December 21, 2016: A Quick Run Around the Web

Some music for your enjoyment: Blackmore's Night - "The Circle"

Prepping/Firearms:

• ".38 Special Cartridge by Smith and Wesson, History & Review"--Ammo Land. A very brief history of the .38 Special and a similarly short overview of modern defensive loadings and handguns. Infogalactic has more history and comparison of performance from different loadings if you are interested.
• "Product Review: Enola Gaye Smoke Grenades, by Pat Cascio"--Survival Blog. These appear to be serious smoke devices for signaling or obscuring visibility, and are activated by pulling a ring. If you go to the seller's website, and then go into the description for each model of device, there is a video showing it in use. There are different sizes, as well as (in the smaller devices) different burn rates, depending on the use. I could see packing a small one on a backpacking trip or on a small plane as an emergency signaling device in case you are injured, get lost, or the plane crashes.
• "Everyone needs communications, but does everyone need a Ham Radio?"--Sparks-31. The author explains that for intra-group communications, lower power options that don't require tests and licensing are adequate.
• "Incredible moment a 62-year-old driver shoots gunman who is trying to rob him of £10,000 - and judge FREES him because he was acting in self defence"--Daily Mail. A poorly executed robbery. The robber walks past the vehicle in an initial misdirect (but passes from back to front, rather then the other direction where the driver might have not seen him). The robber then backtracks to the vehicle and immediately has problems with getting his bag and gun out of his jacket. By the time he has his pistol drawn and starts tugging on the door handle, the would-be victim is able to fire at the robber through the window glass.

Other Stuff:

• The Berlin attack was another case of a "known wolf": "Revealed: Tunisian asylum seeker, 23, suspected of carrying out Berlin massacre was being tracked by police for months over an earlier terror plot - but they LOST him"--Daily Mail. According to the article, the suspect is a 23 year old Tunisian named Anis Amri, although he has used aliases. The suspect is believed to have entered Europe through Italy with Syrian refugees, but is also described as being in contact with an Islamic network already in Europe. In my mind, one of the most damning items in the news report is this: "The suspect had applied for asylum in Germany and his application was rejected in July. Attempts to deport him to Tunisia failed as he did not have identification papers, and Tunisian authorities disputed whether he was their national." (Underline mine). This is why you shouldn't admit them in the first place.

Of course, the response to the authorities having failed to keep track of this murderer (rather than jailing him until his home country would take him back) is to call for more surveillance authority and power--solely because of the influx of "migrants," Germany is to once again become a police state.

• Related: “For God’s sake is it any great surprise that possibly one of these people – they are coming from an area known for terrorist and unrest – is it a great surprise that this sort of thing would happen?”

• Related: "BERLIN TERROR PROTEST: Furious anti-refugee activists gather near site of ISIS massacre"--Express.

Of course, to the rabbits, the attack is the fault of Germans; at least according a German professor quoted by DW. From the article:

Hentges says that since the threat of radicalization increases when refugees remain isolated, increased prevention and integration measures would provide more adequate security against further attacks than control alone. But one thing remains clear: "There is no such thing as 100 percent safety; nowhere in the world." Politicians must tell that to the people honestly instead of creating hysteria, says the professor.

• Elsewhere in Germany: "Horror as violent asylum seeker 'tries to STAB German official' after deportation order"--Express.
• Meanwhile, in Austria: "‘KILL THE INFIDELS’ Migrant shouted chilling threats as he stormed children’s nativity"--Express.
• No one, including Russia, is immune from the clash of civilizations: "ISIS shares list of Russian embassies online in a bid to encourage more attacks - as it emerges assassin who killed ambassador was a bodyguard of Turkey's president"--Daily Mail. And a political supporter of Erdogan's.
• Maximum Overdrive--another suicidal vehicle attack: "Explosion after vehicle RAMS into Christian rights campaign group HQ in Canberra"--Express. According to the article, "[t]he incident occurred at the Canberra headquarters of the Australian Christian Lobby, a group which is currently carrying out a high-profile campaign against gay marriage." It doesn't appear to be an accident, either. The vehicle had been packed with gas canisters. 
• Related to Pizzagate? "Massive paedophile ring uncovered by police in Norway after arrest of 51 men"--The Independent. Notable point: "Norwegian police reportedly began their investigation after a tip-off from the FBI." (H/t Hawaiian Libertarian). 
• "At least 36 are dead and 72 are injured after massive explosion rips through fireworks market outside Mexico City"--Daily Mail. 
• "Grail satellite analysis indicates lava tubes on the moon could be up to 1000 to 5000 meters wide which would be ideal sites for massive moon colonies"--Next Big Future. After noting that other probes have found entrances to smaller lava tubes or caverns, the article relates:

Lunar lava tubes may potentially serve a role as enclosures for human habitats. Tunnels up to 5000 meters in diameter may exist, lying under 40 to 500 meters (130 ft) or more of basalt with a stable temperature of −20 °C (−4 °F). These natural tunnels provide protection from cosmic ray radiation, meteorites, micrometeorites, and ejecta from impacts. They are shielded from the variations in temperature at the lunar surface, which would provide a stable environment for inhabitants. Lunar lava tubes are typically found along the boundaries between lunar mares and highland regions. This would give ready access to elevated regions for communications, basaltic plains for landing sites and regolith harvesting, as well as underground mineral resources

• Interesting. In an interview of Heribert Dieter, by DW, to explain the economic strain between the U.S. and China, Dieter throws in this tidbit: "wages in China have been on the rise for many years and there is not much difference now in the production costs."
• A reminder that we live in the 21st Century: "China claims to have a working version of NASA's impossible engine orbiting the Earth - and will use it in satellites 'imminently'"--Daily Mail. From the article: 

     Scientists in China claim they’ve created a working prototype of the ‘impossible’ reactionless engine – and they say they’re already testing it in orbit aboard the Tiangong-2 space laboratory.

     The radical, fuel-free EmDrive recently stirred up controversy after a paper published by a team of NASA researchers appeared to show they’d successfully built the technology.

     If the physics-defying concept is brought to reality, it’s said the engine could get humans to Mars in just 10 weeks.

     But now, scientists with the China Academy of Space Technology claim NASA’s results ‘re-confirm’ what they’d already achieved, and have plans to implement it in satellites ‘as quickly as possible.’