Month: July 2009

Medical Insurance for Prepared American Families, by Pat C.

The American healthcare system is collapsing and it will continue to do so no matter what comes out of the current debates in Washington. As a result, healthcare in the United States will continue to rise in cost. Worse, healthcare will become difficult to obtain; specialty care is already scarce in some areas and many rural counties do not have even one doctor who will accept Medicare patients. There are many reasons for these developments that are too complicated to outline here but it’s important to be aware of these trends because they will affect your ability to obtain care …


Letter Re: The Utility of Horses and Horse Theft Prevention in Hard Times

Hi Jim, I read your blog every day as I am preparing my family for the likely collapse. Thanks for the info.We are looking for the ideal spot for our retreat and have found many possible places all in the Pacific Northwest (wooded, very private and off of main roads, creeks, etc.) Here is our dilemma: We have four horses and want to grow our own hay to feed them. How does one find a property that is remote and hidden but still with enough flat, fertile land to grow hay (5-10 acres per horse!)? Our horses are all small …


Letter Re: Wringers for Hand Washing Clothes

JWR: For those who are planning to wash clothes in case of power outage or loss of delivered water I have two suggestions. First is the wringer to get excess water out of washed clothes. Use an industrial mop wringer, such as the kind available through Lowe’s stores. It is made of heavy duty industrial plastic, and, of course, is dual use. Wring out your mops or your clothes. It is less expensive than a traditional roller type wringer. Second, for washing clothes in small batches you might consider a foot moved (adapted to hand crank on rollers) drum cement …


Economics and Investing:

My friend “X” in Japan pointed out an article that I overlooked last month: Confiscated US Bonds Were Headed For Swiss Free Port. OBTW, living near a “free port” (as described in the article) might have its advantages in a protracted economic depression. Commerce will slow globally, but port zones will probably continue to have profitable opportunities. Several SurvivalBloggers sent this: June budget gap $94.32 billion, record for June Eight readers mentioned this Wall Street Journal article: The Economy Is Even Worse Than You Think; The average length of unemployment is higher than it’s been since government began tracking the …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Kevin A. sent a link to page with an amazing wealth of links: Magazines (and Websites) About Homesteading and Self-Sufficiency    o o o Reader PD sent this: Fall in World 2009 Food Production    o o o F.G. sent us this: Powerful Ideas: Military Develops ‘Cybug’ Spies    o o o Bobbi was the latest reader to mention the reader-generated Cool Tools web site. I’ve linked to it before in the blog, but so many of their recent articles tie in to SurvivalBlog topics that it bears mentioning again. For example, the current Cool Tools review of the recent …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember those who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a person but the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances – to choose one’s own way. ” – Victor Frankl


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 …


GPS for Day-to-Day Use and Survival, by Mike S.

Reading accounts of people who had evacuated the Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita was a sobering experience. Evacuees who took to the interstate highways effectively ended up in giant parking lots. In contrast, those who used the back roads fared much better and were able to evacuate in a timely manner. I live sufficiently inland that hurricanes do not pose a serious threat to me, nor do other foreseeable regional natural disasters such as earthquakes pose a serious risk. However, I live in the middle of a major metropolitan area where man-made disasters and localized natural disasters …


Letter Re: TEOTWAWKI, Right Next Door

Jim: Last Sunday night my family drove home to the sight of a pillar of smoke that looked like it was coming directly from where my house should be. It turned out to be the next door neighbor’s home. The blessing is that no one was home, so no one got hurt. The downside is that no one was home so everything owned was lost. I mean everything – clothes, food, water pump, furniture, bedding, cash on hand, tools, toys, games, appliances, equipment, books – everything. The Red Cross put the family in a hotel for a few days. But …



Economics and Investing:

Tim Geithner Refuses to Answer Congressman Brad Sherman’s Question on Derivatives Bailouts Reader “Countrytek” recommended this NPR news story: Many Left Uncounted in Nation’s Official Jobless Rate Items from The Economatrix: Baby Boomers to Kids: Kiss the Inheritance Good-bye Obama Rejects Second Round of Stimulus First infusion [was] “not designed to work in four months…designed to work over two years.” Stocks Slipped 2% Last Week Christmas Creeps into July at Sears US Budget Deficit Tops $1 Trillion for First Time After Losing Homes, Families Move into Tents Awash With Cash (The Mogambo Guru) Major Lender Faces Crunch Study: State Budget …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Wild Weather in Year Ahead, Scientists Predict    o o o North Korean Army Behind Cyber Attacks    o o o North Korea’s Kim Has Pancreatic Cancer    o o o Care to predict a trend? Tiburon [California] may install license plate cameras. (Not to worry, folks. We’ve been promised that this is all for “public safety,”)



H1N1 Influenza: A Cytokine Storm Conclusion, But Still More Questions Than Answers

The good news on H1N1 (commonly called Swine Flu) is that in current strains the death rate appears to be as low as 1 in 2,000 infections, at least in First World countries with modern hospital facilities. The bad news is that at least 60% of world’s population is expect to contract the bug, and that further mutations are probable. The Mutation Question Mutations to less virulent strains are the historic norm for viruses but there is the risk of one that is very deadly. (To explain: in the grand scheme of things, a mutation with high lethality is is …


Letter Re: Recent Experience with an N95 Protective Mask

Dear Mr. Rawles- I am writing to tell other Survival Blog readers about a recent experience I had with an N95 mask (with no exhalation port.) My husband and I just bought a 30 year old single wide trailer with 30 years worth of dust, mold, and cat hair. After day of being in the trailer I could feel my allergies start to grow worse by the minute. To clean up the dust, cat hair, and other allergens we went to the local hardware store and rented a Rug Doctor to shampoo the carpets. While shampooing the carpets (which was …