Day: December 3, 2008

Notes from JWR:

My sincere thanks to a “Secret Squirrel” reader that has very charitably sent cash every week for the past couple of months, with notes indicating that the money was for The Memsahib’s medical bills. You are too kind! My plan is to “pay it forward”, once my wife is well, and we have recovered financially. God Bless you! Today we present another entry for Round 20 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The contest prizes include: First Prize: The writer of the best contributed article will be awarded two transferable Front Sight  “Gray” Four Day Training Course Certificates. This is …


The Practice Load-Up, by Papa Papa

For most of us who don’t live at a retreat [year-round] our plan is to G.O.O.D. When the time comes we plan to load up our bug-out vehicles and head to our own “Shibes Meadow” as the family in the movie Panic in Year Zero did. At least that’s the plan. But how well have you considered this plan? In other words, have you done a practice “load-up”? Some of the characters in Mr. Rawles’ novel, “Patriots“, had to implement their bug-out plans and pack their vehicles for the trip to the Gray’s retreat. In that packing process they discovered …


Letter Re: Advice on an Inexpensive Solar Battery Charger?

Hi Mr. Rawles: In your comments to the family living in Trinidad & Tobago, you wrote: “As your budget allows, buy a small solar charger for your AA and AAA NiMH batteries.” Do you have personal experience with any of these solar chargers? Can you recommend any? Many thanks, – Larry T. JWR Replies: Depending on your budget, solutions can run from “micro”, to “mini”, to “maxi.” These inexpensive solar chargers sold by Ready Made Resources (one of our long-time advertisers) work fine as a “micro” solution., but be advised that they are not waterproof. I recommend setting these up …


Letter Re: SurvivalBlog is a Money Saver

Mr Rawles: For some time I was a lurker, reading SurvivalBlog on a more or less regular basis. Eventually I decided I needed to pay for what I was getting. I became a Ten Cent Challenge subscriber. Yesterday, you saved me more than the cost of my subscription with just one tip: I ordered a Foodsaver V2830 and paid just $59.99, postage paid. These originally sold for $169.99. I had wanted one for a long time and put off purchasing it because of the expense. Many thanks! And to the rest of the lurkers out there, it’s time to pay …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Vanya O. wrote to ask: “When do you expect that the MOAB will end?”. I expect the MOAB to drag on for several more years–and possibly a full decade–reaching absurd proportions. States, counties, and cities, and pension funds may eventually be bailed out by Uncle Sugar. That last stage of the MOAB may very well culminate with a direct bailout of individual subprime mortgage holders. Yes, it will be your tax dollars at work: Paying off the mortgages held by your NINJA neighbor, who for the past few years has been living in a house that he could never …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"So here we are in a country with more wheat and corn and more money in the bank than any other nation, more cotton, more everything in the world – there’s not a product that you can name that we haven’t got more of than any other country had on the face of the earth – and yet we’ve got people starving. We’ll hold the distinction of being the only nation in the history of the world that ever went to the poorhouse in an automobile." – Will Rogers, in a live radio broadcast, October 18, 1931