The Art of Humping a Pack, by Blake in Arkansas

Walking with a loaded pack on your back is what the United States Marine Corps Infantryman refers to as “humping”.  And while it may not take a lot of brains to put a loaded pack on and walk, it has definitely become an art, science, or skill that is constantly honed by infantrymen of all types.

With eight years as a Marine Corps Infantryman I have learned quite a lot about the art of humping myself.  There are several factors that come into play before you strap on your pack and take your first step.

  1. PHYSICAL FITNESS:  What is your current level of physical fitness?  For those of you who have thought about or have a plan for when the SHTF, you know that this is an important factor of yours and your family’s survival.  If throwing on your BOB and heading for the door with fifty lbs. of survival gear on your back is the first step of your plan, then your not going to get very far if you haven’t conditioned your body to take this kind of physical exertion.  The best type of physical conditioning for humping is humping.  You don’t have to be a long distance runner to be a good humper.  The best thing to do is to just strap on your pack and step off for a mile or three and then gradually increase the distance each time you go out, or at a reasonable rate (add a mile a week).  Every time you increase your distance you should also increase the weight of your pack.  I don’t recommend starting out with a fifty pound pack.  As with any kind of body conditioning you should start out light and work your way up as your body becomes used to your training.
  2. PACKING:  Got a good pack?  If you don’t you better get one.  If the pack you have isn’t a good one you’ll find out once you start humping with it.  I won’t recommend much gear, because all personal gear is just that, personal.  Its your preference.  I will say this, you can’t go wrong with an ALICE pack. Are there better packs out there?  Yes, but when it comes to affordability including durability…it’s a proven product.  In the end it all comes down to what you prefer.  Packing is a separate art in itself.  The first rule in packing is “Ounces make pounds!”.  Nothing goes into the pack that you don’t absolutely need or can’t live without.  You should consider the weight and size of everything as you pack.  One of the most important packing aids that I’ve found through the years is one gallon zip-lock bags (buy the good ones they’ll last longer).  Use these to pack things separately inside your pack.  Stuff them full and then zip up the bag almost to the end, then (if packed with non-breakables) smash the bag to get all the air inside the bag out.  Then zip the bag up the rest of the way.  This will help keep you from wasting space inside your pack.  I would recommend packing breakable items in outside compartments, or packed in between zip-locks of underwear and T-shirts or something soft.  Zip-locs also help waterproof your gear inside your pack.  Using a waterproof bag or a trash bag as a liner will also work but this will give you added protection. Zip-locs also help keep your pack organized.  These can also be used as a washing machine as I found out in Iraq.   Stuff everything into your pack as tight as it will go, then cinch down the outer straps as tight as you can get them.  Second rule in packing is “A tight pack is a comfortable pack!”  If your adding or strapping items to the outside of the pack make sure they are secure.  When theses outer items shift our flop around they will cause you to sway and possibly fall if they are heavy enough.  Just the movement alone can cause you discomfort.  I would also recommend not strapping things to the top of your pack (sleeping bags, etc.) unless they are small.  These will push on the back of your head and cause unneeded neck pains, and you will have plenty of pains to worry about already.  These may also hinder your vision.  Strap them to the bottom of your pack if possible.  I would recommend food or energy bars and often used items to be in outside compartments.  This makes for easy access on short halts and maintains spillages to separate compartments.  Field strip your MREs down to the individual packages, get rid of the cardboard containers.  You can over-pack a few pounds on food.  Because you will be eating the food and essentially lightening your pack at the same time.  And your route to wherever your going may be unexpectedly altered, and you may be on the hump longer than you anticipated. And the third rule of packing, “If you can’t put it on by yourself, It’s probably too heavy!”
  3. GEAR POSITION: When you put your pack on make sure it’s adjusted to the center of your back.  Make sure all of the straps are secured to the pack frame properly and that they are tight around your body.  You may have to alter positioning of your personal gear that you are carrying on your body (canteens, ammo pouches, butt packs, etc.).  I recommend that your gear be positioned so the back pad of your pack frame sit squarely in the small of your back, adjust your pack straps accordingly.  Improper ride of the pack will cause extra back pain, and shoulder pain as the straps will be digging into your shoulders.  And setting the pack on top of your pouches may cause damage to them that you may not be able to repair.  I recommend your weapon go on last.  Be sure you are able to deploy your weapon as needed and get to spare ammo without the pack getting in the way.  And if you have to dump your pack, then make sure you can do so without it getting caught in your high speed sling and choking you.  You should know in the first mile whether you need to adjust your gear and pack. 
  4. BOOTS & FEET:  An Infantryman or “Grunt” can probably tell you as much about foot care as a foot doctor, as these are generally their primary mode of transportation.   As before, I can’t and won’t recommend a boot.  Its personal preference.  However, please consider your local weather and terrain in selecting the proper boot.  Boots weigh a lot and take up a lot of space.  You can pack a spare set, but you may not have the room.  The best way to break in a new boot is to hump in it.  (Don’t forget to pack extra laces.) The only recommendation I’ll make is don’t skimp when it comes to buying boots.  They should be considered one of your most valuable survival tools.  Because having feet means you can still survive.  Pack plenty of socks, cotton or wool.  When humping, if you will wear a pair of dress socks under a pair of cotton or wool boot socks this will help prevent blisters.  Although you may still get them.  Only extensive humping and conditioning of the feet will prevent blisters.  They also make humping socks made out of Teflon that work good.  From my experience moleskin doesn’t work well if you are going to continue humping.  It just pulls the blister off. Ouch!  The best cure for blisters is Tincture of Benzoin Be ready for some pain.  It feels like someone is putting a blowtorch to your feet for about ten minutes.  But after that you will only experience minor pain or no pain at all from the blister.  You can put it on an open blister or draw the puss from the blister with a syringe then insert the tetra-benzoine into the blister with the syringe.  I’ve had it both ways.  I prefer the syringe method because it leaves the skin on over the blister.  This method once cured me of two half dollar-sized blisters, one on each heel.  After only a ten miler in broke in boots.  I felt no pain within fifteen minutes, remained in the field the whole week and we speed-humped out that Friday and I got no blisters.  It works.  But it will make a grown man cry.  Or want to.  Don’t forget foot powder and anti-fungal powder or cream.  Change socks daily, or soon after your feet get wet.  Also when humping don’t take your boots off until the end of the day, or unless changing socks.  When you stop for a break take off your pack but try not to sit down.  This makes your feet hurt when you stand back up and start walking again.  Let your feet air out in the open every chance you get.
  5. HYDRATION:  Water is good for you anyway, but you will need a lot if you are humping.  You may have to plan your route around watering spots.  Try and hump as much water as possible.  Don’t forget to consider the weight though.  Get a camelback or similar hydration system.  These work great while humping since you don’t have to mess with screw caps or bottle tops.  If you can wear the hydration system under your pack it’s beneficial in case you have to drop your pack you don’t loose your water.  Always keep some kind of water on your body with your personal gear.  I recommend filling the hydration bladder on each stop to prevent running out between scheduled stops.  Some type of sports drinks or powder are good to have on hand as you will loose a lot of electrolytes while humping and these are good sources for replenishing those and will do so faster than plain water. 

