Letter Re: Non-Fiction and Fiction Book Recommendations

Jim, Here are a couple of books that I have stumbled across recently that I would recommend to SurvivalBlog readers. The first book is actually a set of books written by Rita Van Amber. She wrote five volumes of books entitled, “Stories and Recipes of the Great Depression of the 1930s.” The recipes are from readily available ingredients and are simple to make. However, the stories are the best part of the book. The people of this time lived with such hardship and so little food yet they lived well and family relationships were strong. There was no whining for …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Ben L. sent this: Shell to Offer a Biodiesel Fuel in Europe Made From Wood Chips and Straw   o o o A tidbit from The Daily Reckoning: “Remember, for a good part of America’s history, every dollar in your pocket was a dollar backed by gold. So it’s not so crazy to ask yourself… if America has 8,180 tons – or nearly 261.7 million ounces – of gold in reserve… how many dollars does that buy? The answer will shock you. When dollars became unhinged from gold, the printing presses at the Fed cranked up. By 1980, for every …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“This, by the way, is a good place to pause and explain to readers who will write in wondering why the United States will tolerate an Israeli nuclear force but not an Iranian one. The answer is simple. Israel will probably not blow up New York. That’s why the United States doesn’t mind Israel having nukes and does mind Iran having them. Is that fair? This is power politics, not sharing time in preschool. End of digression.” – George Friedman


Note from JWR:

I recently felled some small cedar trees in the area that will soon become our expanded garden plot. The logs measured 8 to 11 inches in diameter at the butt. I cut them to 12 foot lengths. These will soon come in handy, since I will be using them almost in situ, as posts for the new deer fence. The largest of the logs should make dandy corner posts. Here in the valley, a stout eight foot tall fence is considered the standard for deterring deer. But a very determined elk, moose, or grizzly bear will go wherever they please. …


Letter Re: Unimog and Pinzgauer 4WD Vehicles

Jim, I have been an admirer of these surplus military vehicles ever since I saw them for sale at ‘Major Surplus’ in Gardena California. They are certainly stout. I’m sure they would make a great off-road multi-purpose vehicle but if I was going to use it for any thing else, i.e. Highway, town use I’d be more inclined to just drive a nice American made 4×4. Why? Why bring attention to yourself? If you want to tell the world, your neighbors and total strangers that you are survival oriented and that you may be in the possession of firearms and …


Letter Re: The Coming Dark Age, by Roberto Vacca

Shalom, Jim Recently I read a quote on SurvivalBlog from the book The Coming Dark Age, written by an author named Roberto Vacca. I went to Amazon.com to research it and found out that it was written in 1986, and, surprisingly enough, there were no reviews on file from other readers. 1.) Do you recommend this book? 2.) If so, what do you like about it? Looking forward to hearing from you soon. Hodu l’Yahweh ke tov (Give thanks to Yahweh for He is good), – Dr. Sidney Zweibel JWR Replies: I first read Roberto Vacca’s short book The Coming …


Letter Re: The Eastern Canada Gasoline Crisis

Hi James, It’s interesting to look at what’s going on here in Ontario. The gasoline [filling] station near my office has been out of gas for two days, and others have been out for varying amounts of time. A friend of mine delivers fuel to gas stations, and was telling me what is happening: 1) There is a rail strike at CN Rail. This has prevented refineries from receiving shipments of the additives needed for diesel and gasoline. 2) There was a fire at one of the Ontario refineries, cutting production significantly. This fire occurred on February 15, and by …


Letter Re: From a USFS In-Holding in Colorado’s High Country–Snowed-In!

Mr. Rawles: I just wanted to send you a thank you note for your novel “Patriots”, your “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course and for SurvivalBlog.com. We’ve been having a winter weather adventure, which I’ve chronicled in this thread at The Claire Files. If I hadn’t found SurvivalBlog.com some time back in late 2005, it might have been a very different story than the mainly humorous tale I was able to relate. Catching up on some of your entries that I missed over time, I found one that was particularly pertinent to our situation. On February 14, you did a …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Michael Z. Williamson found this news story for us: A Glitch in the Financial Matrix: How Heavy Trade Volumes and a 70-Minute Time Lag Wreaked Havoc Upon the New York Stock Exchange   o o o Mike F. points to an opinion piece first published in 2003 that he asserts still has relevance: Dollar vs. Euro — Weapons of mass destruction    o o o Hawaiian K. forwarded this article from The London Observer: Now the Pentagon tells Bush: climate change will destroy us. The article begins: “Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“We don’t raise any corn on the farm but prices for wheat and barley have risen because the corn previously used for livestock feed is being pulled off the market for ethanol. Cattle, sheep, and pigs will eat chopped barley and wheat as well as corn so wheat is now at something like a 30 year high. Ignoring for now the fact that it’s not an all time high, that 30+ years ago wheat sold for more than it does today, we realize that there might be an increase in prosperity of some farmers in the near future. Some people …


Notes from JWR:

You may have heard on the news about a southern California man that was put under 72-hour psychiatric observation when it was found that he owned 100 guns and allegedly had (by rough estimate) 1 million rounds of ammunition stored in his home. The house also featured a secret escape tunnel. My favorite quote from the dimwit television reporter: “Wow! He has … …about a million machinegun bullets.” The headline referred to it as a “massive weapons cache.” BTW, I am dubious about the pile of ammunition boxes and cans that they showed. It looked big enough to contain no …


Letter Re: Recommendations on FAL and L1A1 Manufacturers and Custom Builders

Jim, In the 2/23/07 blog, you replied to Stephen D. that: “If I ever hear shooting nearby and have my choice of grabbing either an AR-15 or FAL, then I’ll grab the FAL.” Would you please recommend/suggest a brand name of a FAL type rifle that is currently available in the U.S.? I read your FAL FAQ, but didn’t see any brand references. I’ve researched from the Century “cobbled togethers” to the “new” DSA’s, etc. I know there is a huge price range, but I am mainly interested in reliability (and accuracy, of course). Also, will FAL’s perform equally well …


Two Letters Re: Kanban: America’s Ubiquitous “Just in Time” Inventory System–A Fragile House of Cards

Jim, I recently shared “Letter Re: Propane Shortage and Rationing in the Frigid U.S. Northeast” with several friends. Surprisingly, a new friend who does not know that I am into “Prepping”, sent back the following. – Douglas in C. in Connecticut Hi Douglas, I work in the grocery industry. I can tell you first-hand that this industry (as most others) has expended incredible amounts of time and energy over the last 20 years into streamlining the supply chain. More than anything else, this means reduction of inventory held within the system – starting with the raw materials on the manufacturing …


Letter Re: The “Third Way” Approach–A Forward Base En Route to a Remote Survival Retreat

Hi Jim, While I value your insights on location, I think you have overlooked one possibility. That is to have your final destination be some 300+ miles away from any major metropolitan areas as you so aptly describe, but then I would add for those people who feel that they need it, a forward base of operations. This would consist of a small cabin, rental unit, or lot with a trailer and a storage shed that would be used as a forward base of operations and a leaping off point to go to their final destination. It would be located …


Odds ‘n Sods

Chuck G. (a regular content contributor) sent us this: The Plunge Protection Team gears up for a possible derivatives crisis. I’ve warned you about derivatives, so don’t be surprised when you see trillions of dollars get wiped out, overnight.   o o o SurvivalBlog reader Doc Holladay notes: “The wife of a fellow doomer buddy has a booming business as a professional seamstress doing alterations. I opine that her livelihood is pretty secure, as she is covered up in work. I’ve four of the treadle sewing machines I’ve refurbished. The old Singer treadle sewing machines use the same bobbins as …