Search-and-rescue (SAR) teams prepare for all kinds of emergencies, and they frequently risk their lives to help those in need. But one Colorado SAR team couldn’t hide its frustration this week after responding to an SOS from a solo adventurer. A BASE jumper issued an SOS signal on Monday after taking a big fall, claiming serious injury. But when help arrived at the remote locale in a complicated — and expensive — rescue operation, the BASE jumper changed his mind and refused assistance. In a rare rebuke, local authorities said the man’s behavior showed “a profound lack of respect.” What…
Brig. Gen. Eric Widmar, senior legal counsel to the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is stepping down from his position roughly a year before his term is over. Widmar told ProPublica, the first outlet to report the retirement, that he did not take his decision to retire lightly and that he did so “for personal reasons,” specifically mentioning family challenges. “Earlier this year, my wife and I reflected on the demands of this role, which have required me to live apart from my wife for the past two years and created additional challenges for me and my family,”…
While travelers focus on national parks, big crowds can easily frustrate ready adventurers. Fortunately, there’s a wide-open alternative beyond terra firma. Consider the Marine Protected Area (MPA). While the U.S. boasts 85 million acres of national park land, it has more than 750 million acres within those MPAs. Essentially the aquatic version of a national park, these oft-overlooked conservation zones encompass vast tracts of pristine ocean and coastline. And even though there are nearly 1,000 MPAs in the U.S., many Americans don’t know about them. Fortunately, that’s starting to change — and not just among potential visitors in the general public. Nonprofits and…
The right to keep and bear arms is a right that the Founding Fathers thought was so important that it “shall not be infringed.” Unfortunately, there’s been a lot of infringement over the years, and for a long time, we mostly just had to suck it up. If we could sway a legislature, we might get a vote to overturn it, but the courts weren’t necessarily with us, particularly if you lived somewhere with a particularly liberal circuit court. Heller and McDonald were fairly good for us, and the latter came shortly on the heels…
Jeffrey Dahmer, now best known as the serial killer behind some of the most gruesome murders in American history, served in the United States Army from January 1979 until March 1981 when he received an honorable discharge. How did a man who began his killing spree before his enlistment and continued it for a decade after his discharge get past a recruiter and leave service without a stain on his record? It’s complicated. For those who don’t follow the true-crime genre, Dahmer is popularly known as the “Milwaukee Cannibal,” a serial killer who raped, murdered and dismembered 17 men before…
Like most other outdoor activities, cycling has boomed in popularity since COVID, and the numbers keep rising. Data shows that around 35 million Americans cycle regularly. In some areas, like the Twin Cities, over 40% of the population rides frequently. Supporting cycling use on public lands, however, can be tricky. Designated wilderness areas do not allow any form of mechanical transport, and cycling can conflict with other trail uses such as horseback riding. In an effort to increase opportunities to use bicycles on public land, the Interior Department will develop specially designated long-distance biking trails from either existing or new…
Bear-safe storage is an absolute necessity when headed into certain parts of the backcountry, but as someone who doesn’t go into bear country much, my primary concern on backpacking trips is always rodents and other critters. There’s nothing worse than waking up to find that a squirrel has gotten into your food bag and made off with your precious snacks. Classic bear canisters provide protection from both bears and critters, but they’re heavy, bulky, and take up way too much valuable space in packs. Luckily, there’s a new solution on the market. Adotec recently released a soft-sided food storage bag…
A new Pokemon and Razer collaboration is underway, which has introduced a new set of gaming peripherals and accessories themed upon Espeon and Umbreon. Pokemon fans can pick up everything from mousepads to headsets with special art featuring the popular pair of Eeveelutions. A long time has come and gone since Eevee’s last new evolution was added to the franchise, but it hasn’t impacted the love fans have for the Pokemon. While it wasn’t one of the original starters and wasn’t heavily featured in the original TV anime, fans love the creature for its cuteness and the numerous versions it…
Independence Day is, unfortunately, a busy day for hospital emergency rooms, and not just because someone blew off part of their hand with some fireworks they bought from some dude in a travel trailer in a Publix parking lot. No, violence is all too common for some reason, only part of which can be attributed to the heat. But it happens regardless of the laws on the books.I’ve long wondered if anti-gunners are living in their own world, considering just how often they act like those laws are working, even if the violent crime rate…
United States President Donald Trump said that the US-Iran ceasefire is over after Tehran attacked a tanker that “ignored repeated warnings.” Trump made the comments as the US military conducted a series of strikes on the Islamic Republic over alleged attacks on three tankers that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz. US Allegations: Iran Fired Missiles At Vessels In Strait of Hormuz On Wednesday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said it hit dozens of Iranian ground and naval targets “in response to Iranian attacks on three commercial vessels that were transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” denouncing Tehran for “aggression [that] was…
