Preparedness Notes for Friday — February 3, 2023

On February 3rd, 1959, a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa tragically took the lives of three rising stars in American music: Buddy Holly (Charles Hardin Holley – pictured), J.P. Richardson (aka “The Big Bopper”), and Ritchie Valens (Richard Steven Valenzuela). The day is remembered as “The Day the Music Died.”  Holly had chartered the plane, to avoid the discomfort of the chilly band tour bus. As the story of the Winter Dance Party Tour goes:

“Following that night’s show at the Surf Ballroom, guitarist Tommy Allsup lost a coin toss with 17-year-old Ritchie Valens for one of the three seats on the plane. Waylon Jennings was approached by J.P. Richardson who was suffering from the flu and asked if could take his spot on the plane. He voluntarily gave up his own seat on the Beechcraft Bonanza – a decision that would ultimately haunt the future country legend for decades.”

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Today’s guest feature article will not be in the judging for the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest, because it is too brief, and because it was first published elsewhere.

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We are in great need of entries for Round 105 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.  Round 105 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.

Butchering Chickens: Slow and Effortful, by Mrs. Alaska

For a decade, we have raised laying hens and enjoyed them immensely, for their eggs, foraging for bugs, and alerting us to predators, as well as for their entertaining antics. We have kept 4-10 at a time, and named them. I have never been able to kill any hens (cockerels yes) or eat those that died.

However, I do like to eat chicken, so I thought it time to explore raising and butchering meat chickens. A friend had the same idea. So she bought 25 Cornish cross chicks, which are the ones most commonly raised for meat in the U.S. We agreed that she would care for them for 6-8 weeks, we would split the cost of purchase and feed, and then my husband and I would join her for the butchering work.

Here is what I learned and what I will do in the future.

When we arrived, my friend was fuming that the development of this breed is unconscionable and she will never buy them again. The Cornish cross is bred to gain weight so rapidly that by 6-8 weeks (6 weeks for us), they are unable to live with their unnatural weight distribution. Their hearts, lungs, and legs cannot support them. Many had respiratory problems, three appeared to have died of heart attacks, and one had a broken leg. None behaved like her laying hens, which are active, social, and curious roamers. These chickens were listless and sedentary. They also smelled bad – which is apparently a known trait. Her daughter cried at the state of them.Continue reading“Butchering Chickens: Slow and Effortful, by Mrs. Alaska”

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. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. Most of these items are from JWR’s “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective. Today, we look at renewed market demand for gold. (See the Precious Metals section.)

Precious Metals:

Gold demand surged to an 11-year high in 2022 on ‘colossal’ central bank buying.

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The world’s largest silver producing countries in 2022 – report.

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Kelsey Williams, at Gold-Eagle.com: Orderly Markets vs. Chaos.

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Piepenberg: Bonds Die, CPIs Lie & Gold Rises.

Economy & Finance:

I found this linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Dow closes more than 350 points higher, S&P 500 caps best January in four years. JWR’s Comment:  This is a juncture to cash out of stocks.  Switch to precious metals!

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US health insurers to withstand high inflation & interest rates in 2023: Fitch.

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BlackRock partners with a digital platform to launch ETF savings plans across Europe. JWR’s Comment:  This article has all of the marks of being sourced from a press release.  (Note the cliched: “We are delighted…” partnership statement.) But it illustrates a nascent trend.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — February 2, 2023

On February 2, 1887, the first Groundhog Day was held, in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.

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Update: We are now down to less than 180 SurvivalBlog 2005-2022 archive USB sticks on hand. “Going, going…”

There probably won’t be a second batch this year, so get your order in soon.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 105 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. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  5. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  6. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. 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,
  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 transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

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More than $775,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 105 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.

Preparedness: Now What? – Part 2, by O.C.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.)

Into The Pentagon

After nine years or so as a defense contractor around the DC area, I was able to secure a job in the Pentagon as a civil servant in the Directorate of Special Access Programs. There I learned about Continuity of Operations/Continuity of Government (COOP/COG) for the first time. It’s fascinating. Although Nancy Pelosi originally claimed that she was not taken to a secure location, she indeed was, based on COOP/COG protocols. I won’t say exactly where, but I think it was [a hardened site] not far from D.C.

