quote of the day

"The only reason,and it is the only reason for a gun registration is to confiscate said guns at a later time. The Soviets did it, the Nazis did it, the Chairman Mao did it. And we all known how those turned out. Gulags,ovens, and mass starvation."
-Conservative Scalawag

Real Life Vs Movies/ TV

Wifey and I are watching a movie and something just jumped out at me. Some guy was being a jerk so the main character up and popped him one. He then stood there and did nothing then the jerk mollywhopped him pretty good in return. While it can certainly be debated when physical violence should be used if you are going to hit someone at least follow up until they are unable to retaliate. Hitting them and then letting them get set for a fight is stupid. Follow up until they are in a bloody pile on the ground and then get the heck out of there.

"Grow hemp. Don't import oil. Let Arabs heard goats."
-Vlad.

quote of the day

"I am free, no matter what rules surround me. If I find them tolerable, I tolerate them; if I find them too obnoxious, I break them."

-Robert Heinlein, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

quote of the day

"This adds credence to my theory that tornadoes are mysteriously guided by some unseen force toward single-wide trailer parks."
-JWR

3 Components To Being Truly And Utterly Miserable

Recently I have been spending a lot of time standing around in the cold chatting with folks and waiting to do this training or that training.

One co worker said something interesting. He said the first Platoon Sergeant he ever had said you needed 3 things to be truly and utterly miserable. The first is to be cold. The second is to be hungry. The third is to be wet.

While things can be bad with just one or two of those all three are definitely a trifecta of  misery.

Why Centerfire Rifles?

I got a comment about this topic which I approved and then could not find. Unfortunately I can't copy and past comments on the moderation page. The guy basically asked why people bother with center fire rifles at all. He mentioned them being impractical to hunt all but the biggest game and talked about the utility and benefit of a .22/.410 over under.

TOR replies: First I think it is important to have a center fire rifle because it is part of a basic 4. Different types of guns are tools with unique capabilities and one can often not duplicate the performance of another. This is the smallest set of weapons that will readily meet a large amount of firearms needs. You can easily have a dozen guns and still find a niche for some sort of new pistol or a whizz bang flat shooting rifle. However if you have a decent .22, a shotgun, a defensive caliber pistol and a center fire rifle you can meet most basic needs. There is a .22 for plinking or small game hunting or potting the unpottable chicken. There is a shotgun for shooting stuff with a shotgun. There is a pistol to keep near the bed in case there is a strange knock at the door late at night or to carry on your person while doing chores.

Back to the subject of center fire rifles. First they are useful for hunting large game. As you mentioned (I searched for that comment for like 20 minutes, wish I could have found it) people will not shoot a deer every day after the world ends. However hunting does put a lot of meat on a lot of tables. Also rifles are good for taking out predators, both two legged and four. In particular center fire rifles will defeat soft (the most common) body armor.

The .22/.410 combo is great for hunting pot sized animals such as rabbits, squirrels and birds at close range. For this role they are hard to beat. However they are not particularly capable of harvesting larger game at any range and are a poor choice for any sort of predator.

quote of the day

"It was sold to voters as a “make the rich pay their fair share” tax. Unfortunately, those rich folks (if you call someone making $125,000 a year rich) employ everyone else."
-Dave Duffy 

He was speaking about Oregon's Ballot Measures 66 and 67 but it applies for every tax that targets the 'rich'.  People who make incomes that put them in politicians sights for being 'rich' are the ones who can afford to hire out jobs instead of buying a home depot book and getting friends to help. They are also the ones who can afford the kind of luxuries that employ people be it having a housekeeper or a fairly nice boat (which they pay to dock and get maintained and pick up last minute supplies at the store by the dock, etc) or the other stuff which EMPLOYS people.

I'd Want My Kid To Have The Glock

Just A Thought

Wifey has been making home made bread for us for awhile now. It is good and probably healthier for you than store bought stuff. The biggest downside except that you have to make it is that since it lacks preservatives it goes bad far faster than store bought. Not a big deal if you have 4 kids taking lunch to school but for just a person or a couple who do not eat a lot of sandwiches it can be an issue.

Most recipes make two loafs and freezing the second is pretty obvious. The downside of freezing a whole loaf of bread is that it takes a long time to thaw. However if you slice the bread and then put it in the freezer you can take out what you need and it thaws very quickly. Last week I ate sandwiches twice for lunch and I just took out my two slices of wheat bread and then watched TV for a couple minutes while the bread thawed.

