I have heard "I can't do much now because I don't have any money" or some variation of that theme more times than I can count. Without discussing financial stuff about how to improve your situation by decreasing your expenses in a big way here are some ideas to increase your preparedness without it costing you any money.
First get off of the couch and take your lazy ass for a run. PT is free and it is good for you and me.
Second cook at home. While out of the scope of this article it is worth noting that you will save money cooking your own food. Practice making good food out of basic staples now. Having the ability to turn a bag of flour, a bit of yeast and small amounts of another thing or two into a wide variety of yummy baked stuff is a good thing.
Clean your guns.
Put together the best GHB that you can from stuff already in the house.
Grow something.
Fill 2 liter soda jugs (if you drink soda) up with water and store them.
Organize and inventory.
Make lists.
Go for a hike.
Go camping. If you have the basic equipment and live near some sort of desert/ mountains/ prairie/ wilderness this should only cost a few gallons of gas and maybe a park entrance fee. Technically this isn't totally free but as a substitution for renting a couple of videos (or whatever other cheap weekend thing you were going to do) I consider it no cost. Also testing your all of your fancy gear might lead to some meaningful realizations.
Go to the library and find useful books.
Go for another run.
The list goes on but I am tired of writing. Early wake up and getting home late is somewhat cutting into my time for this stuff. Don't think I will read at all today. Probably get caught up on my reading during the long weekend.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Small Pistols, An Alternate Perspective
I am not sure quite how I feel about this one. Some folks tend to write/ post things only when they absolutely approve of the ideas conveyed and these ideas fit into some sort of a cohesive vision. For better or worse I don't roll that way. Sometimes my opinions change when confronted with new experiences, concerns or perspectives. Other times I just have a thought and post it. This post is somewhere between a cohesive thought and a Devils Advocate position on just about everything commonly said about handguns for personal protection.
Here are a couple observations I have recently made:
1. If carrying a handgun is more than mildly inconvenient most people will not do it, at least with any consistency.
2. Far too often the 'experts' make factual comparisons of ballistics and such that show the obvious superiority of bigger more powerful cartridges. These are at least in part to show that only old women, the feeble and confused would carry anything less than the aforementioned big powerful cartridge. What these comparisons completely fail to take into account is the indisputable superiority of smaller pistols over harsh words or a right hook.
3. A lot of the what we do and don't believe about pistols for self defense was written down long ago. Saying that a bullet needs to be really big to stop a goblin would be like saying that a car needs a huge V-8 to have good performance. That big bullets stop goblins and cars with huge engines tend to be fast is accurate that does not mean that only big bullets stop goblins only cars with huge engines can be fast. In the arena of pistols for anti personnel tasks modern high quality self defense ammunition has made much of what used to be fact into baseless stereotypes.
I have come to think that maybe there is more of a role for smaller pistols than I have previously imagined. For those whose budget, small living space, personality, etc leave them in a place where they will own just one pistol (yeah I hate bringing that discussion up) it would be wise to have it be one they can and will carry regularly. Even if your budget allows for a few more choices it is still wise to have a pistol that you will carry regularly.
Yes, I know that you carry a full sized 1911 with 5 spare mags and a Ka Bar all day long every day, good for you but most people can't or simply won't do this. If they are convinced that the only guns you should own are large caliber full sized handguns there is a very realistic chance of them being in an encounter where they need a gun and (though they have several full sized handguns) are unarmed. Just as you always seem to get in a wreck very close to home, I imagine violent encounters happen the same way. You will get mugged at the corner store when you run in to grab a quart of milk not when you have to go to the bad side of the tracks loaded for bear to pick up a friend whose car broke down at 2 am. A small gun that is with you when that punk sticks a knife in your face is a lot more useful then a full sized handgun stashed in the night stand or glove box.
I intentionally did not mention exact sizes, models or calibers in this post. I suppose I will let you draw your own conclusions on that one. To slightly modify some great advice I have heard before "get the largest gun you can shoot well and will carry all the time".
Here are a couple observations I have recently made:
1. If carrying a handgun is more than mildly inconvenient most people will not do it, at least with any consistency.
2. Far too often the 'experts' make factual comparisons of ballistics and such that show the obvious superiority of bigger more powerful cartridges. These are at least in part to show that only old women, the feeble and confused would carry anything less than the aforementioned big powerful cartridge. What these comparisons completely fail to take into account is the indisputable superiority of smaller pistols over harsh words or a right hook.
3. A lot of the what we do and don't believe about pistols for self defense was written down long ago. Saying that a bullet needs to be really big to stop a goblin would be like saying that a car needs a huge V-8 to have good performance. That big bullets stop goblins and cars with huge engines tend to be fast is accurate that does not mean that only big bullets stop goblins only cars with huge engines can be fast. In the arena of pistols for anti personnel tasks modern high quality self defense ammunition has made much of what used to be fact into baseless stereotypes.
I have come to think that maybe there is more of a role for smaller pistols than I have previously imagined. For those whose budget, small living space, personality, etc leave them in a place where they will own just one pistol (yeah I hate bringing that discussion up) it would be wise to have it be one they can and will carry regularly. Even if your budget allows for a few more choices it is still wise to have a pistol that you will carry regularly.
Yes, I know that you carry a full sized 1911 with 5 spare mags and a Ka Bar all day long every day, good for you but most people can't or simply won't do this. If they are convinced that the only guns you should own are large caliber full sized handguns there is a very realistic chance of them being in an encounter where they need a gun and (though they have several full sized handguns) are unarmed. Just as you always seem to get in a wreck very close to home, I imagine violent encounters happen the same way. You will get mugged at the corner store when you run in to grab a quart of milk not when you have to go to the bad side of the tracks loaded for bear to pick up a friend whose car broke down at 2 am. A small gun that is with you when that punk sticks a knife in your face is a lot more useful then a full sized handgun stashed in the night stand or glove box.
I intentionally did not mention exact sizes, models or calibers in this post. I suppose I will let you draw your own conclusions on that one. To slightly modify some great advice I have heard before "get the largest gun you can shoot well and will carry all the time".
Monday, June 29, 2009
What Did You Do To Prepare This Week?
This is fun because it is sort of a combination of reviewing my week and giving you all a bit of a gut check to see if you did anything this week. Of course every week may not have monumental progress but if no weeks have progress you probably aren't headed on the right path.
This week I learned from Wifey to make french toast that tasted like french toast as opposed to egg sopped bread. We also put a few more bucks in the emergency fund to get it to a nice easy to remember round number. Today at Walmart I hit the frickin jackpot for 9mm ammo. Bought two 100rd boxes of JHP's for $23 a piece. Also for four 50rd boxes of 9mm ball ammo for $10. Didn't buy them out either (well I got all the JHP) as they had 8 or so boxes of 50 rd 9mm ball. Interestingly enough they seemed to have gotten the first real delivery of pistol ammo I can recall. At least 300rds of .38 special, and a reasonable amount of .40 S&W and some .45ACP to boot. Now I am done buying 9mm for the time being having reached a nice round number which makes me comfortable.
In any case hope you all did something to prepare this week.
This week I learned from Wifey to make french toast that tasted like french toast as opposed to egg sopped bread. We also put a few more bucks in the emergency fund to get it to a nice easy to remember round number. Today at Walmart I hit the frickin jackpot for 9mm ammo. Bought two 100rd boxes of JHP's for $23 a piece. Also for four 50rd boxes of 9mm ball ammo for $10. Didn't buy them out either (well I got all the JHP) as they had 8 or so boxes of 50 rd 9mm ball. Interestingly enough they seemed to have gotten the first real delivery of pistol ammo I can recall. At least 300rds of .38 special, and a reasonable amount of .40 S&W and some .45ACP to boot. Now I am done buying 9mm for the time being having reached a nice round number which makes me comfortable.
In any case hope you all did something to prepare this week.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
The Hangover: A Movie Review
Yesterday afternoon we went and saw The Hangover. We really enjoyed it a lot. It was very random and completely hilarious. There is just something about a good rated R comedy which can not be done in PG-13. The real comedy which comes up in adult life is very often R rated so respite numerous attempts many very funny things just can not be translated into the PG-13 format.
Like any good movie The Hangover starts with a realistic situation albeit magnified to make things interesting. Throwing in some of the most random stuff I have ever seen in a movie helped this one out. I think anyone who was sat around in the morning (or mid afternoon) with friends trying to piece together a wild night of partying can see shades of their self in this movie. While most of us have probably not had a night quite as wild as this one we can enjoy the similarities. Best of all no pounding headache, dry mouth, angry stomach, dysfunctional financial fallout or strained relationships!
I like that this movies characters were unapologetic. There was no great moral at the end where everyone became a better person. That this whole wild weekend started out with 3 normal guys and 1 weirdo going to Vegas for a bachelor party was a nice touch.
It does not surprise me a bit that the director of Old School was involved in this movie. The Hangover does however manage to avoid the cliche of relying solely on dick and fart jokes, a big name or two and some random boobs to make it worth watching. Not that it doesn't have some of those elements but they are not what makes the movie.
We enjoyed this movie and if you are a fan of the R rated movie genre I suspect you will enjoy it also.
Plus how can a movie that has a tiger and Mike Tyson singing In The Air Tonight not be frickin awesome.
An Interesting Article on the Walther PPK .380
Check out the article here.
A good friend of mine carries and swears by his vintage German made Walther PPK in .380. I have had the opportunity to shoot that pistol once and fiddle with it on several occasions. I found it quite a pleasure to shoot. While it is a pretty small pistol it certainly does not shoot like one.
If you pay real close attention to the ramblings which flow out of my head and into these pages you would know that not so long ago I intended to purchase a Bersa .380 Thunder. The Bersa .380 which could be well described as the poor mans Walther PPK. I ended up going with the Glock 19 which is a far more useful if slightly bulkier pistol. I do not regret that choice in any way but a beautiful, quality single stack .380 is still on my list. Those characteristics are best seen in the Walther PPK in .380.
As for my assessment of the Walther PPK in .380 (and I suppose the Bersa .380) I think they have a good role as an easy to shoot pistol that is very easy to conceal. Very easy to conceal means that you will actually carry it. Yes the full sized pistol would be better to have in a fight but it will probably be sitting in the nightstand or the glove box/ center console when that punk sticks a knife in your face while coming out of the store with a gallon of milk.
If one pistol has to be your everything I would strongly suggest a compact sized pistol in .38/.357, 9mm or .40S&W. However if your tastes and budget allow you a bit more flexibility (via multiple pistols) a Walther could be nice to have.
The article linked to another article which compares the Walther PPK and the umbiquous .38 snubby. The fellow went into more detail than I care to but I absolutely agree with his observations on both guns. The .38 snubby carries a more powerful (a relative term) load than the .380 is capable of. On the other hand the Walther PPK is easier for most people to shoot well. I will not dwell on the conclusion (he prefers the .38) but thought the comparison was worth noting. If forced to carry only one of those two pistols I would pack the Walther and I guess that says it all.
While I think the Glock 19 is a better carry option than anything mentioned above a Walther PPK will find its way into my collection and to a lesser degree the carry rotation. Good for times a compact 9mm is just a bit too big and nothing beats it in a shoulder holster with a Tuxedo.
A good friend of mine carries and swears by his vintage German made Walther PPK in .380. I have had the opportunity to shoot that pistol once and fiddle with it on several occasions. I found it quite a pleasure to shoot. While it is a pretty small pistol it certainly does not shoot like one.
If you pay real close attention to the ramblings which flow out of my head and into these pages you would know that not so long ago I intended to purchase a Bersa .380 Thunder. The Bersa .380 which could be well described as the poor mans Walther PPK. I ended up going with the Glock 19 which is a far more useful if slightly bulkier pistol. I do not regret that choice in any way but a beautiful, quality single stack .380 is still on my list. Those characteristics are best seen in the Walther PPK in .380.
As for my assessment of the Walther PPK in .380 (and I suppose the Bersa .380) I think they have a good role as an easy to shoot pistol that is very easy to conceal. Very easy to conceal means that you will actually carry it. Yes the full sized pistol would be better to have in a fight but it will probably be sitting in the nightstand or the glove box/ center console when that punk sticks a knife in your face while coming out of the store with a gallon of milk.
If one pistol has to be your everything I would strongly suggest a compact sized pistol in .38/.357, 9mm or .40S&W. However if your tastes and budget allow you a bit more flexibility (via multiple pistols) a Walther could be nice to have.
The article linked to another article which compares the Walther PPK and the umbiquous .38 snubby. The fellow went into more detail than I care to but I absolutely agree with his observations on both guns. The .38 snubby carries a more powerful (a relative term) load than the .380 is capable of. On the other hand the Walther PPK is easier for most people to shoot well. I will not dwell on the conclusion (he prefers the .38) but thought the comparison was worth noting. If forced to carry only one of those two pistols I would pack the Walther and I guess that says it all.
While I think the Glock 19 is a better carry option than anything mentioned above a Walther PPK will find its way into my collection and to a lesser degree the carry rotation. Good for times a compact 9mm is just a bit too big and nothing beats it in a shoulder holster with a Tuxedo.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Can Haz Bully Prevenshun
I was reading Shauna Glenns blog and it lead me to an article about bullying. I think all of that conceptual stuff about avoidance and communication is nice. However in bully prevention I think being able to put a decent three punch combo is far more useful.
We should probably define bullying. After reading a few definitions online I am establishing my informal definition as "persistent teasing with a threat (or actual use of) of physical force usually by an older or larger person". Bullying is not normal teasing (which is a cruel topic in and of itself) or gang activity. These can overlap but advice for dealing with gang activity would be very different.
