Saturday, October 31, 2009
quote of the day
"Whatever you do, don’t skimp on firepower or boobs!"
-James Dakin
I couldn't have said it better except some beer would be nice.
-James Dakin
I couldn't have said it better except some beer would be nice.
SPAM
I read about SPAM in a recent post over at Notes from the American Outback. Or course I had heard of the stuff but had never eaten it. For some reason I got to my mid 20's without ever eating this iconic meat in a can. So when we were at the store the other day I picked up a couple cans. Today I was hungry and it was SPAM TIME.
I was going for a breakfast theme so I opened the can and plopped the loaf o meat out onto a cutting board. Thinly sliced enough to be a reasonablish breakfast meat allotment. Started some oil (one doesn't watch calories while eating SPAM) heating up in a frying pan and cut a slice of homeade bread (which I made:) put in in the toaster and set out the eggs so it would all be ready for the fast transition which is essential for a good breakfast.
The SPAM cooked well and got crisp and dark. Flipped it at the appropriate time and let it cook a bit on the other side. Used a napkin to get of the excess oil and set it on a plate in the oven to stay warm. Got the toast toasting and cooked a couple eggs. Now it was eating time.
SPAM sort of has a greasy vaguely porkish taste with a hint of bacon. It definitely has to be crisp to be tolerably edible. I ate about half of it alone and put the rest with an egg between a piece of broken in half toast. It made for a pretty yummy breakfast sandwich.
I think SPAM could have a good role in food storage. First of all it is calorie dense which isn't ideal if you are trying to slim down your waistline but it is nice if you are trying not to starve to death. Also the stuff has an expiration date which is 3 YEARS our from the date of manufacture. While it is true that expiration dates are made by people with a vested interest in selling more of their product and concerns about law suits so the dates might be conservative that is still a long time. Eating just a can of this stuff a month you could keep 36 of them around at all times and never have one go bad. That is a pretty awesome thing.
Militant Enviiornmentalists vs Hunters
Newspaper Prints Letter Advocating Killing Hunters
http://blog.nssf.org/2009/10/
The sender also included this note:
Could you post this story on TSLRF blog? I'd love for millions of gun loving hunters to inundate this wretched newspaper with letters. Thanks!
-Y
TOR adds: I think this is total crap. That newspaper would never publish a letter about murdering enviornmentalists or the like. I do not think there is any actual threat against moose hunters in Vermont. From my anecdotal observation the average 3-5 man hunting party could easily win a fight with a whole darn Green Peace/ PETA/ Pale Whusses Against Manly Things meeting.
http://blog.nssf.org/2009/10/
The sender also included this note:
Could you post this story on TSLRF blog? I'd love for millions of gun loving hunters to inundate this wretched newspaper with letters. Thanks!
-Y
TOR adds: I think this is total crap. That newspaper would never publish a letter about murdering enviornmentalists or the like. I do not think there is any actual threat against moose hunters in Vermont. From my anecdotal observation the average 3-5 man hunting party could easily win a fight with a whole darn Green Peace/ PETA/ Pale Whusses Against Manly Things meeting.
Friday, October 30, 2009
quote of the day
"This used to be a fun house
But now it's full of evil clowns
It's time to start the countdown
I'm gonna burn it down"
-Funhouse lyrics
Heard this on the radio today. Didn't particularly love the song as pop isn't my thing. However the lyrics are so frickin awesome that I (the king of not remembering things) remember it hours later.
But now it's full of evil clowns
It's time to start the countdown
I'm gonna burn it down"
-Funhouse lyrics
Heard this on the radio today. Didn't particularly love the song as pop isn't my thing. However the lyrics are so frickin awesome that I (the king of not remembering things) remember it hours later.
Friday Night
It has been a long week. Not especially difficult parse but on Tuesday I definitely thought it felt like it should be Thursday which obviously leads to a long week or at least a feeling theiron.
This morning met me with a reminder of guts by doing a 5 mile litter carry. It was a weird combination of muscular endurance, some cardiovascular endurance and just plain pain.
Tonight after work finally ended I had a couple budweisers and watched Sons of Anarchy which is more or less my Friday evening ritual. The Sons of Anarchy are not being all emo and feely this week which is good but they didn't do so good on things this week. If I was one of them I could solve their problems with a halfway decent rifle and a couple bullets but I suppose that wouldn't make it easy to write the next episode.
Thinking I am going to buy some kit this weekend. Not entirely thrilled with the molle assault vestish setup though it is by leaps and bounds better than anything the Army has widely issued to date. Got a few bucks lying around and I wear this stuff a lot so it is far more of a concern than if it was just stuff stashed next to a rifle in a closet. [Case in point (I said it right this time) a Joe Every Man is going to do some home improvements this weekend and needs a framing hammer. He can pretty much go pick up any one that isn't a Chinese made piece of shit and it will suit his needs. Conversely his neighbor Bob the Builder is going to use the heck out of his hammer so needs one that is as efficient as possible, super durable and ergonomic as can be. An expensive hammer is not a big deal for Bob while it would not make sense to Joe.] I know where I am going to get it and have a pretty good idea what I will get.
Also worst case having a bunch of random modular pouches and harnesses lying around will not be a bad thing in the long run. I buy enough of the stuff for specific purposes or color schemes (yeah the military is really into matching including accessories which is pretty homo) that I could probably put together enough stuff for at least an extra person or two.
My wife mentioned that I am behind on buying stuff as we have money accumulated to purchase said items. I am kind of disgruntled because I spent more than an hour picking every Glock part I wanted on Lone Wolf and then the site froze and my cart disappeared. Will have to try and knock that out this weekend.
Tomorrow is going to have a sort of leisurely morning, maybe a little bit of PT and then some work stuff. After that we will give random kids candy and hang out.
Sunday we are going to a nearby place to check it out and so Wifey can do some shopping. Also they have a restaurant which I would like to go to.
Next week will be very interesting. More on that later.
I will try and have my next post be more on a cohesive topic instead of semi random thoughts and life sort of stuff. Had something planned for tonight but I got side tracked.
This morning met me with a reminder of guts by doing a 5 mile litter carry. It was a weird combination of muscular endurance, some cardiovascular endurance and just plain pain.
Tonight after work finally ended I had a couple budweisers and watched Sons of Anarchy which is more or less my Friday evening ritual. The Sons of Anarchy are not being all emo and feely this week which is good but they didn't do so good on things this week. If I was one of them I could solve their problems with a halfway decent rifle and a couple bullets but I suppose that wouldn't make it easy to write the next episode.
Thinking I am going to buy some kit this weekend. Not entirely thrilled with the molle assault vestish setup though it is by leaps and bounds better than anything the Army has widely issued to date. Got a few bucks lying around and I wear this stuff a lot so it is far more of a concern than if it was just stuff stashed next to a rifle in a closet. [Case in point (I said it right this time) a Joe Every Man is going to do some home improvements this weekend and needs a framing hammer. He can pretty much go pick up any one that isn't a Chinese made piece of shit and it will suit his needs. Conversely his neighbor Bob the Builder is going to use the heck out of his hammer so needs one that is as efficient as possible, super durable and ergonomic as can be. An expensive hammer is not a big deal for Bob while it would not make sense to Joe.] I know where I am going to get it and have a pretty good idea what I will get.
Also worst case having a bunch of random modular pouches and harnesses lying around will not be a bad thing in the long run. I buy enough of the stuff for specific purposes or color schemes (yeah the military is really into matching including accessories which is pretty homo) that I could probably put together enough stuff for at least an extra person or two.
My wife mentioned that I am behind on buying stuff as we have money accumulated to purchase said items. I am kind of disgruntled because I spent more than an hour picking every Glock part I wanted on Lone Wolf and then the site froze and my cart disappeared. Will have to try and knock that out this weekend.
Tomorrow is going to have a sort of leisurely morning, maybe a little bit of PT and then some work stuff. After that we will give random kids candy and hang out.
Sunday we are going to a nearby place to check it out and so Wifey can do some shopping. Also they have a restaurant which I would like to go to.
Next week will be very interesting. More on that later.
I will try and have my next post be more on a cohesive topic instead of semi random thoughts and life sort of stuff. Had something planned for tonight but I got side tracked.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
A Recent Comment on Pakistan, Democracy and US Policies Abroad
I would argue that the odds of a military coup at any point are reasonably high...
Or perhaps guaranteed? If it weren't for periodic military coups, there wouldn't BE a transition of power in Pakistan.
I think we need to discard the policy of spreading democracy all over the planet. It works well for stable, educated, non-fanatical societies, but can lead to anarchy in third-world, illiterate backwaters like Pakistan.
And these fuckers have nukes. I'd rather see a strong, despotic dictator maintain control over those weapons, than have a weak-willed, 'democratically-elected' government over there.
Snoop-Diggity-DANG-Dawg
TOR Replies: I think the next exchange of power in Pakistan may well be a military coup. Another distinct possibility is a head of government who is unwilling to question the Army or its policies in any substantive way lest there be a military coup. The person at the top changes but they are unwilling to upset their apple cart and thus they are of somewhat marginal importance. I am not particularly worried about their nukes. I think the odds of General Ishmahalanzi being in charge tomorrow are far higher than the odds of the country really falling apart. Worst realistic case (for us) would be both they and the Taliban decide the costs of this current war they are fighting is too high and go back to a de facto peace.
You stumble onto something which I think has been an issue for America over the last (at least) couple decades. American official policy has pretty much been that we support democracy and want everyone to have one. Americas real policy is that we want everyone to have a democracy but one which likes America and if isn't willing to do everything we ask will at least "play ball". As we have seen in Iraq we also have the little astrix that they need to support womens rights, minority rights, gay rights, and freedom of religion. Of course there is a glaring omission that we also support some downright nasty dictators if they can do something for us and can vaguely stay somewhat within our broad international agenda and the fifth letter in their name is the equivalent of an L.
This policy was pretty easy to have in the Cold War era, particularly the earlier part. It was easier first of all because a lot less countries in the world were democracies. Second of all the momentum of the Cold War sort of made things easier because we could justify dealing with some nastier characters to keep them on "our side" and also because well most of them pretty much had to choose a side.
These days a lot more countries and places are democratic (at least I believe) and the removal of the old Cold War pulls has made it easier to be democratic and not fit into our agenda. The elections of Hugo Chavez in Venesuala and Hamas in Palestine have really shown that our official stance doesn't mesh with what we actually do.
To a certain degree the idea (if we ever really had it) that all countries who become democracies will be easy to get along with is at best naive and at worst just plain stupid. Democracies more or less tend to reflect the will of the people voting and in a lot of countries the people voting don't like us very much.
To take a black and white approach we would need to decide if we are going to support countries that are democracies or countries that like us (and "play ball"). That being said I don't think black and white approaches work in real world politics.
In general I think we should do both of these things but in an order that suits our needs. It is often necessary to deal with certain unsavory characters to get things done in the world. To the ends that it suits us we can and should continue to act in our best interest. I believe we should try and help people in other countries have a voice in how their country is run if just through encouraging them in a variety of ways (preferential agreements, aid, etc [all of these things in general are another discussion but they exist and we currently use them widely]) unless they act consistently in some way that is against our interest. If they are aiding us or are neutral towards us then fine and good, if not they can go pound sand no matter their form of government.
As for the question of whether every country is capable of being a democracy? While nothing is written in stone regions that become democracies successfully and stay that way tend to have a tradition of rule of law, market economies and loyal opposition. Not every man is going to marry a woman who looks like a super model and not every woman looks like a super model. Sorry to say that not every country is at least at this time capable of having a viable democracy. Not today, maybe tomorrow.
I am over my time limit so I have to wrap this up.
Thoughts?
Or perhaps guaranteed? If it weren't for periodic military coups, there wouldn't BE a transition of power in Pakistan.
I think we need to discard the policy of spreading democracy all over the planet. It works well for stable, educated, non-fanatical societies, but can lead to anarchy in third-world, illiterate backwaters like Pakistan.
And these fuckers have nukes. I'd rather see a strong, despotic dictator maintain control over those weapons, than have a weak-willed, 'democratically-elected' government over there.
Snoop-Diggity-DANG-Dawg
TOR Replies: I think the next exchange of power in Pakistan may well be a military coup. Another distinct possibility is a head of government who is unwilling to question the Army or its policies in any substantive way lest there be a military coup. The person at the top changes but they are unwilling to upset their apple cart and thus they are of somewhat marginal importance. I am not particularly worried about their nukes. I think the odds of General Ishmahalanzi being in charge tomorrow are far higher than the odds of the country really falling apart. Worst realistic case (for us) would be both they and the Taliban decide the costs of this current war they are fighting is too high and go back to a de facto peace.
You stumble onto something which I think has been an issue for America over the last (at least) couple decades. American official policy has pretty much been that we support democracy and want everyone to have one. Americas real policy is that we want everyone to have a democracy but one which likes America and if isn't willing to do everything we ask will at least "play ball". As we have seen in Iraq we also have the little astrix that they need to support womens rights, minority rights, gay rights, and freedom of religion. Of course there is a glaring omission that we also support some downright nasty dictators if they can do something for us and can vaguely stay somewhat within our broad international agenda and the fifth letter in their name is the equivalent of an L.
This policy was pretty easy to have in the Cold War era, particularly the earlier part. It was easier first of all because a lot less countries in the world were democracies. Second of all the momentum of the Cold War sort of made things easier because we could justify dealing with some nastier characters to keep them on "our side" and also because well most of them pretty much had to choose a side.
These days a lot more countries and places are democratic (at least I believe) and the removal of the old Cold War pulls has made it easier to be democratic and not fit into our agenda. The elections of Hugo Chavez in Venesuala and Hamas in Palestine have really shown that our official stance doesn't mesh with what we actually do.
To a certain degree the idea (if we ever really had it) that all countries who become democracies will be easy to get along with is at best naive and at worst just plain stupid. Democracies more or less tend to reflect the will of the people voting and in a lot of countries the people voting don't like us very much.
To take a black and white approach we would need to decide if we are going to support countries that are democracies or countries that like us (and "play ball"). That being said I don't think black and white approaches work in real world politics.
In general I think we should do both of these things but in an order that suits our needs. It is often necessary to deal with certain unsavory characters to get things done in the world. To the ends that it suits us we can and should continue to act in our best interest. I believe we should try and help people in other countries have a voice in how their country is run if just through encouraging them in a variety of ways (preferential agreements, aid, etc [all of these things in general are another discussion but they exist and we currently use them widely]) unless they act consistently in some way that is against our interest. If they are aiding us or are neutral towards us then fine and good, if not they can go pound sand no matter their form of government.
As for the question of whether every country is capable of being a democracy? While nothing is written in stone regions that become democracies successfully and stay that way tend to have a tradition of rule of law, market economies and loyal opposition. Not every man is going to marry a woman who looks like a super model and not every woman looks like a super model. Sorry to say that not every country is at least at this time capable of having a viable democracy. Not today, maybe tomorrow.
I am over my time limit so I have to wrap this up.
Thoughts?
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
I Can't Even Think of a Title for This One.
Apparently Steven Segal is a Sheriffs Deputy in Louisiana and has been so for some time. Also apparently A&E is going to have a reality show of him sheriffing. First I thought this was the most completely ridiculous thing ever. Then I followed the link and after watching the promos I realized it is without a doubt going to be the best fucking show ever.
Who knows what will happen. Will he spontaneously babble Oriental philosophy? Almost surely. Will he get in a fight? Probably. Will he clean out an entire bar full of assholes with a cue ball in a towel? I sure hope so. Maybe he will even play the handslap game with some fat stupid jerk.
I really wish I got A&E here but will probably be able to find episodes online somewhere. Now I'm just counting down the days till December Second.
Who knows what will happen. Will he spontaneously babble Oriental philosophy? Almost surely. Will he get in a fight? Probably. Will he clean out an entire bar full of assholes with a cue ball in a towel? I sure hope so. Maybe he will even play the handslap game with some fat stupid jerk.
I really wish I got A&E here but will probably be able to find episodes online somewhere. Now I'm just counting down the days till December Second.
