Note from JWR:

According to my publisher’s schedule, Eric Dove has nearly finished the narration for the unabridged audio book edition of Expatriates: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse. The hardback, e-book and audiobook will all be released simultaneously on October 1st, 2013. (Please wait until the release day to order your copies.) My previous books were narrated by Dick Hill and Phil Gigante. I’m pleased to report that Eric Dove is in the same league as those narrators. He has a great voice.




Guest Article: Self-Employment as a Form of Preparedness, by S.G.

As the economy in the United States becomes increasingly complex, job opportunities continue to shift toward specialized skills. Employees working at large companies are required to have little or no understanding of how their company operates as a whole. Like any specialized tool, many employees have become useful for only one thing. This presents a real problem for workers who get laid off or fired, because finding another job with a specialized skill set can be a difficult task. A side effect of this problem is an increasing dependence on our interconnected system. Necessities like food and water are expected …




Pat’s Product Review: Cold Steel’s Assegai Spears

I’ll reach social security age later this year – time has flown by in my life. However, my mind is still sharp, and I can remember so much of my childhood, it amazes me at times. If you were a guy, and grew-up in the 1950s and 1960s, you’ll appreciate this memory. I don’t know of any kid on my block, back in Chicago, who didn’t make a “spear” of some sort – usually, we got in big trouble, because we took the kitchen broom and broke the handle off and sharpened (using that term loosely) into a point, and …




Recipe of the Week:

Linda H.’s Three “Beans for Beginners” Recipes They’re healthy, they’re thrifty, and they’re delicious. What’s not to love about beans?! Here are three very different, easy, and tasty recipes to get you started. Lee’s Pinto Bean Soup ½ lb. bacon, cut into large dices 1 c. diced onion (about 1 medium onion) 2 cans (14.5 oz. ea.) chicken broth 2 cans (14.5 oz. ea.) pinto beans, rinsed and drained 1 tbs. sugar 1 tbs. finely chopped jalapeno peppers (or to taste) Salt and pepper to taste In large saucepan or soup-pot cook bacon over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring …




Economics and Investing:

Five hurdles the market must clear this fall From G.G.: Unemployment dips to 7.3 percent, but only 63% of working-age Americans are in labor force Tim J. sent this news from Florida: Three arrested, accused of stealing used cooking oil Items from The Economatrix: US Yields Retreat From 3% After Tame Jobs Data Jobs Market Bumping Along Bottom of Very Deep Hole: Economist Krugman Overboard! Says Economic Policy a ‘Horrifying Failure’




Odds ‘n Sods:

There is a new but familiar listing on SurvivalRealty that I once owned: Secluded But Not Remote Retreat for Sale in Idaho County, Idaho. I can personally vouch that it is a fantastic piece of retreat land, with multiple springs, a good mix of timber and quite a variety of wild herbs. It is advantageously situated down at low elevation on a very private side canyon of the South Fork of the Clearwater River. The winters there are very mild–with just a month of snow that “sticks”–and a long growing season. The surrounding properties are large cattle ranches, so it …




Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Was the Mayflower launched by cowards, steered by men behind their time? Turn those tracks toward Past or Future, that made Plymouth Rock sublime? They were men of present valor, stalwart old iconoclasts, Unconvinced by axe or gibbet that all virtue was the Past’s; But we make their truth our falsehood, thinking that hath made us free, Hoarding it in mouldy parchments, while our tender spirits flee The rude grasp of that great Impulse which drove them across the sea. They have rights who dare maintain them; we are traitors to our sires,  Smothering in their holy ashes Freedom’s new-lit …