Notes from JWR:

We’ve finished the judging… The winner of Round 12 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. is “Polar Bear” for his article “Converting Diesel Vehicles to Run on Waste Vegetable Oil”. He gets the top prize–a four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. These certificates are worth up to $2,000! Our thanks to Front Sight’s director, Naish Piazza, for generously donating the course certificate. Check out the Front Sight web site and take advantage of their great training opportunities. Second prize goes to Brian in Wyoming for his article “Running Chainsaws on Ethanol”. His prize is is a copy of …


Hedge Funds–A Disaster Story that Could Unfold in Quarterly Episodes

One of the consequences of the collapse of the credit bubble and the subprime lending fiasco in particular is with hedge funds. There is a substantial risk of uncontrollable instability in hedge funds that could potentially be disastrous for investors. This instability will likely be seen in waves of bad news that will come roughly once a quarter. First, let me provide a bit of background: 1.) Most hedge funds have rules that allow only quarterly redemptions (“cashing out”) by by their investors. (A few hedge funds even have only one annual redemption “window.”) Typically, the redemption requests must be …


Letter Re: A Security Contractor’s Convoy Experience in Iraq

Dear Jim, A friend of mine who is a contractor sent this. It’s been posted elsewhere. Foul language warning. – Michael Z. Williamson Info from Iraq From Someone Who is Doing the “Run and Gun“ Yesterday a friend of mine who runs a small security company here in Iraq emailed me. He is standing up a protection detail and wanted my opinion on tactics and equipment running the roads of Iraq; Tactics, SOPs, hard car or soft? I have been giving it some thought and here is where I am at. I am willing to speculate I’m as well traveled …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Five different readers sent us this: Alabama City Reopening Fallout Shelters    o o o NFA sent us this link: A spike in the germination failure rate for commercially grown seeds?    o o o Bill N. came across this web site for women with guns. Has some good information for any woman that may carry a gun.    o o o A hat tip to Desert T. for sending this from The Wall Street Journal: Historic Surge In Grain Prices Roils Markets



Note from JWR:

We note with humble thanks that we’ve surpassed 2,000,000 unique visits. Congrats to SurvivalBlog reader “Stealth Neighbor”, who as the two-millionth visitor. (He even sent us a screen capture to prove it.) I’ll be mailing him a special gift.


Letter Re: Question on Two Cycle Oil Mixing Ratios

Dear Mr. Rawles, Perhaps you could help me understand the mixing ratios for two stroke oil. I remember buying the old Homelite oil, you could either buy it in a can to mix with one gallon of gas or a can to mix with two gallons of gas. Most of the new two stroke oils I have seen recently state that they are 50:1. Is this mixture acceptable for my old Homelite Super XL chainsaw and other two stroke equipment? The rep at the Stihl store by us said that the new oils are so much better formulated than the …


Dip Sealing Tools for Storage

Jim, I don’t know if you are familiar with this product already but I thought it couldn’t hurt to bring it to SurvivalBlog readers attention. It is called “Dip Seal” protective removable coatings, peels off like a banana [skin]. It is, from the company’s own description two or three different types of plastic seal, “Type one coatings are the most commonly used for corrosion protection. These coatings leave an oil film on the protected part. A relatively hard coating that is excellent for long-term storage and protection from rough handling. Part numbers, UPC codes, etc., can be easily seen through …


Letter Re: Low Light Shooting Techniques

Mr. Rawles: Anyone who carries a sidearm for protection should watch these three videos by Surefire: One Two Three. The first one covers principle of using light and flashlights to your advantage. It also discusses the Harries and Rogers Surefire techniques for shooting and advantages and disadvantages of both. The second one covers the FBI and neck index methods of shooting. The last covers clearing techniques in a building. I personally don’t like the Rogers Surefire technique because it requires a specific flashlight and will not work if the switch is not properly adjusted. – Bill N.


Odds ‘n Sods:

There is an interesting thread in progress titled: “Popular Mechanics new take on Heinlein’s skill list“, over at The Mental Militia Forums (formerly called the Claire Files Forums.) I agree with the consensus view there. Parenthetically, I’m glad that I’m raising our kids out in the hinterboonies in a largely self-sufficient lifestyle with plenty of “do it yourself”–mostly by economic necessity but partly by choice. A boy should know how to build a field fence just as well as a web page.    o o o From Bloomberg: U.S. New-Home Sales Drop, Prices Fall Most Since 1970    o o …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened. But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the …


Notes from JWR:

Today we are pleased to feature an excerpt from the novel Enemies Foreign And Domestic by Matthew Bracken. The story is set in the near future, as a small scale resistance movement develops in reaction to the end of constitutional liberty. The author is a SurvivalBlog reader, former US Navy SEAL, novelist, and an accomplished blue water yachtsman. I trust that like me, you find survival fiction a useful tool for “thinking outside the box” and considering “what ifs”, in preparedness planning.


“The Checkpoint” — An Excerpt from the Novel Enemies Foreign And Domestic by Matthew Bracken

Brad was driving his red pickup with Ranya snuggling against him as they crossed the five mile wide I-664 James River Bridge-Tunnel from Newport News. They covered in only a few minutes the same water which they had sailed upon yesterday at a tenth of their present speed. It was a little past four PM on the warm Sunday afternoon when they passed back onto the northern shore of Suffolk County, almost within sight of the burned ruins of the Edmonds house. Neither one of them spoke of it, although they both stared in that direction. Driving down from Poquoson …


Odds ‘n Sods:

I was doing some web surfing and stumbled across this video clip on American Gun Owners. I haven’t yet seen the book on which it is based, but the video is remarkably unbiased. I think that it would be a good introduction to the American “gun culture” for SurvivalBlog readers that live in countries that restrict firearms ownership.    o o o A Financial Sense editorial by Eric Englund: From Prime to Sub-Prime: America’s Mortgage Meltdown Has Just Begun    o o o The WRSA has a high power rifle shooting clinic scheduled for October 6-7 in Brookings, Oregon. These …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“I cannot guarantee that you will not get hurt or killed whether you follow my advice or not. Just keep in mind that people who never lifted anything that could be classified as ‘heavy’ got hernias from coughing and died of a stroke when they strained on a toilet. As someone smart said, fear of doing things does not prevent you from dying, only from living.” – Pavel Tsatsouline