Letter Re: Everyday Savings Via SurvivalBlog

Jim: Just the other day, on the thread concerning watches, another SurvivalBlog reader posted a link to a Japanese firm [Higuchi.com] that sold watches. I took a look around their site, and found, to my surprise, that the watch I had been pining for was 1/3 the cost of the same watch purchased from a USA dealer, shipping included. Needless to say I whipped out my debit card and did the deed. But it occurred to me, over the short existence of SurvivalBlog I have run into bargains for items that I would normally purchase – unrelated to survival or …


Letter Re: “Jericho” TV Series Airing This Fall

James, I was surprised to see that CBS will be airing a drama this fall called Jericho. Here is what the show is about: “Things are quiet and peaceful in small-town Jericho, Kansas, but when a baffling explosion occurs in the distance, Jericho’s residents are plunged into social, psychological and physical chaos. No one knows what to think, and fear of the unknown takes over the town, especially because its isolation cuts it off from outside help. When nearly everything they know seems gone, will the residents of Jericho band together to face their unfamiliar and mysterious new world?” Here …


Odds ‘n Sods:

The Zimbabwean government debt and currency hyperinflation have progressed to super nova stage: “Zimbabwe’s domestic debt has trebled, from Z$15-trillion to nearly Z$43-trillion, casting a pall over any prospect of economic recovery. Latest central bank statistics show the public debt was Z$42.9-trillion on June16, up from Z$21-trillion on June 2 and Z$27-trillion on June 9. The country’s debt has continued to skyrocket against a background of deteriorating macroeconomic fundamentals and the socioeconomic situation. The central bank’s overnight accommodation recently stood at 850%, the inter-bank rate at 693.3%, and treasury bill yields at 510%.” Wow! This sounds like something out of …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Most civilization is based on cowardice. Its so easy to civilize by teaching cowardice. You water down the standards which lead to bravery. You restrain the will. You regulate the appetites. You fence in the horizons. You make a law for every movement. You deny the existence of chaos. You teach even the children to breathe slowly. You tame." – Frank Herbert, Dune


From David In Israel: On Sheltering from Katyusha Rocket Attacks

James Our friends who live in Tzfat (also spelled Safed, Sfat, Sfas, etc.) recently came to stay with us to get away from the rockets which lit Mount Meron on fire and landed all around them shaking their house and breaking the window over my friend as he shopped. They are returning home still a bit shaken but feeling better after a two day break. They have been under 122mm Katyusha rocket fire. They have some Russian, Iranian, and Chinese stuff in Lebanon like the Fajjar-5 which has a range of 45 kilometers. The Israeli Saar-5 corvette Ahi-Hanita was struck …


Letter Re: A Practical PV-Powered Well Pump and Cistern System

James: I appreciate your web site, lots of good thoughtful info and no armchair commando nonsense. I rarely post on this or related blogs, but I’ve just installed two complete solar water systems and can perhaps add a bit to the backup-powered water discussion. A solar system is tailor-made for supplying water, IMHO, because instead of storing electricity in batteries for nighttime use, it stores water in a tank for use on demand, no inverters, no batteries, no fuel. Simple and effective. Both systems use Grundfos submersible pumps and two solar panels of about 170 watts each. One system pumps …


Letter Re: Brass Recycling

Jim, Just a note regarding Bill K.’s fired cartridge brass recycling idea to raise extra cash – it is a good money making idea with the continuing rise in the price of copper and other metals – our gun club here in North Carolina paid all its property taxes last year on the recycling of fired brass left after shooting events. The club insists that if the shooters don’t wish to take their fired brass home, they spend a few minutes between relays when the line is clear to police up brass and put them into specially marked/painted ‘brass buckets’. …



Two Letters Re: Do It Yourself Bulk Food Storage

Jim: Excellent information on storing dry goods for long-term. I have just a bit of advice to all out there: use foods from you stores in your every-day life. I’m not advocating depleting your stores; rather consuming and replacing them as part of your daily life, thus rotating your stock as well. (This is recommended, however, ONLY after you have acquired your long-term goal (i.e.one year supply, two, etc.). You will benefit in at least four distinct ways from this:1.) your stores will always have a maximum useful shelf-life, as they will constantly be rotated; 2.) you will probably experience …


Two Letters Re: Railroads Tracks and Right of Ways as Bug-Out Routes

JWR: Please pass on to Larry in Kansas and anyone else interested that they need to look well ahead of time at any railroad beds as a bug out route. Here in Michigan the railroads have closed off all the service roads beside the tracks. Some are simply chained and easily defeated with bolt cutters, but other are blocked with ties and high mounds of gravel. My primary escape route has an emergency “go around” for a choke point that is active railroad bed. It will be hairy, but my Ford Ranger pickup will be able to make the trip. …


Odds ‘n Sods:

A professor hired by the Federal Reserve says that by some measures the U.S. is technically bankrupt.    o o o Wars and Rumors of Wars: Hezbollah guerrillas fire more Katyusha rockets at two northern Israeli towns, 220,000 Israelis are now staying in bomb shelters. Meanwhile, Israeli Warplanes Strike in Beirut, and Israel Blockades Lebanon.    o o o A 50 mile long fire line: crews are battling two California Mojave Desert wild fires–60,000+ acres charred.  



Note from JWR:

I’ve updated my “Writings” Page to include descriptions and sample covers for my three upcoming book releases. Please be patient about the release dates. At this juncture I am at the mercy of my publisher’s production schedule. I will let you know as soon as the books are orderable. Today we present another article for Round 5 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 “big box” preparedness course, (worth $149) generously …


Suburban Survival, by “Jim in Texas”

We all know that to be fully prepared we need a great survival retreat we can bug-out to. We all dream of the perfect retreat, were we will go post-SHTF. If you are like me however, this is simply not reality. I have no remote, armored, fully stocked retreat to go to in a disaster. Like millions of Americans I live not in the country, nor the city, but the area in between, commonly called the suburbs. Though all suburbs are different most of them share similar qualities, small, less than acre lots, single family houses with well maintained front …


David in Israel Re: On Gun Laws in Israel and War Worries Update

In answer to your queries about gun laws in Israel: The gun control laws in Israel are draconian. You must have a “valid reason” to keep a gun at home. Sadly in the West Bank our cousins (the Arabs) give that reason. All of Israel law is a combination of Ottoman Empire, British occupation, and Israeli passed laws, also the radical leftist Supreme Court which has empowered itself to strike down laws it does not agree with and to generate law by judicial declaration. We do not have a constitution for the state of Israel. These rules may change as …