A place for me to review the various rugged, nifty and needful kit that I've accumulated, for every-day preparedness in the event of accident, disaster or world-shifting end-times Apocalypse, be it zombies, triffids or Mayan divide-by-zero errors.
For my last birthday, I did my family a favor and purchased a bunch of my own presents. I'm notorious for having already picked items off my own wish-lust-lists.
Think Geek has been a good source for gadgets and gizmos to feed my need, and this year was no exception. The difficulty being getting items that can be shipped to Australia, as they have started restricting items based on, well, "pointiness" as far as I can tell. The UC M48 Ranger Hawk,KA-BAR Zombie Killer knives and even the Dead-On Annihilator Superhammer available through Think Geek are not for export to Australia. Sad-making!
However, one of the pieces of kit that IS still available, is this, thePocket Chainsaw.
I have covered my Wire Saw's previously, which are a gorgeous bit of kit to have stowed away in a Bug-Out-Bag or camping set, but there are times when you really need a bit more bite.
I've never been very comfortable with powered saws, (even when Picatinny-rail mounted...) because of the risk of kickback as seen in Dawn of the Dead and described to me by a variety of experienced wood-cutters (not all of whom had all their fingers). I can and have used chainsaws, I just prefer non-powered tools to do the job. Slower, I know, but unless I needed to do a lot, and often enough to become familiar and proficient again, I'll stick to hand-tools.
This pocket chainsaw fir my need perfectly! Made of high strength, heat-treated steel which has been coated for rust resistance and smoothness of cutting action, it comes with bent rings to hook through the lead ends of the chain, and corded plastic handles to ease the cutting action, and increase the draw and reach of the saw.
The 70cm (28") saw features 124 bidirectional teeth, capable of cutting in both the forwards and backwards draw, and the beauty of this piece is that when you are done wit hit, it rolls up into a coil that fits int its own carry-can, along with the welded loop-hooks, and the whole package weighs only 140g (5 oz)
It comes with two molded plastic handles with cord loops, which I fixed to the loop-hooks with a larks-head hitch. The loops and handles added about another 50cm or so of reach, as well as keeping my knuckles clear of both saw and log.
We had some pretty damaging spring wind-storms here, and my partner Anastasia had a largish gum-tree branch fall on her shed, which seemed a perfect chance for me to finally get to use some of my newer acquisitions.
I chopped the smaller limbs with my Ranger Hawk, as will as its big brother, the M48 Walking Axe which packed considerable wallop for such a small cutting head. Both bit faster and deeper than my usual go-to Fiskars Log Splitter. However, when it came to cutting through logs, after I had trimmed the branches off, it was time for the saw to do its thing.
click the picture to go to ThinkGeek store!
I didn't stop to measure the diameter of these limbs, but they were at least 20cm. Bigger than my skinny little thighs, for sure.
The saw bit in fast and made quick work of the first third of the log, but I found that a comfortable, narrow shoulder grip tended to cause the chain to bind up, leading to me needing to take a very wide stance to effect my cuts.
Once I cleared the hard core of the branch, I was a matter of raising the ends, so that gravity would force the log open, to reduce that binding. This was because I was cutting "up" standing over the log. Pulling "down" and cutting a suspended branch would have been much easier, but dangerous.
When I was done, the loop-hooks simply disengaged, I unhitched the handles and stowed the coiled saw and loop-hooks in the pocket tin. The handles had to be stowed separately. This was an excellent, easy to use and practical addition to my car-kit, ready to pull out and cut up road blocking obstacles without the need for fuel, and storage space.
Here's just a quick picture of the M48 Walking axe, hanging off the largest of the limbs I cut with it, in-situ. The para-cord wrap on my M48 Ranger Hawk completely unraveled whilst chopping, which was very unsatisfactory. I will eventually re-tie it myself.
The folding pocket chainsaw worked tremendously well, silently, and quickly.
Back in April I picked up a couple of Benchmade safety hooks from LEGear.com.au, one I have already discussed, and the other, I put in the MOLLE visor panel in my car and promptly forgot to cover. I knew it was there, part of my cross-check when I get in the vehicle is to check where my essential kit is, and there it was, one day when I was wondering what to cover next.
As with the 5hook, and the Gerber strap cutter I covered before it, the principle element to these tools is the safe-on-skin cutter at the business end but this particular tool has more going for it than just a blade. This is the 8Med Rescue Hook.
Made of a single piece of 440c steel, which is a pretty standard tool steel, Is made long enough to take a full knife type grip, with a ring at the far end to loop a finger through, along with a crenelated spine and three ergonomic finger notches in the leading side.
