Day: July 4, 2012

Letter Re: Lessons From The Derecho Storms

Mr. Rawles: Today is Wednesday, July 4, 2012.  I am writing from a small town in central West Virginia and I would like to share some thoughts, observations, and lessons from the recent Derecho windstorm experienced by the mid-west and east of our great country.  As I sit here, we are in day six of total power outage caused by a freak storm that came with little or no warning.  Power may not be on for another four days.   I have been a long time reader of your blog and have lots of lists and plans but sadly my …


Six Letters Re: Cordless DC Power Tool Selection

Hi James, I too have chosen DeWalt, but went out of my way recently to purchase a 12 volt cordless drill.  My reason being that the rechargeable batteries will eventually degrade.  18 volts is hard to come by without stacking small cells together in series.  But 12 volt batteries are ubiquitous in all kinds of shapes, sizes and capacities, and can be pressed into service easily with a few feet of wire. – Ray K. Dear James. I just want you to know that we appreciate what you do ,the information you provide is priceless,and don`t start my day without …


Economics and Investing:

Jim W. sent this from Chris Pulplava: Massive Japanese Debt Monetization Is Coming, Yen to be Devalued G.G. flagged this: Financial ‘Armageddon’ Will Happen Despite EU Deal: Rogers Also from G.G.: There Has Been A Stunning Collapse In Vending Machine Revenue K.P. sent this: 77% of JP Morgan’s Net Income Comes from Government Subsidies Heatwave threatens US grain harvest. (Thanks to K.A.F. for the link.) Items from The Economatrix: Euro Compromises Likely To Unravel Manufacturing In U.S. Unexpectedly Contracted In June Hiding Inflation Results In Perma-Recession, The Next Great Keynesian Failure Here Are The New Taxes You Are Going To …


Odds ‘n Sods:

James K. sent this report from McNewspaper: For those without power, patience wears thin, tempers flare    o o o SurvivalBlog Editor At Large Michael Z. Williamson sent this: Nevada Highway Patrol troopers sue over bogus K-9 program. Mike’s summary: “Dogs trained to react to cues, not drugs, to enable seizure of assets, officers claim.”    o o o Preparedness-minded folks in Holland might be interested in this site: Preppers.nl    o o o Overstocked! FreezeDryGuy has cases of Mexican Rice and Chicken Long Range Patrol (LRP) entrees on sale for a limited time. These individual freeze dried meals are …



Notes from JWR:

Today, July 4th, marks Independence Day in these United States. Pray that we hold fast to our Liberty. (That will take God and Guns.) — Today we present another entry for Round 41 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 …


Bees Like John (The Baptist), by Mike The Bee Shepherd

In a true TEOTWAWKI situation, many people will naturally resort to hunting and fishing to procure food. The increased hunting pressure will make many animals nocturnal and quickly deplete the populations of wild game. There is, however, one overlooked source of food that flies completely under the radar by even the most seasoned survivalists.  It tastes delicious, lasts forever,  replenishes itself to be harvested again and again, is a phenomenal barter item,  and can be found in every state in America.  I am talking about wild honey! The Bible says that this is the food that sustained John the Baptist …


Cordless DC Power Tool Selection

Several readers have asked me what brand of cordless power tools I use. A few years back, I settled on DeWalt brand 18 Volt DC tools here at the Rawles Ranch. This company seemed to offer a very wide selection of very sturdy and reasonably priced tools with long battery life. The only drawback is that their spare batteries are fairly expensive. (Although their batteries seem to have a much longer service life than most of those made by competitors.) Since then, I haven’t regretted the selection of DeWalt, since they keep adding tools to their line, and a they’ve …


Economics and Investing:

Stockton, California: The Bleeding Edge of a Scary Economic Trend G.G. suggested: Doug Casey on the Coming Eurocrash Also from G.G.: 8,733,461: Workers on Federal ‘Disability’ Exceed Population of New York City U.S. Factory Output Drops in May, Second Fall in Three Months From Jeff in Texas, a BBC article: Gold versus paper money: Which should we trust more? Items from The Economatrix: Oil Drops as US Manufacturing Shrinks in June Financial Collapse End Game, Operation Twist Deception, Infinite Quantitative Easing


Odds ‘n Sods:

M.N. sent: Bird flu outbreak hits chicken farms in Mexico    o o o Our Editor at Large Mike Williamson forwarded this: Picatinny engineers set phasers to ‘fry’    o o o Sun watcher J.E.B. wrote to mention: “[Sun spot] 11515 has become more complex and grown rapidly during the last 36 hours now covering approximately 1150 SM of the visible disk. During the last 4 hours the average background X-ray flux has sustained at roughly a C-2.1 level. As I indicated previously, only in a few recorded cases has it occurred that such a sustained flux was not followed by …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people. We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should."- President Ronald Wilson Reagan