Letter Re: What Are the Best Magazines for Investment?

Dear JWR:
I took your wise advice posted in the blog back in October and stocked up on magazines for all my guns. I ‘ve even bought some mags [for other guns] that I just plan to buy, such as M14 magazines for my eventual super match M1A buy. But what I’m thinking is, I should also do is by even more magazines just “on spec”, knowing that with Obama coming in[to office, that] a ban of some sort is more likely that not. What types/model high capacity magazines would be best to invest in, for the most possible gain?

I love your blog. I read it almost every day. I recently “did the honest thing” and became a Ten Cent Challenge subscriber. (I’m the one that sent you a roll of silver Mercury dimes.) Thx, – Pat H.

JWR Replies: First, I must mention: I refuse to use the term “high capacity” magazine. As our friend Boston T. Party correctly pointed out, “High capacity” is a political term, designed to foster dislike and distrust by the Generally Dumb Public (GDP). The correct term should be “full capacity“. What is being foisted upon us by the Barbara Boxers and the Chuck Schumers of the world are 10 round reduced capacity magazines. A limitation to anything less that full capacity is a diminution of our full and proper right to keep and bear arms. Further, from a practical standpoint, speaking as someone that lives in grizzly bear country, don’t ask me to carry just a 10 round magazine in my XD .45, when I could have 15 or more cartridges. It conceivably might take more than 10 rounds of .45 ACP to stop a charging grizzly. And I have serious doubts that Mr. Ursus A. Horibilis will stop and wait patiently if I yell “Time out, while I reload!”

For investment, I recommend that you concentrate on magazines for popular European high capacity pistols, such as Beretta, Glock, SIG, and HK. The greatest gains will be seen in magazine prices for models that have just recently been introduced and for which there is now just a scant supply in the country. Magazines for the new Springfield Armory XDM (“M” as in Mega capacity–this latest model holds 19 rounds!) would be another good choice. Although Springfield Armory is an American company, their XD series pistols and magazines are imported from Croatia. If there is an import ban enacted early in Obama’s first term, I expect all XD magazines to at least triple in price, and XDM magazines to perhaps quintuple in price. I’m not kidding.

The SIG P250 is another perfect example. Here is a gun that was only recently introduced. Its magazines do not interchange with pistols from other makers. The majority of new P250 owners presently have just one or two spare 9mm magazines, and no spare .40 or .357 SIG magazines. (The pistol is modular, allowing it to be quickly converted to other calibers.) If and when an importation ban is enacted, these owners will be screaming for magazines. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the price of spares to jump to $125, or more. If you think that P250 magazines are currently scarce and expensive, at $43 each, just wait a year. If a ban is indeed enacted, these magazines could be a tremendous investment. But even if there is no ban, even as a commodity these magazines will be a good hedge on future inflation. (Under those circumstances, don’t expect them to gain value, but as a practical tangible they will at least hold their value, even in the blistering heat of mass currency inflation.)

Another good example is the 31-round “Glockamole” magazine made for the Glock Model 17, 18, 19, and 26. These magazines jumped from $30 each to a whopping $150 each during the 1994-to-2004 Federal magazine ban. Three months ago–when I bought my pile for investment–they were $27 each. They’ve just recently jumped to around $50 each. I expect them to at least double again in price, if a new ban is enacted. In fact, even standard magazines for Glock are likely to at least double in price, and probably go even higher.As evidence, I can cite that when the last ban was enacted, the price of 17 round Glock Model 17 magazines jumped from $18 to $75 each.

