SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly column is a collection of short snippets: practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. We may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.

This was a very thought-provoking essay: The Inevitable End of a Ruling Elite.

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Michael J. wrote:

“Here are my inflation-fighting tips for the SB community:
1) If you go to work, don’t buy your lunch; bring it from home.  When even a burrito can cost $10-13 dollars, that adds up fast.  Buy some lunch meat and bread, trick it up with some vegetables and mustard and mayonnaise! Fast and easy!  And while we’re at it — cook your own food as much as possible!
2) I buy kidney beans, black beans, garbanzo beans (aka chick peas) and olives in 15-ounce cans from the grocery store. I open one can of each and make a beans and olives blend that I scoop onto my salads. It’s an extra source of nutrients and fiber, and it’s a non-meat source of protein too!
3) Concerning meat: I usually buy ground turkey in 3 pound packs — it’s cheaper than buying 3 1-pound packs.  I then split the meat into 3 1 pound blobs and put them in storage tubs. A little bit of work up front, but cheaper in the long run.  Don’t buy fatty meat because it’s cheaper because that may cause constipation.  It’s worthwhile to spend money on quality food.  We are what we eat.  Spending that extra few dollars on quality food will save hundreds or thousands of dollars in medical care!!
4) A few months ago, the precious metals firm I work with started advertising copper rounds.  They are selling 1.7-ounce coins at $44.75.  That equals $26.32 per ounce — almost the price of 1 ounce of silver!!  I haven’t bought any copper yet, but it’s another option if you want to get something tangible to hedge against inflation.  [JWR Adds:  The least-expensive source of copper is U.S. 5-cent Nickel coins. Those are 75% copper and 25% nickel.] Those who advocate for “quantitative easing” must think that we can all live on Rainbow Stew.
5) Concerning commuting: If you can, ask for telecommuting.  I telecommute two days per week. That helps — both in terms of gasoline and in terms of more time in between having to get the vehicle serviced.  Another alternative is to ask for an 4-10 shift — four days per week, ten hours per shift.  You’ll be tired, but you’re skipping that one extra day of driving. That didn’t work well for me, but it might work for some SB readers.
Right now I’m studying for another IT certificate. More knowledge and skill = more money. The next step will be to find a house in a remote area and leave the apartment behind. A house with even a little bit of land is much better than an urban beehive.”

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Reader Anne K. wrote:

“Everything in your recent article [on inflation] is very true. I would add that many do not realize the immediacy of what is happening. I have converted all paper money savings to hard goods already. Reason — I work in a small rural grocery/gas/çonvenience store. In the past year, all of our goods have had to increase 10-20 percent and sometimes more. The week before last when our grocery supply truck came we were forced to increase a 10-pound bag of potatoes from $4.59 to $7.79. This is considerably more than the “reported” inflation rate. Also, since February, hay has gone from $10 to $13 per bale. A 50-pound bag of cracked corn from $8.99 to $10.99. Hyperinflation is already here and continuing to rise.

This is no longer something that we can discuss in the abstract as something which may happen in the future. It is already here.”

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S.B.’s Commnets:

“The recent excellent article by Jim titled “Readying Yourself for Inflationary Times” reminded me of a story my dad told about surviving inflation. My father was in Argentina during the late 50s and early 60s. It was a time of political unrest, economic insecurity, and severe inflation. My father was doing construction work and was having trouble getting a client to pay him. Payment of contracts was slow for everyone because the longer people could put off paying others, the less they were actually paying due to the rampant inflation. “Better to use the money I owe you to buy groceries today since that same amount of money will only buy 90% of those groceries a couple of weeks from now.” This one client was taking a particularly long time to pay my dad, even in the environment of slow payments everywhere. My father was becoming increasingly desperate as the money he was owed was losing value on a daily basis and he needed the pesos. I won’t go into the details, but ultimately he took some action he was not proud of to change his client’s attitude about payment. It was that incident that convinced him that he needed to get out of Argentina. Soon after he started the process to emigrate to the U.S., which he did legally, even though he had to wait 7-years until his turn in line came up. That inflationary environment caused my father, a very very good man, to behave in a way that he never would have otherwise. Whatever keeps you sane, keeps your moral compass true, and keeps your spirit in line with God’s plan, hold onto those things tightly when things go bad; and be prepared to have people around you who don’t take that path. Stay strong everyone,”

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Our Editor-At-Large Michael Z. Williamson mentioned this article: Philadelphia City Council OKs Ban on Bullet-Resistant Windows — Philadelphia City Council voted, 14-3, Thursday to approve a bill that merchants fear could jeopardize their safety and livelihoodMike’s Comment: “Not allowing people to murder you is an ‘indignity’ in Philadelphia.”

