On this day in 1859, Oregon was admitted to the Union as the 33rd State.
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I just noticed that we are now down to less than 35 of the SurvivalBlog Archive 2005-2021 archive USB sticks. The first batch was 1,000 sticks, and the second one was 600. This may be the final batch that we’ll have available until January of 2023. So order yours, soon!
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Today we present another review article that was written by our Field Gear Editor Emeritus, Pat Cascio.
If your hands and feet get cold, the rest of your body isn’t far behind. This is a fact! Going back to my high school days, I attended a private Lutheran High School, and it was about 13-miles from where I lived – that is a long, long distance in a big city (Chicago) to travel. On a good day, it would take me about an hour and a half to get to school, and home at the end of the day, on the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) bus. As most big-city dwellers will know, buses usually make a stop about every other block, if someone is standing at a bus stop sign.
During the warmer months, there wasn’t any air conditioning on the buses back then. And in the winter months, and the heaters didn’t work very well at all – except near the front of the bus where the drivers sat. More often than not, during the winter, especially if there was fresh snow on the ground, the buses almost always ran 15-minutes late – ugh! Chicago isn’t called the Windy City, for nothing. During the Winter months, the wind really kicks up, and if you are standing on a street corner, waiting on a bus, then you got cold – just that simple. I usually wore my high school jacket – it looked cool, but it wasn’t warm once the wind started blowing. Add some blowing or falling snow into the mix, and you got cold, very cold.
Back in the day – circa the mid-1960s to late-1960s, there weren’t any such thing as insulated boots – just wasn’t any such thing outside of miitary “Mickey Mouse” boots. So, leather shoes were the uniform of the day, and they were not – and still are not – very warm to wear in winter months. Back then, if your shoes happened to get wet, then you were all that much more miserable. In 1969, Gore-Tex was invented. However it wasn’t very well known back then, and it was pretty expensive. Add in some light-weight insulation to waterproofed clothing, and it was a miracle, and you stayed warm and dry.
I’ve been wearing insulated and waterproof boots for about 35+ years now – during the winter months, and they keep my feel warm and dry. This is important since I have Type 2 Diabetes. You have to keep your feet warm and dry so, you have good circulation in your feet. If you don’t, then you can easily lose some toes, or even your feet if the blood isn’t circulating down to your feet. We live in Western Oregon these days – going on our 16th year, and as a rule, we don’t get a lot of snow or a lot of very cold days. However, when it does get down below freezing, I reach for a pair of waterproof and insulated winter boots. My gloves are also insulated. You can’t be too careful when you have Diabetes 2.
As a rule, I wear waterproof hikers most of the year, however at times, I will reach for a pair of hikers or athletic shoes that aren’t waterproof – especially in the hot Summer months. I’ve experimented with several brands of insulated/waterproof boots over the years, and I’ve found that the ones made by Rocky, to be about the best. I’ve owned several different pair over the years. One pair, I had resoled twice – unfortunately, the second time around, the boots squeaked – a lot when I walked. I finally gave that pair away.
Now, save your hate mail: I’ve done a lot of research, and found out that about 80% – 95% of our footwear is made in China. Sad to say, when we go to war with China – and it will happen – if we don’t win right away, many of us will be barefoot ‘cause there won’t be much more footwear coming into the USA. I know, I know, none of us like “contributing” to the Red Chinese economy, but it can’t be avoided. One of the best boot makers in the USA happens to be Danner, right here in Portland, Oregon. Their top of the line boots are still made here in the States. However, the majority of their boots are now made in mainland China. That had to happen – everyone else is doing it, and in order to compete in today’s market, “you have to do what you have to do”, to stay in business.Continue reading“Rocky Winter Boots, by Pat Cascio”
The following recipe for Lean Beef Goulash was kindly sent by SurvivalBlog reader C.K.. She says: “I use lean beef, to keep this from tasting like some old-time greasy goulash.”
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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!
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 hear war drums and take a look at the precious metals market.
