Category: Odds ‘n Sods

Bicycles offer a lifeline in rural Zambia. Bikes are used for transportation and even grain grinding.    o o o Several readers sent this: Long Island Man Arrested For Defending Home With AK-47. Jeff E. notes: “This guy fired three shots into the dirt to deter several hostile gang members approaching his home and threatening him and his family. And who went to jail? The homeowner. I’m sorry to be so blunt, but only a complete moron would continue to live in New York.”    o o o Joe O. sent this: Our terrifyingly crowded solar system: New video reveals …

Inyokern wrote to say that he enjoyed this article: The Trouble with Civilization; Ancient cities reveal the vulnerabilities of modern societies    o o o Guatemala mudslides kill at least 38; two buses hit    o o o Jim D. flagged this: Argentines risking all to carry huge wads of cash    o o o Patrice Lewis, the editor of the Rural Revolution blog recently had an excellent post: Don’t come a-knockin at my door. Think OPSEC!!!

B.B. sent a link to this outstanding country music video on YouTube: Never Gonna Stand For This by Teachenor Clark. (BTW, the opening clip castigating “Tea-bagging rednecks” is uber-liberal actress Janeane Garofalo.)    o o o Magistrate Recommends Dismissing States’ Gun Suit. I can foresee this issue going to the Supreme Court. Given the precedent set by the U.S. v. Lopez decision, the States should prevail. In essence, if a gun (or receiver) is manufactured and sold within in a state, then there is no Federal nexus. (It is intrastate rather than interstate commerce.) Ditto for used guns being sold …

Christchurch, New Zealand Mayor: Quake hit city ‘like an iceberg’    o o o KAF flagged this item: Harnessing the Power of Gym Rats    o o o Bill N. found this great Analytical Survival video tutorial: Bug Out Vehicle – Re-Inventing the Car Trunk    o o o Ooh, ooh! I want one: The KamAZ Armored Car. (Not that I can afford to buy one, but it makes a nice daydream.) OBTW, I assume that these are built on one of the assembly lines at the sprawling Kama River truck plant–the product of some Yankee ingenuity from the Pullman-Swindell …

Rourke recommended the Patriot Nurse video blog. Rourke says: “She has done many videos on several survival topics. Check this one out in particular.    o o o “Your Agonizer please, Mister Kyle.”: Inmate-frying microwave pain blaster turret installed in US jail. This news really bothers me on several levels. To start: This isn’t at a prison. It is a County Jail, where I assume a good portion of the population is awaiting trial, and presumed innocent. This sounds like “cruel or unusual punishment”, to me.    o o o I spotted this over at TSLRF: Talk about adrenaline powered …

Joshua H. sent a link to a nifty homemade hand crank flashlight, over at Instructables.    o o o In celebration of Labor Day, JRH Enterprises is offering full mil-spec AN/PVS-14 Gen 3+ night vision weapons sight monoculars at a special sale price. These are autogated and complete with soft case, head mount, head mount adapter, operators manual, batteries, lens paper, de-mist shield, sacrificial window, and ITT tube data record, et cetera. The price is just $2,895, which is less than most dealers charge for a standard Gen 3 scope. (As I mentioned before, these are the much more sought-after …

Roman sent us to a web page with some “outside the box” thinking: How we turned an old backyard swimming pool into a self-sufficient garden in a desert city.    o o o Following her recent training with Louis Awerbuck, Tamara weighs in about Tacticool Mall Ninja fashion consciousness. And she’s right. Looks don’t kill. Well-aimed projectiles do.    o o o ‘Don’t tread on me’ flags start disputes around the country. (Thanks to Judy T. for the link.)    o o o Pastor Chuck Baldwin (former Constitution Party presidential candidate) is wisely relocating his family from Florida to Montana.

