Day: October 15, 2008

Note from JWR:

Today is the last day of bidding in the SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction is now at $770. The auction for a large mixed lot that includes: A Special Mixed Vegetable Case-Six #10 Dehydrated Food Cans (Retail Price $105.95) This special Mixed Vegetable Case contains six #10 (96-ounce) cans–one can of each of the following: Mixed Vegetable Blend, Green Beans, Sweet Garden Peas, Mixed Peppers, Potato Dices, and Sweet Potatoes and a EZ-Towels 10 Pack Combos (10 bags of 50 towels. Retail value: $99.95). These items were donated by Jan at Healthy Harvest Foods. An assortment of world class loose leaf teas, …


Letter Re: Some Observations on Registered Class 3 Guns and Suppressors

Mr. Rawles: To suppress or not to suppress: there is no question. (A hat tip to The Bard.) Many in the preparedness community are apprehensive about the acquisition of [“Class 3”] National Firearms Act (NFA) items. [These include machineguns, short-barreled rifles (SBRs), short-barreled shotguns (SBSs), and sound suppressors. There is a background check, fingerprinting, paperwork required, and a $200 tax per transfer.] There are reams of writings about “remaining under the radar”. I do not share those misgivings. Neither do tens of thousands of other legitimate gun owners. A caveat: under no circumstances should anyone build/construct/ any NFA style weapon …


Letter Re: Advice on Storage Food–Quantities, Shelf Lives, and Sources

Mr. Rawles; I’m chagrined to say that I found your blog rather late in the game–just two weeks ago, when a friend at church mentioned it. (We had been talking about the banking panic.) Your blog was a real eye-opener. So now I’m just plain overwhelmed and definitely feeling “behind the power curve.” I have a lot of catching up to do. How can I get smart on preparedness in a great hurry, especially about [storing] food? Will food from the grocery supermarket do? Do I need special containers? One of those vacuum sealing things? What about mice? I’m a …


Letter Re: A SurvivalBlog Reader’s Relocation to the Interior of Alaska

Dear Jim – Thank you for the note and I think its the least we can do to support such a worthy web information source. I’ve learned a great deal reading your archives and I’m doing my best to try and promote a self-sufficient lifestyle for our family. We have chosen to live in interior Alaska for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is a steady job, but not without serious consideration. We are very well aware that we’re at the end of the food chain up here and things are a bit more expensive (and can …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader FFF found this for us: Great Depression holds lessons for surviving tough economy    o o o Several new retreat properties have recently been added to our spin-off site: SurvivalRealty.com.    o o o Susan Z. recommended this piece of commentary by Adrian Douglas: Bond market collapse is imminent. My own opinion is a bit different: I think that bonds will hold up for several more months, since so much money is presently being yanked out of the equities market by both individual and institutional investors. They need to re-invest that money somewhere. In the long run, however, bonds …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“The current rescue plans, which will force governments to issue more debt, print money and flood the markets with liquidity, will flare up inflation after the crisis is over and will create worse problems. We’re setting the stage for when we come out of this of a massive inflation holocaust.” – Investing Sage Jim Rogers