Month: April 2018

Preparing for Chaos, Theory and Application- Part 1, by DF

8

Many people view the possibility of economic/societal disruption and collapse as science fiction, suitable as entertainment in dystopian novels or movies. I view it as actual science, not fiction and am preparing for the ensuing chaos and necessities to get past it. Well-proven theories in the areas of nonlinear systems and economics can help us partially understand what can happen, how we can prepare and respond, and even what is not possible to predict. My first section on “theory” is quite abstract. It looks at some of the basic principles of chaos theory to describe the mechanisms of economic/societal collapse. …


SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

3

Here is SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt. This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies of interest to preppers that are located in the region. The emphasis this week is on the Sunshine Minting Company. Idaho (Sunshine Minting) The refined folks at Sunshine Minting (with several facilities, one of them in Coeur d’Alene) are seeing a jump in wholesale orders, because of rising silver prices. They make 1-ounce .999 silver planchets (blanks) for many other private mints and the popular U.S. Mint for the American Eagle coin minting …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

14

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”. I’m finally beginning to get some dexterity back in my fingers after the accident. It’s tough not being able to use your hands when there is so much to be done. Spring is definitely here! On the bright side, I spent some time watching YouTube videos and found a new vlogger that I like. AvE is a Canadian that believes in destructive testing of products. He tears down expensive tools and compares …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“There is but one step from all this sense of irresponsibility and self-separation from city government—and I believe this is the very road which is taken—to that deep pit of fallen citizenship into which men plunge who bribe their way through city government to what they want. These men commit the unpardonable sin of city life. I know of nothing in all the range of municipal reform more important than the tearing up by the roots of the infamous practices of bribery. There is no worse citizen in America than the good citizen who pays a bribe. He is as …


Preparedness Notes for Monday – April 23, 2018

Andrew Rowan, born April 23, 1857 (died 1943) became one of the Spanish-American War’s most famous heroes. His fame was based on a surprisingly popular essay written by Elbert Hubbard. It was entitled “Message to Garcia”, and detailed Rowan’s heroic acts as a liaison obtaining military intelligence. Rowan later wrote How I Carried the Message to Garcia.


Kershaw/Emerson CQC-8K Tactical Folder, by Pat Cascio

10

Under review today is the Kershaw/Emergson CQC-8K Tactical Folder. It’s one of the most popular tactical folding knives, designed by custom knife maker Ernest Emerson himself. Knives Illustrated Many years ago, I wrote for Knives Illustrated magazine, and for quite a few years I was their West Coast Field Editor. In my experience, what you see today in what is called Knives Illustrated isn’t really a staff-written cutlery magazine. Instead, it is designed to appear like a magazine, when it is nothing more than paid advertisements that look like articles but are not. Don’t be fooled. What you read there …


Recipe of the Week: Waldorf Salad, by L.H.

6

This “old-fashioned” salad (my recipe card for it is circa 1979) has seemingly fallen out of favor, and I don’t know why. It’s yummy and unique, and fairly simple to throw together. It will be perfect alongside your next grilled chicken dinner. Ingredients: 3 apples (your favorite variety), peeled, trimmed, and cubed into bite-sizes 3 stalks celery, diced 1/2 c. pecans, coarsely chopped 2 tsp. lemon juice 1/2 c. mayonnaise 2 tsp. sugar dash of salt


Economics & Investing For Preppers

8

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 private mints.   Precious Metals (Private Mints): One aspect of the thin precious metals market is often overlooked: The small number of private mints in the U.S. and Canada. There are only a handful of mints, and the volume of coins and bars that they …



Preparedness Notes for Sunday – April 22, 2018

1

Today is also the birthday of the late Charles Rankin Bond, Jr, who was born in Dallas on April 22, 1915. He was one of the last of the AVG Flying Tiger pilots. o o o SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today features another entry for Round 76 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be …


Creating Your Own Secure Messages – Part 2, by DaytonPrepper1

7

Yesterday we talked about how to create and use a One Time Pad. Today we will talk about another way of encoding messages. I am sure I am not creating anything new with this method, but I have not seen it before nor do I have a name for it. My working name is Word Grid Substitution. Description of the Method The heart of this method is a 25,000 word grid. The current word grid is 10×2500. I take the message to be encoded and search for the first word from a random spot in the list. When the word …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

6

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”. Sent in by JMC: Putin Warns Russian Students Living In Britain: “Come Home Immediately” Following in London’s footsteps: Knife Control Movement Crosses Atlantic – DSV CDC, in Surveys It Never Bothered Making Public, Provides More Evidence that Plenty of Americans Innocently Defend Themselves with Guns – G.G. o o o An interesting take on Newsweek’s article on South Africa: Newsweek Says White South Africans Should Just “Stop Panicking”. Thanks to S.M. for …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.” – Romans 10:8-11 (KJV)


Preparedness Notes for Saturday – April 21, 2018

April 21st is Aggie Muster Day, for all Texas A&M Corps of Cadets graduates. Aggie Muster celebrations/meetings are held as far away as Japan, Germany, and Afghanistan. I should mention that Jim’s grandfather (a U.S. Army Cavalry LTC) was an Aggie– something mentioned so often that everyone in his family felt like de facto Aggies, too. Other than the officers that matriculate though West Point, the four institutions that seem to have the greatest ongoing esprit de corps for graduates are Texas A&M, The Citadel, Norwich University, NMMI, and VMI. Jim felt almost obliged to include an Aggie character in …


Creating Your Own Secure Messages– Part 1, by DaytonPrepper1

11

I am an experienced programmer with a lot of time spent in Excel everyday for my paying job. East Sierra Sage’s article on Cipher Security got me thinking again about One Time Pads and other secure message techniques. I really enjoy automating things with Excel’s powerful formulas and macros. So I set off to create a tool for a One Time Pad spreadsheet that would create the One Time Pads and also encode and decode the messages being sent. How to Use a One Time Pad (OTP) You will need a Shift Chart and an OTP Chart as the basic …