Every experience I have had and seen shows me that physical violence stops bullying.
I can remember two significant bullying experiences in my life. In elementary school this kid a year older seemed to have it out for me. I don't remember his name but I remember him pushing me and then me kicking him square in the balls on three different occasions.
Years later I was a freshmen in high school. There was a junior who if he was smarter would have gone to college to wear polo shirts with the collars up and date raped as many drunk girls as possible. He and I instantly did not get along probably because I did not take his shit. While I don't remember exactly what set this off I do remember choking the hell out of him before a couple guys pulled me off. After that he and I did not get along but he definitely never laid a hand on my or implied that he would do so.
Bullies are cowards who use their age/ size to intimidate others. They might want to push someone around or even rough them up but they do not want an actual fight even with a much smaller opponent. If a kid makes it clear through their actions that every time the bully tries to push them around there will be a fight that problem goes away rapidly. Even if the bully wins the fight they will back off and find easier targets.
The way to deal with bullies is to teach your kids to deal with bullies is some rudimentary hand to hand combat skills and empower them to use those skills in certain situations.
We should probably define bullying. After reading a few definitions online I am establishing my informal definition as "persistent teasing with a threat (or actual use of) of physical force usually by an older or larger person". Bullying is not normal teasing (which is a cruel topic in and of itself) or gang activity. These can overlap but advice for dealing with gang activity would be very different.
Every experience I have had and seen shows me that physical violence stops bullying.
I can remember two significant bullying experiences in my life. In elementary school this kid a year older seemed to have it out for me. I don't remember his name but I remember him pushing me and then me kicking him square in the balls on three different occasions.
Years later I was a freshmen in high school. There was a junior who if he was smarter would have gone to college to wear polo shirts with the collars up and date raped as many drunk girls as possible. He and I instantly did not get along probably because I did not take his shit. While I don't remember exactly what set this off I do remember choking the hell out of him before a couple guys pulled me off. After that he and I did not get along but he definitely never laid a hand on my or implied that he would do so.
Bullies are cowards who use their age/ size to intimidate others. They might want to push someone around or even rough them up but they do not want an actual fight even with a much smaller opponent. If a kid makes it clear through their actions that every time the bully tries to push them around there will be a fight that problem goes away rapidly. Even if the bully wins the fight they will back off and find easier targets.
The way to deal with bullies is to teach your kids to deal with bullies is some rudimentary hand to hand combat skills and empower them to use those skills in certain situations.
Friday, June 26, 2009
life
Well, I thought I would give everyone a quick update on life over here.
Work has been great! I lost a bench trial this week, but it was because the facts didn't support my position. And no, I didn't know that going in. I do however have my first felony jury trial next week. Good times!
I still don't have the internet at the house. Its just not worth the cash. However, typing posts on my blackberry is a pain in the ass.
I am still hoping that a good movie comes out. I have high hopes for GI Joe.
Thanks for reading. I will be back to normal posting mid in a month or so
Work has been great! I lost a bench trial this week, but it was because the facts didn't support my position. And no, I didn't know that going in. I do however have my first felony jury trial next week. Good times!
I still don't have the internet at the house. Its just not worth the cash. However, typing posts on my blackberry is a pain in the ass.
I am still hoping that a good movie comes out. I have high hopes for GI Joe.
Thanks for reading. I will be back to normal posting mid in a month or so
If it is such a great plan, why isn't it good enough for them?
"SOME ANIMALS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS" DEP'T: "Last September Sen. Barack Obama promised that under his health-care proposal 'you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that members of Congress give themselves.' On Monday, President Obama repeated that promise in a speech to the American Medical Association. It's not true.
"The president is barnstorming the nation, urging swift approval of legislation that is taking shape in Congress. This legislation -- the Affordable Health Choices Act that's being drafted by Sen. Edward Kennedy's staff and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee -- will push Americans into stingy insurance plans with tight, HMO-style controls. It specifically exempts members of Congress (along with federal employees; the exemptions are in section 3116).
"Members of Congress 'enjoy the widest selection of health plans in the country,' according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. They 'can choose from among consumer-driven and high deductible plans that offer catastrophic risk protection with higher deductibles, health saving/reimbursable accounts and lower premiums, or fee-for-service (FFS) plans, and their preferred provider organizations (PPO), or health maintenance organizations (HMO).' These choices would be nice for all of us, but they're not in the offing. Instead, if you don't enroll in a 'qualified' health plan and submit proof of enrollment to the federal government, you'll be tracked down and fined (sections 3101 and 6055)." -- Betsy McCaughey, Wall Street Journal (6/19/2009).
"The president is barnstorming the nation, urging swift approval of legislation that is taking shape in Congress. This legislation -- the Affordable Health Choices Act that's being drafted by Sen. Edward Kennedy's staff and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee -- will push Americans into stingy insurance plans with tight, HMO-style controls. It specifically exempts members of Congress (along with federal employees; the exemptions are in section 3116).
"Members of Congress 'enjoy the widest selection of health plans in the country,' according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. They 'can choose from among consumer-driven and high deductible plans that offer catastrophic risk protection with higher deductibles, health saving/reimbursable accounts and lower premiums, or fee-for-service (FFS) plans, and their preferred provider organizations (PPO), or health maintenance organizations (HMO).' These choices would be nice for all of us, but they're not in the offing. Instead, if you don't enroll in a 'qualified' health plan and submit proof of enrollment to the federal government, you'll be tracked down and fined (sections 3101 and 6055)." -- Betsy McCaughey, Wall Street Journal (6/19/2009).
Why Would You Ever Consider This
(612): life lesson learned today: sleeping pills and laxatives don't mix.
Selling Guns Two
My friend got back to me about selling guns and he is interested. We haven't talked prices for the Glock lot yet. I have done some looking and trying to guestimate value. Sort of curious about your opinion.
The Glock .40 lot includes:
A gently used 2nd Gen Glock 22 with trijicon night sights
10- 15 rd magazines. A few new but all in good working condition.
A bit shy (wanna say 900ish) of a full case of ammunition. About 1/4 of it is Wolf and a hundred rounds or so of JHP defense ammo, the rest is miscellaneous manufacture brass cased FMJ.
I remember the prices for this and that but since the whole lot was purchased over several years and prices have changed dramatically I am not entirely sure of an overall value.
As Stephen put it I certainly need to make back what I paid and factor something in for inflation (the gun was bought in 2002 and ammo 2004-2006). I am also sort of figuring out the friend discount he is going to get. I did get a very good deal on a rifle from him last summer.
What would you sell that lot to a stranger for?
What would you sell that lot to a friend for?
Thanks.
The Glock .40 lot includes:
A gently used 2nd Gen Glock 22 with trijicon night sights
10- 15 rd magazines. A few new but all in good working condition.
A bit shy (wanna say 900ish) of a full case of ammunition. About 1/4 of it is Wolf and a hundred rounds or so of JHP defense ammo, the rest is miscellaneous manufacture brass cased FMJ.
I remember the prices for this and that but since the whole lot was purchased over several years and prices have changed dramatically I am not entirely sure of an overall value.
As Stephen put it I certainly need to make back what I paid and factor something in for inflation (the gun was bought in 2002 and ammo 2004-2006). I am also sort of figuring out the friend discount he is going to get. I did get a very good deal on a rifle from him last summer.
What would you sell that lot to a stranger for?
What would you sell that lot to a friend for?
Thanks.
Reply To My Senator
Dear Senator $%%*(#*#%), I agree that our health care system can use some improvement but fundamentally disagree about how to go about it. As for the concept of a government run health care plan I believe that is a horrible idea. I am not a doctor and do not have a real fancy degree but I have some thoughts. First I ask why anybody has confidence in the government to run ANYTHING in a generally smooth manner. Casing point, have you been to the DMV lately?
Second I ask for an example of a single time when government has gotten involved in something and made it cheaper or more efficient? Government makes pretty much everything it gets involved in more expensive, less efficient and harder to navigate. It probably does this for many reasons but the first that I can see is that IT HAS NO INCENTIVE TO DO ANYTHING ELSE. If a private company can not make money because their expenses are too high or they can not get enough customers they fix things or go out of business. A government program that falters or outright fails gets MORE MONEY.
As a third reason what part of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security give confidence that this is anything but a horrible idea.
The three reasons I mentioned before are pragmatic functional reasons this is a horrible idea. Now I have a simple philosophical point. America is a country where people work hard because THEY WANT TO HAVE A BETTER LIFE FOR THEMSELF AND THEIR FAMILY. The more we take from productive citizens the less they have any desire to work hard and earn more which is good for everyone. Conversely the more we give people who for whatever reason are not productive citizens the easier we make their lives doing nothing (for themselves or 'society') the less likely they are to make hard choices and become productive citizens.
I do have a couple of thoughts on how to deal with our various health care issues:
1. Why do Americans pay more then people in other nations for the exact same drugs? Seems like fixing that would be a great start.
2. Why do drug companies get to change the color of a pill and extend their patent at the much lower initial cost?
3. What about tort reform. This will help bring down enormous Mal Practice insurance premiums and Doctors will probably lower their prices accordingly.
I would like to close by paraphrasing a quote by Thomas Sowell "It is a fallacy to assume we can afford anything collectively that we cannot afford individually".
Thank your for your time.
Ryan $*%$(#@&*$)!
PS, I am not as good about writing my representatives as maybe I should be. Given that they listen so much I usually don't bother wasting my time. I did write awhile back about some potential totalitarian back door gun ban via ammo stuff. This got me on the email list which lead to me getting an email about why I should support the march to socialist health care. I felt like replying and it turns out my Senators in box is currently full. I will resend tomorrow.
Second I ask for an example of a single time when government has gotten involved in something and made it cheaper or more efficient? Government makes pretty much everything it gets involved in more expensive, less efficient and harder to navigate. It probably does this for many reasons but the first that I can see is that IT HAS NO INCENTIVE TO DO ANYTHING ELSE. If a private company can not make money because their expenses are too high or they can not get enough customers they fix things or go out of business. A government program that falters or outright fails gets MORE MONEY.
As a third reason what part of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security give confidence that this is anything but a horrible idea.
The three reasons I mentioned before are pragmatic functional reasons this is a horrible idea. Now I have a simple philosophical point. America is a country where people work hard because THEY WANT TO HAVE A BETTER LIFE FOR THEMSELF AND THEIR FAMILY. The more we take from productive citizens the less they have any desire to work hard and earn more which is good for everyone. Conversely the more we give people who for whatever reason are not productive citizens the easier we make their lives doing nothing (for themselves or 'society') the less likely they are to make hard choices and become productive citizens.
I do have a couple of thoughts on how to deal with our various health care issues:
1. Why do Americans pay more then people in other nations for the exact same drugs? Seems like fixing that would be a great start.
2. Why do drug companies get to change the color of a pill and extend their patent at the much lower initial cost?
3. What about tort reform. This will help bring down enormous Mal Practice insurance premiums and Doctors will probably lower their prices accordingly.
I would like to close by paraphrasing a quote by Thomas Sowell "It is a fallacy to assume we can afford anything collectively that we cannot afford individually".
Thank your for your time.
Ryan $*%$(#@&*$)!
PS, I am not as good about writing my representatives as maybe I should be. Given that they listen so much I usually don't bother wasting my time. I did write awhile back about some potential totalitarian back door gun ban via ammo stuff. This got me on the email list which lead to me getting an email about why I should support the march to socialist health care. I felt like replying and it turns out my Senators in box is currently full. I will resend tomorrow.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Selling Guns
This was spurred by a conversation with a friend who mentioned coming into some cash soon and wanting to pick up a couple of guns. I have a couple guns I will sell if he is interested. It would be nice to have a leaner meaner collection.
The first is a double barreled EAA Balkai coach gun with internal hammers. Don't remember exactly what possessed me to buy that gun. In the long run I would like to have one with external hammers. This gun while not useless is a heck of a lot less useful then another 870 or a box full of spare parts for my other guns.
The second is a full sized Glock .40 cal. I am not really doing anything with it. Also I just don't like it anywhere near as well as the .45 or the 9mm. My friend already owns one already and mentioned wanting a spare. During our conversation I was somewhat vague about being willing to part with mine. After some thinking I told him that if he is interested in the pistol along with the accompanying stash of magazines and ammunition I will sell the lot off. If my friend is not interested I will hold onto it for the foreseeable future. I don't have the time or inclination to sell shit off piece mill so worst case will just hold onto the whole thing.
If my friend is interested in the .40 cal lot at a reasonable price (we may revisit that topic later) I am not sure what I would do with the cash. Probably get something from the Wish List, a Walther PPK/S .380 would sure be nice but I would let the dust settle for awhile.
Not sure if my friend is interested or was just making conversation. In any case these guns sitting around isn't hurting me any.
Thoughts?
The first is a double barreled EAA Balkai coach gun with internal hammers. Don't remember exactly what possessed me to buy that gun. In the long run I would like to have one with external hammers. This gun while not useless is a heck of a lot less useful then another 870 or a box full of spare parts for my other guns.
The second is a full sized Glock .40 cal. I am not really doing anything with it. Also I just don't like it anywhere near as well as the .45 or the 9mm. My friend already owns one already and mentioned wanting a spare. During our conversation I was somewhat vague about being willing to part with mine. After some thinking I told him that if he is interested in the pistol along with the accompanying stash of magazines and ammunition I will sell the lot off. If my friend is not interested I will hold onto it for the foreseeable future. I don't have the time or inclination to sell shit off piece mill so worst case will just hold onto the whole thing.
If my friend is interested in the .40 cal lot at a reasonable price (we may revisit that topic later) I am not sure what I would do with the cash. Probably get something from the Wish List, a Walther PPK/S .380 would sure be nice but I would let the dust settle for awhile.
Not sure if my friend is interested or was just making conversation. In any case these guns sitting around isn't hurting me any.
Thoughts?
Taxing Healthcare Benefits
This pisses me off. I already pay enough taxes. This talk of a union exemption (because this makes them unhappy) really makes me want to start burning down union halls. Those asshats have already ruined enough industries.
The march towards a single payer plan is going to cost TRILLIONS of dollars which we do not have. Also it is worth noting that while government programs never get smaller, less invasive or less costly the opposite ALWAYS happens.
I don't have a real clue how to fix our health care system but this can not be the answer.
The march towards a single payer plan is going to cost TRILLIONS of dollars which we do not have. Also it is worth noting that while government programs never get smaller, less invasive or less costly the opposite ALWAYS happens.
I don't have a real clue how to fix our health care system but this can not be the answer.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Another Perspective on Potential Small Business Choices
I am not a small business owner and probably will never be one. Don't really think I have the temperament for it. For those who do many things can be said. I have touched on it in a modest way in this threat. In any case a new concern has come to my attention. This has come to my attention through the anecdotal observation of a friends experiences.
My friend is in a business that has relatively significant federal and state oversight. These folks do absolutely nothing to help him, take lots of his money and generally make things as big of a pain in the ass as possible. Ridiculous fees go way beyond administrative costs and are just another shameless attempt for government to get its hands on every dollar it possibly can.
In typical government fashion fees never go down and new forms though common to not supersede previous forms. Of course with each of these forms comes a few new fees.
Generally spending hours filling out some form to have the right to conduct the sort of private business which you conducted previously. Miss dotting an i or crossing a t and all of a sudden you no longer have the right to conduct business.
From my very anecdotal observation my friend spends at least as much time dealing with state and federal agencies as he actually does with real work. Days spent doing this BS waste time which could be put into the business or various other pursuits.
Worst of all this stuff is really starting to take a toll on him.
There are a lot of different ways to choose a potential business. Admittedly your current skill set and what you enjoy will probably do 90% of the job of choosing a business plan. I would say that it is worth at least considering that avoiding fields with high government oversight is a desirable thing to do.
Avoiding three simple letters will go a long way toward keeping .gov out of your hair, A T F. If you stay away from alcohol, tobacco and firearms it will go a long way toward having as much freedom in conducting your business as possible. Being a licensed firearms dealer is quite possibly the worst choice in terms of government intrusion. it is true that some private individuals might happen to buy and sell a lot of guns to other individuals through word of mouth and on the gun show circuit. While I can not speak of the the legality of that it seems like a likely way to find yourself interacting with the A T F.
Just about every business which operates in a city and or has some sort of an office will need to deal with government at some level if only for a business license and building permits/ zoning considerations.
Also if a business has intimate, regular dealings with state or federal government I imagine it would be a lot more difficult to be (cough) creative when it comes to income, taxes and such.
Just something to consider. I am starting to smell dinner so it is time to wrap this up.
My friend is in a business that has relatively significant federal and state oversight. These folks do absolutely nothing to help him, take lots of his money and generally make things as big of a pain in the ass as possible. Ridiculous fees go way beyond administrative costs and are just another shameless attempt for government to get its hands on every dollar it possibly can.
In typical government fashion fees never go down and new forms though common to not supersede previous forms. Of course with each of these forms comes a few new fees.
Generally spending hours filling out some form to have the right to conduct the sort of private business which you conducted previously. Miss dotting an i or crossing a t and all of a sudden you no longer have the right to conduct business.
From my very anecdotal observation my friend spends at least as much time dealing with state and federal agencies as he actually does with real work. Days spent doing this BS waste time which could be put into the business or various other pursuits.
Worst of all this stuff is really starting to take a toll on him.
There are a lot of different ways to choose a potential business. Admittedly your current skill set and what you enjoy will probably do 90% of the job of choosing a business plan. I would say that it is worth at least considering that avoiding fields with high government oversight is a desirable thing to do.
Avoiding three simple letters will go a long way toward keeping .gov out of your hair, A T F. If you stay away from alcohol, tobacco and firearms it will go a long way toward having as much freedom in conducting your business as possible. Being a licensed firearms dealer is quite possibly the worst choice in terms of government intrusion. it is true that some private individuals might happen to buy and sell a lot of guns to other individuals through word of mouth and on the gun show circuit. While I can not speak of the the legality of that it seems like a likely way to find yourself interacting with the A T F.
Just about every business which operates in a city and or has some sort of an office will need to deal with government at some level if only for a business license and building permits/ zoning considerations.
Also if a business has intimate, regular dealings with state or federal government I imagine it would be a lot more difficult to be (cough) creative when it comes to income, taxes and such.
Just something to consider. I am starting to smell dinner so it is time to wrap this up.
worthwhile quote
"The key is to purchase based on what you can pay each month, not what a bank tells you you can afford!"
-Lila on purchasing a home.
-Lila on purchasing a home.
Fed says recession easing, inflation is tame
This article really goes a long way to calming my fears. I would have thought that the trillions of dollars which have been created out of thin air would decrease the scarcity and value of money which would increase the prices of goods. I also would have figured there would be a corresponding increase in interest rates as bankers realize they need to not only worry about getting their money back but the decreased value of that money. I also would have thought that 'recovery' would involve people getting back to work but what do I know. This article explaining how we can have a recovery without any of these things makes me feel better.
Smaller Affordable Homes Are New Trend
Watch the video here. I think we all have different concepts of small and affordable but this probably isn't a bad thing. Maybe people are seeing that having a home you can actually afford to pay for is more important then having the biggest fanciest place on the block.
quote of the day
"I love this country, Danny, I just, sometimes I just don't recognize it anymore."
-Alan Shore on Boston Legal
-Alan Shore on Boston Legal
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Applied Ethics and Ballistics With My Bestest Blogger Gal From OK
I got this comment from Pearls yesterday and have been stewing on it since them. Didn't come to any real amazing answers since then.
If you missed the background here is what you need to get up to speed.
Pearls says, Its the fact that people will do anything to survive that would keep me from allowing someone to cross my land. I don't want them telling someone else how they traveled. I don't want to become accustomed to "outsiders" so close on my land. I done want someone to see our diggs, preps, outside buildings, gardens, livestock or my family.
I am very familiar with the original guys post on western OKC/OK as well as the land he was describing and have been following the post afterwords with interest.
Cutting a fence will get you shot - I find a lock that isn't mine on my chain....well, the chain will be cut off - a new one put in its place and a close watching of the gate will ensue.
TOR is right - people will do what it takes to survive - keeping my land off limits is just one step in making sure that is exactly what happens to my fam...
A trespasser (which is what they are) may have absolutely no intent on harming me or my family, but I have no way of knowing that and I am not willing to take that chance that they do want to do us harm....
I realize that the original poster was talking about bugging out and I am coming from a "set" position, but both sides need to be evaluated before you take any action - just looking at it from someone wanting to pass and ignoring the landowner is dangerous.
TOR replies:
Pearls, Great comment. Interesting perspective and points. I can definitely see where you are coming from. These sort of ethical discussions to not lead themselves to clear cut moral clarity but I believe the process of thinking through them has some value. I certainly agree that looking at it solely from the side of the traveler would not be a realistic perspective.
My one real question is... Would you would rather have a desperate person (or group) who went through the pasture then bypassed the blocked bridge/ whatever and is driving away or a desperate person (or group) stewing knowing you are the person preventing them from getting home?
Consider the risks of NOT allowing simple passage as well as the risks of allowing it.
As for my other thoughts. I think it depends a lot on the size of your land and its potential as an alternate route. If you live near a choke point (bridge, highway intersection, pass, etc) and your land backs up to BLM/USFS/etc land with viable alternate routes this is probably a significant issue to think about. If you live towards the end of a dirt road and are surrounded by other private land owners with routes to nowhere then it is a minimal concern.
While the criteria for lethal force varies significantly from state to state I can't see anyplace possible being cool with drilling some guy in the face with an '06 from 300 yards because he gets near a fence with a pair of wire cutters. In all but a genuine full on TEOTWAWKI shooting someone simply because they arguably attempt to cut a fence is going to get you at least a decade in a small cement room with a large woman (who probably likes women) named 'Spike'. And that is assuming you win the gunfight. Crazy things happen when people get in gun fights and a sure thing can quickly turn into a very bad situation.
I did come up with one potential easy get out of this ethical conundrum option for the land owner. As a 'traveler' would be wise to at least attempt to gain permission instead of trespassing a land owner could be well advised to simply do their homework and know another way to the likely alternate route (aside from across their land). Lets say people might want to cross your pasture to get to a gravel road which leads to unimproved road 231 that will get them around the bridge and home. The path of least resistance might be suggesting going back one mile to Johnson road where you will take the third left, travel one half mile and then take the first right which T's into unimproved road 231.
It is probably worth considering other potential variables into the equation such as:
-What sort of event is this? Blackout/ hurricane/ earthquake/ riot/ etc or a genuine TEOTWAWKI. This will factor heavily into what you are capable of doing to protect your property without visiting 'Spike'. It will also factor into the desperation and potential reactions of travelers/ possible trespassers.
-Are you willing to kill someone because they want to cross your land? It is easy to think about a couple meth maggots who cut your fence but what about a Mom with two kids who really wants to get home and will not leave the front gate?
-What is your real ability to stop potential trespassers. Just as it is easy to see the moral clarity of our position it is easy to see how our plan will work as we intend it to. Assuming an armed threat or even shooting someone will end the matter is very idealistic.
As a final thought I do not have any clear or concise answers to these questions. Real world ethics questions are difficult because they live in complex shades of grey. It is interesting that people almost universally see the moral argument for THEIR perspective while somehow ignoring that any moral argument could exist on the other side.
If you missed the background here is what you need to get up to speed.
Pearls says, Its the fact that people will do anything to survive that would keep me from allowing someone to cross my land. I don't want them telling someone else how they traveled. I don't want to become accustomed to "outsiders" so close on my land. I done want someone to see our diggs, preps, outside buildings, gardens, livestock or my family.
I am very familiar with the original guys post on western OKC/OK as well as the land he was describing and have been following the post afterwords with interest.
Cutting a fence will get you shot - I find a lock that isn't mine on my chain....well, the chain will be cut off - a new one put in its place and a close watching of the gate will ensue.
TOR is right - people will do what it takes to survive - keeping my land off limits is just one step in making sure that is exactly what happens to my fam...
A trespasser (which is what they are) may have absolutely no intent on harming me or my family, but I have no way of knowing that and I am not willing to take that chance that they do want to do us harm....
I realize that the original poster was talking about bugging out and I am coming from a "set" position, but both sides need to be evaluated before you take any action - just looking at it from someone wanting to pass and ignoring the landowner is dangerous.
TOR replies:
Pearls, Great comment. Interesting perspective and points. I can definitely see where you are coming from. These sort of ethical discussions to not lead themselves to clear cut moral clarity but I believe the process of thinking through them has some value. I certainly agree that looking at it solely from the side of the traveler would not be a realistic perspective.
My one real question is... Would you would rather have a desperate person (or group) who went through the pasture then bypassed the blocked bridge/ whatever and is driving away or a desperate person (or group) stewing knowing you are the person preventing them from getting home?
Consider the risks of NOT allowing simple passage as well as the risks of allowing it.
As for my other thoughts. I think it depends a lot on the size of your land and its potential as an alternate route. If you live near a choke point (bridge, highway intersection, pass, etc) and your land backs up to BLM/USFS/etc land with viable alternate routes this is probably a significant issue to think about. If you live towards the end of a dirt road and are surrounded by other private land owners with routes to nowhere then it is a minimal concern.
While the criteria for lethal force varies significantly from state to state I can't see anyplace possible being cool with drilling some guy in the face with an '06 from 300 yards because he gets near a fence with a pair of wire cutters. In all but a genuine full on TEOTWAWKI shooting someone simply because they arguably attempt to cut a fence is going to get you at least a decade in a small cement room with a large woman (who probably likes women) named 'Spike'. And that is assuming you win the gunfight. Crazy things happen when people get in gun fights and a sure thing can quickly turn into a very bad situation.
I did come up with one potential easy get out of this ethical conundrum option for the land owner. As a 'traveler' would be wise to at least attempt to gain permission instead of trespassing a land owner could be well advised to simply do their homework and know another way to the likely alternate route (aside from across their land). Lets say people might want to cross your pasture to get to a gravel road which leads to unimproved road 231 that will get them around the bridge and home. The path of least resistance might be suggesting going back one mile to Johnson road where you will take the third left, travel one half mile and then take the first right which T's into unimproved road 231.
It is probably worth considering other potential variables into the equation such as:
-What sort of event is this? Blackout/ hurricane/ earthquake/ riot/ etc or a genuine TEOTWAWKI. This will factor heavily into what you are capable of doing to protect your property without visiting 'Spike'. It will also factor into the desperation and potential reactions of travelers/ possible trespassers.
-Are you willing to kill someone because they want to cross your land? It is easy to think about a couple meth maggots who cut your fence but what about a Mom with two kids who really wants to get home and will not leave the front gate?
-What is your real ability to stop potential trespassers. Just as it is easy to see the moral clarity of our position it is easy to see how our plan will work as we intend it to. Assuming an armed threat or even shooting someone will end the matter is very idealistic.
As a final thought I do not have any clear or concise answers to these questions. Real world ethics questions are difficult because they live in complex shades of grey. It is interesting that people almost universally see the moral argument for THEIR perspective while somehow ignoring that any moral argument could exist on the other side.
