Letter Re: Switchgrass for Ethanol Production

Dear Jim,
I just discovered SurvivalBlog.com in November 2007. I have bought two of your books so far. We are working on our lists, in the meantime I am building FIFO shelving for the canned part of our provisions. We thank God for you, your great work, and The Memsahib’s support of this.

I’m not so sure this article will be a fit, but it is good news nevertheless. From Scientific American: Grass Makes Better Ethanol than Corn Does. The USDA and farmers took part in a five-year study of switchgrass, native to North America. They found that switchgrass ethanol can deliver around 540 percent of the energy used to produce it, as opposed to corn ethanol which can only yield around 124 percent. – BCW

JWR Replies: Switchgrass does seem more viable for ethanol production than corn, because of it his high EROEI ratio. I am hopeful that an ethanol production and distribution infrastructure will be assembled in the US in the next three or four years. OBTW, I highly recommend that every SurvivalBlog reader own at least one “Flex Fuel” vehicle that is E85 ethanol compatible. Make that a high priority the next time you buy a new car or truck. Even if there is not yet E85 available in your area, plan ahead for when it will be. Someday, you may be glad that you did.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Thanks to T.C. for sending us this YouTube link: Glenn Beck interviews GAO Comptroller Walker on the Social Security Timebomb–America;’s $53 Trillion Debt.

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Anyone planning on putting together a 12 VDC power system to energize their small electronics and battery charging trays should first read the low voltage connection basics primer over at the Appropedia. OBTW, for anyone that wants to standardize 12 VDC connectors, I recommend Anderson Power Poles rather than the bulky and unreliable cigarette lighter plugs and jacks. (The latter are not designed to handle high current, and they tend to pop apart unexpectedly.)

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We have been having fun here at the ranch, going through a reprint of the 1897 Sears Roebuck mail order catalog. It certainly illustrates the devastating effect of long term currency inflation. Can you imagine buying a brand new Winchester Model 1894 .30-30 rifle for $13.98 (add $3 for the takedown model), or $12.95 for a Colt Single Action Army .45 revolver? Or how about 35 cents for a 26″ hand saw, or $1.90 for an entire wooden barrel of cut glass dishes–36 pieces, including a pitcher? (Add 25 cents for up to 500 miles railway freight.) Of course, in those days an average working man made less than $2 per day. See the Inflation Calculator for some comparisons with today’s prices.

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John T. forwarded us this: BofA’s awesome Countrywide tax break–Brace yourselves, taxpayers of America. You’re going to help Bank of America finance its $4 billion buyout of Countrywide. I anticipate that the credit collapse will eventually spawn numerous taxpayer-funded bailouts, some of them measuring in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Knowing the way that things work in DC, I conclude that this means both higher marginal tax rates, and a higher capital gains rate. This is just one more reason to shelter most of your assets in tangibles. For the most part tangibles are not taxable until you sell them and realize a profit. And, thankfully, land and houses are not taxed by the Federal government.

Note from JWR:

Today we present another article for Round 14 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up to $2,000!) Second prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. Round 14 ends on January 31st, so e-mail us your entry soon! Remember that articles that relate practical “how to” skills for survival will have an advantage in the judging.

Home Defense Tactics for the Disabled, Elderly, and Infirmed, by Heghduq

Picture this: It is 2:00 a.m. and you are in bed for the night. Things are falling apart due to a local upset of some kind, be it man made or a natural disaster. You are isolated by these events and there is no help to be had as the local Authorities are to busy with damage control in other areas. You are disabled and have little ones to protect. Your spouse is a bit of a worry wart and panics fairly easy. You hear something that is out of place, what do you do? If you have any form of home defense you should consider how best to use them to your advantage. Let’s look at what the possible scenario you would run into if the Bad Guy really wants to get what you have. With the exception of Alaska in the summer, the majority of the world is dark at 2:00 a.m. So we have one ace here to start and that is the darkness around you. This is an advantage and also a disadvantage. If applied properly, darkness can be used to give you the edge in a confrontation with the Bad Guy.

