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 on the global grain markets. (See the Commodities section.)

 

Precious and Industrial Metals:

To begin, there is this over at Gold-Eagle: Gold / Silver / Copper Prices – Weekly Outlook

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BASE METALS FORUM: US-China trade war a major cause for concern for market participants

 

Commodities:

From Reuters:  GRAINS-Soybean prices fall 1 percent as U.S.-China trade war escalates

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Trade Wars, Bearish U.S. Weather – Is There Any Hope For Grain Prices?   JWR’s Comments:   The global grain markets have both direct and indirect effects on survivalists who maintain deep larders. The price of our stored wheat is going up. Please consider that cattle producers and other large scale livestock owners often have a choice in what they feed their animals. This will undoubtedly lead to higher prices for grass hay, too. Buy your hay early, this year!

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Our freedom of choice in a competitive society rests on the fact that, if one person refuses to satisfy our wishes, we can turn to another. But if we face a monopolist we are at his absolute mercy. And an authority directing the whole economic system of the country would be the most powerful monopolist conceivable…it would have complete power to decide what we are to be given and on what terms. It would not only decide what commodities and services were to be available and in what quantities; it would be able to direct their distributions between persons to any degree it liked.”  – Friedrich A. Hayek, in The Road to Serfdom

Preparedness Notes for Sunday – July 15, 2018

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On July 15th, 1888, the Bandai Volcano erupted on the Japanese island of Honshu killing hundreds and burying many nearby villages in ash. While Honshu is in an area of frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, this eruption was surprising. The volcano had erupted only four times in the 1,000 years prior and none had been particularly deadly. However, this eruption was different. The rumblings started just after 7 a.m. Within 30 minutes there was an explosion on the north side of the mountain and over the next two hours there were dozens of explosions giving villagers very little time to escape.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Ttoday 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.

EMP And The Modern Computer-Controlled Car, by Oldgeezer

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There seem to be a million different opinions on what will happen to computer-controlled cars, trucks, and vehicles of all kinds after an EMP attack. Maybe my experience will help expand your knowledge base.

My First-Hand Knowledge

I have spent many an hour reading about EMP, watching numerous videos about its effect on civilization, and had some real doubts about some of the claims. While none of us have experienced a true EMP attack, I now have first-hand knowledge of what we may experience when/if an attack occurs.

In 2015, a highway patrol car in our state was struck by lightning multiple times during a severe thunderstorm. With six antennae on the car, it was a rolling lightening rod. The car is a 2013 Ford Police Interceptor Sedan with an Ecoboost twin turbo engine putting out over 365 horsepower. It has a six speed automatic transmission, all wheel drive, 98,000 miles, and is a muscle car under any interpretation. Think of a Ford Taurus SHO on steroids. I also found out that highway patrol and police cars are quite often hit by lightning and often just written off.

How I Ended Up With This Car

Let me tell you how I ended up with this car. The “why” is pretty easy to answer. We were able to purchase the car as surplus/salvage for a song– $2,000. We decided to see what would be necessary to get it back to 100% and if it was even possible. As a long time street car and race car builder (read: grease monkey), the chance of having a full throated muscle car for next to nothing was too much to resist. In addition, as a long time lurker on survivalist sites, the subject of EMP and cars has been of great interest and confusion.

The worst that would happen is that I would have to part out the car and would probably still make significant money. It was a case of “What the heck, let’s go for it”. My wife is very understanding of my whims. In addition, sometimes it is fun to just experiment for yourself!

Continue reading“EMP And The Modern Computer-Controlled Car, by Oldgeezer”

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”. Old, expired MREs are tested in this edition of Odds ‘n Sods.

Walmart Audio Surveillance

It would appear that Walmart is now following Amazon’s lead in Orwellian surveillance of it’s employees. Amazon is know to heavily monitor its workers in a bid to squeak out even the smallest improvements in worker efficiency, up to and including making them wear wrist bracelets to track their arm movements. With Walmart under immense pressure from Amazon, even they are getting in on the act. They have filed an audio surveillance patent for a system that will track conversations at the check out line. With the system able to understand conversations, they would now have the ability to ensure that employee’s are telling customers what they want them too as well as knowing if a cashier is spending too much time talking rather than checking. Thanks to G.G. for the link.

