The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beersheba. And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — March 8, 2024

On March 8th, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 with 239 people lost contact and disappeared, prompting the most expensive search effort in history and one of the most enduring aviation mysteries. March 8th is the birthday of famed revolver shooter, big game hunter, and gun writer Elmer Keith, who co-designed the S&W .44 Magnum and .41 Magnum cartridges. He authored the book Sixguns, which is still considered a standard reference. His fascinating life story is told in his last book, Hell, I was there! A Proto-Redoubter, Keith spent the second half of his life on a ranch near Salmon, Idaho. …


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 record-high gold futures prices, in Dollar terms. (See the Precious Metals section.) Precious Metals:   Published on Tuesday: ‘We Have Liftoff!’ – Spot Gold Takes Out Record High.  JWR’s Comments: The fundamentals of gold haven’t changed, as a hedge. It is the U.S. Dollar that is showing its inherent weakness.  Oh, and …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — March 7, 2024

On March 7, 1778, Captain James Cook first sighted the Oregon coast at Yaquina Bay. March 7, 1707 was the birthday of Stephen Hopkins, (Governor of Rhode Island) one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. And March 7, 1944 was the birthday of Townes Van Zandt, a gifted Texan singer/songwriter. (He died in 1997.) — Update: We are running out of 2005-2023 SurvivalBlog archive USB sticks. There are only about 200 left. Many readers are ordering 2, 3, or 4 sticks. There will not be another batch of sticks produced this year, so get your order in soon. …


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, a further examination of emigration from northeastern “blue” states. Five Million People Have Fled ‘Blue States’ in the Last Decade A Moneywise report: ‘One of the biggest mass …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The churches represent the great area of freedom from statist controls in many countries. This is a condition which the modern state finds intolerable and is determined to alter. The state’s great ally in this struggle is all too often the church itself. The humanism of so many churchmen makes them dedicated allies of statist objectives.” – R.J. Rushdoony, Christianity and the State


Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — March 6, 2024

On March 6, 1475 Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti—who exerted an unparalleled influence on Western sculpture, painting, and architecture and whose works rank among the most famous in existence—was born in the Republic of Florence. Today is the birthday of Georg Johann Luger (March 6, 1849 – December 22, 1923). He was the Austrian designer of the famous Luger pistol and the 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge. March 6th was the birthday of Leroy Gordon “Gordo” Cooper Jr., born in 1927 in Shawnee, Oklahoma. This U.S. Air Force pilot and astronaut was aboard Mercury 9 and Gemini 5. Cooper had his exploits …


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. — A blog reader in Tasmania sent a snail mail letter, warning of a “regulatory change” that will soon go into effect, canceling the long-standing “Exemption 4” for antique guns. The law redefinition requires registration, making an application for a “limited individual exemption”, upgrades to existing firearms licenses, and “gun cupboard” storage of …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — March 5, 2024

On March 5, 1963, American country and western singer Patsy Cline—who was one of the classic performers of the genre, known for such ballads as I Fall to Pieces and Crazy—died in an airplane crash near Camden, Tennessee, at age 30. Also killed in the crash were Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins, and Randy  Hughes. This is the birthday of Howard Pyle (1853-1911) an influential American book illustrator, painter, and author. He was the mentor of many great American artists including Thornton Oakley, Frank E. Schoonover, Allen Tupper True, and of course his most famous student: N.C. Wyeth. March 5th is …


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 the Snake River dams.   (See the Region-Wide section.) Region-Wide Reader A.K. spotted this slanted opinion piece from the hard-left Idaho Capital [sic] Sun newspaper-lookalike website): Rewilding the Lower Snake : How cultural values of a free flowing river exceed those of a …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“All of anarchism, libertarianism, and anti-Statism can be traced back to the rise of Protestantism. The USA – founded by Protestants (often extremist Protestants expelled from their own countries) is where the love of the individual and hatred of the collective is practically written into its Constitution, which is extremely Protestant in its character.” – Steve Madison, The Quality Agenda: The Search for Excellence


Preparedness Notes for Monday — March 4, 2024

On March 4, 1681, William Penn secured from King Charles II of England the colonial province of Pennsylvania in North America, hoping to provide a refuge in the New World for Quakers and other persecuted people and to build an ideal Christian commonwealth. — And on March 4, 1955, the first radio facsimile (or “fax”) transmission, was sent across the continent. — I mailed out the first four-page hardcopy issue of the SurvivalBlog Old School (SOS) Newsletter on Friday. If you’d like to get a copy of that first issue and become a subscriber, then send a donation of $55 …


Recipe of the Week: Spoon Bread

The following simple recipe for Spoon Bread 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 bonus books included in the 2005-2023 edition of the SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. Ingredients 1 pint milk 1/2 teaspoonful baking powder 1/2 cupful cornmeal 1 teaspoonful salt 3 eggs Directions Heat the milk nearly to boiling. Stir in cornmeal gradually and cook until the consistency of mush. Add the baking powder, salt, and the yolks of the eggs beaten until tight. FoId in the egg-whites beaten stiff. Pour into …