VIDEO: Backcountry Trauma Care And Improvisation

 VIDEO: "Backcountry Trauma and Improvisation"
University of California Television (UCTV) (1 hr. 20 min.)

Nigel Farage - "Britain is a two tier state - against white people."

Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK party, posted an essay about immigration and the racism against white people that is embedded in the UK government and bureaucracy. An excerpt:

    The underlying cause is simple. The British state is no longer working for everyone in this country. Across public and economic life, the power of the Government has been brought to bear on tackling “inequalities”, in a narrow and specific sense. Anything which is seen to disadvantage a minority group is cracked down on. Anything which benefits a minority and damages the White British is likely to be left alone.

    British people fundamentally expect a fair deal. But there is nothing fair about the way White people have been treated by their governments.

    I’m sure you’re familiar with the refrain that this mistreatment is somehow justified - as the activists like to put it, “when you are accustomed to privilege, true equality can feel like oppression”. But equality has nothing to do with it. Let me show you, in the first of many on my new Substack, just how insidious the two-tier system of British government really is - and how deeply anti-White racism is embedded into the heart of the state. 

 And, as an example:

    Equality has nothing to do with it. The intention is to dominate. Employees working in one civil service department were told they should “yield positions of power to those otherwise marginalised” in order to be in the “growth zone”, and “surround [themselves] with others who think and look differently”. Identity network groups focused around race and religion - which can exert staggering power over senior staff members – operate as unelected and unaccountable networks of power.

Their commitment to this doctrine goes as far as directly interfering with the plans of the democratically elected government. Civil servants in the Home Office openly shared their plans to block the deportation of illegal migrants to the safe third country of Rwanda on political grounds. 

Sounds similar to the quiet resistance against Trump's attempts at reform. 

    The difference is that DEI is actually enshrined in UK law. Farage discusses Britain's "Equity Act" which creates a two-tier standard discriminating against white men in employment, housing, healthcare, education, policing, and even the military where political officers--called diversity and inclusion advisers--are stationed in every unit of the military. 

    Be sure to read the whole thing, because this is our future if the Democrats ever again get control of Congress and/or the Presidency. 

Mini Movie Review: "Citizen Vigilante" (A guest post from The Realist)

    I recently learned about the just released movie "Citizen Vigilante" from Black Pigeon on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14-8vR-QBes). The film was released June 19, 2026, and so far as I can tell is only available via a few streaming services (Apple TV, Amazon Prime, Google Play, and Fandango). At present, the movie is unrated, but would probably be rated R for violence, sex, and profanity.

    I'm not going to give any spoilers in this review.

    The movie opens with the following blocks of text:

    "ALL BEHAVIOR CAN BE TRACED BACK TO INSTINCTS."

    "WHEN JUSTICE IS DENIED, INSTINCTS TURN TO VENGEANCE. - ANONYMOUS"

    The main themes of this movie are taken right out of the headlines, unless you only consume mainstream media news sources that never deviate from the official narrative. The story focuses on migrant crime in Europe, and a soft-on-crime judiciary that constantly makes excuses for the horrible crimes committed by migrants and refuses to punish those migrants for their crimes. Nothing is sugarcoated. It does not try to talk around the political sensitivities of the "Migrants Welcome" left. It does not avoid the racial and religious characteristics of the migrants committing these crimes.

    The main character, Sanders, is a wealthy American with business interests in Europe. He becomes disgusted with judicial leniency toward migrants and the unwillingness of the politicians to do anything about it. He has the means and ability to take action, so he starts taking action against some of the criminals and the judges who refuse to punish the migrant criminals.

    There is nothing subtle about this movie. It was produced to make a point. It makes the point in action, in monologues, and by showing the senseless brutality of violent migrant crime.

    There were only two things about the movie I didn't like. At one point Sanders visits a brothel and employs the services of one of its ladies. This seemed rather gratuitous and I felt like it added very little to the story. The second involved technical defects relating to firearms - a silenced semiautomatic
pistol that was too quiet and never ejected any spent brass.

    If you are disgusted by the the violent migrant crime in Europe and America, and are disgusted by a soft-on-migrant-crime judiciary, I believe you will enjoy this movie. I enjoyed this movie, but the women in your life will probably not like it, and it is definitely not a movie for children to see.

