Year: 2025

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. — The government of France is issuing a 20-page survival preparedness booklet to every citizen, by mail. JWR’s Comments: This “Votre kit d’urgence” advice is all very basic 72-hour kit stuff, including a recommendation to store flashlights and a whopping 6 liters of water, per person. The booklet’s publication was reportedly prompted by …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“You’d have to be very stupid, ill-informed and bigoted not to at least suspect that the global epidemic of autism is related to the untrammelled enthusiasm for repeated mass vaccination of children. I’ve been studying vaccines and vaccine damage longer than most people and it is patently clear that most (if not all) patients alleged to have autism are suffering from brain damage caused by vaccination. Autism, in other words, is a synonym for brain damage and vaccines are the cause of the brain damage. The fact that no one in the medical establishment will even discuss this is proof …


Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — March 25, 2025

On March 25, 1199, King Richard I (the “Lion Heart”) of England, was wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting France. This led to his death on April 6th of the same year. — March 25, 1305:  Robert the Bruce was crowned Robert I, King of Scots, after killing his rival John Comyn, Lord of Badenoch. — This is the birthday of English film director David Lean. He was born in Croydon, England in 1908. He died in 1991. He is best known for his award-winning films Lawrence of Arabia, The Bridge on the River Kwai and Doctor Zhivago. — …


Prepping: The Department of Redundancy Department

This essay was inspired by SurvivalBlog reader R.T., who recently sent me a photo of his accumulation of 17 hand-crank kitchen grinders. In bygone years, almost every family owned one of these. But they have gradually been replaced by more fragile electric blenders, electric meat grinders, and food processors. So, most of these sturdy old machines have been unwisely discarded.  I assume that R.T. found most of his at yard sales and at thrift stores. He included the caption:  “One is none and two is one, but seventeen?” An oft-quoted saying in the prepping community is: ‘One is none and …


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, some news about fake news from fake newspapers. (See the Region-Wide section.) Region-Wide This was posted at the left-wing Idaho Capital Sun pseudo-newspaper website: Idaho Senate passes Texas-style immigration bill; ACLU says it will sue if it becomes law.  JWR’s Comments: The “States Newsroom” organization …



Preparedness Notes for Monday — March 24, 2025

Today, March 24th, is the anniversary of Operation Varsity in 1945, the largest single-day airborne operation, at a single location. More than 16,000 paratroopers of the American 17th Airborne Division and British 6th Airborne Division participated. In total, over 1,700 planes (C-47, C-46, and C-54) and more than 1,300 gliders (Waco CG-4, Horsa and Hamilcar) were used. The “sky-train”, as it was called, stretched more than 200 miles (322 km) in the sky and took 2 hours and 37 minutes to pass any given point. While considered successful, and meeting all mission objectives, the Rhine crossing resulted in more than …


Vala Alta Irish Linen Handkerchiefs, by Thomas Christianson

Other than using cotton balls for starting fires, it is generally best to avoid cotton for field use. Cotton fabric tends to attract and retain moisture, at which point it becomes uncomfortable and loses its insulating value. As a result, “cotton kills” has become a common saying regarding wearing cotton in the field. Although there are not too many situations in which one’s life might depend on the insulating value of their handkerchief, there are many times when one’s comfort is dependent upon that article being dry. Linen handkerchiefs provide a stronger and faster drying alternative to cotton handkerchiefs. As …


Recipe of the Week:

The following recipe for Potato-SPAM patties is from SurvivalBlog reader Richard T.. He writes: “This is a variation of the Bean-Potato patty recipe that I submitted in the May 9, 2022 SurvivalBlog. The variation is more in the equipment to make it than in the recipe itself. The result is a more dense patty with more surface on the cast iron pan surface to get toasty. The ingredients listed in this version are for a one-person serving.” Ingredients One small russet potato Half a yellow onion 1 slice of SPAM 1 tablespoon of quick oats Salt Red pepper flakes, Cooking …


SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

SurvivalBlog reader D.S.V. pointed us to today’s graphic:  Map of America’s Abandoned Railroad Tracks. (Graphic courtesy of the fascinating  Forgotten Lands, Places and Transit website.) The thumbnail below is click-expandable.     Or, better yet, open the map directly in Google Maps, for a nice detailed and zoomable view. — 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.



Preparedness Notes for Sunday — March 23, 2025

Today is the 250th anniversary of Patrick Henry’s famous “Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death” speech. It was delivered to the Second Virginia Revolutionary Convention meeting at St. John’s Church, Richmond, on March 23, 1775. — March 23, 1839: The first recorded use of “OK” [for an editor’s “oll korrect” notation] at the Boston’s Morning Post. — Today is the birthday of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. He directed 30 films. His samurai films (many starring Toshiro Mifune) such as Yojimbo, Sanjuro, The Hidden Fortress, Rashomon, The Seven Samurai, Kagemusha, and Ran are considered legendary in the cinema world. — …


Food Prepping With Freezer Bags – Part 3, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) The Final Answer: How Reliable Are Freezer Bags For Storing Food? The most important questions these experiments were trying to answer is how reliable freezer bags are as a food-storage method? Do they work for the short term? And how well will they work for the long term? Thinner sandwich bags are definitely a bad way to go. Pests had chewed through the plastic in just a few months. Pantry moths in my cupboard also had no trouble chewing through the foil packets of hot chocolate or getting under the lid of …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR: Meme Text: Kinda Funny, How Just Three Years Ago, Woke Liberal Virtue Signalling Was Buying A Tesla But Now, It Is Burning Them With Molotov Cocktails News Links: Tesla Impact Report 2020 Details How its EVs Are More Environmentally Friendly than ICE Vehicles. Violent attacks on Tesla dealerships spike as Musk takes prominent role in Trump White House. Doxing website that shows personal details of Tesla owners has Molotov cocktail as cursor: report. Notes From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the concept, and I’ll try to assemble it. And …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. And he said unto them, Take nothing for your journey, neither staves, nor scrip, neither bread, neither money; neither have two coats apiece. And whatsoever house ye enter into, there abide, and thence depart. And whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them. And they departed, and went …