The Editors’ Quote Of The Day:

“No totalitarian authority nor authoritarian state can tolerate those who have an absolute by which to judge that state and its actions. The Christians had that absolute in God’s revelation. Because the Christians had an absolute, universal standard by which to judge not only personal morals but the state, they were counted as enemies of totalitarian Rome and were thrown to the beasts.” –  Francis A. Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live?

Preparedness Notes for Monday — November 24, 2025

November 24, 1434: The River Thames in London froze over. Later, “Frosts” were celebrated with drunken faires.

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November 24th marks the day that John Knox died, in 1572. (He was born in 1514.) AtheistAgendaPedia says: “Born near Haddington Scotland. He was influenced by George Wishart, who was burned for heresy in 1546, and the following year Knox became the spokesman for the Reformation in Scotland. After imprisonment and exile in England and the European continent, in 1559 he returned to Scotland, where he supervised the preparation of the constitution and liturgy of the Reformed Church.”

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Today’s feature piece is a review written by our own Tom Christianson.

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We need a few more entries for Round 121 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $970,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 121 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. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

A Counterfeit “Benchmade Barrage”, by Thomas Christianson

A Cautionary Tale

“If something seems too good to be true, then it probably is.” (Modern Proverbial Warning, circa late 20th century).

“For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.” (Alexander Pope, circa 1711).

One day, when the battery was running low in my scam detector and my gullibility meter was running high, I ordered a new “Benchmade Knives Barrage 583SBK limited edition white” on eBay.

The knife eventually proved itself to be a counterfeit. In fact, after examining the postings for other “Benchmade” knives offered for sale on eBay, I have come to the conclusion that most of them are counterfeits as well.Continue reading“A Counterfeit “Benchmade Barrage”, by Thomas Christianson”

Recipe of the Week:

The following simple recipe for Cuban Eggs is from The New Butterick Cook Book, copyright 1924, now in the public domain. That is just one of the dozens of bonus books included in the 2005-2025 20th Anniversary Edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick that will be available to order in January of 2026.

Ingredients
  • 6 eggs
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup sausage meat
  • Pepper
  • 1 teaspoon chopped onion
Directions
  1. Cook the meat and onion together for five minutes.
  2. Beat the eggs until light, add the seasonings.
  3. Pour into the pan with the meat.
  4. Cook slowlv, stirring constantly, until the eggs are thick and creamy.
SERVING

Serve with buttered toast or pour over slices of toast

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Do you have a well-tested recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long-term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven recipes, slow cooker recipes, and any recipes that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic:  50 States With Equal-Population. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.)

JWR’s Comment: This certainly illustrates the low population density of The American Redoubt.

The thumbnail below is click-expandable.

 

 

 

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Please send your graphics or graphics links to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Any graphics that you send must either be your own creation or uncopyrighted.

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“It’s not an endlessly expanding list of rights – the ‘right’ to education, the ‘right’ to health care, the ‘right’ to food and housing. That’s not freedom, that’s dependency. Those aren’t rights, those are the rations of slavery – hay and a barn for human cattle.” – P. J. O’Rourke

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — November 23, 2025

On November 23rd, 1644, John Milton published his “Areopagitica” pamphlet that decryed censorship.

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November 23, 1869: The Clipper Ship Cutty Sark was launched in Dumbarton, Scotland, as one of the last clippers ever built. It is the only one still surviving.

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On November 23rd, 1980, a 7.2-magnitude quake struck southern Italy killing more than 3,000 people.

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Today’s feature piece is by JWR.

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We still need some entries for Round 121 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $970,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 121 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. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

Update: Hilltop Retreat Locations Versus Hidden Retreats

JWR’s Introductory Note: The following is an update and expansion to an early post that I made in SurvivalBlog back in December, 2005. It is part of a series of SurvivalBlog 20th Anniversary update re-posts, in recognition of the fact that the majority of readers did not join us until recent years.

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I often have SurvivalBlog readers and consulting clients ask me about the “ideal” terrain for a rural survival retreat house. I must report that there is no single “best” answer because there are significant trade-offs related to terrain. Castles were situated on hilltops for centuries, for obvious reasons: Enemies had to fight uphill Defenders were able to see approaching armies from a long distance. They were also able to exploit the potential energy of stored boulders and other heavy objects. However, in the context of a modern survival retreat, a commanding position makes hilltop structures hard to miss.

