Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — January 7, 2026

On January 7th, 1558, Calais, the last English possession in France, was retaken by French troops under Duc de Guise. (The Pale of Calais had been an exclave and parliamentary borough of England across the Strait of Dover from 1347 to 1558.) The painting above, The Siege of Calais was completed by François-Édouard Picot in 1838.

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January 7th, 1610, Galileo Galilei discovered the first three moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa and Ganymede.

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And on January 7th, 1930, French physicist Marguerite Perey discovered Francium (Fr), the last naturally occurring element to be found.

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Today’s feature article is a guest post that was written by one of our writing contest prize sponsors.

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We need more entries for Round 122 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $978,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 122 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

Detecting AI-Written Slop Before You Buy Books, by Jennifer Rader

Editor’s Introductory Note:  The alarming trend that is described in this article is also taking place in many other book genres. It is possible that at least one of the author names cited in this article may be genuine, so I’m preemptively stating: Jennifer Rader’s article is an attempt to accurately describe the extent of A.I.-generated trickery in contemporary publishing. If the she has mentioned any actual living human authors by mistake, our apologies. We will be glad to update this article with corrections or clarifications. – JWR

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As a preparedness author, the meteoric rise in the number of AI-written books on the market disturbs me. The hit to my profit isn’t substantial. However, I am bothered that good people will be deceived and may even employ fallacious herbal remedies that do more harm than good. While the following information pertains to herbal medicine references, most principles can be applied to preparedness and survival books which are also flooding the market.

According to Michael Fraiman, writing at Originality.ai: “82% of Amazon ‘Herbal Remedies’ Books in 2025 Were Likely AI-Written.”

Fraiman’s November, 2025 article confirmed my suspicions. I hadn’t realized how rampant the problem was.  As I’ve contemplated the issue, I’ve become both disgusted and alarmed, because I see how AI corrupts writing.  My children have queried ChatGPT about my own research. And while the responses they have received are about 85% accurate, there are also outright fabrications. How many people find a 15% error rate acceptable with medical information, of any sort? There’s no reason to believe that AI won’t corrupt herbal remedies. AI could make them ineffective, less effective, or lethal. And the reader won’t have any idea that the book they are reading is a fabrication, especially as AI improves.

[JWR Adds: Ironically,  Michael Fraiman used AI-driven AI detection tools to research the article.]Continue reading“Detecting AI-Written Slop Before You Buy Books, by Jennifer Rader”

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.

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Federal court strikes down California open carry gun ban as unconstitutional. Here is an excerpt from the   article:

“A federal court in California on Friday struck down the state’s law that prohibits people from openly carrying guns in most public places, ruling that the state law was unconstitutional because it violated the Second Amendment.

The San Francisco-based Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals cited a 2022 Supreme Court ruling that struck down a New York law that required people applying for a license to carry a concealed weapon prove they have “proper cause” to carry a gun.

The California law in question banned openly carrying guns in counties with a population greater than 200,000 people.

The appeals court’s 2-1 decision said the California case ‘unquestionably involves a historical practice — open carry — that predates ratification of the Bill of Rights in 1791,’ and that ‘historical record makes unmistakably plain that open carry is part of this Nation’s history and tradition.'”

JWR’s Comment: I predict that California will waste more California taxpayers’ money, appealing this all the way to the Supreme Court. And there, they will lose.

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An Archive USB Stick Production Update:  We heard from the manufacturer that the 20th Anniversary blog archive USB stick presentation tins will be laser-engraved in a gray-on-silver monotone, rather than a multicolor silkscreen. Those engravings won’t have ultra-detailed resolution, but they will last much, much longer than painted labels.

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In The WSJ:  The Hottest High Schools in Massachusetts Are Trade Schools.

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A very useful video from Magic Prepper: The Suppressors I Should’ve Started With to Save Time and Money.

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Colorado Springs woman mauled to death by mountain lion during hike.

And here is a related news article: Mountain lions menaced hikers, pets for months near national park before fatal attack.

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

The Editors’ Quote Of The Day:

“The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment, was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy.” – Milton Friedman

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — January 6, 2026

January 6, 1799 was the birthday of Jedediah Strong Smith, one of America’s greatest trapper-explorers. He was born in Bainbridge, New York. Smith explored a huge area of the American West during his short life.

“He began his western voyages in 1822, when he joined the pioneering fur trader William Ashley on a trip up the Missouri River. Unlike earlier fur traders, who depended on Native Americans to actually trap or hunt the furs, Ashley eliminated the Natives as middlemen and instead sent out independent white trappers like Smith to do the job.

