A Quick Run Around the Web (2/29/2020)

"Ongoing Magnetic Excursion Triggered by the Sun | S0 News Feb.25.2020"--Suspicious Observers (7 min.). I've linked it to begin at the relevant portion which is at the 2:13 mark where the host begins discussing evidence of an ongoing Sun-driven magnetic incursion on Mars. Obvious implications for Earth as well.

       First up, coronavirus (COVID-19) news. This morning statistics on the coronavirus are 85,995 confirmed cases worldwide, including 2,942 fatalities. The cases in Iran have really started to "explode" according to this article from The Daily Wire. The article cites the BBC for a report of 210 deaths in Iran, and a New York Times reporter that the Iranian government is lying about the actual number of infections and that a more factual number of infected in Iran being 10,000 to 15,000. Notably, one Iran’s vice presidents has tested positive for coronvirus, only yet another of a growing group of senior Iranian officials to become infected. And contra to Saudi Arabia (see below), the Iranian government has refused to impose quarantines and is encouraging people to visit the city of Qom, a holy site, which is the center of the outbreak in Iran. The Daily Mail reports that "US spies will use eavesdropping tools and undercover informants to monitor global spread of coronavirus amid 'serious concerns' it will explode in India and doubts over how Iran will cope with outbreak, source reveals." Elsewhere in the Islamic world, Saudi Arabia halts travel to Mecca and Medina over coronavirus fears. And Qatar has become the latest Middle Eastern country to report its first case of coronavirus.

      North Korea was, I believe, the first country to seal its borders with China, and its has continued with a policy of isolation and quarantine, with Kim Jong Un warning of "serious consequences" if the virus spreads to North Korea. It's not clear if this warning was directed internally or a warning that the nation would lash out at its enemies if it felt it was going to be weakened by an outbreak. Conversely, "South Korea reports 813 more coronavirus cases in 24-hours, total 3,150." And China is up to its old tricks: "Leaked Documents Reveal Coronavirus Infections Up to 52 Times Higher Than Reported Figures in China’s Shandong Province" reports the Epoch Times. 

      Sub-Saharan Africa still seems to be resisting the spread, with Nigeria only just reporting its first case yesterday. 

      Zooming in on North America, Mexico has reported two cases of coronavirus yesterday according to the AP, both being men who had recently returned from Italy. And California is reporting two cases of community transmission of the virus (i.e., caught within California instead of people being brought back from overseas). (More here). Meanwhile, panic buying in Hawaii has resulted in toilet paper, bottled water, and mask shortages. Money quote: "'Local health officials told us not to panic buy and not to freak out,' Ozawa, 45, communications director for tech firm Hawaii Information Service, said, 'and that was enough to get us to go out and buy everything.'"

      Here is an interesting article on some of the legal and civil liberties implications. The author writes:

... the president clearly has the power to declare a national health emergency and start ordering quarantines. This power comes from Congress, and is conferred on the president by the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. As the name suggests, this is the same law that lets the president declare disaster relief emergencies. President Donald Trump invoked this power in late January, when he declared a public health emergency and ordered the quarantine of Americans returning from areas of China where Covid-19 had already spread. Quarantines can also be authorized by the surgeon general, who is specifically given that power by federal law.

Although the author contends that state officials don't have to cooperate with the federal government on this, he acknowledges that in practice they will.

       Looking at the economic picture, Quartz Magazine reports on how the impact of China closing its factories has had a ripple effect, now hitting manufacturers in South East Asia where some factories are being idled because of a lack of more basic or raw materials from China, one example being clothing factories shut because of the lack of fabric being shipped from China. And then there is this disgusting bit of news that Vox Day highlighted:

       A little known specialized bond created in 2017 by the World Bank may hold the answer as to why U.S. and global health authorities have declined to label the global spread of the novel coronavirus a “pandemic.” Those bonds, now often referred to as “pandemic bonds,” were ostensibly intended to transfer the risk of potential pandemics in low-income nations to financial markets.

      Yet, in light of the growing coronavirus outbreak, the investors who purchased those products could lose millions if global health authorities were to use that label in relation to the surge in global coronavirus cases.

      For my LDS readers, the Church has released a statement concerning its response to the coronivirus outbreak in the most heavily affected areas, including Japan, South Korea and other East Asian countries. Most has to do with safeguarding missionaries, including pulling missionaries out of affected areas and stating that missionaries returning from these regions will self-quarantine for 14-days upon return. The announcement also states that temples have been closed in some regions and, similarly, Sunday worship sessions have also been suspended in some areas.

       While the majority of people panicking over the virus outbreak want government "to do something," which itself is how we gradually lose power to the government, the reality is that simple hygiene and etiquette are the best methods to control the spread of the disease. Unfortunately, the French are screwed should the virus establish itself in that country because of their notoriously bad hygiene: "A third of French people don’t wash their hands after going to the toilet and less than half before eating, while a fifth of Frenchmen change their underwear twice a week at best." 

       And on the subject of hygiene, The Guardian has a good article discussing some of the myths and misconceptions of the coronavirus. First, and I've been guilty of this myself, it addresses those that downplay the virus as not being worse than the flu. In fact, current statistics indicate that the lethality rate of 1% which is higher than seasonal flu. And for those worried about stocking up on face masks, the article relates:

Wearing a face mask is not an iron clad guarantee that you won’t get sick – viruses can also transmit through the eyes and tiny viral particles, known as aerosols, can still penetrate masks. However, masks are effective at capturing droplets, which is the main transmission route of coronavirus, and some studies have estimated a roughly five-fold protection versus no barrier. If you are likely to be in close contact with someone infected, a mask cuts the chance of the disease being passed on. If you’re just walking around town and not in close contact with others, wearing a mask is unlikely to make any difference.

 And for you men intending to wear a mask, the CDC has a nice infographic on the type of facial hair styles that will still allow a good seal. Basically, though, beards are right out. So is stubble--you will have to shave everyday. If you followed the Great War channel on YouTube as it went through World War I, you may have noted that the reason why men's styles changed from the pre-war affection for beards, mustaches and other facial hair (allowed and even encouraged in the military) to going clean shaven was because of the need for gas masks to seal tightly. The soldiers returning from the War brought their grooming habits back with them and it is what we've been stuck with ever since.

      Those of you that watched the recent China Uncensored video about how the WHO is under the thumb of China may find this article interesting: "How Australia defied global health authority on coronavirus"--The Sydney Morning Herald. Key part:

Why were the Australians ahead of the world [on invoking travel bans]? For a very simple reason. They don't trust the WHO. The information from multiple international sources is that the WHO is under intense pressure from the Chinese government, and succumbing to it.

"Younger Dryas - Evolution of a hypothesis"--Antonio Zamora (13 min.)

In this video, Zamora summarizes the history and evidence of an impact event at the time of the beginning of the Younger Dryas (a brief ice-age that occurred after the Earth was entering the current interglacial). 

• This week's Weekend Knowledge Dump from Active Response Training. Commentary and links to articles on various topics including, this week, including incorporating fitness training into your self-defense training/practice regimen, firearm retention, tips for interacting with your doctor for gun owners (my doctor and I follow a don't ask, don't tell policy), levels of eye contact, and a lot more. On the issue of eye contact, if you don't already know, you should know that direct and sustained eye contact is considered a threat or threat precursor to most people. Simply put: don't stare.
• "RV Living Grows as Latest Consequence of Housing Crisis"--Wall Street Journal. While this article is primarily about citizens in California pushing back against more and more people resorting to living in RVs because of unaffordable housing, the more interesting part is the economics of living in an RV. For instance, "Decades-old RVs and campers, which make up the majority of those seen on city streets, can often be acquired for a few thousand dollars, not much more than two months’ rent in many of the West’s expensive cities." 
• "What Should You Keep in the Car?"--National Safety Counsel. Recommendations for a car emergency kit:

• A properly inflated spare tire, wheel wrench and tripod jack

• Jumper cables [get the heavy duty cables, or, better yet, a powerpack for jump starting a car]

• Tool kit and/or a multipurpose utility tool

• Flashlight and extra batteries

• Reflective triangles and brightly colored cloth to make your vehicle more visible

• Compass [and at least a state highway map]

• First aid kit with gauze, tape, bandages, antibiotic ointment, aspirin, a blanket, nonlatex gloves, scissors, hydrocortisone, thermometer, tweezers and instant cold compress

• Nonperishable, high-energy foods, such as unsalted nuts, dried fruits and hard candy

• Drinking water

• Reflective vest in case you need to walk to get help [or change a tire]

• Car charger for your cell phone

• Fire extinguisher

• Duct tape

• Rain poncho

• Additional items for cold weather include a snow brush, shovel, windshield washer fluid, warm clothing, cat litter [nix this since most cat litters available today soften and dissolve--use sand instead] for traction and blankets

It's also a good idea to keep family and emergency phone numbers, including your auto insurance provider and a towing company, in your phone. [And I would add a glass breaker and seat-belt cutter].

• This looks interesting: "Sako S20 – The Rifle That Is You"--The Firearms Blog. "The core of the stock is the two-piece takedown aluminum chassis with the composite buttstock, grip and forearm attached to it. The ability to detach these main stock components allows configuring the rifle for hunting or target shooting applications. "
• "The Surprisingly Solid Mathematical Case of the Tin Foil Hat Gun Prepper"--Recoil Magazine. The author steps through the math of determining the probability of a flood event during a 30-year mortgage if you are on the 100 year flood plain, and then looks at the chance of a violent revolution in the United States:

Stepping through this, the average year for colony establishment is 1678, which is 340 years ago. Two qualifying events in 340 years is a 0.5882% annual chance of nationwide violent revolution against the ruling government. Do the same math as we did above with the floodplains, in precisely the same way, and we see a 37% chance that any American of average life expectancy will experience at least one nationwide violent revolution.

