Odds ‘n Sods:

Fighting Entropy – The survival of civilization. – S.G. o o o Video: Five ways to hide something in plain sight o o o SurvivalBlog reader T.S. notes that anti-virus firm AVG has recently acquired Privax, the parent company of HideMyAss. The following is from an AVG license agreement, according to Wikipedia: “The AVG license agreement includes a clause (Section 9) authorizing AVG to collect, from your computer, any Non-Personally Identifiable Information they desire and to share it with their business partners anywhere in the world. It also authorizes AVG to track your computer usage.” AVG is also controversial in …




Scot’s Product Review: Century Arms C39V2 AK 47

This review is something of an exploration of the AK platform by one with limited familiarity to it as well as a review of the Century Arms C39V2, a U.S. made AK. I should first explain that the reason I have little AK time is that I am something of a gun snob. I have always thought that the United States, a nation founded upon riflemen and being unique in having the Second Amendment, was first among gun makers, so most of my shooting is with American arms. Folks like John Moses Browning, Horace Smith, Daniel Wesson, Eugene Stoner, and …


Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Benchmade’s Impel Automatic Folder

If ever there was a true gentleman, that person would be my friend– the late Grandmaster of American Kenpo Karate, John McSweeney. McSweeney was responsible for introducing American Kenpo Karate to Ireland many years ago. To be sure, McSweeney, was one of Ed Parker’s Black Belts, and if you don’t know who Ed Parker was, Google him. He was the Grandmaster of Kenpo Karate. Even Elvis Presley was one of Parker’s Black Belts. However, what I’m discussing here is a true gentleman, and John McSweeney was certainly at the top of the list, in my book. John knew how to …


Recipe of the Week: A Prepper’s Pierogi Casserole, by Mags

This recipe can be made with fresh ingredients, leftovers, or with freeze-dried/canned ingredients. There are lots of options for personalizing it, too. You can use whatever meat you prefer– beef, bacon, ham, turkey, venison, or even chopped jerky that’s left over after a hunting or camping trip (if it’s even possible to have leftover jerky). Ingredients: 9 lasagna noodles, uncooked 4 cups of mashed potatoes, hot or reheated (or use about 1 1/2 cups of potato flakes mixed into about 3 1/2 cups of hot water) 4 ounces of herb & garlic cream cheese (or use reconstituted powdered cream cheese …


Letter Re: Digital Security

HJL, Where TrueCrypt left off, VeraCrypt has picked up the baton. (It has the exact same interface, same features with improvements made behind the scenes.) The TrueCrypt letter specifically said that there “May still be unresolved security issues…” They didn’t say it wasn’t secure. They were quite vague. They were in the middle of an audit and quit before the results came out. VeraCrypt takes the results of the audit and appeared to correct some of the very minor issues. I was impressed by how few they are (i.e., increasing some iterations from a few thousand to hundreds of thousands), …


Economics and Investing:

America’s Shadowy Energy Partnership With Azerbaijan o o o For citizens of the U.S., their way of life depends on those dollars in their pockets, but they fail to understand what determines the strength (value) of those dollars. This video should be a wake up call. o o o U.S. Nearing Recession, Dollar Falling Hard o o o Is This Why Greek ATMs Are Empty?. – H.L.


Odds ‘n Sods:

Something is rotten in Albany… o o o I just ran across this interesting post at my old friend Commander Zero’s blog: See the red button? Push the red button. – JWR o o o Mike Williamson, SurvivalBlog’s Editor At Large pointed out a review of the Ruger SR1911. o o o Looks like things just took a turn for the worse in Mexico: The Rising. – M.S. o o o Education Secretary Sets The Stage For ‘Public Boarding Schools’. As scary as the thought of this is, you will find parents in favor of it. Hey, it’s free babysitting. …



Notes for Sunday – May 17, 2015

On this day in 1769, George Washington launched a legislative salvo at Great Britain’s fiscal and judicial attempts to maintain its control over the American colonies. He brought a package of non-importation resolutions, drafted by George Mason, before the Virginia House of Burgesses. This initiated a chain of events that led to Britain’s House of Lords demanding that men involved in the extra-legal Massachusetts convention of towns be tried in England. Britain’s plan backfired and created an American identity where before there had been none.


Street Combat – This Ain’t No Game! – Part 6b of 9, by Pat Cascio

Hip Shooting Whoa, partner! Before everyone starts firing letters off to me protesting that hip shooting isn’t point shooting, give me (and others) the benefit of the doubt! You have to admit that leveling a gun at someone from just above your holster isn’t exactly aimed shooting, is it? Neither is it exactly what we call point shooting. None the less, the technique is worth mentioning, as it does work in the tightest of combat situations. When your opponent is directly in front of you just about face-to-face or, worse yet, is face-to-face with you, you can’t draw and fully …


Letter Re: Digital Security

Hello from Russia! This Friday, SurvivalBlog mentioned “Digital Security- Part 2, by Dakota”. As a computer specialist and a paranoiac, I must warn you about two things. Bitmessage is absolutely secure. (I mean that nobody can read an encrypted message or find the sender or recipient or fact of communication between them.) But the price of this fact is too high and is a security hole by itself: Bitmessage client sends your message to every other client. What does it mean? In reality, every client would receive all the traffic the system creates. If, say, every one of 100 users …


Economics and Investing:

The Recesssion is Here, Prelude to Depression, by Robert Gore. – JFJ o o o The low wage employment tsunami: Low wage jobs now make up 25 percent of all employment in the United States. o o o US In Recession – Just Doesn’t Know It. Mike ‘Mish’ Shedlock o o o Peak Of Bakken Oil Production Signals Collapse Of U.S. Economy.


Odds ‘n Sods:

The recent train wrecks, including the Amtrak derailment, has brought rail safety to the attention of many preppers. Are your preps sufficient to cover the dangers of rail near your location? Do you even know what those dangers are? 10 things railroads won’t tell you o o o To Smell the Putrid Smell of a City on Fire o o o 8th Grader Arrested, Threatened with Beatings and Held for 6 Days in Jail – For Throwing Skittles. – H.L. HJL adds: This is beyond absurd. At what point will we see the police officers voice Bill Whittle’s words: “No, …