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Showing posts with label Electricity/Electronics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Electricity/Electronics. Show all posts

Sunday, June 7, 2026

Gun & Prepping News #84

Some links that may be of interest:

The Ruger Super Redhawk is a large-bore revolver that hit the gun market in 1987, meaning it has nearly 40 years of use under its belt. That first model was released in .44 Magnum—understandably so—with later models including .480 Ruger and .454 Casull. The Super Redhawk came on the heels of the Redhawk, launched in 1979. Unlike the original Redhawk, which is designed more for carry and self-defense, the Super Redhawk is definitely a hunting handgun. There’s no denying it. That doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to shoot in general, though, because it is.    

It is long barreled weapon designed to mount a pistol scope. I've shot the Redhawk (I know a guy that has one in .45 Colt/.45 ACP) but never the Super Redhawk. 

  • "Concealed Carry Corner: Is The Glock 48 the New Standard?"--The Firearm Blog.  The author essentially is arguing that with the new higher capacity magazines available for the Glock 48, it will replace the Glock 19 as a default "do it all" self-defense, concealed carry weapon. He writes:

For over two decades now, the Glock 19 has been the golden child of concealed carry pistols, with what many call online the perfect blend of size, capacity, and weight to be an all-season carry gun compared to other options on the market. Combine that with the reliability that Glock is notorious for and there was a gold standard born. If you read online forums where people debate the best carry gun of all time or even read a Top 5 article about carry guns, the Glock 19 is almost always on the list, if not on top of the list. Being a mid-size option on the market with 15+1 capacity and being bulletproof reliable makes it a tough option to rule out for something to depend on to protect yourself day in and day out. 

 But, he adds:

[I]f we are looking at a direct comparison to the Glock 19, the Glock 48 has a number of similar features while being almost half the width. With the release of Glock’s factory 15-round slimline magazine, the Glock 48 becomes a slim variant of the Glock 19 with the same length and height but significantly thinner than the Glock 19, while offering the same capacity. The most important factor after overall weight when it comes to a carry gun is the overall thickness and size. The length of the Glock 48 doesn't affect concealability, but being a slimmer version of the Glock 19 makes carrying it all day, every day in hot weather much easier.  

  • "The SIG P365 Family: Still the Benchmark for Everyday Carry"--Guns America.  I think the author of this piece may disagree with the author of the article just above this. This author claims: "The plain SIG P365 still earns its place as a daily carry pistol because it balances concealability, capacity, shootability, and trust better than almost anything in the micro-compact 9mm world." The author also states:

    The standard P365 is still the heart of the lineup and, for my money, still one of the best pure carry guns ever made. Mine wears a Wilson Combat grip module, a red dot, an aftermarket slide because my original slide is too old to be cut for an optic, and that is the extent of it. The Wilson grip improves the texture and the feel in my hand without changing the footprint, and the optic does what optics do, which is let me put rounds where I am looking faster and with less thought under stress.

    What I want to emphasize is that those two changes are preferences, not corrections. Out of the box, the P365 ships with steel tritium night sights, a usable trigger, and a degree of reliability that has been proven across millions of rounds in the field. I have never felt undergunned with it, and I have never felt the need to fix anything fundamental about it. It conceals so well that I genuinely forget it is there, which for an all-day, every-day carry gun is the whole point. This is the one I trust when the day is ordinary and when it is not.  

He also discussed the P365X, XL, and Fuse. Frankly, I wonder if the P365 or one of the larger variants will be the one to inherent the generalist pistol category from the Glock 19. 

  • "Harry’s Holsters IWB Speedloader Carrier"--Revolver Guy. The article outlines the process the author went through with designing a product in conjunction with Harry's Holsters and some experimentation on where to carry such a speedloader carrier. As for placement, the author states: "I think the most promising place to carry a speedloader on the belt, when you’re carrying your gun AIWB, is to take advantage of the hollow created by the gun’s cylinder, immediately forward of the gun." As for the final product:

The Harry’s Holsters IWB Speedloader Carrier is composed of a tall and thin body with an IWB clip on the outside, and a leather backer on the inside. The body is 3-D printed, and sized to accept a specific model of speedloader. My two samples were for HKS J-frame and K-frame .38/.357 revolvers, but there are available carriers for 5-Star and Safariland loaders, and .32/.327 caliber options as well.

They are selling for about $90. The article also covers the author's testing of the product.

  • "The MAC IX Review: An MP5 Alternative Most Shooters Can Actually Afford"--The Truth About Guns. It's almost $800 which is nice, but it is a direct blowback design, not a roller delayed like the MP5. About the only similarity is that it uses MP5 magazines. 
    • Related: "Best MP5 Clone Buyer’s Guide [Field Tested]"--Gun Digest. This 2025 article covers some non-HK clones (although some are built on HK machinery).  But their prices, as of last summer, were also $1,300 or more (unless you wanted the .22LR version).
  • "Best Ranch Rifles: A Modern Ranch Rifle Revival"--Recoil.  By "Ranch Rifle" the author is looking at something that is semi-auto with a traditional butt stock, using a detachable box magazine, and shooting .223 or an intermediate cartridge like .300 BLK or 7.62x39. Like Ruger's "Ranch Rifle" back in the day, which was simply a Mini-14 with the cuts necessary to mount scope rings. The rifles the author is comparing are the Ruger Mini-14, CMMG BR4 Dissent, Fox Trot Mike Ranch Rifle, and SIG Sauer MCX Regulator. The latter three are AR-15 derived weapons mating an AR style upper with a redesigned lower that could accept a traditional style stock. While the free-float barrels and skeletonized hand guards are great for attachments and help with accuracy, they lack the clean lines of the Mini-14 and look "tactical" rather than "ranch". 
  • "How to Start Dry Fire Training (Without Overthinking It)" by Grace Torrence, The Firearm Blog. The author explains: 

    I define dry fire as the act of practicing firearm handling and shooting skills without live ammunition. It allows shooters to build repetition and consistency without having to make a range trip or spend large amounts of money on ammo. While I was in college and then in grad school, dry fire became crucial to my development as a competitive shooter, and I attribute much of my success to it.

    Many skills can be improved through dry fire, including trigger control, sight alignment and acquisition, draws and presentations, reloads, and target transitions. More advanced shooters can even train movement and firearm transitions. Dry fire is a great way to develop these skills at home while simultaneously building muscle memory.

    Although dry fire can never fully replace live fire, it can make live fire training more productive. As you develop new skills, the muscle memory you’ve built will help make the application of these skills to your live fire practice much easier. Dry fire can also help with skills maintenance for shooters who have limited range access. By using dry fire to routinely practice specific skills that don’t necessarily require ammo, like draws and reloads, you can free up your limited range time to focus on shooting-specific skills.

Caching is a concept that’s been around for a very long time. The basic idea is to stash gear and supplies in a hidden location so that they can serve as either a resupply point or a backup to your primary equipment. This presupposes that your cache remains undiscovered as well as undamaged between the time you place it and when you go to retrieve it.

He then goes on to discuss appropriate containers, contents, and what can go wrong. For instance, writing about containers, the author notes:

Traditionally, these sorts of caches are buried, so the container needs to be able to withstand the pressure and weight of the soil above and around it. While there are numerous ways to pull this off, one of the most common approaches is to use PVC pipe as the cache container. That’s what was recommended in Ragnar Benson’s book forty-odd years ago, and it’s still a workable solution today. 

One of problems that is too infrequently discussed is the difficulty in retrieving a buried container. If you have watched any videos of people trying to recover buried containers, what they often discover is the pressure of the earth packed around the outside of the cache makes it extremely difficult to remove the cache container from the earth, particularly if it is in a tube buried perpendicular to the ground surface. And it is problematic if you are having to quickly retrieve material from a cache but it is going to take hours to dig out the cache tube. The author suggests using two tubes: an outer tube into which a smaller tube (with the cached materials are stored) is inserted. Make sure you have a strong enough strap or handle attached, however, to lift the full tube out.

