Our weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.
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SurvivalBlog reader Tim J. suggested this video: The Insane Number of Humvees in US Inventory [1]. JWR’s Comments: Once all those thousands of HMMWVs (“Humvees”) are inexpensively released as surplus over the next decade, for preppers, it will seem like manna falling from heaven. The key question is: Will any of the up-armored variants also be released? Oh, by the way, a full set of HMMWV operator and repair manuals is included as a bonus to our annual blog archive waterproof USB sticks. Mark your calendar for Febraury 16, 2026, to order your 20th Anniversary Edition sticks.
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In response to the recent three-part feature article by St. Funogas, Mrs. Alaska wrote:
“I always look forward to articles by St. Funogas. They are practical and insightful.
I concur with the advice to mark your prep supply usage to develop realistic plans for storage.
My husband and I live in a fly-in-only location in Alaska. Seven years ago, we decided not to put our plane on skis to keep here in winter (the days are so short, and the snowstorms so frequent), but to leave it hangared with our airplane mechanic in a nearby town. As a result, we go seven months each winter without seeing anyone and without resupply.
To do so, we maintain a spreadsheet of items and how many we have on hand and how many we need to buy. This required exactly what St. Funogas suggested: we wrote the dates we opened a tube of toothpaste or a bag of chicken feed or flour or rice or chocolate chips on the item. Importantly, we discovered that our seasonal use varies. Split peas we consume in winter but not in summer. Our free-ranging hens consume twice as much feed in winter as in summer. Therefore, we check our inventory list twice a year. For lightweight, shelf-stable products we maintain a multi-year supply. For products that age out, like gasoline, even with Sta-Bil, we maintain about 18 months of supply.
Great advice, St. Funogas!”
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Over at Clark Howard’s site: Three Simple Ways To Delete Your Google Data [2].
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Dr. X wrote:
“Since comments were solicited regarding the recent review of the Jase Antibiotic Kit, I’ll throw in a few words that may help some folks and give greater context. Nothing that follows should be too controversial, and I would say is generally accepted within the medical community, but as always, reserve a touch of skepticism anytime you are getting medical advice from some rando on the Internet.
Generally, the advice and recommendations described in the kit are sound, and the choices of included antibiotics are reasonable. The tablet dosage strengths were listed in the review, but not the numbers of pills actually included…this would be of interest, since the same antibiotic might treat several different possible conditions, but the dosage, frequency of administration, and duration of treatment (3 days, 5 days, 7 days, etc) can vary depending on what you are treating. Knowing the numbers of pills might help in considering cost/value of various options.
For reference, Walmart sells ciprofloxacin on their generic list for $4-10, as well as a number of other useful antibiotics that cover some of the same uses as the meds in the kit, notably cephalexin (Keflex), and SMZ-TMP (Bactrim). Another option for obtaining these meds (and the ones in the Jase kit not available at Walmart) is out of the country. Mexico and most other Latin American countries sell these drugs over the counter at low cost…you just need to know what to ask for…and the Jase kit review article kindly supplies the names of the drugs you are after. I know some will immediately jump to skepticism of drugs from foreign countries, but I gently remind readers that most of the drugs we take in America are made overseas, and if all of Latin America were taking counterfeit drugs, that fact would reveal itself in infectious disease morbidity/mortality data. Suffice to say, the drugs are as legit as you are going to get in any American pharmacy, but labeled in Spanish and much cheaper. Unless you are going after weight loss drugs, ED drugs, or pain killers/tranquilizers. That market is much more prone to fraud and I make no guarantees of legitimacy.
Oh, and a word about Spanish labeling…double check that what you want is what you are getting…I once accidentally laid in a stock of a formulation of penicillina used to treat rheumatic heart disease and little else, and not the more commonly used PenVK. My mistake. But cipro, cephalexin, doxycycline, metrondizole, and azithromycin all translate easily. Doxy is the one that sometimes is harder to find for cheap…seems few generic manufacturers make it these days and the price has gone up in the last 10-15 years.
