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”. Old, expired MREs are tested in this edition of Odds ‘n Sods.
Walmart Audio Surveillance
It would appear that Walmart is now following Amazon’s lead in Orwellian surveillance of it’s employees. Amazon is know to heavily monitor its workers in a bid to squeak out even the smallest improvements in worker efficiency, up to and including making them wear wrist bracelets to track their arm movements. With Walmart under immense pressure from Amazon, even they are getting in on the act. They have filed an audio surveillance patent for a system that will track conversations at the check out line. With the system able to understand conversations, they would now have the ability to ensure that employee’s are telling customers what they want them too as well as knowing if a cashier is spending too much time talking rather than checking. Thanks to G.G. for the link.
YouTube
According to this article sent in by DSV, YouTube will now decide for you what is and isn’t authoritative news. As the author so aptly puts it: “The days of YouTube are over and the time of ThemTube is upon us.” This is clearly an assault on alternative media as the mainstream media outlets are no longer getting the views they used too. Let’s face it, no one trusts them anymore. Even if alternative media has a habit of publishing the most outlandish conspiracy theories ever invented, people would rather sort through that data themselves and make the call on what is and isn’t news. They are tired of having the narrative handed to them.
Eating Old MREs
Reader G.S. sent this video in to us on a YouTuber eating old, expired MREs. You have got to see this one. MREs have a pretty short lifespan and it is severely impacted by storage conditions. This guy is opening MREs up to 30 years old to check on their viability. If anything, this should cure you of the long-term food mentality. While it can’t hurt to have a few MREs around, you really should rotate them on a regular basis. I’m a big proponent of the “Store what you eat, eat what you store” mantra and this is the reason why. Imaging spending thousands of dollars on storage food when along comes an emergency and you need to use them, instead finding this…
War on Curiosity
The progressive left continues their war on curiosity. They have their agenda and propaganda and are willing to take extreme measures against anyone who disagrees with them or even wants to seek alternative information. This article, sent in by reader H.L. outlines some of the actions the left has taken in their information war such as sending professor Allison Stanger to the hospital with a neck injury. Her crime? She had asked the protesters to allow allow the conservative/libertarian author Dr. Charles Murray to speak and then to engage in debate after his speech. Stanger is actually a liberal professor who wanted a discourse with a conservative rather than resorting to violence. I guess the left is now known to eat is own when they dare to differ from the narrative.
Death of Free Speech
Britain doesn’t have the same 2nd Amendment freedoms that those of us in the United States have, but the news coming across the pond just keeps getting worse. Coming on the heels of the absurd silencing of Tommy Robinson, the police in London have now used the Public Order Act to prevent a rally in support America’s President Donald Trump despite permitting a large anti-Trump rally on Friday. It should be noted that the police force is answers to the mayor of London Muslim Sadiq Khan. The Pulic Order Act was also used to clamp down on the simultaneous “Free Tommy Robinson” protest. According to the ruling, if any three or more people are found together in front of the American Embassy, they are likely to be arrested.
What’s Next for 3D Gun Printing
With the DOJ finally caving on the 3D gun front what’s next in this world? This article sent in by reader T.P. suggests that despite Defense Distributed claims, gun control won’t die anytime soon. He compares the gun industry to the drug industry suggesting that the advent of the dark web and it’s drug availability didn’t hurt big pharma, but instead simply gave access to many of the smaller labs to the market. That seems like a strange analogy, but I suppose it could be true. Government as well as many personal buyers don’t want a printable gun, they like traditional metal and they will still buy through established channels. But many smaller companies will probably spring up delivering more innovations to the market.
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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!
Well, the war on free speech is alive and thriving in the good ol’ USA too. I tried to post the article on the banned Trump rally in London on my Facebook so it could be seen by everyone. Wouldn’t show up. I tried again, now it is only showing on my own timeline, no one else’s. We need an alternative to FB that is open and free. Thanks for putting it here. Will this be one of our last areas to get real news?
I am all for Walmart monitoring whether their cashiers are talking or working. Very few of them seem capable of doing both at the same time.
Those Walmart employees are slaves. They have an abusive job as a cashier taking the c**p from the public who abuse them daily. Now their not “allowed” to speak freely either? Can you hear yourself? I watched an elderly woman they had put on an express checkout get screamed at by some POS while everyone looked away in fear. My intervention was not even welcome by the old clerk. She was “used to it”. Are there bad walmart employees? Sure, but at least their holding a job and not all on welfare. Mostly its the kids with a poor work ethic. Only one thing will change that. They’ll be forced to change when we are in a full blown Depression.
Greg, my point is that in my experience, Walmart cashiers don’t seem capable of speaking and working at the same time. Scanning stops if they speak. They have a right to speak, I just would like them to continue scanning while they do. No one holds a gun to their head making them work there. They do it because they don’t have the necessary skills for a better position. It is the equivalent to a “fast food” job. Walmart is expanding it’s Scan and Go, and Pick Up service, and cashier jobs will be a thing of the past. Some stores have been piloting an enhanced Scan and Go, where the shopper picks up a handheld scanner and scans each item as they put it in their cart. Works great. And no cashier to deal with. And for the record, I prefer to shop at a stand alone grocery store or small hardware store. Better quality, better service.