    Another great piece of advice: "The biggest rule of caching is never put anything in a cache that you’re not comfortable never seeing again. This isn’t the place for treasured family heirlooms or anything exceptionally valuable. Instead, think along the lines of you’re down to nothing, and you desperately need to resupply as you travel from Point A to Point B. What would you want or need?" 

    A long power outage doesn’t just mean the lights go out. It can quietly wipe out hundreds of dollars of frozen food sitting in your freezer.

    Meat, garden harvests, bulk buys… all of it starts warming the moment the power stops. And the worst part? You often don’t realize how close you are to losing everything until it’s too late.

    The good news is that keeping a freezer (or refrigerator) cold during an outage is much easier than most people think. You don’t need a huge generator. You don’t need to run it 24/7. And you definitely don’t need to burn through fuel unnecessarily.

    That means even a small portable generator can prevent hundreds of dollars of food loss.

 He also notes:

You don’t need to run a generator continuously. A full chest freezer can stay frozen 24–48 hours without power. During an outage, many people run a generator about 1 hour every 8–12 hours to maintain safe freezer temperatures. Use a thermometer and keep food below 32°F (0°C).

The wattage you need will vary according to the size and type of freezer, with the author giving the numbers for a small chest freezer, a medium chest freezer, and a refrigerator/freezer combo. He also ran a test using his freezers. He has a lot more advice and tips on the difference between starting watts versus running watts, suggestions as to types of generators, how long to run the generator to keep the food frozen, and more, so be sure to read the whole thing.

The solar cycle was several years shorter and the sun was experiencing an unusually active phase at the beginning of the 13th century — at least, that's the story told by evidence left behind in tree rings and historical records that suggest a burst of protons and enhanced coronal mass ejections battered Earth between the years 1200 and 1204 CE. 

    A Hybrid Survival Kit is a deliberate pairing of modern, battery-powered technology with a mechanical, physics-based backup. It means building a loadout where your Plan A runs on microchips, but your Plan B runs on gravity, friction, and magnetism.

    For every digital tool in your bag, there is a low-tech, bombproof equivalent sitting right next to it. It is not about “buying more stuff” to be a gear collector; it is about building a Silicon-to-Steel Bridge. You use the silicon (chips) to buy you time and awareness, and you use the steel (analog tools) to ensure you don’t die when the chips fail.

An example: a GPS unit backed up with a map and compass; or a USB-rechargeable dual-arc plasma lighter backed up with a ferro rod. 

    Most people assume that the food stockpiled in their pantry, freezer, or basement belongs to them unconditionally. Under normal circumstances, they are absolutely right. But history tells a far more complicated story, and the legal frameworks governing food supply, distribution, and access during emergencies reveal a side of government power that most people rarely think about until a crisis forces them to.

    Government food confiscation laws, whether formally codified or embedded within broader emergency statutes, have existed in various forms across nearly every major civilization. And in the modern United States, the legal infrastructure for federally directed food resource management remains very much intact, even if rarely invoked.

    Understanding the history of how governments have seized, rationed, and redistributed private food stores is not just an academic exercise. Whether you are a prepper planning for long-term food independence, a policy researcher, or simply a curious citizen, knowing how these laws work and where they come from gives you a clearer picture of the relationship between individual property rights and state power during crisis scenarios.

    From Stalin’s grain brigades to the U.S. Office of Price Administration during World War II, and from the Defense Production Act of 1950 to the FDA’s modern mandatory recall authority, the legal machinery behind food control has always been more extensive than most people realize.

While we generally think of OPSEC regarding food stores as necessary to prevent a mob of hungry people from showing up at our doors, the more likely scenario might well be police or other law enforcement showing up to confiscate your food items. You might also want to check out my post, "An Example of Why OPSEC is Important" for an example of the application of anti-hoarding laws in place during WWI which resulted in the prosecution of a couple living in Washington D.C. for hoarding. As I noted, "The 'offenders' were caught because they were informed on by a friend of the local 'Food Administrator.'" 

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Saturday, May 30, 2026

Signs You Are In A Collapsing Society

The New York Post reports that copper theft has become so prevalent in Los Angeles that the City's Department of Water and Power wants its own police force to deal with the problem. 

    The LA Department of Water and Power made the request in a letter sent to the City Council, pointing out that the Port of Los Angeles and Los Angeles airports have their own police authorities.

    The agency already employs security guards, but “they lack the authority to detain or arrest suspects, intervene in crimes in progress, conduct searches, or carry firearms for enforcement purposes,” the letter said. 

    The department currently depends on local law enforcement to respond speedily, but that’s unreliable in remote locations where there is critical infrastructure, it added.

    If such an armed force was granted, the department expects to add 20 to 50 officers, who would have the authority to carry a firearm, make arrests and investigate thefts, in addition to handling jobs like dispatch and crime analysis. 

The article indicates that wire theft alone costs the city $20 million per year, while setting up such a police force would cost $9 million with an additional $6 million per year operating budget.  

     Of course the problem is not limited to just Los Angeles as this 2024 article from Wired makes clear: "The Green Economy Is Hungry for Copper—and People Are Stealing, Fighting, and Dying to Feed It." The article begins by recounting an attack on South African utility employees by a gang armed with automatic weapons, adding:

    In most places, power companies are a pretty dull business. But in South Africa they are under a literal assault, targeted by heavily armed gangs that have crippled the nation’s energy infrastructure and claimed an ever-growing number of lives. Practically every day, homes across the country are plunged into darkness, train lines shut down, water supplies cut off, and hospitals forced to close, all because thieves are targeting the material that carries electricity: copper.

    The battle cry of energy transition advocates is “Electrify everything.” Meaning: Let’s power cars, heating systems, industrial plants, and every other type of machine with electricity rather than fossil fuels. To do that, we need copper—and lots of it. Second to silver, a rarer and far more expensive metal, copper is the best natural electrical conductor on Earth. We need it for solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles. (A typical EV contains as much as 175 pounds of copper.) We need it for the giant batteries that will provide power when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. We need it to massively expand and upgrade the countless miles of power cables that undergird the energy grid in practically every country. In the United States, the capacity of the electric grid will have to grow as much as threefold to meet the expected demand.

    A recent report from S&P Global predicts that the amount of copper we’ll need over the next 25 years will add up to more than the human race has consumed in its entire history. “The world has never produced anywhere close to this much copper in such a short time frame,” the report notes. The world might not be up to the challenge. Analysts predict supplies will fall short by millions of tons in the coming years. No wonder Goldman Sachs has declared “no decarbonization without copper” and called copper “the new oil.”

    As the energy transition gathers speed, the value of copper has also soared. In the past four years, the price of a ton of copper has shot from about $6,400 to more than $9,000. That, in turn, has made electrical wiring, equipment, and even raw metal fresh from the mines into juicy targets for thieves. All around the world, hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of the metal has been stolen—and countless lives have been lost. With the possible exception of gold, no other metal has caused so much death and destruction.

 After describing expanding copper production in Africa and environmental impacts of a huge open pit copper mine in Chile, the article returns to copper theft:

    The treasures these mines produce are magnets for some astonishingly brazen criminals. By the light of the full moon, bandits in Toyota Tundra pickups roll up alongside trains that are hauling copper slabs from the mines high in the Atacama down to the coast. With perhaps a whispered prayer to the spirits of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the bandits leap aboard the copper cars, slice through the ropes securing the 180-pound slabs, toss them into the beds of the speeding trucks, and disappear into the night.

