Letter Re: Updated Nuclear Weapon Targeting Data?

Dear Jim:
I would like to ask if anyone has done a serious re-calculation of the old 1980s FEMA data, taking into account decommissioned nukes on both sides (US and the former USSR). I’m talking in particular about the Bruce Beach maps that we all know and love. (Hats off to Bruce). The point is many of these targets no longer exist, and many of the missiles that targeted these targets no longer exist. I also worry about a shift from military and industrial targets to civilian population centers, as we essentially saw with the 9/11 attack – directed at a capitalist symbol, yes, but also at one of the greatest vertical concentrations of people on the plant. What used to be the worst spots in the nation, down wind of the Minuteman and Titan bases, may now in fact be much better places to consider is my point.

The radmeters4u site shows that it was updated last of April 1, 2001. I feel like a freeloader requesting Bruce Beach to continue his good work, and ask instead what we can do, which I would be willing to contribute to, in order to get this information updated, taking into account China IMHO now that they, thanks to our previous President, can target us as well.
I would like to hear people’s thoughts on this. – Rourke

Two Letters Re: Stocking up on Prescription Medications

Jim:
One more opinion on this, RARELY if EVER do medications cause ANY harm if taken past their expiration date. The only thing you MIGHT lose is some of the effectiveness of the particular drug. If they are stored in the oft-mentioned common sense fashion ( cool, dark, dessicant-added, etc.) meds are easily good for 5-10 years past their expiration date . I am a family doc with 27 years of experience in both the civilian and the military end of family medicine. Thank you for your daily dose of great information. – FLS

 

James:
Your topic of stocking up on medical supplies holds some interest for us because we have an elder living with us by our choice in our home. The price of prescription drugs notwithstanding, it may be
just our situation in our state, but we find it difficult to stock up on my parent’s prescriptions when the insurance company(ies) won’t allow one to buy more than a 30 day supply.
To take this a bit further, even when you have a sympathetic doctor, the local pharmacies won’t allow you (and this includes the Canadian pharmacy we buy from as well) to purchase more than a three month supply of meds for your elder. Most of us do not have a way to acquire more than this amount of any needed prescription meds. So is there a way around this?
Also, how does one go about obtaining other very practical meds that seem to be a doctor-only prescription that would be nice to have in the medicine kit bag at home (antibiotics are a prime
example.) I would appreciate some tips from your readers out there. Regards, – Redclay

JWR Replies: Getting extra prescriptions is not a problem if you have a sympathetic doctor. You can always visit multiple pharmacies with these prescription slips. But you probably won’t be able to get around the insurance company “three month limit” policy. You must resign yourself to paying for the extra medications entirely out of your own pocket.

Letter Re: The Death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi = Increased Threat Level in CONUS?

Hi Jim,
[Regarding press reports of the death of Iraqi terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq) in an intelligence-queued a bombing raid on his safe house.] You may have thought of this, but if you were a rabid terrorist leader, with assets it the USA, that were on the alert and ready to go. What better message to send to the infidel enemy than to have your death signal an attack? Make a statement about how long your reach is, and all that. Hit the enemy while he is celebrating. Heads up extra high for a while. – John Adams.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it." – Robert A. Heinlein

Two Letters Re: Great Depression II What Will it Be Like?, by Buckshot

James:
I read [Buckshot’s article Great Depression II What Will it Be Like? in] SurvivalBlog on Monday and kinda got depressed. Its really only my mother and me living together and she is very anti-survivalist in nature and ideology. I’m thinking that I could handle four or five raiders, but more then that I would be doomed I could never reload and fire fast enough. My mom wouldn’t help me at all and probably would actually hinder me….what would you do?
The other thought was being burned out I have three fire extinguishers but can I fight the fire from inside so I don’t get shot? My locale (western Washington state) is like two out of [every] three neighbors are liberals so there would be few if any allies or help… There are really only four people I could trust. One of them is is 10 miles away. Two others are 15 miles, an the fourth is about 60 miles. I’m assuming that I can’t get out of my city to get to them. So a worse case scenario… I don’t own the vehicle–my mom does. So I have to assume I’m on foot for everything. – Wally

JWR Replies: Don’t let that article depress you. Instead, it should encourage you. First, consider that what Buckshot described in the latter part of his article (i.e. the potential threat of large organized groups of looters) is only an outside chance. This is just the “worst case” possibility. Odds are that things will not get nearly that bad. And even if there were large groups of bandits roving the countryside, I predict that they will pick on people that are passive and defenseless. When you start to put lead down range, the bad guys will quickly decide to move on to easier pickings. Who in their right mind would want to risk a bullet wound during a crisis when there is no medical aid available? That would be suicidal. Second, consider the fact that because you are aware of the full implications of a grid-down situation and even the risk of a full scale societal collapse, you are doubtless actively preparing. Thus, you will be far better prepared than 99% of your neighbors. Because of that, your chances if survival will be an order of magnitude greater than theirs. Lastly, because you do have some friends in the region, you have a planned desitination–and most importantly you will make the move to team up with them long before the GDP (Generally Dumb Public) awakes from their stupor and hits the road. While your neighbors are still trying to sort out what happened, you will already be linked up with your friends and hunkered down well outside of the urban zone. Cheer up. Put your faith in God. Trust that he will put you in the right place at the right time, with the right friends. Its called Providence.

