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.

Economics & Investing Links of Interest

Economics & Investing Media Tips:

Please send your economics and investing links to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Thanks!

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 hacking vulnerabilities.

What Happens if China Hacks the US Water Supply?

SurvivalBlog staffer Tom Christianson suggested this article, at Wired: What Happens if China Hacks the US Water Supply? I Went to a Secret War Game to Find Out.  (The public domain photo above of a fountain near the Los Angeles City Hall was taken by  Fresno photographer “prayitno”.)

2026 Data Breaches: Cybersecurity Incidents

Over at the PKWare site: 2026 Data Breaches: Cybersecurity Incidents Explained.

Municipal Utilities at High Risk of Cyber Attacks

This article by Jason Miller was published by Bitlyft, late last year: Cyber Attacks on Utilities: Why Municipal Utilities Are at High Risk.

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

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

Our weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, news links, 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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I noticed that Hoffman Tactical has their newly-famous AR Trigger Kickers back in stock. They have had some very positive review videos and consistent 5-star e-mailed customer reviews. This replacement for your standard disconnector gives you functionality similar to a name-brand $450 forced reset trigger, but for just $43. I recently bought a pile of them, to re-sell at gun shows. (I’m assuming that most folks will be willing to pay $75+ to be able to buy one of these with cash, with no paper trail.) Take note that the Trigger Kicker provides just a two-position selector switch, so it might take some practice to get just one shot at a time. Pairing it with a “H2” heavy buffer is recommended for the best functioning reliability. – JWR

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Our friend and fellow blogger Commander Zero mentioned an interesting new option for transporting 20-foot CONEXes to remote locations with marginal roads: Conex?

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Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

SurvivalBlog’s American Redoubt Media of the Week

This weekly column features media 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.

Send Your Media Links

Please send your links to media from the American Redoubt region to JWR. Any photos that are posted or re-posted must be uncopyrighted. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact form.

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:

We set an all-time personal best for gathering hay and hauling it to the Rawles Ranch.  With the help of our hay contractor and his assistant, we picked up 25 tons of hay in the field in a single day.  This was a 12-hour work day, and that included three 50-mile round trips, in two vehicles.  We also stacked most of it in our barn, the same day. As night fell, I still had about 130 bales left to stack. That was a bit of a shoe-horning exercise, since our three-sided hay barn will only hold just over 25 tons if it it stacked from floor to ceiling. By mid-morning two days later, all the hay bales were in the barn. Lily helped me by staging the bales on the edge of the trailer and hefting some up to my platform in the barn. Whew!  What a big job!

Now, Lily’s part of the report…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

JWR’s Meme of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR:


Meme Text:

Every California Soccer Mom, Pointing To Gavin Newsom, When He Asks Who Caused High Gas Prices, in California.

News Link: Why are gas prices so high in California? Newsom said it’s the oil companies, so we asked experts.

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.

Preparedness Notes — July 7, 2026

This Week in History:

On July 7, 1850 Scottish explorer Edward John Eyre (pictured above) reached Albany, Western Australia.

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July 8,1731: Theologian Jonathan Edwards preached his sermon “God Glorified in Man’s Dependence” in Boston. This was later his first published sermon.

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And on  July  10, 1553 Lady Jane Grey, daughter of the Duke of Suffolk, was proclaimed Queen of England, succeeding Edward VI,. In June, the dying Edward VI had written his will, nominating Jane and her male heirs as successors to the Crown, in part because his half-sister Mary was Catholic, whereas Jane was a committed Protestant and would support the reformed Church of England, whose foundation Edward had laid.

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If any SurvivalBlog readers have personally taken or otherwise hold the copyright to a particularly nice landscape photo or other photo of particular interest to preppers that is in a wide horizontal format (to match our blog template) then please send it in as an e-mail attachment, and I will consider posting it as a Graphic of the Week, or as a Top Note photo. I can of course credit you by name — or by your chosen pen name —  if you’d like. Many Thanks! – JWR.