Now I know that a lot of this information may not apply to everyone since a lot of you will only be moving so far to a retreat or cache.  And you will all be moving at your own pace, or as fast as the slowest person in your group.  A lot of you may not even be going anywhere.  But if a time comes when you have to “Ruck Up” then this may come in handy.  I may have some more points to add later. 

Two Letters Re: Thermoelectric Generators for Wood and Coal Stoves

James,
To follow up on an earlier letter and your reply, Thermoelectric Generators (TEGs) work by generating power from the movement of heat from the hot side to the cold side of a dissimilar metal junction. An important consideration is that TEGs can become heat saturated or worse if you can melt your TEG, so don’t just throw it in the middle of a fire!

I followed a design from “The Boy Electrician” by Alfred P Morgan 1913. It uses German silver wire and copper wire with hammered junctions, there are better combinations but this was easy to get. It would make enough electricity to run a small radio like the kind found on dollar store crank radios or a few LEDs. Modern TEGs are much more efficient and use a solid state Peltier–Seebeck chip. Be sure to buy a high temp solder chip, since the ones used in coolers will melt at much lower temperatures. These solid state devices can also be used with lanterns. In my experiments, I used one attached to a home made brass reflector on a kerosene pressure lantern and produced less than a watt at 3 volts. But several can be ganged [together in series,parallel, or series/parallel arrangements] for higher voltage or amperage. TEG lantern/radios are available.

