I missed this, but our friend Andy at Practical Accuracy did a video on whether a 1:7 twist barrel does well with lighter bullets.

The answer?  It depends on the ammunition.  Ammunition selection seems to be the king-maker on whether you do well at the range.

Outdoor Life.

Colville, Washington is like a lot of bare-knuckle Western towns, with dusty pickups parked at family businesses, government agencies stabilizing the boombust ranch-and-timber economy, and a string of fast-food franchises along U.S. Highway 395 that heads north to Canada. It’s the late general season for deer this week in northeast Washington, but this year hunters aren’t seeing nearly as many elk or pine-ridge whitetails as usual.

They mostly blame wolves that have moved into this rural corner of Washington over the past decade and the increasing number of cougars that are no longer staying way out in the Colville National Forest. Instead, lions have been coming closer to town, following the scarcity of deer right down to the city limits. Locals cite the ambush of a 9-year-old girl playing hide-and-seek in the town of Fruitland, about 45 miles southwest of Colville, in June as evidence that cougars need to be more aggressively managed by the state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife.

When the Fish and Wildlife Commission met in Colville last week, they were welcomed sarcastically to the “center of wolf recovery” by members of a pro-hunting organization called Northeast Washington Wildlife Group. But the commission also heard from predator advocates, represented by members of Washington Wildlife First, a non-profit founded last year whose mission is “transforming the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife from a model of consumptive use” to one that “prioritizes the preservation of natural ecosystems.” For Washington Wildlife First, the increase in predators isn’t problematic; instead, it’s indicative of a healthy ecosystem.

Tension between the two camps was palpable at the Colville meeting, says Commissioner Kim Thorburn, a retired public-health physician from Spokane and self-described “non-hunting hippie from San Francisco.”

“We had people from the community begging us to pay attention to the changes they’re seeing on the ground,” says Thorburn, the longest-serving member of the 9-person commission. “They feel that large carnivores are impacting hunting and livelihoods. We heard people say they don’t let their kids stand out at isolated school bus stops any more. We heard hunters say the deer numbers are going way down. They were asking the department to be more responsive.”

But a new majority of the Washington commission doesn’t recognize those pleas as a problem. They’re among an insurgent type of wildlife official that wants to transform state fish-and-game departments across the country into agencies that “emphasize the intrinsic value of individual animals and healthy ecosystems.” That realignment would deemphasize hunting as a wildlife management tool and devote more agency resources to non-hunted and fished species.

This movement, championed by a small but influential group based in New Mexico called Wildlife For All, borrows from a number of allies, including animal-rights, rewilding, and deep ecology campaigns, few adherents of which have previously been involved in the day-to-day business of fish-and-game management. But with the appointment earlier this year of three “preservationist” commissioners in Washington, reformers now hold a 5-4 majority on the board. In March, they succeeded in closing Washington’s spring bear season, despite recommendations from agency staff that the hunt was ecologically sustainable and despite opposition from Thorburn and three other commissioners.

Now, let’s see what the Almighty God says about this.  “God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

What the hippies in Washington are doing is worshiping the creation over the creator and His law-word.  They don’t care that little children and animals will be attacked by wolves, bears, mountain lions or other predators.  The creation is their god.

I had someone ask me a while back why the hippies get the Northwest and we don’t.  My answer is that it doesn’t matter now, it’s done, and there is no going back.  This fight would have had to be fought long ago while real men were working for a living.  You must do more than work – you must pay attention to the world around you, including human predilections and sins.

I think Hornady has a 7mm PRC devotee.  But my question remains, what if you’re not hunting Elk at 400 yards, but rather, white tail at 50 – 100 yards?  It seems to me that 7mm PRC isn’t so preferable to .308 or 6.5mm Creedmoor.

The first rule of drone club is…

Yuneec, H520 commercial drone. Photo via RotoDronePro.com

If you need a drone, and you will, the place to start is with lots of reading and comparison. First, consider your use case(s) for which you have primary, secondary, and tertiary purposes. Consider what you must accomplish, what would be worthy of performing, and what would be added benefits. Perhaps jot down some notes with a list. Then look for the craft that suits your needs based upon your priority scale of needs.

