Letter Re: Making Your Own Fuel Briquettes Making Fuel From Waste

Hi Jim; I stumbled across the idea of fuel briquetting while on an appropriate technology web site and have found the idea is very popular in the developing world, particularly in areas where wood for fuel is scarce. Most of us are familiar with the formed charcoal briquettes used in barbecues, and you can use charcoal in this type of press, but practically anything burnable can be used to create briquettes: straw, grass clippings, rice hulls, paper, sawdust, leaves, animal dung… use your imagination! The end result will look different depending on your source material, but all will get the …


Letter Re: Converting a Standard American Home Into a Hardened Retreat

Mr. Rawles, I read CentOre’s article with great interest and believe he and his group are well on the way to success.  I have a possible solution to what he listed as his greatest issue: “A more realistic problem in our area involves the numerous one ton, four wheel drive, jacked up trucks.  Our goal for them remains to slow or delay their progress within reasonable shooting distances. “ May I recommend a classic defense that has been in use against infantry and cavalry for centuries and motorized vehicles more recently called the abatis.  I think this fits in perfectly …


Economics and Investing:

The global markets are in such flux that the spot price of gold has risen above the spot price of platinum. These are indeed unusual times! A headline that we saw coming: Fed forced to consider fresh stimulus. (Only in the mind of Ben Bernanke is “more spending” the solution to a crisis created by overspending .) Steve K. suggested a video that is well worth watching: Jim Sinclair interviewed by James Turk. (Jim Sinclair is usually quite terse in his writings, so it is great to hear him speak at greater length.) Can you spell “Plunge Protection Team”? Stocks …


Odds ‘n Sods:

London riots: breakdown of Monday night’s violence. (Two observations from JWR: 1.) A lot of these “youths” appear to be in their 20s and 30s, and, 2.) If the rioting is this severe on such a slight pretense, then what will things be like in the midst of economic collapse, later in the decade?) It is high time to take the gap!    o o o You can’t blame these Turkish shop owners in London’s Dalston for arming themselves. Video: London Riots: Shop-owners defend their businesses in east London. (Riotguns would of course be better, but this is England.) And …



Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 36 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.) …


Converting a Standard American Home Into a Hardened Retreat, by CentOre

Not everyone can find or afford a solidly built brick home with fittings to hang bullet-proof shutters and doors. We agree with the bulk of the writings we have read concerning the ‘non-defensibility’ of the average United States home.  Our group has choices as to which house will become ‘The Retreat’ for the entire group when the SHTF.  Our group’s consensus is our ‘Primary’ retreat will probably be a 2,600 square foot triple-wide ranch style manufactured home.  It has three bedrooms, two and a half baths, a living room and family room.   There is an adequate kitchen with a totally …


Some Ground Truth on Intellectual Property Rights

I recently received an e-mail that perturbed me. In reply to my e-mail releasing the right to re-post an article from SurvivalBlog, a gent (who shall remain nameless) mentioned: “Personally, I don’t believe in copyrights because nobody can truly own ideas, thoughts or words…” To which, I replied: Do you really believe that?  Let me politely set you straight:  When I write a novel, that is my intellectual property.  Each book that I write represents the fruit of my intellect, and is the end result of thousands of hours of my work.  Without a limited-term copyright, strangers could rob me …


Economics and Investing:

Monday’s headline at the The Drudge Report proclaimed: BARACKALYPSE NOW. On Monday, following a losing week, stocks on the Dow dropped another 631 points. The spot price of gold jumped 3% to touch an all-time intra-day high of $1,720 per ounce, and then $1,723 in after-hours trading. And since silver is considered more of an industrial metal than gold, it drifted downward to just $38.65 per ounce. These atypical disparate moves in silver and gold brought the silver-to-gold ratio to a whopping 44-to-1. In my opinion, this is now a great time to ratio trade out of gold and into …


Odds ‘n Sods:

This piece from Switzerland has SurvivalBlog written all over it: Turning army forts into private homes. (OBTW, see the photo links at the bottom of this post in our archives. Fascinating, clever camouflage!)    o o o Some great commentary from Patrice Lewis: Man the lifeboats!    o o o Freeze Dry Guy has an August special on original military rations including Granola with Milk & Bananas and Granola with Milk & Blueberries, packed 60 Mylar pouches per case , at $119 per case, with even deeper multi-case discounts available.    o o o No doubt this abuse of power …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Patents and copyrights are the legal implementation of the base of all property rights: a man’s right to the product of his mind. Every type of productive work involves a combination of mental and of physical effort: of thought and of physical action to translate that thought into a material form. The proportion of these two elements varies in different types of work. At the lowest end of the scale, the mental effort required to perform unskilled manual labor is minimal. At the other end, what the patent and copyright laws acknowledge is the paramount role of mental effort in …


Note from JWR:

Please hold off until October 4th to order my new novel “Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse”. By concentrating all of the orders on the release day (the “Book Bomb Day”), I hope to help propel the book into Amazon’s Top 100. Thanks! OBTW: Yes, at $15.98 it is priced higher than “Patriots“, but this is because it will first be released in a hardback binding. I’ve seen the cover artwork, and it is stunning. (The publisher should soon be releasing the cover art for promotional purposes. I’ll post it then.) The Kindle edition will sell for $10.99. I …


Jim’s Product Review: Taylor Freelance Pistol Magazine Extensions

One of the drawbacks of owning an HK USP Compact .45 ACP is that the largest standard magazine for it holds just 10 rounds, and to date, none of the magazine makers produce anything larger. This puts the HK at a disadvantage to guns like the Glock Model 30. (Which can of course accept the longer Glock M21 magazines that hold 13 rounds.) Sadly, since they use substantially different frame form factors, the HK USP Compact .45s cannot accept the fatter HK full-size USP .45 ACP magazines, which are made up to 12 round capacity. But now, after a bit …


Knives, Blades and Needles, by Dr. Bob

There are some things in life that you just can’t go cheap on, and there are others that you can. This is an area that is mixed. As many other posts and reviews will tell you, a good survival knife is an invaluable tool that you absolutely cannot go cheap on. Going to Wal-Mart and buying the “Made in China” cheapo knife is going to potentially hurt you WTSHTF. Don’t do that, please don’t. But, with medical equipment, price does not equal performance. Most medical equipment is dirt cheap because it is nearly all disposable these days. That’s okay, medical …


How I Test and Evaluate Firearms and Knives, by Pat Cascio

Over the years, I’ve had a lot of folks ask me how I got into writing about guns and knives – I also wrote for American Survival Guide magazine for quite a few years, on survival-related topics. I also have folks ask me what my methods are for testing knives, guns, gear, etc. So, I thought I’d take this opportunity to give you all the skinny on this. I’m no expert on anything – I only consider myself a serious student in many things, guns, knives and the martial arts come to mind. Remember, you are getting an opinion from …