Month: August 2017

A Quiet Life: How to Lower Your Profile or Go Fully Off the Grid

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Part of my work life in most weeks involves consulting phone calls.  The majority of my clients are in the U.S. and Canada.  Not surprisingly, many of my clients have questions for me about privacy.  These questions are generally along three lines:  1.) Buying guns privately, 2.) buying land privately, and 3.) how to avoid paper trails on storage food purchases.  In this essay,  I will try to address all three of those topics, as well as a few related points. One of the key concepts herein is Going Analog.  But first, I’ll mention completely dropping off the grid. Going …


SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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Here is SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt. This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. The emphasis today is on the term Redoubter. It is now used as a term of derision by leftist malcontents. The Redoubt Movement and “Redoubters” in the News First off, over at The Charles Carroll Society site, there is a great article. It is about how the term “Redoubter” has been politicized. Liberal Republican upset that conservatives are politically active in Idaho. Idaho Michael Snyder has announced his candidacy for an Idaho Congressional seat.  You may recognize …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. Today we are featuring some interesting Second Amendment focused articles, but first this gut wrenching article: Reverend Hillary I looked for any kind of indication that this was a satirical article and came up empty handed. Now, recognizing that while The Atlantic calls itself “moderate” it clearly leans solidly left. Even so, I think I’ve thrown up a little in my mouth. It certainly begs the question of “Exactly what Gospel will …




Kershaw Launch 7, by Pat Cascio

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The new Launch 7 by Kershaw Knives is their newest folder. It’s an automatic push button opening knife. Kershaw Knives I still remember when I took my first tour of the Kershaw plant how small it was. If memory serves me correctly, there were 17 people on the shop floor making knives. Since that first trip, Kershaw has moved into a much larger building, and no sooner did they move in they had plans to expand their operation. My last tour of Kershaw was several years back, and they had several hundred employees on the shop floor, in the warehouse, …


Recipe of the Week: Hobo Stew, by D.B.

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There are a few variations of this recipe. Here’s mine. There’s a lot of food value in this recipe, and it’s ready in about 40 minutes. Ingredients: 1 lb ground meat (turkey or beef) 2 or 3 cloves garlic (diced) 1 large onion (diced) 1 large bell pepper 1-10 oz can Rotel 1-4 oz can diced green chiles 1 can Bush beans (or equal) 1 can black beans 1/4 cup brown sugar 1 Tbsp corn starch (optional) Directions: Brown meat, onions, garlic, bell pepper, and diced chiles for 10 minutes or so. Add Rotel and simmer for 10 minutes. Add …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) Today’s focus is on investing in common caliber ammunition, primarily for barter. (See the Tangibles Investing section, below.) Gold and Silver Market Morning: June 5 2017 – Gold consolidating with a positive bias o  o  o The South Africa Chamber of Mines has released their annual statistics for the preceding …


Letter Re: Cats Moving into the Neighborhood

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Hugh, In response to the comment about cats moving into the neighborhood: be grateful. The Lyme spirochete has been around for millions of years. Lyme disease started to explode in the 1970’s and 1980’s, which is when the national spay-neuter programs got started, and the population of outdoor cats dropped like a rock. I remember as a child in the 1950’s seeing kittens running around outdoors in the summer. In the last thirty years, except for my own protected outdoor cat colony, I’ve seen only one outdoor kitten. The ticks that carry Lyme have a two year life cycle. The …


Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representative who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.” – Jerry Pournelle, Chaos Manor View …


Preparedness Notes for Sunday – August 06, 2017

On August 6th, 1945 at 8:16 a.m. (Japanese time), an American B-29 bomber– the Enola Gay– dropped the world’s first war-time atom bomb over the city of Hiroshima. Approximately 80,000 people were killed as a result of the blast, with another 35,000 injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the fallout. History is always written by the victors, so the reasoning and justification for this will be argued for years to come. But one thing is for sure: this action officially ushered in the nuclear age in war and …


Recognizing and Resolving Common Vitamin Deficiencies, by J.F. Texas

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Ideally every person from birth through old age would get all the nutrients they need from the food they consume, but deficiencies occur. There are times when the optimal amount of nutrients from food intake are not possible. People who consume energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods can develop a marginal micronutrient intake and low serum concentrations of vitamins. In times of food shortages or limited access to fresh foods, nutrient deficiencies can become even more common, especially vitamin deficiencies. What are vitamins? Vitamins are organic molecules required in small amounts to prevent deficiency signs and symptoms. The most concern is for water-soluble …


Letter Re: Approaching Grand Solar Minimum

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HJL, I have recently heard about the grand solar minimum and am wondering if you guys have any thoughts on it? It seems to have some pretty serious implications regarding more extreme weather and how our climate is changing (which it always has been). I live on the gulf coast so preparedness for me has always been important due to hurricanes. My question is: out of all the climate hype that we have been inundated with over the last decade or so, is this something to really be taken seriously? It is wise to stay prepared nonetheless, however if the …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. The question of the day? How much corrupt government are you willing to tolerate? Check it out below: Self-Sufficient Haulout SurvivalBlog reader T.J. sent in this article on the Quidnon boat about having a self-sufficient haulout capability. There are times when you need your boat out of water. Perhaps you need to do some maintenance or you want to secure it before a hurricane. In any case, having the ability to do …