Year: 2009

Letter Re: Grub and Gear–Lessons Learned from an Alaskan Trapper

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James, Going through some old gear last month, I found my food supply lists and notes from 1976-79. I thought the old list might be of interest and the lessons I learned during the first three years in the remote Alaska bush may be helpful to a few of your readers. I do not recommend Alaska for a TEOTWAWKI retreat but the lessons I learned the hard way may be helpful to any one in a cold climate. I grew up in California listing to stories from my grandfather about Alaska and the Yukon. When I graduated from high school …


Economics and Investing:

Unemployment in California at 12%, Highest in Nearly 70 Years GG flagged this: UK Public debt hits £800 billion – the highest on record Tom B. sent this item: Charts predict: “Risk of Full- Fledged Dollar Crisis” Items from The Economatrix: Obama: G-20 Good Time to Assess Economy Low Expectations for New Loan Help Program Regulators Seize Two Banks; 94 Failures This Year Irwin Financial’s Two Bank Units Seized Ohio Town Struggles After Package Giant DHL Leaves Meredith Whitney: “Roaring Recover”? Unlikely Fed Eyes Sweeping Bank-Pay Regulations Summers: Troubled Firms Should be Allowed to Fail Obama Adviser Blasts Big Business …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Inyokern spotted a web page on a 1 oz. beverage can stove which burns denatured alcohol. Inyokern notes: “This is a great bug-out bag item that is popular with Blue Ridge ultralight backpackers. This, plus fishing line, a folding knife, hooks, and a pan or pot with a lid would make a lightweight emergency kit.”    o o ox F.G. sent this: South Carolina mayor prohibits cops from chasing suspects either by car, or on foot!    o o o J.B. found a piece that describes urban camouflage: the ‘Special Operations Tactical Suit’ (SOTACS)    o o o Reader A.V. …



Letter Re: Will Junk Silver Be Accepted for Barter, Post-Collapse?

I have been reading your blog for quite some time now and I have a different outlook that I would like for you to comment on if you would be so kind. I have seen multiple references to pre-1965 coins being good for barter in a post-SHTF environment, but I do not follow this reasoning. I live in Dallas Texas, and frequently converse with other like minded people about survival preparation and the world climate and, until I told them about the high melt value of pre-1965 coins, they had no idea it was greater than the face value. It …


Letter Re: Storage Food Cookbooks

Hello James; I was just today shopping at the good ol value village and saw this book called Cooking With Stored Foods by Carlene Tejada and Carroll Latham. It contains great tips on storing foods and cooking stored foods. It lists also the shelf life of stored foods and there are diagrams for gravity fed can storage systems. I got it for ninety nine cents but your readers can find it on amazon.com for as little as $0.67 [plus postage]. God bless and many prayers for the loss of your Memsahib – Eric L JWR Replies: Thanks for that recommendation. …


Letter Re: Advice for a Post-Thyroidectomy — Potassium Iodide?

Mr. Rawles, I have read your blog for awhile, I would like to know if you about the following: I was diagnosed with Graves Disease over two years ago. They cured the Graves Disease and the way that was done was to completely remove my thyroid gland, If the main concern with radiation is thyroid cancer, without a thyroid what would radiation do are what organ would it damage the most. I would like to also know if there would be any need for myself to take Potassium Iodide (KI). JWR Replies: There would be no need for you to …


Influenza Pandemic Update:

From Heather H.: Hand Washing No Defense Against Swine Flu FDA Approves Vaccines for Swine Flu (But there are lots of doubts about the safety of the vaccine. Do some research before taking the jab!) H1N1 Brings Early Flu Season to Colleges, Public Schools Canada anger at ‘flu body bags’ Canada’s health minister orders an inquiry after body bags are sent to aboriginal communities as part of swine flu preparations.


Economics and Investing:

Greg sent us this: FDIC Considers Borrowing From Treasury to Shore Up Deposit Insurance Chaz liked this one: The U.S. Balance Sheet: Households See Net Worth Down by $12 Trillion Since Peak and Total Debt Floating in the Market of $33 Trillion Items from The Economatrix: Housing, Jobless Data Point to a Slow Economic Recovery Stocks Zigzag After Rally as Jobless Claims Dip FedEx First Quarter Profits Fall, Sees Improving Economy Oil Edges Higher on Hints of Economic Improvement Paul’s “Audit The Fed” Bill One Co-Sponsor Away from Being Veto Proof A Deluded G-20 Odds ‘n Sods: Federal Judge Rules …



Notes from JWR:

In answer to those of you that have asked: Please wait until “Book Bomb” Day — September 30th — to place your order for my forthcoming nonfiction book, “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times”. Dealers won’t be able to ship it until then, anyway. With the Book Bomb event, I hope to drive the book’s sales rank into Amazon’s Top 100, overall. Because of the strength of the pre-orders (even though I’ve asked people to delay ordering!) Penguin Books has increased the size of the first press …


Squeezing Efficiency Out of Every Second of Your Workday to Provide Quality Relaxation Time, by KAF

Yes, I actually said relaxation. Are you finding yourself overwhelmed with chores, or frazzled and just flat out fatigued trying to accomplish everything you must do in a workday on the homestead? I have recently lost my right arm support on my homestead. As all of you know who are practicing “prepper’s” of self-sufficiency, the Fall season, which by the way is my favorite, is almost equal to that of Spring in the number and intensity of the tasks and chores that must be performed in order to keep your slice of heaven on earth in sequence of the time …


Economics and Investing:

“Option” mortgages to explode, officials warn. (This is not a news flash for SurvivalBlog readers–I first warned you about this in March of ’07, and several times since.) A picture is worth a thousand words. BTW, I have found that this chart link is very useful to send to any deluded relatives who have bought into the lie that the real estate market has “bottomed” and that are planning to buy back into the market. US residential real estate is presently a playground for idiotic contrapreneurs. The very earliest that real estate could turn around in the US is 2013, …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Michael Z. Williamson, SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large, sent a link to a fascinating web page about vehicular Cuban boat people. Talk about improvisation and ingenuity!    o o o FG sent a sixteen-second long YouTube video that shows the level of firearms competence that a 13 year-old girl is capable of. (The pinging noises are hits.) Are your teenagers her equal? If not, then get them to the range more often, and schedule some training!    o o o Frequent content contributor FG sent this news of “Clunkers” program that I agree with: Purchase a new SIG-Sauer P220, P226, P229, …