Month: May 2009

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Whole nations depends on technology. Stop the wheels for two days and you’d have riots. No place is more than two meals from a revolution. Think of Los Angeles or New York with no electricity. Or a longer view, fertilizer plants stop. Or a longer view yet, no new technology for ten years. What happens to our standard of living?… Yet the damned fools won’t pay ten minutes’ attention a day to science and technology. How many people know what they’re doing? Where do these carpets come from? The clothes you’re wearing? What do carburetors do? Where do sesame seeds …


Notes from JWR:

As a follow-up to my recent Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper interview, a German blog for ex-pats (and would-be ex-pats) called Auswandern – Adieu Deutschland! posted an interview, in both a German edition, and an English edition. — The bidding ends at midnight (eastern time) tonight! The high bid in the SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction. is now at $1,350. This auction is for a large mixed lot, which includes: 1.) A Three-Color Desert Camo Interceptor OTV (Outer Tactical Vest) size XL only, and a spare Woodland camouflage outer shell, kindly donated by BulletProofME.com. These items have a combined retail value of …


Letter Re: Year-Round Gardening

Dear James, We’re currently busy in the beginning ground laying of the construction phase of adding a large greenhouse onto our enclosed garden plot, which is completely enclosed with 12 foot high fencing with a solar security system. This addition was decided in consideration of the foreseeable need for us to be able to add a winter season grow room for year long vegetable growing and over-wintering of our heirloom stock. It will also allow us to save our best heirloom plants and clone them, from season to season to jumpstart the spring grow times and yields. I am sharing …


Letter Re: Stocking Up on Prescription Medicines

James, I have just visited with our family physicians about a stockpile of prescriptions medications. Seems that two of them are "preppers" and are putting a plan together for their families. They physicians are more than willing to write scripts for meds, they really are supportive of the plan and like the Wal-Mart list. For some reason, they will not recommend specific drugs, they will prescribe but not recommend. I wonder if a pharmacist and Ranger Doc might be willing to put together a specific list of recommended prescription items and you could put it in the blog. This would …


Two Letters Re: That Post Die-Off Fragrance

Mr. Editor: In regards to EM Joe’s post regarding “That Post Die-Off Fragrance,” I too spent 30 years in Public Service as a Forensic Investigator attending and investigating numerous death scenes and autopsies involving decomposing bodies. I used to use copious amounts of Vicks Vapor-Rub, both on my upper lip and even stuffed up the nose. One day, while attending an autopsy on a real “stinker”, the pathologist conducting the post mortem exam observed me and my faithful jar of Vicks and informed me that if I used enough of the stuff I would eventually erode away the mucus membranes …


Two Letters Re: Which Form of Precious Metals?

Dear Sir, Regarding comments made in the letter on which form of precious metals to buy, readers should be aware that numerous Chinese fake silver dollar coins exist in today’s market. I recently became aware of these by an honest seller who identified the fakes as such, and sold me a couple for comparison purposes. They are available as common Morgan and Peace dollars as well as more numismatically valuable styles such as draped bust and trade dollars. They look surprisingly realistic and appear to have normal aging and wear consistent with what you would expect. Believe me when I …


Mexican Flu Update:

Vasilly wrote to mention a computer model that Los Alamos National Lab did in of a “Simulation of a pandemic flu outbreak in the continental United States, initially introduced by the arrival of 10 infected individuals in Los Angeles.” He heard about this when listening to Episode 19 of the Preparedness Podcast. Confirmed Swine Flu Cases in Washington Jump to 236 Fewer than 33% of Americans Would Take Flu Jab Swine Flu Spreads Worldwide–Over 5,700 Infected


Economics and Investing:

Just as I envisioned three years ago, derivatives are now in thes spotlight: Treasury Seeks More Financial Regulations in Shadowy Markets. (Thanks to Danny S. and KAF, for the link.) From the Appenzell Daily Bell: Beginning of the end? Fed cannot account for $9 trillion KAF sent us this: David Frum: Quick fix today, crisis tomorrow in Obama’s White House Redaer GG flagged this: Strong appetite for silver boosts coin production “Mints around the world almost doubled their silver coin production in the first quarter in response to a surge of investor interest in the metal.” Items from The Economatrix: …


Odds ‘n Sods:

JHB mentioned this article about survivalists in Russia: Survivalists stock up for End of Days    o o o SurvivalBlog regular Bill Buppert was recently interviwed for the LewRockwell.com podcast. The topic was state secession.    o o o SF in Hawaii mentioned these two sites: Everyone Deserves a Roof and The Bike Trailer Blog (which includes some tariler tents).    o o o A trailer for the movie The Road has been released. Gee, this makes SurvivalBlog readers look like relative optimists.



Note from JWR:

The bidding ends at midnight (eastern time) tomorrow night! (May 15th.) The high bid in the SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction. is now at $1,325. This auction is for a large mixed lot, which includes: 1.) A Three-Color Desert Camo Interceptor OTV (Outer Tactical Vest) size XL only, and a spare Woodland camouflage outer shell, kindly donated by BulletProofME.com. These items have a combined retail value of $960! 2.) A vehicle detection system, which includes: one MURS Alert Probe Sensor (MAPS) with 50 foot probe cable and one MURS Alert Hand Held (M538-HT) transceiver. The MAPS unit’s probe can be covertly installed …


Letter Re: Which Form of Precious Metals?

Dear Sir, During a discussion with a friend today, we chatted about which format of silver would be most viable as a form of a tangible asset. We discussed the recognized value of Silver American Eagle coins versus”silver rounds”, and found ourselves asking more questions than being able to provide reasonable answers. The conversation was based on my recent decision to convert US currency into silver rounds at a price of $0.90 over spot price (at the time $11.91 per ounce). This was a much lower price than the $3.59 over spot price for Silver American Eagles, so it seemed …


Letter Re: A Practical Tip on Using Roof Catchment Rainwater

Mr. Rawles- I sincerely appreciate your site and all of your efforts. In researching rain water collection recently, I came across a manual on rain water harvesting published by the Texas Water Development Board. While some of the data is Texas-specific, I found the overall information and descriptions of various harvesting systems to be extremely helpful. I suspect some of your readers may as well. In addition, I have received notice from the good folks at Safecastle that their next Mountain House [long term storage food] sale will take place between May 23 and June 5 and will include a …


Letter Re: “Patriots” Book Sighting in Downtown Chicago

Just an update on your book from here behind enemy lines in Chicago. I ride the “EL” [elevated railway] to work each day and on Monday saw a man reading your novel “Patriots” . I asked where he purchased it, expecting the answer to be Amazon, and was stunned when he said that he picked it up at Borders on State Street in downtown Chicago. I wandered over to the store at lunchtime and, lo and behold, there were two copies in the the new “Mystery and Thrillers” section right next to Ian Rankin’s latest book. There were plenty of …