Note from JWR:

Today we present the first entry for Round 27 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will include: 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.) C.) A HAZARiD Decontamination Kit from Safecastle.com. (A $350 value.), and D.) A 500 round case …




Running for Disaster Readiness, by A.R.

Proviso: The writer of this article and SurvivalBlog shall not be liable for any loss, damage, injury or death as a result of any actions that the reader may take after reading.  This article is for informational purposes only.  I write this because one of the core elements of being prepared includes maintaining an above average level of physical fitness.  Having been a swim and fitness coach for over ten years, as well as training for and completing two marathons, along with a number of other road races, I feel adequately prepared to try to motivate readers of this blog …




Letter Re: Matching and Meshing Personalities for Close Quarters Living

Dear Mr. Rawles, I have read your novel “Patriots” and found your web site. I have been going through your archives to see if anyone has touched on this subject but so far I’ve only found partial references to this topic. Although I have not made it through all the archives yet.In your book I noticed that the characters knew each other for years and had time to work out differing personality traits or not be included in the group. (BTW, it really saddened me when you killed off two of the characters.) I got to thinking about the types …




Economics and Investing:

George Gordon (“GG”) sent this: In Coke We Trust; Investors now view a default by the U.S. Treasury as more likely than a default by the Coca-Cola Company. Sue C. sent us this: It only gets worse this year for commercial real estate Kevin K. flagged this: Kalashnikov Gun Factory Offers Food in Place of Salaries. JWR’s Comment: If they don’t have cash to pay workers, then they probably don’t have cash to pay the food suppliers, either. I suspect that some barter is going on. (Which would make me very happy, if I were a local farmer.) Items from …




Odds ‘n Sods:

Chad suggested this piece on austere medicine: Hard lessons, humility for big-city doctors in Haiti    o o o G.G. mentioned that both my novel “Patriots” and my latest non-fiction book were part of this round up book review: Three Views of TEOTWAWKI.    o o o SurvivalBlog regular Matt R. recently posted a great vehicular gear list, over at AtlasTrekker.




Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“In a country like America where riots occur during brownouts, and people stab each other for cutting ahead in service station lines during gasoline shortages, one has to wonder how our society would react to a total disruption of its artificial life-support system. In researching magazine articles I’ve interviewed urban disaster planning authorities who are more skeptical about saving their citizens from major civil disruption than Mel Tappan ever was.” – Massad Ayoob, in “The Truth About Self Protection“