Review: Pi-Hole Network-Level Ad and Tracker Blocker, by TavernSandwich

Most privacy minded people do a decent job locking down their computers, phones, and other devices. I hope you’re reading this article on a secure browser (like Firefox with UBlockOrigin) over an encrypted VPN connection. If you are, congrats on being a reasonably savvy internet user! But what about the other people on your network? Are your family members and guests as privacy-minded? It’s rare to find a household where every single person shares the same level of dedication to staying safe online. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could extend some level of protection to the people sharing your home network, without being intrusive about how their phones and laptops are set up? Let’s talk about Pi-Hole.

Pi-Hole is a free and open-source application that blocks ads and internet trackers. It is maintained by volunteer developers who maintain and update the code in their spare time, and rely largely on donations to pay the bills. But they have apparently started accepting corporate sponsorship, based on my most recent visit to pi-hole.net. I haven’t seen anything that spells out what [if anything] sponsorship gets companies beyond a banner on the website, but I will update this article if it seems like sponsorship compromises security or privacy.) Pi-Hole can run on any Linux-based operating system. Using a Raspberry Pi is the classic approach, but you can use any physical or virtual device running Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, etc. I’ve been a Pi-Hole user for four years, and have found it to offer (mostly) stress-free protection for my home network.

Pi-Hole is different from run-of-the-mill ad blockers in two key ways. The first is that Pi-Hole operates at the network level, rather than running on individual devices. This means every device connected to the network benefits–including devices like smart TVs that might otherwise be hard to install ad blockers on. The second is that Pi-Hole “sinkholes” attempts to connect to ad or tracking sites via the Domain Name System, rather than blocking the connection like a firewall.Continue reading“Review: Pi-Hole Network-Level Ad and Tracker Blocker, by TavernSandwich”

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, a follow-up on a mountain lion attack in eastern Washington.

Region-Wide

The Great Scenic Loop Of Idaho And Montana.  This video illustrates just how lightly-populated most of Idaho and Montana still are!

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AmRRON Amateur Radio Network is Streaming Live on Sunday Nights on the Internet.

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Atmospheric river soaking Pacific Northwest could bring wettest June on record.

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Yellowstone floods wipe out roads, bridges, strand visitors.

Idaho

A mainstream media report, that shows typical bias: Deep-Red Idaho Sees Growing Clash Between GOP and Far Right.

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Idaho police arrest dozens on suspicion of conspiracy to riot at gay pride event. JWR’s Comments:  Long-time SurvivalBlog readers know that I’ve always rejected racism. And I have warned my readers before about this “Patriot Front” group. When I first heard about it, it struck me as some sort of fabricated LARPing ploy. It appeared to have been created by either gaming programmers or a Madison Avenue public relations firm. More or less a “Rent-A-Mob” that was intended to be used as an excuse for government reaction, and/or as justification for leftist angst. This has all the marks of a synthetic Bogeyman in a Box. (Or in this case, in a Box Truck.) The Patriot Front is not a grassroots movement. It is Astroturf: Something fake that seems bought and paid for — most likely as Controlled Opposition. I suggest that this cardboard cutout group should be re-named The Hegelian Dialectic Front. Once Again: Steer clear of it!

o  o  o

Neo-Nazis, White Lives Matter, Patriot Front, Satanists, Antifa & Drag Queens Turn Coeur d’Alene into Anti-Christian Freakshow. JWR’s Comment: The arrival of these out-of-state agitators did not break the resolve of the many local Christians, who stood united.

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Is “The Road from Hell” as Bad as They Say?? (SUV Camping/Vanlife Adventures).

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Idaho bats positive for fungus causing ‘white-nose syndrome’ for first time.

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American Falls man tased after armed standoff.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The sharp division between gun culture and gun control culture is the border of an affected distancing from life’s realities. Gun controllers aren’t necessarily physical cowards, but they are moral cowards.

The same sorts of people who think guns are ‘icky’ also don’t want to know where their meat comes from or to see the soldiers who come back from the wars. These are things that they pay other people to do because it preserves their illusions about the world and about themselves.

