My Generator: Hard Lessons Learned – Part 1, by St. Funogas

…learned the hard lesson for the umpteenth time: Two is one and one is none! After my 10-day preps test was over I began fixing the carburetor first thing. Even though it was just the needle valve that went kaput during my preps test, I implemented the two-is-one philosophy and ordered a whole new carburetor for $25 to keep the old one on hand as a backup. I ordered a set of of five needle valves ($8) which will work in either carburetor. When doing any kind of carburetor work it’s usually best to replace the gaskets which sometimes tear during removal. Five sets of gaskets cost $8, four to serve as backups. In total, had I been prepared during my 10-day preps test $16 worth of backup parts would have saved the day and made the test easier and more successful. I can’t stress enough the importance of testing…




Build the Plan vs. Test the Plan – Part 3, by T.R.

(Continued from Part 2.) Some background: I still work almost full time, but portions of the year are full throttle 60+ hour weeks and other blocks are much lighter, with my husband retired from the military. We wanted a vacation in terms of scenery and wildlife and we wanted to test our plans across a number of elements. To appropriately field test our plans with a degree of stress testing that would replicate a certain amount of tension present in real threat condition whilst isolating certain elements one at a time to calibrate parts of our plan in a systematic way, we tried to set a few parameters that would shape the testing conditions: 1. Pack the car and get out of dodge quickly, with the hope to leave in less than 4-6 hours; 2. Be on the road with gasoline services to get as far as possible and then…




Choosing a MBR: The M1 Garand or the M14/M1A?, by Zorro

…p 11/36 7. The History of the M1 Garand — Springfield Armory and World War II Production , www.m1-garand-rifle.com. 8. The definition of Hardness., www.Scribd ENG1108 -L3- HARDNESS- IMPACT-CREEP _ FATIGUE- OH”S. 9. Forged metals. Metal Tidbits, Forge. Forge Group, www.steelforge.com. 10. Party, Boston T. Boston’s Gun Bible,  USA ; Javelin Press, ed.(2002 -2009),p 11/37. 11. Beachmarks and Striations. Reed-Hill, Robert E,and Reza Abbaschian. Physical Metallurgy Principles. 3rd ed. Boston: PWS Publishing Company,1994. 12. 8620 case hardening steel. www.interlloy.com/au. 13. The Process of Carburization for 8620 steel., www.crucibleservice.com 14. Party, Boston T. Boston’s Gun Bible,  USA ; Javelin Press, ed.(2002 -2009),p 11/38. 15. Pat’s Product Review: Springfield Armory M1A., survivalblog.com, July 18, 2011 16. Most Horrendous M1A/M14 kB! Ever. A comprehensive metallurgical report courtesy of Fulton Armory. Dr. William J. Bruchey, 509 Tome Highway, Port Deposit, MD 21904. www.thegunzone.com, April 5, 2001. 17.Tanker Garand.” Tony Giacobbe”. gman366@comcast.net., Monday, July 11,…




Weekly Survival Real Estate Market Update

We have some great news for you folks that have been wondering where all the approved retreats disappeared to, on the Idaho page of SurvivalRealty.com. (This is SurvivalBlog’s sister site that JWR put together specifically to help SurvivalBlog readers to find their own survival retreats.) More than 15 Idaho listings have now been posted! You can view them here. In order to comply with guidelines set forth by the Idaho Real Estate Commission, although the listings are available on any public MLS approved site, the subsequent retreat evaluations, analysis and photos are only allowed to be disseminated to actual customers and contractual clients of licensed real estate offices, upon request from those interested persons. In order to stay within those guidelines you’ll be required to agree to the ‘Terms of Use’ in order to view any of the non-For Sale By Owner (FSBO) Idaho listings. The clickable agreement covers two…




Pop Goes The Bubble: The New Century Financial Corp. Debacle

…the buyers know that time is on their side. The next effect was felt by real estate agents and brokers. Many of them are a now looking for new careers. I recently heard an interesting statistic: South Florida had more than 3,000 gainfully employed real estate agents at the peak of the buying frenzy. But now there are now only about 300. Next, title companies will have to lay off employees, as sales slow. Where and when will all of this end? With prices a lot lower, and probably not until a full decade from now. I woudln’t be surprised to see prices (in real terms, adjusted for inflation) down 50% or more in the erstwhile “hot” market regions. As the house price down-ratcheting effect get more pronounced, many homeowners”will come to the realization that they are upside down in their mortgages. (Where the current market value of the house…