Shalom, – David in Israel (SurvivalBlog Correspondent in Israel)

 

James,
Since I have messed with TEGs for some time, I ran across the guys at Hi-Z Technology. Check out the work they and others have done with their product. – Robert, in Nashville, Tennessee

Economics and Investing:

Damon alerted us to this: Concerns grow over China’s sale of US bonds; Evidence is mounting that Chinese sales of US Treasury bonds over recent months are intended as a warning shot to Washington over escalating political disputes rather than being part of a routine portfolio shift as thought at first.

Kevin S. sent us this from John Galt’s blog: Looking at some deadly charts.

Another link from Kevin S. is for a video posted at YouTube: Gerald Celente Predictions

Jim D. forwarded an interesting article about the financial crisis in Greece and how it may be a window into the future of the US, by Bill Fleckenstein: US will suffer its own Greek crisis

Items from The Economatrix:

Bernanke Sees Low Rates Amid Weak Rebound

New Home Sales Drop 11% in January, New Low

Oil Prices Tumble on Economy Worries

FDIC’s Problem Banks List: Where Will it End?

Odds ‘n Sods:

Mike C. liked an article comparing ammunition with other barter items. The authors list and rankings are interesting.

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I noticed that there are some great links to information on gun caching and long term storage, over at MouseGuns.com.

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I’ve been pleased to see that GunPal–the pro-gun alternative to the PayPal online payment service, is expanding rapidly. You can now buy thousands of items with the GunBroker.com auction service, where payments are accepted via GunPal. As background, I must mention that for nearly a decade, PayPal (owned by eBay, and both headquartered in California) has gradually turned the screws on anyone making transactions related to firearms or ammunition. It is clear that PayPal and eBay are trying to apply California-style Political Correctness on the entire nation. They have suspended accounts of thousands of gun owners, often tying up their money for months in the process. They have destroyed the livelihoods of countless “mom and pop” gun-related businesses. I recommend that you both avoid eBay as much as possible, and get a GunPal account, since it just takes a few minutes to set one up. Their payment fees are lower than PayPal’s, too! Several months ago, I added GunPal as one of the payment options for Ten Cent Challenge voluntary SurvivalBlog subscriptions. I was glad to provide folks with a way to avoid PayPal!

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 27 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will include:

First Prize: 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 between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A HAZARiD Decontamination Kit from Safecastle.com. (A $350 value.), and D.) A 500 round case of Fiocchi 9mm Luger, 124gr. Hornady XTP/HP ammo, courtesy of Sunflower Ammo. This is a $249 value.

Second Prize: A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $350.

Third Prize: A copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, from Arbogast Publishing.

Round 27 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Empty Hand Survival, by Joe G.

We are living in a time when all has gone wrong and societies rules and conventions no longer hold true.  People no longer respect the sanctity of life and well established morals and honor have become a thing of the past. You have prepared yourself and your family to survive without the amenities we have grown accustomed.  You have enough food, a secure shelter, preparations for clean water and enough fuel and weapons.  At least you thought you did.

As the evaporation of society continues and you begin to watch your inventory of all things drastically shrink you begin to ask, what now.  Are you ready to venture outside your secure compound to begin to trade to rebuild your supplies?  Are you prepared to handle life without the security of your conventional weapons?  As the ammunition dwindles and ability to procure or even manufacture more is gone, what will you do?  Have you prepared yourself, let alone the others in your group, to handle yourself empty handed?

For thousands of years man was able to survive and even flourish with the empty hand.  The idea of training to protect yourself with your hands alone is frightening to many.  Being within arm’s reach of your adversary is not a comfortable situation to the untrained.  To the trained it can actually increase your confidence.  The internal knowledge to know you are ready and willing to confront any adversary, armed or unarmed, without hesitation or fear can have a calming effect.  To know you have control and are not a victim will bring a sense of security.

The question of what course of empty hand survival you should study becomes key.  Should you study self-defense or a true martial art?  Self-defense can prepare you for certain situations, but will limit you to those specific scenarios.  A true martial art will prepare you for ever changing scenarios.  Your course of empty hand survival is now narrowed to a true martial art.  The next and critical question is which of the hundreds of styles will be most effective?  The answer to this question will be answered differently by individual instructors.  You must be prepared to ask the important questions and filter out the hype and flash of the various styles.  As you begin your journey into the realm of the martial arts it will seem overwhelming.  Do you study Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Filipino or many of the other country specific styles?  As you begin your search, any style that includes the word sport can immediately be discarded.  We are not looking to win a tournament and have a big trophy on the mantel. We are not looking to get our name in the paper or become the next internet YouTube sensation.  You can never forget the ultimate goal is empty hand survival. 