America is becoming a nation split between those hard workers who take responsibility for dealing with life’s realities and the managerial elites who only issue meaningless orders.

Faced with shootings, managerial elites apply rule-based abstractions to messy realities that they are incapable of grappling with. The Left is always good for easy solutions that take away agency from individuals and invest it in a central authority in order to solve the unsolvable problems of human nature. And the managerial elites are always suckers for the myth that getting everyone to follow the rules in line with some grand theory will solve everything.

The people who, as the champion of managerial elites, once claimed, “cling bitterly” to their guns, understand that life is messy and that there’s no grand fix, only a series of choices.

Gun ownership is an act of personal responsibility. By buying and owning a firearm, a man is saying that he also intends to take ownership of his personal safety and his choices. That doesn’t always end happily, but there’s far more moral self-awareness in that choice than there is in urban elites who hate guns paying the gun owners they despise to keep them safe.” – Daniel Greenfield, The Moral Idiocy of Gun Control

Preparedness Notes for Monday — June 13, 2022

On June 13, 1777, Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette landed in the fledgling United States.

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Here comes the back-stabbing RINO “compromise” that I warned you about!  Senate Group Reaches Bipartisan Compromise on Gun Control Bill. Please contact both of your state’s U.S. Senators and ask them to vote against this legislation package. We should remind them that RedFlag/ERPO laws are unconstitutional and unacceptable. The Federal government should not be funding them!

The self-identified (“willing to negotiate”) backstabbers are:

  • Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC)
  • Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC)
  • Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO)
  • Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
  • Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)
  • Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
  • Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH)
  • Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
  • Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT)
  • Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA)

Start by phoning their offices, and remind them of their oaths of office. Come re-election time, they will be held accountable for voting for unconstitutional garbage!

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One week left! We are continuing our summer sale, at Elk Creek Company. We’ve reduced the prices on all of our percussion replica guns, and nearly all of our pre-1899 cartridge guns. With the recent dip in the spot price of silver, we’ve dropped our pre-1965 silver price multiplier to just 21.4 times face value. So this is a great time to buy antique guns with silver or by check. Note that we have our prices listed in both pre-1965 silver coinage and in current rapidly-inflating Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs.) The last day of the sale will be Monday, June 20th. Our small inventory is selling rapidly, so order soon!

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Today’s feature article is a review written by our new Field Gear Editor Thomas Christianson. Note that Pat Cascio plans to continue to serve as our Field Gear Editor Emeritus, posting review articles less frequently, for several years.

Generac GP 6500 Portable Generator, by Thomas Christianson

When high winds sweep through our area, it is not unusual for electrical service to be interrupted, sometimes for days at a time. For more than eight years now, a Generac GP 6500 gas-powered portable generator has provided my family with a reliable and effective way of dealing with the challenges of occasional, short-term power outages.

The Backstory

Nine years ago, my wife and I fled suburbia for a log home in the woods. There we provide most of our own utilities. We provide our own water with a well, our own sewage treatment with a septic tank, and our own heat with firewood. The one utility that we don’t usually provide for ourselves is electricity. For that we depend on the local power company.

One night about six months after we had moved into our home, a powerful wind storm roared through our area. Our power went down. A midnight call to the power company’s automated report line revealed that the outage was widespread, and that our electricity was not expected to be restored for more than a week.

Early the next morning, my wife and I arrived at a local hardware store soon after it opened. There we purchased a Generac GP 6500 gas-powered portable generator. This was a situation where the adage “panic early” paid off. Long before noon, all of the generators in the store were sold out.

Choosing the Right Size

When buying a generator, the first key question is, “How large a generator should I buy?” If the generator is too small, it will not support the desired load. If the generator is too large, it will consume an excessive amount of fuel.

A person could calculate the absolute maximum wattage that the breaker box in their home can handle by multiplying the amperage of the main breaker by the voltage of the main breaker. Or they could multiply the amperage of the breaker for each circuit in the box by the voltage of each of those breakers, and then add the wattage for each of the breakers together. Each of these solutions would result in a number that is much too high. If a person is not constantly tripping every one of the circuit breakers in their box, then they are not running all of their various circuits continuously at maximum capacity.Continue reading“Generac GP 6500 Portable Generator, by Thomas Christianson”

Recipe of the Week:  Dutch Oven Chicken and Dumplings

The following traditional recipe for Dutch Oven Chicken and Dumplings is from reader S.T..

