Category: SurvivalBlog

Five Letters Re: The FBI’s Cookie Caper and the VPN Imperative

JWR: Can you let your readers know what the names, identifying characteristics, and other information is that we can use to check and see if we have the FBI installed cookies on our machines? Thanks, – J.V. Web Forensics Expert Mr. X. Replies: First let me explain how to look for cookies.  The easiest way IMHO (there is more than one way to skin a cat, my favorite method involves using high-pressure air…) because it is easy and anybody can do it with little or no chance of [accidentally] nuking their own machine: In Internet Explorer, go into the File …


Important Message From JWR: The FBI’s Cookie Caper and the VPN Imperative

It has come to my attention that from August of 2011 to November of 2011, the FBI secretly redirected the web traffic of more than 10% of SurvivalBlog’s US visitors through CJIS, their sprawling data center situated on 900 acres, 10 miles from Clarksburg, West Virginia. There, the Feebees surreptitiously collected the IP addresses of my site visitors. In all, 4,906 of 35,494 selected connections ended up going to or through the FBI servers. (Note that this happened several months before we moved our primary server to Sweden.) Furthermore, we discovered that the FBI attached a long-lived cookie that allowed …


Chased Far From Reality: A Super Bowl Nuke Conspiracy Theorist Run Amok

I feel compelled to respond to some recent disinformation by David Chase Taylor, a fringe conspiracy theorist: Alex Jones Cancels Speaking Tour 3 Days After Exposure As Possible STRATFOR Double Agent. This is an atrocious hatchet piece and a good candidate for a libel or defamation lawsuit. Not only does it unfairly and inaccurately libel Alex Jones, but it attempts to put me in a bad light, as well. To begin, Stratfor is not an “Israeli intelligence agency” nor a “private Zionist intelligence agency” as Taylor claims. It is simply a private intelligence analysis service that covers global events, run …


Ready for “Slutet På Världen Som Vi Känner Den” in Sweden

The migration of SurvivalBlog’s web server to Sweden is complete. The new dedicated server is now humming along nicely with 5 Terabytes of available bandwidth, utilizing very fast dual-quad core processors. The kinks have nearly all been worked out. Now that the DNS propagation has been completed, SurvivalBlog is also back to a #1 ranking when you search “Survival Blog” in the major search engines like Bing, Yahoo, and Google. We are now down to just one sticky issue with McAfee anti-virus software displaying a false malware warning when SurvivalBlog is visited. This is because our server’s IP address falls …


The American Redoubt: The L.A. Times Gets it Mostly Right

You may have already seen this article that ran in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, February 8, 2012: The American Redoubt, where survivalists plan to survive When society collapses, they intend to be armed and well fed in the high country of the Northwest. James Wesley Rawles is their guru on the subject. First, I must mention that this news story was run almost immediately before and with a link to a piece about a racist would-be parade bomber (the classic “guilt by association” editorial approach, but in this case, just guilt by geographical coincidence and a two-way hypertext …


Letter Re: A Simple IP Address Conversion Methodology

JWR, In reference to the recent change in Internet Protocol (IP) address for SurvivalBlog, I thought I’d describe a method to help people set up their computers to use it without DNS names. How to add important internet addresses to your computer. I’m using the new SurvivalBlog.com IPv4 address change as an example, I also recommend adding your mail server, and other important host names too. Audience:  I’ll try and keep the techno-babble to a minimum, so that the largest audience possible can use this.  Any Domain Name Server (DNS) experts or System Administrators out there will probably pull their …


Announcing Winners For Round 38 of the SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

We’ve completed the judging for Round 38 of the SurvivalBlog Writing Contest! 1st Place: Barter, Post-TEOTWAWKI: The Micro Store by A.A.A. which was posted on December 22, 2011. He will receive: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) 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, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) …


Letter Re: Comments on SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Prizes

Jim: I recently won the third prize for the survivalblog writing contest and I thought I would give back to the SurvivalBlog readers a review of the items I received as a way of saying thanks. The items I received were a Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21, expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy, and two Super Survival Pack seed collections, courtesy of Seed for Security. I received all the items quickly and with two of them I also received congratulations cards on winning which was a very nice touch in …