• "Biden Warns Gun Makers: 'I'm Coming For You. Period.'"--PJ Media. 
• I'd be worried about mission creep: "Santa Clara DA approves 'County Gun Team' to remove firearms from 'troubling people'."--Deep Clips. From the article: "The specialized, five-person unit will consist of two crime analysts, two investigators and a dedicated gun violence prosecutor. It will focus on the task of removing guns from dangerous offenders who don't have a legal right to own a firearm."
• "This Is Why Taking Fish Medicine Is Truly a Bad Idea"--Smithsonian. Basically the reasons given the article are: (1) fish antibiotics are completely unregulated so there is no guarantee of their purity; and (2) it encourages people to overtake antibiotics leading to more antibiotic resistant diseases. The first point is certainly valid. While I don't believe that a manufacturer would purposefully make lesser quality antibiotics for the fish market because it is too small to warrant a change in manufacturing, I suspect it more likely that the fish antibiotics could consist of batches that failed some test or otherwise were unfit for the more regulated markets. But that could be anything from a contaminant to using the wrong color for the capsule. As for the second reason, that cat has long been out of the bag in the third-world and I doubt that the few people in the United States taking fish antibiotics could make any difference.
• "The Keefe Report: Colt Addresses Python Problems"--American Rifleman. Of the 2500 hundred guns shipped, only 6 have been returned for warranty issues due to mechanical problems. Four of these were due to light primer strikes, with the result that Colt will install a heavier hammer spring going forward. Although Colt don't specifically identify him in the article, it appears that Hickok45's issue with his test gun not advancing the cylinder after a substantial amount of shooting was because the screws holding the side-plate had loosened. Colt will now be using Lok-Tite or similar on the screws.  
• A cool looking semi-auto bullpup shotgun: "New for 2020: Escort BTS Bullpup"--American Rifleman. And the price is even reasonable: MSRP is $589.99. 
• "Firetail – Ergonomics Of A Tapeswitch Without The Wires"--The Firearm Blog. The product is a lever that attaches behind a tactical flashlight to actuate the butt cap switch when the lever is being pushed down, instead of you having to push forward on the switch. Maybe a solution in search of a problem, but still interesting.
• "If You’re Only Going To Own One Gun, Make it a Shotgun"--The Truth About Guns. If you are talking about a weapon that can be used for both self-defense and taking game, I agree that the shotgun is probably your best bet if you can only have one weapon. 
• "FIRST LOOK: India’s AK – Not Quite an AK-203"--The Firearm Blog. It is in 7.62x39mm, and retains the folding stock, selector lever and gas tube cover from the AK 103, but uses the railed and hinged top cover from the AK 203 as well as the more ergonomic pistol grip.
• I want: "Do You Need a Handheld Minigun? Of Course You Do."--Tribunist. 

       The XM556 Microgun was designed and engineered around the 5.56mm NATO cartridge. This defensive suppression weapon is significantly smaller and lighter than it’s big brother the M134. It was meant to stand in place of anywhere high suppressive fire wanted without the weight or footprint of the larger M134 electrically driven Gatling gun system. The current XM556 Microgun is smaller and lighter than some current 5.56mm beltfed Squad Automatic Weapons currently on the market, with 4x’s the firepower.

      The XM556 is a new platform system that was designed from scratch by the ground up. The parts are not just a smaller imitation of the larger M134, but were designed on its own. An absolutely all new style of bolt was conceived and designed to eliminate current known issues with the M134. The bolts combined with many other improvements have been made to not only extend the life of the gun but reduce wear and reduce or eliminate stoppages.

• "Ballistic model for the prediction of penetration depth and residual velocity in adobe: A new interpretation of the ballistic resistance of earthen masonry"--Defense Technology.

"Niagara Escarpment"--Antonio Zamora (8 min.)

In this video, Zamora takes a more in-depth look at the evidence suggesting a Younger Dryas impact may have occurred in the Saginaw Bay region of Michigan. 

• We're from the government and we're here to help: "The Waco Siege: What Happened When the Feds Laid Siege to the Branch Davidian Compound"--Ammo.com. The anniversary of the siege was yesterday. A lengthy article discussing the events of the stand-off and, eventual, lethal invasion of the compound. One of the reasons for the ATF's heavy-handed approach was money, quoting Henry Ruth, one of three independent reviewers of the Treasury Department's report on Waco:

“With appropriations hearings a week away, a large successful raid for the ATF would've proposed major positive headlines for the agency. It would've helped counter the narrative of the ATF as a rogue agency. And it would've spread fear about radical fringe groups which would put pressure on Congress to increase its budget. Part of their motivation was to use the siege at Waco as a publicity stunt.”

• "Philip Haney: FBI to investigate death of DHS whistleblower, initially thought to be suicide"--The Independent. From the article:

      Philip Haney, who spoke out against his own agency during the Obama administration, was found in a park and ride area near Plymouth, California, with what the Amador County Sheriff's Office initially said appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

     However, those initial reports have been described as “misinformation” and have been walked back in a statement from the sheriff's office, which also confirmed the FBI will be assisting the investigation.  

     A forensic autopsy is scheduled to be performed by the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office.

     The FBI will assist in examining documents and a laptop found at the scene, as well as phone records. The agency will also help with evidence processing on Mr Haney’s motorhome and the firearm.

Why would anyone want him dead?

      In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, he alleged that the Obama-era DHS had ordered him to delete hundreds of files about reputed associates of Islamist terrorist groups.

     He claimed that several attacks in the US could have been prevented if some of the files had not been deleted. 

And, although not mentioned in this article, he was working on a second book that was going to expose more corruption.

• Another person well aware of how the world works: "Somali Activist Who Exposed Ilhan Omar’s Marriage With Her Brother Receives Death Threats – “If Anything Were to Happen to Me Ilhan Omar and Her Team Will Be Responsible”"--Conservative US. 

• Hopefully related: "DOJ Creates Unit Dedicated to Stripping Citizenship From Naturalized Terrorists, Other Criminals"--Epoch Times. 

• "New York Times Admits Obama Admin Deployed Multiple Spies Against Trump Campaign In 2016"--The Federalist. Why would the NYT do this now? The author speculates that "[t]he leak that fueled the Thursday NYT bombshell was likely placed in anticipation of the formal release of even more damaging information about how U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies potentially abused their authority to punish the government’s political enemies."
• The Milwaukee mass shooter who killed 5 people at MillersCoors facility sure disappeared quickly in the national media, and this might explain why: "Milwaukee Mass Shooter is a Black Elizabeth Warren Supporter"--Summit News.  
• Oops: "OFFICER BODY CAMERAS ‘GO DARK’ AS INNOCENT FAMILY BEATEN, BUT THE DASHCAM CAUGHT IT ALL"--Blacklisted News. Article about police being called to a domestic dispute, but that the dispute was over and resolved by the time they arrived. Nevertheless, that didn't stop the officers from smacking people around.
• Immigrants welcome! "Accused serial killer healthcare worker tied to a THOUSAND unexplained deaths of elderly patients is indicted on additional murder charges"--Daily Mail. Nigerian Billy Chemirmir may be the most prolific serial killer in the United States.
• Refugees welcome! "Paris Gare de Lyon: Fire at station amid DR Congo concert protest"--BBC News. One of the problems is that they bring their politics with them:

     Police evacuated Paris's Gare de Lyon station after protesters started a fire [sic: multiple large fires] to try to disrupt a concert by a Congolese singer.

     Political opponents of the DR Congo government set fire to parked scooters, motorcycles and bins and blocked firefighters from tackling the blaze.

     They accuse singer Fally Ipupa of being too close to the Congolese government.

* * *

     "The protesters were throwing anything they could at the police and fire brigade who were just trying to do their job. They were just setting fire to anything they could and fighting with each other."

• "Swedish Report: Stockholm Violent Gang Leaders Have Migration Background"--Breitbart. From the article: "A Swedish news outlet has revealed that 17 of 32 gang leaders committing violence in Stockholm were born overseas, with the other 15 born in Sweden but from migration backgrounds."

• Related: "73 Per Cent of Swedish Population Growth Driven By Mass Migration"--Breitbart.

• Turkey must be running short of cash and so they are sending in the refugees: "Report: Greece Sends 50 Naval Vessels To Guard Border After Turkey Opens Gates"--Breitbart. From the article:

      Greece has completely shut down its borders Friday, sending dozens of naval vessels to patrol the Greek islands after Turkey announced it would allow all Syrian migrants to head to Europe.

     A government representative, who wished to remain anonymous, told German media that Greece has closed its entire land and sea border with Turkey and will allow no one to cross the border at all, German tabloid Bild reports. Citing sources, the newspaper claimed 50 naval ships — likely predominantly patrol vessels — of the Hellenic Navy supported by helicopters were being sent to the European Union’s external border.

     The newspaper also cited accounts of Greek authorities setting off tear gas at land border crossing points as migrants attempted to move into Europe.

     The Turkish government has not made an official government announcement that the border is open but a source informed news agency Reuters that all border guards, police and Turkish coastguard officers were ordered to stand down.

    Turkish journalist Ragip Solyu added that the border would be open for all Syrians wanting to head to Europe for the next 72 hours.

This generally precedes the EU caving and giving billions of Euros to Turkey.

• No, this is not a parody headline: "U. Oklahoma: Anti-racism Protesters Demand Provost Resign and University Bring Popeyes to Campus"--Legal Insurrection. Protesters from the Black Emergency Response Team (BERT) at the University of Oklahoma have made various demands after an professor said the "n-word" while reading from an unnamed historical document in a class. Among their demands, “a semester-long class focused on diversity, and a new multicultural center that will feature meeting spaces for marginalized students, common areas, study rooms and a Popeyes restaurant.”
• Not our best or brightest: "Justice Department: 45% of Blacks at Harvard Admitted Through Illegal Race Preferences"--PJ Media. "Almost half of all blacks and Hispanics who attend Harvard were admitted because of illegal racial preferences in admissions according to a brief just filed by the Department of Justice." And, quoting from the brief: "The school considers race at virtually every step of its admission process. And its officials constantly monitor and continually reshape the racial makeup of each admitted class as it emerges. Those mechanisms confirm that Harvard’s racial balancing is no accident; it is engineered." 
• "Crackdown on immigrants who use public benefits takes effect"--AP. From the article: 

      Pastor Antonio Velasquez says that before the Trump administration announced a crackdown on immigrants using government social services, people lined up before sunrise outside a state office in a largely Latino Phoenix neighborhood to sign up for food stamps and Medicaid.

