Notes for Tuesday – March 22, 2016

This is the birthday of Louis L’Amour. Some of his novels have survival themes, and one of the most notable ones was Last of the Breed. 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 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $1,700 value), A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate that is good for any one, two, or …




Backup Electric Power Design Considerations- Part 3, by Duliskov

Batteries can generate, without damage, several hundred amperes of DC current for short periods of time. In fact, you can arc weld using a battery. There are welders designed to run from battery power alone or able to run either from internal batteries and/or supplementing utility power with internal battery power. Though the Hobart Trek 180 welder, which I recommend, may have been discontinued or currently unavailable, it is useful if you wish to achieve higher amps than is possible via a single 120V household outlet. The higher the battery’s amperage, the easier the battery can start a car engine, …




Letter Re: Long-Term Gas Storage

Dear Hugh and Jim, Here is my anecdotal knowledge relating to long-term storage of gasoline. I grew up on my family’s dairy farm in northern Wisconsin. My dad had a 300-gallon steel gas tank that sat on a stand about six feet off the ground in the shade of a White Pine tree. He refilled it every year or two, and that gas powered our two Allis Chalmers WD 45 tractors and the other gas-powered engines, lawn mowers, etc., on the farm. So far as I know, he never used any stabilizers and we never had any fuel-related problems. Of …




News From The American Redoubt:

Idaho: House Suspends Rules, Passes Concealed-Carry Bill. JWR’s Comments: While not a perfect bill, this is still great news for the Constitutional Carry movement. The governor is expected to sign the bill into law. The Montana legislature is expected to follow suit, when it comes back into session. (They meet only in alternating years.) Montana’s Democrat governor has twice vetoed permitless carry bills, but the legislatures plans to send him another bill with a veto-proof majority. o o o Elias Alias (of The Mental Militia Forums) has produced a new documentary, filmed in northwestern Montana: This Land is Our Land. …




Economics and Investing:

DOW JONES vs SILVER: Trading Volume Says It All o o o Central banks are already doing the unthinkable – you just don’t know it – G.G. o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Including the Ocean Floor, the Feds Own Much More Land than You Think (Mises) Excerpt: “Is US land ownership heavily socialized? Let’s begin answering this question by considering the states with the largest percentages of government-owned lands.” The next post is a commentary from Judge Andrew Napolitano from 2014. It’s an older post, but it’s well worth reading in the context of the broad …




Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog reader B.B. sent in this TED talk on software that can take an ordinary video and magnify nearly invisible motion and sound. If you don’t have time to watch the entire 12-minute video, at least fast forward to the 10-minute mark and observe them recover usable audio through soundproof glass by merely videotaping an empty potato chip bag. Michael Rubinstein: See invisible motion, hear silent sound o o o The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that electric stun guns are Constitutionally protected. o o o Reader T.P. sent this in: Nevada Assemblywoman: If You Were at Bundy Ranch and …