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 “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at biodiversity.
Mild Winter Weather May Invigorate Ticks
Reader Alan W. spotted this: Mild winter weather means ticks might be more active than usual. Alan says: “Unlike the northern half of the country, the mid-Atlantic is having a mild winter and that will mean that our insects are still active.”
Biodiversity Yields Financial Returns
And another from C.B.: Biodiversity yields financial returns. Here is a quote:
“Farmers could increase their revenues by increasing biodiversity on their land. This is the conclusion reached by an interdisciplinary research team including the fields of agricultural sciences, ecology and economics at ETH Zurich and other universities.
Many farmers associate grassland biodiversity with lower yields and financial losses. “Biodiversity is often considered unprofitable, but we show that it can, in fact, pay off,” says Nina Buchmann, Professor of Grassland Sciences at ETH Zurich.”
Growing Date Palms from 2,000-Year-Old Seeds
Scientists grow date palm plants from 2,000-year-old seeds.
Interstate Compact on 2nd Amendment Sanctuaries
Reader Larry C. sent us this YouTube video link: These 8 States Could Form The Interstate Compact on 2nd Amendment Sanctuary!
USB Charging? Beware of ‘Juice Jacking’
Reader C.B. sent this: Charging your phone using a public USB port? Beware of ‘juice jacking’. Here is how the article opens:
“Have you ever used a public charging station to charge your mobile phone when it runs out of battery? If so, watch out for “juice jacking.”
Cybercriminals are on the prowl to infect your mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers and access your personal data, or install malware while you charge them.
Specifically, juice jacking is a cyber attack in which criminals use publicly accessible USB charging ports or cables to install malicious software on your mobile device and/or steal personal data from it.
Even a 60-second power-up can be enough to compromise your phone‘s data. This is because USB cables allow the transmission of both power and data streams simultaneously. Victims can be left vulnerable to identity theft, financial fraud, and significant stress.”
High School Hosts ‘Adulting Day’
This one came from Reader DSV: High School Hosts ‘Adulting Day’ To Teach Students How To Cook, Clean, And Change A Tire
New Greenhouses May Be Fully Solar Powered
Reader C.B. sent this: Next generation of greenhouses may be fully solar powered. The article begins:
“Many greenhouses could become energy neutral by using see-through solar panels to harvest energy—primarily from the wavelengths of light that plants don’t use for photosynthesis. Those are the findings of a new modeling study conducted by engineering, plant biology and physics researchers at North Carolina State University. “es of cultivation. Their paper has just been published in the journal Nature Communications.”
A Pro-Gun E-Commerce Company
Ancient Viruses Found in Tibetan Glacier
And, finally, Reader A.D. suggested this fascinating article at Science magazine’s web site: Ancient viruses found in Tibetan glacier. Here is a pewricope:
“In 2015, when researchers embarked on an expedition to retrieve the oldest ice on the planet, they were doing it to look for clues about past climate. But during the journey—to the Guliya ice cap in China’s Tibet (above)—they also found 15,000-year-old viruses—some of them new to science, Vice reports. The scientists retrieved the ancient viruses by drilling 50 meters deep into the glacier ice. Then, to rule out any contamination, they developed an original method to study the microbes in the lab, they reported earlier this month on the preprint server bioRxiv. The critters they found, including 28 new viral groups, represent the microbes that were present in the atmosphere at the time they were trapped in the ice, giving scientists a window to understanding the past climate and microbial evolution.”
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Re. High School Hosts ‘Adulting Day’
So Hillary was right, it takes a village to raise our children.
The real lost ‘life skill’ is parenting.
Adulting day, at first I thought this was a goofy title / article, then I remembered my son-in-law’s nephews. Except to put the key in and put gas in, they didn’t anything about their cars they were driving to school. For quite some time my two grandsons were over there showing them how to fix different things on their cars, mechanical and body work wise. they are smart kids, but their father didn’t have an interest in mechanical things ( although he grew up on a large farm ) or have an interest to show them . so yeah, this is probably a good idea to have an adult day
Re: Usb “juice jacking”
You can buy special cables that do not transfer data, only power, specifically for this reason.
I did not know that they made a special cable for this, but even so I would be more inclined to follow GeoGuy’s advice below and use your own charger. It would be much safer that way. One way to test a cable would be to plug in a USB cable to your home computer (if you have one) and connect it to your phone. If you can transfer data with that cable to/from your computer then it is NOT safe to use in a public place. Better to be a bit paranoid than to get your data compromised. Cell phones are bad enough the way they are already.
Adulting is supposed to be taught by the parents. That isn’t the governments job.
True enough. Truth is all education is the parents responsibility, even school. Even if a parent decides to let the government help with that they are still responsible to make sure there child gets it.
Not every parent is good in everything, especially not homeschooling and not every one Cooks the same style as their parents
One must wonder if there is any connection between the Tibetan ice viruses and the Wuhan Coronavirus.
Also Revelation 9:13-21, esp v 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed- by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths
That`s the first question that came to mind when I read the piece.
Could it have gotten out?
Or experimented with for nefarious reasons?
I don`t trust men with such things.
Dan
The Tibetan glacier story is interesting. There are millions of viruses on earth and only a handful of them affect humans.
There is already overwhelming data that the Wuhan coronavirus came from a bat. Here’s a link to the “pedigree chart” showing all the related coronaviruses. These relationships are determined by gene sequencing and percentage of shared genetic material.