YouTube

According to this article sent in by DSV, YouTube will now decide for you what is and isn’t authoritative news. As the author so aptly puts it: “The days of YouTube are over and the time of ThemTube is upon us.” This is clearly an assault on alternative media as the mainstream media outlets are no longer getting the views they used too. Let’s face it, no one trusts them anymore. Even if alternative media has a habit of publishing the most outlandish conspiracy theories ever invented, people would rather sort through that data themselves and make the call on what is and isn’t news. They are tired of having the narrative handed to them.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” – James 4:1-4 (KJV)

Surviving the Age of Disinfomation

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Dezinformatsiya

I’ll begin this brief essay by defining a term: Disinformation is the deliberate spread of information that is known to be false or biased, in order to achieve a military, political, or social goal. The term was coined by Soviet planners, during the Cold War era. They dubbed it “Dezinformatsiya“. It has both military and geopolitical objectives. It includes strategic and tactical subsets that include propaganda, camouflage (“maskirovka“), contrived “news”, and political indoctrination. More than simply spreading false news of troop movements, dezinformatsiya is a grand strategy that encompasses all aspects of media manipulation and deception to reach a desired end.

I believe that Western world is now full in the throes of The Age of Disinfomation.

Disinformation is now often labelled “fake news”, but I dislike that vague, fuzzy term. Even the term itself has been politicized, so it is best to avoid it. I believe that the term disinformation is a better choice. It is more pointed, and less likely to be misinterpreted or turned into a smear.

The term disinformation should not be used interchangeably with misinformation. The latter is simply false or mistaken data–rather than an orchestrated plan to deceive or manipulate public perceptions.

Political Disinformation

The American mass media is now overtly biased and handing out disinformation on a grand scale. Leftists began infiltrating academia more than a century ago. One of their key goals was influencing those planning careers in journalism. I saw this first hand, as a journalism major at a university in California in the early 1980s. Any student who spoke up for conservative ideals was immediately pounced on by the School of Journalism faculty. And most of the students would usually pile on, in a harmony that would make Chairman Mao proud. Even back then, the leftist diatribes in lectures and classroom “discussions” (indoctrination sessions) were pronounced and sustained. I can only imagine what things are like in journalism schools today–in the era of Social Justice Warriors, Safe Spaces, and Trigger Warnings.

Up until the 1990s, the mass media’s leftist bias was fairly subtle. But now the newscasters of all ABC, CBS, NBC,  CNN, and MS-MBC all overtly seem to sound much like the commentators on NPR. (What I jokingly call National Pravda Radio.)  Even the journalists at the “fair and balanced” Fox News lapse into left wing rhetoric when they talk about issues like “fairness” and “separation of church and state.”  Though some of this is sure unintentional, it is nonetheless noticeable.

Continue reading“Surviving the Age of Disinfomation”

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

Dear SurvivalBlog Readers:

This week at the ranch I was very busy with firewood cutting and slash hauling. I also hauled some topsoil and rocks. The largest rocks (small boulders) were too big to lift, so I rolled them on to my trusty old stone boat and dragged them with my utility ATV.

I’m hoping to be done with most of the firewood project by the end of July.

Avalanche Lily Reports:

This week we made a Costco run for paper towels, dish soap, laundry soap, peppers, cherries, raspberries, pistachios, asparagus, rice.  I blanched and froze the asparagus, chopped and froze the peppers, and sliced and pitted the cherries and froze them.  Additionally, I have harvested a gallon and half of strawberries from my strawberry beds.  I also washed and froze most of them.

My black raspberries are turning red and a few have ripened.  Yum!

In the greenhouse, I finished preparing a bed for my fall crops.  In this bed, I planted seeds of broccoli, cabbage, carrots, Red Leaf lettuce, Bib lettuce, spinach, beets, turnips,  basil, cilantro, oregano, Blue Lake Bush Beans and 54 day Summer squash.  I interplanted some of these seeds and am very curious to see how they’ll fare being so close to each other.

I harvested some of our first broccoli and onions.  The onions are about three inches in diameter and we have another eight weeks of growing season.  They’re going to be huge.

I’ve weeded in the main garden and cleaned out the hen house.  We have been rotating the sprinklers around the orchard, main and annex gardens.

