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”. Toyota Bots may soon be commonplace.
Civil Disobedience
New Jersey’s draconian gun laws have taken effect, limiting magazines to no more than 10 rounds and instantly making felons of everyone who refuses to turn them in to police or remove them from the state. Just like we saw in Connecticut and New York, people are just ignoring the law. So far, every police station contacted has reported that no magazines have been turned in. That makes upwards of one million (probably more) citizens of New Jersey felons according to this ridiculous standard capacity magazine ban. The police have no plan moving forward and most believe that the ban is simply unenforceable. Thanks to DSV for the link.
Bipartisan Gun Confiscation
Reader H.L. sent in this article from the Mises Institute that suggests there is growing support for gun confiscation in 2019 though. We probably won’t see an outright ban moving forward through congress, but significant inroads will be made through the use of “red flag” laws. These are laws that allow the state to confiscate the firearms of people without due process. Basically, if anyone makes a claim that they are afraid of you with your guns, the state will move to confiscate the firearms until you are proven to not be a danger to yourself or others. Since you are not given the chance for representation before the warrants are issued, your rights are trampled upon. It doesn’t matter if there are valid fears or not, the red flag laws are simply unconstitutional on many levels.
Drones on the Homestead
Reader T.J. wrote in asking if any of SurvivalBlog’s readers had updates to Drones being used on the Homestead? (See DIY Drones on the Homestead, by P.R. and Letter Re: DIY Drones on the Homestead) Specifically, he was interested in drones that are winged, large, autonomous and with long endurance as tools of information gathering. He is looking for real world experience, but not armed, lethal or weapons usage. Any readers familiar with drones and the federal/state laws that apply?
Toyota Bots
Toyota has sold enough cars to put one outside every Japanese home. Now they want to put a robot inside those homes. Toyota is well known for their automated assembly lines and has some serious expertise in robot manufacturing and usage. They are looking to make home robots ubiquitous with robots helping with the household chores and even offering companionship. While the goal is not yet within reach, they are committing serous cash reserves towards this goal. Of course, with the current crop of devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Home showing just how invasive they can be to your privacy in the quest to make your life easier, one has to wonder about a full fledged robot.
Future Bandage
Reader G.P. sent in this article on a state-of-the-art bandage that may not be too far from production. So far, bandages have mostly been devices that keep wounds from being contaminated with some acting as carriers of healing agents. This new self-powered bandage will produce an electric field over the wound that dramatically reduces the time required for a wound to heal. The bandages have been used in animal trials successfully and may soon move to human trials. Typical wound healing is reduced from 12 days to only three days with the electronic help.
Power Vacuum
With the U.S. preparing for a complete pullout from Syria, the question arises of who will fill the power vacuum. The most likely country to assert themselves in the region will be Turkey as they have been making noises about moving against the U.S. supported Kurdish allies for some time. Iran and Russia are also potential winners in this situation. Looking back in recent history, it was this same sort of action in Iraq that created the current ISIS. Who will be the next JV team in the area?
Venezuela
Russia recently held joint defense maneuvers with Venezuela and has been sending financial aid as the country self-implodes under the collectivism banner. If you were wondering what they were going to get in exchange, you now know. It would appear that Russia will get significant control in the Venezuelan oil industry, gaining influence over the nations vast crude oil reserves that are currently lying dormant. It’s a relatively cheap expenditure for a significant return. Thanks to G.P. for the link.
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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!
@ Drones – Drone laws are a bit like the “wild west” right now. In short, if you run a business and you want to use a drone, you need a commercial license. This is to include farming. Also, the weight of the drone comes in to play if a license is needed for recreation. If I recall correctly, recreation licenses apply from either 4 or 5lbs all the way up to 65 lbs. Anything below that 4 or 5 lbs does not need a recreation license.
With that, the only government agency that can regulate or issue tickets for drones is the FAA. When was the last time you ran in to a FAA agent in your area?
You can not shoot down a drone. Doing so is just the same as shooting any other aircraft down in the eyes of the law.
Much of the drone laws are following similar patterns to firearms legislation, and I suspect very soon in the future that drones will emit a “thumbprint” and be regulated similar to HAM radios.
For a fixed-wing, check out the eBee by senseFly. Lastly, it is common that when drones are recording, that data is uploaded to the cloud, stored in China. The US Military had a large drone fleet that was grounded because they were flying these drones all around their bases, and that info was uploaded, automatically, to the cloud, based in China. Because of this, DJI, has, and or is, going to updated their settings so the end-user can control where the data is stored.
Drones less than .55 pounds can be had ‘under the radar’
else you are inside the system 🙁
https://www.faa.gov/uas/recreational_fliers/
molon labe
They are obliging, now what?
