Review: Sailors Compass - Oceanus Brass

I've covered compasses before, mostly as a generic " have a compass, navigation is important" tool and as part of a variety of multi-tool items or kits that include a compass but this one is a little different. I backed a kickstarter for a boutique compass with maritime style. Oceanus Brass specialize in nautically inspired items milled in brass. This is the Oceanus Brass - Sailors compass. Which I backed on Kickstarter. They're in full production now, so you can pick one up, or anything else in their range. Their latest Kickstarter is for a plastic bottle cord maker and looks great too. 

Brass is an excellent material for traditional nautical kit for several reasons: It is hard wearing to withstand long periods between resupply or repair options. Corrosion resistant to resist saltwater exposure. Non-sparking to keep powder and timbers safe and non ferro-magnetic so as not to throw off your compass needle. It also has a pleasing heft and a bright luster. 

The sailors compass comes as an un-embellished and unadorned puck, with a seam line running its circumference at the 2/3 of its height. The seam line is narrow when the lid is secured and both top and bottom edge of the puck are evenly beveled and smooth. The "lid" unscrews for two full rotations  along finely machined threads, with just index and fore finger and thumb vs palm needed to open it.

Inside the compass is a liquid filled needle chamber, with a well defined needle including a nicely pointed "head" featuring a glow in the dark "dot" for night-time navigation. The tail end flight is subtle and balances the needle both physically and aesthetically.

 

The bezel is gently notched for easy grip and rotates smoothly and features degree markings, in 20 degree major spacings, with minor marks for 10 degrees and 2 degrees. It's firm enough that it won't slide of its own accord but smooth enough that it will turn with a finger-tip's pressure. The backing of the bezel is a ring of glow in the dark material to provide a readable back lit bearing in the dark. A fixed red line serves as the index mark and a pair of embedded glow-dots in the base of the bezel chamber lines up with the North indicator. A central dot completes the after-dark navigation picture. 

The compass is moderately large for an EDC pocket compass, at 2" (55mm) in diameter, 5/8" (17mm) in height and 6.8 oz (194g) in weight, but its smooth and solid design makes it an easy carry. Whilst it would not take the place of a good lensatic compass for navigation. It certainly does the job for simple wayfinding navigation. 

 Solid brass construction provides sea-worthy durability. The Sailor's Compass can be dropped, frozen, banged, forgotten until it isn't. If i had to pick something I didn't like about the compass it would be that it's too smooth. The unadorned surface might lead to slick, fumbly fingers to drop a vital piece of kit and some knurling or a dummy-cord knob or thread-hole might go a long way to securing it. All told though, it makes for a very pleasant EDC pocket addition. 

Home Front: Shooting in Melb

When I came home from work Monday night (6/6/17) a couple of months ago now I walked down the dark street to my car, before driving to collect my littlest one from after-school care, secure in the knowledge that I was probably the scariest thing walking the streets of my green-leafy, upmarket suburb. The fact that there was a helicopter holding station not far away didn't bother me in the slightest. We live near a major highway and there are often accidents. They didn't have a spotlight going so I figured they weren't looking for anyone, nor were they in a search pattern, but were just hovering at altitude. After I collected my little one they were still up there, so I cheerfully pointed them out and she asked if they were chasing robbers. I replied I didn't think so, and we headed home.
Dinner was hot out of the oven and we sat down to lasagna and cartoons, with candles just for the hell of it. Halfway through the second episode of The Croods, a loud pop got our attention. We thought it might have been one of the candles, and gave it little further thought. About twenty minutes later our eldest daughter, media savvy Mz19, burst in from her Overwatch gaming saying, "There's been a shooting in Bay Street, it's on the news". We scrambled for our devices and checked. The last time someone had said "Turn on the news!" like that had been on 11th September, 2001. The news that was unfolding was that in our quiet, little, rich old retirement home suburb of Brighton, a hostage situation had ben unfolding.

We had missed the drama in its entirety, apart from the buzzing helo, by virtue of the fact that our slow-cooking Lasagna had needed nothing from the Coles supermarket down the street. I had turned left instead of right, so had missed the police cordon and shootout.

