Year: 2024


Preparedness Notes for Monday — October 7, 2024

October 7, 1571: The Battle of Lepanto. The Holy League of southern European nations formed by Pope Pius V destroyed an Ottoman fleet, off the coast of Western Greece. — And on October 7, 1765, the Stamp Act Congress (First Congress of the American Colonies) convened in New York City to devise a unified protest against new British taxation. — We are running a 3-week-long sale at Elk Creek Company.  Until October 11th, 2024, all of our blackpowder revolvers, all of our M1891 Argentine Mauser rifles, and all of our sporters have their prices deeply discounted.  Take a look! — …


Bear Edge 61135 Fixed Blade Knife, by Thomas Christianson

Bear Edge modestly identifies their Model 61135 as a “Cushioned Utility Grip” knife. Although I found it to be highly useful as a utility knife in work around the property, I feel that the 61135 is also almost ideally formed to serve as a hunting knife. Many hunting knives are a bit too large. Many buyers imagine Jim Bowie at the Alamo. Then they buy a knife more appropriately sized to be a fighting knife than a hunting knife. The problem with such large blades is that they can be awkward for field-dressing game. There is a reason that surgery …


Recipe of the Week: Greek-Style Lentil Soup

The following recipe for Greek-Style Lentil Soup is from SurvivalBlog reader H.N.. She says:  “This is a good recipe for using your stored lentils. Because of the beef broth, this isn’t a veggie recipe, but you can just use water, instead.” Ingredients 2 Cups lentils, dried 4 Cups cold water 1 Cup onion, chopped (or freeze-dried onion bits) 1 clove garlic, crushed 4 Cups beef broth 1/4 tsp black pepper 1/2 Cup celery, chopped (or freeze-dried celery chunks) 2 Cups tomatoes, stewed 1 whole bay leaf 1 Cup carrots, chopped (or dried carrot slices) 3 Tblsp parsley, Chopped (or freeze-dried …


SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic: 4.5% of U.S. counties contain more than 50% of the population. As shown, the 142 most populous counties contain 165,858,193 people. The remaining 3,001 counties contain 165,591,088 people. (Source: 2020 U.S. Census) Note that the mapmaker’s methodology appears to have been simply based on the ranking of county populations versus the national average.  It was not based on “population per square mile” but rather the population per county. Hence some geographically large counties such as in Arizona and southeastern California appear more heavily populated. – JWR (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.) The thumbnail below is click-expandable.       — …



Preparedness Notes for Sunday — October 6, 2024

On October 6, 1866: The first reported train robbery on a moving train in the United States. Brothers John and Simeon Reno took $13,000. The train was traveling on the Ohio and Mississippi railroad. The train was robbed in Jackson County, Indiana. — October 6th, 1960: The American adventure film Spartacus, directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Kirk Douglas, had its world premiere; it won several Academy Awards, including best supporting actor for Peter Ustinov. — On this day in 1973, on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel, which suffered heavy casualties, but Israeli …


Mentoring: Steps Toward Changing The World – Part 2, by A Grateful Mechanic

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) What I implore you to consider is how can you take direct action to help our younger generation to find an old and better way to spend their time. If you are not physically able to interact with your community, I ask for your prayers. Prayers for our leaders, for our adults, and especially for our young people. Sitting idly by and complaining will not change anything. Becoming demoralized will not change anything. I too am disgusted by the degeneracy that I’ve participated in during my younger years, as well as what …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR, based on a suggestion by SurvivalBlog reader R.M.: Meme Text: A Movie Redux: Dazed and Confused Meets Idiocracy 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 to SurvivalBlog.com is included.


The Editors’ Quote of the Day: 

“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — October 5, 2024

On October 5, 1877 Chief Joseph and his people surrendered to the US Army, ending the Nez Perce War in the Western United States. — On October 5, 1892, the Dalton Gang was finished in a shoot-out with the residents of Coffeyville, Kansas following a bank holdup. Four members of the gang were killed, and a fifth member was captured. — October 5, 1703 was the birthday of Jonathan Edwards. He was a prolific Calvinist theological writer. Many of his writings were later collected in the multi-volume book The Rational Biblical Theology of Jonathan Edwards, edited by John Gerstner. Edwards …


Mentoring: Steps Toward Changing The World – Part 1, by A Grateful Mechanic

“Be assured, if you walk with Him and look to Him, and expect help from Him, He will never fail you.” – George Mueller I am grateful for SurvivalBlog and this community. There is a great wealth of knowledge and inspiration that comes from this project. In the last ten years I have experienced and pursued the development of a survival-focused lifestyle. I do not “do it right.” I have weakness at many points and I do not live in an ideal situation. Regardless I take active steps to improve my survival ability and to improve the resilience of my …


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:

“Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it. And though they say, The Lord liveth; surely they swear falsely. O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return. Therefore I …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — October 4, 2024

Important Solar Flare Alert: A CME Double Whammy: An X7 on Wednesday and now a X9.1. Keep your electronics Faraday-protected for at least a few more days. And watch for auroras on Friday night and Saturday night. SpaceWeather.com posted this on Thursday: THE STRONGEST FLARE YET: Sunspot AR3842 exploded again today, producing the strongest solar flare of Solar Cycle 25 so far. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the X9.1-category blast: Radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth’s atmosphere and caused a deep shortwave blackout over Africa and the South Atlantic. Ham radio operators in the area may have …