Year: 2024

Preparedness Notes for Monday — March 4, 2024

On March 4, 1681, William Penn secured from King Charles II of England the colonial province of Pennsylvania in North America, hoping to provide a refuge in the New World for Quakers and other persecuted people and to build an ideal Christian commonwealth. — And on March 4, 1955, the first radio facsimile (or “fax”) transmission, was sent across the continent. — I mailed out the first four-page hardcopy issue of the SurvivalBlog Old School (SOS) Newsletter on Friday. If you’d like to get a copy of that first issue and become a subscriber, then send a donation of $55 …


Zastava PAP M77PS .308, by Thomas Christianson

The Bottom Line, Up Front Capable of surprising accuracy when using the right ammo, the Zastava PAP M77PS in .308 Win offers an AK pattern rifle chambered in .308 Winchester. It is durable, reliable, and comes with a 20 round steel magazine. If you are looking for a semi-automatic rifle chambered in a full-powered rifle cartridge with a magazine capacity of more than 10 rounds, this rifle may be a good choice. The Back Story I must admit to a certain fondness for AK-pattern rifles. They have durability and reliability that appeals to me. It is true that in some …


Recipe of the Week: Spoon Bread

The following simple recipe for Spoon Bread is from Good HouseKeeping’s Book of Menus, Recipes, and Household Discoveries (253 pages, copyright 1925, now in public domain). That is one of the 11 bonus books included in the 2005-2023 edition of the SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. Ingredients 1 pint milk 1/2 teaspoonful baking powder 1/2 cupful cornmeal 1 teaspoonful salt 3 eggs Directions Heat the milk nearly to boiling. Stir in cornmeal gradually and cook until the consistency of mush. Add the baking powder, salt, and the yolks of the eggs beaten until tight. FoId in the egg-whites beaten stiff. Pour into …




Preparedness Notes for Sunday — March 3, 2024

On March 3, 1877, Rutherford B. Hayes was inaugurated in a private ceremony, following a hotly-contested election.  According to the Rutherford B. Hayes Library web page: “The election of 1876 between Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden of New York was one of the most hostile, controversial campaigns in American history. Tilden won the popular vote and led in the electoral college, but 19 votes from three Republican-controlled states (Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina) remained disputed. Oregon’s count was also challenged. Allegations of widespread voter fraud forced Congress to set up a special electoral commission to determine the winner, composed …


Globalists and Their Psychopathic Religion

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the western world experienced a sudden burst of open occultism among the ultra-rich elites. The rise of “Theosophy” was underway, becoming a kind of fashion trend that would ultimately set the stage for what would later be called “new age” spiritualism. The primary driver of the theosophical movement was a small group of obscure academics led in part by a woman named H.P. Blavatsky. The group was obsessed with esoteric belief, Gnosticism, and even Satanism. Blavatsky co-founded the Theosophical Society in New York in 1875, claiming that she had a psychic connection to …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR: Meme Text: Houthis in Yemen Cut Telecom Cables That Linked India and Pakistan With Europe So, Now Little Old English Ladies Will Be Safe From The Internet “Tech Support” Scammers News Links: Houthis hit submarine communications cables. 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:

“For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — March 2, 2024

March 2, 1965: The Sound of Music, a film adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical play, premiered; the movie, which was based on the real-life story of the Trapp family of Austria, was a commercial success and won an Oscar for best picture. On March 2nd, 1836, Texas declared its independence from Mexico. Today is coincidentally also the birthday of Sam Houston. Today is also the birthday of Moe Berg, an American baseball player and clandestine agent. (He died in 1972.) His biography The Catcher Was a Spy is fascinating reading. And this is the birthday of libertarian economist …


Liberty Safe HDV-150X Biometric Handgun Vault, by Thomas Christianson

I have grandchildren. I love my grandchildren very much. I earnestly desire for them grow up safely and to enjoy a healthy and productive adulthood. I also own handguns. I have other handguns that are entrusted to my care periodically for review. One facet of my strategy for helping my grandchildren grow up safely is keeping handguns and other firearms out of their hands until they are old enough to know how to use them responsibly. I own a full-size gun safe. The gun safe was getting a little full. If I was going to keep my grandchildren safe, then …


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 ‘n …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord God, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. The Lord repented for this: It shall not be, saith the Lord. Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord God called to …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — March 1, 2024

Today is the 70th birthday of filmmaker Ron Howard, who first achieved fame as a child actor in The Andy Griffith Show and later became an Academy Award-winning director. — March 1st is the birthday of actor and former WW2 commando David Niven. His full name was James David Graham Niven. (1910-1983.) — And today is the birthday of the late singer, songwriter, and cowboy poet Allen Wayne Damron. Damron was quite the Texan, through and through. (Born 1939, died August 13, 2005, in Terlingua, Texas.) — Here is an interesting North Carolina property listing at SurvivalRealty: Private and Remote …


What to Wear for Concealed Carry?, by TravelinMan

Most of us ask ourselves the “What to Wear?” question at least once a day. This can be an especially daunting question to answer for those of us who conceal carry a firearm on a daily basis. These days, the pervasive idea when concealed carrying is, you should always carry the same firearm, in the same holster, in the same place each time to be the most effective. To be fair, this probably is the most efficient way to carry. When you need it, you know right where it is and muscle memory should help you draw and aim it …