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.
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I’ll start today’s column with a video about our kind of guy, serving as a representative, in Washington, DC.: Off the Grid with Thomas Massie.
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A Practical Tip From JWR: To avoid confusion with your family’s pairs of mud boots, use a quick blast of spray paint on the rear spine of each boot, using a contrasting color for each pair. In the long run, this will prevent mixing up pairs — especially those pairs that are close to the same size.
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I highly recommend the Ghostnet communications protocols that are being formalized by S2 Underground. There is a new video update available. Going digital offers the best communications security and data connectivity for a collapse situation. Buy the gear, print out (and laminate) the reference pages, and get regular practice with your friends, neighbors, and relatives! – JWR
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Reader F.J sent this item: Stranded windsurfer rescued after spelling out ‘HELP’ on Santa Cruz-area beach.
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Reader C.B. sent us this sign on the times: Tupperware Announces Closure of Last U.S. Factory, Moves Production to Mexico. JWR Adds: Whenever I go to thrift stores, I always keep my eyes peeled for large-volume Tupperware boxes — bread boxes in particular. They have umpteen uses. In addition to storing food items, they can also serve well for ammunition and small tool storage. Just throw in a packet of silica gel desiccant, and you’ll be good to go.
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Reader E.R. wrote:
“I was reading in snippets this morning about the reader visiting Bozeman and his experiences with businesses insisting on card payments.
I have recently been helping a local organic farmer upgrade the plumbing in his barn. He had placed his parts order with a major jobber which he had me pick up on the way out of town. Of course, a farmer will never get the discounts or preferential treatment we received as a construction trades company account. They consider him a ‘retail’ customer which required I pay immediately for the order to the tune of several hundred dollars. No problem, I had recently gone to the bank and early in the month I still carried that amount of cash. The fellow processing the order had a panic attack when I pulled out bank notes to pay. “Cards only”, he stated. “Sorry”, I replied, “that’s all I have.” He countered with, “You need to have a card for payment. We don’t take cash…” To which I pointed to signage on his counter that still stated, “retail customers must pay cash”. He eventually took my bank notes and disappeared for ten minutes before reappearing with my change rounded to the nearest dollar.
This is another objective that the NWO has achieved through the scam of the recent four years – to get people to shift away from cash to cards.
Later, I managed to convince the farmer to place his next order with an alternative supplier, a small business with a reputation for still taking cash.
In spite of the clear evidence, some people still insist that digital currency ‘is coming’. As long as people do not immediately withdraw their business from the ‘cards only’ companies and shift to businesses that still accept traditional currency it will hit us like a firehose over the next few months.
We need to insist on cash now, or lose it entirely. This needs to be our point of resistance. Our most effective vote is still called the dollar.”
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Jerome spotted this: OpenAI Insider Says 70% Chance AI Could Harm or Destroy Humanity.
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Sara Sue sent this snippet:
“I noticed the price of ammo dropping slightly and that some of the calibers that were out of stock most of last year are back in stock at a lower price – but prices are still high. It might be a good time to top off the supplies before Fall.
I enjoyed 3AD Scout’s article about helping neighbors. It is the same here. We all help one another out and yet there is no formal “mutual assistance group”. It just happens naturally, neighbor helping neighbor.
This past week I struggled to set up my new StarLink satellite connection because I was hoping to get a signal via a house window rather than mount it on the outside of the house. Not possible.
I got another garden bed filled but not planted – we went into 90+ degree weather and high humidity – absolutely horrible for working outside. Since I had a bout with heat exhaustion, I am being very careful. I purchased a young heifer calf of the breed and age I was hoping for. (My dairy girls gave me only bull calves.) Interestingly, the calf was from a farm I discovered not far from me. Very good to know since they also have a couple of bulls that are of the kind I want for breeding should I decide to use their bull services. They are also like-minded people. They have a lovely farm nestled back in the hills, and the cattle are healthy and beautiful. The price of cattle has gone through the roof making it difficult to find replacement heifers. I was very happy to purchase a young heifer after selling my mature dairy cows and their bull calves for a good bit of money.”
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From D.S.V.: Changing Diet to Extend Life: Healthy Food Choices Can Add 8 to 13 Years. JWR’s Comment: This is mostly good advice, but I haven’t seen any clinical evidence to show that lean meat is detrimental to health or a long lifespan.
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W.J. wrote:
“I’ve been waiting for someone to do something, and just realized that the someone is me. No matter how small or possibly futile the something.
So I have sent you this, and want to ask you to do a post asking all of your readers to contact their representatives and senators and tell them to stop playing nuclear war chicken before we all get turned into small black bundles – what the people near the epicenter of Hiroshima looked like after the atomic bomb went off.
The only thing Congress seems to respond to is fear of losing the next election. Which, fortunately, is only a few months from now.
Possible slogan: Are you willing to be a charred radioactive blob in order to send weapons to the Ukraine?
I keep reading warning articles, but nobody is actually taking action to stop a nuclear World War III.”
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New blood test tracks brain recovery after concussion.
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Reader Tom M. wrote:
“Concerning the article “Extending The Life Of Flooded Lead Acid Batteries,” an ounce of prevention is worth a POUND of cure. Reviving a sulphated battery is a much more labor-intensive process than preventing it. Batteries usually sulphate when they are not used and not charged for an extended period of time. I have SEVERAL pieces of electric-start equipment ranging from a diesel pickup truck with dual batteries to a rototiller with electric start, that do A LOT of sitting between uses. I keep their batteries from going downhill by keeping them on low-amperage trickle chargers when not in use. The ‘4 year” batteries in the truck are eight years old and still fine. The one in my subcompact diesel tractor is about the same age as those in the truck. The “2-year” “garden” battery in my lawn tractor is four years old and still starting the machine. The only battery I have changed recently was the one on the rototiller. That was a “2-year” battery that was almost ten years old when it died! Frankly, suggesting the use an arc welder to desulphate a battery borders on insanity!
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And lastly, this from D.S.V.: MS-13, Russian mobsters use migrants in elaborate injury scam — even getting spinal surgery to pull it off: sources.
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Please send your snippet items for potential posting to JWR. or AVL. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact form.