Letter Re: Crystal Radio Sets for TEOTWAWKI

Hi Jim, Thinking about the need to catch local/regional info during a crisis and thought of the old time crystal radio sets to pick up AM radio. Many years ago kids used to build them at home or in Boy Scouts with locally available parts. Crystal radio sets are small, easy to build, easy to use, easy to repair, [JWR Adds: and just about EMP proof, if using a chunk of Galena (or piece of graphite pencil) as the detector, versus a modern germanium diode,] and require no power to operate them! While it seems that there are a lot …


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

JWR, I have been reading a longtime reader of your blog since it started, and wish to thank you for writing your novel “Patriots”, which I have read cover to cover many times and has helped me on my way to becoming a prepper. In response to Paul’s letter for a forward location between your retreat and current home I have some ideas as well as some other good info I feel your readers could benefit from. Now the plan of having a forward location by Paul is a somewhat good idea but like you pointed out a bit flawed.My …


Letter Re: More Book Recommendations

Jim, I took some time recently to catch up on some of my backed up reading and have uncovered a couple of books that I would highly recommend to all. The first is The Whiskey Rebellion by William Hogeland.  A historical review of a little covered event very significant in the infancy of our constitutional republic.  The book not only covers the event but provides detail into the character of many of the significant players.  A new light on one Alexander Hamilton emerges.  The book has substantial supporting notes and source cites attached.  Quite enlightening. The second is America’s Bubble …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Readers MPI and MWR both suggested listening to the Jim Puplava interview of economist Michael J. Panzner, the author of the book “Financial Armageddon.”. (Free audio podcast download. Scroll down to March 3rd–second hour.)   o o o “Kon Tiki” mentioned this video clip: A compressed air powered car being proptotyped in France.    o o o P.R. and J.B. both reminded me to mention that used concertina wire is often available at military surplus auctions. There are 37 pallets of used concertina wire up for auction right now at Fort Lewis, Washington. Those auctions end at 5 p.m. PST …



Note from JWR:

The high bid is still at $300 in the current SurvivalBlog benefit auction for a brand new Schecter “Warthog” Electric Guitar. This is an awesome guitar decorated in a military aviation theme, from Schecter’s Tempest series. It has a $729 retail value. Please tell any of your friends that are guitarists about this auction. The auction ends March 15th. Just e-mail me your bid. Thanks!


How Federal “Bans”, “Freezes”, and “Price Controls” Spread Economic Chaos

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I have always been a believer in free market economics. Whenever a government tries to “fix” things, it often makes things worse, and more often than not, the law of Unintended Consequences is engaged. Prohibition of alcohol early in the last century is often cited, but some of the worst cases of Federal government intervention have taken place since the 1960s. Here are a few examples: Roosevelt and Nixon Administration Wage and Price Controls History has shown that wage and price controls (also called “incomes policies“) are an exercise in futility. In the United States, wage and price controls were …


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 …