Year: 2012

A Thru-Hiker’s Thoughts on the Bug Out Bag, by Pete R. Pan

This year I thru-hiked the entire 2,184 miles of the Appalachian Trail. I started in Georgia on the 4th of April and finished in Maine after walking through 14 states, on September 17th. The 5 ½ months I spent on the trail taught me a lot about living out of a backpack and efficiently covering miles on foot. In this article I’ll explain how others can use this experience to create or refine their own G.O.O.D. bag. There are a few packs that fall under the umbrella term “Bug Out Bag” or “Get Out Of Dodge” bag. First off, there …


Letter Re: Fuel Stabilizers and Emerging Threats

Good Day, James, First – have greatly enjoyed your blog site and your novels. I particularly appreciate the fact that although the stories are fiction – they provide a wealth of preparedness information. As a principle in Power Research Inc. – a company with extensive international sales to the commercial marine and power generation industries – I have deeply investigated the world economy and our present financial system in an effort to protect my company, my family, and my employees. There is absolutely no question that the present system is unsustainable, and the ramifications of an economic collapse will be …


News From The American Redoubt:

Some interesting crime statistics: Of the 12,996 homicides in the United States in 2011, just 21 were in Idaho, 21 in Montana, and 8 in Wyoming. More populous Oregon and Washington had 78 and 151 homicides respectively, but the vast majority of those were west of the Cascade mountain range (outside of the American Redoubt.) For comparison: In 2011 there were 515 homicides in New York City, and in just the first nine months of 2012, there have already been 391 homicides in the City of Chicago. (They are expecting around 500 by the end of the year, a 25% …


Economics and Investing:

Why doesn’t this give me a warm, fuzzy feeling? Drone demand could be big boost to economy Stagflation Warning: When You Look At What Happened In The First Half Of The 1970s, The Similarity Between Then And Now Is Frightening Reader B.B. sent a link to this at the oft-quoted Zero Hedge: China Central Bank Refuses To Join Global Print Fest, Warns About Inflation Risks Items from The Economatrix: Alert: Highly Sophisticated Large-scale Cyberheist Targets Customer Funds At Major US Banks Marc Faber:  Market Setting Up For “Serious Setback” The Real Fiscal Cliff Is Much Bigger Than You Think, Warns …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader F.G. mentioned this interesting analysis, over at ARFCOM: Best Choices For Self-Defense Ammo    o o o An interesting piece by Dr. Bones: The Truth About Expiration Dates    o o o A great discussion thread was started over at the CalGuns forums: Crime Avoidance & Self-Defense Advice.    o o o Pantry Paratus is passing along a special promotion being run by Wondermill to their customers: For every Electric Wondermill sold, a customer will receive a free cookbook titled, “Chef Brad Comfort Foods.” And for every Wondermill Jr hand crank mill ($235 complete with stone and steel burrs) buyers …



Notes from JWR:

After being out of print for nearly three years, the Rawles Gets You Ready Preparedness Course is available again. It is now sold only via digital download, but the good news is that it is now priced quite affordably for SurvivalBlog readers. — I heard that an editor at Wikipedia just nominated for deletion the articles about my novels Survivors and Founders, claiming that they are “non-notable.” (Even though they were both in Amazon’s Top Ten and on the New York Times bestseller list.) Release of the book prompted dozens of radio interviews and more than 200 reviews at Amazon.com …


Home Fire-Safe Checklist/Defensible Space, by Matthew Stein, P.E.

Fire Statistics The following statistics from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) are for fires in the USA in 2009: There were 3,010 civilian deaths from fire, 2,565 of which occurred in the home. There were 260 civilian deaths from motor vehicle fires. Only 105 civilian fire deaths occurred in non-residential structures. US fire departments responded to an estimated 1,348,500 fires resulting in an estimated $12,531,000,000 in property losses and 17,050 civilian injuries. In general, fires cause more loss of life and property in America than all natural disasters combined. Every year, fires are responsible for more loss of life, …


Pat’s Product Review: Ruger’s 10/22 Takedown Rifle

I’ve received numerous requests from SurvivalBlog readers to review the new Ruger 10/22 Takedown .22 LR rifle. I literally lost count of the number of e-mails I got from SurvivalBlog readers, but it was probably close to a hundred requests. Now, I hate to admit this, but I never (personally) owned a standard Ruger 10/22 rifle of my own – my wife and youngest daughter owned them, and I shot them, but never owned one myself. So, this was a good time to lay claim to a sample for this article. I’ve recommended the Ruger 10/22 rifle to untold numbers …


Letter Re: Long Term Yeast Storage

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Jim: I did some research on the storage life of yeast. I started with this article: Red Star Yeast which sates: “Each package and jar of dry yeast is stamped with a ‘Best if Used by’ date.  This date is two years from the date the yeast was packaged.  The month and year reflect when you should use your yeast by.  The last 4 digits are for manufacturing purposes and have nothing to do with when to use the yeast by. “Example of code: FEB 2010 08 09 – Use by February 2010 “Unopened  packages and jars should be stored in a …


Recipe of the Week:

G.R’s Beer Bread Here is a very quick beer bread recipe that is great when you don’t have time to make a normal loaf of bread.   Ingredients: 3 cups sifted flour (sift through sifting screen to avoid making the bread hard) 3 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup sugar 1 12 oz can or bottle of beer 1/4 cup melted butter   Directions: 1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 2. Mix dry ingredients and beer in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly to avoid dry spots. Mixture will be stiff. 3. Pour into greased loaf pan. 4. Pour melted butter …


Economics and Investing:

Panetta Sounds Alarm on Cyber-War Threat: “It is the kind of capability that can basically take down a power grid, take down a water system, take down a transportation system, take down a financial system.” Standard of living, meet falling US dollar – how a falling US dollar benefits banks at the expense of working Americans. Prosecutors seek criminal charges in London Whale fiasco. Charles Hugh Smith: About That “No Recession” Call… Items from The Economatrix: Roubini Foresees Spain’s Doomed Despite Bankia Nationalization The Horrific, Worst-case Scenario for Spain S&P Cuts Spain Crediting Rating To Near Junk Jack Welch:  I …


Odds ‘n Sods:

James C. pointed me to this 1969 FBI training film: Shooting for Survival.    o o o Ol’ Remus suggested this piece over at the Shenandoah blog: Guerrilla Radio Listening and Broadcasting. And speaking of radio, don’t miss this handy Ham Radio Cheat Sheet, over at the excellent Off Grid Survival blog.    o o o An audio clip from a talk radio caller in Fargo, North Dakota: Please Move The Deer Crossing. This call (possibly a spoof) adds a new entendre to the term “dense population.” (Thanks to Steve C.)    o o o A speaking of density, Pierre …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"In my view, the Christian Religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed…no truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian Religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people." – Noah Webster, Reply to David McClure, October 25, 1836


Notes from JWR:

Our friend Tam over at the always entertaining and often hilariously funny View From The Porch blog reminded me on a more serious note that today is the 100th anniversary of madman John Schrank’s assassination attempt on the life of President Theodore Roosevelt. Teddy, a statesman who was obviously made of sterner stuff than many of our contemporary politicians, went ahead with presenting a lengthy speech that day, even though a .38 caliber bullet was lodged in his chest. (The bullet went through a steel eyeglasses case and a 50-page speech manuscript, slowing it down considerably. Roosevelt carried that bullet …