Day: January 14, 2008

Note from JWR:

There are just two days left in the current SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction. The bidding is now at $390. The auction is for a scarce original 1980s-vintage Heckler und Koch 19mm Emergency Flare Launcher (EFL) aka “Notsignalgerät“ from my personal collection. It comes with three magazines and 28 scarce original German 19mm flares–10 red, 10 white, and 8 green. Together, this package is worth approximately $400. It is not classified as a “firearm” under Federal law. (Consult your state and local laws before bidding.) Sorry, no overseas bids will be accepted for this auction. This auction ends on January 15th. Please …


Book Review: Michael Z. Williamson’s “Better to Beg Forgiveness”

I just finished reading my review copy of Michael Z. Williamson’s latest science fiction novel “Better to Beg Forgiveness“. This fast-paced novel is set a couple of centuries in the future and follows the adventures of a band of mercenaries sent to guard a national president on a war-torn backwater colony planet. The story has some obvious analogies to the current use of “contractors” in Iraq. And it is obvious that in creating the fictional “Ripple Creek” off-world mercenary company, Williamson drew heavily on the real-life experiences of a few Blackwater types in researching this story. This adds an unmistakable …


Two Letters Re: Home Defense Tactics for the Disabled and the Infirmed

Mr. Rawles: In regards to the Home Defense Tactics for the Disabled and the Infirmed post. This is a YouTube video that plays a 911 recording of a lady [in Indiana] who was at home alone when a guy whom she had dated a couple of times and then after she broke up from him, he started stalking her. He came to her house one night and she called 911. Fortunately she had a weapon and was willing to use it. Near the end after he broke into her bedroom he tried choking her, she shot him three times, one …


Letter Re: Switchgrass for Ethanol Production

Dear Jim, I just discovered SurvivalBlog.com in November 2007. I have bought two of your books so far. We are working on our lists, in the meantime I am building FIFO shelving for the canned part of our provisions. We thank God for you, your great work, and The Memsahib’s support of this. I’m not so sure this article will be a fit, but it is good news nevertheless. From Scientific American: Grass Makes Better Ethanol than Corn Does. The USDA and farmers took part in a five-year study of switchgrass, native to North America. They found that switchgrass ethanol …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Thanks to T.C. for sending us this YouTube link: Glenn Beck interviews GAO Comptroller Walker on the Social Security Timebomb–America;’s $53 Trillion Debt.    o o o Anyone planning on putting together a 12 VDC power system to energize their small electronics and battery charging trays should first read the low voltage connection basics primer over at the Appropedia. OBTW, for anyone that wants to standardize 12 VDC connectors, I recommend Anderson Power Poles rather than the bulky and unreliable cigarette lighter plugs and jacks. (The latter are not designed to handle high current, and they tend to pop apart …