A Melbourne man, who was later named by Chanel 7 News as Yacqub Khayre, a young Somali refugee, had booked an escort from an escort agency, and had shot and killed an Australian national born in China who was the clerk at an apartment complex. The escort had been tied up and taken hostage and the gunman also placed a call to Chanel 7, in which he made a declaration on behalf of ISIS. Police were alerted by Chanel 7 and reports of an explosion at the apartments, and responded rapidly. The area was cordoned off, locals were instructed to stay in their homes, and foot traffic was directed to the local Coles supermarket.
The ensuing two-hour siege ended when the gunman emerged and began firing at police with an illegal  sawed-off shotgun. Two officers were injured in the hand and one in the neck. “Fortunately they are okay,” reported Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton. “Two of them are currently at hospital. One was treated at the scene and [the others] are still going under medical treatment. They are non-life-threatening [injuries] which is what we’re grateful about.”
Khayre was killed at the scene. Twenty to thirty shots were reported, with some new sources reporting it as "like machine gun fire." Given the solid professional reputation of the Victorian State Police, especially their SWAT-equivalent Special Operations Group, I was filled with relief that not only had they gotten the bad guy but that we, two blocks away, were never in any danger of him having gotten away and interfering with our quiet evening. As the saying goes. "Don't mess with Victorian cops, and especially don't mess with the SOGgies!" The hostage was released, distressed but unharmed.

As it turns out, the gunman was known to police already and was on a terror watch list. Yacqub Khayre had faced court in 2009 over a plot to bomb a Sydney army base. He was acquitted of these charges, but was later convicted on other violent offenses. Reportedly it was a clumsy plan, hatched in Melbourne in 2009, which, if successful, could have lead to the deaths of many Australian soldiers at Sydney’s Holsworthy army base. A 2010 trial revealed that Khayre had traveled to Somalia to look for clerics to give their blessing for the plan. His legal team had argued that he was looking for religious enlightenment and harbored no plan to wage jihad in Australia.Three other men were convicted over the plot to open fire on service people with high-powered weapons. The response by the counterterrorist branches has been comforting and  reassuring and as yet, no solid links have been released to the public.
"At the scene, when this person first arrived there, a man was shot, we believe, by the gunman," Victoria Police Commissioner Graham Ashton revealed on Tuesday morning. “He was an employee of the serviced apartments, so he appears to have been in the wrong place at, unluckily, the wrong time.” It has also been supposed that the incident was contrived in a bid to lure the police to the Bay Street complex, which it did, thankfully to a fairly mediocre end result.

Commissioner Ashton also told Channel 7 news, “Nothing thus far will suggest to us that this was planned or done in concert with others." Asked if he believed the gunman lured police to ambush and kill officers, Mr Ashton said, “It’s a possibility (but) we don’t know whether that was the case. Certainly a booking was made to see an escort at the premises. He then turned up at the premises with a firearm. That’s all been weighed into the calculations but we haven’t found anything like a note or any comment around that so far." Counterterrorism police have investigated Khayre's background, with enquries ongoing. The crime scene has been handed over to the coroner with homicide police assisting with the investigation, Commissioner Ashton added.

So the mystery of the hovering helo and the strange dinner time pop had been solved, our parents had been rung and reassured that nothing was amiss, and we bundled off to bed. I locked the screen door and fitted the extra latches, mostly so I didn't "accidentally" open the door, tomahawk in hand, and end up face to face with a SOG patrol if they decided to go door to door, rather than out of any particular fear of late night Jihadist door-knockers.
Tonight I stepped off my train from work and came face to face with a couple of strapping lads from the Protective Services branch who were on duty at my station. I was very pleased to see them. It's reassuring that we have patrols at the stations at night, which can be dark and lonely places, especially in light of our little local excitement the day before. This service had been ongoing for  number of months now. It's not a knee-jerk and North Brighton where I live isn't especially needful of it, but it's reassuring all the same.
I had an email from my daughters school, letting us all know about counseling services available if needed, which was also really nice. A couple of good links for helping kids with coping with terrorism are here:
https://www.psychology.org.au/psychology-topics/talking-to-children-about-terrorism/
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-23/illustrated-guide-coping-traumatic-news/5985104

