Wu Flu Versus Spanish Flu, by Steve Coffman

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I’ve long been unhappy with the way COVID-19 and the Spanish Flu of 1918 have been compared. Obviously it is a short hand way to compare quarantine and stay at home measures of today with 1918, as opposed to the lethal nature of the sickness. For the record, the Spanish Flu was a far more terrifying and deadly disease than the Coronavirus.

On the subject of quarantine though, there are reasonable comparisons but only to an extent. While the Spanish Flu shut down many places, it did not cause the same crippling economic impact that we are seeing from Coronavirus. You see folks, there was a little thing called The Great War which was just wrapping up.

The United States had gone onto a total war economy footing soon after getting fed up with unrestricted submarine warfare killing our neutral sailors and sinking our neutral shipping. That means the entire economy from agriculture to manufacturing was geared towards exactly one thing – and that thing was war.

Because the United States was almost totally untouched by the war in Europe, we had a massive advantage in manufacturing and food producing capabilities. As a food-exporting nation, we were in a prime position to not only feed our population and our army, but to also prop up our allies who had already tended to import food from us. The demands of war only made US food and manufacturing exports that much more crucial.

To say there were labor shortages would be an understatement. As in WWII, the First World War saw extensive use of women, children, and teenagers in various industries including agriculture in order to boost the work force. Early tractors and other mechanized improvements helped ease the strain on farmers, but total war meant total employment and then some.Continue reading“Wu Flu Versus Spanish Flu, by Steve Coffman”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

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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. Note that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

This past week I bought just over a ton of hay, to hold us over, until the upcoming hay cutting season. Most of this year-old hay will be for a couple of corraled cows.  One of them already has a calf at side, and the other is bagging up and due to have a calf soon. I used our trusty gooseneck  3-horse trailer to haul the hay.

I also got out in the woods and hauled limbs and some small deadfall tree tops so our slash piles. Our eldest daughter helped me with this project.

We received another larder restocking shipment. Upon seeing a lug box of oranges, I began quoting:  “Who wants an Orange Whip? Orange Whip?, Orange Whip?” And sure enough, I got out the coconut cream, began squeezing oranges, and broke out the blender. The key ingredient for that perfect taste? Two teaspoons of vanilla extract.

We also took a road trip, to pick up some antique gun inventory.  (Elk Creek Company will resume taking orders this coming Monday, May 4th.) This was the first time that we had driven more than 50 miles in nearly a month.  I observed that most folks in The American Redoubt are considering the state-ordered lockdowns simply “advisory.” There were full parking lots at many stores.  Lily can fill you in about ours stops at both an Amish surplus food store, and at a grocery store…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.

He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.

Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;

To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.

Sing unto the Lord a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.

Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.

Let them give glory unto the Lord, and declare his praise in the islands.

The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.

I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.

I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.

And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.

Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.” – Isaiah 42: 1-18 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — May 1, 2020

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May 1st is the birthday of Pastor Archie Mitchell — a man who’s civilian life was torn by both World War 2 and the Vietnam War.

May 1st is also the birthday of the late Joel Rosenberg, a Canadian-born novelist and gun rights advocate (born 1954, died June 2, 2011). He is not to be confused with Joel C. Rosenberg (born 1967), who is another great novelist and the author of The Last Jihad series.

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Our pandemic hiatus for Elk Creek Company will end this coming Monday — May 4, 2020.  Thanks for your patience.

April 2020 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran

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This monthly column is by Steven Cochran of Gainesville Coins

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 April?

Spot gold began the month of April at $1,577 an ounce. Spot silver started the month at $13.93.

Gold put in a strong performance in April, considering that retail gold demand from Asia was non-existent. China, India, and the rest of the Southeast Asian nations remained under lockdown to combat the coronavirus. With nearly 2 billion people confined to their homes, discretionary spending of all kinds dried up.

Gold began the month on the wrong foot, as speculation crushed both gold futures and the spot price on March 31st. Both physical and “paper” gold fell $46 as a gold crisis erupted on the COMEX futures exchange.

That COVID-related physical gold shortage on the COMEX saw the prices of gold futures and physical gold diverge by the largest amount in history. The spread between futures and physical gold hit a mind-boggling $100 at one point in April. This spread is usually around five dollars an ounce.

Thanks to the various central banks signaling “QE to infinity,” gold finished out April with the largest price gain in 10 months, on a percentage basis. Gold futures ended the day 1.1% lower, but up 6.1% for the month.

