Exploring practical methods for preparing for the end times, including analysis of end time scripture and prophecy, current events, prepping and self-defense.
First excavated a century ago from a cemetery at Badari in Upper Egypt, the tool shows wear consistent with rotary drilling.
The tool contained arsenic and nickel, with notable amounts of lead and silver, suggesting deliberate engineering choices and pointing to early material trade or shared technical knowledge across the ancient Mediterranean.
Lead author Dr Martin Odle from Newcastle University said: 'This re-analysis has provided strong evidence that this object was used as a bow drill, which would have produced a faster, more controlled drilling action than simply pushing or twisting an awl-like tool by hand.
'This suggests that Egyptian craftspeople mastered reliable rotary drilling more than two millennia before some of the best-preserved drill sets.'
Per the article, the drill dated back to "Naqada IID, a late Predynastic period around 3300 to 3200 BC, [which] saw the inception of kingship, writing, and organized religion, which would become the basis of the classical Egyptian civilization." Although we generally think of bronze as an allow of copper and tin, it can also be made by alloying copper with arsenic.
In 2020, as we witnessed widespread BLM riots (the only type of gatherings where COVID could not spread according to the boffins and politicians), the author of the New Rifleman blog wrote a piece asserting that "Your Rifle Needs a Bayonet." He argued (bold in original):
Your primary home defense rifle needs to be able to take a bayonet, and you need to have a bayonet ready to mount to it. You scoff, of course. You think, “I’ll just shoot them. The military hasn’t used bayonets in years”. But I ask you to remember what you’ve seen on the nightly news for the last few weeks and think about it. What are you going to do when you find yourself in the middle of a violent mob that will rush you and kick your head into the pavement if they decide they don’t like you? The military may have abandoned the bayonet, but I’m not in the military. Most of the time I’m at home with my family. I have to think about what benefits me and my situation. I have seen enough videos by now to convince me that a sharp, pointy blade on the end of my rifle is very good, for two reasons.
The first reason he gives is that "it serves as a psychological motivation for people to keep away from you." He raises a point that I've seen from several sources which is that because most people have experience with being cut but not with being shot, most people will have a greater fear of being stabbed or cut than being shot.
... If a mob rushes upon you to do violence, a gun pointed at them may not deter them much if they don’t think you will use it (shooting it probably will), but if there’s a bayonet on the end of it, they will avoid it. If they rush you, you don’t have to take much action; they will be the ones injuring themselves. No one hates their own body, but cherishes it and cares for it. Nobody will willingly impale or cut themselves. A bayonet is like barbed or razor wire for your person, clearly stating “STAY BACK”. A group of friends all together with bayonets pointed outwards would be even better. Your rifle needs a bayonet. Your friends need bayonets too.
The second reason he gives is as a backup to bullets--particularly, running out of bullets or if the distances are so short you can't employ your rifle.
Leroy Thompson, writing at SWAT Magazine, similarly states in his article, "Bayonets for Bad Times": "If you have a rifle with a bayonet and run out of ammunition, you have a pike, which is still a formidable weapon until you get more ammunition." And, he continues:
A weapon mounting a bayonet is an excellent deterrent as well. Given any breakdown in society, your likelihood of encountering undesirables will increase. You will want to keep those undesirables at a distance. A bayonet does a really nice job of that. Someone who comes onto your porch or approaches you in your yard uninvited during disturbing times will likely hesitate to come too close to a leveled bayonet. In many cases, the fear of getting jabbed will be more of a deterrent than the fear of getting shot.
He also notes that it may provide some defense against a weapon being snatched (assuming you know how to properly use it). For instance, he argues, "[i]f you’re searching your house at night after the power has gone out, the bayonet can be the first thing through a door, once again discouraging anyone from attempting to grab your weapon." And maybe more important than other reasons in a SHTF situation: "Another consideration in bad times might be that you don’t want to call attention to yourself. If lethal force is necessary, it might be better to administer it with a quieter weapon such as the bayonet."
The next issue is whether your rifle can take a bayonet. Going back to the New Rifleman article, the author relates that most rifles with bayonet lugs can mount a bayonet (there are apparently some rifles with lugs that are just for show--too large to fit a bayonet--with Ruger specifically mentioned). But he notes that sometimes the distance between the lug and the end of the rifle may preclude bayonets. For instance, speaking of the AR system, he observes:
If you have a 20-inch rifle or a 16-inch midlength AR-15 with a bayonet lug, it will take an AR-pattern bayonet. But many older 16-inch AR rifles have the shorter carbine gas system, and although they have a bayonet lug, a bayonet will not fit properly. The end of the muzzle is too far from the lug. The bayonet will go on the rifle, but the seating ring will sit on the thinner barrel rather than be held properly by the flash hider.
He also mentions that bayonets will work with the 14.5-inch carbine and 14.5-inch midlength with an extended flash hider. If you do have a 16-inch carbine length system, don't despair. He mentions a bayonet adapter made by Triple R Products (which appears to be available here) which is an arm or extension with a bayonet lug on it that essentially pushes the lug out to the correct distance from the muzzle, and I discovered that Midway sells a sleeve that fits over the barrel to make it thick enough to accept a bayonet. Or if you are using a free-float handguard, Geissele makes a "Super Stabby" bayonet mount in black or FDE. (At the time of this writing, the black was out of stock but the FDE model was still available).
