The Bugs No One Talks About, by J.T.

Parasites effect a vast number of the world’s population, and they are seen as directly decreasing the productivity of people, and increasing the morbidity/mortality of affected persons.  I have witnessed numerous children afflicted with taeniasis (tapeworm), ascariasis (roundworm), and giardiasis while on a medical mission trip to a remote region in Peru.  The burden of parasitic infections in these children was immense and contributed to stunted growth, fatigue, and likely cognitive delays.  Though in North America we typically do not worry about parasitic diseases, this is only a recent phenomenon that has occurred in the past 60 to 80 years.  …


Letter Re: Constructing In-House Caches

I have just finished listening to the audiobook of your novel Expatriates with great enjoyment. Eric Dove does a great job voicing the various characters and, to this yank’s ear, a credible “Aussie” accent was required. I wanted to add a bit to the account of Chuck’s rifle hide behind wall paneling. I am a cabinet maker and have spent more than a few hours puzzling over the various problems and pitfalls of concealed storage. Several are present in Chuck’s solution. While I do not like Velcro (as it wears out, accumulates litter and makes noise) if dots are to …


Economics and Investing:

Faber: Fed’s QE Causing ‘Colossal Asset Bubble’ (Thanks to B.B. for the link.) Andre D. sent: Down and out: the French flee a nation in despair. Mike Williamson wrote to mention that it is pitiful to see young Frenchmen actively seeking job experience in Vietnam, because of the relative economic freedom versus socialist France. Also from Andre: Barroso in urgent push for extra €2.7bn Commission budget – EC no longer able to shoulder financial obligations, says parliament president Items from The Economatrix: Maguire Predicted Gold Surge – Now Says West Is Collapsing The Frightening Reality About What Is Happening In …


Odds ‘n Sods:

I find it interesting that Tom Hardy, the British actor who plays Max Rockatansky in the upcoming Mad Max: Fury Road movie (aka Mad Max 4) was born in 1977. That coincidentally was just one year before Mel Gibson was hired to play the original Mad Max. And Hardy was just four years old when the second movie in the series (The Road Warrior) was released. Mel Gibson reportedly has a cameo role in the new film as “The Old Drifter.”    o o o Pierre M. sent: Obama’s war: Afghan special forces commander defects with guns to insurgents    …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Whether for good or bad, surveillance machines are going to get smarter. They’re already starting to recognise people’s faces in the street, and systems that spot abnormal behavior will not be far behind… Once connected to such intelligent systems, closed-circuit television (CCTV) will shift from being a mainly passive device for gathering evidence after a crime, to a tool for crime prevention…[The system works by detecting any behaviors that deviate from the ‘normal’ range of human behavior:] the computer recognises them as patterns. If anyone deviates from these patterns, the system sounds the alarm… it spots any abnormal behavior.” – …


Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 49 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The $8,455 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course. (A $1,195 value.) B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and C.) Two cases of Mountain House freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $350 value.) …


Organic Gardening, by Delroy

Growing up in the desert southwest Grandma V always had some kind of a garden. Whether it was squash, beans, and corn in the summer, or lettuce and cabbage in the winter, there was something growing in the rocky soil. She also had a remarkable collection of aloes growing in old coffee cans around her little cottage on the ranch. It was a good time of learning from a gentle soul without feeling like being schooled. Fast forward twenty years and I’m married, living on a postage stamp size city lot and anxious to get off the industrial food merry-go-around; …


Letter Re: Transistor Radio Repair

Jim, I was impressed by this guy’s threads on basic, old, transistor radio “revival”.  His simple, well illustrated threads at Instructables are written for the novice radio tinkerer.  First, instructions for a GE P780B.  (I have one of these, they’re built like tanks and are worth seeking out.) Second, an American made, Zenith portable. The Zeniths from the 1950s to 1970s are very well made and have audio and DX qualities that place modern portables to shame. Regards, – F.G. JWR Replies: I also recommend the G.E. transistor radios. The technology was improved slightly with the SupeRadio series, which was …


News From The American Redoubt:

Not too late to register! Nampa, Idaho Appleseed October 26-27, 2013. (BTW, you’ve got to love a state where television stations list events like that, at their web site. Somehow, I don’t think that would be likely for a television station in New Jersey.)    o o o Wyoming apparently got a bad “homophobic” rap, in the much-publicized death of Matthew Shepard. In The Book of Matt: Hidden Truths About the Murder of Matthew Shepard, the author documents how Shepard’s death was at the hands of another man with whom he’d had sexual relations, and was about retribution in an …


Economics and Investing:

S. recommended: Imperial Understretch and the Fall of Great Powers G.G. suggested: U.S. debt jumps a record $328 billion in a single day — tops $17 trillion for first time   Items from The Economatrix: The US Cannot Avoid A Soft Default Even If A Hard Default Is Avoided: Debt Ceiling Already Breached And US Treasury Operating In Emergency Mode While US Is Paying $415 Billion In Annual Interest Expenses. Nothing Left To Financially Lose: Biggest Drop In Confidence Since Lehman Brothers And Why Some Are Unmoved By Government Shutdown. Government shutdown took $24 billion bite out of economy


Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader F.B. suggested a useful aggregation site: The Liberty Mill.    o o o F.J. mentioned this useful info: Solar Camping on Steroids    o o o Antigua starts program to sell citizenship    o o o From G.G.: Researchers uncover holes that open power stations to hacking



The Time Has Come To Fully Diversify: Retreating From Banks And From The Dollar Itself

The recent political crisis over the delayed raising of the U.S. debt ceiling was just a precursor of a much larger crisis that will occur when interest rates inevitably rise. Once they do rise, it will become impossible for the Federal government to service its debt without massive monetization and concomitant mass inflation. There may also be some draconian stopgap measures such as levies on bank accounts (a.k.a. “bail ins”), nationalization of private pension funds, nationalization or forced common stock purchases for IRA and 401(k) plans, currency controls, bank holidays, bank withdrawal limits, currency recalls, limited access to safe deposit …


Credit Market Derivatives: The Eve of Destruction

Interest rate turmoil again affected holding company trading revenues heavily in the first and second quarters of 2013. According to the latest report from the U.S. Office of the Compttroller of the Currency (OCC), rate trading derivatives losses were $3.018 Billion in 1Q 2013 and $3.804 Billion in 2Q 2013. It is noteworthy that the present-day casino in credit derivatives has built up in the era of ZIRP, where interest rate changes have been miniscule. The losses reported in the first two quarters were apparently triggered by the unexpected rate moves of less than 20 basis points. (Two tenths of …


Guest Article: It is Hard to Know Wild Food Without Also Knowing Some Wild Medicines, by Linda Runyon

As I observe the current concerns about our food supply and our “health” care choices, I think back to the days in the 1970s when my husband, child and I took off to the wilderness of the Adirondacks.  Even though there’s so much turbulence going on now, I know that being in the middle of essentially nowhere with just your three-member family can be scary no matter how, when, or why you do it.  I was fortunate in that I was trained as a nurse in my younger days, and that experience did come in handy in being able to …