Note from JWR:

Please wait until “Book Bomb” Day– Wednesday, September 30th — to place your order for my new book, “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times”. They won’t be able to ship until then, anyway. Thanks!




Preparedness Information for Diabetics, by Chuck Fenwick

I ran across an article on survival and diabetics written by a nurse. It was what we call a basic brush and floss kind of article that quoted from some well-known medical books. I call it a brush and floss article because it contained mostly information which a diabetic already knows, much like the way a dentist tells you what your mom has told you a bazillion times about brushing your teeth. However at the end of the article the nurse pretty much consigned type 1 diabetics to doom and even referenced Darwin and the “survival of the fittest”. I …




The SurvivalBlog Mirror Site Project

It troubled me to read news reports about the Cybersecurity Act of 2009, S.773. If enacted, the US President could declare a “cybersecurity emergency” and then would have the power to shut down the Internet in the U.S. and the Secretary of Commerce would have access to data, regardless of privacy. Soon after, I read this headline: Obama Plans Internet Grab: FCC to Embrace ‘Net Neutrality’. Needless to say, this could have some “negative implications.” As some one who values redundancy in contingency planning, I believe that the time has come for me to set up one or two mirror …




Grub and Gear–Lessons Learned from an Alaskan Trapper, by Old Dog

James, I enjoy your blog. I’m praying the Lord’s peace during your mourning. I greatly enjoyed the recent letter on Lessons-Learned from Alaska. I’d like to add: One way to deal with condensation on a rifle, or other piece of equipment, in cold climates is to bag it in plastic [such as a trash bag) outside, before entering a warm area. Once inside, the condensation will build up on the exterior of the bag. Once the rifle, or other equipment, comes up to the indoor temperature it may be removed from the plastic cover [and checked for condensation]. Lord Bless …




Economics and Investing:

FG and Adam W. both flagged this: Homeowners who ‘strategically default’ on loans a growing problem. The article begins: “Who is more likely to walk away from a house and a mortgage — a person with super-prime credit scores or someone with lower scores? Research using a massive sample of 24 million individual credit files has found that homeowners with high scores when they apply for a loan are 50% more likely to “strategically default” — abruptly and intentionally pull the plug and abandon the mortgage — compared with lower-scoring borrowers.” El Jefe Jeff E. recommended this piece by famed …




Odds ‘n Sods:

Regular content contributor FG was first of a dozen readers to send us this news article link: America armed, but guns not necessarily loaded. JWR’s comment: The US ammo shortage is likely to abate early next year, as demand is satiated, and supplies increase.    o o o Reader John G. mentioned that James Talmage Stevens has just released the 11th edition of his heretofore hard-to-find book Making the Best of Basics – Family Preparedness Handbook. In the new updated and expanded edition, the page count has nearly doubled. I consider this book a “must have” for every well-prepared family’s …




Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"The more subsidized it is, the less free it is. What is known as "free education" is the least free of all, for it is a state-owned institution; it is socialized education – just like socialized medicine or the socialized post office – and cannot possibly be separated from political control." – Frank Chodorov (1887-1966), Why Free Schools Are Not Free