Odds ‘n Sods:

Lyme Disease Hits Big in Australia. (Thanks to F.G. for the link.)    o o o SurvivalBlog’s Editor At Large Michael Z. Williamson spotted this: Pre-Peeled, Re-Wrapped Bananas Are the Most Wasteful Sign of the Apocalypse Yet    o o o File under Emerging Threats: Police: Serial burglars used Facebook to find victims. (Thanks to J.B.G. for the link.)    o o o Some great commentary by Enola Gay in the Paratus Familia blog about living in wildfire country: Identifying Hazards    o o o The folks at Directive 21 are now offering Mountain House freeze dried foods packaged in …



Note from JWR:

Please wait until tomorrow (Tuesday, September 25th)–which is also our planned Book Bomb day– to order your copies of Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse. Thanks! Note to book dealers: For ordering case lots of the new hardback (20 copies per case, 23 lb. shipping weight per case), contact Simon & Schuster’s wholesale order desk.


My Once in a Lifetime Accident: SUV vs. Puma Concolor

I try not to bore my readers with the minutiae of our day-to-day life here at the Rawles Ranch. It is largely a fairly mundane annual rhythm of planting, harvesting, calving and lambing, wood cutting, huckleberry picking, hay hauling, and so forth. But I recently had driving mishap that was noteworthy: I was driving our SUV and hit a mountain lion, in broad daylight. I must first mention that deer collisions are all too common here in The Unnamed Western State (TUWS), and that elk or big horn sheep collisions are quite a bit less frequent. Even more rare are …


Pat’s Product Review: The 180 Stove

If many of you are like me, and are from the old Army school, you know all about canteen cup cooking. The old-style canteen cup had a locking “L” handle, that made it perfectly suitable for heating water in your canteen cup, as well as heating meals, or even cooking in that little cup. Today’s canteen cup that the US military issues has dual folding wire handles, that are not conducive to placing it on a fire – the handles are too close to the heat source. Sometimes “newer-er” doesn’t equate to “better” in my book. When you have something …


Letter Re: Stockpiling U.S. Nickels Versus Clad Quarters

James Wesley: I read with interest your article on saving nickels. My question to you is why are nickels better than quarters?  Is it not easier to store a larger sum of funds in the same physical space with quarters than nickels?  If they do devalue the [printed] US Dollar by a factor of 10, then a nickel will [effectively] be worth 50 cents but a quarter will be worth $2.50.    Regards, – Richard F. JWR Replies: As a hedge against a zero (or two) being dropped from the paper Dollar, nickels (the U.S. five cent piece) and clad quarters …


Recipe of the Week:

Mrs. RLB’s Spicy Jalapeño Venison Breakfast Sausage This recipe for venison sausage has some heat to it!  I tried other recipes which seemed too bland and so I doctored this recipe until it was just right.  Since it is deer season, I thought this would be the best time to submit it.  You can make less if you like by cutting the ingredients by the same proportions.  Have a glass of ice water ready to drink the first time you taste it, just in case you find it a little too hot for you.  You can always adjust the spices …


Economics and Investing:

Jim W. suggested this: The Next Panic: Europe’s crisis will be followed by a more devastating one, likely beginning in Japan. Andre sent us this: Concerted QE – The Beginning of Hyperinflation   G.G. suggested: Fed Wants Inflation Now, Will Clean Up ‘Mess’ Later: El-Erian More Americans Added to Food Stamps Than Find Jobs Readers recommended two interesting essays over at Zero Hedge: Bank Of America to Fire 16,000 by Year End and What Mitt Romney Also Said: A Glimpse Of The Endgame? Items from The Economatrix: Household Worth in US Fell in 2Q as Stocks Dropped Dollar Index Headed …


Odds ‘n Sods:

I heard from Sunflower Ammo (one of the generous sponsors of our writing contest) that they just added a product review section to their web site.  They will be giving away freebies for the best reviews every month. They have also added a British Berkefeld LP2 filter system to their product line, for $139.99.  This is a great entry-level water filter.    o o o There was a pleasant surprise in my latest batch of forwarded mail: a copy of the new Bulgarian edition of my first novel, “Patriots”. There are now nine foreign publishing contracts in place to produce …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men; therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness require it." – John Adams, Thoughts on Government, 1776


Notes from JWR:

We’re down to just three days to release (and “Book Bomb Day”) for Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse. Thanks for your patience. — Today we present another entry for Round 42 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 …


Tactical Map Usage and Scouting, by Robert B. in North Carolina

Know your environment – getting the maps ready now In a world full of google, yahoo and portable navigators, the art of using maps kind of gets lost. In a SHTF situation, you will probably not have much of a technological tool kit for navigation, or planning. Knowing how to use maps from a tactical perspective then becomes critical skillet. Sand tables are not the most portable item to help identify and understand a terrain, but using plastic layers over a map can be very portable, and useful for viewing an environment. The layers I talk about below are a …


The Art and Science of Situation Analysis, by Judy C.

One of the most important skills to master in any crisis scenario is situation analysis.  The preliminary situation analysis is a valuable tool in planning and preparing, while the on-scene analysis will help focus your planned response. Developing a Preliminary Situation Analysis: Hard Factors Hard factors are unlikely to vary much from crisis to crisis. Factors such as geography, climate, nearby population, and natural resources will be determined by your chosen location. The only way you can change hard factors is to move to another location. One of the advantages of the American Redoubt is  the set of hard factors …


Letter Re: Protractors for Field Engineering

Jim: Now I know some folks aren’t going to think of a protractor — digital, analog, or constructed — as a survival tool. But in the USAF survival school certain “angles” were reinforced as survival angles. Support a load with an equilateral triangle. Making a 30-60-90 frame to support a trench. An isosceles to ensure that snow and rain shed away from a survival shelter. And, squares for identifying your location to rescuers. (Sinces traight lines are out of place in nature. ) Of course as an engineer, anytime you build, angles come into play with load. A good analog …


Letter Re: Mental Preparation for Lethal Force

Hi Jim, That was a well written and informative article by Mark B. on preparing yourself to use deadly force. As a retired police officer and firearms instructor I can tell you that Mark gives solid advice. We can also look at history for lessons on what’s important in prevailing in a gunfight. I’ve been involved in a few myself and I’ve spent a lot of years figuring out what works and what doesn’t. I’ve studied the old west, taken many courses, read countless books and analyzed my own experiences and how I survived. It can be distilled down to …