By slicing bread, putting it in a ziplock bag and then freezing it you can have good home made bread quickly without worrying about it going bad.

How Do You Prepare For This?

quote of the day

"Elections should be held on April 16th- the day after we pay our income taxes. That is one of the few things that might discourage politicians from being big spenders."
-Thomas Sowell

"A government with the policy to rob Peter to pay Paul can be assured of the support of Paul."
George Bernard Shaw

quote of the day

"In today’s uncertain economic times investments in precious metals can provide stability."
-SGT Jarhead

If You Are Against Guns....

I like all of you so please think about this stuff.

Can someone answer these questions for me please?

• If guns are effective enough to be a criminal's preferred tool, why are they not good enough to use for protection?

• Why do politicians insist their bodyguards be armed, but not you and I?

• If you and your children were face-to-face with a male attacker twice your size, what would you do; If you weren't armed? If you were armed?

• If guns are "too dangerous" to be in our society, how come our leaders want to be the only ones who have them? Do you trust our leaders implicitly to protect you at all times?

• Which is better – more gun control and the eventual banning of all guns in our society, or not sitting by helplessly watching as an intruder repeatedly rapes your 13-year-old daughter?

• If we ever completely ban guns, do you think there will be no more armed criminals in America?

• With so many gun laws already on the books, why do "gun crimes" still exist?

quote of the day

"If every Jewish and anti-nazi family in Germany had owned a Mauser rifle and twenty rounds of ammunition and the will to use it, Adolf Hitler would be a little-known footnote to the history of the Weimar Republic." - Aaron Zelman, co-founder of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership

Book Review: Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook

I ordered this book in order to help with my overall food storage efforts. I got some good stuff out of it. With the price at a bit over 10 bucks it is well worth what I got out of it. There is some good advice and real useful realistic stuff in this book. It emphasizes the need to store foods your family eats regularly. Also I like the point she made about thinking more in terms of real meals your family actually eats. Many people seem to vastly underestimate the amount of condiments and sized and flavorings necessary to make bulk foods tolerable or even pleasant.

I liked it when she said that you can't live on bread alone but can live on bread and soup.

There were a few things I did not like about this book. First of all when discussing water purification she had a real emphasis on boiling or chemical treatment over filtration. She also spoke of filtering not being sufficient on which I completely disagree. Describing a half dozen chemical ways to treat water and not mentioning that you could just buy a quality water filter probably does people a disservice.

In the financial part she suggests keeping the emergency fund of at least 3 months expenses which is fine and well. She also believes you should keep it at home which I have some issue with. It is true that in today's environment of near 0% returns on money in the bank in a narrow sense there is little disadvantage to keeping cash at home. If you have a huge safe that is bolted to a concrete floor or some sort of stash the odds of theft are minimal. I do believe people should have cash at home but need some money in the bank too. When it comes to cash stored at home my rule is to keep enough that it is significant but not so much that it would be a serious hardship if it was lost/ stolen/ etc. One months cash expenses seems like a reasonable number to me. 

What happens if your house burns down? What if you get stuck in Buffalo and need to spend a week in a hotel? What if your transmission drops in Omaha? Maybe it is just an issue of what we call by which name. In any case having some cash in the bank set aside for something to happen is smart.

Also she suggests that your 3 months emergency fund is made of of 1/3rd coins, 1/3rd ones and fives and the rest in twenties and fifties. I think this is bad advice. Coins are of small enough value that they will buy little. Also they are very bulky and heavy. For most families a 3 month emergency fund is at least several thousand dollars. I have never picked up $2,000 in coins but I imagine it is pretty darn heavy. Too heavy to easily toss into your day pack/ BOB if you have to leave home fast. Personally I think some small bills like ones and fives and then a decent amount of tens and twenties is a good way to go. At some point size and weight considerations make moving to fifties and hundreds a requirement.

 Last but not least I thought the book had a lot of filler in it. Really the back half of the book was a disappointment to me. It has lots of lists and then columns for: amount on hand, 3 months for the individual, 3 months for the family, 6 months for the family and a full year. This means that one single list of a dozen items is all that is on two whole pages. Really I think most of us can multiply by 3 or 6 or 12 just fine. This might have some use for food stuffs but for things like garden hoses and hair brushes it makes no sense. After that are a whole bunch of recipes which I suppose has some value.