Some drones are tiny and almost useless in any weather, including a light breeze, but they are quiet and less detectable. As with most products, there are trade-offs. Some don’t survive crashes with as much resilience as others, which seems essential when starting. Some have neat-sounding features that get a premium price markup, but when considering the practicality of the feature versus your actual needs, the cost may not be worth adding.

The best feature is automatic obstacle avoidance. Second is an Auto-Home feature that returns the unit to a specified location under certain circumstances; out of range/push button home/battery level. Flight time and range are critical considerations. Ability to move the camera while holding the drone geo-stationary may interest you. Made in America is a concern with the history of some electronics having Chinese backdoors.

Other trace-off aspects: remember, a drone is a vehicle. The vehicle should serve an objective which is to accomplish specific purposes. A lesser vehicle with a better camera may serve you better, but a greater range with an inferior camera may suit you. We’re not against hobbyists that love a specific vehicle (think car owners), but keep to the purpose of your needs.

There are some licensing considerations, although asking permission seems, well, you decide for yourself. Nonetheless, here’s a basic FAA registration guide.

Are there kinetic applications for racing drones? Do your geotagging and mapping well in advance and print on hard copy, correlate with land nav.

There’s a ton of information on youtube, especially about professional drone types of service, but you have to weed through the hobby and commercial channels. If you have a mind for it, examining the technical applications of drones for civilian utility planning, mapping, zoning, surveying, agriculture, construction, property inspection, and other industries can teach valuable information about how to use your drone for recon, including geotagging. These can be a worthwhile resource not only for recon but also for defensive position planning and battlefield shaping plan objectives.

DroneU might interest the serious-minded who can take general civil applications information and apply it to their own purposes.

Source One:

Whether you’re a videographer, vlogger, or just want to have some fun, the best drones let you fly around with ease, shoot breathtaking photos and videos, and not worry about crashing into things.

The best quadcopter drones now all cost less than $2,000, with many excellent models at $1,000 or less. But there are a lot of things to consider, including flight time, what you want to do with the drone, and more. That’s where our guide to the best drones comes in. We’ve flown all the top models, evaluating their handling, controllers, endurance, camera quality, and more. Below are our top picks for drone pilots of every feather.

[…]

How to choose the best drone for you

Drones aren’t just fun to fly. They can let you capture breathtaking footage, some in high-resolution 4K video. They’re also more affordable than ever, as quality beginner models now cost less than $60. Good camera drones start at a few hundred dollars, and they’re great for simple tasks like checking your gutters for leaves. More complex drones, starting at less than $1,000, offer customizable and programmable features, turning them into truly autonomous devices that can make their own decisions.

Drones aren’t that complicated, but there are a few key features you should consider when you are shopping. There are also some key rules you need to follow when you take to the air.

Remote Control

Most drones use a remote control with two joysticks — a bit like one of the best PC game controllers. One stick controls what’s called the attitude of the quadcopter, including roll (tilting left and right) and pitch (tilting up and down). The other stick controls throttle and the rotation of the quadcopter. A good remote control should fit well in the hand, with sticks resting comfortably under your thumbs and providing a smooth, responsive feel that allows you to guide the quadcopter by touch.

Some less expensive models skip the remote control, or offer it as an extra-cost feature, and instead use a smartphone connected via Wi-Fi and a flying app. These apps often provide a live video view from the quadcopter camera. However, apps don’t allow the precision of real controllers: It is easier for your thumbs to slip, possibly causing a crash.

Repairability

Despite what the ads tell you, drones crash all the time. A good drone will take an unplanned descent and ground interface (aka: a crash) in stride, without damaging the frame. It will also include shields to protect the rotors and electronics from harm.

Regardless, things still get broken sometimes, particularly racing drones. A good model will offer a ready supply of cheap parts like rotors and struts to replace the broken ones, and will make it easy to swap these parts out when required. The same is true of batteries.

Battery life

Most drones will last between 20 to 30 minutes on a charge, and are designed so that you can quickly swap out batteries. To ensure that you can keep filming, it’s a good idea to purchase extra batteries. Just make sure to charge them beforehand!

