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 “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 germination experiments using seeds from the Svalbard global seed vault.

Hydroxychloroquine Versus Remdesivir

Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: Hydroxychloroquine vs. Remdesivir: History’s most deadly con. The CDN article begins:

“The world has been rocked by a deadly virus with millions infected, 153,000 deaths reported in the United States, and 667,000 worldwide.

An intense battle has emerged on how to treat COVID-19, between hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), an inexpensive treatment for malaria and other diseases that’s over 50 years old, and Remdesivir, a drug that has been around since 2009, manufactured by Gilead Pharmaceuticals.

This battle shows how public perceptions can be manipulated for profit and political advantage, in this case, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of needless deaths.

As the truth finally comes out, the people who perpetrated this con job will be reviled in history, and those who manipulated the narrative, and the data, will be exposed.”

Recently-Imported Israeli FN-FAL Magazines

I just learned that Palmetto State Armory (“PSA” — one of our affiliate advertisers) is running a special on a small batch of original Israeli metric FN-FAL magazines that were recently imported. There is a mixture of new and used magazines. A few of them are actually original Belgian magazines with blued followers! These typically sell for $25 to $35 each, but PSA is selling them for just $14.99 each.  Type SKU # 5165493391 into their search box. I recommend that you jump on a few of these, even if you don’t yet own a FAL, since their price is bound to go back up to $25+, very soon

Face Masks Confuse Facial Recognition Technology

D.S.V. sent this:  Face Masks Confuse Facial Recognition Technology

Some Surplus MRAPs for Sale

Our Field Gear Editor Pat Cascio mentioned that a few military surplus MRAP vehicles are being brokered by the folks at Bulletproof-it.com. (Contact them for photos and details.)

The “Chalking” Double Standard

From Officer Tatum: DC Police Arrest Two Pro-Life Students For ‘Chalking! JWR’s Comment: Soooo… Apparently permanently painting “BLM” and similar text on city streets and sidewalks is okay, but temporarily chalking a conservative message is not?

Gun Control in Wuhan Virus Stimulus Package?

Reader J.B. spotted this: Gun Control Will be Tacked on To Wuhan Virus Stimulus Package

Svalbard Global Seed Vault Begins 100-year Seed Experiment

Svalbard Global Seed Vault commences seed experiment that will last 100 years. (A hat tip to reader C.B. for the link.)  Here is a snippet:

“How long can seeds stay alive? That question is crucial for seed gene banks and research institutes working with plants and seeds. Therefore, a new seed longevity experiment has started in the Global Seed Vault. The experiment comprises seeds of 13 globally important crops, produced by project partners from all over the world, including Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), and is planned to go on for a hundred of years from now on.

The first experimental seed samples will be brought into the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on the 27th of August. These first test sets consist of seeds produced at the IPK Gatersleben.”

Rutgers University: “Grammar Be Racist”

Peter and D.S.V. both sent us this news: Rutgers University declares grammar to be racist

Tinted Solar Panels Could Boost Farm Incomes

Reader C.B. sent this: Green energy and better crops: Tinted solar panels could boost farm incomes. Here is a brief excerpt:

“Researchers have demonstrated the use of tinted, semi-transparent solar panels to generate electricity and produce nutritionally superior crops simultaneously, bringing the prospect of higher incomes for farmers and maximizing use of agricultural land.

By allowing farmers to diversify their portfolio, this novel system could offer financial protection from fluctuations in market prices or changes in demand, and mitigate risks associated with an unreliable climate. On a larger scale it could vastly increase capacity for solar-powered without compromising .”

You can send your news tips to JWR. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) Thanks!




57 Comments

  1. I bought two of the FN magazines. One is in good armory storage shape and the other, while not necessarily used, appears to have been field carried. Overall, pleased with the quality, price and the somewhat delayed shipping.

  2. Re: Solar Panels and Crops

    Any hydroponic person knows that orange/red light causes plants to flower. Blue /white light is about growth upward and outward.

    Farmers have a sense of The colors of light, most never thought about it as maybe having a play in plant development. The seasons of light are something of value.

    1. SCGal… You make a very good point about the science of light. It’s interesting science, truly fascinating. We grow hydroponically, in raised soil based beds, and in-ground — and have a serious interest in light spectrum influences as well as other factors including water temperature and nutritional elements. The tinted solar panels may appear to be a good idea on first glance, but adverse impacts to the plants are likely to be discovered on deeper examination. It’s clever, but the science of the plant as a total organism is both simple and quite complex.

    1. The most efficient solar collector is still the humble vegetable. Like you, Matt, I would like to se comparative yields.

      Carry on in grace

    2. Once a Marine; always a Marine is >right. ………. We just don’t often think of plants as Solar Collectors, nor is coal often considered stored Solar Energy (stored in the earth by the actions of a creator God).

      Photosynthesis, the process by which green plants and certain other organisms transform light energy into chemical energy. During photosynthesis in green plants, light energy is captured and used to convert water, carbon dioxide, and minerals into oxygen and energy-rich organic compounds.
      [britannica(dot)com]

  3. Update: NAGR staff recently informed BLP that gun control provisions have been scrapped from potential stimulus packages as well as NDAA bills. Gun owners are in the clear for now, but NAGR officials have reminded members to stay vigilant.

  4. In 2005, an article was published in the peer reviewed journal, Virology, about the efficacy of HCQ o0n treating SARS. They have known for 15 years and that criminal Fauci knew this yet has been against it because of his deep state connections. On top of that, he is a part patent holder, which is easily found in searches at the patent office, in 4 drugs which are being used in the vaccines that he is pushing. Fauci’s lies and
    Democratic Governor’s deadly decisions make them eligible for internment in federal prisons for life.

    1. Exactly. And all that extra $$$ from the federal govt for corona virus on the diagnosis or death certificate. NO ONE in the news talks about keeping a healthy immune system or the Zinc key to fighting virus. The hydroxyclorquine (or quinine or quercetin) release the zinc to stop the rna virus from replicating.

      1. Here here!
        The press is complicit in their criminal handling of the situation.
        We The People depend on The Press to keep the politicians honest, and instead they are all in bed with each other (literally and figuratively). That is why politicians and their lackeys are running roughshod over the populace! If the news media was all agog over the crimes actually happening (instead of constantly harping on made up invented infractions and perceived redress), this WORLD would be a very different place.
        The press was given a special place in our society, enshrined in our 1st ammendment to the Constitution, and they have thrown that gift away, they do not deserve the status nor respect they once held. They decided to throw their hats in with tge criminals and traitors, and complain when we treat them so!

  5. Re: Grammer Be Racist!
    I suggest we throw away (or better yet…burn) all Dictionaries. Might as well include all encyclopedias and history books too. Civics 101 books could also be in the pile along with mathematics books since all smart phones now have a calculator in their little micro-brain and most young people only use plastic debit cards for any monetary transactions anyways, so in reality, no one really needs to know how to count.

    God Bless America…PLEASE!

  6. Rutgers University declares grammar to be racist

    The irony of this is that the policy is racist, not the requirement that foreign students learn to read and write proper English.

    The word “racism” is only rarely used in it proper definition these days. It’s been corrupted for political purposes as well as people just not knowing their arse from their elbow when it comes to English.

    Racism is the idea that one race is superior to another. Period. Merriam Webster – “Racism: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.”

    So a policy that assumes foreign students are too dumb to be able to learn English is saying to me that they are inferior, which is incorrect.