The New York budget bill has provisions that require 3D printers to have software which will block the creation of firearms and certain accessories. Some say this will crush manufacturing. The budget bill — signed on May 28 — has language included in it which requires changes to 3D printer hardware. Those changes come in the form of limiting what a “three-dimensional printer” can and cannot create. The problem with the definition of a three-dimensional printer is that this will include any and all computer-aided rendering or subtractive manufacturing machines. Our friends at Eye on…
Army officials announced Tuesday that the service has scrapped its decades-old height and weight standards, tape tests and supplemental body fat assessments in favor of a single waist-to-height ratio, becoming the last military branch to adopt the standard the Pentagon ordered in December. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll signed the directive July 1, and it took effect immediately July 7. Every soldier has 90 days to get measured and recorded under the new system. Waist divided by height now has to be below 0.55. On its face, the change looks fairly straightforward. Measure the waist, divide by height, stay under the…
Support us! GearJunkie may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More Travel trailers are, with a very few exceptions, a variation on a theme. It’s a box, usually made of wood and fiberglass, mounted on a wheeled frame of some kind with a tow hitch at the front. It works because they’re relatively simple to design and produce, and are made of affordable materials. What if there were a different way of doing it, though? LIV Travel Trailers thinks there is. Called the E-Leaf, it was introduced in June, and it involves a whole lot…
One of the groups of people prohibited from owning guns is those who have been “adjudicated as mentally defective.” It’s an archaic way of saying people with fairly serious mental illnesses, and, to be fair, this is probably one group that probably should be prohibited from owning guns, if for no other reason than they’re not responsible for themselves to any reasonable degree. Most have caretakers, almost as if they’re children. But one of the examples of fearmongering we’ve seen from the anti-gun media is that among the ATF rules being changed is one that…
Collecting PS5 Platinum trophies can be downright addictive, so much so that we even created a phrase to describe the act of playing a game specifically to get that satisfying notification: Trophy hunting. A lot of developers clearly took notice of this subsection of Sony’s community, with some of them going as far as to release games designed solely to reward a Platinum in a couple of minutes. Anyone who simply wants to amass as many trophies as possible can easily knock out a couple every day by focusing on these types of titles. Fortunately, you don’t have to buy…
A dog tracker doesn’t do much good once it loses signal. That’s a problem for anyone whose dog spends time outside reliable cell coverage. Rural dog owners, hikers, hunters, ranch families, and people with dogs that find weak spots in fences all know the issue. GPS tracking sounds great until the dog gets out and the map stops updating. Fi is trying to solve that with the Fi Ultra ($199), a dog tracker powered by T-Satellite with Starlink, LTE, and always-on GPS. The company says it’s the first consumer wearable powered by T-Satellite with Starlink, using satellite connectivity to keep…
Ever since a Washington County, Virginia circuit court judge granted an injunction against the state’s new ban on “assault firearms”, there’s been confusion over the scope of the judge’s order. The NRA and other plaintiffs in the case have argued the injunction applies to all law enforcement throughout the state, while Attorney General Jay Jones has argued that the injunction applies only to the named defendants in the suit, but that local law enforcement outside of the state police and the four Commonwealth’s Attorneys who are named can still enforce the ban. Now the judge…
As it turns out, there’s something generational about one of the simplest roadside automotive tasks, changing a flat tire. At some point, a lifelong motorist will almost certainly encounter a pesky flat, which may often be due to an errant nail or an oversized pothole. But research suggests that people place more faith in some generations than others when it comes to changing that wheel and tire. According to new international research, 67% of Americans feel that Gen X is the generation they would most trust for the task, with Gen Z receiving a staggering 0%. But there’s much more…
North Atlantic Treaty Organization member the Netherlands has officially run out of opportunities to supply Ukraine with weapons. According to Defense Minister Dilan Yeşilgöz-Zegerius, the Netherlands has been an active supporter of Kiev in its conflict with Moscow until now. The Netherlands helped Ukraine in several ways, including by supplying United States-made F-16 fighter jets as part of a scheme with Belgium, Denmark, and Norway. “We don’t have opportunities anymore as the Netherlands because we have done so much,” Yesilgoz-Zegerius told Bloomberg on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Türkiye, on Tuesday. “We are at our limit,” she said…
While Ubisoft is still staying quiet about what’s coming in the next Far Cry installment, a notable dataminer has recently leaked details about what the development team is planning for Far Cry 7, and the claims suggest a major departure from the series’ formula. Far Cry fans haven’t seen a new entry since 2021, marking the longest stretch without a new game for a franchise that had reliably maintained three to four-year development cycles. Far Cry has been a staple franchise for Ubisoft for over two decades now; however, its future remains a mystery. Recent interviews with Ubisoft CEO Yves…
The Trump administration hasn’t been perfect on Second Amendment issues, but I think it’s fair to say that there’s a night-and-day difference between it and the Biden administration when it comes to firearms, gun owners, and “gun violence.” Under Donald Trump, the DOJ is going after cities and states infringing on our right to keep and bear arms, while the ATF is focused on disrupting gun trafficking networks and pursuing violent offenders instead of adopting rules and policies that are aimed at firearm manufacturers and lawful gun owners. While those of us who care about our…
