Category: Odds ‘n Sods

Bill in Colorado sent this: 51st State Question Answered “Yes” in 6 of 11 Counties Contemplating Secession    o o o Pat S. suggested a useful primer: How to Save Seeds    o o o L.D. mentioned a great article at Reason.com about the Free State Project: The Free State Project Grows Up: Libertarians are changing the face of New Hampshire. L.D.’s comments: “[This project] seems to be gaining traction. It’s actually yielding results when you start small and build within the framework we have in place right now. It is possible to bring about positive change. I also believe …

Next on my reading pile is Richard J. Johnson’s book Redoubts: Paleopopulism at Twilight. Though ranty in spots, this looks like a cogent collection of essays.    o o o Several readers mentioned a propaganda piece in the Washington Times that quotes Chinese military planners boasting about their nuclear strike capability on the United States. In my estimation this blustering is more about China’s economic goals than it is about actual military plans. China aims to crush the United States economically in the long term, but in the near term they need the American consumer market, to keep their many …

Sometimes, the “crude, but effective” approach will work: How to open a can without a can opener    o o o Diana V. pointed out this important article: In United States v. Bond, The Supreme Court Could Be Ruling On The Safety Of All American Rights    o o o Does this look familiar? “Strawberry” sent us a video link, showing a couple of carags casting off. (You can skip the first minute or so.) A carag is of course featured in my most recent novel, and shown on the cover. Note that gas engine carags tend to be much …

An innovative new company that makes portable DC power systems has been launched by three Florida college students: SharkBox.    o o o Michael Z. Williamson (SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large) spotted this: How to Make a Soup Can Forge. (Of course a section of scrap Schedule 80 steel pipe would prove far more durable for the outer sleeve. )    o o o The Republican Liberty Caucus of Idaho is sponsoring the Treasure Valley Liberty Expo on Saturday, November 9th at the Red Lion Downtowner Hotel in Boise, Idaho.    o o o Beyond the Bunker: Preppers Go Mainstream.    …

H.L. sent this news from Nanny State New York: Three Too Many Cartridges Means Loss of Firearms Rights    o o o Reader B.B. recommended the latest essay by Matt Bracken, over at the WRSA site.    o o o How to disable MRAP Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected Light Armored Vehicles    o o o JMC sent: Holocaust And Resistance: “Without A Weapon, You Were Worthless.“    o o o Amnesty Is Republican Party Suicide (Phyllis Schlafly )

Loyal content contributor J.B.G. sent this link: 28 solar flares in the last seven days, and more may be coming.    o o o Joe E. spotted this interesting product: FiberFix aims to make duct tape look pathetic.    o o o To counter the claims of some Chicken Little fanatics on the Internet who apparently have no clue about the Inverse Square Law, here is some hard data: Health risk assessment from the nuclear accident after the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami, based on a preliminary dose estimation. The health risk in the U.S. because of continuing …

An interesting piece over at the Pantry Paratus blog: Wintertime Harvest: Food Preservation in the “Off” Season    o o o Over at Dollar Vigilante, a Canadian’s essay on the implications of voting with one’s feet: The Unbearable Lightness of Leaving. (She is moving to Galt’s Gulch Chile.)    o o o Reader “1F” mentioned a new needful countermeasure: New Product Lets Sportsmen Know When Drones Are Near    o o o J.B.G. suggested this piece over at Glenn Beck’s site: Are Americans waking up to the encroaching tyranny of the surveillance state?    o o o Owners of FN-FAL …

Ray Jason (The Sea Gypsy) writes: The Road to the Future Leads to the Past    o o o A couple of reminders: I will be a featured guest speaker (via teleseminar) Life Changes. Be Ready! Preparedness and Gun Expo that will be held in in Lakeland, Florida on November 2 & 3, 2013. (My slot should be mid-day, on Saturday.) I will also be a featured guest speaker (again, via teleseminar) at the Charlotte, North Carolina Back To The Basics convention on November 16, 2013. (This event was formerly known as Charlotte PrepCon.)    o o o Don H. …

The folks at Prepper Press wrote to mention that they’ve released a new book by author Tony Grice. It is titled Indivisible: With Justice for Some (Volume 1.) Coincidentally, that increases their generous writing contest prize package from 22 books to 23 books.    o o o G.G. suggested this article: ‘We’ve reached the end of antibiotics’: Top CDC expert declares that ‘miracle drugs’ that have saved millions are no match against ‘superbugs’ because people have overmedicated themselves    o o o Ender’s Game is scheduled for release on November 1st. I hope that Hollywood didn’t mess up a great …

While supplies last, APEX Gun Parts in Colorado is a having a $44 special on Polish surplus 26.5mm flare pistols. Note that these are inexpensive enough to consider using 2 or 3 of them around your retreat (post-TEOTWAWKI), as trip-wire actuated intrusion detection signal devices. Take note of the notch in the trigger, which makes them well-suited for rigging a trip wire. A mousetrap should provide sufficient force for the trigger pull. This doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Just use power screws to attach the flare gun and mouse trap to a scrap of 2×4, lag screw the contraption …

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