A Quick Run Around the Web--January 12, 2016

Two of these people look happy. ("The Germans Welcoming Refugees Into Their Homes")

• "The Evolutionary Psychological Perspective on War, Conquest, and Alien Rule" (PDF)--Satoshi Kanazawa, Interdisciplinary Institute of Management, London School of Economics and Political Science. From the abstract: "The evolutionary psychological perspective implies that women should be far less resistant to alien rule than men, because they have the option of marrying into the conquering group; however, this sex difference should disappear when women are no longer reproductive. The analysis of the Eurobarometer data from 15 European Union nations strongly confirms this prediction." (H/t for the article and photograph to Chateau Heartiste).
• "China is building its first military base in Africa. America should be very nervous."--The Week. "News is quietly breaking that China has sealed a deal to build its first military base in that little country, a former French colony strategically located across from Yemen on the Red Sea, squeezed between Eritrea and Somalia. Confirming years of under-the-radar suspicions, AFRICOM commander Gen. David Rodriguez told The Hill that the 'logistics hub' and airfield will let China 'extend their reach' into Africa over the course of an initial 10-year contract. Currently, The Hill observed, China can't do much more than stage some naval patrols out of Djibouti ports." China has been quietly establishing colonies--actual settlements of Chinese--in Africa, but needs the means to protect those colonies.
• "Future Economists Will Probably Call This Decade the 'Longest Depression'"--The Huffington Post. I'm going to suggest an alternate title: "The calm before the storm."
• "'We told you so,' Eastern Europe tells Germany"--The Local (Germany).
• "Former New York runway model goes behind the seams and launches Mormon temple dress company to 'help women look their best'"--Daily Mail. Temple clothing that isn't made out of polyester fabrics normally reserved for industrial strength table cloths? Blaspheme! (sarc.) 
• "EXCLUSIVE: Couple assaulted by group of teens at Metro station in unprovoked attack"--Fox 5 News. The fourth such attack since late December--just a couple of weeks. Of course, "Metro has yet to put out any suspect description or surveillance images of the suspects." 

Survival/Self-Defense Stuff:

• "LuminAID PackLite"--Geek Prepper. A review of the device, which is "an inflatable lantern that is recharged by the sun...."
• "Emergency planning beyond the bug-out bag"--Backwoods Home Magazine. A discussion of bug-out vehicles (and trailers), getting to your destination, living in a tent, and some other topics related to evacuation.
• "Blood Groups"--Survival UK. The basics on compatibility between blood groups.
• "Frontal Area (Almost) Doesn't Matter For Stopping Power"--196,800 Revolutions Per Minute. "Bullets - wadcutters aside - don't cut neat chunks of flesh out of a target. They stretch and bend the tissue around them, including paper, which is fairly brittle in comparison to human fat, muscle, and other tissues. If this stretching is occurring, we would not expect to see very much difference at all between a .30" caliber 'through and through' FMJ wound and a .22" caliber one, and indeed, we don't. In fact, doctors have a difficult time telling them apart, until the bullet is extracted."
• "Bribery: Keep the money destined for such things separately and in small denominations like 5’s, 10’s and 20’s. Volume after [all] helps grease the gears on a psychological level."
• "Dark Arts for Good Guys: Where there's smoke"--Straight Forward in a Crooked World. The author writes: 

Terrorist as a whole maybe inflicted with bravery for the cause (or the riot) when they are in a pack where they can feed off each other. Isolated most are not brave rugged men, but twenty-somethings (or younger) plagued with doubt and insecurity. That doesn't make them any less dangerous, just unsure of themselves. You have to feed on the insecurity.

You're not trying to get them to flee the city, but you can deter them off your hotel floor and possibly the hotel even if you're not armed.

With the exception of firemen and a few other certifiable crazies who run into buildings to save lives, no one wants to die in a fire. If the un-shaved kid in the ski mask, camo jacket and carrying a banged up assault rifle looks up the stair well or down the hall and thinks the building is on fire, and that the infidels are going to die anyway he's probably not going to see a reason to get trapped in a burning building. In third world countries plenty of people die in building fires and its a terrifying prospect for anyone.

He then goes on to describe how to make a smoke bomb to provide the illusion of a building fire. Read the whole thing.