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”. More Hurricane News from both Irma and Harvey today.
Reason #4098 to Remove Your Child from Public School
Survivalblog reader D.S. sent in this article where an entire section of 75 students was forced to undergo invasive blood and alcohol tests because school officials found a single beer can under the stadium. The mass of forced tests overwhelmed the small medical facilities of the town. At least one school board candidate understands the issue though. They may desire to protect the students from underage drinking. But they have an obligation to protect the rights of the students as well. As he put it: “When the accused-but-innocent outnumber the guilty 16 to one, we probably did it wrong.”
Hurricane News from Irma
Some car owners found out the hard way that electric cars have some serious drawbacks. Aside from the fact that they really are not environmentally friendly, they just don’t have the range of gas powered vehicles. Many were stranded on the side of the road because they ran out of power. That is until Tesla gave them a free upgrade. It turns out that many of the cars were handicapped by the factory to use only 75% of their available power. The factory was able to remotely upgrade the vehicles to allow them to continue on. That bothers me on many levels including the selling of handicapped hardware and remote access of the cars.
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Finding humor in a difficult situation, reader D.B. sent in this video from Mark Dice. It’s a spoof of CNN showing the looting that is occurring on camera. The narrative is “People coming together to rescue Air Jordans from Foot Locker during hurricane Irma”
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Reader S.R. sent in this article from the New York Times on just how bad the conditions are getting in the Caribbean Islands. All of the food is gone, 90% or more of the buildings have structural damage. Gangs run through the streets looting and they’re not just taking food. They are looting electronics, clothing, anything of value. There basically isn’t any law and order. Once again, history bears out the old maxim that society has less than 72 hours after a major disaster or collapse before all civility breaks down.
Hurricane news from Harvey
Why is the government involved at all? That question is asked by reader G.P. in regards to recovery and relief efforts after hurricane Harvey. It’s not just local churches, but Christians as a whole provide far more aid to hurricane victims than FEMA. They even provide better aid. Part of the issue is that these people tend to be passionate about what they do. They believe in giving aid to those in need rather than FEMA who does it because it’s a federal mandate. Most are not in it for the fame or the control. What they want is the satisfaction of seeing someone helped.
The Journey from Democracy to Tyranny
Reader JSW sent in this article on the journey from democracy to tyranny. For those struggling to understand the seemingly unstoppable march or our society into socialism ruled by an oligarchy, this is an excellent primer. All democratic societies make this journey. it’s why Thomas Jefferson penned the words: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.” The march of government will always be towards more power and there will always be complacent people that allow it to happen. At best, we can slow it’s advance.
South Korea
One might think that after nearly 70 years of semi-conflict following the Korean war, South Koreans would have this prepper/survivalist thing down to a science. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case. According to The Korean Times, “Prepper” is just now emerging as the catchword. The number of doomsday pesmists (or should that be “realists”) is growing and how-to videos are becoming popular. Lately, every time North Korea provokes the world, South Korean vendors see a surge in the private sales of combat rations, self-powered radios and gas masks. Thanks to H.L. for the link.
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!
Re: forced drug/alcohol tests
What the school did was unfortunately legal as the student AND parents must sign a “student code of conduct ” at the beginning of the school year that allows testing when drugs or alcohol are suspected.
When you have a group of underage kids showing up drunk and sneaking in booze. You have to do something to protect the others and the school.
A Code of Conduct does not trump the 4th amendment. It would have only taken one parent to force a legal review. Fight for your children.
Another reason why parents should pull their children from public schools. Unfortunately, it has the tendency to make parents just as compliant to over reach.
Some car owners found out the hard way that electric cars have some serious drawbacks. Aside from the fact that they really are not environmentally friendly, they just don’t have the range of gas powered vehicles. Many were stranded on the side of the road because they ran out of power. That is until Tesla gave them a free upgrade. It turns out that many of the cars were handicapped by the factory to use only 75% of their available power. The factory was able to remotely upgrade the vehicles to allow them to continue on. That bothers me on many levels including the selling of handicapped hardware and remote access of the cars
As to allowing the car to use more of the total battery, doing so shortens the batteries life, having access to that in an emergency is a good thing, but not so good on a regular usage.
As to having them be able to change settings in your car, can they do that without your knowlage? and what else can they change?
Dave,
The article said 75% of “available” power, not “total” power. The extra usage is within the design limits of the battery. The difference is that the manufacture (Tesla) created a multi-tier product with software limitations. The two cars were essentially the same but the cheaper car was intentionally limited.
I work in the auto body business, and see how invasive technology is in modern cars. I’m sure that the powers that be can remotely access a newer vehicle at will, and have detailed records of your driving habits and locations. That being said, my two vehicles are from 1980 and 1987. Nobody is remotely accessing those.
Having been in the path(s) of Hurricane Irma I recommend reading “US Forecast Models Have Been Pretty Terrible During Hurricane Irma” at Arstechnica.com.
The European forecast was better than our American models. Could this be because we’re still using Fortan computer programming for forecasts?
Sorry, this has a being posted elsewhere but having been overrun by the mass ‘horde’ migration leaving the state, closing gas stations like locust, next time people will be complacent about heeding another hurricane warning.
On the ‘humorous’ side, NO, atomic bombs cannot stop a hurricane. They would probably spread radioactive material around though. Actual comments made during Hurricane Irma.
TexasScout: How do we know a bum didn’t chuck the can under the bleachers before the game started? And protect the other students from WHAT exactly? The drunk ones that were-oh, wait, there WERE NO reports of any problem. You couldn’t have missed the point more if you tried.
75 Students and one can of beer in the area?
What an education, a reminder to recycle it etc. would be approbiate ?
Why ´ve the medical employees did this Thing?