Day: October 26, 2011

Notes from JWR:

It’s nice to see that we’ve zoomed past the threshold of 35 million unique visits. We are now averaging more than 271,000 unique visits per week. Please keep spreading the word about SurvivalBlog. Thanks! — Today we present another entry for Round 37 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 Mountain House freeze …


Earthquake Retrofit an Old House, by Greg E.

2011 was a year of deadly and devastating tornados, and an earthquake that shook the east coast.  One of the largest tornados hit a suburb in my county in the Birmingham Alabama area. We are also only one state over from the New Madrid earthquake zone that starts in the Memphis area.  After taking several closer looks at the foundation and basement of our 50 year old house, I realized we were living with a false sense of security. After researching online, I learned that in certain large events, mainly earthquake, but also from high winds, if the house gets …


Three Letters Re: A Single Mom’s Desire to Relocate

Dear Mr. Rawles, I love your blog and visit it daily. You recently recommended a lady consider North Dakota (in Letter Re: A Single Mom’s Desire to Relocate), saying “You might also consider the Oil Patch of North Dakota, which is presently booming and has a considerable surplus of bachelors.” My wife and I have been considering going there only because we’ve been out of work for quite some time and things are looking bleak. Researching the area we found at least one negative: there is some significant concern that a highly toxic material called Erionite has been used as …


Economics and Investing:

Some recent data on the income decline in America illustrates that we are indeed in the early stages of an economic depression. There is an ocean of red ink that needs to dry out. And that might take two or three decades, folks. Diana was the first of several readers to mention this: Vatican urges economic reforms, condemns collective greed Mark L. pointed me to a new piece by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard that has some positive comments on investing in America. Yes, Things are so fouled up in European financial circles that they even make the U.S. look relatively safe and …


Odds ‘n Sods:

A recently-released map showing gang presence in the United States adds further credence to the American Redoubt concept. (Thanks to Karl K. for the link.)    o o o C.J. Chivers, one of the few mainstream newspapermen that really understands small arms had some great commentary on modified and re-purposed guns in the hands of guerillas: Afghan Gun Locker: Battlefield Ingenuity, and a Weapon’s Longevity    o o o F.J. suggested this over at LifeHacker: How to Make an Improvised Backpack    o o o $1 Billion of your tax dollars at work: Libya’s liberation: interim ruler unveils more radical …