It is noteworthy that the spot price of silver was $22.50 per Troy ounce on February 4th. When I checked over the weekend, it was at $23.57. I expect a jump at the opening bell in the Asian markets on Monday morning. And if war breaks out in Ukraine, then we can expect substantial jumps in all of the precious metals prices. In percentage terms, silver will likely move the most, since it is still under-valued. Update, Monday Morning Update: We did indeed see the DJIA down, and precious metals up. Silver $23.73, and gold: $1862.10. With war reportedly imminent in Ukraine, no surprises there. Expect equities plunge protection to kick in, shortly.
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Epic Silver Coins Found at Bank – Silver Coin Collection Dump for Face Value!
Breitbart‘s report on a meeting that will be held today: Fed Announces a Closed Meeting for Monday to Discuss Discount Rate. JWR’s Comments: A 20 basis point increase soon, and more increases later this year? The yield curve is already crashing, in anticipation.
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Published on Friday at Zero Hedge: Oil Soars; Ruble, Stocks Tumble On Report “US Believes” Putin Will Launch “Horrific, Bloody” Invasion Of Ukraine. JWR’s Comments: Outside of the intelligence community itself, there are three types of people in Washington D.C.: 1.) Career government people and a handful of elected politicians and appointees who are read-on for Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) who get to see actual intelligence products and summaries, 2.) People who hear a few leaks and rumors, and 3.) The utterly clueless. It is the latter who are the most numerous.
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SEC Adopts New Disclosure Rules For Private Equity Shops And Hedge Funds.
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Today is the birthday of General Chuck Yeager (born, 1923), the first man to break the sound barrier. He passed away in 2020.
February 13th is also the birthday of Robert Charles R.C. Sproul (born 1939, died December 14, 2017), a well-respected American Calvinist theologian.
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Today we present another entry for Round 99 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:
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More than $725,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 99 ends on March 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.
(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.)
Being able to store sensitive files and minimizing the chances of someone finding them is useful, but you still need to be able to view and edit the files in a secure and private manner without leaving details on what files you’ve worked on and what they contain all over your system (or the Internet). Many of the commercially available document and file editing tools such as Microsoft Office store a lot of information on what files you’ve worked on and potentially what’s stored inside them (for your own good, of course), and Microsoft has pretty much abandoned the standalone edition of Office and is forcing people to start using the online Office 365 version. Using free tools like Google Docs compounds the problem by moving all of your content under Google’s control. To further increase the privacy and security of your sensitive content we’re going to set up some free tools on the removable drive that provide all of the functionality you need but do a really good job of protecting your privacy.
The first tool set we’re going to use is called LibreOffice, which is a free and open source office suite similar to Microsoft Office. It includes:
One really nice feature of LibreOffice is that it can open most equivalent Microsoft Office documents – LibreOffice Writer can open most MS Word documents (.doc, .docx), LibreOffice Calc can open most MS Excel spreadsheets (.xls, .xlsx, .csv, etc.), etc. That allows you to keep using files you may already have. Note that LibreOffice has its own file format called the Open Document Format, with file extensions that start with ‘.ODx’, where ‘x’ is different for each application. Here’s a complete list of the various file types LibreOffice supports – https://fileinfo.com/software/libreoffice/libreoffice.
Most LibreOffice tools are very similar to their MS Office counterparts, so I’m not going to go over how to use them, but the LibreOffice folks have created some great documentation for each of the tools.Continue reading“Fade to Gray: Files and Documents – Part 3, by J.M.”
The latest meme created by JWR:
To share this, you can find it here: https://kapwi.ng/c/AwPAFXE3uc
Meme Text:
With Bidenflation, the New Sign Will Read:
“Take a Dollar, Leave a Dollar”
News Link:
US inflation highest in 40 years, with no letup in sight.
“But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.
For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you;
And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.
See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.
Rejoice evermore.
Pray without ceasing.
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:1-18 (KJV)
February 12th is the birthday of theologian and journalist Cotton Mather (1663–1728).
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Today we present another entry for Round 99 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:
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More than $725,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 99 ends on March 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.
(Continued from Part 1.)
