Year: 2013

Odds ‘n Sods:

Steve H. wrote to report: Now they’re coming for our wood burning stoves: Reduction in Air Pollution from Wood Stoves Associated With Significantly Reduced Risk of Death    o o o File under Preposterous Pedantry: Make guns smart. While you are at it “Jeremy”, why don’t you petition Microsoft to add a sanity checker to supplement their existing spell checker so that their software can’t be used to create crazy editorials. (OBTW, I always thought is was priceless that Microsoft Word’s spell checker thought “Schumer” was a typo, and suggested “Schemer” as the correction. Touché.)    o o o Egg …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“To every [thing there is] a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up [that which is] planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain …


Notes from JWR:

Some more good legislation to support: Rep. Thomas Massie has sponsored H.R. 133, which would repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990 and amendments to that Act. Please ask your congresscritters to support it! — January 11th is the birthday of the late Gunnar Fridtjof Thurmann Sønsteby. (Born 1918.) He was the most decorated hero of the Norwegian resistance to the German occupation of Norway in WWII. I am prompted to mention this because of his recent death. Sønsteby died May 10, 2012. — Today we present another entry for Round 44 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The …


Ropes and Rope Making, by B.E.

Disclaimer: The knowledge below is not comprehensive, but is included to the best of the authors understanding. New research is being published continuously on the subjects below and the author and/or publisher can take no responsibility in the safe or unsafe application of the knowledge included. If you are using ropes for life-support or other dangerous applications please get qualified instruction, and follow all manufacturer’s guidelines! That said… There are several items, though while not indispensable, can make living through hard times much more comfortable and safe. Ropes can make the hardest of tasks easier and safer when used correctly, …


Letter Re: Advice on Washing Military Utility Uniforms

CPT Rawles: The product that I use is half Twenty Mule Team Borax (contains no brighteners) and half Baking Soda (removes all scents). Military snipers use the same as they can’t warrant be sniffed out by an animal and giving away their position. I use it for hunting purposes for the same reason, and it works great. It also a little less expensive than paying big dollars for Sport Wash. Regards, – James R.


Economics and Investing:

After the Fall: What Do You Do When You Conclude America Is (Temporarily or Permanently) Kaput?(Thanks to Linda U. for the link.) Carney on coin gambit: ‘There is no backup plan’. [JWR’s Comment: This is beyond bizarre. It is now obvious that we are entering the fiscal Twilight Zone.] Items from The Economatrix: Inflation By Any Other Name-Central Banks Around The World Increase Balance Sheets From $2 Trillion In 2008 To $6 Trillion In 2013 This Will Cause Oceans Of Paper Money To Panic Into Gold Consumer Credit Rose In November On US Auto, Student Loans


Odds ‘n Sods:

Backwoods Home magazine is having a two day free ebook and emagazine giveaway on January 10th and 11th, 2013.    o o o H.L. sent: Teachers In Ohio, Texas Flock To Free Gun Training Classes    o o o L.C. sent this: How to make strike anywhere matches    o o o Reminder: Blog readers in Florida should plan to attend the Life Changes Be Ready Preparedness Expo and Gun Expo on Saturday January 19, 2013. I will be a guest speaker, via teleseminar. The event will be held at the Volusia County Fair and Expo Center in DeLand, Florida. …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Any single man must judge for himself whether circumstances warrant obedience or resistance to the commands of the civil magistrate; we are all qualified, entitled, and morally obliged to evaluate the conduct of our rulers. This political judgment, moreover, is not simply or primarily a right, but like self-preservation, a duty to God. As such it is a judgment that men cannot part with according to the God of Nature. It is the first and foremost of our inalienable rights without which we can preserve no other." – John Locke


Notes from JWR:

Congressman Steve Stockman has introduced H.R. 35, the Safe Schools Act of 2013. This a bill to allow principals, teachers, and staff to possess firearms in order to defend their students. Please contact your congresscritters and say NO to all “gun control” (civilian disarmament) bills and YES to H.R. 35. Also, be advised, Vice President Joe Biden hinted that executive orders on guns might be coming quite soon. Two likely actions: An import ban on 11+ round magazines (except for the military and law enforcement), and perhaps reclassifying the Saiga 12 shotgun as a Destructive Device. If you need any …


Water Cistern Facts, by Rex X.

Cisterns have been used for water storage for thousands of years and continue to be used today.  A cistern is a large water storage container that is often underground.  Many of you will remember Masada where the Roman Legion had the Jews besieged.  This mountain top fortress was able to hold out for as log as they did, in part, because of the large cisterns where they stored rain water.  In fact without cisterns this would have been nothing other than another uninhabited mountain. These water storage tanks can range up to thousands of gallons, or liters if you prefer.  …


Letter Re: Gasoline Available in a Pinch at the Big Box Store

Hi James, I was recently at the chainsaw shop and saw cans of something called TRUFUEL. It is basically one quart metal cans of gasoline, with most versions premixed for 2-stroke engines.  However, they also have a 4-stroke version that my chainsaw dealer tells me is simply 92-octane gasoline with stabilizers and other additives that would be perfectly suitable for running a car or other vehicle.  Haven’t tried it myself yet, but if plausible, big box hardware stores, power tool dealers, and some auto parts stores could have fuel available in a pinch (and I imagine for only a short …


Three Letters Re: Why Civilian Disarmament in the U.S. is Just a Statist Fantasy

Mr. Rawles,  I love the SurvivalBlog site and what you do. Many thanks to you and all contributors! I have some remarks on the letter: A Call to Action: The Impending Weapons Ban, by James M. I agree on the fundamental points made regarding firearms, but it does sound like a re-hash of the red-herring debate from ’91 with the only “Call to Action” being that Congress should ban something else.  Maybe they should ban Murder. Oh, wait that’s been done…   I personally don’t think our Congressional leaders should really be banning anything at all, and when the subject …


Economics and Investing:

Peter Schiff: Even if you raise taxes to 100%, we couldn’t pay it off. We’re going to default. Dr. Gary North details the latest legislative travesty in Illinois, the Land of Lincoln Obama: A Bill to Register Buyers of Gold and Silver Coins. Just as with guns, they have it down to a science: they register, they tax, and then they confiscate. Federal Reserve May Pause Quantitative Easing. JWR’s Comment: Yes, and your local crack head may try to kick his habit by going cold turkey. They’ll both have about the same chance of success. Hedge funds face suspicious activity …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Blog readers in Florida should plan to attend the Life Changes Be Ready Preparedness Expo and Gun Expo on Saturday January 19, 2013. I will be a guest speaker, via teleseminar. The event will be held at the Volusia County Fair and Expo Center in DeLand, Florida.    o o o Randy K. came across a series of YouTube videos by a young woman who made a comprehensive switch to a homesteading lifestyle. Randy describes it as “…quite lively and entertaining. Unlike some of the run-of-the-mill stuff out there, she makes these videos personal and shares little bits of herself …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Collectivists believe in collective guilt, unsurprisingly. They believe this as deeply and unquestioningly as any Bolshevik commissar or medieval inquisitor. They reveal themselves when they say the NRA ‘refuses to accept blame for the Sandy Hook massacre.’ The people manning the solar observatory at Sacramento Peak also refuse to accept blame, or would if asked, and rightly so. Absent evidence the perp had accomplices, or was under direct and actual control of others, blame attaches to the shooter alone. The proposition is simple and of unassailable provenance. As with all crime, guilt lay with the perpetrator. Hence the term, perpetrator. …