September 14, 2016 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

Video: "GREYMAN: Home Security Pt. 1"

Firearms/Self-Defense/Prepping:

• "Don’t #DIGTHERIG"--Active Response Training. Greg Ellifritz discusses a Twitter feed that shows every day carry pocket dumps, and critiques one where the contributor's "rig" was a .38 Charter Arms snub-nosed revolver in a soft, suede leather holster that could be used as pocket holster or, with the addition of a steel clip, as a belt holster. Ellifritz's opinion, based on experience and observations in his training classes, is that Charters Arms small revolvers are of substandard quality, and that suede leather holsters like the one on the #DIGTHERIG feed should be avoided. Anyway, read the whole thing to get the details and reasoning.
• "Training Thoughts"--The Firearms Blog. The author has three main points to raise. First, much of the training offered today--especially the tactical training that teaches clearing houses or small unit tactics--is more akin to something done for fun than for serious use. Second, just because someone is ex-special forces, ex-SWAT, etc., doesn't mean that they are good a teacher. Third, training is an on-going process.
• "Is the .45-70 Gov't. Cartridge Still Relevant?"--American Rifleman. Depends on what you need a cartridge to do. Anyway, the article is a good overview of some modern loadings for the .45-70, as well as tests of those offerings for accuracy, velocity, etc.
• "GREYMAN: A New Lifestyle Series"--All Outdoors. According to the press release, the YouTube series will focus on "personal protection, self defense, and survival skills by improving your awareness, training, shooting skills, home security, travel security, physical training, first aid skills and much, much more." Here is the link to the YouTube channel.
• "6.5 Grendel and 6.5 Creedmoor Cartridges"--Shooting Illustrated. A brief look at these two popular target cartridges.
• "The George Patton 325 Scenario '90 Days' Part 1"--Mason Dixon Tactical. One prepper's plan to survive 90 days. 
• Related: "Surviving for 90 Days Part 2-B – How Much Food Do You Need?"--GeorgePatton325. 
• "Security on a budget."--Ballistics by the Inch. A used 4 to 5 inch barreled revolver in .38 Special or .357 Magnum. The author's find was a used Ruger Security Six.
• "How to Treat Gunshot Wounds When No Help Is Coming"--Survival Doctor. A follow up on an earlier article about rendering first aid for gunshot wounds.

• Related: "Good Instructors Have More Than Just Shooting Skills"--Active Response Training. Good shooting instructors also have trauma kits for treating gun shot wounds.

• "Magpul PMAG 21 GL9 9mm Glock Mags Now Shipping"--The Firearms Blog. A 21-round magazine that can be used in the Glock 17, 19 or 26.
• "So I went out and bought a carbide lamp."--Neo-Survivalist. The author purchased a Japanese manufactured carbide lamp and tests it out. I have a couple old mining lamps that are carbide lamps, but have never been able to get them to work reliably. A new production model would be nice.

Other Stuff:

• "Zika Affected Woman's Brain and Memory, Doctors Say"--NBC News. "Italian researchers say they've found evidence Zika can affect the brains of adults, and may damage memory." The affected woman that is the subject of the paper was a nurse that became infected. According to the article, upon examination she "showed mild deficits in attention and mental processing speed and mental flexibility and moderate deficits in verbal and nonverbal memory tasks." The researchers indicate that the nurse recovered after several weeks.
• "White House Report Concludes That Bite-Mark Analysis Is Junk Science"--The Intercept. From the article: "The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology has concluded that forensic bite-mark evidence is not scientifically valid and is unlikely ever to be validated, according to a draft report obtained by The Intercept." It should be obvious by how many mistakes and even fraud have resulted from bite-mark analysis, but I doubt this report will prevent it continuing to be used as evidence by forensics experts and courts.
• "A deadly eruption at Japan's Sakurajima volcano could take place soon, warn scientists"--Daily Mail. From the article:

Scientists led by Bristol University found magma building up beneath Japan's Aira caldera, caued by the Sakurajima volcano, may threaten Kagoshima, known as the 'Naples of the Eastern world' and its 600,000 inhabitants.

The team analysed surface deformation in and around the caldera and volcano to characterise the magma supply conditions, and how they can be used for eruption forecasting and hazard assessment.

The magma build-up could see the volcano repeat its deadly eruption of 1914, which killed 58 people and caused widespread flooding in the nearby city of Kagoshima.

• "Is Hawaii's Kilauea volcano about to blow? Lava lake at summit of world's most active volcano is rising"--Daily Mail. The article reports:

Visitors to Hawaii's Kilauea volcano are being treated to dramatic views of a lake of lava bubbling and splattering at its summit after it rose to one of its highest level in 42 years.

Geologists say the rising lava lake marks a new period of activity from the 4,100 feet high volcano as the summit has repeatedly risen and shrank in the past few days.

The lava lake in the crater at the summit is unusually high and has risen to within 16 feet (5m) of the rim that contains it.

