Notes for Wednesday – August 26, 2015

August 26, 526, is the official anniversary of the invention of toilet paper by the Chinese. We celebrate this, though not because of its convenience. In fact, it has many shortcomings, some which are described within the articles and letters of SurvivalBlog. Our celebration of it is primarily because we now have an official metric of just how hard core of a prepper you are as well as a metric for just how economically unstable your country is. August 26, 1946 is also the official release date of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.” o o o Today, we present another entry …


Letter Re: Cold Steel Voyager-JWR Edition

Hugh and Capt. Rawles, I’ve been following SB.com for about three years now after reading How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It. That book and others opened me up to the insanity surrounding us, and I suddenly felt sadly under-prepared. Since then I’ve trolled the web, bookstores, and gun shows for tools to help me protect my family. My enthusiasm can probably be attributed to wanting to ensure my two little girls never have to suffer through the times depicted in Jim’s works of fiction. I have held out, for the most part, from purchasing …


Economics and Investing:

7 million college debtors have yet to make a single student loan payment in last year. The college debt bubble grows. o o o Interest rates to remain ‘stuck’ at 5000 year-old levels Has the great correction begun? Time will tell. It’s mathematically impossible for the system we have to keep growing as it is; common sense tells a person this. Either way the prudent prepare as Joseph did in Egypt long ago. – A.S. o o o Gold Facts and Gold Speculations o o o Wikipedia Lists Today As One of Largest Intraday Point Swings, 1,089.42 Points Between The …


Readers’ Recommendations of the Week:

Hi Hugh, Reading Carol Deppe’s book, I realized I needed to read: Buffalo Bird Woman’s Garden Gilbert L. Wilson, Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1987 The Hidatsa grew corn, beans, squash, sunflowers near the Missouri River in ND. Clearly, they were able to feed themselves without tractors or mules! They very efficiently processed and saved their corn, beans, squash, sunflower seed. The book takes one through a typical year and is rich in describing their culture, songs, stories, ceremonies, recipes, and way of life. The first edition was published in 1917. Buffalo Bird Woman was born around 1839. One review from …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Got an old Radio Shack brand scanner? Here are the manuals and instruction data for them. Free. Some scanners allow for modifications. You can search those out on the web by searching for the model and modifications that can be done, if you are so motivated. – RBS o o o Man Indicted For Shotgun Blasts At Hovering Drone – D.S. o o o Wolverines! The danger may not be from where you expect. – W.C. o o o Man’s Concrete Home Survives Raging Wildfire in Washington – A.W. o o o Utah boy survived night in woods by curling …


Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun” (Psalm 19:1-4) “For some, the star filled sky is only ambient light. To the professorial-secularist who peers through telescopes and patronizes the planetarium, seeking to see what stars are made of, not their Maker; they completely …


Notes for Tuesday – August 25, 2015

August 25th is a birthday shared by novelist Frederick Forsyth (born 1938) and American humorist Patrick F. McManus (born 1933). Forsyth was the author of The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil’s Alternative, and many others. McManus was born and raised in Sandpoint, Idaho, so his books could be classified as American Redoubt humor. When I met Pat a few years ago, Pat very kindly autographed my entire battered collection of his books. Some of these books had been so well-loved that the pages were falling out of their bindings. …


Letter Re: How to Obtain Your Amateur Radio License, by N.M.

Hello, I recently read author N.M’s article regarding how to obtain an Amateur Radio license. The article was well-written and provided a wealth of information for prospective Hams. I have been a licensed Amateur Radio operator since the early 1990s and have seen a lot of changes in the hobby. Some were good and some not so good, but that is a discussion better left to a lazy chair and a pot of coffee. The reason I am writing is I noticed something that is potentially problematic in N.M’s article. When discussing what radio to select, N.M. mentions the Yaesu …


News From The American Redoubt:

‘It’s unrelenting’: inside the Washington town surrounded by raging wildfires o o o Video: At Least 24 Homes Destroyed in Washington Wildfire o o o Northern Idaho Wildfire Update o o o Video: Western wildfires continue to spread destruction o o o Wilder Idaho school forces student to remove Confederate flag from truck Calls it a “gang” logo – RBS o o o Idaho ammo company is in the business of downing drones – RBS


Economics and Investing:

Global Trade In Freefall: Container Freight Rates From Asia To Europe Crash 60% In Three Weeks – GJM o o o 10 Reasons Why The Market Carnage Is Far From Over o o o Items from Mr. Econocobas: Why The Bear Of 2015 Is Different From The Bear Of 2008 Making Sense Of The Sudden Market Plunge Households See 1.8 Trillion of Wealth Vanish Stock Up on Canned Goods and Bottle Water- Fmr Advisor to Gordon Brown Advises – This is interesting just given the source..


Odds ‘n Sods:

Beware, your lock screen passcode probably isn’t very secure: 75% of us start secret patterns from a corner, study reveals – JBG o o o Uniformed Officer Booted From Chuck E Cheese Over Duty Handgun – D.S. o o o Disconnected is the new security feature: How hyperconnectivity is dangerous to human civilization – D.S. o o o Now THAT is real survival: Nurse sets own broken legs while trapped in car after crash – T.P. “I noticed my feet were real broken,” she said. “They were twisted to the side. My little nurse brain was like, you’ve got to …



Notes for Monday – August 24, 2015

On August 24th, 410, Rome was overrun by the Visigoths in an event that symbolized the fall of the Western Roman Empire. This is a moment in history that we would do well to remember. An empire that ruled the world was corrupted from the inside to the point that they could not defend themselves from a much weaker enemy. This could conceivably be the beginning of the dark middle ages.


Scot’s Product Review: Burris 2-7xx32mm Handgun Scope on the Mexican Mauser

I have long been a fan of Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper and his Scout rifle concept. It’s not the best tool for every application of the rifle, but his idea was to create a general purpose answer to the problem of striking a decisive blow on an animal up to 200 kilograms (440 pounds) at any distance the shooter could place a bullet into the vitals of said animal. He further specified that it should be handy and defined it as being one meter (about 40 inches) long and three kilograms (a bit less than seven pounds) in weight unloaded …