of people will die in the two weeks during which the crisis will last. With hygiene virtually absent, an epidemic will be the widespread new phenomenon causing more deaths. This will be the decisively lethal fact – half the surviving population will die of bubonic plague. Historians estimate that during the fourteenth century the plague destroyed half to two thirds of the population of Europe. We think of that …


Note from JWR:

I just heard that Ready Made Resources has almost finished building their new web site. I heard that they’ve already posted more than 1,000 different cataloged items, and they have 1,500 more that will be posted within the next week or so. Be sure to visit their re-vamped site and check out their huge inventory of photovoltaic power components, storage foods, field gear, medical supplies, intrusion detection systems, night vision gear, wheat grinders, water filters, just to name a few items. They have it all, at great prices!


Letter Re: What if The Schumer Doesn’t Hit The Fan? – Reasons to Prepare Anyway, by MB

Hello Jim, I’d like to respond to MB’s article. In the Securing Your Castle section, MB wrote: “If you have studied survival even a little, then you are aware that arming yourself ranks high on the list of recommendations. Perhaps some of you share my reluctance to build an armory in my home. I have children, and being married to someone who is strictly against guns makes security a particularly difficult element in my survival preparations. While I recognize security as an absolute must, I have reservations about keeping a device designed to kill in my home. Ironically the reasons …


Letter From David in Israel: On Bootlaces

James I remember hearing an ex-army friend comment that he would always remove the laces from his boots and replace them with 550 parachute cord. His reason was that he could remove the laces and make survival stuff from the inner strands. If a person is in the military and has a steady source of 500 cord to replace their laces every other month in the field hen this is a good idea… Until they have to do real SERE and they are unable to replace the laces when they wear out. A survivor has priorities than having seven tiny …


Four Letters Re: Advice on Protecting My Home from Gunfire

Sir: Regarding the question you received from a reader regarding protection from gunfire. Might I suggest a decorative planter made from poured concrete or concrete block? Brick would do in a pinch, assuming it was face brick (which has holes in them) with rebar and mortar or cement in the holes, although brick shatters easily. (Concrete block should have the cavities filled, with vertical rebar in the cavities and horizontal strengthening rectangular wire loops in the mortar every other layer). An inexpensive and attractive one or two tiered planter 16-24 feet long and 4 feet high can easily be built …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Tom at CometGold.com sent us this article link: Italy set to bail out bank after huge derivatives losses. This is not the end of it folks. You can look for more much, much larger derivatives crises, in the near future, just as I warned you.   o o o DeFazio asks, but he’s denied access: Classified info – The congressman wanted to see government plans for after a terror attack   o o o From a Gander, Newfoundland newspaper come this editorial on the next depression: Unsustainable future. Hmmm, does somebody there read SurvivalBlog?