Year: 2009

Odds ‘n Sods:

Does this sound familiar? Walking Away from the American Dream. FWIW, In August of 2005, I accurately predicted mortgage holders “walking away” from houses and turning in the house keys to their bankers. This has more recently been called “jingle mail”. Also on the economic front, comes these items from The Economatrix: Stock Losses Leave Pensions $400 Billion Short — Martial Law, Financial Bailout, and War — Biggest Rise in US Unemployment in 59 Years — Bank of England Cuts Rates to 300-Year Low — Pink Slips Pile Higher, Recession Worsens — The Fate of Paper Money —    o …



Note from JWR:

We blew past 600 gigabytes in web traffic in December. Since we are only contracted for 450 gigabytes, we just had to negotiate a special flat rate with our ISP for one terabyte of monthly traffic on our web site. There is now so much SurvivalBlog traffic–around 124,000 unique visits per week–that late in 2008 our ISP had to set up a dedicated server for us. Thanks, everyone, for making SurvivalBlog such a huge success!


Letter Re: Observations on Preparedness from a Gulf Coast Hurricane Veteran

Mr. Rawles, I just wanted to let you know how much I have enjoyed your site. I had no idea that there were whole survivalist communities out there until I stumbled on a link by accident. In fact, I didn’t really know that I fit into that category myself. My wife and I live on the Gulf Coast and we discovered the hard way during Hurricane Rita that a bag of trail mix and a bottle of water, was not preparing to evacuate. Eighteen hours in traffic in a hundred and fifty mile traffic jam taught us to find the …


Letter Re: Field Test with a MURS Band Dakota Alert Intrusion Detection System

James; I just recently purchased a MURS band Dakota Alert and Radio setup from [MURS Radio] that advertises on your site. Needless to say I got a screaming deal! I live in the Pacific Northwest, literally in the middle of dense woods. My radios and sensors arrived during one of the best snowfalls we have had in a while. All of the trees were loaded [with snow]. The temperature was in the very low 20s. Our terrain is mountainous. Here are my results (which may be helpful to your readers who may be thinking about purchasing them): [Dakota Alert MAT] …


Letter Re: Precipitation and Growing Season as Retreat Locale Criteria

Sir, Regarding your Retreat Areas recommendations: I grew up on a small multi-crop and livestock farm in north western Iowa, with 24 inches of precipitation and 180 frost free days. I have been living in California Eastern Sierra since 1982 , but soon will be leaving. I respectfully submit that your assessment of the agricultural capability of many of the low precipitation/low humidity areas of the western US is vastly overestimated. Western states such as Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico are not farmable by amateurs using conventional means available during any TEOTWAWKI scenario. Obtaining water rights and controlling large …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Susan Z. sent us this bad omen: [Former Bank of England official] Willem Buiter Warns of Massive Dollar Collapse    o o o Reader Debby S. flagged this: Terrorists could use ‘insect-based’ biological weapon    o o o “Shades of Minority Report…“, writes “Mike Papa”, an ex-pat living in Jordan, regarding this article: Police set to step up hacking of home PCs. Mike’s comment: “So now the United Kingdom is authorizing warrantless preemptive invasion of home computers by police if “a senior officer says he “believes” that it is “proportionate” and necessary to prevent or detect serious crime.” Scary stuff, …



Note from JWR:

The sale goes on! More than 700 SurvivalBlog readers have bought Foodsaver vacuum packing/sealing systems at the special $59.99 sale price. I had thought that the sale would end on December 31st but the manufacturer is still honoring the sale price while supplies last. (The promotion program manager mentioned that it would be less than two weeks.) We get a little “piece of the action” for each order. So this a is a great way to save money and to support SurvivalBlog in the new year. Don’t miss out on this sale! You can buy a FoodSaver v2830 for $59.99 …


Letter Re: Advice on Grungy Military Surplus Magazines

I took your advice and ordered some FN-FAL magazines from What-A-Country, and they were promptly delivered. However, I was surprised to find that the military surplus magazines were quite dirty with what appeared to be black sand, and slightly oily. Is that common for used magazines? As a first time battle rifle owner making my first military surplus purchase. I don’t know if this is common practice or not. If it is, what is the best way to properly clean the magazines so they can be used? Any advice or a link to a web site with additional information would …


Letter Re: Bulk Diesel Fuel Antibacterial and Stabilizer

Hi As to diesel fuel treatment, it is a investment that will involve the operation and reliability of your backup power engines and vehicles. The fuel is expensive so don’t cheap out on the fuel treatment. You need to have a diesel fuel maintenance program in place, 1. Treat the fuel with the proper required [stabilizing and antibacterial] chemicals. 2. Clean and polish the fuel once a year, pump the water & sludge out of the bottom of the tank. A clogged fuel filter is a serious problem. A cheap cleaning rig can be home made, [consisting of] two filters …


Letter Re: Learning Old-Fashioned Trades and Skills

Jim Concerning the article that Lisa sent: “Blacksmith-collector of forgotten trades”: Many survival minded folks consider learning a basic trade to help them through TEOTWAWKI. Most commonly they think farmer, gardener, blacksmith, bullet reloading. But there are many other basic skills and trades that will be highly prized and needed if the electricity goes off. Tinsmithing, broom and basket making, wheel and barrel making, pewter casting, weaving and spinning, candle and soap making, harness, horse collar, boot and shoe making, hide tanning, etc., will all be needed. Many of those trades need specialized tools, equipment and knowledge. Most 19th Century …


Letter Re: Home Invasion Robbery Countermeasures–Your Mindset and Architecture

Jim, After reading the recent letters about home invasion robberies, I’ve gotten a little paranoid about the idea of someone kicking in my front door in the middle of the night. It would be incredibly easy to do and it’s unlikely I could retrieve a firearm quickly enough to defend (I have a toddler so all guns are locked up except a pistol, which my wife doesn’t know is in Condition 3 in a drawer too tall for my daughter to reach). The Strikemaster II is out of budget (I need three of them) so I looked into having similar …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader J.L. sent this piece describing the impact of a new Federal regulation: “New safety rules for children’s clothes have stores in a fit”. J.L’s comment: The thing that galls me, is that the thrift/resale arena is one of the few bright spots in the economy, and they are some of the few places people can go and get low priced clothes to help them get through this recession.”    o o o Frequent content contributor Bill N. found a web site with a useful comparison of civilian MRE equivalents.    o o o Reader Paul B in Texas found …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“The typical individual is addicted to low quality leisure. He watches prime time television. He reads very little. He does not subscribe to economic newsletters or spend much time on financial web sites. He does not think about the distant future, which he defines as anything beyond this month’s paycheck.” – Dr. Gary North