Day: January 16, 2008

Note from JWR:

Congratulations to Kevin B., the high bidder in the recent SurvivalBlog benefit auction for an HK Emergency Flare Launcher and 28 flares. Today we begin a new auction. This one is for a Brunton Solarport 4.4 watt photovoltaic panel, kindly donated by Ready Made Resources (a $140 retail value) as well as seven other items: A set of Michael Z. Williamson’s sniper trilogy books, a copy of the latest edition of “The Encyclopedia of Country Living” by the late Carla Emery (a $32 retail value), an autographed copy of my novel “Patriots” (a $23 retail value), an autographed copy of …


Letter Re: U.S. Climate Data Available Online

Jim, I’m not sure if this has been covered here before, but here are a few links to Government climate data and maps in the US. Microclimate data are represented as well, to a degree limited by the number of stations: Climate Maps of the United States – Lookup Page Monthly Station Climate Summaries – By Station U.S. Climate Normals For those interested in wind speeds and patterns across the USA for whatever reason, the map link above can be supplemented with the data for the major population centers. Thanks again for your hard work, – The DFer JWR Replies: …


Letter Re: Snap Shooting Skills

Sir; The recent SurvivalBlog article on snap shooting was great. I think that there is one useful thing to mention and that is how body armor vests (particularly thicker ones with rifle plates) change the way you shoot. The first and most obvious change to the proper way to shoot both rifles and pistols is to always face the target with your body armor! This means facing your chest directly towards the enemy, it really changes the way snap shooting works. Bringing rifles on target while keeping your chest straight toward the target is something that needs to be practiced …


Letter Re: The Value of a Dollar as Currency Unit

Howdy Jim, Regarding the quotation by Dr. Walter E. Williams wherein he writes about “dollars as being ‘certificates of performance’” it reminds me of discussions years ago of the nature of money. Perhaps it may be condensed down to something such as, “Money is a measure of life energy.” Whether it is fiat paper currency, or silver or gold coinage currency, or electron-charged cyberspace currency, what it measures and thereby accounts for is life energy. As an example consider the different measures of value we accord to an ounce bar of pure silver and an ounce coin of the the …


Feedback on the “Maxed Out” Consumer Credit Documentary

Sir, Today I went through some of the links on SurvivalBlog that I might have otherwise passed over, for whatever reason. I came across the Google Video link: Maxed Out. Normally I would not have taken the time to watch an hour-and-a-half video on the computer, but I was curious just because you would take the time to post it up on your site. I knew that credit cards would one day become a problem, but even in my wildest dreams I never could have imagined anything even close to what is contained in that video. For those of you …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader E.L. recommended that we look at some of the YouTube clips of economist Peter Schiff. This Neal Cavuto segment aired back August, 17, 2007, when the Dow had “dipped” 7% below its 14,000 high, silver was around $12.70 per ounce, and the US Dollar Index was around 81. Most of the the pundits were downright bashing on Peter Schiff and calling the subprime crisis “a buying opportunity” for financial stocks. But given recent events–with the Dow now in the 12,700 range, silver around $16 per ounce, and the US Dollar Index down below 76, it seems that it was …