Pakistan's Stability and the Taliban
Pakistan and Islamic Extremists have long had a fairly cozy relationship, doubly so for their Army (a huge player in politics) and the ISI their intelligence service. They have worked with these extremists to fight the Indians (we can't tell them apart but they really hate eachother) in Kashmir and have probably worked together to cause some mayhem in India itself.
Since 9/11 countries have had to be pretty clearly for or against the above mentioned class of asshats and wisely Pakistan (really Musharaf) chose to be against them. For a long time however that was mostly theoretical. The Islamists would have liked to take over the country (where lots of people are at least passively supportive of them) but didn't have the power to do it. To the Pakistani governments credit nobody has really ever controlled their Northwest Frontier beyond a localized boots on the ground sort of way.
These two groups have been fighting something of a gentlemens war for awhile now. A few people get killed here in a car bombing and the Army blows up a compound there but all and all it was pretty limited warfare for very limited objectives. The Pakistanis needed to be able to show that they were at least trying to get tough and the Islamists just wanted to keep what they had and maybe expand it a bit, at least for now.
I think this gentlemens war (for lack of a better word, Islamist Terrorists are certainly not gentlemen) is officially over. Think of it as that point when two friends go from a somewhat friendly wrestling match to really scrapping and fight till someone gets badly hurt. Lots of bombs are going off and lots of Pakistani citizens are dying. I think the Pakistani goverment and military have really taken the gloves off.
They might not be the best equipped and most disciplined fighting force in the world but I personally think that a lack of will and complicity/ outright collaberation with the enemy were bigger issues than old gear and iffy standards of training.
I am not sure how increadibly stable Pakistan is. I would argue that the odds of a military coup at any point are reasonably high (not as high as in Coupland which is a small country in equitorial West Africa but a lot higher than its neighbors) but the name at the top changing wouldn't really matter all that much beyond symbolism. I do however think that Pakistan is in a situation where they can and may really do some damage to these asshats. I don't think they can completely stamp out Islamic Extremism in the region but they can sure make a safe havena lot less safe which could have big implications on the region.
Twill be interesting.
Since 9/11 countries have had to be pretty clearly for or against the above mentioned class of asshats and wisely Pakistan (really Musharaf) chose to be against them. For a long time however that was mostly theoretical. The Islamists would have liked to take over the country (where lots of people are at least passively supportive of them) but didn't have the power to do it. To the Pakistani governments credit nobody has really ever controlled their Northwest Frontier beyond a localized boots on the ground sort of way.
These two groups have been fighting something of a gentlemens war for awhile now. A few people get killed here in a car bombing and the Army blows up a compound there but all and all it was pretty limited warfare for very limited objectives. The Pakistanis needed to be able to show that they were at least trying to get tough and the Islamists just wanted to keep what they had and maybe expand it a bit, at least for now.
I think this gentlemens war (for lack of a better word, Islamist Terrorists are certainly not gentlemen) is officially over. Think of it as that point when two friends go from a somewhat friendly wrestling match to really scrapping and fight till someone gets badly hurt. Lots of bombs are going off and lots of Pakistani citizens are dying. I think the Pakistani goverment and military have really taken the gloves off.
They might not be the best equipped and most disciplined fighting force in the world but I personally think that a lack of will and complicity/ outright collaberation with the enemy were bigger issues than old gear and iffy standards of training.
I am not sure how increadibly stable Pakistan is. I would argue that the odds of a military coup at any point are reasonably high (not as high as in Coupland which is a small country in equitorial West Africa but a lot higher than its neighbors) but the name at the top changing wouldn't really matter all that much beyond symbolism. I do however think that Pakistan is in a situation where they can and may really do some damage to these asshats. I don't think they can completely stamp out Islamic Extremism in the region but they can sure make a safe havena lot less safe which could have big implications on the region.
Twill be interesting.
Just Plugging Along
Life is just sort of plugging along here. Finally having a car is real nice. Got to get a couple things fixed (horn and windshield) before I can pass the inspection and get a permenant registration but hopefully that will be a relatively small thing. Going to the grocery store and grabbing a cart instead of baskets because we are not worried about how heavy our stuff is was nice.
Picked up some SPAM to cook like Rio Arriba did not too long ago. Come to think of it I have never eaten SPAM. Also got a can of egg nog for no real reason.
Got the rifle and shotgun spare parts which is good, Glock 9mm mags too. Had my cart full of Glock parts at Lone Wolf Distributors but then their site flaked out and after spending an hour picking everything I thought I could use I wasn't in a big hurry to do it again. Will try to do it this weekend.
Stashed 100 Euro's in the foreign currency reserves which was formerly known as the cash emergency fund. It is trickling up slowly as I toss all of our Euro change (with 1 and 2 Euro coins it adds up:) into it and a bill or two now and then. Over the next several months I intend to get to around 500 Euro's. No particular reason behind that number but it is nice and round number that we will be able to somewhat quickly stash without taking away from our other various savings.
I like that I shoot guns and exercise for work. It is a couple things I can do a lot less in my free time than I would have to if I was a manager at the plant or something. I am getting back into the Gym with a more realistic plan (3x a week not 4) so hopefully that sticks.
So I still need to buy the Glock parts and order a wheat grinder. Think I will plan on making some sort of a yummy prep type thing for Sunday which is my day to cook dinner. Maybe I will crock pot something. What should I cook?
I am pretty tired so I am going to go now. Got a short post to follow this.
Picked up some SPAM to cook like Rio Arriba did not too long ago. Come to think of it I have never eaten SPAM. Also got a can of egg nog for no real reason.
Got the rifle and shotgun spare parts which is good, Glock 9mm mags too. Had my cart full of Glock parts at Lone Wolf Distributors but then their site flaked out and after spending an hour picking everything I thought I could use I wasn't in a big hurry to do it again. Will try to do it this weekend.
Stashed 100 Euro's in the foreign currency reserves which was formerly known as the cash emergency fund. It is trickling up slowly as I toss all of our Euro change (with 1 and 2 Euro coins it adds up:) into it and a bill or two now and then. Over the next several months I intend to get to around 500 Euro's. No particular reason behind that number but it is nice and round number that we will be able to somewhat quickly stash without taking away from our other various savings.
I like that I shoot guns and exercise for work. It is a couple things I can do a lot less in my free time than I would have to if I was a manager at the plant or something. I am getting back into the Gym with a more realistic plan (3x a week not 4) so hopefully that sticks.
So I still need to buy the Glock parts and order a wheat grinder. Think I will plan on making some sort of a yummy prep type thing for Sunday which is my day to cook dinner. Maybe I will crock pot something. What should I cook?
I am pretty tired so I am going to go now. Got a short post to follow this.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
A Great Post at Galts Gulch and My Rambling Thoughts Thereon.
I really liked this post a lot. It could be that we are both on the younger side (survivalists tend to be an older lot) and have somewhat similar training so have a lot in common but I like how this guy thinks. Anyway to the points.
This awesome post brought up several interesting discussions and had a ton of great points. Guess I will go through it chronologically.
Bugging In will deal with most all situations you will face. Unless there is going to be a major local or regional disaster (Katrina comes to mind) or a genuine full on TEOTWAWKI just sitting in your place eating preps and playing solitate with a shotgun on your knees will get you through the bad times. The real advantages of bugging out to some other location would be an improved security situation and eventually the ability to get water and produce food. Security would be an issue far before producing food would be.
Everyone wants to be all cool and put their buggout plan into play at the drop of a hat but unless people are forcing their way into homes to rob and kill others, you think that is going to happen soon or you live below sea level and a hurricane is coming it is probably fine to sit at home.
When you should start pursuing a retreat and bug out plan is a question Mayberry and I talked around recently. I don't think you should even consider bugging out until you are prepared to bug in because you might not need or be able to get out. Beyond that I think it depends on the level of planning and (mostly) the size of the financial commitment you are talking about. Stashing some clothes, a couple spare guns with a box of ammo, a set of camping gear and food in the barn at your Uncles farm an hour out of town doesn't cost much. You probably have most of that stuff lying around anyway: some old clothes, a couple servicable guns you just don't use (you might get there without one), the old set of sleeping bags and the tent you replaced because the wife likes the color of the newer model, etc.
However even buying a "camping site" is quite a commitment in lots of regions. A hunting cabin in the mountains or a farm is rapidly getting into big money. I would be inclined to have an emergency fund and some PM's purchased before dropping tens of thousands of dollars on a place to maybe go if you need to and can get there but that is just me.
A relatively quantifiable criteria for when you will or won't bug out would be prudent.
As for the plan SGT Jarhead says lots of good stuff. I think writing things down and getting into detail is good. There is however a difference between detail and letting the good idea fairy run wild. The key is to have a simple plan that you explain very clearly so you can remember it in a time of stress. I mean crazy stupid detail.
Also having roles and responsibilities clear is essential especially if you have kids who aren't old enough to sign themselves out of school or generally leave wherever they are and get home so probably under driving age. Knowing if she is going to pick up the kids and you are going to start packing the truck or visa versa is essential.
Everyone knowing what they are going to do is even beyond the concept of kids essential. In what situations are you going to come home and in what situations are you going to just GTFO? In what situations will your family members do the same?
The distance you can or should realistically plan on traveling to get to a retreat/ hunting cabin/ camping site is an interesting discussion.
Obviously living at your retreat is ideal but then again we should all eat lots of vegetables and use sugars and fats sparingly and we know that isn't going to happen. I hesitate to speak too specifically in distances because choke points /options to bypass them and built up urban areas almost matter more than distance. For example driving through Kansas City from South to North (lots of town and a real big river) and then out to your Uncles Farm is likely more difficult and less realistic than driving 3/4's of the way across South Dakota.
However as a thought on the matter if a plan is going to take a whole tank of gas (this does vary vehicle to vehicle but call it 250 miles) it is probably manageable. If the plan is going to take two tanks of gas you might want to seriously consider getting a better plan.
Having loading and other pre departure tasks prioritized and figured out for specific situations (mainly time) makes sense. The way I like to do this is one list in priority order. For example lets say I get home from work all dirty on a Friday and Wifey says we are going to go out with some people.
1. Take essentials (wallet, knife, keys, etc) out of my work clothes and put them on the counter.
2. Get a beer.
3. Put dirty clothes in hamper.
4. Get into shower and clean up whilst drinking my beer.
5. Towel off and get dressed (putting stuff into pockets) and finish the beer.
At this point it has been 5-7 minutes since I got home and I am ready to leave having done the bare bones essentials. This is the absolute minimum to depart the house in a satisfactory and orderly manner. If circumstances are pushing that time line progress will stop and those circumstances must be dealt with before departure. Now if we don't have to leave for an hour I will keep going down the list.
6. Grab another beer.
7. Get on computer:
a. moderate comments
b. check gmail
c. check social networking sites
8. Turn on TV and watch the BBC news.
Now lets say Wifey gets a call saying that things are going to be pushed back two hours.
9. Check the fridge for some leftovers to munch on as I am hungry.
10. If applicable nuke leftovers and munch away.
11. Grab another beer.
12. Write my evening blog post.
13. Read my daily reads.
14. Check the price of PM's.
15. Consider working on whatever book I am reading.
Now the friends call again and if there is going to be more time...
16. Sit down and agree on a movie to watch with Wifey.
17. Put in movie.
18. Moderate comments.
That went a lot longer than it needed to but I think the point came across.
I like the idea of spraypaint to mark progress/ presence/ plans. My only concern with either is that the good idea fairy will get going and things will get too complicated. Do you really want to be standing on the side of the road in a stressful situation in the dark trying to decide if the spray paint signal (made by someone who is definitely NOT an artist while stressed and in the dark) was an oval or a circle? KISS definitely applies here.
I do like the idea of having an ORP before taking that final leg to the retreat very much. Distances traveled, available avenues of approach and terrain will discate how far from your retreat the ORP should be. Somewhere between a terrain feature away and a bit after you leave the (this is a relative term) main road would be prudent.
My one final thought is that after leaving your ORP it is probably not smart to cruize into your retreat like it is Beer Drinkin Bass weekend even though it might be the same location. Again distances matter here and if circumstances dictated a security hault (not an ORP because it isn't right before the objective hence the O in ORP) when leaving the main road it would still probably be wise to stop a mile or so and a terrain feature away to send out a recon just to make sure things are as you think they are. I won't go into detail on how to do this but you could look here for info I would read the whole darn manual but for the sake of this discussion the part on rally points to the part on the leaders recon. Obviously circumstances dictate the necessity of this. If the Russians invated you need to do this but if you left home because of a flood and are just cruizing out to the farm till the waters crest and drop it probably isn't.
Thoughts?
Anyway I have got to go. Later.
This awesome post brought up several interesting discussions and had a ton of great points. Guess I will go through it chronologically.
Bugging In will deal with most all situations you will face. Unless there is going to be a major local or regional disaster (Katrina comes to mind) or a genuine full on TEOTWAWKI just sitting in your place eating preps and playing solitate with a shotgun on your knees will get you through the bad times. The real advantages of bugging out to some other location would be an improved security situation and eventually the ability to get water and produce food. Security would be an issue far before producing food would be.
Everyone wants to be all cool and put their buggout plan into play at the drop of a hat but unless people are forcing their way into homes to rob and kill others, you think that is going to happen soon or you live below sea level and a hurricane is coming it is probably fine to sit at home.
When you should start pursuing a retreat and bug out plan is a question Mayberry and I talked around recently. I don't think you should even consider bugging out until you are prepared to bug in because you might not need or be able to get out. Beyond that I think it depends on the level of planning and (mostly) the size of the financial commitment you are talking about. Stashing some clothes, a couple spare guns with a box of ammo, a set of camping gear and food in the barn at your Uncles farm an hour out of town doesn't cost much. You probably have most of that stuff lying around anyway: some old clothes, a couple servicable guns you just don't use (you might get there without one), the old set of sleeping bags and the tent you replaced because the wife likes the color of the newer model, etc.
However even buying a "camping site" is quite a commitment in lots of regions. A hunting cabin in the mountains or a farm is rapidly getting into big money. I would be inclined to have an emergency fund and some PM's purchased before dropping tens of thousands of dollars on a place to maybe go if you need to and can get there but that is just me.
A relatively quantifiable criteria for when you will or won't bug out would be prudent.
As for the plan SGT Jarhead says lots of good stuff. I think writing things down and getting into detail is good. There is however a difference between detail and letting the good idea fairy run wild. The key is to have a simple plan that you explain very clearly so you can remember it in a time of stress. I mean crazy stupid detail.
Also having roles and responsibilities clear is essential especially if you have kids who aren't old enough to sign themselves out of school or generally leave wherever they are and get home so probably under driving age. Knowing if she is going to pick up the kids and you are going to start packing the truck or visa versa is essential.
Everyone knowing what they are going to do is even beyond the concept of kids essential. In what situations are you going to come home and in what situations are you going to just GTFO? In what situations will your family members do the same?
The distance you can or should realistically plan on traveling to get to a retreat/ hunting cabin/ camping site is an interesting discussion.
Obviously living at your retreat is ideal but then again we should all eat lots of vegetables and use sugars and fats sparingly and we know that isn't going to happen. I hesitate to speak too specifically in distances because choke points /options to bypass them and built up urban areas almost matter more than distance. For example driving through Kansas City from South to North (lots of town and a real big river) and then out to your Uncles Farm is likely more difficult and less realistic than driving 3/4's of the way across South Dakota.
However as a thought on the matter if a plan is going to take a whole tank of gas (this does vary vehicle to vehicle but call it 250 miles) it is probably manageable. If the plan is going to take two tanks of gas you might want to seriously consider getting a better plan.
Having loading and other pre departure tasks prioritized and figured out for specific situations (mainly time) makes sense. The way I like to do this is one list in priority order. For example lets say I get home from work all dirty on a Friday and Wifey says we are going to go out with some people.
1. Take essentials (wallet, knife, keys, etc) out of my work clothes and put them on the counter.
2. Get a beer.
3. Put dirty clothes in hamper.
4. Get into shower and clean up whilst drinking my beer.
5. Towel off and get dressed (putting stuff into pockets) and finish the beer.
At this point it has been 5-7 minutes since I got home and I am ready to leave having done the bare bones essentials. This is the absolute minimum to depart the house in a satisfactory and orderly manner. If circumstances are pushing that time line progress will stop and those circumstances must be dealt with before departure. Now if we don't have to leave for an hour I will keep going down the list.
6. Grab another beer.
7. Get on computer:
a. moderate comments
b. check gmail
c. check social networking sites
8. Turn on TV and watch the BBC news.
Now lets say Wifey gets a call saying that things are going to be pushed back two hours.
9. Check the fridge for some leftovers to munch on as I am hungry.
10. If applicable nuke leftovers and munch away.
11. Grab another beer.
12. Write my evening blog post.
13. Read my daily reads.
14. Check the price of PM's.
15. Consider working on whatever book I am reading.
Now the friends call again and if there is going to be more time...
16. Sit down and agree on a movie to watch with Wifey.
17. Put in movie.
18. Moderate comments.
That went a lot longer than it needed to but I think the point came across.
I like the idea of spraypaint to mark progress/ presence/ plans. My only concern with either is that the good idea fairy will get going and things will get too complicated. Do you really want to be standing on the side of the road in a stressful situation in the dark trying to decide if the spray paint signal (made by someone who is definitely NOT an artist while stressed and in the dark) was an oval or a circle? KISS definitely applies here.
I do like the idea of having an ORP before taking that final leg to the retreat very much. Distances traveled, available avenues of approach and terrain will discate how far from your retreat the ORP should be. Somewhere between a terrain feature away and a bit after you leave the (this is a relative term) main road would be prudent.
My one final thought is that after leaving your ORP it is probably not smart to cruize into your retreat like it is Beer Drinkin Bass weekend even though it might be the same location. Again distances matter here and if circumstances dictated a security hault (not an ORP because it isn't right before the objective hence the O in ORP) when leaving the main road it would still probably be wise to stop a mile or so and a terrain feature away to send out a recon just to make sure things are as you think they are. I won't go into detail on how to do this but you could look here for info I would read the whole darn manual but for the sake of this discussion the part on rally points to the part on the leaders recon. Obviously circumstances dictate the necessity of this. If the Russians invated you need to do this but if you left home because of a flood and are just cruizing out to the farm till the waters crest and drop it probably isn't.
Thoughts?
Anyway I have got to go. Later.
The Social Shotgun
Guns and Ammo talks about shotguns for home defense and the Mossberg 590 series in particular. I find little to disagree with at least on a big picture level. For home defense I think the pump shotgun is probably the best weapon around. It does lose out to the pistol a little bit because you can't answer the door discretely with one. That one minus however does not knock it off its status as the King of the home defense hill.
To be blunt I find the tie in to the Mossberg 590 series blatant product placement and part of the reason I can't recall when I bought a gun magazine (read not shoot) last. I will consider a subscription to a magazine when they write a review of anything from a somewhat major manufacturer that is not a complete glowing droolfest of an article. Anyway back to my point. I personally think the Mossberg 590 series is not a lot of shotgun for the money. Not that they are a bad shotgun but they aren't two or three times the shotgun as its almost identical twin the Mossberg 500 series, substantively the two guns are just the same.
I like shotguns for defense and will try not to get too into the weeds about what features to have or what model to buy. Suffice to say that for defense short (18.5-22ish inch) barreled pump shotguns made by Remington or Mossberg (order random not intentional) are probably the way to go. Winchesters are fine and dandy but as they wear out and break and parts become less available and more expensive they will start going away. If you have one that is great (hope you have a stash o parts) and by all means keep using it but buying one these days would IMO be foolish.
Anyway the article is kind of entertaining and you should own a pump shotgun.
To be blunt I find the tie in to the Mossberg 590 series blatant product placement and part of the reason I can't recall when I bought a gun magazine (read not shoot) last. I will consider a subscription to a magazine when they write a review of anything from a somewhat major manufacturer that is not a complete glowing droolfest of an article. Anyway back to my point. I personally think the Mossberg 590 series is not a lot of shotgun for the money. Not that they are a bad shotgun but they aren't two or three times the shotgun as its almost identical twin the Mossberg 500 series, substantively the two guns are just the same.
I like shotguns for defense and will try not to get too into the weeds about what features to have or what model to buy. Suffice to say that for defense short (18.5-22ish inch) barreled pump shotguns made by Remington or Mossberg (order random not intentional) are probably the way to go. Winchesters are fine and dandy but as they wear out and break and parts become less available and more expensive they will start going away. If you have one that is great (hope you have a stash o parts) and by all means keep using it but buying one these days would IMO be foolish.
Anyway the article is kind of entertaining and you should own a pump shotgun.
Interesting Discussion at Mayberrys Place
Mayberry wrote a really good post. He and I have also had an interesting discussion in the comments section. Give his blog some love and check it out.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Nial Ferguson on the Dollar
I like a lot of the stuff this guy has written. However for everything I speak of he had the ability to look back at the facts and make interesting analysis. Who knows if he is right on this one or not but it is interesting none the less.
Living in Germany 3: It's Becoming Normal
No real reason this is coming out today but it is as good a day as any. As always it will be the good the bad and the ugly.
The Good: I got my USAEUR drivers license today. Hopefully if all goes well I/ we should have high speed mobility and some cargo carrying capacity by the middle of this week. Also we are looking at going to Praugue next month which will be cool. Our basic plan is to use COLA to fund travelling which should fund a nice long weekend every other month or so depending on how much we can bring costs down.
The Bad: The use of debit/ credit cards seems to have not caught on widely in Europe. Also a lot of businesses are small family operations where the cost to benefit of getting a reader is prohibitive and not lots of people seem to use them anyway. Not a big deal but it is sort of an irritation.
The need to keep two different types of paper currency has forced me to get a more traditional wallet than the minimalist front pocket one I liked more better. Since that transition is over there is just the mild irritation of needing to go to the ATM to get Euro's.
The Ugly: First of all the Euro to Dollar exchange rate is lame. Hearing old timers talk fondly of the Deuchmark makes me wish I came here long ago. Then again some Communist assholes put up a big wall and generally made it so a lot of Europe would not be open for me to travel in at that point in time so I guess it is all trade offs. Yeah we get COLA but in the big financial picture we would do a lot better with the rate changing (though I don't see it getting "better" for at least a few years). The good news is that we have positioned ourselves so the only think the Dollar really tanking in relation to the Euro would do is hurt our ability to travel.
Also anyone who says that Europeans are all thin and well dressed is a liar. Maybe at statistical levels looking at tens of thousands of people Americans are fatter than Europeans but walking around a store or a downtown area there are plenty of German fatties. Far more absolutely lots of them dress in a horrible fashion.
I have seen far more mullets here than I did in the deep South. I have seen way more Canadian Tuxedos here than in Canada. Also somehow the fanny pack is still in style here. If this is where fashion is going I need a cabin way out in the woods. Come to think of it I need a cabin way out in the woods anyway.
And the last ugly thing is the one that baffles me the most. A normal god fearing decent American door lock needs to be rotated either 90 or 180 degrees to go from locked to unlocked. German door locks need to rotate 1080 darn degrees to lock or unlock. So every time I go to open the door to get out of the house I must rotate the thing three full times. Every time I lock said door to leave I must rotate the key three full times. Every time I go to unlock the door I must rotate the key three full times. Guess this isn't a huge thing but it is really pretty irritating.
So that is the update on our time in Germany. By the next time I write we should have done some more traveling. Having a car will really open up our local region a lot and give us access to better shopping and services which will be nice. Also simply not needing to worry about how heavy the groceries are will be great.
The Good: I got my USAEUR drivers license today. Hopefully if all goes well I/ we should have high speed mobility and some cargo carrying capacity by the middle of this week. Also we are looking at going to Praugue next month which will be cool. Our basic plan is to use COLA to fund travelling which should fund a nice long weekend every other month or so depending on how much we can bring costs down.
The Bad: The use of debit/ credit cards seems to have not caught on widely in Europe. Also a lot of businesses are small family operations where the cost to benefit of getting a reader is prohibitive and not lots of people seem to use them anyway. Not a big deal but it is sort of an irritation.
The need to keep two different types of paper currency has forced me to get a more traditional wallet than the minimalist front pocket one I liked more better. Since that transition is over there is just the mild irritation of needing to go to the ATM to get Euro's.
The Ugly: First of all the Euro to Dollar exchange rate is lame. Hearing old timers talk fondly of the Deuchmark makes me wish I came here long ago. Then again some Communist assholes put up a big wall and generally made it so a lot of Europe would not be open for me to travel in at that point in time so I guess it is all trade offs. Yeah we get COLA but in the big financial picture we would do a lot better with the rate changing (though I don't see it getting "better" for at least a few years). The good news is that we have positioned ourselves so the only think the Dollar really tanking in relation to the Euro would do is hurt our ability to travel.
Also anyone who says that Europeans are all thin and well dressed is a liar. Maybe at statistical levels looking at tens of thousands of people Americans are fatter than Europeans but walking around a store or a downtown area there are plenty of German fatties. Far more absolutely lots of them dress in a horrible fashion.
I have seen far more mullets here than I did in the deep South. I have seen way more Canadian Tuxedos here than in Canada. Also somehow the fanny pack is still in style here. If this is where fashion is going I need a cabin way out in the woods. Come to think of it I need a cabin way out in the woods anyway.
And the last ugly thing is the one that baffles me the most. A normal god fearing decent American door lock needs to be rotated either 90 or 180 degrees to go from locked to unlocked. German door locks need to rotate 1080 darn degrees to lock or unlock. So every time I go to open the door to get out of the house I must rotate the thing three full times. Every time I lock said door to leave I must rotate the key three full times. Every time I go to unlock the door I must rotate the key three full times. Guess this isn't a huge thing but it is really pretty irritating.
So that is the update on our time in Germany. By the next time I write we should have done some more traveling. Having a car will really open up our local region a lot and give us access to better shopping and services which will be nice. Also simply not needing to worry about how heavy the groceries are will be great.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
New Linkage!
I decided to link to SGT Jarheads blog Galts Gulch or Bust. I have been reading it pretty regularly just hopping over there from his profile on follower. His blog is good and stuff. His thoughts are interesting and tactically/ technically sound. Also he has tons of great linkage to interesting reading and such.
Ceeding Sovereignty?
I got this video from a reader in my email. I am a bit sceptical as our elected officials signing away our soverignty in some sort of an obscure treaty has been floating around as a rumor since at least the days of NAFTA. I will leave you to decide for yourself what you believe.
A Man's Got To Know His Limitations
On a non preparadness orriented note Wifey and I are degenerate movie renters. We habitually return movies several days or even a week and a half late. Or course we pay the fees but still it is pretty lame. At our last place the movie rental store would have been in easy rifle range if the line of sight was clear but we still could not seem to consistently get them back on time. We have decided that renting movies in the conventional way just is not for us. We are probably going to get Netflix in the near future. It is only about $16 a month for 3 movies and since we are rather short on chill evening entertainment here it will be money well spent.
The most common limitations in our area are probably money, space, mobility, health and time in no real order.
Though they aren't really in order money is number one simply because without having some to spend you can't get anything done. I write a bit on this topic and some of my bestie blogger friends Mayberry, Dakin and Creekmore write regularly on this matter. For me currently money is currently not a particular issue. Of course we have a budget and I can't pick up an M1A this month and a couple Krugerrands next month but between what we can put toward this and the adsense revenues it is going fine.
You've got to be realistic here. If you make 20k a year a productive 100 acre farm with a big brick house, several outbuildings, a spring and a nice wood lot just isn't going to happen. However if you are able to move and really search 5 acres with a little fixer upper or a mobile home could be doable.
Space is a somewhat common issue, especially for those who live in alternate housing like a travel trailer or an RV. Commander Zero wrote recently on this topic; their plan of mans land and no mans land is pretty hilarious and the part about border skirmishes made me laugh my ass off. For awhile I lived in a single 12x10ish bedroom and had enough arms to start a civil war, 3 weeks worth of water for two people and a couple months of food in there. It can be done if you make it a priority.
Mobility is an issue if you are attached economically, socially or culturaly to an area that is not ideal from a preparadness perspective. If your skills allow you to make a good living in a larger area but you would be working minimum wage out in the sticks then you're not going to move to the sticks. On this specific issue I would encourage people to avoid an all or nothing perspective. Just because you aren't going to move to a rural farm in the inland mountain west or a cabin in the woods in Maine doesn't mean you can't improve your situation. Maybe there is a little town 45 minutes away from work where you could move to. Worst case if communing isn't practical getting a little camping site and building a "hunting cabin" on it is an option. If your position isn't to your liking look to better it.
In the area of mobility I find myself traveling all over the place to areas where I would otherwise not choose to live. The military certainly has its challenges in this area. Don't have any amazing answers here and much more would be its own post.
Health is a truly limiting factor. For those with real physical limitations and or specialized medical needs it is going to limit what you are able to do and where you are able to live. Of course if you are just a discusting fat body and or have medical issues stemming from said fat bodyness that can be fixed but otherwise this just has to be accepted.
Time is the limiting factor that I have been having the biggest issue with. My normal work week (no ranges and no field time) seems to be right about 60 hours a week. I haven't been getting the stuff I wanted to get done completed over the past couple weeks. Getting everything done on the weekend isn't a long term plan as I want to relax and stuff plus also sometimes we will travel. Then again I get home from the gym at almost 6 and go to bed around 9 so not a ton of stuff happens then either. I know that I am going to trim back my daily reading some. Going from more like 12 to more like 7 will help. Also I will think about taking some of the stuff which comes into my head and throwing it into posts for other days and taking that time to get stuff done. Still not sure how it will play out and maybe I need to temper my expectations to my schedule a bit better.
Anyway I think it is just unrealistic to ignore your limitations.
The most common limitations in our area are probably money, space, mobility, health and time in no real order.
Though they aren't really in order money is number one simply because without having some to spend you can't get anything done. I write a bit on this topic and some of my bestie blogger friends Mayberry, Dakin and Creekmore write regularly on this matter. For me currently money is currently not a particular issue. Of course we have a budget and I can't pick up an M1A this month and a couple Krugerrands next month but between what we can put toward this and the adsense revenues it is going fine.
You've got to be realistic here. If you make 20k a year a productive 100 acre farm with a big brick house, several outbuildings, a spring and a nice wood lot just isn't going to happen. However if you are able to move and really search 5 acres with a little fixer upper or a mobile home could be doable.
Space is a somewhat common issue, especially for those who live in alternate housing like a travel trailer or an RV. Commander Zero wrote recently on this topic; their plan of mans land and no mans land is pretty hilarious and the part about border skirmishes made me laugh my ass off. For awhile I lived in a single 12x10ish bedroom and had enough arms to start a civil war, 3 weeks worth of water for two people and a couple months of food in there. It can be done if you make it a priority.
Mobility is an issue if you are attached economically, socially or culturaly to an area that is not ideal from a preparadness perspective. If your skills allow you to make a good living in a larger area but you would be working minimum wage out in the sticks then you're not going to move to the sticks. On this specific issue I would encourage people to avoid an all or nothing perspective. Just because you aren't going to move to a rural farm in the inland mountain west or a cabin in the woods in Maine doesn't mean you can't improve your situation. Maybe there is a little town 45 minutes away from work where you could move to. Worst case if communing isn't practical getting a little camping site and building a "hunting cabin" on it is an option. If your position isn't to your liking look to better it.
In the area of mobility I find myself traveling all over the place to areas where I would otherwise not choose to live. The military certainly has its challenges in this area. Don't have any amazing answers here and much more would be its own post.
Health is a truly limiting factor. For those with real physical limitations and or specialized medical needs it is going to limit what you are able to do and where you are able to live. Of course if you are just a discusting fat body and or have medical issues stemming from said fat bodyness that can be fixed but otherwise this just has to be accepted.
Time is the limiting factor that I have been having the biggest issue with. My normal work week (no ranges and no field time) seems to be right about 60 hours a week. I haven't been getting the stuff I wanted to get done completed over the past couple weeks. Getting everything done on the weekend isn't a long term plan as I want to relax and stuff plus also sometimes we will travel. Then again I get home from the gym at almost 6 and go to bed around 9 so not a ton of stuff happens then either. I know that I am going to trim back my daily reading some. Going from more like 12 to more like 7 will help. Also I will think about taking some of the stuff which comes into my head and throwing it into posts for other days and taking that time to get stuff done. Still not sure how it will play out and maybe I need to temper my expectations to my schedule a bit better.