    The problem is so acute that the Chilean national police have set up a special copper task force. But trains were still being robbed regularly when I visited Chile in 2022. And not just trains, for that matter. In January of 2023, a team of thieves hit the country’s main seaport, overpowered a handful of workers, and made off with a dozen containers full of Codelco’s copper—more than $4 million worth.

    No one knows exactly how much copper is stolen every year across the world. Thieves typically sell their wares to no-questions-asked scrapyards and recyclers, who strip off cable coatings and other nonmetallic materials and then shred or melt down the copper. Anyone can do it: The metal can be melted with blowtorches or small furnaces you can buy on Amazon. There are plenty of online videos that can walk you through the process. Once rendered into generic form, stolen copper can be mixed with legally obtained metal. At that point it’s easy to sell into the regular market, its origin essentially impossible to trace.

    It’s safe to say, however, that the amount stolen each year is many, many millions of dollars’ worth—possibly billions. In one particularly audacious theft in 2023, nearly $200 million worth of copper and other metals was lifted from Aurubis, Europe’s largest producer. The biggest heists, at least in the US, are often inside jobs. In 2013, police shut down a ring that had ripped off as much as $80 million worth of copper ingots from an Arizona mine. Prosecutors said that workers in on the scheme would open the gates for trucks driven by their confederates, who loaded them up with raw copper and drove right back out. The metal was sold to recyclers in California, who blackened it to make it look like scrap and then shipped it to China. Unraveling the plot took nerve. At one point, a company rep from the mine found a severed goat’s head nailed to his door.

    Most American copper thieves, however, are small-time opportunists drawn to a laughably easy score. So much copper is just left out in the open. It doesn’t take much skill or daring to tear out wiring in an abandoned building, break open an air conditioner sitting behind an apartment block, or snatch a manhole cover on a quiet suburban street. Thousands of copper thefts are reported each year. The booty includes fire hydrants, a 3,000-ton bell, a bust of Orville Wright, and at least one urn containing human ashes.

    The cost of fixing the damage often far exceeds the value of the stolen metal. Ripped-out cables have shut down drinking water supplies in Hawaii, streetlights in Missouri, airport runway lights in Washington, and whole subway lines in New York City. The US Department of Energy has estimated that copper theft causes $1 billion worth of damage every year to facilities and businesses considered critical infrastructure.

    Then there’s the shocking number of lives lost. Again, no one knows the exact numbers, but just from scanning through 10 years or so of local news articles I found dozens of reports of Americans who were fatally electrocuted while trying to steal live copper wire. And at least one security guard who was murdered trying to stop one of those thefts.

    In South Africa, though, widespread poverty, ineffective police, and soaring metal prices have turned copper theft into a major industry. Mines are rich targets, even those that don’t extract copper. Their subterranean networks of shafts and tunnels need power to run lights and digging equipment. That power, of course, is carried by miles of electric cable, conveniently left unguarded and out of sight. On any given day, hundreds of desperate people are risking their lives to get that metal.

    They’re known as zama zamas—roughly meaning “take a chance” in Zulu. These illegal miners clamber down mine shafts on ropes or handmade ladders, then make their way into the tunnels. There, they set up underground camps. Hundreds of zama zamas may be living underground at any given time, some spending weeks or even months down in the tunnels.

    It’s an astonishingly common and deeply disruptive crime. A single mining company, Implats, reported around 800 incidents of cable theft in 2021. Stolen cables have forced companies to shut down mines for weeks at a time.

    It’s also a phenomenally dangerous way to earn a living. Illegal miners have died by the dozens in gas explosions, floods caused by heavy rains, and other accidents. In 2021, a mining company sealed off a ventilation shaft that a group of zama zamas was using to supply their compatriots underground. Desperate, the miners blew open the hole with explosives. Police and private security guards wound up in a pitched battle with the escaping zama zamas. At least eight people were killed.

    Above ground, gangs have hijacked dozens of trucks carrying copper to South Africa’s ports, making off with millions of dollars’ worth of metal. Meanwhile, the electric grid is being plundered so often and so thoroughly that the whole country is affected. In 2021, the railway company Transnet reported that more than 1,000 kilometers of overhead power cables had been stolen. A recent report from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime notes that “while two security guards may have proved a deterrent in the past,” gangs “now come in groups of 20 or 30 and are often heavily armed, with ‘spotters’ shooting at patrol vehicles.” Cell phone towers, water pipelines, and electric power stations are similarly under assault. Thieves disguise themselves as workers dispatched to tear up underground cables, or bribe actual power company employees, or just show up brandishing guns and use four-wheel-drive trucks to rip cables out of the ground.

    Ordinary South Africans pay a heavy price. Children have died falling into manholes after their covers were stolen. In addition to disrupted train lines and power, water, and phone service outages, a Johannesburg hospital was kept closed after someone stole its copper pipes, cables, and electrical equipment. Police believe rivalry between gangs involved in stealing cables spurred two mass shootings that left 21 people dead in the Johannesburg area in 2022. And a number of security guards trying to protect some company’s copper have also been wounded or killed—like Moqadi Mokoena, the Johannesburg guard shot to death in his truck.

    The wave of copper theft has sparked a backlash of vigilante violence in some impoverished townships. Suspected thieves have been assaulted, beaten and occasionally lynched. “This is the only language that criminals understand,” a resident of a town where an alleged cable thief was beaten to death told local media. In March of 2023, four electric company workers were killed in a Johannesburg suburb by a mob that mistook them for cable thieves.

The solution to all of this suggested by the writer is to focus on copper demand. And this means that rather than shifting from gas powered vehicles to electric vehicles, which will consume even more copper, that we build out "public transit, subsidized ebikes, and developed more walkable cities[.]"

    The Wired article indicates, however, that we have exploited the largest, easiest to mine, deposits. But that may not be the case. In March of this year, the discovery of one of the world's largest deposits was discovered in Argentina. Popular Mechanics reports: "Geologists May Have Found One of the World’s Greatest Treasures. Some Say It’s Too Dangerous to Dig Up." 

    Located along the border of Chile and Argentina, the Filo del Sol copper deposit has been under investigation for years for potentially being one of the largest copper deposits in the world. And that makes sense, considering this treasure is nestled along the Atacama Desert—long known for its immense copper reserves due to its location in the Andes and its placement within the eastern portion of the Ring of Fire.

    However, an initial mineral resource estimate completed in 2025 suggests that the companies in charge of mining this area—the U.S.-based Lundin Mining and BHP—may have stumbled upon five times more metal than they bargained for.

    According to a statement from Lundin Mining, the assessment estimates the presence of up to 13 million tonnes of copper, 907,000 kilograms (32 million ounces) of gold, and 18.6 million kilograms (659 million ounces) of silver. This update, gathered from data collected from 400 additional exploration holes, came from the discovery that deeper mineralization of copper far exceeded the estimates that were closer to the surface. According to AFP, Filo del Sol could prove to be richer still, as experts dig deeper and explore the resource’s northern and southern boundaries. 

It is the altitude at which the deposits sit that make it potentially dangerous to mine.

    And last year, Newser reported on a new copper mine in Arizona expected to come online in late 2028.  

    So not all is doom and gloom.   

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Sunday, April 26, 2026

Gun & Prepping News #78

Some links that may be of interest:

    ... A recent study of justifiable homicides by the FBI shows that nationwide, law-abiding armed citizens have been killing more violent criminals than the nation’s law enforcement community.

    Why? Because the citizen is right there when the deadly attack on him or her takes place, and the waiting time for lawful armed response is essentially zero. Remember, homicide is justifiable only in situations of immediate, otherwise unavoidable danger of death or grave bodily harm…meaning that every dead criminal is potentially one or more innocent lives saved.

He also links to the study. 

