Day: September 29, 2026

Preparedness Notes — September 29, 2026 

This Week in History: On September 27, AD 70, the walls of upper city of Jerusalem were battered down by the Roman army. — September 28, 1066: William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, lands at Pevensey Bay in Sussex. Thus began the Norman Conquest of England. — September 28,1542: Explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo was the first European to sail into San Diego Bay, naming it San Miguel and claiming it for Spain. — September 28, 1781: 9,000 American and 7,000 French troops began the Siege of Yorktown. — September 29, 1567: the War of Religion broke out in France as …


Endless Expenses: Modern Life in The Subscription Model

Life in the early 21st Century is increasingly characterized by what marketing specialists dubbed The Subscription Model. For many Americans, it is starting to feel like we are “renting” our lives. It is almost like feeding a parking meter, 24/7, and 365 days a year. It is bad enough having taxes, mortgage payments, and insurance costs, but adding umpteen subscriptions is burdensome. It saps us of our livelihood. Consider how our lives have changed in the past two decades: We used to buy a CD or DVD once, and it was ours for a lifetime. Now, we are mostly expected …


WOOX Leggenda Folding Knife, by Thomas Christianson

Reminiscent of the stocks of the classic firearms of the past, the exquisitely-grained American walnut grips of the WOOX Leggenda folding knife confer an aura of timeless beauty that modern synthetic scales cannot match. About the only material that I can think of that might be even more attractive than walnut in this application would be elk antler. The hefty 3.5 inch long and 0.13 inch thick blade of D2 steel conveys a sense of gravitas. At 6 ounces, the knife might have just a bit more gravitas than is ideal for field use, but for shorter treks at lower …


SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic is a map that shows all cropland in the 48 contiguous United States. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.)  The thumbnail image below is click-expandable.       — If any SurvivalBlog readers have personally taken or otherwise hold the copyright to a particularly nice landscape photo or other photo of particular interest to preppers that is in a wide horizontal format (to match our blog template) then please send it in as an e-mail attachment, and I will consider posting it as a Graphic of the Week, or as a Top Note photo. I can of course credit you …


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. Here is an interesting map:  In 2025 only four countries had a bigger economy than California. The thumbnail below is click-expandable. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.) Economics & Investing Links of Interest $1B frozen food giant pulls plug on California manufacturing in shock retreat. California exit tax explained: what to know before you move. Up for a vote in November:  Proposition 3 would make income taxes on higher earners permanent to fund education and healthcare. Paramount Sets California …


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: Even more revelations of rogue AI behavior. Some OpenAI Agents Meddled With U.S. Government Sites The New York Times published this troubling report on September 25th: OpenAI’s Systems …


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. — Reader S.J. sent this important antibiotics dosing update: “Mr. Rawles, I came across an interesting trend in internal medicine recently, regarding the standard course and duration of antibiotic therapy.  For years I have recommended to people to stash away in their medical preps an old copy of the Sanford Antimicrobial guide, as …


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. This week: Lots of recent videos from the great outdoors of The American Redoubt. (The The photo of the Sawtooth Mountainss above was taken by Avalanche Lily.) REDOUBT Video LINKS Another video from James & Siana, this time up in the Sawtooth Mountains: British Couple Had No Idea Idaho Looked Like This! Video from Central Washington: Concrete Arrivals 2026 — Fly In.  (It looks like they had a …


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: Edward Snowden Tried to Warn People: Smartphone (ˈsmärt-ˌfōn) (noun): A sophisticated government-controlled surveillance and tracking device that can also be used to make phone calls. News Links: 2015: Edward Snowden interview: ‘Smartphones can be taken over’. 2017: Edward Snowden: How Your Cell Phone Spies on You JWR’s Comments: Lily and I have never owned smartphones. There are cellphones available with removable batteries. That is what we carry, but only when we travel. (Our ranch is outside of cellular coverage.) Note From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the …