Month: July 2012

Learn a Little by Taking a Walk, by Bill H.

I am a pretty avid reader of the survivalblog.com site. I also follow many of the other sites on prepping and survival that are out there. After a few months, it becomes pretty obvious which sites lean towards sensationalism, conspiracy theories, couch prepping, and even sales and marketing. The problem lies in the fact that with the mainstream media is piling onto the prepping bandwagon and this increases the amount of information available. Some of the information available today is of little use and some of it is outright dangerous. With that in mind, I will make the suggestion that …


Letter Re: Advice on Elective Surgery

Sir: A few  years ago I found I had cataracts in both eyes.  Not too bad — I could still see to drive and shoot — but enough that open sights became more difficult and oncoming headlights a bit of a problem at night.  Slowly they got worse, until I was 20/80 in my left eye and not much better on the right (shooting!) side.  Like many folks I am reluctant to get treatment until it’s absolutely necessary.  I put it off, in part because getting the new flexible lenses cost $2,500 more per eye than insurance would pay.  Finally I realized that …


Letter Re: Avoid Becoming a Refugee

Hi Jim; To tie in with your recent comments, the excellent Western Rifle Shooters blog linked to an article on refugees. Though the article was brief, it had some good information. While the goal is to never become a refugee in the first place, in some cases it cannot be avoided and it pays to know what to do in such a case. I was particularly inspired by the links to some “off-road” gear carriers. The first is a home-built model and is quite simple while the other is a German-engineered commercial model. I have given a good bit of …


Letter Re: American Ingenuity–Oil Filters for Firearms Suppressors

Good Day, Mister Rawles. Thank you as always for the good work you do. I was trawling around on the interwebs and came across this DIY suppressor solution. This may be old news to some but for everyone living in nations where suppressors are banned (or far too heavily regulated) then this is absolutely vital viewing. The fitting displayed is what would be registered as the suppressor in this instance, but I can think of a few particular plumbing fittings at the local hardware store that I might be needing in the near future. For home renovations of course… Kind …


Economics and Investing:

G.G. flagged this: Bank’s idea for tackling the financial crisis: six bicycles. The article begins: “The Bank of England considered buying bicycles so that its officials could continue to move around in the event of a full-scale financial meltdown, the former City minister disclosed last night.” San Bernardino seeks bankruptcy protection: San Bernardino, facing the possibility of missing payroll, becomes California’s third city in weeks to authorize a bankruptcy filing. FHA bailout inches closer – FHA defaults surge 26 percent while upping mortgage insurance premiums to make loans more expensive. Foreclosure starts outnumber foreclosure sales 3 to 1. RBS sent …


Odds ‘n Sods:

More evidence of the mainstream’s acceptance of survivalism (or at least “prepping”): the National Association of Safety Professionals (NASP) is offering this class: Survival of Societal Collapse    o o o Part of Cody (Wranglerstar)’s new do-it-yourself video shorts series: Leatherman Wave Secret Function Revealed. This is a great series.    o o o New reporter? Call him Al, for algorithm.    o o o The commander of the military’s new U.S. Cyber Command said digital attacks are evolving from disrupting network functions to destructive strikes.    o o o Loose Lips Sink Ships. Here is some quite good OPSEC …



Field Dentistry Basics, by Tom Loomis DDS

The two procedures that make up Field Dentistry are fillings and extractions. Field Dentistry is defined as providing your own dental care when there is no other way; probably due to collapse of our health care system along with the rest of our fragile economy and civilization due to the disastrous economic policies of our “leaders”, a terrorist attack, or some other reason. Fillings can be easy or complicated depending on the size of the cavity and the surfaces of the tooth that are involved.  Starting with the simplest- a one surface cavity in the chewing surface of the tooth, …


Preparing for Emergencies with a Special-Needs Child, by F.J.

Prepping for emergency situations is always a difficult task, especially when considering various limitations that you and your family may have (including financial restraints, locale features and challenges, health of your household members, your network of family and friends-or a lack of a network, etc.)  As for my wife and I, we have the added burden of preparing with a loveable, huggable special-needs child in mind.  As the numbers of children with physical, mental, and/or neurological difficulties continue to rise in this country, a growing number of preppers will need to consider the issue of sustaining a special-needs child through …


Letter Re: Offline Satellite Maps

Mr. Rawles, While trying to automate my Google Earth into an offline cache, I found this blog.   As it turns out, this man has described ways to load several types of maps offline, including topo maps and Google Earth.   To download Google Earth offline, you will need software from a companion site (free to use, $20 to donation) called Dr. Regener   I am now in the process of creating high resolution offline Google Earth caches that can be placed onto an external thumb drive and viewed as needed without access to the Internet. – Dan in Florida


Letter Re: Residential OPSEC With Utility Workers

Hi Mr Rawles, Another tactic used by house burglars is to break in to your car.  They will steal your garage door opener and your registration.  They clip them together for identification.  Then a few days later when your car is gone they drive up, open your garage door, enter, close the door and break in to your home.  Unseen, they can load up and leave.  We found this out when our car was broken into. They dumped the glove box for the paper work, and didn’t take the radio.  Luckily they didn’t find the garage door opener.  When we …


Letter Re: Extending Battery Life

Hi Jim, Just finished reading the post on extending battery life.  The writer hit it on the head when he talked about pulse charging batteries. As a matter of fact there is a company out of Hayden, Idaho (in the American Redoubt) which makes microprocessor-controlled desulphating battery chargers.  John Bedini has been designing these chargers for many years, and has now made them commercially available.  His company is called Energenx. I have three of his heavy duty chargers for use on Trojan batteries. The chargers have a charge cycle and a desulphate cycle where they charge and discharge several times …


Economics and Investing:

Want Precious Metals? Forget Mines, Go to Landfills. (A hat tip to Diana V. for the link.) C.D.V. sent this: As More Cities Go Broke, Is Muni Crisis Finally Here? G.G. sent this: Arizona Police Bust The Biggest Counterfeit Coupon Ring Ever Also from G.G., a piece about Ka-Bar: Inside The Company That’s Made Knives For The Marines Since World War II Items from The Economatrix: Mish’s Global Economic Trend:  Global Collapse in Auto Sales Coming Up Why The LIBOR Scandal Matters:  Destruction of Confidence to the Nth Degree Was Gold Manipulated Like LIBOR Rates?


Odds ‘n Sods:

The Cato Institute investigates: Where Are The Libertarians? Predictably, the American Redoubt States ranked well. (Thanks to Joe W. for the link.)    o o o Cougars Are Making a Comeback in America    o o o We recently got our first set of Jarbox Totes from Pantry Parutus. What a clever invention! These are sturdy and stackable, and even American-made. I’m sure that we’ll be getting a lot of use out them. The only problem is that now I can see that I need to order three or four more sets…    o o o I hope that you …