     No more.

     “You had to arrive at 3 in the morning, and it might take you until the end of the day,” he said, pointing behind the office in the Maryvale neighborhood to show how long the lines got.

     But no one lined up one recent weekday morning, and there were just a handful of people inside.

• Smartest president ever, don't ya know: "How Barack Obama's Good 'Intentions' Destroyed Libya"--The National Interest. I don't believe that Obama had good intentions but, nevertheless, from the article:

      But there is little doubt that the situations in both Libya and Syria are substantially worse than they were before the United States and its NATO allies began to meddle. Overthrowing Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi produced pervasive chaos that has now culminated in a bloody armed struggle between two rival autocratic governments. The author of a new UN report states that the impact of the country’s 9-year internecine conflicts on civilians “is incalculable,” Washington’s effort to oust Assad not only appears to have failed, but it helped lead to the rise of ISIS. More recently, nasty contests for influence between Turkey and Russia have erupted in Syria and Libya, raising the prospect of a dangerous clash between those two major powers, especially in Syria.

      In both arenas, the civil wars have displaced vast numbers of civilians, and the resulting refugee flows have caused severe disruptions and societal tensions in neighboring countries—including Washington’s European allies. Those episodes demonstrate why policies must be judged by their consequences, not their intentions. The observation that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions is especially true with respect to foreign military interventions. It is well past time for the architects of such debacles to accept responsibility for their awful handiwork.

• I liked the wording of this headline from the Washington Free Beacon: "Dem Megadonor, Gun-Control Activist Harvey Weinstein Convicted on Rape Charges."
• Thinking outside the box: "A New Kind of Rocket that’s Lightweight and Easier to Construct: a Rotating Detonating Engine. Unfortunately, it’s Also Completely Unpredictable"--Universe Today. From the article:

      “A rotating detonation engine takes a different approach to how it combusts propellant. It’s made of concentric cylinders. Propellant flows in the gap between the cylinders, and, after ignition, the rapid heat release forms a shock wave, a strong pulse of gas with significantly higher pressure and temperature that is moving faster than the speed of sound.

      This sets the RDE apart from conventional engines, which require a lot of machinery to direct and control the combustion reaction so that it can be turned into acceleration. But in an RDE, the shock wave generated by the ignitions creates thrust naturally and without the need for additional engine parts.

Unfortunately the actual paper is behind a paywall, but see also here and here for a couple more articles.

• A reminder we live in the 21st Century: "Pentagon Preps Nuclear Moon Rocket"--The Daily Beast. "The military’s goal is to deploy maneuverable satellites into the vast space between the Earth and the moon—'cislunar' space, it’s called—before China gets there with its own spacecraft." The nuclear reactor is used to heat up a propellant, such as hydrogen, according to the article. See also "The Pentagon Is Working on a Nuclear Thermal Rocket" at Popular Mechanics.
• And another reminder: "Two private satellites just docked in space in historic first for orbital servicing"--Space.com. The article explains:

      In a historic first for satellite operations, a commercial spacecraft "helper" has docked with a working communications satellite to provide life-extension services.

      The companies involved in the meetup  — Northrop Grumman and Intelsat — hailed the operation, which took place Tuesday (Feb. 25), as the beginning of a new era that will see robotic spacecraft giving new life to older satellites that are low on fuel or require repairs.

     Because launch costs constitute a large part of a satellite's total price tag, the hope is that refurbishing aging satellites will eventually reduce the expense of services that satellites provide, such as telecommunications or weather monitoring.

Coronavirus Worsens in Italy

Italy's cases have jumped to 400 cases, a 25% increase over the last 24 hours. Oh, and here is what a researcher that looked into the issue and performed computer modeling said about the effectiveness of airport screening: "We estimate that on average, screening will miss about two thirds of infected travellers."

The Way Things Work

When I wrote my post on a Library for the End of Civilization a couple weeks ago, I cited a 1972, 2-volume publication called How Things Work: The Universal Encyclopedia of Machines, and noted that Simon & Schuster published the first volume under the name The Way Things Work. I was wrong: Simon & Schuster had published both volumes, and they are available to download free of charge from the Internet Archive.

Looking for a Book to Read?

Well, look no further. I've reviewed books from Marcus Wynne before, and noted that they are good action stories written by someone that has been there, done that, and understands guns and the use of force. Wynne has just released a new novel, SALT: Book 1 of The Revengers, available for Kindle at Amazon. And if you haven't read his books before, one of his earlier novels, No Other Option, is currently available for Kindle for free until Friday.

Dry-firing a Rimfire: Yes or No?

An article from The Firearm Blog on the topic of dry-firing a rimfire, by which I assume dry fire practice. The most significant part of the article is the information they obtained from different manufacturers:

■ Anschutz does not recommend dry-firing its rimfires. It says frequent dry-firers should install its special firing pin. The company also notes that on most guns other parts, like springs, usually wear out before firing pins; the majority of its guns returned for damage from dry-firing come via Chinese and Japanese competitors, as these countries are known for dry-firing because places to actually fire a gun there are rare.

■ Ruger says dry-firing the company’s 10/22 rifle will not damage it. This makes sense as I mentioned above, without the last round bolt hold-open device you will inevitably dry fire on an empty chamber once you run out of ammo.

■ Henry Repeating Arms says shooters can dry-fire its guns all they want.

■ Smith & Wesson says dry-firing can damage rimfires.

■ Browning confirms dry-firing won’t damage firing pins or chambers of its newer guns.

Failing to Follow Farnam's Rules

John Farnam has set out simple rules for personal safety:

• Don't go to stupid places.

• Don't do stupid things.

• Don't hang out with stupid people.

• Be in bed by 10 PM.  Your own bed.

• Don't look like a freak.

• Don't fail the attitude test.

I thought of these today as I read the following piece: "Three American sisters on vacation raped by Afghan Muslim men on New Years Eve."  So, how did they violate the rules? According to the article:

       The three women from Ohio, ages 19, 20, and 23, met the men in a pub on December 31, according to reports from local media outlet La Opinión de Murcia. One of the sisters left with one of the men to go to his house. The other two stayed in the bar until leaving with the remaining two men, headed to the apartment in which the women were staying and planning on continuing their New Year’s celebrations. In both cases, the women reported having been raped by the men, who, according to sources from the central government delegation in Murcia, are of Afghan origin.

      The Spanish authorities examined security camera footage and interviewed witnesses in order to identify the three men, who were located together in a property. The men offered no resistance to arrest and, according to sources from the investigation, appeared surprised when the police arrived. The three are facing charges for sexual assault, threats and battery.

So, let's count the violations: (1) went to stupid place (the apartment of the three men and, arguably, the pub); (2) did something stupid (accompanied Afghan men home from bar); (3) hung out with stupid people (this is presumed because of the women's young age); and (4) not in bed by ten, but instead accompanied Afghan men to the men's beds. Four out of six rules broken.

A Quick Run Around the Web (2/22/2020)

"2006 Seattle Urban Survival Story featuring Cody Lundin" (7 min.)

Includes some good survival advice, particularly about water and food.

• First off, be sure to check out Greg Ellifritz's Weekend Knowledge Dump for this week. Links to articles and videos on the best types of pepper spray, body language and pre-assault behavior, responding to airway obstructions, different ways to reload an AK, and more.
• Also, Grant Cunningham had a new Hump Day Reading List this past Wednesday.
• "JWT: The Guns I Used in Combat in Afghanistan"--The Truth About Guns. The author discusses the weapons he carried or used in combat and his thoughts about each. One of the interesting points he makes is that because he was constantly armed and carried an M4 and/or Beretta M9 as he performed many different tasks, he didn't actually associate them with combat. In fact, he notes, most of the actual combat was done by the people armed with machine guns (his favorite being the M2 Browning .50), not rifles. He continues:

They [the M4 and M9] weren’t even my most important tool. After spending some time in actual combat, I learned that my radio was a far more useful, and far more deadly tool than my individual weapons. In fact, many of the guys I worked with eventually dropped a magazine or two so that they could carry more batteries for their radio.

He also had no complaints or concerns regarding the reliability of his M4.

• "Concealed Carry Corner: Watching For Bullet Setback"--The Firearm Blog. Bullet setback refers to a bullet being pushed back into the case further than it is normally seated. It can happen suddenly, such as when you have a failure to feed; or slowly over time if you are constantly ejecting a cartridge and then re-chambering it such as unloading and loading a concealed carry weapon. The problem is that if the bullet is seated too far into the case, it raises the pressure in the cartridge, possibly to dangerous levels. I've had (and seen others have) instances where a bullet is pushed so far in that it is essentially sitting loose in the casing. And I've seen instances where people will just pull the bullet out until its tight and just shoot it. Don't do that! Just dispose of the cartridge. 

As far as the cycling issue, I think the easiest way to deal with the issue is to simply not cycle the ammo repeatedly. That means, leaving your concealed carry weapon loaded at night rather than unloading each night and reloading it each morning. If that is not an option, when reloading the weapon, consider manually putting a round in the chamber with the slide locked back so the cartridge is already aligned properly, let the slide slam shut, engage the safety/decock the weapon if needed, put in your magazine, and be on your way. And, as the author notes, be sure to replace your carry ammo with new ammo every few months or so.

• Latest coronavirus figures are 77,985 confirmed cases worldwide, including 2,362 fatalities. Cases in South Korea are shooting up, with 430 confirmed cases after more than 220 new infections were reported in 24 hours. And it continues to spread in the Middle-East with Iran now closing schools and cultural centers as the Iranian government reports having 5 deaths attributed to the illness, with the cited article reporting that "[b]ased on official figures, nearly 18 percent of those infected with the new coronavirus in Iran have died, compared with little more than three percent in China." Towns in northeast Italy have also closed public places and businesses to prevent the spread of the virus.  (See also "Northern Italy closes schools and suspends gatherings as coronavirus cases mount" from ABC News which notes that many of the new cases are people that have not traveled to China, meaning it is spreading on its own). On top of all of this, Chinese researchers are now saying that some "recovered" patients could still be infectious. And, the Business Insider reports, "The biggest breakdown yet of novel coronavirus cases suggests that 80% are mild. Some patients never show symptoms."

       There seems to be some disagreement as to the source of the coronavirus, although the open-air seafood market is increasingly being ruled out. Reported outbreaks in Chinese prisons has led to speculation that the epidemic may "have started from the cramped prison system, possibly at internment facilities in Xinjiang." The Global Times reports that "[a] new study by Chinese researchers indicates the novel coronavirus may have begun human-to-human transmission in late November from a place other than the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan." That means that the virus had been circulating for far longer than previously believed. This seems consistent with warnings from a Chinese provincial government that the virus may have up to a 27 day incubation period. But, increasingly, the evidence is mounting that the virus actually did originate in a Chinese bio-warfare laboratory in Wuhan. From the New York Post:

      At an emergency meeting in Beijing held last Friday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke about the need to contain the coronavirus and set up a system to prevent similar epidemics in the future.

     A national system to control biosecurity risks must be put in place “to protect the people’s health,” Xi said, because lab safety is a “national security” issue.

     Xi didn’t actually admit that the coronavirus now devastating large swathes of China had escaped from one of the country’s bioresearch labs. But the very next day, evidence emerged suggesting that this is exactly what happened, as the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology released a new directive entitled: “Instructions on strengthening biosecurity management in microbiology labs that handle advanced viruses like the novel coronavirus.”

       Read that again. It sure sounds like China has a problem keeping dangerous pathogens in test tubes where they belong, doesn’t it? And just how many “microbiology labs” are there in China that handle “advanced viruses like the novel coronavirus”?

     It turns out that in all of China there is only one. And this one is located in the Chinese city of Wuhan that just happens to be . . . the epicenter of the epidemic.

     That’s right. China’s only Level 4 microbiology lab that is equipped to handle deadly coronaviruses, called the National Biosafety Laboratory, is part of the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

The article also notes that "the People’s Liberation Army’s top expert in biological warfare, a Maj. Gen. Chen Wei, was dispatched to Wuhan at the end of January to help with the effort to contain the outbreak." But, perhaps most damnably, it has been learned that "[s]ome Chinese researchers are in the habit of selling their laboratory animals to street vendors after they have finished experimenting on them." 

      Instead of properly disposing of infected animals by cremation, as the law requires, they sell them on the side to make a little extra cash. Or, in some cases, a lot of extra cash. One Beijing researcher, now in jail, made a million dollars selling his monkeys and rats on the live animal market, where they eventually wound up in someone’s stomach.

     Also fueling suspicions about SARS-CoV-2’s origins is the series of increasingly lame excuses offered by the Chinese authorities as people began to sicken and die.

     They first blamed a seafood market not far from the Institute of Virology, even though the first documented cases of Covid-19 (the illness caused by SARS-CoV-2) involved people who had never set foot there. Then they pointed to snakes, bats and even a cute little scaly anteater called a pangolin as the source of the virus.

      I don’t buy any of this. It turns out that snakes don’t carry coronaviruses and that bats aren’t sold at a seafood market. Neither are pangolins, for that matter, an endangered species valued for their scales as much as for their meat.

     The evidence points to SARS-CoV-2 research being carried out at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. 

• More airport security theater: "No US coronavirus cases were caught by airport temperature checks. "--CNN.

"The Best .32 ACP Ammo for Concealed Carry"--Lucky Gunner (7 min.)

Short take: for the .32 ACP, just pick a quality FMJ round.

• As the Democrats like to remind us, mass shootings only happen in America: "8 Dead, 5 Wounded in 2 Apparently Related Shootings in Hanau, Germany"--The Truth About Guns.
• Heh: "Another HUGE Impeachment Backfire – In Year Of Impeachment More Guns Were Bought Than Any Other Time in US History"--Right Journalism. The article relates:

       The Washington Times reported that 28.3 million checks were run on the FBI’s National Instant Check System last year. That included over 2.9 million in December, the month House Democrats voted to impeach the president on a party-line vote.

      According to FBI data on NICS checks, the previous record for a year was 27.5 million in 2016.

• "Bills to limit gun magazines and restrict gun sales fail in Washington Legislature"--King 5 News.
• This may provide a clue as to why Bloomberg jumped into the presidential race is so willing to spend hundreds of million in ads: "WSJ: Wages Are Rising, so Government Must Quickly Expand Immigration"--Breitbart. Quoting from the Wall Street Journal article:

      “Corporate profits have been declining as employers increase wages to hire scarce blue-collar workers … corporate profits could soon drop to historic lows, which could reduce business investment and GDP growth,” says the editorial board’s complaint, titled “America’s Disappearing Workers.”

       “Maybe the only short-term fix is to increase legal immigration—unless Americans want to see their living standards decline and more jobs exported,” the editorial concluded.

Yet there is no historical precedent for the WSJ's argument. The first half of the 19th Century, and the period from the 1940s through the 1960s saw tight restrictions against immigration and higher relative wages, with resulting social stability and prosperity. Conversely, open immigration such as in the latter 19th Century and early 20th Century, and after 1970, resulted in stagnant or falling wages and standards of living, social unrest, and a relative lack of innovation given the inroads that the Japanese and, later, the Chinese made into manufacturing and technology markets.

• "Globalist Magazine: Less Migration Makes Americans Richer, Economy Stronger"--Breitbart. Contra to the WSJ, The Economist magazine reports that "[l]Lower migration is driving up blue collar wages, and those extra wages are stabilizing the U.S. economy." This is an unmitigated disaster for the elites, so, of course, the Washington Post says elites must choose our next President, by giving elites more control over the nomination process. 
• Imitation is the highest form of flattery: "UK to close door to non-English speakers and unskilled workers"--The Guardian. 
• "Report: Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ Stopping Anchor Baby Schemes"--Breitbart. 

       President Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy at the United States-Mexico border is ensuring pregnant migrants are not using their court dates in the U.S. to then deliver their children on American soil, thus securing them birthright citizenship.

      Currently, Trump’s Remain in Mexico policy has made sure that southern border crossers claiming asylum are returned to Mexico or their native Central American country while they await their asylum hearings in the U.S. The policy has prevented mass fraud where illegal aliens are released into the interior of the U.S. only to never show up for their asylum hearings and never leave the country.

• The decline and fall of the West, cont.: "Greek and Latin are hard: Oxford classics faculty proposes dropping Homer and Virgil from required curriculum so female students will do better on the tests"--Stupid Girl (h/t Instapundit). Quoting from Oxford's student newspaper:

      This proposal forms part of a series of reforms aimed to modernise the first stage of the Classics degree, known as Moderations (Mods), which take place during Hilary term of second year for all students taking Classics courses across the university.

      The Mods course, which is assessed by a set of ten exams at the end of Hilary, has been increasingly criticised in recent years, due to the attainment gaps found between male and female candidates, as well as between candidates who have studied Latin and/or Greek to A-Level (Course I) and those who have not (Course II).

      The removal of Virgil and Homer papers, which take up two out of the ten Mods papers, have been marketed as a move that will reduce the attainment gaps and thus improve access to the subject.

• Brave New World: "Heartbroken Dad Of Trans Teen Breaks Gag To Beg For End Of ‘State-Sponsored Child Abuse’"--The Federalist. A Canadian court decided that at ripe of age 14, his daughter could decide to transition to a male and start on testosterone therapy. The father relates:

“I had a perfectly healthy child a year ago, and that perfectly healthy child has been altered and destroyed for absolutely no good reason,” Rob said in an exclusive interview. “She can never go back to being a girl in the healthy body that she should have had. She’s going to forever have a lower voice. She’ll forever have to shave because of facial hair. She won’t be able to have children…”

That's Not Funny: "American comedian broke quarantine while he was stuck on the Westerdam coronavirus cruise ship in Cambodia and got a flight home"

It doesn't appear that he was infected, but there is increasing evidence that the COVID-19 virus can be spread by people without symptoms, according to this Philadelphia Enquirer article. According to that article:

      Testing of throat swabs from two people with no symptoms of coronavirus illness revealed that they were nonetheless infected with the virus, according to a report from Germany published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

      The finding, though previously suspected, would make the job of containing the virus significantly more difficult.

      “We discovered that shedding of potentially infectious virus may occur in persons who have no fever and no signs or only minor signs of infection,” concluded the paper, authored by 20 scientists, physicians, and public health officials in Frankfurt.

Article: "10 Plagues That Are Hitting Our Planet Simultaneously"

An article from the End of the American Dream.

A Quick Run Around the Web (2/17/2020)

"Breaking: Virginia's Assault Weapons Ban Defeated (for now...)"--Mr. Guns N Gear (2-1/2 min.)

