Year: 2022

Preparedness Notes for Monday — February 7, 2022

On this day in 1775 in London, Benjamin Franklin published “An Imaginary Speech” in defense of American courage. The speech was intended to counter an unnamed officer’s comments to Parliament that the British need not fear the colonial rebels, because “Americans are unequal to the People of this Country [Britain] in Devotion to Women, and in courage and worse than all, they are religious.” Franklin’s response included his usual wit and acuity. February 7th, 1867, is also the birthday of Laura Ingalls Wilder (died February 10, 1957). SurvivalBlog highly recommends the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as well as her biography. …


Springfield Armory XDm Elite 9mm, by Pat Cascio

META: Another new acronym. It drives me crazy with acronyms for so many things. Acronyms help save time when communicating with someone. That is, if they are schooled in the terminology with certain things. The military and police find that important. However, META is a new one to me. It doesn’t refer to the new name for the Facebook company or The Metaverse. Rather, it stands for Match Enhanced Trigger Assembly, and it refers to the trigger on the Springfield Armory XDm Elite 9mm pistol. The acronym from Springfield pretty much explains it all. They claim that this trigger is …


Recipe of the Week:  Winter Trail Mix

The following recipe for a winter trail mix is from reader McKenzie: Ingredients 1 cup Dried Cranberries or Raisins 1 cup chocolate chips (regular Toll House or white) 1 cup Pistachios, dry roasted (Don’t get salted ones, if on a low-salt diet.) 1 cup (or more) Granola, store-bought or homemade 1-1/2 cups almonds (candied, roasted, or raw — to suit your taste) 2 cups M&Ms (Optional, for you chocaholics) Directions Just mix it and bag it. This is a great high-calorie mix for X-C skiing, or snoeshoeing.  If you find you like this and do a lot of winter sports, …


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 potential impact of a Russia-Ukraine war on precious metals and commodities. Precious Metals: How will the U.S. respond if Russia invades Ukraine? Implications for gold, oil, and stocks. JWR’s Comment: Retired USMC Colonel Harold Kempfer has a good grasp of both strategy and tactics. His assessment is correct. …



Preparedness Notes for Sunday — February 6, 2022

President Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6th, 1911. — Today we present a guest article by Brandon Smith of the Alt-Market.us blog. We highly recommend all of his writings. — We are in great need of articles for Round 99 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. Round 99 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.


How and Why Leftists Use Mass Censorship, by Brandon Smith

Why is censorship the go-to tactic for leftists? Well, if you ask them they won’t deny their love affair with the memory hole. In fact, most leftists will vehemently defend censorship as absolutely moral and for the “greater good.” Their position is basically this: We live in a “society”, and some ideas, thoughts and words are “dangerous” and destructive to that society. Therefore, those ideas and words must be eliminated from open discussion so they can protect society from itself. But who gets to decide which ideas are dangerous and destructive? It’s rather convenient that the political left has anointed …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR: To share this, you can find it here: https://kapwi.ng/c/Ft0BN9Kjef Meme Text: Sending Just 3,000 More U.S. Troops To Defend Ukraine Is Like Reinforcing a Hedgerow With Flowers   News Link: United States sending 3,000 extra troops to Eastern Europe in coming days amid stand-off with Russia over Ukraine.


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — February 5, 2022

Today is the birthday of Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (5 February 1840 – 24 November 1916). According to Infogalactic: “He was an American-British inventor best known as the creator of the first automatic machine gun, the Maxim gun. Maxim held patents on numerous mechanical devices such as hair-curling irons, a mousetrap, and steam pumps. Maxim claimed to invented the lightbulb.” Coincidentally born the same day of the same year was John Boyd Dunlop, the Scottish inventor who invented pneumatic rubber tires. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 99 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The …


My Ultralight Get-Home Bag – Part 3, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) First-Aid Kit – This is another area where I’m way out of the norm. My first-aid kit is based on the medical emergencies I’ve experienced throughout my life including backpacking and wilderness camping. None of those would have been helped by a first-aid kit: mostly broken bones (5), kidney stones (107), and a huge one which required hospitalization. For all other incidents requiring first aid my bandana was it, mostly to stop gushing blood. (As a side note, a bandana is one of the most versatile items in my GHB.) Any serious …


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:

“ I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.  I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me. 6 In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — February 4, 2022

On February 4th, 1824 — J. W. Goodrich introduced the first rubber galoshes. Also on this day in 1789, George Washington became the first and only president to be unanimously elected by the Electoral College. This was repeated again on this same day in 1792. Because of the way the early American voting procedure worked, the electors cast two votes with no distinction for president or vice president. Washington was chosen by all of the electors and is considered to have been unanimously elected. Of the others on the ballots, Adams had the most votes and thus became the vice …


My Ultralight Get-Home Bag – Part 2, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 1.) What I’ll Be Carrying in My GHB No weights were guessed, each item (or group of items for the very light things) was weighed in grams on a kitchen scale, then converted to pounds. For the backpack and bivvy bag the weight was taken from online spec sheets. Pounds are rounded off to the tenth but my Excel spreadsheet has the unrounded numbers so the final number for total weight will be accurate. I may have forgotten some things here which are on my spreadsheet, or forgotten to update a change in the manuscript, so if …