Month: November 2010

Notes from JWR:

Friday’s closing prices for spot gold and spot silver might seem astounding, but just wait a few months. You will probably wish that you had bought more silver at today’s prices. — Today we present two more entries 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 $795, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried …


The First Aid Kit as a Multi-Layered Medical Resource, by Hambone

SurvivalBlog has gone to some lengths to provide first rate information on a wide variety of subjects – including first aid kits.  I strongly encourage everyone to receive professional training  and to own at least one (or more) quality first aid manuals.  In my experience. many first aid kits seem to have been built with either a limited vision or a lack of foresight regarding their use in a disaster situation.  Worse, some contain items that if misused or improperly used can further injure/permanently cripple/kill the ‘patient’.  Hence my emphasis on professional training – it is easily as good an …


A Legal, Low-Cost, Readily-Available Painkiller, by Kitchen Maven

You’re stacking wood when a log suddenly twists, and the pile comes tumbling down on you, leaving your legs covered with cuts and bruises. You walk into the kitchen, and see your toddler, who has climbed the counter to grab something in an upper cabinet, start to topple over. You lunge forward to grab her, and your body provides her with a soft landing spot as you crash over the kitchen chair and wind up on your face on the floor. Accidents happen, and they hurt. Many posts have discussed pharmaceutical painkillers, but most people have limited access to them, …


Letter Re: Post Disaster Wi-Fi Commo Networks

Sir: One thing not mentioned in the survival groups web sites is the use of ad-hoc wireless wireless fidelity (wi-fi) networks. When me and several others put together a group plan, we came up with the idea of using wi-fi as a short range method of communication, information sharing and news distribution. We found several Wikipedia pages devoted to getting maximum range from a wi-fi router. Many of these methods can cover entire small towns. Enabling the password encryption features built into these devices can while far from perfect provide a super secure text and voice communication service when used …


Letter Re: Developing Your Healthcare Networking List

Mr. Rawles, I am a long time reader who enjoys how thought provoking your blog can be. But have a disagreement with a recent post by Josh S. I am a Emergency Medicine Physician, practicing in the Northeast US. Josh S.’s article is true in the detail of developing your medical network — it is quite easy to call up a friend or relative for some quick medical advice or help. And, furthermore, I appreciate this — I did get into medicine to help people, and I would much rather help friends and family than a vast majority of drug-seeking …


Economics and Investing:

Reader Michael A. suggested reading this commentary by Karl Denninger: Bernanke’s Folly: The End Game. K.T. liked this piece by Bix Weir at The Road to Roota Letters: A Final Checklist for Everyone. The article opens with this sobering words: “My Road to Roota analysis shows that we literally days away from the breakdown of the entire fiat monetary system and I thought it a great time to go over final preparations for the coming chaos. In the grand scheme of things you can never be fully prepared for what is about to transpire because nobody on earth has been …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Some good advice from Dr. K.: The Challenges of Medical Preparedness in a High-Tech Age    o o o Larry in Ohio flagged this: Carry a Cloaking Device for your Cell Phone anywhere you go. Decent protection from EMP, too…    o o o A reader mentioned the interesting Informed Citizen News videos available at YouTube.    o o o This definitely qualifies as an “Odd” item: Masked man nabbed on flight to B.C. from Asia. The accompanying video has some additional details.



Notes from JWR:

Das Ende der Welt, wie wir sie kennen! I’m pleased to report that my nonfiction book “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It” will soon be published in German by publisher Kopp Verlag. There are now nine foreign publishing contracts in place, for editions of the book in eight languages. Please be patient, as some of these editions may take more than a year to reach production. — Today we present two more entries for Round 31 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will include: First Prize: A.) A course …


Built-in Obsolescence, by Margaret G.

I’ve had a very frustrating three weeks. My laptop crashed and as I couldn’t get back the files, it had to go to the computer doctor. I know that I’m not alone and that this has happened to many people but it doesn’t mean that I have to like it. What really made me irritable though was that it is only three or four years old. I was told that three years is “old” for a computer. Pardon me? Fortunately the computer doctor was able to recover my files, but I’ve had to buy a new laptop. It’s not hard …


Prepping for the Big One, by Jim Y.

There are obvious reasons for prepping, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, fires, civil unrest, financial collapse, or just the event of an intruder into your home. Prepping is just basic insurance and just like insurance you hope you never have to use it but, need it in case of a severe raining day. I’ve found that most people will not listen to you when you tell them they should prep, they usually look at you like your some insane person who listens to every conspiracy theory that comes by. These same people in an event will be over at your house.  “Oh …


Letter Re: Our Experience with a Chimney Fire

Mr. Rawles, Recent posts about chimney fires mention the value of having ones chimney cleaned at least once per year. Most volunteer fire companies do chimney cleaning for a nominal donation. It gives the homeowners a chance to get their chimney cleaned and make a donation towards their community’s fire service, it helps the fire company by making one more house less likely to have a chimney fire, and it benefits both parties by getting folks to interact with and perhaps join their local volunteer fire department. Best, – RMV


Letter Re: Forecasting the Weather in a Grid-Down Situation

Old Farmer wrote an excellent piece. As he noted, each area is different and has its own patterns. I have spent decades as a pilot and have learned to read the weather fairly well. A couple of tips the Farmer left out: 1. If you place your left shoulder into the wind (or the direction from which the clouds are moving) you are facing into an area of low pressure. This is useful in locating the source of bad weather. For example, if your weather generally moves in from the west and you have a wind coming in from the …


Economics and Investing:

This article by Jeff Nielson is a must read!: Quantitative Easing is Economic Suicide. (Thanks to SurvivalBlog’s Poet Laureate G.G.sfor the link.) The latest from our favorite Switzerdudes over at The Daily Bell: How Western Powers May Have Blown It Here is Sheepdog to rout those grievous wolves: Ron Paul Will Chair the Monetary Policy Subcommittee. Items from The Economatrix: Dow Hits Two-Year High as Fed Details Stimulus. How can investors think that stock gains will out-pace double digit inflation? What idiocy. The Fed’s Big Gamble: Here’s What Could Go Wrong US Quantitative Easing is Fracturing The Global Economy US …


Inflation Watch:

The Federal Reserve Stirs Poltergeist of Hyperinflation, Weimar Collapse Asset Inflation/Deflation: The Fed’s QE2 Versus $15 Trillion in Losses Fast Rising Food Prices Feed Inflation Fears Reader “Skyrat” notes: “Just today I purchased a Famotidine (an antacid OTC medication) refill, 20 milligrams, sixty tablets for $4.00 at Wal-Mart. This replaces the (now empty) bottle I purchased 20 August 2010, for $4.00. The kicker? The new bottle held only ninety tablets. Rising cost of living, anyone?” Corn, food and potential sticker shock Freakanomics: A Dunkin’ Donuts Store Exhibits Penny Sanity. JWR’s Comment: I believe this trend will continue until a zero …