Notes from JWR:

I just got off the phone with Charles Feldman, a reporter with radio station KNX in Los Angeles. At the end of my interview, he asked me to poll the SurvivalBlog readership: If you live in the greater Los Angeles area, and have experienced any food rationing or empty shelves at a “big box” store or at a supermarket in the past few weeks, please give him a call. (He is trying to gauge how widespread the rationing is.) You can phone him at (323) 900-2070. If you call on Wednesday, please call between 9 am and 5 pm, PST. …


Fostering the Survival Instinct in Babies and Young Children, by Andrea J.

There has been a great push in this country by child rearing experts and the medical profession that children must be “socialized”. It has been a pivotal buzzword for educators and parents alike. It is a main reason for the negative swell toward homeschooling. Yet, it is my contention that what we need to foster, from birth, is natural instinct. Natural instinct is what we understand as the survival instinct. It is an innate instinct of distrust. It is the instinct that alerts us as we start down a dark alleyway on our way home from work. It is the …


Letter Re: The Food Shortages Are Real–Will There Be Panic Buying Soon?

James, I’ve read the recent article in the New York Sun (Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World) regarding the [informal] food rationing that has now begun. Everything is starting to unfold quicker than expected, but it is not a huge surprise. I personally own a small and private operation (cash only) which sells large amounts of bulk food storage for those who have their eyes open and are awake to what’s going on which is not many. We generally move large quantities of bagged and cleaned Wheat, lentils, soup peas, flax seed and all other manner of legumes( beans) …


Letter Re: Free Downloadable Military Manuals and Uncopyrighted Books

Greetings Rawles family! I am a member of a forum online that I think has a real gem for your readers. Gary, the administrator over at Post Apocalyptic Media (which focuses on post-apocalyptic science fiction, but has some preppers as well) has put together a great project. He edited [US military field manuals] (FMs), and other non-copyrighted books taking out information that would not be useful to non-Army personnel (nothing tactical or important, strictly Army procedural things). He then put them together in books with titles like “Survival”, “Survival: Health” which includes FM 4-25.11 First Aid, Emergency War Surgery, FM …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Bank of America Net Income Falls 77% on Writedowns. Something tells me that their acquisition of the mortgage lender Countrywide will not do good things for their balance sheet in the coming year.    o o o UN chief warns world must urgently increase food production    o o o Just as I predicted, lots of fallowed land in the CRP is again being tilled: Land Once Preserved Now Being Farmed    o o o Don’t miss reading this one, from The Market Oracle: Commercial Banks Heading for Huge Derivatives Losses- Credit Crisis Turning into Credit Armageddon



Notes from JWR:

A link to an article in the New York Sun is getting forwarded like wildfire on preparedness web sites and blogs, and was both linked at The Drudge Report and mentioned by talk radio host Glenn Beck: Food Rationing Confronts Breadbasket of the World. It is notable that the article specifically talks about shortages at the “big box” warehouse stores like COSTCO and Sam’s Club. Those are where I recommended stocking up, in my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course. Even with these current shortages, the course explains how a family can economically stock up 90% of what they need …


A Warning on Buying Full Capacity Magazines in “Kit Form”

Thankfully, the Federal ban on 11+ round firearms magazines “sunsetted” in September of 2004. But sadly some bans are still in effect at the state and local level. Most notably, these laws are still on the books: No pistol or SMG magazines with a capacity over 10 rounds in Hawaii. (High capacity magazines that only fit rifles are allowed. (For example, since there are AR-15 pistols, AR-15 magazines are banned.) No magazines with a capacity over 10 rounds in California, District of Columbia, Massachusetts, and New York. (See State Penal Code 265.23 for details. To the best of my knowledge, …


Three Letters Re: Hiding Things in Plain Sight

Jim, I have very carefully concealed my gun safe but in order to fool potential crooks, but I also have an old one that is very poorly hidden. It has stickers on it from my favorite firearms manufacturers. Once the [burglars] get it back to their den and peel it open, they will find themselves the proud owners of five large sandbags full of gravel. – Andy B.   James, My wife and I were recently discussing hiding places – what about inside a bucket of paint? Securely wrapping “the valuables” up in appropriate containers (likely several layers of Ziploc …


Letter Re: Potatoes as a Survival Garden Crop

Sir, It’s important to maintain a variety of root and grain crops for use as survival crops. Potatoes are easy to grow, easy to store and are nutritious enough to keep you healthy as a sole food (if you eat 2/3 of them raw). It is true potatoes have to be grown every year and that they are vulnerable to soil pathogens, but they can be grown under relatively low light, cool conditions, so why not take a small part of the harvest and raise them in a greenhouse through the winter with supplemental light. A half 55-gal. drum filled …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Retailing Chains Caught in a Wave of Bankruptcies. This is an inevitable result of the liquidity crisis, just as I had warned.    o o o Attacks in Middle East, Nigeria send oil to record $117.40    o o o Check out the inventory at CampingSurvival.com: camping gear, first aid supplies, tools, optics, knives, storage food, boots, colloidal silver, NBC protection, you name it. A couple of my favorite items are their emergency dental kit and their magnesium fire starter.    o o o RBS flagged this blog piece: Foreclosures now outnumber home sales in California



Note from JWR:

The high bid in the current SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction is now at $160. 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.


Letter Re: Hiding Things in Plain Sight

Mister Rawles, Household burglaries are all too common, especially where I live. (In a Cleveland, Ohio suburb. The crooks actually commute out to the suburbs to burglarize!) From news stories, I have observed that : 1.) They aren’t too smart. If they were, they’d have a “real” job!), and 2.) They are usually in a hurry. You’ve mentioned building hidden caches in your blog several times, but have you given any thought to hiding things in plain sight? For example you could empty out cans of unappealing food items (like dog food, or olives), and using that space for valuables. …


Letter Re: JWR’s Opinion of Kalashnikov (AK) Action Rifles

Jim, What is your opinion on owning the AK variant rifle as a survival weapon? Though medium powered and limited in range to 300 yards, I feel that the simplicity of this weapon is a big plus (as well as magazine capacity, ammo prices/availability. Thanks, Jason, North Idaho JWR Replies: I do like the AK action. They are very robust and designed to take a tremendous amount of abuse, as this YouTube video graphically illustrates.) The AKs chambered in the intermediate 7.62×39 cartridge are indeed are far less expensive than a FAL, M1A or HK91. But ballistically, this cartridge is …