Many may have family or friends already studying in the martial arts.  Ask them for their opinions.  Begin visiting the various schools within your locality.  Ask if you can observe and possibly participate in a couple classes (without cost).  If the answer is no, then move on, do not waste any more time.  Any serious martial arts instructor should have no problem with such a request.  Ask for a brief history of the style and the instructors.  Ask if any of the instructors have had to utilize their skills in a real world situation. It is important to know how long the instructors have been teaching and how long it took them to reach the rank they currently hold.  If they claim to be a master and have only studied the art for a few years, thank them for their time and move on to the next style on your list.  To be a true master you have to put a many years of hard work and dedication.  Inquire as to what the progression schedules to advance and the associated fees.  Again, if the progression schedule is too fast and the fees increase as you move up or you must pay to advance, move on. 

You need to find the instructor that is doing this because of their love of the art and desire to pass on the knowledge they have learned.  They are doing this to honor their previous instructors and prepare their students for real life situation.  Those types of instructors are out there, they do exist.  Trust your instincts and first impressions of both the instructor and the school. Do not be taken in by the amount of stuff in the school.  They may have pictures, weapons and the latest training equipment strewn throughout the school.  There are many out there who will tell you what you want to here in order to take your money.  You must be able to see through the words get down to reality of the style.  Ask them if this is a style they can do effectively as they get older.  A true effective martial art will be just as effective for the 18 year old as well as the 80 year old.  When you find the instructor that will allow you to both watch and participate you are closer to the martial art of your choice.  Watch before participating as you can miss many things while participating.  Observe not only the higher ranking students, but the beginners as well.  Are the movements natural to the way one would normally move?  Are the beginners learning the foundations of the system or being thrown in with the higher ranking students?  As with all things, without a strong foundation it will fail.  You must be prepared to ask the question what if.  Your goal is to survive a real world situation.  Does the style effectively move from one technique to the next?  One cannot assume to have a single strike that will stop every attacker.  There are those out there that will require an extended serious of strikes to subdue or eliminate.  If you cannot effectively transition to the next technique in your arsenal, you will fail.

I began my martial arts study at the age of 10.  I was introduced to the arts through my father whom felt it was in mine and my brother’s best interest to begin our training.  For the past 30+ years I have been training in the very effective and deadly art of Chinese Kuntao.  The system has been passed down in its purest form throughout the years.  I have had the fortune of participating and seeing many other styles during my martial arts journey.  I have yet to see one that I feel would be more effective.  Many of the questions that were posed above have led me to continue my training in Kuntao.  The school I trained in is a non-profit organization and the school I operate charges no fee.  My instructors and I do this for the love of the art.  We are not motivated to promote or carry large numbers of students to generate income.  We do not have to be politically correct for fear of losing students.  The art is presented as it was passed down from generation to generation.  It is a pure fighting art. We do not participate in tournaments and you will not find us on the Internet.  The instructors throughout the years have had to utilize their skills in real life situations.  It works and works effectively.  The movements are natural and the Grandmaster and Masters of the system are just as effective in their advancing years as are those of the younger black belts.  The art has become second nature.  No thought is required when a situation arises nor do you have wonder what to do when the first tactic fails.  You move on immediately until you determine the fight is over.  The situation does not end when your opponent has said enough; you end the fight when you decide.  You must neutralize the attacker, this may be giving yourself the ability to flee or it may be terminating your aggressor.  You will learn how to read the situation and apply the necessary force without thinking. 

In my youth I had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or at least my aggressors thought so.  I found myself in a not so friendly place late at night in a large city.  I could see the situation was deteriorating quickly as the number of aggressors increased from 4 to 10.  Through my training I became calm and collected, I knew they could not all attack at once.  I positioned myself with my back against a wall, thus protecting my flank.  My attackers could only come in from the front and sides.   The first attacker struck quickly with a blow to my face.  I then proceeded to subdue him while the second attacker came in from the right.  As your peripheral vision will allow you to react quicker, I immediately recognized the threat and eliminated it.  As the remainder of the aggressors realized I was not going to be a victim they broke off their attack before they ended up like their comrades.  As you have read, I did not come out without a scratch, but my training caused me not to panic and continue.  The training allowed my fight or flight instinct to be fight.

