Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“The protection guaranteed by the amendments is much broader in scope. The makers of our Constitution undertook to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness. They recognized the significance of man’s spiritual nature, of his feelings and of his intellect. They knew that only a part of the pain, pleasure and satisfactions of life are to be found in material things. They sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions and their sensations. They conferred, as against the government, the right to be let alone-the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized …


Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 30 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will 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 between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 500 round case of …


Pellet Rifle Hunting, by D.M.

Due to financial circumstances I found myself living out of the back of my pick-up for several months on public lands in South West mostly BLM and NF mostly. Just before setting out I sold most of my belongings in a yard sale that netted me just over $800 dollars. This money would have to be rationed wisely over the summer, most went for fuel. Don’t think I did not look for work anywhere I could, what I found was it was depleting my resources with no results. I finally moved onto public lands with the idea of hunting, fishing and gold panning (which …


Letter From David in Israel Re: Solar Storms

James There was a bit of excitement when we flew the Earth through this last coronal mass ejection (CME) it might be useful for people to understand how the 1859 event was set up to cause such a powerful hit as well as its effects on Earth. The 1859 Carrington [CME] Event was a very rare perfect storm in space where sci-fi type examples are probably the best language to illustrate what happened. The sun is a big bubbling liquid death star, it can spew and splash at times with great power. Since we orbit the sun and it has …


Odds ‘n Sods:

“Millerized” sent this: Russia to halt wheat export. And reader L.L. sent this: Why Russia’s Heatwave Means Higher U.S. Food Prices. I predict this will start a chain reaction, around the globe. Other nations are sure to follow suit with export restrictions, and futures prices will soar. We can expect food riots in the future. There is also some likely inflation in other grain prices, as cattle feed is shifted slightly, to compensate. Get your wheat orders in with a trustworthy vendor pronto, before the inevitable prices increases hit the retail level! Wheat prices could double again, before December. Jim …


Odds ‘n Sods:

John H. mentioned an interactive election results map from 2008 that was designed to show political differences, but with its population density slider it also makes a great tool for visualizing potential retreat locales. You can zoom in on each state. It is fascinating to fiddle with this!    o o o RFJ sent this: Navy Flier Dieter Dengler’s Great Escape During The Vietnam War. OBTW, I highly recommend Dengler’s book Escape From Laos.    o o o Brute mentioned this Gizmodo article: Inside AT&T’s National Disaster Recovery Batcave: Who AT&T Calls When the Death Star Explodes    o o …



Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 30 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will 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 between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 500 round case of …


Facing Fears to G.O.O.D., by Prairie Chick

This article is my personal story of how some early childhood lessons helped me G.O.O.D. from Southern California in June of 1994.   I have added a few links using today’s technology, but advise you to plan on keeping things as low-tech as possible.   I traveled half way across the country in 1994.  I was a single woman with a ten year old child, no cell phone or gun.  W.T.S.H.T.F. you may not be able to get as far as we did as fast was we did, but by learning to face your fears, and being prepared, you will eventually get …


Letter Re: Lessons About Survival From Fiction

Hello, I’ve been reading and enjoying SurvivalBlog for about one month now. First of all, thank you for the time and effort you put into this great resource! I enjoy reading fiction and especially science-fiction, so a few of the references listed there were familiar. Many aren’t and have no chance of being available at the local library, here in France. However, most of those I did recognise were about dramatic SHTF scenarios, while you and many others have emphasised the likeliness of a “Slow Decline” situation. Two novels that I have read describe precisely this kind of lifestyle: they …


Two Letters Re: Solar Storms

Dear Jim, Regarding the Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) that occurred this week that everyone is concerned about. I advise some caution in over-reacting to these types of events. While the CME itself was of a very high magnitude and is spectacular in images, it was never anticipated that it would cause us any problems. Predictions for auroral activity were only in the high latitudes, and auroral activity is a dead-giveaway as to how strong the impact on the ground will be. The spectacular images we have all seen over the last week immediately told me we had nothing to be …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Tamara at the View From The Porch blog had a link to a good article about low-light marksmanship training: A Shot in the Dark.    o o o “Robo” sent us a piece that illustrates how our privacy is shrinking: Hacker tries to read a radio identification tag from 29 floors up. Meanwhile, we read: The Web’s New Gold Mine: Your Secrets. (Thanks to AmEx, for the latter link.)    o o o Trent H. flagged this article in The Boston Globe: Popularity of farming soars in Massachusetts.    o o o E.M.B.sent us the link to this terrorism map. …



Economics and Investing:

Chris G. mentioned: ACTA: The War on Progress, Freedom, and Human Civilization An interesting piece over at The Daily Bell: Why Bankers Didn’t See Collapse. Frequent contributor K.A.F. says: “States are taking on more debt. Here’s your state’s burden per capita“. JWR Adds: What I found amazing is Massachusetts. How can they tax their citizens so much, yet still end up short of funds? Lee C. recommended a 25 minute long BBC Radio Interview on the Credit Crisis and the Risk of Another Crash.


Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 30 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will 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 between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 500 round case of …