SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.

We’ll start out with this at USA Today, sent by reader H.L.: What part of the US has the most disasters? See a county-by-county breakdown.

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Reader J.M. in Montana wrote:

“I am passing on to you some information that I learned in nursing school (a long time ago) that I feel would be of great value to your readers. It is about rehydrating a person in a remote setting that cannot take fluids orally. The method uses the colon and is safe, very effective and does not require sterility or special equipment. I have wondered why I have never seen this explained in all the readings I have done over the years about emergency medicine in remote areas or under extreme circumstances. I thought of this, again, while reading today’s book review about treating burn victims. I did an iInternet search and came up with this web page which is an excellent explanation of the how and when of this life-saving technique:  https://www.realfirstaid.co.uk/rectal

I want more people to be aware of this simple, life-saving technique if or when they may need to use it.”

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Here is a useful tool for gardeners created by a SurvivalBlog reader with a blog own: How Much to Grow Calculator.

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Reader S.L. had this query:

“While researching SurvivalBlog for information on how much bleach to use per gallon for purifying water storage, I noticed in a couple of articles you recommend Calcium Hypochlorite, and in several others [mentionomh other situations] you recommend Sodium Hypochlorite. We keep sixty gallons for our near townhome, a couple of water BOBs in storage, plus we have a Royal Berkey for everyday tapwater filtering. Water is stored in a dark, cool, dry, lower level, off of the floor.  Our farm property has plenty of water.
I know you always recommend plain bleach with no additives (scents, whiteners, or brighteners, etc), but which form of bleach (Calcium or Sodium Hypochlorite) is preferable, and is 8 or 16 drops per gallon best?”

JWR Replies:  Chlorox is Sodium Hypochlorite. It degrades more quickly but it is safer to store and use than Calcium Hypochlorite.  (Calcium Hypochlorite is most commonly sold as a powder, and is commonly called pool shock.) The problem with Chlorox (Sodium Hypochlorite) is that it weakens as it is stored, over time.  You can use less (8 drops per gallon) if the bleach was freshly purchased, but use more if it has been stored for more than a year.

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Our Editor-At-Large Michael Z. Williamson has posted some advice: What To Do About The ATF’s Pistol Brace “Interpretation”. (Note: There is a bit of off-color language.)

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At FoxNews: Elon Musk chose us to report on the Twitter Files. Here are the disturbing things I learned about the FBI.

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Reader C.B. suggested this news about some clever technology: Using cosmic rays to generate and distribute random numbers and boost security for local devices and networks.

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Another recommendation from C.B is this hour-long video from S2 Underground: 18 January Intel Update: Spicy New Year.

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B.V. wrote:

“Thomas conducted an excellent experiment that demonstrated the permeability of plastics by vapors.  His article “Thyrm Pyrovault Lighter Armor” on 23 January 2023 stated:

“I wondered how the lighter could endure for 238 days, when in my previous testing it had only lasted 57 days. I have come up with a two-faceted theory to explain this phenomenon.”

His cold weather testing indirectly showed the importance of mylar-coated plastic for long-term vacuum-sealed bags.  5-gallon buckets and simple plastic vacuum-sealed bags absorb moisture; hence, the importance of adequate desiccant for the estimated sealed lifetime. Moisture penetrates all plastics over time.

Just like the metal Zippo lighter, Mylar coatings prevent moisture intrusion.  The metal Zippo allows vapor transfer only along the thin line around the cap.  His inner tube rubber sealed this gap.  The rugged polymer lighter allows vapor transfer over the entire case surface, but the thickness of the polymer greatly slows the vapor transfer.  I suspect the polymer case will transfer more vapor in the hot summer.  For food (and metal) storage, desiccant is still required with mylar due to initial water content and “pin holes” in the mylar (seen with a flashlight in the dark) but mylar vastly reduces vapor transfer.