    If I were to say that blacks suck at running marathons, I’d be crucified as a racist before I could even get the period on the end of the sentence. There’s nothing in my statement that indicates I think blacks are inferior, I can’t run a marathon either, it’s just a statement of fact about a certain race. It’s a racial comment, not a racist remark. Biology backs me up. Blacks have a higher proportion of fast-twitch muscles which make them very good at shorter running distances like track and field events, while whites have a higher proportion of slow-twitch muscles which are for long-term running such as marathons. If I were to say it probably comes from having to run from lions and tigers in Africa, that would be a racial joke, not a racist joke, and I would seriously wonder how that played into the evolution of the races since my Nordic and British ancestors didn’t have to sprint away from too many wild critters. Saying that blacks suck at marathons is not a racist comment, but an over-generalization (since blacks can and do win marathons) and there’s a huge difference. Very few journalists and social justice warriors are aware of the difference and almost never use the word racist correctly. Their misuse of the word is not helping the black community.

    Back in colonial times, people thought blacks were inferior because in Africa where slaves came from, they had virtually no technology compared to white races who had mills, wagons, metal foundries, etc. That technological superiority bled over into their wrongly thinking that blacks were inferior in all aspects, thus an inferior race, which is not true.

    P.S. don’t let BLM find out that fast-twitch muscle fibers are also called white fibers!

    1. In the 90s, my university’s sociology department assigned one or more classes the task of an Ebonics survey. They sure did. It seemed a bit strange, even fringe, at the time. No one imagined then that this might have been an early sign of things to come — least of which any argument that English grammar could be racist. The sprouts we see today came from seeds planted long ago.

      Robert “Bob” Woodson, a Civil Rights activist, is often interviewed on Fox News. His is a voice of truth and reason. It’s always a pleasure to hear what he has to say.

      https://duckduckgo.com/?t=lm&q=bob+woodson&ia=web

      1. Bob Woodson is becoming a hero of mine.

        Actually many if not most of the people I view in an almost hero light these days are black conservatives. They have some of the brightest minds and strongest spines of anyone out there IMO. And many of the older ones, experienced real racism in their younger days and totally crushed it with their no excuses attitudes.

        1. I concur! Skin color is NOT a determiner of intellect. Take, for example: Dr. Walter E. Williams, Thomas Sowell, Allen West, J.C. Watts, Allen Keyes, Herman Cain, Ben Carson, Larry Elder, Candace Owens, Clarence Thomas, and many others. We need to judge people as individuals–not based on their group or “race.”

          1. Well, duh. Glad you bring this out. Will you allow this comment; that is the real FREEDOM question, isn’t it. Do you allow true FREEDOM of expression & thought?

          2. We do indeed allow freedom of expression. But keep in mind that this a PRIVATE forum that is part of PRIVATE information service–not a public forum. 99% of the comments that are deleted are because of spamming, personal attacks, or because they include foul or profane language.

    2. I thought that in America a person has the right to believe any way you want. If a person wants to be a Nazi that’s their right. If a person wants to be a communist that’s their right. Or a Christian or an atheist or believe in nothing at all, that’s their right. So if a person wants to be a racist don’t they have that right? There are (I believe) millions of Americans who believe there are inherent differences in the races and some of those differences are beneficial to that race and some are detrimental to that race. But they dare not say it. I wonder how many people reading this post believe there are differences in the races.

      1. Hi Mray, anyone who doesn’t think there are differences in the races hasn’t opened their eyes or done any research. It would be crazy to think all the differences are outwardly observed (like skin color) and there aren’t any at the cellular level (like sickle cell anemia or IQ). I think the vast majority of Americans realize that, even if they don’t dare say anything. And why don’t they? For the reasons I pointed out: that very few people understand the proper definition of racist vs racial.

        My comment wasn’t about freedom of speech, it was about the improper use of the word racism. Most will agree with you that we have the right to believe anything we want, even the absurd such as the moon is made of cheese, 1 + 1 = 3, at sea level pure water boils at 189°F, and Congress is going to do the right thing concerning the direction the country is headed.

        I think you are still not understanding the word racism. Yes, Asians score higher on IQ tests than other races and Blacks excel at sports like basketball and the 100-meter dash, but just because one race is superior to another in one aspect, that doesn’t make that race overall superior to any other, nor does it make the person who pointed it out a supremacist. By the same token, when someone points out a characteristic where a race is deficient compared to other races, it’s a racial comment, not a racist comment.

    1. Kimberely, I can’t thank you enough for sharing this life saving information. I have shared it with family, relatives and even strangers when they told me their loved ones had just gotten the virus. Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing. Blessings to you in abundance! Krissy

  7. “As the truth finally comes out, the people who perpetrated this con job will be reviled in history, and those who manipulated the narrative, and the data, will be exposed.”

    And then 2 weeks later 99.99% of the world will completely forget about it…. very sad.

  8. I think the reasoning and justification for use of the nuclear bomb was quite simple.After the
    casualty numbers were calculated for an invasion of Japan it was obvious that the lives of
    Allied soldiers mattered.

    1. About the A-bomb, JWR wrote, “History is always written by the victors, so the reasoning and justification for this will be argued for years to come.” Very true.

      Yet, most people who argue against the use of the bomb do not understand the Japanese efforts throughout the war to use biological warfare against their enemies.

      Consider “Operation Cherry Blossoms at Night.” When the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan was only a little more than a month away from carrying out a biological warfare attack on Southern California. See: https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/operation-cherry-blossoms-night.html Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cherry_Blossoms_at_Night

      Imagine how the country would have reacted if hundreds of thousands of Americans died from plague, and that Harry Truman had bombs that could have ended the war but didn’t use them

  9. HCQ and Remdesivir will eventually be shown to be best suited to different diagnostic and other patient specific findings. Determinations about which medication to use and when should be examined honestly and scientifically, and decisions should be made by patients in consultation with their doctors.

    I remain concerned about the silencing of doctors speaking out about the use of hydroxychloroquine as deaths continue to mount: https://virusncov.com/ In the U.S. we’re well beyond 161,000.

    I wonder whether or not HCQ should be given OTC status with pharmacist consultation including patient education related to reasonable safety warnings. Just as people can learn to wear masks properly, people can learn about how to safely use many medications as well. Given the serious nature of the current situation, it may be life saving simply to make access to HCQ widely available.

    Think it through… Want a nurse clinician or trained public health staffer to assist? It would be much easier and more affordable (and humane) to place trained health professionals at pharmacies to assist with screening than to fund the use of ventilator care (not to mention the severity of the human suffering and loss).

    …and now the CDC has determined that no tests will be required to release patients from active status. We no longer really have the ability to assess risk at any level of confidence in local areas.

    Tucker Carlson has an excellent presentation on the subject of COVID-19 and New York City. Although I remain a steadfast believer that people should voluntarily use comprehensive PPE (yes, including masks) for their own protection and that of others, I also believe that Tucker makes excellent points related to the ways in which authoritarian politicians are using this crisis for their own sinister purposes. A link to Tucker’s program is available via Brighteon.com and is linked below.

    https://www.brighteon.com/559fdf35-7111-4348-983c-55503e21c04c

      1. There is also evidence that the death toll is being underreported:
        https://247wallst.com/special-report/2020/07/17/how-covid-19-deaths-continue-to-be-underreported-in-every-state/

        One question that we were discussing this morning… how can so many people on one hand talk about the breakdown of education and the failure to teach the things that actually define an education, such as philosophy, math, science, history, etc, and on the other hand, talk about how we MUST get our kids back into school, where ostensibly they will be subjected to the marxist, I mean communist, indoctrination that is destroying our country? It would seem that those are mutually exclusive.

        Seems that this crisis/pandemic is providing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to re-think our entire education system, and put parents back in charge of what their children learn, and at the same time make the parents responsible for understanding and proactively directing the quality of that education.

  10. I never have a cough unless im forced to wear a mask then I get a tickle in my throat and cant stop coughing. I said this to a worker at a store and i said Im not sick, but the mask chokes me. She said the same thing happens to her. Kinda funny if it wasn’t so sad. What country are we in again?

