Day: April 30, 2011

Note from JWR:

Today we present another two entries for Round 34 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round 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 Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo , …


Raising Midget White Turkeys, the Perfect Homestead Meat Bird, by L.C. and D.B.

Like many preppers, we’ve been looking for ways to expand our self-sufficiency.  With 25 years of experience raising chickens for both meat and eggs, adding another meat fowl seemed like a good move.  Although we had raised both broilers and laying hens of many breeds, we hadn’t found a good all-purpose bird among the chickens, although many lay claim to the title.  They either laid poorly (eating all the while) or were very short on meat when killing time came.  As readers may know, chickens in America have been bred for two tracks:  meat (fast growing, often leg problems, too …


Knowing Your Personality Strengths and Weaknesses, by C.F.

In nature, optimizing for one attribute generally means weakening one’s abilities in another. For example, with vehicles, optimizing for speed and maneuverability in tight turns generally means reducing carrying capacity, road clearance and tolerance for rough dirt roads. A sports car is clearly different from a 4×4 pickup truck. Both are optimized for different purposes. The same is true for the human mind. Optimizing one’s strengths for real-time situations (e.g., physical combat) is very different from optimizing for long-range pursuits that require extended periods of uninterrupted concentration (e.g., theoretical physics). In a survival situation, it can be crucial to know …


Letter Re: Peak Oil and the Real Value of the Dollar

Dear Jim,   For the last 70 years, the dollar’s value has evffectively been pegged to oil. We can thank FDR for that, since he removed Gold from backing the dollar. I suppose it worked out okay, but now we have a problem. The oil is running out. You’ve seen it at the gas stations, and the price of Brent crude is $124 per barrel, and domestic USA crude is $112 per barrel. The USA only produces 5.5 million barrels per day (mbpd). The balance of the 19 mbpd is imported, mostly from Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, and Nigeria (not Saudi …


Two Letters Re: Using Your Smart Phone as a Survival Phone

James; When the cell phone network is down, telephones expend energy constantly searching for a connection. This can increase your battery drain. If you are in a situation where you know the network is not functioning, I recommend you set your smart phone to “Airplane Mode”. This disables all radio communication functions of your phone and allows it to act as a hand held computer thus no longer wasting power trying to contact a network that is not functioning. – Mike in Kentucky   Dear Jim: Being a techie/having worked in a cell store, I enjoyed Kelly’s article. What I …


Letter Re: Why Store Wheat?

Mr. Rawles: I’ve been reading SurvivalBlog exhaustively for several days, and I don’t understand why people store wheat as part of a long term food storage plan. Since yeast is not a long term storable commodity, it will not be available to make bread.  That means that the buckets of stored wheat can be used only for sprouts or as a cereal dish, which is rather unpalatable.  Our food storage plan is centered on rice, pasta, and beans instead of wheat.  Am I missing something? Why store hard wheat?   Thanks for your help,  Michael  JWR Replies: Yeast can be stored for up to four …


Economics and Investing:

Ron D. suggested this article over at the Accept The Challenge blog: Precious Metals Security. Reader Bill J. liked this piece by Peter Schiff: Bernanke is Lying; Bet Against the Fed and the Dollar. Bill’s comment: “I’m in the insurance/financial services business so I can attest to the impartiality of [Martin] Weiss’s rating systems.  Their approach is different from that of S&P, Moody’s, etc. in that they do not receive compensation from the very entities they are rating. Weiss doesn’t have the inherent conflict of interest the others do.” Items from The Economatrix: China’s Central Banker:  We Own Too Much US …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Loyal content contributor F.G. sent a link to an incredible video of the 1/2 mile wide monster funnel cloud in Tuscaloosa. F.G.’s comment: “Prayers for those who have lost family, friends, and homes.” o o o Directive 21 has announced a new product, called the Herbal Seed Bank, which includes over 68,000 seeds.  If you purchase one of their popular Emergency Seed Banks at $134 they will include a free Herbal Seed Bank, valued at $99. This will apply only to orders received between Monday May 2nd, and Friday May 6th, 2011. o o o I was asked by a …