The finger grips are sufficiently widely spaced that it can be operated easily with full fingered gloves, surgical gloves or even bare handed with ease. I found that I could wield this with both my little finger in the ring, or reversed, with my index finger through the ring, not dissimilar to how I might wield my other Benchmade blade, the CQB Dagger.
The blade has the same 0.5" "length" as is sharpened not only on the inside of the back, but also the arms of the edge, meaning that it will cut at an angle, before the main belly of the hook bites in. Especially handy if you are cutting in an awkward possition. The blades reported to have a hardness of 58-60 HRC which should not only keep the cutting hook keen (as they aren't easy to sharpen) but also to maintain the wrench slot from deforming when opening cylinders. More on that in a moment.
This model (as there are several in the Benchmark 8 range) has several
additional features that the basic models lack. First up is the O2
wrench, which enables you to open compressed oxygen cylinders, it's
placement means you get the whole length of the tool as a leaver to
assist in this, as needed, without compromising your grip, or need to
remove the tool from your hand, especially useful in a crisis when motor
skills might be compromised.
It also features a notch at the tip, which Benchmade describes as a "syringe popper". I wracked my brains about this, and looked at some of my medical kit, as well as some of the lab supplies I have access to at work, and am as mystified as these guys...
There is also a notch inside the finger ring that should also fit an O2 regulator, but I'd be more likely to use it to keep a lanyard tape secured.
On security, the hook comes with a soft case, which is fitted with PALS/MOLLE compatible loops on the back, which doesn't add to the profile significantly, but expands the connection options. The interesting thing about the case is the elasticised cap. With a hook-and-loop closure to begin with, this case has an additional feature, in the band of elastic wrapping around the top of the case enabling you to pop the top and the elastic snags the lid out of the way, to prevent incidental restriction to the finger loop.
I really like this hook, it fits the hand nicely, allowing a full, solid grip for rapid and continual cutting action, key when you need to rapidly strip a casualty, or in my case, might need to rescue someone in distress from a harness or bound up in rope. Having this in my car gives me a sense of security that I have an escape tool handy, for myself, my kids and other occupants of my car or those at the scene of an accident or disaster I come across.
I, like my Viking ancestors, have pillaged their website and Facebook page to gather all the content below, so all credit to the creators and writers.
What I liked most of all about this whole idea was the planning and conscious decisions made in its development. I think these folks have put a lot of time and effort into not only being self-sufficient, not only for food and resources, but also in the maintenance, development and management of their site.
Craig assures me that being a hard worker, in the event of zombies, all i need do is fight my way over the Tasman, baby on my back, and i'll be welcome. If it were not for the entanglements of lovers and children in Melbourne, he'd have already been giving me the hard-sell to move over. I'd be tempted too ....
Located within biking distance to Motueka,
a small town in the northern part of New Zealand’s South Island, the
village’s land provides attractive and comfortable housing sites of
mixed sizes for 50+ families.
Details on sections for sale now, can be found here. You can contact us via our website form.
A village is a settlement where people move from the privacy and
separateness of their individual homes and families to their daily
exchanges with others – all within the village and its environs. These
are exchanges for basic needs such as food and other goods, social
exchanges of support and mutual interest, cultural exchanges for fun and
enjoyment, exchanges where projects are planned and carried out with
others, a place where goods and services are exchanged to the benefit of
both parties. Village life is filled with opportunities for exchanges with a deeper
texture, where the depth and breadth of relationships is enriching at
many levels; where the joys and tribulations of a full life are felt and
shared. Village life involves a sense of place and connectedness – to
the land and the people – where relationships to both are rich and
mutually sustaining.
A village operates on a human scale
where people know the land and each other
where that knowledge translates into caring and support for both
where people pay attention to the local because they depend on it for their well-being
where there is a connection to the broader world, but where that connection is based on fair exchange rather than dependency.
Physical Infrastructure
Common Resources
A
key feature of most traditional villages is land owned and managed
collectively. This feature has been incorporated into the Atamai
design. Most of the land already developed, or that remains to be
developed, will be part of the Commons Resource that the developer
transfers to Atamai Village Council (the body that owns and governs the
commons resources). The Commons Land already consists of approximately
10 ha and approximately 25 ha will come into the Commons with the
second stage of development.
This common land is a critical feature of Atamai's food production
and more. Such lands under community control can be used to generate
income for the village by renting or leasing parcels of land or specific
rights (e.g. grazing) over parcels of land to villagers or other
parties. Exactly how these commons resources will be used will be
determined by villagers rather than the developer.
The common resources are owned collectively by all villagers.
