Could a deadly virus wipe us out - are we rolling the dice?

Credits: image by Stuart Miles on freedigitalphotos.net

Leading virologist Professor John Oxford, from the University of London, says such an outbreak may not be as unlikely as we think. 

A pandemic could kill us all if it gets hold. The symptoms of the new SARS-like coronavirus are a serious cough, a shortness of breath and a rise in temperature. 

Unfortunately, this sounds like the average common cold. But it kills and it can spread

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk



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NCoV Is Lurking In The Shadows

Another person has died from novel coronavirus, or NCoV, This virus was unknown in humans until last year when it suddenly popped up in the Middle East.

There have now been 13 confirmed cases (and probably a few unconfirmed) worldwide, including in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Britain.








Credits: image from freedigitalphotos.net

Bond Arms Snake Slayer or Perhaps Zombie Slayer

I just picked up my new Bond Arms Snake Slayer (Well ok its my Wife's) I wont go into too much detail as you can find plenty of info and reviews on line and I see no point in repeating all that. So I will just concentrate on the anti Zombie potential of Snake Slayer.
 
In brief the Snake Slayer is a cool little .410 shotshell/.45Colt pistol. It looks like an old fashioned Derringer but its made to modern standards and is bigger than the original Derringers.  I should also say that you can get it in many other calibers just by swapping out the barrels but its the .410 shotshell/.45Colt that we are talking about as that's what I have.

As an anti Zombie weapon the Snake slayer has a few problems. I will get them out of the way first so we can talk about all the good features of this gun.



CONS AS A ZOMBIE KILLER GUN

1) Limited to 2 shots. Because its in the style of a Derringer it only holds 2 rounds and reloading is quite slow. The best reload time I can get is about 10 seconds. Someone younger and faster could probably do a little better but its still slow. When surrounded by hoards of the undead 10 seconds is an eternity.

2) Single action. As the Snake Slayer is single action you need to manually cook the hammer for each shot and that will also slow your rate of fire down a tad.

3) Bad sights. The sights on this little gun are just not that great. The rear sight is small and as the gun is all one colour (stainless steel) I find it quite hard to get a quick sight picture. However to be fair the gun is intended to be used at extremely close range so the sights are just a guide.

PROS AS A ZOMBIE KILLER GUN

Now for the good stuff.

1) Quality. The Snake Slayer is well made. It's a solid hunk of stainless steel that just looks really good. It feels like with a little care it would last a lifetime.

2) Reliability. I have found it quite reliable. I have had no issues with any brand of ammo that I have used. In fact I have had no misfires or any failures at all. I should say however that the gun has only had 250 rounds through it so something may crop up yet.

3) Its versatile. This gun is really a little tiny shot gun and as such its very versatile. With a simple change of shells you can go from shooting small animals like snakes or small birds to defending yourself from larger attackers like dogs or Zombies. A blast of .410 buckshot is devastating at close range. And with slugs or .45 Colt you can extend your range out to a considerable distance. I found it easy to ring a 12 inch steel gong at 60 yards from a seated position. I was able to hit it a few times from a standing position as well but I found it difficult. I should also mention that after about 5 shots it started to get a little hard on the hand. The recoil with slugs is managable but some may find it a bit much.

4) Easy to use. Its a really simple gun to use. Push the safety. Cock the hammer. Pull the trigger.

5) Safe. Because its so simple to use I believe it would be a gun that lends itself to safe use. The safety is large and simple and easy to use. Its a single action so one must cock the hammer before you can shoot it. It also has a rather stiff trigger pull that makes it hard for someone who is in a stressful situation to have an accidental discharge. You have to pull the trigger hard to make this gun go bang.

6) Easy to carry. At about 22 oz it's a nice easy gun to carry around. Yes you can find lighter guns but when you combine the light weight with the firepower of .410 buckshot its a nice carry gun.

So to sum it all up the Snake Slayer may not be the best Zombie gun but in my opinion its a handy little gun that would make a great back up gun or a good carry gun for most self defence situations. Just not hordes of the UnDead.

Print A Plastic Gun on a 3D printer.

In the last few months much attention has been given by the media about the possibility of printing out a working firearm on a home 3D printer. Some say its the next big thing. Some say it cant be done. Well as with most things the truth in fact is some place in the middle.

In simple terms it is possible to print a complete and fully functional firearm on a home 3D printer. However it will not be a particularly effective or reliable weapon. The simple reason for this is the limitations of materials available for use in home 3D printers and the poor print quality of most of the printers.

In simple terms home 3D printers print in plastic and plastic is just not that great of a material for making firearms. Firearms generate a lot of pressure and a lot of heat. And plastic is just not that great at dealing with pressure and heat.

The first generation of 3D printed firearms will probably be simple single shot firearms firing low power ammunition. Most of us have seen the plastic flare guns people have on boats. Well that flare gun is a firearm. The second generation will probably be something like a simple single action revolver. This gun will also fire low powered ammunition. The first generations will also probably be smooth bore firearms. It would not be possible to make a rifled barrel out of the plastics we have now for home 3D printers. The heat and pressure would strip the rifling out with the first shot. But rifling is not that important in a hand gun as your target is probably only 5 or 10 feet away. I suspect we are 10 or 20 years from people being able to print off something much more sophisticated like a Glock or an UZI.  

