Year: 2024


Preparedness Notes for Sunday — June 23, 2024

On June 23, 1925, landslides created the three-mile-long “Slide Lake”, at Gros Ventre Wyoming. Today, nearly a full century later, there are still standing tree trunks in the lake. On June 23, 930, the world’s oldest parliament, the Icelandic Parliament was established, the Alþingi. (Anglicised as Althing or Althingi). — June 23, 1713:  The French residents of Acadia were given one year to declare allegiance to Britain or leave Nova Scotia, Canada — Today’s feature article is a short but important piece by precious metals market analyst Hubert Moolman. The article was selected by JWR, and it is reposted with …


Why a Dow Peak Will Boost Silver, by Hubert Moolman

During the Great Depression, both silver (1931) and the Dow (1932) reached a significant low. Both have rallied significantly since then. However, the structure of these rallies was very different. To date, the Dow has significantly outperformed silver since those lows. The Dow increased 988-fold from the low to the all-time high, whereas silver has only increased 179-fold from the low to the all-time high.


JWR’s Meme Of The Week: 

The latest meme created by JWR: Meme Text: Why Are Globalists Trying To Convince Us That CO2 is Evil… …When Every Breath We Take Depends on Plants Taking In CO2 and Then Releasing Oxygen? News Links: World Economic Forum (WEF): Here’s how CO2 emissions have changed since 1900. “We’ll Be Watching You”: Thunberg’s UN Speech. The Demonization of CO2. Unlocking the Secrets of Plant Respiration: How Do Plants Breathe? 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! …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation. For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body. Behold, we put bits in the horses’ mouths, that they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — June 22, 2024

On June 22, 1476, the army of Charles the Bold of Burgundy invaded Switzerland. Their first engagement was the Battle of Morat (pictured), which was fought about 30 kilometers from Bern. The successive Burgundian invasions were successfully repelled by the pike tactics of the well-trained and organized Swiss militias. — On June 22, 1940, France surrendered to Nazi Germany, with the northern half of the country occupied and the south established as the Nazi client state Vichy France. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 113 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this …


Weather the Storm with Backup Power – Part 3, by E.R.

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) Inverters Most of us are interested in running a few 120 volt AC appliances. The fridge, the furnace, the shallow well pump – standard AC devices that we want to keep alive during a power outage. For these we will require what is known as an inverter. Inverters take DC battery power and invert it into standard 120 volt AC household power. Inverters are available in all shapes and sizes these days. You can get off-shore-manufactured modified sine wave inverters that plug into the cigarette lighter plug in your car, rather cheaply. …


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:

“In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion. Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me. Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress. Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. For thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth. By thee have I …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — June 21, 2024

On this day in 1788, the US Constitution came into effect when New Hampshire was the 9th state to ratify it. — June 21st is the birthday of Rex Applegate (June 21, 1914 – July 14, 1998), author of Kill or Be Killed. He was a friend and mentor of SurvivalBlog’s Field Gear Editor Emeritus, Pat Cascio. — All of the percussion revolvers in our Elk Creek Company inventory are now on sale.  No paperwork is required. These can be mailed right to your door, in most states.  Cartridge conversion cylinders are available for many models. This sale ends on …


Weather the Storm with Backup Power – Part 2, by E.R.

(Continued from Part 1.) Charging Overview At a high level, the stages of charging a battery include: bulk, absorption, and float. On batteries that have been discharged deeply, there is also an equalization charge required. Bulk charging demands high current. Absorption charging requires less current but a slightly elevated voltage. Float is your trickle charge which has low current at about one volt above the stasis voltage of a charged battery. As covered in a recent SurvivalBlog article, the charge levels of flooded batteries can be determined accurately using a hydrometer. Each cell should have an equal level of charge. …


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, another look at the U.S. Nickel 5-cent piece. (See the Precious and Base Metals section.) Precious and Base Metals: RBI moves 1 lakh kg of gold from UK back to India, the first such move of this quantum since 1991.  JWR’s Comments:  That is 100 tons of gold!  Perhaps this is more evidence that the …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day

“To live his life in his own way, to call his house his castle, to enjoy the fruits of his own labour, to educate his children as his conscience directs, to save for their prosperity after his death — these are wishes deeply ingrained in civilised man. Their realization is almost as necessary to our virtues as to our happiness. From their total frustration disastrous results both moral and psychological might follow.” – C.S. Lewis


Preparedness Notes for Thursday — June 20, 2024

On June 20, 1840, American inventor Samuel F.B. Morse patented his telegraph. — Today marks the Summer Solstice, here in the Northern Hemisphere. — On June 20, 1867, US President Andrew Johnson announced the Alaska Purchase. — On June 20, 1921, there was 11.5″  of rainfall the town of Circle, Montana (a state record.) — June 20th is the birthday of Audie L. Murphy. He was born in 1925. He died in a plane crash on May 28, 1971. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 113 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for …


Weather the Storm with Backup Power – Part 1, by E.R

This adventure begins with a windstorm after which it took crews days to repair the severely damaged power lines. At that time we had been using a pair of old end-of-life batteries rescued from a Cummins diesel pickup truck connected to a conventional marine battery charger as our backup power. We waited all day as our freezer continued operations, powered by these old batteries. Towards dusk, I finally dragged out the generator to power the rest. Surely, there was a better way. That summer, I finally made it a priority to get solar panels installed up on the roof and …