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 socialist utopia of Venezuela strikes again with public transportation known as Venezuelan kennels.

Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts

Most people are smart enough not to plug unknown USB devices into your computer. You never know what can be hiding in the USB plug. Of course, the vast majority of USB powered devices are benign and do exactly what they claim they do, but according to this article sent in by reader T.Z. this is a prime target of hackers. Your computer, by design, trusts anything plugged into a USB port that reports itself as a “human interface device”. Because of restraints on design, the computer has to do this. Otherwise, how would it accept data from a keyboard or mouse. As it turns out, there are devices in existence that can be hidden in a USB plug that pretend to be a keyboard that are fully functioning computers themselves and capable of injecting malware as if you typed it yourself on the keyboard.

ITAR Restrictions Eased

From the desk of Mike Williamson, SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large, comes this article on the Department of Justice’s settlement with Defense Distributed. You may remember the firearm that spawned this particular lawsuit under the Obama administration. Cody Wilson had just produced and publicized the computer files for a 3D printed firearm named the “Liberator” (in honor of the famous WWII underground weapon). The ability of your average Joe being able to make his/her own firearm at home on a $300 printer was groundbreaking. It basically meant the collapse of gun control. The DOJ jumped in with both feet and attempted to claim such digital files were restricted from public consumption. With the DOJ basically folding, gun control is effectively on life support now though many will not admit it.

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“And here is the prime condition of success, the great secret. Concentrate your energy, thoughts and capital exclusively upon the business in which you are engaged in. Having begun in one line, resolve to fight it out on that line; to lead in it. Adopt every improvement, have the best machinery and know the most about it.” – Andrew Carnegie

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday – July 11, 2018

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July 11th is the birthday of John Quincy Adams. He was born in 1767 and died in 1848. Not to be confused with his father– John Adams– the younger Adams also served as a diplomat, congressman, and as president.

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Big news today! Trump has pardoned the Oregon ranchers who sparked the occupation of the wildlife refuge. Ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven were granted clemency along with a statement that the Obama administration was overzealous in their prosecution. Thanks to DSV and other readers who sent that information in.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 77 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. Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value), and
  8. 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 77 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.

How to Survive Your Survivor Obsessed Husband, by Abigail A.

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Although I survived Y2K and the Great Economic Collapse of 2008, when my husband became obsessed with prepping and survival techniques, I didn’t know if I would. His words made sense, but already depleted from the day-to-day care of our two children, the new passion unraveled the stabilizing thread in my heart.

Intense Fear and Anxiety Over Children’s Future

He didn’t understand the unending multifaceted thoughts in a woman’s mind let alone the unfortunate reality: There isn’t a shut off. What will happen to our kids when this happens? How will we survive? Exasperated by news and social media, my struggle to harness my thoughts and thwart a growing end-of-the-world scenario anxiety was futile. Unintentionally, he continued to infuse a perspective that was toxic to my mind. Intense fear and anxiety over our children’s future resulted.

Changed My Perspective Forever

Despite the wait for the unprecedented chaos outbreak, image still mattered to me. As reality shows popped up on television documenting the life of preppers, I was certain I didn’t want to be lumped in with that crowd. Although the books belonged to my better half, I aimed to avoid the paranoid freak and crazy prepper labels. Before friends came over, I’d be sure to nip and tuck rogue books from Forstchen, Rawles, and the like. His obsession wasn’t an endearing or lovable flaw. However, his patience and ability to delicately bring survival topics up among people he felt might relate changed my perspective forever.

That carefree spring evening, laughter spilled out the open windows of our home. Nothing beats dining with friends and the joy of children enjoying the extra leash distracted parents provide. As that vibrant night of playing cards with friends wound down, we broached topics normally taboo, and a new path was charted for my husband’s obsession as well as my fears.

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Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest 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 once again on Neccos–those chalky disc candies that are ideal for long term storage and barter. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

 

Precious Metals:

First up, at Kitco: Gold A Long Term Buy But Expect Lackluster Prices In The Short Term – Analysts

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And at Gold-Eagle: How NOT To Become A Casualty In The War On Cash

 

Forex and Cryptos:

Dollar nears six-month high against yen as risk appetite returns

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Bitcoin Bull Bias Fades as Price Drops Below $6.5K

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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. This week the focus is on tools made in USA. (See the Gear and Grub section.)

Books:

Gun Control in Nazi-Occupied France: Tyranny and Resistance

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America’s God and Country: Encyclopedia of Quotations

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A friend here in the Redoubt recommended this fascinating book: Gentlemen’s Blood: A History of Dueling

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Lettering and Modern Calligraphy: A Beginner’s Guide: Learn Hand Lettering and Brush Lettering

 

Movies:

Finally available on Amazon Prime! The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai

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Can’t We Talk About This?  Here is a description: “It is the conflict of our age, yet no one dares talk about it. The true story of the Islamic Supremacist war on free speech as told by those on the front lines fighting for our First Amendment rights, including Mark Steyn, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Geert Wilders, Pamela Geller, Douglas Murray, Raheem Kassam, Robert Spencer, Ezra Levant, Paul Weston, Milo Yiannopolous, Lars Vilks and Bosch Fawstin.”  Available on DVD, or for free download for those with Amazon Prime.

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“A soft, easy life is not worth living, if it impairs the fibre of brain and heart and muscle. We must dare to be great; and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage… For us is the life of action, of strenuous performance of duty; let us live in the harness, striving mightily; let us rather run the risk of wearing out than rusting out.” – Theodore Roosevelt

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday – July 10, 2018

July 10th is the birthday of British novelist John Wyndham. (His full name was John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris, but Harris shortened that to just John Wyndham for his pen name.) He we was born in 1903 and died March 11, 1969. Harris was a good friend of fellow novelist Samuel Youd (1922-2012), who wrote under several pen names, including John Christopher. Both men were famous for writing what are often called cosy catastrophies. Several of Wyndham’s novels and short stories have been adapted to film, with varying degrees of success. One of the best of these was a parallel universe story called Random Quest.