Anyway I think it is just unrealistic to ignore your limitations.
SH on Financial Stuff
I just read your recent post and didn't want to clutter up your comments box. Since I read your blog, I figured you might just have the courtesy to read my following long spiel.
Before I start I should give a little background to be fair.
If you check out my zombie blog (okiezombies.blogspot.com) you can see the transformation in my preparedness mindset - I'm devoting less time to preparing for the end of the world and more time preparing for realistic emergencies.... btw, I don't believe the end of the world is nigh or that zombies exist - but I do love Zombie fiction and the social commentary present in zombie/sci-fi/and horror movies. Ideally, if I had unlimited funds, I would buy a fortress with a radiation proof bomb shelter, wind power and solar power, and I would grow enough food to feed a small island country - but I don't, and so I've had to become more intelligent with my prepping.
I'm a senior at the University of Oklahoma, majoring in sociology with emphasis in criminology, and I'm contemplating a minor in philosophy (I only need a few more hours). I would have majored in economics but I can't see myself working in finance - however, it's an interest and a hobby for me. I find statistical analysis soothing and I think a strong understanding of statistics and human behavior helps one understand how the market works.
Investing
I've read a lot of investing books and have been investing for about 6 years now. I abhor the "get rich quick" snake oil salesmen who peddle bullshit advice for ratings. I do recommend Benjamin Graham's "Intelligent Investor" with commentary by Jason Zweig. It's Buffett's philosophy, it's classic value philosophy, and it's time tested and well, as all things in life that usually work - rather boring. The kind of trading that most of the CNBC people push on the public will only lead to a) financial ruin and b) panic attacks.
I think it's good to buy precious metals, but I only set about 10% of them as my portfolio. Over the long term, they just do not perform that well.... but then again, most of the people pushing gold in times of crisis are just like the snake-oil stockbrokers..... they don't have a reasoned, long-term approach based on historical data and economic common sense.... but why would they, they make money from sales not from your gain or loss. I am not making an attack on gold, but it's really nothing more than insurance - it's not much of an investment in and of itself. (Buffett stays away from it for the following reasons: a) unlike a company with earnings, profits, and overhead there is no way to objectively value gold b) it doesn't produce anything of value, although commodities can be used to make products, they are just that commodities c) it can't provide income like dividend paying stocks or bonds).
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_
That's a chart of gold prices historically, there are more elegant ones out there, but it serves the pedagogical purpose I need....
If you had bought gold when it peaked in 1980 at the height if Jimmy Carter, Oil woes, and fear of coming economic collapse - you would not have broken even until 2005 (25 years). A 0% return (negative after inflation) of a 25 year holding..... is bad.... but that's why they say, buy-low, sell-high; and why dollar cost averaging and diversification is key to a successful portfolio.
The same goes for the stock market (buy low, sell high) but for us average joes who can only put away a portion of our paycheck a month; it's impossible to do that. So what do we do? Graham and myself advocate index investing (buying the whole economy as an index rather than individual stocks or even "managed funds"). Even Jim Cramer, if people would read his book, tells people that unless they want to dedicate 2 hours a month to their investments they should not buy managed funds, and if they can't dedicate 1 hour per week per stock, they should not buy stocks. Index funds are the winners for us average joes, and the TSP is built on indexing.
What does this mean? The S&P 500 is an index of 500 American companies (TSP - C Fund). If you could pick the winners all the time and never the loses out of those 500 American companies, you would far surpass the S&P 500 returns. But sadly, 80% of professionally managed funds fail to do so, and I would bet that at least 10% of those that do do it by sheer luck - and after expenses (TSP expense ratio is under 1%, managed funds can be as high as 3%) - you still haven't really beat the market.
What do we know from history? The S&P 500 (and other stock indexes, I favor diversifying among a domestic fund [C fund], an international [I fund], and a small cap [S fund]) has an annual average return of 8-11% (depending on what years you use to average, but all of the averages are at least 20 years long). Stocks seem dangerous because of volatility, they can rise to infinity and fall to 0, but over the years, the aggregate market tends to make about 8-10%.
I've written a little at http://okiemoney.blogspot.com, but I just don't like writing finance because it's really more simple than charlatans make it, and Benjamin Graham's work covers everything anyone would ever need to know. If you think I'm bullshitting, one only needs to look at old school Warren Buffet who eschews the complex, mathematical analysis taught in business schools for practical, time tested results. And it's easy to see why, the more complex the investing scheme gets, the more dangerous it gets, until you have the nation's major banks on the verge of collapse and people losing millions on wall street (recently).
I've ran my spiel long enough.... I think you are on the right track. The Lifecycle funds are pretty good, but I think they are too heavily concentrated in the G fund - which I doubt will beat inflation over the next 5 years. Let me know what you think. You're a more dedicated blogger with a bigger following than I - but I think one thing the preparedness community needs to do a little better is balance preparing for the end of the world with preparing for realistic life situations....
SH
TOR here: I re read this and went to comment then remembered it is my blog so I could do it on the main page. I agree more or less with your perspective on gold. I buy it like I buy insurance, for just in case. I am putting more than 10% into metals but not all that much more. As you said gold doesn't split or benefit from compound interest. A dozen Krugerrands in your gun cabinet will not breed a 13th this year and a 14th and a little 1/4 ouncer next year and one and a half the year after that.
On life cycle funds you may be right. I went with one because it was somewhat diversified and also I am lazy and stupid. I want to put money in and have it do good things. I tend to agree about the pitfalls of those without some (even informal) education and a good amount of time managing their investments. I read somewhere that people managing their own stuff tend to have more risk for a given gain.
Before I start I should give a little background to be fair.
If you check out my zombie blog (okiezombies.blogspot.com) you can see the transformation in my preparedness mindset - I'm devoting less time to preparing for the end of the world and more time preparing for realistic emergencies.... btw, I don't believe the end of the world is nigh or that zombies exist - but I do love Zombie fiction and the social commentary present in zombie/sci-fi/and horror movies. Ideally, if I had unlimited funds, I would buy a fortress with a radiation proof bomb shelter, wind power and solar power, and I would grow enough food to feed a small island country - but I don't, and so I've had to become more intelligent with my prepping.
I'm a senior at the University of Oklahoma, majoring in sociology with emphasis in criminology, and I'm contemplating a minor in philosophy (I only need a few more hours). I would have majored in economics but I can't see myself working in finance - however, it's an interest and a hobby for me. I find statistical analysis soothing and I think a strong understanding of statistics and human behavior helps one understand how the market works.
Investing
I've read a lot of investing books and have been investing for about 6 years now. I abhor the "get rich quick" snake oil salesmen who peddle bullshit advice for ratings. I do recommend Benjamin Graham's "Intelligent Investor" with commentary by Jason Zweig. It's Buffett's philosophy, it's classic value philosophy, and it's time tested and well, as all things in life that usually work - rather boring. The kind of trading that most of the CNBC people push on the public will only lead to a) financial ruin and b) panic attacks.
I think it's good to buy precious metals, but I only set about 10% of them as my portfolio. Over the long term, they just do not perform that well.... but then again, most of the people pushing gold in times of crisis are just like the snake-oil stockbrokers..... they don't have a reasoned, long-term approach based on historical data and economic common sense.... but why would they, they make money from sales not from your gain or loss. I am not making an attack on gold, but it's really nothing more than insurance - it's not much of an investment in and of itself. (Buffett stays away from it for the following reasons: a) unlike a company with earnings, profits, and overhead there is no way to objectively value gold b) it doesn't produce anything of value, although commodities can be used to make products, they are just that commodities c) it can't provide income like dividend paying stocks or bonds).
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_
That's a chart of gold prices historically, there are more elegant ones out there, but it serves the pedagogical purpose I need....
If you had bought gold when it peaked in 1980 at the height if Jimmy Carter, Oil woes, and fear of coming economic collapse - you would not have broken even until 2005 (25 years). A 0% return (negative after inflation) of a 25 year holding..... is bad.... but that's why they say, buy-low, sell-high; and why dollar cost averaging and diversification is key to a successful portfolio.
The same goes for the stock market (buy low, sell high) but for us average joes who can only put away a portion of our paycheck a month; it's impossible to do that. So what do we do? Graham and myself advocate index investing (buying the whole economy as an index rather than individual stocks or even "managed funds"). Even Jim Cramer, if people would read his book, tells people that unless they want to dedicate 2 hours a month to their investments they should not buy managed funds, and if they can't dedicate 1 hour per week per stock, they should not buy stocks. Index funds are the winners for us average joes, and the TSP is built on indexing.
What does this mean? The S&P 500 is an index of 500 American companies (TSP - C Fund). If you could pick the winners all the time and never the loses out of those 500 American companies, you would far surpass the S&P 500 returns. But sadly, 80% of professionally managed funds fail to do so, and I would bet that at least 10% of those that do do it by sheer luck - and after expenses (TSP expense ratio is under 1%, managed funds can be as high as 3%) - you still haven't really beat the market.
What do we know from history? The S&P 500 (and other stock indexes, I favor diversifying among a domestic fund [C fund], an international [I fund], and a small cap [S fund]) has an annual average return of 8-11% (depending on what years you use to average, but all of the averages are at least 20 years long). Stocks seem dangerous because of volatility, they can rise to infinity and fall to 0, but over the years, the aggregate market tends to make about 8-10%.
I've written a little at http://okiemoney.blogspot.com, but I just don't like writing finance because it's really more simple than charlatans make it, and Benjamin Graham's work covers everything anyone would ever need to know. If you think I'm bullshitting, one only needs to look at old school Warren Buffet who eschews the complex, mathematical analysis taught in business schools for practical, time tested results. And it's easy to see why, the more complex the investing scheme gets, the more dangerous it gets, until you have the nation's major banks on the verge of collapse and people losing millions on wall street (recently).
I've ran my spiel long enough.... I think you are on the right track. The Lifecycle funds are pretty good, but I think they are too heavily concentrated in the G fund - which I doubt will beat inflation over the next 5 years. Let me know what you think. You're a more dedicated blogger with a bigger following than I - but I think one thing the preparedness community needs to do a little better is balance preparing for the end of the world with preparing for realistic life situations....
SH
TOR here: I re read this and went to comment then remembered it is my blog so I could do it on the main page. I agree more or less with your perspective on gold. I buy it like I buy insurance, for just in case. I am putting more than 10% into metals but not all that much more. As you said gold doesn't split or benefit from compound interest. A dozen Krugerrands in your gun cabinet will not breed a 13th this year and a 14th and a little 1/4 ouncer next year and one and a half the year after that.
On life cycle funds you may be right. I went with one because it was somewhat diversified and also I am lazy and stupid. I want to put money in and have it do good things. I tend to agree about the pitfalls of those without some (even informal) education and a good amount of time managing their investments. I read somewhere that people managing their own stuff tend to have more risk for a given gain.
Formatting The Blog: Un FML
I got the blog unmessed up and got the widgets thing back so I can now make little changes without messing with the HTML. Also got the links back and the search bar which makes me happy. Links do not open in a new window but it is just going to stay that way for the time being. Messing with the HTML doesn't work well for me and also I didn't really like that I would end up with like 5 open windows of my blog.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Book Review: The Next 100 Years A Forecast For the 21st Century
I stumbled into this book at the library and it just seemed interesting.I don't know if this book is for everyone but if politics, foreign affairs, geography and history interest you and you're willing to push through a few bland parts the book is interesting.
I got a couple of big things from this book. First and foremost history is not over. Nations are going to grow and shrink. There are going to be major wars which reshape our political maps. Lots of people thought that was the case in the pre WWI era and boy were they wrong.
Second of all and maybe the most interesting the book almost completely discounts China as a potential power. I certainly agree that their current growth is not possibly sustainable. Also the delicate balance of business on the coast making a ton of money and poor people in the inland areas is not going to work in the long term. China is certainly limited in its potential growth by significant geographic boundaries.
Third that this book talks of economics, military power, geography and war as they relate to and shape each other makes a lot of sense to me. I don't think we can fully grasp one without looking at the others.
The outlook might be a bit fatalist speaking of events as though they were almost sure to happen. There was however a great point about the way that countries relate to each other and deal with various situations. Think about it like the beginning of a game of chess. Seemingly there are endless moves but for a good player there are far fewer viable moves as many of the given possible moves would lead to disaster.
Also there is a great point about how the changes in global birth rates are going to actually lead to a drop in the world population over the next 100 years. This will play out in all sorts of interesting ways, particularly as the boomers age and retire.
I got a lot out of the book and think for those of you who are interested in its content it would be a good read.
I got a couple of big things from this book. First and foremost history is not over. Nations are going to grow and shrink. There are going to be major wars which reshape our political maps. Lots of people thought that was the case in the pre WWI era and boy were they wrong.
Second of all and maybe the most interesting the book almost completely discounts China as a potential power. I certainly agree that their current growth is not possibly sustainable. Also the delicate balance of business on the coast making a ton of money and poor people in the inland areas is not going to work in the long term. China is certainly limited in its potential growth by significant geographic boundaries.
Third that this book talks of economics, military power, geography and war as they relate to and shape each other makes a lot of sense to me. I don't think we can fully grasp one without looking at the others.
The outlook might be a bit fatalist speaking of events as though they were almost sure to happen. There was however a great point about the way that countries relate to each other and deal with various situations. Think about it like the beginning of a game of chess. Seemingly there are endless moves but for a good player there are far fewer viable moves as many of the given possible moves would lead to disaster.
Also there is a great point about how the changes in global birth rates are going to actually lead to a drop in the world population over the next 100 years. This will play out in all sorts of interesting ways, particularly as the boomers age and retire.
I got a lot out of the book and think for those of you who are interested in its content it would be a good read.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Maturing as a Blogger or is it just Perspective
I have had a few interesting (for lack of a better phrase)events over the blogs history. We have had some downright tense moments here. Once a weak stupid old hypocritical piece of shit threatened me with vague harm. [I thought he was my friend but he was in fact a pathetic piece of shit. I figured it is mean kill useless elderly people even if they really ask for it.] TOM also offered to meet him in a mutually convenient location for fisticuffs, but he preferred to be a big tough man through the internet. Another time an asshat said something which really bothered me and I offered (may or may not have had a few beers) to drive halfway to whoop his ass. He did not send me an email about specifics....
Mentioning the less pleasant moments here on the blog does have a point. Somewhere in the last year or so I have apparently matured some or at least had a change in perspective.
Not too long ago a fellow said something which questioned the length and quality of my service to our country. As a Vet and an MMA guy my initial thought was to go with a ground and pound. On a tangent if you ever want a Vet to kick the living shit out of you just question the length and quality of his service. I did not go for the Jab, Power Double, Mount and Punchisize plan or its comment equivalent. I sort of waited overnight and decided that it would be more better to go with a sharp rebuttal instead of an all out assault.
About a week ago I had a message on my facebook. Some lady did not like a comment I wrote very much. I wrote her back explaining most of my position and rebutting a point or two of hers then figured the matter was settled. She then sent me a message which was direct and not really nice. I did what I naturally do (ask someone who knows me) and went strait for the attack to crush her. Had a good right hand ready to punch her strait in the baby maker and then I took a minute to just think. Believe I wrote her back an hour or two later and instead of crushing her ovaries with a devistating right cross I calmly but firmly rebutted the points of her message which where rediculous and went into a bit of length explaining my point. She wrote me back a very nice message saying she misread what I said and appologizing for the whole thing. I think that at the end of the day I can consider a woman I didn't know something of a friend (at least in this limited venue) which is a good thing.
It isn't that I am not willing to disagree with folks or make a harsh reply should one be needed. More that like the professional fighter I have become there is some thinking before unleashing death and destruction. It isn't that I am not willing to do it. I have recently called out a lot of hypocritical bullshit in a couple of good rants and given the anarchists my .76 cents. It is more that I am doing it in an intentional manner rather than "this person said something which makes me mad" sort of imprompu thing.