Gun & Prepping News #86

 Some links that may be of interest:

• "Dollars Per Mile: Long Range Rifles for the Rest of Us"--Recoil. The author describes a rifle he put together for shooting out to one mile which final cost (including optic) of  $4,974.
• If you think that is expensive.... "American SA80: The British Problem Child Reborn In The USA"--Recoil. An American company is attempting to produce copies of the SA80. And it will only set you back $12,000. 
• "Taurus RPC Review: MP5 Feel Under $1,000"--Guns America. A roller delayed 9mm large format pistol:

The receiver is aluminum with a serialized steel chassis. The barrel is steel, 4.5 inches long, and threaded 1/2×28 for direct suppressor mounting. A thread protector ships standard. The gun includes a full-length Picatinny top rail, M-LOK slots on both sides and the bottom of the handguard, a flat-face single-stage trigger, and an AR-15-compatible grip, which means any standard AR grip drops straight in, a detail Taurus got right.

• "Is the VZ 58 A Good AK Alternative? Personal Experience"--The Firearm Blog. The author relates:

 VZ58 is incredibly lightweight for what it is; it is more accurate than many AKs and has a bolt hold-open mechanism. But the unfortunate reality is - in the 21st century, VZ 58 faced the same problems as AK. Mounting accessories is hard and requires serious modifications.

• "Accurized AK-103 - the 7.62x39mm AK-103 Upgrade Program to AK-203"--The Firearm Blog. 
• ".300 AAC Blackout: History, Ballistics, and Ammo Selection"--Mag Life. An excerpt:

    Both the 5.56 NATO and .300 Blackout use the same case. However, the 5.56 NATO utilizes a .224-inch diameter projectile, which is noticeably smaller than the .300 Blackout’s .308-inch bullet.

    At close ranges, .300 Blk offers superior ballistics and higher muzzle energy, whereas 5.56 produces higher velocities and less drop, as well as improved performance at distances past 300 yards. Additionally, .300 Blackout delivers retained terminal performance with short barrels (especially between 8 to 11 inches), and it offers close to a 90 percent increase in frontal area.

    The main determining factors that will affect your decision between the two will likely be your intended engagement distance and the overall cost of ammunition. .300 Blackout ammo can typically be twice as much as comparable 5.56, making volume training much more difficult. However, you may decide that the benefits of the .300 Blk easily justify the increase in cost.

    Today, the .300 Blk has excelled in hunting, defensive, and competitive shooting applications, with a wide variety of manufacturers offering ammunition tailored to specific uses. 

• "Federal's New 6.5 Creedmoor +Peak: The Peak Alloy Case Goes Mainstream"--American Rifleman. 

    In American Rifleman's 2025 coverage of the new Federal 7 mm Backcountry cartridge, much of the story wasn't as much about the new chambering as it was about the cartridge case itself, a case that Federal called its "Peak Alloy" design. The single-piece, all-steel cartridge case, in the words of Federal Managing Engineer Jake Burns, "acts as its own mini pressure-containment vessel, absorbing some of the energy without cracking or stretching. That’s part of the case’s ability to manage pressure." Now, that design has moved from a proprietary chambering to the mainstream cartridge world with the introduction of Federal's new 6.5 Creedmoor +Peak.

[snip]

     At the heart of this ammunition revolution is the one-piece Peak Alloy cartridge case design, which Federal says can safely handle chamber pressures of 80,000 psi compared with the SAAMI-MAP of 62,000 psi chamber pressures of similarly configured brass cartridge cases. ...

• "USSOCOM's HICAR Program Wants to Double the M4's Effective Range"--The Firearm Blog. The article begins:

    The Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane has quietly posted one of the more interesting small arms solicitations in recent memory. The Hypervelocity Improved Capability Assault Rifle program, HICAR for short, is USSOCOM's ask for a carbine that can do something current M4-based platforms simply cannot: reach out past 600 meters with a standard 5.56mm package, without making operators carry anything heavier or bulkier than what they're already running.

