Notes for Saturday – April 15, 2017

The “unsinkable” Titanic sank on April 15th, 1912. 1,517 people lost their lives on the ship’s maiden voyage. As research into the incident has progressed over the last 100 years, it seems as if, one way or another, the ship was just going to sink. With the adversities including an iceberg, raging coal fires in the fuel supply, wrong turns, locked-up binoculars, weak rivets, too few lifeboats, and more, perhaps this whole incident was really the result of man’s hubris. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 70 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $15,000 …




Key Elements for Self-Sufficient Gardening – Part 3, by B.C.

Element Number Three: Irrigation A downside to growing in greenhouses and high tunnels is that you have to have access to water and a way to irrigate these crops. That can be a positive, as it motivates you to build a system that you can use for your field crops as well. Even in the eastern U.S. where we farm, our irrigation is used every year. Rainfall seldom comes exactly when you need it, and having a way to irrigate your crops is the difference between being subject to droughts and being able to produce a crop every single year. …




Letters Re: The Human-Powered Veggie Garden, by J.A.

HJL, To be successful, the gardener needs to know about their local soil. We have taught vegetable gardening down in South Florida. Often it is more manageable to build a raised garden. Since our soil is about 2” to 4″ before we hit coral rock, we are more successful with the raised garden. This also applies to other poor soiled areas. And if the soil quality is controlled, so are pests. The better the soil, the sweeter the yield. – ebec.usa o o o Hugh, The only thing that I would add is to include a spading fork to the …




Economics and Investing:

Gold Prices Near Five Month High: Is More Climbing In Store? o o o Federal government reports deficit of $526 BILLION despite record-breaking income and payroll tax collection – G.G. o o o 104 Years of the Income Tax: Then and Now – B.B. o o o Goldman’s $50 Forecast May Prove Bullish. Goldman Sachs is standing by its oil price forecast of $50 a barrel, predicting stability but a limited upside in the future. o o o SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.




Odds ‘n Sods:

Getting ready: Pentagon to protect electric grid from massive attack. “Kim Duck Soup” doesn’t have the missile technology (yet) to land a warhead on the West Coast of North America, but he could do a high-altitude air-burst of a warhead over the Pacific and still impact the West Coast. – P.S. o o o U.S. May Launch Strike if North Korea Reaches for Nuclear Trigger – W.W. o o o How an Anarchist Bitcoin Coder Found Himself Fighting ISIS in Syria o o o Coming to a city near you: ‘shariah Cop’ Cracks Down On Minnesota Muslims – H.L. o …