Thinking Outside the Box, by Karen I.

My father was an engineer at Boeing, and Boeing builds in (or at least they used to) triple redundancy.  Kind of hard to find a hardware store or plane mechanic mid-air over the Atlantic, so you can see why what appears to be over-building really isn’t in the case of an airplane.  You might think that to effect this on the ground you’d need three or more of everything, but that’s not actually the case.  What you need for food, for example, is obviously more than one year’s supply.  You aren’t going to quit eating if you can help it, …


Letter Re: The Ultimate Altoids Tin Survival Kit

Dear SurvivalBloggers: I’d like to thank J.C.R. for his article on the survival kit tins.  I have been meaning to put mine together for a while his article definitely gave me some more things to think about.  However, while I have not completed my tin build, I have been thinking about the different aspects.  I have seen various articles advising that we prepare for what is most likely first (power outage, snowed in for a few days, etc.) up to however far you want to take it (up to a total apocalyptic event).  With this in mind, I feel you …


Economics and Investing:

Wayne G. sent this: Consumer Confidence Tumbles, Home Prices Stagnate Another flagged by veteran SurvivalBlog contributior G.G: All American Bank Fails; 2011 Tally at 85 RBS found this one: Americans ‘Hooked on Government’ as Record Number Get Benefits (Businessweek) Items from The Economatrix: Poll:  Many Boomers Staying Put Amid Bad Economy New-home Sales Tick Up as Builders Slash Prices Savers Protect Your Deposits from Bankrupting Banks and Quantitative Inflation Tomorrow’s EU Summit Meeting Cancelled; Gold and Silver Skyrocket on News We Are Saved Again By More Paper Injection / Gold And Silver Rebound To Score Higher Levels GDP Grew 2.5%, …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Amid the City, Learning to Survive in the Wild. (Thanks to Mary F. for the link.)    o o o Important Safety Tip, Kids: Just like with an AT-4 or LAW, Always Check Your Backblast Area    o o o Tam posted some great commentary on the dark side of biometrics.    o o o Why did a police officer fire gas canister into crowd trying to help injured Iraq veteran? This is the sort of JBT behavior that I warned about.    o o o This map provides yet another good data point in support of the American Redoubt …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” – John 6:39-40 (KJV)


Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 37 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) 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 B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $300 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo, and E.) …


The Ultimate Altoids Tin Survival Kit, by J.C.R.

As hunting season begins to kick into high gear here in central North Carolina and I begin to drag out my gear and go over it like a child on Christmas morning, I thought of something.  The thoughts of a basic survival kit came to mind.  As I replayed a situation many years old that could have gone badly, I made up my mind to look seriously into putting together a kit.  Several years ago while deer hunting in eastern North Carolina, me and my hunting buddy wandered off into a marshy swamp and spent all day trying to get …


Letter Re: Survival Aspects of Cartridge Reloading

Jim: In a recent article, Jerry M. mentioned: “One more thing worth mentioning is the small rifle and small pistol primers are the same size cups, same as the large rifle and large pistol primers are the same size. The cups on the pistol primers are a little thinner than the rifle, for obvious reasons, most rifle firing pins hit a lot harder than pistols do. I have used rifle primers in pistol rounds, and they seem to work fine. You might run into problems on S&W revolvers, using rifle primers, if you have the spring tension screw backed off …


Economics and Investing:

G.G. sent a piece by Andy Lees: Quantitative Easing!!! Dollar Decline in Full Swing in Risk-On Environment Data suggests inflation on the way. (Thanks to B.B. for the link.) Also from G.G.: Inflation Concerns Go Beyond Rise in Consumer Price Index File under “Fragile Global Supply Chain”: Thai Floods Reach Toyota Plants in Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and Ontario Items from The Economatrix: Weiss Final Warning to All Investors: Get All or Most of Your Money Out of Danger Immediately… Silver Waits To Begin Break-out Gold Market Update Inflation Up Globally Claims For Unemployment Aid Dip But Remain High Stocks Turn …


Odds ‘n Sods:

C.Z. sent this YouTube clip: Thailand supermarket empty during floods    o o o Several readers sent me this: ‘Rogue Web sites’ Bill Creates Chinese-Style Ban List. JWR’s Comment: Even though piracy of my books by the the umpteen “torrent” web sites cost me thousands of dollars a year in lost book sale royalties, I oppose this legislation. It provides a mechanism that could easily be abused by a would-be tyrant. It is reminiscent of the Great Firewall of China “Golden Shield” or J?ndùn G?ngchéng.) What is being proposed is a domain name re-direct feature rather than true blocking. They …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he [is] God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them. Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the …


Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 37 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) 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 B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $300 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo, and E.) …


Survival Aspects of Cartridge Reloading, by Jerry M.

Having spent my teenage years in my dad’s commercial reloading shop, circa 1955 to1958, I learned quite a bit about reloading ammunition. Back then we loaded mostly .30-06, .30-30 Winchester, .270 Winchester, .300 Savage, 250 Savage and other old calibers that were excellent deer and elk rifles. Long before the magnum mania came about, these rifles were killing big game, and doing it quite well. Many today find this unbelievable, but back when the silver certificates were money, and fiat currency was only a dream of the globalist bankers, you could buy a pound of DuPont 4895, a box of 100- .30 caliber JSP bullets, and …


Letter Re: A Street Gang Rapid Response Kit

I visit your blog daily and the link to a map showing gang presence in the United States caught my eye. I note that my home is within one of the “moderate” gang activity areas. That is not news to me. We are about a mile from the perimeter of the “war zone” of our city in a semi-rural part of town. We hear gunshots (within a half-mile of the house) nightly and the roofers who replaced our shingles last year remarked at the number of bullet holes in our roof. Those shots came from the street in front of …


Letter Re: It Takes a Brickmaker To Build a Village

Mr Rawles & Co., I recently found a project on the Kickstarter web site while browsing for good DIY options for brick making machines. The project seems right up any survivalist’s or prepper’s alley in that it involves designing cheap and durable machinery for use after the collapse of civilization, using mostly only scrap metal or other junk. If successful, the end result is going to be an open-source database (and various CDs) containing schematics and instructions for the construction of at least 50 machines and vehicles. These include brick makers, primitive CNC machine tools, tractors etc. (You get the …