Camera quality

Want to show off your aerial exploits? A camera, either built-in or add-on, can capture those dramatic vistas for posterity. The best drones will have cameras that can record video at resolutions of 4K or higher, but even budget models are getting better, able to capture video at 1080p. However, they tend to use smaller image sensors, so the quality won’t be as good.

While not covered in this guide, there are professional drones which let you attach mirrorless or DSLR cameras, which provide even greater image quality that built-in cameras. However, these drones typically cost upwards of $2,000.

The best camera drones will also mount their cameras on a gimbal, so that your image stays steady as the drone is flying around. If video is your priority, look for a drone that has a three-axis gimbal; that will give you the most stable image.

Some drones also offer first-person view (FPV), sending a pilot’s-eye view from the drone itself to a phone or tablet. Some models offer video goggles for the ultimate pilot-seat flying experience.

Features

Drones are getting smarter; now, instead of just flying around based on manual inputs, you can program drones to fly pre-programmed routes, or even follow specific objects, such as people and vehicles. Depending on your needs, it’s worth examining what features a drone has before buying one.

How we test drones

When we take a new drone out for a spin, we evaluate it based on a number of factors:

• Design: How well is the drone built, and does it look good? If it comes with a controller, we take a look at its ergonomics.
• Durability/Repairability: Face it. You’re going to crash your drone at least once, but a good model should be able to survive a few mishaps without a problem. And, if something happens to break (it’s usually a rotor), how easy is it to repair?
• Flight Performance: How easy is the drone to fly? Is is stable when hovering, or does it require a lot of stick work? How does it respond to your commands?
• App: How intuitive is the app? What sort of features are available?
• Camera Quality: If the drone has a camera, then how good are the photos and videos it takes?
• Flight time: How long can the drone stay in the air before its battery runs out? This varies a lot based on the size of the drone, but the best drones have batteries that last up to 25-30 minutes.
• Price: Obviously, we don’t expect a $50 drone to perform as well as a $1,000 drone, so we take its cost into consideration when rendering a final verdict.

Can drones fly for hours?

Camera drones are purpose-built to take video and photos. They will have a gimbal-mounted camera and software that allows them to track people or objects, or fly predetermined routes. These drones will generally have the longest flight times.

Source Two: Lots of tech specs comparing vehicles.

Source Three: Youtube channels. Again, most must be understood in a commercial or hobby context while making your own application scenarios.

Source Four: Mitigating the Drone/RDF Threat, Part One, Part Two, Part Three.

From Part One:

Drone technology is here to stay and drones will increasingly become problems in many ways. They can be used to gather intelligence visually, day and at night. Thermal imaging can be used both during the day and at night. And now affordable drones have Radio Direction Finding (RDF) capabilities. Drones are increasingly used for intelligence gathering, and kinetic (offensive) measures. An ability to use doppler RDF technology, allows drones to locate a potential target. Learning how to deal with such a growing threat will be an ongoing process. As technology advances, we can adopt low-tech practices that can help us conduct a more secure communications plan. To better understand the threat and the measures proposed, we need to understand how drones are used in RDF operations. There is an excellent video on how RDF using drones works. Please first view this instructional video from S2 Underground, and then come back to this article:

Radio Direction Finding: AKA How “They” Can Find You

Roto Drone Pro is worth browsing. Other industry online magazines may help as well.

These three sources here, here, and here tell the story. In Oregon, a functioning coal plant with 20 years of service life left was shut down and demolished. Excerpts from all three are below:

“There was a lot of work put into it and it didn’t take long to bring it down,” Aldritt said. “It’s kind of sad to see that much infrastructure wasted, because it was still a functioning plant when they shut it down.”

Instead, power companies will rely on renewable sources — which will be good for the environment — but not as dependable. Experts say we will have a one in four chance of blackouts by the year 2026.

The plant shut down in October 2020, and the decommissioning had been planned since 2010, when PGE agreed to shut the plant down 20 years early as part of a settlement in an environmental lawsuit brought by the Sierra Club.

If the government didn’t hate you, the lawsuits would never have been accepted for filing.

