Month: August 2022

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — August 20, 2022

August 20, 1935 was the birthday of former Congressman Ron Paul. He retired from congress in January of 2013. Dr. Paul is to be commended for fighting the good fight for many years. — August 20th, 1866 is also the day that President Andrew Johnson formally declared the Civil War over. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 102 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be …


Apple Tree Care 102: Thinning Fruit, by T.S., Ph.D.

When I see clusters of apple trees in box store parking lots, I wonder how many of them will actually become productive. The trees are usually clones of great varieties, like honey crisp and golden delicious. But for many well-intentioned homeowners, coaxing quality fruit on a consistent annual basis from these trees can be a challenge. This how-to article will describe how to thin fruit to increase reliable apple production. Warning, thinning fruit is very counterintuitive (see Figures 1 and 2). This article will describe cutting seemingly healthy “baby apples” from your tree. But, anyone would agree, one healthy apple is better …


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:

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — August 19, 2022

Today, August 19th, is the birthday of Philo Taylor Farnsworth (1906-1971). Farnsworth was an American inventor who is best known for his image pickup device that formed the basis for the fully functional and complete all-electronic television system. Among his many other inventions was the Farnsworth-Hirsch fusor, a small nuclear fusion device that remains a viable source of neutrons. At his death, he held over 300 patents, mostly in radio and television. — A news update: A strong geomagnetic storm is heading toward Earth, space forecasters say. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 102 of …


Solar Storms, EMPs, Nukes, and Cyberattacks – Part 3 by Pulse Prepper

Part 3: Cyberattacks Cyberattacks are increasing In May 2021, there was a shutdown of Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest fuel pipelines in the United States. The pipeline transports about 45% of all fuel consumed on the East Coast, including home heating oil, gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. The disruption caused major fuel shortages, and President Biden even declared a state of emergency. What was the cause of this crippling shutdown? A cyberattack. The attack began when a hacker group identified as DarkSide accessed the Colonial online network. The attackers stole 100 gigabytes of data within a two-hour window. Following …


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 nascent rise of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). (See the Forex & Cryptos section.) Precious Metals: Gold Eyes Fourth Straight Weekly Gain. o  o  o Now Even Jim Cramer’s Talking About Buying Gold. Economy, Finance & Politics: The Point of No Return. (Written by one of my heroes, …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — August 18, 2022

August 18th is the birthday of Meriwether Lewis, an American explorer, soldier, politician and public administrator that is best known for his role as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. — I just noticed that we’ve now archived 36,344 blog articles, columns, and quotes. Please let your friends know that the entire SurvivalBlog archives are available free of charge. (Subscriptions are entirely voluntary.) The archives can be accessed by category, by date, or via our search box at the top of the right-hand bar. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 102 of the …


Solar Storms, EMPs, Nukes, and Cyberattacks – Part 2 by Pulse Prepper

Part 2: Electromagnetic Pulse Weapons (EMPs) and Nukes How EMPs affect the power grid An Electromatic Pulse (EMP) can be natural, such as a lightning strike or a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), which are both forms of an EMP. However, here we will discuss a man-made EMP, which is accomplished by exploding a nuclear bomb at a high altitude. A nuclear bomb exploded at ground level (or an air burst a few hundred feet from the surface) causes extensive damage within a certain radius. However, the damage is limited to a specific area. The blast radius of the nuclear bomb …


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, a special listing of blogs, vlogs, and podcasts that are recommended by JWR. Note: When I updated these lists (on August 11, 2022), I found a lot of blogs that have gone “404”, …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — August 17, 2022

While salmon fishing near the Klondike River in Canada’s Yukon Territory on August 17th, 1896, George Carmack reportedly spotted nuggets of gold in a creek bed. His lucky discovery sparked the last great gold rush in the American West — commonly called the Klondike Rush.  His two companions later agreed that Skookum, Jim – Carmack’s brother-in-law, actually made the discovery. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 102 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off …


Solar Storms, EMPs, Nukes, and Cyberattacks – Part 1 by Pulse Prepper

Part 1: Solar Storms The Carrington Event In September 1859, Richard Carrington, an amateur astronomer in the London, England area, pointed his telescope towards the sun, using dark filters to protect his eyes. Suddenly, he observed a flash of intense white light from the area of the sunspots. His observation is the earliest record of what we now know is a solar flare. The next day, the charged plasma from that solar storm reached Earth. It lit up the entire northern hemisphere, all the way to Hawaii and Rome, with vivid red, blue, green auroras. There were also reports of …