A Quick Run Around the Web (5/6/2020)

"Pro's Guide to Tactical Tracking | Tracks Tell A Story"--UF Pro (17 min.)

This is a video about tracking humans and, appropriately, starts with learning some information from the tire marks of a car that stopped on a wet dirt road.

• Some tips for those of you suffering from arthritis or handgun instructors:

• "7 Pistol-Shooting Tips For People With Arthritis"--NRA Family. While the author obviously provides more details for each point, his primary points are: increase the diameter of the grip in order to reduce the range of motion your hand needs to go through to tighten on the grip; use shooting gloves; reduce recoil by using a smaller caliber, a lighter load and/or handloading your own, softer loads; change your recoil spring (I assume to something stronger, although he doesn't say); and port your barrel to reduce felt recoil and muzzle flip.

• "Arthritis Tips: How to Load & Unload Semi-Autos"--NRA Family. First up, the author suggests getting an Uplula magazine loading tool made by Maglula, LTD. I can personally attest to this device. I typically see them running $30 to $35, but they are worth every penny if you have difficult magazines, or issues with your thumbs, hands or wrists (arthritis, carpal tunnel, etc.). The author recommends the overhand grip technique for racking a slide rather than the slingshot method. He also notes that there are products available that clamp or attach to the slide to give you better purchase and makes it easier to work the action (e.g., the Halo charging ring for the Buckmark pistols) or against which you press the gun to push the slide back (e.g., the Handi-Racker). Finally, you may need to change firearms to one of the Beretta models that features a tilt-up barrel.

• "How Much Meat Should You Take from Your Harvests?"--NRA Hunters' Leadership Forum. Most states require hunters to not waste meat. This not only includes shooting and leaving game to rot (or be consumed by scavengers) but also not taking as much meat off the carcass as is reasonable. The first place is the laws and regulations of the states in which you shoot. The article notes, for instance, that both Idaho and Wyoming have specific guidances as  to what is considered edible (and must therefore be harvested) and what isn't. 
• "Snubnose Revolvers: Still Meeting Defensive Needs"--Shooting Illustrated. "Another advantage is that, with experimentation, the shooter can find a set of pistol stocks (grips) that fit his or her hand."
• "8 of the Most Common Movie Gun Myths and Why They’re Wrong"--Ballistic Magazine. Movies and television shows are notoriously bad in portraying how guns should be used, the effects of guns, and other things (such as exaggerating how quite are "silencers"). The eight raised here are: (1) shooters don't know that when they have run out of bullets with firearms that lock back on empty magazines; (2) bullets send their attackers flying; (3) fully automatic weapons in civilian hands; (4) the ejection of the clip from the M-1 Garand heard above all the other noise of the battlefield; (5) shooting simultaneously with both hands; (6) Glocks being undetectable by metal detectors; (7) assembling a sniper rifle and having it still retain its zero; and (8) the nearly inaudible "thwip" of the move/television silencer. And, since I've been watching a couple 1980's action dramas lately, I'll add another few pet peeves: the revolver outfitted with a silencer; the bad guy instantly falling dead from a single handgun shot no matter where he is shot; the good guy shooting at fleeing criminals with no legal consequences.
• "10 Things You Need to Consider When Buying a Machete"--Real World Survival. The aspects he covers are reasonable price ranges, the manufacturer's history or experience with machetes, try and get blades made from high carbon steel, there are many different blade patterns with different different uses (I like to think of it like hammers--they look similar, but what they are intended to do can be very different--a ball peen hammer is not a carpenters hammer is not a smithies hammer is not a sledge hammer, etc.), you need to consider length when you consider the purpose for the machete, light blades mean you can work with it longer but heavier blades bite deeper, handle material and shape, and the finish on the blade ("A bare blade’s not inferior, it just needs more care to prevent rust"). And, finally, the author notes that machetes are not weapons (although, I would add, they can be pressed into that role).
• "Gunfighting: How to Properly Reload Under Fire"--Tactical Life. An excerpt:

We’ll start with the empty reload, as this one is pretty simple. When you run out of ammunition, your weapon becomes a very expensive, substandard hammer. So you need to load your gun and get back in the fight as soon as possible. But while you are doing so, you need to stay in the fight, and that means staying focused on the threat. Keep the pistol in your workspace—in front of your face with your head up and your eyes on what is trying to kill you. You can look under or through the triggerguard or have your gun a bit to the side, but turn the weapon up so the reload is natural. Pointing an empty gun at your opponent is, well, pointless, especially if it slows you down. And if the gun is at your waist, you will be slower and lose track of where your threat is. Stay threat-focused and get your gun back in the fight—it is your best chance for survival at this point—as fast as you can, although getting shot at will probably make this a self-correcting event.

