Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — January 29, 2020

Today is the birthday of journalist and inventor Thomas Paine (1737–1809.)

And speaking of Toms, this is the birthday of actor Tom Selleck (born 1945), best known for playing the title role of Magnum, P.I. He is an avid shooter and quite pro-gun.

A special note on our waterproof 2005-2019 archive USB sticks: We discovered a formatting glitch on the first batch that were mailed out. So… We are mailing free replacements (properly formatted) for all of those customers. You may keep the old sticks–free of charge–and erase their contents, to be able to use those sticks for whatever purpose that you’d like. Just don’t mix them up with your new sticks.  Please do not mial back the old sticks. Again, those are for you to keep, as our gift. Mailing of the sticks with the updated formatting should begin on or before February 1st. Thanks for your patience!

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 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. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  3. 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,
  4. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  5. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  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).
  7. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  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. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 86 ends on January 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.




6 Comments

  1. I was surprised yesterday, but I should have expected it as it is the same story in any kind of disaster. We were in Home Depot in Olympia, WA picking up a couple of electrical items to finish wiring lights in our new wood shed when I noticed a stack of particulate masks. The cashier said they had been returned and the purchaser wanted instead to buy the entire stock of the store’s N95 masks. Store management limited sales to 10 per customer. Two things come to mind with that quantity of masks….either they will be shipped to China or there will be price gouging on eBay (saw that at the time of Fukushima reactor melt down with Potassium Iodate). We all should have N95s stacked in our medical supplies, but you don’t and want some, get them NOW!

  2. Gosh, I hate the thought of you having to bear the extra cost of replacing those USB sticks. There must be something folks can do to help. Could they perhaps be mailed to another address – a trusted subscriber who’s an IT professional or at least pretty tech savvy – where they could be wiped clean and then later all returned to you in one tidy box to save for next year? Just a suggestion, because I don’t like things to go to waste.

  3. I wanted to thank you for the continuing quotes from the Founding Fathers. I’m a millennial and you’d be surprised at the [obliteration] of Founding Fathers in our school studies. I was surprised at how “Christian” these freedom loving me really were. If you do a search on Google and and the number of references of God and freedom to HIS creation also written in the DOI and US Constitution. Thank you!

    1. Pat, at that time it could be a Death sentence to not be “Christian” or the wrong kind and religious wars were still being fought with horrible evils perpetrated in the name of god (Crusades, Inquistions, exfinistrations, burning at the stake, drowning, torture, wholesale murder, expulsion into wilderness). Education was often limited to bible reading and free thought could get you killed or your home and possessions stolen/burned and you tarred and feathered or run out. The reason so much was justified was god could be used as a final source of authority and killing in his name was usually excused. Read up on many Founding Fathers, many were not “Christians” but used the cover of Deism to be socially accepted (Washington, Franklin, Jefferson,etc.). I am glad you are taking the opportunity to learn more, it will serve you well in the future so don’t stop.

  4. Pat in Dever…soooo glad to read your comments… as a retired educator I know that the Founding Fathers are ignored in public education circles… however they WERE taught in my classroom… may I suggest reading Common Sense by Thomas Paine…Second Treatise of Civil Government by John Locke… I believe you will find these enlightening

  5. Ma G
    I agree but what I did was send a few books of Forever Stamps to help offset the costs that I’m sure had to be incurred.
    Maybe everyone else could do the same?
    Have a great day everyone

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