The Editors’ Preps for the Week

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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 was fairly quiet and sedate at the Rawles Ranch.  Jim’s main duty was snow plowing with our trusty old pickup. There had been more than 20″ of snow in the preceding week, so there was plenty of snow to move. Since we are expecting  heavy  snowfall this winter, we’ve opted to  push the snow much farther back than usual.  We’ll need a place to put all of the snow that is expected in the weeks and months head.  Based on the long range forecast, we figure we’ll get at least 9 feet, this winter!

Meanwhile, Lily has been busy tending the winter plantings in the greenhouse. Her “greenhouse within a greenhouse” experiment has gone well.  Lily put thermometers in each hooped bed (covered with visqueen plastic) to measure air temperatures. She is regularly checking them–at least twice a day.  With a heavy layer of fairly fresh manure beneath the beds, the soil temperature is holding between 42 to 55 degrees. The air temperature inside the hoops has been 32 to 60 degrees and the temperature outside of the hooped beds has been as low as 27 degrees and as high as 90 during the past week all depending on if the sun is shining or not.  Germination remains yet to be seen with the seeds that were planted last week.  The seeds planted three weeks ago in the non-manured bed are germinating and growing, albeit very slowly.  I started out the week running the woodstove in the greenhouse, but with a couple of sunny days and moderating temperatures, outside temperatures now hovering around 32 degrees day and night, decided to let it go out.  This week we’re in the high 40’s during the day and low thirties at night, so there is no need to keep the stove going.
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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”. Of major concern this week is the radioactive cloud that has been detected over much of Europe. This indicates some type of a nuclear accident, possibly in Russia. I can’t help but think of Chernobyl.

Space Debris

Reader G.P. sent in this article that maps out the danger zones that the runaway Tiangong-1 Chinese space station could smash into this coming year. While most European countries don’t have to worry, the danger zone covers a band around the earth that covers Africa, the Middle East, Australia, most of South America, most of the United States lower than New York and a whole lot of Ocean. It is hoped that the station will burn up in the atmosphere, the possibility of larger sections will survive and reach the surface. It should be noted that no human has been killed by space debris in the history of spaceflight.

Viral Meningitis Outbreak

Washoe county in Nevada has reported 47 cases of viral meningitis since July 15 of this year. Of the 47 cases, 43 required some from of hospitalization. Seventy-five percent of the cases were 17 years-old and under and 50% of them were school age children. Some basic hygiene preparations can help you avoid contracting this disease. Avoid touching your face with unwashed hands and avoid bounce houses and inflatable slides.  You should also avoid close contact with those who are sick, and disinfect frequently touched surfaces. When was the last time you cleaned that doorknob? You might also consider disinfectant wipes to wipe down that grocery cart at the supermarket.

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Then king David answered and said, Call me Bath-sheba. And she came into the king’s presence, and stood before the king. And the king sware, and said, As the Lord liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress, even as I sware unto thee by the Lord God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead; even so will I certainly do this day. Then Bath-sheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live for ever.” – 1 Kings 1:28-31 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday – November 10, 2017

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November 10th is remembered in the United States as the “birthday” of the U.S. Marine Corps. Coincidentally, the 10th is also the birthday of the late Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov, born in 1919, died December 23, 2013. He didn’t design a lot of different guns, but one of his few designs was the prototype for what turned out to be the world’s most widely produced assault rifles. Once an iconic symbol of international communism, the AK’s curved magazine profile has in more recent years become just a symbol of citizens being well-armed.

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Feminism, The Industrial Revolution and Natural Design: The Way Forward Requires Sacrifice, by The Recovering Feminist

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Now is not the time to neglect this topic of feminism. In fact, I sense a growing public awareness that feminism is experiencing an identity crisis. We are witnessing a time when the public is beginning to wake up and question the rational of incoherent narratives and faulty ideologies, like feminism and Marxism. This calls for implementing a somewhat offensive strategy to push forward in truth, gaining the initiative.

