Year: 2009

Letter Re: Maintaining OPSEC in a Geographically Extended Retreat Group

My Dear Brother in Christ, Before I get to my question my wife and I would like to express our sympathy (a overused word I now but heart felt) at the loss of your partner and our sister in Christ. I know there is joy to be had for her being with Jesus but the loss is still felt by you and your kids and our prayers are with you. Now my main question. Do you have any ideas regarding security with it comes to putting a group together where the potential members are separated to the extent that it …


Economics and Investing:

Raymond sent this New York Times piece: Inside The Global Frenzy For Gold Several readers sent this: Gold price hits record high as dollar wanes. JWR’s advice: Wait until the next profit-taking dip in precious metals, but then invest in silver, not gold. (I anticipate that silver may dip to as low as $12 per ounce, a proportionately much deeper drop, than gold. Watch the silver-to-gold price ratio closely! In the long term, the value of silver will gain versus gold, since silver is being consumed–and not reclaimed–from industrial use. (Nearly all gold is reclaimed, but an incredible amount of …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Jeff B. flagged this from ABC: Massachusetts family of six lives off $4 per week for food. Coupon clipping pays off! For anyone on a low income: If you have the time, but not the cash, then this is one way to stock your larder. (With our Search Posts on SurvivalBlog box, enter the word “coupons” to find previous articles with links to online printable coupons and discount codes, such as this one.)    o o o Jim W. and Norman both suggested this 60 Minutes segment about a former US spy chief’s dire warning about the vulnerability of America’s …



Note from JWR:

The special sale price on the “Rawles Gets You Ready” family preparedness course from Arbogast Publishing began Friday night, and will run until November 30th. Just the first folks that order will also get a free copy of my book “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It“, so order soon! The course is designed to get a family’s food storage squared away in a hurry, by stocking up on bulks foods, most efficiently a “big box” store such as a COSTCO. Oh, and speaking of COSTCO, my new book is now being sold there (for …


Two Letters Re: Food Grade HDPE Storage Buckets

James, Some time ago mention was made on the site regarding “square buckets” [that are food grade]. I came across this deal which readers may be interested in (I have no relationship with these folks). The company is called Five Star Preparedness, in Utah. God Bless, – Bob B. JWR: I have searched your great site, and the Internet in general for more info on storing grain (such as wheat) inside good used food grade plastic pails. So far I have learned that a mylar food grade bag should be used inside the [sealed HDPE plastic] pail to put the …


Letter Re: Retreat Construction, Afghan Style

Mr. Rawles, Regarding your discussion of adobe construction – Adobe can be used for structural and exterior construction in a range of climates based on how you make it. I used to work for a company in Fresno, California that made stabilized adobe – it included a bituminous emulsion (tar-like stuff that’s water proof) to make the bricks water proof. They have been sold across California in residential and commercial construction. Their products included several that were considered structurally sound enough to meet California’s earthquake codes and generally made walls from 12 inches solid to 18 inches (two row with …


Letter Re: Clarification on the Distribution of SurvivalBlog

James, Would you be kind enough to add me to your e-mailing list for your blog? I would appreciate it. Thanks, C.R. – Lebanon, Oklahoma JWR Replies: For the privacy of my readers, I don’t keep any e-mail lists. My blog is accessed by readers with a web browser either by clicking a bookmark, or by using our RSS feed. Just be sure to book mark our URL, or better yet, make it your browser’s home page. SurvivalBlog has been updated daily, without fail, since its inception in 2005. All of the blog’s content, including nearly 8,000 archived articles, letters, …


Influenza Pandemic Update:

Amid shortage, big NYC firms get swine vaccine. Reader Garth S. (who sent us the article link) asks: “So is this how it works? I get six zeros behind my salary and I can get to the front of the line?” World First As Swine Flu Found in US Cat Critically Ill Swine Flu Patients Spend Weeks in ICU Scandal: NHL Team Gets Priority Flu Shots WHO Targets Hemorrhagic H1N1 Cases in Lviv, Ukraine. So, assuming that his is a new, more lethal strain, I’m led to ask: Will contracting the current mild strain circulating in the US protect someone …


Economics and Investing:

Reader Chad S. sent this: No risk of hyperinflation, says Bernanke. (I feel so much safer now, knowing that he’s grounding the helicopters.) Also from Chad: The Truth about Hyperinflation and Price Controls. Items from The Economatrix: Ahead of the Bell: Consumer Credit Mortgage Rate Falls Below 5% GM to Axe 10,000 in Germany Analysis: 10% Jobless is Obama’s New World. Sadly, 18-22% is more realistic. See the data at ShadowStats.com. Unemployment Rate Rises Above 10%. “The 10.2 percent unemployment rate does not include people without jobs who have stopped looking for work or those who have settled for part-time …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Several how-to videos have been posted that were filmed by Outside Magazine editor Joe Spring who accompanied Tony Nester of the Ancient Pathways school on a “Knife-Only” outdoor survival course.    o o o File this is the “Why Am I Not Surprised?” Department: U.S. reverses stance on treaty to regulate arms trade. This, BTW, is the same Presidential Administration headed by the guy that promised voters: “I’m not going to take away your guns.”    o o o Jeff B. forwarded this link: Seven (more) ) Abandoned Wonders of America: From Deserted Breweries to Famous Auto Factories.    o …



Letter Re: An Overwhelmed Newbie, Catching Up at Prepping

Mr. Rawles, I’m fairly new to your blog (three months), and still feeling a tad bit overwhelmed. I’m a 5th grade school teacher, and my husband is a former truck driver, now a truck dispatcher/supervisor. Not just am I realizing that I have a lot of catching up to do to get my family prepared for the rough times ahead, but I’m realizing how much my husband and I have to learn, to be truly ready! I’ve taken your advice and have asked my mother to teach me how to do pressure cooker canning. That was something that I had …


Three Letters Re: How Much Food Storage is Biblically Justified?

Sir, Knowing your Christian beliefs are similar to mine — Calvinist, reformed — I thought you’d want to know that the article you linked to is from a cult organization. It follows doctrines generally referred to as “Armstrongism” — denying the Trinity and salvation by grace alone, and more false prophecies than can be counted. Here’s a write up from a cult watch group describing the doctrines: Armstrongism: The doctrines and religious movement originating with Herbert W. Armstrong (1892-1986), who founded the Worldwide Church of God (WCG). Armstrong rejected such essential doctrines of evangelical Christianity as the Trinity, the full …


Letter Re: When Does the Other Shoe Drop?

James: I was having a conversation with my survival think tank buddy tonight and he asked me when I thought the dollar would collapse. I answered that it was like asking when the next ice age would come. It’s due in another 1,000 years but we could be off by century or a millennia. It’s the same thing with the dollar. It is impossible, mathematically speaking, for it to continue in it’s current valuation indefinitely as it is in a non-sustainable negative spiral for reasons people reading this blog are well versed. A collapse could happen tomorrow but is could …