The New Jersey magazine ban will not result in wholesale knock-on-door confiscation but will be used selectively to arrest and “felonize” pro second amendment citizens. NJ will be hoping and waiting for formerly honest people to “stub their toe”. This is a law of opportunity. I doubt you will see any real criminals charged with this crime.
Can anyone find the Governor of New Jersey’s physical office address? I spend 30 minutes on the Internet and found anything but…. I’m sure the LIBs had Chris Christy’s office address at the top of the Google search along with his home address and wife and children.
Yes it will be used when they want to lock someone up. Cristie isn’t gov anymore it is a sickening person named Phil Murphy.
Drones,
I found out that if you live 5 miles within an airport as the crow flies they are illegal. I do not know if that includes airstrips too. I don’t know size limits for this either. I find drones to be repugnant to peoples right to privacy. There are quite a few issues with aggressive use of drones that have not been officially addressed. One is… there is not a ceiling or minimum fly elevation over someones private property and it is up to you to prove they were not just flying over to get to the other side. If your home when they do it. The police/sheriffs are not schooled in how to deal with these issues. There are laws that should be used properly and enforced but it seems the police and sheriffs need a handrail law, not to mention the prosecuting attorneys being willing to enforce the laws themselves(even when the perp is caught being aggressive towards a family on their own land with the gun still in his hands being a felon by the Sheriff himself) We have laws but the enforcement community is not supported by the D.A. and it stops there. This causes us to “need” a “handrail” law for everything and that doesn’t even help. Drones are not “aircraft” in the way a passenger heli or fixed wing is. A passenger heli/fixed wing has a elevation they are required to abide by and they are to travel over private land. They can get in trouble for hovering or circling a private residence over private land. I do not know the specifics. I think it would be wise to consider drones as RC aircraft and ban them from flying over private land without authorization. That would not be promoting a population using their phones,drones what ever else from blooming into fruition a communist public police state. We can’t keep the zombies from getting their stupid smiley faces on “face”book or tweeter(snitcher) can we? Everyone is doing something the masses don’t like on there own land. Whether it be putting up a shed for your garden tools or a small pond or even working on a project car in your barn. People are casing peoples land and homes with these drone things.
Power Vacuum
Syria has long been a client state of Russia. I’m less worried about a vacuum. Assad isn’t the mad dog killer the American press makes of him, in fact, he’s one of the most respected leaders internally of any country on earth. Guess what, since America is leaving the Christians have come out of hiding. This is a glorious day for His church. More evidence that the US military works at the request of the Wahhabi sect in the region. Despite US efforts to also overthrow Syria, in similar fashion to Egypt, Libya, and Ukraine, Assad remains intact and is well liked by his people. I think what we’ve done is strengthen his hand and created deeper ties between Assad and Russia. I personally have no problem with this. It’s not our business what Syria does unless and until it were to become a direct threat. And now that we’ve made eternal enemies of them that day will come. Can’t have a war on terror without grudge matches and perpetual violence now can we?
I would add that I agree we will try to foster discontent through our dear allies the Turks and the Saudis but what’s important here is ask yourself, and everybody you know every time either country is mentioned; why are we allied with people who’ve sworn to satan, under their political ideology of conquest, to convert or kill our sons and enslave our daughters?
POWER VACUUM. I personally don’t give a flip who fills any vacuum anywhere in the Mideast. No threat to US security and we never should have been over there. Pull out of Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan and all the African countries we’re meddling in now. We have no business in those sovereign countries. Us being in these places is just like if the Chinese decided to come to our country and settle OUR political squabbles. I’m damned tired of seeing our boys and girls come home from these 3rd world hell holes with their arms and legs blown off and their lives altered for ever…AND FOR WHAT? I didn’t use to think this way, but these young lives of our soldiers are too precious to throw away on stupid things like this.
I agree with you Brooksy. These wars all over creation that the USA feels that it needs to jump into is another way of bankrupting us, not only financially, but the human resource of the people themselves. Yes, we have heard all the arguments about keeping hostilities in countries other than ours, as well as manipulating the world power structure to force an alignment with “US interests”. My past experiences have showed me that it was all about the “military/industrial” complex that we all laughed about as college 22 year olds. Unfortunately, it’s true. It’s all about money, it’s all about power.
The saying goes something like; old men find out who and what they were really fighting for when they were young.
Others may disagree, but I find it encouraging to see such numbers of people not complying with the bump stock and magazine bans.
Nice handle, Farm Boy 🙂
Re: Drones. We have experimented with an inexpensive drone with camera which provides video and gps to our smart phones. Our farm is 50 acres so instead of hopping in the 4 wheeler to see what is happening further out, we are learning to use the drone as a quick birds-eye view. We found this cheaper model provides good visual but it is harder to control past a 1/2 mile. Of course it cannot be flown in the wind or bad weather, but it is proving to be a useful tool.
