Year: 2009

Note from JWR:

I’m pleased to report that another retreat listed on SurvivalRealty.com property has just sold. (The “Turn-key” retreat near Sandpoint, Idaho.) Be sure to check out the many new SurvivalRealty.com listings, including properties in Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Also, be advised that the seller of a unique underground home in Colorado has re-listed the property, at a reduced price. We are very pleased that our “spin-off” web site has been so successful in connecting retreat property buyers and sellers. If you have a property for sale that has retreat potential, then please consider advertising it on SurvivalRealty. …


Letter Re: Retreat Security: I Am Your Worst Nightmare

I was thinking about the “I Am Your Worst Nightmare” post as I worked in my vegetable garden, preparing it for Spring. I wonder how long it would be until the Looters evolved their strategy to the next levels, as follows: Looter+1: Don’t kill everyone, leave some alive to loot again later. Looter+2: Plan to scare, rather than kill, your victims, so that they can continue farming and provide for your needs later. Dead victims can’t work. Looter+3: Claim a territory and collect “protection” money/goods from the people in your territory. Tell them that in return for only taking one-third …


Letter Re: Comments of Storing Coffee and Grinding Whole Wheat Flour

Jim: Buryl misses the point to storing coffee. Freeze dried blocks of ground coffee wrapped in aluminum foil pouches and vacuum packed is my preferred method, but I also store instant coffee crystals. I recommend not getting addicted to coffee. I can take it or leave it. But it is a wonderful trade/barter item. Especially after six months or a year or more have gone by after the SHTF and there is no coffee to be found anywhere, a stash of coffee will be good as gold with its purchasing power. Storing jerked meats and especially honey as barter items …


Economics and Investing:

Chris in West Virginia was the first of several readers that mentioned Glenn Beck’s recent explanation of inflation, interest rates, and the history of destroyed currencies. It was a basic primer for the sheeple. I just wish he had taken a couple of minutes to explain the money multiplier effect of fractional reserve banking. Ehh! Probably too complicated for many television viewers to grasp. The latest from Dr. Housing Bubble: Option ARMs Enter the Eye of the Hurricane: The $189 Billion Recast Problem Targeted Directly at the California Housing Market. Of $189 Billion in Securitized Option ARMs $109 Billion in …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Tree house man lives off the land. I think he needs to spend less time in the hammock, and more time cutting firewood for the coming winter!    o o o Other news from England: Bullets used by British soldiers ‘too small to defeat Taliban’. Not only is 5.56 too small, but the entire Enfield L85 (aka SA80) bullpup development and procurement program has been a foul-up from day one. I suppose that it is time to break out some L1A1s from their war reserve arsenal. That is, assuming they still have a few hundred thousand of them… There may …



Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 25 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.) and C.) A HAZARiD Decontamination Kit from Safecastle.com. (A $350 value.) Second Prize: A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing …


The Dumpster List, by InfoRodeo

Because of our financial constraints, aggravated by the economy and rural area we now live, my family cannot afford to own a second “retreat” home, nor do we have much land on which to build a shed or store much of anything. As a boy, my parents didn’t have much money, and through a mix of my dad’s “fix it or make do” attitude, the scout motto “be prepared” and my newfound need for better frugality, I’ve made a kind of checklist that every non-food purchase my wife and I make must go through, and it’s jokingly called the Dumpster …


Letter Re: Comments of Storing Coffee and Grinding Whole Wheat Flour

Sir: I suggest kicking the coffee habit. Coffee offers very little actual nutritional value. It is mostly a comfort food. While that is important, consider the drawbacks: 1. Sleep pattern changes 2. Increased anxiety 3. Staining of the teeth 4. Effects on pregnancy and menopause 5. Cholesterol (French Press method can use trap cafestol and kahweol which may raise LDL levels that paper filters capture) Regular use may lead to “habituation”; that is, no net benefit from use but, rather, a negative effect if the drug is not taken. Too much caffeine can produce restlessness, nausea, headache, tense muscles, sleep …


Economics and Investing:

The credit derivatives plot thickens: New York Fed’s Secret Choice to Pay for Swaps Hits Taxpayers. (Thanks to David V. for the link.) Russia delays sale of 50 tons of gold. (A hat tip to Trey for the link, by way of MineWeb.) GG sent this: Stimulus jobs overstated by thousands SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson spotted this New York Times piece: Hard Work, No Pay. It includes this memorable quote: “I am not unemployable. I have a master’s of fine arts and spent two years in the Peace Corps.” Mike’s comment: “Er…I thought that was the definition …


Odds ‘n Sods:

A new 2010 Survival Calendar is now available. I was delighted to see that the designer included one page devoted to SurvivalBlog. Check it out! OBTW, you can use the coupon code “survivalblog” (without the quotes) to get a $4 discount on checkout.    o o o Brian H. wrote me to mention that Gene Logsdon’s classic 1977 book “Small-Scale Grain Raising” is back in print in an updated paperback edition. Be sure to order the Second edition.    o o o Reader HPD sent this: Cash for Clunkers costs taxpayers $24,000 per car. And Damon sent this, on this …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“China is now a big buyer of gold and silver for their banks. Chinese television has been recommending that everyone should go to the bank to buy gold and silver. That’s 1.3 billion people getting propagandized. This is a major bullish factor for gold. Perhaps the bankers have met their match.” – Howard J. Ruff


Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 25 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.) and C.) A HAZARiD Decontamination Kit from Safecastle.com. (A $350 value.) Second Prize: A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing …


Retreat Security: I Am Your Worst Nightmare, by Jeff T.

I am the leader of a band of 8-to-12 looters. I have some basic military training. We move from place to place like locusts devouring everything in our path. My group is armed with light weapons and can develop and follow simple plans of attack. We take what we want by force of arms. We prefer none of our victims survive because that could cause problems for us in the future. It has been six months since the grid went down. You and the other five members of your party have settled into what may be a long grinding existence. …


Letter Re: University of California Disaster Preparedness Videos

Jim: While scanning through iTunes U, I found a television (or audio) series from University of California TV on disaster preparedness. They are professionally produced and contain a wealth of information about about emergency response systems are intended to work. Included here are four of the fifteen or so shows that they have put together. The ones I have included are Natural Disasters, Chemical and Biological Agents, Pandemic Influenza and Emerging Infections and Disaster Volunteerism They go over several case studies that happened in California, but talk about organizations generally enough that it is applicable to most areas with advanced …