Day: November 16, 2009

Notes from JWR:

Update: There have been a large volume of orders received for the 33%-off sale for the “Rawles Gets You Ready” family preparedness course. I just heard from Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing, that they’ve already used up about half of their available supply of copies of “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It”. So order your course soon, if you want to get one of the free bonus books! — I noticed that we’ve surpassed 12 million unique visits, and we’re about to reach the milestone of 8,000 archived articles, letters, and quotes for SurvivalBlog. …


Over-Planning: Get Thine Act Together!

I occasionally hear from consulting clients that get stuck in the rut of “over -planning”. They do so much planning for training, and planning for stocking up, that they never seem to get around to doing either! Lengthy “to do” lists are worthless if they never get implemented. This sometimes reaches absurd lengths, as illustrated by one of my clients that showed me a spreadsheet on his laptop PC, in which he not only compared prices from various vendors for ammunition, but also tracked the changes in their prices, over the course of two years. I asked him: “Well, when …


From David in Israel: Off Grid Alternatives to Utility-Supplied Electricity

James One of the most troubling things I see when speaking to people about going off grid is how badly they want to keep all of their electrical appliances and just spend many thousands of dollars on a battery bank more appropriate for a U-boat and solar cells or generators to keep them topped off. Having had a minor role in a micro-satellite system design proposal one thing you learn when confronted by limited power supply is to either economize or do without. The appliances you own for on grid use are not efficient. They are built to be inexpensive …


Letter Re: A Bulk-Buying Solution–Form a Buyer’s Club

Hi Jim, The bulk-buy solution I settled on was to start my own food co-op or buying club, as an associate of a bulk supplier. They send out a monthly price list and can deliver weekly in my area with only two days’ notice. My orders must meet a minimum of $350 each and I must be present when the truck backs down my driveway in order to properly receive and write a check for the shipment. The driver calls me an hour ahead of time so I don’t have to wait around all day. My aim was to make …


Letter Re: Converting Precious Metals ETFs to Physical Metals

Mr. Rawles, I have read your blog with interest for several years now, and I am coming around to your view that using long-term physical holdings in precious metals as a “time machine” to fight inflation is a good strategy. I have some small investments in bullion-backed exchange traded funds (ETFs) that I would like to convert to physical holdings, but I am unsure of the most efficient way to proceed. Of course I could always just sell the shares, head to the coin shop and pay the tax man next spring, but all I really want to do is …


Influenza Pandemic Update:

CDC Now Says There are Likely 4,000 Swine Flu Deaths in the US. This is 4x what they had been reporting. Ukraine Dead at 213; Still No Sequences From WHO 1,192,481 Influenza/ARI; 62,462 Hospitalized WHO Appeals to Ukraine for Help with Hemorrhagic Pneumonia Senators Debate Requiring Paid Sick Leave for Workers with Flu 11 Die of H1N1 in War-Ravaged Afghanistan Cheryl sent this article auto-translation link: Belarusian doctors: “Swine flu triggers a deadly form of pneumonia disease” …and this data from the Ukrainian Ministry of Health. Cheryl also did some digging and found this: Norway: 300,000 Infected. Doubling of cases …


Economics and Investing:

Jonas sent this: GLD ETF Warning, Tungsten-Filled Fake Gold Bars GG flagged this: China: Loose US Policy, Weak USD Creating Speculation From Pamela E.: Arrogant Fed hasn’t learned a thing Items from The Economatrix: White House Aims to Cut Deficit with Unspent TARP Money AIG May Tap Credit Line as Commercial Paper Expires Japan Derivative Market Unraveling If You Thought the Housing Meltdown was Bad… The Midnight Food Line at Wal-Mart. There are American families who aren’t eating at the end of the month and are literally hitting Wal-Mart at midnight, as soon as their food stamp benefits hit their …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Yishai spotted a link to New Scientist, posted by Glenn Reynolds, over at Instapundit: Mini ice age took hold of Europe in months    o o o Steve S. mentioned a recent article in The Detroit News that briefly quotes JWR: Apocalypse now: Armageddon scenarios reach fever pitch    o o o SurvivalBlog’s British-born Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson mentioned this incredible news story from Nanny State Britannia: Find a gun, go to jail.    o o o For the OPSEC-minded amongst us, Ron A. suggested this article with umpteen links: Web World Wide — 50 Free Internet Tools …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“I, for one, do not trust Congress to be in charge of monetary policy. But I do not argue that the Federal Reserve System should maintain its independence from the Federal government. I maintain that it should be made completely independent of the Federal government: cut loose and left to fend for itself, just as the Second Bank of the United States was in 1836. It went bust. I am not so naive as to imagine that this will happen in my lifetime, short of a true social collapse in which several million people die because of the collapse of …