JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books, and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how-to” self-sufficiency videos. There is also an emphasis on links to sources for storage food and a variety of storage and caching containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This week the focus is on PVS-14 Night Vision Monoculars. (See the Gear section.)

Books:

American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon

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How to Destroy America in Three Easy Steps, by Ben Shapiro

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Reader Ben S. recommended the new power grid-collapse novel The Silence, by Don Delillo. It was just released yesterday (Tuesday, October 20th, 2020), but Ben got an advance copy.

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Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor

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The Big Silver Short: How The Wall Street Banks Have Left The Silver Market In Place For The Short-Squeeze Of A Lifetime

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And, pardon the shameless self-promotion — but this was released yesterday: The Ultimate Prepper’s Survival Guide

Movies & Television:

The Ten Commandments (Two-Disc Special Edition) [Blu-ray]

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El Dorado (Paramount Centennial Collection)

Instructional Videos & Vlogs:

Building a 3.5kWh DIY Solar Generator for $650 – Start to Finish

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For Californian Black Rifle owners: Judge Benitez May Place Injunction on CA’s AWB!! Freedom Week Again?

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The irrepressible Colin Furze: Backyard Underground Bunker Tour/Update 5 years on

Music:

The Petersens – Second Live Concert from Branson

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Billy Strings Live from the Station Inn for Country Music Week

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Huey Lewis & the News – Full Concert – 05/23/89 – Slim’s

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The Dark Side of the Moon, 30th Anniversary Edition

Gear:

I should mention that in addition to his amazing custom knives, our Editor At Large Michael Z. Williamson also makes custom holsters and knife sheaths. They are available via mail order. Pictured below is a leather hip holster for an exposed-hammer S&W .38 Top Break revolver. Nice work, Mike!

 

 

 

 

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Sistema 1850 Klip It Collection Rectangle Food Storage Container, 169 Ounce/21 Cup

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GunSkins Rifle Skin – Premium Vinyl Gun Wrap with Precut Pieces – Easy to Install and Fits Any Rifle – 100% Waterproof Non-Reflective Matte Finish – Made in USA

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I’ve heard that they still have a few of these in captivity:  N-Vision Optics PVS-14 Night Vision Monocular, Generation 3 Auto-Gated White Phosphor Image Intensifier Tube.

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Fire Force A.L.I.C.E. Pack Enhanced Padded Belt, Kidney Belt Made in USA (MARPAT Woodland)

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The price is creeping up, but there are still some of these import-banned transceivers available: Baofeng UV-5R Dual Band Walkie Talkie VHF UHF Two Way Radio (6 Pack)

Featured Antique Gun of the Week

Our featured antique gun of the week is a Colt Model 1892 .38 Long Colt Army, R.A.C.-inspected, circa 1893.  Like most other pre-1899 guns, it can be mailed or shipped directly to your doorstep without any paperwork or FFL dealer involvement. (Be sure to check your state and local laws before ordering.) Take a look at the many recently-added guns at the Elk Creek Company store.

Make a Suggestion

Want to suggest Recommendations of your own? Then please send them to JWR. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) Thanks!


40 Comments

  1. Glad to see you listed Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of The Moon!

    One of the best albums of all time, IMHO.

    Pink Floyd The Wall (movie) was also a great commentary on the dangers of Socialism. Loved the scene with students in desks riding down the conveyor belt and marching into the meat grinder….Pink Floyd illustrated quite well the Marxist Indoctrination Machine which today has grown into an enormous abomination: The 1619 Project. Black Lives Matter. Social Distancing. Cancel Culture. The erasure of history. Labeling all dissenters ‘Racists’. FEMA camps are next.

    Pink Floyd nailed it in 1980:

    We don’t need no education
    We don’t need no thought control
    No dark sarcasm in the classroom
    Teacher, leave the kids alone
    Hey! Teacher, leave us kids alone
    All in all you’re just another brick in the wall
    All in all you’re just another brick in the wall

  2. Another Ben Shapiro book! Gonna have to wait til I can find some very used copies down the road I guess. I pretty much restrict my book purchases to reference sorts of books due to the cost; did order your new book though Jim.

    I’ve tried(and failed) to get the larger library that I have a card at to stock titles that aren’t the usual leftist liberal pap but so far no dice. Don’t think they’re getting Candace Owens’ book anytime soon! Nor any of Ben Shapiro’s books. But if you want to read your fill of books on “rainbow children”, white racism and the like, they’re fully stocked.
    And no Jim, they don’t have a single one of your books!