If you allow excess bag material when sealing, you can carefully open the bag to replace the desiccant after 10 years.  Compare the weight of the used desiccant to new desiccant to quantify moisture accumulation. If little moisture, you’re probably good for another 20 years.  Much easier to service desiccant in a bucket.

Lastly, don’t forget to add oxygen absorbers to long-term food storage bags and replace if opening the bag.”

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Mark suggested this article: Pulling Wild Yeast From The Air With a Potato.

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Elon Musk says WEF is ‘unelected world government that the people never asked for and don’t want’. (A hat tip to D.S.V. for the link.)

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Greg sent these comments on a recent article:

“K.R.’s article about the portable power system was interesting, but it missed the boat on a couple points.  A portable power system and a whole house on or off-grid system are not equivalent, so its not a one or the other decision.  A Whole house system will provide quite a bit more energy to power quite a few more loads/accomplish more work compared to a portable system.  The whole house system has a higher cost, but it does more.  The portable power system is smaller and easier to transport, the house system is fixed.  Though fixed, technically the house system can be sized from the cost and capacity of a small portable system (depending on how its integrated into the house) all the way up to being able to power the whole house, with associated changes in cost as the size and capabilities increase.
The question is how much energy do you need for the loads you want to power?  Before purchasing a portable power system, building a fixed solar or wind power system or purchasing a generator one should always decide what loads the system will power, determine how much power those loads will need in Watt-Hours and then size the power system accordingly.  I know that I have upright, chest and portable freezers and every one of my freezers uses more than 80 Watt-Hours of power per day.  Know your loads.  Test how many Watt-Hours they consume in 24 hrs.  Know what time of day the loads will run.  If the loads can be timed to run when the sun is out more of the power can be pulled from solar panels vs needing larger batteries.  If choosing a portable power system for energy storage and control, look for a system with larger solar panel input capacity if more of the loads will be used during the day.  If the loads are used at night the batteries need to be sized to supply the whole load no matter what the control system is or how the batteries are packaged.  If one needs the ability to move the system quickly, then the portable system is the optimal solution, but it has trade-offs.
The interesting part of the portable power system discussed is that the functions that are integrated into a single package that can be purchased off the shelf, that requires no design or fabrication knowledge, is flexible, is simple to operate, is portable, and does store usable amounts of power for a semi-reasonable cost compared to lead acid battery systems of 10-20 years ago.  In terms of capabilities 2000WHr of power is about a 200 Ah 12 VDC battery (80% DOD) which can be purchased for about $600 off the internet to integrate into a portable or fixed location system.  The battery is nicely packaged with a power inverter that will produce 2000 W of 120 VAC power, an MPPT charge controller that will accept output from solar panels to charge the batteries, a 120 VAC powered battery charger, a 12/24 VDC powered battery charger, and a mix of USB and 12 VDC outputs.
Components that provide the same individual capability can be sourced off the Internet to build a custom power system with similar types of inputs, outputs and energy storage, with the capacity for all these components sized based on the needs of the fabricator.  These components could be mounted in a fixed location to power parts to all of a house, discretely connected in a portable solution or even integrated into a similar portable power system like the Bluetti AC200P.  Cost to build your own system will depend on the components selected, if different capacities are selected and how personal labor hours are accounted for, so a cost comparison with an off-the-shelf product is difficult.  At a minimum, Bluetti did the design, integration, and fabrication work for those that might not have the skills, time or inclination to do it themselves.  This design and integration work means the power system should work properly and safely.

