Economics & Investing For Preppers

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 custom knives (See the Tangibles Investing section.)   Precious Metals: Gold Edges Up As U.S. Weekly Jobless Claims Near 49-Year Low o o o Global Gold-Backed ETF Holdings Decline By 23.7 Tonnes In September – WGC   Economy & Finance: Global stocks are dropping as …




The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Men speak of dreaming as if it were a phenomenon of night and sleep. They should know better. All results achieved by us are self-promised, and all self-promises are made in dreams awake. Dreaming is the relief of labor,the wine that sustains us in act. We learn to love labor, not for itself, but for the opportunity it furnishes for dreaming, which is the great under-monotone of real life, unheard, unnoticed, because of its constancy. Living is dreaming. Only in the graves are there no dreams.” – Governor Lew Wallace, Ben Hur




Preparedness Notes for Thursday – October 04, 2018

October 4, 1923 is the birthday of the late Charlton Heston, who was born John Charles Carter. He died April 5, 2008. He is often remembered for movies like Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, Soylent Green, The Planet of the Apes, and the survivalist classic The Omega Man. o o o SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today features another entry for Round 79 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 …




Prepping and Practical Minimalism- Making Them Coexist- Part 2, by FLSnappyTurtle

In part 1, I stated the I believed prepping and practical minimalism can coexist. It seems a bit of an oxymoron to have both the words “prepping” and “minimalism” in the same phrase, but I believe it makes sense. We are renters, and recently I stepped back for a moment to take a good look at our way of living and our stuff. We had too much of it. Facing another cross-country move, I started taking inventory of everything we own and made some tough decisions about what to do away with. I’ve developed a new attitude of what I …




The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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”.  (This week with JWR filling in.) Preppers In The Ozarks Whilst doing some web wandering I stumbled into a piece that 417 magazine ran, back in March: Why 417-Land is Mecca for Doomsday Preppers.  Here is a quote: “And what better place to prepare than the Ozarks? Strafford got 47 inches of rain last year; the mean temperature was a mild 59 degrees. The Springfield Plateau has a 200-foot-deep aquifer for when rainwater …







Preparedness Notes for Wednesday – October 03, 2018

October, 3, 2018 is the anniversary of the Mogadishu, Somalia raid. The 18 Americans killed were: MSG Gary Gordon, 1st SFOD-D SFC; Randy Shughart, 1st SFOD-D SSG; Daniel Busch, 1st SFOD-D SFC; Earl Fillmore, 1st SFOD-D MSG; Timothy Martin, 1st SFOD-D CPL; Jamie Smith, 3/75 Ranger SPC; James Cavaco, 3/75 Ranger SGT; Casey Joyce, 3/75 Ranger PFC; Richard Kowaleski, 3/75 Ranger SGT; Dominic Pilla, 3/75 Ranger SGT; Lorenzo Ruis, 3/75 Ranger SSG; William Cleveland, Jr. 160th SOAR SSG; Thomas Field, 160th SOAR CW4; Raymond Frank, 160th SOARD CW3; Clifton Wolcott, 160th SOAR CW2; Donovan Briley, 160th SOAR SGT; Cornell Houston, …




Prepping and Practical Minimalism- Making Them Coexist- Part 1, by FLSnappyTurtle

My family has been prepping at a slower-than-desired rate for the past eight years. Like many survivalists, we add to our gear, food, and water supply as money and time permit. We are renters and tote our items from place to place when a move is required. Practical Minimalism Recently, I stepped back for a moment to take a good look at our way of living and our stuff. We had too much of it. Facing another cross-country move, I started taking inventory of everything we own and made some tough decisions about what to do away with. I’ve developed …




Economics & Investing For Preppers

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 junk bonds. (See the Economy & Finance section.) Precious Metals: Spot silver jumped to $14.50 USD per Troy ounce on Tuesday. So we may have seen the low for the year.  This is a good time to buy. o  o  o ‘Gold Should Head Toward …




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 Man in The High Castle. (See the Movies, Television & Music section.) Books: Organized Enough: The Anti-Perfectionist’s Guide to Getting–and Staying–Organized o  o  o Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win (New Edition) o  o  o The Complete Ketogenic Diet for Beginners: Your Essential Guide to Living the Keto Lifestyle  




The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“To allow opposition by speech seems to indicate that you think the speech impotent, as when a man says that he has squared the circle, or that you do not care whole-heartedly for the result, or that you doubt either your power or your premises. But when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas —that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to …







An Open Letter To President Trump: Time for More Pardons

Dear Mr. President: As you know, the leftist mainstream media is still doing their best to demonize you and your cabinet. They are  slanderously mislabeling you as “fascists.” This is of course a totally unfounded slur. The insult has repeatedly been blithely bandied about by countless guests and even newscasters themselves on mainstream television news shows. This slander if hateful and hurtful to the image of your administration. They keep using the word fascist word without knowing what it means. I am writing to propose that you blunt these accusations by issuing Presidential pardons and sentence commutations to hundreds and …




SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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 sheriff’s Round-up at the Round-up. (See the Eastern Oregon section.)   Region-Wide Wyoming, Idaho Weigh Options After Grizzly Hunt Ruling o o o A guide to some of the Inland Northwest’s major projects in 2018 Idaho Remnant of Hurricane Rosa Could Bring ‘Very Dangerous’ Flash Floods to East Idaho o o o First-ever recorded drone-hot air …




The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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”. Algorithms Algorithms are increasingly being used to make critical decisions that affect you and me. this article sent in by reader H.L. profiles a couple of disturbing incidents that really make you shudder when you realize how deeply embedded this concept is. In one case, a defendant was convicted of murder by a computer algorithm matching DNA. Then the designer of that algorithm decided that it wasn’t quite right so the conviction …