Letter Re: How Much Ammo to Store For Self Defense and Hunting?

Mr. Rawles: I found reading your Retreat Owner Profiles fascinating. One item I noticed was that even those with incomes significantly less than mine, sometimes by a factor of 30 to 1, had much more ballistic wampum. How many rounds do you recommend for survival but not trade?[ [JWR Adds: I slightly fictionalized the following, for purposes of illustration]: My circumstances are as follows: I live on the Big Island of Hawaii, in the Mountain View farming district of North Puna, plenty of rainfall (with catchment), lots of fruit trees, fairly high elevation (only minor need of house heating). I …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader M.M. mentioned this scary news article from England: Six Years of Below Average Harvests, Globally. He commented: “Harvests are less than the population eats for the sixth straight year and the warehoused surplus is almost gone. Famine or serious and aggressive agriculture are the two potential outcomes. If it goes like it has for the oil, the free food is over and the price of food will be bid up until demand is destroyed, such as a poor country doesn’t get its shipments. And that is that for them…” Meanwhile, reader Ben L. sent this corroborating piece from Rense.com. …



Note from JWR:

Today we are pleased to welcome our latest advertiser, Best Prices Storable Foods. They are located in Texas, but ship throughout the United States. They sell long term storage dehydrated foods, canned soft butter, canned soft cheese, canned meats, grain mills, water filters, diatomaceous earth, and much more. Please check out their products at their web site. As with all of our other advertisers, when contacting them please mention that you saw their ad at SurvivalBlog


Letter Re: Religious Versus Non-Religious Neighbors, Post-TEOTWAWKI

Mr. Rawles: You were quoted as stating: “I’m often asked why I make such a ‘big deal’ about choosing conservative Christians, Messianic Jews, or Orthodox Jews for neighbors. The plain truth is that in a societal collapse there will be a veritable vacuum of law enforcement. In such times, with a few exceptions, it will only be the God fearing that will continue to be law abiding. Choose your neighborhood wisely.” Perhaps you might clarify for your non-believing readers what side you would place them on come TEOTWAWKI. For the sake of full disclosure? It seems to me that in …


Letter Re: Expedient Faraday Cage EMP Protection, and Satellite Radio in Emergency Alert Network?

Jim – I have a a few questions for your readers regarding satellite radio (subscription-based services such as Sirius) if you would be kind enough to consider a posting. But first, many thanks to E.H. and Sun Dog for their replies in regard to Faraday cages, their use, and construction. I think it particularly handy knowing that a microwave oven could make a pretty good Faraday cage, and now that I think about it, this makes perfect sense. For those of you that have built, or are in the process of building (or are considering building) hardened shelters, if you …


Odds ‘n Sods:

The bidding is now up to $125 in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction for a copy “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course. The course was kindly donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. Please submit your bids via e-mail. This auction ends on September 15th.    o o o An international climate panel revises global warming forecast: climate change now thought to be less severe.    o o o Reader S.F. in Hawaii e-mailed us: “The other day I received some bank notes (Marks) that I had ordered from a collector. These were from the Weimar Republic dating 1917 to 1923. …



Letter Re: Corn for Food Storage Programs?

Hello Mr. Rawles : I must say I love your blog and writings as they provide an invaluable service for like minded folks on preparedness!This email is in regards to the absence of dry corn or any corn other than popping corn in your excellent “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, I am wondering if corn is a viable storage food and if not, why? would it be because of short storage life or unsuitable packing methods to retain nutritive value? Or any other reason that I can’t imagine? While looking at the Provident Living site of the LDS they …


Two Letters Re: Prussian Blue for Radioactive Isotope Exposure by P.H.

Dear Jim, I have been reading your blog for a bit and I appreciate your flow of information. One thing I (finally) saw that should be added [to the commentary on Prussian Blue and Potassium Iodate] is the popular poison oak [and poison ivy and poison sumac] treatment called TECNU. It was originally created as a waterless decontamination for nuclear fallout. Just a minor but currently easy to obtain treatment. – Ferk   Dear Jim: What B.F. is looking for is US Pharmacopoeia (USP) listed Prussian Blue. It is sold by prescription. Get a friendly doc to write a script …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Back to school week: Refuting the argument that home schooling leaves children insufficiently “socialized.”    o o o The Intelligence Summit web site has some interesting analysis and commentary on emerging threats. Some of it qualifies as serious “Food for thought and grounds for further research” (FFTAGFFR).    o o o Richard from KT Ordnance sent a pointer to this interesting site on Kia (South Korean) military vehicles. He also bemoaned Jeep dropping the planned Gladiator 4WD Pickup from their product line queue, stating: “I’m sorry to see Daimler-Chrysler take such a short sighted view of Jeep’s future by killing …



Letter Re: Gangs and Escaped Convict Gang Members in TEOTWAWKI

James, Please look up the Gang MS-13 who I understand are a Venezuelan controlled “Mafia” for drug running. These members don’t use guns, (for who knows what reason), they have chosen the Machete’ as their weapon of choice. In a post TEOTWAWKI situation, sizing up a danger by looking for a gun alone will not suffice. Keep your distance. All the more reason to have good firearm training. If it’s hand to hand, it’s probably too late. – The Wanderer JWR Replies: I concur that gang members will be a significant threat in a post-TEOTWAWKI “law and order vacuum” (Just …


Letter Re: The Hazards of Even Non-Recourse Loans

Just a heads-up, lots of folks in place like California where non-recourse loans are mandated by law (at least for homes) feel pretty smug, thinking that even if they get upside down on a mortgage they can walk away without repercussions. Bad news: the IRS considers the amount of the loan “forgiven” by the bank to be income. That means, to use California numbers, if you owe $500,000 on a house which sells at foreclosure for $200,000, you now owe income taxes on your $300,000 in income you just “received”. Just a quick “report from the ground”, I live in …


Re: Prussian Blue for Radioactive Isotope Exposure by P.H.

Mr. Rawles: I have always felt that Prussian Blue [as mentioned in SurvivalBlog on August 27th] should be part of one’s system of NBC protection but never had the info needed to make it happen until P.H. kindly provided important details. I checked the link that was provided to obtain the powdered Ferric Ferrocyanide and noted that their web site indicates it is “made from Ferric Ferrocyanide”. That doesn’t necessarily mean it is chemically pure. I inquired, and they indicated they cannot confirm the chemical analysis as the product was obtained over ten years ago and don’t even know the …