Letter Re: Unarmed Defense in the Apocalypse

Mr. Rawles, I just read the excellent article you posted by Tony C. The only thing I would add (and you can’t always cover everything, so this is not derogatory towards Tony C. in any way) is this: If you do want to educate yourself in any martial art, please do as much research of the facility that you want to take it from as you do in research for your firearms. This does not mean go around and ask the people that take it there if they like it. Their only experience may be of that one place. I am …


Letter Re: Sugar and Spice Will Always Be Nice

In the interest of honest and complete coverage of the topic, I’d like to clarify and expand upon the comments made by a contributor about the "brown sugar" typically marketed in the United States and Canada.   Brown Sugar is indeed just white sugar with molasses added to it. But what is not clear to most people is that molasses is what is left over when you refine sugar cane or sugar beets into white sugar.   Some sugars labeled “turbinado” or “demerara” sugars are made from partially refined sugar-juice that have had some of the water driven off by …


Economics and Investing:

The 8 Retailers That Will Close the Most Stores in 2013 Tax Foundation: Americans Pay 17.2% in Cell Phone Taxes Items from The Economatrix: US Debt Headed Toward 200 Percent of GDP Even After “Fiscal Cliff” Deal US Rating Still At Risk Despite Reduced Threats From DC Triple-Digit Oil In Sight As Economy Heals


Odds ‘n Sods:

An interesting design: Paracord Belt with Carabiner Buckle and D-Ring    o o o An honored veteran who has been in the Warrior Games (for wounded servicemen) gets treated like dirt because of New York’s absurd magazine ban. When politicians ban plastic boxes and sheet metal boxes–turning them into potential felonies–something has gone very wrong with America. Please support Nate Haddad’s legal defense fund.    o o o Google unveils detailed map of North Korea–The map is a culmination of years of data collected from “citizen cartographers”    o o o Backyard Farming Gets Fancy: High-End ‘Homesteaders’ Want Pricey, Stylish …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Religion is a most cheerful and thing to practice, but a most sad and melancholy thing to neglect. The government of God in the soul is a government which regulates, but does not enslave. If we seriously consider what religion is, we shall find the saying of the wise King Solomon to be unexceptionably true: “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.” The idea that religion is a kind of slavery, to which none can submit without sacrificing the natural enjoyments of life, has ever been the greatest hindrance to its advancement among mankind. How …


Note from JWR:

Today we present the final entry for Round 44 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, 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 gift certificate from CJL Enterprize, for …


What Made Me Begin Preparing for TEOTWAWKI, by Elizabeth in the Northeast

I woke up a few months ago. Literally, I woke up one day and realized if TSHTF, I was toast. In a big way. It all started with Hurricane Sandy. I live in a coastal town in the Northeast. The beach is a comfortable twenty minute walk from my home. Three streets behind me is Water Street, so named because not only is home to various Marina’s and marine supply stores, it has a tendency to flood every high tide. I woke up the morning Sandy hit to an eerily lit sky. Even though a hurricane was heading our way …


Letter Re: Food Storage in the Southern United States

Sir: As a Central Texas Prepper, I have solved my food storage problem affordably, as follows: On my property there was an existing 20 foot by 24 foot sheetrock walled tool shed. I gutted this building and installed slabs of 8 inch styrofoam panels against interior walls. These blocks of foam were salvaged from floating docks on a local lake as most people were installing plastic floats under their docks. The styrofoam blocks were free for the taking..As the floats were used and had been in the water in some cases for years, they looked gross and smelled bad also. …


Economics and Investing:

Reader Michael W. sent this: Zimbabwe Is Down to Its Last $217. Comrade Mugabe and his cronies have absolutely destroyed and looted their nation which once had a vibrant economy. They must be overthrown! The destruction of the US Dollar continues: Bernanke Seen Buying $1.14 Trillion in Assets in 2014 Items from The Economatrix: Economists Growing More Upbeat About Year Ahead [JWR’s Comment: Well, golly gee, with the Federal Reserve and Treasury conspiring to soon double the money supply AGAIN, so stocks must go up, and we’ll all be “millionaires” soon, right? Given their monetary policies in recent years, I …


Odds ‘n Sods:

F Troop strikes again! ATF’s Milwaukee sting operation marred by mistakes, failures. The BATFE should have been disbanded many years ago.    o o o What Postponement Of The US’s Largest Gun Show Says About America    o o o Erich was the first of several readers to send this: For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of World War II. If you’ve ever read Robinson Crusoe, then this may sound familiar: “The rest of the family were saved by what they regarded as a miracle: a single grain of rye sprouted in …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“All we need is for the Fed to live up to its promise that it has an exit strategy. I’m here to say that they don’t have an exit strategy. There isn’t an exit. A return to a normalization of interest rates, a withdrawal by the Fed and other central banks in their efforts to monetize debt and artificially suppress interest rates, as soon as that ceases, the system itself will freeze up just as it did a few years ago. The reason it will freeze up is the system can’t handle anything close to what would be considered historically …


Notes from JWR:

Today is the birthday of historian Barbara Tuchman (born 1912, died February 6, 1989.) She wrote some of the most engaging history books that I’ve ever read. — Today we present another entry for Round 44 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, 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 …


Rules For Living and Rules For Staying Alive, by Arizona Slim

Survival can certainly include situations that are a bit short of, and a bit more mundane than TEOTWAWKI. And as much as we wish it were otherwise, I know a lot of us are in a suburban or even urban environment. We find ourselves in a great many situations with the potential to become survival scenarios on a smaller, more personal scale. We are also subject daily to a million ridiculous rules and laws and prohibitions and warnings and  statutes and such that most of our rural brethren can go for long periods of time without even having to consider. …


Letter Re: Sugar and Spice Will Always Be Nice

Dear Editor: My father worked for many years at a sugar factory, and I can tell you there is no such thing as a natural “brown sugar”.  Brown sugar is simply post-production white sugar with molasses added.   As you make your recipe, use slightly more than the called for amount of brown sugar–maybe an extra teaspoon or two, and then add molasses.  If the recipe calls for light brown sugar, add a little molasses.  Dark brown sugar? Just add more molasses.    Also, because you’re storing the components separately, your “brown sugar” never gets hard as a rock, because you mix it at …


Letter Re: California as a Precursor: Thoughts on Feinstein’s Ban Bill

JWR; First, I must mention that the Feinstein bill is remarkably similar to what we live with already in California, other than some additional models being added and some language changes. With all of Feinstein and colleague’s rhetoric about the California bullet button loophole, I notice that in her Federally proposed bill, if you have a fixed magazine (al la the California bullet button feature, which makes the magazine fixed) your (military) features are not limited. You are, however, limited to a 10 round fixed magazine capacity. Once you have a removable magazine, the “Military” (scary looking) features come into …