Year: 2011

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 32 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 $795, 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 250 round case of 12 Gauge Hornady …


Establishing Private Radio Communications Using Consumer Grade Equipment, by R.E.G.

Sometimes it is ideal for your radio transmissions to be overheard by outside parties but sometimes it is highly undesirable. Radio by its very nature is an open medium. Interception equipment such as radio scanners are commonly available and easy to use. With such a device an unwanted listener could easily intercept your communications. How do we guard against such security vulnerabilities? Digitally encrypted public safety grade radio equipment is certainly an option albeit a very expensive one. Fortunately consumer grade equipment is commonly available that is capable of providing a high degree of privacy against unwanted interception. It is …


Letter Re: Firsthand Experience in Doubling Up

Mr. Rawles, In your novel “Patriots” and in many articles of SurvivalBlog, people discuss what to do when TEOTWAWKI comes. The one thing common in most of the situations is doubling up at a retreat. My wife and I have some experience in this and I want to pass some information on to help people prepare for the situation they may be facing.       My wife and I moved in with her parents about 13 months ago due to financial hardships. We were living in Arizona and struggling to make ends meet. I was working a job that covered …


Letter Re: Extreme Couponing

James Wesley: Extreme couponing is an absolutely incredible way to save on your groceries. But like many things it should not be the only way you save. In fact, the “Frugal Zealot” Amy Dacyczyn was able to feed a family of eight on $200/month (in 1996 prices) and she hardly ever used coupons. “Frequently, massive couponers boast about the difference between the pre-coupon price and the final total. They circle the “you saved” number on their receipts. “You’re circling the wrong number,” Amy said.What you need to compare is the difference between all possible alternatives and your final total. Other alternatives …


Letter Re: The Ten Cent Challenge

Dear JWR,   You have a great blog site. I must inform you that you may not receive a lot of the dimes sent the way that you described. I work for the USPS as a Maintenance Mechanic, Postal Equipment. In short, I work on the automated equipment that processes the incoming letter mail. I have seen the machines tear up large number of letters. The dimes will get vacuumed up during the course of preventive maintenance. Also, new machines heading our way will incorporate a metal detector before the letter is processed through the machine. I would hate to …


Economics and Investing:

This could happen in America, too!: European nations begin seizing private pensions. Mark my words. I predict that the politicians and policy wonks will say: “Nationalizing the IRAs and 401(k)s is the only thing that will save Social Security.” Oh, but they’ll probably call he whole socialist scheme “privatizing”, to sugar coat it. I noticed that silver took a dip on Tuesday morning. In a long term bull market, you should watch the tickers closely and buy on the dip days! George Soros: The United States Must Stop Resisting The Orderly Decline Of The Dollar, The Coming Global Currency And …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Getting Out Of Dodge: In-bound migration to Idaho strong over past two years, United Van Lines study shows. (A hat tip to Steve S. for the link.)    o o o Reader R.L.H. spotted this: End of the world? Tune into WBT-AM. (Does anyone have a list of the similarly-equipped stations?)    o o o J.C. suggested this re-cap: The 10 Most Underreported Stories for 2010    o o o Steve S. also sent a link to a web page with some absolutely magnificent photos shot by Colonel Douglas H. Wheelock from the International Space Station. The preparedness tie-in? The …



The SurvivalBlog Ten Cent Challenge — Annual Reminder and the Silver Dimes Option

I only post one reminder each year about Ten Cent Challenge subscriptions, and this is it. Unlike Jimmy Wales at Wikipedia and the whining leftist hand-wringers at PBS, I don’t do endless pledge drives. I depend on my readers to help pay the bills to keep SurvivalBlog up and running. Our web hosting on a dedicated server costs $650.00 per month, and our local ISP bill is $129.00 per month. We also have other expenses including liability insurance, phone bills, computer hardware, software, accounting, subscriptions, writing contest prizes, and so forth. My appeal is simple: If you feel that you …


Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 32 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 $795, 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 250 round case of 12 Gauge Hornady …


A Well Pump Failure Dry Run, by Major Dad

My wife and I woke up on Christmas morning to discover that we had no running water in our Alaskan home.  When we checked out the problem, we discovered that the pump to our well was not functioning.  Waking up to find we had fuses blown and mud in the water lines is always great news, especially on Christmas morning.  It seems that some recent small earthquakes in our area had messed with our water table, and where once we had water, now we have silt, sand and mud.  Of course, all of this comes to light on Christmas Day when all the stores and businesses were closed.  So we got to spend …


Letter Re: Some Practical Experience With Concertina Wire

Sir, Since I served as an NCO, 11B (Infantry, Ranger) for many years concertina wire (“C-Wire”) is something I am very used to working with. As with many skills and tasks concerning TEOTWAWKI, the tricks and short cuts can make things so much easier. When deployed it is SOP that all vehicles have a roll of C-Wire. We tossed it on the hood and used it all the time, not to mention all the wire we set up around our outpost for physical security. Each squad was issued a pair of those fancy expensive leather gloves that has staples or …


Letter Re: New Year’s Eve and The Thin Veneer

Happy New Year! I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and have gotten a lot more prepared than I was in the past. As a law enforcement officer (LEO) for the past nine years, much of the information on human behavior mentioned in SurvivalBlog hasn’t been a surprise to me. I particularly enjoy reading the articles you post from other LEOs due to the fact that they tend to have 20+ years experience and thus impart a lot of knowledge. I wanted to share my experience with you in reference New Years Eve celebrations this year. I live …


Avalanche Lily’s Bedside Book Pile

America has been “dumbed down” by 40 years of lamentable Least Common Denominator public schooling and mass media. Here is some evidence: Ezra Klein’s imbecilic punditry. I suggest reading the book: The Dumbest Generation. Here are the current top-most items on my perpetual bedside pile: I just finished Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. It was a great read, and quite thought provoking. One thing that struck me is society’s dependence on a handful of high technology specialists, rather than generalists with a broad set of skills and knowledge. People tend to specialize in just one particular field, …


Economics and Investing:

For the Horrible Irony Department: White House Warns Failure to Raise Debt Ceiling Would Mean Economic ‘Crisis’. (Thanks to Chad S. for the link.) John R. sent us this: Never Forget the Fed Caused the Economic Downturn      Also from John: Bernanke Only Adds Fuel to the Fire with Quantitative Easing   Albert Edwards: China is a “Freak Economy” and it Will Crash, and Take Down the Rest of the World. (Our thanks to Siggy for the link.) Items from The Economatrix: Commodities Beat Financials Making Silver Top Pick   Credit Card Withdrawal-Banks Pull Plug on Consumer Revolving Debt …