In our last look at Old Glory, we presented A Patriotic Look at the U.S. Flag Code. Today, we’d like to follow up that article with how to properly retire a U.S. Flag.
If you look into the Flag Code, you’ll find that the only mention of retiring a flag is to “Always dispose of a worn flag properly, preferably by burning it.” The rest is up to interpretation and people’s beliefs.
In our opinion, there’s really not a wrong way to retire a flag other than doing so with respect. What we’ll show you today is a flag retirement ceremony that my son’s Boy Scout troop recently conducted and some other ways that have been known to retire flags. [Read More…]
There’s a couple of things you should be doing today if you haven’t already…
Sending in your YouTube Video Response for the Revision Contest to win over $300 in awesome eyewear and Liking our Facebook Fan Page so we can pummel The Survival Podcast and make Jack do push-ups when he looses our friendly competition.
We need about 300 more likes to beat TSP, so if you haven’t suggested our Fan Page to your friends, we’ll be eternally grateful if you could today. While I’m not admitting defeat yet, I knocked out 100 push-ups yesterday just to make sure I could still do that many at one time!
It’s no secret that we’re huge fans of PMI’s HALO Chest Seal and it’s the only chest seal we put into our ETA Kits.
PMI has just released the details on the big brother to the HALO Chest Seal, the HALO XL. A highly aggressive oversized 8.5″ x 12″ transparent occlusive dressing designed primarily to cover larger blast wounds. The XL is an excellent occlusive dressing for large abdominal wounds, peppering chest wounds associated with IED blast injuries and secondary blast injuries (SBIs) along with securing other wound dressings.
The patented hydro-gel provides superior adhesion to the wound area even when moisture, fluids, or blood is present. PMI also tells us that the hydro-gel adhesion properties of the XL are actually more aggressive than the standard HALO Chest Seal.
Like the HALO Chest Seals, the Halo XL also performs without loss of adhesion in extreme temperatures. Performance tested from (-40°C) -40° to (65 °C) 150° Fahrenheit. You can also store and carry the XL folded like the original chest seals without a loss of integrity or functionality. And of course they’re made in the USA!
This week the Data Leaks series explores another troubling piece of hackery, the rootkit. Today we are going to investigate what they are, what they do, and why you should care about them.
Unfortunately, there will be neither be a “how to detect them” or a “what to do about them” segment. Why? Despite the existence of rootkits on traditional computing platforms for years, i.e. desktops and laptops, the ability to detect and/or prevent their installation is a hard problem. Personally, I’d rather tackle world peace than the rootkit problem—it is that hard to solve. [Read More…]
There’s just five more days to get your video response in on YouTube to win one of the three tremendous prize packages from Revision Eyewear. We’ve had some fantastic submissions so far, so don’t forget to add yours this weekend!
Head on over to the original article we put up a few weeks ago for all the contest details and instructions for submitting a video response. Don’t miss this great giveaway from Revision!
Here’s just a few of the great entries we’ve received so far, we’re loving them guys! Keep em’ coming and thanks for the laughs! [Read More…]
We’d like for all our readers to check out the new additions we’ve made to the ITS Forum, especially the newly created sponsor boards. You now have the ability to directly communicate with our sponsors in the forums and abuse them ask them anything you’d like!
Seriously though, our sponsors are good people that truly support our community and whom we have a close personal relationship with. That’s the difference between our sponsors and some of the generic advertising you see out there. Our sponsors truly support you and the resources we provide.
Make sure you’re checking them out and don’t forget to head over to the ITS Forum to talk to them directly! While our site is largely member supported, our sponsors contribute directly to the information we’re able to provide to you.
Thank you to every one of you for your support, friendship and making ITS Tactical not only what it is today, but all that we’re still going to become!
~ Bryan Black, Editor-in-Chief
Something we’ve wanted to do for a long time is demonstrate that rappelling with a Rigger’s Belt CAN be done.
There are a lot of close friends of mine that have trusted their lives to Rigger’s Belts in the service, but I’ve never heard of them being used for anything much other than a tie-in to a helo or other similar anchor point.
There’s also a lot of skepticism floating around about how the AustriAlpin Cobra Buckle used in the 215 Gear URB shouldn’t be used for lifesaving devices, particularly rappelling. [Read More…]
There’s a great Wiki that Wired has just put together that provides the low-down on how to disable Facebook Places, a new feature of Facebook that allows you to share your “whereabouts” with your friends.
So why would you want to disable this? Besides the obvious security reasons, like how you shouldn’t be leaving your current location anywhere on your social media outlets, this new service can be used by your friends without you knowing it.
Just like they can tag your face in a photo, causing that photo to be associated with your account, your Facebook friends can tag you as being at a location, “checking you in” to a place on your behalf. The fact you’re at a location will show up on your Wall, and your friends will see your face appear on the Facebook page of that bar, restaurant or strip club under a list of “People here now.” You’ll receive a notification that you’ve been tagged (just like a photo) and you can go into Places and un-tag (un-check-in) yourself.
But if you don’t want to share your location at all, ever, with anyone, you can opt-out of Places entirely. Here’s how to turn off Places in Facebook.
Making a Fast Rope for Climbing has certainly been a fun project to undertake for our Knot of the Week!
Today we’ll be demonstrating the last steps in completing your rope, which are whipping and fusing the bitter end. Whipping and Fusing are traditionally methods to prevent a rope from unraveling and to stop fraying. We’re essentially using these techniques in the same way on our Fast Rope, to strengthen and protect the end.
The reason we chose to terminate the Fast Rope in this fashion is that in reading the Mil-Spec for Fast Rope construction, it distinctly mentions that “The free end shall be seared and whipped.” Seared is just another word for fused and fusing is actually the proper terminology. [Read More…]
An awesome new product we’ve just recently come across is the LaCie XtremKey, which boasts an impressive array of features and resistance to heat, cold, water, pressure and dropping.
We were recently able to source one of these, despite the lack of stock hitting the market and look forward to bringing you an in-depth review after we’ve had a chance to beat up on it. While we won’t see if it blends, we have some testing in mind to see how the drive performs in the elements.
The LaCie XtremKey features capacities up to 64GB with an “impenetrable shell,” that can apparently withstand the pressure of a 10-ton truck!
Here are the additional features and specs on the XtremKey from LaCie: [Read More…]
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