Year: 2010

Two Letters Re: Our Experience with a Chimney Fire

Mr. Rawles: Regarding the reader who had the chimney fire and put it out with a 10 pound bag of baking soda: We were told by our fire chief that some insurance companies will refuse to pay for damage done in an “undocumented” chimney fire. How do you “document” a chimney fire? You have to call the fire department, and then it becomes a matter of record. In addition, putting the fire out in the firebox does not guarantee that a smaller fire isn’t burning somewhere up in the attic or the eaves. So you might be embarrassed, but even …


Economics and Investing:

Dollar Selloff Is Going ‘Too Far, Too Fast’: Strategist. (Thanks to Susan H. for the link.) Greece Likely to Default Within Three Years, El-Erian Says Seal Beach home from a price listing of $2,900,000 to selling for $900,000. Chasing the housing market down. Could someone be expecting a market crash? Watch the smart money: Insider Selling Volume at Highest Level Ever Tracked. (Thanks to Jonathan C. for the link.) Items from The Economatrix: Stocks Eke Out Gains On Mixed Earnings Consumer Confidence Rises Only Slightly in October Steel Industry’s Outlook Gloomer on Slower Growth Foreclosures Push Home Prices Down in …


Inflation Watch:

TIPS Inflation Bonds Get Negative Yield for First Time Bernanke Asset Purchases Risk Unleashing 1970s Inflation Genie Germany Calls Out Geithner’s Hypocrisy, Says Money Printing Is FX Intervention Dollar At Risk Of Becoming “Toxic Waste” Oil Could Hit $100 Barrel Soon, Says JPMorgan Coffee at 13-Year High, Sugar Surges Rising Cost of Kimchi Alarms Koreans Global food crisis forecast as prices reach record highs


Odds ‘n Sods:

Jason in Central New York mentioned this PDF from the NRC : High-Impact, Low-Frequency Event Risk to the North American Bulk Power System (regarding the risks posed by Cyber or Physical Coordinated Attacks, Pandemics, and Geomagnetic Disturbance / Electro-magnetic Pulse.    o o o The folks at J&G Sales in Arizona noted in their latest e-newsletter: “Starting the end of January no ammo dealers including J&G Sales may continue to ship handgun ammo to individuals that live in California. This is a new law, now passed and signed by Governor Arnold [Schwarzenegger] called AB962. All handgun ammo sales in California …



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



Notes from JWR:

I’m happy to report that “How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It” will soon be published in Portuguese by Sextante Publishing of Brazil. There are now eight foreign publishing contracts in place, for editions in seven languages. — 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 …


Medical Asset Evaluation, by Dr. C. in Flyover Country

The evaluation of “Medical Assets” depends greatly upon the evaluator and the mission. For the purpose of this discussion, I consider people, places and things collectively and individually as “assets”. This discussion is meant for a group of non-medical personnel who need to assess whether a person, place, or thing will further their short and long term goals (mission). But how do you make that assessment or know when it has been done properly? Base assumptions: 1) The group has little to no medical knowledge. 2) The needs include general medicine, surgical procedures, veterinary medicine, and dentistry. 3) The most …


Letter Re: Our Experience with a Chimney Fire

Dear James, I have been a Survival Blog reader and Ten Cent Challenge subscriber for about a year or so. Thanks for all you do. The advice I read in SurvivalBlog from a rural firefighter — to keep on hand a 10 pound bag of baking soda to throw on the fire in case of a chimney fire — just came in handy! My husband and I were just enjoying our first fire of the year in our brick masonry fireplace. We have our chimney cleaned about every three years. I was upstairs and my husband called out “we’re having …