Category: Odds ‘n Sods

A good piece by Brandon Smith: The Realities of Choosing Your Survival Retreat Location    o o o “The Looting Started Right Away” – At Nigerian DC-10 Crash    o o o Another voice from industry, warning of systemic risk: The lights go out: What happens if the grid goes down?    o o o Wood Boilers. Woody Chain provides a reality check, for anyone considering buying an outdoor wood-fired home heating boiler.    o o o Scratch another country off your list of potential offshore retreat locales: Venezuela bans private gun ownership. This move is just another requisite step …

Thomas B. sent this amazingly informative graphic of the United States: 56 Years of Tornado Tracks. Once again, the American Redoubt region stands out as a true safe haven. (Note that the scale of the tracks is exaggerated and made more linear than actually occurred.)    o o o Seed for Security has announced a special promotion: A free pint of Winter Rye (approximately 13,280 seeds), and a free packet of Provider Green Beans (approximately 150 seeds), will be added free to every order over $45. This offer is available for only a limited time.    o o o Why …

Reader James C. pointed me top a massive collection (14.1 Gigabytes!) of free preparedness and self-sufficiency documents, provided Pole Shift Survival Information.    o o o Dena K. sent this: Novo’s Insulin Pill Quest is Holy Grail for Diabetics    o o o Pre-Collapse Ramp Up:  Retailers Stock Up On Shutters, Organize Security Details Ahead Of Financial Meltdown And Social Unrest.    o o o Reader David P. mention that an early commander of SFOD-D (and later, all of SOCOM) General W.G. “Jerry” Boykin has an interesting web site.    o o o More of Mayor Bloomberg’s civilian disarmament scheming: …

Jim W. suggested this Instructive video: Negligent Discharges: Holstering    o o o Delivery Kits for Home Birth May Increase Neonate Survival, Speaking of home birth, the same family that posts the Paratus Familia blog and makes the popular Naturally Cozy washable pads for women now makes an Emergency Birth Kit packaged an a 5 gallon plastic bucket. What a great concept!    o o o You Tax Dollars at Work: Dugout Dick’s central Idaho caves filled in by BLM. (A hat tip to R.B.S. for the link.)    o o o K.A.F. sent this news item: [Slightly] Radioactive bluefin …

The book NOLS Wilderness Medicine is available free, for today only, from Amazon.com.    o o o I heard about a good article on bug-out RVs and camping trailers.    o o o Lee M. suggested: 51 Free Tools to Stay Informed and Invisible on the Internet    o o o Now approaching 100 active listings! There are some great retreat properties available at our spin-off site, SurvivalRealty.com. For example, one of the most recent ones is a 212-acre ranch property in Montana that would be ideal for a group or extended family retreat. In addition to the main house, …

A reminder that the ongoing Radio Free Redoubt podcast series is now available on iTunes.    o o o Simon Black brings us news of the latest absurdity from Nanny State Britannia: Trust me, this is good news. (OBTW, one of the comments to that article mentioned a parallel event, in California.)    o o o Almost half of new veterans seek disability    o o o G.G. flagged this surprisingly well-balanced article from The Guardian: Indian women turn to firearms against threat of violence. (Notes on the Video: The family in the opening sequence seriously needs to get some …

M.P. flagged this: Prepper speaks against stigma that all survivalists are nuts o o o Alabama residents will be interested to learn that the state legislature has enacted a law providing a sales tax free weekend on disaster supplies the weekend of July 6-8, 2012. That will include things like bottled water, foods, candles, lanterns, and even generators. Our thanks to Mark C. for the news tip. o o o Reader Mark P. mentioned that the Ludwig von Mises Institute now offers an e-book of liberty quotations as a free PDF download. o o o G.G. spotted this: Revealed: Hundreds …

The Complete List of Every Prepper Book Ever Recommended. (Thanks to R.D. for the link.)    o o o The town of Coos Bay, Oregon is wisely planning a Tsunami Evacuation Drill on May 31 at 2:00 p.m.    o o o Over at Buddy’s Board, I found a link to this brief how-to video: Tannerite 101    o o o James C. suggested this lengthy YouTube video: The 1940’s House    o o o C.D.V. recommended this site: Pam’s Pride Recommendations. These are my recommendations for free Kindle e-book downloads for homesteaders and do-it-yourselfers.

