Year: 2024

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, we look at increasing postal rates and provide an update on real estate values, in 2024. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: Gold and silver have held fairly high prices thusfar in 2024. JWR’s Comments: When I last checked, spot gold was at 2,062.00 USD per Troy ounce, and silver was at $23.41 per …



Preparedness Notes for Sunday — January 14, 2024

On January 14th, 1526, the Treaty of Madrid was signed by the Habsburg emperor Charles V (Charles I of Spain — pictured) and his prisoner Francis I, king of France, who had been captured during the Battle of Pavia in February 1525 and held prisoner until the conclusion of the treaty, when he was allowed to return to France. — On January 14th, 1784, the Continental Congress ratified the Second Treaty of Paris, ending the War for Independence. In the document, which was known as the Second Treaty of Paris or the Peace of Paris because the Treaty of Paris …


Winter Plumbing Preparedness – Part 2, by A.F.

(Continued from Part 1.  This concludes the article.) Pex pipe can be installed without regard to any water that is still dripping from the system since it uses mechanical connection methods. Coat the threads of two male adapters of the appropriate size with pipe dope and tightly thread one into each of the female fittings exposed in the previous step. I don’t know if electrolytic effects are of concern between galvanized steel and brass (for PEX substitution) or copper, but I trust pipe dope to be a better deterrent to any possible corrosion effects than Teflon tape. I refuse to …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR: Meme Text: Jeffrey Epstein’s Full Client List Has An Amazing Correlation With… The Bilderberg Group Roster, The U.S. Congressional Roster, The Fortune 100 CEOs List, and The Malibu Phone Book News Links: The Biggest Names from Jeffrey Epstein’s Unsealed Court Documents. Jeffrey Epstein Client list highlights: Prince Andrew to be evicted from mansion? What UK police say. The Jeffrey Epstein client list does not exist. The Epstein “list,” explained. Wikipedia:  Epstein Files. Jeffrey Epstein list of names: Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jackson and other unexpected celebrities in the documents. Discredited claims about Clinton, Trump mentioned …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day: 

“And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw ought. And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking. After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up: and he was restored, and saw every man clearly. And he sent him away to his house, …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — January 13, 2024

On January 13, 1928, Swedish-American inventor Ernst F.W. Alexanderson (pictured, right), of General Electric, demonstrated the first television receiver at Proctors Theatre in Schenectady, New York. On January 13, 1978, radical guerrillas held 72 hostages and shot at police outside the Japanese Embassy in Lima, Peru. — NOTE: I recommend that my readers set aside 22 minutes to watch a new video from Dr. John Campbell: New Brain Virus.  (It was twice removed from YouTube, but is still available on Rumble.) He shares some frightening news of a new lab-created virus causing encephalitis that has an extremely high lethality rate. …


Winter Plumbing Preparedness – Part 1, by A.F.

“We are out of water!” were the words my dear bride spoke as she recently awakened me at 3 a.m. Hmmm said I, as I reached for my clothes to dress and began troubleshooting the issue. Step 1, Open the faucet and listen for gurgling or sucking sounds. No noises to indicate a vacuum so likely the pump hasn’t lost prime nor has the main supply line broken. Step 2, Check the panel and make sure the breaker hasn’t tripped. The weather has been clear ie. it’s unlikely lightening is my culprit and sure enough the breaker is fine. Step …


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 saith the Lord God; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come. An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come. The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains. Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations. And mine eye shall not spare, neither …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — January 12, 2024

On this day in 2010, a magnitude-7.0 earthquake devastated Haiti, especially Port-au-Prince, killing more than 200,000 people and leaving more than 1,000,000 homeless and touching off a massive international relief effort. — Today is the birthday of Edmund Burke. (Born 1729, died 9 July 1797.) — On January 12, 1888, the “Schoolchildren’s Blizzard” killed 235 people. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 110 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 …


Truth-Based Preparedness – Part 2, by R.M.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Claimed Global Warming and Climate Threats You may recall hearing this, back in 2023: This is the hottest year in 12,500 years! So, it is hotter now than during the ice age! Who’d a thunk it? Will you base your prepping on a media story about a politician who says “Earth is on fire”? You can find many charts showing various time periods and temperatures recorded somewhere. Many times a “temperature increase” is measured the exact way and in the same location they did a hundred years ago, in the cities. However, …


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, we look at the new FinCEN BOI database reporting requirements. (See the Regulation and Taxes section.) Precious Metals: Reuters: Gold to enter 2024 with sights set on record highs. o  o  o Kelsey Williams, at Gold-Eagle.com: You May Get A Higher Gold Price, But… o  o  o 3 Promising Precious Metal Stocks Set to Shine …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — January 11, 2024

January 11, 1915 was the birthday of Lieutenant Colonel Robert Blair “Paddy” Mayne, DSO and Three Bars (died 14 December 1955) was a British Army officer from Newtownards, capped for Ireland and the British Lions at rugby union, lawyer, amateur boxer, and a founding member of the British Special Air Service (SAS). — Today is also the birthday of famed big game hunter and writer Peter Hathaway Capstick (1940-1996.) — I just heard that Ready Made Resources is running a special on L3 Aviation Grade Binocular NVDs with a 10-year warranty! These are full mil-spec White Phosphor, 2300+ min FOM, …