Year: 2011

Tangible Investments for the Future, by Donald V.

Until recently, I had been confused on how to invest my savings, in anticipation of future currency inflation.  Our family is truly blessed by the Lord and we have a small farm that is our retreat.  We have also made stocking up on beans and bullets a regular and routine practice; for which I am very thankful.  While these items allow me to sleep at night; especially after reading the news, any extra that we put away will likely be used for charity; and thus I do not feel that these items are an investment and in a true schumer …


Letter Re: Parachute Cord Bracelets

Hi Jim,   After I saw Liam Neeson with a parachute cord bracelet at the beginning of the movie The A-Team, I thought “Okay, I got to get one.”   After waiting around for the vendor who makes those to show up at one of the local gun shows, I finally went on YouTube, and guess what? I learned how to make them myself. They’re not difficult to make. As a matter of fact, the company you linked-to yesterday (SportBraceletStore.com) makes a simple two-piece Cobra Weave. I crank those out like candy, using a simple jig I made using a …


Letter Re: Ruger’s Model 77 Hawkeye in .300 Winchester Magnum

Jim:: Congrats to Pat for writing a nice review. There are a few items I would have included that may make a difference to a shooter with this caliber, especially for new shooters: 1. when shooting in the prone, expect to leave a dust cloud marking your position. You can lay a wet burlap sack on the ground beneath the muzzle to assist in disguising your position. This is a powerful caliber, remember, there are no free lunches with anything firearms related. 2. Even if you reload, you will be paying more for this cartridge [, since the brass and primers are more …


A Late April Snow and Wind Storm Illustrates the Need to Be Prepared

James, Things can fall apart rather quickly.  Today’s example is why you always want to carry a survival kit (BOB) in your vehicle.  People are stranded all over western North Dakota on the last day of April.  Who would have anticipated this?  The weather service put out warnings that many ignored and those who stayed home are without power. A total of five major electrical feeds into the state are down which is unheard of.  What couldn’t happen, happened. Mile after mile of power poles are sheared off and snow drifts of up to 10 feet and zero visibility is …


Four Letters Re: Why Store Wheat?

James Wesley: According to the folks at aaoobfoods.com they have a “recipe” to grow yeast on potato granules/flakes. They are out of Amite, Louisiana. They are great! Thank you, James Wesley. Sincerely, – Ron M.   Jim: Yeast can be cultured at home to prolong its use indefinitely http://www.wikihow.com/Culture-Yeast That aside people have eaten flat bread like matzoh for centuries. Of course that pasta he spoke of is also typically fashioned from wheat. Not that everyone can make their own homemade pasta but yes it can be done by those who really wish to. Cheers, Rich F. Mr. Rawles, I …


Economics and Investing:

Jeff Reeves: The nine places where inflation is crushing us. (Thanks to Paul B. for the link.) G.G. flagged a piece at Zero Hedge: More Americans Believe The Country Is In A Depression Than Growing The World’s Last Typewriter Factory Closes in India. (A hat tip to RBS for the link.) Spotted at Fierce Finance: Goldman Sachs: Too big to prosecute Items from The Economatrix: Massive Raid on Silver / Open Interest in Silver Remains High Everything’s OK with Economy, Go Back to Sleep S&P Cuts Japan’s Rating Outlook to Negative US House Prices Fall Close to 2009 Lows With …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Steve D. was the first of several readers to send this: Feds Raid Amish Milk Farm.    o o o George J. spotted this bit on Nanny Statism news: N.J. town limits chicken hookups. Here is a quote: “Hopewell Township residents can have up to a half-dozen hens on half-acre lots. Roosters would be allowed only 10 days a year for fertilization purposes.”    o o o The annual book “Passport to World Band Radio” is now out of print (sadly, the final edition was published in 2009) but I’ve found that The Shortwave Listener’s Guide web site seems to …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“The LORD [is] thy keeper: the LORD [is] thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” – Psalm 121:5-8 (KJV)


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 …