Category: Emerging Threats

Letter Re: Solar Panel Restrictions are Another Reason to Hate HOAs

JWR: This television news segment was disturbing: Should HOAs restrict solar panel use? They cited “architectural standards.” The family made the mistake of challenging the authority of the homeowner association (HOA) to pre-approve all changes (including tone of roof shingles, type of planted grasses, whether or not RVs can be parked on your property, et cetera) and impose their notion of right and good on you and your house, at your expense. HOAs should reduce the market value of a house by 40% at least, IMHO, for anyone contemplating surviving a grid-down, phones-down, plumbing-down situation. Why would anyone subject their …


Letter Re: Alaska as a Retreat Locale

Dear Mr. Rawles, I just finished your novel novel “Survivors”. It was a good book and it spells out a lot of things that might happen. I have been an avid reader of your books and materials for some time. I would like to point out that Alaska is a better survivor island than many of the other Western States. First: Alaska does rely on products being imported but it has the capacity to manufacture its own fuel. Presently we have three refineries within our state but they concentrate on the manufacture of Aviation Gas because it has the highest …


Letter Re: 2012 National Agricultural Classification Survey

James: I got one of the USDA’s surveys, too, and had an interesting discussion with whoever responded to their “contact us” email address. I noted that my paper form claimed very clearly that response was required by law, but the web site version of the survey said it was voluntary. So I asked which was true, and was told that Public Law 105-113 “authorizes the [USDA] to conduct an agricultural census every five years,” and explained the form was to help them save time in some further census process. The response said nothing about whether my response was required or …


Letter Re: Driving, Post-TEOTWAWKI

James, After reading the recent article about Driving, Post-TEOTWAWKI: I believe there is some sound G.O.O.D. advice. However, assuming unhindered travels will allow rolling stores of survival gear to pass through any measurable distance unchallenged, is a dangerous assumption. The writer cites experience traveling in a military convoy with hardened, well armed vehicles. But for realistic, civilian style convoys, the dangers are multiplied by lack of experienced scout personnel and soft equipment. If one has sustained an extended bug in and has a supportive neighborhood, that may still remain the best option if bug out was not initiated within the …


Two Letters Re: Driving, Post-TEOTWAWKI

JWR, I have deployed twice to Afghanistan. [Details deleted, for OPSEC.] I am sure that you realize this and I hope you will share this with your readers. Waiting months after TEOTWAWKI to drive to your retreat is more than foolish, it is suicidal. Anyone driving post-event without an armored vehicle (or with one, just look at the ambush scenes from “Patriots“) will take casualties. Every day in Afghanistan uneducated people with limited training successfully ambush and kill highly trained military personnel driving heavily armed and armored vehicles. Now imagine an ambush that has had months to be perfected, probably …


Letter Re: Clarification on Stockpiling Nickels?

Dear Editor: I have a question about the saving of [U.S. five cent piece] nickels, is it for the value of the metal in nickels or [is it for] the value when the government changes the metal composition? I have read on some sites that it is for the metal meltdown in case of government collapse. If it is for that, then all coins after 1965 have the same metal content. Why keep one coin in particular? If it is for the value after the metal change by the government, will it not take a decade or two to bring …


Mike Williamson on the Flash Mob Trend

SurvivalBlog readers should take the time to read through a fairly lengthy piece about flash mobs that was recently published in Wired magazine. I note several threats, including: Random “bombings” of activity. Organized criminal events. Organized social events that get out of hand. Police over-reaction. Civil rights over-reaction. It would be a good idea for all teenagers to be aware that even a legitimate, law-abiding gathering can be turned into a riot by a few troublemakers and a measured police response. If the crowd looks too large, or questionable, then leave early. If you have to ask if it’s safe …


Letter Re: NOAA’s Improved Solar Storm Prediction Web Site

JWR, NOAA has updated their web site with an easier to read solar storm prediction description. I’m not sure when they changed this, but I’ve found it helpful. It breaks down into, ‘Geomagnetic, Solar Radiation, and Radio Blackout’ categories.  Instead of just giving an X# or M#, they now have scale of 1-5 (minor through extreme), with a real world description of impact  on communications and power systems.  The descriptive scales are outlined in the “NOAA Scales Activity” For me, this is much clearer and easier than trying to figure out than some M# or X# impact. I thought that others …


When The Lights Went Out in The Southwest, by R.H.