Umatilla Chemical Depot transformation includes Red Cross supplies stored in igloos. (Thanks to J.S. for the link.)    o o o Some good news, mentioned over at Cheaper Than Dirt’s blog: Oklahoma Governor mary Fallin Signs Open Carry Law. The new law goes into effect on November 1, 2012.    o o o Hands-on Survival Medicine Classes taught by Dr. Cynthia Koelker (SurvivalBlog’s Medical Editor) are now being calendared for the Summer of 2012. Topics covered include casting, suturing, medical labs without electricity, and treating both acute and chronic illnesses.    o o o These lighthouses are built stout, and might even …

Ed O. mentioned that readers in Western Washington may be interested in the Mother Earth News Fair being held at the Puyallup Fairgrounds on 2-3 June 2012. (Wear your SurvivalBlog T-shirt or hat and see who you meet.)    o o o News from an American Redoubt town: Idaho town seeks to lure gun and ammo makers    o o o Reader J.B.G. suggested this article over at Instructables: Make a Yak-Proof Survival Knife    o o o Chris M. liked this ABC News piece: Reduce Dumb Decisions by Thinking in a Foreign Language    o o o Stephen F. …

Some great stuff from our blogosphere friend Patrice Lewis: Going Country: Moving Rural for Self-Reliance    o o o James C. suggested this instructional video: Five gallon bucket camp sink.    o o o Reader F.G. sent us another case of form over function: In Reversal, Army Bans High-Performance Rifle Mags. This is the typical boot-polishing “dress-right-dress” garrison mentality. The next thing you know, they’ll ban soldiers buying their own ACOG scopes or supplemental body armor. Talk about institutionalized stupidity! What a far cry from the Vietnam War, where carrying a personally-owned .38 Special or .357 Magnum revolver was not …

Another ultralight flying video was just posted by TTabs: Bonners Ferry Idaho and the Bull River Valley Run – Trike Flying in Prepper Paradise. JWR’s Comments: This one will be of particular interest to anyone considering North Idaho or Northwestern Montana for retreat locales. I have several consulting clients there, and they will be thrilled to see it. And, BTW, TTabs says that he plans to do additional”trike runs” at low altitude in the region and he’ll include that footage in a follow-up video.    o o o K.T. suggested this essay: Passive Resistance is Futile    o o o …

Lee M. suggested an outstanding tabular list, over at the Preparedness Advice Blog: Common Chemical Names. (This, BTW, is a good list to print out in hard copy for your home workshop reference binder. It might be crucial if you need to translate any chemical formulas from pre-1923 formularies.)    o o o Ian in England sent this: Police to extract and permanently retain mobile phone data in UK    o o o A piece recommended at The Woodpile Report by Ol’ Remus: OPSEC: It Begins With You    o o o The lists of cyber threats keeps expanding: Insulin …

As a bonus to promote their revamped web site (with a complete redesign, and an updated shopping interface) Directive 21 (aka LPC Survival) has created a 5% off discount code, just for SurvivalBlog readers. Use code: Survivalblog. (Their URL is unchanged, and they are still under the same management. Just their web site has been updated.)    o o o Chris M. suggested this at Resilient Communities: Food Abundance? (Includes an instructive picture of empty store shelves in Zimbabwe.) Oh, and speaking of watermelons, see this at the Wazoo Ag Extension web site: Watermelon Variety Descriptions.    o o o …

Mike A. suggested this very interesting piece: Planning traffic routing in no-notice disasters. The article begins: “Spontaneous evacuations of New York City and Washington, D.C. following the 9/11 terrorist attacks demonstrated that U.S. cities are not prepared to manage the sudden influx of traffic into roads and highways following a no-notice disaster.”    o o o Mike T. sent this: Zithromax (azithromycin): FDA Statement on risk of cardiovascular death    o o o News headline: San Francisco to rename street after Pelosi. JWR’s Comments: Go ahead and call me “stodgy”, but I think they’d be safer waiting until she expires–or …