Month: August 2025

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — August 9, 2025

On August 9, 1666, Rear Admiral Robert Holmes led a raid on the Dutch island of Terschelling, destroying 150 merchant ships in the Vlie estuary, and pillaged the town of West-Terschelling. This raid was later known as “Holmes’s Bonfire”. The event is shown in the painting ‘Holmes’s Bonfire’ by Willem van de Velde the Elder. — August 9th, 1831 was the birthday of James Paris Lee (August 9, 1831 – February 24, 1904). He was a Scottish-Canadian and later American inventor and arms designer, best known for inventing the bolt action that led to the Lee-Metford and Lee-Enfield series of …


Scrabble and Prepping – Part 2, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 1.) SCRABBLE IS A MATH GAME Just as Scrabble involves math, have we applied enough math to our prepping? Do we know how long a bar of soap lasts or how many calories we need per year per person in our group? Are we just guessing or have we actually marked a tube of toothpaste with a Sharpie when we begin using it and note the date when it’s finished? Have we at least looked it up somewhere to get a rough idea on how long it will last? Do we know how long it takes for …


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 …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it. And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — August 8, 2025

On August 8, 1786, Jacques Balmat and Michel Paccard became the first men to climb to the top of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Western Europe. — 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. — August 8th is the birthday of Terry Nation (August 8th, 1930 – March 9th, 1997), who was a Welsh television writer and novelist. Nation wrote two television series, Survivors and Blake’s 7, in the 1970s. Survivors was re-made in 2008 and 2010. — SurvivalBlog …


Scrabble and Prepping – Part 1, by St. Funogas

A few years back I was at an auction where a prepper had passed away. He had everything under the sun and appeared to be well stocked in the food department as well as many other areas. While looking over everything before the auction started, I noticed a Scrabble board game. I thought to myself, “Now here’s a guy who was really prepared for TEOTWAWKI.” It wasn’t the cheapie set with the board that folds in half and no bag to draw your tiles from. It was one of the deluxe editions with a swivel base which allows each player …


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 volatile global silver market. (See the Precious Metals section.) Precious Metals: In modern times, silver has been known for more volatile price swings than gold. This week was no exception. From Friday, August 1st to Thursday, August 7, spot silver climbed from $36.63 to $38.53 per Troy ounce. In my estimation, as …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — August 7, 2025

August 7, 1588: English sailors set alight eight fireships, with pitch, brimstone, gunpowder, and tar, and cast them downwind towards the closely anchored vessels of the Spanish Armada, scattering the armada. Pictured: English and Spanish fleets clash in the 1558 Battle of Gravelines in a painting by Philip James de Loutherbourg. — August 7th, 1933 was the birthday of the late Jerry Pournelle. He, along with Larry Niven, authored the survivalist classic Lucifer’s Hammer. — As part of the 20th Anniversary celebration for SurvivalBlog, we’ve launched our biggest sale ever on all of our percussion gun inventory at Elk Creek …


Zastava ZPAP M70 Underfolder, by Thomas Christianson

AK platform firearms have a well-deserved reputation for rugged reliability. This is due (among other factors) to their simple design, sturdy construction, generally loose tolerances, and over-gassing. As a result, AK platform rifles have been a long-time favorite of mine for potential use in situations in which normal care and maintenance may be difficult. The Zastava ZPAP M70 Underfolder is a credit to its AK family lineage. It is compact (just 26.25 inches long when folded), reasonably accurate for an AK (those loose tolerances don’t make for an ideal sniper rifle), with above-average fit and finish for an AK, and …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from JWR. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. In today’s column, more news of nuclear war brinksmanship. Russia’s Terrifying ‘Dead Hand’ Threat Over at The UK Daily Mail: Russia’s terrifying ‘DEAD HAND’ threat as spiraling nuclear rhetoric leaves world …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — August 6, 2025

We are now celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the founding of SurvivalBlog. My first blog post was on August 5, 2005. That was just three weeks before the first report that Hurricane Katrina had formed. There are now 40,836 archived SurvivalBlog posts. That includes 7,296 quotes, with Bible verses on every Saturday and Sunday. All of the blog archives will remain freely available. Thanks for spreading the word and making the blog such a great success. Our special thanks to the 2% of readers who voluntarily subscribe. I hope that more folks will recognize the usefulness of SurvivalBlog as a …


Meat and Vegetable Broths, by Mrs. Alaska

Almost any savory dish you cook with water will be tastier if cooked with a vegetable broth or meat broth.  So throughout a week of cooking (and harvesting), I set aside less desirable parts of vegetables and bones to make broth when I have accumulated enough to make a pot or two.  I often time the cooking in advance of making rice, or beans so I can cook those carbohydrates in the broth. Making Vegetable Broth The vegetables for broths can be any and all.  For example, this week, I harvested broccoli heads.  For the broth, I cut up the …