Lighting around your home is one thing that you should consider. In the case of a disabled individual, I would suggest that you consider emergency backlighting of a potential target. One issue that you might want to consider is backlighting a potential target that may be trying to gain entry into your home or apartment. The way this works is that if you hear a bump in the night, you turn off the lights inside of your house and you have a set of emergency lights outside that come on and illuminate the front, rear and sides of your home. That way the intruder [who’s eyes have adjusted to the bright light] is coming into the dark to find you while he’s illuminated from behind. Because you have him backlit, he stands out. Because you’re in the dark somewhere he is at the disadvantage because his eyes must first adjust to the dark and you can see him as a silhouette with the outside lighting. Everything that you do along these lines increases your chances of survival and decreases the intruder’s chances.

Think about red dot sights or maybe even when and how to use lasers to your advantage. So there you are: You’re hidden by the darkness with a gun with a red dot sight that does not give away your location. You have a suspect standing across the room from you who can’t see but is a perfect target for you, if you need to shoot. I won’t guarantee a 100% first shot effectiveness but I would be amazed if this approach didn’t work out for you.

Another thing that I would do: contact your local NRA regional counselor or local NRA firearms instructor. This is the sort of situation that these great people live for! They’ll come to your place, look it over and make suggestions to help you out. They’ll explore all sorts of options with you and study ways to help make your life more secure and safe. Since you have a computer, go to the NRA’s web site and contact them if you think it is appropriate. You can also call them. I would start with 877-NRA-2000. Explain your situation and see if they can forward your call to people who have worked with other disabled or infirmed people. I’d bet a month’s pay that you will not be the first person with a disability to call them.

Another thing that can be of use to you in this situation would be some form of intruder alert system that would not require utility (120 VAC) electric power. In a grid-down scenario you will have no power to run your expensive home alarm system if you have the luxury of affording such a system. The back lighting can be accomplished with solar powered lawn lights and good placement. If the Bad Guy is smart enough to kill your diesel generator you still have a backup on the back lighting.

For those of us who have children this project can be great fun. That and your camouflage you home brewed alarm system that you string across your windows and seldom used doors. Using 550 Para cord and old soup, vegetable or coffee cans [with a few small rocks or bits of hardware inside to act as “clappers”], a hammer and a good sized nail along with some craft paint and brushes you can create a cheap alarm system that for all intents and purposes could scare the bad guy away and alert you to an uninvited guest if they are determined to enter your home. Using the hammer and nail punch holes into the upper part of each can so you can run the Para-cord through each can. After you have done this the family can sit down and paint the cans with the craft paint to dress them up a bit. Be creative and make this a family project. Once decorated and the paint is dry string the Para-cord through the holes and secure them to the window frame and door jams in a manner that allows them to clank together if someone tries to get past them. In the case of the doors I would recommend that you only string them up at night and in a manner that if the door is opened the cans would fall off of the door frame and clatter to the floor. If you have little ones who have gotten a hold of several cans you can’t believe how much noise those things make when tossed about on the floor even carpeted floor. If asked about the cans hanging in your windows by those people who are not onboard with the prepping and security issues when TSHTF you can just explain it as a family art project and your kids were so proud of their little art masterpieces that you wanted to show the world how talented you kids are. (Some people might think you were a bit of a whacko if you told them the cans were used as and intruder alarm. Sheeple tend to forget that in the event of a grid-down scenario that their fancy ultra high tech alarms won’t be working.)

The next system was created by my mother who is 65 and lives alone with her 10 cats. She hates computers and technology in general so she had to be creative in her home defense measures. Her weapon of choice is a 2 foot long wooden stout stick and a can of RAVE #4 hair spray. An eye full of that stuff and it can be as effective as pepper spray. Believe me I walked in to her room one day to ask a question right when she was spraying her hair. I think it took me about a week to gain full use of my left eye after she inadvertently hit me with the stuff. Talk about pain that stuff knocked to the floor as soon as it hit my eye. Even flushing immediately did little to help. Being hair spray the stuff sticks real good to anything it hits. I got my first lesson in unorthodox defensive weaponry that day. I didn’t give it much thought until years later when my mom got an uninvited guest trying to get into the house. One of the transient bums from the homeless shelter down the street though my mom would be an easy target. He was drunk and determined. The rattling cans didn’t deter him he just shoved them aside but that was enough to alert my mom. She grabbed her RAVE hair spray and went to investigate. To her surprise the perp was opening her bedroom door as she was about to go see what all the noise in the dining room was. He of course was at the disadvantage because mom had surprise on her side. The perp was probably not expecting this little old lady with a determined look on her face to be ready to defend herself. As soon as he opened the door he got a face full of RAVE. This of course had the desired effect. The perp nearly broke his neck trying to get out of my mom’s house. One little thing my mom did to prevent cat escapes was to place a 2×4 across the entrance hall leaving enough room for the front door to open and to keep cats from making a mad dash for the door without hitting the 2×4. Well Mr. Bad Guy in his mad scramble to get out did not see this board and proceeded to trip over it on his way out the front door. This of course produced some rather anecdotal commentary from my mom when she told me what had happened. So with no fancy Alarm system and no Gun my mom managed to rid herself of an unwanted guest. It turns out that after mom filed the police report the perp was picked up a few hours later in the emergency room of the local hospital. It seems he was having vision issues and a bit of a bump on the head from his tumble out the front door of my mom’s house. It turned out this guy was bad news there had been a string of break-ins in the area and he was generally very unpleasant to the home owners if they confronted him. Most of the confrontations did not end well for the home owners.

