Year: 2009

Letter Re: Power Failure Alarms

James; I need your advice. I am worried about power failures, and even EMP while I’m sleeping. This could take out my security system, and leave my family vulnerable. Is there any sort of device that’ll alert me if the power goes out? Thanks, – Nolan S. JWR Replies: There are fairly inexpensive commercially-made plug-in power failure alarms available via mail order for under $15. (Or under $20 each at larger home improvement stores.) I recommend buying one for each bedroom, and one for your generator house. (The 86 dB alarm is not loud enough to be heard from far …


Economics and Investing:

Frequent content contributor Kevin A recommended this piece by Doug Casey: Street Fighting Man. It has some observations that sound a lot like what you’ve read in SurvivalBlog, such as: “I’ve long believed that this depression would not only be much different but much worse than the unpleasantness of the ’30s and ’40s. In those days, only a few people were involved in the financial markets; now almost anyone with any assets at all is a player. In those days, there were no credit cards, consumer debts, or student loans; now those things are ubiquitous. It’s true that nobody will …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Simon J. recommended this Gizmag article: SCORE Project seeks funding to roll out Bio-Mass Stove in developing countries    o o o El Niño Threatens Food Shortages    o o o ATF To Montana: You Will Respect Our Authority! And here’s a related article: Washington drops hammer on state gun plan    o o o John S. spotted this useful blog: Couponing in Critical Times



Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 23 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 foods, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. Second Prize: A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $350. Third Prize: A copy of …


Shoot or Don’t Shoot–Moral Implications of the Split-Second Decision to Take a Life, by Jeff R.

It doesn’t have to be TEOTWAWKI for a person to be faced with the choice of shoot or don’t shoot. Everyday in the United States a police officer somewhere makes that choice (sometimes they choose “don’t shoot”). All too often, average Joe or Jane Citizen must make that choice. Hopefully dear reader, that day will never come for you, but if it does, here are a few things to help you not hesitate when necessity requires that you pull the trigger, and to help you live with the consequences. Decide now that you will shoot another person if it becomes …


Letter Re: The Quasi-Reality Television Show “The Colony”

James, Last night was the first episode of a survival reality show on The Discovery Channel, ‘The Colony’, It is a 10-week experiment illustrating how 10 people cope with life after a biological wipe-out. They started with the first six participants being sleep deprived for 30 hours, then “raiding” a department store for whatever they can find before engaging in an eight mile walk through the Los Angeles River [–now a concrete aqueduct, which is dry most of each year–] to find an abandoned factory marked “Sanctuary”. The show did illustrate how most of us who are unprepared will fail …


Letter Re: Some Crucial Readiness: Preparing for Joy

Sir, I enjoyed the article about “Preparing for Joy”. The Christmas after Hurricane Ivan hit Pensacola [Florida, in 2004] was depressing and sad. My family and street was in a gloomy state that almost nothing could get us out of. About a week before Christmas I got off my butt and spent my last $40 on outside Christmas lights. It was kind of a funny sight, seeing the lights on the damaged house. But do you know what? The next day lights started popping up all down the street. People who never put lights up were putting them up. Even …


Influenza Pandemic Update:

Swine Flu Rages On at US Coast Guard Academy US Public Health Agencies to Set Up Mass Swine Flu Vaccinations US Warns Seasonal Flu Vaccine Will Not Protect Against Swine Flu Reader H.H. sent these two flu news items: Swine flu cases double as 100,000 people contract disease in just one week U.S. has bought 195 million doses of H1N1 vaccine


Economics and Investing:

Reader P.D. spotted this: Global Exposure in Financial Derivatives Surpasses One Quadrillion Dollars This was linked at the Total Investor blog: Economist Shiller Sees ‘Bad Recession,’ Stocks Could Drop Again. “Shiller says that this is a dreaded “liquidity trap.” The MOAB keeps growing: Fannie & Freddie: The most expensive bailout (Thanks to Charlie W. for the link.) From “HP” comes this piece by Mish Shedlock: Bernanke Terrified Over Commercial Real Estate, Seeks Still More Power Over Consumers Heather flagged this: Cash-strapped states raid 911 funds Items from The Economatrix: Global Exposure in Derivatives in Excess of One Quadrillion Dollars 24 …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Chris O. sent this article, that came from of all places, GQ magazine: Could You Survive Without Money? Meet the Guy Who Does. “In Utah, a modern-day caveman has lived for the better part of a decade on zero dollars a day. People used to think he was crazy.”    o o o My Brother in Christ Bob G. this: Middle East atomic conflict would kill tens of millions: report    o o o Didn’t Joe Biden ever take OPSEC 101? It ‘s only a “secret bunker”, if you keep it a secret.    o o o The asking price …



Notes from JWR:

Thanks to the efforts of my agent, both Ulysses Press and Penguin books have reached separate agreements to make audio books of my novel “Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse” and my upcoming nonfiction book “How to Survive the End of the World As We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times.“ These will be produced by Brilliance Audio, the nation’s largest audio book company. The CDs and downloadable MP3 files should be available sometime in 2010. I will post details as soon as they become available. In other publishing news, Amazon.com now has the …


Three Letters Re: The Simple Reality of EMP — Different Than You Might Expect

Dear JWR, I read the EMP article by Andru and thought it very well done with one minor correction in the power generation area (worked in the nuclear power industry for 20 years before changing careers). The EMP E3 pulse is very dangerous to the transformers in the transmission and distribution system, and hydro-electric and nuclear will also be severely affected. Commercial generators of any output run at 8,000-10,000 volts which is fed immediately to step up transformers to feed the transmission system. The most common voltage for the transmission system is 250,000 to 500,000 volts (3 phase) which reduces …


Letter Re: A Multiple Family Retreat — Lessons Learned The Hard Way

Dear Mr. Rawles: I have been following several good reader contributions including “Bug Out At the Last Minute” arguments versus those who consider “Early Relocation” and most recently “A Multiple Family Retreat—Lessons Learned the Hard Way” in regards to the most expeditious and efficient way to set up a self-sufficient retreat. While I understand that some folks are just simply unable to make a full time commitment in setting up a retreat, I also know that there are many—while there are still the comforts of life available (television, readily available food and gasoline)—that are unwilling to make the sacrifice necessary …