Year: 2009

Economics and Investing:

Warren M. wrote to mention that in their 2010 planning document, the US Mint is now considering a new, less expensive composition for the US Nickel. (The five-cent piece.) The Mint document states: “…the unit costs to manufacture the one-cent coin (penny) and 5-cent coin (nickel) are more than their face value for the third consecutive fiscal year. Changing the composition of all circulating coins to less expensive materials would ultimately result in significant taxpayer savings without compromising the utility of these coins. Accordingly, the United States Mint plans to work with the Department of the Treasury and the Congress …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader LRG mentioned an online Directory of Primitive Skills Gatherings and Knap-Ins    o o o After a delay, Camping Survival has sealed cases of full mil-spec MREs back in stock.    o o o DS alerted us to an interesting follow-up to the “Worst Case Scenario” piece. This has implications that go far beyond just economics!    o o o KAF sent a very useful link What is Hardtack and How is it Made?



Notes from JWR:

My Inner Nerd is itching to see the new Star Trek prequel movie, which is scheduled for release tonight (May 8th). But until my latest book manuscript is submitted to Penguin Books, I can’t go see it with a clear conscience. The May 11th manuscript deadline is looming! The new book will be non-fiction, titled How to Survive the End of the World As We Know It. This non-fiction book is scheduled for released in early October. — Today we present a brief but very practical entry for Round 22 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The contest prizes include: …


Health, Hygiene, Fitness and Medical Care in a Coming Collapse, by RangerDoc

Spiritual Fitness Let us start this discussion by confronting a stark fact of life: very few of us, living the life of North American citizens, are fit to survive for a generation in an austere, off the grid, world. First of all, few of us have the philosophical orientation to be survivors. I know in my bones that without God’s help, my family’s ability to survive in a prolonged state of austerity is worse than questionable. As an evangelical Christian, I understand that my own commitment to preparedness is a function of my ongoing submission to God’s will. It could …


Letter Re: Concerns About Toxicity in Water From Roof Catchment Rainwater

Mr. Rawles, I searched the forums to no avail on this topic. In the Pacific Northwest, a common roof setup is untreated wood shakes with copper ridge caps and flashing. The rain hits the copper which leaches chemicals onto the wood shakes to inhibit moss growth. On other sites I’m reading conflicting thoughts on whether this amount of copper renders the water unsuitable for rain catchment into a water barrel for vegetable garden irrigation or a cistern for human consumption. Some folks seem to think there is more danger from the concentrated nitrogen in the water (bird droppings, raccoon feces) …


Mexican Flu Update:

Heather sent a link to an article was featured in Seven Days (an ultra-liberal newspaper in Burlington, Vermont: The Pandemic Pantry; Stocking up on staples, just in case. Heather’s comment: “I think this article illustrates the fact that the preparedness mindset is starting to reach the mainstream. Maybe the sheeple are beginning to catch on? The article on the side talks about the LDS Church. While I have theological disagreements with the LDS I think their food storage program is outstanding.” KAF sent us this: Another Swine Bug Raises Scientists’ Concerns. KAF’s comment: “This is particularly disturbing. When Egypt began …


Economics and Investing:

Reader HPD pointed us to this commentary by Mish Shedlock: Preliminary Stress Test Results. What a sham! HPD also mentioned this: Futures Fall, BofA May Need $35 Billion in Capital. HP had these incisive comments: “Expect BofA (and Wells Fargo) stock to bounce after the initial decline. Geithner has taught the market that he will throw a lifeline to any large bank, no matter how insolvent. Thus is capital misallocated in a centrally planned economy.” He added in a later e-mail: “Outrageous! But did we really expect anything different? …Gee, I wonder why all the major servicers are sitting on …


Odds ‘n Sods:

A few SurvivalBlog readers have recently mentioned that they’ve got browser errors when trying to visit SurvivalBlog. Typically, they get this error Message: “Content encoding error – The page you are trying to view cannot be shown because it uses an invalid or unsupported form of compression.” This seems to be a browser glitch, rather than something wrong with our site. A quick and easy fix: Clear your browser’s cache.    o o o Several blog readers sent us this: Oklahoma legislators over-ride governor’s veto to pass sovereignty resolution.    o o o “FloridaGuy” flagged this: Poll: Support for an …



Notes from JWR:

The high bid in the SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction. is now at $1,010. 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 driveway or road to detect vehicular …


Maximizing Use of a Backyard Greenhouse, by Kathy Harrison

Here in Western Massachusetts, with its short, cool growing season, a backyard greenhouse is a real boon for those of us concerned with providing our families excellent food, even when supply chains are shut down during a time of crisis. We have spent three years figuring how to maximize the relatively small interior space of our rectangular, rigid-walled greenhouse in an efficient manner. Early on, we realized there were steps we could take to increase the interior temperature during our cold, windy winters. My husband rescued an old thermal pool cover that was headed for the landfill and cut out …


Letter Re: Expanding the Family Larder with Coupon Shopping

Dear Jim, I’m a mom, and new to your site, but I’ve long been thinking that my instinct for planning should ramp up to a new level of preparedness to keep my family safe. Like many of your readers I’ve long felt an increased sense of alarm at the state of our world on numerous levels. And, as many of your readers – preparing within the parameters of my normal household budget along with the current financial challenges makes preparation challenging! … in short – I don’t have lots of spare cash around to go around buying pallets of food …



Economics and Investing:

Roddy sent this from the Guatemala Times: The Great Depression Analogy R.S. forwarded this from The Financial Times: If China loses faith the dollar will collapse A recent column by Libertarian commentator Vin Suprynowicz: Light at the end of the tunnel: They only need another $20 trillion DS liked this piece by Karl Denninger, over at Seeking Alpha: Independent Analyst Numbers Far Uglier than Official Stress Test Rumors. JWR’s comment If we take into account that most US residential real estate will likely fall another 30%, and most commercial property by another 50%, then the “official” stress test results will …