Notes from JWR:

Today is the shared birthday of three notable men: Medal of Honor recipient Sammy L. Davis, science fiction writer Gordon R. Dickson (died January 31, 2001), and economist Martin A. Armstrong. (Born, 1949.) Many of Dickson’s novels and short stories have survivalist themes, such as Wolf And Iron. Regarding Davis, SurvivalBlog reader George S. wrote to mention: “While the circumstances of Sammy’s Medal of Honor award are of course spectacular in itself [as crewman of a 105mm howitzer who resorted to handloading during an NVA attack, among other things] his White House reception of the Medal was probably the most …


Family Continuity Planning, by John from Virginia

It’s 2:36PM; you and your spouse are at work.  Your son is at day care and your daughter is at school.  The Schumer hits the fan. What is your Family Continuity Plan? The scenario above is very real and indeed plausible.  Many families have and will one day experience something very similar to this.  To prepare you and your family from natural or man-made disasters it is recommended to design, develop, and incorporate a Family Continuity Plan (FCP); it may one day save all of your lives. As any prepper, for a natural disaster or a TEOTWAWKI event (or both), …


Six Letters Re: Hurricane Sandy After Action Reports

James, I’m located in central New Jersey not far from the Delaware River. In the days prior to the hurricane hitting, everyone packed the supermarkets, warehouse clubs and home improvement stores to stock up. At the home improvement stores, the people who had best luck getting generators were those who purchased them online and selected in-store pickup. There were lines of people 100+ deep from the front of the store to the back waiting for new shipments of generators to arrive. The only people who were guaranteed anything were those who had already purchased and paid online. For those lucky …


Letter Re: Keeping Cell Phones Operational During Disasters

James: The article you linked to on “Nine ways to make your cell phone last the whole storm even if the power goes out” was interesting but missed a couple of key points: If you’re going to charge the phone from your laptop, only leave your laptop on as long as needed to charge the phone to about 80%, then shut it down again. Cell phone charging slows down as the battery gets closer to full, and it’s very inefficient to run the laptop while the phone is only gaining a small amount of charge. Test to see if you …


Economics and Investing:

G.G. sent: One More Thing to Worry About: Underfunded Public Pensions A provocative video “what if?”: The First 12 Hours of a US Dollar Collapse. (While their premise is sound, I must alert readers about a warning from Peter Schiff about the NIA.) B.B. mentioned: Euro-Zone Unemployment Strikes Record European Commission Single Supervisory Mechanism Items from The Economatrix: As Earnings Falter, Prospects For Q4 Grow Worse High-Level JPMorgan Executives Suddenly Dumping JPMorgan Stock En Masse Forget The Election And Get Ready For Another Year Of Slow Growth Economy In US Grows At 2%, More Than Forecast Spain’s Unemployment Reaches Record …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Andre D. mentioned that the Alone in The Wild documentary is now available on YouTube.    o o o Two bits of follow-up news on the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy: Tempers Flare in N.J. City Where Thousands Stranded. (People out of food after just two days of isolation? (I told you so…) And yes, there is looting: Jersey City on total lockdown from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. after rash of store break-ins, officials say. (Note that the mayor of Jersey City is Jerramiah Healy, one of Mayor Bloomberg’s Cabal of Illegal Mayors.)    o o o A reminder that …



Notes from JWR:

I’ve had several questions from readers about the recently re-released Rawles Gets You Ready Preparedness Course. To clarify: The course has not been changed, other than the delivery method. (It is now sold only via digital download.) The great news is that since there are longer any printing and mailing costs, it is now available for just a small fraction of what the hard copy binder edition sold for. — Today we present another entry for Round 43 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of …


Real Wrath of God Stuff: Hurricane Sandy’s Triple Whammy

I’m sure that most SurvivalBlog readers–except those who are without power–have by now seen the amazing photos and videos of the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, aka “Frankenstorm.” All of these many images serve as stark reminders that it is the responsibility of individual families to prepare. Government agencies are incapable of providing assistance in a widespread disaster. (In radio interviews. I’m fond of saying that FEMA should more accurately thought of as an acronym for: “Foolishly Expecting Meaningful Aid.”) The hurricane brought with it a triple whammy: high winds, flooding, and power outages. The power outages–which extend 1,000 miles from …


What if TEOTWAWKI Arrives as a Slow Gradual Boil?, by LongJim

Sure we’ve watched  the  new television series Revolution, with their heroine and her post-SHTF world amazingly perfectly coifed hair-do. The series based loosely on an end of the world  scenario built around a “Sudden” abrupt change” a la the Dies the Fire novel series [by S.M. Stirling]. All power suddenly goes poof, and nothing electrical works, society collapses, and we’re all back to the age of bow and arrow, knives, and, weirdly deviating from the Dies The Fire premise, good old black powder front-stuffing rifles. Militias, which are all always portrayed by Hollywood, as evil, dictatorial, and brutally repressive, run …


Economics and Investing:

H.L. sent this bit of news from England that illustrates the Green crowd’s disconnect from reality: Street lights turned off in their thousands to meet carbon emission targets–Huge swathes of Britain are being plunged into darkness as more and more streetlights are switched off by councils and roads authorities. Economist Michael Pento Warns of Inevitable Financial Collapse: “The Real ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Is The Coming Currency And Bond Market Collapse.” Where Should Gold Be Based On Inflation? Items from The Economatrix: The One Headwind That Could Stymie The US Economy Recovery Schiff:  Think Gold’s Pricey?  Wait ‘Til It Hits $5,000 Will …


Odds ‘n Sods:

J.B.G. suggested: Nine ways to make your cell phone last the whole storm even if the power goes out    o o o I will be the keynote speaker at the Get Prepared Expo (via teleseminar) on Saturday, November 3rd, 2012. This is an expanded repeat of a very popular event. There will be 100 Exhibits and 70 Seminars You can save 20% by buying your admission passes in advance at GetPreparedEXPO.com ($8 for a one-day pass, or $15 for a weekend pass.) The expo will be held November 3 and 4, 2012 at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds in Springfield, …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“For thousands of years storing seeds has been an essential part of the survival preparations made by millions of prudent people fearing attack.  Seeds are hopes for future food and the defeat of famine, that lethal follower of disaster.  Among the most impressive sounds I ever heard were faint, distant, rattles of small stones heard on a quiet, black, freezing night in 1944.  An air raid was expected before dawn.  I was standing on one of the bare hills outside Kunming, China, trying to pinpoint the sources of lights that Japanese agents had used just before previous air raids to …


Notes from JWR:

October 30, 1735 is believed to be the birthday of President John Adams. (Other sources cite his birth date as October 19th.) Adams died on July 4, 1826–just a few hours after the death of Thomas Jefferson. They both died on the 50th anniversary of publication of the Declaration of Independence. — A reminder that the Ready Made Resources sale on Mountain House long term storage foods ends soon. They are offering 25% discounts and free shipping for Mountain House foods in #10 cans. The sale ends on November 5th, so order soon. — I’m sure that I’ll start to …