    The core problem the government seems to be trying to solve is the range gap. The current URG-I (Upper Receiver Group - Improved), which sits on most SOCOM M4A1 lowers today, is optimized for standard 5.56 NATO and tops out at a practical effective range of around 300 meters. That's fine for a lot of situations, but it leaves a hole on the modern battlefield where adversaries can engage from distances where the round simply runs out of steam. HICAR is meant to close that gap by leveraging next-generation hypervelocity 5.56x45mm ammunition, specifically M855A1+ loaded to 82,000 PSI chamber pressure, a significant step up from standard loads.

The author concludes with this question: "Do you think there is any currently available carbine platform genuinely built to handle sustained fire with ammunition loaded to 82kpsi, or will every vendor need a clean-sheet bolt and barrel design to compete?" Perhaps this is a program that can benefit from the Peak Alloy case. 

• "Concealed Carry Corner: Does Size Really Matter?"--The Firearm Blog.  The author argues that it is weight not size that is the issue:

When it comes to being comfortable long-term while carrying a handgun, the real culprit is how much your handgun weighs. Having an all-steel or metal-framed firearm can speed up how fast you become fatigued, rather than the overall size of your handgun. Looking at the Glock 43X versus the longer Glock 48 variant, both feel almost identical to carry, with the Glock 48 having a longer barrel than the smaller Glock 43X. Everyone likes to stress about overall size, but the weight of a handgun will make you fatigue and become uncomfortable faster than anything else.  

I can guarantee that if the something the same weight as the 43X or 48 was a foot long, size would matter. 

• "OSD 373: Guns suck, drone edition"--Open Source Defense. Drones are the next generation of defensive tools. 
• "FGC-9 bedroom factory discovered"--Impro Guns.  
• "No Gunpowder, No Recoil: Electromagnetic Guns Are Here!"--Guns America. Covering some recent developments and products in civilian rail guns, but there is also this:

    According to the report, China has already moved beyond prototypes and into early deployment of a handheld electromagnetic small arm, with adjustable power levels that can range from non-lethal applications up to armor-penetrating capability, including the ability to punch through 10mm steel at 50 meters in high-power mode.

    Performance-wise, it’s pushing 1,000–2,000 rounds per minute, minimal recoil, low noise (around 65 decibels), and no visible muzzle signature, features that would clearly matter in specialized operations. 

• "Front Line Friday #20: In-Car First Aid and Trauma Kit Configuration"--The Firearm Blog. Aimed at law enforcement, but of obvious interest to preppers, the article describes going beyond the IFAK to something that can be used to treat a number of people, such as victims of a mass shooting or a multiple casualties from auto accidents. As the article explains:

    The issued IFAK solves a specific problem: one officer, one patient, one acute hemorrhage or airway event, immediate intervention. It is sized and configured to be carried on the body, which means the contents list is constrained by what fits on a belt or a vest panel and what an officer can access one-handed under stress. Those constraints are correct for the problem the IFAK is designed to solve. They are the wrong constraints for what a patrol vehicle medical kit needs to do.

    The vehicle kit operates in a different scenario envelope. It is not a backup IFAK. It is a second-tier capability that extends the officer's ability to manage trauma before EMS arrives, support multiple patients, supply arriving officers or bystanders rendering aid, and hand off organized resources to EMS so they can move faster upon arrival on scene. A vehicle kit that is just a larger IFAK is missing the point. A vehicle kit that is organized around that handoff function, stocked for multi-patient scenarios, and configured so items can be located and retrieved in low light and under stress is doing what it is supposed to do.

• "Geiger Counter CPM Readings: Safe vs Dangerous Radiation Levels"--Modern Survival Blog. From the article:

    CPM stands for counts per minute, but CPM alone is not a universal “safe” or “dangerous” number. It depends on the detector, tube size, calibration, radiation type, distance from the source, and exposure time.

    Still, if your meter uses the example conversion used in this article, 120 CPM ≈ 1 µSv/hr, then 500 CPM ≈ 4.2 µSv/hr, 1000 CPM ≈ 8.3 µSv/hr, 4000 CPM ≈ 33 µSv/hr, and 10000 CPM ≈ 83 µSv/hr. Those readings are elevated compared with typical background dose rates and should be taken seriously, especially if sustained.

