The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— 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. Today, a special look at the ongoing outmigration from America’s urban centers.

Urban Exodus Shows No Signs of Slowing Down

The Washington Examiner reports: Urban exodus that began during pandemic shows no signs of slowing down. Here is an excerpt:

“Taken together, the metropolitan area of New York, Newark, and Jersey City lost more than 385,000 people in 2021.

New York City’s population loss in 2021 was almost six times the size of its population loss in 2019, according to census data.

The availability of remote work, the persistence of pandemic-related restrictions, and the rise of crime and inflation have all contributed to a stream of people finding homes outside their cities even after the height of the pandemic in 2020.

“In many cases, there was a shift from larger, more populous counties to medium and smaller ones,” the Census Bureau noted about trends observed in 2021.

Washington, D.C., lost more people in 2021 than it had in the previous two decades, according to the D.C. Policy Center.”

The Work From Home Revolution

Pew Research: COVID-19 Pandemic Continues To Reshape Work in America.

Remote Work Is Here To Stay And Will Increase Into 2023

Published by Forbes, back in February: Remote Work Is Here To Stay And Will Increase Into 2023, Experts Say.  This article begins:

“While some companies continue to thumb their noses at The Great Resignation and insist that employees come back into the office, data scientists at Ladders insist that the writing is on the wall. Remote work is here to stay. According to their projections, 25% of all professional jobs in North America will be remote by the end of 2022, and remote opportunities will continue to increase through 2023. Researchers from Ladders have been carefully tracking remote work availability from North America’s largest 50,000 employers since the pandemic began. Remote opportunities leapt from under 4% of all high paying jobs before the pandemic to about 9% at the end of 2020, and to more than 15% today. “This change in working arrangements is impossible to overhype. As big as it is, it’s even bigger than people think,” said Ladders CEO Marc Cenedella…”

Where Are People Moving in 2022?

Recently published by a storage space trade publication: Where Are People Moving in 2022?

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Communism is a monopolistic system, economically and politically. The system suppresses individual initiative, and the 21st century is all about individualism and freedom. The development of technology supported these directions.” – Lech Walesa

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — June 29, 2022

On June 29th, 1941, the Germans invaded and occupied Lvov, Ukraine, slaughtering thousands of people. Russia followed a scorched earth policy as Germany invaded just as they had during Napoleon’s invasion. They burned, destroyed, flooded, dismantled and removed anything and everything in territory that they were forced to give up. As the Germans moved in, the Soviets proceeded to murder 3,000 Ukrainian political prisoners. It was so bad that the Germans were actually seen as liberators by the local population. Sadly, within days, they were forced to endure the horrors of the Nazi regime as some 2.5 million Ukrainians were shipped to Germany as slave laborers and the Ukrainian Jews were subjected to the same vicious racial policies as in Poland. Over 600,000 were murdered. Even the Ukrainian nationalists participated in the bloodshed by scapegoating Jews for “Bolshevism” and killing them in the streets.

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Note From JWR: This week my family is camping in a remote rural region in the Redoubt with very limited opportunities to access the Internet. So I’ve written and edited most of the blog posts for the week in advance. Today, I’m posting only one humorous item in the Snippets column. Rest assured that I will post lots of items in that column one week from today.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present a review article written by Field Gear Editor Thomas Christianson.

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Round 101 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest is ongoing. 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.

Gear Review: Klik Belts, by Thomas Christianson

I recently tested two Klik Belts. One of them is single-ply, and the other one is double-ply. They are both excellent belts that are durable, comfortable, attractive, and do a good job of keeping my pants up. If you need a new belt, it may be worth your while to take a look at what Klik Belts has to offer.

Belts as Gear

Ever since ancient times, a belt has been one of the basic items of clothing and of gear. The armor of God listed in Ephesians 6:10-18 included the belt of truth. For the Roman soldier, the belt would hold various items of clothing and equipment in the proper place so that the soldier would not trip over a loose garment during battle, or drop an essential piece of equipment.

As we consider the constellation Orion, the Hunter, we see that the Hunter is properly equipped with a belt, and that the belt holds a sword.

