Day: February 8, 2010

Notes from JWR:

The 25% off sale at SafeCastle on all Mountain House foods in #10 cans is in progress. They are offering free shipping to the 48 continental states! The sale ends on February 13th, so order soon! — Today we present another entry for Round 27 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 …


Some Real World Battery Life Data, by Cactus Jim

Battery technology has come a long way in the last 10 years since Y2K. Back in the late 1990s, I stocked various types and brands of batteries for long term storage or use. Batteries ranged from store purchased alkaline, rechargeable alkalines, NiCd, generic deep cycle marine batteries, gel-cell sealed lead acid, lithium and even the ubiquitous flooded lead acid Trojan T-105 floor scrubber batteries. I wrote dates on all the batteries and rechargeable batteries had logs kept of use and maintenance. In most cases enough batteries were purchased to allow for a reasonable statistical sampling, thus providing a real level …


Letter Re: Stockpiling Nickels was Easier than I Had Thought

Mr. Rawles, I took your advice of socking away nickels to heart. I wanted to start off with an ammo can for each member of my family. I figured why not go to the local bank where my wife has banked since 1993? I went in, filled out the withdrawal slip for $178 (one ammo can) and requested the payout in nickels. The teller then said that if I withdrew $200 instead he can give me two boxes that came from the Fed. They gave me the nickels but told me that they really only give rolled coins to their …


Economics and Investing:

Reader Dan D. recommended this piece by Simon Johnson: Europe Risks Another Global Depression Commentary from Bill Pesek: Biggest Bubble in History Is Growing Every Day. He’s anticipating big time currency inflation in east Asia. (Thanks to Auby for the link.) Mike H. recommend this essay by Doug McIntosh, posted over at Steve Quayle’s site: When the Gimmicks Fail Items from The Economatrix: Shell Downplays Prospect of Quick Recovery in Oil Demand Despite Profits Rebound The Bernanke Reappointment: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid Planned Layoffs Rise for First Time Since July Economic Report The Devaluation and Fight for Survival of …


Odds ‘n Sods:

The original NAIS plan may be dead! Jeff B. sent us this link: USDA starting over on national animal ID system    o o o F.R. suggested this resource that is great for homeschoolers: The Basic English Grammar ebook.    o o o FG sent us an item for the “Bring Enough Gun” Department: Giant, 25 foot Crocodile has eaten 200 men in 20 years (This sounds like something out of a tabloid, but it is a BBC news piece.)