Letter Re: Springfield Armory XD Pistol Accessories

James- I wanted to thank you for the great web site! It’s fantastic! I was on the Springfield Armory web site yesterday, and noticed that they are having a 20% off sale on all accessories, including XD magazines, through July 31st. I picked up four more, and thought I’d pass the info along. Keep up the great work, and I pray for a healthy recovery for your wife. – Kristopher in Afghanistan JWR Replies: Thanks for your prayers for The Memsahib. We are now hopeful that she will make a complete recovery. I am enthusiastic about the XD pistols. Now …


Odds ‘n Sods:

I was recently doing a web search on “Asymmetric Warfare” and I came across this interesting article (in PDF) from Military Review magazine in 2001: America’s Frontier wars: Lessons for Asymmetric Conflicts.    o o o Reader Michael H. suggested this article from Bob Chapman’s The International Forecaster: The Formula For Hyperstagflation    o o o Trent H. sent us a link to an article summarizing a recent speech by Congressman Ron Paul: “Some Big Events Are About To Occur”    o o o Pyotr in the Czech Republic wrote me to mention that he was researching custom-built intrusion detection …



Letter Re: Rampant Inflation in Steel Products

Hey Jim, I used to make my living as a construction electrician and had several big steel Greenlee brand tool boxes with my tools. There is usually one in the back of my truck all the time. Price of gun safes has continued to rise, so I took one of my boxes and cut out a plywood rack for my guns, then filled in around the rack with polyurethane foam. After it was set and cured, I painted the urethane foam flat black. The fit and finish on my Greenlee tool box/gun safe is good enough to protect my weapons, …


Letter Re: A Reminder to Readers About Botulism

I think that the author of “Letter Re: A Reminder to Readers About Botulism” [posted on July 18th] is a little mistaken about the deadliness of “even a single small whiff of Botulinum toxin.” The video in the link he provided is a discussion of the effects of weaponized botulism toxin. In the video, it’s stated that botulism doesn’t make a very good open-air weapon, although it may have potential as a weapon in enclosed areas or by infecting food. According to the Botulism Handbook for Epidemiologists, Clinicians, and Laboratory Workers: …botulism can be picked up by (a) eating contaminated …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Thanks to Eric B. for potting this: Study shows fuel cell cars still 15 years away at best    o o o SF in Hawaii forwarded this video link: Jim Rogers Speaks the Truth about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac    o o o Wolf sent us this: Merrill Drops After $4.65 Billion Second-Quarter Loss, the same day that Cheryl sent us this: Citigroup posts $2.5B loss, but beats expectations. It seems neither the brokers nor the banksters are faring well in this credit-starved environment.    o o o JT flagged this one from The Daily Telegraph: Africa’s Oil Boom …




Letter Re: The Tomato Rebuild–Machining Technology is Crucial to Modern Society, by Thomas G.

Jim, After reading the recent letter by Thomas G, I felt compelled to offer a response to demystify some of the technologies he talked about. First, I am a tool and die maker for an ammunition manufacturer. If it’s broken, I fix it, if we need it, but can’t buy it, I design and make it. From reloading dies, case feeders, powder measures, primer feeders, cold header press parts, I have done a lot. So I feel somewhat qualified to shed some light onto how things are done. I’ll start basic, and then work up to complex. Aside from the …


Letter Re: PetroMax Kerosene Lanterns

Hi Jim, I figured I’d better write about my experience with PetroMax (BriteLyt) Kerosene lanterns. I’ve had their 150CP (Candle Power) (100 watts of light) for a couple years now and really like it. BriteLyt is now providing their 500CP (400 watts of light ) to the US Government as Model MR-2 with a federal stock number. BTW they also make a nice 11,000 BTU kerosene stove which they are also making for the government. So I got two of the new USG MR-2s and tried them out. Right away I had a problem! As you know, I’m [living and …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Thanks to Cheryl for sending a link to an article that describes how more banks are in trouble. These include: Wachovia (downgraded on the 15th), WaMu, National City Corp., and U.S. Bancorp    o o o Eric sent a link to an editorial from The Des Moines Register: Help farmers, consumers: Revive grain reserve    o o o KMA spotted an article in The Economist titled Peak Oil, The Only Way is Down.   o o o John T. sent us a link to an article that is a sign of the times: Pakistani Investors Stone Exchange as Stocks Plunge


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“If you ever hear a government official come out and say that an institution is fine, you know it’s time to get your money out because history shows they’re likely lying. Look what happened with Fannie and Freddie. The government said everything was fine right up to the day the US Treasury dropped the biggest government bailout of all time on the American taxpayer. The bill for Fannie, Freddie and the bank failures could cost the taxpayer over $400 billion. (That’s your money, of course.)”. – Richard Benson in: Is Your Money Safe?


Note from JWR:

The high bid in the current SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction is $500. This auction is for a big mixed lot: a NukAlert radiation detector, donated by KI4U–a $160 value), a DVD of 480 E-books on Alternative Energy (donated by WK Books–a $25 value), and the following package of survival gear all kindly donated by CampingSurvival.com: One case of MREs, one pack of water purifications tablets, a bottle of colloidal silver, a fire starter, a bottle of potassium iodate tablets, an emergency dental kit, a pack of “Shower in a bag” bath wipes, and one messenger bag to pack it in.


Letter Re: A Reminder to Readers About Botulism

Jim, Feel free to post the following if you think it would be of help and interest. Bulging cans with botulism are worse than most think. While bulging cans of food are relatively rare and most everybody knows that any bulging can should be discarded, few know just how seriously dangerous they can become if opened or accidentally ruptured. Botulism is so extremely deadly, it must be suspect in all bulging cans and they must not only be discarded, but put away from anyone else. Botulinum toxin is one of the most lethal substances known to man, as seen in …


Letter Re: The Cost of Things to Come

We are in a simultaneously deflationary and inflationary situation. The deflationary forces are: 1) We’ve been a credit based society and with less credit available, less purchasing will happen driving down prices. 2) Most people have most of their wealth in their home, their stocks and their banks (Indy Mac anyone?), all decreasing in value thus putting the brakes on discretionary purchasing driving down prices. The inflationary forces are: 1) The rising price of oil raises transportation and manufacturing costs for everything. 2) The increasing population and decreasing supply of commodities (food, metals etc.) increases prices. 3) The Fed cannot …