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 look at some remote work possibilities and the changing global workforce.

Hybrid and Remote Work in 2023

Over at ZDNet: Hybrid and remote work: The state of play in 2023. This article’s opening:

“The COVID-19 pandemic forced employees in many sectors around the world to abandon their normal routines of commuting to and from an office, in favor of working remotely from home. Many, if not all, found it a liberating experience that resulted in an improved work-life balance while still maintaining their productivity.

As restrictions began to lift through 2022, some workers returned to the office full-time, but the pandemic had left its mark on the workplace: Some employees remained fully remote, while many opted for a hybrid approach, dividing their time between office and home.”

Remote Jobs are Moving Overseas and to Smaller U.S. Cities

As reported by CNBC: Remote jobs are moving overseas and to smaller U.S. cities: ‘The same skills for 60% of the cost’.  Here is a quote:

“Latin American countries, in particular, have benefitted from this trend, as they share a time zone with the U.S. The number of North American companies with remote workers in Central America and the Caribbean, for example, has grown 300% between 2020 and 2023, according to new research from Lightcast. “

Offshoring of Jobs in Tech and Accounting

A report from Texas Public Radio: Offshoring is now affecting ‘middle class or upper middle class jobs’ in tech and accounting.

AI ‘Deepfakes’ May Wreak Havoc on 2024 Presidential Election

From The New York Post: AI ‘deepfakes’ poised to wreak havoc on 2024 presidential election: experts.Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Educate your children to self-control, to the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will, and you have done much to abolish misery from their future and crimes from society.” – Benjamin Frankin

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — June 21, 2023

June 21st is the birthday of Rex Applegate (June 21, 1914 – July 14, 1998), author of Kill or Be Killed. He was the friend and mentor of SurvivalBlog’s Field Gear Editor Emeritus, Pat Cascio.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 107 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. 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.
  2. 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),
  3. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  5. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  6. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795.
  2. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  3. A $300 gift certificate from Good2Goco.com, good for any of their products: Home freeze dryers, pressure canners, Country Living grain mills, Emergency Essentials foods, and much more.
  4. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Montana Survival Seed is providing a $225 gift code for any items on its website, including organic non-GMO seeds, fossils, 1812-1964 US silver, jewelry, botany books, and Montana beeswax.
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

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More than $825,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. We recently polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 107 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Road Trip Navigation, by R.T.

This is about our cross-country road trip; not about where we went, what we saw or what we did, but about how we got there and how we found our way back. Why should this journey be of interest to you? Because someday you might have to make a road trip that doesn’t go as planned, or maybe not even planned at all and with little or no technological help. My wife and I are occasional long-distance travelers. The long-distance road trips we have made have been primarily to the same destination for family events via variations of the same routes that ran west to east, which meant we could get there on just one or two interstates or state highways. Otherwise, our typical road travel is recreational in our region on state and county roads with pastures, prairies, cornfields, and forests being the usual scenery. Very rarely does our travel require anything more than a state map and often not even that.

This trip was different for us as it was a route that ran diagonally across the country via several interstates through a number of large metropolises, different climates, weather, cultures, and uncertain economic and political situations. We planned on getting there on the national interstate highway system. After we got there we decided to make the return trip on two-lane state highways. There were the two of us that would be taking turns between driving and navigating.Continue reading“Road Trip Navigation, by R.T.”

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.

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For anyone concerned about the negative health effects of Radio Frequency (RF) and other Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) in their homes, I know of a consulting company that specializes in RF/EMF remediation.  Keith Cutter, the owner of the company, has about 30 podcasts on the subject now archived and available for free listening. I’ve actually known Keith since 2001.  But until just recently, I hadn’t heard that he is now doing this specialized consulting work.

o  o  o

Reader G.S. sent this, in response to Modern Civil Defense by 3AD Scout:

“First, I need to say I have been an avid reader of the blog for the past 10 years plus and find the information included to be outstanding.

