Year: 2007

Letter Re: Advice for Preparedness Newbie

Hey Guys. I came upon your site, and all I really had to say, was “Wow”. I suppose I’m not the best candidate to be a survivalist. I’m 21, I rent my apartment, have a mountain of student loans, and work as a waitress. My friends are mostly of the classic female-materialistic variety, and have no immediate concerns beyond a swimsuit sale at PacSun. Anyway, I’m an avid reader. I began to develop an interest in the term “Peak Oil”. I read several articles, and conducted a few small studies of my own. The fact that many of the articles …


Letter Re: Dick Proenneke–A Modern Day Pioneer in Alaska’s Bush Country

Mr Rawles, I saw the link to the anchorage daily news about alaska and I thought that you or your readers might be interested in a man named Dick Proenneke who basically left his life behind in the {Lower 48] states and lived alone in the Alaskan bush for about 30 years. Yes, he did have some outside support, and a few visitors a year but the man was amazingly resourceful. There is a documentary he filmed himself that actually shows how he made his own cabin by hand with no power tools, he makes not only the table and …


Odds ‘n Sods:

More than 50,000 turkeys on a farm west of Mount Jackson, Virginia tested positive for Avian Flu antibodies. It is a less virulent strain than H5N1, but still cause for concern.   o o o By way of SHTF Daily: US mortgage problem fears spark sell-off. Mark my words: A credit collapse could trigger a major recession or perhaps a depression. This is your last chance to sell off any rental or “spec” properties. Get out now, before it is too late. Ditto for stocks. The chain reaction has most likely begun. The real estate collapse is the precursor of …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“We might think of dollars as being ‘certificates of performance.’ The better I serve my fellow man, and the higher the value he places on that service, the more certificates of performance he gives me. The more certificates I earn, the greater my claim on the goods my fellow man produces. That’s the morality of the market. In order for one to have a claim on what his fellow man produces, he must first serve him.” – Dr. Walter E. Williams


Notes from JWR:

In my post last night about the upcoming US Federal restrictions on iodine products, I neglected to mention that in addition to Polar Pure and KI, Ready Made Resources also stocks Betadine and other Povidone polymer products. These aren’t listed in their web page catalog, but are available if you place a phone order. (In the US and Canada call: 1(800) 627-3809.) The high bid is now at $250 in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction for a batch of 10 brand new original Imperial Defence SA-80 (AR-15) steel 30 round rifle magazines. The auction ends on Sunday, July 15th.


Letter Re: Advice on a Budget Rifle Battery for Retreat Security

Jim, I’ve corresponded a couple times before with you on this subject, but basically I’m strapped for funds in our [group’s] “arms” area. My current idea is to have a couple of .30-30s, then four or so SKSes to hand out to others who might join us, and lastly, if possible, get one or two M1As or FALs. My question is, should I get the 30-30s and SKS rifles first (6 guns), and later the M1A /FAL when funds permit, or should I get one M1A or FAL first, and then add the others when funds permit? I would appreciate …


Four Letters Re: EMP Preparedness and Countermeasures

Dear Mr Rawles: I have been enjoying your SurvivalBlog very much. I am new to these kind of web sites but have been of a preparedness/survivalist mindset all my life. I served in the US Navy for seven years as an Avionics Technician on both fixed wing (FA-18 Hornets) and rotor wing aircraft. Part of my training encompassed electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and its effects on aircraft and how to properly maintain and repair them so as to not compromise their ability to withstand EMP should it occur. Now that I have been out of the military for some time I …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Nuclear alert by ex-head of MI5: The article begins: “More than 100 suspects are awaiting trial in British courts for terrorist offences – a figure unprecedented in modern criminal history – Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, the former spy chief, has revealed. Dame Eliza: ‘They may attempt a chemical, biological, radiological or even nuclear attack’ Britain is a centre of intense plotting and faces a terrorist threat of ‘unprecedented scale, ambition and ruthlessness’. In a stark warning for the future, Dame Eliza added: ‘It remains a very real possibility that they may, sometime, somewhere attempt a chemical biological, radiological or even nuclear …



Notes from JWR:

An item that was too important to bury down in the Odd ‘n Sods… Billy G. sent us this: Iodine about to be regulated in US. Any solution over 2% will be restricted as “precursors” for illicit drug manufacture. Billy’s comment: “Can nuke pills [potassium iodate] be far behind? I’m stocking up on Iodine crystals while I can.” I strongly encourage readers to buy their “lifetime supply” of Polar Pure water purifier, as soon as possible. (Two or three bottles per family member should be about right.) Polar Pure, Betadine, and Potassium Iodate (KI) are all available from Ready Made …


Survival Labor and Delivery, by John O. MD

The return of home delivery is a fact that most of the survivalist community needs to face, and is a topic I have seen relatively little written about. My own experience derives from 10 years experience as an Emergency Physician, delivering 3-4 infants a year in situations either where the woman has had no prenatal care whatsoever and arrives in our emergency room (ER) [in] crowning [condition]; or as a private patient upstairs who progresses so quickly that her private obstetrician (OB) can’t make it to the hospital in time. This has skewed my experience toward “normal” presentations where the …


Letter Re: Asian Avian Flu is Still a Major Threat

JWR, I am currently working on the construction of a pandemic flu vaccine facility (way too far away from my intended retreat locale, but I need to be able to afford my retreat 🙂 and I have a couple insights that most people and some medical folks might not have. First, the new cell culture flu vaccine facilities will have the ability to adapt to mutating strains during production – within reason, and in-process flu vaccine production can either be stopped, or the pandemic vaccine added to the regular vaccine. That is something that is not possible with even the …


Odds ‘n Sods:

More on the unfolding derivatives debacle: The $300 Trillion Time Bomb   o o o Mark sent us this news article link: Mass Zimbabwe arrests over prices. Mark’s comment: “Note that today [in Zimbabwe] a single banana cost more than a four bedroom house did in 2000.”    o o o David V. recommended this history article from Alaska that has a some applicability to retreat provisioning: Black River Trapper: Fred Thomas    o o o From Gold-Eagle.com, Gary Dorsch, Editor of Global Money Trends (by way of SHTF Daily): Global Exodus From The US Dollar In Motion. The article …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“How rare is gold? If you could gather together all the gold mined in recorded history, melt it down, and pour it into one giant cube, it would measure only about eighteen yards across! That’s all the gold owned by every government on earth, plus all the gold in private hands, all the gold in rings, necklaces, chains, and gold art. That’s all the gold used in tooth fillings, in electronics, in coins and bars. It’s everything that exists above ground now, or since man learned to extract the metal from the earth. All of it can fit into one …