A plastic Flare Gun like the one in this photo with a few design modifications would be capable of firing low power ammunition like .22 or perhaps .32 The heat would cause extensive barrel erosion but as its a single shot firearm you would probably only get to fire one or two shots before the fight was over anyway.

Cheap Way to Collect Soap - a Necessary Survival Item

 Image courtesy of Marin at Free Digital photos

Wouldn't it be great if we could still have running water, soaps and towels during the Apocalypse? It's not gonna happen like that but we can still find ways to keep clean.

In fact it's important to stay clean to ward off disease. Disease can kill many of those who have stored enough food and water to keep going.

If you don't consider cleanliness, you're doomed. You'll end up with lice, scabies and other contagions brought on by being dirty.

Someone gets the flu, or a cold or something worse - guess what? You want to stop the spread of those germs and the first defence is hand washing. Of course you also want to be able to wash your entire body as often as possible to avoid skin contagions.

Yes you'll probably buy soap (bars, liquid, dish etc) and store some with your food supplies but have you thought about what happens when your supply of soap runs out? Do you know how to make soap? Do you have the ingredients for making soap? Do you know what plants, if any, grow wild that can be used for soap?

4 months worth of soap bits

I don't know how to make soap and the one plant I know of that can be used as a soap substitute doesn't grow in our area. So I need another plan.

I won't pretend I have the perfect backup plan. I don't. But what I do have is almost 150 bars of hand soap which my wife buys on sale whenever she sees it.  We also have about 10 bottles of liquid soap requiring no water. Guess what? It's not enough! But it becomes a toss-up on a limited prepper budget as to whether that bag of rice is more important than several bars of hand soap.

Since we like to figure out how to add to our survival stores without going broke, my wife and I save all those little nubs of soap. You know the ones that get to be about the size of a quarter or smaller and so you toss them out? Well, we started saving ours last year. Wish we'd thought of it sooner!

Everyone in our survival community (certain family members) is saving their soap ends. You will be amazed at how quickly it grows. And we'll be darn glad to have it when our full-size bars of soap run out!

So don't overlook budget ways to gather supplies you will need if there is a long-term emergency. Start saving those soap bits now! My wife puts them in a soap dish until they dry out then she tosses them into a ziplock bag. We have 4 ziplock sandwich bags full now. Doesn't sound like a lot but that's from only 2 of us in the household.

Could Global Warming Release Smallpox

Could Global Warming Release Smallpox? A team of French and Russian researchers recently found a small amount of smallpox DNA in 300-year-old frozen mummies from Siberia. The small amount of smallpox DNA they found is said to be quite harmless. But it makes me wonder what nasty things may be hiding in the frozen arctic. Nasty things just waiting for the warmer climate to release on an unsuspecting world. Who can say? 

Silhouette Targets for Shooting

I just bought some great shooting targets today for target practice at our local gun club. I like the first one and my wife chose the second. If you need to get out and do some target shooting to hone your skills, you might want to try these for your practice


50 - Pk. Silhouette Targets 50 - Pk. Anatomy Targets

Frankenstorm - A Tip For Storing Water

I hope everyone came through Hurricane Sandy and Frankenstorm with no problems. I also hope you were all prepared with a minimum 72 hours of food and water and that your car was gassed and ready to go.

White Orange Juice Containers of Water

Here's a little tip for those who don't have much room to store food, water and other supplies. Fill some jugs HALF-FULL with water  (I use a 2 L pop bottle and 4 L empty orange juice containers) Put those jugs of water in your freezer, filling up all the empty space. Use 500 ml empty water bottles if you can't fit a big jug or bottle in.

When the water is frozen, put them in your refrigerator. Put MORE in the freezer and when those are frozen, leave them there.

If your power goes out the jugs and bottles of water will help keep your food cold and thus be available to eat. If you run out of water you can defrost the frozen jugs and bottles and bingo, there's fresh clean water for drinking.

And if you happen to have empty space in your freezer, keep some jugs or bottles of water in there all the time, don't wait for a storm warning. This will not only provide you with instant water and a method of keeping food cold, it also saves energy because a full freezer doesn't have to work as hard.

Brain-eating amoebas kill 10 in Pakistan

A waterborne, brain-destroying species of amoeba has killed 10 people in Karachi, Pakistan, this year, prompting local water officials to increase the amount of chlorine in the city’s water supply and advise residents to use sterilized water when performing a Muslim ritual which involves cleansing the nostrils.

This brain eating amoeba is typically found in warm bodies of fresh water, such as ponds, lakes, rivers, and hot springs. It is also found in soil, near warm-water discharges of industrial plants, and unchlorinated swimming pools. There is no evidence of this organism living in ocean water.
It can invade and attack the human nervous system. Although this occurs rarely^, such an infection nearly always results in the death of the victim. The case death rate is estimated at 98%

This is yet another reminder of the importance of having a clean supply of water in your survival pack.

You can read more at


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naegleria_fowleri

or

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/10/brain-eating-amoebas-kill-10-in-pakistan/

The flip of earth's magnetic field is overdue

It has happened before - the geological record suggests the magnetic field has reversed every 250,000 years, meaning that, with the last event 800,000 years ago, another would seem to be overdue.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Lost+migration+flip+earth+magnetic+field+overdue/7342153/story.html#ixzz28WXRXMVz