Again, IMHO, at present your investing emphasis should be on imported full capacity magazines, since an import ban could be put in place with nothing more than an an executive order.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Chris M. sent this from UPS: Global Supply Chains Not Ready for Challenging Times

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Jim G. sent us a link to a YouTube clip with some timely humor: Sponsor an Executive

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Eric sent this big batch of economic train wreck news and commentary: Where’d the bailout money from taxpayers go? Shhhh, it’s a secret — Bailed-Out Executives Got $1.6 Billion in 2007 — Housing crisis worsens as economy weakens — House-price stabilisation is not imminent — Banks brace for an ugly 2009 — Mortgage Re-Defaults Rising With No Sign of Slowing — Revising Loan Modifications — Will the Bubble Burst Aspen? — Downturn hits vacation enclave of New York elite — Life Without Bubbles — Another Reason Not to Trust So-Called Economic Experts — English bailiffs get power to use force on debtors — Fiscal Insanity Virus Rapidly Spreading the Globe Part 1 (Mish Shedlock). And Cheryl (aka The Economatrix) sent us all these: Dow Falls Fifth Straight Session On Grim Data Reports — US Home Prices Drop at Near-Depression Pace — US Property Developers Seek Government Aid — UK’s Brown Wants 27% Interest On Loans to the Poor — RBS Case Highlights Foreclosure Threat Even When Mortgages Have Been Paid — Global Jobless to Rise By 25 Million — New Zealand Recession Deepens — Champagne Sales Collapse — Ukraine Crisis Escalates Fears Over Gas Supplies — Why the US Trade Deficit is Worsening and Dollar Implications — The Great Stock and Commodities Deleveraging Crash of 2009 — Belgian Gov’t Collapses Over Fortis Bank Selloff — Growing Signs of Workers’ Unrest in China — Great Depression Plus Hyperinflation — [US Refiner, Distributor, and Truckstop Chain] Flying J Files for Bankruptcy — US Army Ready if Downturn Gets Out of Hand — Four Really, Really Bad Scenarios

Letter Re: Long Haul Voice and Data Communications in a Post-Collapse Environment

Mr. Rawles;
In the event of total meltdown, have you thought about using bulletin board systems (BBSes) as a means of communicating? If, and that could be a big if, the phone land lines were still operating, but ISPs were down, then a BBS would be a excellent way to keep folks informed. Pre-Internet I ran BBSes with multiple phone lines with great success. Just an idea.

Also, while on that topic, has there been any discussion as to shortwave frequencies that you may support? Is there/are base stations set up for relays of news and information? A survival Net so-to-speak. I come from a hard core marine/yacht background and the are cruiser nets worldwide, depending on what ocean you are in at the moment. Something like that for landbase usage would, to my way of thinking, help to ease folks’ minds, pass on latest news and to quiet down the rumor mills that spout false info. I can’t stress the need for people to become well versed in the ownership and usage of shortwave amateur sets. They can be had on the cheap and be in use now! This is not something that you have to stash away until you need it but a tool that you can enjoy for years to come. They are also a good way to access e-mail accounts when your current provider is down. I won’t this all this here as there are books on this topic and pages of programs that will work with a SSB/Ham system, either land-based or marine based. – LAS

JWR Replies: Since traditional telephone services, DSL, cellular services, ISPs, and the Internet are all more or less dependent on grid power, I expect them to all go down within a few days of each other, in the event of major catastrophe. There will, however, be some utility in ham radio based packet radio and digipeter networks, that can operate like BBS servers and even like a quasi-Internet. These can operate over long distances in the HF ham bands. There are also some regional 2 Meter Band networks that are partially served by photovoltaic-powered repeaters. So parts of those networks might also remain intact. Because many older hams are retiring, there are lots of used radios and packet TNCs on he market, selling for very reasonable prices.

Rather than “re-invent the wheel”, I recommend joining and expanding existing packet HF BBS networks, such as those listed at Totse.com. One word of warning: Do not just bookmark the Totse page. Like all the other World Wide Web pages, the Totse page will vanish if the power grid goes down. So be sure to print out an updated hard copy, roughly twice a year. (Mark your calendar.)

I also recommend joining an existing topic-based scheduled (“same time, same frequency”) HF ham call in. Perhaps some SurvivalBlog readers that are active hams can recommend an existing scheduled meeting time and frequency to discuss preparedness topics.

Parenthetically, I should mention that since the sunspot number is currently fairly low, this is now a great time to join a network. (If you can get connectively now–with such poor skywave propagation–then odds are that you will be able to do sp just about anytime in the future!)

