Plantain weed

Foraging plantain weed for medicine

A few months ago, I taught you how to recognize and harvest field garlic. There’s another extremely common “weed” that isn’t so good to eat, but is highly valued for its medicinal properties: plantain weed. No, I’m not talking about the banana-like fruit. In fact, plantain weed has no relation to that plant. I’m talking

Is Wing Stop running out of chicken wings

News roundup for Tue, Jul 6, 2021

There were widespread ransomware attacks hitting companies in 17 countries over the weekend. The heat was so severe in the Pacific Northwest recently that grocery stores had trouble keeping food properly temperature-controlled. It was so hot, the roads buckled: A gas pipeline rupture caused the ocean in the Gulf of Mexico to be on fire

Are vegetables grown in the US nutritious

News Roundup for Fri, Jul 2, 2021

Our topsoil is poor and our carbon dioxide levels are high, and this makes for food that is less nutritious than it used to be. It’s not an old wives’ tale, it’s true: Oh, Canada! Hundreds of people have died in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) and Canada during this week’s incredible heat wave: It’s not

Is coastal erosion threatening Maimi building

News roundup for Tue, Jun 29, 2021

Here’s a great resource for real-time fire and air quality tracking in California: Supply chain hiccups, when coupled with Brexit logistics nightmares, spell bad news for UK store shelves. There is worry that serious food shortages could result: Speaking of shipping and logistics—shipping containers are ridiculously expensive right now: The condominium complex that collapsed in

Is the Artic getting hotter

News roundup for Fri, Jun 25, 2021

Japan is encouraging the EU to bolster itself (and the Indo-Pacific region) militarily against China. Russia has fired on a UK military vessel in Ukrainian waters near Crimea, and purportedly dropped bombs in its path as well. The UK denies that any warning shots were fired: California’s ban on assault weapons is not yet overturned

Where is Tropical Depression Claudette moving towards

News roundup for Tue, Jun 22, 2021

China’s stance toward Taiwan is increasingly aggressive as played out in war games. The US stance toward Taiwan is complicated—we have formally “acknowledged” One China policy in the past, but we also sell arms to Taiwan, take a defensive military stance of the island, and support democracy in Taiwan as well. The fight over Taiwan

News roundup for Fri, Jun 18, 2021

Power grids in Texas and California are once again struggling under intense heat and high use pressure. You’d think both states would anticipate each summer being hotter than the last… The US heat wave is MASSIVE: Starlink dishes are going into thermal shutdown in the heat. Rainwater in the Great Lakes region contains high levels

Is there a radioactive leak in China

News roundup for Tue, Jun 15, 2021

The US and France say China is having some sort of low-level but potentially serious radiation leak out of a nuclear plant in heavily populated Guangdong province. China completely denies there’s a problem. In any case, Hong Kong is not picking up any increase in ambient radiation, and this is what I’ll keep my eyes

Are there more ticks this year

News roundup for Fri, Jun 11, 2021

Ford’s all-electric F150 was certainly newsworthy, but this Ford is also rocking my world—a $20K hybrid truck! Number one, any hybrid that’s under $30k is exciting. But $20K? That’s outrageous. 40 miles to the gallon city, in a truck? It’s a very busy year—for ticks. There’s been a tick explosion in the Northeast since spring,

New preview trailer + 50% off preorders for the Austere First Aid online video course

We’ve spent the last few months working on a course that we wish we had available when starting our preparedness journeys: Austere First Aid, or what to do in medical emergencies when you can’t depend on professionals to save you. Some of the top austere/wilderness/tactical medical teachers in the country, including our own Tom Rader

Can I travel to France if I'm vaccinated

News roundup for Tue, Jun 8, 2021

US traffic deaths are soaring. There were over 38,000 motor-vehicle-related fatalities in 2020, and the trend is still going. The rise in these deaths occurred in the context of the lifting of social distancing mandates. Speeding is up, folks not wearing seat belts is up, and fatalities rose even as the number of crashes declined:

Has the NYC metro been hacked

News roundup for Fri, Jun 4, 2021

I don’t understand the need to suppress communication regarding damage done by earthquakes, but apparently this kind of information suppression is  happening in some parts of the globe: Shell faced the Hague and the Hague proverbially smacked the company down. Shell has been ordered to reduce carbon emissions by 45% by 2030. New York City’s