Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — October 19, 2023

On October 19, 1987, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted nearly 23 percent, the largest one-day percentage drop in the stock market’s history.

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October 19th is also the birthday of three notables– the late Alexander Zeisal “Zus” Bielski (born 1912), investor Jim Rogers (born 1942), and James Howard Kunstler (born 1948). Kunstler is well known to SurvivalBlog readers as the author of the novel World Made by Hand and the nonfiction book The Long Emergency. A fictionalized portrayal of Zus Bielski is seen in the movie Defiance. This movie was loosely based on the excellent book Defiance: The Bielski Partisans by Nechama Tec.

Post-TEOTWAWKI Community and Employment – Part 2, by 3AD Scout

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.)

Much like society today, those who have “the means of production” control industry, finance, and banking are like the nobles. Those who run the factories and institutions are like the vassals and blue collar and farm workers are like the peasants. So, thinking that in times of great social upheaval when a hundred-plus years of technology disappears, we could see feudal-“like” societies form out of the ashes. This is not far-fetched. Unlike hundreds of years ago, most communities are not self-sufficient. The closest thing to a self-sufficient community today would be Amish communities but even they are dependent upon outside trade for their industries, such as buggy making. But they are not as dependent upon outside trade for a good portion of their food.

My local community is a mixture of Amish, Mennonite, and “English” (non-Amish). As an outsider, who moved into the community from “the city”, it is astonishing how people in this rural community are accepting, especially if you adopt and practice a “rural lifestyle”. Typically others that don’t assimilate just build a McMansion, complain about a dry well and no Internet or cell phone coverage. Once you assimilate into a rural community you start to learn who does what and where to buy stuff. My neighbor has been great in helping me find and acquire older haying equipment. The point is, in many rural communities there is already some semblance of a self-sufficient community.Continue reading“Post-TEOTWAWKI Community and Employment – Part 2, by 3AD Scout”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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, we look at contemporary global military posturing and saber-rattling.

Western Allies are Running Out of Ammo for Ukraine

In the Left-of-Center Guardian: Western allies say they are running out of ammo to donate; Ukraine advancing in south, says General – as it happened. A quote:

“Western military powers are running out of ammunition to give to Ukraine to repel Russian attacks, the UK and NATO have warned. Speaking at the Warsaw Security Forum, Admiral Rob Bauer, NATO’s most senior military official, said governments and defence manufacturers now had to ‘ramp up production in a much higher tempo’.”

Accurate Weather Prediction Maps

I want to repeat my recommendation to bookmark a website that offers fairly accurate weather prediction maps. It is called Tropical Tidbits.

YouTube Bans 3D Print Channel

P.F. sent this: YouTube bans 3D print channel after manually reviewing its videos as suitable for monetization.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“As I will explain, the crash of 1987 was largely a trading event, not a fundamental or economic one. I don’t mean to sound overly boastful, and I certainly do not pretend to be the foremost expert on the crash of 1987, but I do think my vantage point was quite unique for this momentous event in history.

Some might say you could blame the whole crash on Dan Rostenkowski. Okay, before you get all worked up, I don’t really blame the crash on Rostenkowski, who chaired the House Ways and Means Committee at the time and had spent many years on the tax-writing committee. But Rostenkowski and his committee played a very, very important role in the crash of 1987.

In fact, it was that committee’s ‘trial balloon’ regarding a takeover-tax bill, sent around several days before the crash to see how the measure would be received, that was a main catalyst — or at least the straw that broke the camel’s back — in an environment that was already appearing to be a perfect storm for some kind of tumble for months, if not years.” – Matt Maley

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — October 18, 2023

After much opposition, a deal negotiated by U.S. Secretary of State William Seward for the U.S. purchase of the Russian colony of Alaska was approved, and on this day in 1867 the U.S. flag was flown over the capital, Sitka.

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October 18th, 1662 was the birthday of Matthew Henry (died 22 June 1714). He was a Presbyterian minister who lived primarily in Chester, England. Matthew Henry’s six-volume Exposition of the Old and New Testaments (commonly called Matthew Henry’s Commentary) is a must for the bookshelf of any serious Bible scholar.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 109 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  5. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  6. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  2. 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).
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC.
  4. Montana Survival Seed is providing a $225 gift code for any items on its website, including organic non-GMO seeds, fossils, 1812-1964 US silver, jewelry, botany books, and Montana beeswax.
  5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. A $300 gift certificate from Good2Goco.com, good for any of their products: Home freeze dryers, pressure canners, Country Living grain mills, Emergency Essentials foods, and much more.
  2. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

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More than $850,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. We recently polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 109 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.