Permaculture Features
Atamai Village is designed on permaculture principles. All freehold
titles have been chosen to ensure a favourable solar aspect and enough
space for at least a vegetable garden and orchard areas. Some sites are
suitable for raising livestock of various sorts. Wind and water
features have also been taken into account, and the entire site is
adjacent to a forestry block which is being transformed into a
sustainable forestry operation.
Permaculture principles are also being used to develop all Commons land to be owned and managed by Atamai Village Council.
These permaculture features are one component of a secure food
supply, by optimizing the availability of productive land, and where
appropriate, creating microclimates for special purpose growing.
Access and cycle ways
A
large portion of Atamai Village will be car free, with access and cycle
ways designed to connect various parts of the Village. All access and
cycle ways will have a grade of no more than 1 in 10 to ensure ease of
access by walking or cycling. When necessary, small electric vehicles
can be used to move goods or people. All access ways will also be large
enough to accommodate emergency vehicles.
These features will reduce our reliance on fossil fuel transport, and
facilitate ease of movement when energy descent becomes more prominent.
They will also make Village areas safer and more accommodating to
people-scale activities, thus facilitating social interaction and a
sense of community.
Building Design Guide
An extensive Building Design Guide has been prepared to describe the standards for all buildings within the village. This document
addresses such issues as passive solar house designs, use of non-toxic,
sustainably sourced local materials, on-site energy production, waste
handling requirements, and related items.
Building Covenant
We
believe these design features are so important that a covenant is
placed on each title that ensures the goals of sustainable buildings
will forever occur on each dwelling site. So you can be sure that
village buildings will follow these guidelines, and enjoy their long
term benefits – an important part of a resilient community.
These standards ensure that buildings will be comfortable and
inexpensive to operate on an on-going basis, have a low ecological
footprint, and be safe to live in. The first home built according to
these guidelines is now in place.
Clean Land Covenant
All land within the village will be covenanted to ensure that nothing
will be done to the land that would prevent that parcel of land from
being BioGro Certified. This same guideline applies to both individual
freehold titles and all Commons land. The guideline does not require
that each land parcel become BioGro certified, but only that nothing is
done to it that would prevent such certification.
Atamai and related parties also have control over almost the entire catchment area for Village lands.
These features ensure that no pesticides or other toxic materials
will be used on any of the lands under village control, providing a safe
and healthy environment for growing food and enjoying our natural
surroundings. These features will also enhance the biodiversity
potential for both fauna and flora throughout the village lands.
Water Security
One
of the standards in the Building Design Guide specifies two 24,000 l
water tanks for each dwelling and a roof-top collection system for
domestic and garden use. Separate tanks for fire protection elevated
about dwelling height are also part of the plan, and some are already in
place. In addition, there are several ponds now constructed, and more
to come, as well as several areas where super-wells are options should
they be needed. With the local annual rainfall of approximate 1000 mm,
these measures should provide adequate water security for villagers. The rainwater collection, ponds and wells collectively provide a
resilient water system to meet village needs for the foreseeable future;
these measures take into account the predicted changes based on altered
rain patterns induced by climate change. The ponds also provide
opportunities for recreation and aesthetic enjoyment.
Food Security
Each
title provides areas for a veggie garden and some food bearing trees.
Some sites are also suitable for raising livestock. Options are also
available to use part of the Commons for livestock or additional food
production. A community orchard was established in 2007 which is now
coming into production. The orchard area, along with land for community
gardens, has already been transferred from the developer to Atamai Village Council.
To supplement these village food producing areas an adjacent 24 ha farm
operation is being established by one of the first villagers, with the
objective of supplying bulk and specialty crops for the village and
beyond.
Topsoil from each site has been carefully removed during excavation
and then reapplied to the site. None of the land was previously used for
industrial type agriculture (e.g. tobacco, etc).
The water features of the village layout are another important resource for food production.
These soil and water features are supplemented by the region’s record
high sunshine levels to provide ample opportunity for each villager to
produce their own organic and locally sourced food, or purchase it from
another villager. Having these vital resources under direct village
control (individually or collectively) provide a degree of resilience
hard to match elsewhere.
Dealing with Waste
The building design standards also include a provision for each
building to deal with its own waste on site. Recommended solutions
include various grey water drainage systems and composting toilets.
There are various versions of both to match the circumstances of each
household.
Handling human waste in this fashion avoids contaminating other areas and also provides a valuable resource for the orchards.
Social Infrastructure
In
addition to being responsible for the physical infrastructure of the
village, the developer has also provided for some basic social
infrastructure components to support village activities.
Atamai Village Council
The developer established Atamai Village Council as an Incorporated
Society to own and manage the village common resources. This entity
provides a basic legal structure for ownership of common resources and a
means of managing them. It has been operating since 2010.
