January 30, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Why the Diagnostic Pistol Target is a Waste of Time"--Lucky Gunner Ammo (5 min.)

• A new Woodpile Report. Check it out.
• "The Ultimate Guide to Surviving: Finding Food Edition – Squirrels and Rabbits"--The Survivalist Blog. The author summarizes his article: "This article ... will discuss the steps to take in order to successfully trap, clean, prepare and cook a squirrel or a rabbit when you find yourself without your basic needs. Finding food is going to be the most stressful aspect of your survival, so make it a priority to learn these necessary skills."
• "New Update on Status of CMP 1911s from United States Army"--Ammo Land. CMP is reporting that they have received the 8,000 pistols alloted for this year from the Army.
• "Russian Army Adopts AK-12, AK-15, AEK-971, and AEK-973 Rifles for Military Service (For Real This Time)"--The Firearms Blog. The AK-12 is 5.45x39, the AK-15 is 7.62x39. These two are apparently for the regular forces. The AEK-971 and -973 are also in 5.45 and 7.62, respectively, but this rifle uses the counteracting weight to reduce recoil and muzzle climb. These latter two rifles are being adopted in limited quantities for special operation forces.
• "A 'How To' For Outdoor Potted Plant Protection"--Backyard Boss. Maybe too late for this year, but the author of this article discusses ways (other than simply bringing them indoors) to protect potted plants from being killed off by a freeze or just simple winter weather. As you may know, the USDA has split the nation into certain growing zones, with the lower numbered zones to the north (see here and here). The author indicates that if you are in Zones 1-3, you pretty much have no choice but to bring the plants indoors. So his article focuses on what to do in other areas.
• "Bovine basics for beginners"--Backwoods Home Magazine. The author briefly discusses various topics about keeping a cow, including the need for sufficient pasturage, feeding (especially in winter when grazing is difficult or impossible), shelter, the need to offer the cow company (whether another animal and/or the daily care and contact you will provide), and so on. The thing to remember is that a cow represents a significant investment, and it relies on you for care and protection.
• "Doctors warn another flu-like deadly virus is going round - but only military officers can get a vaccine to block it"--Daily Mail. Per the article: "The adenovirus — which often infects the airways and the intestinal tract — shares several symptoms with the flu, including congestion, sore throat, cough and fever, and can cause the common cold."
• Oops: "China’s Two-Child Policy Fails to Produce Baby Boom"--Breitbart.  

          In 2016, the Chinese Communist Party abandoned its decades-long one-child policy and allowed all couples to have two children. China’s National Commission of Health and Family Planning confidently predicted that the new two-child policy would result in at least 20 million new births.

          The state’s birth planners were wrong.

           The National Bureau of Statistics reported on January 19th that there were only 17.2 million births in 2017, down from 17.9 million births the year before. The numbers not only fell millions short of the projected number, they suggest that the birth rate in China is set to dramatically decline in the future years.

Since fecundity is related to religiosity, I'm not sure how a Communist/Atheist country could reasonably expect to increase its birthrates. In any event, the problem is compounded by parents selectively aborting females in favor of sons. As the author writes, "tens of millions of women have been eliminated from the population by sex-selection abortions and female infanticide. The result is fewer women of childbearing age in China and a further dip in the birthrate."

•  India is going the same route: "India's millions of missing women: Preference for boys has led to more than 63million fewer females than there should be because of sex selective abortions and early deaths"--Daily Mail. 
• "Border agents find 76 illegal immigrants from central America packed into a trailer in Texas"--Daily Mail. You will notice that the main difference between this article and the one I linked to yesterday (where the illegal aliens were caught by Mexican authorities) is that this one says nothing about the illegal aliens being immediately deported.
• "What Is A Paradox Gun?"--The Big Game Hunting Blog. "Put simply, a Paradox Gun is a shotgun with a partially rifled barrel that enables it to shoot both slugs and shot with reasonable accuracy."
• Diversity is Strength: "African gang crime 'out of control' in Melbourne: Greg Hunt"--ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corp.) News. From the article:

         The comments from Mr Hunt and Mr Turnbull follow several recent headline-grabbing crimes blamed on groups of young African men, including the trashing of an Airbnb property in Werribee and the repeated destruction of a community centre in Tarneit.

        In both cases, walls were scrawled with the letters "MTS", which are understood to stand for a western suburbs-based group, "Menace to Society".

         A spate of jewellery store robberies in 2016 and 2017, many carried out by groups of men described as being of African appearance, also prompted debate about gang crime.