 The task of selecting the most practical school may seem overwhelming and impossible.  However, if you take the emotion out of your search and be analytical and methodical you will find the system that best suits empty hand survival.  Do not wait, the longer you train the more effective you will become.  You will be able to make your art part of your life and everyday routine.  You will become an empty hand survivalist.

Letter Re: Which Foods Have Indefinite Shelf Lives?

James Wesley,
What are the chances of you posting a link to all food items and such that have an indefinite shelf life as they come from a store, I have heard that items like Crisco vegetable shortening have an indefinite shelf life. Is this true or just hearsay?
Thanks in advance for any info and also thank you so much for the huge wealth of information you have made available to me through your blog! You have probably saved more lives than you can imagine. – Jeff

JWR Replies: Tables of shelf life info are provided in my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course. Much of the same info can be found scattered throughout the four and half years of the SurvivalBlog archives, free of charge. (Do searches. There are now almost 8,000 searchable archived posts!)

Crisco actually has a short shelf life, and has even been found to be borderline rancid, from day one. Take a few minutes to do a search of the SurvivalBlog archives on “fats and oils”, for some detailed recommendations.

Some foods with very long shelf lives (30+ years) include whole hard red winter wheat, honey, and salt. The latter stores indefinitely.

Getting Medieval in London–The Planned New U.S. Embassy

Jim,
I recently read the paragraph in your most recent book “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It” that when we consider retreat architecture, that we should “think medieval castle”. Well, evidently the U.S. State Department must have read your book too, and taken that passage to heart, because an interesting new feature in the proposed US embassy in London is a moat. For some details, including a photo of an architectural model, see this article. That piece includes a link to a Times of London Online article. All the best, – Yishai

Economics and Investing:

The various state budget crises are increasing in severity. Here is the news from California, and Illinois. (Thanks to GG, for both links.)

Reader “Burrito Boy” forwarded this warning of darker days in Europe: Greece leads Europe’s winter of discontent

Michael H. suggested a piece by Professor Bainbridge: What, Me Worry? Credit Default Swaps on US Treasuries. Oh, don’t miss his advice at the end of the article: “Although sovereign defaults are hardly unknown, things would have to get incredibly bad for the US to default on Treasuries. And if they got that bad, you’d probably have been better off investing in a survivalist camp than CDSs.”

Items from The Economatrix:

Quantitative Easing May Have to Restart. (They’re talking about monetization, folks. Be ready for some serious inflation, in coming years.)

A Desperate FDIC Begs Americans to Open Savings Accounts During “America Saves” Week

Chart of the Day: Banks Continue to Pull the Rug Out From Under the Economy

The Expanding Economics of Austerity

Odds ‘n Sods:

Steve W. wrote to mention that he’d found an interesting resource web site with links to appropriate technologies of all sorts: Practical Action.

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Courtesy of Kevin S.: Where have all the MANPADS gone? And here is a related article: Anti-Missile Jammers on Commercial Jets

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A trend to watch? Spokane Tax Assessor Wants Low Altitude High Resolution Photos of Private Property. A hat tip to Chad S. for the link.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Every person has a natural, fundamental and inalienable human, individual, civil and Constitutional right to obtain and carry their weapon of choice without asking anyone’s permission.” – L. Neil Smith, addressing the Libertarian 2nd Amendment Caucus

Letter Re: EMP Grounding Straps and Cables (Updated)

Good Morning Sir,
My question pertains to a February 24, 2010 blog post, where there was mentioned an EMP ground for one’s vehicle. This is the first I have heard of a ground wire for today’s vehicles that would prevent electronics from being damaged. Is this true sir? Thanks for providing us all the education to survive. – Tim S.

JWR Replies: A grounding strap offers only marginal EMP protection for a vehicle. The type that were mentioned are the sort that you can see used on many trucks, especially fuel delivery trucks, where the concern is a buildup of static electricity.

With a quick web search, I found one vendor on the Internet with straps at reasonable prices. They do eventually wear out, so you should probably buy several. But again, they are more for static electricity discharge protection than EMP protection. Sadly, the only way to make your vehicle truly safe from close proximity EMP is to convert it to a traditional ignition system. Alternatively, if you leave the electronic ignition system installed, you’d have to carry spare ignition components in a couple of layers of Faraday protection. ( Alternating layers of aluminum foil and ziploc bags should work fine.