 

And this one, that was coauthored by two SurvivalBlog readers:

James:

Buckshot’s thoughts are very valid; the post is well done with many good thoughts. But let us not forget that if we are going into a “new dark age” and I think it may be worse than that, then fuel supplies last only a short time, things wear out, steel rusts, and society may not recover.
It is all well and good having your ‘retreat’ and so you should, and it is, as many including Buckshot say, better to be able to live at your retreat. It is also wise and prudent to have stores, but these stores must cover not only your initial short term period, many suggest a year, but to also to help you and yours into the long term future.
Gold and silver may well be an advantage in the initial breakdown stages but longer term they may prove useless if others do not accept them as a value for trading. In my view it may be better to have [tangible] ‘items’ for barter and trade rather than gold or silver.
I fear that this will not be like the previous dark ages where society has been rebuilt and advanced after a collapse. In previous dark ages we have had easy access to the minerals and fossil fuels that we have needed to live and it was this that has allowed us to not only expand to the numbers that we have now but also to advance technologically. We have used all the easily accessible minerals and fossil fuels, we are not only using more energy to extract these items but they are becoming harder to find and mine and are also becoming scarcer.
We may expect to still be able to generate electricity after the collapse, even in small amounts by wind, wave, and tide turbines, of which so much is expected. But these are constructed and maintained using massive tonnages of steel and concrete. These basic bulk materials are fairly cheap and abundant today, but will soon be seriously scarce and expensive.
A wind turbine is not successful as a renewable generator unless another similar one can be constructed from raw materials using only the energy that the first one generates in its lifetime, and still show a worthwhile budget surplus.
It would be interesting to see more debate on this blog on the longer term aspects of survival, not just 1 to 3 years but 50 to 100 years.
Next time I fear it will not be back to a Dark Age it will back to the Stone Age unless we as survivalists start serious long term planning and discussion. – Mr. Whiskey& Norman

Letter Re: On Training and Cross-Training with Unfamiliar Gear

Mr. Rawles,
This weekend, I saw an excellent training strategy employed: trade equipment with your friends and see how well you do with it.
Whether it’s a rifle/pistol match, where everyone has to use the same beater Remington 870 instead of the expensive “tactical” setup they brought, or having to set up and use someone else’s stove or tent on a camping trip, it makes sense.
Having to make do with unfamiliar gear expands the range of situations you can deal with, and gives you confidence and general knowledge that you can apply later. You’ll also get ideas on how to improve your equipment next time. Since doing this, I’ve learned that I need to start keep inventory lists in my first aid kits, and general instructions on some of my items. A log book that details each of your firearms, with instructions on how They are zeroed with particular ammo (i.e. 1″ high at 100 yards with 55gr ball, 10″ low with 68 grain, et cetera) is also a good idea.
Even better would be instructions for zeroing it out from scratch (i.e. sights are 48 clicks Left from stop and 12 up for standard ammo), copies of the take-down procedure and other basic info, All of this can live in a small 3-ring binder.
Basically, any bag of gear or complicated piece of equipment should have the supplies and documents for someone who has never seen it before to be able to operate it cold. If all of your stuff is maintained in this state, you will never forget something important (such as bringing the chain saw with no bar oil) and your brother-in-law won’t burn out the generator if he needs to run it while you’re gone and he doesn’t know the oil/gas mixing procedure. Hope this helps! – JN

