Writing Contest Prize Winners

We’ve completed the judging for Round 48 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest, which ended yesterday. First prize goes to Tennessean for his lengthy and detailed article Protection from Radioactive Fallout, posted on September 12, 2013. He will receive: A.) Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course. (A $1,195 value.) B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze …


New Prize for Writing Contest Round 49

Mayflower Trading Company has kindly donated several prizes to add to the Third Prize package, for Round 49 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest, et sequitur. These are: A Nesco / American Harvest Gardenmaster Dehydrator with an extra set of trays, and the book The Dehydrator Bible. These prizes have a combined value of $210. This brings the combined value of the top three prizes to more than $6,000! Round 49 begins today and will end on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical …


Life on the Edge: The Importance of Blade Maintenance, by Dr. DAC

INTRODUCTION Most of us use a cutting edge every single day, be it a chef’s knife, pocket knife, or scissors.  We typically suffer with overly dull cutting surfaces, and that is OK for cutting a zucchini after the daily nine-to-five routine.  However, when faced with a long-term survival situation, the importance of cutting edges will skyrocket, quickly shifting this humdrum facet of daily life to center stage.  Knowing how to restore and maintain blades and edges will take on new importance, as sharp tools will be necessary for survival, and sharpening will be a marketable and barterable skill. Besides knives …


Letter Re: Desert Stills Don’t Work

Can anyone prove that the long-touted “desert solar still” will maintain life in a emergency desert survival situation? I’m age 70 and tired of hearing the Bravo Sierra.  Prove it to me, please. Sorry , but with more than 35 years experience (15 years at the USN SERE-P.O.W. school in Warner Springs, California plus three years at the USN JEST school and since then 20 years in the business of survival training and digging earth,)  I must call foul on the desert still concept.  People should stop selling the idea. (The USAF has.)     I have tested the solar still idea since 1968 – …


News From The American Redoubt:

Nine Maps That Show Where Americans Commit Crime. (And, once again, The American Redoubt shines.) Note that the darker shade shown for Oregon is deceiving–that represents the crime that mainly occurs in western Oregon–not in the lightly-populated Redoubt half of the state. A similar situations exits in Washington, although the crime in the Tri-Cities region is anomalously high for the eastern half of the state.    o o o Bob in Virginia sent this fascinating map link: Half Of The United States Lives In These Counties. Hmmmm… Notice the big hole in the map, with nary any blue? That is …


Economics and Investing:

As I’ve long warned my readers, the days of the Penny and Nickel are numbered: SAVE II Act Would Prohibit “Non-Cost Effective” Coins and Currency. (Thanks to Rich R. for the link.) Reader B.B. sent: Americans warned bank ‘bail-ins’ coming James W. sent us this: The Death Of The Dollar – In Pictures Items from The Economatrix: Panama Declares Banking Holiday Home Prices Continue To Climb How Government Shutdown Would Hurt Main Street


Odds ‘n Sods:

Frequent link contributor RBS sent this: 3D-Printed Semiautomatic Pistol Unveiled    o o o Hornet attacks kill dozens in China: Hundreds of people stung in Shaanxi province by swarms of giant insects believed to have multiplied over warm summer. (Thanks to F.J.R. for the link.)    o o o Christian Tragedy in the Muslim World. Let’s call it what it is: Genocide!    o o o Greg W. sent: A Gun Map That’s a Little Different    o o o A retired British Commando describes the use of the Fairbairn-Sykes Fighting Knife, in graphic detail. (Thanks to F.G. for the …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“In winter, lying in bed, I thought of one thing until my head hurt:  there, on the shelves in the shops, there had been canned fish.  Why hadn’t I bought it?  Why had I bought only eleven jars of cod-liver oil, and not gone to the chemist’s a fifth time to get another three?  Why hadn’t I bought a few vitamin C and glucose tablets?  These ‘whys’ were terribly tormenting.  I thought of every uneaten bowl of soup, every crust of bread thrown away, every potato peeling, with as much remorse and despair as if I’d been the murderer of …