The CMP has done extensive testing to make sure the reclaimed actions are safe to use in these guns. Those original actions are mated to new production barrels and stocks to create shootable rifles once again. These 1903A3 Springfield rifles retail for $1050, plus $35 for shipping and handling. Purchasers cannot pick the manufacturer; these are strictly sent out “luck of the draw.”
  • "Lake City Strike Enters Week Three—Here’s What It Means"--The Truth About Guns. Although the plant is primarily tasked to produce small arms ammunition for the military, Olin Winchester which has the contract to run the plant, is permitted to sell any excess production to the public. Thus, it is "the source of an estimated 30% of the .223/5.56 sold on the American civilian market". Consequently, we should expect 5.56 ammo to both go up in price and become more scarce.  
  • "TFB Review: Glock 17 Gen6 - First 1,000 Rounds"--The Firearm Blog.  The author used the handgun straight out of the box in a two day introduction to practical shooting course:

    The course was a two-day introduction to practical shooting (IPSC basic course, which is mandatory in some countries), designed specifically for beginners. It covered the full spectrum of fundamental skills: basic accuracy drills, static reloads, emergency reloads, strong-hand-only shooting, weak-hand-only shooting, and shooting on the move. Exactly the kind of curriculum that puts a pistol through its paces in ways a static bench test never can. 

    Normally, such a course requires about 400-600 rounds to complete, depending on the maturity of the individual(s). Of the 1,200 rounds fired with this pistol, 900 were fired indoors using GECO's Lead Round Nose Copper-Plated 9mm Luger, 8.0g / 124gr.

    The remaining 300 rounds or so were Hornady Critical Defense FTX 115gr, which we saved for a dedicated accuracy and V0 chronograph session at 25 meters. More on those results in a separate article, but the short version: accuracy was excellent and there were zero malfunctions with the Hornady ammunition.  

  • "Review: Assembling an AR-15 Lower Receiver"--American Rifleman. Building a lower receiver for an AR-15 to be chambered in .338 ARC for controlling feral hogs, the author looks at some parts to ensure superior accuracy over the stock mil-spec AR but still be handy in the field. The main parts he discusses are (i) an Aero Precision M4E1 lower receiver, (ii) a Magpul MOE+ grip and DT-PR adjustable stock, (iii) a CMMG lower parts kit but replacing the trigger group with a Wilson Combat TR-TTU Tactical Trigger Unit. The author closes:

Are these parts the best/most expensive/recommended by the guy you know at the range who’s always weighing in? Maybe. Maybe not. I’ve tested them in previous builds and have found them all to perform exactly as advertised/just how I like it, so that’s what I use. That’s not saying that less-expensive options should automatically be discarded; with the exception of the trigger, which is still far from the most expensive one out there, most of the parts chosen for this are decidedly middle-of-the-road but fully functional. 

  • "A vz. 61 Skorpion For Less: The Titus Arms TA61"--American Rifleman.  The reason it is less (about $600 or so) is because the company uses an "in-house 3D-printed, carbon-fiber fill nylon lower" which costs less and, as a byproduct, also makes the pistol lighter. However, you can't just use any .32 ACP ammo in this, but need something a bit hotter to ensure reliable function: 7.65 mm Browning (European specification) loads using a 73-grain full-metal jacket bullets velocities of 984 to 1043 fps. "The two loads in this class that the company recommends are available from Fiocchi USA and Sellier & Bellot (S&B). Geco Ammunition also offers a suitable load."
  • "Before The Webley"--Guns Magazine. A history of revolver and ammunition developments that led to the development of the Webley revolver. 
  • Some more history: "Fudd Friday: The Highs And Lows Of The Winchester Model 1200"--The Firearm Blog.  The Winchester Model 12 was revered as a shotgun because of its hand fitting and high quality. But it was also expensive. The Model 1200 was intended to be less expensive to compete with the Remington 870. 
  • "Reloading 6mm ARC for Varmints"--Guns & Ammo. The author is using Hornady 75 GR. V-MAX bullets and, interestingly to me, using 31.5 grains of Hornady LeverEvolution powder. 
  • "Colt King Cobra Target .22 LR Review: 3-Inch Model Accuracy & Range Test"--Lucky Gunner. An excerpt:

    The .22 LR version of the Colt King Cobra came out in 2022. This is their one and only rimfire model, but they do offer it in five different barrel lengths. This one is the 3-inch model because, as we’ve already established in our last video, 3-inch revolvers are objectively the best. But if you’re one of the poor unenlightened souls who objected to that comment, you can also have it with a 2-inch, 4.25-inch, 6-inch, or even 8-inch barrel. That’s more barrel length options than any other .22 revolver on the market.

    This is a King Cobra which means it’s built on the beefier magnum version of the Cobra frame. And the “Target” designation means it has an adjustable rear sight and a fiber optic front sight. They’ve also given the .22 model the vent rib cutouts on the barrel, which you do not see on the .357 version. With that and the full underlug, it kind of looks like a junior Python.    

He thought it had the best trigger of any .22 revolver on the market and the accuracy was very good--at 25 yards his 5-shot groups averaged between 1.1 and 1.5 inches depending on the ammo used.  

    Placement determines how naturally and quickly you can access your magazines under stress. For right-handed shooters, your primary magazine pouch should be positioned on the support side furthest to your left, so your support hand can reach it without interfering with your firing grip or rifle position. From there, additional magazines are arranged sequentially toward the centerline. Number your magazines left to right, with Magazine 1 being your first reload source on the support side.

    If you are running both a plate carrier and a battle belt, exhaust your battle belt magazines first before transitioning to the plate carrier. This keeps your heavier, body-mounted load intact longer and reduces fatigue from upper-body weight early in an engagement. On the plate carrier itself, the sequencing reverses: from a battle-belt start, it works inward from the furthest point on the support side, toward the centerline.

    Consistent positioning also means your hands instinctively find the right pouch, even in low light or under cognitive load. A setup you can navigate without looking is one you can rely on in the field. If you are still dialing in your carrier fit before configuring pouches, start with our guide on how to wear a plate carrier. Correct plate height and cummerbund tension are the baseline; everything else is built around. According to U.S. Army doctrine on individual equipment, tactical performance under stress is directly tied to how well trained and predictable a soldier’s equipment layout is.

  • For my Idaho readers: "New law limits technology when it comes to hunting big game animals in Idaho"--KIVI News 6. Per the article, from August 30 to December 31 of each year, those hunting birds and big game (other than wolves and mountain lions) will be prohibited from using thermal imaging, night vision, drones, or transmitting trail cameras. However, there is, as always, a de facto exemption for farmers and ranchers as the law doesn't apply to monitoring livestock or private property. Per the article, the law also "eliminated the ban on using technology for retrieving game and monitoring traps". 
  • "Five Common Mistakes People Make When Checking for Ticks"--Life Hacker.  Tips on spotting and getting rid of ticks that you might pick up in the field or even in a park or your backyard. Probably the best advice is to simply take a shower within a short time of getting home--it allows you to more easily spot the ticks and may even wash off ones you miss. 
  • "Practical Prepping – Are You Focused on What’s Important?"--The Prepper Journal.  The author has some thoughts on keeping in mind the potential for having to bug out when prepping, including the following bit:

The decisions you make, on a day to day basis, have survival implications.  Perhaps you’ve opted for an under-the-sink water filter, instead of a filtered pitcher.  That’s great for now, but if you have to bug out, you won’t be taking your installed water filter with you.  If you stay in your home, but city water no longer flows, the installed water filter will be of no value to you.  That’s not to say you shouldn’t install a water filter, but if you have to choose between the two, a filtered pitcher is a better choice from a survival standpoint.

    Super glue is one of the greatest inventions. It will bond almost anything. Army Medics and Navy Corpsman were the first to ever use it in the field,  during the Vietnam War. They glued more patients back together than they sewed. Placing a standard interrupted suture for every stitch you make two new wounds – two new avenues of infection. Super glues eliminated that route of infection.