• "Officer Safety Training Tip: Defeating the Clinch"--Police Magazine. Embedded video at the link.
• "A Good “Stuck at Home” Project – Reloading Berdan Primed Steel Cases"--Guns America. How to reload the berden-primed, steel 7.62x39 cases.
• "Bustin’ Busses"--Tactical Life. A look at the different tactics used for assaulting a bus to take down terrorists and save hostages. The author initially notes that "[t]he first consideration in taking down a bus is that it is a linear target that will normally spread out hostages and hostage-takers. As a result, bus incidents often lend themselves well to the use of tactical marksmen." And he gives a couple examples of where this would work, but if the terrorists are interspersed among the passengers, this may be more difficult and an assault may be required. The author continues:

If an assault is necessary, then there are some basic considerations:

– The bus must be immobilized

– Terrorists must be prevented from killing hostages

– The bus must be boarded and cleared

– Hostages must be sorted out from terrorists and evacuated from the bus

– Any terrorists left alive must be secured and removed to detention

Buses can be immobilized in various ways such as physically blocking the bus, ramming it with another vehicle, or disabling its engine or fuel source in some way. He continues:

To prevent the threats from killing hostages, the quickest method is to get shooters to the windows along one side of the bus and immediately take out as many terrorists as possible. Teams practice various techniques for getting the shooters into position. The Russians, always draconian in hostage rescue situations, have practiced pulling up next to the bus in a tarp covered truck and ramming ramps through the windows of the bus. Shooters quickly run up the ramps and take out the threats. They use ladders which they run up and ram through the windows of the bus, then quickly climb into shooting position.

However, Western teams use two man ladder teams or a two man team where one member assists the other to get into position, such as having the shooter climb on the assistant.  

     But there are times when the bus has to be boarded. In this case, the author relates:

      I prefer an entry from the front instead of the rear so operators can see passenger faces and hands, sorting threats from hostages. I like to put two shooters with SMGs on first—one right by the driver’s seat and one at the top of the steps. Each covers seats on one side of the aisle and this avoids a crossfire. They command occupants to remain seated and show their hands. They must take charge very quickly and forcefully to prevent panic. If the driver’s a hostage and seated, the first operator on should grab him and throw him to follow-up operators to get him out.

      Once shooters are in position to watch the bus occupants, a clearing team enters. Normally only a two-man clearing team may be used effectively due to narrow aisles. One can move slightly ahead of the other, with each covering one side of the aisle. They carefully look at each occupant searching for weapons or explosives on the floor or nearby. The shooter at the window nearest the clearing team will put his weapon on safe and raise it to prevent the possibility of a “blue on blue” shooting.

He goes on to discuss dealing with passengers and placing officers at the rear of the bus to prevent terrorists from leaving. I would note that the boarding of the bus has certain similarities to boarding and clearing an aircraft, except that the assault team will likely insert members at all points of ingress/exit because of the larger size of the aircraft.

• "Solar Powered Radio – Which Should You Choose?"--Prepper's Will. This March 2020 article provides an up-to-date review of the advantages to a solar powered radio, features to look for in such a radio, and the author's list of the 5 best radios. All the radios reviewed had at least two other methods for recharging the radio, including a hand-crank.
• "PORTABLE CHICKEN COOP PLANS: EASY TO MOVE IDEAS"--Backyard Boss. These are small coops that can be moved around the yard to give the chickens a variety of feeding areas, and incorporate a small chicken run underneath the coop. The article examines 19 different designs or styles.
• "How to Shim a Door…and Protect Yours"--Swift Silent Deadly. As the author explains:

        The “credit card trick” – more appropriately known as shimming the latch – is extremely prolific. It’s so prolific it even has a nickname. You’ve probably seen examples of it in movies and on television. You may have seen it done, and you may have done it yourself. It is so prolific because so much door hardware is susceptible to it. Few people actually know why and how it works. There are two facts you should know in order to understand how this technique works, and when it won’t. There are a couple of contraindications for this technique that yous should be aware of.

