“War has taught me that each one of us contains every ingredient of the human recipe. By varying measure we are all cowards and brave men, thieves and honest men, selfish and selfless men, malingerers and champions, weasels and lions. The only question is how much of each attribute we allow- or force – to dominate our being.” – Eric L. Haney, Command Sergeant Major US Army, from his book “Inside Delta Force“
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 …
Welcome to the second installment of Dirty Medicine. Today we are going to be discussing something that will be beneficial on a few different levels. It can help you stop uncontrolled bleeding, prevent infection, and repair skin. That’s right, we are going to talk about sutures, also called stitches, today. Starting off we are going to need to define what materials will be needed, both for practice and for real life situations. The most obvious item needed is going to be some sort of suture material. Suture materials come in various thread compositions as well as sizes. Something like Chromic …
James Wesley: The movie Tomorrow When The War Began–a Red Dawn-style movie produced and set in Australia–is currently #1 in their box office reports. The story is based on a series of books that has been recommended reading in many middle schools. Currently no one is lined up for distribution rights in America, but after the last few days I’m sure there is a new interest by the money hungry studios. And the series of books is available on Amazon. Regards, – Justin M.
The sport of Sporting Clays involves a variety of size and color clay targets thrown in high arcs, low fast passes, rolled along the ground, and in pairs overhead, which are good simulations of real animal movements. Besides being a good way to tune reflexes, it’s a lot of fun. This is a sport that translates well to both survival hunting and defensive shooting against surprise, moving targets. I shot trap a couple of times about 20 years ago. Since then, all my shooting has been rifle, pistol or riotgun at pop up or fixed targets. This was effectively a …
Hi James, Concerning garden soils. Most of the bags sold as topsoil are really not top soil. Top soil occupies only on the top 6 to 12 inches of soil at best. It is called the ‘A’ horizon. What customers are getting is the deep ‘B’ horizon soils usually free of any rocks. ‘B’ horizon soils are found immediately under the ‘A’ horizon and can be any where from 20 inches to 10 feet deep. Mostly they are 2 to 6 feet deep depending on the parent material from which they have developed. Steer manure from a feedlot is most …
More, more, more MOAB: Bernanke Says U.S. Economic Growth Too Slow Even With Fed Bond Purchases. Gee, if the Fed just buys lots and lots of stocks and bonds, we’ll all be multi-trillionaiares, just like those wealthy Zimbabweans. SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson sent this from Zero Hedge: Debunking The Great Myth Of US Consumer Deleveraging, Or Why The US Economy Will End Not With A Whimper But A Bang K.T. mentioned: 15 Bone Chilling Signs That Part Two Of The Double Dip Housing Crash Has Begun Revisiting option ARM data – Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and …
Dave M. mentioned: Pneumonic Plague in China. o o o Brazil Crops Shrivel as Amazon Dries Up to Lowest in 47 Years. (Thanks to Susan H. for the link.) o o o The Independent: Australia faces worst plague of locusts in 75 years
“We have no patrol units. There is no one on the streets. We respond to only crimes in progress. We don’t respond to property crimes.” – Ashtabula County, Ohio Deputy Sheriff Ron Fenton, as quoted by Maclean’s, September 22, 2010
On December 19, 1973, American late night talk show host Johnny Carson made a joke that had some far-reaching unintended consequences. In his opening monologue, he quipped: “You know what’s disappearing from the supermarket shelves? Toilet paper. There’s an acute shortage of toilet paper in the United States.” The next morning tens of millions of his viewers went out and each bought dozens of rolls. This buying created a shortage, which lasted several weeks. More than just a bit of trivia, the 1973 toilet paper shortage illustrates the herd-like instincts of consumers, and just how easy it is to create …
Editor’s Note: The following letter, suggested by a SurvivalBlog reader, is reprinted with permission of Backwoods Home magazine–which was one of my favorite print publications, even a decade before they became SurvivalBlog advertiser. Dear Jackie, I have to disagree with your Ask Jackie column answer to Joe Leonetti’s questions about getting started in self-sufficient living in Issue #124 (July/Aug 2010). They missed all the most important points that a “city” person would have to master first. Here are my own suggestions: Joe, forget thinking “self-sufficient” and start thinking “frugal;” if you have the consume-and-spend mindset so prevalent today you’ll need …
Dear Editor: How does T.L.F. (the author of “The Plan “B” Map”) plan to get that bottled water, sports drinks and other suppliers from the dentist office, gym and hobby store? Surely not by breaking and entering or burglary. In the scenarios that are mentioned it is highly unlikely that these kinds of places would be open for regular “legal” business. I hope the author was not advocating looting or taking without paying. That would just add to the chaos and confusion of an already bad situation. I do not want to become one of the Golden Horde. – M.E.P. …
Unemployment Could Remain High Until 2013. JWR Adds: To be more accurate, I would have written: “…Until 2023.” Yale Economist Robert Shiller Warns Seven Years of Economic ‘Bad Times’ in Store for US L.J. sent some more bad news from England: Mortgage lending plummets to 10-year monthly low as housing market remains ‘exceptionally’ weak. From the Wall Street Journal‘s Australian bureau: Silver looks ready to rip. (Thanks to Bob G. for the link.) Russian crop misery spreads to world’s supermarkets. Items from The Economatrix: California Attorney General Asks GMAC to Stop Foreclosures Economy Heading Toward “Catastrophic” Collapse They Are Printing …
The Reality of Inflation Food Inflation: Coming to the USA? Interview: Dr. Marc Faber on the Federal Reserve and Hyperinflation Larry T. sent us this bit of stupidity: In Praise of Inflation. Our Editor at Large Mike Williamson sent this photo link: Those incredible shrinking paper towel packages. Get Ready to Pay More for Tires
Reader Craig K. found a handy web site that gives step-by-step instructions to create a generator out of spare parts that many of us have laying around the shop. It contains links to other important topics as well. o o o RFJ flagged this: Convert Your Bike Into a Cargo Bike with an Old Bike Frame o o o SurvivalBlog readers in southwestern Oregon should check out Umpqua Survival. They are located in Roseburg, Oregon. They have strong expertise is with generators and photovoltaics. They are licensed dealers for both Generac and Kohler generators and they have a …