Month: April 2015

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“He found, using fifty stones to keep track, that he could easily remember the names of all fifty states, and he knew the capitols of a lot of them. He knew his times tables all the way up to twelves, and he knew when they’d signed the Declaration of Independence and when John Glenn landed on the moon. But he was keenly aware that he didn’t know how to tell if nuts were good to eat, or what berries will make you sick, or what mushrooms were poisonous, and he slowly began to wonder why not one person had ever …


Notes for Thursday – April 23, 2015

Today, we present another entry for Round 58 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,000+ worth of 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), 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, DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chromlined barrel and a hard case to go with …


“Internet” Without Infrastructure – Part 3, by R.H.

Basic Techniques and Definition of Terms (continued) Sending a message. Sending a message consists of creating a text file containing the message, naming the file as described above, and getting it into a Postmaster’s pouch or multiple Postmasters’ pouches. If you don’t have a way to create a file yourself, a Postmaster can help you. The smaller your message is the better chance it has of getting through. You don’t need to go crazy with this. A message that is only 20 characters in length is not really any better than a 1K file (1024 characters). When writing out large …


Letter Re: Dogs Tracking Someone

JWR, HJL, SurvivalBlog Readers: I have a few thoughts about tracking dogs. My wife does canine search and rescue for the local CERT team in our rural county. There are two main types of search dogs– area and trailing. A trailing dog will follow a scent from weakest to strongest along a track. They may cut, circle back trails, and follow the strongest scent trail. Area dogs look for the strongest scent, not worrying too much about a specific trail but concentrating on an area. Over many years (doing training) the dogs have always found me. The team dogs have …


Economics and Investing:

War On Cash Intensifies: JPMorgan Chase To Prohibit The Storage Of Cash In Safety Deposit Boxes o o o Massive Derivatives melt-down going on; Fed engaging in enormous RRP Reverse Repo op o o o Items from Mr. Econocobas: You Thought the Taper Tantrum Was Bad? Wait Till Fed Lifts Rates – I still believe the Fed won’t raise rates, but if it did things could fall out of bed quickly. The Mystery Of China’s Gold Holdings Is Coming To An End A Third of U.S. Citizens Have Less Than $1,000 for Retirement


Odds ‘n Sods:

VA Sends Veterans’ Medical Info To FBI To Get Their Guns Taken Away . – H.L. o o o You would think that police would get the message that their actions may be recorded by now. – H.L. o o o ‘Lunch lady’ lobby joins GOP to fight Obama’s school lunch rules. – D.S. o o o Nullification is a Natural Right!. – B.B. o o o More than Half of Police Killed in Venezuelan Capital Targeted for Guns. – JBG



Notes for Wednesday – April 22, 2015

The 5th of Iyar (Hebrew calendar) is Israel’s Independence Day (advanced one day to Iyar 4 this year). Today is also the birthday of the late Charles Rankin Bond, Jr., born in Dallas on April 22, 1915, who is one of the last of the AVG Flying Tiger pilots. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 58 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $12,000+ worth of 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), A course certificate from onPoint …


“Internet” Without Infrastructure – Part 2, by R.H.

How the Network Works Basically, as soon as people start transferring files between computers, a network of sorts exists. A complex system can then be developed to get information to the right place as quickly as possible and keep everything running smoothly and efficiently. This is what the Internet does now, using millions of powerful computers and extremely complex software. There is a much simpler way of building a network that requires only the basic technology items listed above and the adoption of a few very simple standards and rules. All we need, basically, is to get a given “file” …


Letter: Dogs Tracking Someone

Hello, I l liked your books. Recently a wanted felon in our small town eluded a canine unit whereas many others have not. God forbid it should happen under the wrong circumstances to anyone not deserving to be hunted down. I did wonder though how the one that got away might have done that. I went to the Internet and found a few answers, but when I searched your site I could find nothing about it. I wondered if any of the readers out there have any practical solutions on the topic. It seems like the knowledge might be of …


Economics and Investing:

Saudi Arabia’s Oil-Price War Is With Stupid Money o o o A reset coming to world financial markets and if you’ve been paying attention it’s impossible to ignore the signs o o o Items from Mr. Econocobas: The Fed Still Wants Easy Money – Sometimes I just have to laugh my way through articles. This is one of this times. U.S. Pushing for Greek Solution in ‘Interest of Entire World’ – Don’t know how this is going to shake out, but this really is worth following. Inflation Goal May Be Too Low, Says Fed’s Rosengren – Really?? Video: Faber: Global …



Odds ‘n Sods:

The FDA Might Finally Crack Down on Homeopathy. – H.L. I have mixed feelings on this one. There are some real crack-pot remedies being pushed out there, but the FDA doesn’t exactly have a stellar reputation of regulation either. o o o Why Google Is the New Evil Empire. – D.S. o o o Wisconsin’s Shame: ‘I Thought It Was a Home Invasion’. – JBG o o o The Medical Cartel: Too Big to Fail, Too Evil to Expose. – H.L. o o o Abandoned By White House, Americans Describe Tense Escapes From Yemen. – B.B.



Notes for Tuesday – April 21, 2015

April 21st is Aggie Muster Day for all Texas A&M Corps of Cadets graduates. Aggie Muster celebrations/meetings are held as far away as Japan, Germany, and Afghanistan. I should mention that Jim’s grandfather (a U.S. Army Cavalry LTC) was an Aggie– something mentioned so often that everyone in his family felt like de facto Aggies, too. Other than the officers that matriculate though West Point, the four institutions that seem to have the greatest ongoing esprit de corps for graduates are Texas A&M, The Citadel, Norwich University, and VMI. Jim felt almost obliged to include an Aggie character in his …