Are surgical masks as effective as N95 respirators to prevent influenza? US Rolls Out Massive Swine Flu Vaccination Campaign US Children Now Receiving Swine Flu FluMist China Reports First Swine Flu Death MSNBC Asks: How Safe are the Flu Shots? Sebelius: Americans Must Get Swine Flu Vaccine (BTW, the article does not state that it is mandatory.)
Reader CP suggested a column piece by Malcolm Berko: Taking Stock. CP’s comment: “While Berko runs an investment advice column, he’s generally not a cheerleader for irrational exuberance. This response to a reader’s question is an general indictment of the markets and those who might as well be donning grass skirts dancing on a beach to appease the financial gods.” Commentary from Dan Denninger: Consumer Credit: Disaster, Down $12 billion Items from The Economatrix: US Consumers Cut Borrowing by $12 Billion in August Mortgage Rates Below 5% Fuel Re-Fi Boom Gold Price Hit Record High on Report to Ditch Dollar …
Morgan spotted this: Brazil’s Motorists Invest in Armor o o o Attention New Yorkers: Don’t miss the Doomsday Film Festival, October 23-25, 2009. o o o Penny was the first of several readers to send me this: SWAT raid on food storehouse heading to trial; Family sues over confiscation of supplies, computers o o o Mystery ‘Police’ Force Has Small Montana City on Edge. (A hat tip to KAF.)
"If you become involved in a crisis situation, you will not rise to the occasion but, rather, default to your level of training." – A phrase first coined by firefighters, but now commonly used by shooting instructors
Wow! We recently set two new records: 31,898 unique visits in one day, and a whopping 46.2 Gigabytes of traffic. My sincere thanks for spreading the word about SurvivalBlog. Please continue to do so, by adding a link to your web site, blog, or e-mail footer. Thanks! — Today we present another entry for Round 25 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. 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 …
As a child, I was orphaned by age 10. I went from living in wealthy lifestyle with maids and yard handyman, with ponies and pet monkeys in Miami, Florida, to living in rural mid-West with my Grandparents. This was truly a culture shock. It has been with prepping that I have truly appreciated the time spent with my Grandparents. From them learned about gardening, canning, freezing, sewing, and mind expanding experiences from visiting relatives on the farm (acres and acres of corn, and livestock!) I remember Grandma’s bootstrapping on everything. She’d lived through the depression and WWII with its rationing. …
Mr. Rawles, To counter the ridiculous prices of heavy duty lined upholstery fabric and pre-made retail offered curtain panels with “supposed” 99% light blocking out fabric liners, or the use of fabric remnants of odd sizes and black dye, this alternative suggestion beats the cost of other approaches hands down. They can be put up in a hurry with two staples or my preference is to apply them up with screws at both chord ends using para-cord through the holes, which will allow them to be cinched open and closed during daylight hours, if you chose to do so. I …
Dear Mr. Rawles, I was recently given your novel “Patriots” by a like-minded friend in Wyoming. I read it once for pleasure, then twice with a highlighter, notepad, and Google. It’s a wonderful resource, and I’m looking forward to the new book [“How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It”]. Reading “Patriots” left me proud to be an American, and revitalized something I felt I had been losing in the recent years. This is a wonderful country, and I have faith that there are still a bunch of decent God-fearing people who will stand up for …
Thanks to reader GWC for this: U.K. Faced ‘Bank Runs, Riots’ as RBS and HBOS Neared Collapse GG spotted this key data point: Hours worked plummets to all time low Thanks to Damon for this news item: Venezuela inflation estimated at 26%, annually. (Prices were up 2.5% in September. But don’t worry. Comrade Hugo has a plan.) Mark G. found an interesting New York Times blog article: What Happened to Argentina? Items from The Economatrix: UN Calls For New Reserve Currency Australia Rate Hike Good Sign for World Economy National Retails Groups Forecasts Weak Holiday Season Weak Dollar, Strong Stock …
Reader Jim F. mentioned this fascinating Wired article: Missile Silo Fixer-Upper Now Swanky Bachelor Pad o o o A reminder that Safecastle’s final Mountain House sale for 2009, ends on October 11th. They are offering 25% off on all Mountain House canned long-term storage foods. Order soon! o o o Feds sued to keep out of state’s gun affair; Complaint filed seeking affirmation of Montana Firearms Freedom Act. (Thanks to Clem in Wyoming, for the link.) o o o Paint Horses for Sale: SurvivalBlog reader “Tota” wrote me: “Recently I lost my job. I have a herd …
“In addition to some of the obvious reasons why you don’t want to cut yourself when operating a saw, blood on a bare tool steel blade can cause serious and near-immediate rusting, and good tools deserve better treatment than that. “ – H. J. Halterman, Along the Way, August 2009
Sorry about the delay, but here are the result’s of last month’s poll. Today, I’m starting a new poll: What are your favorite movies with survival themes? Please e-mail me a list of your top five picks. Thanks! I’ll post the results sometime early in November.
Here are the results of our recent poll. Thety are listed in no particular order, but each book listed below received at least two votes. Those that are marked with an asterisk are suitable for teenagers. Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank* Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle One Second After by William R. Forstchen (An EMP scenario.) Earth Abides by George Stewart* Dies the Fire series by S.M. Stirling The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shafer and Annie Barrows The Survivalist series (Most recommended just the first 10 books) by Jerry Ahern The …
James Wesley, A Zenith Trans-Oceanic (T-O) is hard to beat, especially if you could snag a [rare] R-520 militarized version. This has a spare tube rack, uses no wax paper capacitors, is fungi proof, et cetera. The T-O definitely the world’s greatest portable radio (this side of the AN/GRR-6!) the G & H 500s and the 600 series as well as the R-520 all used the 1L6 converter tube which has become expensive and just about un-obtainable. You can clip a pin out of a 1R5 as a substitute but shortwave performance usually conks out around 7-8 MC. The earlier …
GG was the first of more than a dozen readers to mention this article by Robert Fisk (an outspokenly leftist journal list, so take it with a grain of salt.): The demise of the dollar; In a graphic illustration of the new world order, Arab states have launched secret moves with China, Russia and France to stop using the US currency for oil trading. Given the import of the preceding (if it is true), is it any wonder that the USDI is tanking, and the future and spot prices of precious metals are going through the roof? You’ve had plenty …