Month: October 2007

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Nathaniel noted that Netbank, a major online bank, just went under due to problems with subprime loans and other issues. Not a good sign…    o o o “Florida Guy” mentioned a piece posted at This is London: Tom Cruise building ‘£5m bunker to protect against alien attack’    o o o SF in Hawaii mention this product as a valuable aid for teaching centerfire rifle and shotgun shooting for folks not yet accustomed to stout recoil.    o o o The ever-vigilant Stephen in Iraq mentioned these two related news articles: Citigroup Sees 3Q Earns Down 60 Percent …



Notes from JWR:

We’ve finished the judging… The winner of Round 12 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. is “Polar Bear” for his article “Converting Diesel Vehicles to Run on Waste Vegetable Oil”. He gets the top prize–a four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. These certificates are worth up to $2,000! Our thanks to Front Sight’s director, Naish Piazza, for generously donating the course certificate. Check out the Front Sight web site and take advantage of their great training opportunities. Second prize goes to Brian in Wyoming for his article “Running Chainsaws on Ethanol”. His prize is is a copy of …


Hedge Funds–A Disaster Story that Could Unfold in Quarterly Episodes

One of the consequences of the collapse of the credit bubble and the subprime lending fiasco in particular is with hedge funds. There is a substantial risk of uncontrollable instability in hedge funds that could potentially be disastrous for investors. This instability will likely be seen in waves of bad news that will come roughly once a quarter. First, let me provide a bit of background: 1.) Most hedge funds have rules that allow only quarterly redemptions (“cashing out”) by by their investors. (A few hedge funds even have only one annual redemption “window.”) Typically, the redemption requests must be …


Letter Re: A Security Contractor’s Convoy Experience in Iraq

Dear Jim, A friend of mine who is a contractor sent this. It’s been posted elsewhere. Foul language warning. – Michael Z. Williamson Info from Iraq From Someone Who is Doing the “Run and Gun“ Yesterday a friend of mine who runs a small security company here in Iraq emailed me. He is standing up a protection detail and wanted my opinion on tactics and equipment running the roads of Iraq; Tactics, SOPs, hard car or soft? I have been giving it some thought and here is where I am at. I am willing to speculate I’m as well traveled …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Five different readers sent us this: Alabama City Reopening Fallout Shelters    o o o NFA sent us this link: A spike in the germination failure rate for commercially grown seeds?    o o o Bill N. came across this web site for women with guns. Has some good information for any woman that may carry a gun.    o o o A hat tip to Desert T. for sending this from The Wall Street Journal: Historic Surge In Grain Prices Roils Markets