• "BREAKING: Huge Second-Amendment Victory in Virginia"--PJ Media. The Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee voted to table the gun control bill (HB 961) until next year. The author opines that "[i]t would be fair to guess that last month's huge Second Amendment rally weighed on committee members' minds as they voted to table 961." But Democrats are working on the national level for gun control by introducing bills that would requiring the FBI to keep records of gun purchases, thus creating a de facto registry (although they effectively have this already through CCLs retention of records on gun purchases).
• Defensive Pistol Craft has its monthly roundup of links to articles and commentary on self-defense and firearms. Amongst the links, Jon Low has the following advice on aiming:

     Aim at a point on the target, not at the area of the target. If you can't see the point, visualize the point, imagine the point. Believe the point exists and aim at it. 

     The target that gives the highest probability of a hit is the navel, because it is the center of mass of the body.

     The target that gives you the highest probability of an instant stop, is the brain.  The only way to get a pistol bullet into the brain is through a pre-existing hole in the skull. That would be the cranio-ocular cavity (eye sockets and nose) or the external auditory meatus (ear holes).  Since there is no hole in the back of the head, the target would be the spinal column at the base of the skull.

     The target that gives the second highest probability of a stop is the high thoracic cavity, defined by the triangle formed by the notch at the top of the sternum and the nipples (as viewed from the front).  Because the heart and lungs are behind this area. From the side, the target would be the arm pit.  From the back, the target would be between the shoulder blades, as the scapula are difficult to penetrate with pistol ammunition. 

• "A Million Gallons of Water"--Random Thoughts: A Mindful Miscellany. The author, Marcus Wynne, relates experiences that taught him the necessity of not trusting other claims of what constitutes clean water, and always purifying water when overseas. He also urges the reader to keep this in mind when considering water security after a disaster. He adds:

Here are some points to consider if you were to examine your water security:

⁃Where is your closest source of open fresh water? It is a pond, river, stream, lake, reservoir, containment facility of some kind? Do you have a well or spring on your property or nearby?

⁃How far away is it? If you could get there, would you have access to the water?

⁃If you did have access to the water, how would you transport sufficient quantities back to your home or shelter? You need a minimum of one to two gallons of clean water a day, per person, for drinking purposes. That doesn’t include any used for food preparation, washing, irrigation, bathing or other purposes. A gallon of water weighs around 8.3 pounds. Do you have containers sturdy enough to carry enough water out of your source and back to where you needed to take it? A five gallon bucket of water weighs about 41.5 pounds — can you carry that much weight for any distance? Like to your car, a wagon, or up a hill?

⁃Do you have the knowledge and equipment to determine if your water is safe to drink? To determine whether the water is free of bacteria, protozoa, dangerous chemical run off? Is viral infestation an issue and would you know?

⁃Do you know how to purify water? Could you make a fire (and have a container) to boil water, or iodine or chlorine bleach or other chemical purifiers to kill micro-organisms, or a mechanical filter to take the nasty stuff out? Do you have the knowledge to do so and/or the reference materials and a way to read them that will work in the absence of electrical power so you can find out how to do so?

⁃Do you have a way to store purified water and keep it separate from untreated water? Sanitation methods to support and maintain the cleanliness of your water?

Despite my limited storage space, I have found space for a couple barrels of water. I have installed a water purification system for my tap water, and we have some smaller water filtration systems for camping or hiking. I still need to get a Berkey filter or some such. I live relatively close to natural water source. For transporting water, I have a lawn roller designed to be filled with water and pushed or pulled (something similar to this) that I think would work for getting water from the natural source to my home. I've written about storing and disinfecting water before, but the best source of information on collecting and cleaning water I've come across is in Cody Lundin's book, When All Hell Breaks Loose: Stuff You Need To Survive When Disaster Strikes. See also this post on pasteurizing water (i.e., killing the bacteria using a lower amount of heat over a longer period of time) and the Modern Survival Blog's article, "Long Term Drinking Water Storage | How-To Recommendations."

• The latest coronavirus numbers are 71,448 confirmed cases worldwide, including 1,775 fatalities. We saw a large increase in numbers last week from Wuhan as the Chinese switched from only giving figures based on cases confirmed by tests, to those receiving clinical diagnosis (i.e., diagnosed based on their symptoms). Here is another article suggesting that certain races or ethnic groups (Chinese and Japanese) are more susceptible to the virus than others (e.g. whites and blacks) (h/t Anonymous Conservative). With that in mind, 99 more cases have been reported among passengers and crew of the cruise ship quarantined in Japan--the total numbers from the ship are 454. 

• Related: "Hong Kong Is Showing Symptoms of a Failed State"--Bloomberg. From the article:

     A fragile state is usually defined by its inability to protect citizens, to provide basic services and by questions over the legitimacy of its government. After an epidemic and months of poorly handled pro-democracy demonstrations, Hong Kong is ticking most of those boxes. Add in a strained judicial system, and the prognosis for its future as a financial hub looks poor.

      A snapshot of the situation first. Hong Kong is not, at least for now, as grim as parts of mainland China, where the outbreak of novel coronavirus has people building barricades, or being followed around by drones. This isn't Wuhan. Yet after 26 confirmed cases and one death, the semi-autonomous territory of more than 7 million people is in lockdown, with schools, universities and museums closed. A $360 billion economy, torn apart by months of anti-government protests, is in tatters. Masks are in such short supply that some clinics have closed, and queues snake daily outside pharmacies. Official declarations, meanwhile, have attracted derision on social media: One senior politician argued in the Legislative Council that disposable masks could be steam-cleaned, ignoring the remonstrations of the city’s Centre for Health Protection.

• Related: "Japan likely heading into technical recession due to coronavirus impact – Barclays"--FX Street. Japan's economy was already contracting prior to the coronavirus outbreak, but the loss of tourism and reduced trade with China may push Japan into a recession according to this article.

• Related: "Chinese doctors say Wuhan coronavirus reinfection even deadlier"--Taiwan News. 

According to the message forwarded to Taiwan News, “It’s highly possible to get infected a second time. A few people recovered from the first time by their own immune system, but the meds they use are damaging their heart tissue, and when they get it the second time, the antibody doesn’t help but makes it worse, and they die a sudden death from heart failure.”

• Related: Iran reports its first coronvirus death.

• Related: "New Study Indicates How Long Coronaviruses Can Survive on a Surface"--Science Alert. Not very helpful because it is only a "study" of the literature rather than from tests of the new Wuhan virus. If it is like SARS and MERS, then it can stay viable on a hard surface for 9 days at room temperature, but the article notes that some of the veterinary coroniviruses (like this is supposed to be) can persist for 28 days or more.

• "FN America Awarded $119 Million Army Contract for M4A1 Carbines"--The Truth About Guns.
• Another example of why you should not use birdshot in a defensive shotgun: "Birdshot To The Chest"--Loose Rounds. Photograph at link. Looks like it hurts, and it will definitely leave scars. But the real danger would be infection.
• And another from Loose Rounds: a review and comparison of the Tailhook, SIG PCB, and SB Tactical Braces.
• Nomenclature: "Bushcraft versus Survival Knife – What is the Difference?"--The Survivalist Blog. No real distinction, according to the author, unless you want to classify the hollow handle design (used to carry a small survival kit) as its own category.
• Last week, a friend was telling me about a debate on AR15.com about whether rice and beans are the best foods for long term food storage and the next day I came across this article: "Rice and Beans, A Survival Combination"--The Modern Survival Blog. According to the author, "[r]ice is rich in starch, and an excellent source of energy. Beans are rich in protein, and contain other minerals. The consumption of the two together provides ALL the essential amino acids ...." Lots more in the article on storing these two commodities. 
• "Shelter Essentials"--Blue Collar Prepping. A list of considerations for shelters including the roofs, floors, walls, and materials. The article is a list/overview intended to get you thinking about the issue. An excellent source of information on temporary and semi-permanent shelters is the classic Bushcraft books from Richard Graves (PDF here). I believe there are better copies available on the Internet if you want to hunt around. I purchased a printed copy back in my high school days which I still have.

"Enter Erwin Rommel - The British Advance in Africa - WW2 - 077 - February 15 1941" (11 min.)

• "GLOBAL WARMING IN A FEW CHARTS"--Powerline Blog. Among other things, increased CO2  has made the Earth greener--its better for plants.
• "“Like Something Out Of The Book Of Exodus”: Locust Armies Are Devouring Entire Farms In Kenya “In As Little As 30 Seconds”"--End of the American Dream. More on the locust plague in East Africa and the Middle East. The article reports that "the UN continues to warn that the number of locusts could get '500 times bigger' by June.  But even if this plague ended right now, millions of people would still be facing a devastating famine in the months ahead.  These locusts travel in swarms up to 40 miles wide, each one can eat the equivalent of its own body weight every day, and the swarms can travel close to 100 miles in a 24 hour period.   This is a nightmare of epic proportions, and it is just getting started."
• It was about special rights, not equal rights: "Black student erupts over ‘too many white people’ at UVA multicultural center"--New York Post. 
• From this past weekend: "Switzerland Thwarts Major Islamic State Terror Attack"--Breitbart. The article relates:

      According to a new investigation by Swiss media, a cell of jihadists based in Geneva plotted to bomb cisterns full of oil near the city’s airport in a major terror attack.

      The plot, which was set to take place last year before being stopped, revolved largely around a man named Daniel D., who also went by the Islamic name Abu Ilias al-Swisri, a convert to Islam who went on to join the Islamic State terror group two years later, Le Temps reports.

• "Oil production on federal lands surpasses 1 billion barrels"--WND. Progressives on both sides of the aisle must be deeply disappointed because it means that we don't have to get involved in endless and expensive wars in the Middle East.
• God--He's a really smart guy: "Having sex with ten people in your lifetime ‘increases cancer risk by 90%’"--The Sun. It's like the Bible moral codes have some useful purpose or something.
• The end result of feminism: "Sweden sees sharp rise in gender dysphoria among young people"--The Local. The number of girls identifying as boys (or something in-between) has increased 1,500% in the last ten-years. 
• I guess its better than being caught with their pants down: "Ilhan Omar’s Husband Walked In On Her And Her Latest Lover – They Were In Their Pajamas"--Right Journalism. 
• "New antibiotics have a unique way of killing bacteria"--UPI. The article reports:

      Scientists have discovered a new kind of antibiotics that take a unique approach to attacking and killing bacteria.

     The newly discovered antibiotic compound, corbomycin, as well as its relative complestatin, interfere with the functionality of the bacterial cell wall -- a previously unknown method of attack.

Before you go, "that's not right," the article goes on to explain: "Antibiotics like penicillin kill bacteria by preventing building of the wall, but the antibiotics that we found actually work by doing the opposite -- they prevent the wall from being broken down. This is critical for cell to divide."

Video: "What Happens if Betelgeuse Explodes?"

"What Happens if Betelgeuse Explodes?"--John Michael Godier (10 min.)

As you may know, Betelgeuse, normally one of the brightest stars in the heavens, has undergone an unprecedented dimming since last October raising speculation that it might be ready to go supernova. This video briefly explains the dimming including possible mechanisms, as well as describing what scientists think the supernova explosion would look like from Earth.

A Library for the End of Civilization

With all the fears of an EMP taking out the electrical grid, or a super-flare/micro-nova from the Sun, and the coronavirus scare, my mind has recently turned to the questions of what if civilization collapsed? And, how would we rebuild civilization?

     To be honest, it is mostly a theoretical question. I would note that the Black Death of the 14th Century killed between 30% and 50% of Europeans over the course of a few years, with slightly higher death rates in China and the Near and Middle-East, without causing a collapse of civilization. Well, more correctly, it didn't cause the collapse of a technical society; it does seem to have been significant in ending Medieval society, and everyone was became obsessed with death for a couple centuries. But the point is that despite the massive numbers of dead, governments didn't fall, the courts continued working, businesses carried on their businesses, hospitals were set up and staffed, and so on. The reason there was not a collapse was, in my mind, because of the random nature of the deaths: it affected everyone nearly equally whether they were peasants in the fields, the merchants and craftsmen of the cities, the clergy in their churches and monasteries, or the nobles in their castles. Now, if there was a disease that targeted STEM professionals and skilled craftsmen and tradesmen, it might be a different story, but that isn't how epidemics work.

     An EMP might be a different matter since the experts that have looked at the issue believe that more than half of the population would die after such an event. But even in the worse case, with 90% of the population dying over the 12 months following such an event, that would still leave 33 million alive in the United States which is more than enough to support a technological civilization once people began to organize and trade (although we could expect everyone and their dog from other parts of the world to immediately set out to reach the now mostly empty land). Likewise, a world-wide catastrophe that killed off 90% of the world population would still leave 750 million people alive.

     But as a theoretical matter, it raises an interesting point of how to rebuild civilization; an issue that is generally not raised outside of works of fiction. In fact, the only book I know of that directly addresses the issue of how to rebuild a technological civilization is Lewis Dartnell's The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World From Scratch. It is not a long book, but it lays out a road map of how to get back up to at least an industrial age civilization, and points out steps that can be skipped or alternate paths forward. No reason to reinvent the wheel, and we have the benefit of knowing about germs, electricity and so on. But while Dartnell discusses what to do, his book, obviously, is a little light on how to do it. What is needed is a way to preserve, teach and pass on knowledge necessary to develop the skills and technology.

     Most post-apocalypse literature simply assumes that whatever disaster that is enough to crush civilization will knock us back several centuries in technology, scavenging what little technology is left, and otherwise living in a Medieval world, at best, and a "Mad Max" world at worst.

     One of the exceptions is the novel Lucifer's Hammer which ends with the survivors having secured a working nuclear power plant with its machinery shops, thus preventing a complete fall into darkness. One of the characters in the book is a scientist who has prepared a library just for the purpose of rebuilding civilization, and one of the books specifically mentioned as part of the library was How Things Work which, as the title suggests, is an encyclopedia of how different machines, processes (such as distillation or pumping oil) and devices actually work. This was not a book made up by the authors of the novel, but an actual set of two volumes originally published in then-West Germany in 1963, and subsequently translated into English. It was published in the United States in 1972 by a publisher named Paladin under the full title of How Things Work: The Universal Encyclopedia of Machines. Simon & Schuster published a book called The Way Things Work based on the same German book, but it only reproduces the first of the two volumes. The book are replete with diagrams showing, as appropriate, either the processes or actual mechanisms. Obviously the material is dated, but I would rather have a car with an automatic transmission at a 1950's and 60's level of technology than to be riding in a Medieval dog cart. I've had a copy of the Simon & Schuster book for quite a while, but recently acquired a copy of the Paladin 2-volume work for a reasonable price. (By the way, although there are several newer books with similar titles, these are books intended for kids and not serious reference works).

     These two books are only a beginning. Texts and treatises on other subjects would be needed. Building plans and instructions would be useful. And if we want to retain our culture (and sanity) we would need to include topics such as games and entertainment. I have been spending some time of the last couple of weeks trying to track down and locate these materials in an electronic format. I have neither the money nor the space to purchase and store physical copies of all of the books. So my goal is to compile a decent library from free resources on the Internet. While I am concentrating on more recent books, I have also been including books and references from the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Part of the reason for this is it would be easier to replicate the older technology using hand tools and alternate sources of power, but also because the older books are more likely to actually explain how to make many of the items. For instance, chemistry texts from around 1900 are more likely to explain how to prepare chemicals than a chemistry text from 2000.

      It is an interesting project because I've had to think about how to organize the information. My original thought was to try and replicate the sequence in Dartnell's book, The Knowledge, but I realized it was impracticable: some subjects would have to be split into two or more sections, and many useful subjects would fall outside his outline. So, I have resorted to using the subject areas. My hope is to get a selection I can store on a single thumb drive (which can then, in turn, be stored in a protected container with an inexpensive tablet computer and solar recharging unit). 

A Quick Run Around the Web (2/11/2020)

China’s “Extremely Vile” Response to Novel Coronavirus--China Uncensored.

The description provided states: "China's handling of the novel coronavirus has been 'extremely vile.' From an initial coverup to mass suppression, the Chinese Communist Party has used this outbreak to prove once again that human life is of little value to the world's largest authoritarian regime, especially in light of the passing of Dr. Li Wenliang, the whistleblowing doctor who first tried to expose the outbreak."

• Latest data shows that there are currently 43,104 confirmed cases worldwide, including 1,018 fatalities.
• "Coronavirus: 3 Wuhan officials summoned to explain failings as China death toll reaches 1,018"--South China Morning Post. 108 new fatalities on Monday--a new record--with most in Wuhan. Also:

China has had nearly 1,000 cluster outbreaks of the coronavirus and found that 83 per cent occurred in families, with the rest arising in hospitals, schools and shopping malls, said Wu Zunyou, chief scientist of China’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, at a media briefing on Tuesday.

• Meanwhile, China expands it quarantine: "Hundreds of miles from Hubei, additional 30 million Chinese are in coronavirus lockdown"--Washington Post. The article relates: "Across the coastal province of Zhejiang, the worst-hit area after Hubei province, four big cities have essentially put their populations under a form of house arrest: Only one person from each household is allowed to leave, and only every second day, to buy supplies."
• "Coronavirus: China slowly returns to work as death toll hits daily record"--The Straits Times. The economic pain has become too much. The article reports:

       The epidemic has caused huge disruptions in China with usually teeming cities becoming virtual ghost towns during the past two weeks as Communist Party rulers ordered virtual lockdowns, cancelled flights, closed factories and shut schools.

      Authorities had told businesses to tack up to 10 extra days onto the Chinese New Year holidays that had been due to finish at the end of January.

      Even on Monday, a large number of workplaces will remain closed and many white-collar workers will continued to work from home.

      On one of the usually busiest subway lines in Beijing, trains were largely empty. The few commuters sighted during peak-hour morning traffic were all wearing masks.

      Across China, schools in provinces and regions such as Guangdong, Anhui, Zhejiang, Heilongjiang, Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei, Jiangxi, and Inner Mongolia, as well as Shanghai and Chongqing will be shut through the end of February.

• "Coronavirus’ ‘case-fatality rate’ could range from 1% up to 18%"--Yahoo. The 18% fatality rate is for the Chinese province of Hubei (where Wuhan is located), while the 1% is for the international cases.
• "40,000 coronavirus cases may be 'tip of the iceberg' as death toll nears 1,000"--USA Today. A small number of cases are showing up where the infected person had no record of travel to China, suggesting that the infection may be more widespread than believed.
• "North Korea’s Secret Coronavirus Crisis is Crazy Scary"--The Daily Beast. Nothing official has come out of North Korea, but word is that the virus has spread from China into the country, and officials have been ordered to keep deaths from the virus secret. A malnourished population combined poor medical facilities and scarcity of medical supplies all but guarantees that the virus would spread rapidly were it to gain a foot-hold.

• Related: "North Korea Concealing Coronavirus Outbreak; Officials Ordered To 'Quickly Dispose Of Bodies'"--Zero Hedge. The reader that brought this article to my attention also notes that this is something that could escalate out of control: that is, if Kim Jong-un believes that he will lose control, he may act irrationally and lash out.

• "WUHAN VIRUS/Experts find how moderate 2019-nCoV infection ends with death"--Focus on Taiwan. 

      Zhou Zheng (周正), an expert in respiratory medicine at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University in Hunan Province, said one feature of 2019-nCoV infection is that patients can develop moderate symptoms in the first two days of infection but can become seriously ill on the third day or later.

      Attributing this to the phenomenon of cytokine storm -- a high level of circulating inflammatory cytokines -- Zhou said the novel coronavirus can stimulate the body's immune system, which can further damage the cells.

      "A normal immune system protects, but an over-active immune system can not only damage the lungs but also other organs, including the kidneys, liver and heart," he said.

