Day: August 5, 2010

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 30 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 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 500 round case of …


Facing Fears to G.O.O.D., by Prairie Chick

This article is my personal story of how some early childhood lessons helped me G.O.O.D. from Southern California in June of 1994.   I have added a few links using today’s technology, but advise you to plan on keeping things as low-tech as possible.   I traveled half way across the country in 1994.  I was a single woman with a ten year old child, no cell phone or gun.  W.T.S.H.T.F. you may not be able to get as far as we did as fast was we did, but by learning to face your fears, and being prepared, you will eventually get …


Letter Re: Lessons About Survival From Fiction

Hello, I’ve been reading and enjoying SurvivalBlog for about one month now. First of all, thank you for the time and effort you put into this great resource! I enjoy reading fiction and especially science-fiction, so a few of the references listed there were familiar. Many aren’t and have no chance of being available at the local library, here in France. However, most of those I did recognise were about dramatic SHTF scenarios, while you and many others have emphasised the likeliness of a “Slow Decline” situation. Two novels that I have read describe precisely this kind of lifestyle: they …


Two Letters Re: Solar Storms

Dear Jim, Regarding the Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) that occurred this week that everyone is concerned about. I advise some caution in over-reacting to these types of events. While the CME itself was of a very high magnitude and is spectacular in images, it was never anticipated that it would cause us any problems. Predictions for auroral activity were only in the high latitudes, and auroral activity is a dead-giveaway as to how strong the impact on the ground will be. The spectacular images we have all seen over the last week immediately told me we had nothing to be …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Tamara at the View From The Porch blog had a link to a good article about low-light marksmanship training: A Shot in the Dark.    o o o “Robo” sent us a piece that illustrates how our privacy is shrinking: Hacker tries to read a radio identification tag from 29 floors up. Meanwhile, we read: The Web’s New Gold Mine: Your Secrets. (Thanks to AmEx, for the latter link.)    o o o Trent H. flagged this article in The Boston Globe: Popularity of farming soars in Massachusetts.    o o o E.M.B.sent us the link to this terrorism map. …



Economics and Investing:

Chris G. mentioned: ACTA: The War on Progress, Freedom, and Human Civilization An interesting piece over at The Daily Bell: Why Bankers Didn’t See Collapse. Frequent contributor K.A.F. says: “States are taking on more debt. Here’s your state’s burden per capita“. JWR Adds: What I found amazing is Massachusetts. How can they tax their citizens so much, yet still end up short of funds? Lee C. recommended a 25 minute long BBC Radio Interview on the Credit Crisis and the Risk of Another Crash.