Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — September 9, 2020

On September 9, 1492, Columbus’ fleet set sailed west. The rest, you know is history, or is that revisionist history?

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 90 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First 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 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. 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 (a $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready 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 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.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, that have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  4. 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).
  5. 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. 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)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum-sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. A transferable $150 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!

Round 90 ends on September 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.




15 Comments

  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEw8c6TmzGg ( 29 minutes long )

    In Defense of Columbus: An Exaggerated Evil

    Knowing Better
    December 10, 2017

    Columbus is a controversial historical figure who is widely viewed as terrible. Every year we question whether we should continue to have a day to celebrate his discovery. But as with most stories, his bad deeds have been exaggerated to make him fit the role of a villain.

    #history #america #usa

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEHMzhtwgMI ( 16 minutes long )

    Acknowledging the Past | Columbus in Context

    Knowing Better
    January 26, 2020

    Some of my earlier history videos require additional context, most notably, In Defense of Columbus. Using the power of 2020 hindsight, let’s clear that up now.

    #history #columbus #columbusday

    1. “A mass of boaters come out for Trump with an armada of boats”

      I’m glad for Trump that he has support of the boat-owner demographic. But I don’t think they represent a majority.

      A rising tide lifts all boats. But those who have only life-jackets, or not even that much and have to tread water, may be less than enthusiastic.

  2. While the availability of 7.62×39 is has increase somewhat at my favorite source and bell weather, SGammo.com, the price increase remains, and magazine sales are brisk.

  3. While visiting an elderly shut-in near smoky Eugene Oregon yesterday, the nice person had a radio loudcasting in every room plus recorded televisionprogramming loudcasting The! Latest! Newsprogramming! on TheWorldWideWeb loudcasting on the sixty-inch in the ‘family’ room.

    (This single person — an avowed vegentarianist — somehow requires >1,800sf of living space while producing zero edible landscaping, and gets groceries delivered for a us$45 fee.
    But that is different rant for another time.)

    Yesterday, each speaker on each electronic device was loudcasting government propaganda from National Propaganda Radio (aka ‘NPR’) and Oregon Propaganda Radio (aka ‘OPR’).

    I was insulted by the low-intelligence filler-blathering.
    I was physically injured by the constant continual proclamations of Imminent! Danger! if anybody dares to lower the volume… because Emergency! Alerts!.

    “If you are required to evacuate…”
    “Stay tuned for The! Latest! Up! Dated! official announcements…”
    “Up-date your emergency contact list up-dated because up-dating…”

    I say ‘physically injured’, but I felt spiritually attacked as well.
    I am amazed more folks aren’t suffering from heart disease and other symptoms of a broken heart… caused by a constant continual bombardment of negative energy from newsprogramming!

    The sad part of yesterday’s visit:
    b)
    Second, I went around her place unplugging radioprogramming in each room — unplugging each device from the wall — and she didn’t notice the silence.
    a)
    First, I tuned the sixty-inch to soothing ‘soft jazz’, and she immediately responded to the energy change.
    “I like it so much every time you come to visit. I feel so peaceful around you.”

    Yeah, well, maybe that is because I do not ‘do drama’.

  4. Ape With AK-47

    That was a viral marketing video from 2011 – back when viral marketing videos was still a new thing – to promote the Rise of the Planet of the Apes movie.

    “To raise the film’s profile online, Mekanism both targeted a group of 50 social media influencers as well as released a series of short ‘real ape’ videos they hoped would go viral.”

    “Mekanism launched the first video, of a a chimp playing a video game, roughly six weeks ago, but it wasn’t until the fourth video, of an ape holding an AK-47, that the campaign took off. The AK-47 video has since been watched nearly 13 million times.” – Behind the Social Marketing of ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’. Wall Street Journal. August 12, 2011

    I remember when it first came out. As expected, the video appeared in various firearms forums. It fooled a lot of people – myself included – into thinking it was real.

    Of course, the AK-47 fanboys pointed to it as evidence that the AK was a better rifle, since even a chimp could use it. The AR-15 fanboys touted the superiority of the AR (and AR owners) for the same reason. And there were the ApeK-47 jokes.

    Even knowing the truth behind it, it’s still funny and enjoyable.

Comments are closed.