Bots-this has been going on for a long time,how long
have the robot Roomba/Scubba(vaccum/mop) been on the market? The Japanese have been watching the “Jetsons” cartoon and want “Rosie” the maid
Venezuela-the Russians are just responding to our moves and covering their bets(bought oil revenue bonds backed by oil reserves and infrastructure(most here-Citco refineries,pipelines and retail) that we have made moves to steal. They are also getting new bases to control air and sea lanes in our hemisphere all on the cheap.
We have been led into what would appear to be a never ending war. This is no longer about patriotism, although ultimately it will be about the survival of our country. We are being destroyed by the cost of war and the damaging effects that it has had on our military and their families. And why? Because of money. Trillions has been spent and stolen on these wars.
As President Eisenhower warned:
“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.”
These who are getting rich off of these wars, will not allow them to end.
Title 14, Part 107 covers small UAS / RPVs
The big issue is “visual control” current regulations require the operator to either maintain visual contact with the UAS or have an observer that does (for instance in the case of FPV racing, the operator will fly the drove FPV, and the observer will sit next to them and scan the airspace). Also, you can only legally operate during daylight/civil twilight.
§107.29 Daylight operation.
(a) No person may operate a small unmanned aircraft system during night.
(b) No person may operate a small unmanned aircraft system during periods of civil twilight unless the small unmanned aircraft has lighted anti-collision lighting visible for at least 3 statute miles. The remote pilot in command may reduce the intensity of the anti-collision lighting if he or she determines that, because of operating conditions, it would be in the interest of safety to do so.
(c) For purposes of paragraph (b) of this section, civil twilight refers to the following:
(1) Except for Alaska, a period of time that begins 30 minutes before official sunrise and ends at official sunrise;
(2) Except for Alaska, a period of time that begins at official sunset and ends 30 minutes after official sunset; and
(3) In Alaska, the period of civil twilight as defined in the Air Almanac.
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§107.31 Visual line of sight aircraft operation.
(a) With vision that is unaided by any device other than corrective lenses, the remote pilot in command, the visual observer (if one is used), and the person manipulating the flight control of the small unmanned aircraft system must be able to see the unmanned aircraft throughout the entire flight in order to:
(1) Know the unmanned aircraft’s location;
(2) Determine the unmanned aircraft’s attitude, altitude, and direction of flight;
(3) Observe the airspace for other air traffic or hazards; and
(4) Determine that the unmanned aircraft does not endanger the life or property of another.
(b) Throughout the entire flight of the small unmanned aircraft, the ability described in paragraph (a) of this section must be exercised by either:
(1) The remote pilot in command and the person manipulating the flight controls of the small unmanned aircraft system; or
(2) A visual observer.
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§107.33 Visual observer.
If a visual observer is used during the aircraft operation, all of the following requirements must be met:
(a) The remote pilot in command, the person manipulating the flight controls of the small unmanned aircraft system, and the visual observer must maintain effective communication with each other at all times.
(b) The remote pilot in command must ensure that the visual observer is able to see the unmanned aircraft in the manner specified in §107.31.
(c) The remote pilot in command, the person manipulating the flight controls of the small unmanned aircraft system, and the visual observer must coordinate to do the following:
(1) Scan the airspace where the small unmanned aircraft is operating for any potential collision hazard; and
(2) Maintain awareness of the position of the small unmanned aircraft through direct visual observation.
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§107.35 Operation of multiple small unmanned aircraft.
A person may not operate or act as a remote pilot in command or visual observer in the operation of more than one unmanned aircraft at the same time.
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Title 14, Part 107 covers small UAS / RPVs
The big issue is “visual control” current regulations require the operator to either maintain visual contact with the UAS or have an observer that does (for instance in the case of FPV racing, the operator will fly the drove FPV, and the observer will sit next to them and scan the airspace). Also, you can only legally operate during daylight/civil twilight.
So consider this: My wife and I are sunbathing on OUR deck in OUR backyard. I notice one of these obnoxious drones hovering about two hundred feet overhead, obviously invading our privacy and maybe taking pictures. Are you folks telling me that I don’t have the right to remove this invasion of my privacy from the sky? I live near a beautiful beach on Lake Michigan, and these invasive and annoying craft often hover over beachgoers and most certainly are taking pictures. These are high tech snoops and should be treated no differently than someone I catch peeking into my windows. Unfortunately our government has become dysfunctional and is breaking down, unable to address routine issues without sixteen years of squabbling and inaction. So happy I’m 68 years old, life is good, but ominous storm clouds are on the horizon.