Who knows where my perspective, inclinations and temperament will go in the future. This could be interesting.
Mentioning the less pleasant moments here on the blog does have a point. Somewhere in the last year or so I have apparently matured some or at least had a change in perspective.
Not too long ago a fellow said something which questioned the length and quality of my service to our country. As a Vet and an MMA guy my initial thought was to go with a ground and pound. On a tangent if you ever want a Vet to kick the living shit out of you just question the length and quality of his service. I did not go for the Jab, Power Double, Mount and Punchisize plan or its comment equivalent. I sort of waited overnight and decided that it would be more better to go with a sharp rebuttal instead of an all out assault.
About a week ago I had a message on my facebook. Some lady did not like a comment I wrote very much. I wrote her back explaining most of my position and rebutting a point or two of hers then figured the matter was settled. She then sent me a message which was direct and not really nice. I did what I naturally do (ask someone who knows me) and went strait for the attack to crush her. Had a good right hand ready to punch her strait in the baby maker and then I took a minute to just think. Believe I wrote her back an hour or two later and instead of crushing her ovaries with a devistating right cross I calmly but firmly rebutted the points of her message which where rediculous and went into a bit of length explaining my point. She wrote me back a very nice message saying she misread what I said and appologizing for the whole thing. I think that at the end of the day I can consider a woman I didn't know something of a friend (at least in this limited venue) which is a good thing.
It isn't that I am not willing to disagree with folks or make a harsh reply should one be needed. More that like the professional fighter I have become there is some thinking before unleashing death and destruction. It isn't that I am not willing to do it. I have recently called out a lot of hypocritical bullshit in a couple of good rants and given the anarchists my .76 cents. It is more that I am doing it in an intentional manner rather than "this person said something which makes me mad" sort of imprompu thing.
Who knows where my perspective, inclinations and temperament will go in the future. This could be interesting.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Got Gold?
I decided to buy over the weekend. The price may go down next week and I will feel dumb but then again it might go to $2,719 an ounce like Alex Jones and all sorts of people who post constant updates on my facebook say it will. Who knows so in any case it seemed like the right thing to do. Worst case next time I buy it will be cheaper.
Prisons in SHTF
Our loyal correspondent Humongous sent me an email on this topic. He works in a Maximum Security Prison and wondered about my thoughts on what would happen if things went all SHTF. I do not have a ton of knowledge in this area but that hasn't stopped me from writing about all sorts of other topics so why should it be an issue for this one?
I think prisons fair more or less OK (I think some prisoners in Katrina had a rough time but not out of purportion to everyon else) for short term and localized disasters. Just about everywhere has power outages and such so they have (at least I imagine) plans for that. As for local disasters I think bussing to somewhere else is pretty much the answer everywhere. That works if there is a flood in this region or the like.
For a slow slide sort of situation in general I think prisons would fair reasonably well. They are the kind of think that a government (at whatever level) would have to fund. When you are broke you stop eating out but keep buying toilet paper. The wildcard for this sort of situation is that political types could make radical changes is policies or early parole to drop their operational costs.
Me thinks a genuine full on TEOTWAWKI is what our correspondent was mostly thinking about. Broadly speaking I think there are 3 possible options: 1) The prisoners dehydrate/starve/freeze to death in their cells. 2) The prisoners leave the prison and are free. 3) The prisoners are intentionally killed by the guards. I will talk a bit more about each of these broad options a little bit.
1. In my opinion this is probably the least likely scenario. Unless all the prisoners are securely locked in old school small cement cells with heavy metal bars and all the guards decide simultaneously to just go home this would not happen. This would be somewhat probable for an individual or two in a small isolated local jail if the deputy who was on duty was for whatever reason unable to return.
2. This scenario is the most likely in the big picture though it would depend on some other factors. It is also the most likely because it is the most openly defined. In this scenario the prisoners could be freed or escape. I would not be supprised that if a lot of lower security facilities ended up turning the prisoners loose. As for the more dangerous prisoners in more secure facilities me thinks their large scale freedom would be the result of an escape. I think in the security area older prisons would face far better than newer ones as they tended to rely on lots of metal and big walls not security systems and electric fences which rely on power.
In a prison with lowered security because of less/ no power the odds of prisoner escape would be high. Also if prisoners had enough info about what was going on outside to come up with a plan and execute it knowing the guards could not hunker down and wait for help it could get ugly. Most likely I see a combination of those two factors leading to most of the prison breaks.
3. The guards intentionally kill the inmates. I do not see this happening at minimum security jail camps and such. This one would need a couple of conditions for it to come to pass. First of all the facility would need to have the capability to keep inmates controlled in their small cells for awhile regardless of their desperate attempts to free themselves. Second of all the person in charge (might not be the head guy but the one on the scene who is functionally in charge) would need to have a grasp of the true seriousness of the event they were involved in and the implications for letting these violent dangerous criminals loose in a world without law and order. This would take a combination of being pragmatic and a really cold hearted mother fucker. Third the guards who were left (some would not show up and some might abandon their posts with useful equipment and guns) would have to have the means to kill the inmates in a not up close and personal manner, basically guns and enough ammo to do the job. That shouldn't be a big issue unless someone has already cleared out the gun cabinet and or ammo storage on their way out for the last time. I think that in more conservative areas with more of a law and order type philosophy there would probably be more dead violent prisoners than escaped violent prisoners.
I could see the guards potentially separating the non total psycho inmates and putting them on their way then making sure the real nut jobs never get out.
As for what I think would go down by and large. Prisoners in minimum and medium security facilities would mostly go free be it by jumping over the fence or walking with their personal belongings through the front gate. For maximum security prisons I think it would be more likely to see a combination of escape attempts (large or small, peaceful or violent) and mass executions. Also a few would probably have one botched by the other and darn near everybody ending up dead. Maybe the inmates make a go of it and a guard in a good position with a rifle takes a lot of them out or the guards try to make like it is the bloody days of the French Revolution and the inmates rush them and do some real damage.
I do know that JWR considers prisons in his regional/ local retreat advice and this makes a lot of sense to me. Do not make a mistake of underestimating them because they would be poorly equipped. Pretty darn quick these predators would arm themselves and most would start reaking havoc.
I would not want to live near a prison (I say prison intentionally there are jails all over the place) say within a 40 mile radius of one.
Thoughts?
I think prisons fair more or less OK (I think some prisoners in Katrina had a rough time but not out of purportion to everyon else) for short term and localized disasters. Just about everywhere has power outages and such so they have (at least I imagine) plans for that. As for local disasters I think bussing to somewhere else is pretty much the answer everywhere. That works if there is a flood in this region or the like.
For a slow slide sort of situation in general I think prisons would fair reasonably well. They are the kind of think that a government (at whatever level) would have to fund. When you are broke you stop eating out but keep buying toilet paper. The wildcard for this sort of situation is that political types could make radical changes is policies or early parole to drop their operational costs.
Me thinks a genuine full on TEOTWAWKI is what our correspondent was mostly thinking about. Broadly speaking I think there are 3 possible options: 1) The prisoners dehydrate/starve/freeze to death in their cells. 2) The prisoners leave the prison and are free. 3) The prisoners are intentionally killed by the guards. I will talk a bit more about each of these broad options a little bit.
1. In my opinion this is probably the least likely scenario. Unless all the prisoners are securely locked in old school small cement cells with heavy metal bars and all the guards decide simultaneously to just go home this would not happen. This would be somewhat probable for an individual or two in a small isolated local jail if the deputy who was on duty was for whatever reason unable to return.
2. This scenario is the most likely in the big picture though it would depend on some other factors. It is also the most likely because it is the most openly defined. In this scenario the prisoners could be freed or escape. I would not be supprised that if a lot of lower security facilities ended up turning the prisoners loose. As for the more dangerous prisoners in more secure facilities me thinks their large scale freedom would be the result of an escape. I think in the security area older prisons would face far better than newer ones as they tended to rely on lots of metal and big walls not security systems and electric fences which rely on power.
In a prison with lowered security because of less/ no power the odds of prisoner escape would be high. Also if prisoners had enough info about what was going on outside to come up with a plan and execute it knowing the guards could not hunker down and wait for help it could get ugly. Most likely I see a combination of those two factors leading to most of the prison breaks.
3. The guards intentionally kill the inmates. I do not see this happening at minimum security jail camps and such. This one would need a couple of conditions for it to come to pass. First of all the facility would need to have the capability to keep inmates controlled in their small cells for awhile regardless of their desperate attempts to free themselves. Second of all the person in charge (might not be the head guy but the one on the scene who is functionally in charge) would need to have a grasp of the true seriousness of the event they were involved in and the implications for letting these violent dangerous criminals loose in a world without law and order. This would take a combination of being pragmatic and a really cold hearted mother fucker. Third the guards who were left (some would not show up and some might abandon their posts with useful equipment and guns) would have to have the means to kill the inmates in a not up close and personal manner, basically guns and enough ammo to do the job. That shouldn't be a big issue unless someone has already cleared out the gun cabinet and or ammo storage on their way out for the last time. I think that in more conservative areas with more of a law and order type philosophy there would probably be more dead violent prisoners than escaped violent prisoners.
I could see the guards potentially separating the non total psycho inmates and putting them on their way then making sure the real nut jobs never get out.
As for what I think would go down by and large. Prisoners in minimum and medium security facilities would mostly go free be it by jumping over the fence or walking with their personal belongings through the front gate. For maximum security prisons I think it would be more likely to see a combination of escape attempts (large or small, peaceful or violent) and mass executions. Also a few would probably have one botched by the other and darn near everybody ending up dead. Maybe the inmates make a go of it and a guard in a good position with a rifle takes a lot of them out or the guards try to make like it is the bloody days of the French Revolution and the inmates rush them and do some real damage.
I do know that JWR considers prisons in his regional/ local retreat advice and this makes a lot of sense to me. Do not make a mistake of underestimating them because they would be poorly equipped. Pretty darn quick these predators would arm themselves and most would start reaking havoc.
I would not want to live near a prison (I say prison intentionally there are jails all over the place) say within a 40 mile radius of one.
Thoughts?
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
A Great Post I Read Recently
The other day Commander Zero wrote a great post. I have been thinking about it more or less since I read it.
As always I have some thoughts. First it can be noted that Commander Zero and I have the same taste in group standard guns so maybe I am preferencial to his writing. In any case here we go.
First I think that it is important to realize that something newer and fancier coming out doesn't mean what already exists is any less. For example if 60 years ago your grandpa took a kerosene lantern and a double barreled shotgun outside to investigate a wierd noise that lantern would cast the same light and that shotgun would still have two shots today. It would not magically become less than it is because he could have a surefire LED flashlight and a fancy combat shotgun. This is a bit extreme of an example but it sort of brings us back to the point.
Second I think that Commander Zero's point about ruthlessly and objectively assessing equipment based not on its history but its true functionality is a great one. If the 1911 were dropped into the market today I honestly doubt anyone would know its name because it would not go anywhere for a variety of reasons (expensive, lots of machining, single stack mag, the various weird parts and complicated assembly, etc).
I think there is a balance between searching out and purchasing the newest and coolest thing or sticking with vastly inferior technology. Do you need to switch to the newest coolest tacticool systems every 6 months? I do not think so. However there is something said for making determined choices to upgrade your equipment to newer, better but still proven technology.
Thoughts?
As always I have some thoughts. First it can be noted that Commander Zero and I have the same taste in group standard guns so maybe I am preferencial to his writing. In any case here we go.
First I think that it is important to realize that something newer and fancier coming out doesn't mean what already exists is any less. For example if 60 years ago your grandpa took a kerosene lantern and a double barreled shotgun outside to investigate a wierd noise that lantern would cast the same light and that shotgun would still have two shots today. It would not magically become less than it is because he could have a surefire LED flashlight and a fancy combat shotgun. This is a bit extreme of an example but it sort of brings us back to the point.
Second I think that Commander Zero's point about ruthlessly and objectively assessing equipment based not on its history but its true functionality is a great one. If the 1911 were dropped into the market today I honestly doubt anyone would know its name because it would not go anywhere for a variety of reasons (expensive, lots of machining, single stack mag, the various weird parts and complicated assembly, etc).
I think there is a balance between searching out and purchasing the newest and coolest thing or sticking with vastly inferior technology. Do you need to switch to the newest coolest tacticool systems every 6 months? I do not think so. However there is something said for making determined choices to upgrade your equipment to newer, better but still proven technology.
Thoughts?
quote of the day
"Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, you're cool, and fuck you, I'm out!"
-Scarface in Half Baked. About the best way to quit a job ever.
-Scarface in Half Baked. About the best way to quit a job ever.
I Can Haz Solar?
The other day someone mentioned Solar and it sort of got me thinking. I like the idea but my options in that area seem to be pretty limited. I can not mount anything outside or on the roof. I can not set stuff up outside or on the roof. Our windows are on the Nnw and Sse sides and the ones on the Sse are pretty big.
What options do I have for solar? Maybe a battery charger and a big stack of batteries?
What options do I have for solar? Maybe a battery charger and a big stack of batteries?
Ode To The Basement
Yeah I have been a dirtbag blogger and haven't commented on any comments for my last two posts. The first on investments had some interesting ones and the second sure had a flurry of them. In any case today I left home at 5:20 and got back home for the evening at 8. When I had to decide to choose between replying to comments or posting tonight I chose posting.
Anyway I am going to talk about how awesome basements are. In our current residence we have a nice chunk of basement. It is the most amazing frickin thing ever. All of the miscilaneous preparadness stuff and all my kit go down there. Our residence doesn't look like someone barfed ACU all over the place. We can store an insane amount of water and food and all my random crap down there without having our place look like it is a damn bomb shelter.
I can honestly say that a basement is in the top two characteristics I will look for in a house. Obviously location and price and all of that are important but within the area we might look in and our price range I care about a house that makes my wife happy and has a basement and a wood stove. Unless by some circumstance I buy a home in a place with such a low water table that basements won't work a basement and a wood stove are non negotiable.
Anyway I am going to talk about how awesome basements are. In our current residence we have a nice chunk of basement. It is the most amazing frickin thing ever. All of the miscilaneous preparadness stuff and all my kit go down there. Our residence doesn't look like someone barfed ACU all over the place. We can store an insane amount of water and food and all my random crap down there without having our place look like it is a damn bomb shelter.
I can honestly say that a basement is in the top two characteristics I will look for in a house. Obviously location and price and all of that are important but within the area we might look in and our price range I care about a house that makes my wife happy and has a basement and a wood stove. Unless by some circumstance I buy a home in a place with such a low water table that basements won't work a basement and a wood stove are non negotiable.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Anarchist, Liberterians, Reality, Fantasy, Freedom, Consequences and Good/ Bad Laws
Yeah I know that is quite a title but I couldn't really come up with a better one. This post has been brewing in one form or another for quite some time. None of the individual points are quite enough for their own post but they all sort of blend together.
First of all I let the Anarchists or those by any other self identified name who fall into this conventionally defined category of Anarchist have their say awhile back. To be blunt I was not impressed. People who claim to truly believe in this philosophy seem to fall into a few clearly defined groups. First is the ones who are just going for shock value or to stir the pot. Second are those who are complete fucking fools. Third are naive kids (the 15-22 range) or adults who haven't learned anything in life. Fourth is those who are criminally or sexually deranged and these are probably in jail.
When asked how their magical not cohered by evil government force society would work they were either so naive or stupid to say that everyone would just get along perfectly or they basically said they would just shoot anyone who didn't follow what they thought were the rules. The first of these is so frickin ridiculous I don't even know what to say about it. As for the second I find it amusing that people who think police enforcing laws we (directly or indirectly) voted on is horrible evil force but that them just shooting someone who didn't immediately say the fender bender was their fault is acceptable.
The major falacy in the whole "voluntary association" idea is that it might work for a relationship or a family or a hippie compound but our world isn't based on voluntary association. That means for the association your community to live by at least one person isn't going to like any rule you make. For example Chimo Jeffery will think it is fine to bugger little kids.
The bottom line is that everyone just doing the right thing will not work and everyone just shooting someone who they think does the wrong thing doesn't work either. Any argument for anarchy basically boils down to one of these equally ridiculous points that utterly fail the reality test.