Boardman is the first but not the last coal plant to close in the West. Over eight years, 12 plants will shut down, taking down enough dependable electricity to power 3.8 million homes.

But as we [WE] transition away from coal and gas as energy demands increase, PGE customers will also have to do their part by reducing how much they use.

“We” will just have to be cold. “We” will just have to live like the third world.

DEMOLITION VIDEO: Oregon’s last standing coal power plant comes down in a controlled implosion.

This plant, in Boardman, was decommissioned about 2 years ago – symbolic of a shift to more renewable energy sources in Oregon. @KGWNews pic.twitter.com/9RZ9x2BGlE

— Evan Watson (@EvanWatsonNews) September 15, 2022

First, your blessings are being removed by God. The Bible tells you what to do about that, but you’ll be busy all week pretending elections still matter; we doubt this post will even be read. But, your blood is upon your own head; you’ve been warned over these pages.

Second, related to point one, the Republicans won’t and can’t help. The Global Oligarchy runs the permanent bureaucracy. The coal plant was shut down under Donald J. Trump, and for two years of his presidency, Republicans held both chambers of congress and the SCOTUS. Quit wasting time on politics.

Thirdly, you must plan. We don’t know what you’re going to do to keep your family fed and warm, but the days of depending on national infrastructure run by reasonably caring fellow American men are over. What they won’t tell you is that coal saved the trees. Perhaps buy land and fell one large tree every year for wood? Maybe a better plan is for a wood, propane, gasifier, and oil mix? Think multiple sources, antifragile. Prepare your home accordingly. 2030 is seven years away!

Digging up info for this post started with a tip at SurvivalBlog.

Friend of TCJ Stephen Stamboulieh got himself a win in New York.

DECISION AND PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION that Defendant Hochul is DISMISSED from this action as a party. Plaintiffs’ motion for a Preliminary Injunction (Dkt. No. [6]) is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part in accordance with this Decision. Defendants, as well as their officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys (and any other persons who are in active concert or participation with them) are PRELIMINARILY ENJOINED from enforcing the following provisions of the Concealed Carry Improvement Act, 2022 N.Y. Sess. Laws ch. 371 (“CCIA”): (1) the following provisions contained in Section 1 of the CCIA: (a) the provision requiring “good moral character”; (b) the provision requiring the “names and contact information for the applicant’s current spouse, or domestic partner, any other adults residing in the applicant’s home, including any adult children of the applicant, and whether or not there are minors residing, full time or part time, in the applicant’s home”; (c) the provision requiring “a list of former and current social media accounts of the applicant from the past three years”; and (d) the provision contained in Section 1 of the CCIA requiring “such other information required by review of the licensing application that is reasonably necessary and related to the review of the licensing application“; (2) the following “sensitive locations” provision contained in Section 4 of the CCIA: (a) “any location providing… behavioral health, or chemical dependance care or services” (except to places to which the public or a substantial group of persons have not been granted access) as contained in Paragraph “2(b)”; (b) “any place of worship or religious observation” as contained in Paragraph “2(c)”; (c) “public parks, and zoos” as contained in Paragraph “2(d)”; (d) “airports” to the extent the license holder is complying with federal regulations, and “buses” as contained in Paragraph “2(n)”; (e) “any establishment issued a license for on-premise consumption pursuant to article four, four-A, five, or six of the alcoholic beverage control law where alcohol is consumed” as contained in Paragraph “2(o)”; (f) “theaters,” “conference centers,” and “banquet halls” as contained in Paragraph “2(p)”; and (g) “any gathering of individuals to collectively express their constitutional rights to protest or assemble” as contained in Paragraph “2(s)”; and (3) the “restricted locations” provision contained in Section 5 of the CCIA. Plaintiffs are EXCUSED from giving security. The State Defendants’ request for a limitation in the scope of this Preliminary Injunction and for a stay of it pending appeal (Dkt. No. [48], at 115-16) is DENIED. Signed by U.S. District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby on 11/7/2022. (sal)

But it’s not just his win – it’s a win for liberty.  We encourage everyone to dismantle tyranny everywhere they find it, and in whatever station of life they find themselves, in Stephen’s case, the field of law.

