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, we look at some threats posed by Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Thieves Drive Through Mall In Stolen Car, Rob Electronics Store

Shades of The Blues Brothers: Watch: Thieves Drive Through Mall In Stolen Black Audi After Robbing Electronics Store.

U.S. Preparing for Confrontation With Russia in the Arctic

H.L. sent this, from Newsweek: U.S. Preparing for Direct Confrontation With Russia in the Arctic.

11,000 NYC Police Surveillance Cars With 360-Degree Cameras

11,000 Police Surveillance Cars With 360-Degree Cameras and “Perimeter Alerts” To Patrol NYC. A quote from the article:

“The department is in the process of redesigning its fleet of patrol vehicles, which will now have 360-degree cameras installed in them for constant monitoring of the streets.”
Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“As a boy, the very words ‘Liberty Bell’ and ‘Independence Hall’ fired my imagination and made a profound and lasting impression on my mind. Throughout my struggle to secure national freedom for China, I have continuously dreamed of the day when she would assume the full stature of an independent, democratic nation.” – Chiang Kai-shek

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — February 8, 2023

On February 8th, 1963 the Kennedy administration issued an order prohibiting travel to Cuba and banned financial transactions and commerce with Cuba, by U.S. citizens.  Remnants of that order remain in place today, 60 years later.  Evidence of the U.S. commerce embargo can be seen in the large number of sturdy 1950s American cars that have been kept running, in Cuba.

February 8th, 1828 was the birthday of Jules Verne, the French writer who wrote From the Earth to the Moon. He is considered the father of science fiction.

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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.

 

Winter Foraging, by Mrs. Alaska

Climbing the learning curve from “erstwhile city slicker” in Texas to remote rural life in Alaska, my acclimation has been immeasurably aided by several courses in botany, which have enhanced both gardening and foraging for food, home remedies, and construction materials.  Currently, I am enrolled in a fascinating on-line course in Applied Ethnobotany. It is offered by the University of Alaska-Fairbanks.

As the name suggests, this field studies human use of plants – for food, fuel, textiles, shelter, medicine, and anything else.  I am learning how indigenous peoples and settlers utilized the resources all around them, that other people, like me, surely overlook. Interested readers will see below a list of resources they may be able to utilize for their own regions.

Globules of spruce resin below, bark above

At the very beginning of this course, our professor instructed us to harvest some local plants for several projects.  Really?  In February?  In Alaska?  What could I find this time of year?  Well, duh, trees.  I live in a forest!  But besides use as firewood, construction, and spring birch sap, I did not know much. So one day, my husband and I pulled on our snowshoes and dragged a little plastic sled through the woods for a scavenger hunt. How fun!  In half an hour, we gathered two species of pendulous (hair) lichen with the evocative colloquial names of “witch’s hair” and “bear hair,” chopped some chaga and “punk” conks off old birch trees, peeled off some loose birch bark,  gathered a handful of frozen spruce resin globules, and cut a wrist-thick swath of sweet grass sticking up through shallow snow beneath the shelter of a large spruce tree.Continue reading“Winter Foraging, by Mrs. Alaska”

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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Where is the western bumblebee? The super-pollinator declined 57% in 2 decades, study said.

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I just heard about a new, inexpensive piece of courseware called the Family Prep Plan that was published by an old friend of mine. He is a Christian and a former Marine Corps officer. Like me, he believes in the Biblical role of husbands — to lead, protect, and provide for our families. He had numerous friends ask him for advice on preparedness, so he compiled much of his research into a website. Please check it out: ReadyHusband.com. Not surprisingly, his Prep Plan page includes multiple links to SurvivalBlog articles and to our loyal advertisers. – JWR

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3AD Scout wrote:

“I found this “collection” of publications at the USDA website.  It is titled the “Organic Collection” because the documents are from the 1940s and earlier before all the compound chemicals started to be used.  The index is not very good, so going page to page looking at the various titles is well worth the time.  Although most of the publications pertain to livestock or crops there are many other subjects that homesteaders/preppers will find useful such as tanning, construction, etc..  I’m only about a 1/3 the way through but that it well worth sharing this “old school” knowledge.”

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Ray K. sent this snippet:

“Way back when I lived in south Alabama, I learned that fire ants could be killed by sprinkling grits around the mound.  Apparently the ants like the feed, and it swells inside them [and kills them] when they drink water.  It not only worked, but it’s safe for the livestock and the environment.”

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Countering China: ‘A big deal’: US, Philippines tighten military ties. (A hat tip to H.L. for the link.)

