A Primer On Salve Making, by S.T.

Salve making is an important skill now, and it will become an even more important skill after SHTF. So, master the skill now, collect your recipes, and obtain the various ingredients and equipment needed, because after SHTF there will be no more manufactured goods, and you may not have access to the essential oils and extracts that are needed. My salve making came about when I went looking for a way to replace store purchased hand lotion with a better product that I could make post-SHTF and has evolved from there. From rosemary salve for dry hands to salve for …


Two Letters: The Militarization of LEOs

Good Morning, Mr. Latimer. I have been following the subject of police incompetence very closely for the last few years, with the parallel corruption and deterioration of our political establishments and our military officer corps. I can save those last two items for later, but it is my firm conviction that our present LEO personnel are ALL corrupt. Every single one of them. Before someone(s) respond with bluff and bluster, protesting that “they” are not corrupt, I will put out this question. If there is one single LEO out there that has not committed an act of gross incompetence, like …


Economics and Investing:

Fed Prepares For Bond-Fund Runs, Looking At Imposing “Exit Fee” Gates. – RBS o o o Generation R – Millennials are largely living at home or opting to rent. What happens when homeownership is less accessible to younger Americans? o o o Price Index for Meats, Poultry, Fish & Eggs Rockets to All-Time High. – G.G. o o o The Age of Transformation – H.L.


Odds ‘n Sods:

Video Surfaces of Texas Police Executing Handcuffed Prisoner – T.P. Texas police execute a handcuffed man and the grand jury refused to indict the officer. The D.A. didn’t want the video released “to protect the rights of the victim”, but I suspect the real reason was to protect the police officer. Once again, mental illness mixed with police brutality is essentially a death sentence with no consequences for the offending officer. Warning: the video is extremely graphic! Surveillance Video of the incident. o o o Another example of expressing a first amendment right violated: Parma resident ticketed for sign warning …



Notes for Wednesday – June 18, 2014

Today we present another entry for Round 53 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $11,000+ worth of 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), 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, Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value), A $300 gift …


Becoming The Bank In TEOTWAWKI, by J.M.

It has happened. The event that we have all talked about for so many years has come to fruition. The banking and monetary system, after many years of bail-outs and market manipulations, has finally collapsed. Many have plans to “bug out” to the safety of their isolated retreat where they plan to hunker down and weather the financial tempest that surrounds them. I have to admit that this is probably the best short-term plan to survive, but what do you do when your supplies run out? What will the long-term solution be, until a new monetary system is established? How …


Letter Re: Artificial Intelligence

James and Hugh, Regarding your entry on Artificial Intelligence, please see the book “Our Final Invention” by James Barrat. Our world lives with potential catastrophe, i.e. nuke war, EMP attack, famine, drought, civil unrest, asteroids, etc. These are all potentially survivable occurrences. The achievement of AGI (artificial general intelligence) leading to super machine intelligence is not. You might also check out the following: http://Plato.stanford.edu/entries/Chinese-room/. Hugh Replies: While I understand the reasoning behind the desire to advance artificial intelligence, I also clearly see the dangers in it. Isaac Asimov was a visionary in his “I Robot” series in dealing with this …



JWR’s Recommendations of the Week

Today, I’m launching a new weekly column to focus on the books and movies that I have found particularly useful and entertaining. I either have these on the shelf here at the Rawles Ranch, or they’ve been recommended to me by my family members or close friends. Please note that many of my movie recommendations are not “training films”; they are simply entertainment. Also note that many of these films depict times of peril, so they are not suitable for children! Books Cookin’ with Home Storage by Vicki Tate Raising a Calf for Beef by Phyllis Hobson Wolf And Iron …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Why ISIS Won’t Stop With Iraq – J.S. o o o A stark warning for today’s Christians in light of ISIS: Trapped in Hitler’s Hell – RBS o o o Is Obama Allowing Illegals to Cross Our Southern Border an Encouragement of Domestic Attacks to Facilitate a Government Takeover? – B.B. o o o South Dakota has Raked in $100 Million in Homeland Security Grants Despite No Known Terrorist Threats…Ever – T.R. o o o The Freeze Dry Guy(along with all of our advertisers who sell Mountain House foods) are still having some fantastic sales. This is a slow season …



Notes for Tuesday – June 17, 2014

Today we present another entry for Round 53 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $11,000+ worth of 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), 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, Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value), A $300 gift …


Letter Re: The Water Solution

I liked the article and the follow up comments noting the sanitary issue raised. My plan is to drill a hole in the bottom of the right side of the water closet tank and put a separate filler valve supplied by water from the catchment system via a separate pipe. I have an abrasive edged hole saw and am about to go test it out on some decommissioned 5-gallon flushers. It’ll be interesting to see if I can successfully drill porcelain. I think this solves the sanitary issues of hooking up a catchment supplied system in a useful way, saving …