    You can use super glue when you have a cut. Deep or shallow, it doesn’t matter – you need to protect it from infection. Sealing the wound is your best bet. Why should you worry about a tiny cut? In the SHTF world, more people will die of infection than major trauma. Why? Because no matter how much people like me preach about diet and washing hands, its human nature to find 5000 more important things to do when you’re trying to survive.

The author goes on to provide directions (including photos) and recommendations as to what glue to use and which to avoid.

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Sunday, April 5, 2026

Gun & Prepping News #75

 Just some gun and prepping related links that I thought interesting or useful:

    A few days ago in New York City, a homeless man mugged a woman at a subway station. Hearing his threats and her screaming, a bystander came to her rescue. He pulled a handgun out, fired several warning shots (note: TTAG’s writers generally do NOT recommend firing warning shots), and frightened the homeless attacker away from his victim.

    What happened next was entirely predictable. The homeless man was charged with a crime, but so was the hero of the story. The charges agains [sic] the Good Samaritan? Criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment, criminal possession of a firearm, and menacing. 

And it wasn't just the prosecutor who was opposed to the general public carrying firearms. The woman that was rescued stated: "Yes, I do think he is a hero, but I don’t know, I would likely think him a bigger hero if he tried to help me without the gun. In my eyes, the gun is a little extreme." The author continues:

    Even in a pro-gun state, a person who’s carrying lawfully and uses force against a reasonable threat of death or serious bodily harm can still have their lives destroyed. All it take is one short-sighted (or politically ambitious) blue city prosecutor to put a good person through an arrest and criminal trial. That can mean losing their job, their home, and even if prison is avoided, facing years of ruinous civil lawsuits.

    With all of that in mind, you wonder why any good guys with guns decide to defend strangers. The stranger, even if they’re an ungrateful, anti-gun Karen, suffers no consequences in the aftermath, but the gun owner risks their freedom, their livelihood, and everything they own. That’s a pretty big ask. 

  • Related post:  "The Dangers of White Knighting." Something to read if you think it would have been better for the rescuer, in the story above, to try to resolve the situation without a firearm. 
  • I don't know where the Iran war will take us, but this article is probably worth revisiting: "Preparation for Future 'Days of Jihad'"--Active Response Training.  The article was in response to Hamas calling for a day of Jihad a few years ago, but the advice is still good should Iranian backed terrorists in the U.S. decide to take some action. Greg's belief at that time was that if anything happened, it would probably be more in the nature of lone-wolf attacks, probably with knives or firearms or vehicles. He recommended:
  1. Commit to being more aware in public locations and carrying your firearm wherever you are legally able to do so. 
  2. Understand what terrorist knife attacks look like and how to best counter them. 
  3. Understand how to identify and respond to terrorist vehicle run-down attacks.  
  4. Have a plan to defeat restraint and abduction attempts.
  5. Decide in advance how you will act if you are targeted by such a terrorist attack or you happen to observe an attack on others. 

He has links to multiple articles for each of the above points to educate you on the attacks and options for responding, so read the whole thing.  

The Marlin generally had a better reputation for accuracy than the Ruger 10/22, historically speaking, and if you just wanted a gun to hunt with and not a gun to tinker with, the Marlin was the ticket. Read Sam’s write-ups on the rifle here and here to get an idea of what made them popular, and how they were used, and how to keep them operating well today, years after they were made. Luke also had some thoughts on the Marlin Model 60, calling it one of the three most underrated rimfires you could buy.

And, discussing why it worked so well:

 For starters, the Model 60 was a good-looking rifle, with well-balanced visual lines and handling that matched. While detachable mags rule the market today, the Model 60’s tube magazine couldn’t be lost or forgotten, and it still held a lot of rounds. The sights were pretty good. The gun didn’t have a reputation for jamming, and you could get it cheap. ...    

I doubt that Ruger--which now owns the Marlin name--will bring back the Model 60, though, because it would undercut the sale of the 10/22.  

  • "Is There Such a Thing as Stopping Power?" by Craig Boddington, Rifle Shooter Magazine. The author discusses kinetic energy, momentum, and John Taylor's "Knockout Values", and the quest to find some numeric way of expressing the effectiveness of a particular cartridge. He discusses bullet shape, weight, shot placement, and all the other factors brought into play by hunters. But as to the question raised in the title:

 “100 grains in the right place are as good as ten million,” wrote WDM “Karamoja” Bell, in Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter (1923). Bell was an outspoken smallbore guy. He is credited with 1,011 elephants, almost all bulls. He didn’t kill them all with his .275 Rigby—also known as the 7x57—although that was his favorite. Prior to World War I he also used the 6.5x54 Mannlicher-Schoenauer, .303 British and .318 Westley Richards.

He remained a smallbore advocate, but in 1913 he ordered a pair of .416 Rigby rifles. He took one of them when he returned to Africa after World War I, along with a .400 Jeffery double. His bullet weights ranged from 160 grains in the 6.5x54 to 410 grains in the .416, and respective energies ranged from about 1,740 ft.-lbs. to 5,100.

In the same paragraph from his book I just referenced, he also wrote, “It seems to me that you cannot hope to kill an elephant weighing six tons by ‘shock’ unless you hit him with a field gun”—as in artillery.

But after his discussion of what drops an animal and various rules of thumb on energy and so forth, Boddington adds the following anecdote:

 One time, professional hunter Mike Payne, hunter Chad Allen and I crossed a dry sand river in the Zambezi Valley—with them and the tracker in front. Across the river there were three tall palm trees. As we approached, a lone buffalo bull rose from the shade, shook his head once, and launched into a full-out charge from 25 yards.

Our unarmed tracker dove out of the way, opening up a shot. Coolly and calmly, Payne said, “Chad, take him. Take him now,” as the buffalo closed on the pair. They were carrying .470 double rifles. Chad shot, Mike shot, then they both shot again, pairs of shots almost simultaneous. The first two turned the bull; the next two stopped him and dropped him.

Weighing maybe 1,500 pounds, that buffalo received 20,000 ft.-lbs. of energy in two seconds. All shots were chest/shoulder. Forward progress was arrested, and the buffalo was down eight yards in front of us. That’s “stopping power,” but it was the equivalent of Walter Bell’s field gun. That much energy cannot be harnessed in a single shot from a shoulder-fired rifle.

The Rifle Standard Gold or Mini-Navy Qual is a short, but demanding test of rifle control, reload discipline and marksmanship fundamentals under time constraints. It’s a modification to the highly popular Modified Navy Qual shot at 50 yards. This version pushes shooters to balance accuracy with pace, rewarding smooth mechanics over rushed reactions at closer ranges. Every action—from mounting the rifle to breaking the final shot—matters. 

Like most concealed carriers, I moved away from strong-side carry and embraced appendix carry as that came into vogue. But after several years of carrying appendix, I found myself spending my days almost entirely at a desk. The life of an office-dweller is short on hazards, but discomfort from a gun worn on the front of the waistband while sitting down is one of them. This took me back to strong-side carry.

And that has brought him full circle back to an IWB hybrid holster. He reviews a particular model offered by Falco, but has some pointers on what to look for in a quality hybrid holster. I haven't actually ever used a hybrid--I guess I saw too many articles discussing out the backing can fail--but I have ordered one and hope to put it to the test soon.

    The uncomfortable truth is impossible to ignore. Talk to the best shooters in the world—Grand Masters, national champions, professional instructors—and you will hear the same story: the majority of their skill development did not happen on the range with ammunition. It happened in living rooms, garages, basements and hotel rooms. 

