Category: Odds ‘n Sods

Fed Chief Bernanke warns: Fiscal action needed as America’s citizenry ages    o o o Here is a handy “locator page” for finding an LDS “storage center” (cannery) in your area. The LDS church graciously makes their cannery facilities available to non-Mormons.    o o o House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Creates Global Warming Committee. Gee, Nancy, could you send some of your hot air up here? (We just had a whole week of overnight lows around 10 below zero.)    o o o I just heard that Northern Tool & Equipment (one of our Affiliate advertisers) is offering Free Shipping …

Hawaiian K. suggested a link to the article titled: “No Way Out: A 50% Dollar Devaluation“, by Robert McHugh, Ph.D.     o o o The big “Container load sale” at Survival Enterprises that I mentioned last week is now in high gear. It is all selling fast and strictly “first come – first served.” The prices are less than half of retail. Survival Enterprises can take all major credit cards, PayPal, cash, gold and silver coins, but no checks or money orders. Survival Enterprises has a web page with a running inventory list with prices. (As they sell out an …

Former CIA energy analyst Tom Whipple reports: The Peak Oil Crisis: Congressional Hearings – Round #2    o o o Cathy Buckle reports from Zimbabwe: Police crackdown on illegal small scale miners leads to deaths. Just more of the same government heavy-handedness in troubled Zimbabwe. The once quite productive and prosperous nation is now chronically racked by hyperinflation. Speaking of inflation, be sure to scroll down to Cathy’s January 6th post, which includes this: “Before Christmas a loaf of bread was 295 dollars, now it is 850 dollars – the bakers say its still not enough to cover their costs …

Reader Ben L. mentioned this one: Bird flu reports spreading in Asia. Ben’s comment: “Scary stuff. The S.E. Asians appear (!) to be holding their end in check, but the way these things tend to get out of control, I’d have to say November 2008/February 2009 would be the time to watch out for. Yes, time to stock up on animal-protein goodies from your advertisers such as Freeze Dry Guy and PrepareTV.com. (My my; their Gourmet Supreme Pack looks to be delicious.)”    o o o Hurricane-force winds and rain lashed northern Europe on Thursday    o o o I …

Chuck sent us this link: Peak Oil Update – January 2007: Production Forecasts and EIA Oil Production Numbers    o o o I noticed at the RWVA Blog that there are a whole bunch of Appleseed shoots and clinics already scheduled for this year, all over the country. (Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.) More locations may be announced later. Check the schedule for a shoot near you.    o o o The big “Container load sale” at Survival Enterprises that I mentioned last week …

An Iran-Venezuela Axis?   o o o Reader Jason M. sent us this one: The perils of solo winter camping: Camper rescued after weeks in the wild    o o o President Bush Going For Broke With Iraq Troop Surge    o o o Snopes.com confirms: The rumored available refund on the Federal telephone tax (for2006 tax filings) is real.

Les Christie, editor of the British Columbia Housing Blog, penned this prescient article for CNNMoney.com: Housing market pain not revealed by statistics    o o o Rourke suggested that I highlight this product from Canada, which is one of the best door security peepholes on the market    o o o Bob B. mentioned this article from The Financial Times Online (by way of Matt Drudge): Euro displaces the U.S. Dollar in bond markets    o o o Nuclear Blast on TV’s ’24’ Causes Fallout for Fox

The RWVA is holding a Rifle Instructor’s Camp in Ramseur, North Carolina, February 18th to 25th. Take advantage of this high quality, very inexpensive training!    o o o Jason in North Idaho mentioned this article: Little-known earthquake is remembered    o o o From Congressman Ron Paul: The World’s Reserve Currency

From the New York Times: Rise in Ethanol Raises Concerns About Corn as a Food. The article begins: “Renewing concerns about whether there will be enough corn to support the demand for both fuel and food, a new study has found that ethanol plants could use as much as half of America’s corn crop next year.”    o o o Any readers that live in Montana should be aware of an “anti-hoarding/anti-price gouging” bill that is currently in hearings at the state senate. Call your state senators! (A tip of the hat to Phil at the Random Nuclear Strikes blog …

“The Werewolf”, (our correspondent in Brazil) recommended a 49 cent downloadable Amazon short by Kim Stanley Robinson. It is titled :”Imagining Abrupt Climate Change: Terraforming Earth.”    o o o Michael Z. Williamson reminded us that the Oak Ridge Laboratory treatise on what nuclear weapons actually do, and how to defend your family against their effects is available for free download from the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine.    o o o “Simple Country Doctor” recommended this “moderately technical discussion of non-nuke EMP device” from Australia.

Bush Targets Iran in Speech, Implies Military Action    o o o I’ve just been notified by Survival Enterprises that the big blow-out ‘truckload sale” that I had mentioned previously is now definitely a “go.” They bought a container load of nitrogen packed long term storage foods from a U.S. cannery that is going out of business. Survival Enterprises has well over 11,000 cans of storage food coming, (a full to the gunnels 40 foot shipping container load) and it’ll be arriving sometime next week. These will be everything from beef, ham, chicken, and bacon TVP to green beans to …

From Thomas Horn, writing in WorldNetDaily: The good news about imminent disaster    o o o Four different SurvivalBlog readers sent us the link to this news story: Proposal to send drones over Idaho raises hackles    o o o The Daily Mail reports: Dead birds rain down on towns half a world apart

Economist Gary North commented in a recent e-newsletter about “inflation fighter” Alan Greenspan’s legacy: “Using the inflation calculator, located on the home page of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, we find that in 1997, an item that had cost $1,000 in 1987 [when Greenspan took office] cost $1,412 — a 40% increase in prices.”   o o o Tessy e-mailed us to mention: “One of the greatest and most valuable treasures in my survival library is the book written by the cadre of the United States Rescue and Special Operations Group based in Kansas City: “Six Ways in, Twelve Ways …

Kara S. told us about this story: Thieves Steal $200K In Copper In Broad Daylight    o o o Our friend novelist Michael Z. Williamson mentioned this book that might prove useful in extremis: Unmentionable Cuisine by Calvin W. Schwabe    o o o For our readers in the UK that are wondering about the vaguely survivalist Jericho television series produced in the U.S., Simon in England mentioned: “Jericho is starting the the UK cable / satellite channel Hallmark at 20.00 on Friday 12 January 2007.”

Simon in England notes that do-it-yourself and garden centers there are presently selling off their ‘Christmas candles’ at closeout prices. He said that he got ten of the large pillar type candles for just £0.49 (around $1 USD) each that otherwise would have been £3.00 (around $6 USD) each. The nice thing about these candles is that most of them are formulated with extra stearic acid, for longer burning.    o o o From Yahoo News: 6 of 75 cities get top disaster rating. Jason says: “Yet another reason to ‘get out of Dodge”    o o o Front Sight …