Odds ‘n Sods:

Frequent content contributor (and top notch novelist) Michael Z. Williamson mentioned two interesting articles posted over at the Box O’ Truth web site: New tests on pistol shotshells, and will school books stop bullets? (To explain: A candidate for the office of Texas state superintendent of schools recently said that he wants to distribute thick used textbooks to students so they can shield themselves from school shooters.)

   o o o

London Underground contact surfaces to get anti-flu disinfectant silver spray.

   o o o

There is currently an interesting thread about walking sticks/staves over at The Claire Files. Yes, they are multipurpose, but as we’ve discussed before on SurvivalBlog, their most important use is self defense.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Freedom isn’t purchased or held indefinitely, it’s more like a loan that’s never paid off. The “payment” is constant vigilance against government encroachment; by our grandfathers, our fathers, and us. If the payments are ignored, the penalty will be collected in blood from our sons and daughters." – Jim Howard, 2003

Notes From JWR:

You may have noticed that the blog page was unavailable for several hours last night. It was at temporary problem at the ISP’s server. (Which is usually rock solid.) It is back up and running this morning. Sorry about the inconvenience.
If you know of any potential advertisers for SurvivalBlog, please contact them and encourage them to sign up for a banner ad. Our advertising rates are dirt cheap. Be advised that we sell ad space only to advertisers that offer top quality products and services.

Letter Re: The Apex, North Carolina Fire

A quick comment regarding the Apex fire story suggestions. In Northwest Florida many years ago several chlorine rail cars derailed and leaked in the middle of the night. Residents close to the derailment tried to escape the harmful fumes
by getting in their cars and driving off. Unfortunately, the chlorine gas saturation level in the area was too high and most vehicles would not start. Many families perished in their cars. Gas masks are great idea if you have to walk out. Probably the next best thing is to have a ready response kit that will seal openings, doors and windows if you live near a processing plant or railroad and you can’t effectively escape in a moments notice. Sometimes the window of opportunity to escape opens and closes quickly, even before you are ready to bug out. Awareness of the prevailing winds in relationship to your
home helps also.
Thanks for letting me send you my two cents. There are great ideas out there from all sources coming into SurvivalBlog…and the best thing is how everyone responds to other peoples’ ideas if they see a potential weakness or flaw. The comments are never mean-spirited and everyone benefits from from the multiple angles of viewpoints – drawing on what is best for their own family. Thanks, – “M” in the New Orleans area.

Letter Re: Source for AAA to D Cell Battery Upsizers/Adapters

Jim,
I trust all is well with you and yours. I recently found a source for a battery adapter. There are a lot of products that will take one AA cell and make a D cell battery.
I found somebody makes an adapter that uses two size AA cells to make a D cell battery. (Twice as much battery life.) I’ve even seen a reference to some adapters that use three AA batteries. (That would be neat.) I recently received and tested C cell and D cell upsizers. The C cell is the common type, one AA battery makes one C cell. The D cells were the special part. Two AA cells make one D cell.
Nicely done product. They aren’t a cast iron product built for the centuries but they are well made and they were priced right. With two NiMH AA batteries of high capacity, you have a useful D cell equivalent. E-mail “Kevin Ko” <kevin@kevinko.ca> to get these adapters. BTW, he takes PayPal.

You know, I’ve got a ton of the real high cap NiMH AAs and this sure makes sense. And it’s your fault! Your recent SurvivalBlog benefit auction got me to pull out my Victoreen [fallout] meters and check them and I got to wondering about D cells. Thanks and Best Regards, – The Army Aviator

JWR Replies: Thanks for sharing the tip on the source for those adapters. I really like the new generation 2600 mil amp hour capacity AA NiMH batteries. The only problem is that The Memsahib and our #1 Son have monopolized them for use in their digital cameras. Once the price drops a bit more I think that I’ll buy myself a bulk pack.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“So you think that money is the root of all evil? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil? . …Not an ocean of tears nor all the guns in the world can transform those pieces of paper in your wallet into the bread you will need to survive tomorrow. Those pieces of paper, which should have been gold, are a token of honor… Or did you say it’s the love of money that’s the root of all evil? To love a thing is to know and love it’s nature. To love money is to know and love the fact that money is the creation of the best power within you, and your passkey to trade your effort for the effort of the best among men.” Ayn Rand, in a Francisco d’Anconia monologue, in Atlas Shrugged, 1957

Notes from JWR:

Wow! Our unique visits counter just passed the 3?4 million mark. Thanks for making SurvivalBlog such a great success!