Consensus Decision Making Covenant
Village life is about more than just sharing the physical assets of
the Commons - it covers all facets of human interactions and therefore
has some predictable features. Owning and managing the Commons
Resources will require a decision process that will benefit from both
wisdom and broad support. Consequently, a Consensus Decision Making Process is
included as one of the key covenants placed on each freehold title.
All villagers are expected to participate in training regarding this
process and to support its use in making decisions as part of Atamai
Village Council.
Atamai Village Council has been functioning using this model since 2010.
Conflict Transformation Covenant
A second social covenant that goes on each freehold title deals with Conflict Transformation.
It is inevitable that conflicts will arise in any collective human
endeavour so it is best to have agreement on a constructive way of
dealing with them when they do. This covenant deals with villagers
training in conflict transformation techniques and committing to using
these approaches when conflict occurs. Supportive mediation is part of
this process if required so the parties in conflict have access to
assistance should it be needed. These two covenants on each title (the Consensus Decision Making
and Conflict Transformation) provide two components of a social
infrastructure for the village to operate successfully over the long
term. These features allow for new villagers to receive training in the
use of these processes and participate in village life from their
earliest involvement with the village. Naturally, there is a process
for modifying these processes as we gain experience with them and find
ways of making them better – something all villagers can contribute to.
A real life, functional and active resilient community, working towards self sufficiency, ecologically sound and sustainable practices, and the social engineering required to maintain it.
I applaud them all, and am quietly envious of the opportunities and challenges it presents. It also reminds me to bone-up on my "the GPS's are gone" navigation and boating skills...
Over Easter, I took the family to ConFest, a big "hippie" lifestyle and camping festival. We've been a couple of times before, but this was the first time we had gone with the two littlest ... Triceratops Girl and Tactical Baby. This made it quite the adventure, with the two of us adults, a teenaged lady, a 4yo and an almost 2 yo. Camping for four days, a long way from home.
Its not as if ConFest is really roughing it, by any stretch of the imagination. Ive seen any number of campsites there which were not much more than a sleeping bag on a drop sheet, under a tarp, and yet the inhabitants had hot cooked food, from the large market area.
Where am I going with all this? well, we packed all of our gear into my Toyota RAV4 5-door, including the two kid seats, and drove the 7 hours to ConFest, and I used the exercise as a "get the hell out of Dodge" system check. We could load up x-amount of stuff, and only that. We were cheating because we were planning to buy some food at the market, and stopped for lunch on the way. However, it was a good test of what we would need, and what we could do without.
Here's a shot of us crammed in, the backseat full of kids, the front seat full of road snacks and gear.
We took solar chargers for our electronics, lights and the like, the
Australian Easter has no shortage of sunlight. The roof-rack was filled
with bedding, the beds, a spare tent, camp-tables and chairs, all
covered with a tarp. A cheep tarp. Lesson learned, get a better tarp.
We also packed more food than we ate, never a bad thing, and we chose our food carefully
so it would not require excessive care or refrigeration. It would have
lasted us a week, if we'd been careful. We had packed baby things,
including formula, nappies and changes of clothes.
My big box of camping kit, which included cast iron pots and pan, tripods, spits, fire starters, hatchet, lengths of chain, wire and rope, candles as well as cutlery, plates, bowls and the like. A 30L water jug, ensured we had water at the site, without needing to continually trek to the fresh water hoses. Then there was the luggage, we each packed differently, I wore the same Urban Dax pants each day, changed shirts each day and wore my Paleo Barefoots everywhere. The rest of my kit went into my Platatac Light Field pack which also doubled as a Yoda-carry-rig for Tactical Baby as we wandered the festival.
You can see the Fiskars log splitter I chopped three days worth of redgum firewood and the Zombie Tools Deuce I took with me because ... hippies ... zombie hippies ...
What did I take from all of this?
We took too much stuff. The new camp beds, in combination with the huge tent were worth it for the comfort we gained. Even though we could have done without in an emergency, they were a great investment in comfort. We tool a lot of "snivel gear" and probably not enough food and water for a "get out of Dodge" situation.
A giant festival like this is a good indication of what a well meaning "lets bug out of the city" refugee camp might start out like, and harkens to the chapter in Max Brook's "World War Z" dealing with that. I looked around at the haphazard sites, and the supplies we had all brought, and reaslised that we in the middle of a couple of thousand people who were a weeks hunger away from barbarism.