• When you run out of other people's money: "City on the brink: Petersburg can’t pay its bills and time is running out"--MSN. Another Democrat controlled city that is facing bankruptcy by overspending, and which can no longer obtain loans to paper over its budget shortfalls. The mayor is trying to get the city council to save money by cutting fire and police protection, and closing libraries, museums, and other non-essential services.
• "Tent Cities Full Of Homeless People Are Booming In Cities All Over America As Poverty Spikes"--Zero Hedge. I can remember when Reagan was president and the news media ran endless stories about the homeless problem and how Republicans didn't care. Songwriters even performed hit songs critical of the homeless problem. Today? Crickets.
• "Massive European civil war predicted by scholar of Islam who says jobless young Muslims are increasingly turning to radical groups"--The Sun. From the article:

Professor Gilles Kepel, from the Sciences Po in Paris, claims a growing number of Muslims with poor job prospects are forming a “Jihad Generation” to continue to commit acts of terror across Europe.

A scholar of Islam claims a growing “Jihad Generation” will lead to a civil war across Europe

According to German newspaper Die Welt, Kepel said the terror group’s aim is to incite hatred towards Muslims from the rest of the society which would eventually radicalise others to the point that Europe could enter into full-blown civil war.

Kepel, who is a specialist on Islamic and contemporary Arab world, added these ISIS fanatics not only want to destroy Europe, but to eliminate more moderate Islamic opposition.

“The terrorism is above all an expression of a war within Islam,” he explained. “The long-term goal of the Jihad Generation is to destroy Europe through civil war and then build an Islamic society from the ashes.

• Related: "Concern in Germany: 'Hundreds of terrorists in our midst'"--Arutz Sheva. (H/t Anonymous Conservative).

• Related: "3 Syrians--believed a sleeper cell sent by ISIS-- arrested in Germany"--Fox News.

• Related: "ISIS Guide Tells Jihadists to Use 'Accessible' Yet 'Brutal' Poisonous Plants"--PJ Media.

• "Is there a criminal gene? Up to 70% of jail inmates have disorder also seen in serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer - and it could be in their DNA"--Daily Mail. From the article:

Called Antisocial Personality Disorder, this mental condition is linked to aggression and manipulation, and it is believed that 40 to 70 percent of the prison population has it - compared to the 1 to 3 percent in the general population.

The Business Insider also has an article on the subject, that states:

Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD) is wildly overrepresented in prisons. Take a crowd of 100 people of the street, and chances are just one to three of them will have ASPD. Take 100 people from a prison, and you can expect 40 to 70 of them to have the disorder.

That's significant, because ASPD has been linked with aggression, irritability, disregard for rules, disregard for other people, and dishonesty. 

It's a controversial diagnosis — broad, ill-defined, and overlapping heavily with other disorders like psychopathy.

But there's reason to take it seriously. Twin studies suggest that genetics explain about half of the variance in ASPD diagnoses, and environmental factors the other half. And a new study has begun the task of identifying which genes are most likely involved in ASPD, with significant success.

An international team of Finnish, American, British, and Swedish researchers examined data from the Finnish CRIME sample — a database of psychological tests and genetic material from 794 Finnish prisoners taken between 2010-2011.

Of the 794 prisoners,  a full 568 screened positive for ASPD. By comparing that group's genetic material to a large control sample from the general population, the researchers identified a number of genes that may play a role in at least some ASPD cases.

The gene the researchers have focused on is rs4714329. This research appears to be related to or a continuation of a Finnish study that two years ago was reported as having identified a warrior gene. At the time, The Independent reported:

A study looking at the genetic makeup of 895 criminals in Finland has discovered a pair of genes linked with extreme violent behaviour.  

The research, carried out by the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and published in the journal Molecular Pyschiatry, compared the genes of non-violent offenders with a group of 78 individuals convicted of violent crimes.  

Experts involved in the study say that the majority of violent crime in any society is usually carried out by a small group of repeat offenders who resist attempts at rehabilitation.  

The group of 78 were responsible for a total of 1,154 murders, manslaughters, attempted homicides or batteries and the geneticists concluded that between 4 and 10 per cent of all violent crimes in Finland could be traced back to individuals with these genotypes. 

All those in the study that had committed murder (including a secondary group of 114 individuals who had all killed at least one person) possessed the MAOA gene, with a variant gene of cadherin 13 or CDH13 also found to be common among violent offenders.  

The MAOA gene is sometimes known as the “warrior gene” and is associated with higher levels of aggression in response to provocation, while studies into CDH13 have associated it with substance abusers and low impulse control.However, the article then goes on to caution that having the gene does not correspond to a higher rate of violent crime, directly contradicting the findings from the geneticists.

(See also "Two genes linked with violent crime"--BBC (2014)). The "warrior gene" is controversial because it is more common among black men--almost 10 times as many black men have the gene than whites. (See also this article at Conservative News).

• Further reading: "Genome-wide association study of antisocial personality disorder"--Nature-Translational Psychiatry.