Day: June 24, 2013

Notes from JWR:

Another reminder to Coloradans: You have some paperwork to do, muy pronto. The state’s new magazine ban will go into effect on July 1, 2013. Of particular note is the fact that the new law’s grandfather clause is not multigenerational. It will be limited to only then-current owners of magazines, as of midnight on June 30th. (When the owner dies, the magazines must be destroyed or taken out of the state.) Therefore I again urge Coloradans to be sure to properly document the gift of your magazines to your children and grandchildren (preferably via a multigenerational trust–which creates a fictitious …


Michael Z. Williamson’s Book Review: Destroy the Enemy in Hand-to-Hand Combat: An Authentic Field Manual of the Red Army

Destroy the Enemy in Hand-to-Hand Combat: An Authentic Field Manual of the Red Army. (Also available as a Kindle edition.) Gen A. A. Tarasov (Author), Boris Karpa (Translator) Translated from the Soviet WWII original.  Boris Karpa has done an excellent job of maintaining the flavor of the Soviet manual, keeping the read interesting, and making it reasonably clear. Some sections are a bit awkward, but it seems to be from the original writing, not a translation difficulty.  Those areas that don’t translate well are covered more than adequately by the original illustrations. The first half of the book covers moving …


Pat’s Product Review: VitalGrill Stove

Back when I was in the military I would have loved to have had a way to heat-up my C Rations – yeah, I’m “that” old – that we were issued C Rations in the military, when out in the field. MREs (Meals, Read to Eat) were still only just a concept in the mid to late 1960s. Nothing beats a hot meal in the field, even if it was just C Rats – a cold meal just doesn’t seem nearly as comforting or filling, as opposed to a hot meal. My late friend, Chris Janowsky, who ran the World Survival …


Letter Re: Mass Versus Bullets (and Hail Stones and Gamma Radiation)

James, I appreciate seeing some folks trying to build some sort of fallout shelter, as these may, unfortunately come in handy someday soon.   Since I build these for a living, I thought I’d throw some basic suggestions out there for the readers. For simple fallout shelters, assuming that blast will not be a factor, above ground concrete walls should be 24 inches thick (or better if you can afford it!).  Walls below grade can be a mere 10 inches thick.   Ceilings:  24 inches will provide fair protection, assuming “rainout” does not occur in your locale. [The Swiss shelter building code …


Recipe of the Week:

Jamie’s Toasted Oatmeal Peanut Butter Bars 1 Tbsp unsalted butter 1 cup rolled oats 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp flour 1 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature 1/4 cup peanut butter 1/3 cup sugar 1/3 cup brown sugar 1 large egg 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips   Glaze 2 Tbsp cookie butter 1/2 cup powdered sugar 1-2 Tbsp water   Preheat oven to 350°F and spray a 13 x 9-inch baking dish with nonstick spray. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add oats and cook, stirring occasionally, until …


Economics and Investing:

Some cogent observations by Bob Owens: Where is all the rimfire ammo? The new modest-budget indie movie “Alongside Night” is now in early release. The film is based on Agorist-Libertarian activist J. Neil Schulman’s novel of the same name. It seems that some gold and silver coins deserve “best supporting” awards. G.E.C. suggested: All the Gold in Fort What’s-Its-Name Michael Pento: Market Calls Fed’s Bluff Jim W. liked this piece by Alasdair MacLeod: Gold is being supplied by western governments. Here is a key quote: “From the point of view of the western central banks, as well as the bullion …


Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson sent this from over at KK Cool Tools: Amish Hackers. Mike’s comment: “A very interesting article. By the way, my wife has always said if she were colonizing a planet, she’d take a contingent of Amish.”    o o o Senator Rand Paul has introduced S. 744, a bill that would prohibit a National ID card or biometric ID. Please contact your senators, and ask them to co-sponsor it.    o o o Michael Bane had some great commentary on ammunition “hoarding”: Michael’s Rant de Jour…    o o o Reader Stan T. …