Recipe of the Week: Summer Vegetable Harvest Soup

The following recipe for a Summer Vegetable Harvest Soup is from reader J.S.. This soup can be prepared in just half an hour.

Ingredients
  • 1 small onion, quartered and thinly sliced
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 4 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
  • 1 can (15-1/2 ounces) navy beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1/2 cup diced peeled potato
  • 1/2 cup cut fresh green beans (2-inch long pieces)
  • 1 cup sliced zucchini
  • 1/2 cup chopped peeled tomato
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper (or to taste)
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 1/4 cup chopped celery leaves
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
Directions
  1. In a large saucepan, saute onion in oil until tender.
  2. Add the next eight ingredients.
  3. Bring to a boil.
  4. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
  5. Stir in the celery leaves and tomato paste.
  6. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

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Do you have a favorite 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 and slow cooker recipes, and any 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. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at continuing inflation and some implications of the falling price of copper.

Precious Metals:

We’ll lead off with this great piece from the Ann Barnhardt archives: WE ARE THE GOLD.

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Greyerz: Falling Gold Prices Explained.

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Video interview with Andrew Maguire:  Live From The Vault – The Day The Silver Market Broke.

Economy & Finance:

Kyle Bass: Bank runs are happening all over China.

“It’s important to note that the Chinese banking system represents 350% of Chinese GDP (on balance sheet) while the U.S. system is only 100%. One of the largest lending categories of Chinese banks is real estate…”

o  o  o

Fox News: Severe recession needed to cool inflation, Bank of America analysts say.

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Several readers sent this link: Bonds Slump as Inflation Surge Fuels Bets on 100-Basis-Point Fed Rate Hike.

o  o  o

Treasury Curve Inversion Deepens to Level Not Seen Since 2007. JWR’s Comments: Recession is here, folks. The officials haven’t yet announced it, but it is inevitable. The question for us now is: How deep will the recession be, and how long will it last? I’m now leaning toward it morphing into a full-blown decade-long depression. This will be needed to compensate for many years of malinvestment and artificially-low interest rates.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well-digested plan is requisite; and their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories as tend to render them independent on others for essential, particularly for military, supplies.” – John Adams, speech to US Congress January 8, 1790

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — July 17, 2022

July 17th, 1889 was the birthdate of Erle Stanley Gardner. He was an American lawyer and author. Though best known for the Perry Mason series of detective stories, he wrote numerous other novels and shorter pieces, as well as a series of nonfiction books, mostly narrations of his travels through Baja California and other regions in Mexico.

The best-selling American author of the 20th century at the time of his death, Gardner also published under numerous pseudonyms, including A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J. Kenny, Les Tillray, and Robert Parr.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 101 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. 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,
  4. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  5. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  6. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  7. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime low-cost training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  3. 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).
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. 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. A LogOX 3-in-1 Forestry MultiTool (a $189 value) and a WoodOx Sling (a $79.95 value), courtesy of LogOx, both made in USA.
  4. A transferable $100 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

—

More than $725,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 101 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.

Thinking About the Unthinkable, Again – Part 3, by 3AD Scout

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.)

Why do you need a survey meter and dosimeters?

A survey meter like the CDV 700 and CDV 715 will tell you what the current rate you are receiving is while the dosimeter will provide you with a total amount your body has absorbed. One of the other useful things you should print off and have handy is a dosimeter log for each person so you can keep track of exactly how much total radiation each person has received and the period of time they received the dose. This will be important to help decide what people to assign must do tasks when radiation levels are high but not dangerous for short periods of time such as taking garbage out of the shelter area or responding outside to a security threat.

I’m contaminated, now what?

So, you leave your shelter to respond to a security threat and you come back and one of your group members goes over you with a CDV-700 meter and finds you have contamination on your footwear and on your back. At this point let’s back up and look at PPE and procedures. If you or members of your family/group need to leave the shelter to go outside they should have PPE on. This will make things much easier when they come back and try to get back inside.

