Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 23 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. First Prize: A.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried foods, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. Second Prize: A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $350. Third Prize: A copy of …




Controlling Pain Where There is No Doctor, by Bill R.

Some of you are probably asking yourself what this has to with Survivalism. Pain is our brain’s way of letting us know that something is not right. You touch a hot stove and it warns you to pull away. With any number of things that can set off TEOTWAWKI,  The result will be the same. Traumatic, stressful, pick your favorite term; it’s all the same. Increased stress levels in the body create tension. We have all heard the term ”your psychology affects your physiology”, nothing could be more true. I think it is an excellent idea to go through practice …




Letter Re: Power Failure Alarms

James; I need your advice. I am worried about power failures, and even EMP while I’m sleeping. This could take out my security system, and leave my family vulnerable. Is there any sort of device that’ll alert me if the power goes out? Thanks, – Nolan S. JWR Replies: There are fairly inexpensive commercially-made plug-in power failure alarms available via mail order for under $15. (Or under $20 each at larger home improvement stores.) I recommend buying one for each bedroom, and one for your generator house. (The 86 dB alarm is not loud enough to be heard from far …




Economics and Investing:

Frequent content contributor Kevin A recommended this piece by Doug Casey: Street Fighting Man. It has some observations that sound a lot like what you’ve read in SurvivalBlog, such as: “I’ve long believed that this depression would not only be much different but much worse than the unpleasantness of the ’30s and ’40s. In those days, only a few people were involved in the financial markets; now almost anyone with any assets at all is a player. In those days, there were no credit cards, consumer debts, or student loans; now those things are ubiquitous. It’s true that nobody will …




Odds ‘n Sods:

Simon J. recommended this Gizmag article: SCORE Project seeks funding to roll out Bio-Mass Stove in developing countries    o o o El Niño Threatens Food Shortages    o o o ATF To Montana: You Will Respect Our Authority! And here’s a related article: Washington drops hammer on state gun plan    o o o John S. spotted this useful blog: Couponing in Critical Times