Month: August 2015


Notes for Saturday – August 15, 2015

On August 15, 1961, two days after sealing off free passage between East and West Berlin with barbed wire, East German authorities began building a wall–the Berlin Wall–to permanently close off access to the West. For the next 28 years, the heavily fortified Berlin Wall stood as the most tangible symbol of the Cold War–a literal “iron curtain” dividing Europe. The wall has now been torn down for longer than it stood, but the scars in memory are still there.


July in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran of Gainesville Coins

Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, by Steven Cochran of Gainsesville Coins. Every month we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals, covering the price action of gold and examine the “what” and “why” behind those numbers. So much for the “summer doldrums.” July was a wild roller coaster ride, no matter which market you looked at, and gold was no exception. If it wasn’t stress over whether the Fed would raise interest rates next month, it was the meltdown in the Chinese stock market, or the fate of Greece and its economy. Remember …


Letter: Fishing Pliers

Dear SurvivalBlog, After searching every nook and cranny of the Internet I have had no luck in finding a decent (in quality and price) pair of needle nose “fishing specific’ pliers. How about taking on the challenge? – JLN Pat Cascio responds: I love to fish, and there is a pond just 50 yards from my front door on my neighbor’s property, and I can fish there all I want. I’m a sport angler; I catch and release most of the time. I’ve been fishing since I was about 10 years old. I started out using a bamboo fishing pole. …


Economics and Investing:

Germany Continues To Lead The West In Physical Gold Demand o o o The Average Net Worth by Age: The massive financial chicanery brought on by housing equity figures and the new real estate bubble. o o o Why Emerging Markets Are Getting Crushed o o o What’s Really At Stake With The Iran Nuclear Deal o o o The WAR on CASH isn’t coming…it’s already here – D.S.


Odds ‘n Sods:

Even more reason to home school. Public schools are GOVERNMENT schools and we know what kind of government– federal, state, and local– we NOW have! It’s our own fault for being asleep for DECADES! School Officials Used Young Girl as “Bait” in Rape Sting, She Was Raped and they Covered it Up – H.L. o o o Pistol-whipped detective says he didn’t shoot attacker because of headlines – T.P. o o o Want ‘sustained happiness’? Get religion, study suggests – D.S. o o o Before the death panels…limb panels? – Mike Williamson, SurvivalBlog’s Editor At Large o o o Reciprocity …



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 …



Notes for Thursday – August 13, 2015

Ready Made Resources is letting SurvivalBlog readers know that FLIR is offering a factory rebate on their thermal units. The FLIR PS-32 has a $500 rebate and the RS rifle scope series has up to $1000 rebate. o o o Camping Survival now has “gently evaporated” eggs back in stock. (They’ve been on back order for quite a while due to the bird flu.) It sounds silly to call them “gently evaporated”, but they taste excellent. o o o Don’t forget about the Survival Cave Food meat sale at Safecastle. As the political season starts ramping up, you may need …


SurvivalBlog’s 10th Anniversary!

This month marks the 10th anniversary of SurvivalBlog. The blog was propitiously launched just a few weeks before the well-remembered Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast. Since August of 2005 we’ve only missed a few days of daily posting. (Those were immediately following the untimely death of my first wife.) The blog’s archives of articles and letters are now amazingly deep, and we’ve kept them all fully accessible to everyone, free of charge. The blog now has more than 320,000 unique visitors per week, and has logged nearly 76 million unique visits. My sincere thanks to our many loyal readers, …