Silver gained $2 in the first half of the month, but ran out of steam later on. Palladium lost its shine in April. Prices slumped as automakers and other heavy industry were locked down worldwide. Platinum traded in a 10% range between $714 and $794.Continue reading“April 2020 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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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 the effects of the upcoming Bitcoin Halving. (See the Forex & Cryptos section.)

Precious Metals:

Is The Comex On The Cusp Of Defaulting?

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Peter Schiff: Priced In Gold, The Dow Is In A 20 Year Bear Market

Economy & Finance:

I found this linked at Whatfinger.com: Coronavirus stimulus phase 4 could exceed $1 trillion and include negative payroll tax

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Charles Hugh Smith: The Crash Has Only Just Begun

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We Cannot “Reopen” America

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An essay by Gary Christenson of The Deviant Investor: Consequences, Crashes and Coronavirus

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At Wolf Street: Housing Market under COVID-19: Regular Folks Retreat, Foreign Investors Blocked, Large US Investors Gone, iBuyers Frozen

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How the Unicorn Blowup & Oil Bust Bleed into Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities

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US weekly jobless claims hit 3.84 million, topping 30 million over the last 6 weeks

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“This factual approach puts Communism in what is, after all, its basic human perspective. For it was in truth a “tragedy of planetary dimensions” (in the French publisher’s characterization), with a grand total of victims variously estimated by contributors to the volume at between 85 million and 100 million. Either way, the Communist record offers the most colossal case of political carnage in history. And when this fact began to sink in with the French public, an apparently dry academic work became a publishing sensation, the focus of impassioned political and intellectual debate.

The shocking dimensions of the Communist tragedy, however, are hardlv news to any serious student of twentieth-century history, at least when the different Leninist regimes are taken individually The real news is that at this late date the truth should come as such a shock to the public at large. To be sure, each major episode of the tragedy— Stalin’s Gulag, Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward and his Cultural Revolution, Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge — had its moment of notoriety. But these horrors soon faded away into “history”; nor did anyone trouble to add up the total and set it before the public. The surprising size of this total, then, partly explains the shock the volume provoked.” – Stephane Courtois – From the Foreword to the English edition of  The Black Book of Communism

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — April 30, 2020

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Today is the 82nd birthday of sci-fi novelist Larry Niven (Laurence van Cott Niven, born April 30, 1938). Along with Jerry Pournelle, he co-authored the survivalist classic Lucifer’s Hammer. April 30th is also the birthday of Ed Yourdon, who was born in 1944.

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I just heard that EMP Shield (one of our affiliate advertisers) has started a 15% off sale, that will last just 36 hours. If you’ve been considering placing an order, then this is your chance. Get your order in soon!

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 88 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any 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. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

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 Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. 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).
  5. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

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. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $100 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!

Round 88 ends on May 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.

Reaching Out to Others May Save Our Lives, by Ani

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Whenever I’d get upset about not understanding why someone was doing what they were doing or thought the way they did, a friend always used to remind me that “not everyone thinks like you do”. That adage sounds simple on the surface but I’ve realized that it is a profound truth and of critical importance to us preppers.

At the time that I’m writing this we are immersed in the COVID-19 pandemic. I watched this coming, from the earliest days when the first reports of some strange new Coronavirus associated with the market in Wuhan was briefly noted online. That made the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I thought, “Uh oh, SARS Take- 2”. But hardly anyone else seemed to pay attention. I watched with dread as it grew to epidemic proportions in China but it seemed that most here in the US, and the rest of the world for that matter, were oblivious, focused on other things like the impeachment proceedings or sports and celebrities. I started doing some extra preps, particularly difficult as I hadn’t bought my current home yet and was a pet sitting nomad at the time. Still, I started hitting the stores and buying what I could manage to transport back to Vermont in my sub-compact car. And making “to-do” and “need” lists, lots of lists. (And yes, being a “nomad” was a break in my preparedness but a risk I had decided to take).

I watched with ongoing dread as the first case was found in Washington state. I called my mother who lives in New York City (NYC) to “have the talk”. A lot of good that did. My mom is a city girl through and through and not a prepper. She just couldn’t even imagine that she might need to hunker down in her apartment and not leave. The idea of staying off mass transit, avoiding crowded venues, stocking up; all off-putting to her. I told her I was sending her some masks(N95). Explained what they were for and how to use one properly. And of course even as the virus was proclaimed a pandemic, as it made its way to NYC (what a surprise!) she continued to attempt to go about life as usual. Even after it got really bad there and she finally agreed to stay off the trains, she continued to take buses and go shopping in stores. (Her rejoinder: “But they’re small stores”!) My brother who lives with her did the same. And no, they didn’t wear the masks I’d provided because they didn’t “need” them , it would look weird and that was something “only Asian people” did!Continue reading“Reaching Out to Others May Save Our Lives, by Ani”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at protective mask legalities.

