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.
—
Coming from the geographical determinist school of history study, I found this 20-minute video fascinating: Facts In Geography Never Taught In Schools — Thomas Sowell. For some further reading on geographical determinism, I recommend the book Zones of Conflict.
o o o
A special request from JWR:
A close family member of mine is prayerfully looking for a property to buy near Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. He has had no luck thusfar, searching via the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). He is now hoping to find a For Sale By Owner 2+ acre property that is not visible with MLS searches. Here are his specifications:
- If it is a property with an existing 3+ bedroom house: Up to $900,000.
- If it is a property with unimproved land: $400,000.
- If it is a property with an existing septic system, water, and power: $450,000.
Geographically, his search area vaguely includes anything inside of this radius:
- Anywhere east of CDA off of I-90, but no farther east than Mullan Road Historical Park
- Rockford Bay
- Wolf Lodge
- Garwood
- Rathdrum
- Dalton Gardens
- Pleasant View
- Worley/Fighting Creek
- Bonus points for a place near Mica Flats.
He might consider places a bit farther out, but he wants to be near his church (in CDA), and his work in Spokane Valley.
Please let me know if you have such a property available, or just know of one, or if you own a larger property and would willing to sell 2 or more buildable (fairly level) acres of it. That would be an answer to prayer. You can contact me either via e-mail or via the blog contact form. Many Thanks! – JWR
o o o
Reader Joe S. had this response to Tom Christianson’s recent review of the EAA Witness .22 conversion kit:
“I have two EAA Witness (Tanfoglio) pistols that are exceptional – my experiences with the conversion kit were much different – it went back to EAA, twice for “some fitting may be required”, but mine never ran reliably. I sold it online at a loss, with full disclosure about the problems I had run into.
o o o
Lily alerted me to this: Google Is Rolling Out Password-Killing Technology to All Its Accounts.
o o o
One Texas man’s personal history preservation project: Missile Silo (Texas Country Reporter).
o o o
An interesting animated graphic: Largest Immigrant Groups In USA.
o o o
Animal House wrote:
“Here is a link to a very interesting discussion about weather changes caused by volcanic eruptions: David DuByne warns of global crop failures caused by volcanic sulfur dioxide injected into atmosphere. He predicts 18 months of cooler weather due to sulfur dioxide blocking sunlight which, will affect crop production. Says as sulfur dioxide circles the earth it will cause both warmer and cooler weather which will confuse plants and cause lower yields and poor quality. In the last 10 minutes of the interview, he gives recommendations.”
o o o
A television news report: Water now spilling over emergency causeway berm in the Great Salt Lake.
o o o
J. in Wisconsin wrote:
“My wife and I have had two experiences with building security weapons scanners/ detectors. The most recent was at our local airport. I travel enough to know the drill. On the way out, I apparently had some metal item on me as I passed into the scanner. Specifically the waist area. With all concern, the TSA staff gave me the full search and turned up… nothing. On the way home, TSA was so rushed to clear a fairly thin check line that I was not required to remove my laptop from my backpack. It never bothered the screener.
The most interesting time, however, was at a casino. We had to be in this city for a doctor’s appointment, and the casino has an amazing breakfast. Knowing that firearms are a “no-no” there, and also knowing that the city doesn’t really discourage shooting or other urban fun activities, I packed a blade. The casino now has detectors of a fairly expensive type at all entrance points manned by two security professionals due to the occasional outdoor urban activities leaking indoors. Seeing this, and thusly armed, my wife and I went through the detector side by side. I guess it’s wide for us larger Midwest types. And the alarm beeps. The very polite young men immediately clue into my wife’s purse and ask to search. No problem, nothing there and we’re in.
After breakfast, which required us to leave the casino floor, we needed to again pass through a different detector. This time my wife is carrying my blade in her purse. We again walk through together and the two guards ask me if I have anything to which I say I do not. We are passed through.
So the lessons learned were;
1. Technology is fairly spot on, however the human portion of security remains dismal.
Boredom and repetitive tasks breed apathy and flaws. allowing both of us to pass together etc.
2. Grey man. Both my wife and I are middle-age. Polite, average dressed, grey for those days. Blend in and melt away. We did set those detectors off, but gave no indication we were other than a harmless couples.
I’m not encouraging you to ignore the rules, but be aware if the need arises, it was fairly easy.”
o o o
A British video review of a cell-network communication device: Unlimited Range Secure Two-Way Radios – Anysecu G6
o o o
Russell Brand: This Just Proved Elon Is Right!
o o o
Reader D.M. pointed us to a collection of anti-vaxxer schadenfreude, on Twitter.
o o o
The British newspaper The Guardian reports: New York gun buyback program takes thousands of firearms off the street. A brief quote from the article:
“Individuals who surrendered assault-style rifles and “ghost guns”, which are guns built from firearm parts sold unassembled, were given $500 gift cards, ABC News reported. Participants who turned in handguns also received $500 for the first weapon and an additional $150 for each additional handgun surrendered.”
JWR’s Comments: I hope that they enjoy eating their bowls of pottage.
The illogic of gun “buy-backs” is astounding. To start, they can’t “buy back” something that they never owned. So they should properly be called Buy-Ups. These campaigns are just a futile exercise in feel-goodism. Gun buy-back schemes to “fight crime” have about as much logic as a government program to pay prostitutes to expatriate our nation in the hope that it would somehow reduce forcible rape crime statistics.
o o o
WND reports: State harasses farm owner who refused to sell to CCP-linked company.
o o o
Bill Holter and Mike Adams talk gold, guns, security dogs and navigating the apocalypse.
Please Send Us Your Snippets!
Please send your snippet items for potential posting to JWR. or AVL. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact form.