         South Sudanese Australian Nelly Yoa, who said he mentored troubled young members of the community in Melbourne, said the Prime Minister's criticism of the Victorian Government was valid.

          "The State Government has watched this unfold over the past two years," said Mr Yoa, who came to Australia in 2003 as a refugee.

          "Nothing has been done."

           He said more must be done to address violence in African communities.

• Something to keep in mind whenever amnesty for illegal aliens comes up: "The Number of Undocumented Immigrants in the United States"--Georgia Tech. University. The author's abstract:

We apply standard operational principles of inflows and outflows to estimate the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States, using the best available data, including some that has only recently become available. We generate a lower bound for the number of undocumented immigrants using conservative parameter values that underestimate inflows and overestimate outflows. Our lower bound is close to 17 million, 50% higher than the most prominent current estimate of 11.3 million, which is based on survey data and thus different sources and methods. Standard parameter values generate an estimate of 22.8 million undocumented immigrants, twice as large as the current estimate.

• "Norma Precision cutbacks in Sweden due to falling American market"--The Firearms Blog. Laying off 29 (out of 190) employees.
• "Why 2017’s 'Third Warmest Year on Record' is a Yawner"--Watts Up With That. The author notes: "The first thing to note is that the differences in 'global average temperature' are way too small to have any significant impact on any ecosystem, let alone the welfare of human beings, who are far better than most other life forms at adapting to their environment and—much more importantly—modifying it to suit their needs."
• And yet it somehow survived: "When Global Warming Made Our World Super-Hot"--BBC. From the article:

          About 55 million years ago global temperatures spiked. Then, as now, sea levels rose, the oceans became more acidic, and species disappeared forever.

* * *

           One of the biggest concerns today is that the Antarctic ice sheet is shrinking because of climate change. This wasn't a problem during the PETM, because there probably was no Antarctic ice sheet. Even before the onset of the PETM, global temperatures were several degrees warmer than they are now.

           Some researchers think the pace of climate change during the PETM distinguishes the event from today too. A controversial study published in 2013 made the case.

           Researchers examined another set of muds that formed at the bottom of the ocean 55 million years ago, this time in the north-west Atlantic. They found banding in the muds that they argued was formed by annual cycles.

           When they traced the oxygen and carbon isotope blips associated with the PETM, they found that they were contained in just 13 bands. This means, they said, that the PETM temperature surge came in just 13 years.

* * *

         What it would imply is that global temperatures ramped up to that 5 °C figure in just 13 years. Today, in contrast, global temperatures have risen about 1 °C since the late 19th century.

• "Terrestrial evidence of a nuclear catastrophe in Paleoindian times"--The Mammoth Trumpet. This is a 2001 paper. The author's abstract:

A common problem at paleoindian sites in the northeastern region of North America is the recovery of radiocarbon dates that are much younger than their western counterparts, sometimes by as much as 10,000 years. Other methods like thermoluminescence, geoarchaeology, and sedimentation suggest that the dates are incorrect. Evidence has been mounting that the peopling of the Americas occurred much earlier than 12,000 bp. The discovery of tracks and micrometeorite-like particles in paleoindian artifacts across North America demonstrates they were bombarded during a cosmic event. Measurements of Uranium 235 (235U), depleted by 17-77%, and enhanced concentrations of Plutonium 239 (239Pu), from neutron capture on Uranium 238 (238U), in artifacts, associated chert types, and sediments at depth indicates that the entire prehistoric North American landscape was bombarded by thermal neutrons. Radiocarbon dating assumes that there is no substantial change in isotopic composition over time. A large thermal neutron event would convert residual Nitrogen 14 (14N) in charcoal to Carbon 14 (14C) thus resetting the radiocarbon date to a younger value and pushing back the date that paleoindians occupied the Americas by thousands of years. Analysis of data from 11 locations across North America indicates there were episodes of cosmic ray bombardments of the prehistoric landscape in Late Glacial times. Examination of the radiocarbon record suggests these events were coupled with geomagnetic excursions at 41,000, 33,000, and 12,500 bp and irradiated the landscape with massive thermal neutron fluxes of the order of ~1015 neutrons/cm2. These data provide a clear body of terrestrial evidence supporting either one of two longstanding hypotheses for catastrophe in paleoindian times: 1) a giant solar flare during a geomagnetic excursion as explored by Wolfendale and Zook, and 2) a supernova shockwave as forwarded by Brackenridge, Clarke, and Dar. The evidence is reviewed, and logical implications for Late Glacial mass extinctions and associated plant mutations are explored.

(See also this excerpt at Science Frontiers). Update: You can read the full article via this PDF (starting at p. 9).