I've come across several very interesting stories and reports over the past week or two, but haven't had time or space to give each one the attention it deserves. In this blog post, I'll list them all, and provide a brief synopsis. I highly recommend clicking over to the ones that interest you and reading them in full.
1. Tragedy in the Maldives.
DiveMedic offers several blog posts that analyze the deaths of several divers in a deep-sea cave in the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean. He's a very highly qualified and experienced diver himself, so his words carry a great deal of weight. Follow each link to his reports, in chronological order:
2. Credit card fraud at the gas pump.
Wall Street Apes warns us that by physically blocking the pump from shutting off after you pump gas, thieves can go to the pump after you drive away and pump gas for themselves on your account. Their report includes a video clip illustrating how it's done.
3. Shortage of lube oil?
Tamara at View From The Porch notes that lubrication oils are likely to become a lot less readily available following the Iran war. She reproduces a warning letter from AutoZone to its managers outlining what they can expect and how the company will try to deal with it. Very important reading, IMHO.
4. Our medicine supply is a national security issue.
RealClearWire warns that our top-heavy reliance on China for almost all our critical medications and/or the raw materials that go into them has become a genuine national security issue. It notes that "More than 131 million people—nearly two-thirds of all U.S. adults—use prescription medications."
I've written about this issue before. If you rely on prescription medications, I highly recommend that you build up a stockpile of at least six months' worth of each of them - if possible, a full year of each. If their local doctor and/or pharmacy won't help with that, many Americans buy them from pharmacies outside our borders. That's technically illegal, of course, and therefore I can't legally advise you to do it: but what alternatives are there? Some drive across the Mexican border, where pharmacies will help without turning a hair. Some who can't do that use mail-order pharmacies in countries like India. There are several of them. Whatever you do, don't just sit back and say "Oh, well, there's nothing I can do about it." That won't help keep you alive if the crunch comes. All it will take is a Chinese bureaucratic edict blocking all medicine-related exports to the USA, and we'll be in a world of hurt within weeks.
5. Lessons learned from Argentina's collapse.
The author warns that "many American preppers prepare for the wrong kind of collapse". He describes how, when Argentina's economy blew up, the result was that "Society did not disappear. It simply became dangerous, unstable, and deeply unpredictable". He offers practical suggestions to deal with increased crime and violence, and points out that reliance on weapons and ammunition is less important than more mundane factors.
6. Military snipers are being put out of a job by drones.
An interesting assessment of how military snipers are being displaced in importance by drone warfare. Snipers are becoming assistants to the drone operators, finding them targets, helping them focus on them, and supporting them as the higher-technology drone delivers far more damage, far more accurately than a bullet could. Future battlefields may see far fewer snipers than in the past.
7. But is it art?
To be read with tongue firmly in cheek:
Museum officials at the Louvre announced Friday that a portable latrine recovered from a forward operating base outside Fallujah, Iraq, has been placed on permanent display in the antiquities wing alongside works by da Vinci and Delacroix, with curators citing the interior wall art as some of the most raw and unfiltered human expression documented in the post-9/11 era.
The piece, a standard-issue plastic latrine manufactured in 2002 and last serviced at no documented point in its operational life, contains on its interior walls an estimated 340 individual works including pencil drawings, marker illustrations, carved inscriptions, and what the Louvre’s authentication team described in their formal report as a surprisingly consistent motif repeated across all four walls, the door, and part of the ceiling.
. . .
The Louvre’s acquisition statement, released Thursday, describes the wall art as an anonymous folk tradition rooted in the vernacular of the American enlisted experience, comparing the recurring phallic imagery to fertility symbols found in Paleolithic cave systems and noting that the sheer volume and anatomical commitment of the work suggests multiple contributing artists across a sustained period of time.
“These are not casual marks,” the statement reads. “These are declarations.”
The rest is just as funny. Enjoy!
That's all for today. I hope you enjoyed the variety. If you did, let me know, and I'll probably try to do more such omnibus posts in future.
Peter
1 comment:
Uhh.... #2 is just one of the things that don't happen to those who push "Print a receipt".
Post a Comment