Notes for Friday – March 17, 2017

March 17th is the birthday of novelist Pearl S. Buck, best known for her novel The Good Earth. (Born 1887, died 1973.) This is also the birthday of Józef Franczak (born 1917, died 21 October 1963), who was a Polish Army Corporal who fought in the World War II resistance against the invading Germans. He then carried on after the war, to fight 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 an entry …




A Homemade Thermos Cooker, by M.P.

A thermos cooker is an energy saving cooking device. Earlier versions were a vacuum thermos that you placed uncooked food and boiling water into and then sealed it up, and in a few hours you had cooked food. Later versions have a pot that you put your ingredients into and place on your stove; you then bring the contents to a boil and place the pot into an insulated outer pot to hold the heat in and cook the food. Thermos cookers do not speed up cooking times; they only save energy, and in fact cooking times can be significantly …




Letter Re: 80% Lower Router Problems

Hugh, I wanted to add something here. You should not have to keep retightening a router bit after each cut. Having been a woodworker for 25+ years and having used routers to mill aluminum, here are a few safety tips: When inserting bit in collet make sure bit is not bottomed out all the way. Insert bit until it bottoms out and then slightly raise it up about 1/32 or 1/16″. The easy way to do this is to snug collet enough so you can insert bit into collet, and that bit will stay put when you take your hand …




Economics and Investing:

In recognition of the Government’s debasement of the U.S. doller, some states are begining to realize that precious metals are not investments, but act as real money: IT BEGINS…. Idaho & Arizona Pass Bills To Remove “Capital Gains Taxes” On Gold & Silver (SRSrocco Report) o o o Reader H.L. sent in the link to this map that renames American States with the name of the country most closely matching their GDPs. It’s interesting to realize that the U.S. economy is so large that individual states have GDPs larger than many countries. o o o Collapsing pensions will fuel America’s …




Odds ‘n Sods:

I recently bought some “Morale” patches from a small company in Tennessee called MoraleTags.com, and I was quite pleased with the quality of their products and their great service. It is a veteran-owned company. They have a wide assortment of patches, and also sell clever metal hat clips that are laser engraved with logos. (Warning: A few of them are rather crude.) Take a look at their web site. – JWR o o o Showing their support of collectivism and the establishment, a group of retired military leaders are fighting to stop the Veterans 2nd Amendment Protection Act. Apparently, those …