Preparedness Notes for Sunday — March 8, 2026

Richard “Dick” Hyman turns 99 today! (He was born March 8, 1927.) Dick Hyman is a jazz pianist and composer. Over a 70-year career, he has worked as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, pioneering electronic musician, and composer. He was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters fellow in 2017. — March 8th is also 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 …


The Fighting Cane, by “Kim Kipling”

The need to be prepared to defend one’s self in an increasingly uncivil, hostile world is apparent. I strongly recommend the daily carriage of a defensive sidearm, backed up by a reliable edged weapon whenever possible, and I strongly encourage regular practice with these essential tools. More important than simply having hardware is cultivating the mindset of awareness and preparedness. But all too often, our increasingly intrusive nanny state governments, both national and local, enact laws and encourage policies designed to disarm us in public places. Some jurisdictions will go out of their way to prosecute any use of armed …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR: Meme Text: The Amazingly Popular New Game: Ayatollah Whackamollah News Link: Who Will Be Iran’s Next Supreme Leader? 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:

“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — March 7, 2026

On March 7, 1644 Massachusetts established the first two-chamber legislature in the American colonies. — March 7, 1707: The birthday of Stephen Hopkins, a Governor of Rhode Island. He was 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.) — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 123 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A Gunsite Academy Three-Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, …


The Editors’ Quote Of The Day:

“There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — March 6, 2026

On March 6, 1836, the Battle of the Alamo ended, after 13 days of fighting. 1,500 to 3,000 Mexican soldiers overwhelmed the Texan defenders, killing at least 182 Texans, including William Travis, Jim Bowie, and Davy Crockett. — 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. Cooper died at age 77 at his home in Ventura, California, October 4, 2004. …


Economics & Investing Media of the Week

In Economics & Investing Media of the Week we feature photos, charts, graphs, maps, video links, and news items of interest to preppers.  This week, a map of solar farms, wind farms, and battery farms in the United States. The thumbnail below is click-expandable.       (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.) Economics & Investing Links of Interest The slam-down of precious metals prices on Day 3 & 4 of the Iran War defied logic.  Spot silver was down 7.92% by Tuesday afternoon. This was just after the Strait of Hormuz was closed. Logically, at such a time, most would expect …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — March 5, 2026

Today is the 75th birthday of Texas singer/songwriter Willis Alan Ramsey. He was born March 5th, 1951.  He is best known for his songs Northeast Texas Women and Muskrat Candlelight (aka Muskrat Love.) The latter became a hit when it was covered by both the bands America and Captain & Tennille. Oddly, Ramsey only had one released record album. — This is also 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 …


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, hopes of a proper interpretation of the Hughes Amendment. Re-Opening the Federal Machinegun Registry? Reader D.S.V.  flagged this good news: States Working on Gamechanging Plans to Give Civilians …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — March 4, 2026

On March 4, 1774: The first sighting of the Orion nebula by William Herschel. — March 4, 1908: A fire at Lakeview Elementary School in Collinwood, Ohio, killed 172 students and two teachers: a boiler room blaze trapped many victims in the building, prompting changes in school design and procedures nationwide. — Today’s feature article is by SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson. — We still need reader-written articles for Round 123 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $981,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 123 ends on March 31st, so …


Rejuvenating and Old PC with Linux Mint Xfce – Part 2, by Thomas Christianson

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) LinuxLite Attempt One Since I was more satisfied with the Linux apps that I was running under Chrome OS Flex than with the native Chrome apps, I decided to experiment with another Linux OS. I went to www.linuxliteos.com and attempted to downloaded LinuxLite 7.4 . That was easier said than done. That site was so choked with ads and deceptive links leading to other software that it was virtually impossible to find a link leading to the correct download. After more than 30 minutes of searching, I finally gave up and decided …


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. — In the Leftie/Greenie Washington Post: Good night, stars. We are on the cusp of turning darkness into day. o  o  o Reader H.L. mentioned that she found some cogent analysis on the Iran War, over at the Gold and Geopolitics substack. JWR’s Comments:  Obviously, the global oil market and the precious metals …