      A recent Lancet publication titled "Clinical Features of Patients Infected with the 2019 Novel Coronavirus in Wuhan, China," also describes the correlation of the cytokine storm and the severity of illness in patients infected with 2019-nCoV.

• "Incubation period of new coronavirus can be as long as 24 DAYS instead of previously thought two weeks, study reveals"--Daily Mail. 
• "WHO gives the new coronavirus a name: COVID-19"--ABC News. The article also reports that: 

      Meanwhile, a hundred people have been quarantined in Hong Kong after being evacuated from an apartment building where two residents living on different floors were diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, authorities said.

      During a press conference Tuesday, officials from Hong Kong's Center for Health Protection said the two infected residents were separated by 10 floors and the decision to partially evacuate the public housing estate in the city's Tsing Yi area was made after the discovery of an unsealed pipe in the bathroom of the lower apartment, raising fears about how the newly identified virus may have spread between the two units.

So now there are concerns that the virus can spread via sewage. 

• "Coronavirus is airborne, Chinese officials confirm"--NewsHub. This is not the same as direct transmission from being in close proximity to someone that coughs or sneezes droplets into the air. From the article:

       On Saturday it was announced the virus can now spread via aerosol transmission - meaning it can drift through the air for an extended period of time and cause infection if breathed in. 

      "Aerosol transmission refers to the mixing of the virus with droplets in the air to form aerosols which causes infection after inhalation," Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau deputy head Zeng Qun is quoted as saying by China Daily.

• It never rains but it pours: "China now has to fight coronavirus AND bird flu: 'Highly pathogenic' avian influenza hits two Chinese provinces near Hubei"--Daily Mail.
• Differing views on the future of the infection:

• "Expert sees coronavirus over by April in China, WHO still alarmed"--Reuters. The "expert" is China's senior medical adviser.

• "Tuesday briefing: Two-thirds of people might catch coronavirus – expert"--The Guardian. Two-thirds of the world's population, that is, if it is not contained.

• "Gordon Chang: 'Overwhelmed' Chinese authorities are deliberately falsifying coronavirus death toll"--Fox News. An excerpt:

      Chang, who authored the book "The Coming Collapse of China" claimed that local authorities have "just lost the ability to pick up corpses" due to a "breakdown in government."

      "So really what we are having right now is, they are completely overwhelmed," he added. "They are not able to keep accurate statistics. So what we are witnessing is essentially a breakdown in government and keeping accurate statistics is a very minor part of their priorities right now."

• Related: "The coronavirus has killed hundreds, but is China giving us the full picture?"--Glenn Reynolds at USA Today. He notes that because China has punished people telling the truth about the outbreak, people are going to be reluctant to report the facts to those in charge. "The Chinese government continues to censor news and social media. This not only keeps the rest of the world from knowing what’s going on, it also makes it harder for the government itself to keep track of what’s really happening, as opposed to what underlings are reporting to their superiors." Thus, even the government may not know the true extent of the problem.

• "Plague Pushes China To Breaking Point"--American Conservative. A source with family ties in China relates:

       It is also clear to me as a physician – listening to the Chinese doctors – and viewing footage from the hospitals and clinics – that this is many orders of magnitude worse than what they are saying. Common sense will tell you that as well – are they really going to torpedo their entire industrial heartland for months – just because 300 people have died? — I think not – I think this is way worse than we can possibly imagine.

      My mother-in-law lives in a smaller city – far on the western fringe of China – If Wuhan were Atlanta – she would be in a place like Boise. She had a fever about 8 days ago. Please note – official statistics note that there are 9 people in her province confirmed to have the virus. This belies the fact that she (never known to me to be a liar or fabulist ) has been telling my wife for days that there are hundreds upon hundreds of people all over the sidewalks and streets outside the hospital – and that the hospital is completely filled with patients. And apparently the crematorium has been very busy. Of most grave concern to her – is Beijing nationalized all of their small province’s health care workers and sent them to Shanghai or Beijing – leaving their city of a million with only a handful of doctors. When she had her fever – a nurse looked at her for 10 minutes. They found out she had a runny nose – and because of the runny nose told her she did NOT have the virus. NO TEST WAS EVER DONE – WHY? they simply do not have enough kits – and are having to go by their gut instinct. She was sent back to her own home – and placed in quarantine there – never having been tested. She is unable to leave – and this is being violently enforced in her city. They bring her food 3 times a week. All this to say – any and all numbers coming from China are highly suspect – and basically worthless. And thankfully my mother-in-law is getting much better.

      Her younger brother and his young family live in Nanjing. I cannot tell you the grief expressed by my wife the other night – when he called her the last time – and said all international calls have been stopped effective at midnight that day. Nanjing is now under martial law – for the first time since the Japanese occupation before World War II. He told her about the tanks going down the streets and all the main streets being guarded by men with sub-machine guns. All exits out of the city are now being blocked with layers of concrete blocks. Each family has to designate one person who can go outside 2 times a week – to the nearest store for food and supplies. Anyone caught on the streets without appropriate permission – or not wearing a mask is immediately arrested – and placed in quarantine camps themselves. Anyone who thinks this is all being done just because of a “flu” or “a little virus” really needs to have their head examined.

     Her father is in Beijing – and has not been heard from in two weeks.

• "Coronavirus is China’s Chernobyl"--Victory Girls. An excerpt:

       In 1986, the world’s worst nuclear disaster occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine. And, true to its need for total secrecy, the Soviet Union hid the danger from nearby residents. So while Soviet officials dithered, 50 million curies of radiation fell over the nearby town of Prypiat. What’s even worse is that the USSR had a history of covering up nuclear accidents long before Chernobyl.

      Today, in the midst of China’s coronavirus outbreak, we see that its Communist Party is also going into lockdown mode, just like the old Soviets. So coronavirus has become China’s Chernobyl.

      As of Friday, the official death toll in China stands at 636, with over 31,000 confirmed cases. But those are the official numbers. The true butcher’s bill is probably much higher.

      Chinese doctors explain away the squishy numbers as the result of overworked health care in Hubei Province, where the bulk of the infections occur. Hospitals and laboratories can’t keep up with the demand for virus testing, they say.

       But in a totalitarian nation like China, the truth is much different, of course. And the dirty truth is that the first-known coronavirus patient fell ill on December 1st. Instead of warning the public, Chinese officials spent the rest of December covering up the news — just like the Soviets did with Chernobyl.

• "The Coronavirus Outbreak Could Derail Xi Jinping’s Dreams of a Chinese Century"--Time. Money quote:

Xi, burnished by a resurgent cult of personality, has amassed more power than any Chinese leader since Mao Zedong. He has leveraged Beijing’s economic clout to forward ambitions at home and abroad but also has struggled as no previous leader. “Since Xi came to power, problem after problem have occurred on his watch that he seems unable to effectively manage,” says Jude Blanchette, a China analyst at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. 

• "Curtis Ellis: The Coronavirus Exposes the True Cost of the China Price"--Breitbart. An excerpt:

      The pandemic has exposed the frailty of global supply chains and the fallacy of the management theory calling for intercontinental supply chains and just-in-time inventory management.

      Quarantining more than 60 million people in over a dozen cities as a public health measure, the Chinese government has closed thousands of factories.

      Problems extend far from Wuhan, the cradle of the coronavirus.

     Apple has been forced to reduce global iPhone shipments by 10 percent this quarter because of disruptions in its China-dependent supply chain.

      China’s 288 million migrant workers account for one third of China’s total labor force, and no one knows how many will—or can—return to work after the Lunar New year holiday, which was extended because of the outbreak.

     The Global Times, official mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party acknowledges “a labor shortage issue seems to be haunting major Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen,” major manufacturing hubs.

     Beijing’s transportation authority reports that of the 10 million people who left the capital ahead of the holidays, 8 million still have not returned.

     China’s labor shortage is felt around the world.

     China National Offshore Oil Corp. is refusing to take delivery of liquefied natural gas cargoes, blaming a shortage of workers due to the virus. PetroChina Co., the country’s largest oil and gas firm, says it also can’t get enough workers to offload cargoes at its terminals.

     The story is the same for shipments of soybeans from the U.S. and Brazil, palm oil from Indonesia, copper from Chile. China’s biggest oil refiner is expected to ask Saudi Arabia to reduce supplies of crude oil.

Read the whole thing.

• Related: "Exporters scramble for materials as factories idle"--New Hampshire Union Leader. This article focuses on a few manufacturers in Vietnam that are having to reduce output or shutter factories because they can't get needed parts from China.

"LA Police Gear Level III Budget Armor: Better Than Level IV Plates?"--Mr. Guns and Gear.

This is a composite design with ceramic backed by polyethylene. Although rated at Level III, it was able to stop an M-2 .30-06 armor piercing round.

• Check out this week's Woodpile Report.
• A reader sent me this article: "Rapid Response: Early lessons from the NYPD vehicle ambush and station attack"--Police One. An excerpt:

      The first pair of officers who were targeted by this gunman was sitting in a marked police van with the emergency lights activated. As the suspect approached the van in the dark, the driver noticed that he had a handgun in his hand, pointed at the ground. As the officer began to drive the vehicle away, the suspect raised the firearm and fired, striking the officer in the chin and neck. The officer was able to drive away from the immediate danger, and switch places with the passenger officer, who drove his injured partner to the hospital.

     We’ve talked about this before, in connection with a previous attack on NYPD officers, but it’s vitally important for officers to remember that while they may feel a level of comfort and security in their vehicle, it’s not a safe haven, and they have to remain alert to the danger of being ambushed while they are in the vehicle. The police car can become a “Purple Heart Box” that will trap you inside if you’re not careful, so it’s essential to divide your attention between whatever you are doing in the car (typing on a data terminal, writing a citation, talking on the radio, etc.) and watching the people who are approaching your vehicle.

