Month: June 2021

An Electric Car for TEOTWAWKI? – Part 3, by S.B.

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) When the Battery Dies, You are Getting a Flatbed Tow Speaking of your electric vehicle turning into an inert hunk of metal, I have run out of juice twice on my vehicle. Both times required a flatbed tow truck to bring my vehicle back home. [Editor’s Note: Never use a traditional tow truck, since there is no “neutral” gear position with electric cars, and damage will occur.] Fortunately, both times I was only a couple of miles from home, and just did not have that last bit of juice needed to get …


Editors’ Prepping Progress

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 your e-mailed letters. We post many of those –or excerpts thereof — in this column, in …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“They sent a letter unto him, wherein was written thus; Unto Darius the king, all peace.  Be it known unto the king, that we went into the province of Judea, to the house of the great God, which is builded with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work goeth fast on, and prospereth in their hands. Then asked we those elders, and said unto them thus, Who commanded you to build this house, and to make up these walls? We asked their names also, to certify thee, that we might write the names of the …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — June 4, 2021

Today is the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, in 1989. On this day, June 4th, in 1944 United States Navy Task Group 22.3 captured U-505, a German submarine and with it an intact Enigma cipher machine. This was the first time since the USS Peacock seized HMS Nautilus in 1815 that the USN had captured an enemy vessel at sea. The sub, reunited with its periscope a decade ago, is displayed at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 95 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The …


An Electric Car for TEOTWAWKI? – Part 2, by S.B.

(Continued from Part 1.) Using the AC/Heater in the Car Matters (a lot) The weather is not only going to have more of an affect on your electric car (compared to a gasoline vehicle), but it is going to have more of an effect on you because using climate control draws a lot of juice from your battery. In a gas vehicle, running the heater has little to no effect on the vehicle’s performance because you are just pulling heat from the engine compartment that is a byproduct of the engine running. Although running the air conditioner (AC) in a …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

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 manifold signs of rising general price inflation, with postage stamps as the poster child. (See the Inflation Watch section.) Precious Metals: On June 2nd, it was reported: Gold futures hold above $1,900 as spot gold trades just below at $1,899.30 But then on June 3rd, both gold and …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The national debt was $5.6 trillion in 2000, the budget was as close to balanced as it had been in decades, the defense budget ($300 billion) was at decades low as there was no major conflicts in the world, and term limits were still a legitimately discussed election issue. If someone was told on January 1, 2000 that in 2021 the national debt was going to hit $30 trillion, with annual deficits of $3 to $4 trillion, a defense budget of $750 billion as war looms on the near-term horizon, and all semblance of governing through legislation to benefit the …


Preparedness Notes for Thursday — June 3, 2021

On this day, in 1911, actress Ellen Corby was born. She is often remembered for her role as Grandma Walton, in the television series The Waltons. She passed away in 1999. On June 3rd, 1539, Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto claimed Florida for Spain. June 3rd can also be considered the “birthday” of the U.S. Army. (It was established by Congress on June 3rd, 1784.) — Two unusual coastal listings were recently added, at SurvivalRealty.com: On the far northern tip of Ireland (County Donegal) On the Mendocino County Coast (about 3 hours from San Francisco) SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we …


An Electric Car for TEOTWAWKI? – Part 1, by S.B.

I’ve been working on an article for SurvivalBlog on electric cars for quite some time…writing a little bit here and there then prioritizing other activities and halting work. With the recent Colonial Pipeline ransomware fiasco and associated fuel shortages on the east coast Report: U.S. Capital Nearly Out of Gas While NC, VA Also Endure Outages (breitbart.com), I thought this an opportune time to buckle down and finish up the article. Regardless of how you interpret U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s recent statement regarding the Colonial Pipeline shutdown where she said “if you drive an electric car, this would not …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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, for openers, we take a look at some Bunkers of the Swiss National Redoubt (Schweizer Reduit.) The Lovely Swiss Villas That Could Destroy An Army A video from The Tim Traveller: The Lovely …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — June 2, 2021

On June 2, 1774, Parliament renewed the Quartering Act, allowing British military to stay in private homes if necessary, completing the Coercive Acts. The Quartering Act, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Government Act, the Administration of Justice Act, and the Boston Port Act, were known as the Coercive Acts. These Acts were Parliament’s way of asserting their control over the colonists after the Boston Tea Party and were one of the main motivations for the 3rd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. — Please don’t forget to post a comment at the Federal Register’s website about the ATF’s proposed rule change …


Nice Guys Go To The Gulag

Watching recent events has confirmed that America truly is in peril. It is now clear that the Democrats intend to pursue California-style political domination, nationwide. In California, the Democrats hold super-majorities in both the State Assembly and the State Senate. They also hold the governorship, in the person of Gavin Newsom–who is part of a wicked multi-generational four-family intermarried political dynasty that has dominated the state for 60+ years.  So now, California’s Democrats hold The Whole Enchilada. They are getting their full socialist agenda enacted, with no meaningful opposition. They are driving a Democrat steamroller over Sacramento. But clearly, the …


May 2021 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran

Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover gold’s performance, and the factors that affected gold prices. What Did Gold Do in May? Gold started the month with a morning run at $1,800, being brought up short at $1,799.20 an ounce before settling lower. At the same time, silver briefly tagged the $27 mark. Things trended higher for the remainder of the month. Gold made sustained breaks above the $1,800 mark on the 6th, the $1,850 mark on the 17th, and the $1,875 …


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. First up, reader H.L. sent us this: Forgotten First Shots of the Revolutionary War, ‘The Watchman’ Thwarts General Gage’s Gun Grab. o  o  o ‘Nothing looks good’ preparing for summer wildfire season. o  o  o David in Australia wrote: “G’day, In the post it mentions keeping various dowel on hand. A dowel jig/maker can be made pretty cheap at the …