The Internet Gulag: Demonetization, Demonization, and Deletion

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A wave of Internet censorship is sweeping the globe. This censorship is no longer just the nefarious work of totalitarian nations. Many western nations are experiencing their own brand of censorship that is being promulgated by ostensibly “private” companies. (Although many of these are near-monopoly utilities that could be classified as public accommodations.)

The War on Guns

Dozens of conservative, pro-gun videobloggers and news outlets have been demonetized by YouTube in the past two years. By flagging these sites as “not family friendly”, viewers must now toggle “Restricted Mode: Off” and even when they do, advertisements are no longer displayed. This has happened to gun vloggers like Hickok45, Demolition Ranch, and many others. And even some vloggers who only occasionally mention guns (such as Wranglerstar) have also been intermittently blacklisted. This effectively zeros their advertising revenue. The goal of YouTube’s liberal, globalist, and anti-gun management is clear: They want to drive these sites out of business by cutting them off from their revenue stream.

Meanwhile, Google is deliberately “de-listing” conservative sites from showing up on the first page of results in Google searches. Going far beyond just a deniable search engine “algorithm glitch”, Google has been caught hiring outside contracting firms to manipulate data, deliberately assigning “low to medium” or “poor to low” reliability to numerous news outlets including InfoWars and Natural News. They have done the same to whistleblowing sites like Wikileaks. By pushing down their search engine relevance, Google is marginalizing these sites. Google’s goal is clear: They want to remove these sites from the public eye.

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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 mountain goats in The American Redoubt.

Region-Wide

Removal of Olympic National Park mountain goats could start in late summer; others may eventually be killed

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Brokers seeing “simple economic recipe for a softening housing market”

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Hop acreage up in Washington, Idaho and nationwide

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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”. Smart radar tech is making the scene again. We’ve covered this before in the early stages of it’s development, but it is now nearly ready for production.

Busting the Bugout Myth

If you don’t have a destination or a plan, bugging out merely makes you a refugee. This article, sent in by reader T.J., walks through the many dangers that we face in our complacency. We all too often fall into the trap of thinking that the equipment that we buy will keep us alive. The equipment is nice, but it’s the knowledge of how to use the equipment that is most important. SurvivalBlog has long been a proponent of moving to and living on your bugout location. Your equipment is only an aid. I was reminded of that this last week when the storm that passed through nearly removed my entire garden. Survival is more than just planning to move to some vague location. You are far better off planning to survive where you live. If you can’t do that, you really need to reconsider your location.

Learning from the Gulag

I’ve seen this before, but it bears repeating. Varlam Shalamov was imprisoned in the Gulags for 15 years. He endured six of those years enslaved in the gold mines of Kolyma, one of the coldest and hostile places on earth. In one of his fragmentary writings, he lists 45 things he learned in the Gulag. Most of his learnings show how he learned to live on hate and indifference, yet he admits that those that survived with the most humanity were not the military or party workers, but those who clung to their religious beliefs. The hard, cold existence of the Gulag distills a person down to the very core of who they were. It is hard and painful to read, but it is worth knowing how people will react in these difficult situations and what to expect.

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Preparedness Notes for Monday – July 09, 2018

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July 9th, 1938 was the birthday of Brian Dennehy. He is most often remembered for his role as the alien leader in Coccoon, but he was cast in many other movies and in hundreds of television shows.

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Writing Contest: $608,000 and Counting!

I want to remind folks that summer is the ideal time for readers to write 1,500+ word nonfiction articles for SurvivalBlog, and send them in for our bi-monthly writing contest.  Since the contest began in in 2005, we have distributed more than $608,000 worth of merchandise to the winners of the First, Second, and Third Prize winners!  These were all courtesy of the generous prize donors.  (Please patronize their businesses, and mention SurvivalBlog, when you do.)  I should also mention that the Honorable Mention prize winners have received $13,860 worth of Amazon.com gift certificates, that I personally sponsored. You too can win some great prizes–nearly $11,000 worth, once every two months. So please get busy writing. 

Oh, and by the way, anyone who was awarded any of the top three prizes gets their prize-winning eligibility back, one year after publication of their prize-winning article. – JWR

CRKT/Ruger – RTD, by Pat Cascio

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Two iconic companies– Ruger Firearms www.ruger.com and Columbia River Knife & Tool www.crkt.com– come together to produce some outstanding knives at very affordable prices. We’re checking out the collaboration between these two companies in the form of the RTD (Ruger Take Down) folder.

A Huge Fan of Ruger Firearms and CRKT Knives

Anyone who has followed my writings for the past 25 or 26 years in the knife and firearms industry will no doubt know that I’m a huge fan of Ruger firearms and CRKT knives. Truth be told, I have probably written more words/articles than any other writer on products from both of these companies. I love a great deal, and I love companies that produce “Blue Collar” products, meaning for the working stiff. These are affordable products that are extremely well-made and priced oh-so-right as well.

Began My Writing Career With Ruger and CRKT

The very first gun company to send me a gun sample, when I began my writing career, was Ruger. It was Bill Ruger, himself who made sure I got some firearms to write about, thanks in no small part to the late Col. Rex Applegate making a call on my behalf. I worked for Applegate back then, and he and Bill Ruger were the best of friends. At about the same time, CRKT was an up and coming small knife company, and they readily supplied me with their then new Apache folder. I’ve been writing about their products ever since. Disclaimer: CRKT produces my OC3 double-edge fixed blade fighting knife design– a collaboration between myself and custom knife maker, Brian Wagner.

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