Day: August 25, 2026

Preparedness Notes — August 25, 2026

This Week in History: On August 25, 1537, The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army, and the second most senior, was formed. Pictured is the Honourable Artillery Company Band at Balboa Park, while on a visit to San Diego, California. — August 25, 1898: 700 Greeks and 15 Englishmen were massacred by the Turks in Heraklion, Crete. — August 26, 1789: The National Constituent Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen at the beginning of the French Revolution. — August 26,1859: A geomagnetic storm caused the Aurora Borealis to …


Preparing to Serve in Disasters, by JMS

This my recollection about preparing for a natural disaster in the summer of 2017. I had just arrived on a Caribbean island with a single checked bag and a temporary rental. Within weeks of arriving Hurricane Irma, a category five hurricane, passed a few miles north of the island. It took only hours for the island to lose electricity and communication with the outside world. Two weeks later, Hurricane Maria hit the island and knocked us back to the 18th century. I was unable to access my money in a bank on the US mainland, due to infrastructure damage on …


Recipe of the Week: RUTF

Reader Becky B. in California wrote to ask about a do-it-yourself recipe for the shelf-stable peanut-butter based ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) that was developed in Africa in the 1990s. It has saved many thousands of lives in starvation zones. It is sold commercially packaged in sachets under the brand name Plumpy’Nut.  Note: For the best nutrition its is best to buy the commercially-made product. I found a Public Domain  practical home-style recipe (approximate and for household use only.)  It is is as follows:


SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic is a map that shows America’s abandoned and out-of-service railroad lines. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.) It was posted by “vladgrinch” with this note: “The [American rail] system peaked in 1916 at 254,037 miles of track, at a moment when the railways carried virtually all interstate traffic in the United States, and roughly 138,477 miles remain in use today. Cars, lorries and aircraft pulled the traffic away over the decades that followed, and the branch lines serving small towns were lifted or simply left to the weeds.” The thumbnail image below is click-expandable. — If any SurvivalBlog readers have …


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. Economics & Investing Links of Interest First the penny, now the nickel: Congress moves closer to making big changes with the money in your pocket. JWR’s Comment: Consider this your last chance to acquire un-debased nickels in bulk, at face value. Jamie Forbes: Is the Housing Market Going to Crash? US national debt hits $40 trillion, rising by $90,000 per second. JWR’s Comment: At this late stage, the only escapes from this enormous mountain of debt will be via …


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, America’s three fragile power grids. Warning That a Nationwide Blackout Could Last 18 Months Reported in the UK Daily Mail: Warning that mammoth nationwide blackout could last 18 …


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 powerful image is seen in this map at Fox News: California counties shed thousands of taxpayers to other states. — First up, from our friend Anthony (“Armed Scholar”): Huge Decision Finds ATF Frames/Receivers Rule Unconstitutional & Permanently Blocks Restrictions! — Over at Bearing Arms: New Jersey’s War on 3D Printed Guns …


SurvivalBlog’s American Redoubt Media of the Week

This weekly column features media 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. REDOUBT NEWS LINKS Deputy’s Body Cam: Military pilot bails before jet crash in Yakima County. JWR’s Comments: I should mention that the last F/A-18 produced recently left El Segundo, in June of this year. So the Navy’s F/A-18 inventory now has a finite, declining number. Note to you Hornet pilots:  Be careful out there. This YouTube series will definitely be one to watch: We Bought an Abandoned Log …


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 …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week: 

The latest meme created by JWR: Meme Text: “Sure, Mister, you can live out a perverted fantasy, and say that you ‘Identify’ as a nine year old girl named Susie… …But don’t try to force me to play along and call you that.” 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.