• This technique will not get you through a door with a locked deadbolt. A piece of plastic applying force in a perpendicular direction will not disengage the deadbolt. This technique is useful only for doors secured only with a locking knob set or lever set.
• This technique does not work on doors that open outward. Generally this technique is reserved for inward-opening doors, like most of the exterior doors on your home. In a future post I will talk about a very similar technique for outward-opening doors.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about why this works. The short “why” answer is that the door was either installed incorrectly, or is incorrectly adjusted. The long answer is…well, longer.

Read the whole thing.

• "Urban Survival--It's The Little Things" by John Higgs at Guns Magazine. Some tips and tricks for surviving a disaster or other type of danger in the urban environment. An example taken from the part of the article on hotel evacuation:

      Typically, people who are staying in a hotel are a long way from home. They may even be in a foreign country. People get evacuated from hotels mostly because the fire alarm has sounded. In some cases, it’s a false alarm, but even if it is, my objective is the same: Get outside quickly and with the items I need to get home. I don’t want to evacuate wearing only what I was sleeping in and I don’t want to waste time in a smoke-filled room trying to find my wallet and airline ticket.

     Before I go to sleep in a hotel I assemble all the items I need to survive and to get home: Wallet, passport, cash and credit cards, check book, car keys, some extra batteries, hotel key (in case it’s a false alarm) and cell phone. I put them all in a small nylon shoe bag with a drawstring top and put the bag on the nightstand next to the bed. I put a small, powerful flashlight next to the bag. There is generally a chair in the room and I lay out a pair of jeans, shirt and shoes on the chair. Next, I check the hotel layout diagram on the back of the door or I walk down the hallway to establish where the emergency stairs and fire escape is located.

     If the alarm sounds in the night I can grab the flashlight, get dressed, grab the bag and be out the door in about a minute. I know where the fire escape is and I can use the flashlight to find my way if the hallway is dark.

• "The personal defense rifle" (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3)--Bayou Renaissance Man. Part 1 is Peter Grant's views on what criteria or features he finds important in selecting a defensive rifle, which he boils down to two questions: How well can you shoot it? and How well can you maintain it and keep it shooting? In Part 2 he addresses questions and comments that he received. And Part 3 addresses ammunition. I think that the last part may be of the most importance and interest to me readers. For one thing, Grant observes that what the military wants and expects from rifle ammunition are different from the defensive shooter. Thus, for instance, we have seen the military pursuing rifle ammunition with capable of both penetration and longer effective ranges (e.g., the SS-109/M855) even at the expense of lethality, while the FBI and other law enforcement have focused on rounds intended to quickly put down threats at the expense of long range accuracy. Grant relates:

       Law enforcement requirements have led in a different direction.  Cops usually have no choice but to take on a bad guy, to stop him injuring others.  They mostly can't choose when, where or how to engage.  Therefore, they need a bullet that can both penetrate cover (e.g. auto bodies or glass, doors to buildings, etc.) and inflict disabling injury, to stop a criminal in his tracks.  They also typically work at much shorter ranges than the average military engagement, and with innocent bystanders in close proximity;  so they need to avoid over-penetration, to reduce the risk to them.  What's more, they're not bound by the Hague Convention strictures forbidding expanding bullets, which the US armed forces observe even though the USA was not a signatory to the Conventions.

      For general-purpose use, law enforcement has therefore gravitated towards expanding rounds such as Hornady's widely-used TAP (Tactical Application Police) series in various bullet weights.  For short-barreled carbines and urban use, many specialist units such as SWAT and hostage rescue teams have adopted bonded soft-point loads.  A highly regarded and very knowledgeable ammunition expert had this to say in 2010 about the FBI's chosen solution:

       The FBI has completed their testing process and awarded a 5.56 mm ammunition contract for up to $97 million dollars. This award is now public information and appears unique in several ways. Besides being perhaps the largest ammunition contract in FBI history, it is also the first time the FBI has mandated a true 5.56 mm pressure loading, rather than the typical anemic .223 pressure loadings that have generally been marketed to LE agencies. The 5.56 mm load offers approximately an extra 200 fps--helping performance out of short barrel weapons and enhancing function when rifles are dirty or in dusty conditions. The new FBI contract also required that the ammunition be packaged on stripper clips to aid in more rapid loading of magazines. Finally, it is the first multi-award carbine ammo contract for the FBI--both Federal Cartridge and Winchester were judged to offer ammunition which met the contract criteria. Numerous other Federal LE agencies are authorized to purchase off this contract.

