Month: November 2024

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — November 30, 2024

On November 30, 1902, Harvey “Kid Curry” Logan, the second-in-command of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch gang was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with hard labor. — November 30, 1924: The first photo facsimile is transmitted across the Atlantic by radio. (London to New York City.) — Satirical novelist Jonathan Swift was born on November 30th, 1667. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 115 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 …


Growing Up in a Survivalist Family, by J.W.T.

Growing up, I attributed my father’s penchant for hoarding to having had a Depression-era childhood. We were comfortably middle-class in the 1960s—a three-bedroom, one-bathroom ranch house, a Ford in the driveway, and never hungry—but I heard stories of my parents’ lives in the 1920s and 1930s, especially on Thanksgivings, when my uncles drank too much and reminisced about the old days with my father. My mother still made her own clothes if she didn’t can fruits and vegetables as her mother had, and my father threw nothing out: his old Army camouflage duds, every used nut and bolt, and the …


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:

“Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery. Blow up the trumpet in the new moon, in the time appointed, on our solemn feast day. For this was a statute for Israel, and a law of the God of Jacob. This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony, when he went out through the land of Egypt: where I heard a language that I understood not. I removed his shoulder from the burden: his hands were delivered from the …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — November 29, 2024

On November 29, 1847, Cayuse Indians killed missionaries Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, and 12 others at Waiilatpu Mission in Oregon Country — near present-day Walla Walla, Washington. — On November 29, 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie‘s Jacobite army moved into Manchester and occupied Carlisle. — We are running a Black Friday sale at Elk Creek Company. Until Monday, December 2nd, 2024, all of our shotguns and all of our percussion revolvers are greatly reduced. Take a look! —   SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 115 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round …


Photovoltaic Power and Prepping – Part 4, by B.S.V.

(Continued from Part 3. This concludes the article.) Question: Will I have power when the grid is down? Question: Can I get net metering with a solar-only system, or do I need storage? Battery size With all the information above, you will be better situated to properly size your storage system. Just be aware that (unless you’re in a totally different socioeconomic class than I) you probably won’t get all the storage you want. I started off with the idea that I wanted to be three-days independent of the grid. When I found the cost of that, I scaled back. …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

Today’s E&I column is a special “Black Friday” edition that highlights some items available on sale for Christmas or Hanukkah gifts, some items for prepping, and many that double as items for tangible investments. The classic investing rule of “buy low and sell high” is immutable. It also applies to tangible investments. Today is the best day of the year to buy many items. But of course, shop responsibly. Avoid debt! Please shop with our banner advertisers first. If they don’t have what you are looking for, then see our Affiliates page.  Thanks, – JWR. — Seed for Security, LLC …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. …We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. …In …


Preparedness Notes for Thursday — November 28, 2024

Happy Thanksgiving! Please give prayers of thanks to God for his providential blessings upon our families and our nation. — On November 28, 1895, America’s first auto race was run, organized by the Chicago Times-Herald. The course was from Chicago to Evanston and back. Six cars raced 55 miles. Frank Duryea won, averaging 7 MPH. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 115 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 …


Photovoltaic Power and Prepping – Part 3, by B.S.V.

(Continued from Part 2.) When it came to setting angles, my installer wanted to install at the U.S. default angle of 20 degrees. That angle serves the most people across the country in most situations. Now, I’m a taller-than average, bigger-than-average guy and wear extra-large gloves, so I know one-size does not fit all. You must consider what is best for you and your goals and not just what may be the rule of thumb. I happened to hear the guys talking about the angle after they had already set the poles in the ground. Like I said, I hadn’t …


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 some escalation in the Ukraine war. Further Ukraine War Escalation The leftist/globalist CNN reports: From a call with Putin to an experimental strike, a dramatic …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“We must recollect…what it is we have at stake, what it is we have to contend for. It is for our property, it is for our liberty, it is for our independence, nay, for our existence as a nation; it is for our character, it is for our very name as Englishmen, it is for everything dear and valuable to man on this side of the grave.” – William Pitt, House of Commons, July 22, 1803


Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — November 27, 2024

On November 27, 1807 Portuguese Royal Family and eventually its court of nearly 15,000 people left Lisbon for their colony of Brazil to escape invading Napoleonic troops. — November 27th is the birthday of Ludwig Loewe (November 27, 1837 – September 11, 1886). He was a merchant, manufacturer, philanthropist, and a member of the German Reichstag. Loewe’s companies became involved in the production of armaments, employing famous designers and creating many notable guns. Ludwig Loewe Company of Berlin produced large numbers of Mauser bolt action rifles, most famously used in the Second Boer War. Since Loewe was Jewish, many Loewe-made …


Photovoltaic Power and Prepping – Part 2, by B.S.V.

(Continued from Part 1.) Question: How is my system size being determined? Question: How many hours per day of power production will I have? Here is where a little ‘art’ comes into all this ‘science’. Panels come in a few different sizes, usually around 325 to 425 Watts. The most common seems to be 400 Watts of generation. What they try to do is balance your usage with the size of panels. In the above case, it would take about 50 panels @ 400 watts per panel to equal the 19kW system (actually 20, but that is where the ‘art’ …


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. — Suspected killer who went on NYC stabbing spree confessed he picked victims because they were ‘alone,’ ‘distracted’: sources.  JWR’s Comment:  Nothing has done more to reduce the situational awareness of the American citizenry than the advent of “smart” phones. Particularly in the cities, you need to keep your head on the swivel. …