Economics and Investing:

I see bubbles bursting everywhere: Top academic Vikram Mansharaman o o o Reader D.S. mentioned this troubling news, over at Forbes:  How Fiduciary Rule May Censor Financial Broadcasters Like Dave Ramsey o o o Items from Professor Preponomics: US News Fed Proposes New Limits on Big Banks’ Exposure to Each Other (Reuters) Jobs Report Reveals Lingering Long-Term Unemployment (Washington Examiner) GAO Study Documents Massive Fraud Likely in Obamacare Exchanges (Contra Corner) International News Debt “Explosion” Awaits Unless Policymakers Defuse Demographic Time Bomb, Warns IMF Chief (The Telegraph) EU’s Tusk Warnes Illegal Economic Migrants: Do Not Come Here (BBC News) Brazilian …




Notes for Sunday – March 06, 2016

March 6th was the birthday of Leroy Gordon “Gordo” Cooper Jr., (born 1927. in Shawnee, Oklahoma.) He was a US Air Force pilot and astronaut, aboard Mercury 9 and Gemini 5. Cooper had his pre-Mercury mission exploits and hijinx arewell documented in Tom Wolfe’s book The Right Stuff, and in the very entertaining film of the same name. Cooper died at age 77 of heart failure, at his home in Ventura, California, on October 4, 2004. Coincidentally, this is also the birthday of Valentina Tereshkova (born 1937), a Soviet cosmonaut and the first woman in space (aboard Vostok 6). She …


Noisy Cows and Other Animal Noise Issues, by B.O.C.

I will start this by saying my farm experience range from South Florida to Maine and in climates in between. I also have experience from hobby farming to production on a large scale. From rabbits, chickens, pigs to beef and milking animals. My tenure in these areas has encompassed about 30 years of my life in one form or another. A lot of this is some common sense as well, so forgive me if I dumb this down too much. A few days ago I read an article on this site about the farms in Venezuela and their government taking …


Letter: Solar Fence Chargers as Alternate Power Supplies

To HJL and JWR:I’m a dry land crop farmer, cattle rancher, and hog producer in Montana. Through my work I find things that make me think I could use WTSHTF. (Yes, I’ve read your books). One thing I wanted to offer up, if you haven’t tried it, is a solar powered electric fence charger. These charges cost from $170 to $500. But to charge a few small items the PV panels on the smaller $170 to $300 models are plenty large enough. The chargers work by solar powering a gel cell battery. The [battery] terminals can be changed with a …


Economics and Investing:

Watching this conversation is well worth an hour of your time:  Mike Maloney & Harry Dent – The Great Deflation (YouTube video.)  JWR’s Comments: Dent and Maloney concur with my prediction that we will see a deflation followed by mass inflation. Their discussion of personal strategies to prepare to live through a deflationary reset begin at the 21 minute mark.   Heed their advice:  Avoid debt! In the unfolding deflationary depression, cash will be king and any debt will be painful. Then, as the inevitable mass inflation follows, cash will become trash, and silver and gold will be the new royalty. …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader MtH highly recommended a free 58-minute documentary film produced by JPFO on the history of gun control and genocide in the 20th Century: Innocents Betrayed. (Don’t miss the bonus interviews, following the credits.) o o o The oft-stated goal is to slow the inflow of illegal immigrants into Europe. But, now this?  Migrants in Greece to be handed cash in envelopes to ‘maintain their dignity’ under £550million EU disaster fund. o o o GunsAmerica, one of the two largest Internet gun classifieds web site in the U.S. (the other is of course GunBroker.com), recently introduced a new program to …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, …


Notes for Saturday – March 05, 2016

March 5th is the birthday of Momofuku Ando (born, 1910, died 2007) the Taiwanese-Japanese inventor of instant noodles and Cup-O-Noodles. He born in Wu Baifu, Taiwan.  His inventions have saved counted thousands of American college students from starvation. This is also the birthday of Howard Pyle (1853-1911) an influential American book illustrator, painter, and author. He was the mentor of many great American artists including Thornton Oakley, Frank E. Schoonover, Allen Tupper True, and of course N.C. Wyeth. o o o Today, we present another entry for Round 63 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $12,000 worth of …


Community Risk Mitigation, by T.P.

I hate it when I see statements on prepping site that make assumptions of our fellow citizens that are overly broad and frequently demeaning. You know the things I’m talking about. “They assume the government will save them.” “Sheeple.” “They refuse to prepare because of their narrow mindedness.” There is certainly a small subset of people who fit that mold. Most however are of the “ignorance is bliss” variety. They simply haven’t woken up to the risk. Prepping is simply a form of risk mitigation. It’s insurance. When my family woke up to the risk, we didn’t suddenly realize the …


Letter: Advice on Learning Morse Code

Dear Editor, I have noted that the main characters in your novel Survivors use continuous wave (CW) Morse Code on occasion to stay in contact, around the globe. As a relatively new ham radio operator I am fascinated by CW Morse and have been trying to learn it for a couple years without a lot of success. Any words of wisdom or proven “best method” to learn CW especially for the over-50 age group? – J.S. HJL Replies: There are a variety of inexpensive Morse code instruction tutor apps that will run on your smartphone or personal computer. While there …


Letter Re: Fitness for Success When the SHTF

HJL & JWR,I am writing to give a brief comment on whether crunches or sit-ups, are important or relevant to the back.  The spine is a series of over 50 joints.  Those joints are “capsular-synovial” joints.  (just like your knee, hip, and shoulder, just smaller)  To say that a  crunch, or sit-up is good or bad is way too generic… to the point that it is irrelevant.  It is popular, often repeated, but not correct as it relates to its benefit, or detriment to the spine.  Most joint pain is intra-capsular (within the joint).  It is often a result of …


Economics and Investing:

Avalanche Lily (Mrs. Rawles) recommended a  great piece by economist/commentator Ann Barnhardt:  The Mark of The Beast Explained: MV = PQ, With Totalitarian Control of V(elocity) o o o G.G. flagged this:  Food Stamp Users Near Record High Despite Low Unemployment Rate o o o Fresh recession will cause eurozone collapse, warns Swiss bank o o o By way of Paul Caron’s TaxProf blog, we read: The IRS is using a system that was hacked to protect victims of a hack—and it was just hacked Items from Professor Preponomics: US News A Conversation with My Neighbor “Sam”(Mises)  Bank of America …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Virginia Governor Signs Concealed Carry Reciprocity Bill, Concealed Carriers Rejoice o o o Commander Zero, the Editor of the Notes From The Bunker blog, mentioned this fascinating little collection of photos, with brief descriptions: In Heinlein’s Bomb Shelter. o o o Finally, some progress on Servergate: Justice Dept. grants immunity to staffer who set up Clinton email server.  I hope that a jury puts Hitlery in prison, where she belongs.  o o o Golly! I just saw that $32 will now buy you a tiny 128 GB memory stick that is USB 3.0 compatible. That is some serious Secret Agent …