Letter Re: Comparing the Big Three Battle Rifle Chamberings in the United States

Jim,
Regarding the comments from PPPP and Hugh D.: I couldn’t agree with them more! Both were exactly spot on! The person shooting is 99% of the equation. Training (and lots of it) is the most important aspect, and in the long run, will probably wind up being more expensive than the firearm itself (instruction, gas to the range, ammo consumption and cleaning supplies are just to name a few).

I strongly urge your readers to partake in any excellent training afforded by professional institutes such as Front Sight, OnPoint Tactical, Suarez International, et al. If these locations are too distant, I hope they can find an experienced friend or relative to help them develop good habits in shooting.

Sometimes people get too caught up in statistical analysis and numerical comparisons. I did not write that piece to attempt to illustrate one as better than another. I enjoy shooting all of the calibers mentioned (and many more), and easily see the benefits of each. I am sort of remiss that I did not point out the different circumstances in which I find each major rifle caliber best. But I’ll leave that up to the shooter to determine for his or her own purposes.

While my article had many statistics, I must reiterate that none of it means a darned thing without a competent shooter. Handgun/Rifle ballistics and their effective ranges are nice to know for new shooters, at a glance, to better illustrate the limitations of any firearm (mostly with effective range, bullet drop and penetration). But the only way to see those numbers (all taken with a grain of salt) in action, is to go out and shoot. We can be Keyboard Commandos on the internet all day long, but in the end, talk means nothing without practical experience. While the numbers in my comparison look “definitive,” they are merely a composite; hashed together to simply compare and convey energy/speed of bullets beyond the muzzle.

The real test is: does the shooter know how to best utilize what firearm he or she has to its greatest potential? Some can adapt available firearms to certain situations better than others. Eyesight, body size and ergonomic preferences factor in, but in the end, it boils down to experience. There are a few natural prodigies out there when it comes to shooting; but for most of us, all that bullet velocity or energy doesn’t mean a thing if you can’t hit your target consistently…and the best way to do that is to shoot (and shoot, and shoot, and shoot…rinse and repeat as necessary).

Shoot enough, and you’ll develop that skill as almost a second nature. But don’t kid yourself, it takes years of routine trigger-time. It doesn’t come overnight. I’m still working at it. Even when one gets fairly good, it still has to be maintained just like any other skill.

Whether it be 9mm or .45, 5.56 or 7.62×39 or 7.62 NATO or .30 Carbine…get out and shoot, and shoot often! And be safe out there people! Always wear hearing/eye protection, and follow the Four Basic Rules of Firearms Safety.

Personally, I feel all shooters ought to be able to consistently hit a man-sized target at 50 yards with a handgun, and at 300 yards (preferably 500) with a rifle (as often advocated by both William Buppert and the late Jeff Cooper).

Yes, ammo is expensive. It’s the most expensive it has ever been, but, it’s also the cheapest it’s ever going to get. See you all at the range! – Kyrottimus

Odds ‘n Sods:

Frequent content contributor KAF suggested sci-fi novelist David Brin’s nonfiction book “The Transparent Society“ as a useful reference when considering retreat OPSEC in this modern era of Google Earth. BTW, its was Brin who authored the novel “The Postman“, which Kevin Costner later put on the big screen, with uneven results.

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Reader Michael H. notes: “[My friend] Art was just reading in an airline magazine article that mentioned in 1960, 1 in 9 people in the US were overweight or obese and we averaged 8.5 hours of sleep daily. Now 2 in 3 are overweight or obese and we average 7 hours of sleep.” It sounds like people must be eating large bowls of ice cream while watching the Tonight Show. It goes without saying: Get regular exercise and lose that spare tire if you want to be ready to pull through the coming hard times.

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Just a few days left! More than 550 SurvivalBlog readers have bought Foodsaver vacuum packers at the special December sale price. We get a little “piece of the action” for each one that is sold. So this a is a great way to save money and to support SurvivalBlog! Don’t miss out on this sale! You can buy a FoodSaver v2830 for $59.99 (originally $169.99) with free Standard Shipping for orders over $100, directly FoodSaver.com. Be sure to use code L8FAV28 at checkout. This offer is valid during the month of December, or while supplies last. By buying foods in bulk and re-packaging them in more handy (single meal size) vacuum bags, you can save a lot of money on your grocery bill. Buy a FoodSaver. You’ll be glad that you did!

