Louisiana Sales Tax Holiday for Hurricane Preparedness–May 24 & 25

Residents of the US state of Louisiana can purchase needed items free of sales tax as they prepare for the 2008 hurricane season. The inaugural 2008 Hurricane Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday takes place on Saturday, May 24 and Sunday, May 25. The holiday is an annual, statewide event created by the Louisiana Legislature to assist families with the important job of protecting their lives and property in the event of a serious storm. During the two-day holiday, tax-free purchases are allowed for the first $1,500 of the sales price on each of the following items: • Self-powered light sources, such …


Letter Re: Advanced Medical Training and Facilities for Retreat Groups

Jim, I have been enjoying and appreciating the letters and replies throughout the blog, and I am compelled to respond to “Advanced Medical Training and Facilities for Retreat Groups”. The letter contained very accurate and useful information, but I must comment on medical skills available to survivalists. First of all, need to say that I am a professional Emergency Medical Technician – and have been for 25 years. I have treated dozens of real-life gunshot wounds, hundreds of knife wounds, and thousands of other cases of trauma that I would prefer to not remember. As a 911 responder, I appreciate …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader D.K. mentioned this item that first appeared in the AMA’s Morning Rounds e-newsletter: Hospitals in Cities Most at Risk of Terrorist Attack Do Not Have Capacity To Treat Injured, Report Finds    o o o Eric mentioned that the US Federal Reserve has now resorted to desperation measures to pump liquidity in the midst of the global credit collapse: We read in The New York Times: Fed Takes Steps to Add Liquidity. The piece begins: “The Federal Reserve announced new steps on Friday to help ease tight global credit markets by increasing the size of its cash auctions to …



Is Survivalism Just “Unbounded Imagination of Anxiety”?

It never fails that when the mainstream media writes about survivalists, they try to lump us together with racists and tin foil hat whackos. Failing that (since the whackos represent such a miniscule fraction of “survivalists”), they will often trot out a psychologist or other “expert”, to try to convince the general public that preparedness is irrational and that it is evidence of some deep-seated paranoid delusion. This was the case in the recent BBC news article titled: “Do you need to stock up the bunker?”. The article focused on Barton Biggs, who is a well-known and relatively mainstream hedge …


Letter Re: Advanced Medical Training and Facilities for Retreat Groups

Mr. Rawles, Last month I wrote to SurvivalBlog about what do one would do medically in TEOTWAWKI, when all systems are down. I had received three very good replies, and have ben thinking about what was said. I want to thank those people for their valued replies. Now, I have more questions and concerns. From what I’ve read concerning medical advice leaves me wondering. All of the advice given has stated to get a good quality Field Surgical Kit, and two books: “Emergency War Surgery”; and, “Where there is no Doctor”. Then these articles went on to [imply that] when …


Poll Results: The SurvivalBlog Party Mix

We’ve tallied the 75+ reader responses to our recent poll on your favorite music with a survival or preparedness theme. Based on the responses, I can see that a large number of our readers are rock-‘n-roll fans. The Top 10 tunes mentioned were (in descending order of popularity): 1.) “Silent Running”, by Mike and The Mechanics 2.) “Its The End Of The World As We Know It”, by R.E.M. 3.) “A Country Boy Can Survive” by Hank Williams, Jr. 4.) “Eve of Destruction” by Barry McGuire (Buffalo Springfield ‘s rendition of the same song was also mentioned.) 5.) “Don’t Fear …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Hard numbers: The economy is worse than you know    o o o UBS reports first quarter net loss of $11 billion, cuts 5,500 jobs    o o o Just as I had warned you, folks: Penny prices pinched by rising cost of metal. The article begins: “Further evidence that times are tough: It now costs more than a penny to make a penny. And the cost of a nickel is more than 71?2 cents. Surging prices for copper, zinc and nickel have some in Congress trying to bring back the steel-made pennies of World War II and maybe using …



Note from JWR:

The high bid in the current SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction is now at $230. This auction is for four items: A FoodSaver GameSaver Turbo Plus heavy duty food vacuum packaging system (a retail value of $297) kindly donated by Ready Made Resources an autographed copy of : “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation”, an autographed copy of “SurvivalBlog: The Best of the Blog”, and a copy of “The Encyclopedia of Country Living”, by the late Carla Emery. The four items have a combined retail value of around $395. The auction ends on May15th. Please e-mail us your bids, in $10 increments.


Where Was Moses When the Lights Went Out? by Chuck Fenwick, Medical Corps

The power grid is down… maybe forever There are hundreds of scenarios which can cause the loss of electrical grid power. These include everything from a faulty relay to a strategic EMP strike that would precede a full scale nuclear war. There are, however, several inexpensive things which can be done in preparedness that could make the difference between life and death. Before explaining, “exactly what to do”, there are a few simple rules to keep in mind. 1) If you die, it’s your fault. 2) If you don’t have the gear, you will probably need it. 3) Be flexible. …


Letter Re: Advice on Finding a Retreat Operations and Security Manual

Mr. Rawles, I have been working on a retreat that I will be moving to later in the year. Naturally, construction is taking up a large amount of my time. My family is on-board for the retreat. I need help in the area of an Operations and Security Manual. Is there anything that you know of that would be a starting place rather than from the ground up? I know there are a lot of things that I would miss out on if I started [by myself] from the ground up, and not know it until it’s too late. I …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Myanmar cyclone death toll 22,000+ dead or missing. Does your family have rated storm shelter?    o o o Joe S. flagged this: Who Should Doctors Let Die in a Pandemic?    o o o Reader “Bois d’Arc” sent us a link to an interesting Malthusian web page written by Paul Chefurka, which seems to borrow heavily from other sources: Peak Oil, Carrying Capacity and Overshoot: Population, the Elephant in the Room. The bottom line is that he expects a population crash from a peak of near seven billion in 2012 to just one billion by 2075.    o o …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“While driving north through Fort Wayne, Indiana, on Interstate 69, we passed a new ‘McMansion’ subdivision. It was right off the frontage road, screened from the freeway by a few scraggly saplings, and named on a large landscaped sign, “Hidden Glen.” My wife and I looked at each other and simultaneously asked, “Hidden from what?’” – Michael Z. Williamson


Note from JWR:

Today we present another article for Round 16 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win two valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificates. (Worth up to $4,000!) Second prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. Round 16 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entries. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival will have an advantage in the judging.