Month: December 2010

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 …



Notes from JWR:

SurvivalBlog may have some downtime at midnight EST tonight (Wednesday, December 8th), as we make server changes. Things should be back to normal in less than 24 hours. — Just five days left! The Rawles Gets Your Ready Family Preparedness Course is only rarely offered at a discounted price. Until Monday December 13th, 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. — Today we present another two entries for Round 32 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this …


Get Your Soil Ready For TEOTWAWKI, by C.J.

A topic that seems to get little attention in the prepper community is your soil.  We spend countless dollars and hours preparing our homes, family, and arsenal for the coming catastrophes, but we do little to prepare our soil.  Many preppers store away garden seeds of heirloom varieties, but we must remember that the soil is just as important as the seed, and your soil may not be adequate for production of crops when your life depends upon success.  Even if you are currently successfully growing crops on your property, your crops may not fare as well after fertilizers are …


Water is Life, by Damon S.

If you have to bug out, bug in, or even just hang out in the Superdome with the other hurricane survivors, you can go for 10 days or more without food.  It will be unpleasant, you will feel ill, unhappy, and desperate.  You will, however, live if you get a reliable supply of food within a few weeks of your TEOTWAWKI event. Water, however, is a different story.  It’s not just something you use to bathe, wash your car, or do the dishes.  It is, literally, the elixir of life.  You will die if you go four, maybe five days …


A “Loophole” to a Statist Few is a Birthright to the Majority

I’m tired of hearing hoplophobic whiners in their endless prattle about “the gun show loophole.” Just what is this “loophole” they are talking about? It is in fact perfectly legal commerce between private citizens of the same state. This not a “loophole”. Rather, it is merely the exercise of free trade in used household goods between sovereign citizens within their own states. Gun shows are a time-honored tradition–not some sort dodgy maneuvering. The leftist whiners are again begging congress to apply the Interstate Commerce Clause to restrict intrastate sales. That is just plain extra-jurisdictional and hence absolutely unconstitutional. (Does the …


Letter Re: Build Your Own HF Transceiver Antenna

The following is my contribution to SurvivalBlog about antennas for High Frequency (HF) Transceivers. One antenna that has served me well over the years and easy to build is the G5RV antenna. Louis Varney, a British ham, came up with idea for the G5RV which also his call sign. The G5RV is a dipole antenna with 51 foot legs and the center feed point being 28’6″ of 300 ohm twin lead transmission grade twin lead connected to RG58 coaxial cable (“coax”). There are other construction methods, but for simplicity, we use a 1″ outside diameter PVC Tee to create a …


Letter Re: Confusion on Food Grade Buckets

James,   First, thanks for all that you do. God bless you and your family.  Second, to reiterate what you’ve already posted, the five gallon buckets sold at Home Depot and Lowe’s are not food grade buckets. They are stamped with the number 5. Yesterday I discovered that the buckets in the paint department at my local Wal-Mart are marked Food Grade. They are selling for $2.50 each, which is half the price of those at Home Depot and Lowe’s.  Also, the lids, which have rubber gasket seals are selling for .98 cents each. Be sure to check your local …


Economics and Investing:

Reader G.W. wrote to mention that the Coin Debasement Modernization Act passed on November 30th. It is now waiting President BHO‘s signature. I’ve been warning folks about a likely change in the composition of the U.S. Nickel (Five Cent coin) for more than three years. This may be your last chance to get real nickels at no premium over their face value and without the effort of any sorting. (Once a coin composition change takes places, it will become labor intensive, just as it did with pennies.) Jason in Central New York sent this: Was There A Big Recession Warning …