The belt remained an essential piece of military equipment throughout the years. I remember a scene from one of Patrick O’Brian’s Jack Aubrey novels describing the handling of French prisoners captured in battle. Their belts were taken away and the waistband of their pants were slit, so that they needed to use one hand to hold up their pants while they were marched away into captivity. Removing the advantages of a belt from prisoners greatly reduced the risk of resistance or escape.Continue reading“Gear Review: Klik Belts, by Thomas Christianson”

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly column is a collection of short snippets: 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.

This week my family is camping in a remote rural region in the Redoubt with very limited opportunities to access the Internet.  Today, I’m posting just one humorous item in the Snippets column, to keep you entertained. I’m confident that this video will have a viral spread. When I found it on Saturday (June 25th), it had just 47,000 views.

Rest assured that I will post lots of items in this column on July 6th.

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Oof, Bad Doggy.

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Please Send Us Your Snippets!

Please send your snippet items for potential posting to JWR. or AVL. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact form.

 

 

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — June 28, 2022

June 28th, 1703 was the birthday of John Wesley, who died March 2, 1791.

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Today’s feature article, written by one of our long-time readers, is too short to be considered in the judging for Round 101 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. But it is quite useful and greatly appreciated, nonetheless.

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More than $725,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running our writing 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.

Food and Treats for Fido, by Mrs. Alaska

In this article, I will describe making your own food and treats for your dogs. Many of these include long-term storage items.

Recently, Zero Hedge posted an article that described animal shelters throughout the country as at full capacity because pet owners have brought in their pets at record rates.  The sad reason repeated is inflationary prices for human and pet products.  Fido and Fluffy had to go. I heard the same thing when we recently adopted a dog from the Anchorage, AK pound.

Fortunately, there are many pet products that one can made from scratch, often with long storage items, and at much lower cost than commercial brands.

An Internet search finds many useful recipes on websites, including www.housethatbarks.com, www.dogtreatkitchen.com and www.everycreaturecounts.org.

Consider the following items that I make for our dog at our remote, Alaskan home:

DOG BISCUITS

(A recipe that I adapted from the All About Dog Treats site.)

Commercial dog biscuits vary in price from 28 cts/oz to over $1/oz. Try this inexpensive and easy recipe. Does your dog like it just as much? The website above has dozens of recipes with other ingredients, too, like bacon, turkey, and dates.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix well:
2 cups flour (any kind)
1 cup raw oatmeal (rolled oats)
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 1/4 cup HOT water
Knead a bit.
Cut into the shape and size you want. For me, this yields 28 thumb size bars about the thickness of commercial dog biscuits.
At this thickness, cook for 45 minutes to get a hard biscuit, or less time to bake a brownie textured bar.  The hard ones are shelf stable for the month in which you would likely use these up.  Otherwise, freeze or refrigerate.

We use these as training treats to teach our new dog basic commands and to climb in and out o our little plane.

DOG SHAMPOO

This dog shampoo is similar to what I make for human shampoo.
1/3 cup castile soap
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 cups water
a few drops of essential oil if desired.
Shake well.

If your dog does not like baths, consider dipping a washcloth into the solution to rub him/her and then rinse with another washcloth.  An important area to wash is the insides of the back legs, which may get spattered with urine.

CALCIUM SUPPLEMENT

Do you eat eggs? Save the shells! When you accumulate a number of them, boil them for several minutes (websites vary from 3 to 10 minutes), cool, dry, and pulverize (in a coffee grinder or mortar and pestle) the shells into a powder. For our 50 lb one-year-old dog, I add a teaspoon to his food. Puppies need more calcium than older dogs, and the recommended amount depends on dog size, too. This is easy to research.

BLOOD PUDDING

People in the UK eat black pudding, which is blood pudding. I make this for my dog occasionally by boiling the bloody water in a package of meat until it forms a frothy, pudding-like texture. Refrigerate and use within a few days.

DOG FOOD

There are many Internet-accessible recipes for homemade dog food. Most of these use ingredients similar to a human palatable stew, with meat, vegetables, grains, and fish oil. I do not make these because I do not want our dog to beg for human food. Instead, I purchase dry dog food and fish oil in bulk quantities. However, if I run out of dog food during our winter five months without resupply, I know what I can cook for him.

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today we present a special round-up edition of the column, with some useful information on fencing material suppliers and fencing contractors, throughout the American Redoubt region.

Idaho

Frontier Fence Company in Garden City has been providing Fences, Spiral Staircases, and Railings in Idaho since 1993.

