Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those — or excerpts thereof — in the Odds ‘n Sods Column or in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

I started this week off slowly, recovering from a sprained foot.  But by Tuesday, I was back to my normal level of activity.  I temporarily stowed 15 sacks — 25 pounds each — of whole einkorn wheat in a pair of brand-new 31-gallon Behrens steel trash barrels.  We already have tons (literally) of hard red winter wheat in 7-gallon buckets, but Avalanche Lily has developed an intolerance to the more genetically complex wheat varieties. With some recent experimentation, she found that her system has no reaction to flour from the ancient einkorn. I temporarily left the grain in the distributor sacks and placed them in the barrels. I’ll have to round up some more 5-gallon or 7-gallon food-grade HDPE plastic buckets, for permanently storing the einkorn wheat. But at least, for now,  that grain is safe from mice.  A side note: This seems to be the story of my life:  Whenever it comes to food-grade plastic buckets, the answer is always more.  I started buying buckets when I was 16 years old. I expect to add to our accumulation of full buckets for at least another decade.

Today, I’m attending a gun show that is within “day trip” commute distance of our ranch.  The quest for pre-1899 guns from my Elk Creek Company inventory continues.  Prices of antiques have risen on average 50% in the past four years, so it has become very hard to find any bargains. The once Almighty Dollar is now looking like an aging, trashy pop singer — showing the signs of decades of wanton, irresponsible behavior. She brazenly played the harlot, and now everyone wants to find more respectable company.

Now, Lily’s part of the report…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.

Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and nations, and didst divide them into corners: so they possessed the land of Sihon, and the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.

Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou hadst promised to their fathers, that they should go in to possess it.

So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would.

And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all goods, wells digged, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance: so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness.

Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations.

Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their enemies, who vexed them: and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them saviours, who saved them out of the hand of their enemies.

But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee: therefore leftest thou them in the land of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them: yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies;

And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear.

Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands.

Nevertheless for thy great mercies’ sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.

Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the trouble seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day.

Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:

Neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them.

For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou gavest before them, neither turned they from their wicked works.”  – Nehemiah 9:21-35 (KJV) 

Preparedness Notes for Friday — April 12, 2024

On April 12, 1861, Fort Sumter, one of the few military installations in the South still in Federal hands, came under fire from Confederate guns in Charleston, South Carolina, thus initiating the American Civil War.

April 12th is the birthday of the late novelist Tom Clancy. (Born 1947, died October 1, 2013). It was Clancy who almost single-handedly created the modern techno-thriller genre, with his first novel, The Hunt For Red October. Coincidentally, Tom Clancy’s first literary agent is now my agent, Robert Gottlieb.

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Joshua at Ready Made Resources wrote to mention:  “For the month of April, anyone placing a IRAY Th50c thermal weapon scope order will be getting a free Laser Range Finder (a $700 value). We personally run these and they are some of our favorite thermal scopes.”
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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 112 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 $2,000.
  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. A Peak Refuel “Wasatch Pack” variety of 60 servings of premium freeze-dried breakfasts and dinners in individual meal pouches — a whopping 21,970 calories, all made and packaged in the USA — courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $359 value),
  4. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  5. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  2. 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).
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC.
  4. 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. A Berkey Light water filter, courtesy of USA Berkey Filters (a $305 value),
  2. 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.
  3. 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)
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

—

More than $875,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 112 ends on May 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.

Martial Arts in The Collapse: A Question of Limits – Part 1, by Dr. Joseph

The Death Spiral to Dark Age 2.0

In my previous article at Survivalblog.com, “After the Collapse – Dark Age 2.0: Melee Weapons,” I outlined the case for the coming collapse being many dimensions of severity greater than most survivalists and preppers suppose, leading to a situation of multigenerational collapse, the Mad Max scenario without the hot cars. There are, much like ancient Rome before the fall (or disintegration/decay), forces at work internally destroying the West, leaving it vulnerable and lacking in resilience to external shocks, such as nuclear war, and EMP events, either from intense solar storms or from enemy attackers (China, Russia, Iran, North Korea), and vast array of ecological and resource limitation threats. These are the “converging catastrophes,” detailed in the notes to the last article, that constitute what Schippers et al. have called in their recent article, a “death spiral”:

“Just like an army of ants caught in an ant mill, individuals, groups and even whole societies are sometimes caught up in a Death Spiral, a vicious cycle of self-reinforcing dysfunctional behavior characterized by continuous flawed decision making, myopic single-minded focus on one (set of) solution(s) denial, distrust, micromanagement, dogmatic thinking and learned helpless. We propose the term Death Spiral Effect to describe this difficult-to-break downward spiral of societal decline.”[1]Continue reading“Martial Arts in The Collapse: A Question of Limits – Part 1, by Dr. Joseph”

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 California’s $20 minimum wage law. (See the Economy & Finance section.)

Precious Metals:

Despite some profit-taking, the precious metals bull market is looking more solid with every passing week. At last glance, on Thursday evening, 11 April:

  • Gold: $2,400.40, up 1.76% for the day. Another all-time high.
  • Silver $28.95, up 2.01% for the day
  • Platinum $1,006.00, up 1.89% for the day

o  o  o

See this April 3rd article, from Bloomberg: Gold Tops $2,300 After Powell Reiterates Rate-Cut Path This Year. JWR’s Comments:  In my estimation, the current bull market in metals stems from fears of a Third World War and a weaker Dollar more than from any measly Federal Reserve shifts in interest rates. Take heed:  The Fed’s Open Market Committee (FOMC) is now stuck: They cannot substantially raise rates, or they will make it impossible for the US Treasury to service the enormous (and rapidly growing) national debt. And they cannot substantially lower rates, for fear of re-igniting inflation.  While they dither, the precious metals bull will begin to pick up speed.

o  o  o

Bank Of America Sees Gold At $3,000, Warns Of A Copper Supply Crisis: Metals ‘Dance To Their Own Tune’.

o  o  o

At Zero Hedge: Gold’s Defiance Of Real Yields Can’t Last Unless Trouble Brewing.

o  o  o

The Costco Shoppers Putting $2,000 Gold Bars in Their Carts.

And, from CNBC: Costco selling as much as $200 million in gold bars monthly, Wells Fargo estimates.

Economy & Finance:

At the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: California’s $20 minimum wage law forces small businesses to close and FIRE workers. “Thoughts it was an April fools joke” People with common sense understood this would likely happen…

o  o  o

A Fox News Interview: Mike Rowe details ‘unintended consequences’ from CA’s $20 minimum wage: ‘Bad look for the governor, Panera’.

o  o  o

In the last year, 651,000 native-born Americans have lost jobs, while 1.3 million foreign-born workers have gained jobs.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — April 11, 2024

On April 11, 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria confirmed the March Laws, which formed the foundation of the modern state of Hungary. Pictured is Buda Castle, in Hungary. (Creative Commons photo by Costel Slincu.)

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Lieutenant Colonel George Vincent Fosbery VC (11 April 1832 – 8 May 1907) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was also a designer and inventor of firearms including the famous Webley-Fosbery revolver and the Paradox Gun.

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Even after adding 30 spares which we had set aside, we are now down to less than 80 SurvivalBlog 2005-2023 Archive USB sticks. I’ve reduced the price from $30.95 to $28.95 on those last few. Order yours, now!  There will be no more produced in 2024.

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Today’s feature article is a guest piece that was too short to qualify as an entry for Round 112 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.

More than $875,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 112 ends on May 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.

Comparison of Sunflair and All-American Sun Ovens, by M.J.

I’ve had a Sunflair Deluxe solar oven for a few years now. I recently purchased an All-American Sun Oven. I cooked with both of them recently.

The Sunflair Deluxe is made of fabric and flexible plastic (to let the sun in), whereas the Sun Oven is a large box that does not fold, but the panels that reflect the sun into the oven that do fold. I don’t recommend cooking on a windy day with the Sun Oven. The sun-reflecting panels are too fragile. That’s not a problem with the Sunflair Deluxe, but one time the wind came up and blew it off the table where I had it set up, spilling my rice everywhere. After that, I placed a metal wood-splitting wedge in my Sunflair Deluxe to prevent it from being blown over. As a bonus, the metal wedge helps to absorb and radiate heat into the oven.Continue reading“Comparison of Sunflair and All-American Sun Ovens, by M.J.”

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, and examination of the advent of government surveillance cameras on private property.

Government Cameras Hidden on Private Property

Reader Robert W. mentioned this piece at AgWeb: Government Cameras Hidden on Private Property? Welcome to Open Fields. Robert’s Comments:

“This would logically extend to mining operations, farms, feed lots, dairies, stream banks and bodies of water, airstrips, anywhere there is a “regulated” activity. It kind of boggles the mind how many agencies this gives license to trespass.”

Map Shows U.S. Population Shifts

Reader D.S.V. sent us this link, illustrating The Great  Migration: Three Year Population Shift, By County JWR’s Comment:  Note the flow of American families toward the American Redoubt.

Bay Area Airports: New Facial Recognition for Travelers

R.D. sent this: Bay Area Airports Adopt Facial Recognition to Process Travelers.

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — April 10, 2024

On April 10, 1849, the safety pin was patented by Walter Hunt in the United States; he later sold his rights to the fastener for just $400.

On April 10, 1972, the development, production, and stockpiling of biological weapons were outlawed by the Biological Weapons Convention, signed by more than 150 countries.

April 10, 1827 was the birthday of General Lew Wallace. He wrote books (author of Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ), sculpted, practiced law, painted, played the violin — and made them as well. In the “Battle of Monocacy” he fought alongside 8,000 Union troops against 15,000 Confederates. He was second in command of the Lincoln conspiracy trial as well as principal in the trial of the Commander of Andersonville prison where prisoners had been starved to death. He was U.S. Ambassador to Turkey. And he served as the Territorial Governor of New Mexico.

April 10th, 1796 The birthday of James “Jim” Bowie (died March 6th, 1836 at the Battle of the Alamo.)

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 112 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 $2,000.
  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. A Peak Refuel “Wasatch Pack” variety of 60 servings of premium freeze-dried breakfasts and dinners in individual meal pouches — a whopping 21,970 calories, all made and packaged in the USA — courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $359 value),
  4. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  5. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  2. 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).
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC.
  4. 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. A Berkey Light water filter, courtesy of USA Berkey Filters (a $305 value),
  2. 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.
  3. 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)
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

—

More than $875,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 112 ends on May 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.

By Default: Habits, Good and Bad – Part 2, by N.C.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.)

Altering Your Default Behaviors

If you are not executing your own positive plan you’re a resource to other agents at best and their servant or slave at worst. As Seneca put it to his protégé discussing how people decry things but do not change themselves “they are lingering of their own free will in a situation which they declare they find it hard and wretched to endure. It is so, my dear Lucilius; there are a few men whom slavery holds fast, but there are many more who hold fast to slavery.” Or, as Andrew Ryan put it in the bioshock video game: “a man chooses, a slave obeys”.

Yesterday I wrote about the principles that have shaped your default and will continue to determine what your default is as you attempt to make it better. If we design a default state that prioritizes our goals we will be better prepared. If we know how to adapt that design, then regardless of what happens, what type of emergency, what type of new normal, we will be better off.Continue reading“By Default: Habits, Good and Bad – Part 2, by N.C.”

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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UPI reports: At least 9 dead, nearly 1,000 injured in Taiwan earthquake. JWR’s Comment: This was one of the worst earthquakes on the island since the well-publicized earthquake in 2018. (Pictured.)  We will soon see if mainland China attempts to exploit this as a “moment of weakness.”

o  o  o

Another useful video from the always humorous NotaRubicon: High Power SHTF Walkie-Talkie – HYS 25 Watt UHF HT – The Ultimate Survival Radio – UHF, GMRS, HAM.

o  o  o

Reader A.K. suggested this practical video: Solo Pulling a Calf.

o  o  o

Federal Judge Rules Millions Of NRA Members Exempt From ATF Pistol Brace Rule.

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“I was asked by a journalist if I am a secessionist. My answer was a resounding ‘No!’.  I explained that I’m rather a partitionist.  I believe that rural parts of states that have been disenfranchised by their more populous urban hubs have every right to form new States within the Union. The rural and conservative portions control the larger land areas of many states. There is nothing magical or penultimate about the number 50. It is merely a temporary stopping point that has only stood since 1959. The citizens of regions like Eastern Oregon, Eastern Washington, Northern Colorado, Southern Illinois, and Western New York have every right to choose their own destiny — that is, to choose partition.”  – James Wesley, Rawles

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — April 9, 2024

On April 9, 1388, the Battle of Näfels culminated in a major victory for the Swiss Confederation in the first century of its struggle for self-determination against Habsburg overlordship.

April 9, 1682, René-Robert Cavelier, sieur (lord) de La Salle, claimed the Mississippi River basin for France, naming it Louisiana.

April 9, 1869, the Hudson Bay Company ceded its territory to the Commonwealth of Canada.

Amd on April 9, 1768, John Hancock refused to allow two British customs agents to go below deck of his ship. This was considered by some to be the first act of physical resistance to British authority in the American colonies.

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This new 12.5-acre property listing at SurvivalRealty caught my eye:  Fully Off-Grid Farm and Luxury Home in North Idaho.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 112 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 $2,000.
  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. A Peak Refuel “Wasatch Pack” variety of 60 servings of premium freeze-dried breakfasts and dinners in individual meal pouches — a whopping 21,970 calories, all made and packaged in the USA — courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $359 value),
  4. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  5. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  2. 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).
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC.
  4. 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. A Berkey Light water filter, courtesy of USA Berkey Filters (a $305 value),
  2. 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.
  3. 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)
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

—

More than $875,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 112 ends on May 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.