"Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to the eyes of men. Silently and imperceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow strong or weak; and at last some crisis shows what we have become." – Brooke Foss Westcott
Today we present another entry for Round 26 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 assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A HAZARiD Decontamination Kit from Safecastle.com. (A $350 value.), and D.) A 500 round case of Fiocchi 9mm Luger, 124gr. Hornady XTP/HP ammo, …
I first became fascinated with the art of preparedness in my youth during the days and months leading up to Y2K. The thought societal meltdown and global collapse seemed almost too much to bear, hard to wrap my head around. I was 17years old, just starting my life — now faced with a potential situation that I had little training or experience to deal with. But my parents had instilled in me a valuable lesson early in childhood; fear is derived from the unknown and the lack of preparedness. With knowledge, preparation, a “never quit” attitude and maybe a little …
I’m about halfway into your book and love it so far! I’m curious about what store-bought food has the longest shelf life. I am LDS, and you know we believe in food storage, but I’m not too excited about living off of hard winter wheat forever. Can you give some suggestions of store-bought food that will last the longest. For example, I’ve heard that Velveeta cheese lasts forever, as well as Twinkies. I’m really just looking to have some variety in the food storage. Also, is there a better place to get MREs? I have a cousin in the army …
In the past few months, more than a dozen readers have reported a glitch in viewing SurvivalBlog with the Firefox web browser. Firefox is otherwise an excellent web browser and my recommendation as the best browser available. If you receive a “Content Encoding Error”, while trying to access SurvivalBlog, then there is a problem with Firefox’s cache on your PC–not a problem with our web site. This cache is the local archive that it maintained to speed up loading commonly visited web sites. Occasionally, this archive can be corrupted by your browser, producing a “Content Encoding Error.” The easiest solution …
Testing Group Says Swine Flu is Waning In US Soldiers to Receive Mass H1N1 Vax Before Going on Leave for Holidays D225G and H274Y in Illinois 800,000 Doses of Children’s Vax Recalled Ukraine: New Wave of Flu Starts Rapid Evolution of H1N1 in Beijing Silent Spread of Tamiflu Resistance in Texas
John S. in Virginia suggested a Forbes article on China’s Economic Bubble. Items from The Economatrix: Buyers Spurn Gold for Silver Greece Credit Rating Rated Junk Levels UK: Confidence Falls on Fears of “Double-Dip” Recession How Much Imaginary Gold Has Been Sold? 2010 Food Crisis for Dummies Full Circle of Government Debt Default
Reader Joe G. sent a link to a story on a house that is so “green”, it produces surplus electricity. o o o Ed C. sent us this link to at start-up company in Polson, Montana. Gearpods is offering containerized survival gear, mostly in Nalgene style water containers, from day pack kits to shelter systems. o o o Reader Johnny G. sent this link: S.F. bank’s startling interest: 79 percent. And SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson sent a link to a similar story, from Fox News. o o o John F. suggested this story on …
"Assessing, developing, attaining and sustaining needed emergency preparedness, response and recovery capabilities is a difficult task that requires sustained leadership… there is no silver bullet, no easy formula." – William Jenkins
Here in the northern hemisphere, we are about to have our Winter Solstice – the shortest day of the year. For some of us, that means that it is time to start planning our Spring gardens! (The seed catalogs will start to arrive soon. They are reliable as our January snow and Spring rain.)
Mr. Jim, You perfectly encapsulated a modification I just did to the kit I carry in my vehicle. While I knew better, it still took reading “One Second After” to set me thinking: How do I get home if the car dies? Your reference: “My personal circumstances are unusual, since I live at my retreat year-round. So the gear that I keep in my vehicle is more of a “Get Me Back Home Kit” rather than a “Get Out of Dodge Kit” is perfect. I have carried a pretty decent vehicle breakdown kit for some time, but I did so …
Sir: I am not an electrician, and I set as system like this up at my house three years ago. It kept our food cold, and the house tolerably warm for three days when the power was out. But I endorse a couple of important differences. First, letting your car run at idle will run down your battery. The alternator doesn’t reach full output at low RPMs, so you need to kick up the throttle a little bit. How much will depend on your car. I watch the volt-meter built into the inverter, and set the engine at about 1,500 …
Reader M.S. spotted this editorial by James Quinn: Brave New World 2010. This editorial by Frank Seuss was linked over at The Daily Bell: The Life-Long Challenge of Differentiating Between Truth, Paradigms, Truisms and Plain Lies RLG sent this video clip: Ryedale Coin Penny Sorter. Keep in mind how much profit from how many hundreds of thousands of pennies it would take to recoup the cost of buying a sorting machine. To my mind, this is a hobby business strictly for retirees with strong backs! Bill from Ohio sent this: Six Banks shut down Friday – 140 total this year …
Henry L. suggested this article over at Market Skeptics: 2010 Food Crisis for Dummies o o o SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson spotted a blog post about a warning poster at Fort Benning. Mike’s comment: “We’re terrorists, apparently.” o o o From Ferdinand: Man kills bobcat with bare hands during north Phoenix attack. He comments, “Even if it isn’t a complete collapse, things like this will become more common. Being defenseless–having to use your bare hands qualifies you as defenseless–is a death sentence, in my opinion.”
“Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them..” – Nehemiah 4:9 (KJV)