Alaska Cold Rooms. SurvivalBlog Readers' & Editors' Snippets.

Our 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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Mike in Alaska wrote:

“The local climate here is our version of a freezer and refrigerator solution. I took the photo above on my way to work this morning … and it is now dropping even further. We are expecting -45 F this coming weekend. In the summer (June, July, and half of August) we have permafrost and can easily use underground bunkers for food. My basement under my house (really just a 5-1/2 foot deep crawl space, or what we called a “Michigan Basement” growing up, never gets much below or above 45 degrees, even when the temps outside are at -64 below zero. I hope you guys are all good, and I pray every day for you folks.”

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Lily mentioned a useful video that she found for any folks looking for their ticket to living out in the hinterboonies: 10 Boring But Stable Remote Jobs That Pay $30+ Per Hour.

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As a followup to the release of the Homestead feature film, Angel Studios has started early release of a Homestead streaming series. For now, the series episodes are only available to Angel Studios “Guild” members.

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Reader L. wrote us the following on preparing to isolate rooms, in the event of power failures:

“Buying a couple of king-size flat sheets and some hooks or nails, and poking holes in the top hem on a sheet and hanging it on hooks or nails in the doorway(s) between rooms will do much to keep precious heat in one small room. Or you can hang the sheet on a spring-loaded tension type curtain rod and stick it up in a doorway, assuming you don’t live in an “open-plan” house. For those of you with houseplants or vegetable plant starts, you can keep them survivable in the smallest room in the house (usually the bathroom) with several lit candles, in the bathtub. This will keep them “baseline” warm until the polar vortex subsides.

I found a local business that puts its scrap lumber pieces in a bin out by the street and was able to obtain several totes full, I also found a local rock and gravel supply place that happened to carry $5 BIG bundles of firewood, much cheaper than the mini-mart bundles which are now priced at $9.00 for about 6 pieces of wood. Some of us [older people] have lost the ability to chop firewood anymore.

I remember seeing very old photos of my grandparent’s farm with dirt heaped up all around the foundation, for insulation, boy those single pane windows in wooden frames must have been fun, with ice melting on the inside and rotting the frame.”

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At least one dead, hundreds of crashes as strong winter storm batters U.S. with record snow.

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SurvivalBlog’s Editor-At-Large Michael Z. Williamson had this product recommendation:

“I use Feyachi Reflex Sights because they’re inexpensive, before I upgrade to better optics. I’ve used them on standard carbines, my Stemple SMG, even a couple of .308s. They are reliable, they hold zero, and have good see-through. Probably not combat durable, but certainly range durable.

To find their optics and lights, do a web search on:

Feyachi Reflex Sight, Multiple Reticle System Red Dot Sight with Picatinny Rail Mount, Absolute Co-Witness

and,

Feyachi 1500 Lumen LED Tactical Flashlight Rechargeable IPX7 Protection 4 Modes Weapon Light M lok Rail Flashlight Included with Pressure Switch

They are available from several online vendors, including Amazon.com.

One Feyachi Reflex Sight that I bought back in 2022 developed some adjustment issues. I disassembled to check mounting, and may have damaged the fine threads myself. It’s a machine screw and a T-nut between base and display. So I contacted Feyachi and asked if they had either spare hardware or could give me the thread pitch so I could find replacements.

Note this was at 0200 so I was e-mailing an office in China, who used perfect English. They said they’d just send a replacement unit.

That was December 30th. Today, January 2nd, said unit arrived from their warehouse in Kent, Washington.

I’ve also got their lights mounted on the rifles we use for pest control, and since those sit in my office, they get used as office lighting during power outages. They run for hours at full brightness, adjust easily, and throw a good beam. They’re not Nitecore or Streamlight, but they’ve worked quite well even with some banging around.”

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A Shawn Ryan Show Video: Sam Shoemate – Cybertruck Bomber Matt Livelsberger’s Email Reveals New Evidence. JWR’s Comments: I’ve worked in the field (both tactical and strategic intel) with several 98Z Signals Intelligence Senior NCOs in the past. All of them struck me as very professional and squared-away, with level heads. Bottom line: Someone doesn’t get promoted to Master Sergeant (MSG, paygrade E8), brought within the SOF Intel community, granted a TS/SBI clearance, and read-on to SCI compartments unless they are rational, intelligent, mentally stable, and trustworthy. I am not buying the mass media’s “his motive” news stories. We are being treated like mushrooms, about this NCO. With all of the reporting on the odd aspects of the cybertruck flambé event, let’s not lose track of the fact that the man was (is?) a whistleblower, and the significance of the unlawful airstrikes that he was attempting to expose. Those were war crimes.

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Washington state Democrats accidentally e-mail their ‘radical’ tax plan to entire Senate.

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Our friend and fellow blogger Commander Zero mentioned this article: Armed for survival: How October 7 Hamas massacre transformed gun culture in Israel.

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