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From SurvivalBlog reader Jim L.:
“Thank you for the inflation article! A few comments:
    • I started as a box boy at my local Safeway grocery store in 1974, the middle of the inflation-packed 1970’s. I recall shrinkflation was rampant then: ground coffee (before fancy-shmancy brands were popular) started showing up in 13 ounce cans instead of 16 ounce cans. I also recall that a six-pack of the store brand of beer, “Padre”, could be purchased for 89 cents. These days, a six-pack Budweiser is 7 Fake/Fiat (Federal) Reserve Notes. And in addition to using 1.5 gallon containers, ice cream makers have another trick which they use; since they sell by volume, they whip air into the ice cream and now sell you less cream and more air in the same container therefore hiding the fact that they are selling you less product.
    • I watched a YouTube video about one month ago (I think it was George Gammon but can’t find it now) that showed that a family in Venezuela can still feed itself using a few ounces of silver per month.
    • There is a little diner called “Late’s” in Manitowoc Wisconsin which has already implemented your silver pricing strategy. It looks like they have been doing so for many years.

May God cause His face to shine upon you.”

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Reader D.S.V. sent us this: State of Emergency Declared in 17 States and D.C. After Pipeline Cyberattack. JWR’s Comment: I’d always expected a simple and direct attack on SCADA software. It is interesting that this attack was ransomware.

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H.S. suggested the CTRL+PEW web site for anyone interested in 3D-printed gun-making.

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Kestrel sent us this brief observation:

“While reading through the actual text of this proposed ATF Rule Change, I discovered, buried within, a line about the retention of form 4473s. Currently, FFLs are required to retain form 4473s for 20 years, the proposal in the text says form 4473s must be retained ‘indefinitely’!”

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A recent podcast interview: James Rawles: Coup Consolidating Power in America & Surviving in the Great Reset

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This came from reader P.E.D.:

“We live at a remote off grid location, 6,300 feet on 120 acres surrounded by federal lands.  Cows are run in the area and come on our property and hang out due to spring water.  Our two orchards are well fenced so that is not a problem.

I was late in putting a corral panel up in front of our hay barn.  The cows came in at night and stomped on our Mountain Bikes.  I took my wife’s bike down to town (35 miles away) to have the bike shop do repairs.  The bike shop guy told me that they are not doing much bike repair because there is no way to get parts.  He said that the bicycle parts supply chain has collapsed.

When I got home I read that there is going to be a big chlorine shortage starting soon.  Here is a link:

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/30/a-major-chlorine-shortage-is-set-to-spoil-swimming-pool-fun-this-summer.html

Of course we all know about the Guns and Ammo shortage.

I think there is a lot more of this going on regarding supply chain issues.  Perhaps your readers may know of other examples and a running log could be kept.

I had to help out friend who recently moved here from the city.  The first thing he did was put in a small orchard of about 20 trees.  I told him about battery-powered irrigation timers.  I gave him one that I had purchased this winter as we are redoing our orchard.  I helped him get his timer up and running.  He ordered me a new timer.  These Galcon Irrigation timers are now unobtainable and have been that way for over a month.

I have never see this before.  Something just ain’t right!”

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Avalanche Lily liked the latest meme, over at Ann Barnhardt’s site.

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Reader A.S. wrote:

“Note that New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 No 109 (as at 01 July 2013), Public Act 10 Right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation – New Zealand Legislation. Part 2, section 10 is the following…

Right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation

  • Every person has the right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experimentation without that person’s consent.

Also Part 2 section 11.
Right to refuse to undergo medical treatment
  • Everyone has the right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment.

Yet 9 Customs workers have been terminated for refusing the jab, over 100 NZ Defense personal have refused the jab, blatant overreach and total disregard for individual rights, those 9 workers are now taking legal action for being fired. Sadly most of the sheeple are asleep ( including the Church, who mistakenly misquote Romans 13! )
Also note over 500 people are in UK hospitals after having the jab with serious side effects!
Utter fools, even more so if they choose to be “vaccinated” after being warned.

