Year: 2009

Preparedness Through Joining the National Guard, by Christopher D.

Several months ago, a man wrote an article for the SurvivalBlog detailing the ups and downs of being a prepper while serving on Active Duty. As a former Active Duty soldier I could appreciate what he was saying but more than anything else I found myself being thankful that I was now doing my prepping while serving in the National Guard. Many preppers join the local volunteer fire department or rescue squad in order to learn valuable skills for free that could help in an emergency. They also do it so that they can learn skills that will help pull …


Four Letters Re: Brumby Compressed Air-Powered Well Pumps

James, Your comments about the relative efficiency of compressing air with a windmill are spot on. Most of the energy would be lost. In the real world, air compressors are only about 10 to 15% efficient at best. This is because air heats when it’s compressed. In fact, since more energy is converted to heat than to mechanical energy, a compressor is actually better at heating and cooling a house as a heat pump than it is at compressing air. So unless you could figure out how to drive the Brumby well pump and utilize all the waste heat at …


Influenza Pandemic Update:

Reader L. Jean sent this: UK Government prediction: 40 deaths per day from swine flu. L. Jean’s comment: “[I really have no idea where the figures come from as sources aren’t quoted in the article, and it doesn’t seem to be causing any panic, in fact most people just don’t believe it, and are saying ‘it’s just fl’” and are refusing to take any precautions – which is bad news for the rest of us. I’m still waiting to find out if it’s a cytokine storm that kills or not – perhaps not if all deaths so far have been …


Economics and Investing:

From Mish Shedlock: Sweden Cuts Deposit Rate to NEGATIVE .25% Treasury’s Distressed Debt Plan Said to Begin With $20 Billion Morgan Stanley May Post Loss After Paying Back U.S. Bailout Funds China’s Zeng Urges More Oversight of Reserve-Currency Nations “DD” sent this: Dow off 223 as unemployment jumps; The dismal report on job losses startles traders. The S&P is now a loser on the year, and oil falls below $67.


Odds ‘n Sods:

US Judge Seeks to Ban Internet News Linking. (I guess that they’d better ban news broadcasters from mentioning news headlines, while they are at it…)    o o o Food Recall Alert: Dave C. forwarded a DoD bulletin warning that the current MRE Menus 1, 9, 21, and 22 contain a Dairy Shake Powder that is listed in a food recall. “Do not consume MRE and UGR-E Dairy Shake powder, Fortified with Calcium and Vitamin D”    o o o The result of sixty years of gun control in the U.K: The most violent country in Europe: Britain is also …




From Mike Williamson: Some Useful DIY Home Power Technology Web Links

The following links will be of interest to anyone interested in do-it-yourself (DIY) power generation and 19th Century technology. Most of these come from Lindsay Publishing. [JWR Adds: They are also one one of my favorites!] : Generator and Inverters Wood into Charcoal and Electricity (although the generator design is at best a temp make-work design while you scrounge to build a better one). Gas Engines and Producer Gas Plants DIY Wind Turbine Power Plant (The best DIY design out there, although you might find a cheaper copy elsewhere). DIY Machine Shop (This is a Gingery design, not suitable for …


Letter Re: Prefabricated Garden Sheds as Instant Shelters and Storage Spaces for Retreats

This article is not intended to promote the Tuff Shed brand per se. Any of Tuff Shed’s products can be built from scratch. This is just one way to obtain “instant” shelter at a reasonable price. Tuff Sheds come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. For the sake of this discussion I will limit myself to the rather plain-looking Tall Ranch Tuff Shed model because, unless you happen to be short of stature, you will probably need a tall shed. In Portland, Oregon the Tall Ranch model is available in sizes ranging from 6’x6’ to 16’x24’. This idea …


Letter Re: California’s Absurd Weapons Control Laws

Hi Mr. Rawles, I live on the sinking Titanic that is California, where this morning one of our co-workers failed to come into work and we could not reach him. We finally heard from him. He had just got out of a night in jail by posting $1,500 bail. Why? Because after a car accident last night, he consented to a police search of his vehicle where they found, of all things, a blackjack. Yes, an old-fashioned small club like the bad guys used in the Bugs Bunny cartoons. Years ago he found it in another state and had carried …


Influenza Pandemic Update:

Mycroft sent us this: Pandemic is here: Time to panic? Now, H1N1 is in Africa New Flu Strain Has Pet Owners Worried Former Marine Claims Illness From Mystery Vaccine “Target 5 [a television news team] has discovered that an alarming number of U.S. troops are having severe reactions to some of the vaccines they receive in preparation for going overseas. ‘This is the worst cover-up in the history of the military,” said an unidentified military health officer who fears for his job. A shot from a syringe is leaving some U.S. servicemen and women on the brink of death.’”


Economics and Investing:

Nick Taleb declares: ‘We’re in the Middle of a Crash‘ (Thanks to GG and A.W., the first if several readers to send that link) John W. notes: Seven more banks closed “and it’s not even Friday yet…” Ray G. sent news that unemployment at a 26-yer high: U.S. job losses spike in June, dampen recovery hopes From Cousin Bill: New York City Apartment Sales Down More Than 50% FDIC Proposes Tough Investor Guidelines For Failed Banks Items from The Economatrix: Obama Confident in Economic Recovery Despite Jobs Report Prime Mortgage Delinquencies Up 260% The Monumental Cap and Trade Outrage (video) …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Several readers wrote to say that The Discovery Channel will debut ‘The Colony’, a post-pandemic urban survival reality series on July 21. It will be interesting to see how the politically-correct Hollywood crowd will tiptoe around the topic of firearms used for self-defense. I suspect that they’ll create the absurd artifice that neither the looters nor the Colony defenders will have guns available. (I noticed that one clip showed a miscreant being ineffectively blasted with a fire extinguisher .As if that would so badly frighten the goblins, that they’d never come back. The folks in Hollywood, it seems, can only …



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 …