Letter Re: On Antique Mausers and Their Ammo

Dear Jim,
The early Mausers and related rifles are excellent because of their frequent low price, durability and reliability, not to mention their potential value as antique non-weapons if manufactured before 1899. (As described in JWR’s FAQ on the subject.) The first of these is the [Model 1888] Commission Rifle, or Gewehr 88, which will be marked on the left side of the receiver with “Gew88” in German script. Much confusion and myth surrounds these fine rifles. Simplified: the early ones are only safe with commercially loaded ammo from US MAKERS. The later ones are marked “S” for “Spitzer” and have a notch in the receiver to take modern ammo. They were reproofed, rechambered and the rifling deepened for the more modern ammo. While horror stories abound, I’ve been shooting milsurp ammo in one for 20 years, and know others who have, also. However, because of the possible confusion, I recommend them only for knowledgeable shooters.
I am a big fan of 8mm because it is available dirt cheap as surplus. 7mm Mauser is also good, if a little less common, and even with dark, eroded bores, as long as they pass safe measurements, these rifles can be quite accurate.
All the newer weapons–1893 on–can be re-barreled in 7.62 NATO as long as they’ve been checked by a gunsmith. 7mm Mauser, 8mm Mauser, .30-06 and .308 all have the same case base diameter. However, I’m still sorting out the various 7.62 NATO and .308 loadings. 7.62 wasn’t a perfect standard across NATO, so cases vary and the chambers are cut slightly differently than .308. Also, 7.62 runs around 50,000 P.S.I. chamber pressure, on par with 7mm and 8mm, but commercial .308 can be as high as 62,000 P.S.I. I hadn’t realized until recently there was that much difference. Modern US weapons are generally safe to shoot with both. However, .308 loadings at the upper end could be close to the proofing (testing) pressure of the older barrels, or the receivers to which they are attached.
So the general guideline is that the newer the Mauser model, the safer, and the lower pressure, the safer. Fairly self-evident, but with some quirks. I’m quite comfortable with my Commission Rifles with military ammo, while many shooters think I’m courting disaster. The actual Mausers from the 1890s are (in good shape) safe with 7mm, 8mm or 7.62 mm NATO. .308 Winchester is inadvisable except in lower pressure loadings and emergencies–chamber variation and possible excessive pressure.
I endorse the idea of getting several of these rifles if funds permit–for use, trade goods (always good to have a reliable, budget rifle for guests in an emergency) and for spare parts. You, or someone in your group with training can easily turn four “parts” weapons into two or three sturdy if ugly shooters and spare parts. – Michael Z. Williamson

Letter Re: Montague Folding Paratrooper Mountain Bikes

Mr. Rawles,
In December as a Christmas present I bought two of Montague’s folding Paratrooper bikes, one for myself and one for my wife. I bought them for a few reasons, some of them are: a “G.O.O..D.” bike, to take along when we go camping, and for the anticipated NYC Subway strike that I was a part of. Temporally my wife can’t use hers since she’s pregnant with our first child 🙂 . Lately I just use mine for running errands around town and for dropping off and picking up my car from the mechanic. For that extra compactness I recently bought, from Montague, a set of folding pedals for each bicycle.
Keep up the good work, Dave F. in NYC

JWR Replies: Montague Folding Paratrooper bikes are available from one of our loyal advertisers, Safecastle. The manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) is is $695. The minimum advertised price (MAP) is $645. Safecastle is offering a much lower price for a very limited time. Anyone interested should e-mail Safecastle and identify themselves as a SurvivalBlog reader to get the special price: jcrefuge@safecastle.net.The group buy will run through the end of June.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Fred the Valmet-meister says: “The skip is in!” on the 6 Meter Band. (Even all the way across the Atlantic.)

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Some commentary from Recombinomics on H5N1 mutations and human-to-human transmission

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SurvivalBlog reader A.K. recommended this article about the U.S. 1989 invasion of Panama. A.K. commented: “I’m not sure if I agree with her ultimate conclusion, but her account definitely offers something educational. Especially the way the neighborhoods banded together, the run on the groceries, and the lack of preparedness.”

Note from JWR:

As previously mentioned, Cheaper Than Dirt! has decided to cease its Affiliated Sales Program (with all of its affiliate web publishers), effective June 9th. If you’ve been dawdling on placing an order with Cheaper Than Dirt!, you now have just one full day left to get your order in and still have a commission on the sale credited to SurvivalBlog. Speaking of affiliate advertisers, we now have 160+ advertisers that can support SurvivalBlog if you patronize them. (But of course please give your business to our paid advertisers (in the scrolling right hand ad bar) first.) See our Affiliates page for details. (We now have affiliates in Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the U.S. and the U.K. They sell everything from long term storage food to cell phone ring tones.)

Are Your Neighbors Prepared? by Doc

I am more comfortable with neighbors who have food stored, means to prepare it, and who know how to grow food, as well as arms to protect themselves, first aid supplies, tools, and the many other things it takes to survive an emergency. Unfortunately, that is a very rare situation.

I have a unique and privileged take on the problem, since I have been in more than a thousand homes. This is because, at various points in my life, I have been an apartment repairman, handyman, finish carpenter, electrician, cable TV repairman, as well as a volunteer for a non-profit housing agency.