I heard about COOP/COG  in a book called “This Is Only a Test: How Washington D.C. Prepared for Nuclear War”, 1st edition. It’s no longer in print and a used copy will set you back $130 on that unnamed website. It’s a fascinating book. All the information inside was gleaned from open sources and Congressional records. About one third is just the citations for the data presented. The rest concerns ideas, concepts, funding sources and execution of building out a COOP/COG physical infrastructure with communications capabilities in what’s called the Tri-State area. Did you ever wonder why the National Institute for Health is in Maryland and the CIA is in Virginia? Answered in the book. Wonder why novel bedroom communities like Reston, Virginia, sprang up? Answered in the book. Be warned, it’s the driest thing I’ve ever read, and I have two Master of Arts Degrees worth of college books under my belt. Regardless this is my way of saying COOP/COG programs are alive, although drastically different than when they were started during the Eisenhower years. If you’re really interested in this kind of information, I highly recommend trying to get you free library to get a copy. Or save up I guess and buy it used.

I didn’t consider my work preps to be part of what I did at home. They influenced some of them, but “at home” preps were another item altogether. In the beginning, other than electrical outages from ice and severe snowstorms (frequent in our older neighborhood), I had little preps to speak of. I had solved the power outages with a large generator and heavy-duty extension cords. Running them all night if needed brought many complaints from neighbors about the noise and some didn’t have electricity and didn’t want to buy a generator themselves. I fixed this by buying a Honda 2000-watt inverter generator and then a Westinghouse 1800-watt inverter generator. I cut some holes in my old metal shed and ran the exhaust out the far side of the shed. I cut fresh air inlet holes in the shed’s near side.Continue reading“Preparedness: Now What? – Part 2, by O.C.”

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, another look at egg smuggling.

Border Patrol Now Catching Egg Smugglers

First up, over at Alpha News:, this sign of the times: Border police dealing with new smuggling problem: eggs. This article begins:

“The United States Customs and Border Protection is asking Americans to stop trying to smuggle in raw eggs from Mexico.

As avian flu is causing the price of eggs and poultry to rise, along with the current inflation rate, people are purchasing the products in Mexico instead of shelling out the extra cash at the grocery store.

“There has been a large increase in the volume of prohibited food items, such as raw eggs and raw poultry meat, brought by travelers from Mexico. We would like to remind the traveling public that federal agricultural regulations remain in effect,” Jennifer De La O, CBP Director of Field Operations in San Diego, said in a news release on Jan. 20.”

Massive 85-Car Pile-Up in Wisconsin Leaves 21 Injured

In The Independent (in England):  Massive 85-car pile-up in Wisconsin leaves 21 injured.

FBI Tip of the Iceberg

A piece about the weaponization of the Federal government, over at The Washington Standard: FBI Tip of the Iceberg. A pericope:

“This frame-the-citizenry program is actually the culmination of a very successful scam that the DHS, through the FBI, has been running for more than 20 years – ever since the inception of FBI Fusion Centers after 9/11. They were touted as the remedy to the “intelligence failures” that led to 9/11. They were places where local authorities and federal representatives of various agencies supposedly could go to “fuse” information to detect and prevent future terrorist attacks like 9/11. There are now about 80 across the USA.”

JWR’s Comments: A genuine risk develops whenever a national police force or intelligence agency becomes driven by politics rather than a desire to see true justice done. At some point, a fair number of citizens will recognize that they are being singled out for persecution and prosecution, based solely on the beliefs that they hold. Once this recognition of selective justice is confirmed, then a cohort of men with nothing left to lose will arise. Such a cohort can never be truly defeated and never fully subjugated. These are men who will fight on, to their dying breath. Yes, they will still feel fear, but they will be willing to risk their lives to regain their liberties — or at least the liberties of their children. Thus, whenever a nation-state institutes politicized policing it is sowing the seeds of resistance warfare, revolution, or counter-revolution.

Bear Goes Viral After 400 Selfies on Colorado Trail Cam

Reported by Not The Bee: Bear goes viral after posing for 400 selfies on a Colorado trail cam.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Christian Americans should see themselves as under a sort of occupation. Forces largely from outside your communities suppress that natural drive, confirmed by grace, for public religion. The ruling class is hostile to your Christian town, to your Christian people and to your Christian heritage. The occupation universalizes their ideology, forcing your Christianity to exist only in the walls of churches, denying any civil and social ordering to God and to Christ’s kingdom. The top-down and foreign imposition of secularism is evident in Supreme Court decisions, though these are only the tip of the iceberg and most visible to us.” – Stephen Wolfe, The Case For Christian Nationalism

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — February 1, 2023

On February 1st, we recognize the birthday of the late Dr. Gary North, in 1942. North was a prolific writer on economics and Christian Reconstruction. He passed away just less than a year ago, on February 24, 2022.  His more than 50 published books are a lasting legacy. He also assembled a large free online library of books by other godly writers, through his Institute For Christian Economics (ICE). Those free books, totaling 38,000 pages, are all still available online. They are a great resource for homeschoolers and economics students.