Ever find yourself rummaging in the glove-compartment or coin dish in your vehicle for that pen, tool or gizmo, but have been unable to do so? I certainly have. The solution I have had in my current vehicle (a 5-door 2002 Toyota RAV4) is to have some of the internal compartments dedicated to certain things. This usually worked out, but from time to time, they aren't just where I want, when I need them. The solution came to me when I saw this come up in my feed from they folks at Soldier Systems I was reminded of it when Hornest advertised on their FaceBook page. This is the Zulu Nylon Gear MOLLE Car Visor.
What it is, is a double sided mid-weight nylon cover for your car sun-visor which is designed to fit most vehicles. It is approximately 30cmx15cm (12"x6") and has two distinct sides.
On the "down" facing side, a 3 channel, 8 row set of MOLLE webbing, allows you to mount and carry all kinds of things. The top and bottom channels are made of elastic webbing, and each end of the elastic channels is a loop, which are perfect for cylume sticks, or even a small LED flashlight.
Between each of the channels is a band of loop-field, for attaching patches or name-tapes (which would display when the visor is folded down). The middle band webbing is regular MOLLE webbing, for stability and strength.
When "up" the contents of my MOLLE visor don't interfere with my vision, and even a small pouch could go up there without a worry. This is my next thing to check! You can see from this angle, the hook-and-loop straps that act to fix the open end of the panel to the visor. This also leave a few more regions of hook-filed for attaching patches. The whole piece opens like a taco, and folds over and around the visor, with the long hook-and-loop straps giving you the ability to adjust it to the size and shape of your visor.
The flip-side of the cover has two document pouches, and three more loops of elastic, and a nice big watermark for Zulu. I have been thinking that I might slot my Stiff K.I.S.S. car-knife into that, rather than having it under my seat, making it more accessible for emergency access, and also stuffing the pockets with some first aid items like sterile gauze packets.
All initial tests and trials have been really good. I haven't loaded it up very much, but it's given me no signs of slipping of drooping. One thing to note, the cover doesn't have a cut-out to slot into the car-visor return clip (on the roof), so you have to push it in a bit to "click". I like it a lot, and look forwards to messing with its configuration to see what I can, can't and want to carry on my visor.
This aluminium bodied, 87g (3.1oz) light, with a max 103 Lumen Cree-XP-E LED powere3d by a AA battery, packs quite the punch for its pocket-size. The lens end has quite broad crenelations for heat dispersal and ouchy-wackiness for those close-encounters .
The rubber end-button allows for silent "momentary-on" and by sequentially tapping it, give you access to the three modes: High / Low / Strobe. The "High" being the 103 lumen setting, with a purported 50 minute runtime, and "Low" having a 11 lumen output with 28 hours of runtime, whilst the strobe again packs 2 1/4 hours of 103 lumen razzle-dazzle. 5.11 Tactical report a 99m throw at "High" and 32m at "Low".
The tail end also plays host to three additional features; a steel clip for belt and pouch retention, nothing special here but it'd nicely made and mated. There is a squared ring of rubber projecting from the base, which gives you no-clank, anti-roll functionality. A drilled lanyard hole connects to 5.11's Break-Away Lanyard, the lanyard of which features a no-slip rubber slide, and the Break-Away component is sturdy and rugged, requiring quite a yank to pull loose, but certainly less than arm-trapping amounts. No accidental de-luminations here.
This is a petite light,as matches its single AA power source, as seen here beside the 2 CR-123 Surefire 6PX. This makes it ideal for off-hand use, pocket or EDC stowage, or in your car. I found the momentary-on mode-switch a little fiddly to use, and had to practice to get from "High" to "Strobe" smoothly, but with everything, practice, practice, practice.
Photo yoinked from my Aunts Facebook page of the view she had
I have family in Colorado Springs who were threatened by the recent fires there and being way over this side of the planet, there was bugger all I could physically do to help, except offer some advice based on my experiences in the Black Saturday Fires. They didn't really have a lot of preparation time, and the fires were fairly unusual, where as here we have a "Bushfire Season" so all I could do was give them some strategy to escape and avoid, and what to pack when they did. My Aunt and her husband are no fools, neither is my Uncle, and I had no intention of teaching any of them to suck eggs, but this is kind of my schtick.
I recommended my Aunt pack 72 hours of clothes, food and supplies for her pets (if she was taking them), water, as well as extra fuel, her important documents, maps and phone chargers. Being what they were, fires are something you can "go back home, after" even if there isn't much left of home. Once everything is burnt, it won't burn a second time, which sets these events apart from floods or other natural disasters, which leave an area wrecked AND dangerous for a while after the event. Once they were clear of the fire-danger, life would have gone on nicely, and society carries on. You can buy nappies, pet food, and more clothes. Hotels are still open, Credit Cards and online banking still works.
