March 29, 2024

This weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.

26 States, and counting: Another Red State Passes Constitutional Carry Bill.

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AI-generated spam may soon be flooding your inbox—and it will be personalized to be especially persuasive.

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Reader A.P. sent this in respoinse to my recent posts on crime rate maps:

“An interesting factoid: In Canada there is a medium sized town in Ontario. Smiths Falls. It used to be a railroad hub with both national carriers passing through. It is located at the edge of the Canadian shield and the glacial till land. Some decent farms but a lot of hard scrabble land around it. So not particularly prosperous and very rough citizens. A population of around 9,000 people. For years it was the murder capital of Canada on a per capita basis.”

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And reader M.P. had these comments:

“The article on mapping US gun ownership does, indeed, show some surprises. Living in NH, I was amazed at how low the rates of gun ownership are here, though I suspect the heavily left-leaning and densely populated southeast corner of the state skews things.

It would be very interesting to see this data mapped against the rate of crimes committed with guns by state. Even more so if we could see that data by county. I suspect there is a strong inverse correlation between gun ownership rate and ‘gun crime’ (though I despise that term). I have only ever seen the comparison of such crime rates and anti-gun laws.”

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In The WSJ: The iPhone Setting Thieves Use to Lock You Out of Your Apple Account.

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Reader J.R.G. had this response to a recent knife review:

“I wanted to commend Mr. Christianson on his review of the TOPS 4.0 Folding knife in April 24 issue.  I agree with his assertion that a multitool often has more day-to-day use than a knife.  Modern life has many more fasteners than it had in yesteryear.  My most often used tool is the keychain SAK – a blade and scissors in the office environment is often called for.

I own a very similar TOPS fixed blade MSK2.5 U-942 knife which I find very satisfactory as a minimal bulk kit knife.  About 7 5/8” in overall length.   TOPS certainly has some innovative ideas.”

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The next stage of the war in Ukraine: Analyzing Kyiv’s strategy — DW News.

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A myth no more: Cranberry products can prevent urinary tract infections for women.

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Justin Ervin & Matthew Hoover (CRS Firearms) Found Guilty in Autokey Card Case JWR’s Comments:  To see these men convicted of selling an etching of a machinegun part on a piece of sheet metal is a travesty of justice!  And note that at the trial the ATF did not prove that IF it were cut out and bent into shape, and IF it were installed in AR-15, this quasi-Lightning Link device would do anything more than just cause unreliable “hammer following.” But that same “hammer following” effect can be created simply by altering or replacing the sear spring in any standard semi-auto AR-15 or M4. (For example, substituting a much lighter-tension spring–such as a spring from a retractable ballpoint pen.) But such modifications do NOT produce reliable full-auto fire — just hammer-following mechanical malfunctions.

A follow-up: I found this comment posted on Reddit:

“[Matthew Hoover] reached out to the ATF prior to advertising these on his YouTube channel. The ATF themselves stated there was not a problem. He had it in writing.”

And here is Johnny B.’s commentary on the case: CRS FIREARMS CONVICTED – FACING 45 YEARS.

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Here is a good instructional video: Baofeng UV-5R For Beginners – Quick Start Guide & UV5R Basics: Buttons, Menus, & Saving A Channel.

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Reader K.A. set this snippet about his now vastly-reduced cattle herd:

“Well, the last calf has hit the ground: ten cows produced ten calves. We lost one bull calf. It was killed by an older cow that was feeding and the calf mistook it for mom. This doesn’t happen very often. Three calves have already been shipped, so there are now six left. I will probably ship those in July. It has been colder than normal, slowing grass. Therefore we are still feeding hay — the latest ever. I love working with the cows but more and more think about life without them. My wife’s cancer is taking time from things needed for the cows. I don’t like doing things halfway. It is hard to sort out — it is the cowboy way. It has been a long day of cows and chemo.”

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How Americans Used to Eat.

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Rob W. had this comment:

“That was an excellent article on building a 10/22. Just a quick FYI: Besides free floating the barrel the single best [accuracy] upgrade is to install a Little Crow Gunworks recoil lug. These are $40 and easy to install. They are also available from MidwayUSA.”

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Frequent link contributor C.B. suggested this, from Emergency Essentials: Rescue Opened #10 Cans with This Simple Trick – Be Prepared.

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Mrs. Alaska sent in this query:

“I would like to hear how others have trained their dogs to not bother their chickens.

My chocolate lab, adopted last summer, loves to chase flying and swimming birds.  I kept my hens penned last summer until I could train him.  I want them to free-range this summer.  I have taken him to their run every day so everyone could sniff and see each other, and kept him on a leash to encourage the poultry to venture forth, but he lunged toward them, from a distance, which scared them back to the run.  Suggestions welcome.”

Sign of the times? Squatters fling feces, brick at homeowner, cause $38K in property damage; claim they were the victims. (A hat tip to reader D.S.V. for the link.)

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And, lastly, SurvivalBlog reader J.W. offered this on an expedient laundry method:

“A simple method for washing clothes is to do it grape stomping style in the bathtub. Put the clothes in the tub, add water and whatever cleansers/soap you want to use, climb into the tub, and start stomping. Rinse and repeat. If you have the room, set up a roller wringer that will dump the water back into the tub to drain.

This uses the whole weight of your body, in conjunction with lower body muscles, which are much larger and stronger than upper body muscles, especially for women. Even fairly young children can “do the wash” this way when they would not be nearly strong enough to wash heavy clothing by hand. And if you aren’t so young any more, washing jeans by hand can be impossible.

Do install a sturdy grab bar or two if possible, as stomping on things that are slippery with soap can lead to a fall.

Bathtubs are perfect for this, as they already have water piped in, and a drain, but other big tubs can be used if needed. You can get a used one cheap if you want to do this outdoors. Avoid acrylic tubs if you can, as sooner or later they will crack. Enameled cast iron will easily last a century and more.

For a touch of fun, add some good dancing music.”

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