M. in the Dakotas sent us a link to an article on solar storms and possible damage to power grids.
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A reminder that Foodsaver vacuum packers are being offered at a special sale price, just during the month of December. You can buy a FoodSaver v2830 for $59.99 (originally $169.99) with free Standard Shipping for orders over $100, directly from FoodSaver.com.Use code L8FAV28 at checkout. This offer is valid during the month of December, or while supplies last.
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I just got an e-mail from our old friend “Trasel” (who will soon return from his umpteenth deployment to The Big Sandbox), alerting me that science fiction writer and SurvivalBlog regular Michael Z. Williamson has had his Wikipedia biography article maliciously flagged for deletion. If you have an existing Wikipedia user name and feel strongly about this (one way or the other), then please politely chime in.
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On the advice of SurvivalBlog reader Peter R., I will be doing some livestock slaughtering tests here at the ranch with Federal’s Tactical bonded Law Enforcement (LE) ammo. In .45 ACP, their catalog item number is LE45T1. Peter writes: “This ammo is a 230 grain +P bonded round that is hot, and the difference between gelatin and the real world, is gelatin is a single density material. As the bullet core and jacket spin out of the barrel, they rotate at the same rpm. When the bullet begins to strike clothing, windows, car doors, skin, bone muscle and the like, the jacket of the bullet begins to slow its rotation rate down much faster than the core inside the jacket (when they are not bonded) causing the bullet to break up much sooner and cause less concentrated damage. A bonded bullet tends to stay together longer giving you more uniform expansion and a far more devastating wound cavity. The best way to stop a person or animal is liquid out, air in. Hence, the bigger the trauma and wound cavity, the faster this is accomplished.” This ammo might be just the trick here in grizzly bear country, where we’ve long wanted both the deep penetration of full metal jacket “ball” ammo and the expansion of hollow point ammunition. The Federal Tactical bonded LE ammo sounds like a better compromise than the Federal Hydra Shok loads that we’ve been using.
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The latest economic Gloom und Doom, starting with a “feel good” press release that David B. forwarded: FDIC Reiterates the Guarantee of Federal Deposit Insurance (Oh, I feel so much safer now. Thanks.) And now, courtesy of Cheryl come these items: Auto Rescue Bill in Peril as More Republican Senators Revolt — Is the Fed Taking First Steps to Selective Default and Devaluation? — Forbes: Dollar Devaluation to Fix the Great Recession (Forbes calls the perpetrators of this mess “banksters.” A great term. I wonder where I first heard it?) — Interest on US T-Bills Falls to Zero — 0% Interest Rate Looms; Economy Shrinks Double Speed — Worst US Spending Slump Since 1942 — GMAC Rescue Plan Falters Raising Bankruptcy Concern — Rio Tinto (Anglo-Austrian Mining Giant) to Axe 14,000 Jobs — World Economy May Shrink First Time Since 1945 — Maersk Shipping Line Warns Shipping Industry Needs Lifejacket — The Boom Years are Over for Chinese Exports — US Economy in Rapidly Accelerating Freefall — Asian Trade in Freefall as Exports to West Dry Up — And top all that off , Eric sent us this: Bernanke ‘War Powers’ Undermine Fed Bank Presidents, and lastly, Ann spotted this reiterative evidence of the Fed “Turning Japanese”: Fed to cut rates again, maybe all the way to zero