Year: 2019

Fivejoy Compact Shovel, by Pat Cascio

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I’m not quite sure where the name for this compact folding shovel came from – but its called the “Fivejoy” for some reason – I’m sure there’s something behind the name. There are a lot of compact folding shovels out there on the market, and many are absolute pieces of junk – not worth having in an emergency, even if they were free. I’ve tested a lot of folding shovels over the years – and I mean a lot. There are some poorly made copies of the tri-fold military shovel, and they look good, but are junk. There are some …


Letter: COMPSEC Warning on Windows 10 Updates

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Dear Editor: I used to have respect for Kim Komando, but after reading her article about the recent Windows 10 update, I have moved her to my “don’t trust” list. Let me explain: For my own COMPSEC I only connect to the internet wifi while I am actively using it and even then I monitor the data and CPU usage in real time using task manager. That way I know which program(s) are active. About 10 days ago, I detected the Windows 10 update in progress. It eventually took Four Hours of machine time (6X the usual time) and ate …


Recipe of the Week: Pete’s Garden Pasta Sauce

Reader Pete S. kindly sent us his recipe for a summer garden pasta sauce. Pete says:  “I like a lot of garlic, but you might want to tone down the garlic and garlic pepper, if you aren’t garlic fans.” Ingredients 1 pound pasta — preferably small diameter tubular pasta, but larger diameter or spaghetti can be substituted 1 cup sliced yellow summer squash 1-1/4 cup sliced zucchini squash 3/4 cup sliced green onions 1 cup julienned bell peppers (green or yellow) 1 cup julienned sweet red pepper 1/4 cup butter 4 to 6 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced thinly (depending …


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. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at investing in reloading components. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: At Zero Hedge: “Everything Has Changed” – Gold Is At An All-Time High In 73 Countries o  o  o Gold, Silver Up Amid Risk Aversion Worldwide Economy & Finance: Audio from Wolf Richter:  …



Preparedness Notes for Sunday — August 18, 2019

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August 18th is the birthday of Meriwether Lewis, an American explorer, soldier, politician and public administrator that is best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. An interesting side note is the Girandoni Air Rifle carried by Lewis during that expedition. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 84  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System …


When Kids are Old Enough to Prepare, Part 2, by M.K.

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(Continued from Part 1. This part concludes the article.) Teach By Reading and Watching Books My youngest son loves to read. My oldest will do it when he has to. One way I get them both on board with reading is by finding them books to read that keep them engaged and that is often with a book about the outdoors. As we all know, books can be both entertaining and educational. The best way to teach your kids through books is to find ones that are both! I know that Bear Grylls is a polarizing personality in the survival …


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 the ongoing Hong Kong protests. Hong Kong Protests: It’s Now a Revolution By way of Whatfinger.com, comes this: In Hong Kong, It’s Now a Revolution. The article begins: “Defying stern …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.  In all things shewing thyself …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — August 17, 2019

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While salmon fishing near the Klondike River in Canada’s Yukon Territory on August 17th, 1896, George Carmack reportedly spotted nuggets of gold in a creek bed. His lucky discovery sparked the last great gold rush in the American West. His two companions later agreed that Skookum, Jim–Carmack’s brother-in-law, actually made the discovery. — The Philadephia police have fessed up to what really happened, in triggering a shootout and lengthy standoff earlier this week. They now admit that while exercising a court-issued warrant at one address, they decided to do a so-called “safety sweep” on a different house in the neighborhood, …


When Kids are Old Enough to Prepare, Part 1, by M.K.

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When your kids are old enough to learn to prepare, then I suggest that you make it fun, and make it worthwhile. I may be kind of weird. I love it when the power goes out. Where we live, we’ve had a lot of power outages for one reason or another. In Michigan, weather can change quickly. If you know someone who lives in our great state, you’ve probably heard jokes about how we can see all four seasons in one day. Unfortunately, it’s actually true. I remember days where it would start with relatively warm weather and rain, turn …


Editors’ Prepping Progress

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To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready! Jim Reports: I now have just two weeks …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands. He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the Lord: but he that is perverse in his ways despiseth him. In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them. Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox. A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies. A scorner seeketh wisdom, and findeth it not: but knowledge is easy unto him that …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — August 16, 2019

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On August 16th, 1841, President John Tyler vetoed a second attempt by Congress to re-establish the Bank of the United States. In response, angry supporters of the bank gathered outside the White House and burned an effigy of Tyler. — By way of Claire Wolfe’s blog, I just heard that her co-author Kit Perez had fairly major surgery for melanoma. She was caught without medical insurance on this, so donations would be greatly appreciated. Claire reports: “The pathology and prognosis are unknown at this point, but it’s frighteningly likely Kit’s going to need long-term medical follow-up. Friends of Kit’s have …


Battling Lice, Post-Disaster, by Aden Tate

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Throughout history, one of the most consistent problems that has faced soldiers, refugees, and homeless populations is lice. Read through the journals of soldiers throughout WW1 and WW2, and you’ll see countless references to lice. During the 1970s lice infestations (technically called pediculosis) reached pandemic levels. That was attributed to increases in poverty, sexual promiscuity, and international travel. Typically, social upheaval is where we find the greatest number of lice infestations. It is interesting to note that poverty and sexual promiscuity can probably be pretty safely correlated with social upheaval. Living life without all of the modern amenities seems to …