We’ve had our eye on a brand new, previously-unknown-to-medicine respiratory virus since we put it in our news roundup on Monday. The situation has evolved quite a bit since then, so here are the latest developments: The disease, a coronavirus that is spread through the air, is being called Wuhan Pneumonia, after the area of
If you want to see first-hand how America could conceivably slip back into the kind of political violence we saw in the 1970’s, then you should take a look at what’s currently unfolding in Virginia. It’s one of the best case studies in recent years of how social-media-fueled rumors, changing demographics, the growing urban/rural divide,
This recent BBC feature on “black sky events” — a total grid-down in a large area, like a city or even a country — is worth reading in full if you want to better understand what living through a large-scale blackout looks like. While the term “black sky” events illustrates perhaps the most visible impact
Of all the carbon sequestration technologies available to us for taking greenhouse gasses back out of the atmosphere, the best by a mile are trees. Forests are nature’s carbon sinks, and instead of trying to improve on them with something man-made, savvy inventors have turned their technological know-how to cooking up new ways to reforest
“In the near future — and sooner than most anticipate — there will be a significant reallocation of capital.” Thus writes Larry Fink, the head of New York-based Black Rock — the world’s largest asset manager, with $6.96 trillion in assets under management — in his annual letters to CEOs and shareholders. Fink says the
One of the first real-world lessons I learned in preparedness came from volunteering in shelters after Hurricane Katrina: smaller gear is generally better because it’s important to think about concealment. So when I started seriously prepping back in 2008, I started with the small stuff, first — stuff I could conceal on my body in
I grew up in southwest Louisiana, so I’m well acquainted with the insect the CDC calls “the world’s deadliest animal”: the tiny mosquito. And then are all the ticks and chiggers — with all the camping and hunting I did, I spent much of my youth covered in bug bites. All of this was in
Keep your go-bag packed and ready, even if you’re already bugged out A man was trapped alone in the snowy Alaskan wilderness [PDF] for more than 20 days after his remote cabin burned down, and he had to drink his own… Ok, he didn’t have to do that, but he did have to make a
If you read our review of airguns for prepping, then you already know all the reasons why an air rifle is an amazing prep — not just as a firearm alternative (though it can work in that role), but as a weapon in its own right. With the right big-bore air rifle, you can get
Sometimes you get your hands on a piece of gear so unusual that you’re not quite sure where it belongs in your kit. This is definitely the case with the Spyderco Genzow HatchetHawk, a three-way collaboration between Spyderco, German outdoor personality Martin Genzow, and legendary American axe-maker Council Tool. The HatchetHawk is supposed to be
Now that the US vs. Iran confrontation has entered a dangerous new phase with last night’s killing of top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, I am seeing a lot of worry on Facebook and in private forums about the possibility of imminent Iranian cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, transportation, and the like. This breathless Business Insider
Everywhere in my news and social feeds right now, the world is on fire. Last summer, it was California, and now it’s Australia. People are fleeing fires and choking on smoke across the developed world, and no matter where you live you watch and wonder if the fires will at some point come your way.
This morning my feed was filled with Aussie wildfire stories, where the smoke from the ongoing bush fires is so thick that it’s very much a scene from a dystopian movie. The Guardian describes a haze over Sydney that’s 11 times the threshold for “hazardous,” as “buildings were evacuated regularly as fire alarms were triggered
Skepticism about “smart home” tech is widespread in prepping circles, and often rationally so — we get that the idea of turning your home into a digital Panopticon full of cameras, microphones, and other sensors connected to distant, faceless, and often untrustworthy corporations (and maybe even governments) creeps some people out. But we believe there
Netflix’s new 40-minute documentary, Fire in Paradise, gives an inside look at the experiences of residents and first responders who lived through the notorious 2018 Camp Fire. Some of the documentary’s subjects bugged in, while others bugged out, but all of their stories provide valuable lessons for preparedness-minded people. The Camp Fire was the deadliest
