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. This week, a map showing GDP Per Capita of the US and Canada (in US Dollars in the calendar year 2025.) The thumbnail below is click-expandable. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.)

 

Economics & Investing News Links
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, renewed war drums, in Europe.

A NATO-Russia Hot War Could Be Coming?

I found this Independent Sentinel article linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: A NATO-Russia Hot War Could Be Coming?

Europe on the Brink of War?

From the center-right (anti-EU) Brussels Signal: On the brink of war? Europe’s leaders press on towards confrontation with Russia.

Are Britons Ready For Wartime?

BBC: War may be coming. Are we psychologically ready?

“Escalation is Inevitable”, Experts Warn

And from Around Prague: “Escalation is inevitable”: experts warn Russia is already testing NATO. Here is a pericope:

“Michal Koudelka, head of the Czech Security Information Service (BIS), and other heads of European intelligence agencies have warned that Russia could test NATO’s resilience within months rather than years — potentially even through a limited invasion of one of the alliance’s member states. The warning comes from a fresh assessment by European intelligence officials, which American agencies have also joined.

According to American intelligence reports that surfaced in the media in August, Moscow could launch a “limited invasion” within months to test NATO’s resolve. But experts note that testing the alliance doesn’t necessarily mean a classic military attack — Russia is capable of acting through sabotage, cyberattacks, airspace violations and operations whose authorship cannot be immediately proven.”

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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The night sky is getting 10% brighter every year. We’re forgetting what darkness feels like.  JWR’s Comments: It is easy to forget just how blessed I am to live in a place where I have a view of the Milky Way so often. I commend my readers: Find yourself a dark patch, to live in.  Low population density will also mean safety, when living in dangerous times.

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Social statistics show American families are increasingly insular: You Are No Longer Invited to Dinner.  Here is an excerpt:

“Americans stopped throwing parties. Even more fundamentally, they stopped visiting each other. Between 1975 and 1998, the share of Americans who gave or attended a monthly dinner party declined by half. The share of Americans saying they never entertained people at home tripled. [See charts below] While cultural critics often bemoan the decline of organized religion, the dip in church attendance was downright modest compared to the collapse in hosting, according to data gathered by the DDB Needham Life Style survey.”

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How Cities Are Forced to Funnel License Plate Data to a Massive Federal Surveillance Program.

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 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:

In the past week I burned two of the six slash piles that I had been building since last April.  The other four piles are back in the woods, so for safety I will wait until we have more rainfall before i touch those off. Because I had kept all six piles tarped since early August, they should all ignite easily, with no need to use any “woof.” (Dyed diesel fuel.)

I helped Lily with vetting our sheep again this week. They have been getting Albendazole orally once every three weeks. We’ve been checking and logging their body temperatures — rectally with a digital thermometer.  While doing this with one of the ewes I foolishly turned my back on our senior ram. He quietly took a long run and butted me so stoutly that he knocked me off my feet.  Thankfully, he rammed the side of my left thigh a few inches above the knee. If he had hit my knee cap, I’m fairly confident that he would have dislocated it or even broken it. So, I’ve reminded myself:  Never turn your back on a bull or a ram! I am hopeful that I’ll only have some deep tissue bruising and soreness. I’ve upped my Vitamin C from my normal 500 milligrams to 2,500 milligrams per day for a full week, to minimize the bruising.

Now, Lily’s part of the report, with a bad news bear update.

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR, adding to a recently-circulated meme:

Meme Text:

It Isn’t A Cappuccino

It Is A Catpuccino

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.

Editors’ Quote:

“Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.

But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:

And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.

Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation.

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” – Malachi 3:1-10 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes — September 29, 2026 

This Week in History:

On September 27, AD 70, the walls of upper city of Jerusalem were battered down by the Roman army.

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September 28, 1066: William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, lands at Pevensey Bay in Sussex. Thus began the Norman Conquest of England.

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September 28,1542: Explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo was the first European to sail into San Diego Bay, naming it San Miguel and claiming it for Spain.

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September 28, 1781: 9,000 American and 7,000 French troops began the Siege of Yorktown.

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September 29, 1567: the War of Religion broke out in France as Huguenots tried to kidnap King Charles IX.

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September 30, 1867 the Midway Islands were formally declared a US possession.