Ingredients
  • 1 broiler or fryer chicken (2-1/2 to 3 pounds), shredded or chunked
  • 3 cups water
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 4 celery stalks, sliced
  • 3 medium carrots, sliced
  • 1 teaspoon celery seed
  • 2 teaspoons rubbed sage divided
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 3 cups of commercial biscuit mix
  • 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
  • 1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
Directions (Chicken)
  1. Place chicken and water in a Dutch Oven. Cover and bring to a boil.
  2. Reduce heat to simmer.
  3. Cook until chicken is tender, about 30 minutes.
  4. Remove chicken and let it cool, slightly.
  5. Bone the chicken and cube the meat to bite-size
  6. Return chicken to the Dutch Oven.
  7. Add the onion, celery, carrots, celery seed, 1 teaspoon of sage, salt, and pepper. (To taste.)
  8. Bring to a boil.
  9. Reduce heat.
  10. Cover and simmer for 45-60 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
  11. Add dumplings. (See below).
  12. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes — or longer, if watery. Alternatively, add some cornstarch, whisked into water, to thicken.
Directions (Dumplings)
  • Combine the biscuit mix, milk, parsley, and remaining sage to form a stiff batter. (Or you can cheat and use a can of refrigerated store-bought biscuit discs.)
  • Drop the dumplings by tablespoonfuls (or quartered biscuit discs, sprinkled with parsley and sage) into the simmering chicken mixture.
SERVING

This recipe serves seven adults. It can be doubled (with two chickens), if you have a very large Dutch Oven.

Serve immediately.

Note: If there is a delay in serving, then don’t drop in the dumplings until 10 minutes before your revised serving time. Otherwise, the dumplings will lose their desired consistency.

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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven and slow cooker recipes, and any that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at higher crude oil and fuel prices. (See the Commodities section.)

Precious Metals:

Silver hits a strong support zone.

o  o  o

India’s May gold imports surge 677% to $5.83 billion.

Economy & Finance:

Hedge fund redemptions accelerated in March. JWR’s Comments: This is just the beginning of a trend. Unless you are invested in a contrarian or counter-cyclical hedge fund, then I’d generally recommend exiting. Keep in mind that with many hedge funds there is a 30 to 120 delay between your filing your request to exit and your disbursement. (Commonly called a “lock-up” period.) In the midst of a crashing market, that period might seem agonizingly long. As Bob Griswald says: “Panic now, and beat the rush.”

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Bridgewater Braces For Stagflationary Shock And Fed Rate Cut Capitulation; Buys Billions In Credit Index Swaps.

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Lagarde says ECB likely to abandon negative rates in September. JWR’s Comment: This may begin tit-for-tat rounds of interest rate increases, leading to protracted stagflation. Monetary policymakers have run out of arrows in their quivers, on both sides of the Atlantic.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Firearms, if you think about it, are power tools. They drill holes in things and chew things up. That’s their purpose. The purpose of the user is, quite simply, to puncture and destroy the right things and not the wrong things.” – Massad Ayoob

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — June 12, 2022

On June 12, 1987, during a visit to the divided German city of Berlin, President Ronald Reagan publicly challenged Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev to: “Tear down this wall.”

The wall began to come down in November of 1989.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 101 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  5. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  6. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  7. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  3. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. A LogOX 3-in-1 Forestry MultiTool (a $189 value) and a WoodOx Sling (a $79.95 value), courtesy of LogOx, both made in USA.
  4. A transferable $100 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

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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.

 

Homemade Household Products Using Bulk Ingredients, by Mrs. Alaska

When people jokingly refer to Whole Foods as “Whole Paycheck” to indicate the price points, I wonder if they conclude that all organic products and foods have to be expensive.

It is indeed more expensive to raise meat on a small homestead than to buy a rotisserie chicken at Costco. But so many pricey organic foods and value – add products are quickly and cheaply made at home. A frugal person can save thousands of dollars per year by combining ingredients for tasty or useful products. Put that cash to other purposes less easily accomplished. In addition, making products from scratch reduces trash and storage.