Five Letters Re: Living Through the Real Estate Crash and Bankruptcy

…have heard a lot on the news lately about predatory lenders, but folks like Brad are just as guilty, if not more so, for the housing crisis. I call them predatory borrowers, and the article that Brad wrote makes me think (just for a split second) that it might be a good idea to bring back debtors prisons. I was shocked when he said that as he’s going through bankruptcy he advocated continuing to spend on credit cards and rack up debt. When he said he had recently bought an RV, I literally shouted at my computer screen. I was heartened to hear that no credit card company had issued a new card to Brad, despite his attempts to get one. I hope he never gets one again. I see Brad as a selfish person, and he is exactly the kind of person I expect will behave quite poorly in…




Proposing a U.S. Sovereign Cryptocurrency and Free Trade Zone

…owned the entire 1.8 million acres of white pine area clear to the Montana border Thats only one company… so theoretically the whole 4.9mill acres could be owned by a handful of people.. or Just one really rich guy.. in a time when most Americans are already jaded with the idea that 1% of the population owns 90% of the wealth.. I predict the peasants armed with pitch forks and torches descending on the swift zone. it would have to be encircled with concertina wire and mine fields just to keep the commoners at bay or should we call them ‘subjects’? ..If shear envy of this exclusive club ‘Island’, that was formed in a nation saddled with so much consumer,personal and tax debt didnt get over run by the debt ridden peasants.. The wealthy would be scampering to move every asset they own into this ‘island’ of freedom. Vacant land…




How To Be A Financial Prepper- Part 1, by Brandon

Lee Freedom comes with being in control of your own time and resources. We all know that unless we choose to move to the wilderness and live in a barter economy we will never be free of taxes. Not working to support the banks and credit companies does provide a level of freedom that feels great. Staying debt free requires discipline as well. We refuse to take on monthly payments. If we cannot pay cash for what we need, we save until we can. It is easy to fall into old habits. We live a simple life. We get great joy in our God and our gardens. We have one CC used for travel to see the grandchildren and paid off monthly. Many health care providers no longer take cash so we use or CC at the doctors office, once again balance is zero monthly. We laugh at the offers…




Urban Trash: Why and How to Minimize Your Garbage- Part 2, by K.S.

…If you’re in a moderate to high traffic area, and this fits with your neighborhood ethos (stay Grey Man), try a free box. The town we live in has a thriving “freeboxing” community, if you know where to look and what guidelines to follow. I’ll have more about how to maximize free stuff in my next article, but for now if you’re looking to give stuff away for free (so that you don’t have to pay to throw it away) here’s what to remember. First of all, your goal is to get rid of something, right? You need to make it easy and appealing for someone to take. Put your clearly labeled “free box” (cardboard is just fine) out on your curb or median grass strip. Don’t keep it on your porch or lawn or you might end up with folks taking your lawn furniture or items on your porch….




Four Letters Re: My Preparedness Plans Just Took an Unexpected Turn

…to go back a moment to rice. Rice is also generally fine for the gluten-free diet and it is a staple on our table. We try to use brown rice for better nutritional value, but white rice does fill the belly too. It will store well on the shelves, and several companies (BioNaturae and Tinkyada) make gluten-free pasta. In our case the Tinkyada is best since it is brown rice based and both gluten and corn-free. Yes, it’s not quite the same as wheat pasta, but it’s an acceptable substitute. However, unless you can grow rice, it is not a long term solution. Let me finish by suggesting that you search for gluten-free recipes on-line and drop by the library/used book sales for reference books such as “Gluten-Free Girl” by Shauna Ahern. Jim – as always, our best to you and yours. – Bill H.   Hi Jim, First I…




