Month: April 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 …


Notes from JWR:

I’ve never been much of a trickster, so please don’t analyze today’s posts, looking for April Fools Day tricks. There are none. We have finished the judging… The winner of Round 15 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. is Paul C., for his article “My Seven Favorite North American Edible Wild Plants”. He gets the top prize–a four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. These certificates are worth up to $2,000! Our thanks to Front Sight’s director, Naish Piazza, for generously donating the course certificate. Check out the Front Sight web site and take advantage of their great training …


Letter Re: Learn How to “Roll Your Own” Ammo

James; One skill that will be in great demand by almost everyone in a post-TEOTWAWKI environment will be a skilled and resourceful ammunition reloader. Equipment is relatively inexpensive and downright cheap if you know where to look. Pawn shops almost never buy reloading equipment because it is slow and, or difficult to move. I have made arrangements with a few pawn shop owners and when a batch of reloading stuff comes available from estates they just give them my number. No matter how much gear there is, a pawn shop will only offer, if they even make an offer about …


Letter Re: Sword Ban Begins on April 6th in the United Kingdom

James: In the past you have recommended that SurvivalBlog readers in the UK to get a samurai sword. Well, they are banning them now. As of the 6th April 2008 it will become illegal to manufacture, import or sell (but not own) all swords with a curved, single edged blade over 50 cm in the U.K. Although they can still supply such weapons for “permitted activities”. These activities include; Historical re-enactments and Sporting Activities. The legislation does not mention samurai swords. It only mentions single-edged curved swords with a blade length of 50cm or over. As per the document, it …


Letter Re: A Special Antibiotics-By-Mail Offer for SurvivalBlog Readers

Jim: Many SurvivalBlog readers have expressed an interest in obtaining antibiotics for emergency use, for example t be prepared for another 9/11-style anthrax attack (for which ciprofloxacin has been recommended in the past by the FDA and Centers for Disease Control) or a flu epidemic. The gentleman who owns a discount pharmacy has agreed to a solution. From now until April 30, 2008, The Medical Center Pharmacy, located in the lobby of The Hillman Medical Center at 2116 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, will offer for sale sealed stock bottles of 100 Ciprofloxacin 500 mg tablets in their original packaging …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Our recent mention of Backwoods Home magazine‘ prompted reader RJV to note: “Don’t miss some of the gems from their [extensive] archives, such as this piece on do-it-yourself steam power.”    o o o Eric found this: Diesel thefts on the rise; demand increases for locking caps. Eric’s Comment: “As someone with a rebuilt diesel BOV that includes 70+ gallons of on-board diesel fuel I too am thinking about putting locking fuel filler caps on my truck. I also came across an interesting installable anti-siphon device that might be of interest to some.” JWR Adds: I generally discourage installing an …