Month: August 2021

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:

“If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? Neither is it beyond …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — August 27, 2021

August 27, 1917 was the birthday of American gun designer Robert Hillberg, who was best known as the designer of the C.O.P. four-barrel derringer, Winchester’s Liberator shotguns, the graceful Whitney Wolverine, and the Wildey .44 Magnum gas-operated pistol. He died in 2012. — Incoming! The Sun Fires-Off an ‘Earthbound’ CME. It is a Class 3, but it is still a good excuse to put all your spare electronics in your Faraday cans/cages/bags. If you have a grid-tied PV system, then it might be a good idea to throw the interconnect breaker to go independent for a while. It is also …


WTSHTF: What Will the Police Do?, by Gramthar’s Hammer

Full disclosure: I am one of them. Or I was one of them, to be more accurate. I’m retired now, so I spend my days watching the lawn grow and pondering various “what-ifs”. One of these gedankenexperiments is: “What if the wheels come off the wagon and the police are no longer guardians of peace. What would the police do if they became hungry and angry, just like the masses.” My wife thinks I should get a hobby, to which I answer I already have one: prepping. For 27 years I worked in law enforcement for several agencies. Most of …


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 Bitcoin regaining $50,000. (See the Forex & Cryptos section.) Precious Metals: I just noticed the silver to gold ratio has slipped back down to 76.26-to-1.  So this is a good juncture for you to ratio trade some of your gold into silver. And to reiterate a point that I …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — August 26, 2021

August 26, 526, is the official anniversary of the invention of toilet paper by the Chinese. We celebrate this, though not because of its convenience. In fact, it has many shortcomings, some which are described within the articles and letters of SurvivalBlog. Our celebration of it is primarily because we now have an official metric of just how hard core of a prepper you are as well as a metric for just how economically unstable your country is. — August 26, 1946 was the official release date of George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.” — Today we present a guest article by Jack …


Review of Joe Dolio’s Tactical Wisdom, by Jack Lawson

Editor’s Introductory Note: This review was authored by Jack Lawson, author of the two-volume The Civil Defense Manual. Rarely does a book or series of books catch my attention like the Tactical Wisdom series. It could have been authored by my alter ego. The author, Joe Dolio, has created what I consider a must-read companion to my  Civil Defense Manual. His book “Tactical Wisdom TW-01 Baseline Training Manual” has almost every procedure in it that my book has… presented in a concise and superb manner. He also has a great writing style. The man clearly must be a genius, if …


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, we look at the flooding in Middle Tennessee. ‘Preppers’ Quietly Stock Up for the ‘Perfect Storm’ Over at The Epoch Times: ‘Preppers’ Quietly Stock Up for the ‘Perfect Storm’. People Crushed to Death Outside …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — August 25, 2021

August 25th is a birthday shared by humorist Bret Harte (pictured, born 1836), novelist Frederick Forsyth (born 1938), and the late American humorist Patrick F. McManus (born 1933). Forsyth was the author of The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil’s Alternative, and many others. McManus was born and raised in Sandpoint, Idaho, so his books could be classified as American Redoubt humor. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 96 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic …


A DIY Solar Water Heater – Part 2, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) BUILDING THE BOX Again, if money isn’t a big concern, I’d recommend using a full sheet of plywood and corrugated polycarbonate greenhouse panels. This will not only give you a larger water heater, but be lighter and easier to move as well. I constructed a double-coiled version using a free recycled, double-paned sliding patio door which, on sunny days, supplies more hot water than I can use. The construction method will be the same regardless of which size you choose to make. For the full-sheet-of-plywood version, use two treated 2 x 4 …


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. — We’ll start out with some troubling news: DHS Secret Terror Watchlist With Nearly 2 MILLION People On It Exposed Online With NO PASSWORD. o  o  o H.L. spotted this news: Black vultures are eating cows alive. Now some farmers can legally shoot the protected birds. o  o  o Tim J. suggested this, over at American Partisan: Ivermectin Treatment Protocols. …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — August 24, 2021

On August 24th, 410, Rome was overrun by the Visigoths in an event that symbolized the fall of the Western Roman Empire. This is a moment in history that we would do well to remember. An empire that ruled the known world was corrupted from the inside to the point that they could not defend themselves from a much weaker enemy. This could conceivably be the beginning of the dark middle ages. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 96 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic …