V*agara, and Nigerian scam letters, I also get a lot of grammatically-garbled e-mails that begin like this one: "Hi friend, Greeting from Ceina. Compoka,China--Headphone manufacturer. What kind of headphones and earphones are you collecting now? Hope we can do some help for you...."

This constant barrage of e-mails are a sign that mainland China is gaining global dominance in manufacturing of consumer goods.

One of my frequent topics of discussion in SurvivalBlog is generically called "field gear." This includes tents, sleeping bags, backpacks, military load bearing gear, compact stoves, canteens, knives, fire starters, first aid kits, and so forth. While the limits of this category are nebulous, I like to think of field gear as just what a foot soldier would carry on his back, or what a backcountry guide would load on his packhorses.

Surprisingly few brands of field gear are now American made.