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 currencies and precious metals in times of war. (See the Precious Metals section and the Forex & Cryptos section.) Precious Metals: Gold spiked versus paper currencies early this week. On Monday, there was an intraday high of $3,417.60 per Troy ounce. But on Tuesday, after an announced (but fragile) ceasefire, spot gold …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — June 26, 2025

On June 26, 1794 the Battle of Fleurus was a major victory by forces of the First French Republic under General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan over the Coalition Army (Great Britain, Hanover, Dutch Republic, and Habsburgs). It marked the first use of a military reconnaissance balloon. — June 26th is the birthday of Marine Corps Lt. General Chesty Puller (born 1898, died October 11, 1971). Perhaps America’s finest-ever maverick officer, Puller was part of what I call the Even Greater Generation. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 119 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for …


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, we look at a possible asteroid strike on Earth’s Moon. A Possible Asteroid Strike on Earth’s Moon in 2032? SurvivalBlog reader C.B. sent this: Earth’s satellites at risk if …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — June 25, 2025

On June 25th, 1530, German Protestant princes forced Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (pictured) to hear their Confession of Faith — a statement of Lutheran theology, now known as The Augsburg Confession. — On June 25th, 1798, the US Congress passed the Alien Act, allowing the president to deport dangerous aliens. — June 25th, 1876: Native American forces led by Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull defeated the U.S. Army troops of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer in a bloody battle near southern Montana’s Little Bighorn River. The Battle of Little Bighorn–also called Custer’s Last Stand – marked the most …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

Our 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. — A news link posted at our friend Commander Zero’s Notes From The Bunker blog: Shooter killed by staffers at Michigan church, police say; at least 1 person wounded. And here is some follow-up from the anti-gun PBS: Gunman killed after shooting into Michigan church, where his mother is a member. JWR’s Comments: …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — June 24, 2025

On June 24, 1374, a sudden outbreak of St. John’s Dance caused people in the streets of Aachen, Germany, to experience hallucinations and begin to jump and twitch uncontrollably until they collapsed from exhaustion. There is now conjecture that this strange outbreak was caused by rye bread contaminated with ergot fungus — a mycotoxin. — June 24th is the birthday of rifle-toting abolitionist pastor Henry Ward Beecher. (Born 1813, died March 8, 1887.) He and his adherents from his church smuggled so many Sharps rifles to Bleeding Kansas that the Sharps rifles picked up the nickname Beecher’s Bibles. The Infogalactic …


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 located in the American Redoubt region that are of interest to preppers and survivalists. Today, an update on a 2024 Sandpoint, Idaho arson attack. Idaho Idaho Arsonist Gets 15 Years for Torching Lawmaker’s Business. Here is an excerpt: “On July 4, 2024, the Army Surplus store in Sandpoint, owned by State Rep. Cornel Rasor (R – Westmond), was burned to …



Preparedness Notes for Monday — June 23, 2025

On June 23, 930, the world’s oldest parliament, the Icelandic Parliament — the Alþingi — was established. — To reiterate and expand on my note posted yesterday: My e-mail inbox has been full of queries from readers about the USAF bomber strikes on Iranian nuclear weapons development sites. Folks want to know if this might mean WW3. For some articles on that topic, see our June 19th Odds ‘n Sods column.  There could indeed be some escalation.  There is certainly the risk of an Iranian sub-critical  “dirty bomb” being detonated, most likely at an American container seaport. And there is …


Recipe of the Week: Super Stuffed Zucchini Squash

The following recipe for Super Stuffed Zucchini Squash is from SurvivalBlog reader V.F. , who says: “The exact proportion of ingredients is not crucial — use them in proportions that suit your taste.  An egg is included to bind the breadcrumbs to the other ingredients.” Ingredients Zucchini, medium-size. 1 large Egg (or two medium eggs) Coarse breadcrumbs (preferably freshly-made.) Parmesan cheese (You can substitute other cheeses, such as Mozzarella.) Minced Garlic (optional, to taste) Cherry tomatoes, chopped Pine nuts (optional) Lemon zest Thyme Oive oil Salt, to taste Pepper, to taste Pesto sauce (optional.) Directions Wash and slice the raw …


SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic: A map showing Births by Unmarried Women, by State, in the U.S.. (Graphic by  “cookoutenthusiast” courtesy of Reddit.) The thumbnail below is click-expandable.       — Please send your graphics or graphics links to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Any graphics that you send must either be your own creation or uncopyrighted.