My husband and I live in a remote part of Alaska, a 20-minute flight from the nearest road, or a 3.5 hour snowmachine trip to the same community access point. We go five+ months at a time without resupply. So I make use of all the following homemade products to reduce purchases and transportation costs ($0.50 per lb), and trash that we would otherwise have to burn or haul back to a town dump. The savings are applied to products we cannot make, like tools.

HYGIENE/BEAUTY/CLEANING:

a) FACIALS and HAIR TREATMENTS: Pay $100 vs. < $1. Honey and Beeswax I love feeling really clean, and have paid $90 – 110 for facials in the US (and $15 in India). But you know the ingredients and labor are highly marked up. Now, I give myself two facial/hair treatments a week, right before bathing: one with 2 tbs of bentonite clay (bought on-line) mixed into a slurry with water for a detoxifying face and hair mask, and another with 2 tbs of honey, diluted, as a moisturizer for face and hair. A pound of the clay has lasted me about 2 years (about $12) How is that for a substantial savings?Continue reading“Homemade Household Products Using Bulk Ingredients, by Mrs. Alaska”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,

To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men.

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared,

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;

That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;

Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.

When I shall send Artemas unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis: for I have determined there to winter.

Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them.

And let our’s also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.

All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen.” – Titus 3 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — June 11, 2022

John Wayne, the iconic American film actor, died on June 11th, 1979. While John Wayne is probably best known for his westerns like True Grit, The Shootist, and Fort Apache, we remember him best for his roles in The Alamo and The Green Berets, both of which reflected his patriotic and conservative leanings.

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Just as I feared, On Friday (June 10, 2022) the U.S House passed H.R.2377, the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act of 2021. This ERPO bill (a.k.a. Red Flag bill), is now heading to the U.S. Senate. Please contact your State’s two U.S. Senators, and insist that they oppose this horrible legislation!

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Today’s feature article was written by a blog advertiser, so it is not eligible for the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.

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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

Gardening in a Post-Nuclear Fallout Environment, by Don Shift

Several weeks ago, Reader L.E. asked how seeds would fare after a nuclear war. That got me researching about growing food after the nukes fly would be complicated. It turns out, not much. After a nuclear war, fallout and higher radiation counts worldwide will be a fact of life. The remnants of the fallout will remain acutely in our food chain for a century. Consuming radionuclides (radioactive isotopes or radioisotopes) will be unavoidable, but not as catastrophic as some think, and it can be mitigated.

Fallout will not be a massive, universal phenomenon as some of the outdated fallout pattern maps from the 1960s show. Airburst weapons do not create any appreciable fallout and as cities are the likely targets, they will be destroyed by warheads detonating a few thousand feet above the city to maximize blast effects. Surface detonations are used against things like missile silos; so if you live near some, watch out. Fallout from surface blasts may travel long distances, but will almost certainly be heavily localized near hardened military targets.

Long-distance fallout or worldwide fallout that is lofted high into the atmosphere will be a universal concern. This radiation will be much weaker as the particles are less dense and have been decaying while airborne. A real-life example is that of the Downwinders who were exposed to atomic testing in Nevada during the 1950s and 1960s.

Fallout in food is an ingestion hazard of radionuclides (radioactive isotopes) through the food cycle. These radionuclides include isotopes of iodine, cesium, and strontium. Iodine is a short-term hazard whereas strontium and cesium, with their longer half-lives, are long-term hazards. Thyroid and other cancers are the primary pathology. Radioactive material can be ingested in two ways; consuming produce with fallout embedded in it or consuming produce that has absorbed an isotope from the soil.Continue reading“Gardening in a Post-Nuclear Fallout Environment, by Don Shift”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those –or excerpts thereof — in this column, in the Odds ‘n Sods Column, and in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

This week, between rain showers, I did more firewood cutting and slash pile building. I also helped Lily with manure hauling, weeding, and rototilling. Our family also did a hay-hauling trip this week. So, the busy time of year has arrived!  Now, over to Lily…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”