Preparedness Notes for Thursday — May 12, 2022

101 years ago this week, in May of 1921 a solar storm began, dubbed: The Great Geomagnetic Storm of May 1921. These were some of the headlines: “Telegraph Service Prostrated, Comet Not to Blame” — declared the Los Angeles Times on May 15, 1921. “Electrical Disturbance is ‘Worst Ever Known’” — reported the Chicago Daily Tribune. “Sunspot credited with Rail Tie-up” — in The New York Times. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 100 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest …




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 on  societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we further examine the trend of buying second passports. Wealthy Americans are Buying Second Passports Several readers sent us this link: Wealthy Americans are buying second passports as a ‘plan B’ for their families, citing the pandemic, climate change, and political turmoil. Her eis a quote: “The one thing …







Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — May 11, 2022

On May 11, 1949, Israel was admitted into the United Nations. — Reader Tracy M. mentioned that Spaceweather.com reported this yesterday: X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE: An unusually-magnetized sunspot exploded on May 10th, producing an intense X1.5-class solar flare. Shortwave radio signals were blacked out around the Atlantic Ocean for as much as an hour, and now there’s a chance a CME is heading our way. SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 100 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 …




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. We may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters. — Video from Task & Purpose: US Army OFFICIALLY HAS A NEW PRIMARY WEAPON.  JWR’s Comments:   I concur with most of the description, except for “long barrel life” claim. I suppose the good news is that both the SIG M5 carbine and M50 LMG have quick-change barrels. Methinks the Army will be buying a lot …







Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — May 10, 2022

May 10th is the birthday of the late Janis Pinups (born 1925, died 15 June 2007). He was one of the last of the Forest Brothers anti-communist resistance fighters. He came out of hiding, after five decades, to obtain a Latvian passport in 1994, after the collapse of eastern European communism. (He was never issued any communist government identity papers and by necessity lived as a nonexistent ghost during the entire Soviet occupation of Latvia.) The history of the Forest Brothers movement certainly deserves more recognition. May 10, 1972. Top Gun Graduate Randall “Duke” Cunningham and his backseater Wally “Irish” …




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, we focus on Redoubt region astronaut Kayla Barron. (See the Eastern Washington section.) Idaho Inmate suspected in string of robberies in Washington, Idaho escapes jail cell. o  o  o Grizzly bear makes a meal of Naples landowner’s livestock. o  o  o Kamiah Fire-Rescue volunteer suffers …







Preparedness Notes for Monday — May 9, 2022

On May 9th, 1945, Herman Goering– commander in chief of the Luftwaffe, president of the Reichstag, head of the Gestapo, prime minister of Prussia, and Hitler’s designated successor– was taken prisoner by the U.S. Seventh Army in Bavaria. Goering, who was addicted to painkillers due to a wound, was instrumental in creating concentration camps for political enemies. It was Goering who ordered the purging of German Jews from the economy following the Kristallnacht program in 1938, initiating an “Aryanization” policy that confiscated Jewish property and businesses. Tried and convicted at the Nuremberg trials, he was sentenced to hanging, but before …




Recipe of the Week: Bean-Potato Breakfast Patties

The following quite flexible recipe for a Bean-Potato Breakfast Patties is from SurvivalBlog reader Richard T.  His introductory notes: “This is a breakfast that was inspired by, but has no recognizable features to, the traditional English breakfast. The objective was not to make an attractive plate, and it isn’t, but to make a breakfast that was high in energy and quick to get to the plate after the initial preparation. It is made in a batch and portioned out in 6-ounce serving patties and frozen. When served it comes out of the freezer and cooked up in a skillet and …




Investing in Unusual Metals

Today, in lieu of or normal “E&I” column, we present a special examination of high dollar value industrial metals and some lesser-known precious metals, authored by SurvivalBlog’s Senior Editor James Wesley, Rawles (JWR). Hopefully, this won’t sound like a high school chemistry lecture. Industrial Metals To begin, I must mention that many metals react with contact with the air, water, or salts. Lanthanum, for example very quickly turns blue, in air. A few — like europium, lithium, magnesium, metallic calcium, sodium, and potassium — can react quite violently and require special handling.  None of those are recommended for metals investors! …







Preparedness Notes for Sunday — May 8, 2022

May 8th is the birthday of missionary and U.S. military intelligence officer John Birch. (Born, 1918, died August 25, 1945.) He is considered by many to be the first American casualty of the Cold War. This is also the birthday of Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek. And today is the 77th anniversary of VE Day, otherwise known as Victory in Europe Day. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 100 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% …