Year: 2026

JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR, as a variation on an existing meme: Meme Text: Most Lightning Strikes Are Sent Out: “To Whom It May Concern” But Some Seem To Have A Particular Address In Mind An interesting technical piece explains how cloud-to-ground lightning actually has one components that goes UP from the ground to touch a leader coming down that “connects the circuit.”: Does lightning travel upward or downward? 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. …


Editors’ Quote:

“Freedom is not defined by safety. Freedom is defined by the ability of citizens to live without government interference. Government cannot create a world without risks, nor would we really wish to live in such a fictional place. Only a totalitarian society would even claim absolute safety as a worthy ideal, because it would require total state control over its citizens’ lives. Liberty has meaning only if we still believe in it when terrible things happen and a false government security blanket beckons.” – Dr. Ron Paul


Preparedness Notes — September 15, 2026

This Week in History: On September 15, 1600, the Battle of Sekigahara, (Sekigahara Kassen Byōbu『関ヶ原合戦屏風』) marked the rise of the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan. — September 15, 1774: Cossack pretender to the Russian throne Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachev was captured. — On September 16, 1620 the Mayflower departed Plymouth, England, with 102 Pilgrims and about 30 crew for the New World. — September 17,1776: The fortress Presidio of San Francisco was founded in New Spain to gain a foothold in Alta California and secure the San Francisco Bay for Spain. — And on September 18, 1851, the first edition of The …


40 Trillion Reasons for Economic Collapse – Part 1, by Single Farmer

We finally did it. We crossed 40 trillion dollars ($40,000,000,000,000) in national public debt on August 18, 2026. Congratulations to all the people who said we could get there if our politicians were just a little more irresponsible, foolish, short-sighted, careless, feckless, and every other way to describe our national march toward the cliff. We did it at even a faster pace than anticipated. Now, we can get to 80 trillion even faster. Forward, March over the Cliff into the Economic Collapse, Fellow Americans! As you are reading this, the United States has already crossed a critical milestone: The United …


Mingo Firewood Marker, by Thomas Christianson

The Mingo Ultimate Firewood Marker enables someone who is processing firewood to buck logs into rounds of remarkably uniform length. It does this by placing a spot of inverting marking spray at precise intervals onto a log that is being prepared for bucking. This precision is especially helpful for those who heat with smaller wood stoves. The fireboxes of smaller stoves have less margin for error than the fireboxes of larger stoves. A piece of cordwood even one inch too long can make it impossible to shut the door on the firebox of a smaller stove. Variations of the Marker …


SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic is a map that shows relatively what US states would look like at New Jersey’s population density. (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 …


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. This week: A map showing  Vacation Homes in the Contiguous United States. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.) The thumbnail below is click-expandable.     Economics & Investing Links of Interest The next financial crash: a scenario AI debt could spark a chain reaction. Copper Hits All-Time-High As Physical Economy Reprices Scarcity. The recent increases in copper and nickel have brought the melt value of a current U.S. 5-cent piece nickel  (still composed of 75% copper and 25% nickel) …


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 horrendous driver’s license data breach. Data Breach Compromised 150 Million Driver’s Licenses TechCrunch reports: ID verification giant IDScan confirms data breach with more than 150 million driver’s …


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. — Space Force picks Texas as US home for trinational DARC space radar network. (The photo above shows a DARC reflector being assembled in Australia. DARC is a US/UK/Australia trilateral partnership. Photo by Mike Kortum of Four Sea Group Inc., courtesy of U.S. Space Force.) o  o  o Tom Knighton, at Bearing Arms: …


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 Yet another great Gravity Knight flying video, with some awesome scenery: Landing at Flying B Ranch Idaho – Badlands Traveler. Now, that is a truly remote ranch — with micro-hydro power! Oh, and at the four-minute mark, take note of the Quest Kodiak STOL plane parked along the river side of the grass strip. Those are manufactured in Sandpoint, Idaho. And the classic trail-dragger seen …


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: Taxation is Theft Even When Thieves Wear Stinking Badges 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.



Preparedness Notes — September 11, 2026

Friday, September 11th marks the 25th anniversary of the brutal 9/11 terror attacks.  Never forget, America, the magnitude of the losses. See the 2:10 mark, and beyond. – JWR. Today is also the anniversary of the Benghazi Embassy attacks, in 2012. (Those events were recounted in the Hollywood film 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.) Please remember the sacrifice of J. Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, and CIA (former Navy SEAL) agents Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. Between them, Woods and Doherty reportedly dropped at least 60 of the attackers, before their position was overwhelmed. Please also remember the spineless …


Preparedness Notes — September 8, 2026

This Week in History On September 8, 1664, the Dutch surrendered their colony of New Netherland, including New Amsterdam, to 300 English soldiers. Following the capture, New Amsterdam’s name was changed to New York, to honor the Duke of York, who had organized the mission. — September 9, 1000: Battle of Svolder, Baltic Sea: King Olaf on board the Long Serpent was defeated in one of the greatest naval battles of the Viking Age. He leapt to his death, overboard. — September 10, 1919:  Treaty of Saint-Germain. Austria ended its incorporation with Germany. But its independence was short-lived. In the …