Today’s graphic: The geographic population center for the United States has been in Missouri since 1980. As of 2020, it is near Interstate 44 in Missouri as it approaches Springfield. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.) The thumbnail below is click-expandable. — Please send your graphics or graphics links to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Any graphics that you send must either be your own creation or uncopyrighted.
“It cannot be repeated too often that nothing is more fertile in prodigies than the art of being free; but there is nothing more arduous than the apprenticeship of liberty.” – Alexis de Tocqueville
Today marks the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere and the first day of winter. The Winter Solstice is the day of minimum insolation, each year. The painting above, titled Winter, is by Ivan Shishkin, circa 1890. Because of Seasonal Lag, even though the days will start getting longer tomorrow, the coldest days of the year are typically in January. — On December 21, 1620, William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims landed on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round …
(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) Timelines Given As we listen to all the chatter, day in and day out about a widening war in Europe and war with China, we can see some recurring messages in the reporting. How many times have you heard that NATO needs to be ready for a war with Russian in 3-5 years or that China will likely invade Taiwan by 2030. There are a few variations of the dates but regardless of the actual dates we need to ask why NATO and our Asia-Pacific Allies need to be ready by those …
The latest meme created by JWR: Meme Text: Rep. Jasmine Crockett Chides: Some Fool at The New York Times Wrote That I’m “Pursuing A Seat In The Upper Chamber” But, I Been There, And I Seen It. And I Can Tell You, The Floor Of The Senate Is On The Same Level As The House News Link: Rep. Jasmine Crockett enters Texas Senate race as Allred exits. Notes From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the concept, and I’ll try to assemble it. And if it is posted then I’ll give you credit. Thanks! Permission to …
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that …
On December 20, 1917, the Cheka, the Soviet Union’s first state security force, was formed. The Cheka was initially led by Felix Dzerzhinsky (pictured) after a decree by Vladimir Lenin. The Cheka was successively replaced by the OGPU, NKVD, KGB, SVR, and most recently by the FSB (Federal’naya Sluzhba Bezopasnosti or Federal Security Service) of the Russian Federation. State security agents were commonly called “Chekists” throughout the Soviet era. — December 20th, 1669: The first jury trial in Delaware. Marcus Jacobson was condemned for insurrection and sentenced to flogging, branding, and slavery. — December 20th, 1606, the Virginia Company loaded …
(Continued from Part 1.) Defense Production Act The Defense Production Act was passed in 1950. It is an important piece of legislation that we should all know about. Why? Before the bombing of Pearl Harbor part of Congress (GOP) was advocating an isolationist stance regarding the war in Europe. Since Congress controls the budget, it made providing military aid to our Allies extremely hard. The Defense Production Act aimed at making it easier for a U.S. president to prepare the U.S. for war without “permission” from Congress. One key part of the act is the ability of the president to …
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 …
“Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle. Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts. Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render …
On December 19th,1776, Thomas Paine published his first “American Crisis” essay that famously began: “These are the times that try men’s souls; the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”. — Some sad news: Gil Gerard dead: Buck Rogers star leaves heartfelt posthumous message. — The big 50%-off sale at SurvivalRealty.com …
If you ask most Americans when World War Two started and you’ll probably get December 7, 1941, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, as an answer. Another response might be September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. These dates are significant, in that these are when open and sustained military operations commenced, but they definitely were not the start of the war. It would be ignorant to think that Germany just up and decided to invade Poland, or Japan bomb Pearl Harbor, out of the blue on these dates. There were prolonged periods of tension that led up to the …
In Economics & Investing Media of the Week we feature photos, charts, graphs, maps, video links, and news items of interest to preppers. This week, a chart showing the growth of global silver demand, and its components. It was published 11 months ago. Demand is now even higher. The annual production deficit also keeps growing. The thumbnail below is click-expandable. (Graphic courtesy of Visual Capitalist and Vizsla Silver Corp.) Economics & Investing Links of Interest At The Burning Platform: Samsung Just Dropped A “Silver Bomb” . . . Their New “Solid State” Battery Tech Breaks …
“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.” – James Madison
On December 18, 1888 Richard Wetherill and his brother in-law discovered the ancient Anasazi ruins of Mesa Verde, Colorado. — December 18th is the birthday of Charles Wesley (18 December 1707 – 29 March 1788). He wrote more than 1,700 hymns. — Today is also the birthday of Jørgen Haagen Schmith (born December 18, 1910, died October 15, 1944). He was better known under the codename “Citron” and was a famous Danish resistance fighter in occupied Denmark. — Today’s feature piece is a review written by SurvivalBlog staffer Tom Christianson. — We need more entries for Round 122 of the …