 [snip]

    The reason elite shooters rely so heavily on dry fire has nothing to do with how good it feels. It has everything to do with developing efficiency and control. Dry fire builds skill. Live fire tests that skill.

  • "Spur Of The Moment" by Dave Workman, Guns Magazine. Workman discusses the hammer spur on revolvers, including some reasons you want them: for learning to shoot revolvers; and better accuracy for longer range targets. In fact, he notes, Elmer Keith recommended cocking the hammer and shooting single-action even in law enforcement situations when engaging more distant targets. 
  • "Best 5.56 Suppressor: What to Buy and Why"--The Firearm Blog. Some recommendations on suppressors for 5.56 rifles for different features and barrel lengths.  I will note that except for the budget option, the ones listed probably cost as much or more than your rifle. 
  • "Things That Don’t Suck: Otis Pro+ AR-15 Lock Block Upper Receiver Vise Block"--The Truth About Guns. It fits into the barrel extension instead of over the aluminum upper receiver--supposed to be more secure and prevent marring of the receiver's finish. 
  • "5 Ways to Level a Riflescope"--Rifle Shooter Magazine.  Tips and a brief review/explanation of some tools to use. 
  • "Casting Hollow-Point Slugs with MP Molds"--Guns Magazine. Someday I'm going to try casting my own bullets. 
  • "Troubled Times" (Part 1) (Part 2) by Sheriff Jim Wilson, Shooting Illustrated. These articles are from a few years back, but have some good advice for dealing with trouble. Part 1 has some random tips for organizing and staying out of trouble. For instance, this bit of advice from Part 1:

Finally, I would not go out with a thought to helping law enforcement unless law enforcement specifically asked me to. It is simply too easy to become part of the problem instead of the solution. Often times, the best help that we can give law enforcement is to just be a good witness or simply stay out of their way. It is far easier to tell the good guys from the bad guys when the good guys just aren’t there.     

Part II has some thoughts for preps beyond just guns and ammo.  

Generator maintenance at a minimum, involves simply running your generator from time to time. Why?

  •     To keep its internal parts lubricated with oil
  •     Charge the battery (if it has a battery)
  •     To be sure the carburetor isn’t gummed up
  •     Put it under load to verify output
  •     To make sure that the generator actually works (before you ever need it for an emergency)

He recommends running your generator for about 20 minutes every three months, but at a minimum at least twice per year. He has other tips so be sure to reach the whole thing.

  • "How Much Pool Shock to Make Household Bleach Strength?"--Modern Survival Blog. The author points out that "[h]ousehold bleach is usually 5% to 9% sodium hypochlorite, while pool shock is calcium hypochlorite. But as a practical preparedness method, this gives you a bleach-strength chlorine solution that can serve as a practical bleach-strength substitute for preparedness use when needed." The mixture to use with ~ 68% to 70% calcium hypochlorite is:
  •  Small batch: 3 level teaspoons in 1-1/2 cups of water
  • 1 gallon batch: 11 tablespoons per gallon of water

The author has a lot more about pool shock, including storage, how he calculated the recipes, the particular type of pool shock to use, and so on, so be sure to check out the full article if this is something that interests you.

  • "Emergency Rations Test #1: The Survival Tabs"--Blue Collar Prepping. The author notes that The Survival Tabs (TST) were originally developed for NASA; contain 100% of the recommended daily allowance of 15 vitamins and minerals, with an emphasis on the B vitamins; and have a shelf-life of 25 years. Amazon sells them in various quantities. Looking at the quantities and the number of days they are supposed to provide, it appears that you would need to eat 12 tabs per day. The article mentions that "[t]he instructions were to 'eat' one tab every hour for 12 hours to get what you need for a day." It looks like they are available in a few different flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, but the article also mentions a butterscotch flavor. Here is the important part:

As you can see, a day's worth of TST (12 tabs) only provides 240 calories. That's great if you're trying to lose weight, but nowhere near enough to sustain an active adult. They claim a person could live for a month or more on nothing but their tabs... which isn't saying a whole lot, since you can survive about three weeks without any food at all. This was the first indication that these were a poor choice. 

The author also notes that these are "milk solids" that generally overwhelm the flavor (he said the strawberry was the only flavor he could taste) and stick to dental work and leave a residue in the mouth that must be at least followed by water to wash down. The author concludes that "for the everyday prepper they're almost worthless," and recommends a good quality multivitamin if you are worried about vitamins. I would see them as something to throw in a "get home" bag or a bug-out bag where you would be relying them for a few days. They would probably be useful for a fall out shelter for the two-weeks you have to stay inside as you wouldn't need to be moving around much and would want to minimize dealing with solid wastes--exactly the same reasons NASA sought them for use with the space program. 

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Thursday, October 16, 2025

Gun & Prepping News #51

Just some gun and prepping related links that I thought interesting or useful:   

     And after three decades of studying how violence really works . . .  After training both the heroes and witnessing the methods of monsters . . .  I've learned something that will disturb you.  The "bad guys" are better at violence than the "good guys."  Not because they're stronger.  Not because they're smarter.  But because they understand something our heroes have forgotten.  Violence isn't about technique.  It's not about style.  It's not about fighting "fair".  Violence is a tool.  And like any tool, it works best when you understand its true purpose.  A hammer isn't designed to be pretty.  It's designed to drive nails.  Violence isn't designed to be civilized.  It's designed to end threats.   

Old cops give young cops a warning: “Every time you’re in a fight, there’s a loaded gun present. Yours.”

He then goes on to describe some items that can help in a fight over the gun: a manual safety (the person grabbing your weapon may not know its there or how to disengage it), using a retention holster, and learning retention skills. As for retention holsters, Ayoob recommends the Rogers/Safariland SS-III/070 holster.

  • "SPAS-12 History Value: Legacy and Rising Price"--The Truth About Guns.  This was an Italian shotgun developed for military or police which claim to fame was that it was a semi-auto that could also be operated like a pump-action. Cool idea, but it made it complicated and heavy. And it probably would have faded into obscurity except that it had a certain chic aura about it, reinforced by its popularity in movies, video games and with military contractors. The article delves into the weapon and it being banned from import after the Assault Weapon Ban went into effect, its impact on popular culture, and current values with the author noting that "[a]s of 2025, the SPAS-12 remains one of the hottest collectibles in the firearms market, with some pristine examples exceeding $10,000 at auction."
  • "Which Doesn’t Belong and Why"--Tactical Wire. One of the main reasons cited for using factory ammunition over handloads is reliability, which itself is a product of the quality control undertaken by the manufacturer. But that doesn't guarantee that bad rounds (or even whole batches) don't get through. The author goes through some of the things he has seen with factory ammo including bullets seated too deeply or even backwards, cases that had no flash hole, bullets seated out of alignment mangling both the bullet and the case, and more. The author suggests:

    The point is, before you load up – particularly if it’s duty/carry ammo – visually inspect each round. A smart move is to remove the barrel from the pistol the ammo’s meant for (or the revolver’s cylinder) and drop each round into the chamber.  

    This checks easy fit. Upend the barrel/cylinder; does the round fall out? That’s also a good sign.

    If the rounds are loaded in those factory boxes with individual round trays, take that opportunity to check the case heads for dings, deformation – and check the primers to ensure they’re seated in the proper orientation and seated just below flush. 

I wanted to take the class because I am a firm believer in carrying what I call ‘Intermediate Force Options.’ Pepper spray is one of those weapons that give us a response to predatory behavior not requiring deadly force. As I state in all my classes “Lacking an intermediate force option while you are armed with a firearm implies that all you are willing to do to protect yourself is kill someone.” That’s not a position most reasonable people would be comfortable in taking, given a little bit of thought. 