The author presents a chart addressing different CPM levels and when it becomes worrisome or dangerous. He also goes into more detail on how radiation exposure is measured, health risks, shielding for different types of radioactive radiation and more. 

• "How to Maintain and Care for Your Field Jacket So It Lasts for Years"--Propper. Specific instructions for caring for, cleaning, and proper storage of the M65 field jacket. For instance, for storage, the article says to avoid "[p]lastic vacuum bags that crease fabric Damp basements or unventilated closets." Best practice for storage: "For long-term storage in garages or sheds, use a sealed metal container with red cedar shavings. This will keep the insects and rodents away."
• "VHF vs. UHF Handheld Radios: Which Is Better?"--Modern Survival Blog.  Short answer:

    VHF handheld radios generally have an advantage for longer-distance communication across open outdoor terrain, especially in rural areas and over water. UHF handheld radios generally work better around buildings, inside structures, and in urban environments because their shorter wavelengths are better suited to passing through or around many common obstructions.

    In the woods, there is no universal winner. Forest density, hills, antenna quality, radio height, and line of sight can matter more than the frequency band alone.

    For hiking, hunting, or property communications, the best approach is to understand the general tradeoffs and test both bands in your actual environment.

Countries Do Not Have Friends, Only Interests

From the Daily Mail: "Netanyahu secretly plotting to TORPEDO Trump's Iran peace deal in intelligence bombshell." From the lede:

    US spy agencies have warned Donald Trump that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is poised to torpedo his fragile peace deal with Iran to save his own political skin.

    Netanyahu, who faces a general election in the fall, is expected to escalate strikes on Iran's proxy terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon to shore up support at home, a fresh intelligence report warns.

    An official familiar with the report told the Washington Post that Israel's leadership is frustrated with Trump's 14-point plan and what it sees as a capitulation to Tehran. 

And then there is this bit from the article:

 'For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep,' Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's minister of national security, shockingly posted on Friday. 'All of Lebanon must burn!'  

It would be an understandable sentiment if it were directed at Hezbollah, but all of Lebanon? What did the Lebanese Christians do to Israel? Israel drove the Palestinians into southern Lebanon after the 1948 war and now want to destroy Lebanon for it?

More:

• "Conflict erupts in Lebanon between Israel, Hezbollah — just hours after 2 sides reach critical truce"--New York Post. 
• "Fed-up Trump threatens to ‘blow the s–t’ out of Iran — prompting Tehran to storm out of US peace talks"--New York Post. 

The Lies They Tell Us: Famine and the 1985 Live Aid Concert

If you were alive in 1985 and paying attention to the main stream media's reporting of the Ethiopian famine, or were subjected to later history lessons of the same, you probably never heard the full backstory of the famine or where the money went afterward. No Pasaran delves into this topic in a piece entitled: "Live Aid 1985: What Nobody Tells You About the African Famine that Led to the Most-Watched Concert in History." 

    Although the immediate cause of the famine was a drought, it should surprise no one that the reason Ethiopia suffered more than its neighbors was because of its government. Specifically, "in September 1974, a Marxist-Leninist military junta called the Derg overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie. By 1977, Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam had killed his rivals inside the junta and taken sole control." Mariam "built a Soviet-style state. He nationalized all rural land in 1975 and imposed grain quotas that peasants had to deliver to the state at prices below the cost of production." Consequently, when the drought struck, there was no surplus from earlier years, and the people starved. 

 This is the mechanism Stalin had used to engineer famine in Ukraine in 1932. The state destroys the production incentive, then extracts grain by force. When drought arrived in northern Ethiopia in 1983, there was no surplus and no buffer. Forced collectivization had already destroyed the country's food reserves years before the rain stopped.   

In short: "The famine that produced the most-watched concert in history was caused by forced collectivization, forced grain seizures, and a deliberate policy of using hunger as a weapon against civilians. Four decades later, that half of the story still does not appear in most accounts of Live Aid."

    But it gets even worse. The money raised by Live Aid was used to fund Mariam's military and, therefore, financed his killing between 50,000 and 100,000 of the Ethiopian people. 