In most of the cases they were elderly and unprepared for an intruder. In two of the cases the home owners had security systems but didn’t activate them. My mom’s security alarm did not require a security code or any form of activation. It is passive 24×7 protection. The cops involved in the investigation actually got quite a kick out of my mom and her little security system and defensive measures. For someone living on a fixed income with little to no resources to protect he home from the bad guys she managed to do something that others with the means and resources could not do. I will say if you can afford it having a good quality security system is always the best means of protecting you and yours but in the end it is your wits and a little pre-planning that will make the difference in anything you prepare for. We, as humans, tend to depend on technology more than we should and in some cases the convenience makes us lax and we lose to some degree the edge we will need in a SHTF scenario. My mom is not rich by any stretch but she has common sense and a severe dislike for high tech gadgets. Having those nice toys would be cool but in the end it won’t be the technology that keeps us alive it will be our own determination and hard work that keeps us alive. A dose of practical skills–not technology based–will be the difference between living or dying in the face of a world turned upside down, be it man’s own self destructive behavior or the wrath of nature. The few who think “outside the box” will be the ones who make it after the fall of civilization as we know it today.

JWR Adds: Readers should beware of using any chemical weapon that could cause permanent eye injury, such as lye or insect repellent. Even using hair spray might be misinterpreted as criminal intent to maim an opponent. In our litigious society, that could result in a lawsuit that could leave you without a home, and penniless. In localities where it is legal, I recommend large volume pepper spray dispensers. These are marketed primarily as bear repellent, with brand names like “Guard Alaska“, “Bear Guard”, and “17% Streetwise.” If they are legal in your jurisdiction, then buy several of the big one-pound dispensers, first making sure that they are at least a 12% OC formulation. Leave them concealed but quickly accessible in several parts of your home. You should keep one by your bedside, one near each exterior door, and one in your bathroom. (The latter, keeping in mind that criminals might break in at the most inopportune times!) Now that all of our kids have been properly trained with firearms, we take the same approach with keeping loaded guns handy. Here in the hinterboonies, it is four-legged rather than two-legged predators that are our main concern, but many of the same principles apply–such as maintaining at least Condition Yellow vigilance and keeping weapons close at hand.

Many of the major firearms training schools such as Front Sight, Gunsite, and Thunder Ranch make special accommodation for handicapped shooters. I highly recommend getting the best training available. Having a gun and knowing how to handle it confidently and competently is a tremendous equalizer. Even an 90 pound elderly woman can be a match for a 220 pound man in his 20s that is on steroids–but only if she has a gun handy and knows how to use it. Burglars: Beware of Granny with a Glock. FWIW, I’ve heard that wheelchair-bound students at Front Sight have received tremendous support and praise from their fellow students and instructors.

Regarding night shooting, I second your motion on backlighting. Short of using lethal force, you might also consider strobes or other dazzling lights or sirens that can be activated remotely. (Not in the same room that you are in!) That will be enough to “buffalo” most nighttime intruders. Used photographer’s strobes can often be found on eBay or on Craig’s List for very reasonable prices. Rigging a remote control switch is child’s play. And in a long term grid-down situation, a rechargeable boater’s compressed air horn might serve the same purpose as an electric siren. (See BoatersWorld item #367340023.)