I am again reminded of Tim 4:4

“…and will turn their ears away from the truth and will wander off into myths and man-made fictions [and will accept the unacceptable].” [Amplfied Bible]
Totalitarianism is thriving in New Zealand!”

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We tracked down a serial robocaller. This is what he said. JWR”s Comment: The British journalists chose to track down a guy with an English surname.  But this chart shows that the majority of robocallers are from India or are of Indian descent.

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A recent video from Sarah Corriher: First They Come for Christians.

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SaraSue Wrote:

“I am in the same condition Lily was in after deep cleaning her Great Room, as I get ready to list my home in Idaho as “turn-key” this week.  I have spit-shined my entire home over the past 3 weeks, top to bottom, every corner and crevice, hung new curtains, rolled out new area rugs, new bedspreads, etc.  Painted, patched holes, applied touch-up paint, cleaned appliances inside and out, power washed the exterior, organized, packed, and chased down every speck of dust.  I gave away all my food storage to family, friends, and a local church pantry, and am in process of giving my enormous stash of fabrics to a local sewer.  Gave a family member not quite a cord of wood and a freezer full of meat as a thank you for helping me with many, many tasks I could not do alone.  I’ll admit it hurts me more emotionally than physically to be letting go of that food security.  I have a bazillion canning jars and rings that I can’t take with me either.  I had to dump a lot of canned foods because I can’t take them with me, and a lot of people don’t want other people’s canned foods.  That was soooo painful!!  I still have at least a dozen jars of amazing jams that I’m hoping to give to neighbors, friends, and family.

As I write this, there are about 48 hours left to finish before the Realtors come with camera and drone.  For anyone familiar with my story, my German Shepherds have been boarded at a wonderful ranch in southern Idaho, happily playing with other Shepherds.  In a few weeks, other family members and I will take off, caravan style, on the Grand Adventure across the country to Tennessee.  We’re going to take it easy, see all the sights, and make the most out of it.  We are excited, terrified, hopeful, stressed, and expectant to see what the Lord has in store for all of us.  Real estate in TN is not quite as hot as it is in Idaho, but close.  You have to have cash in hand, financing if needed already arranged (with a local bank!), a great realtor, and be ready to pounce.  This means, we might have to rent or be in hotels for a bit.  I can feel the stress neurons coursing my body as I type.  One thing I’ve gotten really good at, lol, is telling stress and fear to get lost, putting it in its place, and watching to see what the Lord will do.  I covet your prayers.”

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Reader C.B. sent this: Apple’s ransomware mess is the future of online extortion.

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Sharyl Atkinson: Deaths of Elderly Who Recovered From COVID-19, but Died After Vaccine, Raise Questions.

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Reader C.O. had this comment:

“I enjoyed St Funogas discussion on reusing canning lids and other types of product jars and lids.  I do reuse both the canning lids and product jars but my issue is getting the lids off without damaging them.  I’ve tried different ways of popping the canning lids off (knife lift, bottle opener, etc) but almost all leave some sort of ding or scare on the rims.  I tried to solve this by gently smoothing the metal rim back to its original shape.  So far, I end up with about 70% reusable canning lids. I’d like to hear about how others remove the lids without damaging them.

When processing jars with used lids I put a number on the lids so I know how many times the lid has been reused.  The best I’ve done so far is four times for Pressure Canning; the older lids I reuse for dry canning.  Thanks to St. Funogas for the article.”

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Tunnel Rabbit wrote:

“In response to the article, Reusing Can Canning Jar Lids, by St. Funogas published May 6,2021.  As someone with much experience with plumbing and repairing mechanic things that require high and low pressure, and vacuum type seals to function, I believe St. Funogas has proven that reusing metal canning lids works.  Before his article, I too have experimented and found to my own satisfaction that this does in fact work.  His experience goes far beyond my own, attaining the level that should be considered empirical, and his conclusion’s proven.  And I have replicated the results.

