Category: Odds ‘n Sods

Wheat Prices Near $20 Per Bushel    o o o Eric H. found us this: Health officials keeping eye on drug-resistant flu strain    o o o Here is a “must read” piece: Signs Point To Banking Crisis Getting Much Worse. Meanwhile, reader Randy K. mentioned that the US Bank reserves have dropped even deeper into negative numbers. As reported in WorldNetDaily the “non-borrowed bank reserves column is now at $-18 billion. Randy’s comment “It seems that the earlier report of an $8B shortfall was less than half way there. For me, the phrase “financial institutions would be bankrupt if …

Credit Default Swaps Are Next to Take the Crunch Test. Does this sound familiar?    o o o A reader sent me an e-mail to chide me for mentioning that hedge fund redemption suspensions were on the increase. He said: that I was being “an alarmist” because “those [redemption suspensions] are still rare.” Well, I’m going to go out on a limb and state publicly that I believe that they are going to become a lot less rare in the immediate future. Even large hedge funds are not immune. For example, just recently one of CitiGroup’s hedge funds announced a …

RBS sent us this, from the Dr. Housing Bubble Blog: Southern California Housing Numbers Exposed: The Bottom Falls out of the Housing Market, Again. Pay particular attention to the chart that shows the two year lag between sales drops and price drops. Clearly, the worst is yet to come. I’m still predicting a 50%+ drop in house prices in most California counties. The law of supply and demand is inescapable.    o o o Mark from Michigan alerted me to a great little article over at the SHTF Blog: on constructing secret doors, with links to web pages by folks …

I’ve mentioned bond insurers several times before in the blog. A recent Reuters article, (courtesy of RBS), shows that the mainstream media has finally caught on to some of the broader implications: New York Governor Spitzer warns: Bond insurer woes could become market “tsunami”    o o o HH sent us this: Putin threatens to add the Ukraine to nuclear target list if they join NATO.    o o o I spotted this story linked at Drudge: U.S. will down failed satellite. The article doesn’t do a good job of describing what is planned. If an interceptor hits the satellite …

Eric–one of our most prolific content contributors–sent us this: Fed Chairman Bernanke Says Nation’s Business Prospects Have Deteriorated. Methinks we can expect at least one more panic-driven interest rate cut in the US. That will surely mean a weaker US dollar and stronger precious metals prices. Meanwhile, Canada looks likely to tag along. Plan accordingly. If the USD Index drops below 72, watch out!    o o o SF in Hawaii flagged this web link to a Swiss company that has prototyped electric ATVs, scooters, and even ultralight aircraft.    o o o Reader Bill N. suggested a FAS web …

Eric sent us this from BBC News: World markets lose $5.2 trillion    o o o From the International Herald Tribune: Global inflation climbs to historic levels    o o o RBS sent us an article on CCD, from England: Panic in the beehive    o o o An analysis from Now and Futures shows a US inflation rate of around 18%, using data from the now defunct M3 Aggregate figure. (A hat tip to Eric for sending the link.) OBTW, speaking of disappearing data, reader John T. mentioned this tidbit: "Due to budgetary constraints, the Economic Indicators service [web …

Now mainstream journalists are starting to use the “D” word: Depression risk might force U.S. to buy assets. Thanks to Eric for finding that. OBTW, he also spotted this from Reuters: Dozens of U.S. banks will fail by 2010    o o o Don’t miss Charles Hugh Smith’s latest economics essay (posted February 13th) “System Instability, Redundancy and the Domino Effect “.    o o o The Other Ben L. forwarded this: Global demand lifts grain prices, gobbles supplies.    o o o Mike in Malaysia says “File this under… ‘Not good for the world’”: Pakistani nuclear scientists ‘abducted’

I-Told-You-So Department: The U.S. Mint just announced that they will soon be changing the alloying ratios for U.S. five cent pieces (“nickels”.) Back in November of last year, I warned readers to stock up. The Mint’s announcement was vague, but I wouldn’t surprised to see the “new” nickels made with just traces of copper and nickel. It will probably be just be another zinc token. In effect, 2008 will be your last year to stock up on rolls of nickels that still have the long-standing alloy ratio. Once the new pseudo-nickels start circulating side-by-side with the old ones, it will …

One of our readers that works as a locksmith and welder in Denver, Colorado reports: “I thought you might want to know, that a year ago I would open houses for foreclosure investors, and that market was only about 5% to 10% of my business. Now it is 70% to 90% of my business.”    o o o Reader D.C. recommended an article that has some implication for any readers that own an unattended retreat: Keeping Track From Afar. My personal preference is for a service called uControl Home Security. (They are one of our former advertisers.)    o o …

There is some good commentary from John Ing, posted over at Gold-Eagle; Gold: Lies, Lies And More Lies    o o o The cable television Sci-Fi channel will air the “Jericho” pilot episode and then the entire first season, starting tonight. (Monday, Feb. 9, 2008.) The second season of the show will be aired on CBS on Tuesday evenings, starting tomorrow night.    o o o RBS suggested this piece of old time lore on preserving eggs without refrigeration.    o o o Check out the series of free outdoor survival videos at this British web site: A-Z of Bushcraft.

After a near-death experience, the post-nuke television drama series “Jericho” returns to CBS on Tuesday (February 12, 2008). It is noteworthy that “Jericho” was resurrected from cancellation by popular demand from loyal fans, who inundated CBS officials with shipments of 40,000 pounds of peanuts. As previously mentioned in SurvivalBlog, I have hopes that both “Jericho”, and “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (on the Fox network) will in some small way help get people to “think outside the box” about the fragility of our modern society and motivate them to prepare for more inimical times. OBTW, for anyone that wants to …

Eric mentioned this piece posted over at Stan Deyo’s site: Thirsty? Dirty? Sorry.    o o o CJA suggested this photo essay: One Week’s Worth of Food–Around the World    o o o Reader David V. sent us the link to a “must read” piece over at Michael Panzner’s Financial Armageddon blog: Still at the Forefront.    o o o A half dozen readers sent us this link: ‘Euros Accepted’ signs pop up in New York City

Here in The Unnamed Western State (TUWS), a BMW or a Lexus is not considered a status symbol, but a Caterpillar tractor is. In winters with heavy snowfall, nothing beats a Cat for plowing out roads. Anyone with a large Cat with a versatile blade is is considered the “go-to guy” after a major snow storm. If you own a Cat and your neighbors don’t, then after the first hard winter they will consider you indispensable.    o o o John T. flagged this from Fortune magazine: ‘It’s going to be much worse’ Famed investor Jim Rogers sees hard times …

We were recently somewhat “snowed in” and ran low on feed for our flock of assorted fowl. So the ever-resourceful Memsahib simply broke out one of our oldest 35 pound buckets of hard red winter wheat from the JASBORR. She soaked the wheat in water for 12 hours, and voila! Soft, plump wheat berries. She is also sprouting some wheat, which is even more nutritious. She mentioned that her maternal great-grandmother, at the turn of last century used sprouted wheat for chicken feed. This kept her hens laying eggs throughout the winter. Before the days of electrically-lighted hen houses, winter …

Yesterday, one of our kids was reading aloud from a “Hunting Safely in Grizzly Country” pamphlet that we picked up when buying some topographic maps at the local USFS ranger station. It was published by the “Interagency Bear Committee” and the Wyoming Fish and Game Department. Most of the advice was good, but some of it must have been written by tree huggers. They opined: “Shooting a bear when it is charging is not recommended. The bear almost always lives long enough to maul the hunter severely.” Excuse me, but what am I supposed to stop a bear with? Harsh …