I am an Emergency Management Director for a county in rural Ohio.  I moved here almost 9 years ago after having worked in a large eastern city, in the Office of Emergency Management where we responded to both man-made and natural disasters on a fairly regular basis. (I felt the need to move away from the East Coast).  I am also an old Navy veteran that served on destroyers in the late 1980s so I was part of the Cold War response and the regular Nuke training based on the risk provided by the Soviets.

In reading the recent article “Modern Civil Defense” by 3AD Scout it brought back memories of the Cold war preparations.  The author is pretty close to dead center on his research but did fail to address the varied modern-day preparations that we are currently dealing with in the Emergency Management offices across the country.  My agency is fortunate to not only have staff but to be set up and fully funded by our County Commissioners.  The grant money I receive each year is not spent on labor costs like so many of my sister agencies, but real gear.  My county is over 150,000 people and the issue if the balloon was to ever go up is that it would be virtually impossible to take care of the residents.  Large scale shelters do not exist and even with my funding I am unable to store the needed food (MREs)  and drinking water for that many people.  We have had these discussions with my counterparts and most are in less fortunate circumstances since they do not have any discretionary income since they rely on those grants just for normal operations.  Ohio has 88 counties and this is the situation for about 75 of them.  The other 13 do have funding and are preparing as they see fit with those priorities varying quite a bit based on location and political leanings of the leadership.  (That is just a reality.)

Here in my county, we are in the process of building a robust mass casualty program and are currently working on training both county employees and concerned volunteers to handle “longer-term” shelter operations that would normally be outside the ability and scope of Red Cross to staff.  This includes shelter supplies such as cots, comfort kits, food, water, and blankets, this effort is designed for the 99% of events that we would encounter.  The migrant crisis or a larger scale incident are the targets we are building this to.

As far as education to the risks that we face currently, it seems that more and more people are waking up to the reality of the situation but the overall percentages is still well into the single percentiles.  This is better in counties with conservative leanings and is helped by the rural populations but the closer you are to major metros the attitudes shift from self-reliance to “what can you give me today?”  Education will be our best single approach to getting the population prepared for whatever we might face but that will take significant time that we simply do not have.  This is currently being done through outreach programs with civic groups and myself and my staff take every opportunity talk with people to be better prepared.

Not all of .gov has their heads in the sand, but this might be too little too late with current events trending the way they are.

Keep doing what you do sir, your efforts are appreciated more than you know.”

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The entire argument for gun control is built upon a false premise. The second amendment is not about self-defense from criminals.

As unpleasant as it may be for this modern society to say out loud, historically and constitutionally speaking, the right of the people to keep and bear arms has always been a right to protect yourself from those in power who want to enslave you. If America wants to engage in a real factual debate on the right to keep and bear arms, then it must be approached from the proper perspective.

A proper debate on one’s right to keep and bear arms is not one that is framed in the terms of whether you can feel safe from wicked and depraved people, full of hate and malice, who want to hurt you. You will never feel safe from those people and those people will not cease to exist just because you are not allowed to legally own a gun. Why? Because those people do not care about laws and they will always find a way to hurt and destroy, with or without gun laws.

If society is honest and historically accurate, the only question that has any relevance to the gun control debate is,

“Do you trust those in government, now and forever in the future, to not take your life, liberty, or property through the force of government?”

If the answer to that question is “no,” the gun control debate is over.” – KrisAnne Hall, JD

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — June 20, 2023

On June 20th, 1903, American automobile-racing driver Barney Oldfield accomplished the first mile-a-minute performance in a car, at Indianapolis, Indiana.

June 20th is also the birthday of Audie L. Murphy. He was born in 1925. He died in a plane crash on May 28, 1971.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 107 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. 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.
  2. 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),
  3. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  5. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  6. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795.
  2. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  3. A $300 gift certificate from Good2Goco.com, good for any of their products: Home freeze dryers, pressure canners, Country Living grain mills, Emergency Essentials foods, and much more.
  4. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Montana Survival Seed is providing a $225 gift code for any items on its website, including organic non-GMO seeds, fossils, 1812-1964 US silver, jewelry, botany books, and Montana beeswax.
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

—

More than $825,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. We recently polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 107 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

 

Practical PV Power, by Graton

Even though I have been dabbling in solar power since about 2008 I hesitated to share my experiences because I felt totally incompetent about the subject. I still feel that way in large part, even though my “knowledge” has increased dramatically.

