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. Steadily, we work on meeting our prepping goals. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities. They also often share their planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, property improvements, 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 the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

JWR

This week was a fairly typical winter week at the Rawles Ranch. The daily routine of small and large livestock chores was largely without incident. We leave a light on 24 hours a day in our poultry house every winter. This keeps our hens happy and laying. For the past few weeks we’ve been collecting an average of 10 eggs a day.

At mid-week, we made the long semi-annual drive to Costco to stock up. This time of year, that is a nearly a three hour drive, each way. I also took the opportunity to visit a family-run gun shop, in the same city. With the Trump Slump, the owner was willing to dicker a bit. Using cash, I bought a lot of extra magazines for investment or eventual barter. I will sleep a little better, knowing that I’m well-stocked on magazines. With Angry Democrats now in control of the U.S. House of Representatives, it is best to err on the side of caution. Stack those magazines deep, folks! Someday you may be very glad that you bought them at Commodity prices instead of Panic prices.

Our daughters have been doing more baking than usual. They recently made several loaves of delicious bread, using a mix of hand-ground flour from our stored wheat, and some commercial white flour from the big Costco sacks that we store in 7-gallon food grade Super Pails. Next, they plan to experiment baking poppy seed muffins. That should be fun. And they always like to make chocolate chip cookies. There is nothing better than a fresh-from-the-oven warm chocolate chip cookie for dessert on a winter’s night.

– Jim & Avalanche Lily, Rawles

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

24

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 “HJL”.

Redefining Assault Weapons

“Assault Weapons” isn’t actually a class of arms- It’s an entirely political term usually used by the military to describe small arms used by them. Sometimes, it means select-fire, sometimes it means short barreled semi-auto or it can mean any number of things that civilians can’t own. But since it’s not a real class of arms, politicians have decided that they can make it mean whatever they want. This week a ballot initiative took effect in Washington that defined pretty much every semi-automatic rifle as an “assault weapon” and made it illegal for anyone under 21 to buy. Remember the old saying…”First they came for…”? Well, now their coming for yours. Thanks to GG for the link.

Collecting Water From Air

Reader DSV sent in this article on some research being done to further the idea of collecting water from the humidity in the air. There are some small inefficient products on the market already, but further research is being done in this area in the hopes of producing clean water on a large scale. Examples abound of nature using this tactic to keep animals and plants adapted to semi-arid deserts alive and the research is aimed at mimicking these processes. Who knows, maybe one day you won’t have to have a well in these areas.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord: and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: and I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.” – Exodus 6:2-7 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday – January 04, 2019

January 4th is the birthday of George Hyde, who was born “Heide” in 1888, in Arpfingen, Germany. He was the chief gun designer for the Inland Division of General Motors (GM) in Dayton, Ohio during World War II. Hyde was best-known as the co-designer of the M3 “Grease gun” SMG and the Liberator pistol, but he also designed the Bendix-Hyde Carbine and the M2 Hyde submachinegun. He immigrated to the United States in 1927. A gent at the Nitro Express Forumsmentioned some details on his life before World War II: Before 1935 Hyde was the shop foreman and metal man at Griffin & Howe. He quit there and went into business for himself. Samuel A. “Harry” Leonard teamed up with Hyde, and their rifles are marked “Leonard & Hyde New York” on the barrel. In May of 1935 [school teacher and New York National Guard Major N.H.] Ned Roberts and his father-in-law [well-known carte-de-visite photographer] W.G.C. Kimball went into business together as “Roberts and Kimball” in Woburn, Massachusetts. Their idea was to make high-quality sporting and varmint rifles on Mauser actions in the then-popular cartridge that bears Roberts’ name, the .257 Roberts. Metal work on these Roberts & Kimball guns was done by George Hyde, and the stocking was done by Harry Leonard. Some information suggests that Leonard and Hyde did not relocate to Massachusetts but that the work was sent to them in New York City. Roberts & Kimball company lasted less than a year, and their rifles are not found very often.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 80 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  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 Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  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 gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. 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).
  6. 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. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 80 ends on January 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.

Nuclear War Won’t Be Like Hollywood Portrays It- Part 3, by 3ADscout

22

If you believe the Hollywood hype, you are probably like many people (prepper or not) who don’t even bother to prepare for nuclear attack and hope that you go quick if it happens. Yet, with some basic knowledge and pre-planning, you can survive.

We are taking a look at what is required to do this. In parts 1 and 2, we took a look at radiation basics and principles of protection as well as Geiger counter/meters, home construction, shelters, and shelter living. Let’s continue to discuss what can be done to prepare for survival.

