Preparedness Notes for Monday — January 29, 2024

On January 29, 1964, the British film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, a landmark Cold War farce directed by Stanley Kubrick, was released in theatres. On this day in 1845 Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” was published. Today is the birthday of actor Tom Selleck (born 1945), best known for playing the title role of Magnum, P.I. He is an avid shooter and quite pro-gun. Today is also the birthday of journalist and inventor Thomas Paine (1737–1809.) — Update: We’ve received an unexpectedly large number of orders for the waterproof 2005-2023 Archive …


Update: Letter from a Kansas Consulting Client

Introductory note from JWR: I just received this update letter: “I wanted to write to the readers of SurvivalBlog about the search for a family to live on our family farm. The opportunity is still open. Many areas in the United States are deteriorating, but our conservative area remains safe and prosperous. We are willing to consider letters from readers anywhere in the country as we are not concerned about the distance, but we are about finding a quality family to eventually join our family in living on our farm. There is still time in the preparedness window in which …


Recipe of the Week:  Chicken & Rice with Golden Sauce

The following simple recipe for Chicken & Rice with Golden Sauce is from Good HouseKeeping’s Book of Menus, Recipes, and Household Discoveries (253 pages, copyright 1925, now in public domain). That is one of the 11 new bonus books included in the new 2005-2023 edition of the SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. Ingredients 1 fowl 1 cupful milk 1 cupful chicken broth 2 tablespoonfuls butter 2 tablespoonfuls flour Salt 1/4 teaspoonful pepper 1 egg-yolk 1 teaspoooful lemon-juice 1 cupful rice Minced parsley Directions Cook the fowl until very tender aud. cut into neat attractive servings, rather small, using only the white …


SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week:

Our graphic of the week is an interesting annotated satellite photo montage of city lights. This NASA graphic has circulated on Reddit. It shows that 80% of the US population lives east of the annotated yellow line. This adds credence to my long-standing advice to live west of the Mississippi River. Generally, fewer people will mean fewer problems in the event of a societal collapse. Take a close look and note that the cluster of orange dots over western North Dakota and eastern Montana are not city lights.  Rather, those are natural gas flares in the  Bakken oilfields — a …



Preparedness Notes for Sunday — January 28, 2024

On January 28, 1887, In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the world’s largest snowflakes are reported, being 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick January 28th, 1855 was the birthday of William Seward Burroughs, who invented the adding machine. January 28th is the anniversary of the rescue of General James L. Dozier from his Italian Red Brigades kidnappers. Tangentially, Colonel Jeff Cooper created a shooting drill in honor of those who freed him – The Dozier Drill. And on this day in 1986, the U.S. space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Florida, …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR: Meme Text:  Wake Up, You Sheeple! We Are The Carbon That They Want To Reduce! 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 posted then I’ll give you credit. Thanks! Permission to repost memes that I’ve created is granted, provided that credit to SurvivalBlog.com is included.  


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you: For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many. Yet have I sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready: Lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this same …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — January 27, 2024

A news update and constitutional law analysis, related through a video commentary from Mark W. Smith of The Four Boxes Diner:  BORDER WARS: The Constitutional Issues you need to know about in Texas v. Biden Admin. Two days ago, it was 11 states, but now, 25 states have signaled support for Texas Governor Abbott’s position. And at least 10 of those States have now pledged to send National Guard or State Guard/Militia troops to Texas, to assist. Tucker Carlson interviewed Abbott, on Friday. — On January 27th, 1967, a launch pad fire during Apollo program tests at Cape Canaveral, Florida, …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and a bullock for the sin offering, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread; And gather thou all the congregation together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Moses did as the Lord commanded him; and the assembly was gathered together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Moses said unto the congregation, This is the thing which the Lord commanded to be done. And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — January 26, 2024

On January 26th, 1905, the world’s largest diamond was found in South Africa. The Cullinan Diamond weighed 3,106.75 carats (621.35 g or 1.37 lb) and has an estimated value of 2 billion USD. — Today is the anniversary of the shooting death of LaVoy Finicum, during the Malheur Wildlife Refuge standoff. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 110 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 …


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 cascade of Chinese real estate and stock market crashes, and a possible Yuan currency crash. (See the Economy & Finance section, and the Forex & Cryptos section.) Precious Metals: Major Bank Raises Gold Targets $200, Still Below Current Price. o  o  o From chartist die-hard Jim Curry, at Gold-Eagle.com: Gold Forecast …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — January 25, 2024

On January 25, 1971, Idi Amin Dada seized power in Uganda. His rule from 1971 to 1979 was characterized by human rights abuse, political repression, and corruption. On January 25, 1915: In New York, Alexander Graham Bell spoke to his assistant in San Francisco, inaugurating the first transcontinental telephone service. Today is the birthday of celebrated Scottish poet Robert “Bobby” Burns. He was born on January 25, 1759. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 110 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum …


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 further examine homesteading self-sufficiency. Millennials are Giving Up City Life to Start Homesteading This piece was published by the editors of Business Insider: Why millennials are giving …