Letter Re: Legal Research

Jim: I have some advice for your readers on legal research. While it is not as robust as Lexis or Westlaw, Google Scholar is easier to use and should be more than adequate for people to find and read the cases they are looking for.  In addition to being able to directly access cases by the citations you provided, users may also search databases containing primary authority for both federal and state court opinions in the same manner they would do an internet search on Google or Bing. Another nice feature of internet research, as opposed to using a law …


Letter Re: Addictions That Could Be Your Undoing

Mr Rawles,  I have had to get off of coffee several times for health reasons and have found that a couple of B Complex vitamins or a non-caffeine energy drink like FRS really helps to ease the pain and symptoms of withdrawal … of course I had a five cup a day habit, not a 5 pot a day habit like some of your readers indicated. I also want to thank you for printing the article several months ago about getting off of anti-depressants. My wife was on Effexor, one of the most notorious ones, and we were able to …


Letter Re: A Prepper’s Guide to EMP

Mr. Rawles, I have to make a comment about information in this article that is just wrong and I have seen others wrongly assume on the internet before. There is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to keep metal within the cage from touching the conductor that makes up the Faraday Cage. The reason is that the cage (assuming it has been constructed without gaps or holes, as it should be) forms an “INFINITE” barrier between the electric fields inside and outside of the cage. No electric field can go through the cage because they are dispersed across the surface and do not …


Economics and Investing:

“When You Have Fiat Currency, What Level Of Value Is Real”, Santelli Asks. (Thanks to B.B. for the link.) Another from B.B.: Schiff: Sequester is ‘Best Thing We Could Have’ Items from The Economatrix: Eric Sprott:  Expect $200 Silver As The Financial System Implodes Top Economic Advisors Forecast War And Unrest Europe’s Recession Deepens As Exports Suffer Unemployment Claims Fall By 27,000


Odds ‘n Sods:

Several readers sent this: Washington state bill would make almost all gun owners criminals. Gee, this sounds like a great way to spur all of the Washington counties east of the the Cascades to break off and form a new State of East Washington. There has long been a deep cultural divide between east and west and a formal split was formally considered as recently as 1995. And of course partition of states isn’t unprecedented. (e.g. Maine and West Virginia.) This is spelled out in Article IV, Section. 3, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution. The eastern counties of …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“These six [things] doth the LORD hate: yea, seven [are] an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness [that] speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren” – Proverbs 6:16-19 (KJV)


Notes from JWR:

The 25% to 35% off sales for Mountain House canned long term storage foods with free shipping and bonuses will end tonight (Friday, February 15, 2013) at Safecastle and on February 18th at Ready Made Resources. Be sure to place your order before these sales end! — Today we present another entry for Round 45 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 …


One Way Out of Dodge by Mrs. W. in the Missouri Ozarks

Our story begins enslaved to a job in a middle-class suburb and ends mortgage-free in the Missouri Ozarks with us making ambitious strides toward off-grid living and growing all we eat. Unlike Jed Clampett’s kinfolk who urged luxurious city life, ours would have warned us to stay put, keep our jobs and fit in – if only they had known what we were up to. If you dream of “someday” leaving your weekly paycheck for a more rewarding, self-reliant country life, but think you must wait (because of your “secure” job, societal expectations or whatever else is holding you), consider …


Letter Re: Buying Ammo? There’s an App for That

Mr. Rawles I would like to share with you an automated (“Bot”) web site, that is currently in beta test, which hounds the Internet for current, in stock ammo.  It lists various calibers (5.56, 762×39, 7.62, 9mm,), brand, etc.  I discovered this when reading the Western Rifle Shooters Association blog. Best Regards, – G.H.


Two Letters Re: Buried Cache Retrieval

Dear JWR: After reading the post this morning on buried items, I would like to share a thought. If you bury items in PVC pipe and use threaded fittings, you will have to use a pipe dope to seal out moisture.  If you do this, unscrewing the fitting is going to be an ordeal.  You would have to dig out an area big enough to swing a very large wrench if you have one.  Or you would have to dig out the pipe and put the pipe in a large vise if you have one.  Or cut the pipe in the ground …


Economics and Investing:

By way of Investment Watch blog:comes this video: Currency War: U.S. Cannot Absorb a Deflationary Spiral – Yra Harris Terry in Florida suggested this by Charles Biderman: Fed Creating $4 Billion in New Money Each Day, Helping to Rig Stock Market Charles Hugh-Smith, over at Zero Hedge: Don’t Worry; Be Resilient. (Thanks to Geoff B. for the link.) Items from The Economatrix: Schiff:  US To Win Currency Wars, Then Implode Sprott:  Default Coming As 850 Tons Of Gold Supply Vanish Job Openings Decrease Amid US Budget Battles


Odds ‘n Sods:

An old friend sent me a link to a series of videos of the March, 2011 earthquake (magnitude 9.0) in Japan.    o o o 65.4 Million Gun Purchases Since Obama Took Office, 91% More Than Bush’s First-Term Total. JWR’s Comment: Oh, by the way, some of those background checks were for multiple gun purchases, so the real figure is probably somewhere closer to 70 million.)    o o o Michael Z. Williamson (SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large) mentioned a fascinating STRATFOR piece on embassy security    o o o Gun Owners of America (GOA) is urging folks to contact their …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Economics is haunted by more fallacies than any other study known to man. This is no accident. The inherent difficulties of the subject would be great enough in any case, but they are multiplied a  thousandfold by a factor that is insignificant in, say, physics, mathematics or medicine – the special pleading of selfish interests.” – Henry Hazlitt, Economics In One Lesson


Notes from JWR:

February 14th is the birthday of Medal of Honor recipient Jack Lucas (born 1928, died June 5, 2008). During the Iwo Jima campaign this 17 year-old won the Medal of Honor “for unhesitatingly hurling himself over his comrades upon one grenade and for pulling another one under himself. One of the grenades exploded, and Lucas absorbed the entire blasting force of it with his own body.” PFC Lucas was the youngest Marine ever to receive the Medal of Honor. (He was just just 13 when he forged his mother’s signature, to enlist.) — Now a bit long in the tooth …


Staying Sane (and Happy) at Your Winter BOL, by Mrs. Icebear

I laughed my way through the entertaining and informative (even for me – I had no theoretical knowledge of waxing skis whatsoever, just did “what the other kids did”) recent article on the “exotic Norwegian” cross country skis. So I thought that maybe a couple of other Norwegian experiences might be of interest to survivalblog-readers: Having lived the first 30 years of my life in Norway and had ample experience with both skiing and offgrid living as a part of everyday life, I have some personal tips on not just surviving offgrid, but actually having a good time even though: …