Year: 2020

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.  I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah. For thou, O God, hast heard my vows: thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy name. Thou wilt prolong the king’s life: and his years as many generations. …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — August 7, 2020

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August 7th, 1933 The birthday of Jerry Pournelle. He, along with Larry Niven authored the survivalist classic Lucifer’s Hammer. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 90 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a …


Tactical Technology for TEOTWAWKI – Part 4, by J.M.

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(Continued from Part 3.) There’s an App for That The ability to run thousands of different apps is where the power of a mobile device really comes into play. It allows you to have access applications, files, sensors and other things in the palm of your hand. One of the most obvious app uses for mobile devices in field operations is maps – you can use them to figure out where you are, plan you need to go, note your findings, etc. I’ve standardized on mapping apps that utilize Open Street Maps (OSM) data files and support GPX files for …


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 ongoing coinage shortage that has closed the window of opportunity to stockpiles full bankers’ boxes of nickels. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: Gold, Silver, and Platinum resumed their bull run this week. A recent headline: Gold Futures Surge Above $2,050; Silver Nears $27.  Update, as of …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — August 6, 2020

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On August 6th, 1945 at 8:16 a.m. (Japanese time), an American B-29 bomber– the Enola Gay– dropped the world’s first war-time atom bomb over the city of Hiroshima. Approximately 80,000 people were killed as a result of the blast, with another 35,000 injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the fallout. History is always written by the victors, so the reasoning and justification for this will be argued for years to come. But one thing is for sure: this action officially ushered in the nuclear age in war and …


Tactical Technology for TEOTWAWKI – Part 3, by J.M.

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(Continued from Part 2.) It’s All in Your Hands The core component of my field technology system is what most people would call a cell phone or smartphone, but I prefer to call a Mobile Information, Communications and Control System (MICCS), or just mobile device for short. Why not call it a cell phone? – because the cellular network will most likely be one of the first things to go in a TEOTWAWKI scenario. Granted, you could potentially create your own cellular network if you have the money and expertise, but for the purposes of this article I’m going to …


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 germination experiments using seeds from the Svalbard global seed vault. Hydroxychloroquine Versus Remdesivir Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Hydroxychloroquine vs. Remdesivir: History’s most deadly con. The CDN article …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — August 5, 2020

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August 5th is the sad anniversary of the Mann Gulch Fire in Montana that took the lives of 13 firefighters (including 12 smokejumpers and one former smokejumper), in 1949. The intense, fast-moving forest fire took place in what later became the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness. The events of that fire were chronicled in the book Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean and immortalized in the haunting lyrics of the ballad Cold Missouri Waters by James Keelaghan. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 90 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this …


August 5th, 2020: Our 15th Blogiversary!

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Today, August 5th, 2020, is the 15th anniversary of the launch of SurvivalBlog. Since August of 2005 we’ve accomplished the following: Posted 33,200+ articles, letters, and columns. In 15 years, we’ve hardly missed a day of posting. All of the blog’s archives are fully searchable and available free of charge–just as they’ve always been. Posted more than 5,470 Quotes Of The Day and 1,580 Bible verses. Cumulatively awarded more than $1.1 million worth of writing contest prizes. (Our sincere thanks to the many generous prize donors. These loyal blog supporters deserve your patronage.) We’ve inspired thousands –and possibly tens of …


Tactical Technology for TEOTWAWKI – Part 2, by J.M.

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(Continued from Part 1.) You Can’t Stop the Signal! Much of the gear I’ll be discussing utilizes wireless communications for remote control and data exchange, so there are a number of dynamics that need to be understood to maximize their use. First, there are the factors that impact every radio signal: Transmission power – The more power used to transmit, the stronger the signal and the further away it can be received. In the US the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) sets limits on how much power can be used to transmit. Antenna – The more closely the antenna is matched …


JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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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 the focus is on a sermon by Pastor Chuck Baldwin on Kalispell, Montana. (See the Sermons section.) Books: Sean Hannity’s …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“How divinely full of glory and pleasure shall that hour be when all the millions of mankind that have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb of God shall meet together and stand around Him, with every tongue and every heart full of joy and praise! How astonishing will be the glory and the joy of that day when all the saints shall join together in one common song of gratitude and love, and of everlasting thankfulness to this Redeemer! With that unknown delight, and inexpressible satisfaction, shall all that are saved from the ruins of sin and hell …


Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — August 4, 2020

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On August 4th, 1944, 15-year-old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family were captured by the Nazi Gestapo. The Franks had taken shelter in a small space in a sealed-off area of an Amsterdam warehouse along with another Jewish family and a single Jewish man. They were aided by Christian friends who brought them food and supplies. Her diary survived the war, overlooked by the Gestapo, but Anne and nearly all of the others perished in the Nazi death camps. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 90 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes …