The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. Don’t build on public land! That’s the take away concept from today’s postings.

That Strange Neighbor

Neighbors got a surprise in Shelburne, Vermont over the last few weeks. Apparently, a woman at a Shelburne retirement community was planning to kill herself with ricin poison made from castor beans grown on the site. Federal officials found a bottle half full in the woman’s kitchen and she is accused of testing it on her neighbors on at least three occasions. Some residents showed symptoms consistent with ricin poisoning, but most did not. Authorities say that is probably because the strength of the homemade poison was low. While not much is known about the woman, the judge did reference a lengthy mental health history.

Homeless Encampments

In an attempt to deal with the burgeoning homeless population cities like Los Angeles have been spending significant amounts of money on “street strategies” which include services like camp cleanup, mobile showers, storage facilities and homeless parking lots. However, the homeless population is increasing so rapidly that the city is struggling to keep up and much of the money intended to provide services ends up being diverted to camp sweeps. The money for services was intended to help get people off of the streets, but it isn’t working so well. Unsurprisingly, there is opposition to the services from local communities who don’t want homeless camps in their neighborhood and the city can’t find agencies to provide the services and wouldn’t let churches participate. Count this as another leftist fail.

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Reader T.Z. sent in this map of the United States welfare spending. On the map, spending is represented by the size of the dot. SurvivalBlog would like to draw your attention to the teeny, tiny size of the dots in the American Redoubt. The spending is easily correlated to the size of the cities within the states and since the Redoubt and much of the Midwest and Southern states don’t have large cites, it isn’t a surprising result. Note that leftist liberals often ridicule these same areas as low wage earning areas while touting the benefits of the high wages available on the coasts. You can make a low wage, yet live within your means along side of your neighbors who do the same thing or you can make alot of money and live surrounded by those who live off of your wages.

Don’t Build on Public Land!

The 71,000 acre wildfire that burned in southern Utah this summer led firefighters and others to uncover a complex of explosive-filled bunkers and illegally build cabins built by a survivalist. The fire burned into several bunkers and the noise of the ammunition cooking off led firefighters to the source. The owner of the facilities is cooperating with law enforcement at this time and has apparently been building the site for over 30 years. The comments section of the article is also worth reading. Thanks to H.L. for the link.

Freeze Dried Plasma

Reader G.P. sent in this article on how the military is now using freeze dried blood plasma in the field. It allows medics to keep a perishable resource in less than perfect conditions and is making a world of difference in keeping soldiers alive until they can be evacuated. While they used it in World War II, the military stopped it’s usage due to outbreaks of Hepatitis. Safety testing is considered advanced enough that it’s usage is being considered again. The French, German, Norwegian and Israelis have been using it for years.

Space Storm Warnings

Reader G.G. sent in this article where one expert is interviewed about Space Storms. The most devastating kind is the coronal mass ejection (CME) where billions of tonnes of matter are hurled into space by the sun. It takes one of those storms about 19 hours to travel to earth. However, even though we can see it within minutes, we won’t know until about 15 minutes before it strikes what its magnetic orientation is and what effect it will have. It’s worth noting that a massive solar storm hasn’t hit the earth since the mid 19th century, though there have been a few very close misses.

Voting with Your Feet

Reader H.L. sent in this article on how people are finally voting with their feet. Moving companies are reporting that Connecticut has more outbound migration than inbound with a 60/40 ratio. This is topped only by New York, New Jersey, and Illinois. We’d like to think that this is due to the restrictive gun control laws that exist in these areas, but we know it is more complex than that. As the saying goes, correlation does not mean causation, but I’m pretty sure the liberal progressive bent of these states has alot to do with it. Hopefully, those moving out are not exporting these same leftist ideals to their new locations. In all actually, it probably has more to do with jobs and the economy than anything else.

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Please send your news tips to HJL. (Either via e-mail of via ourContact form.) These are often especially relevant, because they come from folks who watch news that is important to them. Due to their diligence and focus, we benefit from fresh “on target” news. We often “get the scoop” on news that is most likely ignored (or reported late) by mainstream American news outlets. Thanks!