Day: February 19, 2011

Notes from JWR:

A Beta Glitch. 🙁 We’ve discovered that some of the 47 beta testers of the SurvivalBlog 2005-2010 Archive CD-ROM may have been accidentally mailed blank CD-ROMs by the publisher. Yikes! If your v0.5 Beta CD-ROM was blank, then please e-mail our archival guru, and we will put you on the list to get a free replacement copy. Our apologies! We are hoping to have the Version 1.0 CD-ROM orderable by everyone on or before March 10th. Thanks for your patience. — Today we present another entry for Round 33 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round …


Review of the USSA Tactical Shotgun Course, by Bubba Man

Here is my review of the USSA Tactical Shotgun #220 course, conducted in December, 2010. I started out with about 850 rounds of #7 bird shot, 150 rounds of 9 pellet 00 Buck and 50 slugs. I should have brought more slugs as I wound up borrowing about 10 from one of the other students. When I was done, I had about 200 rounds of #7 birdshot and 50 rounds of 00 Buck and no slugs. First let me get this out of the way; Those of you who know me, know that I am currently a fat, out-of-shape, somewhat …


Letter Re: Preparedness on a Tight Budget

Mrs. R.J., I rejoice to read of your plans to prepare. It’s good to know you’re in Arkansas. The Christians at Ark Haven believe that is a protected area for many reasons, physical and spiritual. Three generations on one piece of property is definitely getting back to the old ways. Two acres is great — focus on compact crops and animals; Jeavons lists crops by square foot yield and calorie count so you can be sure you’re getting the correct amount in his book “How To Grow More Vegetables” (read it free here). (And yes, it appears this free book is …


Two Letters Re: Investing in Nickels, in Quantity

Jim, Thanks for the blog. I’m a huge fan, and your blog is literally a rock-solid anchor for me and my family during all this turmoil. I took “Rick in Kentucky’s” claim that he could get $190 worth of nickels into an ammo can as a challenge. My ammo is flat green can has yellow paint on it which reads as follows: “200 CARTRIDGES, 7.62 MM, NATO 0 M80…” I took out a full can that I have where the coins are arranged laying down, dumped out the rolls, and started stacking vertically as described by Rick. It was quite …


Economics and Investing:

Loyal reader “OSOM” (“Out of Sight, Out of Mind”) pointed us to an eloquent piece by Bill Bonner (of The Daily Reckoning) titled: “Where to Be When Black Swans Appear” OSOM’s comment: “This is a great introductory article for those folks who don’t yet read SurvivalBlog.” Daniel H. flagged this evidence of flight from the U.S. Dollar: China sells $34.2bn of US treasury bonds. Jon R. mentioned this at The Daily Reckoning: The Food Crisis is a Dollar Crisis The latest FDIC Friday Follies: Regulators shut two small banks in Georgia; makes 20 US bank failures this year. (Thanks to …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Lynn G. sent a link to a web page on nuclear EMP.    o o o Attention SurvivalBlog readers in Colorado: Reader James A. just alerted me that Classic Mustangs in Denver, Colorado recently bought 100 U.S. Army surplus CUCV diesel pickups and Blazers at auction. (I assume these came from Fort Carson, Colorado.) They are offering them either semi-restored (with custom paint jobs and engine block heaters) or essentially “as-is” with their original CARC paint..    o o o John B. sent this: NRA-ILA :: Senator Grassley Presses BATFE On Project Gunrunner    o o o Reader Pierre …