Year: 2010

Some Home Chemistry Tricks of the Trade, by RPM

Chemistry.  Say the word, and the average survivalist might cringe.  It brings up memories of a boring teacher in high school, or images of mad scientist lab with all sorts of beakers and tubes and glassware or long complicated formulas with strange symbols. In reality, chemistry can help every survivalist have an ace up their sleeve. It’s just a matter of knowing a few tricks of the trade.  You don’t have to know how to build a rifle to fire it well, or how to run a large farm to have a garden.  It’s a matter of fundamentals, of simple …


Letter Re: Passport to Worldband–2009 Will be the Last Edition

James: A heads-up for your readers: It has been announced that the 2009 edition of the book Passport to World Band Radio will be the last. I just bought one from the company that published it. They’re still in stock and significantly less expensive than the storefronts who still carry it at Amazon. – Del JWR Replies: Thanks for sending that news. That is disappointing, since the book is a great reference, especially the broadcast schedules. The frequency charts are bit less perishable, but I’ll be sad to miss out on the updates. I’m confident the on-line references will fill …


Letter Re: Curbside Bulk Item Pick-Up Days

Hi, I just wanted to remind people that in some areas of the US with spring, there also comes curbside bulk item pick-up via local town and city trash service. This can provide a wealth of items from the trash of others. I have gotten so many things from this that I cannot even begin to list them all. Everything from children’s toys to hand tools to gas powered equipment such as mowers, tillers, snow-blowers, etc. Many of the items were in excellent shape and required only a clean-up. Others require a bit more work but can easily be made …


Economics and Investing:

Four readers sent me this blog piece: The RentenDollar: A conspiracy theory OR Please tell me where I’m wrong Asian Ocean Carriers Slashed Fleets GG sent this: Sell-off in US Treasuries raises sovereign debt fears;Investors are braced for a further sell-off in US Treasuries after dramatic moves last week raised fears that the surfeit of US government debt is starting to saturate bond markets. Items from The Economatrix: Treasuries Find Greenspan’s Canary Fainting in Mine MGM Bankruptcy Likely World Stocks Up on China Earnings, Greece Plan Not Hiring (In California) Consumers Slowly Show Signs of Springing Back Benchmark Crude Holds …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Talkeetna Patriot found an interesting thread about constructing a hybrid ALICE/MOLLE bag.    o o o Cheryl sent this: Swine Flu Season Not Over, Warn Health Officials    o o o The leftist CNN is in hot water, after grossly under-reporting the size of the March 27th Tea Party Express gathering in Searchlight, Nevada. They described it as “hundreds of people or at least dozens of people” of people. Many more reliable accounts said that there were at least 10,000 people there. The Mainstream Media has obviously developed a bad case of myopia.


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Ours was the first revolution in the history of mankind that truly reversed the course of government, and with three little words: ‘We the People.’ ‘We the People’ tell the government what to do; it doesn’t tell us. ‘We the People’ are the driver; the government is the car, and we decide where it should go, and by what route, and how fast. Almost all the world’s constitutions are documents in which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution is a document in which ‘We the People’ tell the government what it is allowed to do. ‘We …


Note from JWR:

Today we present another 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 of …


Advice for New Members to the Survivalist Camp, by Ken in Ohio

A couple of years ago I took the “red pill”. Media led propaganda and the tales of success from my elder peers led me down the path of blindness. No problem there, it was, and still is, the norm. All of us are led until the day we decide to take flight on our own. Sometimes its one incident that starts us down that new path of enlightenment; Haiti, Chile, Southern Louisiana, 9-11-01. Sometimes it is a series of unfortunate events; loss of the head of household, halving of investments or retirement funds, cut in pay or hours or loss …


Letter Re: Advice on Pre-1899 Revolvers for Self Defense

James, The recent Webley letters are particularly interesting to me since I own a 92 year old Mk 6 Webley converted to .45 ACP. I reload for most of my 34 guns. 49 years of reloading with never even a blown primer, and only 2 duds (no powder) in 49 years with thousands upon thousands of reloads, makes me feel somewhat qualified to write this. castboolits.com is a lead bullet reloading and casting site to which I belong. Common knowledge there is that Webleys, even Mk. 6s are not suitable for even factory .45 ACP factory load pressures. One of …


Economics and Investing:

Reader S.M. pointed us to this article in The Washington Times: CBO report: Debt will rise to 90% of GDP From Zero Hedge: Higher Yields, Lower Equities? Another piece from Zero Hedge that several readers recommended: It’s Official – America Now Enforces Capital Controls Damon sent this: S&P Market Indicator Downgrades US Sovereign Debt to aa+ Travis recommended this alarming piece by Dan Denninger: On Deficits And Debt-Financed Government From George Gordon (“G.G.”) British credit rating ‘could be lowered’ The Adultsitter suggested this blog piece: FDIC Playing With Fire by Soliciting State Pension Money to Buy Toxic Assets Items from …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Trent sent this New York Times article: Push to Eat Local Food is Hampered by Shortage    o o o I just heard about a small company in Georgia that was founded by a retired USAF Tech Sergeant: Survival Solar Systems.    o o o A learning point (and OPSEC illustration) for SurvivalBlog readers: Militia group suspects charged with conspiracy. Don’t associate with mad bombers and radical “lunatic fringe” types! They are bad news and bound to suck a lot of innocents into trouble! Rest assured that there are a lot of good and honorable militias out there, but the …



Notes from JWR:

I just heard from SurvivalBlog reader Tom G. (who is presently deployed in Afghanistan) that a collection of my quotations is now available on Wikipedia’s “Wikiquotes”. — Today we present another 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 …


Stealth Edible Landscaping With Unusual Berries, by K.W.

Want to eat a wolfberry? How about some vaccinium jam? Some chokeberry wine? They don’t sound too appetizing, do they? Few people know it, but the fruits of these plants are not only edible, but delicious. They have unappealing names and don’t look familiar to most Americans, so if you incorporate them into your landscaping you will have a supply of fresh, nutritious fruit that your neighbors won’t recognize as food. This makes them ideal for people who must shelter in place in a small-town or suburban environment, where houses are close together and others can see what you have …


Letter Re: Advice on Pre-1899 Revolvers for Self Defense

Dear James Wesley, I thought that it was about time you mentioned Webley revolvers and their variants in your blog, and was pleased to see you’re recommendation in last week’s content. I am a long time prepper, mostly through accident of geography, my family and neighbors have a unique support system and find your blog quite useful. I spent just shy of a decade in and around West Africa, and a year in Israel, which is where I first became familiar with Webleys. The British mandate left behind a wealth of practical firearms for their newly independent allies, some of …