Preparedness Notes for Friday — August 15, 2025

80 years ago today, August 15th, 1945 was Victory In Japan (“V-J”) Day. — On August 15, 1620 the Mayflower set sail from Southampton, England, with 102 Pilgrims aboard. — August 15, 1914:  The Panama Canal opened to traffic with the SS Ancon making the first official steamship passage through the canal.  The canal was completed under budget, and ahead of schedule. The canal was extended in 1916. — Today is the birthday of British folk-rock singer Maddy Prior, the lead singer of Steeleye Span. She was born August 14th, 1947. — The last day to order! As part of …




The Price of Home Security: You Can Pay a Little Now, or Pay Much More, Later

JWR’s Introductory  Note:  This is an update to a SurvIvalBlog article that I posted in March, 2007.  Many home security technologies have advanced, especially with the advent of inexpensive webcams and trail cameras. So this is a fairly important article update.  I have also added mention of an alternative modular gun safe manufacturer. — I’m often amazed to hear some of my relatively wealthy consulting clients tell me that they don’t own a home gun vault or safe room. I ask why not, and they make excuses like: “I’ve been too busy at my job to shop for one” or, …




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 some threatened tariffs on gold, and a quick reversal. (See the Precious Metals section.) Precious Metals: Trump says gold will not be tariffed. o  o  o I noticed that spot silver bounced back to $38.82 USD per Troy ounce in after-hours trading on Wednesday. (Thursday morning trading, in Asia.) Let’s see if …