Month: November 2012

Letter Re: Advice on Disaster Pet Euthanasia

Mr. Rawles, I am constantly impressed by the wealth of information that I am able to find on your web site and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and all involved for the work you do on this.  I was also wondering if you, or your readers, might be able to help me out with a certain, unsavory aspect of my preps.   Currently, our family is overseas in a country where we are required to maintain an evacuation plan and needed supplies at all time.  I am wholly on-board with this and have done this, …


Odds ‘n Sods:

SGT just posted this video: The Madness of a Lost Society 3. (It includes a few sound bites from JWR.) F.G. sent this by William Baldwin of Forbes: Do You Live In A “Death Spiral” State? Items from The Economatrix: Good-bye Petrodollar, Hello Agri-Dollar? Outline On Collapse End Game China Launching Gold-Backed Global Currency


Odds ‘n Sods:

“Sell your garment, and buy one”: Churches offer concealed weapons training. (Thanks to Stephen M. for the link.)    o o o Steve H. mentioned a portable high volume water filter, using a 12 VDC pump.    o o o Five Different Shelf Life Studies: Two on Canned Food and Three on Dry Food    o o o From loyal contributor R.B.S.: U.S. food banks raise alarm as drought dents government supplies    o o o R.B.S. also spotted this tutorial: Waxing Cheese for Storage



Notes from JWR:

Keep Shooting (one of our advertisers) had a phone system problem on Monday that was caused by an errant backhoe operator severing their phone lines. This inopportunely happened right in the middle of their Cyber Monday sale. So they’ve decided to briefly extend the special sale prices. Check out the deals, right away! — Today we present another entry for Round 43 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 …


Family-Scale Permaculture Gardening, by Tod P.

I started trying to grow my own food, on a small scale, about 10 years ago.  Only this year, did I really begin to see the possibility of growing most of what we need to feed our family.  I have learned to garden through a combination of books, experimentation and tips from others.  I would like to share some of my education and sources so that others can ramp up to self-sufficiency faster than the time it took me.  Permaculture.  Previous SurvivalBlog contributors have mentioned the term “permaculture”.  It is a general term that describes (mostly) self-sustaining production through diversity, …


Letter Re: Population Density, Traffic and Getting Out of Dodge

Mr. Rawles: During the recent Thanksgiving holiday weekend, I drove from my house, to my brother’s a mere 270 miles, a mere 4 to 4-1/2hrs drive. With accidents and construction, it took almost 8 hours. And it was in both directions, North and Southbound. I was perplexed at the mass confusion, weaving in and out, driving over medians to get to the access/frontage road to get ahead of others, only to find out that that road went off in another direction or dead ended.   Coming home on Sunday I saw 15 accidents in a 20 mile stretch, one accident …


Letter Re: Safe Carry of a Gas Can in a Car Trunk

James, Regarding the ability to store a fuel reserve onboard the vehicle;  Before your readers consider an expensive custom military fuel tank (which may not meet DOT standards), they many want to consider an option that is already approved by the DOT and is very affordable.   As a race car and off-road truck enthusiast I’ve participated in many events where cars/trucks must meet Department of Transportation (DOT) certification before the vehicle can compete.  A majority of the “modified” vehicles run gasoline and use aftermarket fuel tanks of various sizes.  Depending on the style of racing many of the tanks …


News From The American Redoubt:

Reader J.T. in Montana wrote to mention: “I went to my first ever Black Friday sale at Wal-Mart Thursday night, in Ponderay, Idaho. [Near Sandpoint.] The place was crowded and lines were long waiting for certain items. Everyone I saw excused each other as they moved through the crowds. We stood and passed the time discussing with those around us how good it is to live in such a great place and to be blessed enough to even be able to buy things we need or want. We never heard anyone raise their voice nor did we see anything but …


Economics and Investing:

Morgan Stanley’s Doom Scenario: Major Recession in 2013 Jim W. sent this: Iran Accepts Payment in Gold to Get Around Sanctions Marc Faber – Before The Collapse US Will Go To War. (Thanks to B.B. for the link.) R.B.S. sent: There Is Only One Thing That Can Save Japan Now: Inflation Items from The Economatrix: Unemployment Benefits, Payroll Tax Cut Really At Risk Of Going Over The Cliff Stock Market Set To Sell-Off This Week; Argentina Nearing Technical Default, Etc. Marc Faber:  Before The Collapse, The US Will Go To War This Move In Gold And Silver Will Shock People


Odds ‘n Sods:

10 Freest States For Homeschooling    o o o An interesting recently-released e-book about electromagnetic pulse (EMP): The Pulse of Allah. And with no affiliation, there is also a new EMP Blog.    o o o Dr. Gary North: Ken Burns’ The Dust Bowl: Blowing Sand in Our Eyes    o o o C.D.V. sent: Houston Police Department: Victim shoots robber to death    o o o Six Places It Pays to Relocate To


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“If we get one bad, unsuspected news event I guarantee you it will be lights out very quick. One of the things these algorithms do is they make sure the input is good. And whenever the input isn’t quite good they back off. When I say back off I mean they back off in the blink of an eye. So it can go from good to very bad that quickly. And all it’s going to take is some unforeseen news event and they won’t be there. And then we’ll see what the liquidity is.” – Eric Hunsader, in a Peak …


Note from JWR:

Release day! The First Revised Edition of Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse will be released in hardback today: Monday, November 26, 2012 . This is the first time that the book has ever been printed with a cloth binding. I’ve updated the book slightly to remove some temporal incongruities that had built up in the course of previous editions. I’ve also added a new introduction. As with the later paperback editions, it includes a glossary and index. Amazon and BN.com both have it priced at around $14.


T.M.’s Book Review: The Worst Hard Time

The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, by Timothy Egan © 2006 Houghton Mifflin Co. Boston MA ISBN 9780-618-34697-4 (Hardback) Available at your favorite bookseller in paperback and e-book formats. If you remove the dust jacket on a hardback edition of this book and you see two hard faces staring back at you. They are a man and a woman enduring the drought of the 1930s in what is now known as the Dust Bowl of America. It is also known as the worst manmade environmental disaster in our history. The …


S.A.’s Book Review: Apocalypse Chow

Apocalypse Chow: How to Eat Well When the Power Goes Out, by Jon Robertson Publisher: Simon Spotlight Entertainment, Copyright: 2005 ISBN-13:  978-1-4169-0824-1 ISBN-10:  1-4169-0824-2 Available on Amazon or eBay for under $10 We often say that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” and that holds true for this little gem.  Measuring about half the dimensions, length and width, of a regular book, you can see Apocalypse Chow doesn’t follow the rules and isn’t the usual heavy tome full of hundreds of recipes.  The recipes begin on page 112 and there are less than 70 of them.  Apocalypse Chow …