Letter Re: The Little Things

This experience was thought-provoking, and many of D.M.L.’s ideas were interesting.  But there were two ideas that have not been tested or proven, so at this point they are only ideas.  First, J-B Weldwill not repair a cracked Briggs & Stratton two piece fuel tank.  They are made of black HDPE, and there is no proper glue for that.  I have personal experience with this.  HDPE is heat welded when two pieces must be joined.  You have to determine your Briggs & Stratton model number and order a replacement gas tank from Amazon.com.  I got mine for my Briggs & …


Letter Re: Hurricane Irene Lessons Learned

James, Thanks to the information presented in your book “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It” we were able to “weather” Hurricane Irene without much difficulty. It was amazing to the pandemonium at the super markets; people were waiting for water to be brought out from the stockroom and wondering whether they would “die of thirst”. If they had only looked over their shoulder they would have seen a pallet filled with cases of soda (on sale: four cases for eleven dollars). The same goes for D-cell batteries; people were lamenting that they didn’t have …


Letter Re: Experiences of a Novice Gardener

Jim: My message to J.B. is: don’t give up after just one season. I’ve been gardening since I was very little. Having a green thumb has little to do with luck or heredity but much to do with experiential knowledge of what plants like/don’t like and require to thrive. We moved to our current residence about 13 months ago. I started my new garden from scratch over existing sod- starting last June when we moved our pony to the property, even before the house was completed. I love to experiment whether it is by building a homemade incubator and trying …


Economics and Investing:

Gold is for Wealth Preservation and Silver is for Bartering K.A.F. sent this: US Department of Energy devises security system to thwart rampant copper thefts G.G. flagged this: US economy created no job growth in August, data show: First time since 1945 that government has reported net monthly job change of zero Steve K. forwarded this: The Future of the European Union May Be Decided in Less than a Week Gold wedding bands get dumped for tungsten. (Thanks to R.B.S. for the link.) Items from The Economatrix: Natural Gas Rises as Power Demand Returns to East Double-dip Fears Across the …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Hardy sent us a link to a 12-minute video: Hurricane Irene Landfall in Morehead City, North Carolina. (It could have easily been more tightly edited, but you can fast forward through it to get the gist of it.)    o o o Some good news from the courts: First Circuit Court of Appeals Rules that Citizens Can Videotape Police    o o o Robert S. wrote to mention Project Kleinrock, “…a project to create a completely autonomous “second layer” of the Internet.”    o o o Reader Diana M. sent a couple of tips: “A simple way to have a …



Note from JWR:

Today we present another two entries 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 …


The Little Things, by D.M.L.

So, you think you’re prepared? So did I. Until Hurricane Irene destroyed the infrastructure around here. The roads were blocked to all the local towns, all three routes out of here. If it wasn’t trees down, it was flooded, or power lines and poles leaned over the road in the ‘maybe’ zone (maybe you would hit them and maybe not, but why take a chance on thousands of volts? If not those, it was pieces of somebody’s house across the road. And this was only a Cat 1 storm? Sigh.   Before she hit, I, being confident that we were ‘prepped up’, …


Lessons From Wartime Bosnia-Herzegovina, by Benjamin

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I have been following the survivalist trend on YouTube for about a year now and so far you provide the best and most realistic advice of anyone. Many of the people who offer advice, in my opinion are not qualified based on what they are saying. And I can say this based on my experience. Half of the things I hear other people say cannot be applied to the situation I was in or most situations, but you seem to understand. I was born and raised in Bosnia-Herzegovina. I saw that a fellow Bosnian gave you his story, but he …


Two Letters Re: Hurricane Irene Lessons Learned

Jim, I thought I’d share with you some thoughts and experience I’ve had with Hurricane [later Tropical Storm] Irene. I live in southwest Connecticut in a city slightly less than 100,000 population.  We are about 50-65 miles from New York City. As of this evening, I am still running my generator five days after being hit by Tropical Storm Irene on Saturday evening.  As of this evening, the power company said they will restore power “by middle of next week”.  If that ends up happening, we will be without power for around 10 days.  We shall see.  A few details …


Letter Re: The Five Steps of OPSEC Assessment

Mr. Rawles, I am compelled to respond to the essay by “Stone of Scone” on OPSEC. He wrote the following with regard to obfuscating his residence’s physical location: “The only downside to not having a valid 911 address that points to your real home’s location is that when an ambulance is called, it will go to the wrong place. In this rare emergency I will just send someone to flag them down to go to the correct location.” I am a volunteer emergency medical technician in rural northwest Montana. I volunteer out of a sense of duty to my neighbors …


Economics and Investing:

G.G. flagged this: Belarus Hyperinflation Update: Food Runs Out As Friendly Foreigners Take Advantage Of The “Favorable” Exchange Rate Arb John R. sent this: Analysis: As debt maturities loom, U.S. needs to extend Also from John: Fearing An Even Worse Inflationary Depression Ahead (Bob Chapman) Reader Hal C. sent this link: John Williams of ShadowStats interviewed by Goldseek. He is predicting hyperinflation. B.B. suggested: Maple Leaf sets silver record: 2010 bullion sales rise 74% from 2009 Items from The Economatrix: After Bumpy August, Economy Shows Signs of Growth Retailers Report Solid Gains For August Carmakers Report Surprisingly Strong August Sales …


Odds ‘n Sods:

F.G. sent us some news from Las Cruces, New Mexico: Family arrested in gun bust; feds raid LC, Deming store. So why aren’t the BATFE agents that knowingly and intentionally facilitated similar sales of more than 2,000 guns facing similar charges? (The agents ordered gun shops to proceed with straw purchase sales to Mexican nationals.)    o o o Some good analysis by Fred Burton of Stratfor: Above the Tearline: Reconstructing the Monterrey Arson Attack from Surveillance Footage    o o o D.W. sent a link to the PDF of a U.S. Army /USMC Counterinsurgency Field Manual with a foreword …