I never snooped where I was not welcome, but what I saw was an eye opener. In all my visits, what struck me is not what I saw, but what I did not see. I did not see food stored. I did not see first aid supplies. Except for one bow hunter, I saw no means to harvest game animals. Except for gas cans for lawnmowers, I saw no fuel stored. I saw flashlights, but they were toys for the children to play with, and no spare batteries anywhere. No kerosene lamps. No water stored. No means to cook without utilities except for the ubiquitous barbeque. Here is what I did see:

Drugs! – Lots and lots of drugs, mainly illegal. I lost count of how many times people offered me drugs as a tip for a job well done.

Overmedication – One customer asked me to fix a loose medicine cabinet. I had to empty it to access the mounting screws, and I counted thirty different prescription medicines, plus about a dozen over the counter drugs.

Pornography – Plenty of porn. One owner had a collection so large he had it inventoried on his computer for quick and easy access.

Camping Equipment – One person had a Coleman camping stove, but no food to cook with it. I suppose he could warm his hands with it in cold weather.

Toilet Paper – One person had a spare twelve pack.

Cigarettes – One man had a freezer full of cigarette cartons. He was severely addicted, and did not want to run out in an emergency. He overlooked extra lighters.

Firearms – None were visible, but that only makes sense. If a stranger were about to come into my home, I would not have my collection on display.

First Aid Kits – Occasionally I would see a box of Band-Aids.

Food – One or two boxes of sugared cereal, an average of three cans of food, leftover pizza, beer and condiments. Almost every refrigerator had more ketchup, mustard, steak sauce and so forth than food.

Generators – I saw a grand total of one generator.

Gardens – I saw lots of gardens, but most were for ornamentals, not for food. Since gardening for food is one of my hobbies, I always talked to the owners. Even the gardeners who raised food had no extra seeds stored. They bought new seeds every year.

Lest you get the impression that these people lacked the means to prepare, consider this: One of the communities I served was Castle Pines, an exclusive gated community south of Denver containing many million dollar homes. None of the overpaid underworked hypersnobs had any kind of preparations at all. They probably thought they could just order food delivered during an emergency, just like they do now. If you have some silly notion of raiding rich people’s homes for food, forget it.

One day I got a surprise. I was asked to install a fluorescent light in the basement of a modest two bedroom house. At the bottom of the stairs I turned and saw a set of metal shelves, complete with canned food, a can opener, a lighter and cans of Sterno! Out of more than a thousand homes, I finally found one solitary person who had made preparations.

There is a lesson in this, and it is that your neighbors are not prepared. In the event of even a minor emergency, they will be completely helpless. People like that tend to turn into locusts, and will descend on anyone they believe to have what they need. It has been said that any city is three days away from a riot. Be very careful about who you tell about your preparations. Even trusted family members have friends, and are likely to show up with their entire good old buddy network. Can you feed and defend all of them? Best to keep quiet and remember that even a fish would not get caught if it kept it’s mouth shut! – Doc at www.bigsecrets.cc

Letter from Rourke Re: The Popping of the U.S. Housing Bubble

Dear Jim:
I respectfully disagree that the housing “bubble has popped”. (You had written in Odds ‘n Sods: “Here in the U.S., the unsold house inventory backlog jumped to 565,000 in April. The housing bubble has popped. There are no more bidding wars for houses. Now its price cut after price cut. In the coastal markets, I anticipate a race to the bottom, most likely starting in September of Aught Six.”)

Thankfully the air has been coming out very steadily of this overextended price balloon, without the blow-up or popping that could have occurred. As a Wall Street Journal article pointed out last summer, you can tell the end of a housing boom when the high end home inventory, expensive homes for sales listings, rises substantially. We are past that, and moving into mid-to-high range now and the general market. If it remains steady, we may avert an FSLIC type failure, which for the FDIC would be unrecoverable since the FDIC is simply too large to save. The real problem areas will obviously be the ones where there was the most appreciation, such as California, and this is be exacerbated by the 2nd mortgage non-conventional financing packages. People will no longer be able to afford as their short term adjustable rate mortgages [as they] start coming due, [with rates up substantially] from the low interest [rates of] two years ago. For those looking for survival land, get ready for a buyer’s market, especially rural land with gas prices currently so high. – Rourke

Odds ‘n Sods:

The folks at Box o’ Truth do some tests with shotguns, with very favorable results.

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UN convention could mean restrictions on home schooling in the U.S.

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When doing a search in The Wikipedia, I stumbled across this great piece that I remembered from my army training: The Standing Orders of Rogers Rangers, along with the more complete (and more historically correct) Plan of Discipline. Some things haven’t changed since the 1700s!