Category: Odds ‘n Sods

Robert B. mentioned that Internet old-timer Clayton Cramer posted this to his blog: Wow! $1/Watt Solar Panels! (FWIW, I can a remember reading Clayton Cramer Usenet posts back around 1989. That was back before the days of web browsers, when we would log in to the text-only Usenet.)    o o o “Hawgtax” sent us this one from Derry Brownfield’s site: New swine flu virus has genes from avian flu    o o o Cathy Buckle mentioned in a recent African Tears post: “Air Zimbabwe announced that one return air fare from Harare to London had increased to $804 million …

One of my predictions (from 2005) comes true, in an article forwarded to us by Eric S.: Americans ‘walk’ from loans. My favorite quote from the article: “Lewis’ comments came as a new expression – “jingle mail” – referring to the growing trend where Americans mail the keys to their homes to the lenders before vacating, entered the US lexicon.”    o o o It appears that silver and gold are resuming their bull market advances, with spot gold spiking above $820 per ounce and silver running up past $14.60 per ounce. Congrats to those of you that took my …

Delinquencies are soaring: Unpaid credit cards bedevil Americans. (A hat tip to Craig S. for sending us this.)    o o o An Ambrose Evans-Pritchard article was mentioned the at CometGold Forum (at Contrary Investors Cafe) and by nearly a dozen SurvivalBlog readers: Crisis may make 1929 look a ‘walk in the park’. Here is a key quote: “Liquidity doesn’t do anything in this situation,” says Anna Schwartz, the doyenne of US monetarism and life-time student (with Milton Friedman) of the Great Depression. “It cannot deal with the underlying fear that lots of firms are going bankrupt. The banks and …

Six readers sent us this article about dispossessed Southern Californians: Tent city in suburbs is cost of home crisis    o o o A Rawles family member sent us a link to a web site has all kinds of information on primitive technology    o o o From our friend Michael Panzner, over at the Financial Armageddon blog, comes a chart that tells a thousand words: A Mind-Boggling Data Series    o o o You’ve all seen what has happened to food prices in the past year.Keep in mind that most food storage vendors (including some of our advertisers) are …

MQC sent us this: Standard & Poor’s Downgrades ACA Capital to Junk Status. MQC notes: “S&P cut ACA’s rating to ‘CCC,’ or eight levels below investment grade, from ‘A,’ the sixth-highest investment-grade rating. It also said it may cut Financial Guaranty Insurance Co’s ‘AAA’ rating.” Here is a sobering snippet: “The entire US economy is $14 trillion or so in contrast to $42.6 trillion in credit default swaps. The entire derivatives trade is now a record $681 trillion.”    o o o Ready Made Resources just added a new photovoltaic (PV) power product to their line. For those of us …

SF in Hawaii sent this: World food stocks dwindling rapidly, UN warns. Here I must mention that I have hope that American agriculture can come to the rescue. Since they are still free-market driven, American farmers can react rapidly to changing markets. They see the price of corn soaring, so they plant more corn. I wouldn’t be surprised to see hundreds of thousands of fallowed acres taken out of the CRP and put back to productive use within the next couple of years. In real terms, the price of crops actually fell from 1975 to 2005. Since then, they have …

With credit to SHTF Daily (one our favorite sites) comes this tale of housing market woe: Bargain houses largely unsold Courthouse-step auctions offer 1,336 properties in foreclosure — 17 are sold    o o o Great Britain bans samurai swords. I suppose that the British citizenry will soon be down to just butter knives, cricket bats, ASBOs, and harsh language for self defense.    o o o SurvivalBlog reader Mary R. forwarded us this odd notice from the US Treasury: Annual Purchase Limit For Savings Bonds Set at $5,000. Could the Treasury have been warned that the Fed plans to …

