Day: April 10, 2013

Notes from JWR:

As the western world mourns the loss of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, America’s shooting fraternity mourns the loss of Rock River Arms co-founder Mark Larson. R.I.P. — Today is the birthday of Jim Bowie (born 1796, died March 6, 1836 at the Battle of the Alamo.) The Bowie knife–essentially a small short sword–was his lasting legacy. — Today we present another entry for Round 46 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course. (A $1,195 value.) B.) A …


Bartering Via Craigslist, by George H.

Building up a skill set can easily be argued the most critical survival ability available. One skill set often overlooked is bartering. Trading a good or service for another. Looking at tangible items, one recent item everyone has noticed is the new price for ammo and certain rifles. The adage “buy low sell high” still applies if you can do so and still maintain your own needed stock. About four and a half years ago AR-15s were roughly the same inflated cost as today (after BHO was elected), there was a massive panic and parts were scarce. It took four …


Letter Re: Acquiring Local Topgraphic Maps

Dear Jim: A reminder to folks who don’t have good topos of their local area – get some. Just went to get updated topo maps of my local area in the 1:24,000 scale.  Little did I know that the 1980s vintage map I currently have is superior to the current maps!  The US Geological Service, decided in their <sarcasm on> “infinite wisdom” to update topos with roads added since the 1980s, but delete much of the vital information like pipelines, fencelines, gravel pits, radio towers, etc., etc. that make a topo useful.  It must have been just too difficult to …


Economics and Investing:

Dallas Fed President warns about the consequences of Too Big to Fail policies. Portugal Considers Paying Public Workers In Treasury Bills Instead Of Cash New Trouble for Euro in Portugal H.L. sent: 30,000 Greek Households Lose Electricity Each Month. Items from The Economatrix: Jim Willie:  Economy Will Implode Get Prepared For Economic Catastrophe: You Are Being Sacrificed To Save The Too-Big-To-Fail Banks It No Longer Pays To Go To Work


Odds ‘n Sods:

Attention Texans: April 26 to 28 there is a Self Reliance Expo in Arlington, Texas. Marjorie Wildcraft, Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy are among the many speakers.    o o o Some commentary by Claire Wolfe over at Backwoods Home: Can the U.N. Ban America’s Guns?    o o o Sad news from Oz: Queenslanders handing in 500 guns a week. Of course what is not mentioned in the article is that there are millions of unregistered guns in Australia, including hundreds of thousands of now contraband semi-auto and pump action guns. Recognizing their long standing right, many Aussies have …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Military analysts pretty much agree Japan lost the war in the Pacific because they were playing chess while we were playing checkers. Overthinking all but guarantees failure. Engineers will tell you complexity increases as the square of the subsystems involved, or near enough, something survivalists should keep in mind when they attempt to replicate their ‘normal’ life. And no, being a nice, deserving person with good intentions won’t make failure modes go away. The cost of maintaining complex systems eventually exceeds the value they provide and fail when they become too complex to effectively manage. A trivial glitch that won’t …