January 21, 2019 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Firing test of a DIAS made from a coat hanger"--Open Source Ordinance (2 min.)

Don't do this at home.

• "Texas homeowner shoots, kills 3 men and injuries 2 during home invasion, officials say"--Fox News. The homeowner was not injured, according to the the news account. All 5 involved in the home invasion were shot: one died on the front lawn, a second died in an SUV being used as a get-away car (which crashed into a power pole), and the third died on the street while fleeing the scene of the crash.
• "US Army Proceeding With M4 and M249 Replacement Program in 6.8mm"--The Truth About Guns. The latest in a long string of failed attempts to replace the 5.56 mm stretching back into the 1960s. I doubt that this will be any more successful. 

• Related: "Vasilyev Automatic Rifle (VAR) Concept"--The Firearm Blog. A Russian firearms designer is taking a shot at finding a solution that would allow soldiers to engage targets at long range and also penetrate body armor. His concept uses a long barreled, bullpup weapon using a saboted projectile with a tungsten penetrator.

• "Understanding the Different Camo Patterns for Tactical and Sporting Uses"--Tactical Life. The author writes:

       Camouflage is most frequently designed with one or more of three goals: blend, break up or disrupt. Blending patterns mimic the predominant colors or patterns of the environment where they’ll be used most. A classic example is one of my all-time favorite patterns, the original Mossy Oak Bottomland. ...

* * * 

        Camo patterns designed to break up the human outline usually have large contrasting blocks of color or patterns. A recent example is the Cipher pattern from First Lite. Cipher uses large, irregular and contrasting areas of colors and shapes to prevent the wearer from appearing like a large monotone blob. This is the downfall of many blend patterns like Bottomland. Cipher works in many environments but uses primarily brown tones to work well in arid regions or wooded areas during the dormant seasons. Because Cipher is a breakup-style pattern, the colors aren’t as important as they would be if the pattern were intended to blend.

      All Season All Terrain camo, is an older pattern that might not be as fashionable as it once was. Still, it’s effective as ever. ASAT breaks up the human outline and disrupt the ability of game to distinguish individual parts of the wearer. I’ve often explained my affection for ASAT like this: Other camo patterns attempt to look like something, but ASAT attempts to look like the nothing between somethings. Rather than looking like a tree, bush or rock, ASAT attempts to become part of the negative space between. It makes parts of the human form confusing to an animal’s eye. I admit, ASAT is not pretty and doesn’t use high-tech printing techniques to create shadowing. It also lacks photorealistic elements, but it flat-out works.

• "DIY: How to Build a Three Tiered, Raised Garden Box (plans included)"--Real World Survivor. From the article: "The three-tiered strawberry bed is made from 2-by 6-inch treated boards. The most attractive and practical size bed I have made had a 60-by-60- inch base box and took up little room in the yard. Upon the base box is a second box that measures 43 by 43 inches, and the third box measures 30 by 30 inches. The second box is turned 45 degrees to the first box, giving the bed a pleasing geometrical look. The third box is placed on the second box, parallel to the first box."
• I haven't tried this, but it sounds interesting: "Revealed: The five-ingredient recipe for the 'miracle spray' that will clean your dirty floors, showers, stove tops AND grout"--Daily Mail. The recipe: "Simply gather 1.5 litres of water (one cup of which should be boiling), 300ml of vinegar, 60ml dishwashing liquid, 25ml eucalyptus oil and three teaspoons of washing soda - which is also known as sodium carbonate. ... [M]ix the washing soda with about one cup of boiling water to dissolve. Then add the remaining ingredients and pour it all into a two litre bottle - ideally one with a spray nozzle that will allow for easy application on a variety of surfaces." It is supposed to mimic a popular Australian cleanser called Lectric.
• It's hard to gauge the seriousness of this outbreak because of the histrionics and hyperbole in the news accounts: "World View: Ebola Outbreak in D.R. Congo Spreading Exponentially Faster"--Breitbart.  From the article:

        The number of Ebola cases recorded each day in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has doubled, indicating that it may spread to other regions and other countries.

      According to Jean-Philippe Marcoux, country directory for Mercy Corps in DRC, “Now it’s doubling – it’s very possible that it can double again. If we don’t significantly increase the resources, it will keep increasing. It will spread progressively to other health areas and it will be there for a long time.”

