Month: September 2013

Letter Re: The Importance of Food Procurement

  Captain Rawles, I just saw a very shocking statistic from the USDA: 50% of the US population resides within two miles of three different grocery stores. There are 150,000,000 people in this country who have never been more than two miles away from three different sources of food. I have made a career out of the food industry, most recently in the grocery sector. I know first hand how oblivious people are to where food actually comes from, what unsightly things go into the food supply to produce a sufficient volume to keep the shelves of Wal-Mart stocked (think …


Letter Re: Microwave Oven Method for Decontaminating N95 Face Masks

Dear JWR: I had an interesting conversation with a member of the CDC about decontaminating N95 face masks. The study results can be found here. You’ll notice that the test gives positive results but more research is needed. Here was the conversation I had with Edward Fisher after reading it. Here are some snippets from our exchange: Me: 1. Did you remove the metal nosepieces from the masks before sterilization? 2. Any updates to this study? Edward: We did not modify any of the tested filtering facepiece respirators before decontamination. If the masks had metal nosepieces, they were not removed. …


Letter Re: Wool Carding Questions

Avalanche Lily & Mr. Rawles – Just wanted to say that Survival Blog  never ceases to amaze me!  As you may know I’m not a fan of the entire survivalist or “prepper”  craze, but I have to admit the drum carder and angora bunny advice posted today was spot on.  I would not have guessed that SurvivalBlog [readers] would have been as knowledgeable about home textile production. (However I did  take exception to the sheep recommendations.) You may be interested in my “dish towel” project.  Sometime within the next couple of weeks the flax straw from this summer will be …


Economics and Investing:

CFPB’s data-mining on consumer credit cards challenged in heated House hearing Gainesville Coins has produced a handy infographic on how to spot circulating silver U.S. coins. (Statistically, your best bet is to search rolls of half dollars. Ask for a few rolls, the next time that you go to your bank.) Items from The Economatrix: US Income Gap Soars To Widest Since “Roaring 20s” August Jobs Report:  Hiring Continues As Unemployment Falls An Alarming Jump In “Job Losers”


Odds ‘n Sods:

Here at the Rawles Ranch, I use ratchet wire tensioners for building building fence corners and H-braces, as well as for tensioning our solar-charged electric fences. I was recently bemoaning the fact that the only tensioners that I could find at my local feed store and hardware store were made in China, and priced at nearly $4 each. So I did some searching and found a mail order company called Zeitlow Distributing Company in McPherson, Kansas that specializes in electric fence products. They sell the Tru-Test Strainrite tensioners that are made in New Zealand. They had these sale priced at …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good …


Notes from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 48 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course. (A $1,195 value.) 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 military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) a $300 …


How to Budget for TEOTWAWKI, by Louie in Ohio

Prepping is never far from my mind. A few months ago I was talking with a friend and the subject of TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We know It) came up. Tom (not his real name) said that he would like to prepare for upcoming emergencies but didn’t know where to start. The answer was simple; start where you are. Obviously most people cannot start with a full larder and weapons/ammunition cache. That is of course, unless you really do have all of that, in that case…well, that’s where you are. I asked Tom what scenarios he wanted …


Letter Re: Preserving a Digital Library

Dear Mr Rawles, Since I have worked for a few decades now with computers as programmer, installing systems and building/repairing computers, I read last week’s articles/letters on a digital libraries with interest. Though most information provided is correct, some possibilities weren’t discussed, while others may not be entirely clear or confusing to the uninitiated. So, in addition to the previous postings, here is my take on ‘digital libraries for dummies’: Putting together a digital library is a good idea and I have one too. It contains everything from books to reference diagrams, user manuals and SurvivalBlog archives. However it can …


Economics and Investing:

Reader Rick D. spotted this over at Zero Hedge: GLD ETF Investors Unable To Get Physical Gold. Here is a key quote: “[Hedge fund manager Grant] Williams warned that the massive and escalating paper claims on physical gold at COMEX warehouses will create an explosion in the price of gold. Paper claims on gold are now at 55 to 1 meaning that there are contracts worth 55 ounces for every one ounce of actual physical gold in the COMEX warehouses.” Singer Joni Mitchell foretells an economic collapse. (Skip forward to 4:20.) Items from The Economatrix: Employers Hoarding Labor: Here’s Why …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Pierre M. sent: Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood to Coptic Christians: Convert to Islam, or pay ‘jizya’ tax    o o o Joanna H. recommended this web page: How to Make a Rabbit Skin Blanket    o o o The first Seattle Sustainable Preparedness Expo is scheduled for September 29th, 2013.    o o o Boy Scout alternative, Trail Life USA, launches ‘premier’ Christian group for boys. (Thanks to RBS for the link.)    o o o SurvivalPrepStore, a new Kansas City area survival store (with a nationwide mailorder customer base) is by offering an All American Deal in remembrance of 9/11.  …



Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 48 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course. (A $1,195 value.) 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 military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) a $300 …


3D Printing: Is it in Your Future?, by Kevin L.

There is a lot of talk in the media these days about three dimensional (3D) printers. For our community there is the Liberator, a 3D printed gun. It is an amazing development but certainly not ready for widespread use. 3D printers also make it possible to print your own magazines, holsters, and just about anything else you can think of that is made from plastic. But how good are these printers? Should they be part of your survival arsenal? If so, which one should you get? You can get used 3D Printers for around $550 without trying very hard but …


Letter Re: Protection from Radioactive Fallout

James: To further the excellent article Protection from Radioactive Fallout by Tennessean: The author cites “The Effects of Nuclear Weapons, Samuel Glasstone and Philip J. Dolan, 670 pages, November 2006”.  A reprint version of this book is available, but is more than $50 at Amazon in paperback. As this book is in the public domain, I have made an on-line version of the 1977 Third Edition available at my site for many years. The index points to PDFs for the individual chapters which may be printed or downloaded for offline storage. Accompanying it is a web application which implements the …