Day: December 9, 2010

Notes from JWR:

It looks like my Rawles Gets Your Ready Family Preparedness Course, currently on sale, will soon be going out of print for an indefinite period.  Jake Stafford, the owner of Arbogast Publishing (which publishes the course) tells me that after the current sale exhausts their remaining inventory, they will not be doing a new print run, and the course will be officially out of print.  This is due to Arbogast relocating its order fulfillment operations, and because of the very small volume that this publication generates. Because of the urgency to get your food preps squared away, and because there’s …


Protection From Falls, by Big J. in Wisconsin

I have been reading SurvivalBlog for some time now, and I have seen several articles on fire protection, and some mention of chainsaw safety, as well as other notes on being sure to safely use tools.  I have not seen, however, any topics regarding fall protection.  In the post-SHTF we will be doing more repairs ourselves.  Things like patching the roof, modifying the gutters and downspouts to collect water, maybe installing those PV panels you bought.  In addition, more folks will be hunting, which can mean using tree hunting stands or elevated hunting blinds.  These situations present prime opportunities for …


Letter Re: The 31 CONEX Dream Home

JWR: A fellow citizen of the Great White North is building his house, off-grid, out of CONEXes (commonly called sea cans). Check his web site out, and his YouTube videos (from local television news channels). My understanding is that he’s only 75% done, but what an effort!  (I’ll bet that having two metal towers on your house would be good for a couple of LP/OP positions..) God Bless, – J. in the Great White North


Letter Re: Municipalities Raising Revenue by Stepping Up Traffic Violations

Many of your readers have been sending links to articles explaining how bad the economy has been and how much worse it may get.  Some of us have little recourse but to bite the bullet and make do, do without or downsize.  Municipalities across the U.S. also face hard economic times but they have a recourse you and I do not have.  They can raise revenues by fees and fines.  Cities across the country have been increasing fines for such things as traffic violations and many have decided to enforce laws on the books to raise revenue.    In my …


Letter Re: OPSEC Issue: Geotagging on Pictures from Smart Phones

Dear Mr. Rawles, With the proliferation of smart phones, as well as advanced cameras with GPSs installed, people may be giving away more information than they intend to when they snap and distribute pictures. This can be an operational security (OPSEC) issue. Embedded in the Exchangeable Image File (EXIF) data on the picture, the GPS coordinates of the picture location may be stored for anyone to access. This is especially a problem as people post these pictures online (for social networking, emailing to friends/family, or for online sales, etc.). This embedded GPS data can reveal the exact location of your …


Letter Re: Making Low Profile Bulk Food Purchases

Sir,   Your comment to the article on Budget Survival strategies cautioned about the use of grocery store club cards, as potentially allowing your purchases to be tracked.  For those concerned about this, there are simple work-arounds, and the cost savings of using club cards is usually in the order of 30% to 50% or more.    Club cards are usually available at the store through a quick sign-up process, and fake names, phone numbers and addresses can be used.  (I signed up for my first club card under the name Georgina Orwell; and with Sherlock Holmes’s “221b Baker Street” address. I’m …


Economics and Investing:

Bond Prices Plunge for Second Day on Deficit Fears. (Thanks to B.B. for the link.) Nancy B. suggested this insightful piece by Max Hastings: We’re all doomed!!! We still haven’t woken up to how much poorer the West is going to be in the future… Fleeing the U.S. Dollar: IMF sells 200 metric tons of gold worth $6.7 billion to India’s central bank Here is a piece by my mentor, Dr. Gary North: U.S. Facing Federal Debt Cataclysm, The Establishment Is in Despair Ferd flagged this: The Fed Has a $110 Billion Problem with New Benjamins The Federal Reserve covered …


Odds ‘n Sods:

K.T. suggested this video about drunk driving from Australia. If you don’t use a Designated Driver, then don’t call yourself a survivalist. (That’s more suicidalist.)    o o o F.G. sent this: Was Medieval England More Merrie than Thought? F.G. asks: “Are they readying us for our near future by re-writing our historical past?” Are you dissatisfied working in your cubicle? The statists are saying, “Shut up, peasant!”    o o o S.H. pointed us to a great compilation of various how-to videos of low-tech traditional skills like fiber arts, and metalworking.    o o o The folks at Directive …