Year: 2019

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at the risk of buying faked antique guns. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Stocks: Lance Roberts, over at Seeking Alpha: 15 Extreme Risks And How You Can Navigate Them o  o  o Uber Loses Another $1.2 billion, Stock Dives Again Economy & Finance: Berkshire Becomes Global Cash King: $128BN Cash …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — November 7, 2019

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November 7th is the anniversary of the death of actor Steve McQueen (born March 24, 1930, died November 7, 1980). The many well-publicized exploits in his tempestuous life and his enduring persona are well known. However, the end of his life is actually the most noteworthy part of his legacy, even though it seldom gets much publicity outside of Christian circles; he came to Jesus after he had been diagnosed with mesothelioma. He died with his forefinger pointing to his key verse in his Bible– Titus 1:2. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 85 of …


My Ankle Ammo Rig, by Spotlight

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It may sound crazy but I can routinely carry over 50 rounds of ammunition on my person at all times without it being obvious, uncomfortable or hampering my normal activities. After more than two decades of law enforcement work and now nearly seven years of a combination of private investigation (PI), private security work, and consulting, I have come full circle. I started out in the late 1980s as a small town cop and was issued a Ruger Security Six .357 Magnum revolver. As with most law enforcement agencies, we went through a series of semi-autos starting in the early …


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 “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at Google’s newly-announced photo OCR technology. Google Can Now Search for Text in Your Pictures Regular content contributor G.P. sent this: Google Photos can now search for text in your pictures, …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — November 6, 2019

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Today in 1977, the Toccoa Falls Dam in Georgia gave way and 39 people died in the resulting flood. The dam was an earthen dam constructed across a canyon in 1887 and had a 55-acre lake that was 180 feet deep. The dam had recently been inspected and approved, but in the early morning hours it gave way. Water flooded down the canyon at speeds approaching 120 mph. Below, residents of the Christian and Missionary Alliance College had no time to evacuate as the small community was wiped out. — November 6, is the anniversary of the day that B-24 …


Signals Intelligence for Regular Folk – Part 2, by Tunnel Rabbit

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(Continued from Part 1.  This concludes the article.) A $20 SDR-UTL dongle can cover 1.8MHz to 1.2 GHz, and see and hear the entire 220MHz Ham band, or the entire spectrum with the right software. Yet who would use precious power to monitor a band with no traffic on it anyway? The more expensive Dongle covers most everything else including frequencies that drones would use… With the $20 dongle, a poor man’s frequency analyzer, one can see weak transmissions even though they cannot hear them. And one can spot spurious transmissions, secondary harmonics, that can lead to the identification of …


JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This week I have a special recommendations column devoted to countersurveillance references and products. Books: Claire Wolfe: The Freedom Outlaw’s Handbook: …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“As to the present value of old technology in stoves, look for a moment at Finland. Finland is an advanced country, known for fine workmanship and good design. The Finns are international traders. Their products have to be good, especially in regard to heating because their climate is like that of Alaska. Today, [1984] Finland’s government actively encourages the construction of masonry stoves through tax policy. About two-thirds of Finland’s new houses have built-in masonry stoves. Most of the rest have wood-fired masonry baking ovens which can also be used for space heating. This government policy says a good deal …


Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — November 5, 2019

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On this day in 2009, 13 people were killed and more than 30 others were wounded–nearly all of them unarmed soldiers–when a U.S. Army officer went on a shooting rampage with a pistol at Fort Hood, Texas. The massacre was carried out by Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, was the worst mass murder at a U.S. military installation. In the Fort Hood shooting, Hasan reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar!” After his capture, Hasan said that “Muslims should rise up.” He was later sentenced to death. — I’ve recently learned that SurvivalBlog has been penalized through de-ranking by search engine algorithms, …


Signals Intelligence for Regular Folk – Part 1, by Tunnel Rabbit

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This is another attempt to put a vital part of a security operation into an affordable box, that will provide ‘the mostest, for the leastest’, the quickest, and in the easiest way. In time, the basic tools will be the foundation of whatever improvements to an area of your security plan that fits you.  At present, the discussion is about radio related topics as it pertains to a security operation. The pros know that actionable intelligence should drive defenses.  We will likely not have the time to develop that lofty level of intelligence, yet there is one type of intelligence …


SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we focus on conifer encroachment.   (See the Montana section.) Region-Wide Inland Northwest Trends, Fall 2019 (Gallery). Far from being just “hicks, out in the sticks”, many builders in the American Redoubt are constructing and final finishing some very beautiful homes. o o o In Redoubt, …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“Like the larger context of suburbia, the giant consolidated schools seemed like a good idea at the time. The idea was to save administrative costs throughout a given district or region and the unanticipated consequence was to make education a loathsome and pointless experience for the students. The public schools are well on their way to just collapsing under the weight of their outlandish costs, especially their pension obligations, and the onerous school bus fleets. Similarly, the colleges that have absorbed the flow of public school graduates — many of them ill-prepared for higher ed — using the loan racket …


Preparedness Notes for Monday — November 4, 2019

November 4th is the birthday of Medal of Honor recipient John Basilone. He was born in 1916 in Buffalo, New York. — On this day in 1979, student followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini sent shock waves across America when they stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The radical Islamic fundamentalists took 90 hostages. The students were enraged that the deposed Shah had been allowed to enter the U.S. to seek medical attention. Just a few days later, the provincial leader of Iran resigned and the Ayatollah Khomeini took full control of the country. Two weeks later, all non-U.S personnel as …