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SurvivalBlog regular Michael Z. Williamson mentioned Grabill Meats, a small company in Indiana that produces canned meats at competitive prices. (Roughly $3 per pound, before shipping.) They we-pack can beef chunks, pork chunks, boneless chicken, boneless turkey, and ground cooked beef in 14 ounce and 27 ounce sizes.

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The day’s economic news: First Paul in Texas sent us these two cheery headlines: World faces total financial meltdown Bank of Spain chief. and IMF chief warns 2009 may be ‘even darker’. And the industrious sent us all these: Five articles illustrate how global shipping is sinking fast: 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 — Toyota Posts First Ever Annual Loss — Obama Team Plans Biggest Boost in History to Save American Economy — Bush’s Detroit Bailout Looks Like Path to Bankruptcy — Warning of Wave of 2009 UK Retailer Bankruptcies — China Cuts Rates for Fifth Time in 90 Days — Japanese Exports Fall Record 27% — US Gasoline Seen Hitting $1 Per Gallon in 2009 — World Wide Bankruptcy Wave About to Hit — Protectionist Dominoes are Beginning to Tumble Across the World — Irish Banks Saved by $7 Billion Bailout — Canada to Give GM, Chrysler $4 Billion — Money Market Funds Reel as Yields Near Zero — COMEX Gold and Silver Price Manipulations are Bashing Precious Metal Investors, Miners and Shareholders

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"No state or policy can prosper unless the groundwork is moral." – Thomas Masaryk (1850 – 1937), founder and first president of Czechoslovakia

Notes from JWR:

I just noticed that we are nearing the milestone of six million unique visits. Thanks for making SurvivalBlog such a great success! Please help spread the word about SurvivalBlog. Links to SurvivalBlog in your personal web page and/or in your e-mail footer would be greatly appreciated.

The high bid in the SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction is now at $1,000. The auction is for a large mixed lot that includes:

1.) A large “be ready to barter” box of full-capacity gun magazines, from the JASBORR. This box includes: 12 – Used original Bundeswehr contract HK91 (G3) steel 20 round magazines, 6 – Used original FN of Belgium-made FN-FAL alloy 20 round magazines, 6 – Used AR-15/M16 USGI (a mix of Simmonds & Colt made) alloy 20 round magazines, and 2 – New and very scarce original FN (Belgian-made) US M1/M2 Carbine blued steel 30 round magazines (marked “AYP”) . All of these magazines are of pre-1994 manufacture (and hence legal to possess in New York.) These magazines have a combined value of approximately $450. Note: If you live in a state where full capacity magazines are banned, then you must choose to: refrain from bidding, or designate a recipient in an unrestricted state, or re-donate the magazines for a subsequent auction.

2. ) A brand new in box Big Berky Water Filter, with your choice of either four white ceramic filter elements or four black filter elements. This is a $329 retail value, courtesy of Ready Made Resources.

3.) A huge lot of DVDs, CD-ROMs and hard copy nuclear survival/self-sufficiency references (a $300+ value) donated by Richard Fleetwood of www.SurvivalCD.com

4.) A NukAlert compact radiation detector donated by at KI4U.com (a $160 retail value). 

5.) A desert tan SOG Trident folding knife, courtesy of Safecastle. (a $92.99 retail value.)

6.) A case of 12 recent production full mil-spec MRE rations (identical to the current military contract MREs, but without the civilian sale restriction markings). This is a $90 retail value, courtesy of CampingSurvival.com.

Thus, the combined retail value of this combined lot is at least $1,275. This auction ends on January 15th. Please e-mail us your bid for the entire mixed lot.

Fear and Loathing in America’s Age of ZIRP

You’ve surely heard by now that the Federal Reserve has effectively lowered interest rates to zero. Obviously having learned nothing from the mistakes of Japans’s decades-long recession, Ben Bernanke & Company have instituted their own Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP). By artificially lowering interest rates, many economists predict that the Fed will actually delay economic recovery for many years. ZIRP was a failure for Japan, and I predict that it will be a spectacular failure for the United States.

