SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is 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. In today’s column, we look at military robot “dogs.” (Photo above is courtesy of Draper.com.)
The USMC’s Rifle-Armed Robot Dogs
Over at The Warzone: Rifle-Armed Robot Dogs Now Being Tested By Marine Special Operators. The article begins:
“The United States Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) looks to be the first organization within the U.S. military to be using rifle-wielding “robot dogs.” Other armed robotic K-9s have been explored by the U.S. military and shown off by foreign countries, in the recent past.
Eric Shell, head of business development at Onyx Industries which supplied the gun system for the dogs, confirmed to TWZ on the floor of SOF Week that they are in use with MARSOC. Shell noted that MARSOC has two robot dogs fitted with gun systems based on Onyx’s SENTRY remote weapon system (RWS) — one in 7.62x39mm caliber, and another in 6.5mm Creedmoor caliber. It’s unclear precisely how many other robotic dogs MARSOC may have at present, however, it appears likely that the two equipped with SENTRY are being tested by the command.”
Solar Storm Knocks Out Farmers’ Tractor GPS Systems
This came to me by way of Tam’s View From The Porch blog: Solar Storm Knocks Out Farmers’ Tractor GPS Systems During Peak Planting Season. An excerpt:
“The solar storm that brought the aurora borealis to large parts of the United States this weekend also broke critical GPS and precision farming functionality in tractors and agricultural equipment during a critical point of the planting season, 404 Media has learned. These outages caused many farmers to fully stop their planting operations for the moment.
One chain of John Deere dealerships warned farmers that the accuracy of some of the systems used by tractors are “extremely compromised,” and that farmers who planted crops during periods of inaccuracy are going to face problems when they go to harvest…”
The USSR Was Better Prepared for Collapse Than U.S.
Pete in Switzerland suggested this piece: Closing the ‘Collapse Gap’: the USSR was better prepared for collapse than the US.
Canada Replaces Its Browning Hi-Powers
Reader R.D.. sent us this: Canadian Military’s WWII-Era Browning Hi-Power Pistols Are Finally Being Replaced.
Living in a Rental Bunker
By way of my friend Commander Zero’s blog, there is this little slice of life: I live in a bunker with no oven or windows, but it’s worth it to save $2,000 a month.
FBI Sought Warrantless Surveillance of Americans
Over at WND: Leaked FBI email stresses need for warrantless surveillance of Americans. A pericope:
“A Federal Bureau of Investigation official recently urged employees to “look for ways” to conduct warrantless surveillance on US residents, an internal email obtained by Wired shows. FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate’s email was reportedly sent on April 20, the same day President Biden signed a bill that was criticized as a major expansion of warrantless surveillance under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Abbate’s email seems to argue that FBI employees should make frequent use of warrantless surveillance on US people in order to justify the continued existence of the program. “To continue to demonstrate why tools like this are essential to our mission, we need to use them, while also holding ourselves accountable for doing so properly and in compliance with legal requirements,” Abbate wrote, according to Wired.”
U.S. Birth Rate Drops to Record Low
Tom Christianson spotted this: U.S. birth rate drops to record low, ending pandemic uptick.
Canada’s PM Trudeau Plans Hate Speech Law
Reader A.B.L. sent this troubling news: Blame Canada? Justin Trudeau Creates Blueprint For Dystopia In Horrific Speech Bill.
Ancient Distance Runners: A Key Hunting Skill
Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: New evidence shows early humans became long-distance runners to hunt. Here is a quote:
“New research shows the endurance pursuit of prey, chasing an animal at length on foot, was not as rare in hunter-gatherer societies as previously thought.
Anthropologists said they found written accounts of pursuits, some from the early 1500s, that suggest slow-paced, long-distance running was seen as an efficient way to capture food animals such as wildebeest, deer, antelope and bison.”
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