Day: December 10, 2010

Note from JWR:

The Rawles Gets Your Ready Family Preparedness Course is only rarely offered at a discounted price. While supplies last, the publisher is running a special sale. Don’t miss out on the chance to get a copy for yourself, or to give one as a Christmas gift before it goes out of print. — Today we present another two entries for Round 32 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 …


Inventory, Organize, Adapt and Overcome, by T.C.

My wife and I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina and we have been in serious preparation mode for about a year now. Let me explain what I mean by serious preparation: I am talking about creating a defend in place (bug-in) plan and a bug-out plan along with identifying and obtaining the necessary resources to carry them out. Understanding how to Hunt, fish, trap, raise livestock, garden, can and preserve food along with the necessity of having an alternate heat and readily available water sources are still a way of life in the Appalachian Mountains. …


Letter Re: Cascading Chains of Events

An early winter here in the Pacific Northwest reminded me that cascades can get you into trouble and potentially kill.   “Cascades” are what I call the series of events that take us farther and farther from the safety of home and hearth.   Let me explain what happened to me just yesterday:   Yesterday, the temperature warmed to just above freezing for the first time in about three weeks.  During those three weeks, about two feet of snow had fallen.   My tractor developed a leaky rear tire, so I took it off to take it to town to …


Letter Re: Pre-1899 Antique Guns and The Black Letter Law

Hello Mr. Rawles,       I’ve been using your Pre-1899 FAQ web page to advise many auction sellers from whom I buy [Federally exempt] antique guns. You invited comments or questions so here is my latest problem: An auction gallery in Indiana offered a pre-1899 S&W .32 Hammerless for sale. I won the item at auction and the gallery owner is of the opinion that State law prevents him from mailing the item to a non-FFL holder because it uses a currently available metallic cartridge even if it is pre-1899. But when I go to what seems to be the state …


Letter Re: Cold Weather Inbound for Eastern United States

Jim,   Hope all is well!  Hopefully everyone reading your blog will already be prepped for what is inbound….but in case some are not aware, AccuWeather is predicting incredible cold for much of the East and Southeastern US…all the way to Florida.   Everyone needs to be sure to have water, warm clothes, boots, blankets in their vehicles…especially for those transporting children.  Batteries and water pumps often fail in cold weather and to have such a failure in extreme cold can be life threatening if one is not prepared for the event!    Water in the fuel lines of vehicles …


Letter Re: Get Your Soil Ready For TEOTWAWKI

JWR, I’d like to add a couple of things to C.J.’s recent article about getting your soil ready. As C.J. says, adding organic matter to the soil is vital for gardening success.  He also mentions that this is has to be an ongoing task as organic material continually breaks down and has to be replaced. One of the most effective and quickest ways to do this for a garden of a few thousand feet or larger is to buy soil amendment in bulk form from a commercial landscape supplier.  You can have it delivered in their trucks or buy a …


Economics and Investing:

The Wall Street Pentagon Papers: Biggest Scam In World History Exposed – Are The Federal Reserve’s Crimes Too Big To Comprehend? (Thanks to Timothy R. for the link.) Reader L.V.Z. sent this bit of conformation for the long-standing SurvivalBlog advice to buy physical precious metals and keep them at home: Jim Rickards: At Least One Swiss Bank Has Started Refusing to Hand Over Physical Gold to Clients. From the article: “All you need is a government order and ‘gold’ becomes something that isn’t to be backed by real gold. At which point you’d be wise to have real gold in …


Odds ‘n Sods:

El Jefe Jeff E. suggested this amazing video: A time lapse view of the World. Of course, what the narrator fails to mention is that all that wonderful health and wealth cane aboutr as a result of inexpensive and plentiful petroleum. The post-Peak Oil crash will put nearly everyone back down in the dreaded “lower-left corner.”    o o o E.J.J. wrote to mention that he liked the copious useful content at the Practical Answers web site.    o o o Deb J. sent us this interactive map: Diabetes on the March. It is further proof that some regions are …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“If anything, the private conversations of diplomats and security professionals paint a world even more dangerous than the one we usually allow ourselves to describe publicly. And there seems to be more consistency with this American worldview on the part of our friends and allies than is generally admitted. Quite an exposé. ” – Gen. Michael V. Hayden (US DCI, 2006-2009), describing the 2010 Wikileaks Cablegate disclosures