Given we don't watch TV news as a general rule and we didn't witness anything directly, the only thing my little one was exposed to was an always-exciting helicopter in the night sky.
So in closing, even though he himself claimed it and the Daesh-heads themselves then claimed it, I think this was more a case of chip-on-shoulder suicide by cop than anything more sinister. My sympathies for the family of the wrong-place wrong-time clerk, and the now-named and publicly shamed gunman's family, and of course, the injured officers. I hope their scars earn them free drinks at the pub for years to come. Lastly and certainly not least, spare a thought for the traumatized escort who was held hostage by the dead asshole. I wish her a speedy recovery and many easy-to-work-with and big-tipping clients in the future.

Congratulations asshole, you murdered a bell-hop and brutalized a sex worker. You're not a martyred soldier, you're barely even a season ending episode of SVU.
We're not terrorized, we're barely even annoyed.

Review: Propper - Range Bag

First seen on Breach Bang & Clear ....
Here's a follow up from my sneak-peek review of the Propper Range Bag. I took the Range Bag with me on an international trip to the jungle-covered mountains of Bali, Indonesia in mid October for a family event, rather than for a Tropic Thunder or Rambo4 themed get-away ... I wanted to maximise my gear-totage, as well as my carry-on capacity. The Range Bag was my upgrade to the very similar Propper Multipurpose Bag, which I had been using as my every-day bag and as carry-on for some time previously.

The Range Bag is in many respects an up-sized version of the Multipurpose Bag, with many of the same design aspects, such as the long-side opening panels, the double zippered opening top lid as well as it's carry handles and the like.

I decked out my bag with a variety of airport-safe goodies, and needfuls, and set out for international customs and far away vistas. I checked out the 48cm x34cm x 23cm size restrictions on Virgin Australia's international carry-on regulations, and had already confirmed it was good-to go.

Almost twice the width of their Multipurpose Bags, the Range Bag measures 25cm x 38cm x 23cm (10" x 15" x 9") and as I mentioned is a beefed up and expanded version of the MPB. Padded on all sides for increased protection and rigidity, it holds it shape even when empty. There are two stiffened internal dividers, fitted with flaps with hook-field ends to affix the dividers to the fine-finished loop-field covered internal walls of the bag.

These walls can be adjusted or discarded, as fits your use or mission, and the whole of the internal cavity is lined in hi-contrast orange, to help you find your OD tool in its OD sheath in your bottom of your OD bag. I fitted the "back" compartment of my carry-on with a 1L Nalgene bottle, a folded up First Strike Snatch-Bag ii for any extra incidental bagging I might be needing. In the center compartment I made, I had my novels and iPad for in-flight and hurry-up-and-wait times, I also included my Propper mesh-sided boo-boo kit, loaded up with all kinds of travel first-aid needs and spares. In the "front" compartment, I had the Propper 5x7 case, which held all our passports and travel documents, and my Snowgum iPhone case as a batter-backup for my phone.

The main compartment has a lockable zipper, good enough to keep little prying hands away from dangerous things.


On the "right-hand" side panel is fitted with a mesh pocket, and a fold-out mat to do your weapon maintenance or lay out a picnic. The Range Bag also comes with a removable hook-field backed accessory panel. I used that mesh panel to stow PPE gear like my Barz goggle sunglasses, earplugs, and other assorted goodies like Paracetamol and Ibuprofen. In the folds of the maintenance mat, I included wet-wipes, and a couple of nappies as well, for on-the-go emergencies, as well as acting as very effective blood-sponges. You know, in case of misadventures trying to get a taxi ...