Finally, there is the question of learning to use the bayonet if you have not been through basic training or boot camp. For a book, probably one of the best for giving you a simple but effective system is Cold Steel by John Styers (here is the Amazon link and here is a link to a PDF you can download for free). Much of the book is about using a knife, but there is a detailed section on using the bayonet. While one of the articles stated that videos on how to use a bayonet were easy to find on YouTube, I did not find that to be true. Most were just short clips showing one or two maneuvers, or were news stories discussing whether or not the military should bother with bayonet training. However, I did find a 1938 Army training film (see below) that is about 1 hour and 16 minutes long that looked pretty good based on what I've watched so far. It begins with the proper stance and goes from there. The Brent0331 YouTube channel also has a relatively short (17 min.) video on the bayonet and its use (link here).
I will point out, though, that self-defense laws still apply to bayonets. I suspect that pointing a bayonet at someone would be considered an assault or brandishing. As always, consult your local laws or legal counsel. And remember: I'm not your attorney and this article is not legal advice.
NASA's SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer) space telescope captured views in December 2025 of the comet releasing a surge of gas, dust and complex molecules two months after the object's closest approach to the sun — a surprising outburst that's giving scientists their clearest chemical look yet at material formed around another star, according to a statement from NASA.
The IDF, for the first time on Wednesday, confirmed that approximately 70,000 Gazans were killed during the Israel-Hamas War, while disputing the percentage of civilian deaths claimed by the UN and declaring that no healthy persons died from starvation.
Nevertheless, the IDF still contests what percentage of these 71,000 were civilians and argues that many of the deaths were caused by the misfiring rockets used by Hamas or were executed by Hamas. But Hamas was not the one leveling whole apartment blocks.
The clip begins with [Texas Democrat] Wu, who was born in China, saying, 'I always tell people, the day the Latino, African American, Asian and other communities realize that they share the same oppressor, is the day we start winning.'
'Because we are the majority in this country now,' the congressman continued.
'We have the ability to take over this country and to do what is needed for everyone, and to make things fair, but the problem is our communities are divided - they're completely divided.'
The account captioned the clip: 'Rep. Gene Wu (D) goes mask off: "Non-whites share the same oppressor and we are the majority now. We can take over this country."'
From the Daily Mail: "Long-lost rivers of the Bible found in satellite images point to the Garden of Eden." The headline is a bit misleading, however. Satellite imagery has revealed a dry river bed in Saudi Arabia that would have emptied out near the current mouths of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, suggesting that it might have been one of the lost rivers mentioned in the Biblical account of the Garden of Eden: the river Pishon. The article relates:
The data revealed a fossilized river up to three miles wide, active during a wetter Holocene era before drying between 2000 and 3500 BC due to climate shifts.
'These satellite images give us a window into landscapes that have vanished over millennia,' said Dr El-Baz.
'We can now trace rivers that once shaped human settlement and perhaps even inspired ancient biblical narratives.'
The alignment of these rivers with biblical text is striking, as together with the Tigris and Euphrates, Wadi al-Batin and the Karun would have converged into the Persian Gulf, forming a fertile cradle of civilization.
[snip]
James A Sauer, a biblical archaeologist who analyzed the satellite data, said that the dry riverbed’s features best match the biblical description of the Pishon, though he stops short of declaring this proof of Eden itself.
However, according to archaeologist Juris Zarins, satellite imagery showing ancient riverbeds near the Persian Gulf corresponds with descriptions from Genesis, suggesting the Eden narrative may reflect real ancient geography even if its spiritual elements remain interpretive.
Environmental data has also supported this theory, showing Arabia's arid transformation after the last Ice Age and rising sea levels that may have submerged parts of Eden's delta.
A federal statement announcing Jeffrey Epstein's death has surfaced in newly released Justice Department files but it carries a date that appears to precede the moment he was officially found dead inside his New York prison cell.
The document, issued by the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and dated Friday, August 9, 2019, states that Epstein had already been found unresponsive and pronounced dead.
But prison records and official accounts show Epstein was not discovered unresponsive until the morning of August 10, 2019, when a corrections officer delivering breakfast found him in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan.
Could this have been a typo? Sure. There are a couple ways this is a typo. First, someone started drafting the document on Aug. 9 and forgot to update the date field before sending it on Aug. 10. Second, someone pulled up an old document to avoid having to fill out headings or addresses, deleted whatever was in the original body of the document, drafted a new body to the document discussing Epstein, but forgot to update the date field.
John Wilder has a new Civil War 2.0 report up for this past month. There is so much going on that it is easy to forget what happened even a couple of weeks ago. But John has compiled news items all together so its easy to see how crazy things are getting. On his clock counting down to civil war, he has us at 9: "Opposing sides develop governing/war structures. Just in case" placing us between 8 ("Common violence that is generally deemed by governmental authorities as justified based on ideology") and 10 ("Open War").
As we have seen with the ICE protests (what John refers to as the Battle of Minnesota) the Left is working hard at developing governing/war structures--and has been since at least the George Floyd riots if not earlier. Thus, we see wide spread networks of people in cars whose primary purpose is to gather intelligence; various groups and entities providing legal assistance to those arrested; communication networks; mobs that can be quickly formed; complicit media to spread propaganda; and local and state officials involved and directing much of this. In short, organized and allied networks straight out of the communist insurgency playbook.
What about conservatives? Nothing that I'm aware of. I suppose most conservatives believe that law enforcement and the military will act on their behalf. That is incorrect and naive. Law enforcement and the military are sheep dogs--they work for the shepherd not the sheep. And we have seen this in Minnesota also where local and state law enforcement have followed orders to not assist ICE agents. And if they won't act to help fellow law enforcement, what makes you think that they will help you?