    Yet another example of liberals being more concerned about their public image than actually helping people. 

Fauci Was With Intelligence

 Legal Insurrection goes over the latest batch of declassified files from the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard: "Declassified Files Ignite New Scrutiny of Fauci, COVID Origins, and Alleged Intelligence Suppression." The high level summary:

    Gabbard’s release of information related to biological research funded by the U.S. government continued this Friday, after she declassified a cache of documents outlining Dr. Anthony Fauci’s involvement in the COVID-19 response, including records indicating that federal officials shielded him from a whistleblower complaint alleging he misled Congress about “gain-of-function” work after publicly advancing a natural-origin theory for a pandemic that ultimately claimed millions of lives.

    The documents and whistleblower testimony appear to show that Fauci influenced intelligence assessments on COVID-19 origins, denied such involvement under oath in 2024, and benefited from close ties to the intelligence community that limited scrutiny. They further claim a pattern of retaliation against dissenting intelligence officials and suppression of alternative viewpoints regarding the virus’s origins.

RPG Saturday: The Arcanum

 

    The battered book from above is titled The Arcanum, first published in 1984, which was supposed to be the first volume of a three part series called The Atlantean Trilogy. The other volumes were The Lexicon and The Bestiary. The three were intended to be a complete fantasy role playing game system and setting; and to serve as supplements for other games (i.e., D&D since it was, like today, the overwhelmingly most popular RPG of the time). 

    The Arcanum was the rule book for the Trilogy, containing rules on character creation and the game mechanics, including combat; and detailed rules for magic (including spell lists) and alchemy. The Lexicon was described as "the complete atlas of the antediluvian age" containing "detailed maps of the legendary continents, countries, and cities of the Atlantian World, plus information on trade routes, the history of Atlantis' First and Second Ages, and much more ...".  And The Bestiary, as the name indicates, was "a compendium of the fantastic beings and creatures of the Atlantean age."

    I probably purchased The Arcanum book in 1984, because there were some problems with the editing which were quickly corrected in a second edition released in 1985. Some of the issues were inconsistencies between rules in different parts of the text and references to skills that apparently never made it into the final product. Nevertheless, the issues were not insurmountable. I never purchased (or even came across copies) of the other two books until much later.  

    My interest in the book was originally for use as a supplement, particularly the rules on alchemy (of which D&D had virtually none) and the expanded list of character classes (of which D&D only had a handful). I had thoughts of trying to use the rules, but I don't believe I actually had an opportunity to do so while still in high school. It was only years later, after I was married, that I was able to get a group together and give it a shot and it worked fairly well. I still did not have the other two books, so I used my own setting and borrowed monsters from D&D.

 

    Eventually, I found a PDF of The Bestiary from 1986 which I printed up and crudely bound (see the photo above) but have never come across a copy of The Lexicon. 

    My oldest son at one time expressed an interest in The Arcanum, and in trying to track down a copy, discovered that the author had published a 30th Anniversary edition of the game, incorporating the rules from The Arcanum and the contents of The Bestiary into a single volume published in 2019. There was a third edition that apparently was published in 1996 by a different game company. 

 

    According to the author's forward, this 30th Edition uses the rules from the second and third editions. But the rights to the artwork and the setting (i.e., The Lexicon) are owned by another company and so, necessarily, not included.  However, much of the layout has been rethought and other edits made to correct errors and make the book more usable. 

     But there have been other changes I've spotted. For instance, the first edition has 8 character races/species, while the 30th Anniversary book has 10. However, one of the races from the first edition--Druas--is missing from the 30th Anniversary book, while it adds gnomes, halflings, and selkies. 

     The first edition illustrated the various races and professions, but had little in way of illustrations beyond that. Most of the illustrations were simple pen and ink drawings, but there were a few larger pieces that appeared to be charcoal and pencil. 

    This 30th Anniversary edition has many more illustrations, also pen and ink, but the style is very different. For instance, below are the illustrations for elves from both books, the first edition on top and the 30th Anniversary edition below:

 

 

And as between the 1986 version of The Bestiary (the top illustration) and the 30th Anniversary Edition (the bottom) looking at the illustrations of undead skeleton warriors as an example:

 

Unfortunately, not all of the creatures or beasts are illustrated in either edition.