  • Another article for the hunters: "The Gutless vs. Gutting Method for Field Dressing a Deer"--Montana Knife Company. This is not so much a "how-to" article as a "pros versus cons". I hadn't heard of the gutless method, but the author briefly explains: "The gutless method is a way of breaking down an animal without removing the guts from the body cavity." The author isn't favorably disposed toward the gutless method, but admits it has its uses with large animals, giving an example of a moose that was so large he and his hunting buddy were not initially able to flip the animal over and so had to resort to the gutless method. 
  • "Your smartphone apps are tracking you"--Behind the Black. We've probably all had the experience of talking about some product or issue with someone, only to suddenly have advertisements start popping up about that very thing. But this goes a bit beyond that. From the article:
Researchers have now found that though there is no evidence that big software companies like Facebook and Google are tracking your smartphone conversations, the data instead shows that the many apps you routinely install on your phone are spying on you quite extensively by periodically taking screenshots of things you look at and sending those images to third parties. 

The article the author cites notes: "Out of over 17,000 Android apps examined, more than 9,000 had potential permissions to take screenshots," and a number of those were caught doing exactly that.

A rarely observed solar pattern—known as the Centennial Gleissberg Cycle (CGC)—may have just “restarted,” according to scientists monitoring long-term solar trends. If confirmed, this transition could mark the beginning of decades of intensified solar activity, with potentially serious implications for satellites, astronauts, and space-based infrastructure on Earth.

    Fire plays a crucial role in meeting survival needs. Without it, nights turn freezing, food stays raw, and drinking water remains unsafe. However, a fire kit isn’t always as simple as striking a match to make a crackling flame appear. To make sure you’re ready to build a fire whenever it’s needed, having a fire-starting kit is a smart move.

    But what’s a fire-starting kit? It’s a compact, waterproof set of essentials designed to work in any weather. It should include at least three ignition tools, weatherproof tinder, and extra survival tools. This guide shows you how to build a fire-starting kit that won’t likely fail when you need it most.
 
The rest of the article goes into detail on assembling a kit, other tools that will be useful, and building a fire.
  • "A Simplified Disaster Network" (Part 1) (Part 2)--Survival Blog. The author explains:

Having an operational computer network running in a post-SHTF world may seem frivolous to some people. But if you have any plans to use computers, tablets, or cell phones as part of your post-disaster operations, it can provide the capability for those devices to communicate, share data and synchronize their activities. It can also provide some support for important things like WiFi security cameras and WiFi sensor monitoring.

The author had previously authored a series of articles on how to set up a mobile WiFi/Ethernet network. But he had some people complain it was too complicated and whether there was a simpler alternative. These two articles offer that simpler alternative. The first article goes over hardware and configuration. The second article goes over synchronizing files and "packaging" of all of the equipment to make it portable, along with some odds and ends.

  • "Getting Home by Rail"--Blue Collar Prepping. An article about using rail lines (both active and abandoned) to either bug out or to get home in the midst of a disaster, including links to maps showing them. He also goes over the pros and cons of walking the rails. 
  • "Working My Way Up — Part 1: Living In A Storage Shed"--Self-Reliance. The author found herself in dire financial straits with nothing to her name but a small rural plot, a camper in which to live, and a small storage shed. With winter coming on and the camper being inadequate for the winter, she made the storage shed her living space. She describes what she did to make the shed more livable. 
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Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Review of a Couple of Small Radios For Preppers

 The first video reviews a sub-$100 radio that might be useful for a prepper: the Radtel RT-950. One of the more interesting features is that the radio can as act a cross-band repeater. The second video discusses the difference between the basic RT-950 reviewed in the first video against a slightly more expense "Pro" model. The only real differences between the two is that the "Pro" version can transmit on the CB bands while the basic version can only receive CB frequencies; and the "Pro" can also receive upper and lower side bands. But for a $12 difference, it is probably worth getting the "Pro" version. 

 VIDEO: "I Review The Radtel RT-950 Ham Radio for SHTF & Emergency Comms"
NotaRubicon Productions (16 min.)

 

 VIDEO: "Radtel RT-950 PRO vs RT-950 Unlocked Ham Radios For SHTF"
NotaRubicon Productions (8 min.)

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Monday, July 28, 2025

Science #6

 

Source

Some more "sciency" articles that have caught my attention:

    A recent article from Watts Up With That highlights recent climate developments in Antarctica, emphasizing that the continent has seen more snowfall and experienced record low temperatures in late winter 2023, particularly in July and August. These extreme cold events were widespread, affecting both East and West Antarctica, including the Ross Ice Shelf and the Antarctic Peninsula.

* * *

[Update: the black sarcophagi portion, below, appears to be fake news from a site in Azerbaijan]  

    Meanwhile, recent reports describe the discovery of four mysterious black sarcophagi beneath Antarctica’s. These artifacts, unearthed by an international team of scientists from the United States, Russia, China, and India, have sparked widespread intrigue and speculation due to their unknown origins and design.

    According to Baku.ws, the discovery of the black sarcophagi is unlike any other found in Antarctica. These objects were not just typical archaeological artifacts; they appeared to have an advanced design, one that did not fit with any known human history. Upon opening one of the sarcophagi, the scientists encountered an even more puzzling find. Inside was a hot metallic cylinder, etched with thin, mysterious lines. The object’s temperature and peculiar markings only added to the air of mystery surrounding the sarcophagi.

    With the cylinder inside the sarcophagus seemingly capable of holding immense energy or power, the team of researchers made the decision to leave the sarcophagi undisturbed. They carefully returned the objects to their original location, citing safety concerns and an inability to fully comprehend the nature of the find. Yet, the unanswered questions surrounding the discovery continue to puzzle scientists worldwide. 

* * *

    Meanwhile, scientists have recently detected unusual radio signals originating from beneath the Antarctic ice. These signals were picked up by the Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment, a NASA-funded project that uses balloon-borne instruments to detect radio waves from cosmic rays interacting with the Earth’s atmosphere. 

    Further analysis indicates the second star is six magnitudes fainter than Betelgeuse with a mass about 1.5 times that of the sun. It also is likely an A- or B-type pre-main-sequence star, meaning it is a young, hot blue-white star that isn’t yet burning hydrogen in its core.

    Betelgeuse and its companion star were likely born at the same time, but their relationship won’t end well. According to the study’s authors, tidal forces will eventually cause the latter object to spiral into its partner, initiating an end to both of them. That said, astronomers estimate the pair’s finale will take place sometime within the next 10,000 years.

    But before that, researchers hope to study the two stars even more. Their next chance will begin in November 2027, when the stellar companion’s orbit places it at its furthest distance from Betelgeuse. 

    Lindzen and Happer use physics to demonstrate that CO2’s warming effect is limited by its logarithmic absorption of infrared radiation. The warming effect of each molecule of CO2 decreases as its concentration increases. They estimate low climate sensitivity (~0.5–1.5°C per CO2 doubling), which is far below the IPCC’s range of 2.5–4°C.

    They contend that Hurricanes, droughts, and floods exhibit no apparent increase in frequency driven by CO2, with natural variability dominating (e.g., NOAA’s stable hurricane frequency since 1980). They demonstrate that higher CO2 levels enhance photosynthesis, resulting in a 14% global greening trend (NASA, 1982–2015) and a 20% increase in crop yields (FAO, 2000–2020).

    They then emphasize that phasing out fossil fuels, which supply 80% of global energy (IEA, 2023), will raise costs and harm developing nations, with minimal climate benefit. Their physics-based approach challenges high-sensitivity climate models, which have overestimated warming in periods such as 1998–2014. They also align with skepticism of alarmist policies, like EPA regulations, which they’ve called a “hoax” in prior work.

