Month: May 2024

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — May 2, 2024

On May 2, 1780, William Herschel discovered the first binary star, Xi Ursae Majoris. — On May 2nd, 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France at a cost of four cents per acre for 828,000 square miles (2,144,520 square km), which soon proved to be a tremendous bargain. — On May 2, 1945, the Soviet Union announced the fall of Berlin and the Allies announced the surrender of Nazi troops in Italy and parts of Austria. — On May 2nd, 2000, U.S. President Bill Clinton announced that high-accuarcy GPS would be made available to the public; the …


Unification Of CBDCs? The End Of The Dollar System Is Near, by Brandon Smith

Editor’s Introductory Note:  This article was originally published at the Birch Gold Group website and is reposted with permission.  Pictured above is the headquarters building of the Bank For International Settlements (BIS), in Basel, Switzerland. — World reserve status allows for amazing latitude in terms of monetary policy. The Federal Reserve understands that there is constant demand for dollars overseas as a means to more easily import and export goods. The dollar’s petro-status also makes it essential for trading oil globally. This means that the central bank of the US has been able to create fiat currency from thin air …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is 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. In today’s column, we look at the reported spread of an Avian Influenza strain detected in cow milk. WHO Demonizes America’s Cattle Herds for ‘Bird Flu’ By way of the Whatfinger.com news …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — May 1, 2024

On May 1, 1931, the Empire State Building in New York City officially opened. For four decades it was the tallest building in the world, and it is considered a U.S. landmark. — On May 1, 2004, The European Union was enlarged to include the new member states of Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia — Today we present a product review and field test by Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson. — We are in need of entries for Round 112 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.  More than $875,000 worth of prizes …


NightBuddy 230° LED Headlamp, by Thomas Christianson

The NightBuddy 230° LED headlamp uses an LED lightbar that bends around the forehead at the front of the lamp. This provides an even flood of illumination that is excellent for working outdoors in the dark. It is reliable, lightweight, compact, rechargeable, water-resistant, and easy to use. Battery life is somewhat less than advertised. I must also admit to being somewhat disgruntled by the fact that it is made in China. I feel that NightBuddy Customer Support was not 100% forthright when I inquired about its place of manufacture. The NightBuddy cost $34.95 from www.nightbuddy.com at the time of this …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

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. — An American came back from Europe with a $143,000 phone bill after failing to set up international roaming. o  o  o Reader J.R.G. wrote: “I read the recent review by Mr. Christianson. I own the same knife model that was reviewed.  I was attracted to it by its leaf-bladed resemblance to the …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Summing up: Correctly interpreted, the simple economic model specifically predicts that people will be less selfish as voters than as consumers. Indeed, like diners at an all-you-can-eat buffet, we should expect voters to “stuff themselves” with moral rectitude. Once again, analogies between voting and shopping are deeply misleading.” – Bryan Caplan, The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies