Category: Book, Movie, and Web Reviews

Harry’s Book Review: Rora

Book Title: Rora Author: James Byron Huggins Copyright Date: 2001, 2007 Bronze Bow Edition Publisher: Bronze Bow Publishing, LLC ISBN: 978-1-932458-51-0 Audio, e-book or foreign translation avail? No Suitable for children? Teens and up Rora is a work of historical fiction revolving around the defense led by Joshua Gianavel in an effort to save his people, the Waldenses, who lived in the Rora valley in 1655. This is a story of religious persecution, but it requires no great leap of imagination to see how this relates to our own civil rights today. At its core, this is a story about …


Pat’s Product Review: Ruger SR22 Pistol

If you’re serious about survival, you have to have some type of .22 Long Rifle (LR) firearm in your battery. Some will argue against the effectiveness of a .22 LR but I’m not one of them. You can take all manner of small game and fowl, with a well-placed shot from a .22 LR handgun or rifle. And, in a pinch, it will serve as a self-defense weapon as well. No, I’m not advocating the .22 LR as your one and only self-defense firearm, but it will sure do in a pinch, and make the bad guys wish they were …


Pat’s Product Review: The Power Pot

Living in the country, is really great, but there are a few problems that one can expect. One is loss of electrical power – especially in the winter months, where I live – in Western Oregon. We have a lot of rain, and it causes trees to fall across power lines, knocking out power, and we lose our power at times, for days. I have a back-up generator, and I use it to keep my refrigerator and freezer cold, so I don’t lose any foods. I don’t have a need to watch tv all the time, or surf the ‘net, so …


Pat’s Product Review: SIG Sauer Adaptive Carbine Platform (ACP)

SIG Sauer is always coming up with new and innovative firearms, they are on the cutting edge, and their products are always in great demand, too. To wit: many times I have to wait weeks and months, to get products to test from SIG – they are back-ordered quite often, and that attests to the popularity of their firearms. However, for this article, I didn’t test a firearm, instead, I tested the ACP – Adaptive Carbine Platform, this is not a firearm, it is an “accessory” if you will, that you can adapt to many full-sized handguns.   Some explanation …


Mike Williamson’s Product Review: Numa Sport Glasses

Numa Sport Glasses “Chuck” are glasses you can stomp on. These must be named after Chuck Norris.  They are tough, and flexible enough I even bent them completely in two.  They resumed normal shape in a few moments.  I tried tugging and bending the bows in different directions, bending and straightening.  They sprung back.  I folded them in half at the bridge.  They sprung back again.  The strength and memory of these things is impressive. I tried sitting on them, stepping on them open and closed, putting boxes down on them.  They show no damage. The Chucks took a few …


T.M.’s Book Review: The Debt Bomb

©2012 Senator Tom Coburn with John Hart Published by Thomas Nelson, Nashville Tennessee 349 pages with numerous charts, graphs, index, and list of official reports available to the public. ISBN: 978-1-59555-467-3 I recently read The Debt Bomb: A Bold Plan to Stop Washington from Bankrupting America. The title tells us exactly what this well-written book is about. Our national debt is a bomb more dangerous than any nuke or chemical weapon known to man. While we spend billions chasing a few terrorists around the world, our politicians are killing our economy, and our freedoms, with rampant, unfunded spending. Senator Coburn …


Pat’s Product Review: Hoo Rag Bandanas

My dear friend, the late Chris Janowsky, who ran the World Survival Institute, in Tok, Alaska was famous for always wearing a bandana on his head. And that bandana wasn’t just a fashion statement. Chris wasn’t a fashion trendsetter in the least. Janowsky was, probably the best wilderness survival instructor in the world. The US Marine Corps sent their winter survival instructors to Chris for their training, and in return, those instructors would train US Marines in winter wilderness survival techniques. Now, if the US Marines thought so highly of Janowsky, that says it all in my book. As an …


