Maxine’s Myopic Economic Solution: Buy More Gum Balls!

A recent news headline caught my attention: Representative Maxine Waters Calls For A Trillion-Dollar Jobs Program. After reading that I feel obliged to make a few sarcastic comments. (A privilege that I don’t abuse through over-use, as the editor of SurvivalBlog.com): Well, gosh, Maxine, if your “spending money that we don’t have creating wonderful economic prosperity” concept is so iron-clad, then why not go whole hog by pouring even bigger buckets of slop into the public trough? Why not spend $20 trillion to create zero unemployment? There would be jobs for everyone. We could develop whole new categories of jobs! …


Letter Re: CONEX Shipping Containers as Faraday Enclosures?

Captain Rawles,  As most of your readers would say, we thank you for your ministry.  My question is weather a 40′ Continental Express (CONEX) shipping containers would work as a huge Faraday cage, and thus we would be able to store most of our sensitive electronics, such as communications gear, battery chargers, e cetera.   Thank you again, – R.L.S. JWR Replies: There are a few problems with that concept: 1.) The vast majority of CONEXes have wooden floors. Wood is fairly transparent to radio frequency (RF) waves, including electromagnetic pulse (EMP). A metal Faraday enclosure needs to be an integral box. …


Economics and Investing:

B.B. sent this: Economist Calls Entitlements A Massive Ponzi Scheme And Says US Is Actually $211 Trillion In Debt Dan H. suggested this NPR piece: Switzerland: Too Strong For Its Own Good Euro’s Future—When Will Rioting Start? (Thanks to Ben S. for the link.) European Stocks Fall Sharply as Debt Fears Hit Banks Items from The Economatrix: Government Doubles Layoffs Illusion of Stable Currency Vortex Why Gold is Going to $2,000/oz. By The End of September Self-Employed Struggle as U.S. Recovery Offers Few Opportunities Even Goldman Sachs Secretly Believes that an Economic Collapse is Coming


Odds ‘n Sods:

For those in the vicinity of Boulder, Colorado, Jonathan E. wrote to mention that he noticed some tanks, totes, and barrels advertised on Craigslist. (Similar drums and barrels are available on other Craigslist pages for other cities.)    o o o For those who might dismissively reject community building projects (like my American Redoubt concept), I recommend this piece by Brandon Smith: The Strategic Advantages Of Community Building.    o o o M.B. spotted this Makezine piece: DIY Bookbinding.    o o o There have been some great posts recently over at the Paratus Familia blog. For example, scroll down …



Note from JWR:

My apologies if my SurvivalBlog posts are fairly sparse or terse for the next six days. This is “crunch week” to complete the second sequel novel manuscript that I’ve contracted with Simon & Schuster. My wife (“Avalanche Lily“) has been helping me fine tune the last few passages. That book should be released in October or November of 2012. In the meantime, the “Book Bomb” day for for the first sequel to “Patriots” (“Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse) is October 4th, 2011. Thank you for waiting until that day to order your copy! By waiting, we hope to …


Some Useful Influenza Facts, by Dr. Bob

In my head it sounds like the start to a Schoolhouse Rock song….”innnn flu enza!  It’s contagious, it’s outrageous…influenza a virus that …”  Anyway, enough reminiscing about my childhood and on to the topic.  First things first:  “flu” is one of the most overused and improperly used terms in all of medicine–arguable the king of misused medical words.  Influenza is a respiratory virus.  It is not what most people call “flu” or “stomach flu”.  It is not a little cold that you have that people call into work for because they just feel sniffly.  Influenza is an enveloped RNA virus classified …


Pat’s Product Review: The Para P14 Returns

Para Ordnance started the trend with hi-capacity 1911-style handguns back in the 1980s. People said it couldn’t be done – putting more than 7 or 8 big ol’ .45ACP rounds in a 1911 frame, and still have a gun you could wrap your fingers around. Para Ord proved everyone wrong! Para didn’t start out with a complete 1911, instead, they manufactured a frame only. And, people could simply fit the slide, barrel and other upper parts onto the Para frame. I still remember the first Para frame I saw – it wasn’t nicely finished, and it was a little bit …


Book Review: Nothing To Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

Dear Mr. Rawles, Here is my review of the book Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, by Barbara Demick. This a book with great insights for preppers and survivalists, especially in the famine food area.  As you are aware, North Korea suffered a disastrous ten-year famine in which possibly as many as 20% of the population died of starvation and most of the rest were severely malnourished.  This book is about several families and how they did and didn’t make it through those years.  Particularly striking to me were instances where they were eating and, more-or-less, surviving on …


Economics and Investing:

We Are in ‘Worse Situation’ Than in 2008: Roubini. (Thanks to Neil H. for the link.0 S.M.O. sent a link to some astute observations by Jeffrey Snider about what he calls a silent run on fiat currencies: Ghosts of Lehman And a Budding Bank Crisis. U.S. Debt Held by Public Tops $10 Trillion for First Time—Up 59 Percent Under Obama Federal, State, and Local Expenditures as a Share of GDP at WWII Levels. (Thanks to G.G. for the link.) ‘Houseboats’ for Rough Economic Waters G.G. sent this: Chart Shock: The Real Unemployment Rate is 22% K.A.F. liked this humorous piece …


Odds ‘n Sods:

I’ve asked Avalanche Lily to put this at the top of my Christmas list: FLIR Scout PS24. I never thought I’d see a good quality compact thermal imaging monocular below $2,500. What a pleasant surprise. Note to our overseas readers: Sorry, but these are Federally export-restricted.    o o o For just three days, September 6th through the 8th, Safecastle will offer a 25% discount on Mountain House cans (and pouches, too)!    o o o Bob S. sent this: Minnesota landowners livid over mineral contracts.    o o o John Jacob Schmidt, the host of Radio Free Redoubt has …



Notes 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.) …


Start Small, Plan Ahead, and Set a Realistic Timetable, by Christian Rebel

I’ve only been in the survival community for one to two years; I still need quite a bit of work to do before I’d dare say I’m prepared enough to survive a severe blizzard let alone some life changing and significantly prolonged event. I get a little overwhelmed by all the work I still have to do and frustrated by how precious little resources I have to work with. I’m a 21 year old unemployed college student still living at home in an apartment complex 20 minutes from a city, as you can see my options are limited. Limited not …


Letter Re: Inverters for Disaster Preparedness

Jim: There have been several recent articles on UPS systems and inverters. Most of the current inverters use MOSFETs or similar sensitive solid state switching devices. These are the hardest stressed components of the inverter. Spares should be a consideration. In addition many modern inverters use custom chips that may not even be available now, so not at all after TEOTWAWKI. Consider this, inverters have been around for quite along time. The best design that I have worked with and designed circuitry for is the McMurray-Bedford inverter. It is a simple design that originally used thyratron tubes and later, SCRs. …