LifeSaver Jerry Can

Someone told me about a new water filtration product a few weeks ago, and apparently I forgot to store the info away for future recall.  It's the LifeSaver Jerry Can, which supposedly has 15nm pores, which would make it a purifier, more or less.  However, some viruses apparently get down to 4nm, so even this isn't 100%.  This filter was discussed in a TED talk.

The Flying Dutchman has another good praxis post, this time regarding a site selling stuff to "combat pack" 5.56 NATO.

Danny Choo

I'd never heard of Danny Choo before, but saw him in a photo on Facebook with Alodia Gosiengfiao.  Turns out that the dude is bad-ass.  He has a post on his site, "How I started to build my career in Japan", that writes about the experience I perhaps could've had in Japan had I not been such a short-sighted introvert.  This bit was particularly salient:

Its always important to understand what your skill set is and how much they are valued at. Keep your options open all the time and speak to folks in the industry who can advise you on job opportunities and your market value. You know whether a carton of milk is expensive or not because you know the market value - do you know your market value? If not you must find out today - not tomorrow.

Yeah.  I have no idea what my market value is.  Certainly less than I'm paid now!

Lotus Notes URLs

Yeah, we're still using Lotus Notes.  I needed to generate URLs pointing to a Notes database, and found the script to do so on da interwebz.  Check the comments for a more complicated script.  Works for me.

Building AK-47s

Might be a useful skill....

Numerous sites are selling Polish AK-47 80% receivers, which apparently don't need an FFL to transfer.  The holes have to be drilled, but the receiver also needs to be heat-treated.  So I found some info on how to do that.  It seems tricky in that the steel has to be hardened and then tempered.  Some people do it with a torch, but that seems error-prone....

There're other sites that sell build parts.  Personally, I'd love to get into building AK-47s and G3 clones.  All that I need is a shop and some equipment, like a welder and 12-ton press!

Lists

While searching for inverters, I ran into an interesting list on Amazon: the "Post apocalyptic disaster preparedness list".  Well, I'm already covered in most of the suggested areas, but it's interesting to see what other people are putting in their kits.

The portable solar panel is another list has a review that claims monocrystalline panels last 25 yrs, and that amorphous silicon only lasts 5.  Since that's one thing I have yet to get, the info is good to know....

Vampy

Linda Le, aka "Vampy", is a goddess.  99.9% of the cosplayers I'd ever seen at the couple of cons I'd been to were just freaky.  Vampy isn't just smokin' hot, she's also detailed and dedicated to the art of reconstructing anime/manga fantasy in real life.  Very cool.  Plus, she likes guns: she shoots a Kimber 1911 Custom.  I am definitely a fan.

I mean, just look at her!

RNC: The Aftermath

Michelle Malkin has to pander to the establishment a little bit to retain her position as a conservative pundit.  I get that.  Despite that, she wrote a nice article about the RNC power grab and what it means to be one of the ones who was disenfranchised by the party bosses.  There are a couple good "after-action reports" quoted as well.  Ms. Malkin is by far the best pundit out there, and this reinforces it.

Political Commentary

My response to a WSJ article on FB:

Anyone voting for Obama is either naive (if voting for the first time) or stupid (if voting for him again): look at the debt numbers, the unemployment numbers, the death toll in Afghanistan, the ongoing "drug war" despite Obama's admitted use in his youth (he was the Joint Interceptor, after all), his two-faced, volatile rhetoric despite his calls for bipartisanship, etc. The smartest thing Obama's done was to keep Biden around as insurance!

Even so, anyone voting for Romney is either naive (if they think this leopard has changed his spots) or deluded (thinking that voting against Obama instead of for someone is the right way to go). Paul Ryan was tapped to try to shore up "gun votes", but he's got other baggage, like his support for bailouts.

And anyone voting for Gary Johnson knows the score and refuses to play the game--but they'll still lose to the banks' influence and crony capitalism. Even so, at least pulling the lever for someone who doesn't suck affords one a clear conscience when things continue to go to hell in a handbasket in 2013.