Because I will be traveling on behalf of a consulting client, I will not be taking any new mail orders from October 24th to November 8th. Thanks for your patience. But of course during this time I will still be making my daily blog posts. (I have never missed a day!)

Two Letters Re: Advice on Ammunition and Precious Metals for Barter?

Jim,
I read your post of 10/15 about barter items and the problems with fake gold coins. You wrote: “The other major problem with using gold coins for survival barter, regardless of their weight, is that they will be immediately suspect as counterfeit by the individual on the other side of the table.”

You are quite correct, but an easy and affordable solution is available. Please note that I am not a salesman for this product nor affiliated with the company in any way. I am simply someone who has been working on preparedness for 40 years and have found this product valuable.

There is a fake gold coin detection product made by Fisch Instruments. The detector, detectors really, consist of plastic fulcrums that measure the diameter, thickness, and weight of a coin. Because of gold’s unique properties, no coin can pass these three tests and be a counterfeit. (Okay, okay, they could be made out of platinum alloy or palladium, but that doesn’t seem too probable). I have had a set of these detectors for about 25 years. I am not a coin collector, I just have them in case I find myself being presented gold coins for payment for food or ammo.

I would not normally make much noise about this except the owner is closing down the business. At some point in the future, these will not be available any longer. For less money than a cheap shotgun, your readers could add to their arsenal of tools for not getting cheated is some future the normal economy has become discombobulated.

 

Mr. R.:
In response to Monsieur Anon’s comments I appreciate that gold would not be the exchange medium of choice in most WTSHTF scenarios, however, let’s not overlook the tremendous versatility of gold as a preservation of wealth for most survival situations that one would plan for. This is not mere speculation either. There is an enormous wealth (sorry!) of history supporting this position.

Gold had value before, during and after the Roman Empire. Gold had value before, during and after WWII, regardless of the country you were in. No matter what the situation (a major war, a local disaster, a government collapse, you name it) those that could dig up 20 oz of gold after the event would be better off than those that could not. Gold has maintained its worth over time. In 1900 1oz of gold was worth around $20 which was enough to buy a good suit. Today 1 oz of gold is worth around $600 and it would still buy a good suit. Okay, I didn’t exactly appreciate much but the intrinsic value was preserved. As we all know, the $20 cash did not fair as well. I don’t think the suit bought 106 years ago would have faired much better.

I can’t think of any disaster scenario where 20 ounces of gold wouldn’t be an asset. After all, you can carry 20 Krugerrands in your bug out bag (BOB) and that may be the only thing that you have between you and your family controlling your own destiny and becoming refugees. $12,000 worth of .22 ammo wouldn’t be quite so portable. It’s also easier to hide $12,000 of gold than it is to hide your other hard assets. Some of those assets may not be quite so hard after all, when looters and the government have finished.

Assuming you have first made appropriate preparations for protection, shelter, water and food, I believe there are many more survival scenarios where owning some gold coins would be more advantageous than not. IMHO, evaluating gold coins for barter in a survival scenario is like evaluating the worth of your Model 1911 pistol for deer hunting – great tool/wrong job! – Dave

JWR Replies: You are absolutely right that gold does have a place in preparedness planning. While it is suboptimal for post-TEOTWAWKI survival barter (for the reasons previously stated), it is an ideal store of wealth with “grab it and go” portability, such as in cross-border refugee situations. Silver is roughly 50 times heavier and bulkier per dollar’s worth, and hence too heavy for most investors to carry in their luggage. To illustrate my point: I recently accompanied a consulting client to both a coin show and a coin shop, to liquidate gold and silver holdings to generate cash for an upcoming retreat property purchase. In just four hours at the show the client sold $147,000 worth of gold–a mixture of slabbed (PCGS and NGC encapsulated ) mint state numismatic coins and bullion coins. (The latter were nearly all 1 ounce Krugerrands and American Eagles.) These all fit easily in a battered old black plastic Samsonite briefcase. It was heavy, but still quite portable and discreet. What a contrast the next day when we went to a coin shop to sell the silver, consisting of 54 Englehard 100 ounce bullion bars (about 385 pounds!), and nearly three full $1,000 face value bags of pre-1965 U.S. coinage. A $1,000 silver bag weighs 55 pounds. Toting the silver into the shop took three very heavy dolly (hand truck) loads, during which time we were in full public gaze. When we were unloading and stacking the bullion bars, (“clank!, clank!”), discretion was difficult. Despite its much greater weight and bulk, the sale of the silver generated less than $100,000.