I generally prefer tritium sights rather than Red Dot electronic sights. Red Dot sights are battery dependent and hence require regular inspection and maintenance, but tritium sights are always “on”. Tritium is a radioactive isotope gas that has an 11.2-year half-life, so that in 11 years they will still be half as bright as they were when bought “fresh”. Since in my experience most tritium sights are too bright when new, they effectively have a 22+ year useful life. No muss, no fuss, and no batteries to go dead.

Letter Re: Burning Soft Maple Wood as a Primary Home Heat Source

Jim:
A few comments about the article discussing soft maple as a “softwood” firewood. Technically, Soft Maple is not [classified as] a softwood, it is a hardwood. That being said, yes it is a fine firewood – sometimes better that hard maple because it dries faster. I’ve heated my farm house and barn 100% with wood for many years. I also own several 100 acre-plus stands for “hard” and “soft” maples.
A softwood is a needle-bearing conifer and a hardwood is a broadleaf deciduous tree. Some softwood trees have harder and stronger wood then many hardwood trees. Yellow Pine is a prime example of a very strong softwood. Basswood and Poplar are examples of very soft hardwoods.

When it comes to wood burning – all wood has the same basic heat energy per pound. However, woods vary in density and natural water content. Denser woods also take longer to dry which can be a factor in burning wood that has not had a lot of time to lose that moisture.

Soft maple weighs less by volume as hard maple, but dries faster and splits easier. Some hard woods, like Ash, have very low moisture content before drying. Hard maple, once dried properly has more heat energy per volume and will hold a fire longer in a woodstove or furnace with finite storage space for wood.
The main danger with burning true “softwoods” is the resin most carry that plugs chimneys. Most “hardwoods” don’t have the resins. Another potential danger with softwoods is – when dry they can burn very hot. We’ve used softwoods for years for heating up a fire quick when boiling maple sap to make syrup. When using a woodstove inside a house – that is normally
fired with hardwoods – a bunch of dry softwood thrown in can make it flare up fast – and ignite a chimney wall if coated with creosote.

One more comment about the maples. The generic names e.g. “soft maple” , “swamp maple”, etc. can mean different things in different places. In my area of New York, “soft maple” connotes Red Maple, and “swamp maple” is usually a reference to Silver Maple. Hard Maple usually means just the sugar maple, but is also applied to Black Maple. They all make good firewood – and – for making maple syrup – they all work to some degree. Red maple has less sugar content and therefore takes more boiling, making the best sugar producers Sugar and Black Maple.

For reference:
A dry cord of Basswood weighs 1,980 lbs. with 13,800 BTUs per cord. Hardwood
A dry cord of Soft Maple weighs 2,752 lbs. with 19,000 BTUs per cord. Hardwood
A dry cord of Soft Maple weighs 3,680 lbs. with 25,500 BTUs per cord Hardwood
A dry cord of White Pine weighs 2,250 lbs. with 15,600 BTUs per cord Softwood
– John in Central New York

Odds ‘n Sods:

Eric S. found this Reuters article: Prepare for big flu pandemic economic hit, UN says

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RBS sent this one: Dengue Fever Is A Potential Threat To US Public Health, Experts Say. If you haven’t already done so, be sure to read my advice on preparing for pandemics. In particular, see the details on oral rehydration solutions. Stock up, or be prepared to make your own.

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Hardly a news flash: As housing slumps, realtors quit

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Uncle Sam seems to have made a successful “end run” at implementing a National ID Card: New Security Rules for US Driver’s Licenses

Note from JWR:

The high bid in the current SurvivalBlog Benefit Auction is now at $360. The auction is for a scarce original 1980s-vintage Heckler und Koch 19mm Emergency Flare Launcher (EFL) aka “Notsignalgerät“ from my personal collection. It comes with three magazines and 28 scarce original German 19mm flares–10 red, 10 white, and 8 green. Together, this package is worth approximately $400. It is not classified as a “firearm” under Federal law. (Consult your state and local laws before bidding.) Sorry, no overseas bids will be accepted for this auction. This auction ends on January 15th. Please e-mail us your bids, in $10 increments.

