Here are a few links to articles and videos I found interesting this week and want to share. Some are intellectual. Some are informative. Some are just fun. If you have some free time, check them out this weekend.
Reality Based Training: Time for a Global Shift
Ken Murray writes an excellent article about the need for more realistic firearms training for both police and armed citizens. Static marksmanship training has little to do with training gunfighters. I’ve trained with Ken (the founder of Simunitions) and think he’s one of the best trainers and thinkers in the business. If you train with a firearm, you need to read his BOOK.
Afghanistan: When the Moon Sets, Watch Out
An excellent article about how our “inferior” enemy uses simple technology and ingenuity to defeat our drones, night vision, and lasers. It’s a good article to read if you ever anticipate needing such skills.
Approaching Fire or Extreme Fire Alert
Very good considerations for surviving wildfires written by Matthew Stein. Lots of stuff I hadn’t thought about before. It’s definitely worth the read even if you don’t live in an area that is prone to having wildfires. Matthew’s book When Disaster Strikes is also a must-read for anyone who wants to be prepared for an emergency.
2C-I or ‘Smiles’: The New Killer Drug Every Parent Should Know About
Parents, make sure you educate yourself on these “designer drugs”. They are synthetic chemicals that are constantly being tweaked by chemists. The goal is to change the structure just enough to make it chemically different from a named controlled drug, thus making it legal. This one is somewhat similar to both “bath salts” and ecstasy but has a much higher likelihood of producing hallucinations.. We’ve seen some pretty nasty side effects and crazy behaviors with these types of drugs. Kids think that because they are “legal”, they are safe. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Check out this link from Erowid if you want more information.
Rethinking Sleep
An article discussing how the idea of 8 hours of continuous sleep may be a relatively recent construct.
The Real Scoop on Sound Suppression
A good article describing the basics of how suppressors (also known as “silencers”) work. You may not realize it, but citizens in most states can legally buy these after paying for a $200 Federal tax stamp.
How to Stop Hospitals From Killing Us
A very important article about how to prevent the deaths of the “four jumbo jets” worth of people killed by medical errors each week in the United States.
