Note from JWR:

A reminder that the special two-week 25% off sale on canned Mountain House foods at Ready Made Resources ends in less than a week. They are offering free shipping on full (“unbroken”) cases lots. But because of the higher handling costs, if you “mix and match” cans within cases, shipping will be charged.


Letter Re: A SurvivalBlogger Reviews Roland Emmerich’s 2012

Jim: I saw [Roland Emmerich’s new movie] 2012, the movie and must say it failed to live up to my hopes. It depended little on Mayan predictions and the coming of Planet X or Niburu but instead on some very iffy particle physics, the rapid heating of Earth’s interior due to an intense neutrino flux from an immense solar flare, the “largest ever recorded.” Never mind that a flare that size would have fried all grids, chips, and transistors and reset civilization back to the early iron age due to Carrington Effect. Nobody would have known what the hell was …


Letter Re: Preparing Your Spouse

I really liked the post about preparing your spouse but saw one thing missing or at least not stated explicitly. Your spouse needs to know how to do these things and the only way to really learn most of these practical tasks is to do them with your spouse. Binders [full of information] are great but unless you know how to execute all the steps, where all the necessary tools and pieces are and how to use them binders are not going to help much. To illustrate the importance of actually doing something I will relay a recent tale from …


Letter Re: Mountain Money Isn’t

Mr. Rawles- I’ve seen it repeated everywhere that an item of big importance in survival preps is toilet paper. I do not understand this, myself. While I do use the stuff, I grew up as the son of immigrants from an impoverished nation, and learned a bit about the bathroom customs of the old country. Basically, my progenitors would use a small bucket of water and their hand to wash themselves post-elimination. Frankly, I think it gets the area cleaner than the best 3-ply can. It would put less of a load on a septic tank, if you’ve got one. …


Letter Re: Which Items Need a “Cool Dry Place”, and Which Don’t?

Mr. Editor, It seems that when we have to store anything it is always recommended to store in a cool dark area with low humidity. What things can we store in less than favorable spots like attics or outside sheds where the temps and humidity varies greatly? Thanks for all you have done for us. – Bill H. in Delaware JWR Replies: Humidity can be problematic, but some items that can tolerate fairly high temperature inside a shed include salt, ammunition, paper products, and many cleaning supplies and lubricants. (But do your homework on potential leaks and fire danger, especially …


Letter Re: Seeking Advice on Safe Food Storage, and Recommended Sources

Mr. Rawles, My test indictor for properly functioning Oxygen Absorbing Packets while packaging bulk storage in food grade buckets is the downward pull on the lid. If a good seal is formed by the lid (which is imperative for any method of purging the Oxygen) the packets will cause a vacuum to be created in the bucket and the lid will be concave. It may take up to three (3) days for this to happen. I have had one bucket so far not seal properly and it did not display the concave lid. I replaced the lid and absorber packets …


Economics and Investing:

GG flagged this: The Debt Bomb: Uncle Sam on teaser rate Randy F. sent this: Payback Time – Wave of Debt Payments Facing U.S. Government Items from The Economatrix: Stocks Climb on Report Showing Jump in Home Sales Late Payments on Credit Cards Drop in 3Q IMF Chief: Global Economy Still Fragile AP Survey: Debt Stress Turns Shoppers into Scrooges Gas Prices Fall to Begin Busy Travel Week Bets Rise on Rich Country Derivative Defaults Gold Hits New High Among Rising Political Tension Couples Turn to “Shift-Parenting” to Stay Afloat End of the Checkbook: Bankers Drawing Plans, Could End by …



Letter Re: Preparing Your Spouse

Mr. Rawles,Several years ago I took a serious fall and was out of commission for several months. My husband had to completely take over the household responsibilities during that time. Fortunately, he was working at home and I was available to give him direction and information. Had I not been, he would have really struggled to figure out just how I got things done. As he was buttoning up the house in preparation for winter this year it occurred to me that, if he were suddenly unavailable, I too would be at a loss to remember all of the details …


Three Letters Re: Seeking Advice on Safe Food Storage, and Recommended Sources

Jim: For anyone in Northeastern Ohio, look into taking advantage of the resources in and around Amish country. Lehman’s Hardware in Kidron, Ohio is an excellent place to find non-electric household and farm equipment. They do sell some bulk grains to be used with their wide variety of grain mills, but I would also suggest looking at Swiss Village Bulk Foods in Sugarcreek, Ohio. They run sales weekly, and there are often coupons and additional discounts offered in local newspapers. There are many other similar resources in the area, but these two stores are the largest, and the ones I …


Three Letters Re: The Fabric of Our Lives

James: Thanks to Jeanan for raising a very important but easily overlooked point. It’s amazing how we take for granted having drawers full of clothes! Curiously, though, I do know folks who know how to spin thread and weave cloth. Some of the ladies in a Dark Age re-enactment group that I’m a member of perform demonstrations of these very skills. I have seen them work with raw wool, spin thread, and demonstrate weaving on period looms. Granted that the Dark Ages are a little too primitive (no spinning wheels, for example) but it does point to a partial solution, …


Influenza Pandemic Update:

WHO Confirms D225G In Norway And Ukraine Sharp Rise In England’s Swine Flu Deaths 1918 RBD D225G In Lung Cases In Ukraine and Norway UK: Surge In Pediatric Swine Flu Cases May Cause Bed Shortage All Fatal Ukraine Cases Have RBD D225G RBD Change D225G in Ukraine Lungs Raises Concerns Swine Flu Kills Six Adults In New Jersey Radical Measures Can’t Stop Swine Flu D225G Lung Tropism Driving H1N1 False Negatives?


Economics and Investing:

More than a dozen readers mentioned this London Telegraph article: Société Générale tells clients how to prepare for ‘global collapse’. Gee, folks must be catching on… Beepaw sent this: Bloomberg news: U.S. Housing Recovery Delayed to 2010 as Market Wanes. BeePaw’s comment: “It is remarkable that the [same] pundits who failed to see the crisis at all are now able to pinpoint its recovery. I don’t believe the markets will recover in 2010. Or 2011. Or 2012.” Peter D, suggested the latest installment of some speculative fiction from John Galt: “I Have Been to the Fields of Gettysburg” (The Day …


Odds ‘n Sods:

My old friend Fred the Valmet-meister has been helping me for the last few months in restoring several “All-American Five” 1940s vintage AM and Shortwave table radios. These have included a RCA, a Crosley, a Motorola and two Pilot brand radios. Fred has installed all new replacement capacitors, checked the tubes, cleaned the tuners, and realigned the radios. The end result has been EMP-proof dual band radios that can operate on both AC and DC power. As previously mentioned in SurvivalBlog, these are ideal for anyone that has an alternative power system where they have a 110-to-120 volt VDC battery …