Month: May 2026

30 Year Review of My Automotive EDC, by A.J.

This review started because I needed a band aid the other day and rather than dribble through the house, I went to the first aid kit in the minivan.  I was surprised at the amount of empty space in the plastic case, but there were the necessary items to handle the cut. I used a benzo conium wipe (still wet) and a Band-Aid (still sticky) and then started quality checking the kit. I looked at the contents label and it was printed in 1996 and looking further, the remaining dose of Imodium in the kit had a use by date …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR: Meme Text: I Used To Think Of My Life As Something Straight Out Of “The Young And The Restless” But Now That I’m Getting Older, I Seemed To Have Changed Channels To “General Hospital” 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 repost memes that I’ve created is granted, provided that credit to SurvivalBlog.com is included.


The Editors’ Quote

“Rebuke not an elder, but intreat him as a father; and the younger men as brethren; The elder women as mothers; the younger as sisters, with all purity. Honour widows that are widows indeed. But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God. 5 Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day. But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth. And these things give …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — May 23, 2026

On May 23, 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) was created out of the American, British and French occupation zones. Pictured above is East German steam locomotive 03 2155-4 in the West Germany city of Cologne. (A public domain photo by wwwuppertal, taken in 2013.) — May 23 is the birthday of George Lars Kellgren (born 1943 in Borås, Sweden), the founder and chief engineer of Kel-Tec. He designed many firearms earlier for Husqvarna and Swedish Interdynamics AB in Sweden. He moved to the US in 1979 and his original US designs were for Intratec and Grendel brand …


Post-SHTF Lighting: Testing My Preps – Part 3, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) Location Uses and Upgrades I Made Kitchen Table – The table is under the beams which support the loft. With the table mostly being used as a work space and for playing games, a light hanging from above was needed. The lantern lights hanging upside down were enough for eating but more light would be preferable for other activities. As mentioned, the A-19 was the perfect solution. The shadowless light was as bright as the 120-volt lights they were replacing. For the test, the small riding-mower core battery was used to power …


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

“And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them. And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes, which had not yet received their inheritance. And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to possess the land, which the Lord God of your fathers hath given you? Give out from among you three men for each tribe: and I will send them, and they shall rise, and go through the land, and …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — May 22, 2026

On May 22, 334 BC, the Macedonian army of Alexander the Great defeated the army of Darius III of Persia in the Battle of the Granicus. — May 22, 1807: Former US Vice President Aaron Burr is tried for treason in Richmond, Virginia. He was acquitted. — And on May 22, 1842, farmers Lester Howe and Henry Wetsel discovered Howe Caverns in New York state when they stumbled upon a large gaping hole in the ground. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 124 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. This is the final round of …


Post-SHTF Lighting: Testing My Preps – Part 2, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 1.) Solar Panel Inventory As mentioned, to make this test more valuable to the majority of the readers I didn’t use my 3,000-watt home solar-panel system for lighting or charging batteries. I did, however, use a few smaller portable solar panels I have. 1 – 100-watt panel 1 – 15-watt panel 1 – 20-watt panel 1 – 1.8-watt trickle charger As you’d expect, the larger a solar panel is the more quickly it’ll charge a battery. For preppers who are currently without any solar panels, though not ideal, inexpensive 15-to-25-watt panels could be purchased and tucked away …


Economics & Investing Media of the Week

In Economics & Investing Media of the Week we feature photos, charts, graphs, maps, video links, and news items of interest to preppers. The photo above was taken in 2022, during another fuel price spike. Economics & Investing Links of Interest Gas surges past $4 a gallon while tomato and beef prices notch new records. A look at rising costs amid the Iran war. Video (sorry, this one is partly AI-generated): What a Dollar Bought You in 1955. JWR’s Comments: The video illustrates that we have been robbed by inflation and currency debasement.  By the way, we compensate for inflation …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — May 21, 2026

On May 21, 1840 Captain William Hobson proclaimed British sovereignty over New Zealand; the North Island by treaty and the South Island by discovery. Pictured above are the Humboldt Mountains of South Island. — May 21st is the birthday of weapons designer John Douglas Pedersen. (Born 1881, died 1951.) His name is almost synonymous with the short-lived Pedersen Device — a conversion kit that turned a Model 1903 Springfield bolt action rifle into a semi-automatic “trench broom.” — Take Note: Our editorial calendar is now filled for May. Any articles received will be considered guest articles and not eligible as …


Post-SHTF Lighting: Testing My Preps – Part 1, by St. Funogas

‘This is another installment of my series of articles on how to light up our lives in TEOTWAWKIville. This article covers the results of my week-long experience testing my lighting preps. I expected this preps test to be a fairly simple but, as always, it proved to be more useful and eye-opening than I would have guessed. As with other tests I’ve done, it showed where my preps were insufficient, but more importantly, I learned several things I hadn’t even considered with respect to lighting and therefore hadn’t even thought about preparing for. Another testimony to the importance of testing …


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, the Billionaires’ Plan B. Five Billionaires Making Doomsday Plans You might want to skip forward to the 6-minute mark on this one: The Leaked Billionaire Doomsday Plan Interview …