Notes for Thursday – March 17, 2016

March 17th is the birthday of Józef Franczak (born 1917, died 21 October 1963), who was a Polish Army Corporal fighting in the World War II resistance against the invading Germans. He then carried on after the war, fighting against the occupying Soviets and their Polish communist stooges. Eventually, he was one of the last of the Cursed Soldiers resistance in Poland. His nom de guerre was Lalek. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 63 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A Tactical Self-Contained …




Friction Fire- Part 2, by N.E.

Some people like to carve this ember notch before the hearth and drill have mated. I do not. The reason I do not carve this ember notch earlier in the process is that you can ruin the ember notch before the drill and hearth have mated. This can happen from applying too much pressure too soon, causing the drill to kick out of the mate and then splitting the hearth or ruining the ember notch. Also, where the mate actually takes place may not be aligned perfectly with the ember notch, which means more carving. If you ruin the ember …




Letter Re: Why I Started Prepping, by KB

Sirs, We, as a country, have run our financial cycle; reference KB’s timely article. I have one addition: the reference to $19 plus trillion is for funded U.S. debt. In addition, folks, there is over $200 trillion in unfunded debt, which the current POTUS has added almost 50% to that portion since his time on the golf course. We are led to believe that $19 trillion is the true bottom line total debt number. Like Mark Twain once said, “Politicians like diapers should be changed often…and for the same reason”. I have only heard Trump and Carson address the true …




Economics and Investing:

12 Frugal Lessons From the Great Depression – D.S. o o o What The Smart Money Is Most Worried About o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News We are Headed Toward a Cashless Society? (Mises) House GOP Conference Chair Unveils Bill to Fight Government “Zombies” (Washington Free Beacon) Excerpt: “The legislation would pressure Congress to reexamine government programs whose authorizations have expired by subjecting such programs to a rolling sequester, which would take place over three years and end with a complete elimination of funding if lawmakers have not acted to reauthorize the program. Currently, the federal government …




Odds ‘n Sods:

New Gov’t Operation Denies Citizens Access to Guns & Gold – Not exactly new to SurvivalBlog readers but an interesting read nonetheless. – D.S. o o o From SurvivalBlog reader J.N.: A bit of reading required here, but well worth it. Much of it can be considered “Problem Two”– what to do AFTER your physical preps are in place. Okay, you’ve already got the nine B’s– Berkey (i.e. water), beans, bullets, bandaids, batteries, bullion, books, barter, beliefs. Then it’s time to think about the tenth B– “buddies”. Lone wolves, no matter how well equipped, will get picked off early in …