To escape dependence on Native Americans, though, Ashley needed to find his own sources of beaver and otter in the West, and Smith became one of his best explorers. A year after his first trip up the Missouri, Smith set out with a small band of mountain men to explore the Black Hills region of the Dakotas at Ashley’s behest. Despite being mauled by a grizzly bear in the Black Hills, Smith continued westward to the site of modern-day Dubois, Wyoming, where he and his men camped for the winter.

During his long forced halt at Dubois, Smith learned from Crow Native Americans of an easy pass through the Rocky Mountains. The following spring, Smith and his men followed the route outlined by the Crow and discovered that they could cross the mighty Rockies with little effort. Later named the “South Pass,” Smith’s new route was a high plain that gradually rose like a shallow ramp to provide an easy crossing of the Continental Divide.”

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 122 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three-Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  2. A Peak Refuel “Wasatch Pack” variety of 60 servings of premium freeze-dried breakfasts and dinners in individual meal pouches — a whopping 21,970 calories, all made and packaged in the USA — courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  3. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses. Their course catalog now includes their latest Survival Gunsmithing course.
  4. HSM Ammunition in Montana is providing a $350 gift certificate. The certificate can be used for any of their products.
  5. Harvest Guard is providing a 200-Piece Bulk Mix Pack of their Regular and Wide-Mouth Reusable Canning Jar Lids & Gaskets. This is a $161 + shipping value.

Second Prize:

  1. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  2. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from TOUGHGRID.com (a $287 value).
  3. Preparedness author Jennifer Rader is offering a $200 purchase credit for any of her eight published food storage and medical preparedness books, including the Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Café series, the Armageddon Pharmacy series, and the Medicine Surrounds Us series.
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of gun purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. A Berkey Light water filter, courtesy of USA Berkey Filters (a $305 value),
  2. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.
  3. A $200 credit from Military Surplus LLC that can be applied to purchase and/or shipping costs for any of their in-stock merchandise, including full mil-spec ammo cans, Rothco clothing and field gear, backpacks, optics, compact solar panels, first aid kits, and more.
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

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More than $978,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 122 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

Lessons From a Fight at a Restaurant, by Robert E. Downing

(The photo above, courtesy of Openverse, was taken by “Terren in Virginia“, a witness to a 2008 baseball team “fan rivalry” brawl at a New York sports stadium.)

The following is what I learned about security at lunch one day:

Scenario

One Tuesday, about six weeks ago, I stopped for a late lunch at a local upscale family restaurant in Virginia Beach, Virginia, that is part of a well-known chain.  It was about 3 o’clock in the afternoon and it seemed to be a quiet place to have lunch and prepare my Sunday school lesson.

I selected a seat near the back of the restaurant with good light that was coming in from the windows.

After about 45 minutes, a lady that was seated at another table facing my direction, suddenly became agitated and said loudly: “You can’t do that here.” She seemed to be speaking to someone behind me and slightly to my left. It turned out that she was the manager.

As I turned to see who she was talking to, it was obvious there was some sort of disturbance going on. An older gentleman seemed to have been knocked down, and there was something happening underneath a couple of tables. Additionally, a lady in her booth was moving to her far left – away from whatever was going on. Almost immediately, two older gentlemen who were close to the disturbance tried to separate two young men who were fighting.Continue reading“Lessons From a Fight at a Restaurant, by Robert E. Downing”

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. The photo above was shot from the east side of the Snake River Canyon. The United States Congress designated the Hells Canyon Wilderness in 1975. It measures 217,927 acres, with about 83,811 acres in Idaho, and 134,116 acres Oregon. The wilderness is jointly managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service. (Photo courtesy of the BLM.)

Send Your Media Links

Please send your links to media from the American Redoubt region to JWR. Any photos that are posted or re-posted must be uncopyrighted. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact form.

Preparedness Notes for Monday — January 5, 2026

On January 5, 1477, the Battle of Nancy (now in France) was won by the Lorraine-Swiss forces led by René II, Duke of Lorraine. More than 7,000 Burgundians were killed, including Duke Charles The Bold. Thus ended the Burgundian Wars and the Burgundian State.

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On January 5, 1914, industrialist Henry Ford announced his $5 minimum per-day wage. This doubled most workers’ pay from $2.40 for a 9-hour workday to $5 for an 8-hour workday.

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January 5th is the birthday of the late John Pugsley (born 1934, died April 8, 2011), libertarian and economics author. Pugsley was well known in preparedness circles as the author of The Alpha Strategy. (The book is out of print, but a PDF is available for free download.)