Monday, June 22, 2009
quote of the day
"War has also taught me that each one of us contains every ingredient of the human recipe. By varying measure we are all cowards and brave men, thieves and honest men, selfish and selfless men, malingerers and champions, weasels and lions. The only question is how much of each attribute we allow-or force-to dominate our being."
-Eric L. Haney
-Eric L. Haney
Range Report: Glock Time and Shooting with Wifey
I woke up pretty late today as a combination of getting to bed late and still having a long nights sleep. Wifey out of nowhere said "lets go shooting". After getting some other stuff taken care of and the guns packed we got off to the range. Picked up 50 rounds of .38 ammo, 100rds of 9mm and a couple targets then proceeded to the firing line.
Started off at 7 meters with the Glock 9mm. Put 10 rounds into the target in a lackadaisical manner as a familiarization fire. It shot very nice and the bullets went where I wanted them to go. All well clustered in the middle. Pulling it back to 10 and then 15 meters went quite well also. I might not shoot it distinctly better then I do other pistols. However I can confidently say I shot it better faster than any other pistol I have tried to date.
Wifey then got up to the bench with her .38. We worked a bit on her stance and trigger squeeze. She shot well with her revolver keeping her grouping within dinner plate range with just a couple flyer's. To my surprise she decided to give the Glock a whirl (firearms which are not pink aren't really her thing). The recoil was a bit of a surprise for her though an increase in accuracy was noted. She is going to stick with her pistol for the foreseeable future. In any case it is very good that she has loaded and fired the Glock for familiarization purposes.
I did a bit more practice at 15 meters then decided to use the last two mags for failure drills. Those went pretty well though my head shots can use a bit of tightening up. Suppose a 147gr HP anywhere in someones melon will mess their day up pretty bad, especially if it is proceeded by two in their chest.
Wifey wants to go shooting more regularly (last time we went together was last fall) and said it might be fun for date night some time. Between ammo, targets and range fees the whole thing cost a but under $60. Not something we can afford to do every week but probably reasonable on a monthly basis or so.
Next time I am going to remember to bring electric tape to cover up the bullet holes so we can track each shot for instructional purposes. In terms of intended training I will probably do a quick warm up at 10 meters then back off to 15 for the duration. For Wifey we will focus on consistency and maybe back the distance off to 10 meters.
We both shot well and the new Glock was awesome. It was a great day at the range.
Started off at 7 meters with the Glock 9mm. Put 10 rounds into the target in a lackadaisical manner as a familiarization fire. It shot very nice and the bullets went where I wanted them to go. All well clustered in the middle. Pulling it back to 10 and then 15 meters went quite well also. I might not shoot it distinctly better then I do other pistols. However I can confidently say I shot it better faster than any other pistol I have tried to date.
Wifey then got up to the bench with her .38. We worked a bit on her stance and trigger squeeze. She shot well with her revolver keeping her grouping within dinner plate range with just a couple flyer's. To my surprise she decided to give the Glock a whirl (firearms which are not pink aren't really her thing). The recoil was a bit of a surprise for her though an increase in accuracy was noted. She is going to stick with her pistol for the foreseeable future. In any case it is very good that she has loaded and fired the Glock for familiarization purposes.
I did a bit more practice at 15 meters then decided to use the last two mags for failure drills. Those went pretty well though my head shots can use a bit of tightening up. Suppose a 147gr HP anywhere in someones melon will mess their day up pretty bad, especially if it is proceeded by two in their chest.
Wifey wants to go shooting more regularly (last time we went together was last fall) and said it might be fun for date night some time. Between ammo, targets and range fees the whole thing cost a but under $60. Not something we can afford to do every week but probably reasonable on a monthly basis or so.
Next time I am going to remember to bring electric tape to cover up the bullet holes so we can track each shot for instructional purposes. In terms of intended training I will probably do a quick warm up at 10 meters then back off to 15 for the duration. For Wifey we will focus on consistency and maybe back the distance off to 10 meters.
We both shot well and the new Glock was awesome. It was a great day at the range.
Bretton Woods System
My earlier post on the US Dollar Index got me a bit more curious about the Bretton Woods System. I read the whole wikipedia entry which is not exactly a complete history of the system but is probably a good start. It was very interesting reading.
US Dollar Index
Everybody always talks about the US Dollar Index. I hate to confess this but I have been nodding and playing along like I knew exactly what they were talking about. Stephen showed me this chart the other day and it sort of spurred me into a bit of research. Basically it is a comparison of the US Dollar's value in relation to a basket of foreign currencies. This came into being shortly after the dismantling of the Bretton Woods agreement which fell apart when we closed the Gold exchange loophole. So I learned something today.
Guest Post
I just read an essay by Ralph Peters and wanted to share it with someone.
Ralph Peters who wrote "Red Army" (a fictional account of a Soviet invasion of Europe and a real good story) wrote this essay about warfare, modern America, radial Islamics and the media.
This is a good read.
http://www.securityaffairs.org/issues/2009/16/peters.php
-Rob
TOR here: First of all thanks for the post. I would say you shared with with about 475 people if my spiffy map is pretty accurate. I will take a stab at reading that article. Started it yesterday and lost focus.
Ralph Peters who wrote "Red Army" (a fictional account of a Soviet invasion of Europe and a real good story) wrote this essay about warfare, modern America, radial Islamics and the media.
This is a good read.
http://www.securityaffairs.
-Rob
TOR here: First of all thanks for the post. I would say you shared with with about 475 people if my spiffy map is pretty accurate. I will take a stab at reading that article. Started it yesterday and lost focus.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
My Alias
So for awhile I have been wanting an alias. Everybody cool has an alias. I have been toying with a lot of potential aliases. Panhandle Slim, Oklahoma Pete, Texarkana Bill, even Mad Max. I have decided on The 800lbs Gorilla. Not quite sure why but in any case I now have an alias. Sometimes I feel like an 800lbs Gorilla. I acknowledge the stuff we are all thinking but don't say because it doesn't fit into nice neat little categories which lend themselves to easy clear cut answers.
Anyway now I have an alias. Also I sort of wanted to be like Ryan the something L and change my name occasionally.
Anyway now I have an alias. Also I sort of wanted to be like Ryan the something L and change my name occasionally.
Super Long Comment Becomes a Post
Sometimes a super long comment becomes a post. This is one of those times.
Dear The Survival Mom,
Gosh, Interesting post aside sorry to hear about your recent misfortune. The story about your son was sure sad. Glad you all at least had food. Aside from canned stuff it is pretty hard to stock vegetables, fruits etc. Maybe keeping a normal amount of stuff you regularly consume and having sort of a one or two week micro rotation. That would at least give you a small normal food buffer.
One thing I think people really somehow ignore is emergency funds. We fail to realize that a slow down at work, injury or a job layoff is far more common then an earthquake, tsunami, hurricane or zombie attack. You might never have more than a couple day power outage but over the course of even the most charmed life there will be some times your expenses or income rapidly change. Especially in a modern world where most families rely on two incomes the odds of something happening with one are high. While 50% of your household income is far better than 0% you really don't have the long term option of paying 50% of your bills.
When your income/ money situation get back closer to normal I strongly suggest the following. First let me explain a couple informal definitions which I am going to use.
Your cash expenses are expenses you need to pay in cash. Food, fuel, etc. These are your bare minimum short term survival expenses assuming the world doesn't end. This excludes mortgage, insurance, etc.
Your regular monthly expenses are a far more normal version of your monthly expenses excluding savings, investments, unnecessary travel, etc. This number is typically significantly higher than your cash expenses.
I suggest first you save one months cash expenses at home in cash. Having at least some of it in smaller bills is probably a good idea. Some ones area good thing but they are too bulky and inconvenient to have that much cash in. 20's are probably a good balance to have at least several hundred dollars in. Just don't have all 50's and 100's. This might take a few months to set aside. In college it took me several months to put away my $400 in one months cash expenses. Do this first.
Next start working on your emergency fund that is in the bank. Lots of people say different things and some suggest 6 months in regular monthly expenses in savings. I think that is a lot of cash to not have working for you but in any case 2-3 months might be more reasonable. Suppose it sort of depends on your job/ income stability. If you have a regular safe income that is recession proof 2-3 months set aside specifically for emergencies (layoffs, major car repair, etc) will probably be fine. Conversely those in construction, real estate, commission only work or any other jobs that lend themselves to relatively frequent layoffs, great variations in wages and the like might want 6 months or even more set aside.
Anyway those are my thoughts on the matter.
Good luck.
Later edited to include. The author had an emergency fund but since they were able to meet monthly essential bills without touching it they decided not to. So basically this whole post was off basis and I wasted a good 15 minutes of my life. In any case it is a reminder about emergency funds if nothing else.
Dear The Survival Mom,
Gosh, Interesting post aside sorry to hear about your recent misfortune. The story about your son was sure sad. Glad you all at least had food. Aside from canned stuff it is pretty hard to stock vegetables, fruits etc. Maybe keeping a normal amount of stuff you regularly consume and having sort of a one or two week micro rotation. That would at least give you a small normal food buffer.
One thing I think people really somehow ignore is emergency funds. We fail to realize that a slow down at work, injury or a job layoff is far more common then an earthquake, tsunami, hurricane or zombie attack. You might never have more than a couple day power outage but over the course of even the most charmed life there will be some times your expenses or income rapidly change. Especially in a modern world where most families rely on two incomes the odds of something happening with one are high. While 50% of your household income is far better than 0% you really don't have the long term option of paying 50% of your bills.
When your income/ money situation get back closer to normal I strongly suggest the following. First let me explain a couple informal definitions which I am going to use.
Your cash expenses are expenses you need to pay in cash. Food, fuel, etc. These are your bare minimum short term survival expenses assuming the world doesn't end. This excludes mortgage, insurance, etc.
Your regular monthly expenses are a far more normal version of your monthly expenses excluding savings, investments, unnecessary travel, etc. This number is typically significantly higher than your cash expenses.
I suggest first you save one months cash expenses at home in cash. Having at least some of it in smaller bills is probably a good idea. Some ones area good thing but they are too bulky and inconvenient to have that much cash in. 20's are probably a good balance to have at least several hundred dollars in. Just don't have all 50's and 100's. This might take a few months to set aside. In college it took me several months to put away my $400 in one months cash expenses. Do this first.
Next start working on your emergency fund that is in the bank. Lots of people say different things and some suggest 6 months in regular monthly expenses in savings. I think that is a lot of cash to not have working for you but in any case 2-3 months might be more reasonable. Suppose it sort of depends on your job/ income stability. If you have a regular safe income that is recession proof 2-3 months set aside specifically for emergencies (layoffs, major car repair, etc) will probably be fine. Conversely those in construction, real estate, commission only work or any other jobs that lend themselves to relatively frequent layoffs, great variations in wages and the like might want 6 months or even more set aside.
Anyway those are my thoughts on the matter.
Good luck.
Later edited to include. The author had an emergency fund but since they were able to meet monthly essential bills without touching it they decided not to. So basically this whole post was off basis and I wasted a good 15 minutes of my life. In any case it is a reminder about emergency funds if nothing else.
Fuck You I'm Drunk
Stoled this from Mayberry. I'm actually exercising right now not drinking but in any case it is a great song.
quote of the day
"You know the drill. Buy precious metals, long-term food, equipment, guns, ammo and anything else you consume on a regular basis. Inflation is coming in an ugly way."
-TOM
-TOM
Disturbing Potential Law
Block gun sales to those on the no fly list? Don't even get me started on the no fly list. People end up on it for weird vague reasons which include some .gov employee transposing a number or missing a key. It is also just about impossible to get off of this list once on it, even if you are a 5th grade teacher from St Paul MN who has never even had a traffic ticket of left the Midwest.
I think using this questionably legal and totally screwed up list as a starting point to steal peoples Constitutional rights is a fucking great idea.
I think using this questionably legal and totally screwed up list as a starting point to steal peoples Constitutional rights is a fucking great idea.
An Interesting Conversation on Ethics.
has been going on at Survivalblog. As for my thoughts on planes as a BOV: If you are a well trained pilot who is 100% sure they can get their hands on a fully fueled plane, take flight and confidently fly to get them to a pre planned safe place (with friends and pre positioned supplies) where they can readily land that is within the range of a single tank of fuel using a plane makes sense. One should note that statement has a whole lot of qualifiers. Also how are you going to KNOW that a plane is in position, ready to go, fueled and there for your perfect movie moment exit if you are not the one who fueled it up, made sure it was maintained and locked the door? All ethics aside (getting to that later) betting on a GOOD plan where a crucial component is outside of your control is not prudent.
As for trespassing, cutting fences, etc. If you need to cross private property (ranch/ farm/ etc) to get to that forest service road or alternate route just asking should be the first option especially if the main house is in the immediate area. Driving slowly up to the house and getting out slowly then waiting for someone to come out is a good start. I don't know a farmer or rancher who would refuse to allow someone simple passage across their land to connect with their alternate route in an emergency situation. If nothing else this means getting the traveler out of their hair. I have a hard time seeing how a truck driving slowly along a road on a 100,000 acre ranch in WY getting riddled with rifle fire if it showed no hostile intent. Conversely it would be very easy to interpret someone cutting the lock on the pasture gate of a 20 acre place as them coming towards the house to rape, pillage and plunder. If just asking is a ready option then it is the advisable course of action.