My recent interview on Doc and Reginald Kaigler’s Watchmen podcast is now available via YouTube.    o o o LVZ in Ohio notes that there is a home brew Pelton wheel project described here: Micro-hydro Power Bucket.    o o o Rod McG. pointed to the BBC’s Dimensions web page as a useful tool for visualizing disasters.    o o o N.R.S. mentioned this opinion piece from a as Northern California newspaper: Maybe the NRA’s right to be paranoid.    o o o I noticed that Darrell Holland’s Long Range Shooting video is now available on YouTube. Buy a copy …

Reader Kevin J. mentioned this opinion piece: Looters and the lessons of Katrina. It has some typical liberal hand-wringing, but it is nonetheless a thought-provoking piece. |    o o o D.T.D. pointed us to this interesting article: Man has lived without money since 2008. Apparently, he also swore off wearing shirts.    o o o Cheryl N. suggested this essay: Collapse Survival Will Be Tribal: Begin Recruiting Now    o o o Did you ever wonder why you might want to add a .50 BMG rifle to your battery? Watch this.

Susan C. in Texas sent a link to a web site that has all sorts of mixes you can make yourself to save money. Susan notes: “Many of these mixes are healthier than store bought ones. OBTW, I find that these recipes call for too much salt.”    o o o The big sale at Ready Made Resources on Mountain House freeze-dried foods began last night, and runs for just one week. Don’t miss out!    o o o Reader N.I.M. sent this: H1N1: A Bullet, Dodged. Meanwhile, we read: XDR-pH1N1 Raises Pandemic Concerns    o o o Richard H. …

Brian H. suggested a Scientific American interactive web page: “How Much is Left?”    o o o I’ve previously mentioned the JBM Ballistic calculators in the blog. But now there is a new Backup Ballistic Calculator –a circular slide rule–created by Todd Hodnett of Accuracy 1st. These will soon be available from LaRue Tactical. They are taking pre-orders now, and expect to starting shipping them in mid-September.    o o o Reader Travis B. recommended the blog Laptop and Rifle. Travis gave quick summary of the blog’s content: A guy that used to work for Google (a smart guy) buys …

KAF sent us this: Are Free-Range Eggs Safer?    o o o SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson was the first to send me this very bad news: The Government’s New Right to Track Your Every Move With GPS. I suspect that this case will be appealed to the Supreme Court. If they then affirm this decision, we can conclude that we are on the path to the Surveillance State. I wonder… Perhaps some hackers will start putting GPS trackers on government agency vehicle, so that the public can track them in real time. After all, turnabout is fair …

Reader RFJ mentioned an awesome piece over at Instructables: Hidden Door Bookshelf.    o o o Frequent content contributor Damon S. suggested two articles on do-it-yourself hydroelectric power: Homestead Hydropower and Home-Made Water Power for the Homesteader.    o o o Kelly D. was the first of several SurvivalBlog readers to mention this: Two days of food stretched more than two weeks in mine; Determined to stay alive, trapped Chilean miners made two days of food last more than two weeks. These guys have displayed tremendous courage and discipline. May God see them safely home!    o o o Why …

SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson has a new science fiction novel in his Freehold series now available in book stores and from Internet sellers like amazon.com: Do Unto Others. Mike is a gifted writer, and I’m honored to have him on SurvivalBlog’s masthead.    o o o G.G. sent this item from Britain’s Daily Mail: Do it yourself? Not likely if you’re under 35. More than half are DIY dunces who can’t even rewire a plug and have to rely on parents    o o o When is a Brigade not a “Brigade”? Combat brigades in Iraq under …

SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson sent this news item: American abducted into Mexico. Here is a key quote: “U.S. authorities did not contact their Mexican counterparts because they did not know whether they were corrupted or connected to the girl’s captors, Gonzalez said.”    o o o Several readers sent this EPA Considering Ban on Traditional (Lead Core) Ammunition. Please leave a comment during the public comment period. (If this ban goes through, price of ammunition will skyrocket!)    o o o H.L. wrote to alert us of the following posted by the CMP Office: “M14 KITS NOW …