Notes for Friday – May 01, 2015

May 1st is the birthday of the late Joel Rosenberg, a Canadian-born novelist and gun rights advocate (born 1954, died June 2, 2011). He is not to be confused with Joel C. Rosenberg (born 1967), who is another great novelist and the author of The Last Jihad series. 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 Tactical. …




The Frog In A Slowly Heating Pot, by N.H.

Do you recall the frog in that joke about how you boil a frog and the answer is by slowly turning up the heat? It’s done that way because he doesn’t notice the heat until it’s too late to jump. Let me tell you the story of how that frog joke relates to me. The second ice storm hit a few days ago– two days after the first one. The first one was a pretty inconvenience. Schools were closed for the day; we had a day off work; the freezing rain, which coated the branches and power lines, shone like …




Letter Re: Knives

HJL, I travel via motorcycle. I always carry a cheap $20 Cold Steel Kukhri. I’ve carried it in Mexico, Canada, and in several countries in southern Africa and South America. As it is seen around the world as a utility knife used by many of the locals, its presence has never been questioned. I carry the cheap one just in case it gets confiscated. Because weight is always an issue, I cut a hex hole in the blade that fits the big hex nut on my rear axle. Because of this I don’t need to carry another big heavy wrench …




Economics and Investing:

Citibank Buys $1Billion in Gold From Venezuela. Maduro’s cash-strapped regime is so desperate for revenue that they’ve agreed to pawn 1.4 million ounces of gold, which amounts to $714 per ounce. – H.L. o o o The Fed has been horribly wrong about nearly everything they have forecast and most of the policy actions they have taken as both a central bank and a regulator for the past twenty years. o o o Items from Mr. Econocobas: U.S. GDP Gained A Sluggish 0.2% In First Quarter 2015 US Homeownership Rate Drops To 1983 Levels: Here’s Why America’s Student Debt Pain …




Odds ‘n Sods:

Bird flu epidemic becoming critical. – B.B. o o o NSA veteran chief fears crippling cyber-attack on Western energy infrastructure. – B.B. o o o Hillary Equates Gun Owners With Terrorists, Says They Are “Prone to Violence.”. – D.S. o o o A SurvivalBlog reader wrote in to tell us that there is a couple giving away their 20 acre goat farm in Alabama to the winner of an essay contest. Their intent is to move to Central America to assist missionaries in establishing goat farms there. There is a news story on it, too. o o o You know …