Year: 2012


Important Message From JWR: The FBI’s Cookie Caper and the VPN Imperative

It has come to my attention that from August of 2011 to November of 2011, the FBI secretly redirected the web traffic of more than 10% of SurvivalBlog’s US visitors through CJIS, their sprawling data center situated on 900 acres, 10 miles from Clarksburg, West Virginia. There, the Feebees surreptitiously collected the IP addresses of my site visitors. In all, 4,906 of 35,494 selected connections ended up going to or through the FBI servers. (Note that this happened several months before we moved our primary server to Sweden.) Furthermore, we discovered that the FBI attached a long-lived cookie that allowed …


Mike Williamson’s Product Review: ATI AK Strikeforce Stock

I like the AK platform, but I’ve never liked the standard military issue stock.  I’m too tall, and the shape of it means I can’t get my head low enough for a good sight picture, so I have to scrunch and contort to shoot. ATI sent me their AK-47 Strikeforce Stock Package to try.  I’ve heard criticism of their products over the years, but, while I’ve made some of my own regarding functional details, I’ve never had a problem with their workmanship or reliability. The instructions are clear, and you should pay attention to them.  The lower handguard, for example, …


Rabies – Coming Your Way? by Dr. Cynthia J. Koelker

Rabies – a legitimate concern or fear-mongering?  As I watch my pet Golden Retriever “Doodles” cautiously sniff at the curb sewer, I believe the threat is real.  A family of raccoons lives in the sewer pipes, and just a few months ago a local dog died of raccoon rabies.  Could my children be next? Ohio is on the frontier of raccoon rabies, but despite yearly aerial and ground baiting programs for oral rabies vaccination, the uniformly lethal infection is moving westward.  Bat rabies, the other common threat, is distributed more evenly across the United States.  (If you’re wondering about your …


Letter Re: TEOTWAWKI Is Now

James Wesley: It has been said that you can boil a frog to death by putting it in a pan of water then putting the pan over a burner. However, if you drop the frog into a pan of boiling water, it will instantly jump out. I’ve never tried this experiment, but the metaphor for The End of the World as We Know It (TEOTWAWKI) seems appropriate. Too many of us fit the first scenario. We’re “comfortable,” even though we recognize that the water is getting hotter and hotter. By the time we realize it is way too hot, it …


Recipe of the Week:

Notutopia’s One Pot Beefy Mac N’ Cheese (Serves 6) Ingredients: 1 lb. lean ground meat 1/8th cup dried diced onions pinch of garlic powder 1 T parsley flakes salt and pepper 1 lb. elbow macaroni or egg noodles 1 8oz. can Bega cheddar cheese cut in small 1/4 inch cubes, or 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese powder Directions: In a 4 quart pot with a tight fitting lid, fry the ground meat with onions, seasonings and parsley flakes, until meat is browned. Do not drain oil from the meat. Add 5 cups of water to the meat mixture and bring …


Economics and Investing:

With the stroke of BHO‘s pen on a Friday evening (after most of the newsies went home for the weekend), all pretension of a free civil economy in the U.S. have been discarded. Read this: National Defense Resources Preparedness. In essence, if they want it, they can now take it. Under this executive order, all segments of the economy have been been put on a war footing, and unprecedented Federal power has been established, without the consent of congress. Refer to Section 201 (b), and you will see that the order applies to both emergency and non-emergency conditions. Under the …


Odds ‘n Sods:

The Varkman sent a picture that tells a thousand words: This is why astronomers build telescopes in the mountains of Chile. (Looking at the map, you can see why I prefer the western U.S. of A. for retreat locales. The relative lack of light pollution in The American Redoubt region shows just how lightly populated it is here. OBTW, here’s a direct link to the large .PNG image.    o o o Avalanche Lily alerted me to this: The NSA Is Building the Country’s Biggest Spy Center (Watch What You Say)    o o o For those that were captivated …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Sweet liberty, Sweet liberty is in our hands It’s part of the plan, Or is it a state of mind? Horses and men, Horses and men are on the field, They didn’t yield. Many have fallen here; Never forget Never forget what they have done, The time will come, When it will change again. Never forget!” – Chris De Burgh, from the lyrics to his song “Liberty”, from the album The Getaway


Notes from JWR:

Enola Gay, the editor of the immensely popular preparedness, self-sufficient-living, Christian patriot blog, Paratus Familia will be interviewed on Radio Free Redoubt on Sunday, March 18th at 7 p.m. Pacific time. The show will also be made available for later playback. — Today we present two more entries for Round 39 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 …


The Psychological Side of a Defensive Shooting Incident, by B.D.M.

I have been reading survivalblog now for about 2 years and enjoy the information provided in the articles. I have often wondered what if anything I could contribute to the site.  After reading “After the Shooting” by Tupreco, which emphasized the legal aspect of a shooting, I thought this article would be a good follow up concentrating on the psychological side of it. My background: I have been a police officer for 8 years and was involved in a shooing in February of 2008.  You can watch the dash cam view of it here on YouTube. Basically, I stopped a …


My Journey Through Prepping and the Christian Worldview, by Southwest Michigan Fred

I remember 25 years ago saying something to a supervisor at work about maybe developing the skills to grow a garden because, “you just never know what might happen.”  That seemingly innocent, off-hand comment brought upon me his very public pronouncement of being of a “doom-and-gloomer” and the ridicule of every one of my fellow workers with whom he gleefully shared our conversation.  While his immature and idiotic rebuke was stinging I can’t say that it changed my thinking or altered my behavior, but I just never began the hard work of preparing.  Even though I knew in my heart …


Letter Re: Solutions to the Car Carry Gun Problem

Let me preface this information by saying it only applies to those preppers that live in states where it is legal to possess and carry a handgun in the car. I live in a state where it is not a problem or an issue to carry a handgun in a vehicle, it has been that way for many years. Our state considers it part of the “castle doctrine”, it is legal for a citizen to defend his castle and his vehicle is considered to be part of that castle. For years I have carried a variety of weapons, semi’s and …


Letter Re: Ham Radio Privacy

Capt. Rawles, I enjoy your blog very much, however, I have read several times that you need a physical mailing address to get an amateur (ham) radio license.  I don’t believe that is correct.  If you look closely at FCC form 605, line 15, they ask for a “P.O. Box, and/or Street Address”.     The FCC needs a “address of record”.  One could rent a box at a UPS Store (which gives a street address) they just want to be able to reach you by mail.  You can also register as an “Entity”, i.e. a business, corporation, LLC, etc.  I …


Economics and Investing:

Short sales and foreclosures made up 52 percent of all recent Southern California home sales Kurt T. suggested this over at Zero Hedge: Guest Post: Caution – Falling Currencies How many times do I have to mention that there is no proper substitute for taking physical delivery of your precious metals purchases? Here is the latest horror story: Secret Service Raids Upstate Business Atlantic Bullion And Coin Inc. Accused In Alleged Ponzi Scheme. (Thanks to A.L.H. for the link.) Items from The Economatrix: Gold “Vulnerable” As US Treasury Bond Market Sell-off Worsens Europe’s Economic Crisis:  Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy, and …