Decontamination

Your shelter area should also have an area where you can decontaminate, if possible. This area should be covered with plastic or traps, so that any contamination can be taken outside.

This decontamination (decon) area should be away from the entrance of your shelter area. Also, just like your shelter area, you should know your decon area’s background radiation level and document this.

Contamination Survey

Have pre-printed contamination survey forms, so that you can record where the contaminate is, what its readings were, et cetera. You can probably find these forms online.

Please note that surveying someone for radiological contamination is a very slow and tedious process. The person conducting the survey should be in a Tyvek suit with hood, use a gas mask or at the very least an N95 mask, gloves, and boots. If/when you find a location of contamination, mark it on the form and keep going. Once the initial survey is done, now you can start the decontamination process.

Continue reading“Nuclear War Won’t Be Like Hollywood Portrays It- Part 3, by 3ADscout”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

12

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. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today’s focus is on Iver Johnson Revolvers. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

John Rubino: Three Things That Will Definitely Happen In 2019

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Gold Hits 6-Month High, Closing In On $1,300

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Gold Prices Holding Solid Gains As U.S. Manufacturing Sector Continues To Grow

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Gold to Silver Ratio: So What?

 

Economy & Finance:

PRESS: “Lacklustre To Catastrophic” Brexit Impact Seen For UK In 2019

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At The Economist: The return of gleaning in the modern world

 

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Jesus has borne the death penalty on our behalf. Behold the wonder! There He hangs upon the cross! This is the greatest sight you will ever see. Son of God and Son of Man, there He hangs, bearing pains unutterable, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. Oh, the glory of that sight! The innocent punished! The Holy One condemned! The Ever-blessed made a curse! The infinitely glorious put to a shameful death! The more I look at the sufferings of the Son of God, the more sure I am that they must meet my case. Why did He suffer, if not to turn aside the penalty from us? If, then, He turned it aside by His death, it is turned aside, and those who believe in Him need not fear it.” – Charles H. Spurgeon

Preparedness Notes for Thursday – January 03, 2019

2

On this day, in 1521, Martin Luther– the father of the reformation and founder of Protestantism– was officially excommunicated by Pope Leo X from the Roman Catholic Church.

o o o

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 80 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  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 Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  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 gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. 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).
  6. 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. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 80 ends on January 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.

Nuclear War Won’t Be Like Hollywood Portrays It- Part 2, by 3ADscout

33

If you believe the Hollywood hype, you are probably like many people (prepper or not) who don’t even bother to prepare for nuclear attack and hope that you go quick if it happens. Yet, with some basic knowledge and pre-planning, you can survive. We are taking a look at what is required to do this. In part 1, radiation basics and principles of protection were discussed as well as the importance of location. Let’s continue to discuss what can be done to prepare for survival.

Home Construction

Your home should also have been built after 1946. This is because home construction techniques before 1946 did not physically attach the home to the basement walls; thus, a powerful wind, blast, or even an earthquake can move the home off its basement foundation.

It is not desirable for your home to have been built with the newer, light-weight construction products/techniques of today and the past decade. Homes/buildings built with the light-weight construction are not built to survive anything except “normal” conditions.

Complete Loss of Home Built With OSB Board and Glue

I was talking to a local fire chief who responded to a small kitchen fire in a very new house. He was shocked to see the whole house being totally torn down several days later. He stopped and talked to the home owner who said that the insurance company deemed it a complete loss due to the smoke and water damage, the water damage being the the major issue. The home was less than 10 years old and built with lots of OSB board and glue.

Blinding Flash and Heat

Besides the blast, you may also have to contend with the blinding flash from detonation. People out to 13 miles away in daylight can suffer from “flash blindness”. The range at night can reach almost 53 miles, depending upon cloud conditions.

Continue reading“Nuclear War Won’t Be Like Hollywood Portrays It- Part 2, by 3ADscout”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

24

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 “HJL”. JWR is filling in today, as Hugh is busy building the new annual blog archive. Today we are focusing on the conviction of journalist Mike Strickland.

2019 From a Fourth Turning Perspective

Some interesting reading. over at Jim Quinn’s The Burning Platform blog: 2019 From A Fourth Turning Perspective. Here is a quote: “As we close out this year, stock markets are gyrating wildly, central bankers are trying to reverse their nine years of interventionist strategies to sustain the establishment, civil chaos spreads across the European continent, saber rattling between the U.S., Russia and China increases, the animosity between political parties reaches new heights, the Deep State relentlessly pursues their Mueller led coup against Trump, mega-social media corporations tighten their grip on free speech by silencing conservatives, leftists push their socialist, open borders, normalizing degeneracy agenda, and global recession gains momentum as trade declines and global debt reaches unserviceable levels.”

