Month: September 2013

News From The American Redoubt:

Cheryl N. sent: A Map Of America’s Future: Where Growth Will Be Over The Next Decade. Not surprisingly, the “Inland West” (which includes much of The American Redoubt will benefit from conservative transplants from other states. It is all about personal freedom and opportunity. Here is a quote: “From 2003 to 2013, [the Inland West] enjoyed the most rapid population growth in the nation: 21%. It is expected to continue to outgrow the rest of the country over the next decade, as the area boasts the highest percentage of young people under 20 in the U.S.”    o o o …


Economics and Investing:

Billionaire Eric Sprott: Gold is going to $2,400 by next summer Israeli government reportedly mulling Bitcoin tax For a limited time, Northwest Territorial mint is offering their divisible “Stagecoach Silver” coins for as little as 65 cents over spot. G.G. suggested: ‘Follow the Money’: NSA Spies on International Payments Items from The Economatrix: Jobless Claims Fall To 7-Year Low, But … Foreclosure Crisis Drawing To A Close


Odds ‘n Sods:

G.G. flagged this: Imagining a Cyberattack on the Power Grid    o o o Reader F.G. sent me a link to some eye candy: Herra Kuulapaa: High speed ballistics photography. (The Guy Fawkes mask was a nice touch.)    o o o Bob K. and his wife recommended the classic short story: The Machine Stops, by E.M. Forster, written in 1909.    o o o Activity On The Sun Flatlines: Bitterly Cold Winters Ahead?    o o o 14 Civilian Disarmament Bills on California Governor’s Desk


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Trillions were created so that a system choking on existing debt could issue more debt. But you can’t lose sight of the creation process, created isn’t ‘out of thin air’, it’s never out of thin air. Created is loaned into existence. We are issuing debt in order to transfer debt in order to ‘free up credit’ which basically means to create more debt. This is how our monetary system works.” – Post comment by “kridkrid”, at Zero Hedge


Notes from JWR:

The continuing floods in Colorado underscore the importance of having both Get Out of Dodge (G.O.O.D.) kits and Get Home Bags (GHBs.) See: Officials to flood-hit Coloradans: Leave now or face weeks without supplies. — Today is the birthday of “Mad Jack” Churchill. (Born 1906, died, March 8, 1996.) He was a world class eccentric. He went to war in WWII armed with a broadsword and a longbow. (The latter was successfully used to dispatch several German soldiers.) He later became a devoted surfer. He was truly an original character.


Pat’s Product Review: All American Sun Oven

It goes something like this, “one is none, two is one, and three is two!” No, that’s not new math – although these days, it could be with all the insane things they are now teaching in public schools. What I’m talking about relates to survival. If you have one of “something” and it breaks, you lose it, or whatever happens to it, you have none. If you have two of “something” and one goes south, then you still have one. If you have three of “something” then if one stops working, you still have two to fall back on. …


Embarrassing Truths: An Example of Why You Shouldn’t Trust Wikipedia

As I’ve mentioned before, Wikipedia’s editors have strong leftist and statist biases. This is evidenced by the way that they selectively delete content and gradually push the Point of View (POV) of articles to match their world views. According a SurvivalBlog reader in Switzerland, the following section was deleted from Wikipedia by members of an anti-gun Wikipedia cabal on August 14, 2013. (It had been part of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns article): Members convicted of illegal activity   Some members of MAIG have been convicted of crimes. They include:   Baltimore, Maryland – Mayor Sheila Dixon   Hartford, Connecticut …


Letter Re: Advice on Firearms Caching

Hi James, After a firearm has been oiled up with RIG grease and vacuum sealed, I want to put it into a rifle length mylar bag as well and then put into a 6″ PVC tube.  Should I simply use a Hot Hands hand warmer inside the mylar bag and then another one inside the PVC tube?  I should not have to worry about moisture if it is vacuum sealed? right?  I do have some silica gel packs but did not know if you can mix the two together. I tried to do a search on your site but could …


Letter Re: Preserving a Digital Library

James, Concerning the recent posts (all good) about a digital library: I admit I didn’t read every word, but as a fairly long time (23+ years) IT professional for the same company, I would be remiss to not identify the problems we have had. First off understand, technology always marches on! And whiles many times I have successfully restored rewritten 20+ year old data, there have been many failures. As densities of storage medium grows the physical size of the actual stored information shrinks! So the actual stored magnetic 1’s and 0’s are written is in smaller and smaller spaces, …


Recipe of the Week:

Naomi’s Chili With Fresh Tomatoes I don’t use tomato products that are in cans because of my concerns about BPA, an endocrine disruptor found in the plasticized lining of canned food cans, which is particularly bad in tomatoes.  However, this poses a problem when making chili, because most recipes call for canned tomatoes or tomato paste. I developed this recipe to use fresh tomatoes in making chili.  It does involve a jar of salsa (which is in glass) and frozen veggies, but those can easily be substituted for fresh stuff or omitted all together. Chili from fresh tomatoes Ingredients 2 …


Economics and Investing:

Fed set to unveil tapering of asset purchases next week. [JWR’s Comment: Don’t be surprised if you hear that this decision is quietly rescinded, just a few weeks from now. Free money is more addictive than crack cocaine. And I’m sure that TPTB realize that any substantive “tapering” would throw the credit market into a tailspin. Merely talking about tapering is much more comfortable to the banksters. This is something akin to your local crackhead talking about gradually giving up his addiction–and just as likely.] G.G. suggested: More Americans Struggle to Afford Food Reader “Dollardog” recommended this: An empty storefront, …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Pre-1899 and replica gun law tested in Texas.    o o o On November 16, 2013, I will be a featured guest speaker (via teleseminar) at the Charlotte, North Carolina Back To The Basics convention. (Formerly known as Charlotte PrepCon.)    o o o Some redoubtable folks: Maryland counties join movement to secede from largely Democrat-run state. (Thanks to S.R. for the link.)    o o o Killer robots and crippling cyber attacks: How the world is going to end – according to super brains such as Stephen Hawking    o o o Robert L. wrote: “I recommend Royal Bag …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good …


Notes from JWR:

Please keep the folks in the flooded valleys in and near Boulder, Colorado in your prayers. — Today we present another entry for Round 48 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 for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze …


Getting Real About Bugging Out, by R.G.

Ragnar Benson wrote the book “The Survival Retreat: A Total Plan For Retreat Defense” many years ago, but one of the things he discussed has stayed with me for a long time.  Reading this blog influenced me to read it again recently.  A great many of the things in the book don’t apply to my situation, but his discussion of the insights into the conditions during a disruption of normal society influenced my decision to “bunker in place.”  His descriptions of the situations of refugees especially affected me.  Refugees are basically at the mercy of whichever authority is controlling the …