Day: August 1, 2007

Note from JWR:

We’ve finished the judging. The winner of Round 11 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest is John O. MD for his article “Survival Labor and Delivery”. He gets the top prize–a four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. These certificates are worth up to $2,000! Our thanks to Front Sight’s director, Naish Piazza, for generously donating the course certificate. Check out the Front Sight web site and their great training opportunities. Second prize goes to Vlad for his article “Older Chevy 4X4s: The Ideal EMP-Proof Survival Vehicles.” His prize is is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” …


Mental Preparations for Survival, by jc

For many people preparing to survive has become an obsession; a pursuit placed above all else in their lives. Others feel as if survival prep should be more of a priority if they could only afford to do more. Still others feel as if they may have already gone overboard in their preparations. Preparing for survival after TEOTWAWKI can make you feel overwhelmed, under-supplied, overspent, under-funded, over-your-head, or under-the-gun (no pun intended). There are those who have the ability to purchase a retreat, stock it with supplies and equipment for a year or more, and have enough to share with …


Letter Re: The Pension Gamble: Cash In or Stand Pat?

Sir: [My advice to David J. is:] Keep your retirement! I think you should keep your retirement account and find another job. By cashing out now you only receive your contributions plus interest and not one cent of your employers contributions if your state is anything like California. You are only getting about two years of a pension that you could possibly end up collecting for 30 years or more. Not counting any cost of living increases you would receive $756,000 over a 30 year period of retirement, the $50,000 looks kind of weak. Get a jump on things and …


Letter Re: Special $99.95 Sale for the “Rawles Gets You Ready” Preparedness Course

Jim, We just got a batch of 50 of your preparedness courses from the printer, and they screwed up the shrink-wrapping on many of them. Instead of fighting it out with the printer, we will knock 1/3rd off the regular price for your SurvivalBlog readers. But we’re gonna offer that discount for only a week, because we don’t want to fuss with double inventory. Please note that our main web site will still stay the same, showing the normal price, even on the order page. But when your readers check out, the discounted price [of $99.95 plus normal shipping and …


Odds ‘n Sods:

From SHTF Daily: Four ways to prepare for a global financial crisis   o o o This Gun Free Zone video (recommended by Richard C.) provides a bit of comic relief.    o o o RMV forwarded us this: The Numbers Don’t Add Up for Baby Boomer Retirees. Here is a quote from the article: “Consider the outlook. From 2005 to 2030, the 65-and-over population will nearly double to 71 million; its share of the population will rise to 20 percent from 12 percent. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid—programs that serve older people—already exceed 40 percent of the $2.7 trillion …