The latest meme created by JWR, from an idea suggested by Bruce Rawles:
Meme Text:
Why do they call some non-fluorescent light bulbs “Peruvian”?
Because they are of Incan descent!
Notes From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the concept, and I’ll try to assemble it. And if it is posted then I’ll give you credit. Thanks!
Permission to repost memes that I’ve created is granted, provided that credit to SurvivalBlog.com is included.
“And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.
And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.
And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;” – Revelation 5:1-9 (KJV)
On February 3, 1811, American newspaper editor Horace Greeley, known as one of the most persuasive antislavery voices in the antebellum North, was born in Amherst, New Hampshire.
This is the birthday of writer James Michener (1907–1997), known for his very well-researched epic novels, such as Centennial.
This is also the birthday of painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell (1894–1978.)
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Today we present another entry for Round 111 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:
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More than $875,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 111 ends on March 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.
Predators come in all shapes, forms, and sizes. Some have fur, feathers, or scales. Some of them walk upright among us. What exactly is a predator? As the name implies, they prey on a victim. Who doesn’t hum the theme to Jaws when stepping into the ocean? As soon as you enter the water, you become part of the food chain. Sharks are predators, we are the prey. When an animal preys upon another animal, it is usually not on a personal level, it’s to eat. Yes, sometimes dominance is involved. When humans prey on other humans, it’s all personal. The predator selected that victim for a particular reason. Your goal, dear reader, is to try not be that victim.
Living in the woods and at times raising goats, geese, rabbits, and chickens, you are acutely aware of the food chain. Most of the animals we were raising were at the bottom of the food chain. The Nigerian dwarf goats required an electric fence. One day I came home and the goats ran to me as I was getting out of my car. I was stunned! They were fenced in with a heavy livestock fence that was electrified. I dicovered that a black bear had ripped a good section of the fence down, to get to a snack — my goats! Fortunately, none were hurt but the lesson learned was to not put too much faith in the electric fence. We were grateful the bear did not return, although, he would have made a nice rug.Continue reading“Handling Predators, by Hollyberry”
To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those –or excerpts thereof — in the Odds ‘n Sods Column or in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!
The snow at the Rawles Ranch is melting quickly, and The Un-named Rover will probably rise up out of its banks soon. We usually see that in happen March or April, but not in early February. This has been a very unusual winter!
Working on perfecting our “Frugal Mode”, we’ve set up some new clothes drying racks in our living room. Two of them are free-standing. The other one, purchased via eBay, is a wooden Amish-built folding wall-mounted rack. Mounting the latter was quick and easy. For a strong mount, I just had to be sure to have the two mounting screws hit a stud behind the sheetrock.
This week I did another on-site visit with one of my consulting clients, to discuss the details of some new construction at his retreat.
Now, Lily’s part of the report…Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”
“And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?
Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;
Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.
Then shall they cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.
Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.
Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.
Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.
But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.
Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.
They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us.
Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.” – Micah 3 (KJV)
On February 2, 1709, British sailor Alexander Selkirk was rescued by explorer and pirate William Dampier (pictured) after being marooned on a desert island for five years. His story inspired the book “Robinson Crusoe.”
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On February 2, 1980, the FBI‘s undercover criminal investigation known as Abscam was revealed to the public; it resulted in the convictions of various elected officials on an assortment of bribery and corruption charges.
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On February 2, 1653, New Amsterdam (later named New York City) was incorporated as a city.
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Today we present a guest article by Montana-based economist and commentator Brandon Smith, the editor of Alt-Market.us. Both his free website and his subscription The Wild Bunch Dispatch e-newsletter are highly recommended.
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We are now seeking entries for Round 111 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $875,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 111 ends on March 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.
We’ve completed the judging for Round 110 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. Round 110 began on December 1, 2023, and ended on January 31, 2024. (The contest runs in rounds that each last two months.) The prize-winning writers for Round 110 are:
First Prize goes to A.F., for Winter Plumbing Preparedness, posted on January 13-14, 2024. See: Part 1 and Part 2. He will receive the following prizes:
Second Prize goes to Tractorguy, for Easy Home Cheese Making, posted on January 19, 2024. See: He will receive the following prizes:
Third Prize goes to H.F.K, for Haying By Hand, posted on January 20, 2024. See: She will receive the following prizes:
Each Honorable Mention Prize winner has been awarded a transferable and accruable $100 FRN purchase credit toward the purchase of any antique or percussion replica gun from Elk Creek Company.