45 Volcanoes Erupting Worldwide

I found this linked by way of the McAlvany Intelligence Advisor: There Are Currently 45 Ongoing Eruptions With Eruptive Activity From 52 Volcanoes at Some Point so Far This Year

The Lowdown on Virus Lockdowns

Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Tucker: Are coronavirus lockdowns working? Here is that vid and Tucker on it all. JWR’s Comment:  It is noteworthy that the video that he excerpted was recntly removed by YouTube’s censors, after more than 5 million views.

Illinois: Masks Both Mandatory and Illegal

Reader D.S.V. sent this: Illinois Governor Pritzker Orders Masks as of May 1, But Mask + Gun = Felony Under Illinois Law

State Codes Related to Wearing Masks

State Codes Related to Wearing Masks. JWR’s Comment:  Some of these laws have been over-ridden during the current pandemic, but some have not!Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — April 29, 2020

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Iyar 5th in the Jewish calendar (which in 2020 falls on April 29th) is Yom Ha’atzmaut — Israel Independence Day.

This is also the birthday of actor Daniel Day-Lewis (born 1957), often remembered for his starring roles in Last of the Mohicians and in Lincoln.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 88 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any 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. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

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 Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. 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).
  5. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

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. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $100 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!

Round 88 ends on May 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.

Converting Your Pedal Bike into an E-Bike, by Mark F.

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What are your long-term transportation plans for when SHTF? That’s right – long after the diesel and gasoline tanks run dry, how do you plan to get around in a sustained grid-down situation? Walking can only get you so far, and that saddle horse will burn through feed and water, putting an additional strain on your resources.
We’ve all been there, and I know the unsettling feeling of not having a solid answer to this need for a reliable, sustainable, low-resource means of TEOTWAWKI transportation. It’s tempting to just write the whole issue off and accept the limitations of staying within walking distance of your retreat. Except what happens if you need to make a run to a nearby town for critically needed supplies?

Get this: there’s a solution to this problem and it comes in the form of a fun DIY project to tweak a mode of recreational transportation that you already enjoy. That’s right – we’re talking about your bicycle. I’ll describe converting your pedal bike into a Long-Range solar re-chargeable e-bike. Many of us have at least one inexpensive pedal bike, and you sporty folks may even have a high-end mountain bike already sitting in your garage. Too bad that bike only goes as far as your stamina can power it, right? Hardly! Nope, if you haven’t heard, they make these nifty new battery-powered “e-bikes” now that can extend your range up to 25 miles. (And that’s assuming that you’re just sitting there like a bump on a log not pedaling a bit and letting the electric motor do all the work for you.)

Now you’re probably thinking, “Sounds pretty good, but a bike like that has to be pretty pricy and it sounds like exactly the kind of flashy thing that someone’s going to rip off,” right? Yeah, I thought so too and my research on commercially available e-bikes pretty much backed that up. At $2,000 to $6,000 a pop, the price was steep, and their distinctive appearance was a huge flag signaling would-be thieves of a high-value target. In fact, I read that New Yorkers who bought these high-end bikes were resorting to wrapping the frame in frame tape or electrical tape to hide the brand name and attempt to disguise their bike’s value.
That’s when it hit me: Why go through all the cost of buying an expensive e-bike only to have to try to disguise it and make it blend back in? What if there was a way to simply build your own e-bike using an existing pedal bike as the frame? Did such a thing exist?
Continue reading“Converting Your Pedal Bike into an E-Bike, by Mark F.”

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books, and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This week the focus is on roots and bluegrass music. (See the Music section.)

Books:

This recently topped the New York Times bestsellers list:  Magnolia Table, Volume 2: A Collection of Recipes for Gathering.  (The first cookbook in the series (Volume 1) was also a bestseller.

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Becoming a Backpack Hunter: A Beginner’s Guide to Hunting the Backcountry

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Cordwood Building: A Comprehensive Guide to the State of the Art – Fully Revised Second Edition

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The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War

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With so many families now homeschooling for the first time, workbooks like these have become very popular: My Phonics Workbook: 101 Games and Activities to Support Reading Skills (My Workbooks)

Continue reading“JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“A cook she certainly was, in the very bone and centre of her soul. Not a….turkey….in the barn-yard but looked grave when they saw her approaching, and seemed evidently to be reflecting on their latter end; and certain it was that she was always meditating on trussing, stuffing and roasting, to a degree that was calculated to inspire terror in any reflecting fowl living.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe