Preparedness Notes for Thursday — April 11, 2019

I just heard that Richard Cole passed away on April 8, 2019, at age 103 ^[1]. Cole was the last living Doolittle Raider. He was the co-pilot of General Doolittle. (Pictured.) My condolences to Cole’s family. Cole’s passing marks the end of an era.  The great generation that fought World War 2 just about gone. Rest in Peace, Dick Cole!

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A Special Note From JWR: We’re Running Out of Articles!

A most of our readers know, SurvivalBlog has been posted with daily new content, since 2005. One thing that we point to with pride is the number and quality of our feature articles. SurvivalBlog simply has the most and the best–in fact nearly as many feature-length articles and columns as all of our six major competitors, combined. Perhaps it is because we’ve been around for so long that most of our readers have already shared their knowledge and hard-earned wisdom on most of what they know about preparedness and self-sufficiency. But I doubt that. You folks have a tremendous wealth of knowledge. And we appreciate you sharing your knowledge.

A year ago, we had a hefty backlog of articles. But the number of articles being sent in has dwindled in recent months. Does the Trump Slump really have people feeling safe, secure, and invulnerable?  I hope not!  Presently we are in great need of articles for our non-fiction writing contes ^[2]t. I now have only three articles waiting in the queue. Please, please write an article. You’ll get the chance to have your article judged, and share in more than $12,000 in prizes, once every two months. With one recent noteworthy addition ^[3], the combined value of the prizes is now greater than ever before.

In order to keep the pipeline of articles coming in at a steady rate, I’d like you to consider all of the following:

1.) If you won one of the top three prizes more than one year ago, then you are eligible to win one again!

2.) Because the number of entries in the past few months has been small, your chance of winning one of the top three prizes is now better than ever.

3.) If you’ve written and posted a nonfiction article in your own blog or at your own website and it hasn’t been re-posted at any Third Party sites, then it is still eligible as an entry in our writing contest.

4.) If you wrote an article a few years back for SurvivalBlog, but it only won an Honorable Mention prize, then that topic is a prime candidate for a re-write, expansion, and adding more links and a few photos. (Keep in mind the we only run HORIZONTAL format photos or illustrations, and that they must be at least 600 pixels wide.  (2,000 pixels wide, and 1.2 MB file size is ideal.)  A thoroughly re-vamped, expanded article will be eligible to win any of the top three prizes.

5.) Just because you’ve “said your piece” on one topic in SurvivalBlog does not mean that you are “finished.”   You certainly have other knowledge and experience to share.

6.) Folks who have their survival, preparedness, firearms, and self-sufficiency videoblogs (“vlogs”) have a lot of knowledge that they can share in written form. A side benefit is that publishing an article here at SurvivalBlog will help generate visits to your own site.

7.) You can’t be judged a Top Three prize winner if you don’t try. If you know a subject well, then write about it!

8.) Even though SurvivalBlog has been around for 14 years, there are still lots of topics that have not yet been covered in detail. For example, we haven’t yet received articles on mushroom farming, how to build up a communications rack, how to lift stumps with explosives, life in the arctic or sub-arctic, how to run a fish farm, gardening in the tropics, or a good explanatory article on the various types of welding, with the best uses for each. And those are just a few examples.

9.) A lot of the material in the first few years of the SurvivalBlog archives is now a bit dated. There are new technologies and new techniques out there. So if you see a topic from our early archives where you have expertise, then please write us a big “update” article!

10.) Your article doesn’t need to be perfect. By all means, have a friend of relative proofread it. But keep in mind that we do take the time to format articles to match our style sheet. We can handle that. So please, just write what you know, and send it in!

12.) If you haven’t seen our writing contest guidelines ^[2] in a while, then please read them before you start writing. Pay particular attentions to the 1,500-word minimum article length, and our warnings about plagiarism. Then get busy writing!

Many, Many, Thanks! – JWR

Round 82 of the Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest ^[2]. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

1. 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.
2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses ^[4], excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper ^[5]. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees ^[6] in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product ^[7] from Sunflower Ammo,
7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses ^[8].

Second Prize:

1. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
2. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership ^[9], providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
3. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 ^[10] Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
5. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord ^[11] (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
6. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of ^[12] Directive 21 (a $275 value),
2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections ^[13], a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 82 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail ^[14] us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.