    Same thing with the e-book online library for my entire state. Not only do they not carry books by conservative authors, but just regular best-selling novels have a huge waiting list of 6 months or longer to read. Yet they’ve stocked their virtual “shelves” with tons of recent acquisitions on racism, diversity, inclusion and gender.

    I think this is important for a number of reasons, and not only that those of us who want to read other titles have to buy them ourselves, if we can even afford to. Essentially, this reinforces the liberal echo chamber that our society has become, Our schools, MSM and even our libraries are blasting the leftist liberal ideology to all adults and children. When it’s all you hear about or read, do you even know there’s other viewpoints and perhaps they are valid? When the teachers and librarians reinforce the leftist ideology, that’s all the public knows. And when every article in MSM such as the NYT has become an op-ed piece blasting Trump and Republicans, exposure to alternative news becomes harder to come by. I suspect this is the plan. Control a country’s education and media and you control their minds.

    1. If you have not done so already, find out who is on the library board and when their next meeting is. Ask in advance to address the entire board at that meeting about your concerns. Find other like minded people to attend the meeting with you to speak out also. Send them an email as well.
      Find out who is doing the book selection for adults- there are usually different people selecting for the adult collection than the children’s materials, unless the library is super small. Absolutely ask to see their materials selection policy in writing. In these times, many libraries are focused more on electronic materials than print copies, but many conservative titles are also available electronically.

      1. I have gotten a response from the library telling me that they will look into diversifying the viewpoints represented in their political offerings. That’s a start…..

        1. Ani,

          Thanks for the reminder. I will make a request of my library system to carry JWR’s latest book.

          They carry most of the earlier ones. You and Kate know how to work the system.

          Carry on

    2. It is all about control. It started over a century ago. A number of years ago I saw a quote that basically went like this: control what you teach the children and you control how they think. Since then your local school became controlled by the state then by the feds. With each step the education our kids have received has gotten worse.

    1. I like listening to Ben Shapiro. In one interview months ago someone asked him something like (and forgive me if it’s not exact word for word), Did you enjoy your college experience?; to which he replied, Not really, I was only 13.

      As always, hoping you…
      Seymour Liberty

  4. Excellent SB recommendations!

    …and on the subject of resources! This is a great time to reconsider everything from social medial to search engines.

    This news report on the social media front was deeply concerning, although not a surprise: https://nypost.com/2020/10/20/meet-your-chinese-facebook-censors/

    We also saw the news that Duck Duck Go appeared to be supressing Citizen Free Press. With this in mind, we have moved our own search system to Start Page: https://startpage.com/

    Here’s the Citizens Free Press Reference: https://www.citizenfreepress.com/breaking/alert-duck-duck-go-search-engine-removes-link-to-citizen-free-press/

    1. Telesilla of Argos

      Thanks for the heads up on Duck Duck Go. I’ve had that one for a couple of years now but will be switching immediately.

      It seriously seems as if the whole world has gone mad.

      I’m so glad that I’ve never ever had the slightest interest in Fakecr*p or Twit&@$!!

      Whenever I want to know what my son or daughter in the USMC have posted on their Fakecr*p accounts, I have my sister go on her account (of course from her phone) and let me know what’s up. I’ve lived this long without falling for social justice media, I can function just fine without it

      Have a Rockin great day!!

    2. Oh, dear. Thx T of A, unaware of duckduckgo seemingly headed for the dark side. Guess I best be switchin’ my searcher. Will check StartPage, I’ve not heard of that.

    3. Just checked DDG, Citizen Free Press came right up, top 4 or 5 links, and they all work. Then again, DDG is Google based, maybe the Googs are screwing with DDG.

    4. Having DuckDuckGo as my main search page, I just ran a search on Citizen Free Press, and they showed up right on top, links all worked as of 11:32 PM on 21 October. Perhaps what was encountered was a glitch of some sort rather than any censoring.

  5. 3 things about that DIY solar generator. There’s no way that battery pack will hold the equivalent of 3.5 KWH. You will never find all those components for $650 unless you are using stuff that is worn out/salvage. Unless you are looking to file an insurance claim for burning your house down, I would not recommend building your own LI-Ion stack like he did unless you are a professional battery builder.

    A reliable DIY 3.5KWH solar generator can be had for about triple that price. I recommend a 2000 watt PS inverter and a bigger MPPT than what he had, and a couple 100 AH Li-Ion pre-built batteries from a reputable manufacturer. Also, most of his wiring is undersized, meaning losses and too much heat in the case.

