Four Letters Re: Rocket Stove

MW, I don’t have any experience with the “Zoom Versa” rocket stove, but I currently own a “Stovetec” single door rocket stove. I believe the Zoom is built to look like the Stovetec but don’t know this for sure. (I don’t have any financial interest in Stovetec, but do love the thing.) I’ve used ours only in the backyard with the grand kids. We’ve found it to be very effective using small, otherwise “junk” sized pieces of wood to cook almost anything. I have used small pots, stock pots, woks, and other skillets on ours. ANY rocket type stove does …


Economics and Investing:

California housing leaving the middle class behind in the dust: Prime real estate markets close to previous peaks while areas inhabited by working class families fall further behind. Ukraine crisis: In Moscow, panic sets in as rouble plummets and foreign exchanges run out of dollars. – JBG Items from The Economatrix: The Death Of Retail: What Do RadioShack And J.C. Penney Say About The Future Consumer Economy? Low Wage Retail Work To Take A Hit. S&P 500 Closes At Record High On Job Data Beat Here Are 5 Clues To The Health Of US Job Market


Odds ‘n Sods:

Fortress Defense (a SurvivalBlog advertiser) has added several new classes to their calendar. These include: Tactical Medical, Church Safety, Defensive Handgun, and Urban Rifle (with John Farnam.) Most of these are in Chicagoland, but one upcoming class is in Indiana. o o o Military’s top general offers grim outlook on nation’s defense o o o Connecticut Carry defies lawmakers, to ‘either enforce or repeal’ gun ban o o o Ukraine: Three Views– John Mauldin o o o Couple Who Found $10 Million Treasure on Their Property Could Face Arrest for… – RBS o o o Why You Truly Never Leave …



Notes From HJL:

In the Odds ‘n Sods column today, there is a link about the general bias of the SPLC. To add to that, one of our readers informed us: “I thought I should draw your attention to an article that contains a reference to ‘Patriots, A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse,’ where it is described as a ‘radical survivalist book’ being marketed by a neo-Nazi activist April Gaede, who apparently receives commissions from Amazon for any sales that are linked to her website.” – W.B. JWR Responds: The irony of this, of course, is that the “radical survivalist book” …


Taking The Leap Into Prepping, by J.B.

While some of us currently have enough to survive for months and the necessities to survive for much longer, this article will be for the beginner. There are so many different ways to start prepping. My family started by setting financial goals. Getting excited about prepping is really easy, but so is deciding that it won’t work for you. I have seen this before with friends who I have spoken with about what I do. They get really excited and go home and rally the troops. Then they realize that they have no funds to do so. While most Americans …


Letter Re: What Skills to Have

Hugh, Regarding S.K.’s question of What Skills to Have, As a Scout leader for the last 24 years, I can tell you that the current crop of Merit Badge Books and the Boy Scout Handbook are not worth the paper they are printed on. They are stuffed with “coping skills” for inter-city youth. There is much less reliance on “outdoor skills” that were in past editions. If you want good information from the Boy Scouts, go to your local second hand book store, FleaBay, or garage sales and look for handbooks from the middle 70’s and back. There is now …


Letter: My Current State of Readiness

Mr Rawles, I listened and read as much as I could of the good advice of blogs like this and other sources of inspiration. I got myself an older 4X4 diesel pickup– an ’86 6.9L. Just the other day the original alternator went, but the engine didn’t seem to care as long as it got started. When my car alternator died, I was off the road in minutes. I’m starting to see the value of these old rigs. I’m considering taking off the turbo to eliminate an oil leak and simplify the system, because the turbo increases heat and can …


Economics and Investing:

What Student Loans Are Really Used For: The Depressing Case Studies – G.G. Items from The Economatrix: Get Silver While You Can – They Are Going to Kill the Dollar Russian Dollar Dump Could Crash Financial System-John Williams The Top 12 Signs That The U.S. Economy Is Heading Toward Another Recession Russia Threatens To Abandon The U.S. Dollar And Start Dumping U.S. Debt


Odds ‘n Sods:

S.G. – Academic study: SPLC Hatewatch list biased, but you already knew that. o o o G.P. – Infections Linked to Chinese Seafood Markets in New York o o o Here is an infographic from Lifehacker that shows you how to delete yourself from the Internet. o o o Video: This looks like it exceeds the legal limit for fun… Shooting radio controlled planes with shotguns. o o o M.W. found this neat little rocket stove. We would be interested in the opinion of anyone that has used it. It’s not exactly a backpacking stove, but it looks heavy enough …



Notes from HJL:

Today we present another entry for Round 51 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $11,000+ worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: 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 certificate …


An Old Man’s Long Gun Addiction, by *O.T.D*

I am 74 years old and have always been a little bit of a prepper. I was not into firearms and especially not hand guns, which I had never owned. I had rifles and shotguns from my youth, but never used them much after I got married. I had barely purchased a box of ammo for each. I even give them all away to my son a number of years ago. Then in the middle of 2009, I felt that everything was starting to fall apart and I needed to balance out my preparations by getting some firearms for protection …


Letter Re: EMP

Hugh, While the routers and switches do require power (which will be spotty at best), they too will be fried by the EMP. Many of the modern ASICs are based on IBM proprietary copper chips and as a result really don’t get along well with any form of EMP. It’s bad enough that I’ve seen a floating ground stretched between two buildings fry Cisco, ACC / Wellfleet, and Extreme gear. The only purpose-built router that is tempest hardened is the very old TGS router by Cisco. This was an AGS that was built into a hardened shell. Wide scale deployment …


Letter: 401K Rollovers And Precious Metals Investment

Hello Hugh, First of all I am not an investment expert, so I have to read and call experts. I recently left a company and moved to North Carolina. I was going to cash out my 401K, but I was starting a one-man business so I waited. I formed my own company and got started. After a short while I looked at 401 cash out options. (I am only 45.) One great option that is available is called a solo 401K. First, you have to be a one-person shop. That is easy. Go to the courthouse and register a DBA …