The following is a chronological list of events and occurrences when the lights went out on September 8th, 2011, or what I like to call “The Great Blackout of 2011”. 3:38 p.m. – I live in San Diego, California, and when the lights went out I was at home taking a nap. For some reason after I got home from teaching that day I was exhausted (probably the heat) and needed to rest.  It was a good thing too because I would need my energy in the hours to come.  While I was sleeping I could hear my phone going …


Three Letters Re: “I Can See You” — A Digital View of Your Survival Preparations

Mr. Rawles: As always, thank you for your excellent blog which is required daily reading for anyone who wants to stand a chance, post-TEOTWAWKI. A quick note about Tuesday’s essay, “”I Can See You” — A Digital View of Your Survival Preparations,” by Dave X. Though the points Dave makes, regarding database files on every aspect of our lives, are valid, it is important to remember the PSYOPs of the secret police in communist East Germany, the Stasi. They tried to intimidate the citizenry into submission by implying that they had a dossier on every citizen. After the collapse of …


“I Can See You” — A Digital View of Your Survival Preparations, by Dave X.

Foreword:  I design and operate databases for a living.  The newest of these are assembled on analytic platforms structured to “draw conclusions” for clients in a wide (and formerly random) variety of scenarios.  One of my developers is an analytic tools assembly expert who also works for some “security, emergency, and enforcement” government agencies in Washington, DC – all formerly separate agencies, and because of advancements in the technologies — now “interoperating”.  I am also a prepper with a Bug Out locale that fulfills my “survival vision” and inherently has most of the natural survival essentials on site, but one …


The Gray Market Role of Defunct Coinage in a Cashless Society

I’ve received several e-mails and letters from SurvivalBlog readers, asking me if and when I believe that a “cashless society” is coming. My response is: Yes, I do believe that it is coming, but I can’t say when. There are some that have argued that a currency collapse will be used as the pretense to implement a multi-continental or even global digital currency. Most likely it would be in the form of a debit card, similar to what has been popularized in Germany with EuroCheck (EC) Cards. I mentioned these cards in my most recent book, “Survivors: A Novel of …


Save Them!, by ShepherdFarmerGeek

Spokane was sparkling with light and still bustling when I looked out at it from a downtown building last night. So beautiful in the darkness. My thoughts went out to the hundreds of thousands of little children, women, grandmothers, grandfathers, boys, girls, and men those lights represented. Not just people – persons, each one unique, each with God’s calling on their lives for His purposes. Yet most of them are lost: hopelessly adrift in an empty, frantic, stupid, shallow culture of blindness and conformity and entertainment. Like the people of Jonah’s time they metaphorically don’t know their right hand from …


Letter Re: Why are Preppers So Hatefully Persecuted?

Hello, I am writing about a topic that has bothered me for some time: Why are preppers so hatefully persecuted? We know from the Bible that this is not a new phenomenon, as Noah was severely persecuted for the preparations God ordered him to make. Could you please put it out to your readers? Thank you very much for your time, – Drew in Idaho JWR Replies: Envy is a sin that is all too common. That is just part of living in a sinful, fallen world. Those who are unprepared often feel both envy and guilt for not providing …


TEOTWAWKI Mental Health Issues, by Dr. Bob

There are many things about our “on-the-grid lives” that really are not all that fun.  We get depressed about stuff and certainly have anxiety over lots of things that will simply disappear WTSHTF.  My personal philosophy, along with many of our readers and patients, is that without a grid, life will be a little more simple.  With preparation, things don’t have to be that gloomy.  It will sure be a bummer for lots of other people, but for us and ours, it means a return to the basics.  The reality is:  none of us knows how we will cope with …