As for the broader question of ethics in extreme situations. It is my observation that people have an inherent desire to survive. We will trade whatever we have including our most prized possessions and even bodies to live for another day. We will steal, rob, harm or even kill our fellow man if it will increase our chances of survival. This tendency crosses all meaningful characterizations of people including race, gender, religion, intelligence, upbringing and socioeconomic status. I believe there is much more of a variance in peoples ability to successfully do whatever it takes to survive in extreme situations then their desire to do so.
If my survival (or that of my loved ones) required stealing from or otherwise imposing my will on other human beings with force I would do so. I do not say this to act tough or with any sort of bravado. I do not say this because my plan if things went to hell is to turn into a highway man or a robber baron, in fact quite the opposite. I say this because it is the simple unadulterated truth. Not true for you? If your spouse or child needed medicine which someone had in their possession but would not give up what would you do? The short and simple answer is that 99% of people would do everything in their power to get the medicine, consequences be damned.
I think we have at least cleared up my opinion of what people are capable of. Now lets talk about what WE SHOULD DO. Lets get back to elementary school ethics, you probably should not do things that you would not like it if others did to you. I believe that our preparations should be such that we are a force (at least in a small way) for stability instead of disorder. If we are going to have any affect on others it should be a positive one. We should do everything possible to be able to execute all of our survival plans in a manner that does not in any way infringe on the rights of others.
IMHO the best course of action is to make good, realistic plans that do not in any way infringe upon the property or rights of others and if need be adjust your plans in order to complete your objectives while staying as close to 'do onto others as you would want them to do onto you' as possible.
Thoughts?
As for trespassing, cutting fences, etc. If you need to cross private property (ranch/ farm/ etc) to get to that forest service road or alternate route just asking should be the first option especially if the main house is in the immediate area. Driving slowly up to the house and getting out slowly then waiting for someone to come out is a good start. I don't know a farmer or rancher who would refuse to allow someone simple passage across their land to connect with their alternate route in an emergency situation. If nothing else this means getting the traveler out of their hair. I have a hard time seeing how a truck driving slowly along a road on a 100,000 acre ranch in WY getting riddled with rifle fire if it showed no hostile intent. Conversely it would be very easy to interpret someone cutting the lock on the pasture gate of a 20 acre place as them coming towards the house to rape, pillage and plunder. If just asking is a ready option then it is the advisable course of action.
As for the broader question of ethics in extreme situations. It is my observation that people have an inherent desire to survive. We will trade whatever we have including our most prized possessions and even bodies to live for another day. We will steal, rob, harm or even kill our fellow man if it will increase our chances of survival. This tendency crosses all meaningful characterizations of people including race, gender, religion, intelligence, upbringing and socioeconomic status. I believe there is much more of a variance in peoples ability to successfully do whatever it takes to survive in extreme situations then their desire to do so.
If my survival (or that of my loved ones) required stealing from or otherwise imposing my will on other human beings with force I would do so. I do not say this to act tough or with any sort of bravado. I do not say this because my plan if things went to hell is to turn into a highway man or a robber baron, in fact quite the opposite. I say this because it is the simple unadulterated truth. Not true for you? If your spouse or child needed medicine which someone had in their possession but would not give up what would you do? The short and simple answer is that 99% of people would do everything in their power to get the medicine, consequences be damned.
I think we have at least cleared up my opinion of what people are capable of. Now lets talk about what WE SHOULD DO. Lets get back to elementary school ethics, you probably should not do things that you would not like it if others did to you. I believe that our preparations should be such that we are a force (at least in a small way) for stability instead of disorder. If we are going to have any affect on others it should be a positive one. We should do everything possible to be able to execute all of our survival plans in a manner that does not in any way infringe on the rights of others.
IMHO the best course of action is to make good, realistic plans that do not in any way infringe upon the property or rights of others and if need be adjust your plans in order to complete your objectives while staying as close to 'do onto others as you would want them to do onto you' as possible.
Thoughts?
Guest post about kids and knives and car parts--
I'm sitting here with a baby girl (2 month? 3 month?) on my knee and the rest of the grand kids out playing. My wife ran to the little market & my youngest got her drivers license today so I've no help at all right now...
my kids are growing up....
It's summer time here in the great northwest and I'm enjoying it. Yesterday found me at a wrecking yard looking for a master cylinder for an '84 VW Vanagon. (TOR says NICE! I love those older VW vans some close friends had one for years and it was great) $100 'reman' with no attachments from a local parts chain (plus $50 core charge) or $100 'new' with new switches and seals from Go-Westy plus shipping. New is the way to go but it would be the middle of next week before it arrived. $15 'used' if I pull it myself.
So I went to the wrecking yard (not the one with the attitude, I don't shop there any more) and it started raining. Not a lot of rain but it had been 28 days since we had any rain and like I said I AM enjoying the summer.
So there I was walking to the back of the yard where they had the VW's, wearing shorts, shoes with cut off socks, carrying a tool bag in one hand and the big golf umbrella in the other. I thought about this as I went through the waist high brush... No matter, the rain was very brief, the second VW I looked at had a good master cylinder, it came out easy and only cost me $15. A quick swap, no problems & I'm driving the bus today!
I went down to Big 5 today and bought a pair of shoes, they came with gel inserts and laces and all that neat stuff. I spent $30 (on sale ) and that is the most I've spent on shoes in some time. I've been wearing the Walmart $10 (with velcro) specials for several years but my feet have been unhappy with them even when new, so this time I bought a better pair. When I was shopping the Big 5 ads I noticed a knife billed as a "rescue knife", had a clip for the door pocket in my vw van, a hard thingee (TOR adds, everyone knows thingie is spelled with an ie ;) on the end for breaking glass and seat belt cutter attachment. All that for $12! It was on sale (regularly $49) & felt good in my hand so I bought it, my VW needed a pocket knife up front in the door pocket. Now it has one. While I was looking a lady came up and asked my advice on buying her husband a pocket knife, he'd lost his. I could not offer any advice other than a pocket knife is a real personal thing and I was just not able to help. My usual carry knife is a Buck, one type in my go-to-town clothes and a different model in my 'work' pants....
Am I unique in this thought about a knife?
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Interesting Observation
So I just looked in the mirror. I am wearing a shirt I got free junior year in college. Wifey is wearing a staff shirt from the place she worked 2004-2005. This sort of thing is a good part of why we have a pretty decent savings account.
Interesting Links I've Stumbled Onto.
Cyberwar Guide For Iranian Election.
Black Cross Health. I probably disagree with these folks on just about every political issue. Odds are we would not like each other very much, in fact we might even fight. In any case their analysis of pepper spray, CS gas and the like is interesting to read. From my experience with CS gas what they say seems to be accurate. Please note that I am not a doctor, EMT or Nurse and have in no way attempted to vouch for this information so you will have to use your own judgment.
Black Cross Health. I probably disagree with these folks on just about every political issue. Odds are we would not like each other very much, in fact we might even fight. In any case their analysis of pepper spray, CS gas and the like is interesting to read. From my experience with CS gas what they say seems to be accurate. Please note that I am not a doctor, EMT or Nurse and have in no way attempted to vouch for this information so you will have to use your own judgment.
Random Thought
If you do not recall how many times you have been kicked out of Walmart, you might be a redneck.
Random Conversation
"I'm bored"- Wifey
"Lets go do something"-Me
"Like what"-Wifey
"Go somewhere"-Me
"Like where"- Wifey
"That little bar around the corner?"-Me
"I dowana go to a bar."-Wifey
"Wanna go to Walmart?"- Me
"You crossed the line to white trash because Walmart is not an activity."- Wifey
"Lets go do something"-Me
"Like what"-Wifey
"Go somewhere"-Me
"Like where"- Wifey
"That little bar around the corner?"-Me
"I dowana go to a bar."-Wifey
"Wanna go to Walmart?"- Me
"You crossed the line to white trash because Walmart is not an activity."- Wifey
Iran Selection, Crisis and Hope
Iran had a totally shamtastic (s)election. Only elections in Iraq under Sadam and in Cuba were more ridiculously biased. I think Iran does it a bit better because they aren't even pretending to elect their leader they are electing a 'president' who is really just a front man. In any case the people of Iran are not accepting this farce. In fairness it doesn't seem they are trying to drop the whole thing but sometimes movements like this gain enormous energy in an exponential manner by moving fast. Iran's population is very young which tends to be a destabilizing factor.
The talking heads have mentioned two significant events which would really escalate these events.
1. The opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi saying that their whole corrupt totalitarian system is the issue, not just these elections.
1.5 Mr. Mousavi saying he is prepared for martyrdom is very very serious. In case you don't get the news followers of Shia Islam really don't play when it comes to that shit. Sort of like if a old grizzled Veteran says he is going to shoot somebody. Odds are very high that he will go home, get a gun and shoot that person.
2. If troops and police refuse to violently put down the protests then things are really in motion. As of now they are using (for the most part) relatively soft tactics of tear gas, water cannons and some beatings. Though somewhat rough by Western standards these are kids play for the rest of the world. The question will be if they are willing to really escalate their aggression. Usually revolutions can be put down if the security aparatus sticks with the regime. Machine gun some protestors, capture and torture their leaders, so on and so forth and pretty quickly just about any revolution has been put down.
Maybe it is just my American nature but I think people should have a say in their government. We do need to realize that just because a country is a democracy it does not mean they will like us. IMHO one of the biggest problems with our foreign policy over the last 20 years or so is that we give lip service to the idea of spreading democracy (and in some cases support) but what we really mean is that we want foreign countries who are amiable toward us and willing to play ball. The people of Iran may or may not like us but they should be able to control their own destiny.
The talking heads have mentioned two significant events which would really escalate these events.
1. The opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi saying that their whole corrupt totalitarian system is the issue, not just these elections.
1.5 Mr. Mousavi saying he is prepared for martyrdom is very very serious. In case you don't get the news followers of Shia Islam really don't play when it comes to that shit. Sort of like if a old grizzled Veteran says he is going to shoot somebody. Odds are very high that he will go home, get a gun and shoot that person.
2. If troops and police refuse to violently put down the protests then things are really in motion. As of now they are using (for the most part) relatively soft tactics of tear gas, water cannons and some beatings. Though somewhat rough by Western standards these are kids play for the rest of the world. The question will be if they are willing to really escalate their aggression. Usually revolutions can be put down if the security aparatus sticks with the regime. Machine gun some protestors, capture and torture their leaders, so on and so forth and pretty quickly just about any revolution has been put down.
Maybe it is just my American nature but I think people should have a say in their government. We do need to realize that just because a country is a democracy it does not mean they will like us. IMHO one of the biggest problems with our foreign policy over the last 20 years or so is that we give lip service to the idea of spreading democracy (and in some cases support) but what we really mean is that we want foreign countries who are amiable toward us and willing to play ball. The people of Iran may or may not like us but they should be able to control their own destiny.
Polar Bear Attack (Warning Graphic Pics)
Polar Bear Attack in the High Arctic |
Friday, June 19, 2009
quote of the day
"Guess what police really don't want to get involved in, a crazy gay man with a chainsaw"
quote of the day
"It takes a truly strong, independent people to go in a completely new direction, which is why the American revolution was so rare and wonderful."
-DAL .357
-DAL .357
Summer in the South
After a rather uncharacteristic spring the full effect of summer has definitely started. The heat and humidity make it very unpleasant to do anything outside during the day. It is at best tolerable to do stuff in the early morning, late evening and night. I do not know for the life of me why people chose to settle this place.
Spending time working outside is truly horrible, heck sitting in the shade drinking cold water and reading a book is at best unpleasant. Too hot to even have the window open at night to catch a nice breeze. Even though my non work life is far from full of manual labor and such the weather is causing a significant change in my habits. The thought of driving around in my non air conditioned car prevents all but the most essential trips during normal business hours.
To sum up my point, the heat and humidity are miserable.
Spending time working outside is truly horrible, heck sitting in the shade drinking cold water and reading a book is at best unpleasant. Too hot to even have the window open at night to catch a nice breeze. Even though my non work life is far from full of manual labor and such the weather is causing a significant change in my habits. The thought of driving around in my non air conditioned car prevents all but the most essential trips during normal business hours.
To sum up my point, the heat and humidity are miserable.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Modern Army Combatives Level 2
Tonight I finished the Modern Army Combatives level two course. Spending two solid weeks wrestling and grappling sure took a toll on my body. Pretty much everything is sore. I have two black eyes, my body is covered with bruises and pretty much every major joint hurts. Spending a couple hours training, rolling and grappling is an enjoyable and generally pleasant experience. Do the same thing all day long and it hurts.
It was probably good for my overall fitness level. If you grapple live (very close to full intensity) for an hour at a time and sweat buckets it is probably a reasonable muscular and cardiovascular workout. I think wrestling burns more calories per minute than any other type of exercise. It has a strange and unpleasant way of using all of your muscular strength and cardiovascular ability that nothing else has. Swimming and XC skiing use both but only use muscles in at endurance levels (very low intensity for long duration). If you haven't ever wrestled/ grappled the best way to explain its exercise equivalent is doing wind sprints while lifting heavy weights.
I learned a few good moves which was pretty darn cool. No fundamentally new submissions but some new counters which is good. The biggest thing is that I did the stuff I learned in level 1 enough that it is really internalized. I am a lot more fluid in moving from position to position while grappling.
To be honest my fighting style is still heavily based on past experiences in thai boxing, MMA and and good old fashioned redneck fights in my past. In any case I can't see learning more stuff as a bad thing.
Learn to fight. That is my last thought because TRAILER PARK BOYS is on.