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Idaho Fence & Deck Supply in Meridian specializes in cedar fence material. They also sell vinyl fencing and a wide variety of decking materials, including Cedar, TREX and TimberTech.

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North Idaho Post and Pole in Hayden Lake has been providing doweled and lathed wood products from their own mill for more than 50 years.

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Haddon’s Fencing in Blackfoot does all types of Vinyl, Chain link, Cedar, Ornamental Iron, Trex, and Simtek fences, as well as temporary construction fences. They also have lots of experience with electric gates. operators.

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Doesn’t matter what the press says. Doesn’t matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn’t matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: The requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world – ‘No, YOU move.’” –  Captain America, in The Amazing Spider-Man: Civil War, written by J. Michael Straczynski

Preparedness Notes for Monday — June 27, 2022

Today is the birthday Leroy James Sullivan, born June 27, 1933. (Pictured.) He is an American firearms inventor. Going by Jim Sullivan, he has designed several “scaled-down” versions of larger firearms. He also designed the Beta C-MAG double snail drum magazines.

And today is the birthday of Paul Mauser, (June 27, 1838 – May 29, 1914). He was a German weapon designer and manufacturer. His strong and reliable bolt action design was used by many nations. The U.S. Springfield Model 1903 is based on the Mauser Model 1898, and in fact the U.S. government famously lost in a patent infringement lawsuit. Ironically, the U.S. government continued to pay the Mauser company royalties on each M1903 Springfield produced, even during and after World War I.

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A 3-day magazine countdown for Washington State residents!  Your new magazine ban (with a grandfather clause) will go into effect on July 1st, 2022. I strongly recommend that you place orders ASAP, for your lifetime supply of magazines. GunMag Warehouse, Palmetto State Armory, and Brownells (three of our affiliate advertisers) should have most or all of the magazines that you need.

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Today’s feature article is a review written by our Field Gear Editor Emeritus, Pat Cascio.

Springfield Armory 1911 EMP Ronin 9mm 4-Inch, by Pat Cascio

Some years back, I did a review of the (then new) Springfield Armory Enhanced Micro Pistol (EMP) 9mm handgun. It was quite a little powerhouse to be sure. However, the gun under review in this article is a different model: I elected to test the slightly bigger model – but it is still a small 1911, and perfectly-sized for the 9mm round.

For a lot of years, many 1911 makers produced some of their 1911 handguns in 9mm as well as .45 ACP – and a number of other calibers as well. I always wondered by the guns in 9mm weren’t reduced in size, to match the 9mm round. Well, their idea was simply to reduce the size from full-sized 5-inch Government model to the slightly smaller Commander and Officer sized guns – however, they were still big guns for the 9mm round. I’ve owned a good number of 1911s chambered in 9mm and there wasn’t anything “wrong” with them – other than that they were still too big, in my opinion.

Springfield did some engineering magic and reduced the size of several parts, and made them around 15% smaller, and this resulted in a 1911 that is very much reduced in many areas. The forged frame and slide along with the barrel, firing pin, firing pin spring, extractor, ejector, trigger, plunger tube, plunger tube assembly, grips and mags are all proprietary to the EMP line of 1911 – making them the smallest 1911s on the market. Yes, I know, that there are some smaller 1911 (types) of handguns that might be smaller, but they aren’t true 1911s – plain and simple. The New EMP (Enhanced Micro Pistol) from Springfield comes in two sizes, one with a 3-inch barrel and the other in a 4-inch barrel. I tested the 4-inch barrel version for this article.Continue reading“Springfield Armory 1911 EMP Ronin 9mm 4-Inch, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Homemade Haifa Hummus

The following recipe for Homemade Haifa Hummus is from SurvivalBlog reader Yair L.