VeraCrypt has an extremely useful feature called a ‘hidden volume’, which is what we’ll be using to hide and protect sensitive files. As I mentioned earlier, a volume is basically a chunk of storage (file) that Windows mounts and assigns a drive letter to. What VeraCrypt does is allows you to create a big encrypted file and mount that as a virtual storage volume – ‘virtual’ in this case just means that the volume doesn’t correspond to a unique physical storage device, since the file can be moved anywhere and still mounted and accessed. However, VeraCrypt goes one step further and allows you to create a second hidden encrypted volume inside the first volume – which volume is mounted depends on which password you type in when you tell VeraCrypt to mount the file that contains the volumes.
In order to keep the storage space separate for the two volumes inside the file, VeraCrypt stores files in the outer decoy volume starting at the beginning and moving towards the end. The inner hidden volume is created from the end of the file and is filled in towards the front. This creates a situation that you need to understand – if you have the outer decoy volume mounted and add a lot of files after you’ve created a hidden inner volume in the same file, you could potentially overwrite the beginning of the hidden volume, which will mess up the hidden volume and prevent you from ever mounting it again. Conversely, once you’ve created the volume file and a hidden volume inside of it, you can’t expand the size of either without messing things up.Continue reading“Fade to Gray: Files and Documents – Part 2, by J.M.”
Dear Editor,
I’m writing you concerning a recent article advocating the use of homemade imitation “Dragons Breath” 12 gauge rounds. This practice is both physically dangerous and legally problematic. Gun writers and attorneys have warned against this sort of thing in the past.
Point 1: Things that increase the flammability of rounds inside domestic structures are a pretty bad idea. Carpet and modern furnishings often contain chemicals that burn more easily than natural fibers. A self-defense scenario could easily involve a call to the fire department after that. In a rural area with lengthy response times, that could result in the loss of one’s home.
Point 2: Using a firearm as a “less-lethal” tool is physically dangerous. The defender can make a mistake about which kind of round is in the chamber, and it could also lead to careless handling. In a former life, I spent several years in the security industry and I also worked for a state agency. When issued defense tools, it was VERY clear which were lethal and which were “less lethal.” We did not mix them! Agencies don’t stick pepper-spray devices or tasers on handguns, no matter how convenient it might be. The potential for a mistake is just too great.
Point 3: Using a firearm as a “less-lethal” tool is legally risky. In the vast majority of encounters, if you’re justified in using something that is less-lethal, you’re also justified in simply using a lethal weapon. People sometimes assume that “I didn’t mean to hurt him” is a legal defense. It isn’t. Your success in court is highly dependent on the nature of your local law enforcement and the nature of your local district attorney. While we still have Rule-Of-Law, a defender’s main goal after survival is to avoid becoming a DEFENDANT. Using improvised things in a shotgun works against that goal. It can increase legal costs, or even result in an undeserved conviction.
Yours in Freedom, – SwampFox
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!
We made some progress on projects here at the ranch. Some of those involved acquiring and moving furniture to accommodate our eldest daughter, in a different sleeping arrangement. Now that she has a job and has to work some night shifts, she needs a more quiet and dark place to sleep.
I was also busy with a 4-wheel drive vehicle purchase, and that required a lot of online research. I tend to take every large cash outlay very seriously and deliberately.
“And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.
Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:
And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.
And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.
So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him.
And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.
But Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allonbachuth.
And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padanaram, and blessed him.
And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.
And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;
And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.
And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.
And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon.
And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.
And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour.
And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also.
And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin.
And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.
And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day.” – Genesis 35:1-20 (KJV)
February 11th is the birthday of the late Burt Blumert (born February 11, 1929 in New York City, died March 30, 2009). He was the president of the Center for Libertarian Studies in Burlingame, California, co-founder and chairman of the Mises Institute, and the publisher of LewRockwell.com. He once owned Camino Coin Company. Dr. Ron Paul also once owned the same company. Blumert is pictured on the left, in the photo above.
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Today we present another entry for Round 99 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:
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More than $725,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 99 ends on March 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.
