Letter Re: Manpower Requirements for Defending a Retreat in a Worst Case, and the Jealous Neighbor Factor

James: The “Mr. and Mrs. Oscar” profile was most interesting. For a lot of us, probably the epitome of “If I had the money, my retreat would be…” On the downside, I would be concerned with: 1. The problem of defending/patrolling the property. A quarter section translates to a full mile of frontier. In a full SHTF situation, I’d want a trustworthy, commo equipped, well-armed loyal soul every 100 yards or so. If those folks put in 12 hour shifts, you’d need about 35 hands for perimeter security. That doesn’t take into account the roving patrols on the interior of …


Odds ‘n Sods:

The Werewolf, our correspondent in Brazil, noticed an Amazon Shorts downloadable e-book “Peak Oil and Personal Preparation for It” by Steven Woeste available for just 49 cents.    o o o The Rude Awakening notes that pre-1983 U.S. pennies “contain about 3 grams of copper and about .1 grams of zinc. Current metallic value: 2.4 cents per penny.” Post-1982 pennies, which contain almost no copper whatsoever (they are just copper flashed zinc tokens), are “rapidly approaching metallic parity, thanks to the soaring price of zinc. These later pennies contain 97.6% zinc and 2.4% copper. Current metallic value: .89 cents per …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Western values are superior to all others. Why? The indispensable achievement of the West was the concept of individual rights. It’s the idea that individuals have certain inalienable rights and individuals do not exist to serve government but governments exist to protect these inalienable rights. It took until the 17th century for that idea to arrive on the scene and mostly through the works of English philosophers such as John Locke and David Hume. While Western values are superior to all others, one need not be a Westerner to hold Western values. A person can be Chinese, Japanese, Jewish, African …


Notes From JWR:

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Letter Re: Can I Burn Off Road Diesel Fuel in a Modern Diesel Engine?

James In the letter from “John in Central New York State’, he says that most late model diesels with electronic ignitions won’t work with off road diesel fuel. Do you know why? Thanks, J.P. in Montana JWR Replies: I believe that John’s statement was not entirely correct. Most Diesel engines can run just fine on the off road fuel or even home heating oil (called “red diesel”, in England), but they cannot legally do so on public roads in the U.S. and the UK. The formulations of Home Heating Oil, “off road diesel”, and road taxed No. 2 Diesel fuel …


Letter Re: Advice on Small-Scale Grain Growing, Harvesting, and Processing

Hi, I love your survival site. I was wondering about finding low cost or fairly low cost equipment to harvest, thresh, winnow and hull grains such as wheat, barley, millet, oats, etc. Also low cost equipment to extract oil from seeds such as sunflower seeds. I’ve done an extensive search on the Internet and can find very little that is meant for a family or small group of people. Manual (hand power) or electric/gas/diesel are all of interest. Being able to process and use grains is extremely important but I don’t know of any sites that sell survival equipment that …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Mike M. gave a thumbs up for the Nader Khalili’s sandbag building technique recently mentioned in SurvivalBlog. Mike says: “This is great stuff. Our church has been trying this building technique for use in Mexico. It would make a great shelter for short or long term use.” See: http://www.calearth.org/    o o o The remnants of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party have threatened to retaliate if their leader is executed.    o o o Courtesy of Gold-Eagle, Joshua Fritsch offers some interesting charts showing the bull market in gold. The best is yet to come.


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Big government by its very nature is government that intrudes in people’s lives, usurps their rights and responsibilities and confiscates their money. There is nothing conservative about any of this. Regardless of how benevolent and well-meaning its intentions are, government expands almost entirely for the purpose of controlling and regulating the lives of its citizens. Each act of government, each law passed, each regulation written is a step toward limiting the freedom of some one or some group or some organization or some business or industry. Granted, some of these steps may be necessary but most of them are not. …


From The Memsahib: Survivalism and Personality Types–Pessimists and Optimists

I’ll be curious to see if the recently released TEOTWAWKI futurist movie Children of Men inspires any greater interest in preparedness. From what I’ve read about the gritty realism of the film, it might. But then, Jim thought the same thing back in August when he heard about the television series Jericho. Apparently it attracted considerable fan following and inspired some debate, but little action. From what I’ve heard from the food storage and other preparedness vendors, their market went into a slump last fall. With the current global threats–most notably Iranian and North Korean nuclear saber rattling, both Sunni …


Two Letters Re: Recommended Versatile Dog Breeds for Retreat Security

In your 11, August 2005 post (yes, I’m reading the archives) you asked for a review from people who have owned Airedale(s) for an extended period of time. My family has lived with airedale terriers for about 20 years so I might have a little insight. Overall, these animals tend to be highly intelligent, very friendly to family and friends and incredibly headstrong. Their hunting instincts and abilities are amazing. For example, one of our Airedales managed to catch a good sized rodent while on a short lead (approximately two feet of slack). The downside to these wonderful animals is …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Mike the Blacksmith recommended this article: How Our Civilization Can Fall.    o o o The first episode of the Front Sight Challenge reality television series will air for the first time on on January 5, 2007. Naish Piazza tells me that the series will be available to cable and satellite television viewers in 70 million homes around the globe. I predict that this exposure will cause a spike in Front Sight course enrollments, so make your reservations soon. Because of the hot climate in southern Nevada, in my experience the most pleasant months to attend are October through April. …



Note From JWR:

The following is another article for Round 8 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 $1,600.) Second prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. If there are a lot of great entries this round of the contest, I will again be sending out a few complimentary copies of my novel “Patriots” as “honorable mention” awards. If you want a chance to win the contest, start writing …


Preparing for TEOTWAWKI–A Change of Lifestyle and a Change of Mindset, by D.O.

The End of the World as We Know It (TEOTWAWKI): statistically speaking, the odds are that you and your family are going to die. However, because you are reading this, you have decided that you want to die of old age in the event that Schumer hits the fan. 1. Your Level of Preparedness is dependent on where you are living. If you are living in large metro city. Then have about 60 days of supplies. After that time in a true TEOTWAWKI situation living conditions will have deteriorated to the point that it is unlivable and you will die …


Odds ‘n Sods:

The U.S. FCC‘s recent change in amateur (“Ham“) radio licensing requirements (dropping the Morse code test for all license classes) inspired an interesting thread of conversation over at The Claire Files.    o o o Michael H. just had to send us this link to the Jet-man of Switzerland. This site has no survival or preparedness applicability that I can imagine, but wow! Check out the video clip. Tres cool!     o o o If it is an issue of concern for you, get your comments in ASAP about the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). The deadline for public comments …