"Humor is one of the best ingredients of survival." – Aung San Suu Kyi

Bites and stings

Bugs are an integral part of our ecosystem and are a constant feature of our daily lives. It is inevitable that during a survival situation somebody will get bitten or stung.

Mosquitoes

While mosquito bites are generally nothing more than an annoyance, there are populations carrying viruses such as West Nile and Zika. Our first line of defense is to ensure that we're wearing the bug spray we have with us in the medical kit.

When bitten, we can apply a cold compress to minimize any pain, itching or swelling but it is often not necessary although a topical anti itch product will help us to stop scratching and risk opening the site up to infection.

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Cryptocurrency is not hack proof as your money is stored in digital wallets that are a much easier target than blockchain technology.

The Bitcoin goldrush has meant that many new to the cryptocurrency scene are investing without fully understanding how the currencies work-and many in the industry do not care. This has left the door open for cybercriminals to scam, steal, and exploit this lack of knowledge. Many have lost large amounts and there is no bank insurance to cover the loss.

If you are not and have no plan to invest in Cryptocurrency, then this article may not be for you. But if you know someone who is heavily invested - consider sharing this with them. We believe knowing the most common attack vectors and how to safeguard your crypto wallet can help protect from devastating losses.

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From our list of the Components of Situational Awareness (Observation, Perception, Description, Memory, Human Behavior and Deduction) we just have Deduction left to cover, before getting in to some useful practical exercises in the next article.

Deduction

a. You have been honing your Situation Awareness skills for some time, paying great attention to what is happening around you, noticing more than you have ever before and can produce solid, detailed descriptions of it all as well as remember them accurately. You can read people's body language to gain extra insight into their emotions, state of mind and true intentions. You have also become an accomplished lie detector and spend your day profiling everyone you meet. All of which is great except that it is of purely academic interest unless you also actively use this new found Intelligence to make make informed decisions on which you act. This may seem obvious but it is absolutely crucial. The Department of Homeland Security might want you to "See something, say something" but if you see something out of the ordinary that represents a possible threat, we want you to quickly game out options for action in your mind and make a conscious choice to follow one of them. Doing nothing is a valid option. Waiting to gather more Intelligence is another. But neither should be the result of inertia, paralysis, laziness or fear of embarrassment. People die every day from worry about upsetting a stranger or making a fool of themselves. Don't be one of them. Social etiquette be damned. (Read More)

This TDG is a sequel to TDG ST-2, Home Invasion. It posits a (mostly) favorable conclusion and explores the post-shooting environment and important choices and actions you must take.

The prior scenario ended with two intruders shot on the stairs leading up to the second floor where you, your wife and your daughter were sheltering. Another retreated out the back door, piled into their van and drove away, as seen by your wife from her upstairs window.

The first man up the stairs was hit by the first two rounds you fired, and then by several more after you addressed his accomplice and came back to find him scrabbling for the handgun he dropped as he stumbled and on the stairs. He's been motionless and quiet since then. (Read More) | (Solution and Discussion)

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Communications & Media

Most people know the popularized story of how the American Revolution – its kinetic phase, anyway – began on April, 19, 1775, when the Massachusetts militia turned out to oppose a British column marching from Boston to Concord to seize arms and military stores accumulated there by the colonists.

Myths have grown up around the events of that day, represented and encouraged by Ralph Waldo Emerson's poem, Concord Hymn, delivered at the dedication of a monument there on July 4, 1837:

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,

Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,

Here once the embattled farmers stood

And fired the shot heard round the world.

But the Massachusetts militia were not just "embattled farmers;" they were not a gaggle of gifted amateurs grabbing squirrel guns and "fowling pieces" from pegs over the door. They were members of an organized militia – 47 regiments of them in Massachusetts alone, with at least one company in every township.

By the mid-18^th century, militia law of most colonies required that all free males between the ages of sixteen and fifty be enlisted. These men were organized into companies of thirty two to sixty eight men. Companies were organized into regiments and the Governor appointed the regimental officers. All militia in a county were under the direct command of a County Lieutenant holding the grade of colonel who, upon taking the field, outranked all colonels commanding individual regiments.

As the Revolutionary War neared, the colonies had fully organized military units ready at the calling. For example, Governor Trumbull of Connecticut reported in 1774 that he had 26,260 men and that each town had its own units that drilled four times a year. New Jersey reported 26 regiments of infantry and 11 troops of cavalry and Pennsylvania, in 1775, had 53 battalions of foot [https://www.revolutionarywarjournal.com/militias-in-colonial-america/]

Most of their elected officers and many of their enlisted members were combat veterans who had fought alongside British regulars in the French and Indian War of 1754-1763, or in the intermittent warfare of raids and reprisals fought with various native tribes since the earliest days of the colony. The average Massachusetts militiamen was in his mid-30s, more than a decade older – and more experienced – than the soldiers comprising British regular regiments.

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