I just finished reading the science fiction novel “Freehold” by Michael Z. Williamson [1]. It is a fast-paced Libertarian think piece. “Freehold” is a tale of interplanetary colonization, set some 500 years in the future. The descriptions of the bureaucratic totalitarian central Earth government are contrasted with the “Freehold” colony planet, Grainne. The main character is an Earth army logistics soldier that is unjustly accused of embezzlement. Realizing that she can never get a fair trial on Earth, she flees to Grainne. There, she finds a new world with a minimalist government and the sort of freedom that is only dreamed of. She soon acclimatizes to the new society, but things get complicated when Earth decides to invade Grainne, to “civilize” it. The novel is marred by some unnecessary descriptions of rape, torture, and assorted kinkiness. However, there is so much good in this book that I still recommend it. But keep in mind that it is definitely not a book to let your kids read. I should mention that Michael Z. Williamson is a SurvivalBlog reader. Oh yes, I should also mention that Williamson starts each chapter with a quote. Starting today, I plan to shamelessly high grade some of those great quotes for use as “Quotes of the Day” on SurvivalBlog. Thank you, Michael!
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H5N1 Asian Avian Flu [2] had spread to Nigeria and Azerbaijan. See:
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-02-10T174548Z_01_L09218784_RTRUKOC_0_US-BIRDFLU.xml&archived=False [3]
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The folks over at The FALFiles [4] mentioned a very clever product: A compact bow saw (a triangular-framed Swedish saw –commonly called a “Sven saw”) that disassembles in such a way that all of the parts can be stowed inside the handle tube. It comes with three blades: wood, meat/bone, and hacksaw. It is called the Arkan Saw Camping Backpacking Ultra Lite Saw [5], made by Allenall Associates. (See: http://www.lanavaja.com/webapp/eCommerce/product.jsp?Mode=Cat&Cat=7&SKU=ARK26043 [5].) With blades only about 18″ long, it appears to be limited to cutting branches or small diameter firewood, but that is the inescapable trade-off to achieve compactness. It looks ideal for backpackers or perhaps someone in the military that needs a saw that can easily be stowed in a pack that can quickly cut a lot of branches for camouflaging. I am surprised that these sell for under $10. (Hopefully, this pricing isn’t because they are manufactured in mainland China. I hope that they are American made.) If the folks at Allenall send me a sample, I’ll test it and will write a full review. (Hint, hint.)
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Those sneaky NAIS [6] types are implementing their plan, whether folks want it or not. NoNAIS.org [7] reports that farms and ranches are being premise enrolled in the NAIS database without their knowledge or consent. Often, the modus operandi is a “telephone poll”, with calls to farmers and ranchers to gather pertinent data. The other method that they’ve used is surfing the Internet, looking for web pages of livestock breeders. They’ve found all the data that they need for initial enrollment, particularly at the web sites of folks who are touting their rare breeds. Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky. It is no wonder that the USDA [6] now claims that half of the farms and ranches in some states have been “premises registered.” They’ve apparently done much of it on the sly. Please call your legislators. The NAIS scheme represents the intrusive “Nanny State” at its worst. It must be stopped!