Congratulations to Stephen, one of the premier 2A legal advocates in the country.  We like to celebrate wins, and especially wins by friends!

American Rifleman.

You are only going to get one shot at this, so take the time required to get it right. Mount the gun in a gun vise so it won’t slip. Select an Allen bit that is in good shape without rounded or worn edges. Make sure the hex pocket in the screw head is clean and free from debris so the bit can enter all the way to the bottom. Insert the bit into the screw and tap it into place with a plastic-tipped hammer. A few solid whacks with the hammer on the screwdriver handle not only seats the Allen bit in the screw, but may also help loosen the screw. If the fit is at all sloppy, put a little Drive Grip or powdered rosin on the bit. Using two hands, push straight down on the top of the screwdriver with one hand, and turn with the other. Keep the screwdriver perfectly in line with the center of the screw; do not allow it to tip. Be careful about how much torque you apply, as these are small, rather delicate, screws. If the screw doesn’t loosen, back off. Try again while tapping on the screwdriver handle with a plastic hammer and applying constant torque to the handle. This is easier if you have some help. One person taps on the handle with the hammer, while the other keeps the screwdriver straight and applies the torque.

If just one of the screws is a problem, remove the rest of them first. Sometimes there is a misalignment of parts, so that puts pressure on one particular scew when all of them are tight. Removing the rest of them will often relieve that pressure, allowing the last screw to be removed.

If the screw is in a scope base that sits on a flat receiver, you can sometimes use a plastic hammer to tap on the base and turn it on the gun enough to loosen the screw. Remove all the other screws, and then tap the corner of the base so that it will drive the base counter-clockwise. It’s not necessary to turn it very far—just a partial turn will often break the screw free. Sometimes working the base back and forth with the hammer a few times will also break the screw free. Be careful about doing this on rounded receivers like the Remington 700, as tapping the mount will cam it against the receiver, jamming the screw tighter or breaking it off.

I found the entire article to be very helpful.  Yes, the value of torque wrenches, quality gunsmithing tools, and gunsmithing screwdrivers cannot be overstated.  You know all of those screws on lever action rifles?  Yea those.

You don’t get them off with a regular screwdriver bought at Lowe’s.  Quality gunsmithing tools cost more, but it’s worth it in the long run from damages to your firearms when you use the wrong tools.

I’m not being a know-it-all.  Like all good engineers, I learn by doing it wrong the first time.

Psyche is located in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the orbit of 2, 5.3, 3 AU from the sun.

Source:

WASHINGTON — An independent review of problems that delayed the launch of NASA’s Psyche asteroid mission uncovered institutional issues at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory that led the agency to delay the launch of another mission being developed there.

NASA released Nov. 4 the report by an independent review board commissioned by NASA after the Psyche mission missed its launch window earlier this year. The mission, to the metallic main belt asteroid of the same name, suffered delays in development and testing of its flight software, and is now scheduled for launch in October 2023.

[…]

The report highlighted challenges in hiring and retaining skilled engineers, as JPL competes with aerospace companies that offer higher salaries, particularly in engineering and software development. “Thus, there is a perfect storm, with outside competitive pressures and inside demand pressures affecting the availability of these critical resources,” the report stated.

Competition is a good thing. There are other very competent US and foreign Space Design teams. If JPL is no longer viable, then it should be shut down. Certainly, NASA is nothing but a woke jobs program and should be terminated immediately. The problem is that government can only layer on more management and bureaucracy while throwing good money after bad. Once the rot in government appears, it never gets fixed. Time to move on.

Via Instapundit.

He seems nice:

Former Senior Intelligence Service officer at the CIA, Marc Polymeropoulos published a Sunday piece declaring that that techniques once used to fight radical Islam should be turned against the against the right-wing in America.

Polymeropoulos’ piece for NBC News Think warned that propagandists, whether Islamic terrorists or Republicans, should be subject to counterterrorism and counterradicalization techniques.