For those of you familiar with my previous posts, this one will be a bit different. It begins by laying out our current predicament, highlighting The Industrial Revolution and culture’s fact-value split. The article then explores the topic of sacrifice and the concepts of natural design and identity. I close with a few related resources. As always, your feedback is valuable to me.

Our Current Predicament

Nancy Pearcey, in her award winning book Total Truth, explains the historical reasons behind family disunity and the growing divide between men and women:

The Industrial Revolution caused both men’s and women’s work to contract and become more specialized; the work of both sexes lost range and variety, and became more intensely focused. Men lost their traditional integration into the life of the household and family…They lost the close contact they once enjoyed with their children throughout the day, and as a result experienced a sharp reduction in their function as parent and teacher in the home.

…the contraction of women’s sphere was more onerous because they were confined to the private sphere – which means they suffered from the general devaluation of the private sphere. The home was cut off from the “real” work of society, isolated from intellectual, economic, and political life…[1]

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Letter Re: Commuter’s Get Home Bag by M.M.

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HJL,

I wanted to add my thoughts. First, and foremost, I think speed is the key here. In the first minutes and hour(s) after some type of TEOTWAWKI event, whether CME, EMP or even earthquake or similar, human nature is such that people will be trying to get back to their own safety nets first. The time for bad guys to try to take all your swag doesn’t happen until after things get desperate.

Waiting

We’ve all experienced a local power outage – when things go dark, and the house gets quiet – do you or anyone you know immediately go grab your homies and start accosting people driving through the ‘hood? No. You don’t. You just wait for the power to come back on, while constantly checking your mobile phone to make sure your battery hasn’t died. That’s because you have no idea of the seriousness of the event. It takes hours or maybe days to understand that things aren’t getting better. Even when civil unrest occurs – what generally happens is – hoodlums (and their ilk) wait until nighttime to begin any hijinks – and most of them still wait for somebody else to start the ball rolling.

Just in Time

What this means is that if you can figure out how to get home in a few hours from T-0 (TEOTWAWKI minus zero), you stand an improved chance of getting there without negative social contact. For me, assembling my breakdown .22, gearing up in full 5.11 camo, and busting out that new machete I’ve been waiting to unleash on the zombies; is more likely just an invitation to any well-meaning LEO, Armed forces personnel or almost anybody who identifies as one of the good guys — to interrupt my journey with a litany of questions or worse.

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Economics & Investing For Preppers

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 antique rifle scopes.

Precious Metals:

To begin, there is this from Jim Wyckoff: Gold At 3-Week High As U.S. Dollar Fades

o  o  o

The 2017 Silver and Gold Summit will be held November 20th and 21st, in San Francisco.  Many of the cognoscenti of the precious metals world will be there, to share their knowledge. Plan to attend, if you have the time.

o o o

India gold demand seen falling to lowest in 8 years in 2017: WGC

Forex:

Dollar hits nine-day low versus Yen as rally runs out of steam

Commodities:

Moving on to oil:  The price of crude oil contracts is remaining high, in the December futures market.

o  o  o

The good folks at OilPrice.com recently brought together all of the different oil prices in the world and placed them freely in the public domain. (Analyst groups formerly had to pay as much as  $50,000 per year for this pricing data.)  There is much more to global oil pricing than just West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude!

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“The [economic] system is not just broken and not just injured; it is collapsed. And as long as the government continues to play putting Humpty Dumpty back together again, I think it will fail. That’s not an ideological statement. I think it’s the reality.” – William Greider

Preparedness Notes for Thursday – November 09, 2017

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November 9th (1938) “Kristallnacht” Be forewarned, folks: Once a group in any society has been singled out, they can be systematically attacked. Someday it may be “Constitutionalists” who are targeted.

o o o

Scheduled for release on November 21st and highly recommended: Basic Survival: A Beginner’s Guide, by David Nash. The book’s foreword was written by James Wesley, Rawles. Full Disclosure: I will not profit from the sales of this book, other than the Amazon Associates sales commissions that I earn from links to any other book. The book is now available for pre-ordering. – JWR

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On Corruption, by Sheepdog and Son

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This article deals with the different levels of corruption within our society, and I’m dedicating it to US Army Colonel Dave Grossman, author of the book On Killing amongst others. I feel it is important to address these issues, for the sake of survival.