The Fed could, in fact, lower interest rates below zero, to the so-called “Super Zero” range. Such absurdities are not impossible in this wacky age. Just look at what is already happening (much as I predicted): Using Trillions of taxpayer dollars, the Federal policy wonks and their bankster buddies are attempting to reanimate a collapsed housing marked, defrost a globally frozen credit market, and turn several Detroit auto manufacturers that are bankrupt into corporate zombies. Any shred of fiscal restraint has be thrown out the window. And if you are saying to yourself “super zero rates will never happen”, then ponder this: If you factor in the prevailing inflation rate, then the ZIRP has already created super zero conditions, for all intents and purposes.

Deflation, Then Inflation
We will soon be living in some uncomfortably interesting times. As I’ve mentioned before, we could see simultaneous inflation and deflation. But, in general, I predict that in the US 2009 and 2010 will be sharply deflationary, but that the subsequent years will be distinctly inflationary. You need to be watchful and ready for these sea change shifts. Don’t hesitate to restructure your investments accordingly, once the changes becomes evident. Anyone that hesitates–the proverbial “deer in the headlights”–will surely become investing road kill, wiped out by the onset of rapid inflation.

Where does the Hunter Thompson style “Fear and :Loathing” come in? The fear will be an almost universal visceral reaction to declining stock prices, declining real estate values, and monumental corporate layoffs, in the unfolding deflationary short cycle. In the short term, cash will be king. People will fear getting laid off, they will fear making unnecessary expenditures, and they will consequently hoard their cash and try to minimize taking on new debt. This new mindset of deflation will soon become the norm. Dollars will be systematically hoarded. But not long after, to the surprise of many, cash will suddenly become trash. The citizenry will soon learn to loathe the dollar, since its purchasing power will wither with increasing rapidity as inflation escalates.

The Mass Inflation Trigger
The new mass inflation will be triggered by foreign creditors coming to the recognition that Federal spending for the Mother of All Bailouts (MOAB) has gone out of control and that the US Dollar is doomed. Once they do, it will start a cascade of events culminating in the utter destruction of the US Dollar as a currency unit. The first indicator will be the failure of US Treasury auctions. This will be accompanied by a sharp drop of the Dollar in foreign exchange. (Watch the US Dollar Index closely!) Then will come news of rapid monetization of the Federal debt. And last will be the rapid stair-stepping of consumer price inflation, well into double digits, and possibly getting out of control into triple digits, once the near hysterical psychology of inflation comes into full swing. (The perception of inflation becomes self perpetuating. This happened in dozens of countries in the last century.) The tidal shifts, first to sharp deflation, and then to rapid inflation will overwhelm many people. I can foresee that having the deflationary mentality suddenly inverted will be just too much for many people. It will be hard for them to mentally “switch gears”, and their net worth will consequently suffer, once stagflation begins.

In times of rampant inflation, holding cash will be foolish. Pensioners and anyone else on a fixed income will have their savings wiped out very quickly. So just a couple of years after getting used to hoarding cash, people will suddenly have to learn to hate cash, in deference to tangibles. Much like the situation I described in the opening chapter of my novel “Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse”, more and more dollars will be chasing fewer and fewer available products. If the 20th Century taught us anything, it is that these situations can quickly spin out of control.

The Future for Precious Metals
The pendulum swings in manipulated markets tend to be very wide, making wildly exaggerated moves. Witness, for example, the meteoric rise in crude oil prices for the past two years, followed by a veritable crash in recent weeks. I predict that the precious metals market will continue to be in the doldrums for perhaps the next 12 to 18 months, making just modest gains. But then once inflation kicks in as confidence in the US Dollar vanishes, gold, platinum, and silver will skyrocket. My advice follows a simple age-old adage: buy low and sell high. You should begin buying precious metals now, while they are relatively low. If you wait until inflation kicks in, then it will be too late to shelter your assets.