I self identify as a libertarian because I cannot associate myself with the democrats and the republicans aren't much better. Democrats are basically socialists with a touch of fascism (or at least a desire to pull the strings) and Republicans are barely different on many issues though they are a bit closer to being a split between fascism and a theocracy. I don't believe wealth should be redistributed on a massive scale (some short term assistance and reasonable disability payments aren't a bad thing) any more than I think big businesses should get constantly bailed out and given (sold really) pet legislation. I am somewhat religious but I sure as heck don't want any church making laws which will effect my life (if you want to voluntarily follow their rules then God Bless but I stop short of thinking theocratic rules [no matter how good of ones] should be forced onto anyone by anything other then good old fashioned religious and family guilt.
Mostly I consider myself a libertarian because I believe that unless there is a truly compelling reason (Jim's right to rape is less than Sally's right to not be raped, etc) otherwise the freedom to make choices should rest with the individual. Not to say that I am by any means 100% believe the libertarian party line, to be honest anyone who is truly strait party line scares me. I do however believe that the libertarians have at least in a very big picture sense struck at a good balance between maintaining law and order (as much as it can ever be maintained) having codified law, enforceable contracts and systems in place to let people function with each other in a decently orderly fashion without impeding individual rights any more than necessary.
The problem with a lot of libertarian views is that they fail to take into account how one thing effects another with direct and or unintended consequences. I don't have the time or inclination to get into their party views line by line but this point certainly strikes true in some of them. The visual of throwing a stone into a puddle is a good one.
For example, lets say prostitution is legal. It is in a few places in the US and in a lot of the rest of the world. Also lets say that laws like loitering are axed because they don't directly hurt anyone. Would you like Pervo Jim and Crackwhore Tanya discussing how much he is going to pay her to flip his flop and then twizzle his whistle for how long on the street in broad daylight while you were having a nice lunch in a little cafe with your kids? Did they directly break what we could call the liberterian rules (pretty much do anything you want as long as noone is underaged, cohersed or forced), no they did not. Is it pretty darn uncool and something nobody would like, yes.
Another example is what if the people next door decide to start selling drugs. (not trying to open the drug discussion just making a point) It is a nice middle class neighborhood where the chemist next door decided to start a small phramacutical business. Yeah in the liberterian ideal world you would be able to buy pot, coke, crack and heroine at 711 but they invented something really cool and are selling a lot of it. Weird sketchy people and hookers are outside all the time and minor property crimes have spiked up. Legally (under a strict interpretation of liberterian beliefs) they would be doing nothing wrong and thus you would have to choose between accepting these individuals free choices or selling your home at a huge loss because nobody wants to buy a nice 3 bedroom ranch on a big lot with a basement and a wood stove next to the drug haven. So either your home now sucks, you loose a bunch of money or you torch that fucker at 4 am and risk the consequences.
[This is a great example with an interesting point. This case is a good point that balance needs to be used even on the most sound logic. For example taking that logic to a bit of an extreme leads us to increadibly limiting Zoning rules and CCR/ HOA situations. Because the extreme use of a line of thinking is bad doesn't mean the whole line of thinking is bad, just that extreme stance.]
My two examples are a bit extreme but as Larry Flint has noted and proven freedom isn't tested or proven by those who live nice simple boring lives.
A great example of good/ bad laws has come up to me recently. I will skip the details but a few weeks ago I had to spend an evening basically hauling drunks back to the barracks to keep them from getting into trouble. Here in Germany bars do not have to close at any time and if you do not yell a lot, puke or start a fight an establishment will literally serve you booze until you choose to leave, run out of money or die. I have seen people pass out on the bar for awhile to wake up and mumble enough semi coherent gibberish to get another drink stay in a bar here. On a side note it is very interesting what the Germans do and don't care about but that is for another day.
In most of America and Canada (haven't been out that late there in awhile but if I recall) bars and stores are required to stop selling alcohol at 2AM. In my honest opinion this is a good law because people just plain do not need to be out drinking or getting more booze past then. A few buddies sitting on the couch with a case of beer in the fridge and a bottle in the freezer is one thing but people out and about drinking or going to the store for more is another.
The libertarian perspective would be that an independent business owner has the right to keep their place open whenever they want and that people are free to choose what they do. For awhile in college I worked swing shift at a 711 right by campus on the weekend. We sold a lot of beer and some smokes and munchy food. In any case I observed a lot of party goers and drinkers while in a sober state. Even by a fairly adjusted standard not 1 in 10 people who came to buy beer anywhere close to 2AM needed any more to drink. If nothing else watching some guy who was so drunk he had lost his wallet/ ID and could not remember his social security number piss himself at 3AM a few weeks ago was a pretty stark example of why bars closing at 2AM (really like 1:45AM) is a good thing.
You could argue that whatever happens to these drunks is there choice or a product of it and be somewhat right. This however fails to take into account that often their drunken violent property damaging stupidity hurts well behaved responsible people. Casing point, drunks love to break glass. Actually I think everyone loves to break glass but drunks do it more often and to the wrong glass (store window, random car windshields, etc) far more than sober people. The old lady who happens to have owned a house for 20 years doesn't deserve to have her glass regularly broken because some guy decided to buy the corner house and turn it into a bar which doesn't close.
Matter of factly some freedom must be ceeded to a powerful entity called government in order to maintain some semblance of order. I think in choosing how much freedom we will retain as individuals and how much we will ceed to the beast that is government it is essential to consider reality, freedom and consequences in that order. Simply put for any prospective government/ political system we must first consider concrete reality, Not how we want things to be or people to behave but how things are and how people actually behave. Secondly I believe within a realistic framework people should retain their freedom until the probable and actual consequences of said freedom are not patatable to society.
Thoughts?
First of all I let the Anarchists or those by any other self identified name who fall into this conventionally defined category of Anarchist have their say awhile back. To be blunt I was not impressed. People who claim to truly believe in this philosophy seem to fall into a few clearly defined groups. First is the ones who are just going for shock value or to stir the pot. Second are those who are complete fucking fools. Third are naive kids (the 15-22 range) or adults who haven't learned anything in life. Fourth is those who are criminally or sexually deranged and these are probably in jail.
When asked how their magical not cohered by evil government force society would work they were either so naive or stupid to say that everyone would just get along perfectly or they basically said they would just shoot anyone who didn't follow what they thought were the rules. The first of these is so frickin ridiculous I don't even know what to say about it. As for the second I find it amusing that people who think police enforcing laws we (directly or indirectly) voted on is horrible evil force but that them just shooting someone who didn't immediately say the fender bender was their fault is acceptable.
The major falacy in the whole "voluntary association" idea is that it might work for a relationship or a family or a hippie compound but our world isn't based on voluntary association. That means for the association your community to live by at least one person isn't going to like any rule you make. For example Chimo Jeffery will think it is fine to bugger little kids.
The bottom line is that everyone just doing the right thing will not work and everyone just shooting someone who they think does the wrong thing doesn't work either. Any argument for anarchy basically boils down to one of these equally ridiculous points that utterly fail the reality test.
I self identify as a libertarian because I cannot associate myself with the democrats and the republicans aren't much better. Democrats are basically socialists with a touch of fascism (or at least a desire to pull the strings) and Republicans are barely different on many issues though they are a bit closer to being a split between fascism and a theocracy. I don't believe wealth should be redistributed on a massive scale (some short term assistance and reasonable disability payments aren't a bad thing) any more than I think big businesses should get constantly bailed out and given (sold really) pet legislation. I am somewhat religious but I sure as heck don't want any church making laws which will effect my life (if you want to voluntarily follow their rules then God Bless but I stop short of thinking theocratic rules [no matter how good of ones] should be forced onto anyone by anything other then good old fashioned religious and family guilt.
Mostly I consider myself a libertarian because I believe that unless there is a truly compelling reason (Jim's right to rape is less than Sally's right to not be raped, etc) otherwise the freedom to make choices should rest with the individual. Not to say that I am by any means 100% believe the libertarian party line, to be honest anyone who is truly strait party line scares me. I do however believe that the libertarians have at least in a very big picture sense struck at a good balance between maintaining law and order (as much as it can ever be maintained) having codified law, enforceable contracts and systems in place to let people function with each other in a decently orderly fashion without impeding individual rights any more than necessary.
The problem with a lot of libertarian views is that they fail to take into account how one thing effects another with direct and or unintended consequences. I don't have the time or inclination to get into their party views line by line but this point certainly strikes true in some of them. The visual of throwing a stone into a puddle is a good one.
For example, lets say prostitution is legal. It is in a few places in the US and in a lot of the rest of the world. Also lets say that laws like loitering are axed because they don't directly hurt anyone. Would you like Pervo Jim and Crackwhore Tanya discussing how much he is going to pay her to flip his flop and then twizzle his whistle for how long on the street in broad daylight while you were having a nice lunch in a little cafe with your kids? Did they directly break what we could call the liberterian rules (pretty much do anything you want as long as noone is underaged, cohersed or forced), no they did not. Is it pretty darn uncool and something nobody would like, yes.
Another example is what if the people next door decide to start selling drugs. (not trying to open the drug discussion just making a point) It is a nice middle class neighborhood where the chemist next door decided to start a small phramacutical business. Yeah in the liberterian ideal world you would be able to buy pot, coke, crack and heroine at 711 but they invented something really cool and are selling a lot of it. Weird sketchy people and hookers are outside all the time and minor property crimes have spiked up. Legally (under a strict interpretation of liberterian beliefs) they would be doing nothing wrong and thus you would have to choose between accepting these individuals free choices or selling your home at a huge loss because nobody wants to buy a nice 3 bedroom ranch on a big lot with a basement and a wood stove next to the drug haven. So either your home now sucks, you loose a bunch of money or you torch that fucker at 4 am and risk the consequences.
[This is a great example with an interesting point. This case is a good point that balance needs to be used even on the most sound logic. For example taking that logic to a bit of an extreme leads us to increadibly limiting Zoning rules and CCR/ HOA situations. Because the extreme use of a line of thinking is bad doesn't mean the whole line of thinking is bad, just that extreme stance.]
My two examples are a bit extreme but as Larry Flint has noted and proven freedom isn't tested or proven by those who live nice simple boring lives.
A great example of good/ bad laws has come up to me recently. I will skip the details but a few weeks ago I had to spend an evening basically hauling drunks back to the barracks to keep them from getting into trouble. Here in Germany bars do not have to close at any time and if you do not yell a lot, puke or start a fight an establishment will literally serve you booze until you choose to leave, run out of money or die. I have seen people pass out on the bar for awhile to wake up and mumble enough semi coherent gibberish to get another drink stay in a bar here. On a side note it is very interesting what the Germans do and don't care about but that is for another day.
In most of America and Canada (haven't been out that late there in awhile but if I recall) bars and stores are required to stop selling alcohol at 2AM. In my honest opinion this is a good law because people just plain do not need to be out drinking or getting more booze past then. A few buddies sitting on the couch with a case of beer in the fridge and a bottle in the freezer is one thing but people out and about drinking or going to the store for more is another.
The libertarian perspective would be that an independent business owner has the right to keep their place open whenever they want and that people are free to choose what they do. For awhile in college I worked swing shift at a 711 right by campus on the weekend. We sold a lot of beer and some smokes and munchy food. In any case I observed a lot of party goers and drinkers while in a sober state. Even by a fairly adjusted standard not 1 in 10 people who came to buy beer anywhere close to 2AM needed any more to drink. If nothing else watching some guy who was so drunk he had lost his wallet/ ID and could not remember his social security number piss himself at 3AM a few weeks ago was a pretty stark example of why bars closing at 2AM (really like 1:45AM) is a good thing.
You could argue that whatever happens to these drunks is there choice or a product of it and be somewhat right. This however fails to take into account that often their drunken violent property damaging stupidity hurts well behaved responsible people. Casing point, drunks love to break glass. Actually I think everyone loves to break glass but drunks do it more often and to the wrong glass (store window, random car windshields, etc) far more than sober people. The old lady who happens to have owned a house for 20 years doesn't deserve to have her glass regularly broken because some guy decided to buy the corner house and turn it into a bar which doesn't close.
Matter of factly some freedom must be ceeded to a powerful entity called government in order to maintain some semblance of order. I think in choosing how much freedom we will retain as individuals and how much we will ceed to the beast that is government it is essential to consider reality, freedom and consequences in that order. Simply put for any prospective government/ political system we must first consider concrete reality, Not how we want things to be or people to behave but how things are and how people actually behave. Secondly I believe within a realistic framework people should retain their freedom until the probable and actual consequences of said freedom are not patatable to society.
Thoughts?
Monday, October 19, 2009
Retirement: Holy Schniekies Batman
Last night I was doing some sort of routine banking function (routine enough that I don't remember what it was) and this retirement calculator popped onto the B of A main page. I decided to click on it out of idle curiosity. Though I am sure it isn't a 100% solution it is certainly able to make reasonable projections, figure out compound growth and the like. Certainly it is worth fiddling with for all but the most experienced investment pro's.
Did not particularly like what I saw. After a vision of our golden years eating Alpo and freezing because we can't afford to heat our home in the winter I brought this up to Wifey. Apparently unless it genuinely can't wait until the morning financial doom and gloom is not a good bed time discussion. Today things worked out so we could get lunch together and we talked about it. Aside from keeping significantly better track of what we actually have and how it is doing we just plain needed to save more money for retirement.
Today our contribution to the TSP went from 5% to 10%. [I set it awhile back at 5% because we really needed to build up cash reserves as we had $0] Not going to solve the problem with that single move but it is certainly going to help. If nothing else we just upgraded from Alpo to spam and from freezing in the winter to being a bit chilly. We probably need to save at least 50% more if not double. This move brings our total savings to a bit more than 25% of take home pay and we aren't going to save much more without adjusting our lifestyle.
The plan is to increase our contributions when I get raises. Got one coming pretty quick here and another not that far down the road. Broadly speaking we are going to split my raises between spending and various forms of savings.
I had originally planned to pay off (real low interest) debt first just to be rid of the payment but the late Sunday night vision of a horrible retirement kind of shook up my priorities. Mostly it got me thinking. There is always something nice and pressing which makes one want to put off something conceptual and far away like retirement. Somewhere shortly after we get rid of this debt we will probably be looking to save up for a nice little house with a wood stove and a basement. Heck, in the more immediate sense we can sure use a chair, some end tables, a book shelf and a desk. In the next year we will almost surely need to buy a new (er) vehicle. Some day I would like to have a couch my parents didn't buy in 1986. There is always going to be something on the fore front which is pressing. This is text book unlimited desires and limited resources. It is essential to save for Old Ryan now! Partly to let compound growth work for me and partly to get into the habit of doing it and living without that income. There is never a good time to have +10% of your income circumnavigate the checking account so might as well do it now.
I am in a field where traditional pensions still exist which is rare these days. Odds are high that if I leave this field I will transfer to another which has one also. In any case who knows what is going to happen in life so I am going to plan like there will not be a pension. If I end up with one then sweet we can travel a bit more or get a Barret .50 cal or something.
I will not get into the weeds of saying what you should invest in or how you should plan. I don't know what you can and should save or how you should save it. I personally have the amount of money I want to go to retirement go into my TSP in a lifecycle account because I don't really know how that stuff works and the guy who figured these out is probably better at this than I am. Maybe you want to do mutual funds or dare I say even buy individual stocks. In any case talking to a professional might not be a bad idea.
Why am I talking about retirement? First of all as we established not that long ago I just kinda talk about whatever I want to most of the time. Secondly if you stop having teenage boy TEOTWAWKI dreams of running and gunning or being some Yewman Farmer with a semi auto rifle you will realize the odds are a heck of a lot higher that you will grow old and need savings to live comfortably than say ; that you will ever fire a rifle in anger protecting your food stash or need to find that can of survival seeds you bought late one night while listening to Coast to Coast (it was on from like 11-5 on the radio station I listened to at Benning and I drove in early a lot) so you can grow a 'one acre survival guarden' to feed your family in a crisis. Third is that you should read the second again if you do not agree with me. It is great to have guns, ammo, food, clothes and tools but you will need money for property tax, electricity, food and even more guns, ammo and food.