I should also mention that once parked, while preparing to unload fuel, gas tanker trucks use a separate grounding cable, for even greater protection, from a static discharge kablooey.

It is important to note the EMP is a different animal than lightning, so the grounding rules are not quite the same. For example, a ground connection can actually be counterproductive to EMP shielding if you use a lengthy linear object underground, such as a water or sewer pipe. For anyone with a basic understanding of lightning protection, it may sound hard to believe, but EMP can actually couple with underground linear metal objects! So if you do decide to use a ground for any of your electronic gear, then don’t use anything longer that a six foot long ground rod.

A SurvivalBlog reader who is an Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) engineer added these comments:
“Many people are under the false impression that a ground connection is some sort of magic sump into which they can dump electric current and electromagnetic fields they don’t want. To some degree this impression comes from the fact that power lines and other electrical wires entering our buildings are grounded at the point of entry. The reason for this ground is to give a path for lightning strikes to wires external to the building a lower resistance path back to the source of the electric current (in this case the Earth) than though something inside the building. The service entrance ground rod does not play a part in electrical safety insidethe building provided by the ground wires run with the hot and neutral power wires. The key issue here is that the ground wires are connected to the neutral wire at the service entrance bond point. That same bond point is where the ground rod is connected, but the physical path to earth ground is not why the ground wires in the house help safety.

By the way this is why portable generators do not need to be grounded per the National Electrical Code (NEC). All they need is the internal bond from neutral to the ground wire.

In a similar way, when it comes to electromagnetic energy (radio waves) the important issue is shielding rather than grounding. The most effective shielding is made of a continuous conductive surface that totally surrounds what we want to protect. This is why the advice to wrap equipment that we wish to protect from EMP in aluminum foil is excellent. The continuous conductive surface of the foil with joints that overlap each other provides extremely effective shielding from all types of electromagnetic waves including those from EMP. Grounding the foil to an earth ground makes no difference in its effectiveness.

Static electricity also is stopped by shielding, and discharges to a conductive shield flow around the outside surface of the shield and do not damage equipment inside the shield. Again a connection to earth ground will make zero difference in the protection provided by the shielding.

Ground straps on vehicles provide a path to equalize the local static electric potentials and reduce the chance of a static discharge that might cause fuel fumes or other explosive or flammable gasses or liquids to ignite. A separate ground wire as you mention is even more effective. In both cases they work because they reduce or eliminate static electric potential differences that could cause a spark, not because they are tied to the physical earth.”

Letter Re: Thermoelectric Generators for Wood and Coal Stoves

Hello
You folks do an outstanding job of informing those who want to learn! I was just wondering if there was information about homemade thermocouples out there. I was watching my woodburner last night and it has one of those little fans sitting on top that start to spin when they get hot and was wondering if I could find plans to build a bigger version of the thermocouple. I envision something about the size of a briefcase . In a grid down situation this would be set on top the woodburner that would be going for heat and cooking and hopefully produce enough power to run a few lights and charge some batteries etc. Is there anyone who has an information source that could tell me how to go about building this?

Thank You, – Rich N.

JWR Replies: In my opinion thermoelectric generator (TEG) technology has been pitifully under-developed, given its potential for using otherwise wasted heat.

Here is a video of one experimenter’s project. And here is a commercial TEG site. I also found a web page for a commercially-built stovetop fan that is powered by thermoelectricity, marketed by Sportsman’s Guide.

I encourage readers to do some experimentation with TEGs. Given their irregular voltage output, it would of course be wise to route the power through a charge controller into a battery bank, for later use with a stable output. If nothing else, it will give you the means to trickle charge a few small batteries even when the only fuel you have available is firewood.

Letter Re: Documentary on the Sole Resident of the ANWR

Jim,

I’m watching a documentary titled “Heimo’s Arctic Refuge” that I think your readers would truly enjoy, produced by VBS.tv. It is about Heimo Korth, who is the last inhabitant of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), in Alaska. VBS.tv has many unusual documentaries. I’ve truly been educated by the other documentaries they done about the homeless of Las Vegas living in the network of tunnels under the city (they actually got to film down there), and the homeless orphans of Bogota, Colombia. They also live in the tunnels underneath the city.

I’ve been a daily reader for SurvivalBlog.com for several years and truly enjoy the hard work you’ve put into it as well as your novel. Thanks, Manny in Tualatin, Oregon