Letter Re: Burning Soft Maple Wood as a Primary Home Heat Source

Hi Jim,
I have set out on an experiment in heating my home that has been interesting and is important to relay to other readers as their are many questions about using Soft Maple as a heat source. My experiment follows nearly a lifetime of wood burning, tree felling, splitting, chimney cleaning lifestyle and is of course not from a “professional”, so ask a professional when experimenting with home heating.
I have used wood only heating in my current home for five years with 100% safety and 1,000% enjoyment. Before that, I had 11 years of consistent home heating by wood. I ran into a project on my property that involved felling some gigantic Soft Maple trees in order to adjust fencing and grading issues. These trees also became a looming headache about falling on my building. This past early summer was the project.

The trees were about 48″-to-60″ in diameter. With all the overhead limbs that were as big as most trees appearing to start to hollow out, I felt it necessary to drop these trees with a large tracked excavator. In this scenario, we ripped the roots out from around the tree on three sides with a gigantic frost tooth/ cement tooth attachment. After ripping through the 16″ diameter roots, we used the machine to drop the trees by guiding them to the ground with the hook. I could not justify being under any one of those limbs while felling the tree as it would have been instant death upon impact.
Now that this job was complete, it was saw time. I had everything cut into lineal length for the saw mill in two days and the brush cut and stacked for burning. There was no way I could fathom attempting to split the wood with the enormity of the trunks. I decided early on to sell the largest logs to the mill and “deal with the limbs” at a later date. When talking to an old boy at the mill, he recommended against all other advice. He said to split the wood late season and burn it right away. Conventional wisdom would tell you to never burn un-seasoned, (wet) wood in a stove/fireplace or dangerous deposits of creosote would form in the chimney causing a chimney fire. I decided that with my project I had over three years supply of soft maple right in front of me, so I might as well try it given my understanding of how important it is to monitor the burning, I felt completely comfortable with this experiment.

I started heating intermittently in October, exclusively with soft maple. Here are my observations:
-It starts amazingly well given an air space under it. In fact, I have been able to rekindle the fire without any matches for most of the winter by using the bark from the soft maple placed directly on the very small coals and propping up what I would call “Extremely large tinder”, (i.e.- 2” – 4” odd split off fall), give it lots of air and it is going.
-Given its properties, it does not overheat my chimney near as often as hardwood, but did not lend itself to any signs of buildup in my chimney. For the first month and a half I would add “anti-creosote” granules when the chimney was warmed up to keep things clear.
-With fewer BTUs than hardwood, I have gone through about 10% more wood than the previous winter of hardwood burning and have used my electric blower about 20% of the burn time compared to not needing it with hardwood. This was for comfort, not necessity.
-I have cleaned out the ash box and chimney 3 times as much this year compared to hardwood burning. These ashes seem to quickly choke the coals if not monitored when you first get up in the morning.
-I have decided to not use the granules any longer and keep monitoring the chimney. For the past month I have not noticed any change in buildup in the chimney. It is amazing how clean my chimney is for burning a softwood. It has yet to truly need the brush this year, but I have as habit.
-If a long burn is needed, it is imperative that you stack the wood in the fire box in a manner that would not aid in air flow to the fire. In other words, try to stack wood exactly upon itself in the exact same direction creating very small places for the flame to lick out upon the upper wood which allows the wood to smolder in the ash below and keep a more consistent burn albeit at a lower temperature. At least when you get home you have coals and a comfortable abode.This experiment has been fun as I am glad to not waste that much cordwood. I have not cut up the additional logs that were limbs from those trees yet as I did not want it to dry up and not create any heat next year. I will monitor the results and fill you in when that season is upon us. I hope that in 20’ lengths of logs, that it will still retain its moisture without rotting. Soft Maple really does not do well for any outdoor exposure in lumber form.

I wanted to share this experiment as it is against what I have known and could prove useful to someone else when dealing with a soft “nuisance” tree like Soft Maple. Please understand that other soft woods don’t share this property to my knowledge. Cottonwood plugged my chimney faster than I have ever seen before. But Cottonwood and hardwood mix allowed me to get some benefit out of that tree that could not be used at the mill. (I don’t recommend using Cottonwood, after that experiment).

