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, the horrendous driver’s license data breach.
Data Breach Compromised 150 Million Driver’s Licenses
TechCrunch reports: ID verification giant IDScan confirms data breach with more than 150 million driver’s licenses stolen. Here is an excerpt:
“The company said in a website notice that hackers stole the driver’s licenses from the company’s cloud; the stolen information includes people’s full names and driver’s license numbers, along with identity numbers from other government-issued documents, such as passports.
The Louisiana-based firm is used by corporate customers from entertainment venues to cannabis dispensaries to check and verify the identity documents of their customers.”
JWR’s Comment: There are roughly 237.7 million licensed drivers in the United States. So, there is a 63% chance that your license was part of this horrendous data breach.
Another Dengue Fever Outbreak in Florida
Reader C.B. sent this: Dangerous mosquito-borne virus spreads in one state as officials warn of rising cases. Take note that there was another Dengue outbreak in New York, in 2024. Readers may recall my description of Dengue Fever (a.k.a. Breakbone Fever) in my novel Survivors. – JWR
World’s Safest Country in a Global Catastrophe?
Several readers suggested this article: Where on Earth is safest from global catastrophe? Here is a pericope:
“Australia came out as the best location to weather a catastrophic event that decimated global populations. It is in the Southern Hemisphere, so far away from the most likely location of a nuclear conflict (although the authors warn that it is allied with the U.S., which might increase its risk exposure). It is a major food producer, with diverse climatic zones, and has significant energy infrastructure.
Next best spots are Argentina, Brazil and New Zealand. New Zealand ranks lower than Australia because it has active volcanoes, a small industrial base, and is surrounded by water and vulnerable to tsunamis. Meanwhile, Brazil and Argentina have high levels of inequality and historical political instability, the authors wrote.”
China Could Decimate the UK’s Infrastructure
Saudi Arabia’s Iran Dilemma
Published yesterday, in The New York Times: Saudi Arabia Faces ‘Worst-Case Scenario’ After Being Rebuffed by Trump. A quote from the article:
“In the first few months of the fighting, Saudi Arabia was relatively untouched by Iran’s retaliatory attacks, compared with its neighbors. Now, with no end to the hostilities in sight, Iran is seeking greater leverage over the United States, and Saudi Arabia — the world’s largest oil exporter until the war knocked it down the list — has become a primary target.”
Bizarre Glitch Causes Delivery Robots to Swarm a Sidewalk
Over at Futurism: Bizarre Glitch Causes Delivery Robots to Swarm Busy City Sidewalk.
Anthropic Researcher Quits Over AI Fears
In The Wall Street Journal: Anthropic Researcher Quits Over ‘Out-of-Control’ AI Fears. The peice begins:
“An Anthropic researcher is quitting the artificial-intelligence industry over fears that the lab and its competitors are racing to build systems they won’t be able to control, a sign of mounting safety concerns within top AI companies.
Jacob Coxon, a researcher who specializes in training new AI models by having them consume vast amounts of data, said Tuesday that he is leaving the company because he doesn’t want to participate in an industrywide rush to build AI systems that can improve themselves, worried such systems could spiral out of control and destroy humanity.”
And, soon after, we read this headline: Anthropic CEO Declares ‘We Must Slow the Pace’ of AI Advancements While Warning the Tech Could ‘Take Over’ the Internet in Months.
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