Letter Re: Lessons Learned from Hurricane Ike

John in Texas wrote a great piece about Lessons Learned from Hurricane Ike. He wrote that his neighbors have ignored the hazards of a hurricane, and that his wife still believes the money spent on a generator is a waste of money. In a somewhat similar experience, many years ago, while living in the Chicago area, we had a winter in which we had a tremendous amount of snow. Tired of shoveling the white stuff, I purchased a snow blower during the next summer. The following winter we had an unusually light snowfall. One day, while my co-workers were laughing …


Economics and Investing:

California home equity hangover: $649 billion in HELOC loans nationwide with most in California. Two Years Later: The U.S. Economy Still Needs a Spark Plug Two years after Lehman Brothers collapsed in a $639 billion bankruptcy and the short-term financial markets seized up with terror, we’ve backed away from the brink. But skittishness in the financial markets hasn’t gone away. It’s just taken a different form — for instance, driving gold prices up 56% from $805 an ounce on Sept. 3, 2008, to $1,253 Sept. 3, 2010. With spot silver now solidly above $20 per ounce, and spot gold above …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader M.P.S. notes that there are two coupons for home canning jars currently available at on RedPlum.com. You can print each coupon two times.    o o o A follow-up: Mayor Eddie Perez (recently mentioned in the blog) was sentenced to three years in prison, and three years probation, of a possible 60 year sentence. Perez was convicted on five of six felony charges. He is one of the rogues gallery of Mayor Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns members that have been indicted or convicted of felonies including Sheila Dixon, Kwame Kilpatrick, Gary Becker, Larry Langford, Samuel Rivera, Jerramiah Healy, …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. Of all the enemies to public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. The loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or imagined, from abroad." – James Madison


Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 30 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will include: First Prize: A.) 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 between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $392 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A 500 round case of …


Family Preparedness: How to Protect Your Infant Child, by Jen J.

When my son was around three months old, I needed to run out and pick up milk and a small tool my husband had on order at a local hardware store.  I anticipated the total outing to be around an hour, and thought I had packed appropriately.  We successfully made it to the farm where I picked up our milk for the week, and placed the glass jugs on the floor of the car.  During the drive to the hardware store, my son woke up and started fussing which rapidly escalated to a full-blown tantrum.  When exiting the freeway, the …


Letter Re: A New Edition of Where There is No Doctor is Now Available

James, Thank you for your excellent blog. It is one of my daily read sites, no matter where in the world I am. The Hesperian Foundation just published their updated 2010 version of Where There Is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook by David Werner. It is 450 pages and has lots of excellent updated information. The download version is free, but I highly reccomend purchasing the paper copy for $22 USD The last I heard paper books are still EMP proof. It will be nice to have a useable reference, if and when the computer is fried! Best …


Economics and Investing:

More than a dozen readers sent this: Doomsday warnings of US apocalypse gain ground B.B. sent us this: CBO Predicts U.S. Debt Crisis if Deficits are Not Controlled Sovereign defaults ahead? Wreck the Currency or Default on the Debt? by Jeffrey Rogers Hummel. (Thanks to G.G. for the link.) Randy F. forwarded a bit of Gloom und Doom: Our Debt Is More Than All the Money in the World Items from The Economatrix: Era of Economic Illusion Over Mutant-Rat Epidemic Spreading Economic Black Plague Chinese Manufacturing Data Points to Dismal US, EU Christmas China Fears Depreciation of $2.45 Trillion of …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader R.P.B. recommended the 12-part instructional video series, available free on YouTube, prooduced by Analytical Survival.    o o o Reader James C. spotted this: Look what happens when you cross a skateboard with a tank    o o o Bill R. sent this NPR piece: Consumers Still Gear Up, Camp Out In Recession    o o o Yet another reason to avoid social networking web services: Burglars Picked Houses Based on Facebook Updates. (Our thanks to G.J. for the link.)    o o o J.B.G. liked this piece by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: The backlash begins against the world landgrab. Gee, …



Notes from JWR:

Monday (September 13th) is the last day of the big sale at Ready Made Resources on Mountain House freeze-dried foods. Don’t miss out!  — Today we present another entry for Round 30 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round will include: First Prize: A.) 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 between $500 and $600, and B.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees, in #10 cans, courtesy …


The Case for Silver Investment, by J. Vigilant

I. Introduction As of September 2010, it appears that physical silver is today potentially the most explosive precious metal play in history. A combination of factors – chronic scarcity, inelastic demand, and expanding consumption has created potentially one of the most profitable opportunities ever seen. The following analysis presents the base rationale for purchasing silver. Furthermore, significant evidence exists to point towards downward manipulation of the silver market by large bullion banks, further compressing the market. It is this author’s opinion that a parabolic top in silver could easily surpass the 20x rhodium price increase from $500 to $10,000 over …


Letter Re: Many Pension Funds are Doomed

Jim: The following article is one example of why “dot gov” will basically collapse, at every level. The threat is faced by teachers and all public service employees et cetera. All of their “retirements” are doomed. Fort Worth pension bubble will blow up in our faces You don’t have to be an actuary to know that this pension plan will end badly. The technical phrase is “trending toward insolvency.” The key problem is that the city is on the hook for all the promised benefits. Taxpayers will have to pony up hefty contributions for years, even generations, and the city …


Letter Re: Lessons Learned from Hurricane Ike, by John in Texas

Jim, I really appreciate the people who share their lessons learned on SurvivalBlog.com, so I thought I would share my experiences and lessons learned from Hurricane Ike. Hurricane Ike hit Houston on Friday night September 13, 2008.  The hurricane was classified as a strong category 2 with maximum sustained winds of 110 MPH.  What was unusual about this hurricane was the large size of the storm.  Hurricane force winds extended 120 miles from the center.  Gas stations in our area ran out of gas the day before the storm (Thursday).  I waited in a very long line of cars only …


Letter Re: Assessing Those Electromagnetic Pulse Risk Assessments

Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) risk assessments have been published by journalists, defense analysts, and foreign policy experts. Unfortunately, some of these assessments rely on incomplete or incorrect information and give the mistaken impression that EMP is not an immediate threat. For example, STRATFOR Global Intelligence recently published a report titled “Gauging the Threat of an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack.” The report assesses that the risk from an EMP attack is low because “the EMP threat has been around for more than half a century and there are a number of technical and practical variables that make a HEMP [High Altitude Electromagnetic …