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The 20th Anniversary SurvivalBlog 2005-2025 Waterproof/EMP-Resistant Archive USB sticks are available for Pre-Ordering. This year, we are also offering a limited number of them in steel keepsake tins, with keychains.  Both types have been selling very rapidly. Orders should start to be mailed in the third week of January.  To be sure that you get yours, order soon!

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Today’s feature piece is a review written by SurvivalBlog staffer Tom Christainson. But first, an annual reminder…

Annual Reminder: The Ten Cent Challenge

Each year, I only post one reminder, encouraging voluntary Ten Cent Challenge tip subscriptions, and this is it.

Back in August, we celebrated our 20th blogiversary. Thanks for making SurvivalBlog such a success! There are now more than 41,400 archived articles and columns. SurvivalBlog is well-established as the world’s most widely-read daily blog on family preparedness.

Hopefully, some readers appreciate the fact that I only post an appeal once a year. And I’m confident that most readers appreciate that SurvivalBlog is one of the last of the “Old School” blogs that is still posted with fresh content from blog readers and editors. We are one of the few blogs without any of the annoyances and intrusions that you’ve probably seen elsewhere:

  • Off-topic “filler” articles
  • A.I.-generated artwork and contrived articles.
  • Annoying pop-up ads
  • A “Pay Wall” that presents only the first part of an article
  • Opt-in pop-ups to generate e-mail lists
  • E-mail list spamming
  • Auto-playing embedded videos
  • Paid placement pseudo-articles written by foreign hacks
  • Instant surveys
  • Idiotic “Are you sure you want to leave?” messages
  • Animated graphics or animated/blinking ads
  • “Top 10” slideshows
  • Inane off-topic infographics, kitsch, and Beauty Tips
  • Cheesy stock photography
  • “Members-only” exclusives
  • Keyword stuffing
  • Sporadic blog postings — often just once per week, or less

SurvivalBlog is a consistently posted and genuine blog. I’ve only missed three days of posting in more than 20 years, most notably just after my first wife passed away. And I have never stooped to the marketing and data-mining trickery that has become so commonplace with many other blogs and vlogs. We are still truly Old School. And we will never sell your e-mail address. We don’t even maintain any e-mail lists for our own use.

Everything at SurvivalBlog–including the full archive–remains available free of charge. (Although we also sell a waterproof archive USB stick that is updated and expanded annually. Please consider buying one or two of those, in addition to your Ten Cent Challenge tip.) And we certainly do not harass you with droning week-long PBS-style pledge drives.

Please keep in mind that we have considerable monthly expenses to operate SurvivalBlog. We pay for bandwidth, web hosting, paying for our primary server, maintaining our backup server, software, insurance, and legal fees. I also have contract expenses for paying both our Managing Editor and our Field Gear Editor.

So, here is my appeal in a nutshell: If you find that you get more than 10 cents worth of value per day in reading SurvivalBlog, then please donate 10 cents a day ($36.50 per year) to help cover the blog’s costs. And by the way, even with inflation, that suggested tip amount hasn’t changed since the blog’s inception, back in 2005. Please consider:

Adjusted for inflation, $36.50 in 2005 Dollars is $60.90 in 2026 Dollars.

In 2005, the average price per pound of ground beef was $2.74. Today, it is $6.32.

In 2005, a First Class U.S. postage stamp cost 37 cents.  Today, it is 78 cents, and by mid-2026, it will likely be at least 80 cents.

In 2005, a Big Mac at McDonald’s was $2.69. Today, it is $5.89.

The Ten Cent Challenge in 2005:  $36.50.

The Ten Cent Challenge in 2026:  $36.50.

There are several options for sending a Ten Cent Challenge tip, including PayPal, cash, checks, booklets of “Forever” U.S. postage stamps, and even mailing us a five silver dimes or two silver quarters. (Many folks thoughtfully send pre-1965 silver dimes or quarters taped to a folded piece of cardboard, each year.)

Also, please consider investing in an antique gun or two. Those scarce guns only go up in value, and profits from our side business help keep us afloat. (Note: Elk Creek Company will be on a re-stocking hiatus until March 15th, but please mark your calendar to order after then.)

Only about 1% of readers send Ten Cent Challenge tips. Please join in, and do your bit. Your contributions are needed and greatly appreciated.

If sending your subscription by mail, please use this address for a check payable to James Rawles (or cash, silver, or Forever stamps) to:

James Rawles
P.O. Box 303
Moyie Springs, Idaho 83845

Or, if sending funds via PayPal, please use jamesATrawles.to  (and change the “AT” to an @ symbol.)

Lastly, please consider other ways that you can help support SurvivalBlog. Even just placing links on your own website helps a lot. And if you sell storage food, communications, night vision, body armor, alternative energy, shooting, or other preparedness-related products or services, then please consider either advertising your products or services in SurvivalBlog or becoming a writing contest prize donor. You’ll find the publicity very beneficial to your business.

