Bunkers of the Swiss National Redoubt (Schweizer Reduit.)

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 “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, for openers, we take a look at some Bunkers of the Swiss National Redoubt (Schweizer Reduit.)

The Lovely Swiss Villas That Could Destroy An Army

A video from The Tim Traveller: The Lovely Swiss Villas That Could Destroy An Army

The Camouflaged Military Bunkers of Switzerland

A great collection of photos, over at Amusing Planet: The Camouflaged Military Bunkers of Switzerland.

“A ‘lethal’ weaponized drone ‘hunted down a human target’ without being told to for the first time, according to a UN report seen by the New Scientist.

The March 2020 incident saw a KARGU-2 quadcopter autonomously attack a human during a conflict between Libyan government forces and a breakaway military faction, led by the Libyan National Army’s Khalifa Haftar, the Daily Star reported.

The Turkish-built KARGU-2, a deadly attack drone designed for asymmetric warfare and anti-terrorist operations, targeted one of Haftar’s soldiers while he tried to retreat, according to the paper.”

An Amazing Henri Herbert Concert

Not my usual stuff for Odds ‘n Sods, but this boogie-woogie and blues piano concert absolutely amazed me: Henri Herbert – SAT. MAY 22 – Colossal Livestream Boogie Concert/Album Fundraiser. (I’ve been a big fan of Henri Herbert, ever since I stumbled into this clip, four years ago: HENRI’S BOOGIE – FULL HD.)

The Texas Grid Came Close to a Dark Restart Disaster

Reader C.B. sent us this: The Texas Grid Came Close to an Even Bigger Disaster During February Freeze. Here is an excerpt:

“The Texas electric grid came within five minutes of a complete collapse in mid-February. The problem could have been much worse. A little-known network designed to jolt the grid back to life wasn’t working properly.

Texas grid operators, like their counterparts all over the country, rely on standby generators called “black starts.” Their job is to rescue the grid by supplying electricity to power plants so they can restart after a grid failure—roughly akin to jump-starting a car with a dead battery.

When a freak winter storm hit Texas, nine of the 13 primary generators designed to get a downed system going again were, at times, out of commission, according to grid operators. And six of 15 secondary generators—the fail-safe for the fail-safe—had periodic trouble as well, including freeze damage and problems getting fuel. Those problems haven’t previously been reported.

If grid operators had completely lost control of the situation—they didn’t, although they came close—the spotty performance of the black start units could have left Texans without power for much longer than a few days. How long is impossible to say, though by the grid operators’ own estimate, a total collapse could have caused weeks or even months of outages.”

ATF Director Nominee is Radically Anti-Gun

ATF Director Nominee David Chipman Ripped Apart by Pro Second Amendment Senators.

Solar Storms Threaten Life As We Know It

Reader C.B. sent us this: Solar storms are back, threatening life as we know it on Earth. The article begins:

“A few days ago, millions of tons of super-heated gas shot off from the surface of the sun and hurtled 90 million miles toward Earth.

The eruption, called a coronal mass ejection, wasn’t particularly powerful on the space-weather scale, but when it hit the Earth’s magnetic field it triggered the strongest geomagnetic storm seen for years. There wasn’t much disruption this time—few people probably even knew it happened—but it served as a reminder the sun has woken from a yearslong slumber.

While invisible and harmless to anyone on the Earth’s surface, the geomagnetic waves unleashed by solar storms can cripple power grids, jam radio communications, bathe airline crews in dangerous levels of radiation and knock critical satellites off kilter. The sun began a new 11-year cycle last year and as it reaches its peak in 2025 the specter of powerful space weather creating havoc for humans grows, threatening chaos in a world that has become ever more reliant on technology since the last big storms hit 17 years ago. A recent study suggested hardening the grid could lead to $27 billion worth of benefits to the U.S. power industry.”