Letter Re: What Are the Best Magazines for Investment?

Dear JWR: I took your wise advice posted in the blog back in October and stocked up on magazines for all my guns. I ‘ve even bought some mags [for other guns] that I just plan to buy, such as M14 magazines for my eventual super match M1A buy. But what I’m thinking is, I should also do is by even more magazines just “on spec”, knowing that with Obama coming in[to office, that] a ban of some sort is more likely that not. What types/model high capacity magazines would be best to invest in, for the most possible gain? …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Chris M. sent this from UPS: Global Supply Chains Not Ready for Challenging Times    o o o Jim G. sent us a link to a YouTube clip with some timely humor: Sponsor an Executive    o o o Eric sent this big batch of economic train wreck news and commentary: Where’d the bailout money from taxpayers go? Shhhh, it’s a secret — Bailed-Out Executives Got $1.6 Billion in 2007 — Housing crisis worsens as economy weakens — House-price stabilisation is not imminent — Banks brace for an ugly 2009 — Mortgage Re-Defaults Rising With No Sign of Slowing …



Letter Re: Long Haul Voice and Data Communications in a Post-Collapse Environment

Mr. Rawles; In the event of total meltdown, have you thought about using bulletin board systems (BBSes) as a means of communicating? If, and that could be a big if, the phone land lines were still operating, but ISPs were down, then a BBS would be a excellent way to keep folks informed. Pre-Internet I ran BBSes with multiple phone lines with great success. Just an idea. Also, while on that topic, has there been any discussion as to shortwave frequencies that you may support? Is there/are base stations set up for relays of news and information? A survival Net …


Letter Re: Comparing the Big Three Battle Rifle Chamberings in the United States

Jim, Regarding the comments from PPPP and Hugh D.: I couldn’t agree with them more! Both were exactly spot on! The person shooting is 99% of the equation. Training (and lots of it) is the most important aspect, and in the long run, will probably wind up being more expensive than the firearm itself (instruction, gas to the range, ammo consumption and cleaning supplies are just to name a few). I strongly urge your readers to partake in any excellent training afforded by professional institutes such as Front Sight, OnPoint Tactical, Suarez International, et al. If these locations are too …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Frequent content contributor KAF suggested sci-fi novelist David Brin’s nonfiction book “The Transparent Society“ as a useful reference when considering retreat OPSEC in this modern era of Google Earth. BTW, its was Brin who authored the novel “The Postman“, which Kevin Costner later put on the big screen, with uneven results.    o o os Reader Michael H. notes: “[My friend] Art was just reading in an airline magazine article that mentioned in 1960, 1 in 9 people in the US were overweight or obese and we averaged 8.5 hours of sleep daily. Now 2 in 3 are overweight or …



Notes from JWR:

I just noticed that we are nearing the milestone of six million unique visits. Thanks for making SurvivalBlog such a great success! Please help spread the word about SurvivalBlog. Links to SurvivalBlog in your personal web page and/or in your e-mail footer would be greatly appreciated. The high bid in the SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction is now at $1,000. The auction is for a large mixed lot that includes: 1.) A large “be ready to barter” box of full-capacity gun magazines, from the JASBORR. This box includes: 12 – Used original Bundeswehr contract HK91 (G3) steel 20 round magazines, 6 – …


Fear and Loathing in America’s Age of ZIRP

You’ve surely heard by now that the Federal Reserve has effectively lowered interest rates to zero. Obviously having learned nothing from the mistakes of Japans’s decades-long recession, Ben Bernanke & Company have instituted their own Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP). By artificially lowering interest rates, many economists predict that the Fed will actually delay economic recovery for many years. ZIRP was a failure for Japan, and I predict that it will be a spectacular failure for the United States. The Fed could, in fact, lower interest rates below zero, to the so-called “Super Zero” range. Such absurdities are not impossible …


Letter Re: My Preparations are Fairly Complete, So What Next?

Dear Jim, I have been saving money and selling some of my unnecessary items and toys for a while now and have amassed $42,000. I have plenty of firearms and ammunition, tools, a house that is semi-remote, and a stash of food (which isn’t enough I’m sure). I have paid off my credit cards and only have a house payment left. My job is relatively secure I feel, as I work at a power plant; though once the coal stops moving I wont be needed, I guess. I’m not sure what iI should do with the money I have saved. …


Four Letters Re: Firewalls, Anonymity, and SurvivalBlog

Two notes about Some Call Me Tim’s excellent recommendation of JanusVM: 1) Use Decloak.net to verify that you’ve done everything right. It uses a whole host of very strong tests to attempt to locate your computer and will find out if you’ve slipped up somewhere. The place you’ve slipped up is almost always DNS but cookies and other things can give you away too. 2) Be aware that this encrypts the traffic you’re sending and receiving, it doesn’t make it go away. Someone listening in can tell when you’re sending/receiving and how much, they just can’t read it. Timing and …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Tim L. suggested economist Roger Garrison’s lecture (MP3 file) titled “The Great Depression”. Time notes: “It is very illuminating since it explains why booms and busts happen and also why the Great Depression was much worse than it had to be.”    o o o David B. recommend this brief but telling article: Outrage in New Hampshire Over Power Outages    o o o Ron S. pointed us to a great post by Mike Vanderboegh on the importance of having enough ammo for an extended firefight close at hand, already on stripper clips. Those should of course be stored …



Note from JWR:

My special thanks to Jim in Ohio, who sent a multi-year “catch up” Ten Cent Challenge subscription payment in the form of a 1/2 ounce gold American Eagle coin. Thanks also to Chuck in Georgia, who sent a $300 contribution. That was very kind of both of you!


Two Letters Re: Firewalls, Anonymity, and SurvivalBlog

Dear Mr. Rawles As a network administrator, I spend a fair amount of time making sure my end users cannot access certain web sites from company computers and data lines. I try to make sure we don’t get too draconian in our filtering practices, I do my best to make sure that not streaming audio or video, social networking sites, or other time killers make their way through the network. Recently, a friend of mine told me about a tool called JanusVM, a combination of Internet anonymity tools (TOR, PRIVoxy, Squid, and VPN) that runs in a virtual machine. You …