Day: December 23, 2011

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 38 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) A gift certificate worth $1,000, courtesy of Spec Ops Brand, B.) 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 C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) D.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 …


Greenhouse Heating, by Inda Woods

We now have indoor plumbing and a Wal-Mart, along with the millions of acres of wooded wonderland. Some of our forests are so dense and vast that even the DNR officers have become lost. We are alive with moose, wolf, cougar and black bear, to name a few. My husband and I are in our mid 50s and bought our 40 acres of forest in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula 20 years ago. Can you believe it; we paid only $13,000 for our woods and small cabin? Back then, no one in his or her right mind wanted to live in this …


Letter Re: How I Survived an Attempted Murder

Hi James, In reference to A.’s recent article “How I Survived an Attempted Murder”, we lived in Guayaquil, Ecuador in the early 1990s. I taught at the American School in Guayaquil called The International Academy. We bought an Isuzu Trooper and drove over 20,000 miles during our stay there. We visited many areas on the frontier with Columbia and Peru that were described to us a bandit country, often drove out into the mountains to distant villages that seemed to have hardly had any contact with Europeans or Americans. Several times drove all the way east of Quito over the backbone …


Economics and Investing:

G.G. suggested this from James Turk: More Deficits, More Debt Also from G.G.: Are Guns & Ammo The New Gold? Why More Americans Than Ever Before Are Arming Themselves Zero Hedge: Did The Fed Quietly Bail Out A Bank On Tuesday? Items from The Economatrix: The Top 100 Statistics About the Collapse of The Economy That Every American Voter Should Should Know The Harsh Reality is that The EU Has Already Failed If Europe Is Cured, Why Are Central Banks Preparing For Its Collapse? Economy Shedding Debt But Shackled By Pessimism 2012 Economic Outlook:  Countdown To The End Oil Prices …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Adam W. sent us a piece about a very expensive lesson in OPSEC: On December 9, 2011, Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office deputies responded to a report of a residential burglary. A list of the stolen property includes: 7,000 – 1 ounce 2011 American Silver Eagles Coins in plastic sleeves 12 – [$1,000 face value] bags of 1920-1963 Silver Coins at 5, 10, and 25 cents 15 – South Africa Krugerrands, 20 – 10 pound bars of silver, 20 – 5 pound bars of silver, 30 – American Gold Eagles with Canadian Maple Leaves 10 ounce and 6 ounce bars …