The goals of privacy and advantageous fields of fire are often mutually exclusive. Likewise, a hilltop position and a spring water supply are also mutually exclusive in all but the rarest of cases. (A hillock with an artesian well is geologically possible, but extremely rare. And even one with a shallow well is very  uncommon.)Continue reading“Update: Hilltop Retreat Locations Versus Hidden Retreats”

JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR:

Meme Text:

The Genius Move: Glock Loses Millions To Create The V Series, To Stop “Switches”

Only To Be Outsmarted Just A Month Later By Rednecks With Dremel Tools

News Link: 

Glock’s New V-Series Just Hit a Major Problem: Reports of New “Switch” Compatibility Surface.

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.

 

The Editors’ Quote Of The Day: 

“And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more.

Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.

2For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.

Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel.

Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.

I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all.

And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him,

Sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship.” – Acts 20: 25-38  (KJV) 

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — November 22, 2025

On November 22, 1574, the uninhabited Juan Fernández Islands off Chile were discovered by Spanish sailor Juan Fernández. Later, they were famously the home of marooned sailor Alexander Selkirk, who inspired the novel Robinson Crusoe.

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On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas.

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Today is the birthday of Adelbert Rinaldo Buffington, a well-known designer of military gun parts and acccessories. most notably the Buffington rifle rear sight.

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Today is remembered as the birthday of the late Eugene M. Stoner. (Born 1922, died April 24, 1997.) He was the designer of the AR-7, AR-10, AR-15, AR-180, the Stoner 63, and several other firearms. His  AR-10 was the basis of the AR-15 which in turn spawned the very widely used M16 and all of its variants including the M4 Carbine. It has been estimated that 21 million rifles from the AR-15 family are owned by civilians in the United States, and military production M16 variants worldwide exceeds nine million rifles.

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Today’s feature piece is by JWR.

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We need a few more entries for Round 121 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $970,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 121 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. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

Zoning Laws, HOAs, and CC&Rs as Criteria for Choosing Your Retreat Locale

JWR’s Introductory Note: The following is an update and expansion to a very early post that I made in SurvivalBlog back in August, 2005. It is part of a series of SurvivalBlog 20th Anniversary update re-posts, in recognition of the fact that the majority of readers did not join us until recent years.

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“Homeowners Associations [HOAs] are the classic definition of a tyranny. HOAs are a level of government, with the power to tax, legislate, judge, and punish its citizens.”
– Michael Reardon

I’d like to expand on my Criteria for Choosing Your Retreat Locale. You will gain several advantages if you live outside of city limits. You will avoid city taxes. You will most likely be on well or spring water instead of city water. In many cities, because of zoning laws, it is illegal to drill your own water well–since the utility companies want to maintain their monopoly. Operating a home business generally requires a city business license and a visit from the fire marshal. And of course, it is illegal to discharge a firearm inside city limits in most jurisdictions.

It is essential to look ahead to eventual growth. If your new “country” place is on fairly level ground and just a mile outside city limits, then odds are that it will be inside city limits in a few years! Do some prognostication on the ‘line of march” of the advancing phalanxes of “Ticky Tacky Houses”, and plan accordingly.Continue reading“Zoning Laws, HOAs, and CC&Rs as Criteria for Choosing Your Retreat Locale”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

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!

Jim Reports:

This week, we took a family trip in our pickup with our horse trailer to deliver four dairy/wool sheep to a buyer in the beautiful Mission Valley of Northwestern Montana. It was a long drive, but very scenic. And, it felt good to be delivering them to a Christian homeschooling family.

I slaughtered and butchered another sheep this week. This time it was an excess two-year-old ram. Much of that mutton will be used to feed our dog.

Today, I’m attending the Lewiston, Idaho, Gun Show. As usual, I’m looking for pre-1899 gun inventory.

Now, Lily’s part of the report…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote Of The Day:

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” – Psalm 1 (KJV) 

Preparedness Notes for Friday — November 21, 2025

November 21, 164 BC: During the Maccabean Revolt, Judas Maccabeus recaptured Jerusalem and rededicated the Second Temple. This victory has been commemorated ever since as the festival Hanukkah, aka The Festival of Lights.

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On November 21, 1916, Britannic, the sister ship to the Titanic, sank in the Aegean Sea, killing 30 people. In the wake of the Titanic disaster, the White Star line had made significant modifications to the design of the ship, but on its way to pick up wounded soldiers near the Gulf of Athens, it was rocked by an explosion causing even more damage than that which had sunk the Titanic. Many of the dead were from some of the crew who attempted to launch lifeboats while the Captain tried to run the ship aground. The lifeboats were sucked up into the propellers, killing all of those on board. The cause of the explosion is still unknown, but many suspect it hit a mine.

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Today’s feature article is by  JWR.

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We still need some entries for Round 121 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $970,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 121 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. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.