Honorable Mention Prizes go to the writers of these 11 articles:
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More than $875,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 111 is now underway and will end on March 31st.
A note on a prize substitution, starting with Round 111: Ready Made Resources — one of our very first advertisers and a generous writing contest prize donor since Round 1 in 2005, is now providing a Peak Refuel “Wasatch Pack” variety of 60 servings of premium freeze-dried breakfasts and dinners in individual meal pouches — a whopping 21,970 calories, all made and packaged in the USA. This is a $359 retail value.
Please 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.
There is absolutely no doubt – Elements of our own government are deliberately encouraging the acceleration of illegal immigration across the southern border and they are actively sabotaging any attempts to stop the madness. There are two questions we need to ask: Why are they doing this? And, what can be done to stop them?’
In a move that I think debunks any claims that the Biden Administration wants a secure border, the federal government recently challenged Texas efforts to install border fencing and barbed wire to prevent the massive influx of foreigners raiding the US. This is after several incidents in which convicted criminals and terrorists have been identified among migrant groups. The measures were working, so obviously, Biden felt the need to intervene.
A majority of the Supreme Court has also taken Biden’s side, forcing Texas Governor Greg Abbott to declare the situation an invasion that threatens the security of his state and America at large. The conflict is leading to a showdown between federal agencies and Texas. I would argue that it is a showdown that NEEDS to happen, the sooner the better.
The expulsion of unwanted or destructive groups of people has been an emergency measure used by civilizations for thousands of years. The cultures that don’t protect their own gates end up being erased or absorbed into a completely different population that may not hold the same values and principles. The majority of nations on the planet today have strict immigration rules, yet, America and the EU are the only regions attacked for wanting to limit the flow of illegals.Continue reading“Cultural Replacement: An Engineered Immigration Crisis, by Brandon Smith”
Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, a special examination of the anti-green agenda revolt by European farmers. (See the European Farmers Anti-Greenie Pushback section.)
Silver Use in India Solar Projects Is Skyrocketing.
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At Gold-Eagle.com: How Much Does a Pound of Gold Cost?
Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon warns US driving toward a cliff as debt snowballs.
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BBC News: Evergrande: Chinese property giant ordered to liquidate.
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Derisked? China’s U.S. bond footprint fades: McGeever.
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UPS is cutting 12,000 jobs, citing softer demand and higher costs. (Thanks to blog reader C.B. for the link.)
“The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are the constitutional rights secure.” – Albert Einstein
On February 1, 1790, the first session of the Supreme Court of the United States was held, in New York City.
On February 1st, we recognize the birthday of the late Dr. Gary North, in 1942. North was a prolific writer on Christian Reconstruction and economics topics. He passed away on February 24, 2022. His more than 50 published books are a lasting legacy. He also assembled a free online library of books by other godly writers, through his Institute For Christian Economics (ICE). Those free books, totaling 38,000 pages, are all still available online, They are a great resource for homeschoolers and economics students.
We also remember February 1st, 2003, when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana as it reentered Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven crew members.
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Today we present the first entry for Round 111 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:
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More than $875,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 111 ends on March 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.
Editor’s Introductory Note: Over the years, we’ve published several articles on beekeping in SurvivalBlog. But this is our first fundamental article on pollinators. If you want to have abundant crops, then you should encourage pollinators, locally! – JWR
We are getting help with crops, fruits, nuts, and vegetables from little flying, crawling things you probably know little about. They are animal pollinators of plants. A book about pollinators has a first sentence of the first chapter that says it is impossible to overstate the service they provide to plants. You can do a lot to help pollinators, no matter where you live, to give them much-needed habitat that will allow them to thrive.
According to the U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) more than 100 grown crops in the US rely on pollinators. These crops include apples, blueberries, strawberries, melon, peaches, potatoes, and almonds. Wild berries also need pollinators. In dollar terms, the added revenue to grown crop production attributed to pollinators is valued at about $20-30 billion. Yes, the dollar figure comes from federal agencies and varies between them, so skepticism is warranted. There’s no doubt, though, pollinators are important to the US farm economy. Worldwide, they pollinate 75-95 percent of all flowing plants and more than 1,200 crops according to the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign.