A Tyvek suit, boot covers, a respirator with hood, and gloves should standard when leaving the shelter area. Procedures should include a local where the returning person can be surveyed to see if they are contaminated, a place to decontaminate and a place to take off the PPE. Keep in mind you want your decontamination area to be away from your shelter area. An N95 mask can suffice but a good military or civilian full-face respirator (gas mask) with a hood will help keep fallout from getting into your hair will it will be more difficult to decontaminate. This is also another good reason to keep your hair cut short. Don’t have a Tyvek suit, use a raincoat with integrated hood. Add rolls of double-sided tape that can be used to make improvised “Sticky Mats” by placing strips of the double sided tape onto 2’x2’ pieces of cardboard. As people come back into get survey they step onto these sticky mats and any radiological material on the bottom of their footwear should be removed and stuck onto these mats.Continue reading“Thinking About the Unthinkable, Again – Part 3, by 3AD Scout”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.

For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.

For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:

That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;

Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:

That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.

For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.

He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.

But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;

And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;

That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” – 1 Thessalonians 4 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — July 16, 2022

July 16th is the anniversary of the death of Hugh John McCall, in Rhodesia, in 1979.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 101 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. 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,
  4. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  5. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  6. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  7. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime low-cost training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  3. 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).
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. 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. A LogOX 3-in-1 Forestry MultiTool (a $189 value) and a WoodOx Sling (a $79.95 value), courtesy of LogOx, both made in USA.
  4. A transferable $100 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

—

More than $725,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 101 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.

Thinking About the Unthinkable, Again – Part 2, by 3AD Scout

(Continued from Part 1.)

Exposure versus Contamination

I like reading survival articles and watching survival videos. One of the issues that I don’t see explained very well is the difference between exposure and contamination. As a corollary, imagine walking down a road and you see a pile of dog dung. You stop and you smell its nasty odor. In this case you have been exposed but not contaminated. Now imagine walking down the road and step in a pile of dog dung, now you are contaminated and exposed. Until you decontaminate (wash the dog dung off your boot) you will continue to be exposed.

There are three types of radiation you need to be concerned about, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Alpha is the weakest type and can be literally stopped a piece of paper used as shielding material. The main concern with Alpha radiation is ingestion or inhalation of alpha contamination. Your internal tissue is more sensitive to Alpha radiation and will absorb more of a dose internally versus that same Alpha particle that is outside of your body, say on your scalp. Beta radiation is more powerful than Alpha but is still relatively easy to block by shielding. Instead of a single piece of paper you will need a thick book to block Beta radiation.

Gamma radiation is the most penetrating radiation and you will need very thick and dense material, like concrete, or lead, or 3 feet of soil. There are several Internet sources that will provide you with the shielding properties of different materials. Something to keep in mind is that the volume of material can make up for lack of density. That is paper isn’t a very dense material for protecting against gamma radiation but if you had 6 feet of books it would still provide some level of protection due to the volume of material.

To protect yourself internally, use a simple dust mask, no real need for an N95 or P100 but I will say that most of the simple dust mask out there do NOT seal well in which case you may want to use an N95 for quality purposes.

Surviving Fallout

There are three ways you protect yourself from radiation, time, distance and shielding. You will want to reduce, as much as possible, the amount of time you are exposed to radiation. The next thing you want to remember and employ is distance. Think about and take into consideration where radioactive fallout may fall around you. For many of us, fallout will settle on our home roof and on the lawn next to our home. If you have a two-story home without a basement, you would want to shelter on the first floor in the most interior spot in the home. If you have a two-story home with a basement the center of the basement will be the optimum place to shelter. Why? Because this will allow you to be as far away from the fallout as possible. Going back to the dog dung example the closure you are the more pungent the smell, and as you increase your distance from in you smell it less. Next you will want to put as much dense mass between you and the fallout, aka shielding. Sand, dirt, stone, cement, metal, wood and even books can help block gamma rays.Continue reading“Thinking About the Unthinkable, Again – Part 2, by 3AD Scout”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make 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 this column, in the Odds ‘n Sods Column, and in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

We were quite busy this past week, picking up hay bales in the field, hauling them, and stacking them in our barn.  Each year we need to bring in about 20 tons of grass hay. Each hauling round trip is about 60 miles. So we take two vehicles and trailers. Each hauling trip brings in about 2.6 tons. On some days, weather permitting, we make two trips. 5.2 tons is about all that my tired old back handle lifting and stacking twice, in one day. The process of handling and hauling hay by ourselves has its frustrations, but the resulting full barn is its own satisfying reward.

