Month: August 2024

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — August 24, 2024

On August 24th, 1847, Charlotte Brontë finished her manuscript of “Jane Eyre”. — August 24, 1682,  Duke of York, James II awarded the “Three Lower Counties” that form modern-day Delaware to William Penn, ensuring ocean access for his colony of Pennsylvania. — And on August 24th, 410, Rome was overrun by the Visigoths under Alaric I, in an event that symbolized the fall of the Western Roman Empire. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 114 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum …


Field Intelligence Collection – Part 5, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 4.) Another potential standalone camera option is one of those inexpensive infrared night vision cameras. While their primary function is night vision, they can also be used to take pictures during the day. Here’s a sample from a GVDA GD900, which is a compact night vision device with a 12MP sensor and 4X digital zoom that costs around $50:


Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both 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 the Odds …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil. Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words. When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — August 23, 2024

On August 23, 1305, Scottish patriot William Wallace was executed for high treason by Edward I of England at Smithfield, London. His sentence was particularly barbaric: “That you be drawn on a hurdle to the place of execution where you shall be hanged by the neck and being alive cut down, your privy members shall be cut off and your bowels taken out and burned before you, your head severed from your body and your body divided into four quarters to be disposed of at the King’s pleasure.” — August 23rd is the anniversary of the declaration of the independent …


Field Intelligence Collection – Part 4, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 3.) Map Markers are similar to Favorites but much simpler, since they don’t allow you define a custom name or add them to a group. Markers are designed to allow you to plan a route, but they can be very useful for documenting the route you’re taking. Adding a Marker is similar to adding a Favorite – tap and hold your current location, then click on the ‘Marker’ (triangular flag) option on the bottom pop-up menu. A colored Marker flag will be added to that location; note that the color of the flag will automatically change for …


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. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, after news of gold’s winning streak, we look at classic car restoration. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: Gold has gained 22% in 2024. Gold prices have been very strong since August 7th, repeatedly setting new record highs in U.S. Dollar terms. I noticed that spot gold touched $2,544.20 USD per troy ounce, on …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — August 22, 2024

On August 22, 1770, British explorer James Cook claimed the east coast of Australia for the British crown and named it New South Wales. — Today is the anniversary of the founding of the London Armoury Company, in 1851. It was founded by Robert Adams (1810–1870). He patented the first successful double-action revolver in 1851. His revolvers were used during the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny, the U.S. Civil War, and the Anglo-Zulu War. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 114 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: …


Field Intelligence Collection – Part 3, by J.M.

By using a standardized set of tags you’ll ensure everyone’s notes are categorized consistently, which makes it a lot easier to manage a lot of notes from a lot of different people on your home Intel system. Every note should have at least one standard tag in it. I recommend that you use separate smaller notes for each separate observation or thought instead of having a single large note with a lot of different tags in it, which simplifies management. This ensures that each note file will have its own unique creation date/time, which helps with understanding timelines when you’re …


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 political shifts that in states where conservative refugees from Blue States are arriving. Swing States See Newcomers Moving From Blue To Red As reported …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Liberty is not a thing for the great masses of men. It is the exclusive possession of a small and disreputable minority, like knowledge, courage and honor. It takes a special sort of man to understand and enjoy liberty — and he is usually an outlaw in democratic societies. It is, indeed, only the exceptional man who can even stand it. The average man doesn’t want to be free. He simply wants to be safe.” – H.L. Mencken


Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — August 21, 2024

On August 21, 1968, Warsaw Pact forces completed their invasion of Czechoslovakia and arrested the Czech leader Alexander Dubček. They forced him to sign the Moscow Protocols. — August 21, 1949: Canada’s largest earthquake since 1700 struck the Queen Charlotte Fault below the Haida Gwaii. (The Haida Gwaii is a group of islands off the north coast of British Columbia.) At 8.1 magnitude it knocked cows off their hooves. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 114 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at …


Field Intelligence Collection – Part 2, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 1.) There are also a variety of different types of image collection devices that the lenses sit in front of to view and process the light coming through the lens: Mark I eyeball – Many types of lens devices like binoculars are designed to be held directly up to your eyes, typically to allow you to view things at a distance. Digital Single Lens Reflex (DLSR) cameras – These are large-body cameras that have interchangeable lenses and lots of advanced bells and whistles. Compact digital camera – Smaller digital cameras with built-in lenses. Cell phone camera – …


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. — We’ll start out today’s column with a great video blog by Pastor Doug Wilson: On Shooting Your Way Out — Blog & Mablog. o  o  o From the statist/alarmist L.A. Times: A new global mpox emergency: Where are the outbreaks and what is the WHO doing? o  o  o As the new …