Month: April 2008

Letter Re: Advice on Emergency Dentistry

Dear Mr. Rawles, I have read and been positively influenced by your novel [“Patriots”]. I am now making provisions for difficult times. Can you recommend any links towards obtaining dentistry kit and basic dental instruction? Mainly interested in being able to perform extraction safely. With Thanks and Sincerity, – Dan-O JWR Replies: This topic has been covered briefly in the blog, but is important enough that it deserves additional discussion. The most important resource is the book “Where There is No Dentist“, available for free download from the Hesperian Foundation (But I recommend getting a bound hardcopy. Ditto for their …


Two Letters Re: Potatoes as a Survival Garden Crop

Morning, Jim! Just a quick addition for your readers to your recent note about potatoes gaining in popularity: most of their useful nutritional value is in their skin and outermost fractions of inches. I believe this is true of most root vegetables. Peeling these vegetables just renders them as a wad of starch or carbohydrate – much less useful for your body than the good Lord intended them to be. All they really need (especially if grown in a home garden where you know what went into the soil) is a quick rinse and a light scrub. Ideally your order …


Letter Re: The Potential Combat Effectiveness of Shotguns

Jim, There is a fairly heated discussion going on at the FALFiles Forums about how useful a shotgun is in a Schumer Hits The Fan (SHTF) situation. I was curious, what exactly is your take on the issue? Personally, I do not feel a shotgun can effectively replace a rifle, however, it still proves an effective tool when the extreme-close situation arises. I suppose one can distill this argument down to only “defensive purpose” shotguns such as those built for tactical situations (3″ chambers and open/cylinder choke), those you aptly refer to as “riotguns”. While the effectiveness of a shotgun …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Lehman’s just announced that they are having a special “Lost and Found” warehouse clearance sale, with prices reduced as much as 60% on a few items. Please click on the banner link for Lehman’s at the top of our Affiliates Page, so that SurvivalBlog will get our little piece of the action. Thanks! https://survivalblog.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt.cgi?__mode=view&_type=entry&blog_id=2#    o o o From reader RBS: Expensive metals draw criminals to exhaust systems    o o o Some commentary from Adrian Ash: 40 Years Of Inflation, 80 Years Of Dow/Gold    o o o From The Daily Mail (by way of The Mental Militia Forums): …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.” – Commonplace Book by Thomas Jefferson borrowing from Cesare Beccaria’s 1764 Dei delitti e delle pene ("On Crimes and Punishments")


Notes from JWR:

In honor of Patriots Day (April 19th), I’m kicking in something extra to Front Sight’s “Get a Gun” training and gear package offer: Anyone that enrolls between now and Sunday evening will also receive their choice of autographed copies of any of my three books: “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation”, “SurvivalBlog: The Best of the Blog.” or my novel “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse”. Just forward me your Front Sight order confirmation, along with your snail mail address, and I’ll send you a complimentary autographed book. Today we present another article for Round 16 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. …


Raising Rabbits for Meat , by Pete C.

In most industrialized countries, including the United States, rabbits are not commonly considered a meat animal. However, before a TEOTWAWKI situation arises, small retreats may seriously want to consider raising rabbits as a reliable source of meat to feed their family, to use as barter or charity. Rabbits are fairly easy to raise which makes them especially adaptive for small retreats (to include urban areas) where limited space for other livestock – cows, hogs, goats, chickens, etc., are just not practical. In addition, many localities may not consider rabbits as live stock since they are often pets. Thus they may …


Three Letters Re: Preparedness Considerations for College Students

Dear Jim: A suggestion for storing preparedness supplies while in college: Get a small self storage unit at a local self-store. I had one all through college, which made it much easier to move from apartment to apartment, as college students often do. It was very reasonably priced. I made sure it was in a storage facility that actually locks and closes at night. The unit was on the north side of the building, so it did not get as hot as other units. Nowadays, many cities have indoor, climate controlled facilities that are even more secure. The advantages are …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Across Globe, Empty Bellies Bring Rising Anger (A hat tip to Neil for that link.)    o o o Citigroup posts loss, plans to eliminate 9,000 jobs: Citi records $14 billion in 1Q write-downs; Wall Street relieved it’s not worse    o o o Felix D. suggested reading an interview with Lee Clarke, the author of the book “Worst Cases.”    o o o A piece by Jay Taylor, posted over at Gold-Eagle: Economist Walter Williams Sees Hyperinflation As Early As 2010


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"I, John Robbins, being of lawful Age, do Testifye and say, that on the Nineteenth Instant, the Company under the Command of Captain John Parker, being drawn up (sometime before sun Rise) on the Green or Common, and I being in the front Rank, there suddenly appear’d a Number of the Kings Troops, about a Thousand, as I thought, at the distance of about 60 or 70 yards from us Huzzaing, and on a quick pace towards us, with three Officers in their front on Horse Back, and on full Gallop towards us, the foremost of which cryed, throw down …


Notes from JWR:

The following was forwarded by SurvivalBlog reader: “I pledge, in honor of the late Charlton Heston, that if I receive any funds from the US Government’s economic stimulus rebate program that I will spend the money on guns and ammo.” (Pass it on.) The only thing that I’d add to that is firearms training. Today we present another article for Round 16 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win two valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificates. (Worth up to $4,000!) Second prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets …


Preparedness Considerations for College Students, by Sam

I am presently a sophomore at a small, private, liberal arts college, in the northeastern United States. First, I will start with the important criteria [for survivalists] in choosing a college (after the decision of a major and program you want to be in), which I followed in High School three years ago: 1. Do not choose a school in a heavily urbanized/suburbanized area. 2. Choose a school in a small city or town, ideally with less than 50,000 people and ample farming in the region. (places like Ithaca New York, Burlington Vermont, Amherst Massachusetts, and other small-city sized college …


Home Invasion Robberies in Argentina, by FerFAL

JWR’s Introductory Note: FerFAL is SurvivalBlog’s volunteer correspondent in Argentina. If you haven’t done so already, be sure to read his Profile. Readers might also be interested in FerFAL’s blog: Surviving in Argentina. I just got off the phone, after talking with a college friend of mine. We talked about the current situation our country is going through, the food shortages and empty shelves, and how long things will hold on until people get desperate. As an afterthought she mentioned that some robbers attacked her father and his girlfriend (divorced) while they watched over her recently married sister’s home, while …


Letter from David in Israel Re: Stocking Up on Matzoh

James I would first like to wish the Jewish readers of SurvivalBlog a happy and kosher passover. And after that I also want to remind everyone that Saturday night is the start of Passover. Why is this important? It means that even in many small towns big packages of matzoh will be available often at a closeout price after the seder night. Matzoh (an unleavened flour cracker) is a good ready to eat food that lasts for several years in the sealed box. If you wonder what good wheat flour crackers are just look online for the recipes we have …


Two Letters Re: Automated Parking Garages

Sir, Regarding a recent item in your blog about robotic parking facilities: These modern “conveniences” can be shut down by more than just a power outage. Here’s a link to a news storey about a robotic parking facility in Hoboken, New Jersey which was effectively shut down for about a week during a contract dispute between the city and the software company. To make a long story short: The city owned the facility, while the company owned the rights to the software which ran it. When the city opted not to renew their contract with the company, the parking robot …