The large end pocket, I filled with a super absorbent travel towel, two hospital grade sick-bags and my Multicam Headsox . My last international trip involved getting not one, but two lots of little-kid barf on me. Not this time matey! The internal material is also the high-visibility orange, but is off-set by the OD surface material, to make rummaging for items easy, without exposing yourself to unwanted attention by flashes of Blaze. The end pocket had a hook-and-loop patch for securing it, but stuffed full as it was, was not useable. However, the design of the bag kept it all snug and sound. I suspect you could keep a small to medium sized pistol in that pocket, without too much trouble.


The outward facing side panel is covered in a mixture of loop-filed at the top, and two rows of seven channel MOLLE, and inside has another mesh-lined pocket, along with six pistol magazine sized pouches. I stowed personal electronics cables and the like, as well as parkers, crayons (good for both occupying little people as well as waterproof communication and as both kindling and illumination purposes (they make pretty functional candles), as well as an asthma pump.  Again, the lockable double zippers allowed me to have a sense of security around both theft and also being reverse-pickpocketed with contraband materials. Indonesia has a death penalty for drug smuggling.

The front side panel is also fitted out with more MOLLE channels, but I didn't make any use of these. I can see any number of small pouches and carrier working well there though.

One thing I found was that it was very convenient to have the internal compartments, which allowed me to set very specific places for my load. Not misplacing travel documents, (or perhaps a backup pistol, if that's the way you pack)  is always a good thing. That said, the extra width of the Range Bag over the Multipurpose Bag meant that it wasn't as easy to rip back the top flap one handed, to get at the insides. the zippers were too fine, and pinched when I tried a few times. Slow and steady wins the race in this case.

It was also pretty comfortable to heft around, the internal padding not only kept my gear safe and secure, but also kept them from jabbing me in the hip and kidneys as I carried it all around.



I also liked that I could pull open the side panels to access the gear I had in there, on the fly, and that it acted as a mobile platform to work from.

Even with a pack on my back, the Range Bag on my hip was able to be swung around and rummaged through with no real problem, and its broad top even acted as an additional platform for carrying more things (or even little people as a bench-seat). The shoulder straps were both just wide enough to spread the load and not too big as to get in the way. The sliding shoulder padding I found was placed in an awkward place, due to the broad tri-glide adjuster, but I managed to feed it into the padding strap eventually. I didn't like the clip-attachment the shoulder strap had though. The broad Fastex buckle from the Multipurpose Bag would have been much better, and enable a one-handed quick-release, in the event I needed to drop and go. With the heavier load of the Range Bag, this would have been even more useful.



I made use of the fold-out mat a couple of times, mostly doing paperwork and the occasional fix-it session, the finish was good and gripping, and not tacky, which is a plus to my mind. I didn't loose and widgets, or little screws so I'll call it a useful addition.

The Range Bag ticked all the boxes for a carry-on bag, as well as a travel accessory. I don't like taking anything I can't carry or sling onto me. I like having my hands free for whatever might come my way, so the Range Bag was a logical step up for when I needed to carry a bit more, or if I needed to carry bulkier, heavier items than I might have otherwise done. Need to carry a bunch of lead to and from your favourite pew-pew place? I have no doubt that your personal needs would be met with this bag. Need to run up and down a hill? Get a ruck.

Review: Propper - 7X5 Pocket Carry Organizer

As first seen on Breach Bang & Clear:

I took a trip with my family to Bali, Indonesia recently to attend my mother's wedding, and it turned out to be an excellent opportunity to put to good use of of the kit that the good folks at Propper had sent me that had been kicking around the bunker.

I wanted something that would keep all my travel documents together, safe and secure and it seemed the perfect fit.

This is the 7X5 Pocket Carry Organizer and here's what I can tell you about it.
Fashioned from the same highly durable Cordura that all the Propper packs and bags are made from, and all the fittings are equally sturdy.

 Named for its primary dimensions the organizer is 7" x 5" x 2"and has twin zippers which open like a book around its two short sides and one long side. The zipper pulls are silenced by being cord-pulled,  to reduce its lines even further.