One of my first projects was setting up a solar-powered well for a friend’s cattle where obtaining grid power would have been financially prohibitive. The equipment included a Grundfos 11 SQ-Flex 2 pump, 6 solar panels, Midnite Solar 60 charge controller, golf cart 48-volt battery bank, etc. You may have noticed that there is no mention of an inverter because this Grundfos will run off any source of power, AC or DC, without any modification. I had already built a wood rack to hold the solar panels with an enclosed area underneath to hold the solar equipment. I was amazed that we were able to install the pump and install all solar components and get it running in one day. We had a scary moment when we turned it on and nothing happened. Before pulling the pump I checked all of the above-ground connections and found a loose wire in the charge controller. It was quite exhilarating when we heard water gurgling and had full water flow, just seconds later.

Years later — around 2015 — I decided that my prepping would not be complete without at least a minimum availability of electricity if grid power was not available. I also wanted to build a workshop and decided that would be the perfect location for solar panels and the rest of the equipment. At that time I felt the size of the project was beyond my capabilities and started the search for someone to provide me with a turnkey solution. Looking through a couple of quotes I realized the proposals left a lot to be desired in terms of power provided versus cost. I decided that I would have to do a lot of studying and learn how to accomplish the project myself. This turned out to be very confusing and I often had to sift through conflicting statements from manufacturer’s manuals and their tech support and retailers.Continue reading“Practical PV Power, by Graton”

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 lengthy Republican walkout of the Oregon legislature.  (See the Central & Eastern Oregon section.)

Idaho

Idaho ranks #3 in USNews report: Economy, fiscal stability, and crime boost Gem State.

o  o  o

Kellogg shooting on Father’s Day leaves 4 dead, suspect arrested.  The preliminary report fom Fox News begins:

“A shooting in Kellogg, Idaho, on Father’s Day left four people dead, according to officials.

The Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office and the Kellogg Police Department responded to a home on Brown Avenue around 7:30 p.m. and found four victims who died of gunshot wounds

The sheriff’s office said deputies were dispatched after they received a report from the city about the shooting.

A 31-year-old suspect has been taken into custody.”

There are a few more uncorroborated details, published here. This sounds like a very unusual case. – JWR

o  o  o

Nonresident hunter in North Idaho mistakenly kills grizzly bear.

o  o  o

Public reacts to Boise City Council approval of Modern Zoning Code.

o  o  o

Local 33-year-old man charged with rape of a teenage girl.
Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Historians of the future will have a hard time figuring out how so many organized groups of strident jackasses succeeded in leading us around by the nose and morally intimidating the majority into silence.” –  Thomas Sowell

Preparedness Notes for Monday — June 19, 2023

June 19, 1834 was the birthday of Charles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon, who died 31 January, 1892. He was a noteworthy British Particular Baptist preacher. The text of more than 3,500 of his now famous sermons were preserved and are available online.

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Today’s feature article is a review that was penned by SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson.

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I noticed that an interesting retreat property near Bonners Ferry, Idaho has been advertised at SurvivalRealty: 20 Acre Sustainable Homestead.

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Please keep Pat Cascio in your prayers.  His health has been failing, in recent months.

Henry Long Ranger in .308 Winchester, by Thomas Christianson

I grew up watching Westerns on television. When it came to a movie or a television series that involved cowboys, if they were armed (and they usually were), the handguns were six-shooters, and the rifles were lever action. I dreamed of someday riding off into the sunset with a revolver on my hip and a lever action rifle in my saddle boot.

Many decades passed. I might not have been quite at the place where I would be riding off into the sunset, but I could see that place from where I was. And I still had never fired a lever action rifle.

