Odds ‘n Sods:

G.G. sent this: Modoc County joins Siskiyou in state of Jefferson bid for secession    o o o Jeff Soyer of the Alphecca blog has posted a positive review of my soon to be released novel, Expatriates. And BTW, I just noticed that GoodReads and ChristianBook.com have both opened up their Expatriates pages for reviews. I would greatly appreciate it if anyone who has already read an advance copy would post their review at those sites. (Meanwhile, reviews are still temporarily blocked on the Amazon.com and BN.com sites until the October 1st release date.)    o o o Hollywood’s New …



Notes from JWR:

The Age of Deception and Betrayal continues: Kerry signs UN arms treaty, senators threaten to block it. For the BHO regime to have proceeded with this–even though there was clearly no majority support in the Senate–was despicable. Meanwhile, there was a cloture vote cut off Senator Ted Cruz’s filibuster of the Obamacare Continuing Resolution. This is beyond sad. — September 26th is the birthday of the late Jack LaLanne. (Born 1914, died January 23, 2011.) His feats of strength were amazing. And he was just 5’6″ tall. — Today we present another entry for Round 48 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction …


Getting Out After a Trigger Event, by Paul H.

Despite years of reading valid arguments for moving to the American Redoubt or other remote area, of the hundreds of preppers I’ve met I can count on one hand those who made the move and most of those were retired.  I meet relatively few preppers living at a secluded retreat, a few with secondary retreats, many planning to bug out to property they do not own (hopefully by agreement), and the majority still living in and around cities with no alternative plan to shelter in place.  Only one of those four types I just described is unlikely to be on …


Letter Re: Airsoft: Effective Firearm and Tactical Training for Adults and Children

James, Just wanted to amplify the recent contribution on Airsoft which focused mainly on Airsoft battle rifle emulations. Our concealed carry instructor had mention Airsoft handguns as CQB/indoor training and drill options. In particular he thought well of the “GreenGas” Blowback emulations of semi-auto handguns. I filed this under someday and didn’t begin to investigate Airsoft handguns until the recent spike in ammo prices.  The propellant, Green Gas, is propane with a bit of silicon oil added for a lubricant. Adapters are available so you may use larger (lantern and torch size) propane tanks which are more economical.You can purchase …


Economics and Investing:

Reader H.L. suggested this over at Zero Hedge: It Begins: Monte Paschi “Bails In” Bondholders, Halts $650 Million In Coupon Payments James Rickards: “When The International Monetary System Collapses—It’s Going To Be About How Much Gold You Have” Items from The Economatrix: Walmart Holiday Hiring To Outpace US Retail Industry “Dr. Doom” Roubini Makes Case FOR The U.S. Economy Why I’m Not Buying The Market’s Blind Optimism


Odds ‘n Sods:

German chancellor’s drone “attack” shows the threat of weaponized UAVs. JWR’s Comment: FWIW, I’ve had UAVIED in the SurvivalBlog Glossary since 2006.    o o o The Rawles Gets You Ready Preparedness Course (now priced at just $19.97), has been selling briskly. It is now available only via digital download, but once you have that, you are welcome to print out a hard copy for your reference binder.    o o o The Realities of Applied Combat Marksmanship (Or, Why Basic Marksmanship Training is Just Not Enough)    o o o G.G. suggested: California’s great gun grab: State’s sweeping gun control …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“We are deceived when we consent to think about the ‘price of gold.’ At the very outset of our thoughts regarding gold, we are wrong, just as astronomers prior to Copernicus were wrong in thinking about the solar system as geo-centric, with the Sun, Moon and planets describing perfect circles around Earth. Gold is ? to follow the astronomical simile ? the center of the monetary universe, and the planets ? the currencies ? circle the Sun, which represents gold. The correct starting point is the price of a currency expressed in terms of gold, and not the other way around. When the price of the …



Basic Mechanics Skills and Knowing Vehicular Limitations Part 1, by “Zachary Taylor”

Basic mechanical knowledge and skills are something that any person who hopes to be successful in TEOTWAWKI must have. I am not speaking just about vehicles, but vehicles are an excellent avenue to learn them. I can only talk with authority on my own past, but I know that the wealth of much of my knowledge comes from my extensive background in working on cars. I won’t claim that any of this post is going to be something that you have never read before. Heck, I am willing to bet that you heard much of this speech by a parent …


Three Letters Re: Natural Gas Powered Generators in a Disaster–Their Compressors, and Yours

JWR, Thank you for letting your readers know about [public utility] natural gas system compressor stations. I, for one, was was blissfully ignorant about them, and had just assumed that natural gas was “always on.” So, now knowing that, I can now see that a tri-fuel generator that can quickly be changed to propane or gasoline would be best. Thanks also for mentioning the capacity limits of generators. That I was aware of, but I hadn’t ever looked at the specs on my GE refrigerator/freezer. Now I can see that I need to do a “load budget”, to determine what …


Economics and Investing:

I recently had the opportunity to see the 2010 documentary titled “Inside Job“, via a rented Netflix DVD. It describes the background and aftermath of the 2008 global credit crisis. I highly recommend it. We are still paying for the mistakes (and crimes) described therein, as the bailout of the financial sector and bubble re-inflation continues, to the tune of $85 billion per month, via Quantitative Easing (QE). Regulators have done nothing to rein in the risk created by the global derivatives casino, which is now even bigger than in 2007. The Fed and the Treasury are busy re-inflating the …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Oregonians warned to prepare for the ‘big one.’ (Thanks to R.B.S. for the link.)    o o o I noticed that DemCAD has posted a video review of my upcoming novel Expatriates.    o o o Reader B.C. mentioned seeing some stirring words, over at From The Trenches: To Those Who Would But Ask    o o o Some useful reading, over ar Guerillamerica: Information Operations, Part Three: Operational Security    o o o Signs of the times: Soldier hit and dragged 3/4 mile by car. (Please make a donation, if you can afford to.)