      If this doubling continues, it would represent exponential growth.

Even with the "doubling", there have only been 668 cases, which indicates that it isn't as easily transmitted as past strains have been. I find the following more interesting, however:

WHO is predicting that the outbreak will continue for six more months or even longer. But even if the outbreak could be contained quickly – and it cannot – then it could quickly be restarted because the disease can be transmitted sexually up to 18 months after an individual’s cure and it can also pass from pregnant mothers to their fetuses. 

Sexual transmission could turn this into the next "AIDS." While AIDS is a heterosexual disease in Africa, in advanced countries it is mostly limited to homosexuals and drug users who share needles. A sexually transmitted Ebola would likely follow a similar pattern as did AIDS, spreading from Africa into those populations in advanced countries that are most likely to engage in risky sexual behavior.

• "What are the Implications for Climate of Recent North Magnetic Pole Activity?"--Watts Up With That. Dr. Tim Ball notes that the magnetic pole always wanders, but the recent acceleration of the movement made presage a magnetic polar reversal. He continues:

      Of course, correlation is not cause and effect, but we now know the aurora are the result of interaction between the solar wind and gases, especially oxygen and nitrogen in the upper atmosphere. We now know the aurora are a direct result of electrons interacting with the magnetic field.

      I hope we will see some enterprising open-minded research done on these manifestations of change to determine the mechanisms. I previously hypothesized that changes in upper-level circulation, especially the subtropical easterlies and the mid-latitude westerlies are due to changes in pressure on the magnetic field and all underlying atmospheric layers by the solar wind. We know the solar wind compresses the magnetic field on the up-Sun side, so it is logical that variation in the solar wind causes variation in the amount of compression creating a bellows-like effect.

• "Earth’s Shifting Magnetic Pole May be Confusing Your Cell Phone"--Space.com. The author explains:

        “When you open your smartphone’s map app, you may see an arrow pointing which way you’re facing, and there’s something quite clever going on underneath,” he continues. “Your phone contains a magnetometer that is measuring the Earth’s magnetic field. In order to make sense of this information, Android and iOS operating systems use the WMM to correct the measurements to true north.”

        Normally the World Magnetic Model is updated every 5 years. For decades that’s been often enough to track natural changes in our planet’s magnetism caused by fluctuations in Earth’s molten core. But suddenly things are changing faster than before. 

      “Since late 2014, Earth’s core field has varied in an unpredicted, and currently unpredictable, manner [including a sudden change in declinaton called a ‘geomagnetic jerk‘ in 2014/2015],” says Brown. “The aim of the WMM is to be globally accurate within 1 degree of declination, but we were going to exceed that limit in only 3 years.” That’s why, for the first time, they are issuing an update to the WMM before the usual 5 year mark in 2020.

"Earth Catastrophe Cycle | SOLAR MICRONOVA III"--Suspicious Observers (13 min.)

• The war on white Christians continues. The latest is the media feeding frenzy over a group of Covington Catholic High School boys attending the March for Life that were harassed by a Black Israelite Group and a group of Native Americans that pushed their way into the Catholic group while one pounded on his drum. One of the members of the Native American groups shouted: “White people, go back to Europe. This is not your land,” and cursed the students with f-bombs and saying: “You’re being a white man about it. That’s all you know how to do.” The Black Israelite group was also verbally abusive, calling a priest a “child molesting faggot,” and calling the kids “peckerwoods” and “crackers". However, some in the media got hold of a short video allegedly showing the kids being "disrespectful" to one of the Native American men (by standing there and doing nothing but smiling at the man), and suddenly almost the whole of the media establishment was calling for the kids heads without even bothering to verify the facts. Once the facts started coming out, some news outlets and celebrities began backpedaling or offering apologies. Or simply disappearing their hate. Others, such as The Atlantic, just doubled down: "Whatever happened just before or after the three or four minutes most widely circulated on yesterday’s videos, those three or four minutes convey a reality that seems impossible to deny." The Daily Mail has also doubled down, trying to find past incidents by which it can label the school or its students racists: "PICTURED: Kentucky students from the same Catholic high school as the teens who taunted a Native American man were allowed to don BLACKFACE at their sports events - and openly goaded African American players." The lesson from all of this is, as Vox Day has pointed out, SJWs always lie and they always double down.