It reminded me though, of the need to know where all my own precious things were, in the event of a "bug-out, your home is about to go away" emergency. I know I have some difficult to re-obtain documentation: my passports (yes, 2), my weapons collectors permits, divorce papers, financial settlement papers, birth certificates for myself and my daughters. Fortunately, these are in a file that can pretty easily be grabbed and stuffed. It then occurred to me, as it did when preparing to evacuate from the Black Saturday Fires (and to some extent, from my home in Dubai in the lead up to Desert Storm) "What precious things would I hate to loose if all of this was destroyed?". This was not a "society ending" or "head for the hills" evacuation and survival decision, more a "this house may be gone tomorrow, take what you love" one. The list was something like this: my family heirloom American Civil War sword from Gettysburg, our external HDD farm, which holds a lot of our combined music and many of my photos, and my crocheted Godzilla, who's been with me since I was a toddler. Everything else could burn, and be replaced, or is already part of my EDC and/or bug-out loadout.
A very happy surprise was another birthday present I received from a good friend who knows my proclivities, something I in fact tried to find for myself but had alas been unable to find for myself. So, last week I was handed A Dead On - Annihilator Superhammer as fearsome a smasher as I could hope for in such a package.
This is a 35cm (14"), 800g (28oz) piece of forged steel. Tools adorn it top and bottom. The split head is made up of a solid and 1" square striking face, which features a Dead On® bottle opener at its chin. Good for those post-wrecking but pre-zombie smashing bottle of Nuka Cola (because you don't want to open bottles that are going to go in your mouth to have infected brain matter contaminated chunks stuck to the lip ...). The flip side of the striking face is Nail Puller/Tile Ripper which is a strong chisel edged tool-face, curved slightly to assist in slipping under and levering up what ever you are prying up.
Between the striking face and the "Nail Puller" the "Board Straightener" sits ready to grip and twist. The two sets of teeth are just over 4cm (1 5/8") and just under 3cm (1 1/8") in width, respectively, which is reported to fit standard board sizes (I don't actually know what this means). Below the chisel edged Nail Puller/Tile Ripper lies the frightfully formed Demolition Axe, which curves down almost to the edge of the rubberised grip. This is not a shaving-sharp axe, rather that the steel of the haft is formed to a triangular ridge to an angle of around 45 degrees to the full width of the haft. This leaves a very hardy working edge, and is intended for drywall, thin wooden structures, shingles and conduit. The middle of the curve is notched with what appears to be a wire-stripper, but could also be used as a nail-puller as well. Here you can see the Annihilator in it's current home, which is wedged in the middle of the Bullock Echo daypack and the Bravo hydration Pack combo which I reviewed recently. It fits in the mid-channel of double-wide PALS/MOLLE quite nicely, and nestles nicely behind the main drag-handle, without protruding out the bottom.At just over an inch in width, it is too wide to slot into PALS/MOLLE on it own.
The tail of the tool features several other interesting combination tools. The tip is a rugged ridged point, which could be used for penetration, or scoring as needed. Within the tip is the "Multi Purpose Wrench/Nail Puller", which as suggested includes a hex-bolt socket, and a wide feeding nail puller. The manufacturers suggest using the wrench for releasing concrete forms and other general uses and the tip for smashing, cracking and chipping away at tile, brick or other things deemed "to go away".
So, I felt it was a good idea to put the Annihilator up against the mighty Stanley Fatmax Fubar to give a good comparison. Let me first say I haven't yet done any real smashing with the Annihilator, just waved it around and banged a few posts and bricks. However, at 800g vs 1300g it already comes up significantly leaner. You can see in the side-by-side pictures that it is thinner and narrower. If a slighter tool is what you are after, this is it.
I noticed a slight bend to the left in my Annihilator, I cant tell if this is a design feature or a flaw, but it was certainly of little concern. The Annihilator lacks the curved pry-bar end of the Fubar, but it has the curved Nail Puller/Tile Ripper at the back of the head, and has a number of other features built in that the Fubar lacks.
I plan to leave my Fubar in my in-car bug-out-bag, but will be sorely tempted to keep the Annihilator in my every-day bag. I am also strongly considering commissioning a kydex holster for it, so I can lash it to my other PALS/MOLLE kit. This is an awesome piece of kit. Who's up for a "lets smash things" video-blog?
Stepping off my previous post about "Where will you be when -it- happens" I thought I might take some time to discuss my thoughts on the places I find myself, and perhaps this might give you some insights and starting points to your own disaster preparedness regime. As I mentioned previously, I find myself in several different locations in the course of my everyday life; home, my commutes, work, the foothills where Triceratops Girl lives. Whenever I go somewhere, I tend to assess things like entrances and exits, pinch and bottleneck points. High ground, low ground and secured areas also seem to trickle into my subconscious assessments. So, here we go.