Live Not by Lies – Part 1, by Born Free

…Christ on every street corner, they are free to do so (well, they used to be free). If someone is a bigot, well, they are actually free to be so. All of the “controversial” things in our society, other than actual harm of another person, their family, and their property, are allowed because of FREEDOM. Being free does not mean shoving your beliefs down someone else’s throat, codifying those beliefs into law, and forcing others to follow your beliefs. Freedom does mean that you get to choose how you want to live your life and you get to take responsibility for that. As well, we are free to associate, and disassociate, with whom we will, and that doesn’t make us any of the things we’ve been called. Society, as a whole, likes to put guardrails on certain behaviors, such as not allowing Pedophiles access to children. Society insists, in a…




Pirate Radio for Sea and Land, by Tunnel Rabbit

…SEA 24 Public Correspondence (Marine Operator) 157.250000 SEA 25 Public Correspondence (Marine Operator) 157.300000 SEA 26 Public Correspondence (Marine Operator) 157.350000 SEA 27 Public Correspondence (Marine Operator) 156.175000 SEA63A Port Operations and Commercial 156.275000 SEA65A Port Operations 156.325000 SEA66A Port Operations 156.375000 SEA 67 Commercial. Used for Bridge-to- bridge communications in lower Mississippi River. Intership only. 156.425000* SEA 68 Non-Commercial-Working Channel (TR notes: best choice for a meet up, or primary channel) 156.475000 SEA 69 Non-Commercial (TR notes: good alternative for a meet up, or primary channel) 156.525000 SEA 70 Digital Selective Calling (voice communications not allowed) 156.575000 SEA 71 Non-Commercial 156.625000 SEA 72 Non-Commercial, Inter ship only. 156.675000 SEA 73 Port Operations 156.725000 SEA 74 Port Operations 156.875000 SEA 77 Port Operations 156.925000 SEA78A Non-Commercial (TR notes: good alternative for a meet up, or primary channel) 156.975000 SEA79A Commercial 157.025000 SEA80A Commercial 157.425000 SEA88A Commercial, Intership only. My suggested…




Editors’ Prepping Progress

…a Facebook “stalker”. I see no evidence of filtering although some may be occurring. My SIL is simply selling complicated advertising. You quit paying you simply fall further down the lists. Or off. On a lighter note I have friends who like to play with system and purposely search for all kinds of random stuff just to watch the adds that then pop up and laugh. Good sport sometimes. James Wesley Rawles I agree that https://www.Duckduckgo.com and https://www.startpage.com/ show far less bias. But the problem is that Google holds 80% or more market share of the search engine universe. Their search manipulation can be either subtle (like shadowbanning) or overt. THEY control the narrative. They also control a huge portion of the world’s online advertising revenue. All of the power is concentrated in the hands of the search engines and social media tech giants. And they are all in one…




Testing My Grid Down Preps in the UK, by Culian

…you and your wife will need to be involved and get into the spirit of this. It is simply not going to be possible to make it solo if you have problems in the UK. This past summer, I wrote an article called Build the Plan vs. Test the Plan in August for this website. Some of the comments made by folks who read my article were really super helpful. For example, my husband set up a nice rig of a tailgate hitch rack but then we set it up and pre-staged it. One of JWR’s nice readers mentioned that we might want to buy a nice cable and lock (so that our gas cans and water cans don’t get stolen if we stop). This is a great community even if some of the comments come from folks who are far ahead of your prepping – you are WAY ahead…




Rethinking Federal Government Preparedness Resources, by J.P.

…have. Supports preparedness, including specific information to prepare for weather emergencies. Also has information for how to obtain the best up to the minute weather information from the National Weather Service. Interoperability Field Operations Guide (NIFOG) The US Department of Homeland Security’s Interoperability Field Operations Guide (NIFOG) is a comprehensive source for disaster communications. You want it because it: Includes explanations on the various radio frequencies (aircraft, marine, land, amateur, et cetera). Has guidance for programming radios. Has points of contact for government and commercial communication centers. Provides practical information regarding how to place calls to satellite phones or erect a temporary radio antennae. Field Operations Guide For Disaster Assessment and Response The United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Field Operations Guide For Disaster Assessment and Response is a field operations guide for USAID relief workers who deploy to under developed nations and disaster zones without readily available resupply…