Thoughts on Nevada, by SFE

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 That scripture came to my mind as I thought about the tragedy in Nevada when two soulless people murdered two police officers and a good Samaritan who marched to the sound of the guns and paid the ultimate price by placing himself in harm’s way in the defense of others. Without seeking to second guess the dead and without full information, I would like to make a few comments. I’m assuming that everyone is aware now of the shooting in Las …




Round 52 Non-Fiction Writing Contest Winners Announced!

We have completed Round 52 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest! First Prize goes to T.Y. for “Low Moisture Aged Cheese – Hard food for Hard Times”, which was posted on Wednesday, April 2, 2014. He will receive the following prizes: A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course (a $1,195 value), 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 or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried …




Reading the New Blog Format for iPads/iPods

For those who have eyes like mine, the font on an iPad/iPod is difficult to read, but there is an answer. Since everyone’s eyes are different, it doesn’t make sense to regulate that aspect of the blog from the server side. Rather, each iPad/iPod needs to adjust specifically for its user. To that end, these instructions should alleviate the issue. If you are using a Windows or an Android tablet/phone, there should be similar methods available to you as well. For those who want the advertisements to show on the smaller screen identical to the desktop, you pretty much have …




Writing Projects Update from Jim Rawles

As most of you know, for nine years I posted SurvivalBlog daily, almost without fail. (I did take a break for a few days, immediately after my first wife passed away.) In January, I decided to hire a Managing Editor, to allow myself the time to concentrate on some other projects. Hugh Latimer assumed the day-to-day responsibilities of editing and posting SurvivalBlog two months ago. He has done a truly commendable job of maintaining the continuity of the blog. Not one to rest on my laurels, I have been quite busy with completing two contracted book manuscripts: Liberators: A Novel …




Introducing SurvivalBlog’s New Product Review Editor

I am pleased to announce that SurvivalBlog has selected Scot Frank Eire (a pen name) as our new Product Review Editor. He is a perfect fit for the blog, both editorially, experientially, and in personality. For those that are curious, his pen name is a play on Scotts Irish as well as working in “Frank” from the Frankish tribes the city of Frankfurt is named for. Frankfurt is where his family was based in the mid-18th century. Here are a few details about Scot: He has spent the bulk of his career in Newspaper publishing as both a photographer and …




Round 51 Nonfiction Writing Contest Winners Announced!

We have completed Round 51 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest! First Prize goes to G.A. (RN) for “Setting up a Sick Room in Your Home”, which was posted on Wednesday, February 26, 2014. She will receive the following prizes: Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course (a $1,195 value), 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 or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees …




Four New Prizes for Round 51 Bring the Prize Total to $10,500!

Starting with Round 51, the fine folks at SurvivalBased.com are donating a $500 gift certificate to the Third Place prize winner of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. Be sure to visit their web site and check out their full line of preparedness gear, and their blog. Also starting with Round 51, TexasgiBrass.com a is kindly providing a $300 gift certificate for first place and a $150 gift certificate for second place for the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The company sells full military specification once-fired brass for reloaders. Note that even if you don’t reload, this is excellent brass to provide …




Two Letters Re: SurvivalBlogs New Managing Editor

Dear Editor Like other readers have stated, you have a truly amazing set of qualifications. As a former AWANA Commander, welder, machinist, physicist, embedded engineer and technical editor I hope to continue fleshing out my skills and service in the ways you have. Though my estimate is you have 15-20 years on me. 🙂 Not only welcome to SurvivalBlog but thank you for the material encouragement. -D.D. HJL Replies: Thank you and congratulations on a well rounded and broad skill set. A quote from one of my favorite authors sums it up nicely: “A human being should be able to …




Three Letters Re: SurvivalBlogs New Managing Editor

We have three responses to the introduction of our new Managing Editor today: Greetings, Mr Rawles, Wow – I just read the posting on your new hire and I’m absolutely blown away. What an outstanding set of qualifications! I’m glad to have submitted my resume, but clearly you have found a tremendous candidate with very high credentials. Congratulations and may this new working relationship bear much fruit in the years ahead. –J.M. J.F.J sends this response: >Please tell him that I said “WELCOME ABOARD!”. And just one more thing… with his impressive resume, can you also please tell him that …




Introducing SurvivalBlog’s New Managing Editor

I am pleased to announce that following the review of more than 50 resumes, we have selected Hugh J. Latimer (a pen name) as our new Managing Editor. I consider him a perfect fit for the position. He will be taking over many of the day-to-day operations at SurvivalBlog, including editing letters and articles, compiling column items, writing some feature articles, creating and updating advertisement graphics, and posting the blog. Meanwhile, I will continue to be actively involved as Senior Editor. To distinguish between our posts and comments, they will either begin or end with our initials (“JWR” or “HJL.”) …




A Global Search: Seeking a SurvivalBlog Managing Editor

I am planning to hire a contracted Managing Editor for SurvivalBlog, sometime in the next two months. While I plan to continue on as Editor, I need some assistance with day-to-day editorial work. This position could be your ticket to living in the Boonies. The locale for the new Managing Editor position will be “virtual”, meaning that our new hire can live and work anywhere on the planet where there is a stable high speed Internet connection. The pay for this 30 hour per-week contracted position will be up to $40,000 per year, depending on the candidate’s experience. Hiring preference …




Annual Reminder: The Ten Cent Challenge

Not counting editorial salaries, SurvivalBlog has more than $22,000 per year in annual operating costs including our fully redundant servers in Colorado and Sweden. We need this redundancy because we’ve been attacked (DDOS ping flooding) by malicious hackers, on several occasions. Unlike most publications, our subscriptions are 100% voluntary. And we only make one annual post every January to remind our readers to subscribe or renew, and this is it. We are not like other organizations on the Internet that are endlessly begging, so you hear this this just once a year. We don’t want to pester anyone. Here is …




SurvivalBlog’s Annual Disclaimers, Provisos, and Public Notices

SurvivalBlog, a private information service, is obliged to post some disclaimers and provisos, annually. These notices are current as of January 1, 2014 and remain in force unless later specifically revoked or modified by the Editor. Advertising and Reviews Per FTC File No. P034520: SurvivalBlog accepts cash-paid advertising. To the best of my knowledge, as of the date of this posting, none of our advertisers that sell the products mentioned in this blog have solicited SurvivalBlog or our staff to write any reviews or endorsements, nor have they provided me any free or reduced-price gear in exchange for any reviews …




New Writing Contest Prize From Dri-Harvest Foods

The fine folks at Dri-Harvestfoods.com in Bozeman, Montana have announced that they will now sponsor the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest with an additional $333 prize bundle that will bring the combined value of the three prize packages to more than $9,700. Starting with Round 50 et sequitur, the winner of the Second Prize package will receive Dri-Harvest foods gift certificates for: One Mixed Case: Kidney Beans, Lima Beans, Buttermilk Powder (2 of each) / Case of 6- #10 Cans  valued at  $68.86 One Montana Hard Red Wheat 5 Gallon food grade bucket, valued at  $44.95 A mixed case of Lemon, Peach …




Poll Results on SurvivalBlog’s Web Design

The vast majority of readers voted in favor leaving SurvivalBlog the way its is–predominantly text, for minimum bandwidth. I did learn that man readers would like more links to off-site graphics and videos. I also learned that I need to warn folks when a link is to a video, so that their mobile devices aren’t overwhelmed or “blow their budget” on bandwidth . So henceforth I will try to include the word “video” in those text links,