Month: November 2017

Preparedness Notes for Friday – November 24, 2017

November 24th marks the day that John Knox died, in 1572. (He was born in 1514.) AtheistAgendaPedia says: “Born near Haddington Scotland. He was influenced by George Wishart, who was burned for heresy in 1546, and the following year Knox became the spokesman for the Reformation in Scotland. After imprisonment and exile in England and the European continent, in 1559 he returned to Scotland, where he supervised the preparation of the constitution and liturgy of the Reformed Church.” o o o As long as on-hand supplies last, Ready Made Resources is having a sale on non-gated 3rd Generation high grade …


Guest Article: The Second Amendment and Its Relevance In Today’s Society, by B.E.

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Amendment II (the Second Amendment) of the United States Constitution’s Bill of Rights declares a well-regulated militia as “being necessary to the security of a free State” and prohibits infringement of “the right of the people to keep and bear arms”. It is a controversial subject whose ramifications are still being debated to this day, over two-hundred and thirty years after it was written. Its place in the Bill of Rights as the Second Amendment is indicative of how important our nation’s founding fathers thought that right should be. It is still relevant in today’s society, despite haphazard attempts at …


Letter: Weather Station Recommendation

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HJL, Do y’all have any recommendations on home weather stations? On searching I found a lot of references to using HAM and FM to get NOAA data but nothing for on site weather stations. Is this viewed as a valuable addition to the retreat or just a toy? – M.P. HJL’s Comment: With the advent of solid state sensors weather stations have become commodity items. Sadly, all the affordable ones that I know of are made in China. If the desire is just to have some basic data, any of those that you see on Amazon will work. You might …


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 farmhouses. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: Gold Prices Rally As U.S. Dollar Index Slumps o  o  o Reader A.D. sent this from economic pundit Egon von Greyerz: 11,000 KG Gold for a Painting – Will Cost 110 KG in 2025 Stock …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“In the past decade the distinction between connotation and denotation has been blurred by politics. The definitions of words should not change with every shift in the winds of public sentiment. Our society has already suffered from four decades of Situational Ethics. Heaven help us in this new era of Situational Definitions. A rocket scientist or military engineer can teach you about Sympathetic Detonations, but it is 21st Century television commentators who have introduced us to the era of Sympathetic Denotations. We now live in an Orwellian world where a semi-auto rifle is arbitrarily called an “assault rifle” if it …


Preparedness Notes for Thursday – November 23, 2017

From the SurvivalBlog family to yours, we wish you a happy Thanksgiving. Despite the crises in this world and the mounting pressures, we give thanks to our LORD that you are are still here, you are still prepping, and that He will never forsake us. o o o JRH Enterprises is celebrating it’s 25th year in business and Black Friday together. New PVS14 3rd Gen Pinnacle Autogated High Performance Night vision monoculars with a 10 year Factory warranty, never cheaper. OTAL-C Infrared Lasers for use with your NV device and many gear deals like Snugpak Softie 18 Antarctica sleeping bags …


Our Family’s Garden Grain Experiment- Part 2, by Wild BillB of OR

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Our family did an experiment to see how we could grow wheat and oats in a garden setting. In part 1 of this article series, we shared that we used two different garden plots, one that was well fertilized and one that had never been fertilized or used for a garden. Additionally, I told about our seeds and how we protected our growing areas from animals. We began describing the tools that we tested to harvest wheat and how we found, for us, that the sickle worked best. Also, because the naked oats we grew dropped seed more readily, we …


Letter Re: EMP Computer Question

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Guys, What laptop would you recommend for storing in an EMP proof environment, to be used after an event to retrieve electronic files such as Survivalblog/Mother Earth News archives? There are so many options, and choosing the wrong one could be frustrating to say the least. I have hard copies of some essential books, but there are just too many helpful things in electronic format to ignore if it would be possible to retrieve. Thanks for all you do! – P.H. HJL Replies: If the device is to be stored in an EMP resistant container, there are no special considerations …


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”. With all the complaining in the media today about the American gun culture, it’s interesting to note the the American Indian had a very strong influence in it. The gun culture is rooted in minorities. American Gun Culture This report on the American gun culture actually outlines one of the reasons Britain and the U.S. differ so much over the issue of firearms. The influence of American Indians. America’s gun culture is …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday – November 22, 2017

Today is remembered as the birthday of the late Eugene M. Stoner. (Born 1922, died April 24, 1997.) He was the designer of the AR-7, AR-10, AR-15, AR-180, the Stoner 63, and several other firearms. (The AR-10 was the basis of the AR-15 which in turn spawned the very widely used M16 and all of its variants including the M4 Carbine). It has been estimated that as many as 4.5 million rifles from the AR-15 family are owned by civilians in the United States, and military production M16 variants well exceeds 8 million rifles.


Our Family’s Garden Grain Experiment- Part 1, by Wild BillB of OR

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This is an account of our family’s experience and learning while experimenting with growing oats and wheat in a garden setting. Storing food and preps are important; but, for us, the primary role of food storage is for the immediate emergency or to get us through the first year of a serious crisis. What then? No one can store sufficient food for a serious, long-term disaster. The Key Is Growing and Gathering Your Own The key is growing and gathering your own, and our favorite staples to grow are potatoes and corn. Living on the “wet” side of Oregon we …


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 the potential for an orchestrated market crash. (See the Economy and Finance section.) Precious Metals: BMO’s Top Long-Term Silver Play As Market Heads To $20 o  o  o New Gold-Backed Debit Card Launched In Partnership With MasterCard Commodities: Is The LNG Glut Real? o  o  …


JWR’s Recommendations of the Week

Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers.  This week the focus is on the movie Within The Whirlwind. Special Note:  You might want to wait until “Black Friday” to order some of the books and other products mentioned in this column, to get the best prices, or discounted shipping.   Books: The Midnight Line: A Jack Reacher Novel o o o This book is a perennial bestseller, for good reason: What to Expect When You’re Expecting o o o “Pam’s Pride” has posted a big list of book cover book …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“A man needs heroes. He needs to believe in strength, nobility, and courage. Otherwise we become sheep to be herded to the slaughterhouse of death. I believe this. I am a soldier. I try to fight for the right cause. Sometimes it is hard to know. “But I do not sit back and sneer in cowardice at those with the courage to fight. The blood of good men makes the earth rich, as it is here. When I die sword in hand, I hope someone lives to sing of it. I live my life so that when death comes I …