One troubling note: Standard (traditional “small square”) bales were selling for $130 per ton last year. This year they are $225 per ton.  And that is hay coming from the same hay farmer, at his “picking up your own bales in the field, and you haul” price!  But I should count my blessings. I’ve heard that the hay situation in drought-stricken Texas is so bad that hay is selling for $100+ per round bale, in some Texas counties!

Avalanche Lily Reports:

Dear Readers,
We are having lovely weather here in the American Redoubt, sunny and warm with a few thundershowers here and there.

This week our younger daughter and I helped Jim with the hay hauling.  H. our pup came along and was so well behaved.  She loves being with us and rides so well in the truck and SUV with us. It’s so nice to know that this year, we will have more than enough hay to see our beasties through to next summer.

Miss Violet and I have weeded the cabbage, onions, and beets thusfar down in the Annex garden.  We are finally picking strawberries, this past week being their peak this year.  It is two weeks later than previous years. I froze one cookie tray’s worth thusfar.  We are eating them like crazy. Yum!

I reorganized a bit, in three of our freezers

I have been busy hand-watering the Annex, Perennial, and “Woodshed” vegetable beds and pots that are planted, and in the greenhouse.

We had our grandsons over for their very first “break-in” overnight this past weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Rawles.  They are at the age where they are beginning to stretch their wings a wee bit. Their mom and dad rented an AirB&B in a nearby town and took a short getaway.  It was a wonderful busy time of keeping the boys occupied with making our own “Huck Finn” style fishing poles, collecting worms from the compost pile, and fishing in the river. (We only had a few nibbles, since it was early afternoon.)

The grandsons helped with picking strawberries and snacking on them after I washed them, and swimming in our local swimming hole. (Grandson #3 received impromptu swim lessons from me, I used to teach toddlers how to swim in my much younger years, back east.  It is so much fun when they are so eager to learn!)

I also took the grandsons hiking around the ranch and gave them edible plant identification lessons as well as identifying the few poisonous plants that are found on our ranch, (Grandson #2 spotted the little maroon flower from a wild ginger plant.  I was so excited that he saw it and to see it, since I had only seen them in books up to that point). They also enjoyed helping/watching me do animal chores. They each lit a campfire fire that I used to cook barbecue chicken on one fire and french fried potatoes on the second fire. We played board games and sports and got out our big Playmobile/Legos tote.

We played with H. — our nearly yearling pup — who loved having the boys around.  And, of course, I read to them some scriptures and from a book of blessings for children that we have.  These boys are a wonderful blessing to us. They were super well-behaved. Now that the grandsons and Jim and I, are all “broken in” together, we are all very much looking forward to another longer planned stay, later this summer. I have all kinds of activities planned for them, then.  We can’t wait.  Camp Rawles!  😉

I have been listening to Appalachia’s Homestead with Patara.  I know I mentioned her last week, I think it was just last week?  I just want to say that she can be a real hoot in the midst of her warnings, that most of us are aware of, and especially when she demonstrates her recipes, oh dear!  You’ll have to listen to this video to understand what I am referring to.

Just a reminder that you all really need to put away at least three and a half years worth of food for your family and for others who may join you.  Time is running out!  The Lord God is with us. He’ll protect and sustain us if we’re right with Him, until it is his chosen time to bring us home. Read the Psalms. They are very comforting!

May you all have a very blessed and safe week.

– Avalanche Lily, Rawles

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As always,  please share and send e-mails of your own successes and hard-earned wisdom and we will post them in the “Snippets” column this coming week.  We want to hear from you.

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.

The rich and poor meet together: the Lord is the maker of them all.

A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.

By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life.

Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.

He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.

Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.

He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.

The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge, and he overthroweth the words of the transgressor.

The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.” – Proverbs 22: 1-13 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — July 15, 2022

On July 15th, 1888, the Bandai Volcano erupted on the Japanese island of Honshu killing hundreds and burying many nearby villages in ash. While Honshu is in an area of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, this eruption was surprising. The volcano had erupted only four times in the 1,000 years prior and none had been particularly deadly. However, this eruption was different. The rumblings started just after 7 a.m. Within 30 minutes there was an explosion on the north side of the mountain and over the next two hours there were dozens of explosions giving villagers very little time to escape.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 101 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. 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,
  4. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  5. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  6. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  7. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  3. 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).
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. 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. A LogOX 3-in-1 Forestry MultiTool (a $189 value) and a WoodOx Sling (a $79.95 value), courtesy of LogOx, both made in USA.
  4. A transferable $100 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

—

More than $725,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 101 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.