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We also remember February 1st, 2003, when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana as it reentered Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven crew members.

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Today we are also featuring the regular monthly precious metals column from Steven Cochran.  By the way, he mentioned that Gainesville Coins is having a big sale on 1 oz .999 silver Buffalo rounds. Due to the ongoing silver shortage and massive market demand, the shipping date on these rounds won’t be until March 23rd.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present the first entry for Round 105 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. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  5. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  6. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. 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,
  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 transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

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More than $775,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 105 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.

Writing Contest Prize Winners Announced — Round 104

We’ve completed the judging for Round 104 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prize-winning writers are:

First Prize

First Prize goes to A Grateful Mechanic, for Career Change to a Durable Trade. (Posted on January 24, 2023.) He will receive the following prizes:

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

Second Prize goes to Reltney McFee, for A 12-Month Preparedness Checklist, posted on January 27-29, 2023. See: Part 1 and Part 2

He will receive the following prizes:

  1. 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,
  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

Third Prize goes to Michael X., for Lessons Learned From a Winter Storm, posted on December 28-29, 2023. See: Part 1 and Part 2. He will receive the following prizes:

  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 transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

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Honorable Mention Prizes

The following 17 articles have earned Honorable Mention. The writers have each been awarded a transferable $100 FRN purchase credit toward the purchase of any antique or percussion replica gun from Elk Creek Company:

Hiding and Tracking by J.M.D.  (In four parts.)  See: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3,  and Part 4.

A Get Home Bag Alternative, by Rick S.

A DIY Masonry Outdoor Cook Stove, by K.R.

Doing Laundry Off-Grid and DIY Soap Recipes, by E.H.

A Young Man’s Preps, by St. Leibowitz. See: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

The Modern Breadcrumb Trail, by BowtiedPartisan

Assessing and Prioritizing Risks, by Francis Marion

Thoughts on a General Purpose AR-15 Rifle, by Steve A.  See: Part 1 and Part 2

IT Careers and Rural Living, by M.J.

Upgrade Your Bug Out Bag’s Batteries, by Kevin Berg

Staying Safe Around Big Trucks, by SwampFox

Ready Made Resources Ultimate BOB Versus a Home-Built BOB, by Tunnel Rabbit

Pessimist or a Realist? Our Present Situation, by The Lone Canadian. See:  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.)

Portable Power Systems: Providing Remote Energy, by K.R.

Beginning Bees on a Budget, by St. Funogas

Challenges of Living in a Small Home, by Hollyberry

My Approach to a Semi-Auto Scout Rifle, by Swampfox.  See: Part 1 and Part 2

Preparedness: Now What? – Part 1, by O.C.

Upfront, I should say I am a few months away from 70 years old. I was raised in New Jersey. Even though I spent 26 years in the US Air Force and the Montana Air National Guard, I was not prepared for anything out of the ordinary.

My journey to prepping really began on September 11, 2001. At that time, I was working as a defense contractor in Crystal City, Virginia, just down the road from the Pentagon. Meanwhile, my wife was a civil servant working inside the Pentagon building. In my cube-ville we were no radios or televisions allowed. It was an “all work and no play” area. When the planes hit the New York City towers and the Pentagon, I — like so many — were unaware. The security people for the building came in and ushered everyone out. We weren’t told why or allowed to get our things. Outside, rumors ran rampant, and many people were in hysterics. I spotted black smoke rising in the sky in the direction I thought the Pentagon might be. I found out about the attacks by watching television in a store window nearby where I was waiting.

I had never been to my office building by car. It was at least 18 or so miles from my house and I always took the Metro (subway/train). I was not aware, except in broad strokes from the Metro map, exactly how to navigate to anything. Eventually, we were allowed back into the office but only to get our jackets and briefcases. The Metro system around the Pentagon, and my office, was shut down. Cell phones didn’t work (no smartphones for the work poor then), I didn’t have a map of anything except the Metro system, no portable radio to get real news, nothing! I decided that I would walk towards the smoke and try and find my wife or at least help in some way.Continue reading“Preparedness: Now What? – Part 1, by O.C.”