     The 5.56 mm Federal 62 gr Trophy Bonded Bear Claw (TBBC) bonded JSP load is XM556FBIT3.

     The 5.56 mm Winchester 64 gr solid base bonded JSP is Q3313 on stripper clips/RA556B in 20 rd boxes.

     Both of these loads are the best barrier blind 5.56 mm loads ever produced for LE use; they offer outstanding terminal performance, even after first defeating intermediate barriers like vehicle windshields.

• "The Future is Red: Mini Red Dot Sights Will Change Your Handgun Shooting"--Guns America. A look at Micro-Red Dot sights for handguns, mounting options, and holster options.

"END of EVOLUTION? Cultural & Cognitive STAGNATION"--Felix Rex (a Black Pigeon Speak's channel) (19 min.). More evidence that Oswald Spengler's theories are correct.

• "Remember, Remember This Shit, Come November"--Hashtag Media. The author takes up a topic I've mentioned before which is that there will come a time when some law, no matter how stupid or petty, will be enforced by big guys with guns:

      Have a drink, pull up a chair, and let’s talk.

      Unlike Guy Fawkes, I don’t want to blow up the seat of government, but I do want you to consider the shit that’s going on there, and I want you to remember this come the election!

      I want that primarily so we don’t have to go the way of the Guy, or the way of V for Vendetta, or any of the other methods of nonpeaceful change of government.

      Let us consider Chicago.  (take Chicago, PLEASE!)  There’s this thing about laws… You should never pass one that you don’t think is worth using deadly force to enforce, because it’s going to happen.

      Now, I’m not anti-cop, hell I WAS one for about ten years.  That said, Chicago’s PD has been questionable since the… Well, upon thinking about it, since the city began.  They often make the Rampart Division in LA, or the NOLA PD look good by comparison.  For those that are not in the know, that’s like saying compared to Mao, Kim Jung Un isn’t a bad guy… It may be true, but it’s no compliment. 

      Their most recent way to step in it, was shooting twice, the second time when his back was turned, an unarmed short-order cook!  It’s all caught on video, which the CPD had to release this week.  These guys seriously tried to blow this poor bastard away, and the fact that he lived is more an inditement of their piss poor training and ineptitude with a firearm than anything else.

     So, am I hacked at the cops? Oh, you bet your ass! BUT I’m also hacked at the city, and the city government.  Know what law this guy broke? This unarmed cook?  He was violating a city ordinance against walking from one train car to another!!!  If you hire (And make no mistake, electing a politician is hiring them to work for you. If you don’t understand that you’re part of the problem!) the sort of douchebag that makes laws against walking from one train car to another because you’re violating COVID regs, you deserve what you get, and you’re going to get it, good and hard! 

      Remember come November.

• Related: "Churchgoers Must Register With the Government in Kansas City"--Liberty Counsel. "Leftism," "Progressivism," "Socialism," or whatever you want to call it is the new State religion, and its tired of competition. 

• We're headed to World War III: "As China's Economy Implodes, Trump Ratchets Up the Pressure"--PJ Media. I'm not blaming Trump, either. I'm merely observing what George Friedman has previously written about how countries with close economic ties, but where one is not able to dominate the other, are the most likely to go to war. China's economy was already facing a possible recession before the Wuhan virus. Now its GDP has actually contracted. The CCP's malfeasance with dealing with the Wuhan outbreak has strained relations with China at the same time that the outbreak has shown the supply chain vulnerabilities where China acts as the factory to the rest of the world. Consequently, a lot of countries are encouraging businesses to exit China. 

• Related: "Tanzania suspends laboratory head after president questions coronavirus tests"--Reuters. President John Magufuli apparently had some questions regarding the efficacy of tests provided by an unnamed foreign government, and so he devised a test which included submission of "samples" from a goat and a paw-paw fruit--both of the later tested positive.

