Odds ‘n Sods:

Florida Governor Jeb Bush declared a state sales tax holiday for hurricane preparedness that starts this week. If Bush were a realist, .308 Ball would have been on the tax exempt list.    o o o News from England of a possible H5N1 cover-up.    o o o Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke: ‘Pretty Clear’ Housing Market Cooling, But Should Land Softly Why am I less confident than Helicopter Ben of a soft landing for the U.S. housing market?   o o o When on a drive into town yesterday, a fellow motorist was in such an all-fired hurry that she …



Note from JWR:

Get your entries in soon for Round 4 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up up to $2,000!) The deadline for entries for Round 4 is May 31, 2006. Please e-mail your entries before May 31st.


Two Letters Re: Advice on Firearms Caching

James: You mentioned using sonobuoy shipping containers for caching. I used to work as an engineer at a company that built sonobuoys. We would routinely reject fairly large numbers of these tubes for either mold defects or physical damage that would result in a leak. At one point, I and another guy in my group went to the plant (after getting the necessary paperwork) and carried off a large truck load of them. All had to be repaired, but they were usable. Just be sure to check them carefully and be prepared to do some patching if needed. As an …


Four Letters Re: Letter Re: Feeding Your Dog in Hard Times

James: If you enter “pet food recipe” into your search engine, you get more free recipes and e-books than you can use. It is a good idea to try them out on your furry friends before TSHTF.- Doc at www.bigsecrets.cc   Mr. and Mrs. Rawles, Greetings and hope things are well with you and yours. I felt you that you might might find these threads interesting. Survival Forum Thread 1 Survival Forum Thread 2 Lord bless you all. – C.K.   Hi Again Jim, Just my take on the dog food issue. I have a female Rat Terrier about 10 …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Brett Arends comments on the new Wile E. Coyote (“Falling Off a Cliff”) Markets    o o o The global economic crisis, from the French perspective    o o o The bad news on H5N1 from North Sumatra. Meanwhile, The Lancet released a sobering opinion piece. A tip of the hat to Geri Guidetti of The Ark Institute, who alerted me to these two articles.    o o o There is a great thread in progress over at the Gold Is Money Forums, inspired by an article by David Andrews at Safehaven.com.


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"The Qualities of a good intelligence officer: * Be perceptive about people * Be able to work well with others under difficult conditions * Be able to distinguish between fact and fiction * Be able to distinguish between essentials and non-essentials * Possess inquisitiveness * Have a large amount of ingenuity * Pay appropriate attention to detail * Be able to express ideas clearly, briefly and very important interestingly * Learn when to keep you mouth shut * Understanding for other points of view, other ways of thinking and behaving, even if they are quite foreign to his own. * …


Letter Re: Content of Gold Bullion Coins and Numismatic Gold Coins

  Dear Jim, Regarding the metal content of gold bullion tokens: Gold Eagles are 22 karat, as are Krugerrands–the respondent in the old mail you quoted had that point wrong, too. (Where he claimed Eagles were less accepted than “pure gold” kruggerands (sic).) British Sovereigns are also 22 karat, with four coins equaling not quite one ounce of gold. Canadian Gold Maple Leafs, PAMP and Credit Suisse bars, and hallmarked bars and coins with .999 or .9999 are as close to pure as one can find. However, since it’s the gold content that is being traded, and that content is …


Letter Re: Feeding Your Dog in Hard Times

Jim, I was feeding my dogs last night when it hit me; what am I going to do for them if I were in a situation where I could no longer acquire more dog food? I know they love scraps from our food, but I try to keep that at a minimum for various, obvious reasons to us dog owners. As for a substitute to commercially obtained kibble, what sort of foods are best used to feed man’s best friend? I thought about this a bit, and figured jerked meats mixed with dried grains to cover the basics. As for …


Odds ‘n Sods:

There has been much talk about Iran’s new Euro-denominated oil bourse. Presidente Hugo Chavez now says that he might start pricing oil in Euros, too. And President Putin of Russia wants to trade oil and natural gas in rubles. Are they all trying to tell us something about the once-almighty U.S. Dollar?    o o o BBC News Economics Editor Steve Schifferes comments on why the dollar is sinking so rapidly.    o o o The high price of platinum is boosting palladium, as an alternative for jewelry making



David in Israel Re: Buckshot’s Survival Attitude Versus the “Commando” Survival Attitude

James Every time I see an article by Buckshot [such as “The Basics of Stocking a Retreat For One Year”, posted May 19th], I am most impressed that he expresses the distilled wisdom of a true survivor. I don’t believe I have ever see him recommend a battle rifle as an primary part of a survivor’s arsenal. A military type rifle in the hands of someone without a realistic idea of combat gives a sense of super hero power. Sadly in a generation of video games where the “Hero” is able to take down whole rogue military installations a subtle …


Letter Re: Pre-1899 Oberndorf 8×57 Mauser Bolt Action Rifles

James: I am getting a Model 1893 Turkish Mauser. I know that these actions are not as strong as the Model 98. However, they are German Mausers made in Oberndorf. What finer pedigree can a rifle have? I have read some posts on forums that these are marginally safe with commercially available ammo. I was warned that the Turkish ammo was dangerous, it is known to be the hottest of the milsurp ammo. I was also warned against the Yugo [ammo]. One or two guys even said you only should shoot hand loaded mild loads. I am just wondering what …


Odds ‘n Sods:

I’m nearly done reading “The Protector’s War“” the second installment in S.M. Stirling‘s “Dies the Fire” trilogy. If you can suspend disbelief–getting past the basic premise of the series (an inexplicable overnight change in the laws of physics that renders gasoline and gunpowder impotent) then you’ll enjoy these books. In this installment, part of the storyline takes place in England. The author uses the books in this series as a bully pulpit to preach preparedness and self-sufficiency. (Or at least I think that is his intent.) He weaves lot of history and practical skills into the storylines. Stirling is one …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"It is certain that free societies would have no easy time in a future dark age. The rapid return to universal penury will be accomplished by violence and cruelties of a kind now forgotten. The force of law will be scant or nil., either because of the collapse or disappearance of the machinery of state, or because of difficulties of communications and transport. It may be possible only to delegate authority to local powers who will maintain it by force alone." – Roberto Vacca, The Coming Dark Age