As you correctly pointed out, gold is also useful as “time machine” for preserving one’s wealth from one side of a war or a currency crisis to the other. (When one’s savings would otherwise be wiped out.) To be ready for all eventualities, I recommend investing in both silver and gold. Each has it strengths for different situations. In my estimation, the priority of investing should be 1.) Retreat land and and core logistics (“Beans, bullets and band-aids “), then 2.) Silver dimes and/or quarters for barter, and then, finally, 3.) Gold bullion, in nothing larger than one ounce coins. You are right that “many more survival scenarios where owning some gold coins would be more advantageous than not.” But of course setting priorities is important.

Odds ‘n Sods:

From Mish Shedlock’s blog on October 21st, titled “Easy Button”: U.S. house builders scramble to unload their inventory in a collapsing market.

   o o o

A University of Washington economic geologist counters the Peak Oil theory, asserting that new technology will assure oil supplies that won’t run out for many centuries.

   o o o

The world–especially the Western United States, the Mediterranean region, and Brazil–will likely suffer more extended droughts, heavy rainfalls and longer heat waves over the next century because of global warming,according to a new study.

Note from JWR:

Please keep spreading the word about SurvivalBlog. If you are a loyal reader, please get yourself a SurvivalBlog bumper sticker or T-shirt. The bumper stickers are great conversation starter on your Unimog, or even just when pinned up on your cubicle wall at work. The T-shirts are likewise a great conversation starter at the range, at gun shows, at your local canned food discount store, or just strolling around town. Thanks!

 

Letter Re: Sources for Plumbed-In Reserve Water Tanks?

Jim –
Do any SurvivalBlog suppliers have water tanks that can be plumbed into the home water system before passing the water on through to the house as recommended by Joel Skousen? Our Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) home construction is in progress with the basement walls poured and the retaining walls and dividing/shelter wall formed for pour this next week.- D.A.B.

JWR Replies: The best tanks to use are standard, off-the-shelf, plastic septic tanks, bought brand new. A good friend of mine bought three 1,700 gallon tanks and had them plumbed “in parallel” and buried in the yard outside of his new house. (He used Joel Skousen’s specifications for plumbing them in to his house/shelter water system. They provide low pressure gravity feed to his basement shelter.) It is noteworthy that is that these tanks are essentially a generic commodity made by dozens of plastics manufacturers and they can be ordered through virtually any building supply store. They are inexpensive (in terms of cost per gallon) and quite durable. They also flex a bit, which is an important consideration if you are in an area subject to frost heaving or earthquakes. OBTW, I recommend that if your installation leaves any part of the tanks exposed (such as their “clean out” lids) that you paint those portions heavily with opaque paint or asphalt emulsion, to minimize UV degradation of the plastic.

Two Letters Re: Military Surplus Gasoline Cans–Questions on Cleaning Procedures and Venting

Hi Jim,
I’ve restored older cars as a hobby for about 24 years (Ford is my preference. I was delighted to see [late 1960s vintage] Broncos, F250s and Mustangs in your novel “Patriots”.) I have a suggestion for cleaning older gas cans that works very well for me. Most recently I dealt with a 50,000 mile 1969 Buick Riviera. [JWR Adds: Ah, the roar of a 454! I once owned a 1970 Buick Electra 225. What a ride.] The deceased prior owner had stored the car indoors since 1983. The gas tank was full of vile liquid that at one time had been leaded gasoline.

After draining and removing the tank (I disposed of the fluid properly) I was able to remove the gas gauge sending unit and peer inside. Initially, it looked like the tank had rusted, but it was simply a heavy coating of dark orange varnish. I tried a few different chemicals and even steam cleaning to attempt to remove the varnish but to no avail.

I use Berryman Chem-Dip in a 5 gallon pail to soak/clean disassembled automotive carburetors prior to rebuilding them.