Ingredients
  • 1-1/2 cup of cooked chickpeas — Canned, preferably skinless, or home softened and cooked (or you may substitute garbanzo beans)
  • 1/2 cup Tahini (ground sesame seeds) Storebought or homemade – Optional
  • 1 TBS Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1/8 to 1/4 cup  Fresh-squeezed lemon juice (to taste)
  • Water (or liquid from a can of chickpeas)
  • Salt (optional)
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
  • 1 clove of pressed fresh garlic, finely chopped (optional)
  • Chopped olives (optional)
  • Pine nuts (optional)
  • Chopped red pepeprs (optional)
  • Garnish of your choice
Directions (With Tahini)
  1. Place the chickpeas in a medium saucepan. Cover the chickpeas by several inches of water
  2. Bring to a boil over high heat. Continue boiling, reducing heat if necessary to prevent overflow, for about 20 minutes, or until the chickpeas look puffy, their skins are falling off, and they’re quite soft.
  3. In a fine-mesh strainer, drain the chickpeas and then pour cold water over them for about 30 seconds. Set them aside.
  4. Meanwhile, start with tahini and lemon juice, in a blender or food processor. Blend for at least a minute until it fluffs up and lightens in color.
  5. Add a sprinkle of water (or liquid from the can of chickpeas) and blend it some more, until super fluffy and pale. (To the consistency of dip.)
  6. If desired, also add salt and/or already finely-chopped garlic. Process until the garlic is very finely chopped.
  7. Add the chickpeas and cumin (if desired) to the tahini. Run the blender or food processor until the mixture is again smooth and fluffy.
  8. Scrape down the sides of the food processor or blender, add the oilve oil, and blend again.
  9. Do a taste test. Add salt or more olive oil, if desired.
  10. Blend again.
  11. If desired, add pine nuts, or red peppers, or chopped olives, and then mix them in by hand, or very briefly blend again.
Directions (Without Tahini)

Same as above except omit the Tahini, but add more olive oil.

SERVING

Serve chilled. Garnish with a drizzle of olive oil, and either finely-chopped fresh parsley or ground paprika.

STORAGE

Keeps well in a refrigerator for up to five days.

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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: A History Lesson

Today, in lieu of my usual bi-weekly Economics & Investing column, I will describe some ongoing shifts in the global credit and currency spheres. The driving forces behind the present-day monetary and fiscal trends date back to the year 1909, as I will explain. This is not just an academic exercise. Take heed that there are some serious preparedness implications for you and your family, in all of this — especially in light of the latest round of currency inflation. – JWR

The Robbery of Our Genuine Dollars

Most Americans are essentially clueless about what constitutes a “Dollar”, and how Dollars come into existence. The word Dollar is Spanish (and Thaler is the German equivalent), and in fact, the first functional currency in the American colonies was in the form of Spanish milled Dollars.

Up until 1913, U.S. Dollars were minted by the U.S. Mint, under the U.S. Treasury’s bi-metallic currency system. Dollars were either gold ($5, $10, and $20 gold pieces), or silver (dimes, quarters, half-dollars, and dollars.) Most people carried money that jingled in their pockets. And the limited supply of Treasury-issued paper Dollars were redeemable, on demand, in gold or silver. But starting in late 1913, millions and then billions of credit-based Federal Reserve Note (FRN) paper “Dollars” were created out of thin air. This new funny money issuance stemmed from a congressionally-authorized fractional reserve banking system that employs a money multiplier effect. This violated Article I, Section 8, Clause 2 of the Constitution. Let me explain this multiplier effect, briefly:

By law, starting in 1913, for each Dollar on deposit in a Federal Reserve-affiliated bank, those banks kept just a fractional reserve and then could lend out the remaining 90% of those dollars as credit–primarily home loans, industrial loans, and farm loans. But as they were spent, most of those loaned-out FRN Dollars eventually ended up back in banks, where they were loaned out again. Thus, over the years, each credit-based “Dollar” was loaned out over and over– effectively multiplied, greatly benefitting bankers. This change in our currency was a gross violation of Article I, section 10, clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution.

Genuine Dollars and the U.S. Constitution

To back up even further: The terms “dollar” and “money” are used in seven places in the U.S Constitution:

  1. “Congress shall have power to borrow money on the credit of the United States”: Article I, Section 8, Clause 2.
  2. “Congress shall have power to coin money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures”: Article I, Section 8, Clause 5.
  3. “Congress shall have power to provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States”: Article I, Section 8, Clause 6.
  4. “No money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law”: Article I, Section 9, Clause 7.
  5. “The migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each person”: Article I, Section 9, Clause 1.
  6. “No state shall coin money, emit bills of credit, or make any thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts”: Article I, Section 10, Clause 1.
  7. “In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved”: Amendment VII.
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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.” – General John Stark. While ill and unable to attend a 1809 reunion gathering for veterans of the Battle of Bennington, Stark sent this toast to be given at the event.