I really liked the wide loop of webbing that is fitted to the back side, which you might think would get in the way more than would be useful, but it was really good for those long immigration and customs lines, where I'd just as soon not have a handful of passports and tickets waving in the wind but also have a gird firm grip on. It was a long enough loop to be able to hook it over my wrist to give me two-hands free when I needed it. I'm secure enough not to worry about looking like I'm carrying a purse. It'd be a Propper purse, in any case, and that's not shabby at all.

It's no-nonsense lines make for a very unobtrusive package, and I found that it completely vanished into the folds of packs I stowed it in, and also fitted nicely in the cargo pockets of my travel-pants.

The front of the organiser is loop-fronted for adding morale or ID patches. I threw a nice subdued Australian flag on mine, for peace of mind, because it never hurts to get an eye-roll from security and customs ("uuugh, Ahwstrahllians, you go, go!") when you look like I do, some times.

The rear of the organiser has a stow-pocket set high up, perfect for boarding cards and customs forms, and also features two rows and three channel PALS/MOLLE, to either add extra things to, or to secure the organiser to other packs. I didn't see much utility in this though, and other than maybe a pen, I can't see what I'd use the MOLLE for.

Inside the organiser, both faces are loop-filed covered, to affix an internal organiser such as the included 7x5 elastic organizer panel . There are also two thin elastic loops in the seam, great for fitting a pen you'll always find you need to fill in travel forms.

I am usually pretty paranoid about my travel documentation, we have a long standing family history of losing passports, so I am always very cautious of the movement of these documents, so having a safe, secure and most importantly unobtrusive pouch for them was perfect for my wild and wary tribe.

Review: Scrubba washbag

I was lucky enough to be given a new piece of camping and travel gear for my birthday and I've finally gotten around to writing it up. I took it with me to Bali on a recent holiday, although it didn't get a very thorough workout there. This is the Scrubba washbag

The Scrubba is essentially a dry-bag which has been fitted with an internal washboard surface, a viewing window and an air vent, in addition to the watertight bag and roll-top closure

As a modern and convenient take on the old fashioned washboard, the Scrubba wash bag enables you to achieve a machine quality wash in just minutes. I wanted to give it a fairly good test, so I found a couple of t-shirts with some pretty suspicious and gross stains, and a couple of pairs of socks to give a good indicator of what it is capable of, and a standard travel-load of washing.

The Scrubba is pitched as perfect for holidaymakers, business travellers, backpackers or even for washing gym and cycling gear. The bag weighs less than 145g and folds to pocket-size, as with any dry-bag, making it small enough to take anywhere. I used it as a wet-clothes pack when on the last legs of our Bali trip, to stow Tactical Baby and Triceratops Girl's beach clothes before we headed off for the airport.

Here's how you use the Scrubba for its designed purposes:

1. Fill: It takes about 2L of water, on top of clothes, to do a full wash. Add water, cleaning liquid and clothes to the Scrubba. I used dishwashing soap, just a quick squirt, on top of my load, and the wash bag was at about 20-40% capacity. I used the printed-on guidelines, and with my two-shirts, two pair of socks load, I felt I had a good sized volume

2. Roll & Clip: I removed the excess air from the bag by scrunching it down, then rolled down the top around 4-5 times to get a good tight seal, and then clipped the ends shut, as you would with any dry-bag.


3. Deflate: By opening the nipple cap and squeezing the valve, as you would on any set of arm floaties, inflatable sheep or camping mattress, you need to expel all remaining air from the Srubba wash bag. This gives you a good working volume with which to scrub your clothes. Too much air leaves the bag inflated like a bag balloon and makes it hard to work the clothes. Too much water can have a similar effect, but less noticeably.

4. Rub: By pressing down and rubbing clothes against the Scrubba’s unique internal flexible washboard, which is a moulded-in set of nipples set into the back wall of the bag. Rubbing for 30 seconds gives you a quick traveller's wash and going for around 3 minutes should do for almost a machine quality wash. I wondered how my fairly scungy shirts and socks would fare, and was not surprised to see the water darken and grey-up. There was surprisingly little froth, probably due to the lack of air in the well vented bag.