Back to the discussion at large about the advisability of stocking antibiotics, and medical supplies generally. Consider that some things can be lost or stolen, and some things cannot. Knowledge cannot. Your tribe/community/network/family likely has someone with medical knowledge. But a doctor or nurse is of far less utility if they have no tools. But if you have the tools, with their knowledge, they can be put to use. (The same theory applies to stocking suture material and simple surgical tools like scalpels and hemostats.) You don’t need to know or remember or try and write down the indications and contraindications and dosing regimes for every possible post-disaster scenario…you just need the drugs. Someone will know what to do with them…you do need to remember the warnings that the Jase kit includes about not going off half-cocked self self-diagnosing and dosing…these are powerful drugs, and can have side effects. One benefit this kit has is the screening that goes into it before they ship it, to try and catch any major interactions or contraindications for you individually.
Lastly, if you were to try and cobble together your own kit without benefit of Jase or guidance from a qualified medical person (or even with their assistance), get yourself a copy of the Sanford Antimicrobial Guide. They are small and inexpensive when bought used, and are a useful reference even for doctors and nurses to guide which drugs and for how long are indicated for which types of infections. You don’t need the most recent edition, seems like the only things that change are the multi drug resistant superbugs and the latest geewhiz 10th generation cephlosporin big pharma has dreamed up…how to treat a run of the mill ear infection or bladder infection with augmentin or kephlex hasn’t changed much in the last 10-20 years.”
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In the WSJ: Golf Carts Have Taken Over Suburbia. Cue the Resistance [3]. JWR’s Comment: If easterners were to visit our nearest little town (a 25-minute drive from our ranch), they’d be aghast to see gas engine ATV quads and side-by-sides driven by 12-to-15-year-olds out on the street, in store parking lots, and at the local library. Oh, the horror! And… Zero accidents that I’ve heard of, in our 19 years here.
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Organ Donation Nightmare: Dozens of Donors May Not Have Even Been Dead – Kennedy Calls Discovery ‘Horrifying’ [4]. ( A hat tip to D.S.V. for the link.)
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Mike in Alaska wrote:
“RE: ‘On August 8, 1911, Public Law 62-5 set the number of representatives in the United States House of Representatives at 435. The law came into effect in 1913.’
Also see the Apportionment Act of 1921. One only needs to read the Constitution both Article 1 and Article 5 to know that Congress does NOT have the authority to enact laws that basically amend the Constitution.
Article One sets the number of Representatives by population via the census; this was amended via the 14th Amendment when blacks and Indians were declared humans and thenceforth were counted as citizens for the purpose of the census and also for the number of constituents that make up a Congressional Representative’s District which is currently set at 30,000 citizens in a District. The original Bill of Rights sent to the States for ratification the original first amendment would have upped this number to 50,000 citizens but that amendment is still out for ratification. The original 2nd Amendment was ratified on May 20, 1992 and it became law. The original First Amendment is still out for ratification and needs to be made public because even if it fails ratification it will force Congress to restore the proper number of Representatives to our government and maybe, just maybe stop them from this unconstitutional theft of our self-governing rights to control government.
The reason why America is in such dire straits is due to the ignorance of its people and in their ignorance fail to elect leaders who will hold the line within the boundaries of the Constitution. Ignorance is passed on by not giving full emphasis to the truth; for example if you don’t live Christ and let the Holy Spirit shine through your life, how then can you expect them to become saved? The same is so for the Nation; “my people perish for lack of knowledge” said the Lord … let us not pass on erroneous information and hide the nation from the truth.
It riles me to no end when I hear the words “for our democracy” being repeated over and over by the talking heads in government and the media. We are not a democracy, but a Republic but people keep yammering about “Democracy” when our founders reviled it !!
Only when the people know the full truth can we expect to hold ourselves accountable to it and only then live the truth.”
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UK Homelessness Minister Quits After Making Her Own Tenants Homeless [5].
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Please send your snippet items for potential posting to JWR [6]. or AVL [6]. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact [7] form.