Writing Contest Winners Announced: Round 93

We’ve completed the judging for Round 93 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prize winners are: First Prize: First prize is awarded to J.T. for Volume Vegetable Gardening. (Links: Part 1 and Part 2.) It was posted on March 16th and 17th.  He will receive: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value), A course certificate from …




Some SurvivalBlog Archive USB Stick Glitches (Mea Culpa)

The 2005-2020 SurvivalBlog archive stick has a couple of issues that have been noticed by customers. Primarily, the issues are with the bonus material included. 1) The “Food” Category has been mistakenly directed to the Firearms category and since this archive is pulled directly from the website, the resulting bonus books that would normally be found in that category are just missing. Because of the way the archive is built, there is no way to reliably send out a fix for that issue so they just are not there. If you have an earlier year archive, you can access those …




Con Te Partiro: Closing Our Comments Section

It is with regret that we’ve decided to close our Comments sections.  It is Con Te Partiro. The existing comments will still be available in the SurvivalBlog archives, but no new comments can be added. We reached this decision after some prayer and serious deliberation. We concluded that because the spamming and trolling were getting out of hand that the Comments had become a “No-Win Scenario.” It had become a huge time sink and the source of a lot of anxiety. It was very difficult to maintain editorial neutrality, particularly on controversial topics. So, in the absence of Comments, we …




Incredulity: “The Reports of My Death…”

Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain) once famously wrote:  “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” Pondering that, I’m posting this brief piece as a notice to my readers. Please take the following to heart: If you ever hear that I stopped posting because I lost interest in blogging… Then don’t believe it! I intend to blog for many years, and then pass on SuvivalBlog to some fellow freedom-loving Christian that I genuinely trust who will keep up its standards.   If you ever hear that I stopped posting because I was demonetized or otherwise couldn’t make a living …




Writing Contest Winners Announced: Round 92

We’ve completed the judging for Round 92 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prize-winning authors are: First Prize: First Prize is awarded to Steve A. for: Simple Heat Treating for a High Carbon Steel Knife Blade — posted in two parts on January 19th and 20th, 2021.  Links:  (Part 1)  (Part 2) He will receive: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day …




Why I Left Amazon — And How You Can Help Starve The Beast

(Updated, July, 2023.) I feel clean, leaving the brown-tinged waters of the Amazon behind. Let me begin by explaining that I joined the Amazon Associates program in 2007. At that time, Amazon’s corporate management was already liberal, but their politics didn’t influence the way that Amazon.com was operated to any great extent. And Amazon was not yet a provider of web/cloud computing services. I found Amazon to be a handy place to shop for books, DVDs, and various merchandise. They offered commission-earning links that never expired. By becoming an Amazon Associate, I earned an average of about 7% on any …




Annual Reminder: The Ten Cent Challenge

Each year, I only post one reminder, encouraging voluntary Ten Cent Challenge subscriptions, and this is it. Back In August, we celebrated our 15th blogiversary. Thanks for making SurvivalBlog such a success! There are now more that 33,700 archived articles and columns. And after just a couple of years of adopting a comments section, there have been more than 72,000 comments posted. Hopefully, some readers appreciate the fact I only post an appeal once a year. And I’m confident that most  readers appreciate that SurvivalBlog is one of the last of the daily “Old School” blogs. We are one of …




Book Bomb Day For The Ultimate Prepper’s Survival Guide!

[UPDATED] Hooray! Today is the much-awaited Book Bomb Day for my latest nonfiction book, The Ultimate Prepper’s Survival Guide. My sincere thanks for waiting until today to place your order. Hopefully, with this big one-day surge of orders, it will push it into Amazon’s Top 100 (overall, in books) by this afternoon. We’re also hoping to make it onto the New York Times Bestsellers list, this weekend. Amazon Sales Rank Updates: Sunday, October 18th, 5 PM, Pacific Time:  #13,007 in Books Monday, October 19th, 8 PM, Pacific Time:  #7,685 in Books Tuesday, October 20th, 4:30 AM, Pacific Time: #6,058 in Books …




A Rawles Book Pre-Release Announcement

I’m pleased to make this book pre-release announcement: Survival Retreats and Relocation is now available for pre-order. This illustrated book is a greatly expanded and completely updated edition of my 2006 book, “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation.” The book’s primary author is my son Jonathan Rawles. Since 2009, Jonathan has operated SurvivalRealty.com. The following is excerpted from the book ordering web page : Why You Need This Book Families and individuals across the country are seeking refuge from the Covid panic and social disintegration. The remote work revolution coupled with the massive economic flux has driven thousands to finally to …




Writing Contest Prize Winners Announced: Round 90

We’ve completed the judging for Round 90 of the bi-monthly SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. It was difficult to judge this particular round because there were so many great articles.  So many, in fact, that I wish that we had five available “top three” prize spots.  I’ve sufficed by awarding an unprecedented 13 Honorable Mention prizes. The Prize Winners fro Round 90 are: First Prize: First Prize is awarded to 2A Advocate, for his article Finishing an 80% AR Lower Receiver. It was posted in three parts on September 18-19-20, 2020. Links: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. The photovoltaic …




August 5th, 2020: Our 15th Blogiversary!

Today, August 5th, 2020, is the 15th anniversary of the launch of SurvivalBlog. Since August of 2005 we’ve accomplished the following: Posted 33,200+ articles, letters, and columns. In 15 years, we’ve hardly missed a day of posting. All of the blog’s archives are fully searchable and available free of charge–just as they’ve always been. Posted more than 5,470 Quotes Of The Day and 1,580 Bible verses. Cumulatively awarded more than $1.1 million worth of writing contest prizes. (Our sincere thanks to the many generous prize donors. These loyal blog supporters deserve your patronage.) We’ve inspired thousands –and possibly tens of …




Announcing SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Prize Winners for Round 89

We’ve completed the judging for Round 89 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The winning authors are: First Prize: First prize is awarded to Lisa for Adventures in Central Texas Gardening, which was posted on July 21, 2020 (Part 1), and on July 22, 2020 (Part 2). She will receive: A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, …




Writing Contest Prize Winners Announced – Round 87

We’ve completed the judging for Round 87 of the bi-monthly SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The Prize Winners are: First Prize: First Prize is awarded to Greg X. for the article Generators for Family Readiness, which was published  in two parts on March and March 15, 2020-.  Links: Part 1, and Part 2.He will receive the following prizes: A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can …




Writing Contest Judging Completed (Round 86)

We’ve completed the judging for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. First Prize goes to St. Funogas, for his two-part article that ran Jan. 9-10, 2020: Rocket Water Heater – Part and Part 2.  His prizes will include: A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from veteran-owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value), A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day …




Announcing the New SurvivalBlog 2005-2019 Archive USB!

Thanks for your patience, folks… The SurvivalBlog 2005-2019 Archive on a waterproof/EMP-resistant 16 GB USB stick is now available for pre-ordering. In addition to adding the most recent year of the blog and all of the previous content, there is now more than 3,500 pages of new bonus content that has never been posted in SurvivalBlog! This new bonus material includes: Encyclopedia of Farm Knowledge (1,739 pages, in Three Volumes!) Civilization During The Middle Ages Nut Tree Growing and Pruning 7,000 Words Often Mispronounced Sports and Pastimes for Young & Old The Guardians of The Columbia The Science of Everyday …