     It appears that the driver in this incident maintained this kind of awareness, and it provided him just enough advance warning of the attack to “get off the X.” The shooter still injured the officer with grazing wounds to the neck and chin, but those bullets would probably have struck more lethal areas if the officer hadn’t complicated the attack by driving away.

     It can be difficult to monitor all the avenues of approach and potential threats when the vehicle is parked in a busy area, with lots of foot and vehicle traffic. As such, officers are encouraged to avoid lingering in a busy area if their duties don’t require them to remain in that position. After a stop, call, or investigation has been completed, move the patrol car to a more defensible location to finish the paperwork (such as in the middle of a large parking lot, where an attacker would have to cross a lot of open terrain to get to you), or team up with another officer on the scene to provide overwatch for each other. Better yet, finish your paperwork inside the police station.

     Some vehicle ambushes are best resolved as this one was, with the officers driving away. Others are best handled by using the vehicle as a weapon to attack the attacker, and others still are best handled by debussing the car and fighting or fleeing on foot.

• In case you are tired of coronvirus news, a new disease has shown up in Africa: "Panic In Benue As Strange Disease Kills Victims Within 48hrs"--Leadership. Benue is in Nigeria. From the article:

      Residents of Benue State are having a horrible experience with a strange disease which is ravaging some communities in the state.

      The worse hit victims live in areas in Oye-Obi local government area of the state where 15 deaths have been recorded and 104 others infected since the mystery disease broke out on January 29, 2020.

     LEADERSHIP Friday learnt that the survival chances of those infected are very slim because they always die within 48 hours and the symptoms manifest in the form of swollen stomach, legs, internal heat, vomiting, and diarrhoea.

     The ailment, which cure and treatment are yet to be discovered by Nigeria’s health authorities, broke out as the country battles the Lassa fever scourge and coronavirus is sending shockwaves across the globe.

• A reader brought my attention to this: "Even The Mainstream Media Is Now Admitting That Humanity Is Facing “A Perfect Storm”"--The Economic Collapse Blog. 

Over the last several decades, have we ever seen a year start as strangely as 2020 has?  Global weather patterns have gone completely nuts, large earthquakes are popping off like firecrackers, it looks like the plague of locusts in Africa could soon develop into the worst in modern history, and a massive plague of bats is severely terrorizing parts of Australia.  On top of all that, African Swine Fever is wiping out millions upon millions of pigs around the globe, the H1N1 Swine Flu is killing people in Taiwan, there have been H5N1 Bird Flu outbreaks in China and in India, and the H5N8 Bird Flu has made an appearance at a poultry facility in Saudi Arabia.  Of course the coronavirus outbreak which is causing people to literally drop dead in the streets in China is making more headlines than anything that I have mentioned so far, and it could potentially turn into a horrifying global pandemic that kills millions of people.

• "No food, no fuel, no phones: Bushfires showed we're only ever one step from system collapse"--Phys.org. The article begins:

       This summer's bushfires were not just devastating events in themselves. More broadly, they highlighted the immense vulnerability of the systems which make our contemporary lives possible.

     The fires cut road access, which meant towns ran out of fuel and fell low on food. Power to towns was cut and mobile phone services stopped working. So too did the ATMs and EFTPOS services the economy needs to keep running.

     In a modern, wealthy nation such as Australia, how could this happen?

     In answering this question, it's helpful to adopt "systems thinking." This approach views problems as part of an overall system, where each part relates to each other.

     In other words, we need to look at the big picture.

• "SIGNS OF A TORNADO – 10 Ways To Know If A Tornado Is Coming"--The Modern Survival Blog. Many of these pertain to watching the shape and movement of clouds (especially if they start moving in a circular mass).
• I've been told by all the best people that mass shootings only occur in America: "Thai Soldier Killed 26, Wounded 57 in Mall Rampage"--The Truth About Guns. And note well this: "It took police sharpshooters 16 hours to end the crisis."
• "Combat Zero your AR"--Max Velocity Tactical. A how-to.
• "“Speed Holstering” Or, How to shoot yourself."--Loose Rounds. Click over to see the photograph. The law enforcement officer in question was lucky: he only lost a good pair of pants.
• Oh, I'm sure it is being used for much more than that: "Federal Agencies Use Cellphone Location Data for Immigration Enforcement"--Wall Street Journal. Summary: "The Trump administration has bought access to a commercial database that maps the movements of millions of cellphones in America and is using it for immigration and border enforcement, according to people familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal."
• "What is The Best Revolver Speedloader?"--Revolver Guy. He has updated his article to include the Revision CV Ammo Pod Speedloader (or you can read just his review here).
• "Can we be a little less judgmental?"--Tactical Professor. He writes:

“Get some training” is a meme in the industry. Unfortunately, both the size and the availability of the training base are very small. This is true even if every NRA and State certified CCW instructor is included in the number. There’s also the issue in my mind of those who make statements like this but got their training from the government while in the pay of the government. That generates an ethical issue you can ponder some time.

Read the rest of the article if you want to get into the numbers.

• "Thermal Slow Cooker Crock Pot Thermos | How & Why We Use It"--The Modern Survival Blog. Years ago I had discussed "hay box" cooking and other forms of insulated cooking. The general idea is that it saves fuel because you use a heat source to bring the food up to cooking temperature (e.g., boiling), then transfer the pot or contents to some sort of insulated container that prevents the heat from escaping, so that the food continues to cook at or near its original temperature over a period of time. In this article, the author reviews a product from Thermos that is actually designed for this. It has a heating/cooking pot that is specifically designed to nest inside a thermally insulated shell.

"The Great Vowel Shift and the History of Britain"--The History Guy.

• "Iranian satellite fails to enter into orbit during fourth consecutive unsuccessful launch"--Washington Examiner. The article reports: "Iran attempted to launch a domestically-built 'Zafar' satellite into space, but the rocket did not gain enough speed to reach orbit, according to reports. News of the failure broke on Sunday, two weeks after satellite imagery showed increased activity around Iran’s Imam Khomeini Space Center." 

• Related: "Iran is hit by 'largest cyber attack in its history' hours ahead of failed attempt to launch satellite into orbit"--Daily Mail. 

• Related: "Iranian minister is mocked for 'passing off child's NASA fancy dress costume as regime's astronaut suit'"--Daily Mail. From the article:

      Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, Tehran's information and communications technology minister, last week tweeted a picture of the silver outfit with the words: 'astronaut costume #brightfuture'. 

      But social media users instantly accused him of flaunting a child's costume which can be bought on Amazon for £20, and simply tearing off the NASA badges.

     Closer inspection of the costume does appear to show the faint outline where the logos have been removed.

• China's continued efforts to steal American technology: "Number of professors allegedly in cahoots with communist China quickly mounts"--Campus Reform. 
• Related: "Pompeo warns governors of Chinese infiltration into US: 'It's happening in your state'"--Fox News. From the article:

      China's Communist Party has infiltrated various levels of America's infrastructure and is working to destroy the values of the United States, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a speech Saturday, while also warning state governors to be wary of China's infiltration.

     “We can’t ignore China’s actions and strategic intentions," he said while addressing the National Governors Association winter meeting. "The Chinese government has been methodical in the way it's analyzed our system... it's assessed our vulnerabilities and it's decided to exploit our freedoms, to gain an advantage over us at the federal level, the state level and the local level."

     “Competition with China is happening. It’s happening in your state," Pompeo added. "In fact, I'd be surprised if most of you in the audience had not been lobbied by the Chinese Communist Party directly."

• A couple from Wilder, Wealthy and Wise on setting and achieving goals:

• "Playing the Game, And Goals for Life"

• "Hans Gruber, a Hooters Waitress, Patton, and Health"

• This works until the first major solar flare: "Billionaires could 'leave Earth behind for space colony' as 'climate collapses'"--The Sun. Speculation that certain billionaires' interest in space may be motivated by wanting to flee what they see as a sinking ship.
• Everything old is new again: "SOCOM Announces Plans to Buy 75 ‘Armed Overwatch’ Planes"--Air Force Magazine. Think of what a modernized P-51 would look like, and you won't be far off.
• Major networks yawn: "Man Deliberately Rams Vehicle Into GOP Tent Full Of Volunteers, Trump Responds"--Daily Wire. How did they know? "... after the driver rammed the vehicle ... he got out and flipped off the victims before running away."
• "The necessity of debt cancellation"--Vox Day. An excerpt from an interview:

      The German Economic Miracle was the Allied debt reforms of 1947/48. They essentially wiped out all debts except for what employers owed their employees – you know, the workers’ wages and minimum working balances at the banks. It was easy for the Allies to cancel the debts owed to German creditors. because the creditors were mainly Nazis. The whole idea was to wipe them out. They didn’t the want to leave the former Nazis with financial power to take over the economy again. They wanted a Clean Slate.

      Canceling the debts created the German Economic Miracle. Because the economy was able to operate without personal debt, and without much public debt or corporate debt. It was able to take off. Today, essentially you’re dealing with a criminalized banking class that I think we should treat in the same way that the Allies treated the Nazis. If you don’t cancel the debts owed to them, the economy is going to shrink and shrink, and polarize. We’re going to have essentially a neo-feudalism controlled by the creditor class, like you had in Rome in the Dark Ages. Do you really want a new Dark Age?

• "Modernity: The Forces of Secularity"--The Social Pathologist. An excerpt:

Weber hits the nail on the head here by recognising that a "personal" faith "anchored in personality" is a different thing than an apparent faith of custom, habit and convenience. What modernity exposed is that the "personal faith" was strongly lacking and that a lot of religious practice was a habit contingent upon circumstances. Modernity changed the circumstances and exposed the shallowness in religious belief.  What Weber is hinting at--in a roundabout way-- is the notion that a strong faith is not opposed to modernity its just that weak faith is corroded by it.  And pre-Modern Europe had a lot of weak faith. What Weber is getting at is that  Modernity is not a solvent of religion, it is a solvent of weak and superficial religion, it separates the wheat from the chaff.