A pollinator is any living thing that helps carry pollen from a male part (anther) of a flowering plant to a female part (stigma) of the same or another flower. Not all plants need pollinators, of course, because they self-pollinate or rely on wind and rain. For those more than 100 grown crops in the US and wild berries, however, this movement of pollen, a form of genetic material, must occur for the plant to become fertilized and produce fruit, seeds and new plants.Continue reading“Encouraging Plant Pollinators, by Steve R.”
Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, presented by Gainesville Coins. Each month, we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. We cover gold’s performance and the factors that affect gold prices.
Spot gold started the new year at around $2,060 an ounce. It dropped as low as $2,023 in the second week of the month as everyone rushed to dial back over-optimistic expectations of an interest rate cut in March.
Prices recovered to above $2,050 on the 15th before the bottom fell out, recording a $49 drop from $2,054 to $2,005 on the 16th and 17th.
Factors Affecting Gold This Month
JUMPING THE GUN ON RATE CUTS
Investors all realized at once in January that they had jumped the gun on expecting imminent rate cuts from the Fed, and prices had gotten ahead of the facts. They rapidly repriced assets across the spectrum, retrenching their bullish bets that the Fed would make its first rate cut in March.
The reversal hit its worst in mid-January, as everyone went into panic mode. The dollar hit a one-month high, Treasury yields jumped, and the odds of a March rate cut fell from 80% to 65% in one trading day. (Note: odds of a March rate cut are only THREE percent as of January 31st.)
Gold was caught up in the turmoil, falling from $2,051 to $2,006 over two days on the 16th and 17th. Prices stayed below $2,030 until the last of the month when April gold futures jumped to $2,067 before closing just before the FOMC announcement. Spot prices fell into the red in the aftermath of Fed chairman Powell’s press conference but rallied to just above unchanged by the end of the day.Continue reading“January 2024 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran”
SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from JWR. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. In today’s column, a more in-depth examination of the Texas border tiff.
And then, there is this logical extrapolation, from Tim Pool’s peanut galley: Americans Have A NORMALCY BIAS, They DO NOT Believe Civil War Is Possible.
JWR’s Comments: Folks should be very careful about who they associate with, who they listen too, and whether or not they step on “federal” ground, if they go these rallies, and how they interact with any “federal” officials, and even how they might be able to anonymously make donations. I’m a big believer in using cash and US Postal Service Money Orders (“PMOs’), for anonymity. Beware: The Bidenistas have perfected both infiltrating agent provocateurs and targeting politicized prosecutions. Learn the lessons of the January 6, 2021 protests in Washington DC and the Canadian Trucker’s Rally in Ottowa, in 2022. The FBI poured countless hundreds of thousands of man-hours into reviewing footage and analyzing cell phone location tracking data from the U.S. Capitol protests, to generate arrest warrants. Either leave your smartphone at home, or remove its battery before you get within 10 miles of any protest. Oh, and walk in a long distance, so that your license plate doesn’t get flagged in some database. I know a few secret squirrels who do this, just when attending gun shows.
Krissy sent us this: Report: California Looking To Restrict Travel For Classic Cars.
Over at The Intercept: FBI Overstepped Authority in Warrantless Search of Hundreds of Safe Deposit Boxes, Court Rules. Here is a pericope:
“At oral argument in December, one of the three judges on the 9th Circuit panel called the FBI’s search of each safe deposit box without probable cause ‘egregious’ and ‘outrageous.’ Another likened the FBI’s actions to the maligned ‘general warrants’ and ‘writs of assistance’ issued in colonial times, which authorized British officials to search colonists’ homes indiscriminately for smuggled tea and other items.”
Our own Thomas Christianson recommended this at City Journal: The Story of the Decade: New documents strengthen—perhaps conclusively—the lab-leak hypothesis of Covid-19’s origins.
Supreme Court Looks Set to Reform Governing, End 40-Year ‘Constitutional Revolution’. JWR’s Comments: These are much-needed decisions. For far too long, executive branch Federal agencies like the ATF, EPA, and FWS have run roughshod over our rights by unconstitutionally creating new laws and calling them “rulings.” These agencies need to be slapped down and reminded that to maintain the constitutional fences around the three branches of government, only Congress can create laws, and only the courts can be the arbiter and judge of laws.
Here is some insightful analysis from gun law attorney William Kirk: The Case That Could Crush the ATF.
From Bloomberg: China Is Buying Up US Farmland, But How Much Isn’t Clear.
Oregon uses AI to flag election ‘misinformation,’ raising fresh concerns about censorship.
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You can send your news tips to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Thanks!