This fluid is some nasty stuff (wear chem resistant gloves!), but it works. (However, I can’t speak for their [special] Kalifornia kompliant formula). It came to me that what was in the gas tank was the same residue in a dirty carburetor, just in greater quantity. My Chem-Dip pail was a little low and needed replenishing anyway. I bought two gallons of Chem-Dip replenisher (Berryman part no. 0901, about $15 a gallon in my area) and poured it in the Buick’s gas tank. I sloshed the Chem-Dip around, then let the tank sit on one side, sloshed it again, let it sit on another side, until I had soaked the entire inside surface of the tank. After two days of soaking/sloshing I drained the tank back into the original cans, filtering the fluid through a fine metal screen. I let the tank dry, then used a pressure washer for a final cleaning, drained the water, then used a heat gun on the outside of the tank to expedite drying time. [JWR Adds: Use extreme caution when applying heat to a gas can or to any part of an automobile fuel system!] The end result was a beautiful (to a mechanic, anyway) shiny factory galvanized internal tank surface with only a hint of surface rust. Later, I used the cans to replenish my 5 gallon pail. My point is I believe this technique would work just as well with a military gas can. If the Chem-Dip is filtered it can be used again – it doesn’t seem to lose its cleaning strength for some time. In a survival scenario, I believe Chem-Dip will even have some significant value in bringing some older pre-1980 non-computer [presumably EMP impervious] vehicles back to operational service.
I heartily agree with SC’s assessment of the durability of the German gas cans. I secured a quantity of the German cans from SOG International about seven years ago, just prior to Y2K. The cans had already been cleaned, given a rust preventative/chemical resistant internal coating (to resist rusting from condensation of water in the air trapped in the can) and then painted. They’ve held my storage fuel on many trips, the internal chemical coating is still adhering, no leaks. (The weak point would be the rubber cap seal – replacements available from Major Surplus and Survival and they have endured outside storage in the hot southeastern Texas climate very well. I keep them as full as possible to minimize condensation. (It is very humid where I live.)
I’ve seen some similar, if not identical, Euro military gas cans at currently reasonable prices. The lowest price is at Major Surplus and Survival (2 can limit? – can’t be sold in Kalifornia.) The Sportsman’s Guide has Swiss cans that are a little higher and no apparent limit on quantity. Though I don’t think the cans currently being offered have an internal protective coating, one could be added after they were cleaned out, like this product:
Kind Regards, – M. Artixerxes

 

James:
Regarding gas cans, I purchased a number of [used] US mil-spec cans and had them cleaned and “red lined” at a radiator shop. The red lining would keep the inside of the cans from rusting. They also replaced the rubber seals on the caps with ones made out of inner tubes and they worked fine. The process was expensive ($20 per can), but they are still in very good shape some 15 years later. – Ron A.

Odds ‘n Sods:

I was astounded to hear a get rich quick infomercial on the radio on Saturday morning. The marketeer was selling his “DVD course” on how to make millions with “nothing down”, investing in residential real estate. Real estate? They’ve got to be kidding. How do you make money “investing” in a declining market? This was the same pitch I heard a year ago, when the market was booming. And he wasn’t taking about about buying foreclosed properties. He was talking about buying houses “in hot markets” to either flip or to keep as rentals while they “appreciated.” I laughed out loud at that suggestion. There are some very naive people that see the current decline in residential real estate as a short term “dip.” I have news for them: This “dip” in prices is just the beginning, and the bear market may last a decade. OBTW, I’ve just coined a new term for people that foolishly “invest” in declining markets: contrapreneurs.

  o o o

International political analyst Arnaud de Borchgrave comments on North Korea’s paranoid president for life. Are we supposed to trust Comrade Kim Jong-Il, and feel all warm and fuzzy now that he says that he’s “Sorry” about his country’s recent nuke test?

   o o o

Amidst veritable economic collapse in Zimbabwe, Comrade Mugabe will soon move into a newly built $26 Million USD luxury mansion that he can keep for himself after retirement. Oh, but now we hear that he may decide to extend his term in office past 2008, to perhaps 2010. (Depending, I presume, upon his mood and medications.) Gee, I wonder what the price tag for the mansion would be if it was expressed in those hyperinflated Zimbabwean dollars?