Category: Odds ‘n Sods

Reader Mark A. wrote us to mention that he had found this web site that houses “more information then in one spot then I have seen anywhere else. The site is maintained to provide Third World countries information on farming and sustainability. All their information is free to download. Note, however that their ZIP files are very, very large. There are 4,000 titles, totaling 13 gigabytes.”    o o o In a recent e-mail, The Chartist Gnome mentioned two things about the precious metals market that confirm my observations: 1.) The COMEX spot prices now have no correlation with “real …

Larry in Cincinnati spotted a link over at the excellent Urban Survival blog to a classic book in the public domain: Handy Farm Devices & How To Make Them. (BTW, there are lots of other free references available at the Journey to Forever site.)    o o o Adrian mentioned an article over at The Trader Blog with some observation on Iceland’s economic turmoil and potential for hyperinflation: What Happens After A Country Implodes? Also, don’t miss this very recent piece by the same blog author: “We are approaching the apogee of the Treasury bubble”    o o o Ready …

KAF bookmarked this one for us: FuturePundit: Face Masks And Hand Sanitizers Slash Flu Risks    o o o From our Economic Editor comes another big batch of news and commentary: Gun Sales Thriving In Uncertain Times — Europe On Brink Of Currency Meltdown — Iceland: IMF Cash Not Enough — Current Volatility Hints At Next Crash — Financial Crisis: Latin America Hit Hard — Customer Panic And Bank Run In Kuwait — Dow Up Almost 900 Points, But No Sighs Of Relief — Iceland Raises Interest Rates To 18% — White House To Banks: Start Lending Now, Stop Hoarding …

Reader Willa. J. e-mailed me to ask if we have “…now seen the bottom of the stock market?” She went on to ask if it was safe to starting “buying back into the market” as some of the cheering section “analysts” on MSNBC have suggested. Don’t get suckered in! As I mentioned a while back, price to earnings ratios have a lot farther to fall, to match typical recession lows. And since the current slump in not just a typical market cycle manifestation–rather, it was triggered by the worst credit collapse in history–the markets could get hit even worse than …

Reader “Bigbird” spotted this “must read” piece: In Europe, crisis revives old memories. Bigbird’s comment: “It looks like Americans aren’ t the only ones who practice survivalism.”    o o o Bob McC. mentioned this Piece at Fox News: Uses for $700B Bailout Money Keep Changing. Bob’s comment: “The clueless Congress just starting to discover that banksters lied! And they wondered why 3/4ths of American constituents opposed the plan!”    o o o Reader Currie M. sent us this link: The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) Plummeting. Currie’s comments: “I consider this an accurate representation of economic conditions, in real time. …

Reader MGB recommended this brief but insightful page on outdoor survival: Survival Myths… Debunked    o o o Hawaiian K. sent us a link to a New York Times piece that made my blood boil. It is innocuously titled: So When Will Banks Give Loans? But it would have been better titled: Your Tax Dollars at Work: Expanding a Banking Empire. Read the article carefully. The banksters at JP Morgan Chase plan to spend $25 billion of gifted taxpayer dollars to fund acquisitions of smaller banks.    o o o I just heard that Ready Made Resources now has a …

Searching for an article on how to more quickly and effectively sharpen a chainsaw (mine always seems to be a rock magnet), I found a great article in Backwoods Home magazine: Ambidextrous chainsaw filing. (BTW, be sure to look through their big on-line archive of other free articles.) I also strongly recommend subscribing to Backwoods Home. It is one of our family’s perennial favorites!    o o o The latest harvest from our Economic Editor: Stocks Fall On Belief Global Recession Is At Hand — 25% to 30% of Hedge Funds To Disappear — Crude Oil and Gas Prices Tumble …

Thanks to Mike C. for this article from Forbes: Abandoned Mine Exploration    o o o More Sturm und Drang from Cheryl: Fiscal Cat 5 Hurricane Warning — Asian Markets Drop — Dollar Roars Back As Global Debts Are Called In — UK Recession Fears Sparks Massive Sell-Off Of Sterling — Global Bank Lending Sinks To 30-Year Low — Demand For Gold Soars As Prices Tumble — World Markets On Edge — Credit Suisse Reports 670M Pound Loss — Nikkei Hits 5-1/2-Year Low — Wachovia Has $23.9 Billion 3Q Loss — Credit Crisis A Catastrophe For Auto Sales    o …

