Secrecy and freedom
Secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy… censorship. When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, ‘This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know,’ the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything you can’t conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him.
–Robert A. Heinlein
Honours
Just found out that I am graduating with Honours from university. BSc (Hons) Computing. Fuck yes.
Cheap can stove
I was out for a wander yesterday evening contemplating Bush Buddy stoves when a flash of inspiration hit me. Bush Buddies are quite expensive and are prone to damage if not looked after (V keeps his in its wooden box). What about a simple dirt cheap design for a wood stove?
Materials list:
- Tin can (preferably clean)
- file
- cutting tool
Mark a series of crosses near the top and bottom of the can. These are for the holes for air intake and fume exit. Mark a largish rectangle lengthways near the top. I advise against cutting out the rim around the top so that the stove is more structurally sound.
Cut out the holes by pushing your cutting tool through along the lines you made.
Remember to file down any sharp edges, having to dig out a first aid kit sucks plus blood makes a mess.
Fill with twigs and small sticks the same way as the Bush Buddy, light and sit your pot on top. Voila! A cheap reusable wood powered stove.
The stove didn’t turn out as well as I hoped it would. Went out a lot and had to be rekindled. Also took a while to get water up to any sort of heat. Still, for the price it can’t be beat.
Anti-Hypothermia Brew
Just come across a nice recipe of sorts to help stay warm in the bush in winter.
Fill a thermos with:
- hot cocoa
- a stick of cheese
- tablespoon of butter
Sugar, fat and some protein, perfect.
Source (bottom of article)
22
I was going to write something witty but I lack inspiration. 22 years on this planet, what to do with the rest of my time…
Can’t stop the signal
Doing my bit to promote the free flow of information
The purpose of this guide is to help you participate constructively in the Iranian election protests through twitter.1. Do NOT publicise proxy IP’s over twitter, and especially not using the #iranelection hashtag. Security forces are monitoring this hashtag, and the moment they identify a proxy IP they will block it in Iran. If you are creating new proxies for the Iranian bloggers, DM them to @stopAhmadi or @iran09 and they will distributed them discretely to bloggers in Iran.
2. Hashtags, the only two legitimate hashtags being used by bloggers in Iran are #iranelection and #gr88, other hashtag ideas run the risk of diluting the conversation.
3. Keep you bull$hit filter up! Security forces are now setting up twitter accounts to spread disinformation by posing as Iranian protesters. Please don’t retweet impetuosly, try to confirm information with reliable sources before retweeting. The legitimate sources are not hard to find and follow.
4. Help cover the bloggers: change your twitter settings so that your location is TEHRAN and your time zone is GMT +3.30. Security forces are hunting for bloggers using location and timezone searches. If we all become ‘Iranians’ it becomes much harder to find them.
5. Don’t blow their cover! If you discover a genuine source, please don’t publicise their name or location on a website. These bloggers are in REAL danger. Spread the word discretely through your own networks but don’t signpost them to the security forces. People are dying there, for real, please keep that in mind.
6. Denial of Service attacks. If you don’t know what you are doing, stay out of this game. Only target those sites the legitimate Iranian bloggers are designating. Be aware that these attacks can have detrimental effects to the network the protesters are relying on. Keep monitoring their traffic to note when you should turn the taps on or off.
7. Do spread the (legitimate) word, it works! When the bloggers asked for twitter maintenance to be postponed using the #nomaintenance tag, it had the desired effect. As long as we spread good information, provide moral support to the protesters, and take our lead from the legitimate bloggers, we can make a constructive contribution.
