Year: 2013

Notes from JWR:

The 25% to 35% off sale for Mountain House canned long term storage foods at Ready Made Resources with free shipping and bonuses ends at midnight tonight (Monday February 18, 2013.) Be sure to place your order before this sale ends! — Coloradoans: Contact your State Senators! I’m sure you’ve heard the news: Colorado lawmakers move forward on new gun-control measures. (They attempted to toss a Bill of Attainder bone to MagPul, but to their credit, MagPul’s managers have said that if the bill is signed unto law that they are still moving out of State–most likely Montana or Wyoming. …


Home Power Systems: Micro Hydro, by L.K.O.

Note: This article is part of a series of feature articles about alternative / sustainable / renewable energy solutions for self-sufficiency. A prior related article in SurvivalBlog that complements this one is Home Inverter Comparison: Off Grid and Grid Tied. Upcoming articles in this Home Power Systems series include: Photovoltaics, Batteries, Wind generators, Solar Water Distillers, Solar Ovens, Solar Water Heating and Energy Efficiency/Conservation.) Overview of Micro Hydro: One Component of a Home Power System One primary source of locally generated electricity – in the right location – is hydroelectric power generated by a small system of integrated components harnessing …


The Leftist Lexicon: Translating Statist Rhetoric Into Plain English, by Ray X.

Statists use cleverly constructed language for obfuscation and to further their unconstitutional Big Government agenda. Statists rarely say what they mean or mean what they say. Ray X., a SurvivalBlog reader in Wyoming provides us the following dictionary that describes what the statists really mean: Access: Our people put on TV or put in positions of authority, via our access to your wallet. Activists: Rabble without jobs but with access to TV cameras. Affirmative Action: Giving hiring preference to those with lower test scores, for countless generations. Advocacy/Advocate: Advocating our agenda. All others are not Advocates. They are, Radicals, Haters …


Pat’s Product Review: The Inner City Survival Pencil

On a daily basis I hear from many SurvivalBlog readers with a variety of questions. Most of these have to do with wilderness survival, or weapons for hard-core survival. Rarely do I hear from folks who think in terms on city survival. Seeing as how a large portion of the population live in urban areas, I’m always stumped, that the readers, don’t have a lot of questions about urban survival. Many readers that I hear from live in big cities, and they always have questions about bugging-out to the wilderness. Hmmm!!!!   I was born and raised in Chicago, one of …


Letter Re: Storage Food At COSTCO Stores

Jim, I just noticed while in COSTCO today that they have 6 gallon buckets of freeze dried food on offer. For $99, you get a one-month supply of 2100 calories a day, enough for one adult. I wonder how many people caught in the megastorm that hammered the East Coast recently had any food stored in, and how difficult it was for most folks to get provisions before the stores were stripped bare?  Just another reason to keep something one hand. For more variety, though, folks should really consider storing other stuff, as taught in your Rawles Gets You Ready …


Letter Re: Diesel Fuel Storage and Dyed Diesel Issues

James, I don‘t know how things are in your country, but in most parts of Europe we have heating oil extra light for household use. This is red in colour and virtually identical with standard diesel fuel. The only differences are the colour and the taxation, because this is always very much cheaper than the vehicle fuel. For obvious reasons it is forbidden to use this as a vehicle fuel, but it is theoretically possible. Heating oil can be stored in large quantities without any special permits, which is not the case for vehicle fuels. Containers for it are readily …


Recipe of the Week:

Karen D.’s Tortilla Soup Creamy Tortilla Soup 2 cans chicken 2 cans chicken broth 1 jar garlic salsa (we love Trader Joe’s) 8-16 oz. heavy cream Shredded cheese Tortilla chips Put chicken in pan and smash with fork.  Add broth and salsa.  Heat until soup is hot and simmering.  Add your desired cream and heat.  Spoon soup into a bowl; add crushed chips and cheese. Chef’s Notes: This is a soup recipe the whole family loves.  It is quick and one that I can store many of the ingredients for.  Even the heavy cream I can substitute with canned milk, …


Economics and Investing:

More gloomage coming from a mainstream outlet: Is the Dollar Dying? Why US Currency Is in Danger Gold & Silver Price Takedown February 15th: Noise vs Facts A hard money investing blog worth reading: Deviant Investor Items from The Economatrix: Recovery Sign:  More People Quitting Their Jobs Mortgage Mess Still Mires Housing Recovery State of the Union Reaction:  Gun Sales Still Strong Ron Paul on the State of the Union


Odds ‘n Sods:

Check out the interview with Buck Adams (a USMC vet) who is providing jobs and wholesome locally-grown food in the Denver Metro area, in a program called Veterans To Farmers.    o o o Mike H. sent us a caching lesson learned: Cave full of weapons discovered by California deputies.    o o o Coming soon to your neighborhood? This is How the DHS Seizes Your Guns. On a tangential note, Brandon Smith asks: Gun Rights: Are There Any Peaceful Solutions Left?    o o o Darra mentioned: DIY Cannned Good Storage



Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 45 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 …


Re-Evaluating Priorities: Food vs. Sleep, by Jared S.

I was reviewing some back issues of the Journal of Wilderness and Environmental Medicine, published by the Wilderness Medical Society, and came across an article that I realized may be of use to preppers.  The article deals with the effects of food deprivation vs. the effect of sleep deprivation, on cognitive ability, decision making, and risk taking behaviors.  Here I will attempt to summarize the relevant findings and examine how these realities might inform our choices in prepping and responding to emergency survival situations.  We have all been taught the easy to remember device for setting priorities for survival, right? …


Letter Re: Happy People: A Year in the Taiga

  Hi Jim; I accidentally stumbled into a documentary film on Netflix which I am sure your readers would enjoy. It is titled Happy People: A Year in the Taiga. I’m not sure if it is available anywhere else. The film critic web site RottenTomatoes.com gives this description: With Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, Werner Herzog and Russian co-director Dmitry Vasyukov takes viewers on yet another unforgettable journey into remote and extreme natural landscapes. The acclaimed filmmaker presents this visually stunning documentary about indigenous people living in the heart of the Siberian Taiga. Deep in the wilderness, far …


Economics and Investing:

DIP! Spot silver closed at $29.80 on Friday. It may yet go a bit lower in this swing, but anywhere under $30 per Troy ounce is a bargain. Former Congressman Dr. Ron Paul was on Bloomberg’s Lunch Money show and was talking war and economic collapse. Are US Retirement Accounts at Risk? Items from The Economatrix: Bond Bubble Expectations Retail Sales Up Despite Payroll Tax Hike The Number One Reason To Invest In Gold The End Of The Current Fiat Monetary System Is Coming, And A Gold-Backed Currency Will Replace It


Odds ‘n Sods:

LDS Church increases some storage food useful shelf life estimates to up to 30 years. (Thanks to J McC. for the link.) o o o Andre D. sent: The UN Braces for Stormy Space Weather o o o B.B. sent this: Jim Rogers and Glenn Beck comment on the boom in Midwest farmland. o o o Reader Chris P. in Colorado wrote to mention: On a family camping trip our camp was hit with a microburst from a storm that trashed our camp and damaged the poles on a couple of our tents. Tentpole Technologies Inc., of Vancouver Washington was …