Writing Your Prize-Winning SurvivalBlog Article

One of the great things about SurvivalBlog is that it is nearly all staff-written and reader-written. We also carefully select a few articles from other blogs and web sites to re-post as guest posts. But you never see the schlock “contributed” articles that now clog most other blogs. Those are articles and “infographics” that are mostly paid for and provided by companies that are seeking to boost their search engine rankings, or to hawk their products. They are easy to spot, because of their formulaic writing style with no personality. You will also never see a “paid” or “sponsored” review in SurvivalBlog.  All of the book and product reviews that we post have true objectivity.

Since 2005, we’ve been running a nonfiction writing contest, with prizes awarded once every two months. In all, thanks mostly to the contest sponsors, we’ve now awarded more than $700,000 worth of prizes. Many of those prizes are both practical and valuable. I encourage any reader who has not yet submitted an article to do so.  You’ll then be in the running to win some of those prizes.  Keep in mind that this contest is not a game of chance. It all comes down to your skill as a writer–just how well you can relate practical knowledge.

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SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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Here is SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt. This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies of interest to preppers that are located in the region. The emphasis this week is on “Perps from Out of the Redoubt Correlation” (PORC). See the Montana and Eastern Washington sections.)

Idaho

Twin Falls, Idaho welcomed nearly 3,000 refugees in ten years

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Idaho County Sheriff continues search for two people reported missing on the same day

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Idaho authorities stop search for missing Maryland filmmaker

 

Montana (Perps from Out of the Redoubt Correlation)

 Judge Upholds Missoula Universal Background Check Regulation. Now comes the costly appeal.

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Missoula: Kavanaugh Protesters Plead Guilty to Criminal Trespass

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In a heap of trouble: $50,000 Bond for Man who Led Cops on High Speed Chase into Idaho. JWR’s Comment: This is an example of what I dubbed the “Perps from Out of the Redoubt Correlation” (PORC): Namely, that a disproportionately large number of high profile crime perpetrators arrested in the Redoubt come from outside of the Redoubt. In this case, the perp was from Washington.

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Montana Expands Livestock Disease Vaccination Area

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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 “HJL”. Survival is about more than water. Today features a few great articles that make that distinction.

Living Without Electricity

Gulf Power, the power company most affected by Hurricane Michael, is announcing that they hope to have electricity restored to 95% of its customers by October 24th. However, that estimate is only for customers who are affected by system outages. If the power drop into your home has been affected by the storm, you will need to wait longer as you are most likely on the bottom of the priority pile. That’s nearly 14 days without power for most of the population and much longer for some. They have already restored power to some 21,000 customers, but that was the high priority customers and the low hanging fruit (easy to repair). Here’s hoping that those people are depending on commercial power for refrigeration, cooking, or water. Thanks to H.L. for the link.

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People on the other side of America also had to deal with power outages. Pacific Gas & Electric has decided to voluntarily shut off power to tens of thousands of customers due to red-flag wind warnings and the fear of falling trees starting wildfires. Of course, some will remember just a few years ago when the government decided to excuse the power companies poor management of their power lines. The same conditions created some nasty wildfires, but the power companies were not help responsible. perhaps they fear that the largesse of the government won’t extend to them a second time. A hat tip to G.P. for the link.

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“The Kavanaugh confirmation hearings instantly devolved into hen house histrionics, mutual mooning and feces flinging. As intended. No news story or commentary was complete without recapping “Our Story Thus Far” in tedious nanodetail and blather about a turning point in American history fully equal to the Battle of Gettysburg. No. It wasn’t. It was a job interview for the Star Chamber. In the end he was hired, after much signaling in Senateese that the Constitution will remain captive in the high court’s cellar, bound and gagged and beaten at intervals.” – Ol’ Remus, in his Yer ‘Ol Woodpile Report blog

Concealing Handguns, by Pat Cascio

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Carrying concealed is no easy task, if don’t do it properly. We’re taking a close look at some clothing and accessories today that aids in concealing your handgun on a daily basis.

Conceal With The Best, Not Necessarily Easiest

I’ve always looked for the best, not necessarily easiest, method of carrying a handgun concealed, as most of the work I’ve done in law enforcement and in private security/private investigations have called for working in “soft clothes” rather than a uniform of any type. I’ve lost track of the number of times over the years I’ve spotted a “concealed” handgun on someone. That telltale bulge under their shirt or jacket, or even spotting the “concealed” handgun, is not good. You don’t want to draw attention to the fact that your are carrying, period!

Letting Everyone See Is Stupid

Long story short, I had a distant cousin who was on the Chicago PD. He never got above the rank of patrolman in his entire career. When he was off-duty, drinking in a bar, he took great delight in taking off his jacket and sitting on his bar stool so everyone could see his little S&W Model 60 .38 Spl snubby tucked in his waistband. That was stupid!