  11. Part of the tenet of unintended consequences is the dynamic of human adaptation. It would seem from a social perspective, the more restrictive the controls are made, the greater the number of work-arounds are instituted. Moses had the same problem. The Hebrews went from only having 10 rules to follow to having a whole book of rules that were constantly being revised and updated. It is human nature to find the loophole and exploit it.

  12. Part of the tenet of unintended consequences is the dynamic of human adaptation. It would seem from a social perspective, the more restrictive the controls are made, the greater the number of work-arounds are instituted. Moses had the same problem. The Hebrews went from only having 10 rules to follow to having a whole book of rules that were constantly being revised and updated. It is human nature to find the loophole and exploit it. Of course, that’s how the devil exploits us. It is the law. A quote from Devil’s Advocate by the devil himself, “The law lets us into everything”.

  13. U.S. Dollar index as of 1:23 PM August 6th 2020 – 92.73 . Gold spot price $2060.10 Silver spot price $28.40 . Gold to Silver ratio – 72.71 : 1

  14. I’ve watched “standards” disappear from everything especially jobs but other things such as education and hobbies as well. Grammer being next is no surprise. Instead of meeting standards everything is lowered or flat out changed for “inclusion” and “diversity”. The other side is if your rich or powerful enough you can simply buy your way around the standards and be on the rowing team without rowing. It’s only the folks in the middle that really suffer but they are also the issue in allowing it to happen. Unfortunately the numbers are no longer with those trying to do right but instead are with the middle division and the “special” groups. And if you can’t find your way to getting around those pesky standards you simply “identify” as having done so and wholla your a pineapple in a world of I used to play football pizza.

  15. It is all designed to make everyone EQUAL. Everyone is not equal and no amount of wishing or tearing down tenets of Western Civilization can make it so. Approximately 40% of blacks will never be equal to whites due to their innate composition and makeup. Just as whites will never quite equal the Asians in average intelligence. That’s just the way it is. Most blacks are just as capable as whites or Asians, but some will never learn to speak the language as it is meant to be spoken. So they demean those blacks who do speak proper English as Uncle Toms or sellouts or traitors. Americans in general do not speak as well as the British, for example. Are we to quit teaching proper English because Americans do not excel in the language as do their British cousins? No. Better to concentrate more on teaching the language to American students, including blacks so that we all speak and write better than we do now. I, for one, have tried to improve my ways of speaking and writing SINCE I was graduated from the semi-adequate schools that I attended.

    1. Since you believe that “Just as whites will never quite equal the Asians in average intelligence” doesn’t that make you an Asian Supremacist ? I’ve been calling myself that term for a long time because I agree with your statement and I’m whiter than a sun bleached cracker. Yes there is differences in the races. Just a fact.

  16. Re: Hydrox

    I find the Hydrox conflicts fascinating, maddening and disgusting.

    I also found this other article that I find even more disturbing.

    https://childrenshealthdefense.org/news/if-covid-fatalities-were-90-2-lower-how-would-you-feel-about-schools-reopening/

    This is a long article but worth the effort. There is a lot of different information, but the eventual punch line is that if COVID deaths were recorded on death certificates in the same manner all other diseases are in accordance with the normal CDC guidance in place since 2003 (like say the flu), the “death rate” from COVID would be 90%+ lower. Two pieces of special guidance were given by the CDC early on which completely changed the way “COVID deaths” are categorized dramatically amplifying the recorded death rate.

    There is more to the article as well but it is clear this has been a total scam and this nation is being effectively spooked and stampeded like a herd of animals over a cliff.

    1. Hi JBH, great article, I couldn’t agree with it more, and share your disgust. It’s one thing for government to lie to us (as usual) but for Boobus americanus to be spooked so easily (again) and stampeded off the cliff you mentioned, is even more disgusting. Critical thinking and personal researching in this country is long dead, if it ever existed at all.

