Day: July 31, 2010

Coupon Warrior!, by GRITS (Girl Raised in the South)

You look at the economy, and you are alarmed. You see the direction the world appears to be headed, and your eyes glaze with near panic. You realize you must prepare for disasters and shortages, but you are overwhelmed by the scope of the project and wonder how you can ever afford to build a stockpile of necessities. I hope I can throw out a few ideas that will help you build up that stockpile over time with a painless, cost-effective method. I’ve always hated to shop. The grocery store was a place I raced through, snatching only what I …


Three Letters Re: A Doctor’s Thoughts on Antibiotics, Expiration Dates, and TEOTWAWKI

Hello- I must first thank you, Mr. Rawles, for your advice. I truly believe it will one day save my life. Also, the amount of knowledge I have gained from all of the contributors to SurvivalBlog is astounding! My profession is in the animal industry, so I am familiar with antibiotics and other meds. At work, it is many times frustrating to pull out dosage instructions from a bottle of medicine, only to find that they’re all written for humans. Especially the antibiotics! I order only from veterinary pharmacies, but these drugs are manufactured and labeled for human consumption. Now …


Practical and Affordable Food and Medicine Rotation

Jim, In addition to stores of long-term food in #10 cans (Mountain House and cans from the LDS cannery), I keep about a six month supply of “grocery store” canned and boxed food and a multiple-year supply of OTC medicines. A lot of this stuff goes unused because I’m pretty bad at rotating and while they are items we like, we just don’t eat them that often. Every year around the holidays I box up a ton of stuff and donate it to the food bank. The tax deduction I take is the “fair market value” (i.e., current grocery store …


Two Letters Re: How to Bypass Blocked Web Sites

Sir: I have several friends in China under different guises, work or school visas for instance, but their main purpose is evangelism. When we e-mail them we have to be very careful about what we say because the Chinese government reads incoming e-mails. For instance “I’m praying for you” would be written as “I talked to Dad about you”. Just so we aren’t thinking all our e-mails are secure. – Richard C. Mr. Rawles, I would like to say the article “How to Bypass Blocked Web Sites, by Tamara W.” was technically correct, and I will not question the legality …


Economics and Investing:

Several readers mentioned this: IMF Says U.S. Financial System May Need $76 Billion in Capital G.G. suggested a piece by Niall Ferguson: Sun Could Set Suddenly on Superpower as Debt Bites. China Becomes Second Biggest World Economy Reader “AmEx” (American Expatriate) spotted this: Fed’s Bullard:Worried About Possible Deflationary Outcome For US Also from AmEx: Top Hedge Funds That Dodged Crash, Rode Market Back Turn Gloomy


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Mike P. forwarded a link to this BBC News article: Greek police clash with hauliers amid crippling strike. Mike’s comment: “The truckers’ strike is in its fourth day, gas stations are empty, and the government is implementing emergency measures originally intended for wartime or natural disasters. Does any of this sound familiar?” Reader Tom G. sent a link to a fascinating companion article: Greece Haulier Strike – Your Experiences.    o o o Some charming news, courtesy of reader R.F.J.: Rats Overrun Manhattan Park    o o o Also from R.F.J. comes a link to an Instructables article: How …