Day: July 11, 2013

Notes from JWR:

A news item of particular note: Effort To Create New State Called ‘North Colorado’ Grows. Some 10 counties are now involved! Needless to say, if they succeed I will expand my definition of The American Redoubt! — Today we present another entry for Round 47 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 course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted …


Dehydration and Rehydration Solutions, by M.A. in Washington State

I would first like to thank you and all of the previous posters on this blog. I have been an avid reader for a few years now and I have learned immeasurably from you all. Dehydration can be a problem for individuals in the first world today, and a massive problem for those in the third world. In a post collapse situation, life for us in America and the rest of the first world countries could look more like the latter. There are many causes for dehydration, from working outside in the heat and sweating out fluids to a serious …


Letter Re: Old Military Physical Fitness Manuals

Hello, I’ve been lurking around your blog for a while now and I love it!   I’d like to share this link with you: the Iowa Health and Physical Readiness Alliance web site.   This online library has several old military physical fitness manuals (dated 1892, 1914, 1917, and 1946).  I think that your readers would really love the 1946 manual, FM 21-20.  Not only does it have an extensive calisthenics routine, but also has guerrilla drills on carrying wounded comrades, running and swimming instructions, and even brief sections on wrestling, boxing, and hand-to-hand combatives.  All are in PDF.   Enjoy! – Tom …


Economics and Investing:

The global derivatives bubble continues to inflate. According to the BIS there are now $564 Trillion in over the counter derivatives, which includes $441 Trillion in bets on small moves in the direction of interest rates. If and when interest rates spike (and they will!), the counterparty risk will be huge, and spectacular derivatives implosion could bring down the global credit market. Vince W. wrote to mention a new vehicle that is going to be made here in the U.S. at an old GM plant in Louisiana. They claim it will get 84 mpg, and have an 8 gallon gas …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader Brian M. sent this: Couple discover 7,500 machine gun, shotgun and pistol bullets in their back garden while weeding their pond. Now, to illustrate a world of difference: Last year one of my consulting clients discovered 5,500 rounds of .22 ammo and six boxes of shotgun shells stored in dusty ammo cans in the crawlspace of the house that he had bought eastern Oregon. He called the previous owners and asked if they wanted the ammo. (They had moved to Arizona.) They told him to just keep it. He expressed his heartfelt thanks. Note that he did not become …