Thoughts on Prepping and on America’s Drug Addicts, by Big John

Pre-1965 silver is kinda like buying a fire extinguisher. Whether you pay $14 or $40 for the fire extinguisher is not really relevant. If it prevents a $4,000 kitchen fire is the point.

There is a saying in the stock market: A bull makes money, and a bear makes money but a pig never makes money — It gets slaughtered. Point being, you can make money by going long or going short, but if you try to catch the absolute top or bottom, then you are bound to mess up. So you just go get some Pre-1965 silver, just close your eyes and get it. Also, once you are in, you are an advocate, not a nit picker. I bought $25 USD worth of Bitcoin, locally. As soon as I walked out, I was a believer in cryptocurrency.Continue reading“Thoughts on Prepping and on America’s Drug Addicts, by Big John”

CRKT Drifter Liner Lock Folding Knife, by Thomas Christianson

I had two major surprises as I reviewed the Columbia River Knife and Tool (CRKT) Drifter Liner Lock Folding Knife: one positive and one negative.

The positive surprise was the durability of the gray titanium nitride finish on the blade. It showed absolutely no signs of wear after more than a month of regular use. I was very impressed.

The negative surprise was the country of origin. I ordered the knife because a knife-seller’s website indicated that it was “made in Taiwan”. When the knife arrived, the words “Made in China” were clearly printed on the box. The actual CRKT website is silent about the country of origin of the knife. I would appreciate greater transparency from CRKT about where their various products are made.

At the time of this writing, the Drifter Liner Lock in 8Cr14MoV steel cost $34.99 at crkt.com.Continue reading“CRKT Drifter Liner Lock Folding Knife, by Thomas Christianson”

SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic is a map showing how the USA would have looked like if every historic treaty made with Native American tribes had been fully honored and implemented.

The thumbnail image below is click-expandable.

 

 

 

 

(Graphic courtesy of Reddit.)

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Please send your graphic ideas to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Any graphics that you send must either be your own creation or uncopyrighted.

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.

Economics & Investing Links of Interest

Economics & Investing Media Tips:

Please send your economics and investing links to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Thanks!

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 about both drones and Flock cameras.

Drone Crime May Be Coming To A Sky Near You

This article is a bit dated, but still useful: Drone Crime: It Might Be Coming To A Sky Near You.

AI 2027 AGI Timelines Shortened by 1.5 Years

AI 2027 authors updated their AGI timelines by 1.5 years earlier, due to faster progress in the last 3 months.

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

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.

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From the right-leaning Issues and Insights site: Two SCOTUS Wins For Gun Rights, But Questions Remain About The ‘History And Tradition’ Test.

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U.S. murder rate approaches a record low. JWR’s Comments: The statist/socialist NPR editors surely had to grit their teeth to report that news.These same anti-gun leftists at NPR warned us that there would be “blood in the streets” and “life like back in the wild west” when states began passing permitless concealed carry (aka Constitutional Carry) laws. There are now 26 states with permitless concealed carry.  Of the 12 states that passed permitless carry laws between 2019 and 2022, 11 had lower crime rates in 2024 than they did in 2019. Gee, I wonder why murder rates are falling?

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AGI is having a big sale on their gunsmithing courses, for the month of July.  Use promo code “FS250” at checkout.

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Speaking of National Pravda Radio: NPR Retracts Article Incorrectly Reporting Justice Alito’s Retirement, Citing ‘Misunderstanding’. JWR’s Comment: That fever dream of a news report came from 82-year old Nina Totenberg. If she has that level of confusion, then it is time for her to consider retirement.

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Reader D.S.V. suggested an article about the time-proven utility of portieres.Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

SurvivalBlog’s American Redoubt Media of the Week

This weekly column features media 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.

REDOUBT NEWS LINKS

Send Your Media Links

Please send your links to media from the American Redoubt region to JWR. Any photos that are posted or re-posted must be uncopyrighted. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact