Notes for Friday – August 14, 2015

14 August 1945 V-J Day o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 60 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $10,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three day 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, …




Traversing the Hinterlands – Part 3, by Iowa Farm Boy

Dangerous Areas It will be extremely difficult to cross this region while avoiding some major cities. For example, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City are very close together. You all know as well as I do what happens when people get desperate. How far away from the cities this will effect the countryside, I don’t know. Cities to avoid specifically are the ones with major prisons, like Fort Madison or Anamosa. There are several prisons or minimum security facilities across the region, and someone coming through Iowa needs to do their research and avoid them, if possible. I have spent the …




Letter Re: Our Experience Growing and Storing Our Own Food- Part 1

Dear Survival Blog: I share Tennessean’s love of pole beans (and second the nomination of Rattlesnake as a wonderful variety), but up here in NY, where you have to wait for the soil to warm up before planting, bush beans will produce something edible 7-10 days faster than pole beans. So, in a must-eat situation, that may be important. The fastest maturing pole bean variety I have grown is Golden Gate. If using horse fence as a trellis is out of your price range, take a look at Herrick Kimball’s bicycle tire trellis. Go to his Gardening Ideas Book page …




Economics and Investing:

$2,672,414,000,000: Federal Taxes Set Record Through July; $17,955 Per Worker–Feds Still Run $465.5B Deficit – B.B. o o o Desolation Row: the Silver Market – G.C. o o o Massive Commonwealth Bank glitch takes cash from customers – G.P. o o o Europe in crisis: everyone from Putin to ordinary savers is stockpiling gold – GJM o o o Why This Bubble Is Actually WORSE Than The Internet Tech Bubble




Odds ‘n Sods:

American knife collector “Stilletto” just posted a very positive video review of the Rawles XL Voyager Knife. He compares the knife to the earlier-generation extra large Voyagers, and shows some nice close up views. He also mentions that this limited edition knife with the SurvivalBlog logotype will probably never make it to Cold Steel’s regular catalog or to any stocking dealers. These will probably sell out quickly, so don’t hesitate. As I’ve mentioned before, all profits are going to two Christian charities. – JWR o o o Federal Agencies Fight for Warrantless Access to Emails – G.P. o o o …