Category: Odds ‘n Sods

Pentagon’s top three threats in the ‘deep future’    o o o Don H. kindly sent a link to a list of salvaged canned goods stores.    o o o Pirates Singled Out Americans in Ship Attack Off Nigeria, Official Says    o o o Finally, after 34 years! The motion picture rights to Jerry Pournelle’s epic sci-fi adventure novel Janissaries have been bought by Goddard Film Group. I hope that they do a good job of it.    o o o A reminder: The next Life Changes. Be Ready! Preparedness and Gun Expo will be held in in Lakeland, …

Cheryl spotted this, over at Mac Slavo’s great site: They Will Smell Your Food From Miles Away…    o o o Tim R. sent: Taking a stand against real-life ‘Terminators’    o o o H.L. sent: Free and feral humans    o o o M.B. sent a link to something that sounds like it came from a novel I once read wrote: Sultan Of Brunei Introduces Sharia Law    o o o An interesting legal development: The Truth About SIG SAUER’s AR-15 Pistol Arm Brace

Megan W. suggested: Africa Teaches the West How to Build a Car    o o o Seed for Security has announcing a special bonus with every purchase of $75 dollars or more. They will add two packets of old-fashioned flower seeds (Love-in-a-Mist, and Yellow Hollyhock). Also added will be six tea bags filled with mixed mints from Nan’s herb garden. This bonus offer for a limited time and will be automatically included with your order.    o o o Reader C.D.M. suggested this piece: New York’s Looming Food Disaster    o o o Barney Fife is alive and well: Tennessee …

David T. mentioned: Ford Fires Up Natural Gas Powered Pickups. Here in the States, these will undoubtedly be sold as fleet vehicles for utilities, at least at first. But eventually they will hit the secondary market. Fuel flexibility may prove to be crucial for preparedness. There is value in diversity. If you can have at least one gasoline/E85 vehicle, one diesel vehicle, one propane vehicle, and one natural gas vehicle at the retreat for your extended family, then your chances are much greater to keep rolling. In Argentina 15% of all vehicles now run on GNC. It is also popular …

After Westgate, Interpol Chief Ponders ‘Armed Citizenry’    o o o H.L. sent: Yet Another Privacy Service Has Shut Down to Avoid the Feds    o o o Who hired the Law Enforcement Snipers at Keene Pumpkin Fest 2013? (Thanks to R.B.S. for the link.)    o o o G.G. suggested: Here’s the Gear Meteorologist Jim Cantore Takes Into the Storm

I find it interesting that Tom Hardy, the British actor who plays Max Rockatansky in the upcoming Mad Max: Fury Road movie (aka Mad Max 4) was born in 1977. That coincidentally was just one year before Mel Gibson was hired to play the original Mad Max. And Hardy was just four years old when the second movie in the series (The Road Warrior) was released. Mel Gibson reportedly has a cameo role in the new film as “The Old Drifter.”    o o o Pierre M. sent: Obama’s war: Afghan special forces commander defects with guns to insurgents    …

Reader F.B. suggested a useful aggregation site: The Liberty Mill.    o o o F.J. mentioned this useful info: Solar Camping on Steroids    o o o Antigua starts program to sell citizenship    o o o From G.G.: Researchers uncover holes that open power stations to hacking

Reader AmEx (American Expatriate) sent: What the Government Does with Americans’ Data o o o Over at my friend Commander Zero’s blog: Feds Say Possession of “Large Amounts” of Weapons May Indicate Terrorist Activity. JWR’s Comment: The linked article has a photo of what could best be described as a “starter” gun collection (a couple of ARs, a FAL, an AK, and a few handguns.) If that constitutes a “weapons cache”, then the agents must be from some gun-deprived eastern Nanny State. They would surely have a fit of apoplexy if they walked into JASBORR. This somehow reminds me of …

Reader E.B. suggested this movie review: Dragon Day: Red Dawn for Intellectuals    o o o H.L. sent: Bitdrop app beats NSA surveillance with anonymous encrypted file transfers    o o o Fascinating photos: 10 Unique Ocean Landscapes    o o o File Under F Troop Follies: Sacrebleu! ATF threatens French-style firing squad for agents who leak secrets    o o o Andrew Dickehage hospitalized after being attacked by three coyotes in Boulder County. Just imagine if this had been three wolves, instead.

Reader C.D.V. spotted this: 93-Year-Old Homesteader Living It Up In The Wilderness    o o o Former Army Captain William Swenson to receive Medal of Honor at White House    o o o Colorado Governor Hickenlooper tells gun-control groups to ‘stay away’    o o o Cato Institute: The NSA: Future Crime Unit (interview with Jim Harper)

Reader H.L. sent: Drastic moose die-off puzzles scientists, but they have one main suspect    o o o B.B. forwarded this: US Senate Decisively Rejects U.N. Arms Trade Treaty    o o o Non-Participation As An Effective Weapon Against Tyranny    o o o Dry Ice Goes Boom.    o o o A Guide for Guarding Personal Information in the Workplace. (Thanks to R.B.S. for the link.)

A man who is a living legend wrote this review: Reading List: Expatriates. I feel honored that this brilliant man enjoyed my book and took the time to write a review. (John Walker is the founder of Autodesk, Inc. and co-author of the widely-used AutoCAD software.)    o o o A reminder: On November 16, 2013, I will be a featured guest speaker (via teleseminar) at the Charlotte, North Carolina Back To The Basics convention. (Formerly known as Charlotte PrepCon.)    o o o Reader Rich R. mentioned this in The Washington Post: NSA collects millions of e-mail address books …

Reader Arthur S. sent the link to an interesting “clock” showing worldwide births and deaths, in real time.    o o o Randy F. wrote to note: “As if made by the TEOTWAWKI crowd,  National Geographic is going to premiere the [docudrama] movie Blackout on October 27, 2013. It is about the effects of a total grid failure blackout in America after a cyber attack.  They follow the travails on a young family expecting a second child any minute, a yuppie couple in NYC, a group of college students stuck in their dorm, a prepper family of four, a teenage …

SurvivalBlog’s Poet Laureate G.G. suggested this at CBS News: This ain’t your average survival shelter.    o o o Randy F. wrote to mention that a large prepper conference is scheduled in Mesa Arizona on Oct 18th and 19th, 2013. It has been extended to the 20th due to the high expected turnout.    o o o There is also a preparedness show in Atlanta the same weekend.    o o o    o o o The next Life Changes. Be Ready! Preparedness and Gun Expo will be held in in Lakeland, Florida on November 2 & 3, 2013. Advance …

There are some tasks here at the Rawles Ranch that are mundane but remarkably satisfying. For me, one of these is burning tree limb slash piles, which I do nearly every fall and spring. I usually try to position the piles over buried stumps, in the hope of burning up a stump in the process. But accomplishing that usually requires adding more wood and days of subsequent fire tending. (Depending on the size of the stump.) I’ve found that this process is a great excuse to burn up a few pieces of bucked firewood that have such thoroughly twisted grain …