Day: August 9, 2010

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 30 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will include: 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 assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 500 round case of …


Medicinal Herb Gardening by Mrs. Celena J.

Earlier this year, I received a free packet of Echinacea (Purple Coneflower) from wintersown.org (by the way, if you’re into gardening check them out; they’ll send you 10 packets of free seeds for the cost of a SASE).  When I saw the seed packet, I remembered that Echinacea is used to reduce the duration of colds and flu.  I began seriously considering and researching medicinal plant gardening.  Having such a garden would be so useful in surviving numerous catastrophes, not to mention the possible money saver it could be during a recession that’s going to last who-knows-how-long!  Of course, not …


Letter Re: Practice Night Hiking to Get Ready to Bug Out to Your Retreat

The following describes my recent “dry run” at bugging out on foot. I’ve been thinking that someday soon I will be in need of backpacking over to my group’s retreat. So I created a plan to make a dry run. I grabbed my basic day pack (a Camelbak hydration pack with the minimum goodies in it.) My load included, three liters of water, simple folding knife, space blanket, fire starter, single pen of bug stuff, a few Cliff bars, and speed loaders for my Ruger .357 Magnum. I also had spare batteries for my head lamp, and a bottle of …


Economics and Investing:

G.G. sent this: Economy Heading for a Systemic Collapse into Hyperinflationary Great Depression. Jonas mentioned a fascinating news segment filmed by a Dutch journalist, in Indonesia: Gold Dinar, Silver Dirham. AmEx sent this: Food Prices up as Consumers Feel Economic Pinch Another from G.G.: Chicago Bank Fails, 2010 Tally Hits 109 Job Figures Just Part of a Grim Economic Picture. (Thanks to AmEx for the link.) B.B. forwarded a link to a New York Times article: Jobless and Staying That Way RBS flagged this: One-fourth of Idaho work force’s paychecks cut


Odds ‘n Sods:

Dept. of Homeland Security points out the fragility of the infrastructure. (Thanks to S. S. for the link.)    o o o Dave X. sent us this: Senate dumps strategy to prevent EMP damage    o o o A Volkswagen powered by human waste. (A hat tip to KAF for the link.)    o o o Reader Michael H. mentioned that audio from the talks from “The Next Hope” hacker conference held last month are now available for free download. Michael’s comments: “While anyone is sure to find many things of interest in what hackers talk about, of particular interest …