SF in Hawaii mentioned this: Australians rule, when ranked for elbow room. But I can be proud of the fact that I live in a part of the US with one of the lowest population densities– about 5 people per square mile, and most of those are squeezed inside city limits. (“Give me land, lots of land, and the starry skies above…”)
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On the economic front: Pointing the finger of blame at credit derivatives: What Cooked the World’s Economy? (Thanks to Charley for the link.) And all these came from Cheryl: The Whole World is Rioting About the Economic Crisis–Why Aren’t We? — Layoffs Spike as Recession Rips Through US — Most Carmakers’ Sales Plunge; Hyundai, Subaru Gain — Motorola $3.6 Billion Quarterly Loss — Cutbacks in Consumer Spending Hits UPS (JWR Adds: But for some reason there are still lots of long, skinny boxes getting shipped…) — UBS to Merge with Wachovia? — Spain’s Downward Spiral Spooks Investors — Kazakhstan Devalues Currency — Fitch Cuts Russia’s Debt Rating to “BBB” — Dow Has Fallen 44% in the Past 16 Months — US Auto Sales Plunge 37% — Can Countries Really Go Bankrupt? — It’s Not About Change, it’s About Personal Survival. JWR Adds: A key quote from that article: “The US Treasury on Wednesday opened the floodgates of government bond issuance, revealing plans for a record debt sale in February and more frequent auctions in the months to come. The announcement came amid growing fears about US government deficits and sent the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rising to 2.95 per cent, up from just over 2 per cent at the end of December.” This confirms my prediction that interest rates will have to rise sharply to lure foreign investors to buy US Treasury paper. This is a stagflation precursor, folks!
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Tamara’s Books, Bikes and Boomsticks blog has recently became one of our favorites, filling the void of clever and humorous Schuetzentrix POV that was left when Kit got married and stopped blogging. In a recent post, Tamara mentioned another incredibly useless gadget for the Mall Ninja crowd. What is it about M4geries that attract these gee-gaws, jim-cracks, do-dads? Is it some strange magnetism? Is it those empty handguard rail sections, begging to be filled? Who comes up with such idiotic “accessories”, and even more importantly, who is naive enough to actually buy them?
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The current high bid in the SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction is at $1,460. This auction is for a large mixed lot, which includes::
1.) A “be ready to barter” box of 36 full-capacity gun magazines, from my personal collection in JASBORR. This box includes: 12 – Used original Bundeswehr contract HK91 (G3) steel 20 round magazines, 6 – Used original Austrian FN-FAL steel 20 round magazines, with cartridge counter holes, 10 – Used AR-15/M16 USGI (all Colt made!) alloy 20 round magazines, 6 – Excellent condition original Glock Model 19 9mm 15 round pistol magazines (early type, with “U” notch), and 2 – New and very scarce original FN (Belgian-made) US M1/M2 Carbine blued steel 30 round magazines (marked “AYP”) . All of these magazines are of pre-1994 manufacture (and hence legal to possess in New York.) These magazines have a combined value of approximately $710, in today’s market. Note: If you live in a state where full capacity magazines are banned, then you must choose to: refrain from bidding, or designate a recipient in an unrestricted state, or re-donate the magazines for a subsequent auction.
2. ) A brand new-in-box Hot Jaw Bag Sealer and a box of 10 Mylar bags . (Every retreat group should have one these, since they are a tremendous labor saver!) This is a $200 retail value, courtesy of Ready Made Resources.
3.) A huge lot of DVDs, CD-ROMs and hard copy nuclear survival/self-sufficiency references (a $300+ value) donated by Richard Fleetwood of www.SurvivalCD.com
4.) A NukAlert compact radiation detector donated by at KI4U.com (a $160 retail value).
5.) A gift certificate for $100 worth of books, courtesy of Back 40 Books.
6.) A case of 12 cans of recent production nitrogen-packed storage granola (mixed varieties) This is a $96 retail value, courtesy of CampingSurvival.com.
Thus, this auction has a combined value in excess of $1,565.
This auction ends on February 15th. Please e-mail us your bid. Your bid will be for the entire mixed lot.