Month: April 2016

“Recycle, Repurpose, and Reuse”, by Regan and Hawk

My husband and I fall into the category of people known as “preppers”; we store food, weapons, supplies, and money for when it will be needed in the not too distant future. We track our stores and make sure that we won’t be caught short on many different things. However, one thing both of us have found is that all this prepping is not really enough. What do you do when something breaks or wears out and the stores are closed or it just can’t be found? What happens when you need something out of the norm for a project? …


Letter Re: Backup Electric Power Design Considerations

Hugh, The largest draw on your power is for the refrigeration of both you and your food. These guys have some interesting solutions that are direct connect DC. They seem to be fine folks, but the solutions are pricey. Danzer makes an interesting refrigerator that runs on 24 volt. I get the idea from numerous articles that you really should not have just one solar system in your house. I have bought components and run my Ham radio off a panel and a couple of deep cycle batteries, but I have a long way to go. www.wholesalesolar.com has some great …


Economics and Investing:

The US faces a perfect economic storm – G.G. o o o Taxpayer advocate warns taxes could kill the 2nd Amendment – DSV o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Wall Street is Edging Toward Win on Derivatives Capital Rule (Bloomberg) Excerpt: “The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision on Wednesday proposed a new method for banks to assess their exposure to derivatives, which could wind up lowering the amount of capital lenders need to meet restrictions on leverage.” 6 Reasons I’m Worried Derivatives Could Take Down the Economy Again (Yahoo! Finance) Excerpt: “A number of years ago, Warren …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Twitter Kills Pro-Second Amendment Ad Campaign. It’s not the fact that Twitter censors free speech on their network that bothers me; it is, after all, a private network. No. What bothers me is the fact that we keep using it, knowing that they do this. – DSV o o o As we continually discover, it’s hard to “one-up” nature: A Massive Solar EMP Could Do More Damage Than A Nuclear EMP! – RBS o o o More nonsense from the institution of higher learning: Clinical Law Prof Questions Indoctrinating Students With Social Justice Morality And Requiring Pro Bono By Students, …


Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“They arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Arameans; when they came to the outskirts of the camp of the Arameans, behold, there was no one there. For the Lord had caused the army of the Arameans to hear a sound of chariots and a sound of horses, even the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.” Therefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their …


Notes for Friday – April 15, 2016

April 15th is dreaded as Income Tax day in these United States, but it is also Patriot’s Day. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 64 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 three day course (a $1,195 value), A course …


Controlling UAV Drone Intrusions, by B.I.

I see much interest in the emerging technology of drones. It seems natural for survival groups that wish to band together, and perhaps develop community compounds, to consider drones, which are also known as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), to surveil and protect their environment. Drones can be either individually controlled by an operator with a “radio control” or pre-programmed to fly a specific pattern and then return to a point of origin. Usually, they send data– telemetry, either digital or video/audio– back to the controller, for whatever purpose the drone has been deployed. This author is not a drone technician, …


Letter Re: Grid Down Digital Library

HJL, Downloading YouTube on Android. Remember micro-SD cards are interchangeable and inexpensive, so get a phone with a slot and make backups (and put them around various places). Often large (128Gb+, often U3 for GoPro) capacity cards will go on sale at least once a month, so I look for them and stock up. I’ve seen these as low as $15, limit 2. Sometimes there are excess stock or closeouts on prepaid, and I didn’t have to activate them though there was a trick to bypassing that screen. Most can be rooted. I have several, so it pays to look …


Economics and Investing:

In a new video, Mike Maloney warns of dangerously high P/E ratios and predicts a massive rollover of the stock market in the near future. Any SurvivalBlog readers still holding stocks are warned: Get out now! – JWR o o o The largest U.S. coal company just filed for bankruptcy April 13 – DSV o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Obama Builds a Corporate Tax Prison (Washington Examiner) Excerpt: “None of this would be necessary if the U.S. weren’t now such an inhospitable place to do business.” Will the Last Company in America Please Turn Off the …


Odds ‘n Sods:

It was only a matter of time before this tool was used for the nefarious purpose of “casing”: Hillside residents report ‘Peeping Tom’ drone outside their windows – DSV o o o Publicly funded education is dead – The Re-Education Camps We Call Universities – B.B. o o o A governor who gets it: Maine Gov. Signs Bill Prohibiting Gun Bans in Public Housing – Sent in by H.L. o o o How to Build a Storm Shelter – If you are going to the trouble of building the shelter, it might not be a bad idea to add EMP …



Notes for Thursday – April 14, 2016

Today, we present another entry for Round 64 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 three day course (a $1,195 value), A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. …


A Digital Library in a Grid-Down World, by J.G.

Since you are reading this online, nothing bad has happened yet to the grid. The walk from dependency on modern culture and conveniences to preparedness is ongoing. The naïve and nihilists are doing little to prepare for what we hope never happens. The rest of us are on a continuum of awareness and readiness. Today, we take the power grid as a given. Virtually all apocalyptic scenarios involve loss of power and electricity, sooner if not later. There are plenty of articles stating the absolute need for clean water, food, shelter, and security. This is not in dispute. We all …


Letter Re: Backup Electric Power Design Considerations

Editor, I found KK’s recent letter interesting in that he, as an experienced solar installer, recommends DC coupled systems. In particular, I would like him to expand on how his clients cope with using DC rather than AC on their properties and how and where they buy DC appliances, tools, pumps, et cetera. I understand that battery-powered electronics and tools are ubiquitous and well tested, but in general the batteries have voltages from 1.5 to 18 volts or so and the chargers accommodate that by plugging into 110 volt AC. Do his clients use small point load inverters for this? …


Economics and Investing:

US faces ‘disastrous’ $3.4tn pension funding hole o o o Items from Mr. Econocobas: U.S. Runs $108 Billion Budget Deficit in March, Treasury Says Video: The April Emergency The Fed Doesn’t Want You To Know About – Mike Maloney – Interesting take.. Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Auditor: Government Will Owe More than Entire Economy Produces (Washington Free Beacon) Excerpt: “The audit also called into question the reliability of the government’s financial statements.” “Mr. Social Security” Indicted in $600 Million Disability Fraud Scheme (Washington Free Beacon) Excerpt: “The defendants are charged with designing an intricate scheme, using their expertise …