Day: July 14, 2009

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 23 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. First Prize: A.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried foods, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. Second Prize: A “grab bag” of preparedness gear and books from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR) with a retail value of at least $350. Third Prize: A copy of …


GPS for Day-to-Day Use and Survival, by Mike S.

Reading accounts of people who had evacuated the Gulf Coast during Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita was a sobering experience. Evacuees who took to the interstate highways effectively ended up in giant parking lots. In contrast, those who used the back roads fared much better and were able to evacuate in a timely manner. I live sufficiently inland that hurricanes do not pose a serious threat to me, nor do other foreseeable regional natural disasters such as earthquakes pose a serious risk. However, I live in the middle of a major metropolitan area where man-made disasters and localized natural disasters …


Letter Re: TEOTWAWKI, Right Next Door

Jim: Last Sunday night my family drove home to the sight of a pillar of smoke that looked like it was coming directly from where my house should be. It turned out to be the next door neighbor’s home. The blessing is that no one was home, so no one got hurt. The downside is that no one was home so everything owned was lost. I mean everything – clothes, food, water pump, furniture, bedding, cash on hand, tools, toys, games, appliances, equipment, books – everything. The Red Cross put the family in a hotel for a few days. But …



Economics and Investing:

Tim Geithner Refuses to Answer Congressman Brad Sherman’s Question on Derivatives Bailouts Reader “Countrytek” recommended this NPR news story: Many Left Uncounted in Nation’s Official Jobless Rate Items from The Economatrix: Baby Boomers to Kids: Kiss the Inheritance Good-bye Obama Rejects Second Round of Stimulus First infusion [was] “not designed to work in four months…designed to work over two years.” Stocks Slipped 2% Last Week Christmas Creeps into July at Sears US Budget Deficit Tops $1 Trillion for First Time After Losing Homes, Families Move into Tents Awash With Cash (The Mogambo Guru) Major Lender Faces Crunch Study: State Budget …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Wild Weather in Year Ahead, Scientists Predict    o o o North Korean Army Behind Cyber Attacks    o o o North Korea’s Kim Has Pancreatic Cancer    o o o Care to predict a trend? Tiburon [California] may install license plate cameras. (Not to worry, folks. We’ve been promised that this is all for “public safety,”)