Notes for Monday – April 20, 2015

On April 20th, 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, leased by BP, killed 11 workers and began spewing an estimated 200 million gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico for nearly three months, creating the worst known offshore oil spill. April 20th is also the day that we remember the victims of the Columbine High School tragedy, where two students stormed into a suburban high school in Littleton, Colorado in 1999, at lunch time with guns and explosives, killing 13 and wounding dozens more in what was, at the time, the nation’s deadliest school shooting.




Scot’s Product Review: DeLorme inReach Explorer

The first warning is that this is an electronic device. It probably won’t work after an EMP or Carrington event. It communicates via the Iridium satellite system, which is also used by the government, so it isn’t secure, not that any electronic communications are. It depends on the GPS satellite constellation, which is another government service. The government can, when it feels like it, degrade the accuracy of civilian GPS units or even shut down the service to all but government clients. There are, therefore, drawbacks that you have to be aware of. Regardless, the DeLorme inReach offers some pretty …




Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Kershaw – Siege Tomahawk

Please indulge me for a few minutes, with some of my past. I was raised by my grandparents from the time I was 6-weeks old. The sad thing is that my grandparents had already raised nine kids of their own, and it sure wasn’t fair to them to have to raise me, but that’s the way it was. I had a good life though; I have no complaints. I didn’t realize it, but back then, in the 1950s, my grandparents were dirt poor. When I was younger, they both worked in the same factory on different shifts so one could …




Recipe of the Week: Chocolate Chick Pea Pudding

Hello Hugh, here is a simple and highly nutritious chocolate chick pea pudding recipe made from all food storage ingredients. The pudding has no beany taste, and if you have a Vitamix or blend the chick peas long enough in a regular blender there is no graininess. I also have used oats as a thickener, in case a person does not use flour or corn starch. Ingredients: 1-15 oz. can chick peas or garbanzo beans 2 cups water 2/3 cups non fat powdered milk 2 Tbsp. cocoa powder 1/4-1/2 cup sugar 2 Tbsp. oats 1 Tsp. powdered egg berries ( …




Letter Re: Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Inter Ordnance “AK-47″

Hugh/JR: I own the same rifle; I just bought it last fall. Full concurrence with all Pat’s observations, but the plastic furniture can be a drawback. During repeat (not full auto) firing, the hand guard failed (melted) at the forward-most position, welding the heat-softened material to the increasingly-hot barrel. I recommend owners of this otherwise fine product consider either increasing the gap between the plastic hand guard and the barrel or swapping it for one of different material. V/R




Economics and Investing:

The World Bank has been found to have violated its own policies, on protecting the rights of indigenous peoples. o o o Ford to spend $2.5 billion on plants in Mexico, angering UAW. – A.W. o o o Oil Busts Triggering Economic Seizures: “A Stream of Bankruptcy Attorneys Running Around”. – H.L. o o o 1 out of 4 college adjunct faculty collecting government assistance: Students in debt and professors barely getting by all the while tuition soars.




Odds ‘n Sods:

The Death of the Left. – H.L. o o o Car thieves’ scary new tool. – D.S. HJL Adds: While the article on the dangers of new technology was interesting, I found the link to the video of the scythe-vs-weed whacker at the end of the article to be incredibly amazing. o o o This New Libertarian Micronation Might Just Be Crazy Enough to Work. – H.L. o o o SurvivalBlog reader L.B. has recommended the OneYardRevolution channel on YouTube. Its focus is on frugal and sustainable organic gardening. In particular, L.B. likes that he doesn’t waste your time by …