Several readers sent us this one: Morgan Stanley Issues Full US Recession Alert. I could see why it looks like a recession to them…. Stephen in Iraq sent us this: $9.4 Billion Write-Down at Morgan Stanley–the firm reported the first quarterly loss in its 72-year history. Meanwhile, we read: Bear Stearns Posts 4Q Loss—the first loss in its 84-year history. Wow, they both made it through the Great Depression without posting losses. But now they are in the red. Billions of dollars in the red. We are experiencing times that are unprecedented within living memory.    o o o Thanks …

Working with 12 VDC solar power–a teenager describes how he did it himself, in this YouTube video. And here is an update, filmed a year later–after he added a bus bar and a pair of deep cycle golf cart batteries.    o o o I noticed that Gun Parts Guy now has his FAL/L1A1 extractor tools back in stock. These are very well made–here in the States–and I highly recommend them.    o o o Anyone that thinks that they’ll be able to get by without backup power should read this: No Power for 10th Day for Some in Plains …

Frequent contributor Michael Z. Williamson flagged an article about H5N1 Asian Avian Flu. It is still not easily transmissible, but remains a cause for concern.    o o o The Bricklayer in Detroit sent us a link to a “must read” piece of commentary on the perilous state of the global credit market.    o o o A reminder: the special sale on pairs of 35 gram pouches of CELOX being offered by Safecastle Royal is ending soon. Be sure to get your order in ASAP, since the manufacturer’s pricing goes up in January 2008,    o o o More …

SF in Hawaii suggested a deer hauler (such as item # QW-223606 sold by Cabela’s) as a cross-country bug-out option. It would certainly allow someone to carry three or four times as much weight as they could in a backpack.    o o o Stephen in Iraq e-mailed us a link to a Bloomberg article: Wheat Price Surges Above $10 for First Time on Supply Concerns . Stephen’s comment “Notice this paragraph: ‘Higher food prices are forcing some Italians to eat at soup kitchens and threatening unrest in China, where a stampede at a supermarket sale of cooking oil killed …

Thanks for David. L., who sent us a captivating PDF link: Prudent Bear’s PMs See Structured Finance Woes Leading To Recession    o o o Mike in Malaysia sent us this: Australians told to stockpile 10 weeks of food in preparation for Avian Flu,    o o o Reader D.J. noted that the Future Weapons cable television show had a segment on EMP that he found interesting. Here are the YouTube links: Part 1, and Part 2    o o o The Credit Crunch has become a Credit Collapse: MQC sent us this Daily Telegraph article: Call to relax Basel …

U.S. Housing Crash Deepens in 2008 After Record Drop    o o o The new quasi-survivalist movie “I Am Legend“s opened with a bang: a whopping $29.6 million one day box office take in 3,606 theaters. Hey, maybe another producer in Hollywood will take note that movies with survival themes sell lots of tickets, and they will buy my “Pulling Through” script.    o o o SF In Hawaii sent us this suggestion: Siano Solar-Powered Bug Zapper Lanterns. SF’s comment: “This is how I plan on feeding my chickens…”    o o o Cathy Buckle included the following in one …

A new medical study suggests a link between the use of cholesterol-lowering “statin” drugs, like Zocor (simvastatin) and Lipitor (atorvastatin) and higher risk of brain hemorrhage in patients who have had a recent stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA–commonly called a “mini-stroke” or “warning stroke.”) But the researchers opine that the benefits of the statin drugs outweigh their risks. Bah! In my opinion, the statin drugs are grossly over-prescribed, most often to allow people to continue to eat greaseburgers. Granted, there are some people that are genetically predisposed to high cholesterol, but the solution to high cholesterol for the vast …

From Richard Daughty–aka The Mogambo Guru–posted by The Asia Times: Weak dollar induces a dream world    o o o Several months ago, when discussing the residential real estate market bubble, I wrote about “waiting for the other shoe to drop.” Here is an article (suggested by reader D.V.), that echoes my sentiments: Will the Commercial Real Estate Market Fall? Of course it will    o o o Rob at Affordable Shortwaves sent us this reminder: If any SurvivalBlog readers are looking for delivery of a Kaito KA1102 AM/FM/Shortwave radio by Christmas, then they should place their orders by Saturday, …