The infamous Brood X cicadas came and went this summer, and won’t be back until 2038. But many adventurous eaters took that opportunity to experiment with different recipes and preparation methods. Just because Brood X is gone, that doesn’t mean you have to wait 17 years to try foraging for cicadas. Many varieties come back
The Civilian Reserve Air Fleet has been activated to help evacuate refugees, US staff, and assets from Afghanistan. Multiple airlines are responding to the call. The fleet will not be used in Kabul, but in safer, interim transit locations: We know fentanyl is a problem, and we know it’s tainting opiates on the street. It’s
It’s Groundhog Day. Again. With the Delta variant raging, we’re seeing the return of a number of trends that make it feel like it’s March 2020 all over again, such as a run on toilet paper. We’re seeing reports that stores are once again running low on America’s favorite disposable personal hygiene material. Last year,
Update, 08/23/2021, 3 PM Eastern: In the hours since the publication of this piece, both the FDA and the American Academy of Pediatrics have come out strongly against off-label dosing of children below 12 years old with the Pfizer vaccine. Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock described it as a matter of “great concern.” The AAP’s
Like many of you, we’ve been enjoying a summer with small slices of normality. But, as we predicted, things are quickly getting worse again — some areas are already at the worst levels they’ve been in the entire pandemic — as the Delta variant and bad actors within our society continue to do damage. This
Wildfires are raging in Northern California, and tens of thousands of people are going to lose electricity because of it, adding insult to injury: Mandatory state-wide water restrictions are coming down the proverbial pipeline for California. In news of the weird, intelligence data firm Palantir bought $51 million in gold bars as a hedge against
A reader recently requested a review of Travis J.I. Corcoran’s gargantuan homesteading manual Escape the City, and I quipped that I would have to get through the first 5 or 6 pounds. That’s not much of an exaggeration: at over 1,200 8×10-inch pages, the two combined volumes weigh well over six pounds. I’m mulling a
Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban, and is now fully under Taliban control. The fall of most major cities happened so quickly (1-2 weeks) that American and coalition forces could not extract embassy staff and other assets in a safe and orderly manner. Kabul airport was and is the scene of harrowing and incomplete extraction
OR is a major annual trade show for the outdoor industry, similar to what SHOT is for the firearm market. There’s already a lot of overlap between outdoor recreation equipment and self-reliance — clothing, shelter, stoves, navigation, communication, etc. So much so that, over time, these kinds of shows have evolved to often include vendors
Fires are raging in Greece and Turkey. The fires in Greece have destroyed one of the world’s oldest trees. Turkey is also experiencing massive flooding simultaneously in different regions. Sicily hit 120 degrees F this week, one of the highest temps ever recorded in that region. If the reading is accurate, it will be one
I love the idea of waxed canvas clothing. It’s waterproof, rugged, and fire-resistant — but it’s also expensive. So I instead settled on a Carhartt Bartlett jacket in charcoal gray, which has plain duck cloth and no waxing. However, I quickly realized during a snow shoveling session that Carhartts were not very waterproof. Sure the
The new IPCC report is quite dire and makes clear that very serious climate changes are already locked in—temps are likely to rise by 1.5 degrees C in the very near term. The report stresses that it’s not too late to work towards preventing even more severe global warming. Mendocino, California is running out of
We recently shared research about prepper demographics from Dr. Chris Ellis, a US Army Strategic Planning and Policy Program Fellow working with Cornell University. To clear up confusion, Dr. Ellis created an academic definition of what’s commonly called a prepper: a Resilient Citizen is someone who can handle at least a 31-day emergency or self-reliance
Maintaining a positive mental attitude is a major key to any survival situation. Or so we’re so often told. But could a positive attitude actually work against you? Author Jim Collins explored the concept in his 2001 book, Good to Great. The book is about business and as a business book, it hasn’t aged well.
Renewable energy in the US has officially outpaced coal and nuclear energy production. Half of the renewable energy produced in the US comes from solar and wind and the other half from hydroelectric sources. Renewables make up about 21% (and growing) of US energy production. Most energy production comes from natural gas now. Turkey is
