Day: October 27, 2016


Notes for Thursday – October 27, 2016

I was saddened to hear of the death of Bob Hoover, one of the world’s most skilled pilots. He was a fighter pilot, test pilot, exhibition flyer, and airshow promoter. He was 94 years old. When Bob put on his flying exhibitions at air shows, it was often in a Shrike twin engine passenger plane–a plane that was not designed with aerobatics in mind.  Most of those flights were done with one of the engines turned off and the prop feathered, and then he shut down the other engine, and continued to do aerobatics, often landing dead stick!  He absolutely …


Lessons Learned in Livestock – Part 2, by C.K.

(Continued from Part 1) The following are the varieties of livestock that  I would not consider for a prepared homestead: Guinea Fowl. I raised over 300 per year. Feed requirements can be met with them running loose, but that also meets the cat’s requirements on little keets. Also a guinea looks for the best hiding spot for eggs. And if allowed to roost outside they will help your owl population by supplying a midnight snack. And they wander to far from home and make way too much noise. The amount of bug reduction is nice but, chickens and ducks also …


Letter: Advice for Disabled Suburban Retiree Preppers

HJL and JWR, I’m seeking links or tips on how a 77-year-old disabled person can defend his property in case there’s TEOTWAWKI. My wife is 72. We live in a middle class subdivision 45 miles from Cleveland, Ohio. Because of physical disabilities (neuropathy, bad knees and legs) I am not very mobile. I use walker/cane most of the time. We are moderately prepared (food, guns, ammo, junk silver, etc. A retired Marine lives at the other end of the block but says he will bug out if SHTF. Nobody else on the block seems even to be aware of the …


Economics and Investing:

Obama administration confirms double-digit [Obamacare] premium hikes. o o o Signs of the times: America’s biggest banks are closing hundreds of branches.  JWR’s Comment: Whenever The Powers That Be get around to instituting their long-dreamed-of Cashless Society, there will be no need for brick and mortar banks. Nor will there be any privacy about what you buy and sell. Every transaction made with electronic currency will be permanently cataloged and cross-correlated with your social media interactions.  Thus, the entire lives of most citizens will be transparent to police and intelligence organizations. To mitigate this, I recommend both: A.) Creating a …


Odds ‘n Sods:

On a recent road trip through Ontario, Canada, I noticed a surprising number of houses equipped with photovoltaic (PV) power panels–both roof-mounted and ground rack-mounted. I suspect that these these PV systems were nearly all both:  A.) Grid-tied, and B.) Partly paid for by generous incentives. One of these incentives is called the Feed-in-tariff (FIT), wherein a grid-tied renewable energy producer is paid a premium for excess power fed back to the grid, for a limited number of years. For small producers (under 10 kW) the available term is 20 years for PV, and 40 years for hydro power. – …