Preparedness Notes for Friday — September 23, 2022

September 23, 1800 was the birthday of William McGuffey, a college president who is best known for writing the McGuffey Readers, the first widely used series of textbooks. It is estimated that at least 122 million copies of McGuffey Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a category with the Bible and Webster’s Dictionary. — Today’s feature article was written by our Field Gear Editor Emeritus, Pat Cascio. — I just heard that Siege Works (one of our advertisers) is running limited-time special sales on both the Siege Belts and their Siege Stoves. Take a look! …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at de-dollarization. Precious Metals: World’s Largest Hedge Fund Makes The Ultimate Case For Gold. o  o  o Over at Gold-Eagle.com: De-Dollarization Happening Now, Gold & Silver Being Drained! – Andy Schectman & Ninja o  o  o Tom Luongo: Here’s How Far the Fed will Hike, & How Gold & Silver …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — September 22, 2022

Today is the birthday of Kijirō Nambu (南部 麒次郎 Nanbu Kijirō, September 22, 1869 – May 1, 1949). He was a career officer in the Imperial Japanese Army and the founder of Nambu Arms Manufacturing Company, the maker of many of the firearms the Japanese military would use in World War II. A prolific small arms designer, he was sometimes called the “John Browning of Japan”. He was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure (2nd class) in 1914. — Our daughter Miss Eloise got quite busy with her new job, so she didn’t have time to run her knife …


To Sleep, Perchance to Dream – Part 3, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 2.  This concludes the article) Cold Weather Considerations Colder weather introduces its own unique problems to mobile sleep planning. Besides being really uncomfortable and preventing you from getting a good night’s sleep, it’s possible to get hypothermia in wet or windy conditions in temperatures as high as 60°F, which can result in death. The most obvious solution is to start a fire to keep you warm, but you’ll want to make sure you structure the fire to burn as long as possible so you can get a good night’s sleep. Some options for long-burning fires are: A …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— 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. Law Mandates Kill Switches In All New Cars MSN reported this troubling news: Law Will Install Kill Switches In All New Cars. Here is a quote: “According to an article written by former U.S. …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — September 21, 2022

On this day in 1780, during the American Revolution, American General Benedict Arnold met with British Major John Andre to discuss handing over West Point to the British in return for the promise of a large sum of money and a high position in the British army. The plot was foiled and Arnold, a former American hero, became synonymous with the word “traitor”. It’s too bad the current crop of politicians are not held accountable for their treasonous acts. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 102 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for …


To Sleep, Perchance to Dream – Part 2, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 1.) Another platform option to consider are hammocks – I’m not talking about those huge macrame things people have in their backyards, but real camping hammocks from companies like Eagles Nest Outfitters, Hummingbird, Lawson, Dutchware and Warbonnet Outdoors. I may be a bit biased since I transitioned from a ground-dweller to hammocks for backpacking a few years ago, but they can be incredibly comfortable and easy to set up and take down. Depending on how your room is configured you may be able to attach some heavy-duty screw eyes to wall studs and hang multiple hammocks up …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly column is a collection of short snippets: 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. — UPS Further Clamps Down on Firearms Shipments. Here is an excerpt from the article: “The United Parcel Service (UPS) has followed up its decision to enforce the new Biden administration rule on gun parts a month before it took effect with a new, restrictive firearms shipping policy that could prove troublesome to gunmakers and gun …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — September 20, 2022

On this day in 1519, Magellan left Europe on his voyage of discovery. On September 20, 1995, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to drop the national 55 MPH speed limit. This allowed the states to again decide their own speed limits, without fear of losing Federal highway funding. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 102 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more …


The American Redoubt Movement is Libeled, Yet Again

This week, in lieu of my regular weekly column about the American Redoubt region, I’m posting my reaction to recent libelous statements that unfairly smeared the American Redoubt political migration movement. The popular liberal pundit Seth Abramson (with 950,000+ followers) recently tweeted this on Twitter: “If a civil war starts in the U.S. in the next 5 years, it’ll start in Idaho and be started by the American Redoubters—armed fascists whose leaders have close ties to Trump and who are already openly threatening government officials. I advise Googling “American Redoubt” ASAP.”  Abramson continued in a long string of Twitter “PS” …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“We know that the idea of perfect socialism is an oxymoron. Pursuing utopia throughout the last century has already caused untold human suffering. That’s why the clear goal of a free society must be understood and sought or the vision of the authoritarians will face little resistance and will easily fill the void. There are precise goals we should work for, even under today’s difficult circumstances. We must legalize freedom to the maximum extent possible: 1. Complete police protection is impossible; therefore we must preserve the right to own weapons in self-defense. 2. In order to maintain economic protection against …


Preparedness Notes for Monday — September 19, 2022

Mickey Mouse made his screen debut in 1928 (Steamboat Willy at the Colony Theater in New Your City.) On September 19th, 1778, the Continental Congress passed the first budget of the United States. While the budget may have passed, the states responded poorly to the call for taxes to fund the government, and the government resorted to printing paper money to cover debts. In effect, the first budget was a failure, due in large part to the states not responding to the demands of Congress and the depreciation of fiat paper money. Are we talking about 1778 or 2014 here? …