Preparedness Notes for Sunday — August 6, 2023

On August 6th, 1945 at 8:16 a.m. (Japanese time), an American B-29 bomber – the Enola Gay – dropped the world’s first war-time atom bomb over the city of Hiroshima. Approximately 80,000 people were killed as a result of the blast, with another 35,000 injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the fallout. History is always written by the victors, so the reasoning and justification for this will be argued for years to come. But one thing is for sure: this action officially ushered in the nuclear age in …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR: Meme Text: Senator John Fetterman Has Stepped Up From Wearing Short Pants and Hoodies. He Was Just Seen Wearing a Suit and Tie. It Seems That He’s Putting On The Ritz Links: John Fetterman ripped over Senate hoodies, gym shorts: ‘Unprofessional and an insult’. John Fetterman Ditches His Famous Hoodie for Suit on First Day as Senator — and Jokes About Son ‘in Shorts’. Young Frankenstein Putting On The Ritz. Notes From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the concept, and I’ll try to assemble it. And if it is …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — August 5, 2023

August 5th is the sad anniversary of the Mann Gulch Fire in Montana that took the lives of 13 firefighters (including 12 smokejumpers and one former smokejumper), in 1949. The intense, fast-moving forest fire took place in what later became the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness. The events of that fire were chronicled in the book Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean and immortalized in the haunting lyrics of the ballad Cold Missouri Waters by James Keelaghan. — On 5 August, 1923, Hinderikus (“Henk”) Lucas Visser was born in Groningen, Holland. A veteran of the Dutch resistance during World …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — August 4, 2023

On August 4, 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession, Britain took control of Gibraltar on this day in 1704 after Spain surrendered, and “the Rock” subsequently became a British colony and a symbol of British naval strength. — 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, this could be worth more than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This …


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 continuing automotive microchip shortage. (See the Commodities section.) Precious Metals: Silver continues to be the biggest beneficiary as US focus on green energy transition – Bank of America. o  o  o Mike Gleason, at Gold-Eagle.com: Fed Expects No Recession as Inflation Negates Actual Economic Growth. Economy & Finance: New York, California lost …




Book Review: The Area Intelligence Handbook

There are just a few times in the past decade that I’ve opened a book and felt an immediate connection with its author. That is what happened when I began reading The Area Intelligence Handbook, by Mike Shelby. I suppose that a better title for the book would be: The Area Intelligence Handbook For Survivalists, because that is how the book is geared. This 249-page trade paperback is not just a generic manual on Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB) for folks in the Military Intelligence (MI) arena. Rather, it is truly tailored for preparedness-minded private citizens, in anticipation of …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is 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. In today’s column, word of a new Covid virus variant. Scientists Discover The ‘Most Mutated Covid Variant Ever’ Business Today of India reports: Scientists discover the ‘most mutated Covid variant ever’ …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — August 2, 2023

On August 2nd, 1876, Wild Bill Hickok—a frontiersman, marksman, gambler, and legend of the American West—was murdered in the city of Deadwood, in what is now South Dakota. — August 2nd was the birthday of Peter O’Toole (1932–2013). When his name is mentioned, Lawrence of Arabia immediately comes to mind. — I just learned that Harvest Guard — one of our advertisers and a sponsor of our writing contest — has reduced their prices as much as 30% on many of their most popular products. As always, shipping in the United States is free. For large, group bulk orders, please …


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. — America’s polarized political tribes are moving away from each other. Just look at a bluer Colorado and a redder Idaho. o  o  o Ontario Knife Company has been sold. It has been reported that 56 employees will be losing their jobs. It is not clear what the new owner, Blue Ridge Knives …