Category: Odds ‘n Sods

Reader Elaine K. sent a link to a very recent report commissioned by the Commonwealth of Virginia that provide some great state-level statistics. This could be useful in choosing a state for relocation. Note that the Per Capita Income statistics are skewed because they don’t reflect the value of barter transactions (“I’ll trade you hay for firewood”), and because traditionalists (Mormons, Amish, Catholics, etc.) tend to have large families.    o o o Good for the Gander…: Olympic Arms Joins Magpul and LaRue Tactical and Tells New York Government to Pound Sand. And in related news: York Arms Cancels All …

Over at Mac Slavo’s fine blog: Guns And Ammo Production Maxed Out: “This is a Society Preparing For War”    o o o A Canadian journalist warns: Gun registration will lead to confiscation.    o o o The power of prefabrication: A 30 story Chinese hotel built in 15 days.    o o o Jeff H. suggested TubeBooks.org. They offer 4.22 GB of free technical books, mainly on radio technology and electrical engineering.    o o o Dan D. sent: Amazon Removing Gun Products From Store. Worse Than eBay.

Check out the interview with Buck Adams (a USMC vet) who is providing jobs and wholesome locally-grown food in the Denver Metro area, in a program called Veterans To Farmers.    o o o Mike H. sent us a caching lesson learned: Cave full of weapons discovered by California deputies.    o o o Coming soon to your neighborhood? This is How the DHS Seizes Your Guns. On a tangential note, Brandon Smith asks: Gun Rights: Are There Any Peaceful Solutions Left?    o o o Darra mentioned: DIY Cannned Good Storage

LDS Church increases some storage food useful shelf life estimates to up to 30 years. (Thanks to J McC. for the link.) o o o Andre D. sent: The UN Braces for Stormy Space Weather o o o B.B. sent this: Jim Rogers and Glenn Beck comment on the boom in Midwest farmland. o o o Reader Chris P. in Colorado wrote to mention: On a family camping trip our camp was hit with a microburst from a storm that trashed our camp and damaged the poles on a couple of our tents. Tentpole Technologies Inc., of Vancouver Washington was …

Several readers sent this: Washington state bill would make almost all gun owners criminals. Gee, this sounds like a great way to spur all of the Washington counties east of the the Cascades to break off and form a new State of East Washington. There has long been a deep cultural divide between east and west and a formal split was formally considered as recently as 1995. And of course partition of states isn’t unprecedented. (e.g. Maine and West Virginia.) This is spelled out in Article IV, Section. 3, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution. The eastern counties of …

An old friend sent me a link to a series of videos of the March, 2011 earthquake (magnitude 9.0) in Japan.    o o o 65.4 Million Gun Purchases Since Obama Took Office, 91% More Than Bush’s First-Term Total. JWR’s Comment: Oh, by the way, some of those background checks were for multiple gun purchases, so the real figure is probably somewhere closer to 70 million.)    o o o Michael Z. Williamson (SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large) mentioned a fascinating STRATFOR piece on embassy security    o o o Gun Owners of America (GOA) is urging folks to contact their …

Reader Ken D. suggested this over at Instructables: Stylish Two Drawer Faraday Cage    o o o The 25% to 35% off sales for Mountain House canned long term storage foods with free shipping and bonuses will end soon at both Ready Made Resources and Safecastle. Be sure to place your order before these sales end!    o o o Rick D. sent us an article that provides a microcosm of urban high rise housing in a grid-down collapse: Carpets soaked in urine, sewage running down walls and onion sandwiches for dinner: Passengers reveal dire conditions of US cruise ship …

Bob B. sent a link to a NOAA web page that calculates updated map magnetic declinations. If your topographic maps are more than two years old, then you should check! (In my region, the magnetic declination has changed about 6 degrees, since 1950.)    o o o One of the members of my local shooting club recently received a large order from the cleverly-named vendor United Nations Ammunition, in Arizona. He was very happy with his order, summing it up: “Great ammo and competitive prices, with fast shipping and quite friendly service.” My friend bought the linked USGI .308 ammunition …

MagPul Industries issues a Colorado legislative alert and says “we may have to move.” Needless to say, they would be enthusiastically welcomed here in the American Redoubt!    o o o Chris G. sent this: Department of Homeland Security Raids Gun Collector Who Didn’t Violate the Law    o o o Nuts! Jericho creator confirms Netflix in talks to revive series    o o o A reader mentioned a mail order company that is worth checking out: 1st Army Supply.    o o o Anthony Wile of The Daily Bell recently interviewed constitutional lawyer Edwin Vieira about his new book …

Are you researching potential retreat locales, and want to know if a building code exists, or if building permits are required? (In many counties in western states, no permits are required, outside of city limits.) Here is a great resource. Oh, and speaking of retreat locales, check out the newly-expanded listings at our Survival Realty spin-off site.    o o o For those looking for HK91-compatible magazines, I found a company that actually has a pile of them in captivity: G3Magazines.com    o o o More bad civil rights news: DHS Watchdog OKs ‘Suspicionless’ Seizure of Electronic Devices Along Border …

An interesting tidbit, useful for background checks: Decoding SSNs. OBTW, they should have done this research on “Hawaiian born” BHO, long before he ran for Senate.    o o o This new compact GPS tracking technology has some good and bad implications. Even scary implications.    o o o Bob G. recommended: Time for the Church to Act    o o o My dear mother suggested this harrowing video that was shot in 2011: A drive on the Norwegian coast on a stormy day.    o o o The Top 5 “Top 50 Lists of Prepper Web Sites”

A special alert for Californians: List of Proposed California Gun Control Measures — 500 Round Max, No Grandfathering, No Detachable Mags, Mandatory License. Here is some related coverage, that discusses the full implications: California Democrats Introduce Bill To Confiscate Every “Assault” Weapon In The State From Their Law-Abiding Owners… (Thanks to B.B. for the latter link.)    o o o Some troubling news: Obama Gives Foreign Cops New Police Powers in U.S.    o o o Dr. B. mentioned this: Psychiatric Drugs More Often Prescribed in the South: Study looked at stimulant, antipsychotic and antidepressant use across U.S.    o …

News from west of the Redoubt: Cascadia earthquake, tsunami could cost Oregon economy $32 billion (Thanks to Mark R. for the link.)    o o o A Sandy Hook dad lays it down straight.    o o o Idaho residents: Armageddon Armory in Nampa, Idaho has kindly donated an Anderson free floated AM-15 with RU85 coating, a red dot sight, tactical case, and 5 magazines for a raffle. All proceeds go to the Boise Rescue Mission Veterans Program. One Dollar per entry. Must be 18 years of age and an Idaho resident legal to own firearms. The drawing will be …

I recently reviewed a consulting client’s draft “Get out of Dodge” plan for getting to his retreat in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, which only showed one evacuation route from a major midwestern city. I told him bluntly: If you don’t have a Plan B, then you don’t have a plan. His revised plan, he promises, will show four routes, two of which go through Canada.    o o o New York’s ‘SAFE’ Act: The ‘Rape’ of the Second Amendment. JWR’s Comment: I’m now thoroughly convinced that New York is irretrievably in the hands of the Statists via multigenerational constituencies, and beyond …

Peter S. recommended this: Tiny Off-Grid Cabin in Maine is Completely Self-Sustaining    o o o I had a shock when I recently bought a replacement set of studded snow tires for our full-size SUV. Complete with studding, mounting and balancing, four identical tires from the same maker and installed by the same Les Schwab tire store cost $753 in January 2011 and $952 in January, 2013. And they tell us that “consumer price inflation is low.” Yeah, right. The effects of the BHO Administrations’s massive Quantitative Easing are now starting to pervade the economy. Get out of U.S. Dollar-denominated …