Preparedness Notes for Friday — October 1, 2021

Happy birthday to singer and actress Julie Andrews (born 1935.) Her name is always associated with The Sound of Music. — Today’s guest article is a book excerpt by Don Shift, a SurvivalBlog reader. Since it has been published elsewhere, it is not eligible in the judging for the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. But first, we are announcing the winners for Round 96 of the contest.




Writing Contest Prize Winners Announced: Round 96

We’ve complete the judging for Round 96 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prize winners are: First Prize: Mike V., for Combating Sheep Flock Parasites Part 1, and Part 2, posted on August 14-15, 2021. His prizes will include: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value), A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s …




Reacting to Riots, by Don Shift

Editor’s Introductory Note: This guest post is an adaptation of an excerpt from Don Shift’s non-fiction book Suburban Defense: A cop’s guide to protecting your home and neighborhood during riots, civil war, or SHTF. It is posted with permission. — 2020 was the year of the mass riot that made its way into residential neighborhoods. We saw ad hoc groups spring up in defense, but just standing around openly carrying isn’t always going to turn the tide. Bad guys will call your bluff and suburbanites to rural defenders need to consider proper riot/crowd control techniques and equipment. Goals of your …




September 2021 in Precious Metals by Steven Cochran

The following column is authored monthly, by Steven Cochran of Gainesville Coins. — 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 September? Gold was very price sensitive in September, mostly to the downside. Gold saw only muted responses to good news, and overreacted to bad news. Major headwinds included higher bond yields, a stronger dollar, and a growing concern that higher inflation will last longer than central banks said …




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 price changes for used cars and classic cars. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: Arkadiusz Sieroń: We’re Close to Hitting the Debt Ceiling: Gold Doesn’t Care. o  o  o Dollar strength today is equal to gold weakness in terms of percentage gain and decline. (Gary Wagner.) Economy & …