January 26, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"What is a flash sight picture"--Lucky Gunner Ammo (8 min.)

He includes a test/demonstration of how fast you can actually perceive the target and sights. It is a lot faster than you probably would believe.

• Greg Ellifritz has posted another excellent "Weekend Knowledge Dump". While I've linked to a couple of the articles in the past few weeks, most of them are things I missed and worth the look. Also, he has a link to free PDF downloads from another Paladin Press author--in this case, Ralph Mroz, who is offering Tactical Defense Training for Real Life Encounters and Defensive Shooting for Real Life Encounters.
• I've always maintained that your food supply should, to the extent possible, reflect what you actually eat, whether by making sure that your food supply consists of food you currently eat, or learning recipes to make use of your food supply so you learn to enjoy the food. The latter is particularly important for the Basic 5 foods that tend to be easy to store in bulk for long periods of time. The author of Security & Self-Reliance shares his recipe for sausage and lentil soup.
• While we are on the subject of Security & Self-Reliance, the author has started a new program of offering a free PDF download of a survival book each week. Details here. Note that because of bandwidth and space restrictions, he will be cycling through the books; meaning, they will be taken down after a week or two to make room for new titles.
• I was watching a TFB TV video last night on shot show, where they were interviewing someone from the Civilian Marksmanship Program. They discussed the status of the receipt of the 1911 pistols, of course, but she also confirmed that CMP had received shipments of M1 Garands from the Philippines and Turkey. No word on how long it would take to process the weapons, but we may see some of the "sold-out" categories fill up.
• Actually, I have to confess that I watched several videos about shot show. Another one--sort of in the "that would be cool to own"--was an interview with Ion Productions which sells portable flame throwers. Their base model is about $1,200, if I remember correctly. Anyway, check out the video.
• "Be Polite, or Be Safe?"--Arms Guide. The author's mother was stalked by a stranger throughout a grocery store. Although her mother was able to finally elude the stranger, the author discusses how her mother was afraid to confront the man about his actions (while still in the grocery store) because she didn't want to be rude. Sometimes, though, you need to be a little rude. A simple "can I help you?" in an assertive voice can do wonders.
• "The People Who Would Survive Nuclear War"--The Atlantic. In 1979, a government commission published a report entitled "The Effects of Nuclear War" (PDF here). This article is about an appendix to the report, Appendix C, which provided a fictionalized account of a survivor of an attack in the Charlottesville area in order to illustrate the commission's findings.
• "Cry Havoc: Let Slip The QRB"--Recoil Magazine. This is another Shot Show product announcement, but one that may be of interest to someone wanting to fit an AR into a pack for carry. Cry Havoc Tactical was showing off a Quick Release Barrel (QRB) system that allows you to simply and easily detach the barrel/front hand guard on an AR style rifle (using a direct impingement system). From the article:

Your BCG, charging handle and upper receiver remain on the rifle. While we, unfortunately, do not have the photos on hand right now, this author has personally seen photos of a QRB rifle broken down and fit inside a Trapper Keeper binder. Of course, any backpack, gym bag or short duffel will work, as the overall package goes down to a 17.5-inch overall length once broken apart. The Dead Foot Arms folding stock assembly incorporated into this build shrinks that number even further.

The system can also be used for a quick caliber change between 5.56 and .300 Blackout (since they use the same BCG and magazines).

• Uh, oh. "Tens of thousands of missing texts between the Trump-hating FBI lovers are FOUND by Justice Department - but they are still being kept secret"--Daily Mail.

• Related: "The Sad Decline of the FBI: You Read It Here First"--Powerline. The author asks: "If 'mainstream' reporters had joined us in blowing the whistle on DOJ’s rather obvious corruption under the Obama/Holder/Lynch regime, would we ever have gotten to the point where Loretta Lynch was meeting with Bill Clinton, apparently to assure him that Hillary was safe from prosecution, regardless of the evidence, while senior FBI officials huddled to discuss how they could prevent the outsider, Donald Trump, from assuming the presidency?"

• Refugees Welcome! "Bosnia: Sweden Is the Largest Market for Illegal Balkan Weapons"--Breitbart. From the news article:

           Bosnian prosecutor Goran Glamocanin has claimed that Sweden is the number one market in Europe for illegal weapons from the Balkan region after yet another explosion occurred in Malmö over the weekend.

           The Bosnian prosecutor, who is currently involved with the prosecution of 20 people who are alleged to have attempted to traffick illegal military grade arms out of the country, said almost all of the weapons were headed to Sweden, Aftonbladet reports.

• President Trump has already withheld some $60 million in aid to the Palestinians (via the UN), but is now threatening to withhold more unless the Palestinians begin to negotiate in good faith. From the Deutsche Welle: "Donald Trump to withhold Palestinian aid unless they return to negotiating table." I don't think the Palestinian government intends to do so: "Amid funding cut fears, PA purchases $50 million private jet for Abbas"--The Times of Israel. Just remember if you hear someone in the MSM trying to shame the U.S. for cutting aid, that an equal amount (when you consider maintenance and operations costs) was spent for a new private jet for the Palestinian president.
• Another sign of the K-shift? "Americans Are Becoming Less Comfortable With LGBTQ People, GLAAD Report Finds"--Huffington Post. Per the article:

         The 2018 Accelerating Acceptance report found that 49 percent of the non-LGBTQ respondents identified themselves as LGBTQ “allies” in 2017, down from 53 percent in 2016. At the same time, 55 percent of the LGBTQ respondents said they experienced anti-queer discrimination last year, compared to 44 percent in 2016. 

         Advocates said it was the first time in the four-year history of the report, which surveyed more than 2,100 Americans over the age of 18, that the results had indicated a drop in LGBTQ acceptance. 

Since opposition to LGBTQ... is based in the disgust response, and conservatives have stronger disgust responses than liberals, this suggests a conservative shift. Probably too little, too late, but we will see.

• You may remember an incident from last year where an off-duty police officer was trying to deal with rowdy kids that were trespassing on his property, and during the scuffle had drawn his firearm and accidentally discharged it when pulled into a bush. Well, he will not be facing charges. According to the Daily Mail article, the prosecutor was looking at the officer's actions as he would the actions of any other member of the public, and determined that the officer had acted appropriately in self-defense.
• I had actually been looking at these lately for air travel, but not now: "SCOTTeVest Inventor: I Advertise on Fox News Because Viewers Are 'Incredibly Gullible' 'F***ing Idiots'"--PJ Media. There are two points to this. First, he obviously has a strong dislike and contempt for conservatives, and I don't see any reason to reward such behavior. Second, and more important, is that he thinks the people buying his product are "gullible" and "idiots." So there must be something about his product that makes him believe that only gullible idiots would buy it. I don't know if it is low quality, over priced, or what, but the inventor obviously knows that there is something wrong with his product.
• And the pattern continues: "Billionaire Couple Ruled Suicides Were Actually Murdered, And Tied To Clinton Foundation"--Anonymous Conservative. The deaths were originally thought to be a suicide, but an autopsy found ligature marks on the arms and necks indicating that they had been tied up. 
• While we get all excited about some minor school shooting here in the U.S., this is an example of what is happening just across our southern border: "Reynosa: "Scorpions of the CDG" against Sedena leaves 1 soldier dead and 5 wounded"--Borderland Beat. Don't hear about U.S. military patrolling in Miami and getting in a gun battle with drug dealers, leaving one soldier dead and five others wounded. We're so safe in the United States that we have forgotten what is real violence.
• Another blow to the Out of Africa theory: "Modern humans left Africa much earlier"--BBC. From the article:

          New dating of fossils from Israel indicates that our species (Homo sapiens) lived outside Africa around 185,000 years ago, some 80,000 years earlier than the previous evidence.

* * *

        The co-lead researcher, Prof Israel Hershkovitz, told BBC News that the discovery would fundamentally alter ideas of recent human evolution.

         "We have to rewrite the whole story of human evolution, not just for our own species but all the other species that lived outside of Africa at the time," the researcher, from Tel Aviv University, explained.

Also:

         "The new dating hints that there could be even older Homo sapiens finds to come from the region of western Asia."

         The new scientific dating evidence raises the possibility that modern humans interacted with other, now extinct, species of humans for tens of thousands of years. It also fits in with recent discoveries of remains and genetic studies that also indicate an earlier departure from Africa.

If you were to take a course or read a book on physical anthropology, it would teach that humans had evolved in Africa then spread out fairly recently (it was about 50,000 bp when I was at university), and that only minor evolution had occurred in the intervening period--there hadn't been enough time for significant differences. Every time the period is pushed back, it means that there was additional time for evolving separately from populations in Africa, and intermixing with other hominids already extant, or taking traits back into Africa.  

• The Anonymous Conservative has taken note of a story that would otherwise have never risen to public attention: the death of a 20-year old adult movie star from a vaginal infection. AC explains the possible significance:

          You would think a girl that young would be naturally healthy. It is not impossible it is just one of those cases where a bug hits a human victim who happens to not have the right mix of immune abilities to meet and repel it.

         But, the multiple prescription drugs to treat urinary tract infections might imply you are looking at some sort of antibiotic resistance.

         That, of course, brings to mind the cases they were seeing in San Francisco of MRSA that had cultivated themselves in the gay HIV+ community. The belief at the time was, the HIV+ community was somewhat irregular in taking their HIV meds, so while they didn’t go into full blown AIDS, their immune systems were compromised. As a result, they took antibiotics at higher than normal rates due to frequent illnesses. Combined, the immune suppression allowed a pathogenic staph species to colonize them and adapt to living on humans regularly, while the frequent antibiotic usage helped in developing antibiotic resistance. Over time, the strain was culled for its ability to bypass various facets of human immunity.

        The species was noted because of a rash of healthy, young, straight people who were coming in with necrotizing fasciitis that had not had any originating damage to the integument of the skin to allow the bacteria entry. Normally a healthy person needs a hole in their skin for the MRSA to gain entry, but in these cases, it was believed the individual had merely touched something and gotten a bacterium on their healthy, undamaged skin, and it proceeded to bore right down into the flesh. They said the originating circumstances were likely from contact with the pads on weight machines at gyms, though they said they could not rule out having rested an arm on a counter at a reception desk somewhere.

He adds:

The Bible isn’t lying. The world is designed innately to favor the advance of K, sometimes quite unkindly. I sometimes think there is some deep insight into what we are all doing here buried in that realization, if I meditated on it long enough.