A Review of the Conviction of Journalist Mike Strickland

Mike Strickland, a pro-gun, freelance journalist was convicted of  21 counts of self defense on Friday, Feb.10, 2017. The Oregon Firearms Federation has reviewed how the trial was conducted: Vendetta.  This quote sums up what transpired in court:

“On Thursday, it appeared the trial was over. A use of force expert had testified that Michael’s actions were reasonable. Everyone was sure that Michael would prevail. Then the Multnomah County D.A. announced that they were going to have another surprise witness on Friday to testify that Mike’s use of “force” was criminal. The observers, and Mike’s lawyers were stunned by this last minute ambush witness.

Keep in mind that Mike’s “criminal” actions consisted solely of drawing a lawfully possessed firearm in the face of a mob of armed attackers and backing away without ever placing his finger on the trigger.

The ambush witness was Ryan Rasmussen, a Gresham cop who was not at the scene of the attack but agreed (for reasons yet to be determined) to come in at the 11th hour and testify that drawing your gun in the face of an attacking mob is not “reasonable.”  Rasmussen testified that all of the training that he had received and that he teaches centers solely around law enforcement or military, and that none of it applies to civilians. He even testified that police are held to a higher standard than civilians.

Within a minute of the closing arguments, after Rasmussen finished his attacks on Strickland, Judge Thomas Ryan found him guilty on all 21 counts. Mike, his lawyers, and supporters were astonished.”

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

Important Note: SurvivalBlog in 2019

10

I only post a few editorial reminders about voluntary Ten Cent Challenge subscriptions. Today, I’m posting the most important one of the year.

Please keep in mind that to operate SurvivalBlog we have large expenses for our local ISP, web hosting, our backup web site, software, phone bills, and legal fees. We live in a very litigious society. Two years ago we were targeted in a frivolous defamation lawsuit just for posting a link. This was settled out-of-court, early in 2018. Per the terms of that settlement, I am not allowed to elaborate on the details. But I can tell you that we had more than $12,000 in attorney’s fees, just for the preliminary legal defense expenses.

Presently, the combined advertising income, Amazon Associates commissions, consulting, and contributions are not enough to cover our monthly expenses. In 2017, Amazon reduced its commission rates across the board. This dropped our monthly Amazon income by about 40%. And with the “Trump Slump” of preparedness complacency, our paid advertising revenue has also dropped.

In short: Our blog’s expenses are high, and our income is low.

Why We are Different

SurvivalBlog is a unique information resource. No other blog on preparedness offers the combination of daily posts and deep archives, all free of charge.

We have done our best to keep SurvivalBlog a top-quality “old school” blog. Consider that when you read SurvivalBlog, you are getting original content that is all:

  • Without a pay wall and endless “Please whitelist us” reminders
  • Without annoying pop-up ads
  • Without “sponsored” content written by some know-nothing hack (journalistic prostitution)
  • Without distracting advertisements with animations and blinking
  • Without push or “opt-in” notifications (“Would you like to sign up for free notifications?”)
  • Without infinite scrolling (a bottomless main page)
  • Without slideshows that force you to click ten times and see ten different ads, just to read a “top ten list”
  • Without profanity, crude language, and t*ts pictures
  • Without obvious modern stock photos above every article
  • Without daily recitations of what we ate, who we met, and the exotic places we’ve visited
  • Without requiring our readers to sign up with Facebook, just to leave a comment
  • Without autoplaying video
  • and without taking any days off from posting.  (For more than 12 years we’ve consistently posted the blog daily, without fail!)

If you find that you get more than 10 cents worth of value per day in reading SurvivalBlog, then please donate 10 cents a day ($36 per year) to help support the blog’s costs. Ask yourself: “Since I now regularly read SurvivalBlog, is my family now more likely to survive a disaster?” If the answer is yes, then consider putting a pricetag on the knowledge you have gained. For a sense of perspective, consider that the average American adult spends more than $1,000 per year on coffee. $36 a year is not asking a lot.

There are several payment options including PayPal, cash, checks, Bitcoin, booklets of U.S. postage stamps, and even mailing a few silver dimes. (Some folks annually send us five or six pre-1965 silver dimes taped to a scrap of cardboard.)

Why Not Patreon?

I’ve had some readers write to suggest that we use Patreon, to solve our operating expense shortfall.  I did, in fact recently set up a Patreon account. But after they recently banned Sargon of Akkad–their 13th largest account, I decided to deactivate my Patreon account, on principle. Just like the various social media sites, Patreon has begun to subjectively censor the speech of those they deem Politically Incorrect. I believe that the current wave of censorship is going to get worse, in the next few years. Thankfully we have our own offshore server, but we still need to receive payments. That is the remaining vulnerability.

