Odds ‘n Sods:

Rourke e-mailed us a link to a table of U.S. Metro home price changes: The level terrain before the precipice.    o o o Michael Z. Williamson sent a link to this handy reference page that gives the bullion content of older European coins. You never know what you might be offered in a Post-TEOTWAWKI, barter transaction–French “Roosters”, , British Sovereigns or perhaps even native gold nuggets… In the absence of the Internet and your local coin shop or jeweler, you must be the expert. Without this expertise, you may end up the victim of a swindle. So it is …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

Jim’s Quote of the Day: “`Get to your places!’ shouted the Queen in a voice of thunder, and people began running about in all directions, tumbling up against each other; however, they got settled down in a minute or two, and the game began. Alice thought she had never seen such a curious croquet-ground in her life; it was all ridges and furrows; the balls were live hedgehogs, the mallets live flamingoes, and the soldiers had to double themselves up and to stand on their hands and feet, to make the arches. The chief difficulty Alice found at first was …


Note from JWR:

The bidding is now at $115 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.


Letter Re: What We Learned From Hurricane Katrina

Dear Mr. Rawles, The anniversaries of Katrina and Rita offer us an useful opportunity to reflect upon the lessons of profound adversity. As a Texan and a native of Houston, the disaster and its aftermath have reminded me of three important truths. First, we were all cautioned that the time to leave is well before the mass of people thinks that leaving is reasonable. Second, if you do plan to stick around, plan to be on your own for longer than you expected in conditions more harsh than you anticipated. Third, any mass-casualty disaster is going to let loose a …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader T.P. mention this editorial: some common sense on preparedness, coming from the journalistic mainstream.    o o o I just saw that Rich Saunders at Century Gun Works (CGW in Gardnerville, Nevada–not to be confused with Century Arms) has revamped his web site. This gent is a fantastic gunsmith that specializes in FAL, L1A1, AR-15, and Glock work. He also does custom gun refinishing with very durable weatherproof coatings such as CenTac 9H. I can personally vouch for the superb quality of his gunsmithing and finishing work. Rich built three of the L1A1s that we use here at the …



Two Letters Re: Questions on Faraday Cages and Radiological Survey Meter EMP Resistance

Mr. Rawles, I am an RF and EMC engineer. I’ve worked nuclear EMP issues for a couple of decades. You were fairly right on – a Faraday cage (or “shield room”) is hard to build. It can be done with fine mesh – similar to window screen but made from copper wire – but the penetrations and doors are always the problem. Mesh will not protect you from large magnetic fields, but for much of the affected area, they are not the problem. Your plan to use a steel ammo can has merit – as long as you close the …


Letter Re: Gangs and Escaped Convict Gang Members in TEOTWAWKI

Jim, First off I don’t want to come across as a dooms day advocate or an alarmist, but….last night while channel flipping I came across a program on Court TV. It was about the gangs that are in prisons. Mostly in the south west and western regions of the United States. I should have remembered the title but I don’t. Anyway, it was an eye opening session for me. I recalled the different books I have read about post TEOTWAWKI and Mutant Zombie Bikers (MZBs) scenarios. The descriptions in the books are vivid as to their ruthlessness, however, I think …


Odds ‘n Sods:

It is interesting to see that the price of crude oil has drifted down to around $70 per barrel and because of growing supplies (there is actually a shortage of storage space!) it is expected to drift lower still in coming months. Meanwhile, the price of gold is holding solidly over $620 per ounce and the price of silver is advancing past $12.70. But wait a minute… The “experts” tell us that oil and precious metals have their prices “tied.” Obviously the silver and gold prices are telling us a different story. I think that the coming year will see …


The Memsahib’s Quote of the Day:

“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.” – James Wesley, Rawles


Note from JWR:

We are pleased to welcome our latest advertiser, PrepareNow.com. They sell long term storage food. Their specialty is the excellent Gourmet Reserves brand. Because they have established distributor level high volume status with the canner, they offer the best pricing in the country on this brand. Be sure to visit their web site and check out their products. BTW, if you mention SurvivalBlog when you contact them, they have promised to provide their very best discounted price as well as a special deal on shipping.


Two Letters Re: Canned Coffee Beans

Jim: [Regarding A.P.’s letter posted on August 26th] I’m one of those guys who drinks coffee from dawn to dusk, so I was most interested in the thread on coffee storage. I keep 36 large cans of Maxwell House in my cool-storage pantry (60 degrees in the summer, 40 degrees in the winter). I cycle through the supply on a regular basis, taking about a year to go thru entire stock. In a worst-case scenario, I’d cut back to a can a month and would thus have a 3-year stash. Yeah, I know… the Starbucks sippers turn their nose up …


Letter Re: Jericho TV Series

Jim: I don’t know if you watch much TV, but this new show Jericho is going to spur survivalism interest, I can see right now. I just watched the pilot (downloaded off the Internet – it won’t be airing for a few more weeks, and will be on CBS) but it was really well done. Small town deals with the aftermath of a multiple nuclear strike on the US. It covers radios and TV being down (a hammer is mentioned briefly as the only one able to get out for info), gas runs, panic at grocery stores, and prisoners being …


Letter Re: Pat Buchanan’s Book State of Emergency

Jim, I am about halfway thru the new book by Pat Buchanan –‘State of Emergency’– and its scaring the hell out of me. I’ve followed the Illegal Alien story for yrs, ever since I landed back in California in 1989 after my hitch in the U.S. Air Force and I thought I had a handle on it. The statistics and figures that Pat puts forth are daunting–and quite depressing. This nation is facing the largest problem in its history with this invasion–I’m not downplaying any of the threats we face with the radical Islamists–that is yet one more frightening scenario–but …


Letter Re: SurvivalBlog RSS Feed

Hello James, Last week you mentioned publishing content in the MobiReader format so that it is accessible to readers using PDAs or cellular phones with text windows. I have not used that software specifically, but would like to bring pRSS Reader to your attention. pRSS Reader is a free RSS reader that runs on Windows Mobile devices, and is the software I use to read SurvivalBlog daily. You may want to suggest this option to your readers who prefer to read the blog on a mobile device. The software will automatically check for updates to the blog at a configurable …