Day: February 2, 2008

Notes from JWR:

Because of some power outages and power spikes at our ISP, we’ve been having some serious problems accessing the Internet for the past couple of days. So rather than keeping you waiting for your daily dose of SurvivalBlog, I am posting a couple of days worth of posts in advance, whenever our connection sporadically comes up. So don’t be alarmed if in the next few days you see a future date on any posts. Today we present the first article for Round 15 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable …


AA Cells and Mobile Power, by Brandon in Utah

The size AA battery is the ubiquitous form of mobile power that is presently available. There is a large amount of off the shelf devices that use AA cells. They are available everywhere at low cost. They are cost effective and very safe for lighting. The breadth and depth of equipment available in a portable format is unparalleled by any other type of battery. I will cover the known factors on how to care for and use this resource to help end users get the most out of their equipment. To start, some general information that covers all types of …


Letter Re: Frozen Livestock Water Tank Woes

Hi Jim, I wanted to ask the vast readership for their help with winter water needs for livestock when we don’t have the luxury of electric tank heaters. I had done some research in the past and the only way I found to keep a livestock tank from freezing up with arctic winds was a wood fired Chofu, (Japanese), tank heater. The capacity much too small to handle the trick. We have just survived another arctic blast with buckets and stock tanks freezing over immediately. The thought of relocating the livestock to open water does not seem viable unless it …


Letter Re: Birdshot Ineffective as a Home Defense Load

Dear Jim, Over the years I’ve probably given away five cases of your novel to friends and family, and I think the updated version is outstanding! Thank you so much for all that you’ve done to promote personal responsibility. Regarding the post on your home page about birdshot versus buckshot, I couldn’t agree more! I’m an instructor with [name of major firearms training school deleted for OPSEC] and this myth of birdshot being the best home defense round is a constant battle with many of our new shotgun students. As you already know, birdshot, when fired within 5′ of drywall …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Merco suggested the Build it Solar web site–that has lots of of alternative energy projects that you can build yourself, from beginner to advanced.   o o o This comes as no surprise: Broke homeowners linked to arsons    o o o U.S. slump spreading around the globe, IMF warns    o o o Eric suggested this Newsday article: U.S. loses its status as an economic world power