Today we present another article from Rourke, one of our prolific SurvivalBlog contributors. (He is also the organizer/editor of Yahoo’s Survival Retreat and Secure Home Forum.) We are grateful to Rourke for sharing his knowledge and insights.
I’ve been touting the advantages of E85 Ethanol-compatible “flexible fuel” vehicles for many months. I recently put my money where my mouth is, and bought a flexible fuel 2003 Ford Explorer 4WD for us here at the ranch. The Explorer replaced our not-so-gracefully aging 1989 Suburban. (It had 205,000 miles on the clock, lots of non-functional subsystems, and it was starting to lose compression on the grades.) Assuming that you buy a Flexible Fuel Vehicle (FFV), where do you find fuel? If you live in Brazil or Sweden, no sweat. E85 is found at the majority of gas stations. But …
How can you best avoid being caught in the egress gridlock of sheeple? The best answer to that problem is having the critical information first, allowing you to bug out prior to everyone else. If you are ready to go, or ready to do what you need to do, a few hours or even minutes may be all the edge you need. The information age is becoming the instant information age, but the problem becomes filtering out what you don’t want (too much information, then again you can just watch major media and let them filter out what they don’t …
Dear Jim, For once and for all, which rifle and caliber is the best for the end of days? Let the discussion begin. Sincerely, – 2Knives JWR Replies: I’ll open the discussion with these oh-so subjective suggestions (YMMV): United States (Except California): L1A1 or FN/FAL in 7.62mm NATO California: FN-49 .308 Argentine Variant (in 7.62mm NATO with 20 round detachable magazines)–most other effective semi-autos rifles are banned Central America (except Mexico)/South America/Anywhere in Africa/Oceania: FN/FAL in 7.62mm NATO Philippines: M14E2, in 7.62mm NATO, selective fire. Why selective fire? Just because you can. Canada: M1 Garand in .30-06. (Thankfully exempted from …
Dear Mr. Rawles, I have become increasing concerned that many survivalists do not take longer term survival seriously and in many case appear to give it no consideration at all. They seem to be more concerned with stocking their retreats and being able to hold out against all until things return to normal. The majority of what has been written about survival originates from the USA but there is literally none of this information that considers the longer term. By longer term I mean after surviving the initial disaster, whatever the cause. I am also talking about an event that …
The Memsahib and I have nearly finished watching the late-great science fiction TV series Firefly, on DVD. I must say that it is some of the best television that we’ve seen in years. Parenthetically, I should mention that we don’t even own a television. We just watch movies on DVD on our computers–we have three Macintosh computers at the Rawles Ranch. The folks over at The Claire Files were positively raving about Joss Whedon’s Firefly, so we took the plunge and bought the entire series on DVD at Amazon.com. The series is set in colonized/terraformed outer space, sans aliens, a …
“… Mr. Clinton, sir, America didn’t trust you with our health-care system. America didn’t trust you with gays in the military. America doesn’t trust you with our 21-year-old daughters, and we sure, Lord, don’t trust you with our guns.” – Charlton Heston, in a June 6, 1998 speech at a NRA Convention
I heard from a reader that he found our scrolling advertising distracting. Sorry, but when I started the blog my two alternatives were paid subscriptions or paid advertising. I chose the latter, which has made SurvivalBlog available to an unlimited number of readers, free of charge. We now have 17 advertisers, which requires ads that scroll so that they all come into view. If you’d like the scrolling function to pause while you are reading an article, just position your cursor arrow over any of the ads. OBTW, when you patronize any of our advertisers, please be sure to mention …
As an Army officer, I learned that in order to be effective, and army must have three key abilities: To move, shoot, and communicate. Take away any one, and you are ineffective. But if you get all three right, and you can absolutely devastate an opponent–even one that has superior numbers. The same principles apply to defending a survival retreat in a TEOTWAWKI situation. In the context of a static retreat position, movement is not as crucial, but don’t overlook the need to conduct commerce, and even the need to move between retreat buildings safely. And in an absolute worst …
I’m curious to know what you think are the three most likely threats that we face? Pick and choose from the list below–or perhaps you recognize a threat that isn’t on the list. Please e-mail me your top three, in order of likelihood. I plan to summarize the results of the survey in about a week. Special thanks to SurvivalBlog reader that prefers to be anonymous who provided the list below. NATURAL THREATS Natural Disasters on Earth Short Term and Regional -Severe Storms -Tsunami/Tidal Waves -Hurricane/Typhoons/Cyclones -Tornado -Floods -Fires – Forest/Brush -Landslides -Sinkholes -Drought (Dust Bowl) -Earthquake -Volcano -Animal caused …
James: I enjoy your blog and its part of my daily reading. I have a 2004 GMC Yukon XL that is a flexible fuel vehicle. We recently had a station start selling E85. This last fill up was at $1.66 per gallon versus the $2.08 of unleaded. Nice savings even with the station being a little out of the way. You can go to several of the ethanol web sites and many have complete list of vehicles that can handle E85. Keep up the good work and Merry Christmas. – "SEMO"
Jim: I’ve listened to your advice and digested what you’ve written over a number of years now. You are a confirmed Model 1911 [.45 ACP] individual. (Gee, ya think?) At any rate, I thought I’d pass along what locked me into .45 ACP 1911s and the results. I know, I should start this out with “Now this is no sh*t”, since it’s a war story from Vietnam. I had been supporting an A team, [of the] 5th SF Group for 8 months or so. The guys took pity on the poor pilot and would occasionally take me out on a …
“King Arthur: I am your king. Woman: Well I didn’t vote for you. King Arthur: You don’t vote for kings. Woman: Well how’d you become king then? [Angelic music plays… ] King Arthur: The Lady of the Lake, her arm clad in the purest shimmering samite held aloft Excalibur from the bosom of the water, signifying by divine providence that I, Arthur, was to carry Excalibur. THAT is why I am your king. Dennis: [interrupting] Listen, strange women lyin’ in ponds distributin’ swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the …
We woke up to a foot of fresh snow this morning. It is nice knowing that we have a well-stocked house and a couple of fully snow-capable four wheel drive rigs. Our kids had great fun sledding. But I’m not looking forward to the toboggan run down the mountain tomorrow morning. I commute to a “real job” as a technical writer five days a week. How to Find Ethanol Compatible Vehicles (SAs: Alternate Fuels Ethanol, Survival Vehicles, 4WDs, SUVs, E85) I recently had a SurvivalBlog reader contact me, bemoaning the fact that he was unable to find a 4WD …
Electricity 101: Electricity is fundamental to our first world every day life. We know electricity mostly in one of two forms in the home, from the wall, and in a battery. The electricity that comes out of the wall is high voltage (~110-120 volts [JWR adds: alternating current (AC), in North America–except Mexico, which uses a more macho 127 volts] AC), relatively low amperage, and alternating current. The electricity that is stored in batteries comes in a variety of voltages and amperages but is always direct current (DC). Size AA batteries are 1.5 volts, along with most other battery types, …