Month: February 2008

Letter Re: Keeping a Low Profile is Crucial for Preparedness

James, To amplify on the excellent recent letter from SoCal titled “Keeping a Low Profile is Crucial for Preparedness”, I have some suggestions that all of us SurvivalBlog readers should implement to keep a low profile in our online activities. Anonymizer and Comprehensive Risk Solutions (both mentioned in the letter) are great ideas. They are cheap insurance. I can also recommend a few other measures, to wit: 1.) Use the Scroogle Scraper for web searches. This allows you to use Google through an intermediary site. That way Google cannot create a profile on your searches. On background: Google is notorious …


Letter Re: Advice on .223 and .308 Semi-Auto Rifles and Optics?

Jim, I’ve decided to finally purchase an AR-15 type .223. I’ve decided on a DPMS Lo-Pro 16 for my .223 carbine. I’m looking into a Mueller lighted-reticle scope, in the area of 2-10×40 or so. Mueller has prices that are quite decent, given the quality, and the reviews I’ve read. I also have a friend with a Mueller setup on his AR-15. For a .308, I’ve looked over many of the FN-FAL and G3 type rifles and their clones, but an AR-type platform has been highly recommended to me: The Rock River Arms LAR-8. It uses the AR-15 design from …


Letter Re: Comment on the Planned U.S. “Economic Stimulus” Tax Rebate

Jim, Not directly related to survival but more aligned with money management, please note that the Bush administration’s tax rebate is in fact an advance on 2008’s tax refund, and most or all of it will be deducted from taxpayers’ refund within a year. So if one spends it, plan to be short that amount next year. Be sure to thank most of your current crop of presidential candidates for supporting this fraud. – Bruce F.


Odds ‘n Sods:

One of our readers that works as a locksmith and welder in Denver, Colorado reports: “I thought you might want to know, that a year ago I would open houses for foreclosure investors, and that market was only about 5% to 10% of my business. Now it is 70% to 90% of my business.”    o o o Reader D.C. recommended an article that has some implication for any readers that own an unattended retreat: Keeping Track From Afar. My personal preference is for a service called uControl Home Security. (They are one of our former advertisers.)    o o …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“There’s something cool about the thought of being totally off the power grid. It’s a psychological thing. I could rationalize being off the grid by saying it would come in handy if the rest of the world runs out of energy. But realistically, the big worry in that case wouldn’t be powering my iPod so much as not getting eaten by cannibals.” – Cartoonist Scott Adams.


Note from JWR:

Today we welcome back one of our original advertisers: Wiggy’s, in Grand Junction, Colorado. They make outstanding quality sleeping bags, clothing, and other outdoor gear. They are one of the four remaining true American-made sleeping bag manufacturers. (Nearly all of their competitors have moved their production offshore.) I love their products. We have five Wiggy’s FTRSS sleeping bags and four Wiggy’s Lamilite ground pads here at the Rawles Ranch. Most of these are now more than 15 years old, and still quite serviceable. They are truly built to last.


Peering Over the Precipice: The Future of America’s Credit-Driven Bubble Economy

Here in the States, the newspaper headlines are full of bad economic news: “Credit Collapse”, “Housing Market Tailspin”, “Credit Rating Agency Scandal”, and “Three Trillion Dollar Federal Budget”. Most recently, the Federal Reserve (our central bank, operated by a private banking cartel) made a panic move, cutting interest rates in two jumps in just eight days, a whopping 125 basis points (1.25%). A drop that great, and that fast, was unprecedented. This maneuvering did little to calm the markets. If anything, the Fed’s actions confirmed the suspicion that the credit market is essentially broken and our economy is headed for …


Letter Re: The Recent Blizzard on I-90 in Wisconsin

JWR, I read the link that was submitted by Craig in Odds ‘n Sods. The Channel 3000 story couldn’t be farther from the truth. As a local first responder, I can attest that we are getting the short end of the stick. The State Patrol didn’t even acknowledge there was any problem on the interstate until hours after our crews were already on scene. They didn’t even know that Dane County had set up an incident command headquarters at the Highway 51 interchange. The first semi trucks started losing traction as early as 10 a.m.that day. Near blizzard conditions had …


Letter Re: Advice on a Starlight Scope Platform

Hello James, I’ve been putting off acquiring a AN/PVS-4 [–a Starlight technology electronic light amplification night vision weapons sight–] for too long primarily due to the expense (and other priorities). The time has come to get one from STANO Components night vision (and I’ll be sure to mention your blog). I’ll be getting a Gen2 refurbished scope with a new [image intensifier] tube and the other details you mentioned recently. I have three options for mounting the scope. I am inclined to mount the scope on my M1A Match (at present is equipped with a 10x super sniper scope) but …


Odds ‘n Sods:

There is some good commentary from John Ing, posted over at Gold-Eagle; Gold: Lies, Lies And More Lies    o o o The cable television Sci-Fi channel will air the “Jericho” pilot episode and then the entire first season, starting tonight. (Monday, Feb. 9, 2008.) The second season of the show will be aired on CBS on Tuesday evenings, starting tomorrow night.    o o o RBS suggested this piece of old time lore on preserving eggs without refrigeration.    o o o Check out the series of free outdoor survival videos at this British web site: A-Z of Bushcraft.



Note from JWR:

The high bid in the current SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction lot is now at $250. The auction is for a Brunton Solarport 4.4 watt photovoltaic panel (a $140 retail value), a Deluxe Outdoor Survival Tool Kit (a $70 retail value)–both kindly donated by Ready Made Resources–as well as seven other items combined in one lot: A copy of the latest edition of “The Encyclopedia of Country Living” by the late Carla Emery (a $32 retail value), an autographed copy of my novel “Patriots” (a $23 retail value), an autographed copy of my nonfiction book “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation” (a $25 …


Impassable Freeways and Highways in an Eleventh Hour “Get Out of Dodge”

Jim, I found some depressing analysis on G.O.O.D. for those of us near US population centers: Read this PDF. For further information on the ineffectiveness of G.O.O.D. when times get bad, US DOT generated this report: Using Highways for No-Notice Evacuations. In addition, there is no shortage at the US DOT web site of well-intentioned and theoretical research reports on disaster planning. For many of us, last minute G.O.O.D. plans are likely to be characterized by a high probability of failure along with its associated human costs. One might guess that the chance of failure is an exponential function of …


Letter Re: Consumer Price Inflation is Upon Us

Dear JWR, I thought you’d like to pass this on if people want to save some of their hard earnings. Now is the last call to purchase before the commodity price increases. Shipping cost increases are to hit us again on February 19th. Here in North Carolina, we’re seeing an average of 20% increases in prices of staple shelf items like flour, corn milled products, honey, milk, eggs and canned goods within the last two weeks in the grocery stores. One bell pepper now costs a dollar. Other produce is following the same increases. Products made of plastics, paper and …


Letter Re: A Hearty Letter of Recommendation for Todd Savage

Dear SurvivalBlog.com and SurvivalRealty.com Readers: I wanted to take a moment to thank Todd Savage for the outstanding work that he did for my family helping us become familiar with Northern Idaho and helping us find the perfect retreat. Todd helped us discover Idaho in its entire splendor, helped us manage our expectations properly and never led us astray. Initially, we had some good ideas on what to look for in a retreat having read both the novel “Patriots” and [JWR’s nonfiction book] “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation” more than once. Nonetheless, we weren’t 100% sure what we wanted in …