Day: January 13, 2025

Preparedness Notes for Monday — January 13, 2025

January 13, 1742:  During the Anglo-Spanish War, the HMS Tyger ran aground on a coral reef near Garden Key, Florida. The wreck was rediscovered 1993, and was firmly identified in 2024. — On January 13, 1842, Dr. William Brydon, a surgeon in the British Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War, became famous for (reputedly) being the sole survivor of an army of 16,500 men when he reached the safety of a garrison in Jalalabad. — On this day in 1912, a state record low temperature of  -40°F (also -40°C), was observed in Oakland, Maryland. — This is also the birthday …


The New SurvivalBlog 2005-2024 Archive USB Sticks

I have some great news: The new batch of 32-gigabyte waterproof SurvivalBlog archive USB sticks is now available for pre-sale. I’ve had some folks write to ask about what is included in the new 2005-2024 SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. There certainly is a lot! These sticks of course have everything that has ever been posted in SurvivalBlog, dating back to its launch in August, 2005, and up to December 31, 2024. In my humble opinion, these feature articles, product reviews, columns, and quotations just by themselves are worth the price of the archive stick. But then there is also a …


Maven S.2 12-27x56mm Spotting Scope, by Thomas Christianson

With a bright, crisp, and crystal-clear field-of-view; lightweight; highly intuitive zoom and focus rings; an unbeatable warranty; and easily packable contours; the Maven S.2 12-27X56mm Spotting Scope is an outstanding optic for field, range, or home use. It has an Abbe-Koenig prism, fluorite glass, and it is waterproof and fog-proof. It is made from Japanese components that are assembled in San Diego, California,. The scopes then undergo quality control in Lander, Wyoming. The S.2 was priced at $1,050 at the time of this writing. (Full Disclosure: Maven is an affiliate advertiser of SurvivalBlog.com. SurvivalBlog earns a modest commission on the …


Recipe of the Week: Pasta and Beans

The following recipe for Pasta and Beans (Pasta Fagioli) is from SurvivalBlog reader Callie B. Ingredients 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 medium onion, chopped 2 stalks celery, chopped 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 teaspoons dried parsley 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or less, to taste) Salt (to taste) 1 (14.5-ounce) canned chicken broth (or equivalent volume of fresh or frozen broth) 2 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce ½ cup of a small dry pasta such as ditalini, ditali, acini di pepe, small shell pasta, tubettini, orzo, or the old …


SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic was suggested by Avalanche Lily: Map of U.S. Gun Ownership Rates. (This map is courtesy of Visual Capitalist.) The thumbnail below is click-expandable.         JWR’s Comments: Take note that this data comes from the anti-gun website The Trace.  So I suspect that the figures are all skewed low.  When they are polled in telephone surveys, I suspect that many gun owners hang up, or are reluctant to report their gun ownership. You can see how strongly the American Redoubt region ranks. If Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington were separate states, then their rates of gun …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“…what I can say is that there is an alignment with all those who are willing to fight against socialism at the international level. All those who want to fight against socialism at the international level are my allies. Because the enemy is socialism, the enemy is statism, the enemy is collectivism. And all those who are willing to fight that fight, we are all together. Later we will discuss the emerging order, whether it will be more or less liberal, whether it will resemble classical liberalism or minarchism or anarcho-capitalism, but that is a second order discussion.” – Javier …