Day: March 16, 2020

Preparedness Notes for Monday — March 16, 2020

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Today is the anniversary of the Battle at Pound Gap, Kentucky. (1862) — There are now less that two weeks left in for Round 87 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.  Please get your entries in soon!  Note that they must be at lest 1,500 words long. Articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging. — Normally, on Mondays, I post product reviews by our stalwart Field Gear Editor. But given the urgency of the current pandemic, I’m postponing the review article that I had planned to present. Thanks for your patience. But first …


COVID-19: My View From The Powerhouse

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I thought I’d give some insight on the COVID-19 impact from my perspective in the hydroelectric power industry.  As a journeyman hydro electrician, I’ll provide a “boots on the ground” tradesman’s point of view.  I’ll do my best to give a short- and medium-term interpretation of this event’s impacts insofar as keeping the lights on.  While not as prevalent throughout the entire country, hydroelectric projects (dams) are the major supplier of electricity for the bulk of those already in the Redoubt and BC.  While all the windmills along the Columbia produce more political “warm and fuzzies” than actual power, dams …


Recipe of the Week: Engineering Student Pad Thai

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Nathan sent us his Engineering Student Pad Thai recipe. Nathan says:  “This is a simple recipe I created after some trial and error. Ingredient ratios are variable depending on taste. This recipe makes enough for two adults.” Ingredients 1/2 cup peanut butter. (I prefer the stuff that is just peanuts and salt) 1/2 cup honey 1/4 cup soy sauce 2 tablespoons rice vinegar 1 tablespoon red chili paste 1 tablespoon sriracha sauce 1 teaspoon minced ginger or 2 teaspoons dried ginger powder 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 pound rice stick noodles. Directions While the noodles boil, mix everything except the …


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 some big Forex moves. (See the Forex & Cryptos section.) Precious Metals: Gold futures log largest weekly loss in more than 8 years. Here is a snippet that confirms my observations: “It seems that investors have been selling gold in order to cover losses elsewhere,” said Caroline Bain, chief …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“So, 61% of Italian confirmed cases are requiring hospitalization. And, low-ball figures now are claiming at least 40% of the American population can be expected to contract it (I suspect it’s higher, because I suspect there’s a lot of as-yet unidentified cases floating around out there still). The American population is 331 million. 40% of that is 132.4 million. If 61% of those require hospitalization (and remember, we’re not even looking at the case fatality rate right now…just the number of cases in Italy-—a first world nation—-that require hospitalization), that’s 80.76 million hospital cases. That’s just below 25% of the …