Note from JWR:

This is the last day to place an order and take advantages of the September Mountain House sales. For the month of September, five of our advertisers have been offering special sale prices on Mountain House foods in #10 cans. They are all offering deep discounts and most of them are offering free shipping: Camping Survival – Up to 54% off. Emergency Essentials – 40% to 50% off. Freeze Dry Guy – Meats are 40% off. Everything else (entrees, fruits, vegetables) is 25% off. Ready Made Resources – 45% to 70% off Safecastle – An average of 49% off, in …


Expatriates Release Day Tomorrow

You might as well call me “James Wesley, Wrong”, since a printing error at E.P. Dutton resulted in several thousand copies of the First Edition, First Printing of Expatriates having the hardcover spines (underneath the dust jacket) emblazoned: “John Wesley, Rawles.“ Here is how the correct dust jacket spine looks: And here is how the misprinted hardback spine (underneath the dust jacket) looks: This error wasn’t discovered until Friday night (September 27th), when our family friend “Enola Gay” (the editor of the outstanding Paratus Familia blog) happened to look under the dust jacket of the copy that I’d given her. …


Pat’s Product Review: CORE15 M4 Rifle

It appears, at least for the time being, that AR-15 style rifle manufacturers are starting to catch-up with demand. Not all makers are caught-up, but a few are – the companies that specialize in making AR-15 style rifles only, appear to be the ones catching-up with supply to meet demand. Although some ammo makers are making some progress in manufacturing more .223 Rem and 5.56mm ammo, the great ammo drought of 2013 is far from over. As I mentioned before, my inside sources – at ammo companies – not gun shop clerks, or Internet warriors – tell me that it will …


Letter Re: Currently Available QRP Radio Kits

James, I’d like to discuss a couple of low power (“QRP”) ham radio transmitters. The first kit is a 10 Watt 75M SSB transceiver appropriately named The Survivor. For the modest sum of $140 you get all the parts required to build a practical rig with a digital frequency readout capable of making voice contacts at night out to a range of 200 to 300 miles using simple (low to the ground) wire antennas in NVIS mode. Another ham radio operator provided some additional tips and advice on building this kit on his blog. The second kit is a crystal-controlled …


Letter Re: Recommending Todd Savage of Survival Retreat Consulting

Hello Mr. Rawles, Just a note of thanks to you and your site for leading me to Todd Savage at Survival Retreat Consulting (SRC.) I read your novel Patriots and that gave me the incentive I needed to pursue a retreat for my family.  I researched the means available to obtain my retreat and that included SRC’s ad on your SurvivalBlog.com site.  I was impressed with Todd’s well thought out process and the advantage that his own experience in making the journey with his own family brought to the process.  With your recommendation as a tail wind, I hired Todd and …


Letter Re: Basic Mechanics Skill and Knowing Vehicular Limitations

Jim, If I might add my two cents to Albert’s comments on Basic Mechanics Skill and Knowing Vehicular Limitations:  I was also inconvenienced with lug nuts being over-torqued. I bent the factory lug wrench in the process.   My dear spouse would have never been able to loosen one, much less five lug nuts. So I vowed to never again be put in that position again.  I made the assumption that the tire store torqued the lug nuts to factory specifications. They went far beyond that number. Apparently, many do.   My solution was far less high tech, EMP proof, and far less expensive: a 24-Inch …


Letter Re: House Window Blackout Materials

James, I heard you in your recent interview on the SGT Report podcast talking about [the need for] interior blackout material [to stop light from escaping windows when the power grid is down.]    What is the name of the material and tape and where can I purchase it? Thanks, Paul Z. JWR Replies: You will find the information you need in these archived discussions in SurvivalBlog. Also see this theatrical supply company, and specifically this blackout fabric and this blackout tape.