      If you look at today’s updated numbers, they’re saying that only 19 million of the earth’s 7.8 billion inhabitants have been infected so far. Hogwash. Since the CDC is currently estimating that 40% of infected people are asymptomatic, and therefore they would have no reason to go get tested, then the 19 million number is way under reported. How many of the mild cases also do not go and get tested? I think 50 million is a bare minimum of people who have been infected. When you figure in what your linked article points out, the mortality rate is most likely less than 1%.

      IMO they should open all the schools and let the kids have recess, dances, get as close as they can to each other so they can get immunity already and help with the herd immunity. They’re being harmed way more by the lock downs and all the mask BS than they ever could by the virus. So are the rest of us.

      1. The entire world is being harmed by the lock downs. That is kinda the point. Fear, intimidation, dependency, poverty = socialism. That is the point of this fiasco, that is the goal.

        Now I find out the Fuhrer Fauci stands to gain over $100 million from his association with Bill Gates and the Moderna vaccine. There are a bunch of folks at the CDC and the NIH that are set to become very very wealthy from their associations with the different parts of Big Pharma that are furiously trying to come up with a vaccine. These people are corrupt to the core.

        Who is going to pay for a $3,000 per vaccine dose for a disease that can be treated effectively with a protocol that costs less than $50 per patient. Especially since, at this point, these scumbags are already recommending 3 doses of a vaccine that is not available, yet. So we must, at all costs, even the cost of tens of thousands of lives, stop the use of Hydroxycloroquine, even to the point of destroying the careers of a number of really good, effective doctors.

        I love my country, but I’m really disgusted with my government. As I have said before, this is all criminal and crimes against humanity.

  17. U.S. Dollar index as of 6:45 PM August 6th 2020 – 92.78 . Gold spot price $2070.80 Silver spot price $29.38 . Gold to Silver ratio – 70.73 : 1

  18. I got the chance to meet Dutch VanKirk years ago. He was the navigator on the Enola Gay. I have his autograph on a picture of him and the pilot and the copilot standing in front of the plane. The gentleman was a nice guy and had a good since of humor. When I invite friends in to my mancave I always direct them to that picture hanging on my wall.

    1. Buck, you ask an interesting question… As everything before us unfolds, I often ask how it is that the very public health officials charged with attending to matters of just that — public health — have utterly and completely failed. They are awarded important titles, paid handsomely, provided extraordinary employment benefits — and they are not doing the jobs with which they have been tasked. They enjoy lovely work campuses, nicely appointed office spaces, attend conferences and are provided continuing education. They go to meetings and conferences. What they are not doing is paying attention to practical public health matters of great importance — and this is the reason President Trump was faced with empty cupboards that should have been full.

      I am reminded of the failures that led up to the banking crisis and economic calamity of 2008.

  19. Please be ever so careful about the numbers… I am not arguing the politics, but I am deeply concerned for the health, well-being and safety of people — and certainly and most especially members of the SB community.

    There are notable reports of over counting of COVID-19 deaths, but undercounting of COVID-19 cases is also occurring. Complicating matters further, the CDC no longer requires retesting in order to release patients from “active infection status” (and so they are essentially relying on self-reporting). Good luck with that strategy folks! As individuals, SB readers may be painfully honest and forthcoming, but this is not broadly the case within the general public. People inaccurately report for all kinds of reasons from simple ignorance to willful lying.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/california-struggles-fix-under-counting-bug-global-covid-19-cases-top-19-million-live

    Remember that the virus knows no politics. It is a virus, and it will behave according to its design.

  20. Telesilla of Argos, you are right. These people have not been held accountable, nor have their finances been examined by forensic accountants. Without a non-political FBI/DOJ, there is no one to do the job. And we end up at their mercy all too often.
    With only human intervention, I just do not see this ending well.

    1. Absolutely agreed, Buck… The rot that comes with corruption has reached the core. We can yet overcome this, but it’s going to be exceedingly difficult — costly and very painful in many ways.

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