Mat The Propmeister reminded me to mention that there have been some very handy do-it-yourself projects detailed at Make Magazine, (“The first magazine devoted entirely to DIY technology projects”), including great articles on heirloom technology, and “Makeshift” scenarios.
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In a recent e-mail, my buddy “Purk” in Nevada noted that this is the time of year that the phone companies in many regions distribute free new phone books. Paper from phone books can be used in place of toilet in case of emergency. (Preferably new phone books, to minimize the risk of lingering bacteria from handling.) Purk says: “Here in the ‘Big City’, they’re passing out new ones and recycling the old so it’s a pretty good time to grab a few.” I should mention that here at the Rawles Ranch–out in the serious hinterboonies, the combined white and yellow pages phone book covers the four local communities that are within an hour’s drive. But it measures only 6 x 9 inches and is less than 1/2-inch thick. It is a far cry from the major metro area monster phone books, where just the yellow page volumes can be three inches thick.
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Michael in Australia alerted us that Larry Wick (the creator of the Split Second Survival self defense DVD, which I’ve previously mentioned in SurvivalBlog) has just released a new DVD called Live Fire that dispels a few myths on gun disarming techniques, and so forth. It was filmed using live ammo. Michael says that the video is only 30 minutes long, but quite interesting.