Pat’s Product Review: Emberlit Camp Stove

I’d like to believe that after Earth for more than 61 years, that I’m getting a little bit smarter in my old age. Well, maybe not smarter, but a bit wiser, might be a better description. There was a time, not too many years ago, when I could hump 50-pounds around the boonies, with a full-set of A.L.I.C.E. gear and a full combat load of ammo and some manner of AR-15. Those days are long gone! However, I’m actually in better shape physically these days, than I was 10 years ago, but that doesn’t mean that I want to pack …


Harry’s Book Review: Last of the Breed

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Author: Louis L’Amour Copyright Date: 1987 Publisher: Bantam ISBN: 978-055 Audio, e-book or foreign translation available? Yes, Audio, Kindle & Nook Suitable for children? Teens and up, yes, particularly males. I did not pick up the novel Last of the Breed thinking it would be for a SurvivalBlog review topic. Louis L’Amour is one of the authors I read as “mind candy”, an easy read just for the fun of it. However, I quickly realized that this book is one of L’Amour’s exceptional works and an excellent read for anyone who lives or is thinking of living in the American …


Pat’s Product Review: Zero Tolerance ZT0560 Folder

It’s no secret that I like big knives, especially folders. While I can get by with small/medium sized folders, I’d take a larger folder over a smaller one if I were out in the boonies, and all I had was a folding knife instead of a fixed blade knife. I still remember when Kershaw Knives started their newest division known as Zero Tolerance (ZT) and their goal was, and is to produce folding and fixed blade knives meant for serious military and law enforcement use – knives that can take a real beating and keep on going. If you’re in …


Pat’s Product Review: M14 Juggernaut Rogue Bullpup System

I’ve been a huge fan of the M14 rifle system, ever since I was in Basic Combat Training in the US Army, way back in 1969. The .308 Winchester cartridge is the most popular long-range sniping round in use today. The military version is the 7.62 NATO – and they are not exactly the same round – the .308 Winchester round is actually a little bit hotter than the 7.62 NATO round is – not a big difference, but still a difference. When I went into Basic Combat Training, I was a mere 135 pounds – when I finished Basic, …


Letter Re: Pat’s Product Review: PakLite 9V LED Flashlight

Hi Captain Rawles, I’m a long time SurvivalBlog reader and occasional commenter. Just had to respond to EagerGridlessBeaver with his post and review of the Paklite LED flashlight battery life test (WOW!) and the possibilities for IR use.  If you could afford to purchase numerous of the IR LED models, these same could be sequestered around your property connected to clothespin  type contacts and trip wires.  With a quick scan at night with your NVGs you would know instantly if any of your wires were tripped, with invaders being none-the-wiser if they were without NVGs.  It could provide an alert …


Pat’s Product Review: Clearly Filtered Water Filters

This is a simple fact; without a source of fresh and safe water to drink, you will die within four days – depending on weather conditions. As I’m writing this, the folks back East are still suffering the effects of Hurricane Sandy. Many are still without power or heat in their homes after two weeks – at least 40,000 people were totally homeless right now, and winter temps are setting in. I read one news report, where people were paying $7 for a loaf of bread, and $10 for a box of matches. FEMA ran out of bottled water less than …


Harry’s Book Review: Citizens (Sci-Fi Anthology)

Citizens Authors: Multiple. Edited by John Ringo and Brian M. Thomsen Copyright Date: 2010 Publisher: Baen Publishing Enterprises ISBN: 978-1-4391-3347-7 (also 978-1439134603–mass market paperback) Suitable for children? Not young ones. Teens depending on maturity. (Parental screening recommended.) Citizens is a collection of fifteen military science fiction short stories. From a prepper’s perspective these stories are not going to provide in depth detail for making provision for an uncertain future, but they do illustrate the mentality required to survive, or at least succeed, in combat. It should probably be noted that in several of these stories success does not equate with …


Pat’s Product Review: PakLite 9V LED Flashlight

Living out in the boonies, we often have the power go out, especially in the winter months, when trees fall over power lines. More often than not, when the power goes out, it is usually at night, and on a weekend, and it takes repair crews hours, and at times, even days, to get the power restored. When the lights go out in the country, its dark – real dark! I have flashlights in every room of our home, and I can usually just reach for a light when the power goes off, so I’m good to go, in order …