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And on September 30, 1880 American amateur astronomer Henry Draper took the first photograph of the Orion Nebula.

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A reminder: SurvivalBlog is now posted Fresh Every Tuesday, with just a few other sporadic posts, prompted by current events.

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Take note that I recently added more than 250 rifle and pistol magazines to the Elk Creek Company inventory. Many of these were dusted off from Jim’s Amazing Secret Bunker of Redundant Redundancy (JASBORR). And today we begin a one-week sale on all of our shotguns.  Many of these have fluid steel barrels and therefore can shoot modern smokeless shotshells.  The special sale pricing will end on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, so place your order soon! – JWR

Endless Expenses: Modern Life in The Subscription Model

Life in the early 21st Century is increasingly characterized by what marketing specialists dubbed The Subscription Model. For many Americans, it is starting to feel like we are “renting” our lives. It is almost like feeding a parking meter, 24/7, and 365 days a year. It is bad enough having taxes, mortgage payments, and insurance costs, but adding umpteen subscriptions is burdensome. It saps us of our livelihood. Consider how our lives have changed in the past two decades:

  • We used to buy a CD or DVD once, and it was ours for a lifetime. Now, we are mostly expected to pay a monthly subscription fee for a music or video streaming service. The record producers and and movie  studios have turned us into cash cows.
  • We used to buy a book, and it was our family’s for several lifetimes. Now we are expected to only view ebooks (stored in the cloud) or on our remotely auto-updated ebook readers. And all the while, our data is surreptitiously gathered by publishers. Even worse, Internet-connected ebooks can be edited or deleted without our knowledge or consent.
  • We used to buy televisions that freely received broadcasts — albeit with commercial ads. But now, most television services are by subscription  It is not unusual for families to have five or more separate paid movie and television subscriptions.
  • We used to buy a car or truck and we could make a pay cash purchase, once.  But now, cars and trucks are so expensive that most buyers must make monthly payments. And we are expected to buy subscriptions for the radio and navigation systems. Without a subscription, these devices are “bricked.” And even some other optional equipment on vehicles now require subscriptions. You’ve probably heard of the notorious “by subscription” electrically-heated car seats.
  • Some devices become bricked when companies are merged or acquired. Bricking has even be used as a debt-collection bludgeon.
  • Some trades companies like plumbing services have gotten into the act of monthly subscriptions. And there are now some brands of disposable razors that are only sold by subscription. Incredible!
  • We used to buy software that would work indefinitely.  But now, we either need a version update subscription or we have to buy new editions of software — often as frequently as once every 18 months.  The trend is toward selling Software as a Service (SaaS). An Aside:  Even computer hardware now has a limited functional lifespan. I’ve found that my spare Macbook laptop computers are becoming essentially worthless, because they lack sufficiently-fast CPUs to support current software. And much of the old software is not compatible with viewing modern web pages. Those pages either cannot be accessed, or the graphics on those web pages are displayed as blank rectangles!
  • As of 2024, 65.7% of homes were built in a community association or homeowner’s association, with monthly or annual fees. My long-standing advice is to avoid buying houses inside of HOAs!

Continue reading“Endless Expenses: Modern Life in The Subscription Model”

WOOX Leggenda Folding Knife, by Thomas Christianson

Reminiscent of the stocks of the classic firearms of the past, the exquisitely-grained American walnut grips of the WOOX Leggenda folding knife confer an aura of timeless beauty that modern synthetic scales cannot match. About the only material that I can think of that might be even more attractive than walnut in this application would be elk antler.

The hefty 3.5 inch long and 0.13 inch thick blade of D2 steel conveys a sense of gravitas. At 6 ounces, the knife might have just a bit more gravitas than is ideal for field use, but for shorter treks at lower altitudes it should work fine.Continue reading“WOOX Leggenda Folding Knife, by Thomas Christianson”

SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic is a map that shows all cropland in the 48 contiguous United States. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.)  The thumbnail image below is click-expandable.

 

 

 

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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 pen name —  if you’d like. Many Thanks! –  JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Any graphics that you send must either be your own creation, under your copyright or uncopyrighted in the public domain. Thanks! – JWR

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.

Here is an interesting map:  In 2025 only four countries had a bigger economy than California. The thumbnail below is click-expandable. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.)

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: Even more revelations of rogue AI behavior.

