Jim’s Quote of the Day:
“The degree of one’s emotion varies inversely with one’s knowledge of the facts — the less you know the hotter you get.” – Bertrand Russell
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Note from JWR:
You’ve all probably heard about the Category 5 cyclone that recently struck Australia: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/19/world/main1419446.shtml Perhaps one of our readers in Australia could let us know where to send donations. The folks in the affected region are in our prayers. We are still in need of more advertisers so that we will be able to make ends meet when SurvivalBlog becomes my primary source of income, starting in April. If you know of any potential advertisers, please call or send them an e-mail, and encourage them to get a banner ad. These ads start at just $55 per month. That is …
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Letter from Michael Williamson Re: Accumulating Silver and Gold Bullion
Jim, I’ve been lucky on bullion recently and found some good info and a source. I found local coin dealers at a gun show, who were selling “junk silver” coins at barely over spot price. The price was about the same as from the best mass dealer I could find, but in per coin price, not in $1,000 face bags with 715 troy ounces. I’ll be hitting them as funds and silver price permit. NWTBullion does offer the best price I’ve seen, and will deal in bags as small as $100 face value–72 troy ounces, and in small coin quantities. …
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Letter Re: Suburban Emergency Management Project Website
Mr. Rawles, Please let me commend to your attention the website of the Suburban Emergency Management Project: http://www.semp.us/ This is an excellent website with material written by professionals but useful to laymen. There’s more info on this site than I can assimilate in a week. Their “Biots” are short papers on a whole panoply of emergency preparedness topics. There are 340 of them, as of today. Some of my favorites are: #334: “Please Remain in Your Seat”: The Federal Government’s Role in Quarantine (26 February, 2006) #332: What Is “Earthquake Baroque” Architecture? (21 February 2006) #259: Revisiting Looting Behavior during …
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Letter Re: Source for Shelf Stable Bread or Crackers?
Hello, Jim! I was reviewing my storage of food supplies when a thought came to me: I don’t have anything to put all that peanut butter on! I looked through all of the food suppliers you advertise looking for crackers, no results. Have any ideas of something that would store well? – Gerry C. JWR Replies: The individually-wrapped “shelf stable” bread mini-loafs intended to supplement MRE and Tray-Pack (“T-Pack“) squad rations have been available off and on for about ten years. This bread is quite bulky to store. I personally don’t like the taste of it (too salty for me), …
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Odds ‘n Sods:
Navy SEALs to Get Modified M14 Rifles: http://www.janes.com/defence/news/jdw/jdw060317_1_n.shtml o o o Asian Avian Flu Raises Hackles in Israel: LINK o o o The folks at The Claire Files are organizing a postal rifle match. See: http://www.tcftalk.com/clairefiles/index.php?topic=9031.0 o o o A bill before the Tennessee legislature would reject NAIS: http://nonais.org/index.php/2006/03/21/tn-bill-refuses-nais/ Let’s hope this is the beginning of a groundswell.
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Jim’s Quote of the Day:
"If a man neglects to enforce his rights, he cannot complain if, after a while, the law follows his example." – Oliver Wendell Holmes
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Note from JWR:
There are just 10 days left to submit your entries for Round 3 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best contest entry will win a four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. The deadline for entries for Round 3 is March 31, 2006. The first piece posted today is another fine contest entry:
Seasons of the Sun, by Tim P.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 says: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” When people read this, or read about seasons in general, I would imagine that most immediately think of the changes of seasons associated with our climate. Most do not think of the sun, except in that it seems to be much more visible here during the warm months! However, the sun has seasons, or cycles, just like we do here on earth and these can have a large effect on us. One cycle that is most readily observed is that of …
Letter Re: Threading a Rifle Muzzle for Flash Hider and Muzzle Brake
Mr. Rawles, My compliments on your informative blog site, and best wishes for continued success. I read your thought-provoking and informative novel, Patriots, and enjoyed it very much. A few days ago you wrote, “IMHO, ‘tacticalizing’ your bolt action rifles (by threading their muzzles) is a must.” You mentioned sending a Browning A-bolt [to Holland’s of Oregon] to have the muzzle threaded. In the Survival Guns section of your website, you write, “It is important to note that scopes are more prone to failure than any other part of a rifle. Therefore, it is wise to select a rifle with …
Odds ‘n Sods:
U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton said on Monday said that it was “increasingly likely” that bird flu would be detected in the United States as early as this year.See: this page o o o Category 5 Cyclone Slams Australia: CBS World News o o o Hurricane Katrina: What Went Right?: http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/12030 o o o Kevin Sites, a journalist in Afghanistan: http://hotzone.yahoo.com/ o o o Big caliber safari rifles: http://bigfivehq.com/ o o o Some interesting economic and investing commentary: http://www.safehaven.com/archives.cfm o o o Silver is bouncing along at around $10.30 per ounce. That is a 16.85% gain for the year!
Jim’s Quote of the Day:
"As nightfall does not come all at once, neither does oppression. In both instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged. And, it is in such twilight that we all must be aware of change in the air, however slight, lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness." – Justice William O. Douglas, U.S. Supreme Court (1939-1975)
America’s Economic Woes–Some Deep Schumer in the Near Future?
The U.S. housing bubble but has not yet popped, but it is starting to make funny noises. (See: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060306/housing_slowdown.html?.v=2) You have probably read that the Federal debt ceiling has been raised to nine trillion dollars. (See: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,138881,00.html) What is the point of calling it a “ceiling” if Congress keeps raising it every year? The U.S. Treasury is now technically bankrupt, but from a practical standpoint, how can you call the man with the printing press bankrupt? He just prints more, as needed. There are just more and more “fun tickets” in circulation, and their value gradually melts away. Ask anyone …
David in Israel: McGyver Fixed My Car
As with many survival related expedient repairs some of these fixes could present a fire or mechanical danger. As always work/learn with a responsible experienced mechanic, one who specializes in off road racing will often have good experience in how to squeeze a few more miles out of a damaged vehicle. Diesel Engine Glow Plugs: if the glow plug control system goes down try running a parallel power wire from the plugs straight into the cab off of the fuse panel or cigarette lighter, try to determine amperage draw ahead of time for proper switches and wiring. Power the plugs …
Letter Re: The Best Guns for Investment?
Mr. Rawles, Could you mention some ‘investment grade’ firearms for your Survival Blog readers? In other words, besides investing in silver, what firearms (handguns, carbines, etc) would be potential investments for long range 10-20 years? Thanks! – Chad JWR Replies: The biggest price gains will probably be in pre-1899 cartridge guns, as mentioned in my Pre-1899 FAQ. In my opinion, the real “comers” in today’s market are (in no particular order): Smith and Wesson top break revolvers. I anticipate that S&Ws will nearly “catch up” to Colt prices in the next 20 years. The .38 caliber S&W top breaks are …