“I worked in counterterrorism operations for nearly my entire career at the CIA before retiring in 2019. The battle we engaged in with international terrorist groups like Al Qaeda wasn’t just with their legions of foot soldiers but with their highly effective propaganda arms as well,” he wrote. “The U.S. and our allies considered those propagandists fundamental cogs in a terror group’s machinery, and just as culpable as any other terrorist. So we held them accountable when innocent civilians were killed.”

Polymeropoulos suggested that the attack of Paul Pelosi was evidence that the American government needs to take a firmer approach to its own citizenry.

“Lone wolves are a thorn for domestic U.S. law enforcement as well, as we saw last week when a man not affiliated with any known group but immersed in right-wing propaganda attacked Paul Pelosi, the husband of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,” he wrote. “While the authorities have taken appropriate action against him, there are few signs that the government is taking the big-picture approach needed to combat the violence-inducing propaganda behind his crime.”

He appeared to lament that the U.S. Constitution gives American citizens more rights than foreign enemies.

“The Constitution confers certain free-speech protections for extremist propaganda in the U.S. that prevent authorities from exactly replicating our foreign counterterrorism strategy here at home. But there are important lessons we can and should apply,” he said. “For one thing, we can exercise free speech to proclaim that the normalization of violence against politicians is dangerous and unacceptable. Some violent rhetoric might not be illegal, but it is all morally repugnant.”

Polymeropoulos also seemed to equivocate demonizing an opposing politician with calling for violence against them.

“To start with, we need to clearly identify what crosses the line into the realm of dangerous rhetoric. That means calling out those in the right-wing ecosphere who for years have demonized, and at times even promoted and encouraged, attacks on Pelosi,” he claimed.

There are more bizarre, rambling, semi-coherent, partially partisan political ravings at the source. He seems to have spent just a little too much time inside the intel machine. All a hammer sees, after all, are nails.

Via WoG.

Part of the thrust behind Social Media was to break the barrier of number 36 (below), which every American used to have.  Imagine creating the world’s largest intelligence collection system and then convincing people to surrender their critical information to it for free. Nobody teaches their children to keep household matters private anymore, and because of social media, the natural discernment to be private about family is gone.

Keep your mouth shut, appear the least out of place in situations, and observe more than divulge. The only thing that should make you stand out is that you fit in well.

Keeping your mouth shut and eyes & ears open, this election cycle should once again prove to be an excellent opportunity to collect free intel on enemies, foreign and domestic. The election “results” are largely inconsequential. Observe carefully what all groups say for certain, but more so what groups and individuals do over the next several weeks and months. Local intel matters most.

Speaking of which, there’s a new billboard, in the most Lefty part of town, for the upcoming holiday season Gun Show. We’ve been warning for a while now that it isn’t only the right that’s buying all the guns.

Numbers 12 and 13 are big. The throw-away society is like an infection that spreads into the mindset, crippling long-term thinking, and planning. The value proposition for especially people, but also equipment and other things, is being degraded wholesale. It’s easier to train somebody you know than to find other people you can trust.

What is Self-Sufficiency?

Depends on who you ask. Does that sound like a cop-out?

Well, die-hard doomsday day preppers would likely say that self-sufficiency is providing for all of one’s needs without any outside help or resources; there is no need to buy food, clothing, water, power, sanitation, medicine, etc. This would be the most literal interpretation of “off-grid.” That’s at one end of the spectrum.

Others take a more balanced approach to the idea of being self-sufficient. For them, self-sufficiency is about how well you can provide for the needs of yourself and your loved ones for the long haul. For example, you grow a percentage of what you eat, or you have a backup power source for outage situations. Perhaps it’s about having a bartering agreement with someone wherein you exchange eggs for honey, bringing community in as an element of independence and control in taking care of yourself.

However, let’s take a broader view of what it means to be self-sufficient. Let’s think about it as a mindset. In that vein, I offer these principles of self-sufficiency from Don McIlvaney.

McIlvaney’s Principles of Self-Sufficiency

1. Change the way you look at everything. Rethink your entire lifestyle.

2. Develop discernment about people.

3. When you invest, invest first in the right people.

4. Look at yourself honestly. What are your strengths and weaknesses?

5. Seek the counsel of others you trust.

6. Find like-minded people who can be part of a mutual support group and who you can cooperate with.

7. Find alternate methods for doing everything.

8. Develop an instinct for what doesn’t feel right. No matter how good something looks or sounds on the surface, go with your gut feeling, your instinct, and your intuition.

