“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness. You only truly, deeply appreciate and are grateful for something when you compare and contrast it to something worse.” – John Steinbeck
On December 20th, 1988, Pan Am flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie, Scotland, because of a terrorist bombing; in 2003 the government of Libya accepted responsibility for the explosion and in 2004 agreed to compensate the families of the victims. Pictured is the Lockerbie Memorial Garden. Following Abraham Lincoln‘s election as U.S. president, on On December 20, 1860, South Carolina became the first U.S. state to secede from the Union. On December 20th, 1606, the Virginia Company loaded three ships with settlers and set sail to establish Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest …
(Continued from Part 1.) FEAR We are hard-wired to avoid things that ignite fear. This is a central aspect of reward/punishment conditioning that is central to the way humans learn about and adapt to our surroundings. The adrenaline-induced panic that we experience in a fight or flight response is a physical reaction that helps us learn how to survive, and is ingrained in our genes. But this aspect of our biology makes us vulnerable to those who want to manipulate us through fear. The level of fear that can sway our values and behavior need not be extreme, such as …
This weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: 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. — First up today: US agency will not reinstate $900 million subsidy for SpaceX Starlink unit. JWR’s Comments: To me, this news illustrates two things: First, the ostensibly neutral Federal regulatory agencies have become politicized, if not weaponized. This says more about how leftists dislike Elon Musk for his politics, more than anything …
“Now, one of the most essential branches of English liberty is the freedom of one’s house. A man’s house is his castle; and whilst he is quiet, he is as well guarded as a prince in his castle.” – James Otis, Against Writs of Assistance, 1761
On December 19, 1777, during the War of Independence, General George Washington led 11,000 regulars to take up winter quarters at Valley Forge on the west bank of the Schuylkill River, 22 miles (35 km) northwest of Philadelphia. — December 19, 1915, French singer and actress Edith Piaf, whose interpretation of the chanson (French ballad) made her internationally famous, was born. Her song Chanson D’amour became an international hit. And you may recall that her song Tu Es Partout was prominent in the movie Saving Private Ryan, just before the German attack. — This new listing in Murtaugh, Idaho (near Twin …
A recent headline read: “Corporate Executive Pays to Deprogram Daughter After Freshman Year”. Years ago, the process of deprogramming might have been reserved for a prisoner of war (POW), or a victim of a cult. Not anymore. A normal adolescent attending any one of the couple thousand colleges or universities in America will be subjected to indoctrination and thought control. In the case of this headline, one parent decided to do something about it. The sad reality is that anyone living in America today is subjected to a constant onslaught of inputs from someone who wants to influence our mind, …
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 a bald eagle poaching prosecuation. (See the Montana section.) Region-Wide Some serious Eco-LARPers, gone wild, in Idaho, Montana, and the eastern fringe of the Cascades, in Washington: Living Wild: Surviving with the Means of the Stone Age — Survival Documentary. JWR’s Comments: …
“Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.” – Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776
On this day in 1865, by proclamation of the U.S. Secretary of State, the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, outlawing slavery, officially entered into force, having been ratified by the requisite states on December 6. As a footnote, the slaves in Texas only belatedly got the word of their liberation in the middle of the following June — in 1866. Hence, the origin of the annual “Juneteenth” celebrations — recently enshrined as a Federal holiday. — On December 18, 1737, famed Italian violin maker Antonio Stradivari died in Cremona. A rare Stradivarius violin sold for near-record $15.3 million, in 2022. …
Looking more like a work of art than a highly functional firearm, the Uberti 1866 Yellowboy Short Rifle in .45 Colt is an elegant combination of both art and function. With a distinctive brass receiver, a 20-inch octagonal barrel, walnut furniture, a tubular magazine capable of holding 12 rounds, and a smoothly operating lever action, the Uberti Yellowboy Short Rifle is a fitting tribute to the very first Winchester rifle, of which it is a replica. With a manufacturer-suggested retail price of $1,329 it is not the cheapest rifle on the market, but it is one of the prettiest. Background …
“The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or be cheated out of …
December 17th, 1905, was the birthday of Simo Häyhä, who was the world’s most successful sniper. Using an iron-sighted Mosin–Nagant in Finland’s Winter War, he had an astounding 505 confirmed sniper kills. He died April 1, 2002. — And speaking of Finns, on December 17, 1939, Finnish runner Taisto Mäki ran 10,000 meters in less than 30 minutes for the first time in recorded history. He broke his previous record by running the distance in 29 minutes 52 seconds. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 110 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for …
It was a fluke, sort of, that I got a breeding group of pigs. I had obtained two “feeder pigs” to see if I could raise them for the freezer. I spoiled them, named them, and they had the run of the farm because they could get under the gates quite easily. I didn’t really mind. They were cute and would follow me everywhere. The closer we got to their butcher date, the more they earned their new names: “the terrorists”. I started calling them that because their love of food outweighed everything else. They would get in the chicken …
The latest meme created by JWR, based on meme text suggested by reader S.F.: Meme Text: Surround yourself with a blanket of fond memories, but beware that it may be set on fire by your local leftists. News Links: Monuments Are Only the Start of Radical Left’s War on Western Values. Left hellbent on destroying mom-and-dad families. Notes From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the concept, and I’ll try to assemble it. And if it is posted then I’ll give you credit. Thanks! Permission to repost memes that I’ve created is granted, provided that credit …