Safecastle Freedoms Awards Announced

Safecastle has announced the winners of their video and writing contest. I was pleased to see that a SurvivalBlog writer won first prize and that second prize went to a piece that was originally posted at one of our favorite self-sufficiency blogs, Rural Revolution. (Edited by Patrice Lewis.) Article Category: 1st prize: “What is a Well-Stocked First Aid Kit” by K.M., SurvivalBlog.com – Prize: Katadyn Pocket Water Filter 2nd prize: “Preparedness for Young People” by Maria S, Rural-Revolution.com – Prize: Excalibur 9-Tray Dehydrator Video Category: 1st prize: “Survival and Prepping – The Basics” by Falcon15, Survivalmonkey.com – Prize: Katadyn Pocket …


An Update To Our Contact Page–Combatting Spammers

Because our e-mail box is now getting hammered with more than 100 pieces of spam mail per day, we are now reluctantly removing the direct e-mail links in SurvivalBlog. Henceforth, all of the “e-mail us” links will be directed to our Contact page. There, at the the top of the page, you will see a fractured e-mail address: james–AT SYMBOL–rawles.to (Change the “–AT SYMBOL–” to @). This formatting is designed to divert web spiders that harvest e-mail addressess for Nigerian scammers and those V*agra hucksters. Sorry for any inconvenience that this might cause you. Note that there is no need …


The SurvivalBlog Ten Cent Challenge — Annual Reminder

I only post one reminder each year about the voluntary Ten Cent Challenge SurvivalBlog subscriptions, and this is it. Unlike Jimmy Wales at Wikipedia and those whiners at PBS, I don’t do endless pledge drives. I depend on my readers to help pay the bills to keep SurvivalBlog up and running. Our web hosting on two dedicated servers (one in Sweden and one in the U.S.) cost $850 per month (including 3 Terabytes of bandwidth), and our local ISP bill is $129 per month. We also have other expenses including liability insurance, phone bills, computer hardware, software, a VPN tunneling …


Announcing the SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Prize Winners for Round 37

We’ve completed the judging for Round 37 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest: First Prize goes to Paul B., for Staple Foods Storage By The Numbers, posted on November 10th. He will receive: A.) 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, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 …


The SPLC’s Demonization of SurvivalBlog and “Montana Extremists”

I’ve heard from several readers about the absolute hatchet job that was recently inflicted upon me. The statist Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) issued a wholesale smear against me, Pastor Chuck Baldwin, and Stewart Rhodes of Oath Keepers. This was well-documented here: Brandon Smith: SPLC Labels Montana Patriots as “Extremist”. The SPLC is is famous for interspersing legitimate conservative public figures amidst lists of assorted racists, neo-Nazis, xenophobes, anti-Semites, criminals, and Grade A Whackamos. This is the classic “Guilt By Association” smear technique. In my case, it could better be called “Guilt By Non-Association”, since I have no connection with …


Two Letters Re: Places Where SurvivalBlog is Blocked From Viewing

James, They are now blocking SurvivalBlog along with Zero Hedge and I Hate The Media from work where I work. Yes I’m on a government network. I assume that more of the alternative media sites are going to be blocked, shortly. I’ll send you updates as they are blocked.  Thanks for your time. – C. in Northern Virginia. Sir: I am a full-time National Guardsman. (Sorta a rarity.)   I just discovered a change when I tried to look at SurvivalBlog, as usual, on my lunch hour. It is now a blocked [by name] on our or computer network . …


Survivors Sample Chapter Excerpt — Chapter 5: Hornet’s Nest

“The only purpose of a government is to protect a man’s rights, which means: To protect him from physical violence. A proper government is only a policeman, an agent of man’s self defense, and, as such, may resort to force only against those who start the use of force. The only proper function s of a government are: The police, to protect you from criminals; the army, to protect you from foreign invaders; and the courts, to protect your property and contracts from breach or fraud from others, to settle disputes by rational rules, according to objective laws. – John …