Category: Odds ‘n Sods

Jim B. sent a link to a BBC story about a British prisoner of war who smuggled himself into Auschwitz during WWII. It includes some interesting observations on cigarettes as barter items.    o o o Courtesy of Captain Bill and Bayou Renaissance Man, a The Daily Mail piece about a British couple who demonstrated what not to do when your house catches fire.    o o o SurvivalBlog regular Bill Buppert sent a link to a study on the effectiveness of current camouflage patterns. Bill’s comments: “One of the keenest bits of advice is contained in paragraph 4.b. in …

Jack H. mentioned a good article in The City Journal: The Cyber-Threat Grows    o o o SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson said he thought that this book looked interesting: Confessions of an Igloo Dweller: Memories of the Old Arctic    o o o A reminder that the special two-week 25% off sale on canned Mountain House foods at Ready Made Resources ends on Monday. They are offering free shipping on full (“unbroken”) cases lots. But because of the higher handling costs, if you “mix and match” cans within cases, shipping will be charged.    o o o …

M.K. sent a link to a piece on potassium iodide (KI) that ran on NPR. By the way, KI and KI03 are sold by several SurvivalBlog advertisers.    o o o Joe Ordinary sent a link to footage of a large meteor that went over South Africa late Saturday evening. Listening to eyewitness accounts it was seen from as far away as Maputo (in Mozambique) Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana. The meteor was traveling northwest and was presumed to have landed beyond the Botswana border. This video footage was taken approx 350 kilometers from the border.    o o o The …

Reader Paul D. sent us a YouTube link that shows how to make a 16 Brick Rocket Stove.    o o o FJ forwarded a link to an article on Teeny Tiny Houses    o o o Reader MP recommended this Wired article: Vanishing in the modern age

Real estate bust opens doors for parties at vacant houses. (Thanks to GG for the link.)    o o o Reader Ken S. wrote to mention: “I have also been diving construction dumpsters at various construction sites for excess building materials. You’d be shocked at what a construction hand will throw away. It’s just another way to survive this worsening economy and put stacks of building materials in my storage shed.”    o o o Courtesy of reader HPD comes another Nanny State Britannia Update: British police arrest people ‘just for the DNA’; More than three-quarters of young black men …

My old friend Fred the Valmet-meister has been helping me for the last few months in restoring several “All-American Five” 1940s vintage AM and Shortwave table radios. These have included a RCA, a Crosley, a Motorola and two Pilot brand radios. Fred has installed all new replacement capacitors, checked the tubes, cleaned the tuners, and realigned the radios. The end result has been EMP-proof dual band radios that can operate on both AC and DC power. As previously mentioned in SurvivalBlog, these are ideal for anyone that has an alternative power system where they have a 110-to-120 volt VDC battery …

On a recent trip in foul weather, we were reminded how useful it is to have several whitewater rafting “dry bags.” These heavy-duty rubberized nylon bags have a virtually watertight seal, and have become ubiquitous with the paddling crowd. Ours were purchased back in the early 1990s, and were made by Northwest River Supply (NRS). This is back in the days when nearly all of the NRS products were made by hand in Moscow, Idaho. And this was when their “Bill’s Bag” was available in green. (Now, the only choice is “shoot me ” red!) There are now umpteen dry …

SurvivalBlog’s British-born Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson sent this: British Navy was within 50 feet of Somali Pirates as they Kidnapped British Citizens. Mike’s comment: “Their poltroonery in letting the pirates do this may be related to the advice that no pirate should be taken on a British ship in case he might apply for political asylum. Words cannot express how far this is from the Nelsonian tradition.”    o o o Also sent in by Mike: No, they’re not kidding: UK proposal to ration carbon usage on an individual basis.    o o o Attention South Carolina Citizens: …

We’ve had a tough deer and elk season here at the Rawles Ranch. Thusfar, we’ve filled just two deer tags, and haven’t yet got an elk. The season has been difficult because there have been two hard winters in succession with deep snow that have taken their toll on the herds. The local wolf population seems to be increasing as well, and their depredations have been obvious. (And so are their big piles of scat that we see all-too frequently when we are out in the woods!) After they’ve cleaned out the deer, I suspect they’ll move on to consuming …

Reader Chris B. wrote to mention that a software update glitch caused him to lose all of the address book data on his Blackberry. He wanted to remind folks to periodically write down (or upload and print out) all of the phone numbers, addresses, and e-mail addresses that you keep stored on hand-held devices. Chris wrote: “I felt pretty sheepish, using my laptop to e-mail everyone for their cell phone numbers because I don’t know them and didn’t have the foresight to write them down.” Nothing beats a hard copy backup!    o o o Gun Sales Shoot Up Amid …

Bobbi-Sue spot what must surely be our cue to stock up before some hefty retail price increases: Rice to Return 100% as Typhoons, Drought Roil Asians    o o o Chalk up one minor victory for personal liberty: Airport rules changed after Ron Paul aide detained. (A hat tip to HPD for the link.)    o o o Straycat sent us this: Death Valley Bones May Solve Mystery of Missing German Tourists. The Cat’s Comment: “First rule of survival; Be prepared! Second rule; Don’t do anything stupid! “    o o o ‘2012’ Movie Tops Box Office, Pulls in $225M …

Ryan (not one of the one of the Ryans of TSLRF fame) sent this news item from a southern Idaho newspaper: Driggs boy shoots bear on family’s porch. Ryan’s comment: “This is great. Hope my daughter turns out like this”. Speaking of bears in Idaho, my old college roommate e-mailed me the link to this archived picture from the Colt Firearms collection.That was lucky shot. (Needless to say, .32 ACP is not a reliable stopper for predators of either the two-legged or four-legged varieties! Here at the ranch, we regularly carry .45 ACPs in the woods, and feel just barely …

Yishai spotted a link to New Scientist, posted by Glenn Reynolds, over at Instapundit: Mini ice age took hold of Europe in months    o o o Steve S. mentioned a recent article in The Detroit News that briefly quotes JWR: Apocalypse now: Armageddon scenarios reach fever pitch    o o o SurvivalBlog’s British-born Editor at Large Michael Z. Williamson mentioned this incredible news story from Nanny State Britannia: Find a gun, go to jail.    o o o For the OPSEC-minded amongst us, Ron A. suggested this article with umpteen links: Web World Wide — 50 Free Internet Tools …

Cheryl (aka The Economatrix) mentioned that Sun Tzu’s Art of War (Sonshi’s translation, not the Giles edition) free on-line. Be sure to check out the Strategy Course.    o o o I found this linked at The Drudge Report (a very good news aggregation page that I scan at least once a week): Asteroid passes just 8,700 miles from Earth – with only 15 hours warning    o o o Also from Drudge: Cuba orders extreme measures to cut energy use. An energy saving tip for Papa Fidel: You could save half a million watts, if you just pull the …

Reader “Sharp Shepherd” highlighted this article: Rental Goats Clear Brush Better, Beat Cosmonauts in Space Race    o o o Bridget sent this, about the ever-encroaching Nanny State Britannia: Every phone call, email and internet click stored by ‘state spying’ databases    o o o The folks at Directive 21 (one of our advertisers) are having a special on Royal Berkey water purification systems. The regular price is $275, but for a limited time they are $262.50. The sale will end when their small on-hand stock of the filters runs out, so don’t hesitate. OBTW, because of state certification issues, …