A tidbit of value before cutting up your tree post-SHTF. After felling a tree, look at the rings. If you notice a sizeable, (thumb size or larger) deposit of graphite toned discoloration, then you have a tree with metal inside. Maybe it’s just a nail, but maybe it is a fence post! This is extremely important if you own the sawmill or you don’t have spare chains or teeth for your saws and you can’t get them without UPS [parcel delivery service continuing] as we know it. I would venture this to be very common among fence row trees on the property lines or near pastures of yesteryear. Avoiding that part of the tree could mean the difference between keeping your home heated for the year, or looking for a new saw at the barter faire!

Last bit of advice, the sawmill was happy to see that I over sized the logs by 5” to allow them to trim the ends. They were also glad to see the large logs compared to most customers who split the trunks and sell the limbs. What a mistake as the profit lost could put food on the table! The limbs burn 30% longer than an equivalent size and weight log that is split. I love burning round stock that is properly cured!
In my project, I did have logs that were too big for the mill’s equipment. In those cases I had to saw the logs in half. I guess that is better than trying to axe a 48” diameter log, or roll that widow maker up onto the log splitter!

A little asking around might serve us all better before the need arises. This well seasoned man just heated my family this Winter,…. Maybe he’ll heat yours too! All the Best! – The Wanderer

Letter Re: Grandpappy’s Pemmican Recipe – A Native American Indian Survival Food

James,
The following information is freely available on the internet at a variety of web sites including the Wikipedia, the USDA, and the FDA web sites.

First a simple clarification of the USDA information: Dried meat may pose a health risk if: (1) the meat is improperly dried, and (2) the original meat contained harmful microorganisms or the meat is processed in an environment that contains harmful microorganisms.

The original USDA quotation does not mention the addition of sodium nitrite as a solution to this problem. The scientific experiment discussed at this web site evaluated the growth of Salmonella on nitrite-enhanced and nitrite-free hot dogs and found that sodium nitrite only slowed the growth of Salmonella.

Sodium nitrite is not table salt. The legal maximum amount of nitrite is 1 ounce per 100 pounds meat (dry cured). Nitrite significantly delays the development of botulism.

Sodium chloride is table salt. At certain levels, sodium chloride prevents the growth of some types of bacteria that are responsible for meat spoilage. In the proper quantity salt also helps to extend the normal shelf life of many food products.

A brine solution of water and salt, and other optional ingredients, helps to more evenly distribute the salt across the entire surface of the meat. The soaking process then allows the salt water solution to be absorbed into the meat.

Neither sodium nitrite, nor sodium chloride, nor a brine solution will kill all the harmful microorganisms that can adversely impact human health. However in sufficient quantities they will destroy certain microorganisms and significantly limit the growth of other types of microorganisms.

In the old days, after the meat had been soaked in a brine solution of water and salt, the meat was then cured or smoked. The heat generated during this process was the key to the complete successful eradication of the harmful microorganisms in the meat.

Heat will successfully destroy a wide variety of harmful microorganisms. This fact is readily available at a variety of Internet web sites. For example, in beef, venison, and other red meats:

Salmonella is destroyed at a temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Listeria monocytogenes is destroyed at a temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
Staphylococcus aureus is destroyed at a temperature of 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
Escherichia coli is destroyed at a temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

In my Pemmican Recipe I recommended drying the thin strips of meat in the oven at a temperature of 180 degrees Fahrenheit for at least six hours. At that temperature the above microorganisms cannot survive.

I also recommended the optional addition of salt to the pemmican after it was dried to improve its flavor and to help extend its shelf life.

The reason I am taking the time to share the above information is to help prevent the spread of information that may have been taken out of its original context from the USDA web site and then presented on your web site in a manner that may be somewhat unintentionally misleading. Respectfully, – Grandpappy

Odds ‘n Sods:

I stumbled into a great Do It Yourself (DIY) blog with some very practical projects: The DIY Blog.

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A reader in East Tennessee wanted to put out a heads-up to anyone looking for property. It’s 88 acres with a small house, both sides of the road, ridge to ridge, lots of water. The house is tactically situated and in a good position for solar exposure, good pasture and soil. The location is three roads off the beaten path, but about an hour from the Tri-Cities area. The reader doesn’t have any financial interest in the property, but it’s a good location, and not far from good Christian folks that read SurvivalBlog.

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Several readers mentioned this alarming article: Moody’s: U.S. rating could be pressured in long term. The article begins: “The US is at risk of losing its top-notch triple-A credit rating within a decade unless it takes radical action to curb soaring healthcare and social security spending, Moody’s, the credit rating agency, said yesterday.” One comment from SurvivalBlog reader “Hiker”: “This sounds like a page right out of the beginning of your novel [“Patriots”], discussing how government mandated entitlements tied to automatic inflation increases help bankrupt the country.”