5. Rinse: Uncliping and unrolling the Scrubba’s seal is as easy as it is to roll up. Removing dirty water from the Scrubba is as simple as carefully up-ending it to mouth it from the wide-mouth opening. I took care to retain my freshly washed clothes, and not dropping it in the dirt again. I wrung out my clothes to remove as much of the grey-water, and then tossed them all back in. I rinsed the clothes with another couple of Liters of water in the Scrubba and gave it a good shake, with the roll-top closed but not evacuated of air, and again poured it off, and wrung out my clothes. You could just as easily rinse them under a running tap or shower, but I wanted an all-in-the-bag method.



I hung my freshly scrubbed clothes out, and left them on the line overnight. In the morning, I was pleased to find not only did my shirts and socks look much cleaner, but they also smelled much better. The Scrubba bag had certainly worked well enough for a travel, camping or survival setting. I might not want to do my next job-interview in a Scrubba-washed suit, but if I were traveling and spilled cooled monkey brains down the front of my dress-short, I might certainly look to pull the Scrubba out to set me fresh for my next engagement.



Well worth looking into if you're either traveling off-grid, or frequently grot yourself up. I'm thinking it would make my next Tough Mudder trip home a lot cleaner!

Review: Propper - STL II pants

As first seen on BreachBangClear ..... I really love being able to write for these guys, and upcoming articles for RecoilWeb too!


Here's another great piece from Propper's new line-up, the redoubtable  STL II pants, that came in my haul of Propper loot, along with a Liberty Bottle , the ICE polo shirt, (http://www.epropper.com/p-105-ice-mens-performance-polo-short-sleeve.aspx), their Gen Multipurpose Bag (http://www.epropper.com/p-217-gen-multipurpose-bag.aspx) and a 720 Belt (http://www.epropper.com/p-225-720-belt.aspx) all of which have reviews pending. Watch this space.

Here is what I can tell you about the STL II pants. I've reviewed some Propper pants before and appreciated the comfort and wearability of their design, construction and durability. The STL II's are no different. Made from a 97% nylon and 3% spandex, it has a generous cut and all the hard wearing seams are reinforced, and flat-finished, giving these pants a very comfortable fit. http://www.epropper.com/p-148-stl-ii-pant.aspx

The fabric is soft, breathes nicely and light, a far cry from my old canvas type cargo pants of yesteryear. I wonder how hard-wearing they will be in the long term, and whether they need to fall in the "slacks vs overalls" category of rough-use. I have a feeling running through acacia thorns wouldn't be a lot of fun in these.

On the upside, they feature gusseted crotch allows greater range of motion as well as giving pinch free fit for those of us who go-commando or even sport some jewelry ...

An interesting feature is that the bottom of the legs have a zippered expandable opening, for fitting over boots, as well as a reinforced "kick-panel"  to take some of the brunt for those who punish their back hems a fair bit.

The front pockets feature a reinforcing strip, for belt-clips of knives or key-holders, and are both deep and well lined. No holes poking through or awkward bulges with these. The thigh-pockets are zippered and discreet, as are the rear-pockets. A pair of looped fabric bands on the front two belt-loops

You might notice that I have stuffed my iPad Air into the thigh-pocket. A tight fit, but I'd call that a success, in my "can I pocket my iPad" criteria. This also further demonstrated the clean and subtle lines of these pants. When closed off, there are no bulging baffles or overtly "cool-guy" flaps on these pants. Perfect for blending in with the regular folks out and about, in the office, or in my day-to-day case, in hospitals and giving presentations in board-rooms, without making security nervous.

As Propper themselves state, you'd have to look twice at these pants to spot their tactical features.

Speaking of which, there is even a secret 12cm x 10cm pocket, in the back waistband seam.  Its big enough for me to stash my passports, or a phone, and when coupled with a pair of belt-pouches, is pretty much invisible.

