Note from JWR:

I recently received the following Retreat Owner Profile. I will be adding it to the static web page. OBTW, I still have room for at least a dozen overseas profiles, as well as just a few more in the United States. (I’d like to reserve those few remaining slots for profiles for people with unusual retreat locales or unusual retreat approaches/modes–such as ‘Snowbirding” or sea-mobile.)




Retreat Owner Profile: Mr. and Mrs. Foxtrot

Present home: Recently moved to new residence in luxury community in South Texas because of a job loss in the Northwest. we sold our our 40 acre retreat because prices were top of the market and it could help in Texas to have no mortgage and to continue preparations. Many acquisitions will occur within the next year including another retreat property (prices are about same as when we bought our first retreat and inventory up in the Northwest.) Ages: 46 and 51 SOs: One adult child that lives out of state Annual income: $61,000+. Profession: Technology (him) and Homemaker (her). …




Two Letters Re: Martial Arts Fact Versus Fiction

Jim; The most recent response to this article includes the following quote: “ I noticed that many seem to be fans of Ultimate Fighting and I’m not going to say its fake, but it is entertainment. The fighters are great but lets be honest, the matches are intended to draw ratings by selling the drama.” I felt I needed to respectfully respond to this, not with the intention of arguing, but clarifying, based on a more educated and informed perspective on Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). I’ve been a martial artist for over ten years, and involved in Mixed Martial Arts …




Odds ‘n Sods:

Frequent contributor Inyokern sent this: T. Boone Pickens offers further prognostication on Peak Oil and alternative energy.    o o o A reminder that Front Sight’s very generous “Get a Gun” training and gear package offer will be ending soon. It is limited to the first 5,000 people that sign up. The response has been huge, so don’t dawdle! If you miss out on this deal, you’ll surely regret it.    o o o Oil prices pass $133 per barrel after report of supply drop    o o o RBS sent us this: Guess this buyer saw a golden opportunity. …










Letter Re: Challenging Conventional Beliefs on Saving Hybrid Seeds

Hello James: Conventional wisdom holds that one should not plant seeds saved from “hybrid” plants. This wisdom is ironclad boilerplate and generally appears in paragraph 2, sentence 2 of every essay on gardening when it really counts. I want to push back on that idea. My understanding of agricultural history is that most farmers raised landraces of vegetables and animals prior to the 1600s. A landrace is a swarm of similar-but-not-identical plants or animals. There are very few exceptions, Merino sheep being one of them and asexually reproduced fruit trees being another. The introduction of “County Fairs” changed that. Suddenly, …




Letter Re: Potassium Iodide Versus Potassium Iodate for Post-Nuke Thyroid Gland Protection

James, You mentioned stocking up on Potassium Iodide (KI). The head trainer at Medical Corps–(I took their awesome class, thanks for giving it kudos)–developed Potassium Iodate (KI03). It has a huge benefit over KI, in that it doesn’t upset the stomachs of the people taking it [as much as KI]. Medicine is much more beneficial if you don’t involuntarily purge it. Another thing I’d like to mention to SurvivalBlog readers is that KI and KI03 don’t expire, even if the bottles have expiration dates marked. Since it is not an organic–it a very basic chemical compound. Iodine might leach out …




Surviving During the Crisis (Translated from the Energie & Klima Blog)

JWR’s Introductory Note: The following is a re-post from the Energie & Klima Blog, which was kindly translated by SurvivalBlog reader Martyn B., a multi-lingual Danish ex-pat that lives in Spain . To read the original article in German, see: Überleben in der Krise Within the next two years, the price of oil could rise to $150 to $200 per barrel, analysts of the investment bank Goldman Sachs forecasted yesterday under the management of the famous chief analyst, Arjun N. Murti. According to the news agency Bloomberg, the cause is stated mainly as being that the supply of oil cannot …




Odds ‘n Sods:

From Matt in Texas: The Rise of Stagflation Means the End of Fiat Wealth    o o o E.J. (our British ex-pat correspondent living in rural Italy) mentioned this piece from The Guardian newspaper: The island house that powers itself – with a little help from 100 mph gales    o o o Readers Sam K. and Stephen S. note that Peak Oil is now getting more mainstream media coverage, such as this CNBC piece: $12 Gas and Rationing? Possible, Says Expert. (The article quotes Robert Hirsch, who was the lead writer for SAIC’s well-publicized Report on Peak Oil, in …










Two Letters Re: Beyond First Aid–Where to Learn Medical Skills

James, It’s funny how life gets in the way. I was in the process of writing a fairly long (I stopped at 15 pages) discussion of pandemics and medical care at home when the report in Chest came out. Suffice it to say that the wind was somewhat taken from my sails. And my take-home messages would have been 1) Hospitals are terrible places to be in a pandemic so stay away (I plan to), 2) Since you’re not going to the hospital, people at home better learn how to do basic nursing care (so finding older nursing textbooks and …




Choosing an HK91 Clone Versus the M1A for a Primary Battle Rifle

Hello Mr. Rawles. My Father bought me your novel “Patriots” and I read it and it really inspired me and woke me up to becoming more of a survivalist. I live in the country just about 50 miles out side of Chicago (pretty much the worst place to be if the SHTF, well even if it doesn’t, it still sucks, LOL), but never mind that we have other places to go, thank God. I have always been around guns. I have been shooting probably since I could walk. Anyway, I am wondering why in your book you chose to [show …




Odds ‘n Sods:

Yishai suggested a Hack-n-Mod video clip on how to make thermite. Warning: Some serious safety precautions must be taken, because thermite burns at temperatures hot enough to liquefy steel, and once ignited, it is almost impossible to extinguish. (It generates its own oxygen.) Note the minor accident near the end of the video. He’ll also have some serious explaining to do about that back porch slab.    o o o Kevin a recommended this piece by Marty Weiss: Brace yourself! The U.S. government could be understating the Consumer price Index by 7.6%!    o o o Frequent content contributor Michael …