G.G. flagged this: Imagining a Cyberattack on the Power Grid o o o Reader F.G. sent me a link to some eye candy: Herra Kuulapaa: High speed ballistics photography. (The Guy Fawkes mask was a nice touch.) o o o Bob K. and his wife recommended the classic short story: The Machine Stops, by E.M. Forster, written in 1909. o o o Activity On The Sun Flatlines: Bitterly Cold Winters Ahead? o o o 14 Civilian Disarmament Bills on California Governor’s Desk
Pre-1899 and replica gun law tested in Texas. o o o On November 16, 2013, I will be a featured guest speaker (via teleseminar) at the Charlotte, North Carolina Back To The Basics convention. (Formerly known as Charlotte PrepCon.) o o o Some redoubtable folks: Maryland counties join movement to secede from largely Democrat-run state. (Thanks to S.R. for the link.) o o o Killer robots and crippling cyber attacks: How the world is going to end – according to super brains such as Stephen Hawking o o o Robert L. wrote: “I recommend Royal Bag …
Here at the Rawles Ranch, I use ratchet wire tensioners for building building fence corners and H-braces, as well as for tensioning our solar-charged electric fences. I was recently bemoaning the fact that the only tensioners that I could find at my local feed store and hardware store were made in China, and priced at nearly $4 each. So I did some searching and found a mail order company called Zeitlow Distributing Company in McPherson, Kansas that specializes in electric fence products. They sell the Tru-Test Strainrite tensioners that are made in New Zealand. They had these sale priced at …
Pierre M. sent: Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood to Coptic Christians: Convert to Islam, or pay ‘jizya’ tax o o o Joanna H. recommended this web page: How to Make a Rabbit Skin Blanket o o o The first Seattle Sustainable Preparedness Expo is scheduled for September 29th, 2013. o o o Boy Scout alternative, Trail Life USA, launches ‘premier’ Christian group for boys. (Thanks to RBS for the link.) o o o SurvivalPrepStore, a new Kansas City area survival store (with a nationwide mailorder customer base) is by offering an All American Deal in remembrance of 9/11. …
Update: The big sales on Mountain House long term storage foods packed in #10 cans are continuing. Some varieties are now sold out, for example: New Orleans Rice & Shrimp, Sweet & Sour Pork, and Pilot Crackers. On any of those, you can now expect up to a two month delay before shipment! There are now five SurvivalBlog advertisers that are running September Mountain House sales, and I strongly recommend that you stock up to take advantage of these sales prices in September. Here is a summary of the five September sales on Mountain House foods in #10 cans. They …
G.G. sent: In Mexico, self-defense groups battle a cartel. [JWR’s Comment: I wonder if the photographer realized that the “meanacing”-looking scoped AR in the foreground was a .22 rimfire? Take a close look at the magazine.] o o o Number of People Who Showed Up For “Million Muslim March” . . . 21. (Perhaps they heard that there would be 2 million bikers coming into town.) o o o Carol J. mentioned: Fabric coating thwarts detection by night-vision devices. “The coating combines a squid protein, reflectin, plus graphene.” o o o Over at Frank and Fern’s blog: …
Reader J. McC. sent: Small California City Welcome Doomsday Bunkers o o o For those who are concerned about the privacy of your search engine history, I heard about a company that prides itself on keeping no stinking histories: ixquick.com. So, hoping that their promise is legitimate, I have that set as my browser’s home page, so that I don’t forget to use it. OBTW, friend Dave reminds me: “There is an IXQuick add-on for the Firefox search bar.” It is time to divorce ourselves from Google, folks! o o o The feds pay for 60 percent of …
H.L. sent: Venomous Spiders, State-By-State o o o Commentary from Mac Slavo: Map: Where You Don’t Want to Be When It Hits the Fan o o o Fascinating: In search of Food Deserts. Be sure to scroll down and see the maps of Wyoming and Montana. FWIW, it is a 25+ mile drive to the nearest grocery store for my family. But it is just a few steps to our well-stocked pantry room and to JASBORR. o o o Reader C.K. (who lives “on a mountaintop in North Idaho”) wrote to suggest this site: Ethanol Alcohol Fuel …
There is a new but familiar listing on SurvivalRealty that I once owned: Secluded But Not Remote Retreat for Sale in Idaho County, Idaho. I can personally vouch that it is a fantastic piece of retreat land, with multiple springs, a good mix of timber and quite a variety of wild herbs. It is advantageously situated down at low elevation on a very private side canyon of the South Fork of the Clearwater River. The winters there are very mild–with just a month of snow that “sticks”–and a long growing season. The surrounding properties are large cattle ranches, so it …
A reminder from Al in Maryland: Readers in Maryland are doubtless already aware that after October 1, 2013 it will be illegal to buy a firearm defined as an ‘assault long gun’ including any long guns deemed to be ‘copies’ [of banned models.] Current owners are grandfathered-in, for now. Handguns will be harder to acquire and there will be more hoops to jump through.” There will also be restrictions on full-capacity magazines. So Marylanders should stock up, muy pronto! In related news: Maryland gun applications overwhelm police, dealers as tough limits draw near. o o o B.B. sent: Homeland …
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I wished someone commercially made a soft start power box for radios that use vacuum tubes. Now I’ve been told there already is such a product, made by the folks at Electric Radio Magazine. Such a device will likely pay for itself in just a few years, given the inflated price of tubes. (Have you priced a replacement 1L6 Pentagrid tube, or a Magic Eye tuning tube recently?) o o o Here is a good message: Why I’m a Republican. Sadly, however, the Republican Party’s leadership has now embraced statist socialism. …
Reader Nick R. mentioned that the price of .308 ball ammo is now back below $700 per thousand. (It was at least $1 per round, in January.) Is the ammo drought finally ending? Even .22 LR is coming back down in price. (For a while there, I thought that Walton Creel would have to give up his life as an artist.) o o o My friend Terry H. mentioned another pistol recall. This time it is the S&W M&P Shield. o o o The American Redoubt may be growing: State of Jefferson: Board votes for separation o …
Reader Jim T. mentioned that there is a very lively discussion going on over at Surivivalistboards about how to make friends or enemies with your neighbors at your newly-acquired retreat. Is is very easy to tell who is from the city and who is from the country, from the responses. I think some city folks need to be educated on how things work in the country. o o o Readers H.L. and B.B. both sent: Illinois State Police Begin Registering Concealed Carry Instructors. [JWR’s Comment: “I hate Illinois Nazis.”] o o o As I mentioned before, for National …
Troll culture has reached the border of free Michigan: Labor Day ‘Mackinac Bridge Walk’ will feature warrantless bag searches. (Thanks to F.G. for the link.) o o o The Buzz on a Bumper Crop of Yellow Jackets. [JWR Adds: My readers throughout the Inland Northwest have confirmed my own local observations that this summer has been light on mosquitoes, but heavy on yellow jacket wasps and bald faced hornets. ] o o o News from Nanny State Britannia: A knitting group said it was no longer allowed to meet at a library because its needles are “dangerous” and …
F.J. suggested: Make a Reaping Hook o o o Reader Joe S. found a great resource for anyone with an interested in First Generation Cummins 5.9 Liter Six-Cylinder Diesels: 1989 – 1991 Ram Diesel Engine Specs o o o Attention southpaws: I heard that Autrey’s Armory has announced a special for SurvivalBlog readers on Rock River Operator carbines in left hand configuration. They have 8 of these available. Full retail on these is $1,360, but Autrey’s sells these for $1,175.99. But if you send an e-mail and mention that you saw them mentioned in SurvivalBlog, they will knock …