It was probably good for my overall fitness level. If you grapple live (very close to full intensity) for an hour at a time and sweat buckets it is probably a reasonable muscular and cardiovascular workout. I think wrestling burns more calories per minute than any other type of exercise. It has a strange and unpleasant way of using all of your muscular strength and cardiovascular ability that nothing else has. Swimming and XC skiing use both but only use muscles in at endurance levels (very low intensity for long duration). If you haven't ever wrestled/ grappled the best way to explain its exercise equivalent is doing wind sprints while lifting heavy weights.
I learned a few good moves which was pretty darn cool. No fundamentally new submissions but some new counters which is good. The biggest thing is that I did the stuff I learned in level 1 enough that it is really internalized. I am a lot more fluid in moving from position to position while grappling.
To be honest my fighting style is still heavily based on past experiences in thai boxing, MMA and and good old fashioned redneck fights in my past. In any case I can't see learning more stuff as a bad thing.
Learn to fight. That is my last thought because TRAILER PARK BOYS is on.
Another Cop Held Accountable
That cop who shot the guy in the subway station in Oakland is going to stand trial. Not exactly sure if he is an idiot or a complete asshole but in any case he is going to stand trial. While the actions of a relatively small amount of cops is unfortunate and in some cases completely deplorable I find it a somewhat positive sign that these cases are making the news and the courts.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
quote of the day
"Do what makes you happy, OK. And who says what is nobody's business. "
-Caroline on The Real Housewives of NJ
-Caroline on The Real Housewives of NJ
New Years Resolutions/ Goals at the Halfway Point
We are roughly halfway into the year. For reasons I can not remember I recently thought of my New Years Resolution's and am going to revisit them now. I will put a goals status as complete, in progress or no progress along with some notes.
Fitness:
1. Stop gaining and loosing the same ten pounds, get to and stay at my goal weight of 175lbs.
Partially complete. For the past couple years I have been for the most part up and down between 180 and 190. Loosing the same 10lbs several times in a year is really shitty. I have stabilized at 180 +/- 3 lbs. This is technically a partial victory but I further improvements in my physical conditioning will be through fitness not weight.
2. Run two miles in 13:30 or less. Might not be maxing the APFT but being within spitting distance is good enough for me.
No progress. I will excuse myself 50% for this because I have spent a lot of time in the woods or classrooms and otherwise not in a good regular morning PT program for whatever reason. The other 50% is that I am a lazy piece of shit who needs to get running. Odds are significant progress on this goal will not be made until I have a more normal PT program and schedule at the next duty station.
Financial:
3. Rebuild our emergency fund and increase it to three months wages.
Partially Complete. Rebuilding the emergency fund is going well. It is currently at about two months.
4. Add a little bit of money to the stash.
No Progress. Well we threw $20 in quarters into the box but that does not really do anything. To be honest with the way things have gone these last 6 months I am more concerned with squirreling away silver and gold then a few more bills in the cash emergency fund.
Food:
5. Cook with more whole foods (meat, eggs, flour, rice, etc) and stop eating so much ready made frozen stuff.
Complete. Entirely due to the awesomeness of Wifey and her motivation we eat almost entirely real food. In fact it is real food that she cooks. When we go to the grocery store now it is staples, meat, cheese, milk and things we can not readily make (soda, cereal).
6. Going along with #5 I want to eat more canned and shelf stable stuff regularly.
Complete. We consume lots of flour, corn meal, beans, rice and assorted canned goods as part of our normal diet.
7. Add some serious long term storage freeze dried type food to the pantry. Maybe a months worth of Mountain House?
Not Complete. To be honest I had forgotten about this one.
Firearms:
8. Start working with a purpose on a stash of spare parts.
Not Complete. Don't have a great reason for this one, just keeps getting postponed until after the next firearm purchase. Got to stop that. I think the next duty station is going to be my opportunity to take care of this. I will probably just order stuff and have it sent to Chads house to pick up later. Focus first on AR stuff then Glock 9mm, Rem 870, 10/22 on down the list.
Falls into no good category:
9. Start working on grid down power solutions. Some sort of compact solar panel setup to charge batteries and power some lights would be good.
No Progress. To be honest I forgot about this one.
10. Get some LED lights and stuff.
Complete. We have several LED lanterns. One is ready to go in the bedroom and the rest are put away in the closet.
11. Be a better husband to my wonderful wife.
In Progress. We have been spending more time together really interacting instead of just being in the same space. Cutting time on the blog down to a more reasonable level will help with this. Also I finally stopped being a stick in the mud and we went on vacation.
Well I've seen a lot of in progress and no progress. I need to evaluate some things and probably shift priorities or adjust goals.
Fitness:
1. Stop gaining and loosing the same ten pounds, get to and stay at my goal weight of 175lbs.
Partially complete. For the past couple years I have been for the most part up and down between 180 and 190. Loosing the same 10lbs several times in a year is really shitty. I have stabilized at 180 +/- 3 lbs. This is technically a partial victory but I further improvements in my physical conditioning will be through fitness not weight.
2. Run two miles in 13:30 or less. Might not be maxing the APFT but being within spitting distance is good enough for me.
No progress. I will excuse myself 50% for this because I have spent a lot of time in the woods or classrooms and otherwise not in a good regular morning PT program for whatever reason. The other 50% is that I am a lazy piece of shit who needs to get running. Odds are significant progress on this goal will not be made until I have a more normal PT program and schedule at the next duty station.
Financial:
3. Rebuild our emergency fund and increase it to three months wages.
Partially Complete. Rebuilding the emergency fund is going well. It is currently at about two months.
4. Add a little bit of money to the stash.
No Progress. Well we threw $20 in quarters into the box but that does not really do anything. To be honest with the way things have gone these last 6 months I am more concerned with squirreling away silver and gold then a few more bills in the cash emergency fund.
Food:
5. Cook with more whole foods (meat, eggs, flour, rice, etc) and stop eating so much ready made frozen stuff.
Complete. Entirely due to the awesomeness of Wifey and her motivation we eat almost entirely real food. In fact it is real food that she cooks. When we go to the grocery store now it is staples, meat, cheese, milk and things we can not readily make (soda, cereal).
6. Going along with #5 I want to eat more canned and shelf stable stuff regularly.
Complete. We consume lots of flour, corn meal, beans, rice and assorted canned goods as part of our normal diet.
7. Add some serious long term storage freeze dried type food to the pantry. Maybe a months worth of Mountain House?
Not Complete. To be honest I had forgotten about this one.
Firearms:
8. Start working with a purpose on a stash of spare parts.
Not Complete. Don't have a great reason for this one, just keeps getting postponed until after the next firearm purchase. Got to stop that. I think the next duty station is going to be my opportunity to take care of this. I will probably just order stuff and have it sent to Chads house to pick up later. Focus first on AR stuff then Glock 9mm, Rem 870, 10/22 on down the list.
Falls into no good category:
9. Start working on grid down power solutions. Some sort of compact solar panel setup to charge batteries and power some lights would be good.
No Progress. To be honest I forgot about this one.
10. Get some LED lights and stuff.
Complete. We have several LED lanterns. One is ready to go in the bedroom and the rest are put away in the closet.
11. Be a better husband to my wonderful wife.
In Progress. We have been spending more time together really interacting instead of just being in the same space. Cutting time on the blog down to a more reasonable level will help with this. Also I finally stopped being a stick in the mud and we went on vacation.
Well I've seen a lot of in progress and no progress. I need to evaluate some things and probably shift priorities or adjust goals.
Beautiful Women Wednsday- Elisabeth Hasselbeck
Elisabeth Hasselbeck first caught my eye when she was on Survivor: The Australian Outback and has managed to keep it since. She ended up on The View and is the reason I have watched that show a few times and am not ashamed of it. When I was at home sick or for whatever reason awake but at home and not busy on a weekday morning I would regularly switch to The View and keep watching if Elisabeth was on. That she is conservative is a huge plus and is the reason she is on here today.
Guest Posts
Hey Y'all, If you want to write a guest post I will be glad to post it. I post just about everything I am sent. The common denominator in ones that do not get posted is that they are very short (the one significant exception to this is the "hey check out this new/ interesting/ worthwhile (link/video/ etc) sort of post") If you write more then 5 sentences that should not be an issue.
Also if you have any questions at all I will be glad to share my opinion on the matter. If nothing else getting it in front of the whole of this blogs audience is likely to lead to a viable solution.
Also if you have any questions at all I will be glad to share my opinion on the matter. If nothing else getting it in front of the whole of this blogs audience is likely to lead to a viable solution.
Prep Time
So hopefully my check will clear today, and I am going to go buy some food to store... The question is what to buy. I was thinking rice, flour or noodles. I am looking for cheap, and lasts forever... What do you guys think?
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Project 870
I got my Remington 870 Barrel today! It is a Remington factory 18" barrel with a raised bead sight. Cost me a shade more than $120 delivered. I had planned on cutting down the long barrel (below the gun) but ultimately purchasing a new short barrel was the hard (more expensive) but right decision to make. I can't see a way this decision will be regretted.
The new barrel just makes the gun. It looks, feels and handles how a shotgun should. Between the wood stock and the shorter magazine I think the balance is better than my Mossberg 500. All my newly equipped defensive shotgun needs is a sling. Got to pick up a swivel sling cap and put a sling on it in the near future then this project (albeit not a full bore Wyn Boniface make a gun project) will be complete.
Had a discussion with Stephen about shotguns today. It brought up an interesting point I am not sure I've mentioned in the past. To be honest I consider the Remington 870, Mossberg 500 and Winchester 1300 to be functionally equivalent. The Winchester looses out because they are not made anymore. Well FN threw ghost ring sights on them and gave them a spiffier name and charge an arm and a leg but I digress. Owning both I prefer the Remington 870 (which a lot of people seem to do) as it seems to be an all around better made gun.
Well dinner is up so I am going to wrap this.
Disturbing
http://doubletapper.blogspot.com/2009/06/al-qaeda-to-attack-us-from-mexico-with.html
"...al Qaeda is casing the U.S. border with Mexico to assess how to send terrorists and weapons into the U.S. "Four pounds of anthrax -- in a suitcase this big -- carried by a fighter through tunnels from Mexico into the U.S. are guaranteed to kill 330,000 Americans within a single hour if it is properly spread in population centers there..."
"...al Qaeda is casing the U.S. border with Mexico to assess how to send terrorists and weapons into the U.S. "Four pounds of anthrax -- in a suitcase this big -- carried by a fighter through tunnels from Mexico into the U.S. are guaranteed to kill 330,000 Americans within a single hour if it is properly spread in population centers there..."
Monday, June 15, 2009
quote of the day
(508): awoke with 47 plastic lawn flamingos in my bed and on surrounding floor. explanation?
(1-508): you said they were your minions of evil that protected you from ferrets.
(1-508): you said they were your minions of evil that protected you from ferrets.
Letter To Ryan
First of all I am sorry to hear about your misfortune. Second I am glad you are learning from it and preparing to take steps towards being more prepared. Don't feel too bad about living paycheck to paycheck. That will rapidly improve (assuming you make good choices) when you get done with school. I am going to guess that at least 1/3rd of our readers would be in a fairly similar position though maybe with a bit more food in the house. Another third would need to shift some things around or whatever and would be OK. The last third keep enough of a buffer in checking that it would not be a big issue (depending on when in the month).
Your major concern here is food as you have recently run out of it. Once this little bump in the road is past here is what I suggest. Go to your local big box (Costco, Sam's Club, Winco, etc) and purchase the following items: 20lbs bag of just add water bisquick, a big jug of syrup, 20lbs of rice (sticky is what we prefer) with whatever you like to put on it, a big assed thing of oatmeal plus some brown sugar and a huge jar of peanut butter. Not exactly sure what these will cost you but not very much. Also not going to look up calories and figure out how many days worth of food this is but I think you could eat for awhile on this stuff. This is your starting point to get a decent amount of food for a price you can afford. You now have a reasonable start to staples and more food then a disturbing amount of people. If need be buy the first half of the list one payday and the remainder the following payday.
Here is your next step in food. Get things you actually eat. Every time you pick up something get a second one. The emphasis is on reasonably long term shelf stable stuff but having a couple spare frozen pizzas, packages of burger, etc is not a bad thing. If you would get 2 cans of tuna get 3 or 4. Instead of one box of cereal get two. The key is not to eat up this stuff but to continue buying in excess of your consumption to build up a surplus. It is easy enough (at least in theory) to just put the new stuff at the back of the pile and thus rotate your food.
[if you start getting worried about needing this food for an emergency then just get an alternative cooking source or two]
Between these two plans it is easy enough to rapidly accumulate a good amount of food which you normally eat. Getting to a few weeks or a month of food should be easy and with the plan I outlined you will hardly notice it in the overall budget.
Lots of people say they are too poor to save. I would say just the opposite. People who make/ have very little money need to save (for these purposes) much more so then those who make more. Someone who makes 70k a year can take life's minor problem ($400 seems to be the unlucky number for me) in stride. However a set of tires he would buy without a second though but someone who makes 17k a year that is a real issue UNLESS THEY HAVE PLANNED AND SAVED.
My other suggestion is to save cash. I am not talking about money in the bank though that is a very good thing. Banks are closed, they fail, you loose your card, etc. Every paycheck take $20 and put it away. Keep it in an envelope or whatever in a safe place and DON'T SPEND IT. Continue doing this until you've got a months cash expenses (the landlord, insurance, etc can get checks). At a rate you can probably save at this should take a few months. Once you get to a months worth of cash expenses in said envelope look at putting your continued contributions into a bank account.
Anyway here are a couple of old posts which might be interesting; Letter to Maggy, The Emergency Fund. You can read those but they will rhyme significantly with what I said above. My thoughts are somewhat different because his situation is unique as he is still in school.
