Note from JWR:

Three days left! The special 33% off sale on the “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing is ending soon. To get the special sale price, all orders must be placed online or postmarked by November 30th. Get a copy for yourself, or one or more to give as Christmas gifts for your relatives that have their heads in the sand.




Letter Re: Detecting the Presence or Absence of Grid Power

Editor: If your retreat is isolated and you can not see any of your neighbors buildings, then how do you know when the power grid is back on (re-energized)? That might not be clear, so this is what happens: We have many power outages per year, which can last from hours to days, last year power was out for (9) nine days. So I disconnect from the grid, and start the generator. I have no way to know when the line is fixed. And with the price of fuel; I am wondering is there some do-dad, thing-a-ma-gig, like a light …




Letter Re: Locations of Costco and Other “Big Box” Membership Stores

Jim, I often see references [in SurvivalBlog] to Costco [stores]. I have never seen one of their stores. Are they in Canada? I did a search, that was the only place within 50 miles of here that they have a store. – Sid, near Niagara Falls JWR Replies: There are now Costco stores throughout the United States and selected locations in Canada, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Taiwan, and the UK. Here is a locator web page for Costco stores. Another “big box” membership store chain with a very similar product selection are the Sam’s Club stores. Here is …




Letter Re: The Upright Spike in Technology Dependence–Changing “Grid-Down” from an Inconvenience to TEOTWAWKI

Jim: I had to laugh when I read this in your recent SurvivalBlog article: “Well, let’s just hope that Boise, Idaho is not a nuclear target. That way, presumably Micron Technology can re-seed the world with chips. (That is, if they will still have a fab facility in Boise. Most chip makers are in the process of outsourcing their fabs. Many of them are being offshored to China .)” I’m a mid-level manager in the computer industry. In the past month we have interviewed two engineers currently employed by Micron Technology. They are looking for jobs because “the place is …




Odds ‘n Sods:

When banking is in crisis, no one wants to be parted from their cash    o o o RBS sent us this: Banks Gone Wild by Paul Krugman of The New York Times. And for even more financial gloom and doom, see: “A Generalized Meltdown of Financial Institutions” But wait, there’s more, courtesy of reader SJC: Investors fear new turmoil    o o o Both Markus and Carl suggested a link to an article on the 100 things that disappeared in Sarajevo during the war. Carl’s comment: “It is a great list for beginning preps and a gut check for …