Letter Re: Understanding the Terrorist Threat Requires Understanding Their Mindset

Dear James, I witnessed a live presentation from “The Three Ex-Terrorists” several months ago. For those who want to understand the mindset of an Islamic terrorist and the ability to completely change one’s life, their story and insights provide actionable information. One of them killed over 200 people. They have presented to government officials but they are too politically incorrect for the liberal media to do more than very short interviews with. See also www.shoebat.com.- Yorie in Pennsylvania. JWR Replies: Lest anyone think that SurvivalBlog is overtly political or religious, I’m posting Yorie’s letter and links for a reason that …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Al Qaeda Cell Had Plans to Gas New York Subways    o o o Rourke recommended this informative site on home ethanol production: http://www.homedistiller.org/ If you spend a lot of time researching there, or end up building a still based on their plans, be sure to send them a contribution.    o o o Does anyone make a “Red Gun” or “Blue Gun” Model 1911 non-firing training pistol with a magazine well and a functional magazine catch? (I’m in need of one here at the ranch, so we can teach our kids presentation drills as well as tactical and emergency …



Two Letters Re: Updated Nuclear Weapon Targeting Data?

Dear Jim, I love your site. This is just a quick note while you are on the subject of the nuclear threat. I have been following Joel Skousen’s World Affairs Brief web site for the past few years and he seems to be of the opinion that this is a threat we should take very seriously. I encourage your readers to check out his article on analysis of strategic threats. I also HIGHLY recommend his books “The Secure Home” and “Strategic Relocation.” I know you’ve mentioned his books before in past articles but it is worth repeating. No preparedness library …


Letter Re: Toilet Paper Calculations

Jim, I hope the following information will help some of the readers with their supplies of toilet paper. I consider this a very important part of the total preparedness plan. If anything it will be a tremendous comfort for people during a really Schumer time. I will mention toilet paper brands, however, this is in no way an endorsement of any particular brand. I was always curious how much toilet paper I would need per person for a year during a post-SHTF event. Not being the one that bought the stuff I relied on the wife for this. The info …


Odds ‘n Sods:

The U.S. The government is asking for public comments on the USDA‘s NAIS animal identification/tracking scheme. Please give them a piece of your mind. (For some background on the NAIS plan, see The Memsahib’s article.)    o o o A Category 5 Hurricane Landfall in Miami Could Cost Insurers Up To $130 Billion    o o o There is currently an interesting thread of conversation about wind generators over at The Claire Files.    o o o North Korea is about to test an ICBM capable of reaching the US    o o o To compete with the Canadian Maple …



The U.S. in 1906 Versus 2006

I generally ignore most of those ubiquitous thrice forwarded pieces of Internet trivia and humor, but I thought that the following one was worthy and would be of particular interest to SurvivalBlog readers in the U.S.: The year is 1906. One hundred years ago. What a difference a century makes! Here are some of the U.S. statistics for the Year 1906 : The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years. Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub. Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone. A three-minute call from Denver to New …


Letter Re: Stocking Up on Stanley Knife and Saw Blades

Dear Mr Rawles, Congratulations on a great blog, which I have just discovered. I am in the U.K. and am probably one of the few people here who has a copy of “Patriots”… a great read. Two things it may be worth mentioning to your readers: I haven’t seen mentioned before the importance of stocking up with small tool consumables — I am thinking of Stanley knife blades, “Olfa” type snap off blades, hacksaw blades and especially jeweler’s/gunsmith’s saw blades (who will want to make their own 3/0 saw blades WTSHTF?). You might also note the importance of keeping the …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Japanese canned bread: Bread that comes in a can and stays fresh for up to three years    o o o SurvivalBlog reader C.K. recommended the book Marion And His Men or The Swamp Fox Of Carolina. It is the true story of Francis Marion, an American Revolutionary War hero. Marion was the basis for Mel Gibson’s role as “Benjamin Martin” in the movie The Patriot    o o o The folks at The Daily Reckoning (one of my daily “must reads”) quoted a very telling letter from one of their readers about the U.S. housing bubble: “When you mentioned …



Are You Serious About Surviving?, by Doc

Jim: Recently Paul Harvey mentioned that hospitals are making some expensive upgrades. It seems the standard operating tables, which are rated to hold a five hundred pound patient, are not sturdy enough. The standard doors, at forty two inches wide, are not wide enough to accommodate today’s obese patients, so they are being widened. Hydraulic hoists are being installed. Longer hypodermic needles are being ordered to penetrate thick layers of fat. Even the toilets are being reinforced. I sincerely hope this does not apply to you, but the painful truth is, if you are so large you can’t fit through …


Letter From England Re: Gun Buy-Up Programs

Hi Jim, I have to support you in your view of Gun ‘Buy-back’ schemes. When the law changed over here in the UK in 1996 and the private ownership of handguns was made illegal the government put in place a scheme where all handguns were to be handed into police stations and the owners were given what the government called ‘fair recompense’. This took no account of the market value of the firearms handed in and most were overvalued. So what happened was that many people were spending their time buying cheep handguns and immediately going to a police station …


Letter Re: A New Google Earth Feature Tailored for Ham Radio Operators

Jim: Check this out! http://www.dxers.info/google/earth/index.php For example, scroll down to 6M and click on the 1 hour map. It brings up Google Earth with the “push pins.” When you click on the push pin you get the call sign of the amateur operator which can be put into www.qrz.com, and that tells you who they are and where they live. – Fred the Valmet-meister


Odds ‘n Sods:

Kentucky farmers and ranchers voice their distrust of NAIS.    o o o The 2006 Kansas wheat harvest is down 23% from last year. Stock up, now. Buy f rom your favorite storage food vendor before prices increase. We recommend Ready Made Resources (one of our first and most loyal advertisers) and Nitro-Pak (one of our affiliate advertisers)    o o o From a recent Reuters wire service story on the bankruptcy rate in the U.S.: “More than $300 billion in ARMs [Adjustable Rate Mortgages] are subject to interest rate resets this year and that figure is expected to reach …