Year: 2025

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 demise of the U.S. penny. (See the commodities section.) Precious Metals: The spot prices of gold and silver have been strong for nearly a week. If we see a sustained rally in silver above $36 per Troy ounce, I suspect that the Perma-Short market manipulators may capitulate. And once that happens, …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“When writing your will, I suggest that you show some studied regard for what you leave in the hands of your progeny.  You should name each of your children, grandchildren, nieces, and nephews with specific tangible bequests. Merely writing a Dollar sum signifies nothing.  Do not leave them toys and trifles.  Instead, leave them tools and rifles.  Specifically name for each inheritor a quantity of silver, a couple of guns, a knife, several quality hand tools, and a stack of good books — to educate and to edify. A proper bequest becomes a quest for a righteous and meaningful life.” …


Preparedness Notes for Thursday — May 29, 2025

On May 29th, 1765, Patrick Henry gave his historic speech against the Stamp Act. He answered a cry of “Treason!” with, “If this be treason, make the most of it!” — May 29, 1953: Edmund Hillary (of New Zealand) and Tenzing Norgay (of Nepal) became the first men to reach the summit of Mount Everest as part of a British Expedition — Blatten, flattened: 90% of Swiss village covered by landslide after glacier collapse, says official. (Video.) JWR’s Comment:  Please pray for the residents of the village, and their relatives. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present the first entry …


Using Military Principles to Improve Civilian Radio Comms – Part 1, by Tunnel Rabbit

Introduction In my recent SurvivalBlog multi-part article, Communications Options for the Common Man, I looked at how to use commonly available license-free radios in a way that provided a low level of communication security by following a few basic rules, by mostly untrained people. Included in that article was the use of field phones that are easy to use, and provide the highest level of communication security that could be available to both untrained and trained personnel. In this article, I will describe methods that could only be used by trained and disciplined personnel who can maintain higher standards, 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, we look at rapid advances in drone warfare. The Drone Warfare Threat is Advancing These videos from the war in Ukraine illustrate how the drone warfare threat is …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — May 28, 2025

On May 28, 1937, the famed Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco was opened to vehicular traffic. JWR’s Comments: Originally, the toll was 50 cents each way, or $1 for a round trip, with a 5-cent surcharge for any car with more than three passengers. The bridge toll is now $10 for automobiles, or $9.75 with a FastTrak transponder, for automated billing. Assuming 260 working days in a calendar year, that would equate to a bridge toll expense of $2,535  per year, for a Golden Gate Bridge commuter with a transponder!  By the way, additional incremental toll increases have already …


TEOTWAWKI Signals Intelligence – Part 2, by Mike in Alaska

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) I will devote the rest of this article to a USB “dongle” type radio receiver that I have on hand, and the amazing things you can do with it. I also intend to make mention of a device called a “Tiny SA” a signal analyzer that was made more for spectrum analyzing signals on the test bench but can also be used for SIGINT as well. The USB dongle I am currently using is the RTL2832U. This is a low-price unit costing just $40. But I do advise you consider buying the …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

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. — A fascinating video about Finland, and its preparation for near-future arctic warfare: Inside the Most Prepared Country on Earth. JWR’s Comment:  I’ve concluded that the reason Johnny Harris was given such great access to do this reporting was because Finnish officials could see that he had handled his previous reports on Switzerland …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“It took more than 60 years between when the notion of Artificial Intelligence was first proposed and studied, and for us to reach today’s capabilities. Solving safety of superhuman intelligence—not perfect safety, safety in the sense of ‘not killing literally everyone’—could very reasonably take at least half that long. And the thing about trying this with superhuman intelligence is that if you get that wrong on the first try, you do not get to learn from your mistakes, because you are dead. Humanity does not learn from the mistake and dust itself off and try again, as in other challenges …


Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — May 27, 2025

On May 27, 1813, American forces captured Fort George, Canada. — Today is the birthday of American author and abolitionist lecturer Julia Ward Howe, who was best known for writing Battle Hymn of the Republic. She was born in 1819 and died in 1910. — May 27, 1905: The Japanese fleet destroyed the Russian East Sea fleet in the Battle of Tsushima. This was the only decisive clash between modern steel battleships in history. — I just heard some sad news: ‘Duck Dynasty’ founding father Phil Robertson dies at 79. May he rest in peace. Our condolences to his family. …


TEOTWAWKI Signals Intelligence – Part 1, by Mike in Alaska

There are many folks who know much more than I do about Signals Intelligence (SIGINT). A quick check at YouTube, or Internet sites will bring in tons of data if you wish to; my effort in this article is aimed at the individual who simply wants to know who is still broadcasting and know that they are not the only person(s) wondering if humanity has been wiped out. Imagine that there has been some apocalyptic event. It might be a solar storm event on the scale of the Carrington Event of 1859 where Earth was hit with a large X-Class …


SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies located in the American Redoubt region that are of interest to preppers and survivalists. Today, news of another charging grizzly bear.  (See the Montana section.) Idaho Evidence of North America’s First Human Settlement Found in Idaho.  ( A hat tip to H.L., for the link.) o  o  o Goats: Eco-friendly lawn care. o  o  o Bryan Kohberger defense seeks trial …



Preparedness Notes for Monday — May 26, 2025

On May 26, 1538, Geneva expelled John Calvin and his followers from the city. Calvin then lived in exile in Strasbourg for the next three years. — Today is the 35th wedding anniversary of Don and Patrice Lewis. Patrice is Editrix of the excellent Rural Revolution blog. — Today’s feature piece is a review penned by SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson. — We are in need of entries for Round 118 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $950,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 118 ends on May 31st, so …