Year: 2022

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 investing in surplus military vehicles. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: Asian Metals Market Update: China Cuts Interest Rate. o  o  o Bubba Horwitz: Gold and silver continue to torture traders. Economy & Finance: China’s Property Sector Is Crashing Again And This Time It Has Reached The Country’s …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — January 20, 2022

Today is the birthday of Congressman Richard Henry Lee (1732–1794) — January 20th, 1993 is a Red Letter Day for me. That was the day that Bill Clinton was first sworn in as President. That is also the same day that I resigned my commission as a U.S. Army Captain. I did so because I detested the idea of Clinton as my Commander in Chief. My commissioning document has Ronald Reagan’s signature. — You may recall reading that my mother passed away, in October. Her house in Livermore, California just went up for sale, yesterday. That was where I lived, …


An Ultralight Get Home Bag – Part 3, by J.M.

(Continued From Part 2.) Food This was one of the toughest areas to address – I didn’t want her to have to do things like hunt, fish, trap, or forage on the way, since those take a lot of time and can be very dependent upon the season, but 7 days’ worth of food is heavy and bulky so I proposed an alternate approach for her. Since she takes a suitcase and stays overnight for any trip that’s not immediately local, I recommended that she only keep 3 days’ worth of food in the backpack and bring another 4 days’ …


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 threat of solar storms with coronal mass ejections. Are We Ready for the Next Big Solar Storm? Astronomy magazine asks: Are we ready for the next big solar storm? …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — January 19, 2022

Today is the birthday of the late Carla Emery (born 1939, died October 11, 2005). She is well known in self-sufficiency circles as the author of The Encyclopedia of Country Living. January 19th is also the birthday of General Robert E. Lee. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 98 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 worth more than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three Day …


An Ultralight Get Home Bag – Part 2, by J.M.

(Continued From Part 1.) Shelter/Warmth The next area involves protecting her core body temperature, especially while sleeping at night. One important thing to keep in mind is that in New England it gets down into the lower 60s or upper 50s at night, even in the summertime, and since you can get hypothermia at temperatures as high as 60 degrees you need to make sure you can stay warm and dry year-round. While there are various commercial and public buildings along most of her get-home routes that she could seek shelter in, I didn’t want to assume that would I’ll …


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. We may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters. — Doug C. wrote: “Take a look at this short two minute video. A summary (in case the link is taken down): in just 24 hours the people of Kazakhstan overthrew the entire government. The President, Prime Minister, and military are fleeing the country, and remainders, if caught being taken into arrest including doctors and vax …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — January 18, 2022

January 18th, 1813 was the birthday Joseph Glidden, who invented barbed wire. And speaking of barbed wire — and the lack thereof — Kevin Costner, who starred in Open Range, was born on this day in 1955. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 98 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 worth more than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be …


An Ultralight Get Home Bag – Part 1, by J.M.

A few months ago I was approached by a friend of a friend who asked me for some help. She’s a medical device service technician and her job takes her around most of New England visiting hospitals and other healthcare facilities to do service work on medical equipment. She lives in New Hampshire, and she and her husband have a nice spread with chickens, goats and a large vegetable garden and greenhouse. We’ve had talked several times about preparedness in general and how she would home after a disaster if she were on the road, and she finally decided it …


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 focus on embattled Wyoming Congressional Representative Liz Cheney. (See the Wyoming section.) Idaho Report: Boise PD chief under investigation by Idaho State Police. o  o  o Shari Dovale, at Redoubt News: Will the Idaho Republican Party Throw the Voters Under the Bus? o  o  …



Preparedness Notes for Monday — January 17, 2022

On this day in 1994, the 6.7 magnitude Northridge Earthquake struck Los Angeles. It caused about $20 billion in damage and killed 61 people. This is also the anniversary of the Battle of Cowpens in 1781. This small battle was the turning point of the American Revolution in the South. In it, the best battlefield tactician America produced, the backwoodsman Daniel Morgan, decisively and utterly defeated the most arrogant, bloody, and successful field grade officer in the British Army, Lt. Col. Banastre Tarleton. The battle set in motion the chain of events that led directly to the decisive siege at …