Day: April 2, 2008

Note from JWR:

Today we present the first article for Round 16 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up to $2,000!) Second prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. Round 16 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entries. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival will have an advantage in the judging.


The Homemade Alcohol Stove and The Wonder Box, by LeAnne

In any situation, small electricity outage, or large-scale grid-down disaster, a simple homemade alcohol stove and a Wonder Box slow cooker can simplify your life and add the comfort of cooking and warmth. Why alcohol? Alcohol is the one fuel that can be burned indoors without any chimney or any objectionable fumes. The only byproduct is water. [JWR Adds: Keep in mind that for safety, even with an alcohol stove, some ventilation is needed, sine the combustion will consume available oxygen.] Isopropyl alcohol (70%) is cheap. A couple of quarts can be purchased for about $3.00 at Costco or Sam’s …


Letter Re: Some Offshore Retreat Considerations

Mr. Rawles, A good set of links on finding a homestead that may be useful to your readers can be found at The Mother Earth News web site. I also agree with Jason in North Idaho’s comments. Relocating to the developing world for the purpose of long term survival is not something I would recommend. I am presently living in the developing world because I work here–at least for the time being. I probably have this in common with many of your readers who work as security contractors. My long term goal is to return to return to my home …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader “Suz” recommended United States Plastic Corp., in Lima, Ohio as a supplier for food grade HDPE storage buckets. Although they are a large-scale manufacturer, they are willing to take fairly small orders directly from the public. Suz said that it was a pleasure doing business with this “God-owned” company.    o o o KAF mentioned this piece on rethinking and revisions in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR).    o o o Mark C. flagged this: UBS Gives Haircuts on Auction Rate Securities    o o o Thanks to Hawaiian K. for finding this: Analyst Predicts Corn Rationing in 2008


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“The primary fear we entertain today is that our “slaves” (machines) may be about to run out of “food” (oil) and our intricate civilization will come sputtering to a stop. There are lots of arguments about this, with wide differences of opinion about when the oil will run out, how fast we are using it up, and how much unknown oil remains hidden in the Earth’s crust. It really doesn’t matter. No one argues that the oil will not, in fact, run out sooner or later. It will. Certainly no one disputes that the Arabs, who have the largest reserves …