Notes from JWR:

October 19th is a birthday shared by three notables: the late Alexander Zeisal “Zus” Bielski (born 1912, died August 18, 1995), billionaire investor Jim Rogers (born 1942) and novelist James Howard Kunstler (born 1948.) Kunstler is well-known to SurvivalBlog readers as the author of the novel World Made by Hand and the nonfiction book The Long Emergency. A fictionalized portrayal of Zus Bielski is seen in the movie Defiance. This movie was loosely based on the excellent book Defiance: The Bielski Partisans by Nechama Tec. — Today we present another entry for Round 43 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. …


From the Kitchen to the Garden, by G.T.

Let’s just say I have a fair amount of time on my hands and not a whole lot of money. Add to that a curious mind with a bit of a preparedness mindset and you get someone who likes to experiment with produce and gardening. I wanted to share some of my experiences with growing plants straight out of my kitchen, often from produce bought at the grocery store that was meant to be eaten but didn’t make it to the table, or had the seeds removed first. If you’ve seen some of the propaganda out these days on our food supply, …


Letter Re: Knob Creek After Action Report, by Louie in Ohio

Dear SurvivalBloggers: This past weekend (12-14 October, 2012) was the Fall Knob Creek machinegun shoot in West Point, Kentucky. The Knob Creek (“KCR”) shoot is normally a bi-annual event, held in April and October each year. It is the World’s largest machine gun (MG) shoot and machine gun show. Although none of our group are really “into” machine guns this event was on the “bucket list” of one of our party. With the spring shoot canceled last April because of heavy rains washing a bridge out, we were determined to make this one. Web sites were checked, reservations made, bags …


Economics and Investing:

AmEx (American Expat) sent this: U.S. to Get Downgraded Amid Fiscal ‘Theater,’ Pimco Says Reader A.T. suggested this essay by Martin Armstrong: What Destroyed Rome was its Unfunded Government Employee Pensions The Daily Bell reports: Now Mexico Bans Cash. JWR’s Comment: Don’t mistake this new law as part of the so-called war on drugs or the war on terror. Rather, it is plainly a part of the war on privacy and individual liberty. Izzy Friedman: What Now For the Price of Silver?


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader C.D.V. was pondering a wound cleanser which is dry, compact and inexpensive. He decided on potassium permanganate, which in addition for use (in a very dilute solution) on wounds can also purify water, treat fungal infection, canker sores, cholera, start fire and be used as an emergency signal. Wikipedia lists even more uses. A reference page on nursing notes that 400mg (1:1,000) tablets are diluted in four liters of water to give a dilution of 1:10,000 (0.01%). Obviously, just a little bit goes a long way when put in solution as a wound cleanser.    o o o Ready …



Notes from JWR:

Ulysses Press (one of my publishers) is nearing completion of the first-ever hardback edition of my novel “Patriots”. One of the book’s back cover blurbs will mention that there are now “150,000 copies in print.” (With the 10,000 copies in the first press run combined with the previous editions.) That new edition should be released in early November. — Today is the birthday of Matthew Henry (born 18 October 1662, died 22 June 1714. He was a Presbyterian minister and Bible scholar who lived primarily in Chester, England. Matthew Henry’s six-volume Exposition of the Old and New Testaments (1708–1710) is …


Starting From Nothing: Preparing Quickly, Efficiently and Cost-Consciously, by C.M.F.

My husband and I are new to the concept of prepping and self-sufficient living, having just begun the process in the last 30 to 60 days. Our journey when world events began to heat up in the Middle East and we started asking “what if” questions. Our ignorance means that we have a lot of learning, practicing and catching up to do. I am fairly confident that we are not the only ones to slowly become aware of the necessity of preparing. I thought that I would share what we have done to get started in the hopes that this …


Letter Re: An Interesting Hiding Place

James: Basically this product is a flush-mounted interchangeable decorative panel for kitchens and possibly other areas in the home. The panels can be purchased pre-made or created by the customer; the site shows options such as artwork and more substantial-appearing materials like ceramic tiles and mosaics. The panel has a push-to-release mechanism behind it, and the idea is that a homeowner can swap one panel for another as desired. The installation instructions explain the details. It isn’t designed as a hiding place, and there isn’t much room behind it as it is, but it would be fine for smaller items. …


Three Letters Re: Survival Uses For Stretch Wrap

Hi! I liked the article [by James M.] on pallet wrap. In it, the author mentioned that he wanted a source for narrower rolls of shrink wrap. I’m writing to mention that ULINE sells 2″-wide rolls. Regards, – Trysch JWR: This was an excellent, informative piece.  There is an additional use for this that Mr. M did not mention: My wife is a high school earth science and biology teacher who has her students build solar ovens every year using cardboard boxes, aluminum foil and shrink wrap.  The box is lined with aluminum foil and covered in shrink wrap.  The …


Economics and Investing:

Have you noticed that the spot price of platinum is now about $90 below the spot price of gold? This is a sign of major economic turmoil and is predictive of a very weak manufacturing sector in the year to come. This price inversion doesn’t happen very often, so when it does, take advantage of it, just as I did. I was recently able to pick up some 1/10th-ounce and 1/4-ounce slabbed U.S. Mint Liberty bullion platinum coins for just under the spot price of gold! But beware of fake Chinese platinum and gold coins that are now becoming commonplace! …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Tracey A. sent a link to an interesting piece on the new Winchester Segmented Slug.    o o o They keep getting smaller: Spy-Butterfly: Israel developing insect drone for indoor surveillance. (Thanks to F.G. for the link.)    o o o Reader F.J. pointed out this piece: Assessing Doomsday: How Cyber War Could Attack U.S. Infrastructure    o o o D.B. sent: Armed posse patrols timber land in sheriff’s place    o o o NDAA critic stranded in Hawaii after turning up on no-fly list. JWR’s Comment: Is this the America where I was born and raised?



Notes from JWR:

The Articles for Deletion (AfD) debate about my novels “Survivors” and “Founders” is still raging over at Wikipedia. If you have experience with Wikipedia, then feel free to chime in politely, if you have an opinion one way or the other. — 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 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 …


Survival Uses For Stretch Wrap, by James M.

Not Saran Wrap, I’m talking about what is commonly referred to as pallet wrap. I thought there was no way possible that something as versatile and useful as stretch wrap could have been overlooked in the survival community, but after hours of searching it certainly looks that way. I’ve only found a few vague references to other possible uses for it. Today I hope to enlighten you and further prepare you for TEOTWAWKI. Firstly, it’s a lot of bang for your buck. You can pick up an 18 inch wide roll of stretch wrap that’s 1,500 feet long for less …