A Taste of TEOTWAWKI, by Anne S.

I never realized how dark and eerie our house could be.  Even at night, there were usually two or three nightlights casting their brave glow to prevent midnight mishaps. But on this evening, there was no electricity to power this smallest of luxuries.  Another thing I noticed as I kept vigil over my sleeping loved ones by emergency candle light was the extreme, echoing silence.  There was no fan humming in my son’s room. There was no whir of the compressor cycling on and off in the refrigerator.  There was no air blowing through the central air unit of our …



Letter Re: Advice on Canadian Nickels

Mr. Rawles, This is a response to Patrick S. letter concerning Canadian Nickels. I previously sent a post to you on the topic of sorting Canadian pennies and there was an excellent response related to Canadian nickels. Since then there has been a development in that the Canadian government has discontinued issuing new pennies. To this effect, I no longer bother sorting pennies.  In the spirit of your recent post concerning the possibility of bank holidays in the US (which I believe will could happen in Canada), I keep every penny I find regardless of if they are debased or …


Economics and Investing:

Ed H. sent this: European press: Hollow victory in Greece. Meanwhile we read: Euro crisis far from over, stock analysts warn. (In essence, the EU is just forestalling the inevitable.) Michael H. sent this: Get Ready for the Coming Social Security Fight The global addiction of central banking stimulus – Contagion spreads to Spain as 10-year edges to 7 percent. Life in a perpetual quantitative easing world. Mike in Pennsylvania suggested this: Bank: We’re defaulting, but don’t you dare F.G. sent this: Chaos: Spanish Coal Miners Fire Homemade Rockets at Police to Protest Austerity File under Caching and OPSEC: Ashland …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Hold your horses, folks! I just noticed that my upcoming novel “Founders” has jumped from #100,000 to around #3,400 in the Amazon Best Sellers ranks. Please wait until the release date (September 25, 2012) to order your copy. By using the “Book Bomb Day” method (concentrating thousands of orders on one day), I hope to maximize the “splash” of the book, and drive its rankings to the Top 20 on Amazon.com, and to the Top 100 of the New York Times bestsellers list. Many thanks for your patience!    o o o Cheryl (The Economatrix) found this: It’s Almost Time …




Essential Medical Skills to Acquire – Part 1: Introduction, by Cynthia J. Koelker, MD

If society collapses and you’re on your own, what medical skills seem the most essential?  The answer likely depends on your age, health status, and stage in life.  For those of child-bearing years, midwifery skills may be paramount.  For those advanced in age, diagnosis and treatment of chronic disease becomes primary.  For the otherwise young and healthy, treatment of injuries and infection tops the list. Our current compartmentalized society has deemed that doctors should perform these tasks, though turf wars abound over what nurses, physician assistants, pharmacist, paramedics, and others should legally be permitted to do.  Recent decades have also …


Pat’s Product Review: Grip Pod and Light Rail

I’ll start this review by mentioning that I’ve never really cared for the vertical fore-grips on my ARs or AKs, and for good reason: Many of them are just plain junk! I’ve tried several fore-grips on rifles over the years, and they all had one thing in common – they would either break or get so loose that they were of no use to me. I had several of the fore-grips completely break off the rail on ARs over the years, and I attempted to repair them with epoxy, all to no avail. While I believe a fore-grip is a …


Letter Re: A Husband and Wife’s Thoughts on The Crunch

My wife, our children and I live on our family’s farm. Our lives are quite unburdened by the daily cares of most folks. We live debt free, have never owned a new car and have never taken a vacation. There’s just simply no other place we’d rather be than home.   We do have quite a few visitors here, with people stopping by to tour the 19th Century era museum and village we have created, or folks coming to the homesteading classes we teach, or neighbors coming for eggs and honey. But, even with the daily company and the rarity of a dinner …


Letter Re: Advice on Canadian Nickels

James Wesley: I am Canadian and would like to know if you could possibly tell me what year(s) of nickels would be advisable for me to purchase. These would be for investment in the future as barter or monetary trade. Thanking you for your informative blog site. Is there anything comparable in Canada that you are aware of ? I would be much obliged for the information. Thanking You – Patrick S. JWR Replies: The situation with Canadian nickels is much more complicated than with U.S. nickels. Here is some background: In the States, just about the only commonly-circulating nickels …


Letter Re: Weapons Maintenance — A Missing Element

SurvivalBloggers: A note on finding Lanolin, for making Ed’s Red bore cleaner: Lanolin is readily available in the breast feeding supply section at most big box department stores, or baby specialty stores. A full tube the (last I checked) is $8-9 but it lasts a very very long time. (And I once scored an unopened, factory sealed tube at a garage sale for 25 cents.) – Alyssa


Recipe of the Week:

Big Ben’s Sausage Lentil Soup 2 lbs mild Italian sausage (mine was homemade, more lean than what you’d get at the store), crumbled 6 cups mirepoix, diced small (that’s 1 1/2 cups celery, 1 1/2 cups carrot, and 3 cups yellow onion, diced to approx 1/4 inch cube) 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) Use 1/4 cup if your sausage will render as it cooks. (Mine doesn’t.) 2 tablespoons (4 to 6 cloves) minced garlic 10 cups water or stock 1 ea 15 oz can diced tomatoes (fire roasted preferable) 1 ea 4 oz can tomato paste 2 sprigs fresh (approximately 2 …


Economics and Investing:

‘People need some way out’: Bartering takes hold in austerity-wracked Greece. (Thanks to Brad S. for the link.) More derivatives drama: How shock waves will hit US if Greece drops euro. The CDS exposure will be enormous. Marc Faber: ‘100% Chance’ of Global Recession Bill M. spotted this: Investors tout ‘condemnation’ for housing fix. Eminent domain, seriously? What socialist claptrap! Is Silver Currently Riskier Than Gold? Andy Sutton: From Frying Pan to Fire Items from The Economatrix: The Euro’s Collapse Is Not Just About The Euro Lloyd’s Preparing For Euro Collapse John Galta–Report From Greece:  Limited Capital Controls Implemented Velvet …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Michael W. recommended this web site: No Tech Magazine. (They actually cover everything from stone age technology to high technology topics.)    o o o My recent interview with Alex Jones is now up on YouTube. We discussed Greece, bank holidays, the importance of cataloging numeric IP addresses (rather than just URLs), the Darknet, and ham radio.    o o o Some great observations from fellow blogger Mac Slavo: Why You Absolutely Must Have Food Supplies, Hard Assets And Reserve Cash    o o o F.G. sent this: Stiff winds fuel Colo. wildfire; looting a concern    o o o …