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Swing voters are more appropriately known as the ‘idiot voters’ because they have no set of philosophical principles. By the age of fourteen, you’re either a Conservative or a Liberal if you have an IQ above a toaster.” – Ann Coulter

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — February 7, 2023

February 7th, 1867 was the birthday of Laura Ingalls Wilder (died February 10, 1957). SurvivalBlog highly recommends the Laura Ingalls Wilder books as well as her biography.

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Just a couple of the 1,100+ folks who’ve bought 2005-2022 SurvivalBlog archive USB sticks wrote to mention that they thought that they weren’t working. Apparently, on some devices — such as older slow PCs or Mac iPads — it can take several minutes for the “SB” icon to appear, after you plug in the stick. This year’s archive stick has 18.3 GB of data, with more than 92,000 files for your device to index. So, please be patient. Give it plenty of time to load, especially if you own a MacOS device.

Oh, and I should mention that we are now down to less than 50 USB sticks on hand. We started with 1,700 sticks, just a few weeks ago. Order yours soon, before they sell out.  – JWR

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Today we present a guest article by Brandon Smith, the American Redoubt-based editor of the Alt-Market.us blog.  I highly recommended both his free blog and his The Wild Bunch Dispatch subscription e-newsletter. –  JWR

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We are seeking entries for 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.

A Dollar Collapse Is Now In Motion – Saudi Arabia Signals End Of Petro Status, by Brandon Smith

The decline of a currency’s world reserve status is often a long process rife with denials. There are numerous economic “experts” out there that have been dismissing any and all warnings of dollar collapse for years. They just don’t get it, or they don’t want to get it. The idea that the US currency could ever be dethroned as the defacto global trade mechanism is impossible in their minds.

One of the key pillars keeping the dollar in place as the world reserve is its petro-status, and this factor is often held up as the reason why the Greenback cannot fail. The other argument is that the dollar is backed by the full force of the US military, and the US military is backed by the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve – In other words, the dollar is backed by…the dollar; it’s a very circular and naive position.

These sentiments are not only pervasive among mainstream economists, they are also all over the place within the alternative media. I suspect the main hang-up for liberty movement analysts is the notion that the globalist establishment would ever allow the dollar or the US economy to fail. Isn’t the dollar system their “golden goose”?

The answer is no, it is NOT their golden goose. The dollar is just another stepping stone towards their goal of a one-world economy and a one-world currency. They have killed the world reserve status of other currencies in the past, why wouldn’t they do the same to the dollar?Continue reading“A Dollar Collapse Is Now In Motion – Saudi Arabia Signals End Of Petro Status, by Brandon Smith”

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 focus on a large, suspicious balloon spotted drifting over the inland northwest. (See the Region-Wide and Montana sections.)

Region-Wide

Greater Idaho Bill Introduced in Idaho Legislature: House Joint Memorial 1.

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Flight data: 3 military aircraft from Spokane went to Montana following discovery of Chinese balloon.

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From S2 Underground, posted February 3rd: Emergency Update: Chinese Spy Balloon.

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US may end protections for Yellowstone, Glacier grizzlies.

Idaho

Gun holster manufacturer moving into Post Falls outlet mall. JWR’s Comment:  Sounds like a grand mall seizure, to me.

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This liberal editorial writer clearly has some serious “Sour Grapes” issues, over the conservative gains in the last election cycle: Opinion: What to watch as the Gem State enters another cycle.

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News outlets join together to fight scope of gag order in Moscow murder case.

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Idaho cobalt mine is a harbinger of what’s to come.

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I missed seeing this article that ran in the left-wing Inlander back in December: The far right is winning in North Idaho and stoking havoc at the local community college, with a little help from an alt-right filmmaker.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“But let it not be said that we did nothing. Let not those who love the power of the welfare/warfare state label the dissenters of authoritarianism as unpatriotic or uncaring. Patriotism is more closely linked to dissent than it is to conformity and a blind desire for safety and security. Understanding the magnificent rewards of a free society makes us unbashful in its promotion, fully realizing that maximum wealth is created and the greatest chance for peace comes from a society respectful of individual liberty.” – Ron Paul

Preparedness Notes for Monday — February 6, 2023

Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6th, 1911. I miss Reagan. Those were simpler times, with much less partisan divisiveness.  This video of a performance by comedic juggler Michael Davis attended by both Reagan and Tip O’Neil demonstrates the tenor of those times.

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We are still gathering resumes for the ranch caretaker position, in northwestern Montana.  Please let any of your friends or relatives know about this opening, if they meet the qualifications and be interested in relocating.