In the chart, the red one next to the human called 2019 nCoV is the coronavirus causing all the problems right now. Follow the lines and you can see how closely related it is to a whole lot of bat coronaviruses.
https://marlin-prod.literatumonline.com/cms/attachment/2a04241c-fd41-44b6-bb67-336e53f2e4f5/gr3.jpg
The interstate 2nd amendment compact is a good start, I hope it goes viral and spreads like wildfire.
The “bat theory” has been totally discredited as multiple cases had no contact(primary,secondary or tertiary). The Chinese reaction is very informative,this is response to a Bioweapon,either escaped from Wuhan bioweapons lab or false flagged in response to theft from Canadian lab. Still see low transmission rate and low mortality rates for even a naturally occuring virus,the Cure seems more dangerous than the disease.
Regarding the Wuhan virus: First of all, it has an official name now, the COVID 19. Not very catchy, but it will do. The official numbers out of China have started to move towards reality with some very serious gains overnight. The cruise ship that is docked in Japan has continued to see daily double-digit rises in the number of infected people. Japan also sees one additional death and the United States sees an increase in the number of infected people on American soil. There is talk that perhaps this Virus has an even longer incubation than 24 days. It is also seems highly likely that the initial point of outbreak was in October and the wave slowly built through December before it was noticed. Which would explain why it is seemingly so slow to be growing in the United States, it could already be here and you wouldn’t even know it. Those infected with mild cases would simply assume that they have a cold or possibly a weak flu. Many people will be asymptomatic and not even realize at all. That was certainly the case in China at the beginning.
Take it serious. Stay aware. Stock that Lifeboat.
any more info on the “next generation” of greenhouses? I’m hoping to have a greenhouse up and running in the next year or two.
Is any one other than me incredibly ….. Disappointed that everything now needs to have a cutesy title for it? Or be a challenge?
It’s not looting its foraging.
Tide pod challenge, invisible box challenge… Etc.
Undocumented person last opposite to illegal alien (yes they are illegal they broke federal laws to attempt entry and they are In-fact alien to this country)
Adulting …. Necking etc.
How did it get named “adulting” . … Didn’t this just used to be called home ec?
A day? Didn’t home ec used to be year long? And now they are asking if a day is excessive?
I talk about a slow decline but jeeze Tide pods…. Might not be much left to rock bottom.
USB “juice jacking” can be avoided by using your own li’l charger “brick”. These small chargers don’t take up much more room than the cable itself and only put out the proper 5V DC electrical power, no additional signal. Then you can still use the standard electrical outlets at public charging stations, including the work counters and/or comfy chairs.
Regarding the Interstate Compact on the 2nd Amendment. I have to say it’s about dang time the states pulled their heads out and started to man up. It will be very interesting to see how it all shakes out, and I support the idea wholeheartedly. I find it interesting as well that these same states are the same ones mentioned in author Matt Brackens books about “Enemies Foreign and Domestic”, the ones that maintained and supported the Constitution.
Ticks: Get guineas and chickens and turkeys. I love my guineas!
When I was in school, back in the 1960’s, Home Economics was a required course for girls in 7th grade, 1 semester of sewing, 1 semester of cooking. In 8th grade, girls had to take 1 more semester of their choice, either cooking or sewing. I only knew 1 boy who took it in junior high. For the boys, wood shop, metal shop and auto shop were all required, 1 semester each, in 7th and 8th grade. I tried to take wood shop but was not allowed to – the school administration was of the opinion that having a girl in the shop classes, wearing a mini-skirt, would be a distraction and, therefore, a safety issue. They actually said their insurance would not allow it. When I got into the high school for 10th grade, the junior high suddenly did an about-face and allowed the girls to take any of the shop classes, including a new one on small engine repair. And they opened up the Home Ec classes to the boys. Timing is everything, isn’t it?
By that time, I was firmly ensconced in the Mechanical Drawing class since I knew I was going to go to college to become an architect, so it really didn’t matter anymore. But it still ticked me off.
In Driver’s Ed, we were taught how to change a tire, check the oil and jump the battery. And how to get unstuck in the snow.
In Math class in 7th grade, we were taught about bank accounts, how to write a check, how to endorse it for deposit and for cashing it, how to keep the register and how to reconcile the statement with the register.
These were all standard skills that everyone was supposed to know and understand. How sad that the schools are now more concerned with convincing the kids that, just because they are going through puberty and their hormones are trying to balance themselves out, they have the “right” to be moody, disobedient and disrespectful. According to our step-daughter about 14 years ago, she was “a teenager and she was just going to be like that until her hormones got straightened out.” I told her that hormones didn’t have anything to do with attitude and she had better straighten THAT out. Of course, this was the same school whose Assistant Principal told me that Social Studies (History & Geography) didn’t matter in the “real world” and that only Language Arts and Math mattered. I guess he wasn’t paying much attention to the conditions in the Middle East and really didn’t understand how that part of the world had arrived where it was.
I worry for the future of our country. The other night, on Judge Jennine Pirro’s show, Charlie Kirk, I believe, said that one of the biggest problems is the fact that the young people today are not “grateful” for what they have in the USA. They have never had to struggle or fight for what they have so they don’t feel any gratitude toward the older generations, those who fought and died in WWII, Korea or Viet Nam.