For pants as cleanly cut as these, I like that they still have the "secret-squirrel" feel of their tactical ancestry.  As previously mentioned, they feel more like slacks than combat-pants, that is a plus and a minus, depending on how you look at it.

Home Front: Ebola 2014

One of the things that that working in the industry I do, with the academic background I have, when things like the West Africa 2014 Ebola outbreak occur, I have both a cold clinical reaction, and a very fierce panic about all the possibilities.

One of the advantages of working where I do, is that we are kept very well informed of trends and the prospects of this kind of event to affect us as "health workers" but also because of the particular nature of our cohort. We get all the notifications for all the major illness outbreaks from swine flu to gastroenteritis. 

We even get annual influenza immunization as part of our workplace amenities.   The notifications we get are the same kind that hospitals and government agencies around the world issue.

I also follow sources like the CDC, via twitter
through its main site and generally pay attention. I might not be able to tell you who won the World Cup, but this is the kind of news I follow closely.

I lived in Gabon, west Africa when I was 4, and contracted malaria whilst there. Malaria, by way of mosquitoes is one of the biggest killers of humans of all time, nicely tabulated here, and I can personally attest that it is not pleasant at all. However, it is not anywhere as visceral and horrific as Ebola hemorrhagic fever. 

It's also worth noting that Gabon also had it's own Ebola outbreak, in 2002 as did Sudan, and a raft of other central African countries between 1995 and 2014. I've lived and traveled to some exciting places, and have been pretty lucky, health wise.

Given how much air travel has increased since the first modern documented outbreak of Ebola in 1974 has come, and the particularly unpleasant nature of the disease, it's little wonder that it has so vividly peaked our collective imagination.

However, it's methods of transmission, symptoms and prevention methods are now well understood and documented, and the fact that it is so very debilitating runs in favor of public health reaction.

It's horrific presentation and high mortality rates are rightfully alarming, especially when you consider that historically many of its victims were primary healthcare workers. Check out his graphical representation of the history of Ebola outbreaks for some perspective of the current situation. 

The scariest part of this, and other pandemic type threats, especially for a scientifically minded prepper like myself, is that there are diseases with long enough incubation times, and infectivity rates, with symptoms that might be otherwise shrugged off or ignored that we could be exposed to just going about ones normal life.

My recent pieces on public transport, on holiday travel and even going to the supermarket are just reminders of the interactions and environments that most take for granted, that could well leave even the most diligent and forward thinking planners, who happen to look, dress and act like regular folks, without gown, glove and mask.

Who knows what you might be bringing home to your family, into your bunker with you?

The trick, to my mind, however is to not be petrified, but to remain cautious, aware and informed of the risks, likelihoods and trends.

Review: QuickLock

There are times when you really don't want to be walked in on: when rifling through a filing cabinet at the Watergate Hotel, getting a couple of hours rest in a cubicle hotel in Bangkok Airport or trying to stay away from the prying eyes of toddlers having well deserved intimate moments with delicious company, or just don't want to be disturbed whilst having a movement...

Sure, door locks are good, but there are any number of ways to slip around them. Sometimes a little bit more security is needed when you are distracted or otherwise engaged and not ready to repel boarders. Especially when it's not your own home and castle.

I saw these on the get a cheep-cool-thingy site, Zazz, and gave them a try. This is the QuickLock, and it is a remarkably simple piece of pocket privacy protection.

The idea is simple. You slot the long face of the mechanism into the door frame, with one of the "tongues" fitted into the recess where the latch (the bit that sticks out of the door) and strike plate (the metal plate fitted to the wall the latch fits into).

You then fit the accompanying steel bolt into the closest arm of the ^ shape opening, slide it as far down (and thus, close to the door) as possible.

This then makes a wedge that holds the door in place, preventing it from opening inwards, even if the handle is turned and the latch is let free, the tongue holds against the strike plate and door-frame, and the bolt snags the door.

This would  work for most if not any inwards opening hinged door, and is designed to work left or right. I found that depending on the thickness of the door, an distance to the latch-hole of the strike plate, there may even be some wiggle left in the ft, but it held even with some serious jiggling and shaking.