Post-TEOTWAWKI Community and Employment – Part 1, by 3AD Scout

Humans are no strangers to catastrophe. Through the centuries, civilizations across the earth have succumbed to volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, floods, plagues, and crop failures. Regardless of where this took place, or the people it affected, there was a rebuilding of society and life went on.

For many of us, we focus on surviving the immediate effects of disaster or catastrophe, but few focus on what comes next, the recovery or rebuilding phase. Just like being prepared to survive the immediate impacts of an incident starts in the years long before the disaster ever strikes, so does preparing for rebuilding our community. Let us explore some strategies for being better prepared to rebuild society after the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI).

The importance of recovery preparedness

Humans are, for the most part, a very sociable race and this has allowed us to build complex societies, that have come to a point, where we enjoy the most leisure time in human history. Diseases responsible for keeping the average life expectancy in the 40s to 60s are now rare and it is common for people to live into their 80s, 90s, and even over 100. Clean water and sewage treatment have also aided in adding to our life expectancy. The Information Age has made it quick and easy to find information and to learn skills at a faster pace. An event, that ends the world as we know it, will erase about 150 years of progress and with it will bring back diseases, more injuries and deaths due to reverting back to manual labor and free time will be a sparse luxury. To clarify, I am not talking about tornadoes or floods but rather large-scale incidents like a coronal mass ejection (CME), electromagnetic pulse (EMP), or other events whose impacts are long-lasting and felt across much of the globe.Continue reading“Post-TEOTWAWKI Community and Employment – Part 1, by 3AD Scout”

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.

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A Second Carrier Group Steaming Toward the Med. JWR’s Comments: If you look at U.S. military history, you can see that we’ve primarily been a naval power.  And many of the key turning points in our major wars have been on naval/maritime incidents, namely:

  • Spanish-American War: The sinking of the Maine.
  • World War 1: The sinking of the Lusitania.
  • World War 2: The sinking of the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Letye Gulf (the largest naval battle in history), and the Normandy landings.
  • Korean War: The Inchon landing.
  • Vietnam War: The Tonkin Gulf (U.S.S. Maddox) and U.S.S. Pueblo incidents.

Four of those events shifted public opinion and drew us into large-scale conflicts.

Also, take note of the tragic U.S.S. Liberty incident, off the coast of Israel, during the 1967 Six-Day War. The relatively “calm” waters of the Eastern Mediterranean can be very dangerous, during times of war.

Please pray for peace and for the safety of our sailors and other servicemen. Using them as sacrificial chess pieces in global politics would be unconscionable.

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Woman killed in explosion at Hornady plant west of Grand Island.

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Oh, and speaking of ammunition: Lake City Ammo Plant Cancels All Commercial Contracts. JWR’s Comments:  I hope that you’ve already stacked yours, deep. If not, then get what you need on order, ASAP!

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day: 

“It’s not like Alaska isn’t wilderness – it mostly is. But most Alaskans don’t live in the wild. They live on the edge of the wild in towns with schools and cable TV and stores and dentists and roller rinks sometimes. It’s just like anyplace else, only with mountains and moose.” – Tom Bodett

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — October 17, 2023

On October 17, 1968, the action film Bullitt was released; it features Steve McQueen in what many consider his definitive role and is also known for its iconic car-chase sequence.

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On this day in 1835, Texans approved a resolution to create the Texas Rangers– a corps of armed and mounted lawmen designed to “range and guard the frontier between the Brazos and Trinity Rivers”. After winning their revolutionary war with Mexico the following year, Texans decided to keep the Rangers, both to defend against Indian and Mexican raiders and to serve as the principal law enforcement authority along the sparsely populated Texan frontier.

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We are in need of entries for Round 109 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $850,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. We recently polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 109 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.

Some Lessons Learned in Israel’s Kibbutzim

Like most other Americans, I have been closely watching the recent events in Israel.  I traveled there once, as a tourist, for several weeks. On that family trip, we drove up to the northern border with Lebanon, and all the way south to Eilat, on the Red Sea’s Gulf of Aqaba. My wife (Avalanche Lily) has studied Hebrew for many years, and she has traveled to Israel more than a dozen times. In all, she has spent more than three years in Israel. So for us, watching the Israel-Hamas War brings back a lot of our travel memories. Lily lived for seven months as a volunteer at two different Kibbutzim in the Hula Valley. She volunteered twice at Kibbutz Dafna and once at Kibbutz Hulata.

