Car-Mageddon: Getting Home in a Disaster, by Becky M.

I live in southern California, which means at any moment one of many earthquake faults could decide to slip, a fire could break out, the economy could finally bottom out, an EMP cleverly directed toward Hollywood would finally fix the bad movie plight, or…you get the point.  We all have to live with the annoying little feeling that at any moment TEOTWAWKI could begin.  Lots of preppers will spend thousands of dollars to adequately prepare their house or bugout location, which is awesome.  Some plan to hunker down and ride out the problem in the comfort of their own home, …


Letter Re: Coping with Obstructive Sleep Apnea When There is No Grid Power

Mr. Rawles – I have been living with a CPAP for many years now, and am one of the persons for whom it has worked very well. I also know how bad things can be after not having my CPAP for three days when an airline lost it. After three days I was almost totally non-functional and was ready to lay out the $2,000 out of my own pocket to get a replacement machine. Fortunately my machine was found by the airline. More recently I had 3 nights in 2 months where power outages deprived me of the use of …


Economics and Investing:

Special Note: For any SurvivalBlog readers with pending orders (already paid, but order not received) with Mulligan Mint (a former advertiser : Please e-mail me and let me know: Your name, your order number, the number of ounces ordered, your e-mail address, and the date that you placed your order. I will then do my best to get them to ship you order. (Mulligan Mint claims that they are presently shipping orders.) Matt H. sent this: U.S. gasoline consumption takes a nosedive. G.G. suggested: Pandemic of pension woes is plaguing the nation Items from The Economatrix: Paul Craig Roberts:  Hiding …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Todd M. suggested reading this troubling MIT Technology Review article on SCADA systems vulnerability: Hacking Industrial Systems Turns Out to Be Easy: New research from Black Hat shows it’s possible to trick water and energy infrastructure to cause physical damage—and securing these systems remains painfully slow. Meanwhile, G.G. suggested that we read: Chinese Hacking Team Caught Taking Over Decoy Water Plant. Oh, and coincidentally, my friend Bob G. just called and recommended this novel, based on a credible terrorist scenario: Gridlock.    o o o Some folks have put together a combined Calendar of Prepper, Survivalist and Self-Reliance Shows. I …



Notes from JWR:

Mike Williamson’s latest book Tour of Duty: Stories and Provocations was just released! (Mike is SurvivalBlog’s Editor At Large.) — 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 …


Coping with Obstructive Sleep Apnea When There is No Grid Power, by Chris X.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is a breathing disorder which is caused by the narrowing or total occlusion of the airway while sleeping.  The study of sleep using electroencephalogram electrodes, chest and abdominal effort belts, breathing sensors, and blood oxygenation sensors is called polysomnography.  The advent of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machines in the 1980s started the home treatment revolution of OSA.  Studies have shown that untreated OSA can cause high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, depression, excessive daytime somnolence, fatigue, occupational accidents, and motor vehicle accidents.  More recent studies have shown that OSA is linked to adult-onset diabetes, fibromyalgia …


Letter Re: Animal Food Sources in TEOTWAWKI, by Michael H.

JWR, That was an excellent article By Michael H. about chickens. (Animal Food Sources in TEOTWAWKI.”) One thing to consider is that raccoons can reach though chicken wire and dismember the chickens. Small weasels can easily get through chicken wire. It’s better to use 1/4 or 1/2 inch (at the largest) metal hardware cloth for chicken coops and runs.


News From The American Redoubt:

America’s conservative heartland–a lot of it is in the Redoubt and Plains states. This map, courtesy of Nick Gillespie of the Hit & Run blog at Reason.com shows just how conservative the American Redoubt congressional districts are, compared to much of the rest of the nation. (The Republican-held congressional districts are shown in red.)    o o o The Free State Wyoming forum was “suspended” about six weeks ago, and the members were unable to contact Boston T. Party or discover any reason for the suspension. So they decided to go ahead and establish another forum, called “Wyoming Mavericks” that …


Economics and Investing:

G.G. sent: The lame jobs report, in eight charts. News from Spain: Bank bailout fund admits losses have reached 36 billion euros Consulates and the Vatican in chaos as HSBC tells them to find another bank Items from The Economatrix: Full circle: Joblessness at 2008 level Record Jobs For Old Workers; For Others – Not So Much Ten Times More Waiter and Bartender Than Manufacturing Jobs Added in 2013 US Factory Orders Miss (Again); Biggest 4-Month Drop in a Year


Odds ‘n Sods:

F.J.R. sent this from MacLife: Eight Apps for Wilderness Survival. The piece begins: “It might seem counterintuitive to rely on a device so associated with the comforts of civilization for survival in the wilds, but a well-prepared iPhone could mean the difference between life and death when stranded in the great outdoors…”    o o o Let’s hear it for home schools: They are educating kids better than public schools. (Thanks to Bob G. for the link.)    o o o Mike Williamson’s latest book Tour of Duty: Stories and Provocations will be released tomorrow.    o o o A …



Notes from JWR:

August 5th is the sad 64th anniversary of the Mann Gulch Fire in Montana that took the lives of 13 firefighters (including 12 smokejumpers and one former smokejumper), in 1949. The intense, fast-moving forest fire was in what later became Gates of the Mountains Wilderness. The events of that fire were chronicled in the book Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean and immortalized in the haunting lyrics of the ballad Cold Missouri Waters by James Keelaghan. This anniversary of course reminds us of the recent Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona, where 19 hotshots died. Please keep their family members …



Safer in the City? Statistics Don’t Lie, But They Can Obfuscate

Several readers sent me a link to a study by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania recently published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine that had some surprising results: They concluded that big cities are statistically safer than small towns. This study, titled Safety in Numbers: Are Major Cities the Safest Places in the United States? has a number of flaws. First, it treats deaths by intentional violence equally with accidental deaths and deaths related to the use of alcohol and illicit drugs. This is not quite fair, because the former are not nearly so avoidable as the latter. If …