If and when you decide to liquidate part of your precious metals holdings in the midst of a mass inflation, do not trade your metals for greenbacks or other paper currencies–since they all inevitably share the same fate. Trade them only for productive tangibles. Buckle your seatbelt for what will surely seem like a very bumpy roller coaster ride. For most Americans, it will be a ride to financial ruin. But for an astute and perspicacious small minority, it could very well turn out to be a ride to safety and perhaps even to financial independence. Be ready.

Letter Re: My Preparations are Fairly Complete, So What Next?

Dear Jim,
I have been saving money and selling some of my unnecessary items and toys for a while now and have amassed $42,000. I have plenty of firearms and ammunition, tools, a house that is semi-remote, and a stash of food (which isn’t enough I’m sure). I have paid off my credit cards and only have a house payment left. My job is relatively secure I feel, as I work at a power plant; though once the coal stops moving I wont be needed, I guess. I’m not sure what iI should do with the money I have saved. It would seem there is nothing secure anymore and with the government attacking its own money, the dollar wont be worth anything soon. I’m going to look into gold and possibly some land, but might I ask any recommendations you might have. Thank you in advance! – C.K.

JWR Replies: Your highest priority should be rounding out your larder of long term storage food. I might be biased, but I believe that my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course preparedness course is a good guide for that project. But after you have deepened your larder, you should further depression-proof your life.

Even though you consider your job fairly secure, keep in mind that entering some almost unprecedented perilous economic times. I expect massive layoffs and chronic unemployment in this nascent depression. As Sarah Connor puts it so succinctly: “No one is ever safe.” Anyone can get laid off. You can be an outstanding worker, in a presumably “safe” industry, yet in a depression you can still get laid off or fired on a pretext, for example just to make room for a nepotistic replacement.

I recommend that you take part of your nest-egg and invest it in developing a second stream of income. Ideally this would be a family-operated home-based business. Take a look at the community nearest to your retreat, and see if you can determine what would be a good “niche” business that would be depression proof. Part of the savings that you mentioned could be used for education (to develop a skill, trade, or even a second profession), or for specialized manufacturing machinery, tooling and/or raw materials, or for buying inventory to re-sell or barter. The bottom line is that it takes money to make money.

Keep in mind that if you choose publishing or another mail order venture selling something compact and lightweight, then you can take advantage of a national or even global market. But if you are selling a service or a relatively bulky or heavy handcrafted item, then your market will be essentially local. So choose your venture wisely.

If, after you’ve expanded your food storage program and have developed a home-based bushiness, you still have some remaining cash, Then it should be used to either pay down your mortgage, or invest in precious metals. If you expect chronic deflation, then apply it to your mortgage. But if you expect Uncle Sugar to inflate his his way out of the current economic morass (as I do), then put it in precious metals.

Four Letters Re: Firewalls, Anonymity, and SurvivalBlog

Two notes about Some Call Me Tim’s excellent recommendation of JanusVM:
1) Use Decloak.net to verify that you’ve done everything right. It uses a whole host of very strong tests to attempt to locate your computer and will find out if you’ve slipped up somewhere. The place you’ve slipped up is almost always DNS but cookies and other things can give you away too.

2) Be aware that this encrypts the traffic you’re sending and receiving, it doesn’t make it go away. Someone listening in can tell when you’re sending/receiving and how much, they just can’t read it. Timing and bulk are circumstantial evidence, true, but they are there. So it is best to keep your subtle browsing small and not be noticed. – PH .

JWR,
As a network administrator. I generally find pleasure in “testing” networks. JanusVM works great when getting past firewalls, but its large size (~22mb) could be an issue. I have found UltraSurf works extremely well. It is fast, 50 times smaller than JanusVM, and most importantly, defeats web filtering and tracking software. It was developed to be used in a certain communist country with a rather large firewall, but is now used worldwide. Its small size and no need for an install make it ideal for quickly dropping onto a system in a cafe/library/school or just simply running in the background on your personal system. I personally have used it in each of those situations.
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One drawback is that some network virus scanners have been notified to look for it and declare it a trojan to prevent its use on networks. I’ve encountered this once in an Indian Internet cafe (of all places) and once on a university network. To combat this you can do two things. First, keep up with the latest version, as their signatures aren’t tagged by the scanners. Two, rename the file to something like “stamp_collection.exe” to prevent simple name recognition.