Your major concern here is food as you have recently run out of it. Once this little bump in the road is past here is what I suggest. Go to your local big box (Costco, Sam's Club, Winco, etc) and purchase the following items: 20lbs bag of just add water bisquick, a big jug of syrup, 20lbs of rice (sticky is what we prefer) with whatever you like to put on it, a big assed thing of oatmeal plus some brown sugar and a huge jar of peanut butter. Not exactly sure what these will cost you but not very much. Also not going to look up calories and figure out how many days worth of food this is but I think you could eat for awhile on this stuff. This is your starting point to get a decent amount of food for a price you can afford. You now have a reasonable start to staples and more food then a disturbing amount of people. If need be buy the first half of the list one payday and the remainder the following payday.
Here is your next step in food. Get things you actually eat. Every time you pick up something get a second one. The emphasis is on reasonably long term shelf stable stuff but having a couple spare frozen pizzas, packages of burger, etc is not a bad thing. If you would get 2 cans of tuna get 3 or 4. Instead of one box of cereal get two. The key is not to eat up this stuff but to continue buying in excess of your consumption to build up a surplus. It is easy enough (at least in theory) to just put the new stuff at the back of the pile and thus rotate your food.
[if you start getting worried about needing this food for an emergency then just get an alternative cooking source or two]
Between these two plans it is easy enough to rapidly accumulate a good amount of food which you normally eat. Getting to a few weeks or a month of food should be easy and with the plan I outlined you will hardly notice it in the overall budget.
Lots of people say they are too poor to save. I would say just the opposite. People who make/ have very little money need to save (for these purposes) much more so then those who make more. Someone who makes 70k a year can take life's minor problem ($400 seems to be the unlucky number for me) in stride. However a set of tires he would buy without a second though but someone who makes 17k a year that is a real issue UNLESS THEY HAVE PLANNED AND SAVED.
My other suggestion is to save cash. I am not talking about money in the bank though that is a very good thing. Banks are closed, they fail, you loose your card, etc. Every paycheck take $20 and put it away. Keep it in an envelope or whatever in a safe place and DON'T SPEND IT. Continue doing this until you've got a months cash expenses (the landlord, insurance, etc can get checks). At a rate you can probably save at this should take a few months. Once you get to a months worth of cash expenses in said envelope look at putting your continued contributions into a bank account.
Anyway here are a couple of old posts which might be interesting; Letter to Maggy, The Emergency Fund. You can read those but they will rhyme significantly with what I said above. My thoughts are somewhat different because his situation is unique as he is still in school.
Safety Fast Shooting System
If you don't have a clue what I am talking about then read the article. I had an opportunity to shoot a P-35 with this system awhile back. It was novel and an enjoyable experience. I do confess that not being able to using my thumb to cock the pistol and being able to just push the hammer forward was a strange experience.
The only misgiving one could have is if they liked to keep their pistol with the hammer down and just thumb cock it or if they kept it with the chamber empty and racked the slide to load it. As for the need it is best summed up with "There are lots of people who like Colt .45s and Browning Hi-Powers but don't like the cocked-and-locked concept. The Safety Fast Shooting System is a viable option that works."
The only misgiving one could have is if they liked to keep their pistol with the hammer down and just thumb cock it or if they kept it with the chamber empty and racked the slide to load it. As for the need it is best summed up with "There are lots of people who like Colt .45s and Browning Hi-Powers but don't like the cocked-and-locked concept. The Safety Fast Shooting System is a viable option that works."
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Beware Who You Buy PM's From
The World Is A Nasty Place hat tip to Stephen for reminding us that we need to be very careful where we buy PM's. Even if the friend/ acquaintance/ dealer you buy from is honest the person they got the coin from might not be so scrupulous in their morals.
Pirates Ranging Further
As I have previously noted piracy flourishes in times of international chaos. Pirates are now attacking into the Persian Gulf.
Sunday Reflections
Panama City Beach was great. The beach and gulf are truly amazing. It was great to get away from work and home for awhile. The trip really recharged the batteries. We definitely need to do that more often. I have been something of a stick in the mud about travel since we have been here. Like anything it costs money but we've got to have some balance in our lives. Going out of town for a few days 2-3 times a year is very something worth doing. As our financial forces ebb and flow our budget for said trip will adjust accordingly and that is OK.
It was our one year anniversary which is pretty cool.
Going along with that same general theme Wifey and I were talking. I have been spending too much time on here. It has just sort of spiraled to the point where the blog has a disproportionate role in my life. Changes should not be too drastic: I will post daily, comments will still be moderated but maybe less frequently, I will still follow other blogs but may narrow my readings a bit, also email correspondences might be a bit slower.
It was our one year anniversary which is pretty cool.
Going along with that same general theme Wifey and I were talking. I have been spending too much time on here. It has just sort of spiraled to the point where the blog has a disproportionate role in my life. Changes should not be too drastic: I will post daily, comments will still be moderated but maybe less frequently, I will still follow other blogs but may narrow my readings a bit, also email correspondences might be a bit slower.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Brasilian Jui Jitsu for Self Defense
A recent comment on this got me thinking on this matter. It also blends into a lot of other things. Not going to go into the history of BJJ except to mention that it started in a tradition of challenge matches. They would just fight anybody who showed up. This was significant because it kept their system from getting dilluded into a bunch of techniques which will only work against other practitioners of their art or total idiots. Knowing this it is not a suprise that when Ultimate Fighting got going they won, a lot.
I don't think you can be truly effective with just one style (except MMA but it is a hybrid so it doesn't really count). To be a complete fighter you need to know how to strike, standing grapple/ dirty box and ground fight. It takes two styles to do all of these well. Be it boxing and wrestling, karate and judo or BJJ and muy thai you need two.
Back to jui jitsu. For a strictly one style discussion no single style beats jui jitsu. It does have the weakness of relying on taking people to the ground and choking or breaking them but it is hard to argue with results.
Real fights are an intersting thing. They usually end pretty quickly with a spontaneous occurence leading to a series of punches and then maybe a kick or two. These are resolved in well under a minute. Rarely when a real fight goes longer than that they always go to the ground. Ground = jui jitsu guy wins.
Simply put while you do still need standup skills BJJ is a good way to go.
I don't think you can be truly effective with just one style (except MMA but it is a hybrid so it doesn't really count). To be a complete fighter you need to know how to strike, standing grapple/ dirty box and ground fight. It takes two styles to do all of these well. Be it boxing and wrestling, karate and judo or BJJ and muy thai you need two.
Back to jui jitsu. For a strictly one style discussion no single style beats jui jitsu. It does have the weakness of relying on taking people to the ground and choking or breaking them but it is hard to argue with results.
Real fights are an intersting thing. They usually end pretty quickly with a spontaneous occurence leading to a series of punches and then maybe a kick or two. These are resolved in well under a minute. Rarely when a real fight goes longer than that they always go to the ground. Ground = jui jitsu guy wins.
Simply put while you do still need standup skills BJJ is a good way to go.
A shift
Recently I have experienced a life changing event. As most people who read this blog know, TOR is the survivalist out of the authors. I am, by far, the least preped.
For some unknown reason, my bank has placed a 14 day hold on my last pay check. Seeing how I live paycheck to paycheck, this has killed my finances. I basically ran out of food a week ago (real food, I have been eating top ramen for a week, bought with loose change).
What have I learned? It is important to have a couple weeks worth of food at all times. I need to start preping.
For some unknown reason, my bank has placed a 14 day hold on my last pay check. Seeing how I live paycheck to paycheck, this has killed my finances. I basically ran out of food a week ago (real food, I have been eating top ramen for a week, bought with loose change).
What have I learned? It is important to have a couple weeks worth of food at all times. I need to start preping.
Off To The Beach
Hey all I am going to be offline till late Sunday. Got something written for tomorrow. Sunday I will probably do something in the evening. My advice is to spend a few dollars (obviously that you can afford to spend) and go do something fun this weekend. Oh yeah and this weekend is our one year anniversary.
Off to the beach.
Off to the beach.
Some Very Interesting Statistics on Rape Resistance
Bryce sent me this great link to a very interesting study on women defending themselves from rape and the success rates of these methods. Huge hat tip to him as this is awesome. For those on dial up I will sum it up.
Women who used non violent methods of resistance (crying, pleading, etc) were raped about 96% of the time.
Women who used forceful verbal resistance (yelling, screaming) were raped about half the time.
Running works better then yelling as the women who ran were raped about 15% of the time.
Forceful physical resistance is slightly more successful than running. Those women were raped 14% of the time. Striking was more successful than pushing or wrestling.
Finally women who resisted using a knife or a gun were raped less than 1% of the time. I really think that figure speaks for itself. [editor notes the study did not talk about batons, mace, tazers, stun guns, etc. I would wager batons are about the same as guns/ knives and the other miscellaneous weapons would be between the forceful resistance and guns n knives categories.]
Women who used non violent methods of resistance (crying, pleading, etc) were raped about 96% of the time.
Women who used forceful verbal resistance (yelling, screaming) were raped about half the time.
Running works better then yelling as the women who ran were raped about 15% of the time.
Forceful physical resistance is slightly more successful than running. Those women were raped 14% of the time. Striking was more successful than pushing or wrestling.
Finally women who resisted using a knife or a gun were raped less than 1% of the time. I really think that figure speaks for itself. [editor notes the study did not talk about batons, mace, tazers, stun guns, etc. I would wager batons are about the same as guns/ knives and the other miscellaneous weapons would be between the forceful resistance and guns n knives categories.]
Coining a Phrase
Paranoia Snowball: The time between when you first awaken and realize the world isn't the nice safe place you thought it was and full bore paranoia. Usually it starts after you get one threat shoved into your face (a natural disaster, long power outage, violent encounter, etc) , prepare for it and then see another threat. You start seeing them everywhere (violent crime, riots, power outages, pandemic, terrorism, etc) and then you are paranoid. The snowball is the progression of paranoia.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Batons, Glocks, Maggy and Womens Self Defense
Today I am going to be writing about a conversation with Maggy about batons, Glocks and self defense. She wrote on this earlier today.
[You guessed it this is DISCLAIMER time. I am not a martial arts or self defense or firearms instructor. I am also not a cop, a lawyer, a prossecutor, a defense attorney, a doctor or a carnie (sorta wish I was a carnie though:). What I say is for informational purposes only and I strongly suggest you consult the appropriate professionals before making any major decisions. In closing you are a grown assed man or woman and solely responsible for your choices.]
Anyway I got a phone call from her yesterday. Picked it up and after the usual pleasantries she asked what I thought of ASPs. I said they are not as good as a gun but a heck of a lot better than waving your arms around while saying harsh words. The first real plus of an batons for Maggy's individual situation is their low price. I own a generic version (not cheap crap though) and it seems that around $20 is the price. Genuine ASPs are $70 on the website (may be cheaper elsewhere) if you want to be spiffy. I have been quite happy with mine and see no reason for the additional expense. As with most of us desires are infinite and resources are finite but as a single mom Maggy definitely needs to watch her dollars. She can go get a baton this weekend but saving up for a Glock 9mm is going to take awhile. If nothing else a baton is a great weapon for her to carry now until a pistol can be purchased. Believe I said that for her situation "if she needs to fight it will be far more useful then an envelope in a drawer which has "Glock 9mm" written on it and $30 inside". The second advantage is that boy is not going to be able to hurt himself with a baton; well not more than he could with a rock or a piece of firewood. She will need to address firearms safety with children at some point (a small floor mounted safe) but that isn't a concern for today.
As for batons in general they are probably my prefered non firearm weapon for self defense, certainly my favorite that is readily concealable. Can't conceal a ninja sword or an ax handle. I like batons for several reasons.
1. Taking out and extending a baton really says "I am not fucking around and will hurt you badly". Of course intimidation is often not enough to win a fight but sometimes it is, in any case never a bad thing to have a bit of it on your side.
2. They give you reach. Reach means you can strike someone before they can strike you which is a very good thing. It could be quite possible to incapacitate someone before they could be in range to harm you. Reach is also very important against a knife.
3. Batons can incapacitate someone without killing them. Not to say they can't maim, cripple or kill people but it could be entirely realistic to incapacitate an attacker in a manner that let you have safe egress and them have nothing worse than a very sore wrist and a few lumps elsewhere. (If this is the intended strategy it would probably be prudent to avoid the head, neck and spine) Granted I can't see myself hitting someone with a baton unless doing serious harm wasn't my intention but it is good to have options.
For Maggy's long term plan a Glock 9mm (not yet purchased) will be the answer for carry and a 12 gauge pump will keep the house safe.
As for womens self defense I think they have some advantages and some disadvantages.
Advantages:
1. Women are generally far smarter about not going to stupid places or being out at stupid times than men are.
2. A women (especially one of small stature) can probably justify a far quicker progression through the use of force continuum then a man would be able to. I have a very hard time seeing a woman (with a clean record) who shot a man (probably a felon) who tried to strong arm rob/ rape/ whatever her having real legal fallout. Do apply common sense (if someone isn't threatening your life you don't need to take theirs) and of course reread the disclaimer.
3. In general the average woman is more aware of their immediate surroundings then the average man is.
4. A woman will be more likely to have the element of suprise because effective resistance is less likely.
5. Because of a lack of testosterone fueled ego women tend to learn skills with a more open mind thus learning them faster and better than men.
Disadvantages:
1. Women on average are smaller and have much less upper body strength then men. If a woman (who is not a professional fighter or ninja) gets into a hand to hand fight with an average man she is going to loose. A 115lbs woman with a black belt in some sort of asian art will probably not last long in a fight with an average sized (5'9" 170 ish) somewhat hardened criminal.
