Odds ‘n Sods:

North Korea defiant, amidst fears of second nuclear weapon test. In other headlines, North Korea say that the recent UN sanctions resolution is a “declaration of war.”    o o o The U.S. is beefing up security on the Canadian border, deploying air assets–including drones.    o o o The U.S. Special Forces SCAR rifle acquisition program moves forward: The SCAR has unique specifications that allow the same receiver to be used for both .223 (“SCAR L”) and .308 (“SCAR H”) variants. Hmmm…The army finally gets back on track, nearly 50 years after the T44 versus T48 rifle trials, and …




Letter Re: Earthquake in Hawaii

Jim: I woke up last Sunday to the sound of my house shaking. Yup, an earthquake and wow, a really big one. Calmly and firmly I ordered the kids out of the house and waited until the shaking stopped. When we went inside my 6 and 8 year olds had already gotten their little mini-survival packs out (emergency mylar bags, flints, tinder and Swiss army knives) and were working on getting their heavier survival backpacks out from the closet (food, clothes and sleeping bags) while I swept up the broken glass on the kitchen floor. They did me proud. No …


Letter Re: Prospects for the UK after TEOTWAWKI

Sir: On 10 Oct 06 you wrote: “Ironically, the risk of getting murdered here in the US is higher than it is there. But England clearly has higher rates for nearly all other crimes–both violent and non-violent”. In fact England has more murders than the US. It is all to do with how they work out the numbers. You would think to be classed as a murder someone would have to be murdered but it does not work this way. In the US the way to class a death as murder is if the police case starts of as a …


Odds ‘n Sods:

From Asia Times Online: An interesting, albeit biased, three part analysis of the recent conflict in Israel, by Alastair Crooke and Mark Perry    o o o The U.S. Census Bureau’s population “POPclock” tops the 300,000,000 mark. That is interesting, but it doesn’t have a lot of immediate impact on my family. The nearest neighboring house is 1/2 mile away from the Rawles Ranch. The population density is still just three people per square mile in our county. This is typical for most of the rest of The Un-named Western State (TUWS). OBTW, our friend Fred the Valmet-meister mentioned that …



Note From JWR:

Today we welcome our newest advertiser, MURS Radio. They sell bargain-priced surplus VHF portable two-way radios that operate in the Multi Use Radio Service (MURS) allocated frequencies. These radios come complete and ready to use with antenna, battery, belt clip and drop-in charger for only $49 each. Yes, they have a few scratches and they’ll have a sticker that covers the original emergency service department engravings, but for just $49 for a 2 Watt transceiver, they are a great deal. MURS frequencies and do not require a license in the U.S. These are pre-programmed with five MURS frequencies and three …


Letter Re: TVP is a Poor Choice for Food Storage

Jim: Many commercially packaged storage food “package deals” load up on Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) for protein. I would eat TVP if I had to, but if you are considering buying food for storage, stick to eggs and meat. TVP comes from soybeans, and soybeans are not a good human food. To explain: Plants can be placed on a continuum from harmless fruits, vegetables and common grains, to poisonous plants like deathcap mushrooms. With the exception of fruits (seeds pass through our digestion and we ‘deposit’ them in remote locations thus propagating the plant species) , plants don’t want to …


Two Letters Re: Ammunition Handloading Basics

James, This is in reply to a couple of earlier letters, and I would like to point out some corrections. 1) Lee powder dippers are safe to use as directed. If you actually read the directions and especially the discussion about the dippers in the Lee Modern Reloading Manual you will see that Lee specifies only dippers that cannot go over the maximum weight charge if used with appropriate powders. The dipper provided with a set of dies will only be appropriate with certain powders, and those will always be a little or a lot under the max charge weight, …


Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog reader “John Smith” recommends the post-apocalyptic novel “The Road”, by Cormac McCarthy.    o o o In case you missed it, here is a link to a PDF of the 2005 U.S. congressional hearing on the Peak Oil Theory    o o o Buffalo , New York continues to dig out, after an early snowstorm



Notes From JWR:

The winner of the most recent SurvivalBlog benefit auction was L.P., with a $280 bid for a fully tested and recently professionally calibrated U.S. government surplus Civil Defense CD V-717 fallout survey meter with remote sensing capability. The meter was donated by Ready Made Resources (one of our first and most loyal advertisers). A new benefit auction begins today, and ends November 15th. This one is for a used but very scarce autographed copy of the non-fiction book Survival Guns by Mel Tappan. Because Mel led a very private life, he made few public appearances and never sold copies of …


Letter Re: An Early Snowstorm in Western New York

Well, mother nature really gave it to them this week. There were 24 inches of snow dumped on us in about 24 hours. That, and the trees still had most of their leaves still intact. That just made more surface for the snow to stick, and it was the wettest imaginable snow you have ever seen. I’m writing this on Sunday. The power has been out since about 5 P.M. on Friday, and they are saying it won’t all be back on till next weekend. I didn’t lose my power, since I live north of the worst of it. I …


Letter Re: Hard Red Wheat Versus Soft White Wheat for Storage and Baking

Jim, As you know, I live near Niagara Falls. I grew up on a farm, mostly growing ‘row crops’. Wheat, oats, corn, buckwheat, and soybeans have become a big crop in the area of late. The wheat we grow around here is [soft] ‘white’ wheat, not the hard red [winter] wheat that is grown in the mid-west. I have wondered what the difference really is, and have never really found out. Can someone out there straighten me out on this? It seems most bread is made from the red, from what I hear. Can’t bread be made from the white …