Day: October 27, 2010

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 31 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 …


A Rude Awakening, by Ruth E. in Hawaii

Power outages are quite common here in Hawaii. It seems like a couple of times a month, the lights flicker, get dim, and then go out. Sometimes they stay out for an hour or longer. We recently had a blackout on one whole side of our island, which truly woke me up to the possibilities of an endless blackout (worse-case scenario). Usually I come out of an anxiety session unscathed, but since I currently belong to an emergency preparedness group, I have been reading tons about the many scenarios that could happen to our island home including tsunamis, earthquakes, flooding, …


Letter Re: A Closer Look at Bank Closures–Failed Banks Without Buyers

James Wesley, You recently posted this article: Seven banks closed in Fla., Ga., Ill., Kan. Remember something we’ve been trying to focus on? Watch closely for banks for which the FDIC cannot find a buyer. Read closely… in that article there were a couple banks that were only partially purchased by other banks. The FDIC held on to some of the liabilities of some of the banks. The real zinger is the First Arizona Savings bank – completely shut down, no buyer, no more bank. The FDIC is sending checks to those customers (hope you didn’t have more than $250,000 …


Two Letters Re: The Tire Shop Option for Nitrogen Packing Food Storage Buckets

JWR, Concerning the article titled “The Tire Shop Option for Nitrogen Packing Food Storage Buckets”. My dear friend said that I should let everyone know that a much easier way to use nitrogen for your buckets is to pick it up at your local welding supply. You could then do 1,000 (who really knows how many) or more buckets in the privacy of your own home. – Steph in Colorado Jim, I’ve been packing buckets and other containers for years without the use of dry nitrogen, but I’m pretty sure the contents are actually nitrogen packed. If we look at …


Economics and Investing:

City drowning in rubbish: 10,000 TONS of waste pile up on streets of Marseilles in chilling echo of British ‘winter of discontent’ Items from The Economatrix: Pension Age Increases to Get Far Worse Default or Hyperinflation: The US’s Only Two Options (The Mogambo Guru) In 15 of Last 25 Months, The Treasury Needed to Borrow Money for Social Security Benefits Gold Advances as Dollar’s Decline Spurs Demand for Alternative Investments Soc Gen’s Albert Edwards: The US Public is About to Revolt


Odds ‘n Sods:

David W. sent this interesting link: 10 Awesomely Bad Uses for Dead or Discarded Tech    o o o Pistols and nickels stolen from home. (Thanks to Scotty in Florida for the link.)    o o o G.M. flagged this: The Super La Nina and the Coming Winter.    o o o Think your laptop is tough? This one’s built to survive a war.    o o o Tsunami Kills at Least 113 in Indonesia; Scores Missing