Day: October 15, 2007

Note from JWR:

Today is the last day to place a bid in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction, for a scarce pre-1899 antique Finnish M39 Mosin Nagant rifle with bayonet from my personal collection. This rifle was rebarreled by Valmet during WWII, and is in excellent condition. It comes with a replica bayonet, original sling, and original muzzle cap. Since the receiver for this rifle was made in 1898, it can be mailed directly to the winning bidder’s doorstep, with no FFL paperwork! When last we checked, the high bid was at $520. The auction ends at midnight tonight, Eastern time. (9 p.m., Pacific …


Dual and Triple Purpose Livestock, by The Memsahib

In this day and age of specialization, modern livestock have been selectively bred to be super efficient for one purpose. For example Merino sheep are bred to produce wool in abundance or Suffolk sheep that are bred to come to market weight quickly (for meat). Many breeds of chickens no longer will set on their eggs. They have been selectively bred to produce eggs and nothing more! (They have lost their instinctive “broodiness.”) Most of our modern farm livestock fall into this specialization category. And in the process they have lost some of their other valuable traits such as mothering …


Letter Re: Advice on Body Armor and Helmets

Dear Jim: You are spot on with your recent recommendation to think about concealable body armor first. As we say: “the best vest for you is the one you’re actually wearing when shot!” And being easy to wear and concealable makes a vest much more practical and used more often. It is analogous to self defense with pistols vs. rifles. Rifles are indeed superior protection – but pistols save more lives because they are actually carried and available most often. I must add a caution to your advice about relying on two Level II vests to perhaps stop a rifle …


Odds ‘n Sods:

From SHTF Daily comes this sobering article and accompanying CBS News video clip: Builders Giving Up On The Sinking Market.  Now it is not just defaulting buyers that are “walking away.” The article indicates a loss of “$1.2 trillion from the value of American homes. And the losses are mounting, going to $4 trillion by one estimate, by the end of next year.”One observation on the video clip: Is wearing one’s baseball cap backwards a key indicator of sub-prime borrowing, sub-prime intelligence, or both? I’d hate to tell that real estate “investor” what sort of house and how much acreage $597,000 …