On one occasion while on Kibbutz Dafna, she had to take shelter from 122mm Katushya rocket attacks on Kiryat Shemonah, with rockets arriving from Lebanon. Kibbutz Dafna is only three miles from Kiryat Shemonah. It was reported that one of the rockets fell out in the fields less than a mile away from the kibbutz. Lily said that every time a rocket exploded the ground shook at the kibbutz. After another stay in Israel that lasted nine months, Lily left Israel and returned to the U.S. on July 2, 2006. That was just ten days before the 2006 Lebanon War rocket barrage. Friends later called and told her a that rocket fell on a restaurant just five hundred yards from the apartment house where she had been living in Tiberias. So for Lily, the recent events have even more vibrant memories attached.

When the modern state of Israel was founded in the aftermath of World War 2 and the Holocaust, guns were ubiquitous. The vast majority of settlers in the fledgling nation were armed and vigilant. But with the leadership of Israel mostly European Ashkenazis rather than Sephardic, they brought with them a European mindset on gun regulations. The Ashkenazis are quite distinct — genetically, culturally, and even religiously from Israel’s Semetic Sephardim. Quite soon, Israel’s government began registering guns, and eventually developed an absurd system, where for all but a veritable handful of licensed collectors, most Israeli citizens are limited to owning just one gun — usually a handgun — under very strict controls and a stringent permit renewal system. There are also strict limitations to how much ammunition can be kept at home. That is just 50 rounds. When we’ve had Israeli friends stay at our home, they had very wide eyes, when I swung open the door of our main gun vault. They were amazed that we were “allowed” to have more than one gun, and so much ammunition.

Only about 20% of Israeli households now have guns. Some modern-day settlers in the West Bank and up in the Golan Heights are issued M16s for their protection, but they represent less than 3% of the nation’s population. The other 97% are absurdly under-armed, except when they are on active military duty. The nation still has nearly universal conscription, and upon leaving the IDF, there are many years of required Reserve service.  It boggles my mind how an entire people group could experience systematic gun registration, confiscation, mass roundups, and mass extermination, only to put in place their own bureaucracy that would make it all possible to be completely disarmed again.  The word stupid doesn’t quite describe it.

Continue reading“Some Lessons Learned in Israel’s Kibbutzim”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, a special column with links to articles and videos showing Fall Colors in the American Redoubt region.

Idaho

Fall Foliage Color update – October 9th 2023.

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Road Map to Idaho’s Fall Foliage.

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No Preliminary Injunction Against Idaho Law Mandating Public School Students Use Bathrooms “That Correspond with Their Biological Sex”

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

Preparedness Notes for Monday — October 16, 2023

October 16, 1846: William Thomas Green Morton first demonstrated the use of ether as a general anesthetic before a gathering of physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

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After the French Revolution began, Marie-Antoinette, queen consort of Louis XVI, was targeted by agitators who, enraged by her extravagance and attempts to save the monarchy, ultimately guillotined her on this day in 1793.

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Today’s feature article is a review written by Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson.

 

Cold Steel Leatherneck SF Field Knife, by Thomas Christianson

Clearly inspired by the Marine “Knife, Fighting Utility” of World War II and beyond, the Cold Steel Leatherneck SF takes a classic concept and improves upon it. The German D2 steel blade of the Leatherneck is a significant upgrade from the 1095 carbon steel of the original, as is the Kray-Ex handle that replaces the stacked leather washers of the original.

During my testing I found the Leatherneck SF to be a sharp and durable knife that was especially useful in firewood processing, gardening, and yard care.Continue reading“Cold Steel Leatherneck SF Field Knife, by Thomas Christianson”

Recipe of the Week: One Pan Honey Garlic Chicken

The following recipe for One Pan Honey Garlic Chicken is from SurvivalBlog reader J.P.V..

Ingredients
  • 4 bone-in chicken thighs
  • 1 Tbsp butter or ghee
  • 3 garlic cloves, sliced thin or minced
  • 1 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1 lb fresh green beans (or veggie of your choice)
  • Season chicken with S & P, to taste
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
  2. Melt butter in an ovenproof skillet over medium heat.
  3. Add chicken and sear both sides until golden brown.
  4. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside saving the drippings.
  5. Add garlic, brown sugar, honey, thyme and oregano to skillet and stir.
  6. Reduce heat to low and heat through until sugar melts and is bubbly.
  7. Add chicken back to skillet and coat with sauce. Add green beans to skillet.
  8. Tent aluminum foil over the green beans to keep them from burning.
  9. Bake 40min or until chicken is done, spooning sauce over all halfway.

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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!