Pat’s Product Review: Removable Operator Pack

I have to confess, at one time, I had a huge CFP-90 pack, that was my own personal BOB, and I had so much stuff in it that I could hardly get it on, much less hike any distance – it probably weighed in at 50-pounds or more. But I was good to go, for a week or two without having to resupply, except for a source of water. What was I thinking? My only excuse was, I was young and dumb, and I was actually a lot younger, but a lot stronger back then, too. Today, I have a …


John Hawkwood’s Book Review: A Failure of Civility

Back at the dawn of time, when I was commissioned in the Army Infantry, I reported to Fort Benning, Georgia for my officer’s basic course. As part of our processing, each lieutenant received two large boxes of books. There were many books on weapons systems; from the M16 and M1911 to the .50 caliber Browning Machine Gun. Not forgotten were mines, demolitions, and rocket and missile systems. There were also manuals for vehicles and maintenance, first aid and hygiene, and books for subjects I no longer can recall. Most interesting to me were the Field Manuals (FMs) for tactical operations. …


Letter Re: Tor and the Illusion of Privacy

JWR; I had noticed some mention of Tor and I believe there was some mention of alternatives to Tor as well, to better protect one’s privacy on the web.  I really hate to say this, but, anonymity on the net really only exists as fiction these days.  Tor has had problems with it’s exit nodes for a very long time and there was a lot of talk in the “penetration testing” community about the FBI using Tor to set up stings last summer.  One can use a VPN (virtual private network) that claims to keep it’s users secrets secret, but …


Recipe of the Week:

H.D.’s Homemade Bannock Bread Dough This is for a flour-based equivalent of traditional Bannock. Ingredients: 1 cup flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 tablespoon sugar (or any other sweetener from honey to Splenda . . . ) Pinch of salt 1/2 to 3/4 cup water Oil Mix the dry ingredients together. You can put them in a Baggie (or I put them in a crystal light container after I’ve used up the packets that come in it). Add 1/2 cup water and mix well. You should have a very stiff mix. Slowly add the remaining water until you get a …


Economics and Investing:

Ding, ding! It is noteworthy that Spot silver spiked to $21 per Troy ounce at the opening of the NY Globex market at O-dark-hundred, GMT on Monday morning. Perhaps the summer doldrums will end early, this year. G.G. suggested: Food-Stamp Use Rises; Some 15% Get Benefits Also from G.G.: Bank of Wausau, WI, Closed by Regulators – 18th Bank Failure of 2013 Peter Schiff – FED Will Continue To Ruin And Cause The US Economy To Collapse! Items from The Economatrix: Here’s The Real Unemployment Rate The American dream myth: Income mobility; 4 out of 5 Americans struggle with poverty, …


Odds ‘n Sods:

The political realm is not that different from my horse corral or my hen house. Periodically, the Schumer gets so deep that you can’t just continue shoveling a bit off off the top or around the edges. Merely covering it up with straw is no longer sufficient. The smell becomes too much to bear. What you really need to do is to roll up your sleeves and start shoveling, and do not stop until you’ve scraped right down to bare soil or bare wood. Une zone totalement dépeuplée. To do it right, you leave no media for the germs to …



Notes from JWR:

Patrice Lewis’s blog Rural Revolution (www.rural-revolution.com) is involved in a domain name problem with Blogger, the hosting site. Until such time as this issue is resolved, the blog can be seen at: www.PatriceLewis.blogspot.com. Please spread the word in prepper forums about where her blog can now be found. — I just realized that our queue of Recipes of the Week has opened up. Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? If so, then please send it via e-mail. Thanks! — August 11th is the birthday of SurvivalBlog editor “The Werewolf” in Brazil. Feliz …


Considerations for Gardening at the Retreat Farm, by Tony K.

The context in which this article is written is to attempt to give guidance and provoke thought and inspiration to those determined individuals who wish to be as self sufficient as possible by growing as much of their own food as possible. Everything in this article has been tried and to varying degrees produced results for my family. Our little farm rests just below 7,000 feet in elevation with much sun, wind and deep spring snows, with temperatures in winter falling briefly to 15 or so below zero to highs in the upper 90’s and even the 100’s for at …


Letter Re: Donkeys and Mules

In response to Crazy As A Fox’s recommendation of donkeys as a potential multi-purpose survival animal, I would argue that everything positive aspect of donkeys noted can also be said of mules (the product of a male donkey and female horse).  They have the additional benefit of being less stubborn, faster, and more intelligent than donkeys. Working at a Christian dude ranch in Colorado, I had the opportunity to ride mules on a daily basis and can vouch for their amiability as well as their refusal to put their rider or themselves in danger which makes them particularly suited for …


Economics and Investing:

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Just set fire to Japan’s quadrillion debt Bitcoins can be used as money…and fall under the jurisdiction of securities laws, judge rules Currency Markets: The Next Crisis Has Begun Items from The Economatrix: Retail Sales: Don’t Look to July for Guidance on December Visualizing The Collapse In US Job Security During The Best Period Of Economic Growth In U.S. History There Was No Income Tax And No Federal Reserve


Odds ‘n Sods:

Another Secure Email Service, Silent Circle, Is Shutting Down    o o o Reader J. McC. sent: Scientists Disclose Plans To Make Superflu In Labs    o o o I missed this article when it ran back in June: 1 in 12 on Bloomberg’s gun victims list are crime suspects killed by police or armed citizens acting in self-defense. Oh, and and speaking of Mayor Mikey, another one of Bloomberg’s gun-grabbing mayors is under suspicion: Stockton Mayor is under Peeping Tom investigation as city goes through bankruptcy. And, meanwhile, we read more about the sexcapades of San Diego’s mayor, “Filthy …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with [their] eyes, and hear with [their] ears, and understand with …


Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 48 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: 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 dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) a $300 …


Prepping for Our New Reality, by D.&M.

[Editor’s Introductory Note: I sometimes receive quite lengthy articles that are mix of great practical information and extended political narratives. In such cases I sometimes opt to edit out the particularly ranty sections. Where I have done so, you will see: “[Some deleted, for brevity]“. My apologies, but to make an article of this length readable, editorial discretion is a must. Furthermore, I have to recognize that all politics are local. Since SurvivalBlog is a publication with an international readership, I feel obliged to chop out political discourses that would be of little or no interest to my readers in …