Preparedness Notes for Friday — January 24, 2020

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January 24th is the birthday of René Barjavel (born 1911, died November 24, 1985). This prescient French science fiction author wrote several books with survivalist themes, including Ravage, which was titled Ashes, Ashes in its English translation. It is also the birthday of Tamara K., the editor of the long-running View From The Porch blog. — A reader wrote to suggest that I re-post some items on surviving a pandemic. Since i plan ahead, there is already a static page for that: Protecting Your Family From an Influenza Pandemic — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

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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 land investing. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: Radomski (a chartist) posted this analysis: Gold Price Forecast: Tops, Reversals And Timing o  o  o South Africa: Gold has finally climbed out of its 25-month black hole o  o  o Platinum (PL) Price Forecast, “PL” to USD price prediction: …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“How vain, then, are the boasts and professions of some persons who assert themselves to be the children of God and yet live in sin! There is no perceivable difference in their conduct—they are just what they used to be before their pretended conversion. They are not changed in their actions, even in the least degree, and yet they do most positively affirm that they are the called and living children of God! Let such know that their professions are lies, that falsehood is the only groundwork that they have for their hopes, for wherever the Grace of God is, …


Preparedness Notes for Thursday — January 23, 2020

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January 23, 1855 was the birthday of John Moses Browning. He was the brilliant designer of dozens of guns, including the M1911 pistol, Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), and the venerable M2 .50 Caliber Machinegun. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from veteran-owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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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 the hacker threat to the U.S. power grids. Iranian Hackers Prying the US Power Grids Wired reports: Iranian Hackers Have Been ‘Password-Spraying’ the US Grid. JWR’s Comments:  Nefarious access to …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“It is too true, however disgraceful it may be to human nature, that nations in general will make war whenever they have a prospect of getting any thing by it; nay, that absolute monarchs will often make war when their nations are to get nothing by it, but for purposes and objects merely personal, such as, a thirst for military glory, revenge for personal affronts, ambition, or private compacts to aggrandize or support their particular families, or partisans. These, and a variety of motives, which affect only the mind of the sovereign, often lead him to engage in wars not …


Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — January 22, 2020

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On January 22 , 1944 Allied forces began landing at Anzio, Italy. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from veteran-owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value), A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s …


JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This week, I’d like to emphasize the book Square Foot Gardening. (See the Books section.) Books: Reader “M” wrote me to …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — January 21, 2020

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On this day in 1968, the siege of Khe Sanh began, as NVA regulars surrounded the USMC hilltop airfield near the Laotian border. Fearing a repeat of the French Army’s 1953 Dien Bien Phu debacle, the Pentagon assigned maximum round-the-clock air power to the region, including B-52 bomber strikes, to break the siege. According to the Infogalatic wiki this was “‘the most concentrated application of aerial firepower in the history of warfare’. On an average day 350 tactical fighter-bombers, 60 B-52s, and 30 light observation or reconnaissance aircraft operated in the skies near Khe Sanh.” More than 100,000 tons of …


Letter: Thoughts From a Richmond 2A Rally Attendee

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As we all now know, the 2A rally in Richmond, Virginia on January 20, 2020 to protest the tyrannical gun laws proposed and/or passed by Governor Ralph Northam and his Democrat cronies, proved uneventful. This not only shows that gun owners are some of the most peaceful and law-abiding people in the country, but also that the hysteria drummed up in the weeks preceding the event was just that, hysteria. In fact, if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard “Civil War 2”, “It’s a trap”, “buffalo jump”, “false flag”, “Boogaloo”, or dozens of other terms designed to …


SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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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 Washington State Representative Matt Shea. (See the Eastern Washington section.) Idaho Committee passes rules affecting hunting, trapping o o o ‘Huge undertaking’: Highway 21 reopens after ITD clears snow from road north of Idaho City o o o Crews rescue doe that …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“The principle that the majority have a right to rule the minority, practically resolves all government into a mere contest between two bodies of men, as to which of them shall be masters, and which of them slaves; a contest, that-however bloody-can, in the nature of things, never be finally closed, so long as man refuses to be a slave.” – Lysander Spooner


Preparedness Notes for Monday — January 20, 2020

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Today is also the birthday of Congressman Richard Henry Lee (1732–1794) — On January 20, 1981, 52 American hostages were released by the Iranian government, following 444 days of captivity, to be reunited with their families. Not coincidentally, Ronald Reagan was sworn in is President, the same day. — I just heard about a new retreat property listing, over at SurvivalRealty.com: A remote lakeside house, at the very eastern tip of Maine. It is only about two miles to the Canadian border or to the Atlantic ocean.


Recipe of the Week: Hungarian Goulash

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This week’s recipe is for Hungarian Goulash. It is a recipe excerpted from the scarce book Nine Hundred Successful Recipes, by Lulu Thompson Silvernail. This book, from my own book collection, was published in 1923. A recent change in U.S. copyright law now puts most pre-1925 books in the public domain. Lulu Thompson Silvernail’s emphasis in this book was recipes that included hard red winter wheat flour. This entire recipe book is just part of the extensive bonus content that is included in this year’s SurvivalBlog archive waterproof USB stick. The USB  sticks are now available for pre-ordering. Ingredients 1 …