Category: Odds ‘n Sods

Ay, ay, ay Acapulco: Desperate thousands try to escape cut-off Acapulco    o o o Reader James W. suggested this: How to Meet Mutual Assistance Group Members    o o o Reader Pierre M. sent: The NSA’s secret org chart. Marc presents a fine conceptual chart, but of course what it lacks is the corresponding physical structure, showing the Field Stations around the globe and the relationship between the NSA and its tasked military counterparts such as the Air Force Security Command (AFSC), the Naval Security Group (NSG), and the U.S. Army’s Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM.)    o o …

K.T. sent: Media mongers new fear campaign over ‘bump fire’ stocks. (FWIW, I bought a short stack of SlideFire AR and AK stocks, just in case further production is banned, but their possession is grandfathered. )    o o o Reader Joe G. recommended this holster maker in New Hampshire: Mitch Rosen    o o o The Red State Ranger recommended: The Don’t Own Stuff You Can’t Fix Plan for Life

G.G. flagged this: Imagining a Cyberattack on the Power Grid    o o o Reader F.G. sent me a link to some eye candy: Herra Kuulapaa: High speed ballistics photography. (The Guy Fawkes mask was a nice touch.)    o o o Bob K. and his wife recommended the classic short story: The Machine Stops, by E.M. Forster, written in 1909.    o o o Activity On The Sun Flatlines: Bitterly Cold Winters Ahead?    o o o 14 Civilian Disarmament Bills on California Governor’s Desk

Pre-1899 and replica gun law tested in Texas.    o o o 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 Some redoubtable folks: Maryland counties join movement to secede from largely Democrat-run state. (Thanks to S.R. for the link.)    o o o Killer robots and crippling cyber attacks: How the world is going to end – according to super brains such as Stephen Hawking    o o o Robert L. wrote: “I recommend Royal Bag …

Here at the Rawles Ranch, I use ratchet wire tensioners for building building fence corners and H-braces, as well as for tensioning our solar-charged electric fences. I was recently bemoaning the fact that the only tensioners that I could find at my local feed store and hardware store were made in China, and priced at nearly $4 each. So I did some searching and found a mail order company called Zeitlow Distributing Company in McPherson, Kansas that specializes in electric fence products. They sell the Tru-Test Strainrite tensioners that are made in New Zealand. They had these sale priced at …

Pierre M. sent: Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood to Coptic Christians: Convert to Islam, or pay ‘jizya’ tax    o o o Joanna H. recommended this web page: How to Make a Rabbit Skin Blanket    o o o The first Seattle Sustainable Preparedness Expo is scheduled for September 29th, 2013.    o o o Boy Scout alternative, Trail Life USA, launches ‘premier’ Christian group for boys. (Thanks to RBS for the link.)    o o o SurvivalPrepStore, a new Kansas City area survival store (with a nationwide mailorder customer base) is by offering an All American Deal in remembrance of 9/11.  …

Update: The big sales on Mountain House long term storage foods packed in #10 cans are continuing. Some varieties are now sold out, for example: New Orleans Rice & Shrimp, Sweet & Sour Pork, and Pilot Crackers. On any of those, you can now expect up to a two month delay before shipment! There are now five SurvivalBlog advertisers that are running September Mountain House sales, and I strongly recommend that you stock up to take advantage of these sales prices in September. Here is a summary of the five September sales on Mountain House foods in #10 cans. They …

G.G. sent: In Mexico, self-defense groups battle a cartel. [JWR’s Comment: I wonder if the photographer realized that the “meanacing”-looking scoped AR in the foreground was a .22 rimfire? Take a close look at the magazine.]    o o o Number of People Who Showed Up For “Million Muslim March” . . . 21. (Perhaps they heard that there would be 2 million bikers coming into town.)    o o o Carol J. mentioned: Fabric coating thwarts detection by night-vision devices. “The coating combines a squid protein, reflectin, plus graphene.”    o o o Over at Frank and Fern’s blog: …

Reader J. McC. sent: Small California City Welcome Doomsday Bunkers    o o o For those who are concerned about the privacy of your search engine history, I heard about a company that prides itself on keeping no stinking histories: ixquick.com. So, hoping that their promise is legitimate, I have that set as my browser’s home page, so that I don’t forget to use it. OBTW, friend Dave reminds me: “There is an IXQuick add-on for the Firefox search bar.” It is time to divorce ourselves from Google, folks!    o o o The feds pay for 60 percent of …

H.L. sent: Venomous Spiders, State-By-State    o o o Commentary from Mac Slavo: Map: Where You Don’t Want to Be When It Hits the Fan    o o o Fascinating: In search of Food Deserts. Be sure to scroll down and see the maps of Wyoming and Montana. FWIW, it is a 25+ mile drive to the nearest grocery store for my family. But it is just a few steps to our well-stocked pantry room and to JASBORR.    o o o Reader C.K. (who lives “on a mountaintop in North Idaho”) wrote to suggest this site: Ethanol Alcohol Fuel …

There is a new but familiar listing on SurvivalRealty that I once owned: Secluded But Not Remote Retreat for Sale in Idaho County, Idaho. I can personally vouch that it is a fantastic piece of retreat land, with multiple springs, a good mix of timber and quite a variety of wild herbs. It is advantageously situated down at low elevation on a very private side canyon of the South Fork of the Clearwater River. The winters there are very mild–with just a month of snow that “sticks”–and a long growing season. The surrounding properties are large cattle ranches, so it …

A reminder from Al in Maryland: Readers in Maryland are doubtless already aware that after October 1, 2013 it will be illegal to buy a firearm defined as an ‘assault long gun’ including any long guns deemed to be ‘copies’ [of banned models.]  Current owners are grandfathered-in, for now.   Handguns will be harder to acquire and there will be more hoops to jump through.” There will also be restrictions on full-capacity magazines. So Marylanders should stock up, muy pronto!   In related news: Maryland gun applications overwhelm police, dealers as tough limits draw near.    o o o B.B. sent: Homeland …

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that I wished someone commercially made a soft start power box for radios that use vacuum tubes. Now I’ve been told there already is such a product, made by the folks at Electric Radio Magazine. Such a device will likely pay for itself in just a few years, given the inflated price of tubes. (Have you priced a replacement 1L6 Pentagrid tube, or a Magic Eye tuning tube recently?)    o o o Here is a good message: Why I’m a Republican. Sadly, however, the Republican Party’s leadership has now embraced statist socialism. …

Reader Nick R. mentioned that the price of .308 ball ammo is now back below $700 per thousand. (It was at least $1 per round, in January.) Is the ammo drought finally ending? Even .22 LR is coming back down in price. (For a while there, I thought that Walton Creel would have to give up his life as an artist.)    o o o My friend Terry H. mentioned another pistol recall. This time it is the S&W M&P Shield.    o o o The American Redoubt may be growing: State of Jefferson: Board votes for separation    o …

Reader Jim T. mentioned that there is a very lively discussion going on over at Surivivalistboards about how to make friends or enemies with your neighbors at your newly-acquired retreat.  Is is very easy to tell who is from the city and who is from the country, from the responses. I think some city folks need to be educated on how things work in the country.    o o o Readers H.L. and B.B. both sent: Illinois State Police Begin Registering Concealed Carry Instructors. [JWR’s Comment: “I hate Illinois Nazis.”]    o o o As I mentioned before, for National …