All of this is great, but what if the user can’t download it in the first place? Many times the web site will be blocked, but the download itself is available, especially the “.exe” download as it is not linked from the front page. You can also find it on popular download sites (like this one), which will not all be blocked. Emailing it to yourself using a web mail account is an option, but the user will have to rename it to something like “file.txt” as .exe file extensions are usually not allowed attached to emails; just change it back to an .exe extension to use. Once downloaded, the clever user can simply carry it around on a USB [“thumb”] drive or floppy disk to pull out when needed.
Keep up the good work, – Blaze

 

Jim,
In regards to SurvivalBlog, I am still able to access it via NMCI as of this morning. They have been pretty strict lately due to a Navy/DOD wide virus getting passed around via thumb drives (which have since been banned from use). On the matter of privacy, anyone should know better than to think they will have privacy while using anything that belongs to the government! Before you are granted access to a DOD information technology (IT) asset you sign an “end user agreement” which prohibits the use of third party proxies to bypass firewalls, as well as downloading anything like privacy software. I can say from my own negative experience that the computer types keep track of anything and everything, including attempts to circumvent firewalls by various means. I think the email update idea does have much merit in this regard, especially for the shipboard folks. Keep up the great work Jim! – O.E.

 

Mr. Rawles,
Thank you for your tireless work in educating the masses about the importance of preparedness. I discovered your writings and your Survival Blog a few months ago and have enjoyed the treasure trove of valuable information that both you and your audience contribute. Fortunately, it has reinforced most of the preparations I have made to date, but it is nonetheless a wonderful resource to be sure. “Patriots” was a great read, by the way, and I have given five copies away to friends, both preppers and non-preppers. The “nons” have since seen the light and are getting started on their way to complete independence and self-sufficiency. While I have been casually encouraging them to do that very thing for a while, it was your work that finally opened their eyes, hearts, and minds. Thank you.

The reason for my correspondence is to make you and your readers aware of one of the most important tools available for the computer user who wants to maintain complete privacy on both his own computer and public computers that he may use while traveling or evading.

Iron Key is a USB flash drive, but it is unlike any other flash drive on the market today. It uses an onboard browser and proprietary hardware and software encryption so information stored on the device or sent or received while online, including web traffic, cannot be intercepted by any else. I will let the folks at Iron Key do the rest of the selling. I am nothing more than a customer of theirs, but I believe wholeheartedly in their product and recommend them without equivocation. Godspeed, – Jason in Central Texas

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Tim L. suggested economist Roger Garrison’s lecture (MP3 file) titled “The Great Depression”. Time notes: “It is very illuminating since it explains why booms and busts happen and also why the Great Depression was much worse than it had to be.”

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David B. recommend this brief but telling article: Outrage in New Hampshire Over Power Outages

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Ron S. pointed us to a great post by Mike Vanderboegh on the importance of having enough ammo for an extended firefight close at hand, already on stripper clips. Those should of course be stored in ammo cans with gasketed lids, but Mike’s point is a good one–you don’t want to fumbling around with loose ammo from cardboard boxes once bullets start flying

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Three pieces of gloomy economic news, courtesy of Jean in England: Up to fifteen retail giants to go bust next month — IMF’s warning to Britain: Bailouts will need to double to prevent economic collapse — End of the Eldorado dream: A plunging pound and property crash have left thousands of expat Britons on the breadline

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This is the last day for BulletProoofME’s SurvivalBlog-only special. The 30%-off special is $580 for the mil-spec Interceptor Outer Tactical Vest. The similar sale that they ran last year for SurvivalBlog exceedingly large response. This special pricing is only available because of a military contract overrun. Note that they are running low on inventory this time around. All items will be first come, first served. The sale ends at midnight tonight. (December 22nd.)

