Thanks to KAF for spotting this: A Giant Breach in Earth’s Magnetic Field. This natural event–roughly analogous to the nuclear EMP effect in that it can fry microcircuits–is all the more reason to store your spare radios in ammo cans or other Faraday cage type enclosures.
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Reader Bob R. notes that there was a recent “Death Map” study done with data from 1970 to 2004 that categorizes US mortality rates from natural disasters. Bob’s comment: “One would think that hurricanes would top the list, but it turns out heat is a bigger killer. I think this data would be good for managing your disaster plans.” The full report is available in PDF.
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N.L. sent this: The NAIS premise registration prosecutions begin in Wisconsin. For those of you hat aren’t familiar with the NAIS, see this background piece. You will note that we generally avoid politics in SurvivalBlog, but we make exceptions for issues like gun control and NAIS, where government meddling restricts our ability to prepare and to be self-sufficient. Oh, and speaking of threats to Constitutional rights, many readers have mentioned this: U.S. now only two states away from rewriting Constitution
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Eric recommended a piece by Karen De Coster posted over at Lew Rockwell’s site: Tolerating Spiders, Using Your Credit Cards, and Other Depression Survival Tactics.
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Just as I predicted, the US Dollar has resumed it bear trend in foreign exchange, and this has brought silver and gold out of their doldrums. I expect the metals to have lackluster performance until the MOAB-induced inflation kicks in, in earnest. Once that happens, precious metals will surely skyrocket, as investors flock to metals as safe havens. And, courtesy of The Economatrix, here’s the latest news and commentary: Analysts: Fed Out of Bullets After Rate Cut — Fears Behind the Cheers for the Fed — UK Rates to Follow US to Zero — Kiss the Dollar Rally Good-Bye — UK Bank Rescue Plan is Just Not Enough — Martin Weiss: Deflation Strikes Hard…What to Do — US Treasury and Fed Determined to Destroy Dollar — CitiBank’s Computers Down, Blocking Account Info — GM to Temporarily Idle Three Mexico Assembly Plants — Markets Get an “F” In P/E (Mogambo Guru) — Raising the Bar for Hedge Funds — Gold is Money, Therefore a Hedge Against Inflation