I'd not trust this against a solid boot, and any MOE tools other than lockpicks but for a casual traveler, who worries about someone else with keys coming in to a room you are sleeping in, or "taking a shower"
this might be just the ticket.

It folds up into a slightly more than credit card sized, but totally pocket sized kit, at 86 x 45 x 10mm and fits, without marks, in seconds. 

Certainly adds a modicum of security to hostel, motel or bathroom visits you may have, and would even give the velociraptors a hard time.

Review: Snow Lizard - SLXtreme 5 iPhone case

Attentive readers may recall the Kickstarter for the rugged, batter and solar powered phone case, the SLXtreme that I covered a while ago. You may also recall how I took it on the Tough Mudder twice last year but it didn't survive the second attempt.

The hinge cracked and I had some water leakage into the unit, temporarily shorting out my phone, and killing the unit. I was sad, because it was otherwise a great piece of kit, but I also realised that I had put it through a pretty arduous test for a phone case.
However, undaunted, when I saw that Snow Lizard had gone on to make a case for the iPhone 5 (which I had subsequently upgraded to) I got in touch with them to let them know that I was keen to put it through its paces, and they kindly sent me a replacement, in the form of the new and improved SLXtreme 5. In safety orange no less.

It features all the same aspects as the previous model: latch-locking top opening, press-button battery-check and solar power switch, 2,550 mAh battery, membrane speaker

and mic covers, rugged buttons for volume and "home" buttons, a lanyard loop, capacitive touch-screen membrane.  It also sports a thumb-screw bottom sealing latch, and an access port for both USB charging and for the headphone jack. Forward and read-facing camera ports allows for photo and video capture and selfies.

There had been significant improvements as well.The in-built battery is 550 mAh larger in capacity over the "4" version.

 The bottom access port is now tool-free access (even though previously all you needed was a coin), the main latch is now a two-part metal, rather than polycarbonate.

The most exciting new feature however was the headphone jack socket and adapter. With an o-ring sealed plug, and matching sealed adapter, it is possible to have the phone safely cocooned and waterproof, as well as having access to headphone and mic jacks, a feature I've missed since my yellow Walkman days

As with the previous model, the SLXtreme 5 is rated at IP-68 with an operational depth of two meters, so in theory you can take SLXtreme anytime you are in or around water. It doesn't float, however, so I kept mine well attached to myself with a lanyard of paracord. This "open" shot gives you an idea of the engineering used in this cases creation, and it certainly paid off.

having access to the USB port (not the Lightning port of the phone, mind) allows you to charge the phone and its built in battery, but not synch, as far as I can tell.

The main port includes optically clear and easy to clean lenses, padding and improved closing latches, as well as hinges, substantially stronger in design than the previous model, I was pleased to see.


The solar panel was also improved, with a more matte finish to the surface, and what looked to be improved collector crystals internally.


The finish and the feel of the case as a whole was a lot more refined, and with the extra metal hardware, and the changes to the bottom panel, I was really impressed with the design improvements the Snow Lizard team had put into the next model.

When I took the plunge, (so to speak), and took my phone in its new case into the warm waters of Fiji, I knew I was going to give it a good test. With its "2m" depth rating, I was trepidatious  about how it would survive the trip, but as you can see, it worked wonderfully.
I had to remind myself a few times to use the buttons to control photo operation, as the main screen doesn't work under water, but I was able to switch between still and video controls on the surface easily enough, with just a flick of the wrist to clear water from the surface.

I found that the edges were a little tight, when dealing with water droplets, for dexterous screen manipulation, but the macro-control I needed worked just fine. The phone was bone-dry after almost an hour in the water (and subsequent jet-ski back to the resort), and the footage turned out really well.

All in all, I am thoroughly pleased with my replacement SLXtreme 5 case, and would highly recommend them to anyone who wanted to do some wet and wild filming, mapping, long distance phone calls and catching up on your favorite Apocalypse Equippedness blog from a beach-side or mountain-top retreat with their trusty iPhone.