Good Grief! You really are a piece of work! So Walmart employees are there because they are either too stupid, too lazy, don’t have any skills, or they can’t find a fast food job?? For the record, this idiot pharmacy tech, who has a degree in pharmacology, worked as Christmas help for my local Walmart. Great company, they even gave me-a temp employee-good perks. I worked as a dreaded CASHIER, and I was paid $15 an hour. Most of the customers were nice, friendly, and it being the holidays-generous to other people with their cash. Many seniors in my line had their groceries paid for, and the people also did the bagging. One man, who was counting his change,was about 80, and burst into tears when the French woman behind him put her card the reader. (Of course, I had to suffer through some people like you.)
Most people work where they can find employment, how that employment corresponds with their family needs, their ability to do the job, and try to pay their bills and live a little. Not everyone is a professional: i.e., doctor, nurse, accountant. Sometimes, you just need a plumber, and electrician, a horseshoer, or….a cashier. I’ve never been ashamed of doing an honest days work, nor should anyone else.
Good for you. As a customer I have more problems with all the other customers who don’t pay with cash and can’t seem to figure out how to use their credit/debit cards in the card reader. I have more problems with the obnoxious customers who complain about things that are in truth no problem at all.
I find most of the cashiers to be friendly, courteous, and helpful. Kudos to you for being one of those.
Better quality, better service. I’m with you, fixer.
I prefer to see my local store owner make a few bucks than give money to corporations that already have more than all of us put together. When Amazon or Walmart treat their employees with the same concern as my local guys, I may consider them. The “convenience”
they offer comes at the price of the humanity of their employees.
Carry on.
The War on Curiosity article was great, very insightful. Too bad no liberal/progressive will ever read it. The key takeaway, “Those who are not curious close themselves off to other views. Over time, they can’t figure out how any normal human being could possibly think differently than they do on political issues.”
Liberals/Progressives lack critical thinking skills, can’t think independently. It is the same phenomenon seen in public high schools social interactions, or also evident in crowds. If everyone else is doing, saying, or believing something, then it must be right, and liberals and progressives don’t want to appear wrong. Have you ever seen a concert or play where at the conclusion, instead of the entire crowd spontaneously giving a standing ovation, a slow wave of standing occurs, as audience members notice others standing, and stand themselves due to peer pressure, or not wanting to appear to be out of touch? The same thing happens on high school and college campuses, as young impressionable minds are trying to fit in, and don’t want to appear different. Appearance, behavior, speech, and thought are changed to match the crowd and fit. Hail to the independent thinkers!
Facebook is a perfect example of how people(the masses) willingly surrender their freedom. For what? Monitored social interaction that is censored. Not to mention furthering of a platform for leftist propaganda. I really hope its CEO is held accountable for the selling of account information and spying done by this company. But he’s rich, use HRC as an example. Doubtful anything past a fine will be the end result.
A great article on MREs and storage, thank you. I was on a deployment in the late 80s to SW Asia. We had a field kitchen and the MRE type food came from a warehouse that was not properly storing the food. About 1/2 of the food was either rancid or had mold. We almost had to cancel the mission when over half of the team got food poisoning. The pilots that didn’t get sick got the extra stick time, and the rest of us learned to clear the brush of cobras and other critters in case of emergencies. This article brings home about eating what you store.
The way I see anger and fury developing among people, I am worried that before summer ends there will be widespread violence and destruction. THAT is the odds and sods I see coming.
Walmart employees can quit if they are feeling abused.
New thing I am playing with in place of FB is MeWe.
Not trying to criticize,just making an observation.
Article about youtube points out their bias,and nobody trusts them.
Very next article is a review about MRE’s posted on….youtube.
Just kinda funny/ironic.
> “It would appear that Walmart is now following Amazon’s lead in Orwellian surveillance of it’s employees. ”
‘The Road to Serfdom’ and ‘The Privatized Toll Road to Serfdom’ lead to the same place.
But I suspect that many conservatives/libertarians/whatever – including readers of this site – would gladly wear the chains of the oligarchs, as long as they can be convinced that their slavery was the result of free-market capitalist means.
Old 30 year grunt here…I have seen MREs stored in all kinds of ways – in Saudi Arabia and Iraq in 40′ milvans in the desert sun, frozen on pallets up in the Italian Alps and Alaska, etc. Unless you are buying new MREs you have no idea how they have been stored and you are taking an unnecessary risk for your health. I buy new MREs, with a package date of less than 90 days old, and store them in my basement at a nice cool 60 degrees (stays that way year round with no AC) – tried some the other day that are 12 years old and they are as good as the day I bought them. Keep them in the cool and keep them in the dark and they will last IF you are sure they have not been improperly stored before you bought them. Personally, I would never buy MREs or SAPI plates that I even suspected might not be new.