Year: 2009

Two Letters Re: Which Form of Precious Metals?

Dear Sir, Regarding comments made in the letter on which form of precious metals to buy, readers should be aware that numerous Chinese fake silver dollar coins exist in today’s market. I recently became aware of these by an honest seller who identified the fakes as such, and sold me a couple for comparison purposes. They are available as common Morgan and Peace dollars as well as more numismatically valuable styles such as draped bust and trade dollars. They look surprisingly realistic and appear to have normal aging and wear consistent with what you would expect. Believe me when I …


Mexican Flu Update:

Vasilly wrote to mention a computer model that Los Alamos National Lab did in of a “Simulation of a pandemic flu outbreak in the continental United States, initially introduced by the arrival of 10 infected individuals in Los Angeles.” He heard about this when listening to Episode 19 of the Preparedness Podcast. Confirmed Swine Flu Cases in Washington Jump to 236 Fewer than 33% of Americans Would Take Flu Jab Swine Flu Spreads Worldwide–Over 5,700 Infected


Economics and Investing:

Just as I envisioned three years ago, derivatives are now in thes spotlight: Treasury Seeks More Financial Regulations in Shadowy Markets. (Thanks to Danny S. and KAF, for the link.) From the Appenzell Daily Bell: Beginning of the end? Fed cannot account for $9 trillion KAF sent us this: David Frum: Quick fix today, crisis tomorrow in Obama’s White House Redaer GG flagged this: Strong appetite for silver boosts coin production “Mints around the world almost doubled their silver coin production in the first quarter in response to a surge of investor interest in the metal.” Items from The Economatrix: …


Odds ‘n Sods:

JHB mentioned this article about survivalists in Russia: Survivalists stock up for End of Days    o o o SurvivalBlog regular Bill Buppert was recently interviwed for the LewRockwell.com podcast. The topic was state secession.    o o o SF in Hawaii mentioned these two sites: Everyone Deserves a Roof and The Bike Trailer Blog (which includes some tariler tents).    o o o A trailer for the movie The Road has been released. Gee, this makes SurvivalBlog readers look like relative optimists.



Note from JWR:

The bidding ends at midnight (eastern time) tomorrow night! (May 15th.) The high bid in the SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction. is now at $1,325. This auction is for a large mixed lot, which includes: 1.) A Three-Color Desert Camo Interceptor OTV (Outer Tactical Vest) size XL only, and a spare Woodland camouflage outer shell, kindly donated by BulletProofME.com. These items have a combined retail value of $960! 2.) A vehicle detection system, which includes: one MURS Alert Probe Sensor (MAPS) with 50 foot probe cable and one MURS Alert Hand Held (M538-HT) transceiver. The MAPS unit’s probe can be covertly installed …


Letter Re: Which Form of Precious Metals?

Dear Sir, During a discussion with a friend today, we chatted about which format of silver would be most viable as a form of a tangible asset. We discussed the recognized value of Silver American Eagle coins versus”silver rounds”, and found ourselves asking more questions than being able to provide reasonable answers. The conversation was based on my recent decision to convert US currency into silver rounds at a price of $0.90 over spot price (at the time $11.91 per ounce). This was a much lower price than the $3.59 over spot price for Silver American Eagles, so it seemed …


Letter Re: A Practical Tip on Using Roof Catchment Rainwater

Mr. Rawles- I sincerely appreciate your site and all of your efforts. In researching rain water collection recently, I came across a manual on rain water harvesting published by the Texas Water Development Board. While some of the data is Texas-specific, I found the overall information and descriptions of various harvesting systems to be extremely helpful. I suspect some of your readers may as well. In addition, I have received notice from the good folks at Safecastle that their next Mountain House [long term storage food] sale will take place between May 23 and June 5 and will include a …


Letter Re: “Patriots” Book Sighting in Downtown Chicago

Just an update on your book from here behind enemy lines in Chicago. I ride the “EL” [elevated railway] to work each day and on Monday saw a man reading your novel “Patriots” . I asked where he purchased it, expecting the answer to be Amazon, and was stunned when he said that he picked it up at Borders on State Street in downtown Chicago. I wandered over to the store at lunchtime and, lo and behold, there were two copies in the the new “Mystery and Thrillers” section right next to Ian Rankin’s latest book. There were plenty of …



Economics and Investing:

Greg C. mentioned some commentary by Howard Rich: The United Fiefdoms of America. “For the first time ever, federal aid – not property, sales or income tax – is the top revenue source for state budgets, the paper reported.” GG flagged this by Karl Denninger: Nothing Suggests We’re Anywhere Near the Bottom CJB suggested this article: Social security to run out of money… And, in a disturbing echo, GG suggested this: Medicare already in the red Items from The Economatrix: Social Security and Medicare Worsens (since yesterday’s article) “The trust funds — which exist in paper form in a filing …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Any of our readers living in Norway (and Norwegian ex-pats) will want to bookmark this blog: Ingen fare…Undergangen er skremmende nær!    o o o More about Pakistan, the Taliban, and The Bomb: Experts predict Pakistan’s collapse. Speaking of Pakistan, here is a prime example of lack of planning and lack of the survivalist mindset: Pakistan’s ‘displaced deluge’. Do your best to never be a “refugee ” It is just one short step away from “casualty statistic.” (Thanks to Ben M. for the second link.)    o o o Tamara mentioned that the National Rifle Association (NRA) is continuing their …



Note from JWR:

Just three days left to bid! The high bid in the SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction. is now at $1,100. This auction is for a large mixed lot, which includes: 1.) A Three-Color Desert Camo Interceptor OTV (Outer Tactical Vest) size XL only, and a spare Woodland camouflage outer shell, kindly donated by BulletProofME.com. These items have a combined retail value of $960! 2.) A vehicle detection system, which includes: one MURS Alert Probe Sensor (MAPS) with 50 foot probe cable and one MURS Alert Hand Held (M538-HT) transceiver. The MAPS unit’s probe can be covertly installed under the surface of a …


Letter Re: That Post Die-Off Fragrance

I have read many [preparedness-oriented] web pages and other scenarios of the impending collapse as they see it. A common theme in most of them is there will be a sudden and short lived phase of total chaos. In your novel “Patriots” I remember the couple who took to a storm drain while the blood ran in the streets overhead. So let’s say we are unfortunate enough that this really does happen, and at least half the people on the planet get wiped out in short order. Meanwhile, the other half can do nothing more than fight, run, and hunker …