The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — March 21, 2025

Alfonso “Al” Williamson (March 21, 1931– June 12, 2010) was an American cartoonist, comic book artist and illustrator specializing in adventure, Western, science fiction and fantasy. Born in New York City, he spent much of his early childhood in Bogotá, Colombia before moving back to the United States at the age of 12. In his youth, Williamson developed an interest in comic strips, particularly Alex Raymond’s Flash Gordon. He took art classes at Burne Hogarth’s Cartoonists and Illustrators School, there befriending future cartoonists Wally Wood and Roy Krenkel, who introduced him to the work of illustrators who had influenced adventure …


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 Canadian trade and currency exchange issues. Precious Metals: Mike Gleason: Gold Breaks $3,000, But Here’s Why Silver Could Steal the Show… o  o  o At Gold-Eagle.com: $3000/Ounce: Why The Oldest Money Just Hit Its Newest High. o  o  o Take heed:  The silver-to-gold ratio just hit 90.7-to-1.  And the platinum-to-gold ratio is …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Large-Capacity Magazines Are Neither ‘Arms’ Nor Protected Accessories. We first examine ‘whether the plain text of the Second Amendment protects [Plaintiffs’] proposed course of conduct.’ Bruen, 597 U.S. at 32. Plaintiffs assert that their proposed conduct—possessing large-capacity magazines— implicates the text of the Second Amendment because, in their view, large-capacity magazines are arms commonly chosen for the purpose of self-defense. Defendant raises several distinct arguments to the contrary: large-capacity magazines are not ‘Arms’ within the meaning of the Second Amendment; they are not in common use for self-defense; they are most useful in military service; and they are dangerous and …


Preparedness Notes for Thursday — March 20, 2025

Have a great National Survivalism Day!  This is a day that is appropriate for giving prepping reference books and preparedness tools/supplies, as gifts. March 20th is the birthday of Mel Tappan. (Born 1933, died 1980.) His perennially popular survivalist books Survival Guns and Tappan on Survival have a well-deserved following. I designated March 20th National Survivalism Day, in his honor. It is also apropos that National Survivalism Day falls in March–one of the months that both Northern Europeans and Native Americans refer to as The Starving Season–when stored food runs low, but before spring bounty appears. Plan ahead. Stock up. …


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, more war drums warning of WW3. How Europe Has Been Preparing For a Third World War Over at The Independent: How Europe has been preparing for WIII – …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“It is proper to take alarm at the first experiment on our liberties. We hold this prudent jealousy to be the first duty of citizens and one of the noblest characteristics of the late Revolution. The freemen of America did not wait till usurped power had strengthened itself by exercise and entangled the question in precedents. They saw all the consequences in the principle, and they avoided the consequences by denying the principle. We revere this lesson too much … to forget it.” – James Madison.


Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — March 19, 2025

March 19, 1882:  The first stone was laid for the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona, designed by Antoni Gaudí. — On March 19, 1982, 50 Argentines landed on South Georgia in the Falkland Islands to plant the Argentine flag. They renamed the islands The Malvinas. This precipitated the Argentine army invasion on April 2nd. Despite some significant naval losses and dreadful weather, British Marines re-took the island on April 25th in a well-coordinated ground campaign. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 117 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First …


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. — St. Funogas sent this snippet to ponder: “With all the recent hullabaloo about auditing Fort Knox, let me point out why it’s just one more irrelevant tempest in a teapot to decoy the US public from the more important numbers like the deficit, national debt, and the $1 trillion yearly interest on …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“I’m an old-school survivalist – being armed is right up there at the top of the list of things to be ready for. But I also have dang near thirty five years of being that old-school survivalist behind me. In all that time, I have needed to eat far more times than I’ve needed to point a gun at someone. Not saying it won’t happen…simply saying that, statistically, you’ll be more likely to be patting yourself on the back over your food stash than your gun and ammo stash. In addition to keeping you from, y’know, dying, food has an …


Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — March 18, 2025

On March 18, 1314, Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, was burned at the stake by order of King Philip IV of France. — March 18th is the birthday of novelist John Updike. (He was born in 1932 and died in 2009.) — It is also the birthday of Luc Besson, director and producer of films such as Nikita and The Fifth Element. He was born in 1959. — I’ve just made one minor change to our writing contest rules. Here is the revised portion, with the added text highlighted in red: Plagiarism …


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, news about the pending Idaho immigration bill.  (See the Idaho section.) Idaho Idaho House rejects bids to apply to amend U.S. Constitution through convention of states. JWR’s Comments: A Federal Constitutional Convention (“Con-Con”) could be dangerous, since the delegates would be re-writing all of the …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“In recent years it has been suggested that the Second Amendment protects the ‘collective’ right of states to maintain militias, while it does not protect the right of ‘the people’ to keep and bear arms. If anyone entertained this notion in the period during which the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were debated and ratified, it remains one of the most closely guarded secrets of the eighteenth century, for no known writing surviving from the period between 1787 and 1791 states such a thesis.” – Stephen P. Halbrook, That Every Man Be Armed, 1984


Preparedness Notes for Monday — March 17, 2025

John Pettie (17 March 1839 – 21 February 1893) was a painter from Edinburgh, Scotland. His painting Vigil (above) was completed circa 1884. According to the InfoGalactic Wiki, Pettie:  “…spent most of his career in London. He became a member of the Royal Academy in 1866 and a full academician in 1874. As an enthusiastic amateur musician, he helped the career of the young composer Hamish MacCunn by organising concerts for him in his own studio. MacCunn, who would marry Pettie’s daughter Alison in 1889, also served as a model for many of his paintings and sketches in various distinctive …


Recipe of the Week: Alaska Potato Rolls

The following recipe for Alaska Potato Rolls is from SurvivalBlog reader Mike in Alaska.  He says: “Jan at Alaska Flour Company has created a new way to make the potato roll.” The yield of this recipe is 32 rolls. Ingredients 1 Tablespoon yeast 1 1/2 cups warm water 2/3 cup sugar 2 teaspoons salt 2/3 cup melted butter (10 1/2 Tablespoons) 2 eggs, (room temp) 1 cup prepared mashed potatoes (without salt) -I use instant mashed potatoes 2 1/2 cups of barley flour4 cups of all-purpose flour Directions Dissolve yeast in warm water and sugar, about 10 minutes. Then add …