From Rick D.: Inflation Creates Run On Argentine Coins    o o o David in Israel, one of our foreign correspondents, and a rabbinical student sent us this comment: “It is interesting that you mention the shmita (the jubilee or yovel in Hebrew is a 49 year cycle where sold property is returned and slaves freed) a seven year cycle where all debts are forgiven, and at the end of the year that we let our fields lie fallow. The day of the 777.68 point Dow drop, the largest point drop in history, hit on the exact day that the …

More news and commentary, courtesy of our Economic Editor: Layoffs Spreading Across Corporate America — Fed Pushes Purchase of Assets To Bust Credit Logjam —AmEx Profits Fall, Cardholders Struggle — No Chinese Bailout for Pakistan, Next Stop: IMF — Kerkorian Dumps 2/3 of Ford Stock — Bush Says Economic Panic Is Easing — Markets Soar As LIBOR Starts To Fall — Bernanke Wants Second Stimulus Package — Iceland Agrees To $6 Billion Deal With IMF — France To Inject $6.5 Billion Into Top Six Banks — The view from a French think tank: Summer 2009: The US Gov’t Defaults On …

Eric mentioned this article: Windowsill herb growing    o o o Susan Z. flagged this one: ECB council member foresees ‘tri-polar’ currency system    o o o From our Economic Editor: Dow Up 413 On Signs Of Recovering Credit Market — Momentum Builds For New Package To Boost The Economy — Merrill Lynch To Cut Thousands Of Jobs — Bush Advisor Says “Parts of U.S.” Are In Recession —Turmoil May Make Americans Savers, Worsening ‘Nasty’ Recession — Options Pointing To $50 Per Barrel Oil — Banks Braced For Lehman Bros. Insurer’s Deadline — US Highly Inflationary Monetary Growth Will Lead …

Matt in Texas recommended a piece by Sam Mathid posted over at 321Gold.com as a “must read”: It is Time    o o o Writing in a recent issue of The Rude Awakening, economic commentator Joel Bowman notes: “From October 10 through October 17, the Dow [Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)] swung a total of 2,225 points at five separate closes. Put another way, that’s an average daily swing, at the close, of 455 points. This is territory of a tumult as yet not encountered in the history of the market. Measured by the volatility index [VIX], otherwise known as Wall …

I spotted a link for a brief video introduction to Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). Note that the map of near-surface geothermal heating potential coincides with a lot of my recommended retreat areas.    o o o Courtesy of Cheryl, our dose of Gloomage d’ jour: Lehman Tries To Unwind Derivatives Trade — Bush Plans To Host World Summit To Discuss Financial Crisis Response — NYT: Probe Of Lehman Collapse Escalates — Bleak Economic Outlook For Spain — Mervyn’s To Close 149 Locations — Linen ‘n Things Closing All Remaining Stores — Ron Paul: Our Current Monetary System Is Ending — …

A not-so-subtle indicator of future events?: Baltic Dry Index Collapsing. The article begins with this quote: “Nothing is moving because the trader doesn’t want to take the risk of putting cargo on the boat and finding that nobody can pay.”    o o o Here is some news and commentary from our Economic editor: Stocks Turn Higher As Credit Markets Show Signs Of Easing — Citi Group’s $13 Billion Writedown Raises Fears of a Crisis Beyond Wall Street — US Worsening Economic Outlook — Hedge Fund 42% Drop, Brink Of Collapse — Dow Gold Ratio Sinks To 14-Year Low — …

Conservative commentator Glenn Beck has followed up his recent economic analysis with this: What Can I Do to Prepare? He stops short of suggesting full-scale survivalist preparedness, but he definitely goes far beyond FEMA‘s “buy a flashlight and three days of food” claptrap, or the standard Nanny-Stater’s “Hold hands, sing Kumbaya, and dial 911 if there is trouble” approach.    o o o Steve Quayle had a link to this important London Telegraph article: Europe stuns with €1.5 trillion bank rescue, as France plays role of saviour. Steve also had a link to this blog commentary: The Next Derivatives Bloodbath: …