Odds ‘n Sods:

Ken M. sent us this: The US Banking/Derivatives Contagion Spreads Still Further: BNP Paribas (France’s Biggest Bank0 Freezes Funds as Loan Losses Roil Markets   o o o Christopher D. recommended a site with simple instructions on rain barrels.   o o o Hawaiian K. flagged this useful article: Top 100 Items to Disappear First in a National Emergency    o o o Adam M. sent us the link for this photographer’s tour of a civil nuclear fallout shelter, beneath Lucerne, Switzerland. I wish that the U.S. had a real civil defense system (like Switzerland’s), instead of just printing pamphlets …



Note from JWR:

I’d appreciate some help from readers to help SurvivalBlog grow in popularity. If there are any other blogs that you read regularly, watch for topics related to survival or preparedness. When they do come up, please mention SurvivalBlog, preferably by including a permalink to a related post. For example, if the subject of food storage comes up, you might mention the recent thread on Fats and Oils, and include this Permalink. Many thanks!


Two Letters Re: Providing Crucial Fats and Oils in Your Diet

Jim: I just wanted to let you know of a web site where one can buy natural oils in bulk. It’s a company in Solon, Ohio, called “Oils By Nature“. They produce their own oils with the lowest amount of refining and don’t add things like detergents and anti-foaming agents, etc. Prices are based on seasonal availability. Their customer service is great! For example, I bought a 55 lb. of unrefined Palm Kernel Oil for a very good price. This kind of fat is solid at room temperature and it’s molecular composition is very usable by the human body. It …


Letter From Lawyer Describing Real Estate During the Great Depression

The following (courtesy of Tom at CometGold.com) is an excerpt from letter written from a lawyer from Mason City, Iowa in the Corn Belt, recounting the impact of the Great Depression of the 1930s on his town. Foreclosures galore. Tom’s Comment: “Anything sound familiar?” Just substitute residential real estate for farm land, when reading the following: “The boom period of the last years of the World War and the extremely inflationary period of 1919 and 1920 were like the Mississippi Bubble and the Tulip Craze in Holland in their effect upon the general public. Farm prices shot sky high almost …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Tom at CometGold.com sent us the link to this “must see” video clip: Charlie Rose interviewed two journalists about debt securities, the sub-prime debacle, and the emerging liquidity crisis. New York Times scribe Floyd Norris described the recent wave of margin calls on debt securities as “the functional equivalent of a run on the bank.” Katherine Burton of Bloomberg News admitted that the credit crunch will “go on for a long time.” In related news, don’t miss this news story from Reuters: Central banks move to calm panicky money markets. This isn’t just a traditional credit squeeze, folks. This is …



Note from JWR:

I just noticed that we are about to surpass 1.75 million unique visits to SurvivalBlog. My sincere thanks to everyone for making the blog such a huge success. Please keep spreading the news. Special thanks to our readers down in Oz, where we’ve had huge readership growth in recent months. My only question is: what is that big dot on the map for SurvivalBlog readers out in the middle of the Outback? I can’t imagine that there are that many SurvivalBlog readers in the town Alice Springs, so there must be some very bored “knob turners” at Pine Gap.


Letter Re: Advice on Small, Incremental Silver Investing Purchases

Mr. Rawles As a proud 10 Cent Challenge subscriber and daily reader of your blog I must thank you for the mountains of information and content that you make available to us every day. Worth many times the price! Today I would like to know if you could recommend a reputable seller of tangibles i.e. gold / silver. I have been in contact with your banner advertiser Swiss America. They are a good group of people but I don’t quite have the funds to invest that I think they normally deal with. I think I would be a small time …


Letter Re: Povidone (Betadine) Will Be Exempted from the New U.S. Iodine Ban But Polar Pure Will Not

Jim, I was reading through FR Doc E7-12736 (Federal Register: July 2, 2007, Volume 72, Number 126, Rules and Regulations, Page 35920-35931, online at your link this morning when I found this language at the bottom of the document: Sec. 1310.12 Exempt chemical mixtures. … (4) Iodine products classified as iodophors that exist as an iodine complex to include poloxamer-iodine complex, polyvinyl pyrrolidone-iodine complex (i.e., povidone-iodine), undecoylium chloride iodine, nonylphenoxypoly (ethyleneoxy) ethanol-iodine complex, iodine complex with phosphate ester of alkylaryloxy polyethylene glycol, and iodine complex with ammonium ether sulfate/polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate. It appears that Betadine and some other organic iodine …


Letter Re: A New Lock Bumping Threat–Medeco M3s at Risk!

Hi Jim, Regarding a previous thread in the SurvivalBlog archives, some news has come to light about picking [some varieties of] “high security” Medeco locks.The article begins: “A group of researchers has cracked the security features in what are supposed to be some of the world’s most secure locks — locks that are used at the White House, the Pentagon, embassies and other critical locations. The researchers presented their findings for the first time at the DefCon hacker conference this weekend and showed how they could easily bump and pick the newest high-security M3 locks made by Medeco, a company …


Odds ‘n Sods:

By way of SHTF Daily: Minneapolis bridge disaster draws attention to neglect of U.S. infrastructure   o o o David D. recommended this article on some medicinal uses of honey    o o o Hawaiian K. sent us this: The Incapacitating Flashlight–An LED flashlight makes culprits vomit. If police start to use these, I can predict lawsuits from epileptics.    o o o Thanks to SHTF Daily for posting this piece from Bloomberg: U.K.’s Subprime Crisis May Be Worse Than U.S.’s



Note from JWR:

Today is the last day of the special $99.95 sale for my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course. The sale ends at midnight tonight, Pacific time. This is the first time that it has ever been sold for 1/3 off the regular price, and this may be the only time that it is ever sold at this sale price. The sale ends midnight tonight (August 8th), so place your order ASAP! (You can order on-line, or be sure to have your order letter postmarked with today’s date.)


Letter Re: Comments from a Like-Minded Virginia Prepper

Sir: I found your blog about a month ago. I received a copy of your novel “Patriots” from Fred’s M14 Stocks and have probably read the thing about 20 times. It sits by the bed. I sometimes just pick it up, open and begin reading. Good stuff. I am a former police officer (10 years) with sniper training, construction company owner( I have built everything except a church) CPA with many years public accounting and have military experience (like you in Military Intelligence. I was what is now known as a 98C [- Signals Intelligence Analyst]). I shoot a lot …