Many Thanks! – JWR

TriStar KR22, by Thomas Christianson

The TriStar KR22 rifle has many excellent features. It is well-balanced and feeds smoothly. The synthetic stock is nicely weather resistant. It comes with two magazines. The comb can be adjusted for height, making it easy to get a good cheek weld while using optics. The receiver includes an integrated Picatinny rail. The stock comes with sling studs installed. The barrel is threaded to accept muzzle devices. The magazine-well accepts Ruger BX-series magazines.

For me, the KR22 functioned most effectively with a red dot sight. To be useful for pest control, a rifle should be capable of consistently shooting two-inch groups or better at 25 yards. The KR22 exceeded this level of accuracy in my testing.

The KR22 is made in Turkey. At the time of this writing it cost $289 at www.tristararms.com .

By combining excellent features, acceptable accuracy, and an attractive price point, the KR22 offers a good value for the money. If you are looking for a budget-friendly semi-auto in .22LR, then the KR22 offers a viable choice.Continue reading“TriStar KR22, by Thomas Christianson”

Recipe of the Week:

The following recipe for Old Fashioned Boiled Dinner is from The New Butterick Cook Book, copyright 1924, now in the public domain. That is just one of the dozens of bonus books included in the 2005-2025 20th Anniversary Edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick that is now available to pre-order.

Ingredients
  • 6 pounds corned-beef brisket
  • 1 cabbage
  • 3 white turnips
  • 4 carrots
  • 6 potatoes
  • 6 beets
  • Vinegar
Directions
  1. Put the meat into the pot over a brisk lire with enough cold water to cover it.
  2. Bring it rapldly just to the boiling-point, then remove the scum, set the pot back on the fire and sim-mer until the meat is tender (about three hours).
  3. About three-fourths of an hour before serving, skim the liquid free from fat.
  4. Put a portion of this liquor into another kettle with the cabbage which has been cleaned and cut into sections, along with the turnips, carrots, and parsnips prepared and cut into uniform pieces, and boil until tender.

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Do you have a well-tested recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long-term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven recipes, slow cooker recipes, and any recipes that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic: A map showing the Overlap of the Schengen Area and the Eurozone, as of January, 2026. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.)

The thumbnail below is click-expandable.

 

 

 

 

 

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Please send your graphics or graphics links to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Any graphics that you send must either be your own creation or uncopyrighted.

The Editors’ Quote Of The Day:

“There is a certain enthusiasm in liberty, that makes human nature rise above itself, in acts of bravery and heroism. It cannot be expected, that America would yield, without a magnanimous persevering and bloody struggle. The testimony of past ages, and the least knowledge of mankind, must suffice to convince us of the contrary.” – Alexander Hamilton

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — January 4, 2026

On January 4, 871, the Viking Great Heathen Army defeated a Wessex force led by King Æthelred and his brother Alfred, in the First Battle of Reading.

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January 4, 1896: Following Mormon abandonment of sanctioned polygamy, Utah was belatedly admitted as the 45th US state.  Settlers had first petitioned Congress for statehood in 1849. Several of Utah’s less populous neighboring territories had been admitted to statehood years earlier than Utah.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 122 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A Gunsite Academy Three-Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  2. A Peak Refuel “Wasatch Pack” variety of 60 servings of premium freeze-dried breakfasts and dinners in individual meal pouches — a whopping 21,970 calories, all made and packaged in the USA — courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  3. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses. Their course catalog now includes their latest Survival Gunsmithing course.
  4. HSM Ammunition in Montana is providing a $350 gift certificate. The certificate can be used for any of their products.
  5. Harvest Guard is providing a 200-Piece Bulk Mix Pack of their Regular and Wide-Mouth Reusable Canning Jar Lids & Gaskets. This is a $161 + shipping value.

Second Prize:

  1. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  2. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from TOUGHGRID.com (a $287 value).
  3. Preparedness author Jennifer Rader is offering a $200 purchase credit for any of her eight published food storage and medical preparedness books, including the Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Café series, the Armageddon Pharmacy series, and the Medicine Surrounds Us series.
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of gun purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. A Berkey Light water filter, courtesy of USA Berkey Filters (a $305 value),
  2. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.
  3. A $200 credit from Military Surplus LLC that can be applied to purchase and/or shipping costs for any of their in-stock merchandise, including full mil-spec ammo cans, Rothco clothing and field gear, backpacks, optics, compact solar panels, first aid kits, and more.
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

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More than $978,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 122 ends on January 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.