Notes from JWR:

A few months ago, we transitioned to housing SurvivalBlog on a dedicated server in Sweden and as a precuation asked everyone to write down the IP address: 95.143.193.148. In addition to survivalblog.se, we’d also like to establish a couple of other low-bandwidth offshore mirror web sites for SurvivalBlog. This is one of our independent Continuity of Web Service (COWS) insurance measures. Does anyone outside of the U.S. have any inexpensive server space available? Preferably this would be in a country without close ties to the United States, like Finland, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Thailand, an independent island nation in …




Pat’s Product Review: Train Safe Barrel Block

I’ve been a firearms instructor for a lot of years. I attended the US Army Marksmanship Unit, Rifle Instructor and Coaches Clinic way back in 1970, and I’ve been an NRA Certified Rifle, Handgun and Person Protection In The Home, instructor for about 20 years now. It’s safe to say, I’ve trained numerous people over the years in firearm use and safety.   More than anything, before I’m done with one of my firearms students, they have to demonstrate firearms safety to me – marksmanship skills are secondary in my class. However, everyone walks away from my class being a …




Letter Re: Living With a Non-Prepper

Sir, I met a wonderful woman nine years ago and have been happily married ever since. I lost my job 3 years ago, (but I thank God that I am employed now), and that was the turning point in my life as far as researching the economy, world events, digging back into Bible prophecy, starting a garden, renewing my pistol permit, joined a club, bought a few more guns, in response to the writing on the wall due to the research I’ve done into current events and legislation that are changing this nation fast. I live in a suburban area …




Letter Re: U.S. Employment Figures

Mr. Rawles, The following paragraph is excerpted from John Mauldin’s excellent FrontLineThoughts.com newsletter this week: “The longer-term picture of labor force withdrawal is kind of shocking. Total household employment is down by 4.4 million since the Great Recession began in December 2007, and the number of unemployed is up by 4.9 million. The civilian population is up 9.6 million – but the labor force is up just 447,000. The number classed as not in the labor force is up by 9.2 million – and those not in the labor force and wanting a job is up 1.7 million. In other …




Recipe of the Week:

Jackie’s Venison Jerky 2 to 2-1/2  pounds venison roast, fat trimmed, sliced very thin  (an electric slicer works well for this) Ingredients for marinade: 11/3 tsp. garlic powder 4 tsp. onion powder 1 -1/3 tsp. black pepper 4 tsp. Lawry’s Seasoned salt 4 tsp. Accent Dash of meat tenderizer 1 cup Kikkoman low-sodium teriyaki marinade and sauce or regular soy sauce depending on how much salt you want to add 1 cup Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce Add dry ingredients to a large bowl. Add the teriyaki sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Stir with whisk until well blended. Add sliced venison …




Economics and Investing:

G.G. flagged this: Delaying retirement: 80 is the new 65 Reader AmEx sent this: Taxmageddon: Massive Tax Hikes on the Horizon The chicanery between the Fed and ECB – twin balance sheets near peak levels and many European nations back in recession Items from The Economatrix: Gross Says US Economy Suffering From “Structural” Unemployment (Not “Cyclical”) April Jobs Report: What It All Means US Economy Faces “Fiscal Cliff”:  Fed Officials Warren Buffett’s right-hard man, Charlie Munger doesn’t grok gold: “…Gold is a great thing to sew into your garments if you’re a Jewish family in Vienna in 1939, but I …




Odds ‘n Sods:

Our mid-year 25%-off sale on the SurvivalBlog Archive CD-ROM ends on May 31st. The latest six year compilation includes my book “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation” in digital format. At the sale price, the CD-ROM is $11.25 and the Digital Download is just $7.50. Be sure to order your copy before the sale ends.    o o o K.A.F. was the first of several readers to send this: Space weather expert has ominous forecast –Mike Hapgood, who studies solar events, says the world isn’t prepared for a truly damaging storm. And one could happen soon.    o o o An …




Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Whether we like it or not, we are in an era of colliding crises that will culminate in a transition to a new social and economic system. Humanity always has burdens and troubles—that is the nature of a changeable world interacting with human nature—but there are decades in which little happens and years in which decades happen. We are in just such an era, and we will all be swept along by events that no longer respond to the Status Quo’s financial magic.” – Charles Hugh Smith, in his blog Of Two Minds