2. Guys are not common targets of stranger rape (the grab by the hair and drag into the alley kind) while women are. More potential reasons to be targeted equals more potential for an encounter with a violent criminal.
3. Womens fashion tends to make the carry of a firearm on your person somewhat difficult, especially in warmer weather. A guy wearing a loose fitting t shirt and shorts is quite common but not so for women.
4. Guns and holsters are generally designed by men for other men to use. Women are shaped different. Finding a good comfortable holster will be more difficult. This does however seem to be getting a bit better recently.
Maggy also mentioned that she had been toying with the idea of taking boxing classes. I suggested first that she take a womens self defense class. Not that one of these will turn her into a trained killer or anything but it will get her a lot for $50 and an afternoon or two. Boxing classes conversely will take a long time (probably months) for her to see any real improvement. I mentioned that if she stands there and trades punches with some guy it is not going to go well. A few nasty shots ending the matter is probably a womans (and to a lesser degree a mans) most realistic way to win a hand to hand fight. Taking boxing classes would not be a bad thing at all just that it might be wise to pursue an avenue with a quicker payoff first.
For womens self defense in general I suggest the same thing as I do for men. Purchase, train with and carry firearms. (Bridgid wrote a good post on this topic recently) If you are not at all 'into guns' a compact pistol (carryable) and a pump shotgun are probably enough guns. If you get more into it a .22 for training and a rifle just in case things go completely to hell would be wise.
[You guessed it this is DISCLAIMER time. I am not a martial arts or self defense or firearms instructor. I am also not a cop, a lawyer, a prossecutor, a defense attorney, a doctor or a carnie (sorta wish I was a carnie though:). What I say is for informational purposes only and I strongly suggest you consult the appropriate professionals before making any major decisions. In closing you are a grown assed man or woman and solely responsible for your choices.]
Anyway I got a phone call from her yesterday. Picked it up and after the usual pleasantries she asked what I thought of ASPs. I said they are not as good as a gun but a heck of a lot better than waving your arms around while saying harsh words. The first real plus of an batons for Maggy's individual situation is their low price. I own a generic version (not cheap crap though) and it seems that around $20 is the price. Genuine ASPs are $70 on the website (may be cheaper elsewhere) if you want to be spiffy. I have been quite happy with mine and see no reason for the additional expense. As with most of us desires are infinite and resources are finite but as a single mom Maggy definitely needs to watch her dollars. She can go get a baton this weekend but saving up for a Glock 9mm is going to take awhile. If nothing else a baton is a great weapon for her to carry now until a pistol can be purchased. Believe I said that for her situation "if she needs to fight it will be far more useful then an envelope in a drawer which has "Glock 9mm" written on it and $30 inside". The second advantage is that boy is not going to be able to hurt himself with a baton; well not more than he could with a rock or a piece of firewood. She will need to address firearms safety with children at some point (a small floor mounted safe) but that isn't a concern for today.
As for batons in general they are probably my prefered non firearm weapon for self defense, certainly my favorite that is readily concealable. Can't conceal a ninja sword or an ax handle. I like batons for several reasons.
1. Taking out and extending a baton really says "I am not fucking around and will hurt you badly". Of course intimidation is often not enough to win a fight but sometimes it is, in any case never a bad thing to have a bit of it on your side.
2. They give you reach. Reach means you can strike someone before they can strike you which is a very good thing. It could be quite possible to incapacitate someone before they could be in range to harm you. Reach is also very important against a knife.
3. Batons can incapacitate someone without killing them. Not to say they can't maim, cripple or kill people but it could be entirely realistic to incapacitate an attacker in a manner that let you have safe egress and them have nothing worse than a very sore wrist and a few lumps elsewhere. (If this is the intended strategy it would probably be prudent to avoid the head, neck and spine) Granted I can't see myself hitting someone with a baton unless doing serious harm wasn't my intention but it is good to have options.
For Maggy's long term plan a Glock 9mm (not yet purchased) will be the answer for carry and a 12 gauge pump will keep the house safe.
As for womens self defense I think they have some advantages and some disadvantages.
Advantages:
1. Women are generally far smarter about not going to stupid places or being out at stupid times than men are.
2. A women (especially one of small stature) can probably justify a far quicker progression through the use of force continuum then a man would be able to. I have a very hard time seeing a woman (with a clean record) who shot a man (probably a felon) who tried to strong arm rob/ rape/ whatever her having real legal fallout. Do apply common sense (if someone isn't threatening your life you don't need to take theirs) and of course reread the disclaimer.
3. In general the average woman is more aware of their immediate surroundings then the average man is.
4. A woman will be more likely to have the element of suprise because effective resistance is less likely.
5. Because of a lack of testosterone fueled ego women tend to learn skills with a more open mind thus learning them faster and better than men.
Disadvantages:
1. Women on average are smaller and have much less upper body strength then men. If a woman (who is not a professional fighter or ninja) gets into a hand to hand fight with an average man she is going to loose. A 115lbs woman with a black belt in some sort of asian art will probably not last long in a fight with an average sized (5'9" 170 ish) somewhat hardened criminal.
2. Guys are not common targets of stranger rape (the grab by the hair and drag into the alley kind) while women are. More potential reasons to be targeted equals more potential for an encounter with a violent criminal.
3. Womens fashion tends to make the carry of a firearm on your person somewhat difficult, especially in warmer weather. A guy wearing a loose fitting t shirt and shorts is quite common but not so for women.
4. Guns and holsters are generally designed by men for other men to use. Women are shaped different. Finding a good comfortable holster will be more difficult. This does however seem to be getting a bit better recently.
Maggy also mentioned that she had been toying with the idea of taking boxing classes. I suggested first that she take a womens self defense class. Not that one of these will turn her into a trained killer or anything but it will get her a lot for $50 and an afternoon or two. Boxing classes conversely will take a long time (probably months) for her to see any real improvement. I mentioned that if she stands there and trades punches with some guy it is not going to go well. A few nasty shots ending the matter is probably a womans (and to a lesser degree a mans) most realistic way to win a hand to hand fight. Taking boxing classes would not be a bad thing at all just that it might be wise to pursue an avenue with a quicker payoff first.
For womens self defense in general I suggest the same thing as I do for men. Purchase, train with and carry firearms. (Bridgid wrote a good post on this topic recently) If you are not at all 'into guns' a compact pistol (carryable) and a pump shotgun are probably enough guns. If you get more into it a .22 for training and a rifle just in case things go completely to hell would be wise.
Monkeys on Drugs
"The monkeys chose to be alone with Cocaine."
-Hooked (talking about a study somebody did)
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Life, Times, Conversation
Had an interesting talk with Maggy this evening. The content of it plus expanded thoughts on the topic will probably be written tomorrow. Would do it tonight but I find posts often get better and never get worse from a bit of reflection. Sort of like mental marinading.
Cops, Weapons Retention Lesson
As Wifey makes a wonderful dinner I am watching Cops. Yeah unless I was having a martini it could not be more 1950's. Anyway moving forward.
I saw a segment I had seen a couple times but this time it got me thinking about weapons retention. The segment starts when backup arrives to help another cop. As always they arrived after the action was over. The cop was leaning against a car breathing hard with his hands and forearms covered in blood. The crook was handcuffed in a bloody pile in the side yard of a house. After a traffic stop this genius decided it would be a good idea to take the cops gun and (I assume) then shoot him with it. The cop said "he just kept saying I don't want to go back to jail". The crook had his gun halfway out when cop belted him full on in the face with a full sized mag light. That didn't stop the crook so the cop wound up to do it again but the flashlight (slippery with blood) slipped out of his hands. The crook tried to hop over a fence and the cop pulled him down. The crook came up swinging and the fight was on. Eventually the crook ended up in a bloody pile.
This cop was a fairly good sized guy (6" 205ish) who obviously lifted heavy things on a regular basis. He was also an amateur boxer. The crook was not particularly big or anything. He was not a trained martial artist or some MS 13 lifer. He was not high out of his mind on PCP. He was just an average run of the mill scumbag who really did not want to go back to jail.
If you end up in a violent encounter with a criminal a gun is not a cure all. Quite frankly a good case could be made that within arms reach taking out a loaded pistol is the worst choice you could make. Also as Gabe Suarez is fond of noting if you think you alertness methods learned at some fancy school or whatever are so good nobody will ever get that close you are fooling yourself in a dangerous way. Anyway part of my point is that you need to prepare for vicious hand to hand combat. Another part of the point is that a less lethal backup of some sort is not a magic fix all. Note the cop with his flashlight. A mag light is a vicious impact weapon but it could slip out of your hands the same way an extend able baton could.
I do not think the importance of hand to hand combat can be overemphasized for self defense. Without even taking about appropriate (READ legal) use of force into the discussion there is a very real chance you will need these skills. Instead of going to that advanced urban tactical pistol shooting course (not that different from 4 others you've been to) you might be better advised to find a real world practical instructor to learn from. Instead of spending hours a day on some internet forum talking about all your sweet guns it would be a good idea to go to the gym.
One quick thought on hand to hand combat. Skills are probably the most important factor (baring the element of surprise) in a fight but physical conditioning (strength and stamina) and size are probably the next most important. Though are largely limited by genetics and frame a person in good shape with some strength will always do better in a fight (than they would in worse shape). For real world (not fun/ competitive) fighting I would say that strength is more important than stamina. I say this simple because real world fights are almost always resolved very quickly. Not to discount or underrate stamina but if you can't hurt the guy and he whoops your ass in 26 seconds because he can hurt you the fact that you could have fought for a whole hour would be a mute point.
We can draw some lessons from police encounters but they are for most of us a faulty example. Maybe exaggerated is a better word but that doesn't really matter. First of all cops open carry all the time, even in urban built up areas while dealing with people. I like me some open carry but not for dealing with people up close. Second and more importantly cops deal up close with lots of scumbags. A cop in a big city probably deals with more scumbags in a year than a few productive citizens will deal with in a lifetime. The more scumbags one deals with the higher the odds some crazy shit will happen.
Don't have to be at work till noon tomorrow which is pretty sweet. Need to do some business hours errands and since we have one car that can get difficult, lucky timing for us.
Also the stir fry was totally frickin awesome.
I saw a segment I had seen a couple times but this time it got me thinking about weapons retention. The segment starts when backup arrives to help another cop. As always they arrived after the action was over. The cop was leaning against a car breathing hard with his hands and forearms covered in blood. The crook was handcuffed in a bloody pile in the side yard of a house. After a traffic stop this genius decided it would be a good idea to take the cops gun and (I assume) then shoot him with it. The cop said "he just kept saying I don't want to go back to jail". The crook had his gun halfway out when cop belted him full on in the face with a full sized mag light. That didn't stop the crook so the cop wound up to do it again but the flashlight (slippery with blood) slipped out of his hands. The crook tried to hop over a fence and the cop pulled him down. The crook came up swinging and the fight was on. Eventually the crook ended up in a bloody pile.
This cop was a fairly good sized guy (6" 205ish) who obviously lifted heavy things on a regular basis. He was also an amateur boxer. The crook was not particularly big or anything. He was not a trained martial artist or some MS 13 lifer. He was not high out of his mind on PCP. He was just an average run of the mill scumbag who really did not want to go back to jail.
If you end up in a violent encounter with a criminal a gun is not a cure all. Quite frankly a good case could be made that within arms reach taking out a loaded pistol is the worst choice you could make. Also as Gabe Suarez is fond of noting if you think you alertness methods learned at some fancy school or whatever are so good nobody will ever get that close you are fooling yourself in a dangerous way. Anyway part of my point is that you need to prepare for vicious hand to hand combat. Another part of the point is that a less lethal backup of some sort is not a magic fix all. Note the cop with his flashlight. A mag light is a vicious impact weapon but it could slip out of your hands the same way an extend able baton could.
I do not think the importance of hand to hand combat can be overemphasized for self defense. Without even taking about appropriate (READ legal) use of force into the discussion there is a very real chance you will need these skills. Instead of going to that advanced urban tactical pistol shooting course (not that different from 4 others you've been to) you might be better advised to find a real world practical instructor to learn from. Instead of spending hours a day on some internet forum talking about all your sweet guns it would be a good idea to go to the gym.
One quick thought on hand to hand combat. Skills are probably the most important factor (baring the element of surprise) in a fight but physical conditioning (strength and stamina) and size are probably the next most important. Though are largely limited by genetics and frame a person in good shape with some strength will always do better in a fight (than they would in worse shape). For real world (not fun/ competitive) fighting I would say that strength is more important than stamina. I say this simple because real world fights are almost always resolved very quickly. Not to discount or underrate stamina but if you can't hurt the guy and he whoops your ass in 26 seconds because he can hurt you the fact that you could have fought for a whole hour would be a mute point.
We can draw some lessons from police encounters but they are for most of us a faulty example. Maybe exaggerated is a better word but that doesn't really matter. First of all cops open carry all the time, even in urban built up areas while dealing with people. I like me some open carry but not for dealing with people up close. Second and more importantly cops deal up close with lots of scumbags. A cop in a big city probably deals with more scumbags in a year than a few productive citizens will deal with in a lifetime. The more scumbags one deals with the higher the odds some crazy shit will happen.
Don't have to be at work till noon tomorrow which is pretty sweet. Need to do some business hours errands and since we have one car that can get difficult, lucky timing for us.
Also the stir fry was totally frickin awesome.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
![[Most Recent Charts from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/gold/t24_au_en_usoz_4.gif)
![[Most Recent Charts from www.kitco.com]](http://www.kitconet.com/charts/metals/silver/t24_ag_en_usoz_4.gif)
Posts