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The US economy now clearly appears bound for recession, and for the Federal Reserve the timing couldn’t be any worse. The US Dollar was already under heavy pressure in foreign exchange while a global credit collapse is underway. To soften the landing and hopefully shorten the recession, the Fed will have no choice but to further cut interest rates. That will be disastrous for the dollar. Get out of any dollar denominated investments as quickly as possible. Even the safest bond or blue chip stock won’t be safe if the dollar itself is wiped out. Diversify into productive farm land that can double as a retreat, useful tangibles (such as guns, tools, and common caliber ammunition) and into precious metals. (As a universally recognized safe stores of value, precious metals will rise inversely to the decline in the dollar.) If the US Dollar Index dips below 74, it could trigger a full scale dollar panic. Semper Paratus!

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“We might think of dollars as being ‘certificates of performance.’ The better I serve my fellow man, and the higher the value he places on that service, the more certificates of performance he gives me. The more certificates I earn, the greater my claim on the goods my fellow man produces. That’s the morality of the market. In order for one to have a claim on what his fellow man produces, he must first serve him.” – Dr. Walter E. Williams

“Terminator” and “Jericho”–Science Fiction as a Preparedness Motivational Tool

The new science fiction television show “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” will premiere in the US on Sunday (January 13, 2008) at 8 p.m. (and will be repeated the following evening.) Thenceforth, it will air on Mondays at 9 PM.
I watched an early reviewers’ edit of the pilot episode, and I was impressed–particularly with the special effects. Oddly, I found the Terminatrix “Cameron” played by Summer Glau more captivating that the lead characters–Sarah Connor and her son John. (You may remember Summer Glau as “River Tam” from the short-lived but highly-acclaimed “Firefly” television series and its spin-off “Serenity” movie.) I also thought that Richard T. Jones –who plays the FBI agent “Ellison” did a great job. In my opinion Jones absolutely nailed it with his delivery of his “Its the robots!” explanatory monologue. (The character name is doubtless an homage to sci-fi writer Harlan Ellison.)

All in all, the shows has a great cast. I hope that the script writing holds up as the series progresses. (Hopefully it won’t degenerate into one Terminator peril/chase and McGyvered escape after another.) I have hopes that this series (along with “Jericho”), 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. But perhaps I’m putting too much faith in the “bread and circuses” TV-viewing crowd. OBTW, for anyone that wants to chat about either series, there is both a The Sarah Connor Chronicles Yahoo Discussion Group and a Jericho Yahoo Discussion Group. Both of these are edited by a SurvivalBlog reader. Also BTW, I should mention that “Jericho” will return to the small screen on Tuesday, February 12th.

Letter Re: Thanks to Congress, Ethanol and Biofuel Mandates Cause Food Prices to Soar

Jim,
You may have noted the article titled Thanks to Congress, Ethanol and Biofuel Mandates Cause Food Prices to Soar, before and I missed it.

The article [by Dana Joel Gattuso a senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research–a conservative think tank] is very interesting. I can’t vouch for the veracity of the report, or the organization, however, it doesn’t do anything to lessen my fears that any congressional involvement in the energy business only makes things worse.

Here are a few scary quotes from the article:

” …ethanol requires enormous quantities of water, a valuable resource already in short supply in many areas of the nation. Producing one gallon of ethanol fuel, including the water needed to grow corn, requires an astonishing 1,700 gallons of water, according to Cornell University ecology professor David Pimentel.”

“Yet Washington remains fixated on biofuels, ironically furthering our dependence on foreign oil. Government’s selection of ethanol as the chosen source of fuel discourages refiners from expanding capacity. Since ethanol can’t come close to meeting U.S. demand for fuel – turning our entire corn crop to fuel production would only replace 12 percent of our current gasoline consumption – we dangerously risk increasing our reliance on imports.”

None of this will matter, of course, when Congress acts on the energy bill. As is the way of the world in the nation’s capital, the powerful agribusiness and ethanol interests will trump science, and Congress will turn a blind eye to the poor’s struggle against soaring food prices.” – Bill P.