I think starting early is essential. First of all compound growth and setting habits but anymore with things being what they are it is unsure. The market can take wild swings and older workers who used to be pretty secure are no longer. I know 3 folks who follow this blog who at least fundamentally made the right decisions and had their financial long term situation take a sudden turn in their mid 50's. Being able to throw a bunch of cash into retirement in those last could years or meet with your adviser and realize that working for a couple more years would be smart might not be an option.
Anyway today we took a step towards securing our retirement. Also I made some staple food which is good. May write on that tomorrow.
Going to read a little bit then go to bed.
Later.
Did not particularly like what I saw. After a vision of our golden years eating Alpo and freezing because we can't afford to heat our home in the winter I brought this up to Wifey. Apparently unless it genuinely can't wait until the morning financial doom and gloom is not a good bed time discussion. Today things worked out so we could get lunch together and we talked about it. Aside from keeping significantly better track of what we actually have and how it is doing we just plain needed to save more money for retirement.
Today our contribution to the TSP went from 5% to 10%. [I set it awhile back at 5% because we really needed to build up cash reserves as we had $0] Not going to solve the problem with that single move but it is certainly going to help. If nothing else we just upgraded from Alpo to spam and from freezing in the winter to being a bit chilly. We probably need to save at least 50% more if not double. This move brings our total savings to a bit more than 25% of take home pay and we aren't going to save much more without adjusting our lifestyle.
The plan is to increase our contributions when I get raises. Got one coming pretty quick here and another not that far down the road. Broadly speaking we are going to split my raises between spending and various forms of savings.
I had originally planned to pay off (real low interest) debt first just to be rid of the payment but the late Sunday night vision of a horrible retirement kind of shook up my priorities. Mostly it got me thinking. There is always something nice and pressing which makes one want to put off something conceptual and far away like retirement. Somewhere shortly after we get rid of this debt we will probably be looking to save up for a nice little house with a wood stove and a basement. Heck, in the more immediate sense we can sure use a chair, some end tables, a book shelf and a desk. In the next year we will almost surely need to buy a new (er) vehicle. Some day I would like to have a couch my parents didn't buy in 1986. There is always going to be something on the fore front which is pressing. This is text book unlimited desires and limited resources. It is essential to save for Old Ryan now! Partly to let compound growth work for me and partly to get into the habit of doing it and living without that income. There is never a good time to have +10% of your income circumnavigate the checking account so might as well do it now.
I am in a field where traditional pensions still exist which is rare these days. Odds are high that if I leave this field I will transfer to another which has one also. In any case who knows what is going to happen in life so I am going to plan like there will not be a pension. If I end up with one then sweet we can travel a bit more or get a Barret .50 cal or something.
I will not get into the weeds of saying what you should invest in or how you should plan. I don't know what you can and should save or how you should save it. I personally have the amount of money I want to go to retirement go into my TSP in a lifecycle account because I don't really know how that stuff works and the guy who figured these out is probably better at this than I am. Maybe you want to do mutual funds or dare I say even buy individual stocks. In any case talking to a professional might not be a bad idea.
Why am I talking about retirement? First of all as we established not that long ago I just kinda talk about whatever I want to most of the time. Secondly if you stop having teenage boy TEOTWAWKI dreams of running and gunning or being some Yewman Farmer with a semi auto rifle you will realize the odds are a heck of a lot higher that you will grow old and need savings to live comfortably than say ; that you will ever fire a rifle in anger protecting your food stash or need to find that can of survival seeds you bought late one night while listening to Coast to Coast (it was on from like 11-5 on the radio station I listened to at Benning and I drove in early a lot) so you can grow a 'one acre survival guarden' to feed your family in a crisis. Third is that you should read the second again if you do not agree with me. It is great to have guns, ammo, food, clothes and tools but you will need money for property tax, electricity, food and even more guns, ammo and food.
I think starting early is essential. First of all compound growth and setting habits but anymore with things being what they are it is unsure. The market can take wild swings and older workers who used to be pretty secure are no longer. I know 3 folks who follow this blog who at least fundamentally made the right decisions and had their financial long term situation take a sudden turn in their mid 50's. Being able to throw a bunch of cash into retirement in those last could years or meet with your adviser and realize that working for a couple more years would be smart might not be an option.
Anyway today we took a step towards securing our retirement. Also I made some staple food which is good. May write on that tomorrow.
Going to read a little bit then go to bed.
Later.
Muzzle Brake/ Flash Hiders by Dean in AZ
I know I'm off topic here,but with you,or one of you being in the military,and a gun enthusiast,I have a stupid question.
I run a small home machine shop,and currently make muzzle brake's/flash hider's.In your opinion,what is the best material/style? I prefer to use aluminum for they light weight,as the last thing
I want is anything heavy.Yet I see stainless brake's selling for less than I can buy material for,with no labor! I've given up making anything for the 10/22,as you can buy one on ebay cheaper than I can make one!
What would be your professional opinion,weight or porting?
Oh,and to quote Bison...buy my crap!!
Dean in AZ
TOR says:
Dean, To be honest that is a bit out of my area of expertise though in the same ballpark. I buy, carry and shoot guns in my personal life and carry and shoot them for work but that is it. If any readers have thoughts on this it would be appreciated. My one thought takes things a bit in another direction. Look for a way to make your muzzle brake/ flash hiders unique and more better. You are never going to make them cheaper than someone who makes thousands of the same thing in a heavily automated fashion. You are never going to beat some machine at making AR Flash hiders.
Service and unique products are the areas I would look to move into. Getting a few solid designs and being willing to make "customized" stuff could be a worthwhile nitche. Pick the type for your gun in the color you want sort of thing. You might sell fewer but the margins would likely be a lot better. Just my .02 cents.
I run a small home machine shop,and currently make muzzle brake's/flash hider's.In your opinion,what is the best material/style? I prefer to use aluminum for they light weight,as the last thing
I want is anything heavy.Yet I see stainless brake's selling for less than I can buy material for,with no labor! I've given up making anything for the 10/22,as you can buy one on ebay cheaper than I can make one!
What would be your professional opinion,weight or porting?
Oh,and to quote Bison...buy my crap!!
Dean in AZ
TOR says:
Dean, To be honest that is a bit out of my area of expertise though in the same ballpark. I buy, carry and shoot guns in my personal life and carry and shoot them for work but that is it. If any readers have thoughts on this it would be appreciated. My one thought takes things a bit in another direction. Look for a way to make your muzzle brake/ flash hiders unique and more better. You are never going to make them cheaper than someone who makes thousands of the same thing in a heavily automated fashion. You are never going to beat some machine at making AR Flash hiders.
Service and unique products are the areas I would look to move into. Getting a few solid designs and being willing to make "customized" stuff could be a worthwhile nitche. Pick the type for your gun in the color you want sort of thing. You might sell fewer but the margins would likely be a lot better. Just my .02 cents.
Getting Stuff Done
I have decided I need to dedicate a bit of time each day for prepping, not reading or blogging but stuff which will directly make me more prepared. This should make meeting my goals easier and generally help things work in a more better way. Not that I can't use lumps of time but a bit each day will ensure somewhat consistent progress.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
FML: Donde Esta Mi Linkage y Searchbar
Yeah not only is the progress (making links open in a new window) somehow erased but the linkage and the search bar are also gone. I really liked those. After a period of morning and procrastination I will fix these things and probably break something else.
FML
FML
quote of the day
"War is like opening the door to a dark room, you never know what is going to happen."
-Adolf Hitler before invading France. The guy was a total asshat but it is a good quote.
-Adolf Hitler before invading France. The guy was a total asshat but it is a good quote.
Random Thoughts on Health Care
Our visitor was a close family friend of Wifey. He is definitely liberal but is (personally) very fiscally conservative and has a certain amount of pragmatisn that comes from a lifetime of working in business. In a circular fashion we got to talking about health care. While our central theories on the way for health care to work are different we had an interesting discussion on it. I am sticking to my original point that we are all screwed no matter what.
I do wish we could pick and choose the traits of capitalism (efficiency, darwinism, better service, legal accountability, etc) with the traits of a not for profit system (cheaper, better access for more people, no more 'pre existing conditions', etc) but then again it would also be nice to live in a world where nobody was hungry, everybody was nice, beer was free and a lot more women looked like Jessica Biel. Unfortunately we can't pick and choose traits of different health care systems we would like any more than we can get a rifle that carries and recoils like a 10/22 with the capacity of an AR, the accuracy and power of an M1A, the ruggedness of an AK and the cost of a Mosin Nagant.
I do not believe that a 'private option' can co exist without completely skewing the whole system. The government (or a private/ public whatever like fanny or freddy) does not need to worry about taking on too much risk or making a profit. They can also take advantage of all sorts of pet laws and help to put constraints on their private party competitors.
I do however believe there could be some potential solutions. Making it possible for people to get insurance policies which are designed for what insurance is meant for (big unexpected stuff) would be a big help. People or employers could save to cover costs under that cap in a medical savings account. The rub of this plan is that it would not work well for folks with high regular costs like multiple perscriptions and the need for regular specialized care.
Part of that problem could be taken care of as an unintended consequence of most people paying for regular (cold, flu, annual checkup, etc) care out of pocket. Enough people paying attention to the bill instead of insurance just taking care of it might be enough for the costs to start coming down.
Along with the cost of regular care needing to be drawn down to sane levels we need to do something about the cost of perscription drugs. I don't think Americans should pay for more for their medications than Mexicans or Canadians do. Drug companies making a profit is fine and they do need lots of money to fund future research (this is how we get new drugs) but me thinks the cozy relationship between drug companies and legislators has lead to Americans getting screwed.
Also I think (at least to a certain degree) we should look at how the whole perscription drug thing works. For example lets say someone has a bit of exema. The crappy OTC cortisone cream never works and the person has to go to a doctor to take up their time to get a perscription for the stuff which actually works. While any sort of drug being made difficult to get could be debated from a liberterian perspective I think the argument that non narcotic drugs without excessively dangerous side effects (decent cortisone cream, etc) really need to be given out by a doctor are weak at best. You don't need to pay a carpenter to get some drywall or a mechanic to get some oil for your car.
As our friend observed lots of times when someone says "I need to go to the doctor" they really mean "I need medical attention".
Letting medical professionals other than doctors have more latitude to operate independently of a doctor and take care of basic stuff like colds, ear infections, sprains, simple stitches, etc. The same way that you don't pay to have a highly qualified master mechanic to change the oil in your car or Mario Andretti to drive you to the airport. I do not think it would be a good idea to let any idiot or pervert with a sign and a white coat practice medicine and certainly do not want the girl who empties the bed pans to perform open heart surgery on me. However giving more ability to operate independently to medical professionals could really help bring costs down for people.
I still think we are all screwed but this has been interesting to think about.
I do wish we could pick and choose the traits of capitalism (efficiency, darwinism, better service, legal accountability, etc) with the traits of a not for profit system (cheaper, better access for more people, no more 'pre existing conditions', etc) but then again it would also be nice to live in a world where nobody was hungry, everybody was nice, beer was free and a lot more women looked like Jessica Biel. Unfortunately we can't pick and choose traits of different health care systems we would like any more than we can get a rifle that carries and recoils like a 10/22 with the capacity of an AR, the accuracy and power of an M1A, the ruggedness of an AK and the cost of a Mosin Nagant.
I do not believe that a 'private option' can co exist without completely skewing the whole system. The government (or a private/ public whatever like fanny or freddy) does not need to worry about taking on too much risk or making a profit. They can also take advantage of all sorts of pet laws and help to put constraints on their private party competitors.
I do however believe there could be some potential solutions. Making it possible for people to get insurance policies which are designed for what insurance is meant for (big unexpected stuff) would be a big help. People or employers could save to cover costs under that cap in a medical savings account. The rub of this plan is that it would not work well for folks with high regular costs like multiple perscriptions and the need for regular specialized care.
Part of that problem could be taken care of as an unintended consequence of most people paying for regular (cold, flu, annual checkup, etc) care out of pocket. Enough people paying attention to the bill instead of insurance just taking care of it might be enough for the costs to start coming down.
Along with the cost of regular care needing to be drawn down to sane levels we need to do something about the cost of perscription drugs. I don't think Americans should pay for more for their medications than Mexicans or Canadians do. Drug companies making a profit is fine and they do need lots of money to fund future research (this is how we get new drugs) but me thinks the cozy relationship between drug companies and legislators has lead to Americans getting screwed.
Also I think (at least to a certain degree) we should look at how the whole perscription drug thing works. For example lets say someone has a bit of exema. The crappy OTC cortisone cream never works and the person has to go to a doctor to take up their time to get a perscription for the stuff which actually works. While any sort of drug being made difficult to get could be debated from a liberterian perspective I think the argument that non narcotic drugs without excessively dangerous side effects (decent cortisone cream, etc) really need to be given out by a doctor are weak at best. You don't need to pay a carpenter to get some drywall or a mechanic to get some oil for your car.
As our friend observed lots of times when someone says "I need to go to the doctor" they really mean "I need medical attention".
Letting medical professionals other than doctors have more latitude to operate independently of a doctor and take care of basic stuff like colds, ear infections, sprains, simple stitches, etc. The same way that you don't pay to have a highly qualified master mechanic to change the oil in your car or Mario Andretti to drive you to the airport. I do not think it would be a good idea to let any idiot or pervert with a sign and a white coat practice medicine and certainly do not want the girl who empties the bed pans to perform open heart surgery on me. However giving more ability to operate independently to medical professionals could really help bring costs down for people.
I still think we are all screwed but this has been interesting to think about.
Sunday Morning : Family, Health Care and the World
Having a visitor was pretty fun. He travels a lot for the big corporation he works for and was in Germany with a bit of time to kill. We just sort of hung out and talked about life, family and the world. Went out to grab a late dinner and a couple beers. Came home for another round or two and got back to talking, pretty quickly it was 2AM! This morning we got up early to make a big breakfast and get him on his way. Didn't get a ton of sleep this weekend but I should be able to get down easy tonight. Usually I sleep till late on the weekend and have a heck of a time getting to sleep on Sunday night. If the transition back into this week is easier than it usually is I might have to bite the bullet and try to stick on an earlier weekend schedule.
No huge plans for today. Going to read my book a bit and have some beans soaking. Tomorrow they will go in the crock pot. Going to see if I can get up the motivation to do the stuff I meant to do this week. Sort of didn't factor in a lot of the weekend being spent visiting. Tis OK though becuase I can always read or buy stuff online tomorrow but when you live far from people you don't turn down visitors (not that we do anyway;).
No huge plans for today. Going to read my book a bit and have some beans soaking. Tomorrow they will go in the crock pot. Going to see if I can get up the motivation to do the stuff I meant to do this week. Sort of didn't factor in a lot of the weekend being spent visiting. Tis OK though becuase I can always read or buy stuff online tomorrow but when you live far from people you don't turn down visitors (not that we do anyway;).
Fiddling with the Blog: FML
I should have known not to mess with the darn blog code. My links are gone. Guess I will have to get up the motivation to fix that at some point.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Oaths Of Enlistment
All persons, upon entering the Military Service and upon reenlistment are required to take the Oath of Enlistment. At one time the Oath of Enlistment was the same for all services. Due to changes in both society and the differing Military Branches, the Oath has undergone marked change and has been specifically tailored to each branch of the Military and their specific function. Here are the latest versions of the Oath of Enlistment as recently released by the Joint Chief's of Staff:
U.S. COAST GUARD ENLISTMENT OATH
"I, (State your name), swear to sign away 4 years of my life to the UNITED STATES COAST GUARD because I know being in the real military scares me. However, I swear to defend our position as the fifth branch of the Armed Services, although at one point we were under the Department of Homeland Security. I understand that at least twice a day,someone will refer to me a member of the Air Force or Navy, and when Icorrect them, they will question my military status. I will work onboats the size of kayaks and small yachts during the worst of natures storms, and recieve no thanks or notice form the public. I will fly inhelos into the eye of the storm to rescue people dumber then rocks, andthen be heckled by the same people when I bust them for transporting drugs two months later.! I will prevent thousands of gallons of pollution, but be accused of impeding the economy when I won't allow vessels to pour oil into the ocean. I will be the red-headed step child to all of the other services, although I know I got the better deal. All of my equipment will be discarded Navy property. I will use most of my time in the Coast Guard to take college classes, and perfect my websurfing abilities, then complain that I work too much. I will perfect avoiding PT at all costs, and do my best to attend training that will give me a great competitive edge in the career field of my choice,making retention efforts of the Coast Guard pointless. I will come in contact with so many pollutants during my tenure, I will glow in the dark for the rest of my natural life and refer to myself as "salty" because of it. I will do my best to work 8 to 3, with a two hour lunch, on normal days, and have my pager and cell phone surgically attached, SO HELP ME GOD.