As a preface, I can state that I am a military member who thus far has served with distinction. My immediate family is small, including a young son, who I hold very dear. I am a prepper, a realist, survivalist, and a patriot. I do indeed have my own prepping group as well, which I have started from the bottom up, with people I trust.

Example of Corruption

I will begin with an example of corruption. Then, I’ll break down its many levels.

I recently came across these images a few months ago and was shocked. Designed by sculptor Pericle Fazzini, it is titled “The Resurrection”. The statue weighs eight tons and measures 66 feet long, 23 feet high, and 10 feet deep. It is located in the Pope Paul VI Audience hall in the Vatican. It was commissioned by the Vatican in 1965 and was completed in 1977.

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Letter Re: Storing Calcium Hypochlorite

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Hugh,

I was wondering if there was a better way of storing Calcium Hypochlorite? [POOLIFE TurboShock 78% Pool Shock 1 lb]

  1. Glass stopper bottles
  2. Would using a 1/2 gallon Ball [“Mason style”] jar and Tattler plastic lid be a workable alternative?

I forgot to repackage some that I bought a couple of years ago. It was fine at the beginning of hurricane season, but isn’t anymore. Shame on me. I’m glad I stored it on a shelf by itself.

  • How did the Tattler plastic lids on Mason jars do?
  • Does it need to be vented annually?

– T.J.

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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”. There are a couple of interesting articles on the Texas shooting on important aspects of the case that the media doesn’t seem to be reporting on.

Water-Powered Flashlight

Well, not really. It’s a simple galvanic battery that uses water as the electrolyte. You store it dry, then add water when needed. The real jewel is the Joule Thief circuit. A couple of inexpensive parts and you can run the LED on very low voltage (like batteries that you would normally consider dead). I’m not sure of the practicality of this DIY flashlight, but it might be a fun project with your kids. You can also buy a commercially made version of the flashlight. Thanks to G.P. for the link.

Texas Shooting

Reader DSV sent in this article showing that the shooter was on prescription drugs for ADHD. His best friend from high school goes on record describing a troubled youth who struggled with verbal aggression and had a hair trigger on his temper. He had authority issues and plenty of red flags concerning his behavior. (Note: If you follow the “Read the Whole Article” link, you will be forwarded to the Daily Mail which has much crass and vulgar content. You’ve been warned!)

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Now those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth, and let me remind you they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyranny.” – Barry Goldwater

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday – November 08, 2017

We are still taking entries for our SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest but there are only three weeks left in this round. If you have an idea or an experience that you would like to write about, you could have the opportunity to qualify for some fantastic prizes! Just take a look at the nearly $11,000 worth of prizes that are offered in Round 73:

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Guest Article: Vehicular Terror – The Easiest Blueprint For Creating Mayhem, by Joe Alton, MD

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Smart Phone Distractions

In these days of smart phone distractions, you’re seeing more and more people oblivious of their surroundings. In the past, this might get you a bump on the head by walking into a lamp post. In today’s world, however, it could cost you your life.

The NYC vehicular attack that killed eight and injured a number of others is just the latest in a number of incidents by the deranged, disgruntled, and politically motivated. Yet, being situationally aware could prevent you from becoming a victim of a future vehicular terror event.

Situational Awareness

Situational awareness involves understanding factors in your immediate vicinity that might represent a threat. I’m not talking about second-hand smoke; I’m talking about serious dangers that you can avoid with rapid action. Vehicular terrorism is not new, with Israel the scene of many such attacks in past years. It’s becoming more and more common in the West, however, with attacks in NYC, London, Nice, France, Berlin, and elsewhere. A Somali student used his car to run over several people at Ohio State University and then perpetrated a knife attack on those who, ironically, ran over to see if he was injured.

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