I decided that it was time to address that glaring omission in my list of essential life experiences. I contacted Henry Repeating Arms, and asked if I could borrow one of their Henry Long Rangers in .308 Winchester. I was particularly interested in the model with iron sights, since every cowboy ought to have a rifle with iron sights. Henry was kind enough to agree to my request. When the rifle arrived at my FFL, I went to pick it up.Continue reading“Henry Long Ranger in .308 Winchester, by Thomas Christianson”

Recipe of the Week: Cheesy Broccoli Soup

The following recipe for Cheesy Broccoli Soup was kindly sent in by longtime SurvivalBlog reader “Sis”.

INGREDIENTS and Directions
  1. Sauté: 1/4 cup butter & 1/2 medium onion (diced).
  2. Stir in: 1/4 cup flour.
  3. Whisk in: 2 cups of half n half & 2 cups of chicken broth.
  4. Add: 1 cup of diced carrots, 3 cups of chopped broccoli.
  5. Cook until carrots are tender.
  6. Add 1/4tsp. of nutmeg (important)
  7. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  8. Lastly, stir in 8 oz. (1 cup) of sharp cheddar cheese.

Some Options and Ideas: Fresh broccoli is best but you could easily use frozen, dehydrated, or freeze-dried. Could use dehydrated onion. Could use evaporated milk or double up on the dried milk and possibly add 1 or 2 tablespoons of fat. Could use chicken bullion. Could use different types cheeses. Could use dehydrated, or freeze dried cheese. Could use canned, frozen, dehydrated or freeze-dried carrots. A nice addition to this soup is diced ham.

The ingredients in this soup can be varied accordingly to your tastes and what you have on hand. This could be made with home storage foods.

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Do you have a well-tested recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long-term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven recipes, slow cooker recipes, and any recipes that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

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 a possible UPS workers’ strike. (See the Economy & Finance section.)

Precious Metals:

The price of gold was flat on Friday (June 16, 2023), but spot silver saw a nice 1.33% bounce to close at $24.46 USD per Troy ounce. So I adjusted my silver divisor accordingly: I now accept pre-1965 US 90% silver coins at 26 times face value, for any of my merchandise at Elk Creek Company. – JWR

o  o  o

Silver outshines gold with better short-term performance.

o  o  o

China’s Persistent Gold Accumulation: A Seven-Month Surge In Holdings.

o  o  o

The Shanghai International Gold Exchange And Its Role In De-Dollarization.

Economy & Finance:

UPS Workers Could Stage Biggest Strike In The U.S. Since The 1950s. Here is an excerpt:

“Some 97% of voting members approved a strike, although the voting turnout was not immediately known.

The union is seeking higher pay; the elimination of so-called two-tier wages, where newer workers are paid less than older employees for the same job; the removal of surveillance cameras from delivery trucks; and more full-time jobs.

Earlier this week, the Teamsters secured a major win when UPS committed to install air conditioning and two driver-facing fans in most trucks. Heat safety has been a significant concern for UPS workers, with many incidents of drivers falling sick from heatstroke.

The current contract was unpopular, with a majority of UPS workforce rejecting it, but the union’s former leadership pushed it through on a technicality. The backlash led to the ouster of the union’s leadership in favor of O’Brien, who has been vocal about his willingness to strike, including going on a national tour of union locals this year to prepare members for a walkout.”

o  o  o

Amazon Delivery Drivers Walk Out in First-Ever Strike.

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Your tax dollars at work: Planned Parenthood CEOs among the highest-paid in nonprofit sector while abortion giant collected $1.9 billion in government grants, reimbursements: Report.

o  o  o

Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: S&P 500 breaks six-day win streak on Friday, but still notches best week since March: Live updates.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Unless the people, through unified action, arise and take charge of their government, they will find that their government has taken charge of them. Independence and liberty will be gone, and the general public will find itself in a condition of servitude to an aggregation of organized and selfish interest.” – Calvin Coolidge