Odds ‘n Sods:

Remember how I predicted that the global credit crisis would spawn a wave of forced buy-outs, mergers, acquisitions, and liquidations? Here is news of another one: Washington Mutual close to $5 billion deal with TPG, others. Be prepared for more mergers, many of which will be cases of “strange bedfellows” involving credit unions, pension funds, and perhaps even cities (municipal bonds). Derivatives contract defaults will indeed force some very odd partnerships and salvage operations. If managers’ only options are bankruptcy or buying out the counterparty to a derivative, then guess which they will choose?    o o o Frequent contributor …



Notes from JWR:

Thanks for all the many positive comments about the New York Times article (Sunday, April 6, 2008), titled “Duck and Cover: It’s the New Survivalism”, where I was quoted. The article has helped generate lots of extra first-time visits to SurvivalBlog. (An amazing 12,003 unique visits on Sunday, which is usually our slowest day of the week!) To all you newbies that want a quick start: Read the “About” page, and then read my first few weeks of posts from 2005, starting at the bottom of the page and working your way up. The high bid in the current SurvivalBlog …


Letter Re: Some Garden Plot Surprises Revealed Beneath Receding Snow

Mr. Editor: This spring is turning into a “yard and garden” wake up call. This winter is the first one I can remember in 29 years of owning this property where there was so much snow that the ground has been completely covered since the beginning of December until now [(early April)]. I still have shady spots with 18 to 24″ today. It is melting but it going to take a while. The piles by my driveway will be there until June. But [as the snow has receded] the thing we are finding is that the rabbits, mice and other …


Three Letters Re: Advanced Medical Care and Transport After TEOTWAWKI

James, [Regarding the letter from DS in Wisconsin:] Maybe and I mean maybe there would be someone to care for a injured or sick member of your retreat group or a doctor or nurse to look at them, probably not. If you have the gas to get them there. If you can leave enough security at the retreat and enough security to take with you. Remember, this is The End of the World as we Know It (TEOTWAWKI). There are several books that should be in a medical library you might already have them: Where There is No Doctor, Where …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Our friend Michael Bane, a gun writer and video producer (of Down Range TV and “Shooting Gallery” on The Outdoor Channel) now has short review segments on Ruger’s new polymer frame SR9 and LCP .380 pistols. The latter, weighing only 9.4 ounces looks like a cross between a Seecamp and a Kel-Tec. I’m not a fan of the pipsqueak .380 ACP (9mm Kurz) cartridge, but a gun that is close at hand at all times is vastly superior to grasping at air when trouble arrives. Concealed carry is, after all, a compromise. If I was expecting trouble, I’d be carrying …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“So that this nation may long endure, I urge you to follow in the hallowed footsteps of the great disobedience of history that freed exiles, founded religions, defeated tyrants, and yes, in the hands of an aroused rabble in arms and a few great men, by God’s grace, built this country.” – The Late Charlton Heston, from a speech to the Harvard Law School Forum, February 16, 1999


Notes from JWR:

I’m quoted in today’s issue of the New York Times (Sunday, April 6, 2008), in an article titled “Duck and Cover: It’s the New Survivalism”. The article is buried back in the Fashion and Style section. My quotes are on the second page of the online edition. The article itself is well-balanced, but readers just glancing at the title and accompanying photos will no doubt subconciously marginalize survivalists as some sort of paranoid whackos. 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 a valuable four …


Retreat Livestock Guardians, by TD

When the grid goes down and predation goes up, from animals (wild and feral/formally domesticated) and other people will be a very large problem. The television show Jericho showed some of the problems with diminished game and a lack of dogs and cats. Right now a lot of city dwellers complain about the population of deer, raccoon, opossum, coyote and others. In the city they are a problem right now. If something drastic were to happen it would decimate those populations, removing most outside food sources for cities. Most people, who do not hunt for food, hunt for trophies and …


Letter Re: Homemade Alcohol Stoves

James, A few years ago I was interested in methanol since it worked well in fuel cells to generate electricity without combustion. Alas, I found that methanol [“wood alcohol”] is very toxic. Anyone in a burning methanol [extensively in a confined space] would shortly after feel “drunk” then [might eventually] die from methanol poisoning. Additionally, methanol you spill on your hands enters your bloodstream and damages your liver (permanently), any you inhale does likewise, and any that hits the ground will poison the soil and groundwater. Its bad stuff, not something you want to have around unless you really have …




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 a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up to $2,000!) 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.


Camping Trips as Training for WTSHTF, by DPM

In the times that may soon be upon us, we may need to live in a way we are not accustomed to or prepared for. I suggest camping as a method of acclimatization to those circumstances. My brother and I are avid campers. Usually getting up to higher elevations, at least 25 times a year. These are often not just overnighters but from two days to up to a week. My personal best year was 32 camping trips from mid February to as late as November, including a full week as a vacation. I have gotten too much sun on …


Letter Re: Silver Coins Holding Their Own Against Inflation

Sir; First, this interesting bit from an article from the Chicago Tribune: Food Price Inflation Changes How We Shop. Here are some quotes from the article: “Steadily rising food costs aren’t just causing grocery shoppers to do a double-take at the checkout line — they’re also changing the very ways we feed our families. The worst case of food inflation in nearly 20 years has more Americans giving up restaurant meals to eat at home. We’re buying fewer luxury food items, eating more leftovers and buying more store brands instead of name-brand items…” “Record-high energy, corn and wheat prices in …