Month: October 2022

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — October 6, 2022

Today is the birthday of science fiction author David Brin, born, 1950. He wrote The Postman, which was very loosely the foundation of a movie by Kevin Costner. — I just read that Colonel Dean Caswell died at his home in Austin, Texas on September 21st. He was the last living U.S. Marine Corps fighter ace of World War II passed on at the age of 100. — We are still seeking entries for Round 103 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. Round 103 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there …


Update: Big Decisions — Weighing The Risks and Benefits

JWR’s Introductory Note: The following is a slightly expanded update to a post that I wrote for SurvivalBlog back in September of 2005: — When doing radio interviews or giving lectures, I’m often asked where the “perfect” place is for a survival retreat. The short answer is: There is none. Granted, there are a lot of places that are much better than others, but there is no single “one size fits all” perfect place. Much ike buying a pair of boots, the decision has as much to do with the size and shape of your feet as it does the …


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. The emphasis of today’s column is on a few crucial U.S. Supreme Court cases. Why 80% of Americans Live East of This Line Matt C. wrote to recommend a thought-provoking video: Why 80% of …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — October 5, 2022

October 5, 1703 was the birthday of Jonathan Edwards. He died March 22, 1758. He was a prolific Calvinist theological writer. Many of his writings were later collected in the multi-volume book The Rational Biblical Theology of Jonathan Edwards, edited by John Gerstner. — I just heard of the passing of singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn, at age 90. She was quite a lady, and she had a lasting impact on country music. — A reminder: Round 103 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest is now underway and we are in great need of entries. More than $750,000 worth of prizes have …


The Fed’s Strong USD Policy: A Recipe For Systemic Implosion, by Matthew Piepenberg

From Main Street USA to the village corners and central banks of Europe, Japan, and elsewhere, the Fed’s strong USD policy is backfiring—big time. Just ask the Brits… Having spent years creating the inflation (QE1 to unlimited QE, Repo bailouts, massive money supply expansion, and an historical wealth transfer from an inflated, Fed-driven stock market), the Fed will be cleaning up its own inflation mess on the backs of the U.S. working class and its other global “allies” while blaming the CPI inflation on Putin, Covid and climate change. How’s that for rigged to fail? But that’s just the beginning, and …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly column is a collection of short snippets: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters. — Hurricane Ian Could Cost Insurers $57 Billion. o  o  o Russian nuclear submarine armed with ‘doomsday’ weapon disappears from Arctic harbor: report. o  o  o A legislative update from the Gun Owners Of America (GOA) with news a good bill that deserves your support: “Senator Marshall of Kansas introduced the SHORT Act in …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — October 4, 2022

October 4, 1923 was the birthday of the late Charlton Heston, who was born John Charles Carter. He died April 5, 2008. He is often remembered for movies like Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, Soylent Green, The Planet of the Apes, and the survivalist classic The Omega Man. — Today, we are featuring the monthly column written by Steven Cochran of Gainesville Coins. It is being posted a couple of days later than usual, because Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida. — We are now seeking entries for Round 103 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $750,000 worth of …


September 2022 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. This is an abbreviated Month in Precious Metals column, due to Hurricane Ian striking southwest Florida. Factors Affecting Gold This Month INFLATION Inflation indicators resumed their climb in September after some slightly encouraging signs that it might be topping out in August. Average inflation in the EU hit a record 10.0% this month, putting the ECB in a tough spot in its efforts to break the …


SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we take note that wolf packs are now expanding their territory into western Oregon. (See the Central & Eastern Oregon section.) Idaho Judge bans cameras in Lori Vallow-Daybell and Chad Daybell cases. o  o  o Transgender inmate who sued Idaho to get $2.5M in legal …



Preparedness Notes for Monday — October 3, 2022

The Maltese Falcon, John Huston’s adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s famed 1930 novel, had its world premiere on October 3, 1941. It starred Humphrey Bogart. It is considered the greatest detective movie ever made. — Two alerts from Spaceweather.com: X-FLARE! Earth-orbiting satellites have just detected an X1-class solar flare (Oct. 2nd @ 2025 UT). Ironically, it did not come from big dangerous sunspot AR3112, described below, but rather from AR3110, a smaller and apparently less threatening active region. A BIG DANGEROUS SUNSPOT: One of the biggest sunspots in years has just rotated over the sun’s northeastern limb. AR3112 has a mixed-polarity …


Writing Contest Prize Winners Announced — Round 102

We’ve completed the judging for Round 102 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prize winners are: First Prize: First prize is awarded to Always Learning, for Fire Preparedness and Firefighting – Part 1 and Part 2, which was posted on August 5-6, 2022. They will receive the following prizes: 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), …


Rock River Arms All Terrain Hunter, by Thomas Christianson

The Rock River Arms All Terrain Hunter (ATH) is an AR-platform rifle optimized for hunting. It is attractively styled and beautifully machined. I found it to be accurate and reliable in my testing, and was especially impressed with the outstanding trigger. With a manufacturer suggested retail price of $1,425 it is an attractive choice as a mid-range AR-platform rifle. True Confessions I really like AK-platform rifles chambered in 5.56mm. I appreciate the rugged reliability of the AK platform matched with the flat trajectory of the 5.56 cartridge. So to some extent, this review is an AK guy’s reflections on an …