To attain a level of what the Scientific Method demands would consider as proof, requires peer review, and others to test the hypothesis with follow on experiments. No canning jar lid manufacturer has attain Scientific proof that their lids are safe and reliable, yet we know that they work good enough, yet will not work reliably, if we do not do our part.  Common sense says it is worth testing St Funogas’ hypothesis.  IHMO, companies have liability issues, and financial interests, and therefore make a recommendation not to reuse traditional metal lids.  They would also have been wise to engineer and test their lids thoroughly to protect themselves financially.  And their seals have withstood the test of time.  These lids are therefore likely of the highest quality that can be economically produced, and there does not to my knowledge there does not exist any information or report that these lids cannot be used over and over again.  There only exists the manufacturer admonition.  This recommendation can be compared to expiration dates on commercially manufactured foods. I mostly ignored those and I have never experienced food poisoning or any other adverse effect that I am aware of.
 In my experience, the reuse of these lids requires that the polymer that makes the seal is not damaged, or distorted in any way, or distorted mechanically by the metal part of the lid that has lost it’s original shape when the lid was removed from the jar.  Remove them gently with the broadest edge possible and slowly allow air to enter to reduce the risk of deforming the metal lid.  I have successfully used and save metal lids that have their seal deformed by the jar’s edge only. I’ve found that those that are in otherwise original condition are as reliable as the Harvest Guard lids. It should be noted that  Harvest Guard lids are of a different design, and must be used in accordance with the manufacturers’ procedures that are necessarily different, because of it’s design, to be as reliable as unused and traditional metal jarring lids. I have learned by the best teacher, failure.  In my experience, Harvest Guard seals can be damaged by the user, and can fail to seal if there is not enough ‘head space’ to create adequate vacuum for a tight seal. There are issues or reasons any seal might fail, and why the process of canning in general requires that the manufacturers recommended procedure to be followed consistently.  Always remove the ring, and let the jar cool and stand for 12 to 24 hours before testing the lid for a good seal by picking up the jar by the lid only.  If the lid did not seal, odds are it was the fault of the person who did the canning. I found used metal lids, that are in otherwise good condition, to be as reliable as Harvest Guard lids and seals when I otherwise followed the manufacturer’s recommended procedure. We can glean just how many times they might be reused by reviewing St. Funogas’ article.
The ability to reuse precious and life-saving resources will increase the odds of survival.  At the very least, I do save my used metal lids to be given as charity to others who have no other way to preserve food in a time of scarcity, and possible famine. I have a lifetime supply of Harvest Guard seals, and can afford to support my community in this small way. And I look forward to testing his results by reusing commercial canning jars, as well as any future tips about gardening (hint), but I gotta get moving.  The good Lord has once again, and out of the blue, provided, and just in time, as there are truckloads of some of the best soil I’ve ever seen headed my way, and hundreds of pounds of spring bear to jar up, all at no charge.  Amazing how that happens….praise the Lord.  Thank you St. Funogas for another important article.”

Our Field Gear Editor Pat Cascio spotted this: ATF Proposed Rule Changes Laws on 80% Lowers, Silencers, and Makes AR Uppers Serialized Firearms. JWR’s Comment:  I urge all of my readers to post a polite but stern comment with the ATF in response to this stupidity!

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And last but not least, Bear sent these items and comments:

“I’m sure you have seen that the brownshirts dragged Artur Pawlowski away over the weekend, and initially would not allow him any contact with his attorneys. We will keep praying! And since we contributed a little to his legal defense fund, I guess we’ll be on the list to get doxxed by so-called journalists. Ah well. (I expressed concern about this event when speaking with my sister, and while she did stop short of saying, “He deserves it!” she did ramble a bit about how she thought pastors like these were just trying to prove a point (ya think?!) and she wished that all of the other pastors who had “worked so hard to keep their flocks healthy by meeting outdoors, learning zoom, etc” were “getting this much attention.” I don’t think he is getting ANY attention in the MSM, is he? And she had no answers when I mentioned that some of Pawlowski’s services WERE outside or how his legal troubles started last year for feeding the homeless….OUTside. It was painful. I exclaimed to my husband later, “She’s just SO NAIVE!!” and he replied, “Whaddaya expect, she works in academia.” Yes… and Matthew 10:34-39. I sure am going to miss most of my family. Either when they die from the jab or when we pack up our nonconforming WrongThinking selves and head to our retreat. I have received a quote from a moving company.)

A brief story that is both heartening and sad. The former, because WELL DONE to this sheepdog! The planet needs more good men like him. The latter, because it’s a damn shame the lady attacked in the restroom wasn’t also packing heat, or otherwise willing and able to take out the scumbag.
Peace be with y’all!  – Bear”

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