Month: June 2012


Essential Medical Skills to Acquire – Part 1: Introduction, by Cynthia J. Koelker, MD

If society collapses and you’re on your own, what medical skills seem the most essential?  The answer likely depends on your age, health status, and stage in life.  For those of child-bearing years, midwifery skills may be paramount.  For those advanced in age, diagnosis and treatment of chronic disease becomes primary.  For the otherwise young and healthy, treatment of injuries and infection tops the list. Our current compartmentalized society has deemed that doctors should perform these tasks, though turf wars abound over what nurses, physician assistants, pharmacist, paramedics, and others should legally be permitted to do.  Recent decades have also …


Pat’s Product Review: Grip Pod and Light Rail

I’ll start this review by mentioning that I’ve never really cared for the vertical fore-grips on my ARs or AKs, and for good reason: Many of them are just plain junk! I’ve tried several fore-grips on rifles over the years, and they all had one thing in common – they would either break or get so loose that they were of no use to me. I had several of the fore-grips completely break off the rail on ARs over the years, and I attempted to repair them with epoxy, all to no avail. While I believe a fore-grip is a …


Letter Re: A Husband and Wife’s Thoughts on The Crunch

My wife, our children and I live on our family’s farm. Our lives are quite unburdened by the daily cares of most folks. We live debt free, have never owned a new car and have never taken a vacation. There’s just simply no other place we’d rather be than home.   We do have quite a few visitors here, with people stopping by to tour the 19th Century era museum and village we have created, or folks coming to the homesteading classes we teach, or neighbors coming for eggs and honey. But, even with the daily company and the rarity of a dinner …


Letter Re: Advice on Canadian Nickels

James Wesley: I am Canadian and would like to know if you could possibly tell me what year(s) of nickels would be advisable for me to purchase. These would be for investment in the future as barter or monetary trade. Thanking you for your informative blog site. Is there anything comparable in Canada that you are aware of ? I would be much obliged for the information. Thanking You – Patrick S. JWR Replies: The situation with Canadian nickels is much more complicated than with U.S. nickels. Here is some background: In the States, just about the only commonly-circulating nickels …


Letter Re: Weapons Maintenance — A Missing Element

SurvivalBloggers: A note on finding Lanolin, for making Ed’s Red bore cleaner: Lanolin is readily available in the breast feeding supply section at most big box department stores, or baby specialty stores. A full tube the (last I checked) is $8-9 but it lasts a very very long time. (And I once scored an unopened, factory sealed tube at a garage sale for 25 cents.) – Alyssa


Recipe of the Week:

Big Ben’s Sausage Lentil Soup 2 lbs mild Italian sausage (mine was homemade, more lean than what you’d get at the store), crumbled 6 cups mirepoix, diced small (that’s 1 1/2 cups celery, 1 1/2 cups carrot, and 3 cups yellow onion, diced to approx 1/4 inch cube) 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) Use 1/4 cup if your sausage will render as it cooks. (Mine doesn’t.) 2 tablespoons (4 to 6 cloves) minced garlic 10 cups water or stock 1 ea 15 oz can diced tomatoes (fire roasted preferable) 1 ea 4 oz can tomato paste 2 sprigs fresh (approximately 2 …


Economics and Investing:

‘People need some way out’: Bartering takes hold in austerity-wracked Greece. (Thanks to Brad S. for the link.) More derivatives drama: How shock waves will hit US if Greece drops euro. The CDS exposure will be enormous. Marc Faber: ‘100% Chance’ of Global Recession Bill M. spotted this: Investors tout ‘condemnation’ for housing fix. Eminent domain, seriously? What socialist claptrap! Is Silver Currently Riskier Than Gold? Andy Sutton: From Frying Pan to Fire Items from The Economatrix: The Euro’s Collapse Is Not Just About The Euro Lloyd’s Preparing For Euro Collapse John Galta–Report From Greece:  Limited Capital Controls Implemented Velvet …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Michael W. recommended this web site: No Tech Magazine. (They actually cover everything from stone age technology to high technology topics.)    o o o My recent interview with Alex Jones is now up on YouTube. We discussed Greece, bank holidays, the importance of cataloging numeric IP addresses (rather than just URLs), the Darknet, and ham radio.    o o o Some great observations from fellow blogger Mac Slavo: Why You Absolutely Must Have Food Supplies, Hard Assets And Reserve Cash    o o o F.G. sent this: Stiff winds fuel Colo. wildfire; looting a concern    o o o …



Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 41 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) 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 C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) a $300 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for any …


Prep for Free, by George H.

Obtaining everything on your prep lists can be a very daunting and expensive task no matter what your background is. What I have found is that you can gradually squirrel away a large amount of equipment and food for free. Furthermore, the money saved can be used to secure more quality gear with your savings. Disclaimer: Everything listed below was indeed voluntarily given and verified as available free for the taking. At Work: 1. Food service: First off free food is readily available in meals provided by your employer. Most employers will also have a large surplus of some type …


Letter Re: Finding Virtue in Potatoes

Dear Editor: When I was younger we were poor, as in no running water poor. We had many meals consisting of potatoes. What my dad did to keep them was dig holes about 3-4 foot deep and about 2 foot around. We put straw in the bottom then potatoes and another layer of straw. This ended up with around fours layers. Our yard typically had about six of these. Now we didn’t have whole potatoes in every one of these. About four or so had the eyes in the hole. (eyes are the seeds of the potato.) When you buy …


Letter Re: Weapons Maintenance — A Missing Element

Dear Mr. Rawles, I heartily agree with the “Weapons Maintenance — A Missing Element, by Odd Questioner”.  I would add that having lots of good bore cleaner handy makes maintenance a lot easier.  There are MUCH better and cheaper bore cleaners around than the classic Hoppes No. 9. Ed’s Red bore cleaner has been around for over 20 years now and has been mentioned before in your blog.  Even so its a good thing to repeat once in a while. “Ed’s Red” bore cleaner is credited to C.E. Harris.  Its an excellent, easy-to-make and inexpensive bore cleaner and lube.  It …


Economics and Investing:

Bill Whittle discusses entitlements, the debt, and the inevitability of credit downgrades, higher interest rates, and hyperinflation: I’m Talking To You James K. highlighted this news item in McNewspaper: Worst-case scenario is ugly if Greece leaves the Euro Reader Sue C. sent us this: Countries across world gird for Greece turmoil G.G. recommended this article in Der Spiegel: Desperate Greeks Withdraw Money from Accounts Strong ties between JPMorgan, Senate Banking Committee. JWR’s Comment: The Senate committee members must be “…shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on…” at JPMorgan. Diana V. flagged this: Hong Kong Exchange to Buy London …