Please remember that this is about the future of the Iranian people, while it might be exciting to get caught up in the flow of participating in a new meme, do not lose sight of what this is really about.
http://reinikainen.co.uk/2009/06/iranelection-cyberwar-guide-for-beginners/
R4nger5 Meet Pack List
On body:
- Well worn boots
- Keys and wallet
- Watch
- Paracord wrapped around right wrist
- Beltline kit (will go over this at a later date)
- Nikon Coolpix S220 camera
- Buff
WebTex PLCE bergen:
- Lid:
- Bushcraft by Mors Kochanski
- Collins Gem SAS Survival Guide
- Notebook and pens
- Paracord
- Baggie of cotton balls
- Baggie of birch bark
- Front pocket:
- 1000/6000 grit combination stone and nagura stone (not got anything smaller)
- Folding spade (normally wouldn’t bring this but will be trying a dakota fire hole)
- Main chamber:
- Section of foam camp mat to act as a seat
- 2 days of clothes, swim shorts, some sort of acrylic beanie style hat, boonie hat
- Caldera cone cooking system
- MSR Titan Titanium 900ml pot with Culinary Upgrade Bag and utensils
- Folding saw
- Hygiene kit:
- Toothbrush and toothpaste
- Soap
- Shampoo
- Towel
- Loo Roll
- UK Army sleeping bag and DD Hammocks silk liner
- Tarp for poncho floor
- Poncho and ties
- Possibles Pouch (will also go over this later)
- First aid kit
- Inflatable pillow
- Food (cans, clif bars, trail mix)
Between the lid and main compartment is my self inflating roll mat. External to the pack is my french army 2 man tent which is far too heavy. Unfortunatly my Kifaru Paratarp won’t have arrived by the time of the meet. When it does finally come, the heavy (5.2kg, 11.4lbs) canvas will be replaced with 11 grams of silnylon (yay!). I’m bringing both the tent and my poncho so I can experiment with the poncho while having a known adequate shelter. Lashed through the tiny amount of webbing is my trainers so I can go for a run while at the site.
BCNW-O1 bushcraft knife
A good bushcrafter and survivalist will always depend on one item above all others, the knife. Knives have many useful applications, indeed many tasks are either very difficult or impossible to perform without a knife.
After a small amount of consideration after reading some reviews and watching videos I decided to get Bushcraft Northwest’s BCNW-O1 knife. I am not a knife guru at all (this is my second knife) but I love it to bits.
Mike, the proprietor of the store, is a very cool guy, keeping me updated throughout the transaction and even attempted to get the shipping lower. Excellent customer service, go buy something from him.
I cannot go much further without a criticism of the delivery people. USPS and Parcelforce, you suck. 4 days to cross the atlantic, WTF?! Also, HM Customs, die. Die you thieving bastards. Charging me import duty and VAT, for what? So the government gets to fund things I do not agree with? Again, die. Parcelfarce can also die for their clearance fee.
Vitriol off.
I was surprised at the weight of the knife. Heavier than I thought. Does have a lot of steel though. 3.9mm full tang. Fits in my hand wonderfully. I especially like the thumb scallops, great idea Mike.
I also love the scandi grind that the knife has. Most knifes I have seen have 2 bevels which makes sharpening more difficult in my opinion. The scandi grind makes sharpening very easy, just put the whole bevel on the stone and go.
The leather sheath is also very nice. Seems to be very strong and holds the knife securely. The firesteel holder also holds my firesteel snugly. Neither are likely to come out without direct effort to do so.
I do have a criticism of the sheath though. Due to me being a gear whore, I like the functionallity and appearance of PALS webbing. The sheath does not feature that and I think it would make a great addition, of course being leather, this would be difficult.
Due to the lack of PALS, I put a loop of paracord through the belt loop and suspend the knife on a carabiner.
Aside from that fault, the whole package is very nice. A joy to use. Still need to give it a proper workout and a proper razor sharp edge but soon I will be in the bush having fun.
Planned Downtime
Got word from my hosting company, Slicehost, that they are doing breif maintenance on the server this domain resides on. Starting at 4.30 AM GMT this site will be down for 10 mins or so. Nothing major, just an FYI.
c25k: week 1 complete
All 3 sessions for week 1 of couch to 5k are done. I don’t really feel any fitter though I suppose it will take some time before the benefits appear. I did feel like quitting 3/4 of the way through this session due to my ankle hurting a lot but once the chimes went to tell me to run again the pain subsided.
Wish the fivefingers would arrive sooner, trainers are carving my heels up.