• Related: "Can Black People Be Racist?"--Huffington Post. The author, Doyin Richards, says no. He explains:

       I don’t believe that people of color can be racist in America.

       Racism is completely different from prejudice, because it’s systemic, as the -ism suffix connotes. I’d define racism as a political, economic or social system in which a dominant race uses its power to oppress others of different races. ...

       When you experience rudeness from black people, remember that they will never have the power you do as a white person. They don’t live in a country where the laws, norms and rules benefit them. White people ― er, white men ― were running the show around here long before the ink on the Declaration of Independence was dry. 

• It bears repeating: SJWs always lie. "LEAK: ‘Huge Teams’ Engaged in Manual Interventions on Google Search Results"--Breitbart. A little over a month ago, Google CEO Sundar Pichai testified before Congress that Google's search results were solely the result of their search algorithm. Google has also stated that "we never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment." However, remarks from an internal Google discussion thread indicate that the Company does manually intervene to change search results to favor leftist causes and bury results supporting conservative causes.
• "Leaked Bruce Ohr testimony may be the key to unraveling the biggest political scandal in American history"--American Thinker. From the article: "Ohr has testified that the officials who submitted the FIA warrant applications knowingly lied, because he warned them that the Fusion-GPS dossier was opposition research from the Hillary Campaign." 

• Related: "Mueller Mobster Lisa Page Was Promised Job at Former Mueller Law Firm with Lucrative Contract After She Left Witch Hun"--Gateway Pundit. 

• The wages of sin socialism: "‘They Are Starving Us to Death’: Cubans Protest Food Shortages"--Breitbart. An excerpt:

        Cuba began suffering severe food shortages late last year, beginning with a shortage of wheat that left Cubans with no access to the bread the government mandates they eat through rations. Some on the island are speculating that Cuba may be returning to the “Special Period” of the 1990s when the island experienced the worst economic crisis in its history following the collapse of the Soviet Union. For many Cubans, products such as bread and eggs are now considered a luxury, with people forced to queue for hours to buy them from state-run stores.

      As noted by PanAmerican Post, one of the key reasons behind the current hunger is the regime’s failure to produce sufficient quantities of flour, the vital ingredient for producing bread. Regime officials claimed that several mills throughout the country had broken down and the government had no access to replacement parts. Havana also failed to import sufficient quantities of wheat to meet the demand from the population. Despite the regime’s failures, individuals seeking to eat are the ones suffering retribution – those found in personal possession of flour can face fines of up to 3000 pesos ($30), four times the average monthly salary.

• Evolution in action: "Woman known as 'The Bikini Hiker' for scaling mountains in her swimwear freezes to death in Taiwan national park after falling down a ravine during a climb"--Daily Mail. 
• "China's birth rate hits its lowest since Chairman Mao's Great Famine despite the abolition of the one-child policy"--Daily Mail. The article notes that "[t]he [Chinese] workforce is on track to decline by as much as 23 per cent by 2050" because of the declining birthrates. It also indicates that China is aging more rapidly than almost any country in recent history.
• "Nordic countries are desperate for babies: Falling birth rates could see an end to region's generous welfare state model"--Daily Mail. Per the article, "From Copenhagen to the North Cape, from Helsinki to Reykjavik, demographics across the Nordics reveal two things: there are fewer large families, and women are waiting longer before having their first child." The author claims that this is a result of financial uncertainty and rising housing costs. 
• "Why Regulators Went Soft on Monopolies"--The American Conservative. The author suggests that the answer is because "[t]he Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have become revolving doors for highly paid economists and lawyers whose only goal is to look after their corporate clients rather than voters, consumers, workers, suppliers, and competition."
• More evidence of prehistoric SUVs? "Tiny animal carcasses found in buried Antarctic lake"--Nature. The article reports that the creatures were found under a kilometer of ice. Also: "The researchers now think that the creatures inhabited ponds and streams in the Transantarctic Mountains, roughly 50 kilometres from Lake Mercer, during brief warm periods in which the glaciers receded — either in the past 10,000 years, or 120,000 years ago. Later, as the climate cooled, ice smothered these oases of animal life." So, 10,000 and 120,000 years ago these glaciers retreated far beyond any melting seen today, and yet we are supposed to be concerned about modern global warming making the world uninhabitable?