Notes for Sunday – September 13, 2015

13 September 1951 was the birthday of President Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 60 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $10,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value), A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, DRD Tactical is providing a …


Letter Re: Freezers

Hugh, One advantage of freeze drying is you pay for the electricity once, and have something light which you can store on a shelf. But while reading the reply about EMPs and freezers at a local restaurant, I happened to notice an old Zenith (yes, Zenith) freezer. It might be older than me. My immediate thought was that I could probably offer to buy them a new freezer and take this antique (it might be older than I am) off their hands. One other caution, the older freezers use Freon – R12 – which is more expensive and harder to …


Economics and Investing:

Visual Capitalist & China’s Resource Consumption – A.L. o o o The American Dream deferred: Looking at the 4 horsemen of middle class destruction. Student debt, household income, low wage jobs, and FIRE economy dominance. o o o Puerto Rico Debt Crisis: A Bond Guide as Potential Defaults Loom – G.G. o o o 30% Of Millennials Would Sell An Organ To Erase Student Loans


Odds ‘n Sods:

Disaster Psychology – A.L. o o o Innocence Destroyed: Case Against Texas Homeschool Family Dismissed as Traumatized Children try to Rebuild Their Lives – D.S. o o o Obama Has An Answer To The American Redoubt: make it no longer American – GJM o o o Girl survives 6 days without food This girl broke all the so called “survival rules” and still survived! By all rights she should have died…shows it’s your attitude and will to live that counts and not the fancy gear! – A.S. o o o Poll finds almost a third of Americans would support a …


Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“And it came to pass, as they were much perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by them in shining garments: and as they were afraid, and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen: remember how he spake unto you when he was yet in Galilee, saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words, and returned from the sepulchre, and told all …


Notes for Saturday – September 12, 2015

Today, we present another entry for Round 60 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $10,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 value), A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper with a hammer forged, chromlined barrel and a hard case to go …


Letter Re: Killer Survivalism

Dear JWR: I would add a thought to the advice from the writer of “Killer Survivalism“: Don’t neglect your current responsibilities in favor of your preparations for TEOTWAWKI. A relative of mine had a “prepper” mindset but was not very stable financially. He had chronic problems with credit card debt, could have used a better automobile, and constantly put off repairs to his house. Upon his sudden death from a heart attack, I helped dispose of his estate and found that although he was chronically short of funds, he had spent a large amount of money on stored food and …


Economics and Investing:

Zombie Home Foreclosures – A.L. o o o Glencore and the World of Global Commodities – A.L. o o o This Is EXACTLY What The Early Phases Of A Market Meltdown Look Like o o o Items from Mr. Econocobas: Welcome To The Recovery – Two Out Of Five American Children Experience Poverty Video: David Stockman On Bloomberg: The Unemployment Rate At 5.1% Is In The Fed’s Full-Employment End Zone—–More ZIRP Is Crazy


Odds ‘n Sods:

Military misplaces black plague samples – J.C. o o o Taking the President’s lunch money: In Major Humiliation For Obama, Iran Sends Soldiers To Support Russian Troops In Syria – GJM o o o Interesting, the kinds of articles that are starting to show up on such relatively nerdy sites as “Zerohedge”, these days… Guide for Learning to Use a Sidearm to Defend Yourself, Your Loved Ones, and Your Property, Should a Race War Break Out – GJM o o o Hackers had full access to your GM car for five years – D.S. o o o Microsoft is downloading …


Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do …


Notes for Friday – September 11, 2015

September 11th is of course the anniversary of the 2001 Al Qaeda attacks on the U.S. , but it is also the anniversary of the Benghazi Embassy attacks in 2012. Please remember the sacrifice of J. Christopher Stevenson, Sean Smith, and CIA (former Navy SEAL) agents Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. Between them, Woods and Dohery reportedly dropped at least 60 of the attackers, before their position was overwhelmed. Please also remember the spineless worms in Washington, D.C. who decided to not back up the embassy staff when they were in dire need of help. Eventually, they will pay for …


My Long Lesson, by D.D.

As an engineer I make my living by solving problems efficiently and with an eye toward the future. I can be stubborn in technical things, which bleeds into other parts of my life. This article is a about how that failed to serve me. Perhaps, it will ring true for you. I remember the day I became a prepper. I was living and working in southern California. One morning in my office, after a discussion of current events a fellow engineer quietly and kindly said to me, “You know, gasoline stations only have about one day of fuel in their …


Letter Re: The 20% Solution, by Redoubting Thomas

Hugh: I have comments to the communications section of Redoubting Thomas’ article. Communication is the process of moving information from one place to another. In a TEOTWAWKI situation, there will not be just one specific communication need, there will be several. You will want to communicate over short, medium, and long distances. Some communications needs will be one way. Some will be two ways. Differing needs require differing means to achieve differing objectives. In my opinion, the CB radio, for very many technical reasons, is a poor solution for many, if not most, of these needs. The author emphasizes that …


Economics and Investing:

Personal Austerity – A.L. o o o Buy Gold, Sell the S&P o o o Items from Mr. Econocobas: Peter Schiff – Meet QT; QE’s Evil Twin GLOBALIST WARNS FED RATE HIKE WILL CAUSE PANIC, CALLS FOR QE 4 Government Employees Outnumber Manufacturing Employees 1.8 to 1 – News Flash: We are in trouble… Krugman `Really, Really’ Worried Abenomics Might Fail – You need no better proof that sometimes people with high IQ’s can be downright stupid. What alternate universe does he think his beliefs on economics exist?