Preparedness Notes for Sunday — July 31, 2022

July 31 is the birthday of free-market economist Milton Friedman. (He was born 1912, and died November 16, 2006.) On July 31, 1958 the Anti-Chinese uprising began in Tibet. July 31st, 1921, was the birthday of Army Air Corps veteran David Thatcher, one of the Doolittle Raiders. Thatcher was the tail gunner in the rear of the Mitchell B-25 medium bomber christened the Ruptured Duck, the seventh of 16 planes. Returning from the raid, the bomber crashed into the sea from low fuel and the crewmen survived, in no small part to Thatcher’s heroic efforts. The five airmen washed ashore …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR: To share this, you can find it here: https://www.kapwing.com/videos/62e5c1a3c863cd00c0345acf Meme Text: If The Graduate Were Being Released Today: “Are You Listening?” “Yes, Sir, I Am.” “Magazines. Full-Capacity Magazines.”   Movie Clip Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dug-G9xVdVs News Link: https://www.nraila.org/articles/20220721/take-action-more-gun-control-in-us-house  


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — July 30, 2022

Today we remember the birthday of author Reginald Bretnor. He was born Alfred Reginald Kahn on July 30, 1911, in Vladivostok. He died on July 22, 1992 in Medford, Oregon. In addition to penning many witty science fiction novels and short stories in his characteristic style, he also wrote nonfiction articles for Mel Tappan’s P.S. Letter  — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 101 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 …


Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make 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 this column, in …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written: In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — July 29, 2022

July 29,1805 was the birthday of Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville. He died 16 April 1859. He is best known for his lengthy treatise: Democracy In America. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present the final entry for Round 101 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. It will be posted in three parts. 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 than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any …


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 again look at Dollar-Euro parity. (See the Forex & Cryptos section.) Precious Metals: Alasdair Macleod: Gold and the Upcoming Recession. o  o  o Gold could see a relief rally if Fed raises rates by 75 basis points – Standard Chartered. o  o  o Zimbabwe goes for the gold — coin, that …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — July 28, 2022

On July 28, 1932, U.S. Army troops, using tanks, cavalry, and tear gas demolished and burned the shanty town set up near the U.S. Capitol by unemployed Bonus Army protestors. July 28th is also the anniversary of the outbreak of World War I, in 1914. This war irreparably changed geopolitics. Officially, the war lasted until November 11, 1918, as did our involvement. But American troops were still running around shooting Russians until 1920. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 101 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The …


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. Today, we look at plunging photovoltaic power prices, even in the midst of inflation. The Cost Of Solar Power Has Fallen Quickly First up, at CleanTechica.com: Just The Facts: The Cost Of Solar Has …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — July 27, 2022

July 27th is the birthday of Captain Samuel Whittemore (born in 1694, died February 3, 1793). He was an English-born American farmer and soldier. He was eighty years of age when he became the oldest known colonial combatant in the American War of Independence. Whittemore was in his fields when he spotted an approaching British relief brigade under Earl Percy. Whittemore loaded his musket and ambushed the British Grenadiers of the 47th Regiment of Foot from behind a nearby stone wall, killing one soldier. He then drew his dueling pistols, killed a second grenadier and mortally wounded a third. By …


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. — In a shooting range video, attempting to recreate the 80% hit accuracy at 15 to 20 yards in 15 seconds of the Indiana Impromptu Mall Defender: The Eli Drill. (Elijah Dickens is pictured above.) I’ve read that he was armed with a compact Springfield Hellcat 9mm pistol. He demonstrated commendable speed and accuracy, …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“I regard free speech as a prerequisite to a civilized society, because freedom of speech means that you can have combat with words. That’s what it means. It doesn’t mean that people can happily and gently exchange opinions. It means that we can engage in combat with words, in the battleground of ideas. And the reason that that’s acceptable, and why it’s acceptable that people’s feelings get hurt during that combat, is that the combat of ideas is far preferable to actual combat” – Jordan Peterson, Maps of Meaning, 2017