    1. Benjamin, I would respectfully disagree with some of your comments. First, his math was right on related to volts, mAh, and kWh. Second, he shows taking cells out of a battery pack used in “some kind of modem” and explains that they were $1.50 for each pack of three cells. So yes, these are surplus cells. Finally, he also said he usea the 1500 watt inverter because that was what he had on hand, but otherwise he would have used a 2000 or 2500 watt inverter, just like you suggest.

      I’ve watched quite a few DIY-lithium battery builds and the video linked above is nothing unusual. (Anyone interested should just search for Lithium Battery Builds on YouTube.) He used pretty standard and common techniques and what looked to me to be decent safety precautions, including shrink wrapping, whcih is more than most hobbiests do. I thought the build was well thought out and executed considering he seemed to be doing it on the fly. That said, I do agree that he should have used heavier gauge wire. Instead of using two pieces of 10 gauge wire, he should have used a piece of 6-gauge or even 4-gauge wire.

      Not every shooter chooses to reload or build their own AR15s, and there are probably folks out there that think doing so is inherently unsafe. Likewise, you and I may not choose to make our own lithium battery packs or solar generators, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a viable pursuit that can save money over purchasing new equipment.

  6. This one published in 1968 has some, no many, great pictures. I good look at what an intelligent man saw in the future.

    The Promise of Space by Arthur C. Clarke

    Carry on

  8. Thank you for mentioning Don Delillo’s book!!!! He is underrated as a writer, is a literary gem, and deserves to be much better known than he is!!!
    Congratulations, Mr. Rawles, on the release of your new book!!

  9. There’s such a disturbance in the force today, i.e., spiritual battle. Many people I know are encountering various hardships and my counsel was to PRAY and watch for the Lord’s answers in addition to a few simple ideas. Everything I’ve put my hands to today has been problematic, but I keep going. I want to throw my hands up and curse, but I realize it’s a spiritual battle, not a physical one. I don’t expect things to let up for months, who knows how long. Just encouraging everyone to keep putting one foot in front of the other, and KNOW that there is a war on for our souls – a war that has already been won by our Savior.
    Hugs are important during this time (and maybe… chocolate, which reminds me, I found a recipe online for pumpkin/orange/chocolate chip bread! lol)

    2. Hi, SaraSue, I get it; that was yesterday for me. Today though…

      I woke up at my folks house out in the country with a feeling that I should drive into the city, “Business” Costco and buy 100 lbs of salt: 4 x 25 lb bags. I only have 2 of these bags from there, and was feeling like it was a prep hole to be filled.

      They were GONE. You know how you second guess yourself and keep going up and down the same aisles because you think you missed it? Nope. I didn’t miss it. The store that caters to restaurants and sells everything in huge, jumbo sizes, has discontinued 25 lb bags of salt. They offer salt packets and small quantities instead.

      I already have dozens of 1 lb salt containers but wish to buy in bulk and store in pails from now on.

      So, anyone have a good resource for bulk salt for pick up or with free shipping?

      Please share your recipe. smile.

      Blessings to you and puppies, Krissy

      2. Hi Krissy,
        Always love your posts! You can get bulk salt online through walmart.com vendors or just buy a bunch of the Great Value “plain salt” cheap. You can buy 50lbs of sea salt through Azurestandard.com if you can find a drop point near you for pick up. 50lbs of sea salt for $34.53. Historically, the reason people kept bulk salt was to preserve meats (from hunting). You can also get from Costco online (at least in my area), sea salt in 5lb containers really inexpensively. Pink Himalayan salt is $7.49/5lbs and regular sea salt (which is *much* stronger in effect) $2.99/30oz, and there are a couple other options. I keep a variety of salts for different purposes.

        The recipe was from an online source and I made up a batch yesterday and it wasn’t that great. lol. I always have to modify recipes for my altitude and sometimes it’s a hit and miss. But here’s the source link: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-bread/.

        My day yesterday ended up really good! YAY! This morning 25 degrees. Hello winter.

  10. Ben Shapiro is OK most of the time. Always remember and never forget, Ben Shapiro has been and always will be a neocon, never Trumper. No, I’m not going to attempt to back that up, do your own homework, find out for yourself.

  14. Bought 3 copies of the new book! One for me, one for the nephew, and one to loan out.

    In recent news, the Pope has just announced that the church will now allow same sex marriages. The Great Whore of Babylon has just arisen!!! Our Lord has promised that before he comes, the apostacy in the church must first occur. GET READY!

  15. Just received your new book from Amazon today (10-22-2020) it came really fast from ordering it on book bomb day. I really like how the book can lay flat. Now to read it several times.

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