Home: I live in what we call "the shittiest house in the street", in what is easily one of Melbourne's top suburbs. Our house is a fairly dilapidated '50's design with brick walls, and a tiled roof. Wooden picket fencing around the front yard, standard (but decrepit) wooden fence along side and back corner and a brick wall along the other. A large metal rolling gate gives access to the backyard and a wooden gate at the front side runs to an outside corridor between front and back yards. We have a street-side window with wooden shutters off the side bedroom and shutterless sliding sash windows at the front two rooms. All in all I feel our house is really indefensible and disaster-vulnerable in its current state. We live in quite a low-lying suburb, close to the bay, often in a weather-front. We have good relations with our neighbors and I've certainly cased -their- properties for survival options. We have food, water and livestock, not to mention my own supply of kit, and enough steel and steel-competent people to make use of it, and ensure
it stays where we need it to.
There are several properties with high blue-stone walls and metal gates, several with solar power and hot water installed and most have water-tanks. One thing we have plenty of in our street is 4WD options, several may have even seen dirt.In the event of a local or widespread environmental disaster, I'm not sure how well our house would hold up, we could tape up the windows, board up the frames with planks from the fence, and the scrap timber I keep around, but it's certainly not ideal. Images of Japan's 2011 tsunami and the 2010-2011 Queensland Floods strike home the risks rising waters have to homes. I've lived in hurricane regions before, storm damage is something
I'm familiar with, if not experienced in.
Work: I've previously mentioned I work in a health care facility, with a large research capacity. Our facility is heavily regulated and as such is designed to reflect that. It does however suffer from something that many older hospitals do, in that over the years, it has subsumed neighboring buildings, so is a little piecemeal in organization. We have fail-over generators, full steam and compressed gasses facility. Full kitchens and sterilization facilities and fire-fighting, alarming and evacuation processes exist as well as many of the other perks of being a facility of our nature. Being close in to the city we are on the CBD power grid, which has during the peak of summer heatwaves lead to some issues, as has the rare electrical storm, protest and manhunt. The nature of our work also poses its own risks, with radiological treatment being offered, we have those agents to contend with. Our patient cohort are not acute, emergency care, so we are not a point-of-call for outbreak situations, but we do have a fair proportion of immuno-compromised individuals who are very susceptible to infection.We have an animal house for research purposes, and extensive research facilities. There are a lot of resources at hand in the event of catastrophic events, but at the same time, are in the line of fire if they occur. We also boarder with a large hotel, and large government facilities which each presents it own interesting complexity. One thing hospitals are good at though, are operational security. Few entrances, and somewhat regulated movement. Being operationally self-sufficient to some stage mean that in the event of local or regional emergency, they will continue to function at some level longer than most other forms of workplace.
Foothills: I've also previously mentioned the property where my little Triceratops Girl spends most of her time, which is situated in a somewhat mountainous, heavily forested region of the Dangenong ranges, on a dirt road, off a dirt road. Its is still fairly heavily populated, you can see all the neighbors houses, even being over an hour's drive or train from the city it is still very much suburban in nature, even embedded in the trees and mountains such as it is. Torrential rainfall in the wet months and steaming bushland in the dry, the area has its shortfalls, but is otherwise tranquil and doesn't get a lot of non-local traffic. The scenic vintage railway runs through the area, and features both a coal powered and diesel powered means of transport out further from the city, which is independent of local electrical power, which can be spotty in the weather-affected seasons.The risks of bushfires such as the 2009 Black Saturday Fires where there were 173 deaths and 2,030 houses destroyed are an ever-present specter in the hot months. During storms the area is susceptible
to flooding, roads being cut or washed out and the risk of the tall Eucalyptus trees falling, or dropping their large branches on houses, power-lines or roads. I lived up there for a number of years, and it is quite a relief to not be faced with those frequent worries, even though my daughter Triceratops Girl still lives up there, and I commute up to see or or collect her a couple of times a week.
Commute: I take a 30 minute train ride to and from work every weekday, with a change of train just outside the city and a subway ride to get to my destination. On nights when I do kendo, that's a slightly longer subway ride from a different station in the City Loop. I mostly walk around the city, with the occasional tram ride to speed things up. The trains run pretty well, but being an ex-IRA-bombing-era London resident, there is something disconcerting about being in a large metal tube jammed full of my fellow commuters underground. I know it's very very unlikely, but it's always on my mind. Not to mention my favourite scene in Predator 2, "Let's dance...". Again, for what it's worth, I always look to my exits, both on the trains and on their routes. Those pauses when your train is sitting waiting for clearance at the next station are great times to look out the window, and if you're lucky, you will see the network of connecting tunnels, emergency exits and the like that exist. The same goes for elevators and escalators. I'm always left wondering "which of you seemingly normal looking assheads are going to loose it and be part of the problem?" I'm not bothered by crowds on a psychological level, purely a survival and psycho-social one.
