Month: March 2011

Letter Re: A Busy LDS Cannery–People are Sounding Anxious

James, In addition to all the other hats I wear I also am the cannery coordinator for my local LDS congregation. Last night was our canning night — though I am usually the only LDS member to show up and the rest are non-member friends of a similar mind set as we have. Last night was a madhouse at the cannery. Panic has already set in amongst those who are following all the news around the world (and not just fixated on the reactors in Japan). My group is normally around a dozen people. There were three other groups of …


Letter Re: A Warning on Underground Cache Containers

Jim, Here’s my story. I built a heavy duty cache tube consisting of a 6 inch diameter white PVC pipe, about 4 feet long with end cap on one end, screw top on the other. Cost about $100 to make. I’d already found a hidden spot near a tree grove in my county park (public land) about a 100 feet off a hiking/bike/day use trail, and about 200 feet from the county road. I wanted both well hidden and easy access. Early summer everything was in full bloom so plenty of natural cover for my stealth operation. Before sunrise, I …


Economics and Investing:

Several readers mentioned this piece by Chris Martenson, over at Zero Hedge: Alert: Nuclear (And Economic) Meltdown In Progress. These are Martenson’s strongest- ever admonitions to get seriously prepared. James Turk: Gold $8,000 Per Ounce and Hyperinflation a Sure Thing. Business Insider: It’s Not Your Imagination: The Number Of Disasters Just Keeps Rising Items from The Economatrix: As Treasury Cash Drops to Just $14.2 Billion, And No Bond Auctions Until Next Week, is America About to Run Out of Cash?   US Debt and Deficits Ensure Violent Dollar Sell-Off Ahead   The Gathering Political and Economic Storm   Tsunami May …


Odds ‘n Sods:

R.P.B. sent this: Forecast for Plume’s Path is a Function of Wind and Weather. Keep in mind that not much radioactive dust is likely to make it all the way from Japan to U.S. and of that, most of it will be carrying lighter isotopes with short half-lives. If you have dosimeter and ratemeter pens, then go ahead and zero them, and start making a chart. (A dosimeter that reads milliroentgens or milligrays would be the most useful, for now.) If nothing else, this will be useful experience for any future event where there is a substantially greater risk. Also, …



Letter Re: Do-It Yourself HEPA Air Filtration for NBC Shelters

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Friends, In the wake of the Japanese nuclear plant melt-down situation, I called a safe room manufacturer for a hand cranked air filter.  It was over $2,000.  Too much.  I did learn that you need both particulate (HEPA) and gas (carbon) filters.   I have jury-rigged an NBC air filtration system.  Here it is: Go to a hydroponics store or find one online.  Yes, the one’s that people go to in order to grow marijuana. You will need an inline fan.  I used a  continentalfan.com AXC150B-C fan.  It is a little more expensive but German engineering costs more.  (Quieter too). You …


Notes from JWR:

The 2005-2010 Archive CD-ROM is Ready! The five-year compendium archive of SurvivalBlog articles and letters on CD-ROM (in both HTML and PDF) is now available! The CD-ROM, optimized for laptops, is now orderable through Lulu.com, for $19.95. Even if the Internet goes down, you will still have all of SurvivalBlog’s archives at your fingertips, and all fully searchable. And if you are online while using the CD-ROM, the links to external web sites are fully functional. These archives are immense. (If you were to print out the entire PDF, it would take 5,504 sheets of paper!) Order yours, today! — …


Desert Survival, by Amy H.

Every year, a group of my friends go on a week-long camping trip in a Nevada desert.  Sounds silly, right?  No trees, plants or animals, no running water. Not even roads–usually the nearest hospital is well over an hour away, sometimes two, and that’s if you don’t get lost by trying to cut across an impassable part of the desert trying to get to it.  But, it’s a good test to see if we can be self-sufficient for even just a week.  Also, in a bug out situation, some people may just find themselves having to cross through barren desert …


Traditional Archery in a TEOTWAWKI

I felt prompted to write to point out some advantages to traditional archery, especially for those that might not be all that familiar with archery as a family sport. First, a little about me. I am 56 years old and have been an archer since I was 14. My dad was an avid outdoorsman who introduced me to a .22 rifle when I was six years old. I still have that rifle and used it to teach my wife how to shoot when we first married 36 years ago and am now using it to teach my nephews to shoot. …


The 2005-2010 SurvivalBlog Archives Now Available on CD-ROM!

The five-year compendium archive of SurvivalBlog articles and letters on CD-ROM (in both HTML and PDF) is now available! This CD-ROM, optimized to laptops, is now orderable through Lulu.com, for $19.95. Even if the Internet goes down, you will still have all of SurvivalBlog’s archives at your fingertips, with all posts fully searchable. And if you are online while using the CD-ROM, the links to external web sites are fully functional. The blog’s archives are immense. (If you were to print out the entire PDF, it would take 5,504 sheets of paper!) Order your copy today!


Red Dawn Goes Korean: Digitally-Manipulated Political Correctness

They call it the “dream factory”. Hollywood, they say, is where any dream can be made to appear to come true. Apparently that is still the case: The Los Angeles Times just reported that MGM has magically transformed the villains in the soon-to-be-released remake of the legendary John Milius film Red Dawn from Chinese to North Korean. The change in bad guys was accomplished by creating a new opening sequence summarizing the back story, by re-editing two scenes and by using digital technology to transform many Chinese symbols to Korean. All this cost only about $1 million in additional post-production …


Economics and Investing:

F.G. suggested this: Golden Years–People have had a fascination with gold for thousands of years. Here are some milestones along the way. C.D.V. sent this bit of gloomage: Mandatory Spending to Exceed all Federal Revenues — 50 Years Ahead of Schedule. From John R.: Europe debt risk hits $2.5 trillion Items from The Economatrix: The Silver Door Is Closing Sprotts On Silver — The Door Is Closing      14 Reasons Why The Economic Collapse Of Japan Has Begun   Around The World Graphs 


Odds ‘n Sods:

This headline may remind readers of a prescient article that they read in September, 2010 in SurvivalBlog: Spent nuke fuel pool may be boiling, further radiation leak feared. Note that most spent fuel ponds are typically NOT housed the same heavy duty containment vessels as reactors. Thus, they pose a greater contamination risk than reactors!    o o o Reader Troy H. sent this: No looting going on in Japan. Troy’s comment: “I think this article gives credence to your idea that having a morally unified community (e.g. your fellow retreaters, your small rural town, etc.) increases your chances of …



Note from JWR:

Today we present another two entries for Round 33 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round 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 $795, and B.) Two cases of Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 250 round case of 12 Gauge Hornady …