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Men of sense often learn from their enemies. It is from their foes, not their friends, that cities learn the lesson of building high walls and ships of war; and this lesson saves their children, their homes, and their properties." – Aristophanes (B.C. 448-380)

Note from JWR:

My special thanks to Jim in Ohio, who sent a multi-year “catch up” Ten Cent Challenge subscription payment in the form of a 1/2 ounce gold American Eagle coin. Thanks also to Chuck in Georgia, who sent a $300 contribution. That was very kind of both of you!

Two Letters Re: Firewalls, Anonymity, and SurvivalBlog

Dear Mr. Rawles
As a network administrator, I spend a fair amount of time making sure my end users cannot access certain web sites from company computers and data lines. I try to make sure we don’t get too draconian in our filtering practices, I do my best to make sure that not streaming audio or video, social networking sites, or other time killers make their way through the network.

Recently, a friend of mine told me about a tool called JanusVM, a combination of Internet anonymity tools (TOR, PRIVoxy, Squid, and VPN) that runs in a virtual machine. You basically run the VM in a VMWare player, connect a VPN connection from your PC to the VM, and open your web browser. Like a lot of anonymity tools, it isn’t very fast. It is, however, about as anonymous as you can get on the internet. I went to a web site that displayed my current IP address as well as your geographic location and found I was supposedly surfing from Paris, France. One page reload later and I was in Northern California, and then followed by Denmark, all without ever leaving my chair. According to the web site’s very brief write up, the DNS requests are so scrambled that even your internet service provider can’t tell where you’re surfing. That made me wonder if I could use this tool to get around my web filtering firewall as well. I tested my machine to make sure I was blocked out by our firewall by trying to visit Facebook, which is a big no no site around here. Sure enough, it’s blocked. Then I closed my web browser, established the VPN connection to the JanusVM, and re-launched my web browser. Bullseye! I had Facebook access. Not only was I anonymous, I’d also defeated my own web filtering software and firewall.

While this is a great tool, here are a few things to keep in mind.

1. I haven’t tested it on any other system, so YMMV.

2. You need a network with at least one available IP address for the VM. It can be an internal IP, but it still needs one. This keeps it from working with Verizon broadband cards. If someone out there gets it to work with one, I’d LOVE to hear about it!

3. Anonymity is not the same as privacy, or even security. Don’t count on this tool to protect your internet logins and passwords. Hackers have been known to sniff incoming and outgoing traffic on TOR nodes for unencrypted passwords. They may not know where they came from, but they can still read them. If they can figure out where they were headed, you’re in trouble.

4. Your workplace or branch of the military may frown on anyone trying to circumvent their firewalls and web filters, so use this information at your own risk.

– Some Call Me Tim

 

James,
A couple of notes about your post on [SurvivalBlog being blocked by the US Navy and Marine Corps Internet system]:
* with varied duty hours and multiple shifts, there’s no such thing as only blocking during “duty hours”.
* Anonymizers are just about the first thing blocked by any organization that filters net access. 🙂
* If you have scripting capability on a web host, CGI Proxy and PHP Proxy are both good alternatives. Of course, they’re going to be blocked, too…so you still would have to find an unblocked site that has it or an alternate ISP long enough to download the scripts. People also run services with these or other types of scripts, but they come and go, and as mentioned previously, will most often be blocked. You also never know who’s running them.
* An alternate site works for a while, but it will eventually get blocked, too. It also dilutes your “brand”.
* The XML RSS feed option is probably the best, as it doesn’t rely on working around the restrictions so obviously. I use Google Reader myself, through which I can read web sites blocked by the corporate firewall. It cuts you off from reading comments, but that’s not a problem with your site. Some may be concerned at Google having too much information and choose some other feed reader, but I’m not too concerned with it. [JWR Adds: To avoid trails of “cookie crumbs”, I’ve read that the best choices are the Avant Browser for PCs and the NewsFire Reader for Macs.]

The feed option is good for current reading and keeping up, but for searching on a topic or looking at items in a non-linear fashion a proxy of some sort is a better, more flexible, yet more complicated option. Hope this helps. – Robert