Day: October 14, 2013


The SurvivalBlog Social Media Glossary

I’m often asked about social media, forums, and meetup/networking web sites as a method for preppers to get together. I generally discourage the use of social media, as a big OPSEC risk. As I’ve warned my readers many times in SurvivalBlog, these sites are intelligence-gathering vacuum cleaners for self-incrimination, plain and simple. It has been well established that the NSA gobbles up as much information as it can and wherever it can. Even if what you mention about your private life in Tweets and Facebook posts is presently legal and commonplace (such as food storage, hunting, and shooting), that doesn’t …


Pat’s Product Review – Whitman Four Person Emergency Preparation Kit

I receive products weekly, to test for SurvivalBlog, so much so, that as of this writing, I’m still about four months out on trying to catch-up. And, one thing that never ceases to amaze me is that, I receive a product in the mail or UPS or FedEx, and when I open the box up, there is no letter or anything included with the product. So please, in the future, if you are going to send me a product to test, be so kind as to include some literature and a letter, with the products you send to me. And, …


Guest Article: National Call to Action: Time for a Change of Government and Leadership to Save the Republic, by Paul E. Vallely

‘The fate of the country is now in our hands’ It is is time for “Forced Resignations” initiated by our Citizens!   Our federal government continues down the path of destroying America. Americans must now stand up and put America back on the right track. The federal government has not subsided in “sucking the oxygen” out of America and its people with legislation and without the action required to solve our problems. The National Call to Action of the people begins now! And we call to action all branches of government to do your constitutional duties and not be led …


Letter Re: Loading Your Own Ammunition

Dear Editor, I have some comments to follow up on the letter from Kent from Illinois. I specifically left out mentioning match primers, salvaging brass with swaged primer pockets, etc., as this article was on the basics, barely touching upon a few advanced techniques. As to touching the primers: My handloads suffered from maddening duds occasionally, until I tracked down the cause. An old timer told me about skin oils and primers. I, being a young know-it-all, could not find this old timer’s story mentioned anywhere (this was way before broad public use of the Internet), so I set off …


Economics and Investing:

Several readers mentioned this: Computer Glitch Blamed For Nationwide EBT System Shutdown On Saturday. The food handout computer system came back up late Saturday evening, but just imagine this happening in all 50 States and in all of the Territories for more than a week. When some people vote with their feet, it gets noticed: Billionaire Branson Leaves UK for Caribbean Tax Haven Items from The Economatrix: Nothing Left To Financially Lose: Biggest Drop In Confidence Since Lehman Brothers And Why Some Are Unmoved By Government Shutdown. Unemployment Claims Surge, Partly Due To Shutdown Lew: Benefits at risk without rise in …


Odds ‘n Sods:

There are some tasks here at the Rawles Ranch that are mundane but remarkably satisfying. For me, one of these is burning tree limb slash piles, which I do nearly every fall and spring. I usually try to position the piles over buried stumps, in the hope of burning up a stump in the process. But accomplishing that usually requires adding more wood and days of subsequent fire tending. (Depending on the size of the stump.) I’ve found that this process is a great excuse to burn up a few pieces of bucked firewood that have such thoroughly twisted grain …