January 2023 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran

Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover gold’s performance, and the factors that affected gold prices.

What Did Gold Do in January?

Gold kicked the current rally into overdrive in January. Starting the year at $1,829 an ounce, spot gold closed at $1,923 an ounce on January 30th. It began the year hitting a six-month high near $1,850 early on January 3rd before easing, only to claim that level the next day.

Prices marched higher during the second week in January, to close at $1,920 on the 13th. Despite two two-day pullbacks over the rest of the month, prices never closed below $1,900. The closing post high for the month was $1,946 on January 25th.

Factors Affecting Gold This Month

RECESSION

As sticky inflation resists the Fed’s efforts to rein it in, markets and investors see an increasing possibility of recession. The Fed’s rate hikes are pushing consumer debt to crisis levels. The textbook way to reverse inflation is by killing jobs and killing demand. That is, to deliberately push the nation into recession.
Consumer confidence is falling as inflation combines with higher credit card and mortgage payments. Nearly two-thirds of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, while the value of their stock portfolios and retirement accounts plunge.

There’s little wonder that gold and silver demand (especially silver) continue to exceed supply.

RATE HIKES

The markets were once again pinning their hopes and dreams on a Fed pivot this month. Rate hike hawk James Bullard once again made the media circuit, but this time with a more conciliatory approach. He said rate hikes were almost as high as they need to be to bring down inflation.

Kansas City Fed president Esther George was a bit hawkish this month, saying that interest rates needed to stay above 5% “well into 2024.” Atlanta Fed head Raphael Bostic said that there was “much more work to do on inflation,” saying that he could go either way on supporting a 25 bp hike instead of a 50 bp hike if the labor market eased up.

DOLLAR

The dollar lost its grip in January, boosting domestic commodity prices while giving a little relief to foreign buyers. This helped gold and silver demand, while lending strength to US inflation. Part of this may be investors cutting their exposure to the dollar ahead of the debt ceiling fight in Congress. This is denting the safe haven appeal of the dollar at the same time gold and silver prices are rising.Continue reading“January 2023 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran”

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This 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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A video from blog reader A.K.: Build your own Portable Poultry Coop!

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Reader C.B. sent this:  A Concerning Winter Storm Is Coming…

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New Yorkers Moving to Florida in Record Numbers.

“More people from New York moved to Florida in 2022 than any year in history, according to the New York Post.

The newspaper, attributing its information to data from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, said 64,577 New Yorkers took out Florida drivers’ licenses last year.

The number eclipsed the 61,728 New Yorkers, who moved to Florida in 2021, the newspaper said. And it marked a 39% increase over 2019, the last pre-pandemic year.”

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In Europe ‘a new generation of bank robbers’ target ATMs with explosives, stealing millions. (Our thanks to reader C.B. for the link.)

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — January 31, 2023

On this day in 1872, American author Pearl Zane Grey was born. He was best known for his popular adventure western novels, including Riders of the Purple Sage, which was his best-selling book.

On January 31, 1606, Guy Fawkes was scheduled for execution for his part in the Gunpowder Plot against Parliament and King James. As he was being marched up the steps to his gallows with his hands bound, he fell, broke his neck, and died, depriving his executioners of any satisfaction. In recent years, Guy Fawkes masks have become a symbol of resistance to big government, worldwide.

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Update: We are now down to less than 280 SurvivalBlog archive USB sticks on hand.

Important Note: A significant number of people purchasing the waterproof Survivalblog Archive sticks and paying by PayPal are using nonexistent e-mail addresses in an attempt to remain anonymous. This causes problems! It also does the exact opposite of what folks were hoping. They apparently don’t understand the concept of “The Gray Man”, since these bounced messages stand out like a sore thumb and everyone who gets notified looks at the messages in detail bringing a level of unwanted scrutiny — especially from financial institutions. Instead of fake e-mail addresses, they should use valid throwaway e-mail adresses.

Whatever you do, please don’t use fake Gmail addresses. So many of the fake e-mail addresses include “gmail.com” that Gmail has now rate-limited how many e-mails can be sent to Gmail from SurvivalBlog’s mail  server. This makes even those who do use valid Gmail addresses suffer. We are now getting rate-limiting bounce messages from known valid e-mails because Gmail won’t let them through.

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Today’s guest article was too short to be included in the judging for Round 104 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest, which ends today.