Some Brief Advice on Establishing Trusts

I often have readers and consulting clients write to ask me about establishing family trusts. These are used to shelter assets including land, houses, vehicles, and firearms. In the context of present-day America, one of the goals of any good trust is anonymity. So I recommend that you pick a generic “vanilla” name that is innocuous and that is un-related to your family surname, your locale, the nature of the included assets, your politics, your religion, or your personal interests. The goal here is to have name that won’t trigger suspicion or scrutiny. Some good choices would be “The Hallifax …


JWR is Looking for a Beta-Light Mapreader or Torch (or Two)

For my own use here at the ranch I’m looking to purchase a fresh and bright (less than three year old) original tritium Beta-Light map reader. I can use one with or without an integral compass. If you are confused about what I’m seeking, see this photo. I’d also consider buying one or two Beta-Light Torches (flashlights). They should be marked with any of these NSNs: Map Readers: NSN: 6605-99-186-9075 NSN: 6605-99-458-1598 NSN: 6605-99-593-2157 Torches (tritium flashlights): NSN: 6260-99-965-3582 I can pay cash (Bitcoin, PayPal, PMO, greenbacks, or whatever,) or I’m willing to work out some great trades from the …


Recipe of the Week:

J.B.’s Creamy Rice Pudding Take 1 cup of white rice and add 2 cups of water in a pot capable of holding at least 9 cups.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer for 6 minutes.  Stir once or twice. Cover pot, turn off heat and go milk the cow or goat.  While you’re at it, go check the chickens for a few eggs. Return in no less than 30 minutes. Fluff the now cooked rice and add 3 cups of fresh milk and sweeten to taste. Stir well.  One to two cups of sugar is plenty …


Economics and Investing:

Insider: Supermarkets Have Less Than One Day Supply Of Food On Hand RBS sent a link to some fascinatingly detailed information: Farm Subsidy Data. RBS says: “The database tracks $256 billion in farm subsidies from commodity, crop insurance, and disaster programs and $39 billion in conservation payments paid between 1995 and 2012. Just enter your ZIP code and you will find who has taken subsidy money from the Feds.” Worth ranting about: Dylan Ratigan speak up about U.S. government obligations. Items from The Economatrix: Complete Collapse & Economic Meltdown Will Shock The World Why The Gold Surge Is Just Starting: …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader AmEx (American Expatriate) sent: What the Government Does with Americans’ Data o o o Over at my friend Commander Zero’s blog: Feds Say Possession of “Large Amounts” of Weapons May Indicate Terrorist Activity. JWR’s Comment: The linked article has a photo of what could best be described as a “starter” gun collection (a couple of ARs, a FAL, an AK, and a few handguns.) If that constitutes a “weapons cache”, then the agents must be from some gun-deprived eastern Nanny State. They would surely have a fit of apoplexy if they walked into JASBORR. This somehow reminds me of …



Notes from JWR:

October 20th is the birthday of actor Viggo Mortensen (born 1958.) Part of each year, he lives on his ranch in North Idaho, deep in the American Redoubt. Also at his ranch is his horse-for-life “TJ”–one of the five paint horses that were used in the filming of the movie Hidalgo. — This is also the birthday of exhibition shooter Ed McGivern (born 1874, died December 12, 1957.) His classic book Fast and Fancy Revolver Shooting is still in print, after 75 years! McGivern was born in Nebraska, but was a long-time resident of Butte, Montana. — Today we present …


Keeping Time When The Schumer Hits The Fan, by Brad F.

I am a retail jeweler that is nearing retirement and am looking forward to my move to the Redoubt where we already have a house with some land to grow and raise things on. So in reading the SurvivalBlog, I have been thinking how we will keep time after the watch batteries run out and the mechanical watches stop working, and of course the electric clocks have stopped. There are multiple ways to achieve accurate time keeping when the power is off, some temporary and some permanent. My first solution is to buy a solar powered wrist watch, then make …


Letter Re: Jewish Resistance During WWII

James, Your mention of Zus Bielski’s birthday and the film Defiance. (and the book upon which it is based) brought to mind an excellent 90-minute documentary by PBS, “Resistance: Untold Stories of Jewish Partisans,” produced in 2001. It is available online at Vimeo.  (or from PBS Home Video on DVD) It includes interviews with many partisans among them Aron Bielski, the youngest of the brothers (still living). After more than half a century since the holocaust, the myth still persists that all of the Jews just walked peacefully to their deaths at the hands of the Nazis.  Nothing could be …


Letter Re: Preparing for EMP and DEW — A Layman’s Guide

Dear Editor: In answer to Norm’s question: Yes, insulating items that are already inside a Faraday shield appears to be superfluous. As long as the shield works (is unbroken and made of the right materials and configurations to counter the frequencies targeted), the overwhelming vast majority of the energy does stay outside. This has been verified in our tests and is a basis for the products we make. For example, we tested our laptop EMP shield against an EMP simulator made by APELC in Texas – no visible upset was observed despite their machine throwing over 150 kV/m at our …


Economics and Investing:

ZeroHedge reports: Creeping Capital Controls At JPMorgan Chase? Bob in Virginia liked this piece: Two views of our current economic and energy crisis Commentary from The Money GPS: QE3.5? ~ The Fed’s New Scheme. Don’t miss his comments at 2:08 on total long-term government obligations. K.N. sent: China’s soaring fiscal deficit rings alarm bells Items from The Economatrix: Jim Rogers Blasts “This Is Going To End Badly… And The Rest Of The World Knows It Early Stages of Hyperinflation Next Year-John Williams Slowly At First, Then All At Once


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader E.B. suggested this movie review: Dragon Day: Red Dawn for Intellectuals    o o o H.L. sent: Bitdrop app beats NSA surveillance with anonymous encrypted file transfers    o o o Fascinating photos: 10 Unique Ocean Landscapes    o o o File Under F Troop Follies: Sacrebleu! ATF threatens French-style firing squad for agents who leak secrets    o o o Andrew Dickehage hospitalized after being attacked by three coyotes in Boulder County. Just imagine if this had been three wolves, instead.


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.” – John 16:1-4 (KJV)


Notes from JWR:

October 19th is the birthday of three notables: the late Alexander Zeisal “Zus” Bielski (born 1912), investor Jim Rogers (born 1942) and James Howard Kunstler (born 1948.) Kunstler is well-known to SurvivalBlog readers as the author of the novel World Made by Hand and the nonfiction book The Long Emergency. A fictionalized portrayal of Zus Bielski is seen in the movie Defiance. (This movie was loosely based on the excellent book Defiance: The Bielski Partisans written by Nechama Tec.) — Today we present another entry for Round 49 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $8,730 worth of prizes for …


A Tale of Quail, by KD1

Always trying to learn and become better prepared I thought our family needed to start pursuing livestock and learning the ins and outs to raising them.  Since I deplore powdered eggs I thought we’d start with poultry.  After reading how easy quail were to raise I decided to give them a try this spring.  After all, it met many of the requirements I needed for raising poultry.  The chicks are easy to raise and inexpensive.  They take very little space.  I live in a subdivision so had only a small area to house them in as well as city regulations …