On my long weekly drives, I go under two railways, over another, cross a floodway bridge, and over two freeways. Lots of bridges that could conceivably fail and leave be stranded on the wrong side. I have a paper map book and compass in the event my phones GPS isn't up to finding me a way around for whatever reason and try to keep a mental map of refuge, refilling and regrouping points along my way. Traffic pinch points are another concern. Time spent stuck in traffic is time waisted getting where I'm needed, or away from whatever needs avoiding. Peak hour driving takes on an aspect of survival training with the right mindset. "how would this route cope with one less lane, two less? If obscured by smoke or rain?"
What does this all mean? Why is any of this important?
In the event of an emergency, where you are, where you need to be, and where you want to go are all key elements that may well change dramatically, without notice or announcement. What you have on you at the time may be the only resourcing you have at hand, but odds are, simply knowing your environment may well put many more resources at your disposal. Consider your situation, consider the options. Adapt, innovate, overcome.
Here is a piece of kit that came to my attention following a comment by one of my readers after my review of my iPhone case . Up till then, my iPad has been naked tech, no case, cover or guard. It still lives in my CSI folder which in turn lives in my messenger bag but doesn't do anything for it when I'm -using- it. So here is what I have added to give me some more security and functionality. This is the OtterBox Utility Series Latch . The basic idea is that four elastic loops attached to a nylon webbing backing hoop over the four corners of the device. A loop of nylon tape gives an attachment point for the included S-clip.
That however is just the beginning, that nylon backing is a platform for a variety of very clever accessories. The webbing itself features a wide handstrap with removable padding that can either be gripped or slip over you knife-hand style. Because the central webbing is square, and the elastic loops are all equal, the device can be held portrait or landscape, as best suits your needs. Each corner of the webbing hosts a plastic tag with an eyelet, through which I have fed a length of shock-cord, purely as an extra place to secure any documents I get handed in meetings I don't take my CSI folder to. Those tags are designed to take the accessory baggie that comes with the Latch, which is itself billed as a "angled stand" and performs this task well, with twin S-clips to again give portrait or landscape proppage, but I found it to be awkward to carry around with this in place, and have relegated it to my messenger bag, for when I need it. The included accessories are pretty cool in and of themselves. A rain-cover made of elastic hemmed waterproofed rip-stop. I'm not sure how useful this will be in a big wet, but for times when I am without a bag to store my device in, or when I know I will be in and out of a drizzle, or something.
The narrow shoulder strap will let me go hands free in a slinging fashion, should I desire, or offer me a platform to write on if i balance one edge of my device on my belt buckle. Seeing as I can type one handed on my iPad, and use the big S-clip to secure it to my holster-harness or riggers-belt I haven't had much use for this either. The wide elastic belt, however, I am very much looking forwards to using. It affixes through the main-body webbing, where the yellow nylon can be seen in the top picture, and becomes either a thigh-strap (for pilots, drivers, or boring meeting Angry Birds players) OR it can be fitted to the back of a car seat head-rest, for running back-seat movies and games for little people amusement. A very cool feature, with a lot of potential. The buckle end is sturdy, and the hook-and-loop fixture is long enough to fit a variety of legs I think.
Whilst I cant say this is a ruggedising or especially protective piece of kit, and I have had a couple of occasions where the elastic loops have slipped, and lost full grip on my device, which was a bit scary, I like how well it fits my grip, allowing me a much more natural tap-tap-tapping stance, without having to white-knuckle as I wander about reading my ITS Tactical App or browsing for more toys. A relaxed body responds to change much faster than a rigid one. One thing it does do to protect my device, is that the elastic loops act as spaces for me screen, padding and buffering its contact with whatever I put it down on. No more gran of sand scratches!.
I've never been very comfortable with powered saws, (even when Picatinny-rail mounted...) because of the risk of kickback as seen in Dawn of the Dead and described to me by a variety of experienced wood-cutters (not all of whom had all their fingers). I can and have used chainsaws, I just prefer non-powered tools to do the job. Slower, I know, but unless I needed to do a lot, and often enough to become familiar and proficient again, I'll stick to hand-tools.
Made of high strength, heat-treated steel which has been coated for rust resistance and smoothness of cutting action, it comes with bent rings to hook through the lead ends of the chain, and corded plastic handles to ease the cutting action, and increase the draw and reach of the saw.
I chopped the smaller limbs with my 
