Day: August 22, 2010

Notes from JWR:

Do you have any favorite quotes that relate to preparedness, survival, self-sufficiency, or hard money economics? If so, then please send them via e-mail, and I will likely post them as Quotes of the Day, if they haven’t been used before in SurvivalBlog. Please send only quotes that are properly attributed, and that you’ve checked for authenticity. Many Thanks! — 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 …


Temperate Climate Famine, by William V.

There has only been one famine in the last twenty years in a country with a temperate climate that is similar to the northern part of the United States.  That country was North Korea.  Many of the observations offered below are taken from the book Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick, a very gifted reporter. Most of us think of North Korea as a poor, underdeveloped country controlled by a dictator that lags far behind its South Korean neighbor economically.  However, until about 1980, North Korea had a higher GDP than South Korea.  It has …


Letter Re: DC to DC Converters

Hi Jim and Readers, Some of our TEOTWAWKI preparations tend to lean toward running electronic equipment off charged DC battery sources. I work in electronics, and have built several radio stations for ministries around the world, I have found that DC to AC inverters especially the cheaper models are very inefficient to run higher powered equipment. I have gone another direction when powering equipment off of 12 or 24 volt DC power systems. Many people will purchase a DC to AC inverter to run a laptop through the supplied AC to DC converter. The newer switching supplies are very compact …


Economics and Investing:

Ellen Brown: Could 62 Million Homes Be Foreclosure-Proof? (Thanks to J.H.B. for the link.) Brian F. forwarded this: Jobless claims rise to highest level in nine months. RBS sent this: Sugar beet growers worried there might not be 2011 crop Items from The Economatrix: Obamanomics is Why There is No Recovery Connecticut May Have Just a Week’s Worth of Cash Double-digit Jump in Bankruptcies 12 New Ways to Safeguard Your Money China Doubles Korea Bond Holdings as Asia Switches from Dollar


Inflation Watch:

Reader B.L.W. notes that the price of a box of girl scout cookies will be $4 per box this year. Gee, 12 Tagalong or Samoa cookies for $4. That is 33 cents per cookie! BLW also mentioned that Troops are required to sell cookies, or else they can’t hold any other fund raising events this year. As previously mentioned in SurvivalBlog: Wal-Mart Quietly Raises Prices. (A whopping 5.8%) Speaking of Wal-Mart, Kelly in Kansas mentioned: Okay, so I know Wal-Mart can be tricky, but I bought a 25 lb bag of Great Value Sugar (I am canning like a crazed …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Patrice Lewis, over at the Rural Revolution blog recently posted an excellent article: Hoarding.    o o o J.M. in Michigan suggested this article about coronal mass ejections that ran in The New York Times: The Sun Also Surprises.    o o o P.D. spotted this: Israel’s “Judgment Day” Shelters    o o o KAF sent this one: WHO calls for monitoring of new superbug.