Year: 2010

Economics and Investing:

Thanks to B.B. for this link: Dollar at Risk of Crashing, Triggering Inflation G.G. spotted this recent post over at Zero Hedge: David Stockman Says The Fed is Injecting High Grade Monetary Heroin into the Financial System Susan H. flagged this: Citi: Central Banks Are Going to Start Dumping Dollars in the Coming Weeks Doubts grow over wisdom of Ben Bernanke ‘super-put’. The last line in the article is chilling: “If they start to act on this suspicion, they could push rates higher instead of lower, and overwhelm the Bernanke stimulus. That would precipitate an ugly chain of events for …


Odds ‘n Sods:

NASA is Building a ‘Solar Shield’ to Protect Power Grids from Space Weather. (Thanks to J.V.M. for the link.)    o o o Via Reason magazine: “Researchers at Purdue University have updated their popular Impact Earth! online calculating tool. If you’ve a morbid interest in just how big an asteroid it would take to end civilization (and who doesn’t?), click on over and type in size, density, angle of impact data to find out.”    o o o Brian spotted this over at the SHTFPlan blog: Homeland Security To “Regionalize” Emergency Supplies Over Next 90 Days    o o o …



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