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A special request from JWR: To finish building some antique rifles, I’m in need of a few complete Chilean Mauser Model 1895 bolts. These can have either straight bolt handles, or the curved cavalry carbine style. I’m willing to pay the current market value for up to five bolts, or take them in trade on any of my inventory at Elk Creek Company.  Thanks!

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Today’s feature article was written by SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Thomas Christianson.

Howell Arms Conversion Cylinder, by Thomas Christianson

I recently received a Howell Arms .45 Colt Conversion Cylinder for my Pietta M1858 cap and ball revolver. The conversion cylinder allows me to fire .45 Colt cartridges (also commonly but erroneously known as .45 Long Colt) through the revolver. After some fitting, it works extremely well, and is a lot of fun to shoot.

The Backstory

I have previously written a review in SurvivalBlog about the Pietta M1858 cap and ball revolver that I acquired from Elk Creek Company. Shooting a cap and ball revolver is a lot of fun, but loading one is somewhat time-consuming and cumbersome.

A friend knew that I wanted to try out a conversion cylinder on the revolver. He generously provided one.

Since the cylinder is a part rather than a “firearm”, it could be shipped to me via the United States Postal Service without the involvement of an FFL.

Opening the Box

The cylinder arrived in a simple cardboard box measuring 3.75″ x 2.25″ x 2.25′. It has a sticker with a bar code and the words, “1858 Pietta .45 LC 6 Shot.” It is also stamped with the Howell Arms logo, the web address “www.howellarms.com” and the words, “Proudly Manufactured in Wisconsin.” The box contains the cylinder wrapped in plastic bubble padding, and an instruction insert with information about conversion cylinders. The backplate of the cylinder slides off, to allow the chambers to be loaded. The cylinder arrived generously oiled.

The instruction insert informed me that the cylinder is warranted for workmanship and materials for the lifetime of the original owner. It also warned against dry firing the revolver while the cylinder is installed, since this can result in damage to the firing pins.Continue reading“Howell Arms Conversion Cylinder, by Thomas Christianson”

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 the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet. (See the Economy & Finance section.)

Precious Metals:

You may have heard that silver tumbled 5.19% on Friday, to $22.57 USD per Troy ounce.  That was attributed to a briefly-strengthening Dollar.  But the Dollar’s prospects look dim for 2023, while the prospects for silver look bright. Buy on dip days, like these!

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LBMA annual survey sees gold prices averaging the year around $1,859 an ounce, silver to hold around $23.65.

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Stefan Gleason, at Gold-Eagle.com: Gold Market Isn’t Buying Powell’s ‘Disinflation’ Declaration.

Economy & Finance:

Our own Tom Christianson recommended an article in City Journal: The Fed Goes Underwater. This piece begins:

“Before new trillion-dollar federal spending bonanzas became a regular occurrence, the Federal Reserve’s announcement that it lost over $700 billion might have garnered a few headlines. Yet the loss met with silence. Few Americans have noticed the huge increase in both the scale and the scope of the central bank or the dangers that it poses to the American economy. As Fed-driven inflation becomes the Number One political issue in America, that will change.

The Fed’s losses owe to a shift in the way it does business. Before the 2008 financial meltdown, the central bank tried to control interest rates by buying and selling U.S. bonds. A few billion in purchases or sales could move the whole economy, and this meant that the Fed, which operates much like a normal bank, could keep a relatively small balance sheet of under $1 trillion.”

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Over at Yahoo Finance: The word that made stocks fall in love with the Fed: Morning Brief.

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This WND article was linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: 6-year-old spends $1,000 on food delivery app while playing on his dad’s phone.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The greater the bureaucratization of public life, the greater will be the attraction of violence. In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left with whom one can argue, to whom one can present grievances, on whom the pressures of power can be exerted. Bureaucracy is the form of government in which everybody is deprived of political freedom, of the power to act; for the rule by Nobody is not no-rule, and where all are equally powerless, we have a tyranny without a tyrant.” – Hannah Arendt, On Violence

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — February 5, 2023

Today is the birthday of Sir Hiram Stevens Maxim (5 February 1840 – 24 November 1916). He was an American-British inventor best known as the creator of the first automatic machine gun, the Maxim gun. Maxim held patents on numerous mechanical devices such as hair-curling irons, a mousetrap, and steam pumps. Maxim claimed to invented the lightbulb.

Coincidentally born the same day of the same year was John Boyd Dunlop, the Scottish inventor who invented pneumatic rubber tires.

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An Update:  We are now down to just 120 of the SurvivalBlog 2005-2022 Archive waterproof USB sticks. We are not planning on a second production run.   So the next few days will be your last chance to order yours, until February, 2024.