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

 

Precious Metals:

Last Week Was Just A Taste Of The Coming Gold Short Squeeze

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Gold Cleared Its First Hurdle But The Race Is Still Running – Saxo Bank

 

Economy & Stock Markets:

Some excellent analysis on the current Big Dang Bubble, with supporting graphs, by Charles Hugh Smith: Pensions Now Depend on Bubbles Never Popping (But All Bubbles Pop)

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Stock Market News For Oct 12, 2018

 

Commodities:

On to this at Seeking Alpha: Commodities Recap For The Week Of Oct. 12, 2018

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Jerry Welch: Do Not Be Left Behind

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“In the wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any part, not does it comport with our policy so to do. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that we resent injuries or make preparation for our defence.” – James Monroe

 

Preparedness Notes for Sunday – October 14, 2018

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The Cuban Missile Crisis began on October 14, 1962, bringing the United States and the Soviet Union to the brink of nuclear conflict. Photographs were taken by a high-altitude U-2 spy plane and offered incontrovertible evidence that Soviet-made medium-range missiles were in Cuba. These missiles were capable of carrying nuclear warheads and were stationed 90 miles off the American coastline.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

This has been another entry for Round 79 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 transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

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, and
  6. 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).

Round 79 ends on November 30th, 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.

Living with WVO, by P.G.

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It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention. Needing fuel for their war machine lead Germany to invent and perfect the diesel engine. It was designed to run efficiently on vegetable oil, and they do to this day.

Circumstances forced me to make a move from my East Texas home to the deep Southwest. It was a slow, long process of gradually moving my stuff and my wife to a new homestead. I commuted from Nevada to East Texas for almost three years, at least monthly. Growing up farming, ranching, and trucking, I had a lifetime of experience with diesels, how they work, and what it takes to keep them running.

Experience Running Waste Vegetable Oil Fuel

It was the days of $4.00 a gallon fuel that set me on the veggie trail. Now, after twelve years of experience running waste vegetable oil (WVO) as fuel, I have learned a few things, which I will now share with you.

I have run Mercedes, VW, GM 6.2, Cat 9L, Ford 6.9/7.3, Ford Backhoe, Kubota tractor, and Gensets, China diesel, some NA, and some turbo. There is no difference on a very cheap and easy to do system.

My Diesels on WVO

I have Mercedes 240D and 300TD engines that run on WVO. I had a bus with a 9 liter cat v8 that I used to commute back and forth in, serve as a place to sleep, and for hauling stuff from Texas to Nevada. A 1982 3/4 ton Chevy 6.2 did well on WVO. I setup a 1991 F250, 7.3 Turbo with no problems. Also, I had a 1981 VW pickup diesel. My 1984 F250 6.9 NA pulls a four horse trailer with 120 gallon tank in the bed, and another 1984 F350 6.9 NA with 12 ft box and none miss a lick. Beyond those, I have a Ford diesel backhoe, Kubota genset, China diesel genest, Kubota utility tractor, and my new truck, 1988 F350 dually crew, 7.3 turbo to haul my gooseneck trailers for my stuff, and my new project is my school bus, 8.2 Detroit turbo, 5 spd/2 spd axle as my new motor home. Obviously, I like diesels, and they all do great on WVO.

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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 “HJL”. The cleanup from Hurricane Michael begins.

Hurricane Michael

Hurricane Michael apparently has the weather experts confused. Reader T.J. sent in this news article showing that the weather service was unable to predict the strength of the hurricane as it made landfall. The wind speeds are directly related to the pressure – The lower the pressure, the stronger the winds. Michael went from an unassuming tropical storm to flirting with the Category 5 level. This makes Michael the first Category 4 to make landfall in October since 1954. According to the experts, the storm should not have been as powerful as it was.

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Meanwhile, the aftermath of the storm is making life difficult for many residents. Those who were not prepared are now finding it difficult to find food and shelter. There is no electricity in much of the state so any food in a refrigerator has spoiled. There is no city water pressure or sewer in many urban areas so waste products are piling up. The article profiles the usual assortment of people who are upset that the government hasn’t come in yet to save them and make them comfortable. While our hearts go out to the people that are suffering, this should be a strong reminder to them that the government is not the one you depend on when the going gets tough. Thanks to H.L. for the link.

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” – Matthew 24:36-37 (KJV)

Springfield Armory’s XD-s Mod 2 .45 ACP, by Pat Cascio

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Quite often, when a gun maker comes out with a Mod 2 version of a current firearm, there really aren’t many new things to write about it. However, we’re taking a close look at the new and improved Springfield Armory XD-s Mod 2 version, and it’s a whole new ballgame.

Springfield Armor Shook Sub-Compact Gun Industry

When the Springfield Armory XD-s line of handguns came out, they really shook the sub-compact gun industry in many ways. This gun was available in 9mm, .40 S&W, and .45 ACP; how could they do it? It’s a good question, but it’s been a super-hot seller since it first hit the marketplace a few years ago.

There has always been a demand for sub-compact concealed carry handguns, and in the not too far past that was filled with the likes of a .38 Spl snubby revolver. While always a good choice, you were limited to the number of rounds they carried and, of course, the caliber. Additionally, revolvers, even with speed loaders, are still slower to reload than a semi-auto pistol, and a snubby revolver is still thick because of the cylinder. That’s not so with semi-auto handguns; they are slim.

I Was Wrong!

When I first heard about the XD-s Mod 2 version and saw the pictures of it, I was more like “ho-hum”. I though there was not much new there and that they just modified the grip area, rounding it off. Boy, was I wrong!

Continue reading“Springfield Armory’s XD-s Mod 2 .45 ACP, by Pat Cascio”