____________________Signat
____________________Date
US AIR FORCE OATH OF ENLISTMENT
I, (State your name), swear to sign away 4 years of my life to the UNITED STATES AIR FORCE because I know I couldn't hack it in the Army, because the Marines frighten me and I am afraid of water over waist deep. I swear to sit behind a desk. I also swear not to do any form of real exercise, but promise to defend our bike-riding test as a valid form of exercise. I promise to walk around calling everyone by their first name because I find it amusing to annoy the other services. I will have a better quality of life than those around me and will, at all times, be sure to make them aware of that fact. After completion of "Basic Training" I will be a lean, mean, donut-eating, lazy-boy sitting, civilian-wearing-blue-clot
____________________ Signature
____________________ Date
US ARMY OATH OF ENLISTMENT
I, Rambo, swear to sign away 4 years of my mediocre life to the UNITEDSTATES ARMY because I couldn't score high enough on the ASVAB to get into the Air Force, I'm not tough enough for the Marines, and the Navy won't take me because I can't swim. I will wear camouflage every day and tuck my trousers into my boots because I can't figure out how to use blousing straps. I promise to wear my uniform 24 hours a day even when I have a date. I will continue to tell myself that I am a fierce killing machine because my Drill Sergeant told me I am, despite the fact that the only action I will see is a court-martial for sexual harassment. I acknowledge the fact that I will make E-8 in my first year of service, and vow to maintain that it is because I scored perfect on my PT test. After completion of my Sexual.....er....I mean "Basic Training," I will attend a different Army school every other month and return knowing less than I did when I left. On my first trip home after Boot Camp I will walk around like I am cool and propose to my 9th grade sweetheart. I will make my wife stay home because if I let her out she might leave me for a better-looking Air Force guy. Should she leave me twelve times I will continue to take her back. While at work, I will maintain a look of knowledge while getting absolutely nothing accomplished. I will arrive to work every day at 1000 hrs because of morning PT and leave everyday at 1300 to report back to "COMPANY." I understand that I will undergo no training whatsoever that will help me get a job upon separation, and will end up working construction with my friends from high school. I will brag to everyone about the Army giving me $30,000 for college, but will be unable to use it because I can't pass a placement exam. So Help Me God!
_____________________ Signature
_____________________ Date
US NAVY OATH OF ENLISTMENT
I, Top Gun, in lieu of going to prison, swear to sign away 4 years of my life to the UNITED STATES NAVY, because I want to hang out with Marines without actually having to BE one of them, because I thought the AirForce was too "corporate," because I didn't want to actually live in dirt like the Army, and because I thought, "Hey, I like to swim...why not?" I promise to wear clothes that went out of style in 1976 and to have my name stenciled on the butt of every pair of pants I own. I understand that I will be mistaken for the Good Humor Man during summerand for Nazi Waffen SS during the winter. I will strive to use a different language than the rest of the English speaking world, using words like "deck, bulkhead, cover, gee dunk, scuttlebutt, porthole and head," when I really mean "floor, wall, hat, candy, water fountain, hole in wall and toilet." I will take great pride in the fact that all Navy acronyms, rank, and insignia, and everything else for that matter, are completely different from the other services and make absolutely no sense whatsoever. I will muster, whatever that is, at 0700 every morning unless I am buddy-buddy with the Chief, in which case I will show up around 0930. I vow to hone my coffee cup handling skills to the point that I can stand up in a kayak being tossed around in a typhoon, and still not spill a drop. I consent to being promoted and subsequently busted at least twice per fiscal year. I realize that, once selected for Chief, I am required to submit myself to the sick, and quite possibly illegal, whims of my newfound "colleagues." So Help Me Neptune!
______________________ Signature
______________________ Date
US MARINE CORPS OATH OF ENLISTMENT
"I, (pick a name the police won't recognize), swear..uhhhh....high-and-t
X____________________Thumb
XX __________________________
_____________________Date
U.S. COAST GUARD ENLISTMENT OATH
"I, (State your name), swear to sign away 4 years of my life to the UNITED STATES COAST GUARD because I know being in the real military scares me. However, I swear to defend our position as the fifth branch of the Armed Services, although at one point we were under the Department of Homeland Security. I understand that at least twice a day,someone will refer to me a member of the Air Force or Navy, and when Icorrect them, they will question my military status. I will work onboats the size of kayaks and small yachts during the worst of natures storms, and recieve no thanks or notice form the public. I will fly inhelos into the eye of the storm to rescue people dumber then rocks, andthen be heckled by the same people when I bust them for transporting drugs two months later.! I will prevent thousands of gallons of pollution, but be accused of impeding the economy when I won't allow vessels to pour oil into the ocean. I will be the red-headed step child to all of the other services, although I know I got the better deal. All of my equipment will be discarded Navy property. I will use most of my time in the Coast Guard to take college classes, and perfect my websurfing abilities, then complain that I work too much. I will perfect avoiding PT at all costs, and do my best to attend training that will give me a great competitive edge in the career field of my choice,making retention efforts of the Coast Guard pointless. I will come in contact with so many pollutants during my tenure, I will glow in the dark for the rest of my natural life and refer to myself as "salty" because of it. I will do my best to work 8 to 3, with a two hour lunch, on normal days, and have my pager and cell phone surgically attached, SO HELP ME GOD.
____________________Signat
____________________Date
US AIR FORCE OATH OF ENLISTMENT
I, (State your name), swear to sign away 4 years of my life to the UNITED STATES AIR FORCE because I know I couldn't hack it in the Army, because the Marines frighten me and I am afraid of water over waist deep. I swear to sit behind a desk. I also swear not to do any form of real exercise, but promise to defend our bike-riding test as a valid form of exercise. I promise to walk around calling everyone by their first name because I find it amusing to annoy the other services. I will have a better quality of life than those around me and will, at all times, be sure to make them aware of that fact. After completion of "Basic Training" I will be a lean, mean, donut-eating, lazy-boy sitting, civilian-wearing-blue-clot
____________________ Signature
____________________ Date
US ARMY OATH OF ENLISTMENT
I, Rambo, swear to sign away 4 years of my mediocre life to the UNITEDSTATES ARMY because I couldn't score high enough on the ASVAB to get into the Air Force, I'm not tough enough for the Marines, and the Navy won't take me because I can't swim. I will wear camouflage every day and tuck my trousers into my boots because I can't figure out how to use blousing straps. I promise to wear my uniform 24 hours a day even when I have a date. I will continue to tell myself that I am a fierce killing machine because my Drill Sergeant told me I am, despite the fact that the only action I will see is a court-martial for sexual harassment. I acknowledge the fact that I will make E-8 in my first year of service, and vow to maintain that it is because I scored perfect on my PT test. After completion of my Sexual.....er....I mean "Basic Training," I will attend a different Army school every other month and return knowing less than I did when I left. On my first trip home after Boot Camp I will walk around like I am cool and propose to my 9th grade sweetheart. I will make my wife stay home because if I let her out she might leave me for a better-looking Air Force guy. Should she leave me twelve times I will continue to take her back. While at work, I will maintain a look of knowledge while getting absolutely nothing accomplished. I will arrive to work every day at 1000 hrs because of morning PT and leave everyday at 1300 to report back to "COMPANY." I understand that I will undergo no training whatsoever that will help me get a job upon separation, and will end up working construction with my friends from high school. I will brag to everyone about the Army giving me $30,000 for college, but will be unable to use it because I can't pass a placement exam. So Help Me God!
_____________________ Signature
_____________________ Date
US NAVY OATH OF ENLISTMENT
I, Top Gun, in lieu of going to prison, swear to sign away 4 years of my life to the UNITED STATES NAVY, because I want to hang out with Marines without actually having to BE one of them, because I thought the AirForce was too "corporate," because I didn't want to actually live in dirt like the Army, and because I thought, "Hey, I like to swim...why not?" I promise to wear clothes that went out of style in 1976 and to have my name stenciled on the butt of every pair of pants I own. I understand that I will be mistaken for the Good Humor Man during summerand for Nazi Waffen SS during the winter. I will strive to use a different language than the rest of the English speaking world, using words like "deck, bulkhead, cover, gee dunk, scuttlebutt, porthole and head," when I really mean "floor, wall, hat, candy, water fountain, hole in wall and toilet." I will take great pride in the fact that all Navy acronyms, rank, and insignia, and everything else for that matter, are completely different from the other services and make absolutely no sense whatsoever. I will muster, whatever that is, at 0700 every morning unless I am buddy-buddy with the Chief, in which case I will show up around 0930. I vow to hone my coffee cup handling skills to the point that I can stand up in a kayak being tossed around in a typhoon, and still not spill a drop. I consent to being promoted and subsequently busted at least twice per fiscal year. I realize that, once selected for Chief, I am required to submit myself to the sick, and quite possibly illegal, whims of my newfound "colleagues." So Help Me Neptune!
______________________ Signature
______________________ Date
US MARINE CORPS OATH OF ENLISTMENT
"I, (pick a name the police won't recognize), swear..uhhhh....high-and-t
X____________________Thumb
XX __________________________
_____________________Date
quote of the day
"As for why anyone would want a Glock? Gosh, a reasonably priced, simple, ergonomic, accurate and utterly reliable pistol is a crappy thing to have. Admittedly guns are a very personal topic but quantitative arguments against Glocks really don't exist."
-Me
-Me
Friday, October 16, 2009
Buying Gold?
I wrote about this about a month ago. Aside from throwing some more cash into the precious metals piece allocated portion of the savings account not a whole lot has changed. Maybe it will slip way down and maybe it will go to $2,000 an ounce like a bunch of folks who aren't economists guess it will do. Hell if I know what is going to happen with the market. I am going to mull it over but am generally inclined to buy. We may or may not face serious inflation but I would like to hold as much gold as possible either way. It might cost me a couple bucks more for the same thing but worst cast I will just laugh about that when I buy for less in a few months.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
Gloves: Glove to Task and Some of my Favorites
It is definitely fall here in Central Europe, downright chilly it is. This has got me going back to the warm clothes. On the bright side work has came a really long way in terms of issueing us real quality modern cold weather gear. At CIF I probably got a few hundred bucks in PolarTech fleece and super spiffy long johns, a whole lot better than field jackets and those crapy long johns they issued when I got it. Anyway back to the point.
Gloves. The bad news is that most people need to have several types of gloves (of course redundancy in said types is good). The good news is that unless you are going to climb Everest or are a total mall ninja you generally don't need to spend a bunch of money on any given pair of gloves.
Lets look at some distinct purposes for gloves:
1. Just plain keeping your hands warm. You are not going to be doing much with your hands but are going to be outside when it is cold. For this type it is hard to beat wool or fleece. The generic knit wool gloves/ mittens are great and fleece ones work well also. The other day I bought some new fleece gloves for PT (as it is cold as balls in the morning) at the high cost of $3.95. They are not fancy or whatever, just warm.
2. Doing rough work. Maybe you are handling some barbed wire or bucking hay bales or handling rough wood or whatever. For this task it is hard to beat leather gloves. Don't buy crap but it is realistic to get a decent comfortable pair of leather work gloves for less than it costs for two people to eat lunch at donalds. it is wise to buy gloves big enough that you can fit the wool knit gloves from #1 under them in the case you need to do some work in the cold.
3. Doing dexterous tasks. Mechanics and shooting guns come to mind. Depending on your task keeping your hands from getting scraped up or flash fire (in CQB every damn thing tends to be on fire) are the primary concerns. There are a lot of gloves in this range as it is cool in some circles to wear what the military does. I ama huge fan of generic flight gloves. Got a pair of the hatch ones which I love. I can load unload and handle any firearm I have came across while wearing them. These seem to take milage pretty well, mine have been used pretty regularly over 5 years and 3 continents.
4. Serious Winter Wear. This is for serious cold or longer periods in said cold. For this I am a big fan of mittens because they are warmer than gloves. Especially for tasks like skiing or snoe shoeing where your need to have fingers not freeze off is high but your need to do anything dexterous is really low mittens are great. I am a fan of getting a good pair of outer mits (OR makes some good stuff) and a nice warm inner mitten. The good thing about this sort of setup is that you can easily have (they are cheap) 1 or 2 spare pair of fleece inner mittens which are all you really need to swap out to have dry hands.
Admittedly there is some overlap between these groups (leather gloves with inserts are good for real cold, etc) but fundamentally they are each good to at least look at. If you live in a place that gets cold it is worth putting the money into a few pair of good gloves (and or mittens) to suit your various needs. For the price of dinner and drinks for two at a nice restaurant you could probably get all the gloves you could need.
I may or may not write tomorrow. A good family friend (one of Wifeys 'Vice Parents') is coming to visit tomorrow. He travels a lot for work and happens to have a weekend with some time to kill in Germany. It will be cool to see him as he is a fun fellow and who knows when we will be in the same place at the same time again. Depending on how the morning goes I might have time to write and I might not. Consider this tomorrows post.
Gloves. The bad news is that most people need to have several types of gloves (of course redundancy in said types is good). The good news is that unless you are going to climb Everest or are a total mall ninja you generally don't need to spend a bunch of money on any given pair of gloves.
Lets look at some distinct purposes for gloves:
1. Just plain keeping your hands warm. You are not going to be doing much with your hands but are going to be outside when it is cold. For this type it is hard to beat wool or fleece. The generic knit wool gloves/ mittens are great and fleece ones work well also. The other day I bought some new fleece gloves for PT (as it is cold as balls in the morning) at the high cost of $3.95. They are not fancy or whatever, just warm.
2. Doing rough work. Maybe you are handling some barbed wire or bucking hay bales or handling rough wood or whatever. For this task it is hard to beat leather gloves. Don't buy crap but it is realistic to get a decent comfortable pair of leather work gloves for less than it costs for two people to eat lunch at donalds. it is wise to buy gloves big enough that you can fit the wool knit gloves from #1 under them in the case you need to do some work in the cold.
3. Doing dexterous tasks. Mechanics and shooting guns come to mind. Depending on your task keeping your hands from getting scraped up or flash fire (in CQB every damn thing tends to be on fire) are the primary concerns. There are a lot of gloves in this range as it is cool in some circles to wear what the military does. I ama huge fan of generic flight gloves. Got a pair of the hatch ones which I love. I can load unload and handle any firearm I have came across while wearing them. These seem to take milage pretty well, mine have been used pretty regularly over 5 years and 3 continents.
4. Serious Winter Wear. This is for serious cold or longer periods in said cold. For this I am a big fan of mittens because they are warmer than gloves. Especially for tasks like skiing or snoe shoeing where your need to have fingers not freeze off is high but your need to do anything dexterous is really low mittens are great. I am a fan of getting a good pair of outer mits (OR makes some good stuff) and a nice warm inner mitten. The good thing about this sort of setup is that you can easily have (they are cheap) 1 or 2 spare pair of fleece inner mittens which are all you really need to swap out to have dry hands.
Admittedly there is some overlap between these groups (leather gloves with inserts are good for real cold, etc) but fundamentally they are each good to at least look at. If you live in a place that gets cold it is worth putting the money into a few pair of good gloves (and or mittens) to suit your various needs. For the price of dinner and drinks for two at a nice restaurant you could probably get all the gloves you could need.
I may or may not write tomorrow. A good family friend (one of Wifeys 'Vice Parents') is coming to visit tomorrow. He travels a lot for work and happens to have a weekend with some time to kill in Germany. It will be cool to see him as he is a fun fellow and who knows when we will be in the same place at the same time again. Depending on how the morning goes I might have time to write and I might not. Consider this tomorrows post.
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