    The rules for these games are definitely old school, but differ from other games from the 1980s like AD&D or  Basic D&D. Although this game uses similar attributes (strength, speed, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, will, charisma, and perception) with the same basic range of 3 to 18 for a starting character, and professions which are largely analogous to the character "class" system in D&D, it is also a skill based rule system. Although D&D was limited to just a handful of character classes (i.e., professions or callings), The Arcanum had 27 total professions, all of which were compatible with or easily transferred to D&D. 

    Professions are also categorized as to whether the characters in those careers are "untrained fighters", "skilled fighters", or "highly trained fighters". This is important both for gaining hit points and because "skilled" and "highly trained" characters gain "to hit" and "damage" bonuses as they reach certain levels in their Professions.

    Character creation in the first edition follows these steps: (i) selecting a character race; (ii) selecting a professions; (iii) selecting a background (which gives certain skills and, potentially, other benefits); and (iv) determining attributes. What skills a character has is a matter of his background and his career. As a character advances in a career (that is, achieves higher levels) he or she will obtain additional skills. Professions may also special abilities. 

    It appears that character creation is similar in the 30th Anniversary Edition. 

    Because this game system uses skills, much of the rules are found in the skill descriptions. For example, the skill "Evade Pursuit" describes the skill as "the ability to confound pursuers by moving with speed and stealth, leaving false trails, etc." And it gives rules for the chance of success (rolled with a percentile dice) and modifiers if he or she is being pursued by someone skilled in tracking. Of course, that is a basic skill rules. Some of the skills have tables or much more detailed rules to determine whether the character is successful. And others grant certain abilities, such as the skill "weapon training" or "weapon" allows a untrained character to use a weapon without the non-proficiency penalty, but grants no other special rules or options.

     Combat is fairly straightforward. Players roll a 1d20 and their role plus (or minus) applicable modifiers equals or exceeds 11, they hit their target. If a character has a non-proficiency penalty, the sum of their roll and modifiers is divided by two before determining a success. Characters can also employ special tactics such as making an "unarmed attack", seek a "specific hit" (i.e., a special attack allowing special effect or dealing double damage) but with their odds of a successful hit halved; or defensive tactics such as dodging or parrying a blow, taking evasive action, etc. Cover makes it more difficult to hit someone with a missile weapon, and there are other modifiers depending on the character's attributes or due to situational factors (e.g., it truly is easier to hit something as large as a barn door). 

    Unlike D&D where armor makes it more difficult to strike a target, this game uses armor to subtract from damage. Of course, the amount of damage that can be dealt depends on the weapon. For instance, a dagger might only deal 1d6 of damage while a long sword will cause 1d10 of damage. 

    I don't generally like playing magic users, but this is a fantasy role playing game after all and, so, there are various spell casting professions such as magicians, shamans, witches, sorcerers, etc. Besides, in combat, with the right spells, a magic user essentially acts like a support weapon, able to deal heavy damage but only for a limited number of rounds. 

    Unlike D&D, where a magic user must relearn spells each time he wants to cast one--the act of casting a spell erases it from memory--this game does not have a similar limitation. Rather, the character is limited to casting a certain number of spells per day based on his level, or else resort to using a magic item or casting from a scroll. 

   In addition to, or as a supplement to, the magic system, the game also has detailed rules on alchemy, which actually covers everything from making herbal remedies to poisons to potions. There are also rules covering the manufacture of magical devices or magical/alchemical processes. 

    So the basic question is whether this game would be worthwhile playing today. It is "old school" in a real sense that there is no universal resolution system. Many skills and checks are determined by rolling a percentile die, while combat uses 1d20 with a target number of 11+, and there are many tables that have to be consulted for other matters. That said, it is no harder to use than the first edition AD&D, and offers more options for players. I think if someone were looking for an old school style of play and a game to go with it, this game would work well. 