Some of the content creators who quit Patreon moved to a service called SubscribeStar. Then, soon after, PayPal stopped all of SubscribeStar’s payments, effectively destroying it! This was further evidence of a multi-platform conspiracy to ban conservative and libertarian speech. Their banning of Alex Jones in August, 2018 was just the beginning. (Jones was banned by Facebook, Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, all within a 24-hour period. Soon after, he was also banned by Vimeo, Twitter, and several others.)

I anticipate that shadow banning, de-linking, de-ranking, de-monetizing and outright de-platforming will become the norm. I won’t be surprised to see that PayPal starts freezing or closing the accounts of those they deem “offensive”, or “non-inclusive” within the next two years.

I am not certain that SurvivalBlog will survive this growing wave of tyrannical censorship of the Internet.

Because of the coordinated wave of censorship, the only viable alternative is to build redundancy and alternatives to online payment systems. The good news is: They can’t stop the signal, and they can’t stop the U.S. Mail!  Your donations via good old Snail Mail are beyond their grasp. Our mail forwarding address is:

SurvivalBlog.com
P.O. Box 303
Moyie Springs, Idaho 83845

Please makes your checks and money orders payable to “Jim Rawles”.

Our current Bitcoin receiving address is: 3GVcXveQGB6V9Py7WKjHN5ZC9KiiavHdgw

New Advertisers

We now have space for a few more banner advertisers in our right-hand bar. If you have a product or service that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog, then please prayerfully consider signing up for an ad. Our ads are very inexpensive and quite productive. (SurvivalBlog readers tend to buy things in quantity, and be repeat customers!) Text ads start at just $100 per month.

Another Way To Help

Even if you are on a fixed income and cannot afford to support the blog financially, then please do your bit by posting links to SurvivalBlog when and where you can. Also: Please tell your friends, neighbors, co-workers and fellow church congregants about the blog. Thanks!

Only about 1% of readers are Ten Cent Challenge subscribers. If we can boost that to 5%, then we will solve our operating expense shortfall. Please join in, and help keep this valuable information service afloat. Your contributions are needed and greatly appreciated! – JWR

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday – January 02, 2019

January 2nd, 1776 is the anniversary of the first revolutionary flag to be displayed.

o o o

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 80 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  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 Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  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 gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. 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).
  6. 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. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 80 ends on January 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.

Nuclear War Won’t Be Like Hollywood Portrays It- Part 1, by 3ADscout

34

If we believe the Hollywood screen writers, no one can survive a nuclear attack and anyone that beats the odds will turn into some type of mutant radioactive zombie. Furthermore, if you believe the Hollywood hype, you are probably like many people (prepper or not) who don’t even bother to prepare for nuclear attack and hope that you go quick if it happens. Yet, with some basic knowledge and pre-planning, you can survive.

My Knowledge

My knowledge comes from decades of being a prepper, including a collegiate debate concerning “nuclear winter” in which I debated the fallacy of nuclear winter based on the design flaws of the research. While in the military, I also served on my unit’s nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) reconnaissance team. I am also on my county’s radiological monitoring team and serve as a county radiological officer as part of our county’s hazardous materials (HazMat) team. Being on the county’s HazMat team allowed me the privilege of attending a course at the Nevada test site, where we actually did radiation monitoring training at actual nuclear weapons blast sites.

Radiation Basics

Let me go over the radiation basics. There are three types of radiation– alpha, beta, and gamma– that you need to understand, when preparing for a nuclear blast. There is also neutron radiation, but it will not be discussed in this article.

Continue reading“Nuclear War Won’t Be Like Hollywood Portrays It- Part 1, by 3ADscout”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

2

 

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. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) The 116th Congress will be seated tomorrow. Hang on to your wallets, and your guns!  Today’s focus is on the recent stock market volatility.  (See the Stocks section.)

 

Precious Metals:

Gold: Beating the Stock Market for the Month, Quarter, Year…and Century

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Clive Maund: Gold Market Update

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Ron Paul’s Greatest Interview: Gold, Silver, Freedom, Free Markets, & Sound Money – Mike Maloney

 

Economy & Finance:

2019 Economy Almost Certain to Slow Down From 2018 ‘Year on Steroids’

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At Zero Hedge: What States Are Doing To Offer More Currency Competition In 2019

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 Five New Tax Hikes, Fees In New Jersey Start Now

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More retailers are banning cash

 

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”