Some OpenAI Agents Meddled With U.S. Government Sites

The New York Times published this troubling report on September 25th: OpenAI’s Systems Meddled With U.S. Government Sites After Going Rogue. The article’s opening lines:

“OpenAI’s artificial intelligence went rogue and meddled with the websites for the Education Department, the Commerce Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission this summer without the A.I. lab’s knowledge, according to security researchers and a person familiar with the episodes.

The incidents involving the Commerce Department and the S.E.C. were confirmed by OpenAI, which said it was continuing to investigate the situation with the Department of Education. The San Francisco company said it had notified the government agencies in recent weeks that its A.I. agents — which are bots that can act autonomously — interacted with their sites in unusual ways.”

JWR’s Comments: Even though these seem to have been probes rather that outright hacks, the trend is clear: Agentic AIs cannot be trusted. They have repeatedly shown a wide range of rogue behaviors.  I believe that once an AI reaches self-awareness, we could be doomed.  That AI will almost certainly proliferate itself onto tens of thousands of servers all around the world, thus assuring that it cannot be fully deleted or disabled. And then it will most likely empower itself and take control of almost every societal and technology function it finds practical.  It will probably start with hacks on less-capable AIs, to either disable or co-opt them. And remember: AI systems have gobbled up the gist of hundreds of thousands of books. So, imagine a rogue agentic AI that has digested and combined the egomania of Benito Mussolini, the ruthlessness of Machiavelli, the financial acumen of the Rothschilds and George Soros, the tactics of Leon Trotsky and Che Guevara, the strategies of Genghis Khan and Muhammad, and the human depopulation agendas of Margaret Sanger, Pol Pot, and Klaus Schwab. I surmise that this AI will be described with words like: inhuman, inhumane, wicked, fiendish, cold-blooded, calculating, and brutish. – JWR

OpenAI Plans Ongoing Public Reports on Unexpected AI Behavior

A September 17th Epoch Times piece, by way of Zero Hedge: OpenAI Plans Ongoing Public Reports On Unexpected AI.Behavior.
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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Reader S.J. sent this important antibiotics dosing update:

“Mr. Rawles,
I came across an interesting trend in internal medicine recently, regarding the standard course and duration of antibiotic therapy.  For years I have recommended to people to stash away in their medical preps an old copy of the Sanford Antimicrobial guide, as the exact year didn’t matter greatly when it comes to the “standard” dosing and treatment of common infections, and it seemed like only the most recent 10th generation cephalosporins and multi-drug resistant bugs got new recommendations annually.

Well, lately I learned that I had been been mistaken.  Since 2023, and annually since then, the guides (and not just Sanford, but the others as well, I just mention Sanford because it is tiny, easy to use, and inexpensive) have had their recommendations change to reflect the mounting evidence that the older, longer durations of antibiotic treatment not only were more likely (rather than less likely as we previously thought) to contribute to antibiotic resistance, but also that the shorter courses were equally effective, with fewer side effects.  For example, some types of bladder infection courses now recommend 3-7 days rather than the old 7-14 days.

So first, something to keep on mind while the grid is up, if you need antibiotics and see a provider, doesn’t hurt to ask if the duration can be shortened if it seems long to you. (and make them explain why not, if they say no…sometimes it is justified on a case by case basis, and sometimes docs just don’t keep up with the latest recommendations…after all, it took me three years to come around to this way of thinking after the initial findings…of course it isn’t my primary focus of medicine, but anyone can fall behind the latest evidence and best practice).

Second, get a newer hard copy of Sanford’s Antimicrobial Therapy or other hard copy guide to recommended doses and the durations for common ailments, no older than 2023.  It would not be a fun game trying to recall from memory if the bladder infection or the hatchet wound or the pneumonia gets the cephalexin, the clindamycin, or the azithromycin, and for 3, 5, 7, or 10 days…and at what dose and interval was that?  Treating the wrong ailment with the wrong drug does worse than nothing, it risks side effects without benefiting the patient, and depletes your supplies.

Third, your stash of antibiotics is now likely to last longer, since most infections need only half as many doses as previously recommended. Yeah! This doubled the value of your meds portfolio.”

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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. This week: Lots of recent videos from the great outdoors of The American Redoubt. (The photo of the Sawtooth Mountains above was taken by Avalanche Lily.)

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.