Preparedness Notes — November 3, 2026 

Today is election day. Please get out and vote. I know that our votes don’t mean a lot in some instances, but in many mid-term races they still do. (For example, pro-gun candidate Brandon Herrera is running for Congress in Texas’s 23rd District.) Also, please pray for smaller and more responsible government. – JWR

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Soon after last Tuesday’s blog was posted, I heard that Walter Koenig passed away. He will be missed. Ironically, he long outlived Anton Yelchin, who also played Ensign Pavel Chekov in the the much more recent Star Trek movies. (Yelchin was accidentally crushed to death at age 27 by his own car, in 2016.)

Oh, and speaking of Star Trek, I also heard that Patrick Stewart passed away. Sad. At this rate, William Shatner may outlive the casts of both Star Trek and its first sequel series (Star Trek: The Next Generation.) – JWR

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This Week in History:

On November 1, 996, there was the first recorded use of the modern name for Austria in the “Ostarrîchi Document.”  Pictured above is Vienna Austria’s Danube waterfront, circa 1920. (Photo courtesy of the Flikr Commons.)

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On November 1, 1348, the Black Death reached London. )On or about this date.)

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November 2, 1772: The anti-English Committee of Correspondence formed in Boston.

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November 2, 1880:  James A. Garfield (R) was elected 20th President of the United States.

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And on November 3,  1529, the first sitting of the Reformation Parliament, in London.

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When I switched from daily posting to weekly posting of SurvivalBlog, I was afraid that I would lose some readership and support. But thankfully that hasn’t happened.  I can assure you that I’ll continue to consistently produce the same content that you’ve come to expect, Fresh Every Tuesday. – JWR

 

Will You Survive?, by Single Farmer

The short answer is maybe. To increase your possibilities of survival, read this article.

As we were reviewing our food storage and other supplies, my Mom made an interesting observation which resulted in a conversation about why many people won’t survive and a potential solution.

My mother is our chief logistician–meaning that she plans and coordinates the purchasing and storage of our food and other supplies. Most women are the logisticians for their family with sometimes over 90 percent of the food purchasing done by women. When our truck or a semi-truck needs to be unloaded, the men in my family unload it as we purchase cases to sometimes have semi-truck deliveries to unload.

As far as purchasing, we do not purchase any large quantities of food or supplies at stores within our area. I am sure that my local grocery store would happily fulfill our large orders, but I do not need to have any local people talking. We are known as farmers/business people, not preppers and survivalists. People talk and have long memories especially when they and their kids are starving of who potentially has food. We believe very much in the concept of charity and we often discreetly and safely help others. We are currently doing this, so we would increase our efforts during any type of emergency if we were able.

Because we live on a farm, the sight of semi-trucks entering farms ia a normal occurrence and the size of our farm allows a semi-truck to be unloaded without anyone else seeing it occurring. It would be difficult to arrange a large delivery in a suburb or a city location without having people gawk and talk.Continue reading“Will You Survive?, by Single Farmer”

Recipe of the Week:

The following recipe for Hamburger A L’Italienne is from Good Housekeeping’s Book of Good Meals.  This 1927-copyrighted  book (now in public domain) is one of the 11 books that I paid to have professionally scanned that will be added to the extensive library of bonus books included with the SurvivalBlog 2027 Edition waterproof archive USB sticks. (Available for ordering in mid-January, 2027.)

Ingredients
  • 2 peeled onions
  • 1 cupful salad oil
  • 1 pound hamburg steak
  • 2 cupfuls stewed tomatoes
  • 1 cupful grated cheese
  • 1 teaspoonful salt
  • 1/2 teaspoonful pepper
  • 1/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 cupful egg noodles
Directions

Brown the onions, cut small, in the salad oil. Add the hamburg steak and brown.  Combine with the tomatoes, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and simmer slowly for 10 minutes. Cook the egg noodles in boiling salted water until tender, add to the meat mixture, and cook slowly, thirty minutes longer, stirring frequently. One tablespoonful of water may be added if necessary to keep it moist.

SERVING

Serve it on a platter surrounded with one cupful of grated cheese. Serves six.

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Do you have a well-tested recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long-term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven recipes, slow cooker recipes, and any recipes that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic is a map that shows States with a smaller population (in brown) than Los Angeles metropolitan area. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.) The thumbnail image below is click-expandable.

States with a smaller population (in brown) than Los Angeles metro area.

 

 

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If any SurvivalBlog readers have personally taken or otherwise hold the copyright to a particularly nice landscape photo or other photo of particular interest to preppers that is in a wide horizontal format (to match our blog template) then please send it in as an e-mail attachment, and I will consider posting it as a Graphic of the Week, or as a Top Note photo. I can of course credit you by name — or pen name —  if you’d like. Many Thanks! –  JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Any graphics that you send must either be your own creation, under your copyright or uncopyrighted in the public domain. Thanks! – JWR

Economics & Investing Media of the Week

In Economics & Investing Media of the Week we feature photos, charts, graphs, maps, video links, and news items of interest to preppers.

Economics & Investing Links of Interest

Economics & Investing Media Tips:

Please send your economics and investing links to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Thanks!

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from JWR. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. In today’s column, even more AI predictions.

AI Safety Leader Says AI Will Kill Us All in the Next 10 Years

Over at YahooTech: An AI safety leader says he stopped saving for retirement because he believes AI will kill us all in the next 10 years.

Rogue AI Accessed Public Voter Info in Key Swing State

Reader D.S.V. mentioned some troubling news over at The Daily Caller: Rogue AI Accessed Public Voter Info In Key Swing State.  JWR’s Comment:  Nothing to see here. Move along.

AI Has No Mercy for Humans Even When It’s Causing Them to Suffer

At Futurism: Grim Test Finds That AI Has No Mercy for Humans Even When It’s Causing Them to Suffer.Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

Our weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters. Pictured above is world travel adventurer Karl Bushby.

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First up, in The New York Times: After 28 Years Walking Across the Globe, He’s Almost Home. A brief excerpt:

“Earlier this month, he swam across the English Channel, arriving in his home country after spending half his life away. His trek began in southern Patagonia, Chile, in November 1998, when he was 29, and he plans to reach his mother’s house in Hull, England, sometime next week. He will be 57.
The journey, he said, has taken him through some of the world’s harshest landscapes, from the jungle of the Darién Gap to the tundra of Siberia. He has been arrested, deported, broke, lost, and written off more times than he can count. His expedition has also been interrupted — by wars, economic collapse and a pandemic. When forced to stop, he would typically decamp to Mexico until he could figure out a way to continue from wherever he left off.”

Update: He made it home.

o  o  o

A reader mentioned an Instagram posted on Sunday, October 25th, about a plan that has been in the works since 2025:

“The Pentagon has announced today [plans] for every major US military base to prepare and operate for at least 90 days without outside electricity, fuel, water, or supplies, anticipating a major war that could cripple power grids, break global supply chains and threaten critical infrastructure on US soil. the plans include portable nuclear reactors, large-scale battery storage and microgrids able to disconnect installations from the civilian electrical grid entirely.”

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A Vice Video: Are the Ultra-Rich Really Building Doomsday Bunkers?

JWR’s Comment:  In the second segment, at the 30:49 mark, note the Rhodesian Ridgeback dog. For some inexplicable reason many of my readers and consulting clients have Ridgebacks.

o  o  o

in The Washington Post: Why headlights seem more blinding than ever.

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

SurvivalBlog’s American Redoubt Media of the Week

REDOUBT NEWS LINKS

This weekly column features media from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest.

Send Your Media Links

Please send your links to media from the American Redoubt region to JWR. Any photos that are posted or re-posted must be uncopyrighted. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact form.

Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those — or excerpts thereof — in the Odds ‘n Sods Column or in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

We did a lot of deer hunting for the past few days. Nothing yet.  🙁

I’ve been busy buying numerous single-shot and pump-action shotguns, to diversify our family’s gun collection. Thanks to my GOA membership and ATF Director Cekada’s October 9, 2026 guidance letter, they all now have dates with a tubing cutter scheduled, to become unregulated Short-Barreled Shoguns. Most of the barrels will be shortened to about 14 inches. Muzzles will then be crowned, and many guns will be fully re-blued, and bead sights will be re-installed.  Some of them will just be touch-up blued. A Special Note to Collectors: No worries!  I only bought shotguns that had already been shortened or that had Cutts compensators or Poly Chokes installed. So I’m not desecrating any guns with any real collector’s value.

I moved all of our canoes and kayaks as well as our Gorilla Cart and all but one of our wheelbarrows into our shop for winter storage. We now feel ready for winter.

Now, Lily’s part of the report…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR:

 

Meme Text:

Sarah Connor Says:

I Tried To Warn You 35 Years Ago, But Now You’re Using AI and You’re Thinking: “What Could Possibly Go Wrong?”

Notes From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the concept, and I’ll try to assemble it. And if it is posted then I’ll give you credit. Thanks!

Permission to repost memes that I’ve created is granted, provided that credit to SurvivalBlog.com is included.

Editors’ Quote:

“We must be as stealthy as rats in the wainscoting of their society. It was easier in the old days, of course, and society had more rats when the rules were looser, just as old wooden buildings have more rats than concrete buildings. But there are rats in the building now as well. Now that society is all ferrocrete and stainless steel there are fewer gaps in the joints. It takes a very smart rat indeed to find these openings. Only a stainless steel rat can be at home in this environment…” – Harry Harrison, The Stainless Steel Rat

Preparedness Notes — October 27, 2026

On October 25, 1415, the Battle of Agincourt (aka Azincourt): Henry V‘s forces defeated a larger French army as the longbow overcame the French armored knights.

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October 26, 1774: Minutemen were organized in US colonies.

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October 26, 1881: Perhaps the most famous shootout in the history of America’s Wild West took place at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. On the one side stood the so-called forces of law and order: Wyatt Earp, his brothers Virgil and Morgan, and Doc Holliday. By reputation these were power-hungry and ruthless men. Opposing them were the outlaws Billy and Ike Clanton, Tom and Frank McLaury, and Billy Claiborne.

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And on October 27, 1787 the Federalist Papers began appearing in New York newspapers under pseudonym “Publius”. They were written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.

Voluntary Associations – Shopping for Survival, by W.T.

A voluntary association begins when two or more people agree to pursue a common purpose together. That arrangement can be remarkably simple. People who already buy many of the same necessities, possess different skills, or have resources that complement one another, can decide to cooperate rather than approach every need as an entirely separate and individual household problem.

The significance of that decision is economic as much as organizational.
When individual households combine a predictable demand, they can sometimes obtain purchasing opportunities or services that would be difficult to obtain separately. If the resulting savings are retained rather than immediately spent elsewhere, the same purchasing activity can also become a means of gradually building household reserves and increasing local resilience and the ability to withstand societal disruptions.

A voluntary association can be established without a formal statutory or regulatory filing, registration, or licensing with a government agency. A voluntary association can arise through an agreement among people who establish a common purpose and decide how they will conduct their affairs.Continue reading“Voluntary Associations – Shopping for Survival, by W.T.”

Otis Technology EarShield Ranger RE 23, by Thomas Christianson

During the summer of 2025, I was enjoying a picnic in a park with my wife, “Kari” and my youngest daughter “Rivka.” Part way through the meal, Rivka commented, “Wow, the cicadas certainly are deafening. My immediate response was: “What cicadas?”

In the days of my youth, we had access to earmuff style hearing protection. The problem was that they were dumb muffs. They prevented the wearer from hearing both what he wanted to hear and what he did not want to hear. Therefore, I didn’t wear hearing protection whenever there might be something that I wanted to hear. I often wanted to hear things like the voices of my companions or the sound of approaching prey. As a result, I too often neglected to wear hearing protection.

Since I did not wear hearing protection enough when I was young, I am now often unable to hear things that I want to hear: things like the words that Kari or my grandchildren are saying.

It is too bad that we didn’t have hearing protection like the Otis EarShield Ranger RE-23 Electronic Pro Earmuff when I was young. The RE-23 filters out loud noises that can damage hearing while transmitting or even amplifying the quieter sounds that the wearer actually wants to hear.Continue reading“Otis Technology EarShield Ranger RE 23, by Thomas Christianson”

SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic is a map that shows every license plate reader volunteers have mapped in the US: 144,000+, 81% of them are Flock cameras.  Note the dearth of ALPR cameras in the American Redoubt, in most of Nevada, and in the Dakotas. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.)

The thumbnail image below is click-expandable.

Flock Cameras

 

 

 

Notes on the available data:

OpenStreetMap via DeFlock (mapped by volunteers, so it’s a floor, not a census). An interactive version with city/county/state breakdowns: https://takip.dev/country/united-states/flock-cameras

The densest big city per person is Sandy Springs, GA (~193 per 100k); the most in absolute terms is Houston (2,484 inside city limits).

– 81% are Flock Safety cameras

– The most-mentioned operators aren’t police departments: Lowe’s (1,683) and The Home Depot (1,110) top the list

– Harris County, TX has the most of any county (4,148); Houston has 2,484 inside city limits

– 98% have the direction they face mapped, so you can see which roads each one watches

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If any SurvivalBlog readers have personally taken or otherwise hold the copyright to a particularly nice landscape photo or other photo of particular interest to preppers that is in a wide horizontal format (to match our blog template) then please send it in as an e-mail attachment, and I will consider posting it as a Graphic of the Week, or as a Top Note photo. I can of course credit you by name — or pen name —  if you’d like. Many Thanks! –  JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Any graphics that you send must either be your own creation, under your copyright or uncopyrighted in the public domain. Thanks! – JWR