The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. We get to feature an article from one of our favorite blogs today on the lost art of How to Write a Letter.

You Must Love Me!

Reader D.S. sent in this link on how UK police are defining “Hate Crimes”. The law has guidelines that dictate that hate crimes must be driven by “hostility” without defining what that word means. UK police declined to define it upon being contacted and instead referred to the “dictionary definition” which includes words like “unfriendliness” and “dislike”. When queried about that definition, they confirmed that those words could be used in determining hate crimes. So if you say something (or write it on social media) and it appears that you are unfriendly or you dislike someone, you are now guilty of a hate crime. Several UK police departments agreed that that is entirely possible.

Second Amendment

The United States Court of Appeals has refused to grant a review of Wren v. D.C. and Grace v. D.C. This effectively makes the District of Columbia a “shall issue” jurisdition for concealed carry permits. The law took effect on October 6th, 2017 with the court issuing its mandate (without fanfare). There are some provisions where concealed carry is banned in certain areas and a tight interpretation can effectively make D.C. a no carry zone due to overlapping boundaries. Clarification has been requested, but its still unclear at this time.

Fire Starters

Reader R.V. wrote in to tell about his Weblos Den learning to lay and start fires. They made fire starters out of paper egg boxes, wood shavings and dripped candle wax. Chains saw dust works well too when mixed with the candle wax. They also used cotton balls coated with petroleum jelly. The last one they tried was to use dryer lint. This one is iffy because of the fire retardant that is often used in kids clothing. It’s good to see young boys learning this nearly lost skill.

How to Write a Letter

Speaking of lost skills, reader H.L. sent in this link to one of our favorite blogs The Art of Manliness. Writing in general is a skill that is no longer taught in most public schools (we’ll count that as another reason to leave them). But writing a letter is important. Just as a kindle will never truly replace a leather bound book, an email or social media post will never completely replace the written letter. There is just something about pulling out and reading that love letter from your spouse that was written years ago. Despite the paperless trend in business, a properly composed, designed, and typed letter can help you stand out.

Bleating Outlaws

Alaska has proposition 64 on the ballot (which was previously known as proposition 90.) Despite the lack of evidence, domestic sheep and goats are getting the blame for m.Ovi, a disease that has decimated many wild herds within established ranges. The proposition is designed to create a hostile environment for keeping domestic animals. Sadly, the whole thing has been created by a committee that has no ranchers on it and was done behind closed doors.

Blatantly Biased Bench

Judge Gloria Navarro has granted the government practically everything they asked for in this new trial and has simultaneously patently denied the defense almost every means to defend themselves. This continues Navarro’s pattern of assisting the prosecution and shutting down the defense. The one ray of hope is that she apparently hasn’t gone as far (yet) as she did in the other two trials.

Teachable Moment

Mike Williamson, SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large sent in this discourse from a friend:

“I attended an amateur-level endurance race at the local road course today.

“One of the corner workers suffered a Major Heart Attack during the event — ‘major’ here meaning ‘at one point, the guy was a corpse’.

“The victim is alive, and recovering, at last report. But when event officials called the phone number listed under ‘Emergency Contact’, guess whose cell phone rang?

“I don’t think I need to explain further why putting one’s own cell-phone number on one’s emergency-contact form might possibly be a Bad Idea… “Here endeth the lesson.”

o o o

News Tips:

Please send your news tips to HJL. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) These are often especially relevant, because they come from folks who watch news that is important to them. Due to their diligence and focus, we benefit from fresh “on target” news. We often “get the scoop” on news that is most likely ignored (or reported late) by mainstream American news outlets. Thanks!