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.
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SurvivalBlog reader C.B. forwarded this news link: American Red Cross declares national blood crisis as type O supply drops to dangerous levels. Here is an excerpt:
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Video from Weather With Travis: Winter Outlook 2026-27: Could This Look Like 1997-98?
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“A 42-year-old sex offender has been found guilty of having started one of the most destructive wildfires in California history.
Ronnie Dean Stout II was convicted of intentional arson in Butte County Superior Court on Friday, exactly two years after prosecutors said he started the massive Park Fire, near the city of Chico in Northern California, on July 24, 2024.
Stout was alleged to have pushed a burning 2007 Toyota Yaris into a ravine in the upper Bidwell Park shortly before 3pm, upon which the burning car ignited nearby vegetation, per the Chico Enterprise–Record.”
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Reader D.S.V. flagged this news: Thermos Recalls 8 Million Jars Linked to Vision Loss — Here’s What to Know.
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A group of teen hikers relied on Google Maps. It was a disaster.
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It is summer intern season, so that means there will be plenty of intern pranks publicized again this year. JWR’s Comments: The greatest summer intern prank ever was created by an intern. And it was aired live. Something tells me that intern never got a paid job in broadcast television, upon graduation.
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A Dead SpaceX Rocket Is About to Slam Into the Moon at 5,400 MPH.
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A Tech Founder Wanted to Start a New Country. An Actual Country Got in the Way. “Balaji Srinivasan left Silicon Valley and created an incubator for new countries in an Asian ghost city, before the government shut it down.”
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As Cease-Fire Teetered, Iran Plotted a Wider War With Aid of Its Proxies.
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Fears Of A US Draft Grow As The Selective Service Modernizes.
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Chest Compressions – The First-Line Response.
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From the leftist/statist Washington Post: A shrinking weapons stockpile is testing the Pentagon’s sweeping new strategy. Here is a pericope:
“But one of the Pentagon’s most urgent needs is munitions. The war with Iran has sharply depleted U.S. stockpiles, with CSIS estimating Monday that inventory of Patriot interceptors has fallen from 2,200 before the war to fewer than 827, and THAAD missiles from 452 to fewer than 278.”
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Another summer tradition: Launching Cars Off the Side of a Mountain.. 300 Foot Drop! (Alaska Car Launch 2026.)
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Video: Massive Iceberg Collapses and Flips Over in Ilulissat, Greenland | Full Event in 4K (July 25, 2026)
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And, lastly, be careful out there, and carry a fire extinguisher. Stuff happens.
Please Send Us Your Snippets!
Please send your snippet items for potential posting to JWR. or AVL. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact form.