    The options make it easy to customize for a particular setting as well. For instance, if you wanted something like Middle-Earth or classic D&D, you could limit characters to being humans, elves, dwarves, and halflings, and go with that. If you want something different, ditch the elves, dwarves, and halflings and use the other races included; or just limit the characters to humans. The variety of professions also allow you to have a balanced party such as D&D encourages for general adventuring. But if you wanted a campaign focused on rogues, you could have a party of various rogue type characters (charlatan, rogue, spy, pirate); or an outdoor type party could be made made up of a beastmaster, hunter, and druid. Similar theme, but different enough abilities that the characters are not just copies of one another.  

    The 30th Anniversary Edition is still available from LuLu for $39.99 which is pretty good for a complete game. 

VIDEOS: The World Of The Ice Age And The Younger Dryas

The world we live in is very different from the one that existed just 15,000 years ago. The first video below brings together a lot of disparate information and presents it as a whole concerning what Earth was like just before the end of the last Ice Age--lower sea levels exposing huge areas of land in Europe and South-East Asia and north of Australia that is, today, underwater. A green Sahara covered with grasslands, lakes, and a network of rivers. A dryer Amazon that was more open scrub land rather than impenetrable jungle. CO2 levels so low that many of the crops we use for food would not prosper. 

Of course the Ice Age came to an end, but just as the Earth was warming, the Younger Dryas happened, throwing the northern hemisphere back into a deep Ice Age for 1,000 years before just as abruptly ending. The second video discusses some theories as to what caused the Younger Dryas including the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis (YDIH), although he leaves out one of the most important bits of evidence: the Carolina Bays and similar structures stretching westward into the heartland of America which record a wide swath of secondary impacts, likely from debris thrown out by the Younger Dryas Impact Event. Antonio Zamora has a YouTube channel devoted to studying the Carolina Bays and the YDIH which I recommend if you have further interest in the topic. Here is the link to an older video from Zamora covering the primary hypothesis that the Carolina Bays are evidence of an impact event. 

 VIDEO: "The Ice Age World You Don't See"
Curtis Holland | Reviewing the Record (21 min.)

 

 VIDEO: "The Younger Dryas: The Last Great Mystery Before Modern History"
Curtis Holland | Reviewing the Record (21 min.)

Interesting. Plague Outbreak 5,500 Years Ago

Ars Technica reports that "Hunter-gatherers in Siberia died of a plague outbreak 5,500 years ago." The article relates that "[p]lague swept through groups of hunter-gatherers in southeastern Siberia 5,500 years ago, leaving dozens dead in its wake—with DNA from Yersinia pestis bacteria still trapped inside their teeth." A few points:

• The reason this is significant is because the previously belief was that the plague only became deadly to humans after humans had settled in communities living in close association with rats or other animals that were hosts to the fleas carrying the Y. pestis bacterium. But this outbreak was among hunter gatherers. Thus, not only was close and long term contact not needed to produce a plague deadly to humans, but something that was as deadly as later plagues had already arisen much earlier than believed possible.
• The article indicates that the plague DNA was extracted from "plague victims at four ancient cemeteries in the area around Russia’s Lake Baikal." This is significant because it seems to be part of the large marmot based plague reservoir. Lake Baikal is in Russia, just north of central Mongolia. The 14th Century plague was traced back to the Lake Issyk Kul, which is in modern day eastern Kyrgyzstan. Not exceptionally close, but both part of the natural range of marmots in Central Asia (see the map below).
• Finally, the article indicates that "Bubonic plague spreads through flea bites, but pneumonic plague is a respiratory disease, which spreads in a similar way to the flu or COVID-19, and that seems to be how this early version would have passed from person to person." This is also what made the 14th Century Black Death so deadly and allowed it spread so quickly. It didn't need or use fleas once it became pneumonic. 

Perhaps this particular outbreak was largely contained simply because there were not the extensive trade routes and number of people as in the 14th Century, but it would be interesting to know how far the plague spread from this 5,500 B.C. event. My suspicions are that if we were to ever see another plague outbreak comparable to the Black Death, it will also originate in this Central Asian marmot reservoir.

Lake Baikal is the largest lake just above Mongolia in this map, while Lake Issyk Kul is the only lake you can see in Kyrgyzstan in this map. (Source)