• Respected "journalist" flies his true colors: Martin Tolchin, a co-founder of Politico and The Hill as well as a former member of The New York Times' Washington bureau, wrote in response to a Times' op-ed calling for an investigation of the allegations of rape (penetration with fingers counts as rape in many jurisdictions) against Joe Biden: "I totally disagree with this editorial. I don't want an investigation. I want a coronation of Joe Biden."
• If you want to understand our current situation, including why government employees are paid more than private sector counterparts, and the perks that come with service in some government departments and agencies: "Inflation and the Fall of the Roman Empire"--Mises Institute. So, are we Rome in 250 AD or 450 AD? Don't know. But we are somewhere in there.
• When truth is stranger than fiction: "SHOCK AS IT’S REVEALED AN ENZYME CALLED LUCIFERASE IS WHAT MAKES BILL GATES IMPLANTABLE QUANTUM DOT MICRONEEDLE VACCINE DELIVERY SYSTEM WORK"--Now The End Begins. See also "You have GOT to be kidding me, chapter 837: The enzyme that is used in the Quantum Dot ID that Bill Gates will use for the Mark of the Beast fake vaccine is called… wait for it… Luciferase"--Barnhardt. So, the basic facts are these. First, "MIT engineers have developed a way to store medical information under the skin, using a quantum dot dye that is delivered, along with a vaccine, by a microneedle patch. The dye, which is invisible to the naked eye, can be read later using a specially adapted smartphone." The MIT article explains further:

      Every year, a lack of vaccination leads to about 1.5 million preventable deaths, primarily in developing nations. One factor that makes vaccination campaigns in those nations more difficult is that there is little infrastructure for storing medical records, so there’s often no easy way to determine who needs a particular vaccine.

     MIT researchers have now developed a novel way to record a patient’s vaccination history: storing the data in a pattern of dye, invisible to the naked eye, that is delivered under the skin at the same time as the vaccine.

     “In areas where paper vaccination cards are often lost or do not exist at all, and electronic databases are unheard of, this technology could enable the rapid and anonymous detection of patient vaccination history to ensure that every child is vaccinated,” says Kevin McHugh, a former MIT postdoc who is now an assistant professor of bioengineering at Rice University.

     The researchers showed that their new dye, which consists of nanocrystals called quantum dots, can remain for at least five years under the skin, where it emits near-infrared light that can be detected by a specially equipped smartphone.

Second, the research, according to MIT, was funded by the the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Koch Institute. Third, the enzyme that will produce the "near-infrared" bio-luminescence is called Luciferase. According to Wikipedia, "The name was first used by Raphaël Dubois who invented the words luciferin and luciferase, for the substrate and enzyme, respectively. Both words are derived from the Latin word lucifer – meaning lightbringer." (Italics in original). 

• Related: "Bill Gates, Vaccinations, Microchips, And Patent 060606"--Oriental Review. An excerpt:

       There are many conspiracy theories – some believe that reptilians are running the US government and others believe that Coca-Cola uses the blood of Christian babies to produce its soft drinks. There are people who have seen “chemtrails” and others who advocate wearing tinfoil hats when watching television to protect from destructive brainwashing waves. Often, the prophecies of Scripture are interpreted as a commentary on some technological discovery or event. But there are also rational facts that it doesn’t make sense to deny because they are documented. These include the existence of the Bilderberg club, the CIA’s MK-Ultra project, and George Soros’ funding of dubious political activities in a number of countries.

     The case described below relates to an officially documented fact, although there is something rather biblical about it. Patent WO/2020/060606 was registered on 26 March 2020. The patent application was filed by Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, headed by Bill Gates, back on 20 June 2019, and, on 22 April 2020, the patent was granted international status. The title of the patent is “Cryptocurrency system using body activity data”.

• Laws are only for the little people: "Epidemiologist Behind Doomsday COVID Model Resigns After Breaking Lockdown To Meet His Married Lover"--LaCorte News.
• "The Coming Oil Whiplash: Mad Max Edition"--Wilder Wealthy and Wise. Right now, oil demand is crashing. Oil futures had moved into the negative territory--people were paying others to take oil off their hands. If this goes on, wells will be shut down and experienced people will be laid off. If the dip is temporary, probably no big deal. But if the world enters a depression, the low demand may go on for years. 

      But what happens when things start to get better, people start to drive more, and economies around the world begin to try growing again?  All the drilling rigs are put up.  All the drillers are doing other things.  The companies that used to drill and frack the shale are gone.  The expertise that was won over a decade of drilling shale in Texas and the Dakotas?  Like a Kardashian’s dignity, it’ll all be gone.

     That’s when we’ll face whiplash.

     Just as the economies of the world start to wake up from the slumber of their economic coma, they will have to face a hard ceiling on energy production.  Oil production won’t keep pace with demand, and then the fun begins as oil prices skyrocket and strangle an economic recovery.  This will lower demand, and you have a nasty loop where the systems will cease to reinforce each other, and will instead fight each other.