I would just like to say that Spiritual preparation is even more important than physical prepping. Please, if you don’t know the Lord’s salvation: Jesus the Messiah. Please get yourself a Bible and read it and repent from your sins in the name of Jesus.  Beg Him to give you discernment of the great deceptions taking place at this time in our World.  Time to get right with the Lord God, because times is running out.

Many Blessings, – Jim Rawles and Avalanche Lily, Rawles

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

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”.

Helmet Mounted FLIR

I just noticed that both SurvivalBlog advertisers Ready Made Resources and JRH Enterprises recently started carrying the FLIR Breach PTQ136. This is an ultra compact thermal monocular that is capable of being helmet mounted just like a PVS 14. This device uses FLIR’s new Boson core and is actually designed and built for Law Enforcement. It only weighs 7.4 oz and can easily be carried in a pocket. It is also capable of on-board recording. it can be powered with an on-board CR123 battery or through a USB-C connector making it possible to use “N power” devices that you can get at Walmart for about $7.

Death by Bulldozer

Pennsylvania State Troopers literally bulldozed a man to death in this story sent in by reader H.L. Apparently two men were suspects in a recently discovered Marijuana growing operation. The Game Commission found the site and notified local police who then contacted the PA State Police. Investigators were sent to the site, which was on state owned land. When troopers found a vehicle nearby with two people in, the attempted questioning. One person turned himself in, but the other ran into the thick underbrush which was literally too thick to walk in.

Troopers then got the idea to use commandeer a nearby bulldozer to clear the brush. Of course, since the brush couldn’t be walked in, they literally ran over the suspect, killing him. I guess we can now add bulldozing to the ways that police can serve as prosecutor, judge and jury delivery verdicts and death sentences to people.

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

Preparedness Notes for Friday – July 13, 2018

On this day in 1787, Congress enacted the Northwest Ordinance structuring settlement of the Northwest Territory and creating a policy for the addition of new states to the nation. The members of Congress knew that if their new confederation were to survive intact, it had to resolve the states’ competing claims to western territory.

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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.

A Portable Water Distiller- Part 2, by JMD

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Recent history has shown us that clean water is almost always one of the first items to become unavailable after a disaster. Since I live within a day’s walk of the Atlantic Ocean and occasionally camp near the shore, I wanted to make a portable water distiller that could handle salt water as well as some of the more contaminated fresh water sources.

In this article, I outlined my objectives for a distiller and now am writing how I built one. So far, in part 1, I have provided a materials list and provided the first few steps, which included wrapping the copper coil around the water bottle, preparing the bottle cap and the barb adapter on that cap, building the cooling/carrying case, and also building legs for the distiller.

Now, let’s continue moving forward with our build of the distiller. Then, I will tell you about the test results and give you some tips on storing and using it.

Paint and Plug

Several coats of battleship grey paint went on the cooling tower. Paint is necessary because uncoated galvanized metal will rust if it is exposed to salt water. Once the paint dried, I temporarily plugged the output hole. (I used a ¼” bolt and some rubber washers.) Then, I filled the tower with water to check for any leaks in the seam or around the base.

Continue reading“A Portable Water Distiller- Part 2, by JMD”

Letter: Computer Backup Software

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Hello SurvivalBlog Readers

I would like to ask what system you would recommend for backing up computers? The reason I ask is that recently I had a hard drive crash in which I almost lost all of my data on my computer- including a couple of novels I had been working on. The crash had happened while backing up the computer to an external hard drive.

Luckily it looks like my external hard drive did not die and as I’m writing writing this message it is retrieving the files. In addition to an external hard drive what other things would you recommend? A network attached storage device (NAS), one of the various cloud storage companies or continually use various USB sticks? – I.W.

Continue reading“Letter: Computer Backup Software”

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 on collectible knives. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

 

Precious Metals:

Metals slide on escalating trade war; consumers dip in

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Gold, Silver Hit Hard By Sell-Off in Raw Commodity Sector

 

Commodities:

WSJ: Rising Gas Prices Raise Concerns for U.S. Economy–Drivers across the U.S. are paying as much as $2.96 a gallon on average, the most since 2014

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OPEC’s oil output jumps in June as Saudi Arabia opens the taps to tame crude prices

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Oil Prices Crash As Libya Resumes Production

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”