9. Eliminate non-essentials from your life. Eliminate all time wasters and money wasters, and things you don’t need, i.e., clothes, furniture, junk, etc. Eliminate television from your life.

10. Simplify your lifestyle. Learn to say no to things and activities that don’t make you self-sufficient.

11. Develop physical, mental, and spiritual discipline.

12. Learn to treat everything as if it were irreplaceable.

13. Buy things that will last, even if they cost more.

14. Acquire tools that do not depend on electric power.

15. Learn to spend time alone with yourself in total silence. Think, reflect, reminisce, and plan (or strategize) in silence.

16. Learn to spend time with your family without any superficial entertainment and distractions.

17. Make sure your trust is in the Lord and not your own preparedness. Pattern your preparedness according to the guidance of the Lord. Listen to what He puts in your heart. Don’t use only your reasoning power.

18. Learn something from every situation you are in. Everything you hear, see, touch or feel has a lesson in it. Learn a principle from every mistake you make and from everyday life situations.

19. Store up memories for times of isolation or separation from your loved ones.

20. Learn to enjoy simple pleasures from the smallest things. Have a measure of joy and happiness that doesn’t come from creature comforts or entertainment.

21. Establish priorities for all areas of your life, including relationships and current and future needs. Set goals for areas to become proficient or self-sufficient. Set a schedule or a timeline to reach those goals based on the money and available time.

22. Examine the concept of civil disobedience from Bible times throughout history. At what point should the people of Egypt have said No to killing the male babies in Moses’ day? At what point should the people of colonial America have said No to King George? At what point should the people of Germany have said No to Hitler? At what point do we say No to the despots of our day when they take over our money, property, guns, our children, and our freedom? Decide what is your choke point. When do you move toward civil disobedience? For many throughout history, it was when evil leaders handed down edicts that were directly contrary to God’s Word or commands. Don’t set your choke point too early or too quickly, too late or never. Think through and calculate a strategy. Then never look back.

23. Learn to ask the right questions in every situation.

24. Bring orderliness into your life. If you live in disorder, it will pull you down and break your focus. Think focus vs. distraction.  Eliminate the distractions from your life.

25. Self-sufficiency or survival principles are learned on a day-to-day basis and must be practical.

26. Always have more than one way to escape, more than one way to do something. Have a plan B and a plan C.

27. Everyday life, and especially life during a crisis, requires up-front systems and backup systems if the first line of defense, or the up-front system, fails.

28. Real education only takes place when change occurs in our attitudes, actions, and way of life.

29. Wisdom is making practical applications of what you know. It is not enough to know everything you need to know. It will only serve you and others if practical application is made of that knowledge.

30. Fix in your own mind the truth about your capabilities. In a crisis situation, this will keep you from being too cocky and will provide you with confidence.

31. Decide ahead of time, before a crisis arrives, how you will react in a given situation so that you are not swayed by the circumstances, the situation, or your emotions.

32. Beware of being spread too thin in your life. Decide on the few things in life that you must do and then do them well. Think focus versus distraction. Make sure that unimportant, non-essential distractions don’t keep you from achieving your important objectives.

33. Learn to quit wasting things. Be a good steward of all that God provides.

34. Buy an extra of everything you use regularly and set that extra one aside for the time when such items may be difficult or impossible to obtain.

35. In every situation, train yourself to look for what doesn’t fit, what’s out of place, and what doesn’t look right.

36. Teach your children, and learn this yourself, that you are not obligated to give information to strangers. You don’t have to answer questions that are none of their business, not even to government officials.

37. Sell or give away things you don’t use or need. Consider giving away or selling half of your stuff, the non-essentials. Simplify and streamline your life, lifestyle, and possessions.

38. Find someone who lived through the Great Depression and learn from them. Find out how they became self-sufficient, how they made do with very little, and how they found joy and contentment amid hard times.