Thinking About the Unthinkable, Again – Part 1, by 3AD Scout

As a kid growing up in the 1980s my reading did not consist of comic books and other typical teen publications. My go to reading materials include “SURVIVE”, “AMERICAN SURVIVAL GUIDE” and “SOLDIER OF FORTUNE” magazines. My mom actually purchased a subscription to “AMERICAN SURVIVAL GUIDE” for me as a Christmas present. Back in the 1980s, the threat of nuclear war was still on the minds of many, but not all. It seemed like you had two spectrums regarding nuclear war, those that thought is was survivable and those that swallowed the Communist-backed “nuclear war isn’t survivable” propaganda line. One of the biggest propaganda pieces was the “nuclear winter” theory which has numerous fallacies that makes it “Junk Science”.

This article is based on years of both formal and informal education regarding nuclear warfare. Informal education would be the thousands of pages of information read in magazines and non-scholarly journals while the formal education includes reading books such as Herman Kahn’s “On Thermonuclear War,” and “Thinking about the Unthinkable.” In college much of my reading and writing was geared toward civil preparedness or “civil defense”. Professionally, I have read older civil defense publications, often looking for how, or why things were done in the past when it comes to civil defense. I have also attended a course at the Nevada Test site. Remember, as long as there are nuclear weapons there is a possibility they may be used. The current Eastern European situation show how quickly the threat landscape and change. I suspect that the threat landscape in the South China Sea area will change soon, too.

Bottom Line Up Front

People will die in a nuclear war, just as they have died in every previous war fought. A nuclear war will also be very destructive of our infrastructure, again just as it has been in other wars. Living in a post-nuclear war environment will not be easy but it is survivable, just like millions of people survived living in the 14th Century with none of today’s modern technology. What will make the difference in your survival are the following, proximity to a target, type of burst used on that target, your level of preparedness meaning your on-hand equipment and supplies, the level of protection your shelter will provide, your Human Resources, your collective knowledge, skills and abilities, initiative, leadership and a little divine intervention or a little luck.Continue reading“Thinking About the Unthinkable, Again – Part 1, by 3AD Scout”

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. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, an examination of how inflation is changing the lives of Americans, and how people are coping and hedging. Here is a roundup of articles on inflation published in 2022, with a brief fair-use excerpt from each:

Brookings: Five key takeaways on inflation from the May CPI report.

“Last year, goods inflation was incredibly high, services inflation was surprisingly low, and the net effect was high inflation. So there was a story that was told that as the pandemic’s behavioral impact eases, as people shift back from goods to services, as people return to the labor force, as things normalize, inflation will go away. Well, all of those things are basically happening, sort of roughly according to plan. Goods inflation is falling, but now service inflation is picking up. So the fact that we’re seeing the normalization, and core inflation, which was running at 7 percent last year and is running at six and half percent now over the last three months, has barely changed, I think should make us very nervous.” 

At Investopedia: Timeless Ways to Protect Yourself From Inflation.

“Inflation is often referred to as the “worst tax” because its effects go unnoticed by most people. Hypothetically, earning 4% in a savings account while inflation grows at 7% makes many feel 4% richer. In fact, they are 3% poorer.

That’s why it’s important for households and investors alike to understand the causes and effects of inflation, and how to plan so as to ensure that their assets maintain their purchasing power.”

From The Economic Times (of India): 10 Strategies for Combating Inflation.

“Sale is a small word that can be a big opportunity for the careful spender. Many hypermarkets offer heavy discounts on different items almost throughout the year. While you cannot buy too much of foodstuff, you can stock up on non-perishables when there is a sale. Paper towels, soaps, detergents and many such items can be easily stored for months.”Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“[T]he general government is not to be charged with the whole power of making and administering laws: its jurisdiction is limited to certain enumerated objects, which concern all the members of the republic, but which are not to be attained by the separate provisions of any.” – James Madison, Federalist 14, 1787