Draw a circle with a 2,485-mile radius around the southern Chinese city of Yuxi. British geographer Alasdair Rae did just that — and inside it resides 55% of the world’s population: some 4.3 billion people crammed into just 7% of Earth’s surface. The region includes China, India, much of Southeast Asia, and parts of Pakistan. Some of it — like the Tibetan Plateau and the Taklamakan Desert — is barren. But the rest is packed with cities, factories, and the aspirations of hundreds of millions clawing their way toward modern life. 

    Imagine if nearly a third of your DNA was composed of ancient viral remnants—genetic hitchhikers from infections that occurred millions of years ago. 

    Now imagine that these viral fragments aren’t just dead weight, but have quietly evolved to help control the way your genes work, potentially shaping what it means to be human.

    That’s the startling insight behind a new study led by researchers at Kyoto University’s Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Biology (ASHBi) and McGill University. 

    Studies indicate that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tend to have lower levels of vitamin D compared to their peers — the so-called “sunshine vitamin” is crucial for fetal brain development.

    Unfortunately, research exploring the effects of traditional vitamin D supplementation on autism symptoms has produced mixed results.

    Now, a new study out of Egypt suggests that a form of vitamin D3 known as nanoemulsion shows promise in improving symptoms. 

In a deeply troubling development, Israeli military scientists have genetically modified one of the deadliest bioweapons known to man—Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes pneumonic plague—and then used its altered genetic material to engineer a new mRNA vaccine that programs human cells to manufacture plague proteins tied to virulence and immune system evasion. 

I wonder if this was at the bioweapon facility targeted by Iran. 

    In the 30 years that biomedical researchers have worked determinedly to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, their counterparts have developed drugs that helped cut deaths from cardiovascular disease by more than half, and cancer drugs able to eliminate tumors that had been incurable. But for Alzheimer’s, not only is there no cure, there is not even a disease-slowing treatment.

    The brain, Alzheimer’s researchers patiently explain, is hard — harder than the heart, harder even than cancer. While that may be true, it is increasingly apparent that there is another, more disturbing reason for the tragic lack of progress: The most influential researchers have long believed so dogmatically in one theory of Alzheimer’s that they systematically thwarted alternative approaches. Several scientists described those who controlled the Alzheimer’s agenda as “a cabal.”  

A small group of researchers controlling what is published--and, hence, what is funded--is probably a problem in many other fields. String theory, anyone? But there is hope: "Breakthrough as two FDA-approved drugs are found to reverse Alzheimer’s — including restoring memory"--New York Post. Using a theory that Alzheimer's interferes with gene expression, the researchers first looked for drugs that would reverse that gene expression and focused on two candidates: letrozole and irinotecan, both currently used as cancer treatments. Initial tests on mice showed the drugs could restore memory and learning in mice showing severe symptoms. The article also mentions a few other drugs that have shown promise in treating Alzheimer's.

    For years, researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee have carefully managed leftover materials like Uranium-233. 

    This highly radioactive isotope has been stockpiled since the 1940s, when it was used in the Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bombs. 

     During the disposal process, scientists discovered they could extract an extremely rare byproduct of aging uranium, called Thorium-229.

* * *

    As Thorium-229 breaks down, it produces Actinium-225 (Ac-225), an isotope that can destroy tumors without harming surrounding healthy tissue. 

    In April, researchers in China created a controlled field to detonate a hydrogen explosive bomb that produced devastating results but without nuclear materials. Created by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation’s (CSSC) 705 Research Institute, the device is 2kg (4.4 lbs) and has a firing temperature of 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit) for a total of two seconds. By comparison, this bomb’s short duration is 15 times longer than any TNT blast, while including no atomic components. 

    Instead, the new device uses a magnesium hydride compound. Magnesium hydride can uniquely store hydrogen in amounts exceeding a pressurized tank’s. This silvery powder was initially designed to deliver hydrogen to off-grid locations, where it could be used to power fuel cells for clean energy and heating.

    CSSC research scientist Wang Xuefeng, the study lead, says, “Hydrogen gas explosions ignite with minimal ignition energy, have a broad explosion range, and unleash flames that race outward rapidly while spreading widely.”  

    Now, though, a couple of developments could finally push high-temperature superconductors into commercial use. One is the availability, at relatively moderate cost, of copper-oxide-based superconducting tape, which is being produced by a few companies for startups working on tokamak fusion reactors. The reactors use the superconducting tape, which is typically made of yttrium barium copper oxide, in powerful electromagnets. The other development involves a different group of startups that are using the tape to build electric motors with very high power-to-weight ratios, mainly for use in electric aircraft.

    Among that latter group of startups is Hinetics, formed in 2017 to commercialize research led by Kiruba Haran at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. This past April, the company tested a prototype motor outfitted with superconducting rotor magnets. According to Haran, the tests, which included spinning a propeller in a laboratory setup, validated key components of the company’s designs for superconducting motors that will operate at power levels of 5 and 10 megawatts. Such levels would be high enough to power a regional passenger airliner with multiple motors. The work was funded in part by a grant from the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E). 

    Gone are the days when drone warfare meant operations conducted from sprawling airfields in friendly territory or military bases thousands of miles away. Recent events show that the cutting edge of unmanned combat lies in the ability to build, deploy, and launch drones from inside enemy lines—or close enough to bypass early warning systems entirely. This adaptability in modern warfare is a testament to the evolving nature of military tactics.

    Covert drone operations now blur traditional lines of engagement. With new platforms hiding in forests, under civilian infrastructure, or even inside standard shipping containers, military planners are now facing a profound challenge: How do you defend against an attack that appears to come from your own backyard? 

    Anthropic said its latest artificial intelligence model resorted to blackmail when told it would be taken offline.

    In a safety test, the AI company asked Claude Opus 4 to act as an assistant to a fictional company, but then gave it access to (also fictional) emails saying that it would be replaced, and also that the engineer behind the decision was cheating on his wife. Anthropic said the model “[threatened] to reveal the affair” if the replacement went ahead.  

    Those who prepared her body carefully arranged the severed pieces to appear almost intact, placing the hand beside the forearm. 

    Archaeologists said that it seemed the goal was to make the cut-off right arm match the unusual position of her left arm, which was bent sharply, more than a right angle, and tucked in very tightly. 

    The girl's body was also carefully aligned with the setting sun on the winter solstice, and her coffin pointed toward the rising of Sirius, the brightest star in the sky.

    Experts suggest her burial may be the earliest sign of the Osiris and Isis myth, in which the goddess Isis reassembles the dismembered body of Osiris beneath the rising Sirius, symbolizing death, rebirth, and cosmic order. 

    Archaeologists have discovered a 2,500-year-old tomb in Turkey that is potentially connected to King Midas — and contains rare artifacts and cremated remains of a high-ranking individual.

    “Based on these artifacts, we estimate that the person in the tomb chamber may be a member of the royal family associated with Gordion and Midas,”  Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, the Turkish minister of culture and tourism, announced at a news conference earlier this month, Live Science reported. 

 Now, a team of Turkish researchers have uncovered dozens of clay and smoothed river rock sling stones, unearthed just outside what would have been the palace walls, along with arrowheads, charred buildings, and hastily buried human skeletons.

Together, experts say, the clues paint a chilling picture of close-range fighting and a sudden, catastrophic fall, just as the ancient Greeks described.

'This concentration of sling stones in such a small area suggests intense fighting, either a desperate defense or a full-scale assault,' said Professor Rustem Aslan of Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, who is leading the excavation.

  •  "The Clever Folds That Kept Letters Secret"--BBC Future (via Get Pocket). Discussing "letter locking": "the technique became common throughout Europe during the Late Middle Ages (1250-1500) and Early Modern periods (1500-1815). By folding and cutting letters in various clever patterns, people attempted to hide their correspondence from unwanted readers, and the 'locks' came in myriad types." It couldn't keep someone from reading the letter, but let you know if someone had opened the letter to read it.
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