But it is not all doom and gloom--as Otto von Bismarck said: “God has a special providence for fools, drunkards, and the United States of America.” For one thing, as this article at Watts Up With That points out, the oil industry (and the fracking industry in particular) has experienced oil price crashes before. And while the crash will surely sink some companies, past experience has shown that the industry has become more efficient. Even without an uptick in demand, production will drop below demand and that will push prices up until it becomes profitable to produce oil and some relative stability is reached. But, as John Wilder points out in his article, where it will continue to hurt is in those nations dependent on high oil prices to balance their budgets and placate their populations. As this 2015 CNBC article notes, "For many of the biggest producers — places like Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Algeria — oil accounts for the majority of the country’s exports and gross domestic product." The article goes on to observe, for instance, that "Saudi Arabia, the most influential of OPEC’s 12 member countries, needs oil at $106 a barrel in order to break even after the costs of its generous welfare programs and energy subsidies." The fiscal break even point for other major oil producing countries is even higher (although a number of Gulf states are much lower). 

• Related: For a different take on crashing oil prices: "Economic Crisis and Political Unrest"--J.R. Nyquist. From the article:

       China, Russia, Iran and associated countries are applying pressure across the board to flip America’s allies to their camp; most recently, Saudi Arabia is believed by some observers to have turned against Washington. In response to collapsing oil demand the Saudis did not reduce their oil production. Instead, they increased it — devastating America’s oil industry.

      Of course, the Saudis resent America’s energy independence. They resented our past abandonment of their friend, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt. They also resent our support for Shiite majority rule in neighboring Iraq. From their point of view, we are not the reliable ally of decades past. We are bungling, erratic, and exasperating.

      Resentment is the mother of all treachery. And as we have — for so many years — believed the lies of Russia and China, why wouldn’t we believe Saudi lies? So the Saudis raise their oil production in the midst of a glut, crash the price of oil to less than zero, and pretend they are doing it to hurt Russia when the whole thing is almost certainly Russia’s idea. Who is the big winner in this game? The People’s Republic of China gets to amass millions of barrels of cheap oil. Russia and Saudi Arabia drive American oil producers out of business. The U.S. economy takes a massive hit when it can least afford it.

      Here is a strategic victory of incalculable significance. It appears that Moscow and Beijing have persuaded Saudi Arabia to align itself with them; for how can the relationship between Riyadh and Washington be restored after the U.S. energy market has been so devastated? An inevitable break — though officially denied — must come. And there will be a financial hit, as well, when the dollar comes under attack in the next round of battle. Here is Riyadh’s Rubicon. There is no going back. And we must not forget an old rule of Bedouin politics: Treachery leads the betrayer to become more paranoid than his victim; for the betrayer must expect payback, and must thereafter distance himself from his victim.

      If this is so, we are at the beginning of a very desperate sequence of events in which economic warfare becomes the heart and soul of the Great Game. It is easy to predict that the economic war against America will intensify. China and Russia will use all their economic weapons — and it is clear that they have been preparing for a long time.

      The idea here is to cripple the U.S. economy, prevent effective U.S. war preparations, distract the political authorities with internal unrest, force currency devaluation, collapse tax revenues and incite domestic violence between various political camps, and divide America from its allies.

• Science! "Scientists Have Recreated Ancient Battles to Solve Debate Over Ancient Bronze Swords"--Science Alert. Apparently there was some debate as to whether ancient cultures actually went to war using bronze swords. Rather than leave it an academic argument, a few researches decided to put it to the test and had bronze swords made and tested them in HEMA style bouts. The results show that the markings left on the swords used in the test matched up with marks found on the historical weapons.
• "‘Wow, What Is That?’ Pentagon Formally Releases Three UFO Videos"--PJ Media. Videos footage from 2004 and 2015 had leaked showing unknown aerial vehicles that could perform feats of speed and maneuverability that could not be matched by state of the art fighter aircraft. The DoD has formally released copies of the video putting to rest any remaining objections from skeptics that the videos were fakes. So, while some will surely persist in believing they show aircraft built and controlled by extra-terrestrial species, what we are really seeing is that we or our near peers have really advanced aircraft and propulsion systems far beyond what is taught in an aeronautical engineering course.
• A reminder that we live in the 21st Century: "Marriage rates in the US plunge to the LOWEST on record with only 6.5 unions formed for every 1,000 people as couples opt to cohabitate and save money instead"--Daily Mail.