Month: August 2012

Odds ‘n Sods:

Appropriate Firearms for the Beginner in troubled times.    o o o Yishai was the first of several readers to mention this: Pedal-powered washer could make a big difference in developing nations    o o o Reader Tom K. recommended the recently-released Second Edition of Nick Taleb’s book The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. This new edition includes a new section: “On Robustness and Fragility”, that ties in nicely with many articles and letters that have been posted to SurvivalBlog.    o o o Rescuing Injured Soldiers With An Ingenious Backpack System. (Thanks to H.A. for the …



Notes from JWR:

I just noticed that my yet-to-be-released Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse is now ranked around #2,200 in Amazon Best Sellers. Please stop pre-ordering, folks! Please wait until the release date (September 25th)–which is also our planned Book Bomb day–to order your copy. Not only will you get yours at a better price (probably around $11), you will also help boost the book’s sales rank–hopefully into Amazon’s Top 20 titles. Thanks! — Today we remember the birthday of inventor James Paris Lee (born August 9, 1831). He was born in Scotland, but was an American citizen by the time …


Navajo Corn, by Rachael E.

When people stockpile food they like to stick to the basics; beans, rice, and pasta. The one crop I would like to include to this list is corn. The corn I will be talking about is fresh corn and not the canned corn you can buy all year round. Unlike rice and pasta, many people have the ability to grow more corn if they run out. With beans you have limited ways to prepare it. Corn on the other hand can be used in many different ways.  From one ear of corn you can collect enough seeds to grow enough …


Letter Re: Heavy Rainfall — Now Hitting The Fan in The Philippines

Dear JWR: We have been hit with massive rain and flooding here in the metropolitan Manila area. We are getting at times more than 1 inch rain per hour. We have received more rain than Typhoon Ondoy already. On August 7 we got 477mm rain in 22 hours. About half the city is flooded and roads to my area are impassable. The gas stations are out of unleaded gas and only have 97 octane racing grade remaining as of last night. I hit up the supermarket last night and it was busier than Christmas. I expect food shortages soon and …


Economics and Investing:

Five Surprising Facts About Hyperinflation Why Europe Matters… And How Spain Could Wipe Out Your 401(k) Reader Pierre M. sent this: The 11 Graphs That Allegedly Prove That the West Is Doomed The Daily Bell asks: Fed Bankrupting Consumers While Enriching Wall Street as a Matter of Policy? Items from The Economatrix: Despite Jobs Report, Street Unsure Of Fed’s Next Move The Employment Rate In The US Is Lower Than It Was In The Last Recession The US Economy By The Numbers


Odds ‘n Sods:

I’m often asked how people can discreetly find fellow preppers in their region. My long-standing advice is posted in my static page: Finding Like-Minded People in Your Area. But now I’m adding this new venue recommendation: Chris Martenson’s Resilient Life Groups Page.    o o o Dave T. sent this: New York’s Used Police Shells, Reloaded for Sale. The “I’m so offended” tone used by these Big City statist scribes is hilarious.    o o o DHS Requests Plastic Explosives Then Hides Evidence. Perhaps the DHS officials saw the references to Detasheet explosives in my novel Patriots and thought that …



Notes from JWR:

I’m pleased to announce that author Mat Stein has accepted the volunteer position of SurvivalBlog’s Back Country Editor. Mat is a design engineer, green builder, and author of two best-selling books: When Disaster Strikes: A Comprehensive Guide for Emergency Planning and Crisis Survival and When Technology Fails: A Manual for Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the Long Emergency. Stein is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he majored in Mechanical Engineering. Stein has been a guest on dozens of radio and television programs.  He is an active mountain climber, serves as a guide and instructor for blind …


Aquaponic Gardening, by D.P.

Aquaponic Gardening, by D.P. This submission is about gardening (tips on what to grow and why) and how and why I am switching from outdoor to indoor gardening. I have been gardening since age 3 – much to the chagrin of my parents who, once they realized what was going on, quickly gave me my own 10 square feet with some lettuce and radish seeds and told me to tend to that in the future. I did get to take care of their garden as I grew older though. I also have had gardens on various soil types as my …


Economics and Investing:

H.L. suggested this essay by Peter Schiff: We Have A Phony Recovery That Has Sown The Seeds Of Its Own Destruction Also from H.L.: Chevron’s Largest California Refinery “Immediate-Extreme-Health-Hazard” Fire Emergency K.A.F. flagged this: Emails: Geithner, Treasury drove cutoff of non-union Delphi workers’ pensions Items from The Economatrix: 11 Signs That Time Is Quickly Running Out For The Global Financial System Collapse Of Financial System Will Come In August, Maybe September US Manufacturing Unexpectedly Shrinks For Second Month


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Sue C. sent us this: Solar superstorm could kill millions, cost trillions    o o o The folks at Camping Survival are now offering SurvivalBlog readers a 5% discount on LifeStraw Portable Water Filters.    o o o Over at novelist James Grady’s web site, an odd case of Life Imitates Art: “The nonfiction book Comrade J: The Untold Secrets of Russia’s Master Spy in America After the End of the Cold War by former Washington Post reporter Pete Earley reports that Three Days of the Condor — the 1975 Robert Redford movie based on my Six Days of …



Notes from JWR:

Happy 79th birthday, Jerry Pournelle! He was born August 7, 1933. He, along with Larry Niven authored the survivalist classic Lucifer’s Hammer. Pournelle is generally recognized as the man who invented blogging. — Today is the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Guadalcanal. — Today we present another entry for Round 42 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 …


Save Yourself, One Week at a Time, by Kelsie A.

Most of the citizenry in the United States has seen at least one of the movie theater box office hits “Armageddon,” “Deep Impact,” or “The Day After Tomorrow.”  Those are just movies, but the human brain not in touch with reality doesn’t entertain the thought of these scenarios actually happening in this day and age.  But one day, one or several of the things displayed in those movies will. Experts say that so many apocalyptic events we preppers expect have a very low chance of happening; but nothing is a 100% certain, anything could happen at any moment.  Experts set …