Some years ago I build a slightly smaller sized system to power a portable freezer for long vacations while camping (we took most of our dinner meats frozen and precooked to simplify meals at night, ice cream for desert was a nice side benefit).  I used (5) 12 VDC 35 Ahr AGM batteries, hard wired and cigarette lighter outputs, a pure sine wave inverter for 120 VAC and a 120 VAC powered 50A multi-stage battery charger.  I would charge the batteries overnight at the campgrounds.  I built a case for the battery charger that included voltage, amps, time and total watts monitoring and another case for the batteries that included a battery voltage meter.  I could have added a charge controller and solar panels but we were always moving when the sun was out.  Wires ran all over the place, but it worked.  Doing it today I would use a LiFePO4 battery to reduce the weight, increase the DOD without battery degradation, to increase the useful life of the system, and because I can afford it.  I liked building my own system because I could select components that were reliable with capacities and capabilities for today and future changes, if a component does fail I only have to replace the failed component (saving money) and I can do it quickly (One year I actually upgraded to a larger inverter while on vacation) vs sending the whole system back to the manufacturer, and I could select batteries that only weighed 22 pounds each which were easier to install in the vehicle without hurting my old back.

My big gripe with portable power systems, including the one I built, is that they have so little storage capacity.  The battery in the AC200P will only power the inverter for 1 hour at rated full load of 2000W.  I need more Watt-Hours.  Larger systems do exist, but the cost goes up as the storage capacity goes up.  I have seen portable systems up close that use multiple large battery packs, housing all the controls, inputs for solar, wind and generators and the outputs in one package and putting the batteries in separate packages.  This maintains the portability while adding storage capacity, but the system was expensive.  I personally wouldn’t buy a portable system unless it had the flexibility for external batteries or I only planned to run low power loads like lights or electronics.”

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Video: New Mexico House Bill 50 Limits Magazines To 9 Rounds, Here’s How This Leads To Banning All Guns.

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Reader Brian S. wrote:

“I have a book recommendation for you: Toxic Superfoods, by Sally K. Norton. It was released this month. The high oxalate plant foods described therein are seriously bad news. Think calcium oxalate kidney stones except accumulating everywhere over time. Mitochondrial toxin too so slows you down. If you’re “on the spectrum” like I am they’re spectacularly bad news. Spinach, rhubarb, almonds, potatoes especially sweet potatoes are high oxalate. I’m slowly getting my brain back. Had several substantial crystals come out of my eyes when I started “dumping”. No more burning eyes! What I suspect, and Sally doesn’t talk about, is that Northern European ancestry increases the odds of problems because agriculture was late getting to us. Gives you some idea of why so many vegans are insane. Anyhow, a homestead raising livestock is probably ideal. I’m lazy and buy from local pasture-based farms. I keep telling people to patronize such farms because we’re going to need them desperately at some point.”

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Video from attorney Mark W. Smith: ATF Pistol Brace Prediction: 2A to the Rescue, But Not The Way You Think…

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Microsoft’s New AI Can Clone Your Voice in Just Three Seconds.

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Another link from H.L.: Smartphone App Using AI Acts Like a Robot Lawyer — Tells Defendants What to Say in Court. This article begins:

“A smartphone app that can tell a defendant what to say in court using artificial intelligence has been used for the first time — and it’s a lot cheaper than a real lawyer.

California-based company DoNotPay says this is the first time AI has been used during a trial anywhere in the world. The neural network will listen to all speeches from witnesses, lawyers, and the judge.

The program then tells the defendant exactly what to say through an earpiece, urging them to stick to only those words. In this case, legal history is being made over a speeding ticket. The breakthrough may set a precedent for more serious cases in the future.”

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Dr. Robert Malone: 5th-Gen Warfare Terms and Tactics.

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Reader Tim J. spotted this press release: NIOA acquires US manufacturer Barrett Firearms. JWR’s Comment: We must ask… Since this is an Aussie company, doe this mean that Berrett may soon sell their rifles exclusively to the police and military?

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Over at the Mises Institute site: Yes, Virginia, There IS a Deep State—and It Is Worse than You Think.

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And lastly, an update on the SurvivalBlog 2005-2022 edition waterproof Archive USB stick:  As of Tuesday afternoon,  we’ve sold more than 1,000 sticks. There were only 1,700 of these USB sticks in the batch.  As of Tuesday, 236 orders have already been mailed out!  More orders are being carefully packed and they will be mailed as soon as possible. Remember: These are “first come, first served”, and there may not be a second batch.

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