Category: Odds ‘n Sods

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: …

Paul C. spotted this article: Birmingham on the brink (of bankruptcy). Do you remember my warnings starting in January of 2008 about municipal bonds?    o o o John and Abigail Adams sent us the URL for a site on North American Indian Recipes.    o o o Does this word from the mainstream analysts sound familiar? This is from MarketWatch e-Newsletter (on October 14th): “Gold prices could hit $1,500 as global plans to rescue the financial industry are set to increase inflation pressures, according to analysts led by Francisco Blanch at Merrill Lynch. “The unintended consequence of the ongoing …

Reader FFF found this for us: Great Depression holds lessons for surviving tough economy    o o o Several new retreat properties have recently been added to our spin-off site: SurvivalRealty.com.    o o o Susan Z. recommended this piece of commentary by Adrian Douglas: Bond market collapse is imminent. My own opinion is a bit different: I think that bonds will hold up for several more months, since so much money is presently being yanked out of the equities market by both individual and institutional investors. They need to re-invest that money somewhere. In the long run, however, bonds …

Portfolio.com reports that “unlimited dollar funding” has now been promised by the G-7 to re-liquify the credit markets on both side of the Atlantic: Flood the Zone. Just as I warned, the MOAB knows no boundaries. The destruction of the dollar via mass inflation now seems inevitable. Get out of your dollar-denominated investments immediately. Shelter your assets in practical tangibles, ASAP! Now, on to more economic news and commentary, courtesy of our stalwart Economic Editor: Manic Monday: Dow Roars Back After Worst Week Ever — Morgan Stanley Gets $9 Billion Lifeline — Sovereign Bancorp In Talks With Spain’s Banco Santander …

David V. sent us the link to some commentary by Bob Chapman on the derivatives threat: The Quadrillion Dollar Powder Keg Waiting To Blow. David also sent us the link to this piece by Porter Stansberry: How AIG’s Collapse Began a Global Run on the Banks    o o o Several folks sent us this “must read” piece by Bill Bonner: The Next Crisis Will Be Over Food. It begins: “The United States is now a net importer of food, we read recently. If we understand that correctly, there is no longer enough food Made in the USA to feed …

KAF sent us this: World’s First Nuclear Bunker Turned Zero-Star Hotel Opens in Switzerland    o o o In a recent e-mail, SF in Hawaii mentioned: “I do not think that the bank rating agencies will adjust their ratings fast enough to tell when you should get your money out of a bank. Instead, watch the bank’s stock price.” That is good advice.    o o o Whenever someone wants to advertise a book on SurvivalBlog, I insist on reading it before I accept the ad. Most recently, this gave me the opportunity to read Jerry Robinson’s new book “Surviving …