Smith & Wesson Profit Doubles, Beats Street View o o o North Korea Threatens “Fire Shower of Nuclear Retaliation” Against South Korea o o o Kim Jong-un (the youngest son) Made Head of North Korea’s Spy Agency o o o Reader G.E. recommended a site with some “real world” ballistics data: Ballistics By The Inch. (OBTW, don’t miss Box o’ Truth and the other web sites that I’ve bookmarked under the “Ballistics” header at the SurvivalBlog Links page.)
“Never in the history of the world have we faced so much complexity combined with so much incompetence in understanding its properties.” – Nassim Nicholas Taleb, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable (2007)
One bit of retreat architecture that I’ve often recommended to my consulting clients who are designing (or retrofitting) retreats is the inclusion of a protruding entryway foyer, that I call a crushroom. Passing this advice along to you gives me the chance to employ one of my horrible puns: The Meme of Crushroom. A crushroom is a controllable confined space, typically an entry foyer, that can be covered with small arms fire or subjected to irritant or obscurant smoke or sprays. The outer door (or barred gate) to the crushroom is normally left open, but has a spring loaded self …
I’ve been in construction and construction management on projects all across the country since the 1970s. Generally, I try to maintain good relations with the local zoning and building authorities. You really don’t want the inspector to come out and stop a scheduled concrete pour because he caught you trying to cut some stupid corner, or sneak something by him when you thought he was not looking. Having been an inspector, I am always looking… But…when the time comes to build my little citadel out in the middle of nowhere, I have mixed thoughts about how completely truthful I want …
NYC: Fear of Swine Flu Mutating As City’s Death Toll Rises to 32 H1N1 / 6,000 Deaths / The Pandemic is Here Officials confirm North Carolina’s first swine flu death (Thanks to M.W. for the link.)
Greg C. sent us this: Fading of the Dollar’s Dominance; Other Nations See Opening to Boost Their Currencies Also from Greg: ECB Injects $662 Billion into Banking System Reader A.C. contributed this: Buffett: U.S. Economy in Shambles Spotted by JHB: Unemployment: The Hardest-Hit States Items from The Economatrix: Fed Says “Recession” Easing, Inflation Tame. [JWR Adds: My Barbra Streisand Meter is pegging.] AAA: Weak Economy Will Zap Holiday Trips UK: Pensioners Kidnap Financial Adviser and Torture Him Ron Paul: Obama’s “Goal” Is Economic Collapse As China Hoards, Concern Grows About Recovery Longshoremen Running Idle at Newport News (Virginia) Port “There’s …
From Nanny State Scotland: MSPs get power to fine over climate change o o o North Korea Threatens US as World Anticipates Missile o o o From Cheryl: Plan to protect D.C. from nuke EMP attack o o o Bill Buppert mentioned a controversial video that uses movie clips to illustrate a point: The Four Stages of Revolution: Part 1 (and Part 2)
“There’s no such thing as life without bloodshed. I think the notion that the species can be improved in some way, that everyone could live in harmony, is a really dangerous idea. Those who are afflicted with this notion are the first ones to give up their souls, their freedom. Your desire that it be that way will enslave you and make your life vacuous.” – Cormac McCarthy (author of the disaster novel The Road )
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 …
One core tenet of the Survival and Preparation (S&P) culture that is often misunderstood, misapplied and has a high probability of failing, and that is “the bug-out”. I am prompted to write this after reading so many S&P-related books, blogs and forums where individuals are indicating that their primary plan, and the focus of their preparations, is bugging-out. The common discussion topics of bug-out vehicles (BOV), bug-out bags (BOB), bug-out land, etc, and the overall S&P lexicon confirm the importance placed on the bug-out concept. Although well organized and executed, a 1,600 mile bug-out is portrayed by some of “The …
Mr. Rawles, At one time or another I have driven every mile of the trip as you described in your reply. Like you, I have encountered those who [are unfamiliar with the driving distances in the western US]. I’ve even met folks that cannot discern the difference in scale on a road atlas from switching the pages between Montana and Massachusetts. I see this regularly with Army inspectors who call me and say that they want to fly into Billings, inspect Army Reserve units in Billings, Butte, Helena, Great Falls, Missoula & Kalispell all in two days and then fly …
James, Grandpappy isn’t comparing apples to oranges correctly. His reloaded ammo pricing is for premium self defense bullets, which cost $150 or so per thousand. Most people are going to reload cast lead, which would cost $50 or 60 per thousand for a .40 S&W for example. If you price new premium self defense ammo, like Doubletap, it is going for around $700 a case. If you purchased new brass (why?) Hornady or Speer premium SD bullets, you would still be able to build your own (which we supposedly should not due to legal concerns) SD ammo for half the …
Two More NYC Swine Flu Deaths Germany Warns of Swine Flu Mutation Pandemic May Be as Severe as 1968 Hong Kong Flu
GG spotted this article: The Real Crisis Is Food: Beginning of the Bull for Agriculture Udo sent this: U.S. Home Prices Drop [Another] 6.8 Percent in April as Foreclosures Rise. JWR’s Comment: We are nowhere near the bottom! I don’t expect that for another four to seven years. With the exception of retreat properties, it is best to stay on the sidelines and rent, while you are waiting for the market to bottom. Then you can buy for perhaps 25 cents on the dollar. Reader HPD liked this piece by Mish Shedlock: US Approves IMF Gold Sales; What Does It …
Cheryl flagged this: North Korea’s Strong New Threat o o o Reader Kevin A. suggested this piece over at LewRockwell.com: Survival Training: Be Armed, Store Food, Use Real Money, Secede o o o Kevin also noted that his regional newspaper, had a “how to” feature on building rainwater catchment barrels. Kevin’s comment: “While it focused more on the possible conservation aspects of using such a device, it’s becoming more and more evident that many preparedness tactics are entering the mainstream.”