Preparedness Notes for Friday — August 11, 2023

On August 11, 1857, N. H. Wolfe and Company, the oldest flour and grain company in New York City, failed. This failure shook investor confidence and began a slow selloff in the market which continued into late August. Several other failures followed, and this cascaded into what was later called the Panic of 1857. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 108 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, …


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. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at the recent drop in sales of cardboard boxes. (See the Economy & Finance section.) Precious Metals: Gold Price To Monetary Base – A Ratio to Keep An Eye On. o  o  o Matthew Piepenberg, at Gold-Eagle.com: Keeping Your Head Amidst Debt-Blind Madness. Economy & Finance: Big Drop in Cardboard Box Sales Scream …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — August 10, 2023

On August 10th, 1984, Red Dawn, the first PG-13 rated movie, starring Patrick Swayze was released. The movie (the 1984 original film, not the 2012 remake) is a favorite of both JWR and HJL. The movie embodies the independent, indomitable spirit that created this country. — A few new listings of interest, over at my #1 Son’s SurvivalRealty site: Remote airpark home near the Boise River, outside Mountain Home, Idaho. Log cabin on 19 acres near Heron, MT. Pond and private end of the road location. Two homes on 20 acres in northwest South Carolina. SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The glaring fallacy that always lies at the heart of pro-censorship sentiments is the gullible, delusional belief that censorship powers will be deployed only to suppress views one dislikes, but never one’s own views… Facebook is not some benevolent, kind, compassionate parent or a subversive, radical actor who is going to police our discourse in order to protect the weak and marginalized or serve as a noble check on mischief by the powerful. They are almost always going to do exactly the opposite: protect the powerful from those who seek to undermine elite institutions and reject their orthodoxies. Tech giants, …


Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — August 9, 2023

August 9th, 1831 was the birthday of James Paris Lee (August 9, 1831 – February 24, 1904). He was a Scottish-Canadian and later American inventor and arms designer, best known for inventing the bolt action that led to the Lee-Metford and Lee-Enfield series of rifles. — Federal Premium (one of our affiliate advertisers), is running some great discounts on their ammunition — rifle, pistol, and shotgun. Federal offers free shipping on orders over $149.  These specials are running just for the month of August, so order soon! Also, note that Federal Premium has made available a free Ballistic app. With …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This 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. — Reader C.B. sent this: 8-year-old survives ‘extraordinarily rare’ cougar attack inside Washington’s Olympic National Park. o  o  o From Mike D.: New Evidence Suggests Vaccinated Can Transmit Covid-19 Vax Antibodies Through The Air. o  o  o Avalanche Lily alerted me to this article at The Hill: High school boys are trending conservative. …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — August 8, 2023

On August 4, 2000, the sunken wreckage of the Hunley, a Confederate submarine that was lost during the American Civil War, was raised from the ocean floor near Sullivans Island, South Carolina. It had been the first submarine to sink (1864) an enemy ship, the Union sloop Housatonic. — SurvivalRealty.com is running a special late summer promotion for any new property advertising customers. You can use coupon code “summer23” for 20% off your first two months of advertising. The promotion is available to both real estate agents and “for sale by owner” sellers. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present …


SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This weekly column features news stories and event announcements 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. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, some more attacks on the Redoubt  movement.  (See the Region-Wide section.) Region-Wide ‘A spiritual war’: Are Christian nationalists threatening to turn the US into a religious state? JWR’s Comments:  I was surprised to see the SkyNews run this blatantly biased piece. Quoting a strident axe-to-grind …




Recipe of the Week: Amy’s Simple Alabama Corn Pudding

The following recipe for a simple Alabama corn pudding is from SurvivalBlog reader Miss Amy. She says: “With our summer corn nearing harvest nearing, I wanted to share this recipe. This recipe is best with freshly-harvested corn but frozen corn will do.” Ingredients 2 eggs, beaten 1/2 cup granulated sugar 2 Tablespoons of flour 1/3 stick of real butter, melted 1 cup milk 2 cups of corn off the cob Salt and pepper, to taste. Directions Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs. Mix in the sugar. Mix in the flour. In …


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. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at the prices of gold, silver, and platinum. (See the Precious Metals section.) Precious Metals: Gold and silver prices have been surprisingly strong. Typically in the summer months each year, the precious metal prices have slack sails, drifting around in the doldrums. But because we are seeing prices this strong in early August, I …