Letter Re: Growing Food on a City Lot

JWR: While we all dream that perfect place in the country it is important to emphasize how much that can be accomplished on a small city lot. My home sits on about 6,000 square feet of land, a small suburban house in a cookie-cutter neighborhood . The house and garage and drive way take up about half of the lot . Of what’s left, I’m slowly converting the ornamental landscape to organic food production. My current garden consists of 48 tomato plants (4 varieties) 2 beds of sweet corn, 2 rows of cucumbers staggered 2 month s apart for continuous …


Two Letters Re: It Matters Not Whether We Face Inflation or Deflation–You Need to Protect Yourself

Mr. Rawles, Just a quick comment on Gentleman Jim’s excellent letter. He wrote:” [U.S. Silver Eagles] are obviously more valuable than the pre-1965 junk silver coins, and thus you can get a great store of value into fewer coins. … Plus, they get very heavy very fast.” Silver is silver is silver. You shouldn’t be too concerned with what particular impression or markings are on the coin, or where it was minted, or what year, etc etc. All those things have their place, but when it comes to investing in silver and gold for the type of wealth storage and …


Mexican Flu Update:

Ask The Doc: How Exactly Can Flu Kill A Healthy Person? Models Projections for Flu Miss Mark by Wide Margin (Thanks to Steve G. for the link.) Egypt Quarantines 234 In University Dorm Over Swine Flu China Has 8 More Cases Second Person Dies From Swine Flu In Chile Swine Flu in Australia’s Defense Forces Second Washington Victim Dies of Swine Flu Latest Swine Flu Stats


Economics and Investing:

From “Kevin Lendel”: China airs fears on US debt, dollar: lawmaker 10 big banks get OK to repay $68B in bailout money (Thanks to H.D.K. for the link) “Experts say allowing 10 banks to return $68 billion in bailout money illustrates some stability has returned to the system but caution that the crisis isn’t over. Some worry the repayments could widen the gap between healthy and weak banks.” Cheryl N. notes. “Just remember, these banks suddenly were able to pay their bills after the FASB changed some accounting rules. It’s just more “green shoots” based on falsified accounting records. HPD …


Odds ‘n Sods:

From my old friend “John Jones”: Solar Storm Threat Assessment    o o o SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson spotted this video clip. Bobcat wood splitter. Wow! As my dad always said: There’s nothing like power tools!    o o o Christopher T. flagged this: Texas company offers ethanol mini-refineries The folks at Ready Made Resources, mentioned that they just received a limited supply of genuine made in the U.S.A. stainless steel surgical hemostats. These are not made in Pakistani, (some of which will rust in an autoclave) .Still sealed in original packages $17.95 for a pair, in …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"…compared warfare to a grand ballet, where every minute, every second, is carefully choreographed and orchestrated, but when the conductor raises the baton for the first note, two homicidal maniacs jump out of the orchestra pit onto the stage with bayonets and begin chasing the ballerinas – that is warfare. Much the same is true for disaster planning. Nevertheless, because you went through the planning process, you understand the key challenges, the key questions, and the critical issues regarding your specific business – and that is what will give you the flexibility to adapt in a crisis." – General Norman …


Note from JWR:

Our SurvivalRealty spin-off site has several new retreat property listings in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. Also, a very unusual underground house in Colorado has also been re-posted. Check them out. These properties represent some of the best available to get yourself ready to zurück. Find a good retreat and head for the hills!


It Matters Not Whether Inflation or Deflation–You Need to Protect Yourself, by Gentleman Jim from Colorado

No matter who you are, where you live, or whatever your political proclivities, economic trends such as inflation/hyper-inflation/deflation simply don’t care which party you belong to, who you voted for, or whether you’re believe in Keynesian “prime the pump” spending by the government, or not. The laws of economics may be somewhat fungible and give us surprises from time to time, but overall: * They don’t care whether you love the earth, hate the earth, drive electric tiny-cars or huge Hummers or travel by foot or horse. * They don’t care whether you’re in a blue state or a red …


Economics and Investing:

The new class divide: Debt; In hard times, how much money you make matters less than how much you owe. Many of today’s have-nots are yesterday’s gotta-have-it-alls Matt B. and Cheryl both sent a link to an animated map that shows job growth and losses for the past few years. Cheryl’s comment: “As the timeline progresses to August , 2009, it looks like a nuclear blast map.” Correlate that map with my Recommended Retreat Areas. Where will crime be higher in the next few years? Items from The Economatrix: Obama, Facing High Unemployment, Defends Stimulus Betting The Fed Bankruptcy Filings …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Steve G. sent this: Save Money (and Water!) With Rain Barrels. Coincidentally, F.R. sent this: Set Up a Rain Barrel to Save Money and Water    o o o KAF sent this: Real Life Hobbit House    o o o Also from Steve G.: Formulas to get rid of insects in your home



Welcome to the Savage World of the Year 2009

“Welcome to the savage world of the year 2009”. That was the tag line of the 1992 sci-fi film Freejack , starring Emilio Estevez. Do you remember it? The movie that featured Cadillac Gage V100 wheeled APCs painted in bright colors? My old friend All-Grace-No-Slack-Really-Reformed Kris just reminded me about this movie. Kris noted: “It was a bit corny but it had some good scenes and characters such as Amanda Plummer as the gun-toting nun.” This film provides an insight on what futurists then thought 2009 would be like, as well as a retrospective on life in 1992. Let’s look …


Letters Re: Advice for an M4 and AR-15 Newbie

Some tips to ad on to your good advice [in reply to the letter “Advice for an M4 and AR-15 Newbie”]: The field manual is good, but these two books coupled with some classes from Front Sight, EAG Tactical, Magpul Dynamics, Viking Tactics, Vickers Tactical, CSAT (Paul Howe), or another reputable school are the most valuable. Green Eyes and Black Rifles: Warriors Guide to the Combat Carbine  by Kyle Lamb. The M16/M4 Operators Handbook by Mike Panone. Kudos to the writer for “buying right, buying once” with the LMT. That is a very nice rifle. Regarding spare parts: The BCM …


Letter Re: Storing Paper and Envelopes

Jim; After reading “Patriots” one thing that has stuck with me is the non-availability of writing paper: No paper, no envelopes. Now there won’t be any mail delivery either but envelopes have many other uses. One of these is garden seed storage. Keeping notes together in ones jacket etc. So i have been taking the envelopes that come in my monthly bills ( I pay with my online banking) and those that come in all the various offers that you get for magazines, insurance quotes etc. and put them in a box. They don’t take up much room and can …


Economics and Investing:

traded for crack, Syracuse police say The Hardest Jobs to Fill in America: If you’re looking for work in any of these fields, you’re in luck. Items from The Economatrix: Weiss: Feds Giving “Lip Service” to Fiscal Responsibility “Weiss recommends everyone ‘make severe sacrifices in order to save money and to build up cash reserves for future bad times.’” Appeals Court Upholds Sale of Chrysler to Fiat Federal Jobs Lost in May: 345,000 Is “a little better” now the measure of success? Securitization: The Biggest Rip-Off Ever; Financial Dereg Has Opened Pandora’s Box “The former head of the FDIC, William …