All and all I certainly got my ten bucks out of it. Though I disagree on a couple points and the back half seemed padded to me I think this book is worth reading. Readers, particularly those new to staple cooking or food storage would be well advised to read this book. It has some of the most practical common sense advice on preparedness and food storage I have read.

quote of the day

"People are quick to hold the banks’ feet to the fire while largely giving a free pass to the morons who bought houses they couldn’t afford."
-Commander Zero

quote of the day

(760): I can handle NPR. I speak hippie. I took it in college. 

-TFLN

Just A Question

Wifey and I went to the PX today so she could look for a few things. In typical husband fashion I got bored very quickly and said "I'll be in the book section." Took a quick glance at all of the gun rags and immediately decided against even flipping through them. Picked up a copy of Soldier of Fortune to kill time. It is a magazine that has some articles on stuff that interests me. Haven't bought a copy in years but for today's purposes it worked.

Anyway I just wonder if any of you guys actually subscribe to gun rags? If so what ones?

I do not know if they have recently gotten a lot worse or if I have just gotten more aware of it. It isn't so much that they only give glowing reviews. I sort of understand that because if they said somebodies newest tactical CQB SOF AR widget sucked those people would not buy a full page ad. As far as that is concerned only the names have changed. Can't recall reading an old gun rag that says Remington's newest gun sucks while there is a full page ad for their ammo on the next page.

What gets me is that the product placement has totally taken over the actual stories. Hearing about how Jimbo the Highway Patrolmen from Kansas shot it out with 2 meth maggots on the side of the highway at 4 am is interesting. Hearing about how he was wearing his Second Chance vest, carrying his duty weapon in this spiffy holster and had mags loaded with XYZ bullets (all of whom are advertisers) just sort of rubs me the wrong way. I am cool with ads. We all want to make some money. However I am not with cool with paying $5.99 to read one giant ad.

Maybe some gun rags are better than others, I do not know.

Guest Post: Preventing Diabetes

See How Easily You Can Prevent Diabetes Through Blood Glucose Testing

The pancreas is a body part which Type 2 diabetes affects. When we take in food, the sugar in it turns into glucose then goes into the blood stream. When it gets in blood cells, the pancreas lets loose insulin that allows our body to use up the glucose like fuel. People who have a Type 2 diabetes condition will find it difficult to make as well as use insulin. Your body contains plenty of glucose; however your cells are unable to find them.

The American Diabetes Association has the duty of looking for information regarding this important medical condition. 23.6 million Individuals living in America currently have diabetes, and because of this the country is seen as very unhealthy. Ninety percent of this figure has been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes and the tendency to be overweight usually run in the family. If there is too much glucose in your body, it could result in serious internal organ damage and affect one’s nervous system. 

Living with Diabetes

The easiest and the most efficient way to treat your Type 2 diabetes is through healthy living practices on a daily basis. Among these practices include eating healthy and engaging in exercise. The healthy practices that you regularly do will have an enormous lasting and positive effect on you.

To avoid health complications, many doctors have recommended that you ensure that the glucose levels in your body are within the appropriate range. The blood glucose level in your body can easily be monitored simply by using the finger prick test. Such a test is as good as an HbA1c test when it comes to checking and tracking your glucose fluctuations. This HbA1c test is able to determine the levels of glycated hemoglobin in your body, as well as know if the glucose levels are on the high side. The average level which diabetics maintain, as per the A1c test results, are at seven percent. One can experience a 40% reduction in the possibility of developing risks if people simply ensure that their a1c levels are kept at seven percent.

Over-Controlled Levels

A lot of studies nowadays indicate that keeping one’s a1c levels lower than seven percent could actually be a bad thing. There was one study which was done in Seattle’s Lancet and Swedish Medical Center that found out that there is a higher death risk for people whose levels are median at best and people who take insulin. On the other hand, other tests show that a seven percent a1c level is still quite healthy. While physicians take into account their patient’s medical history before the planned treatment, a 7% level of a1c is still good according to endocrinologist Matt Davies.

About the Author - Kristina V. Ridley writes on glucose meter  , her personal hobby blog focused on helping people get free information to prevent diabetes and test blood glucose at home.

TOR here: First and foremost I would like to thank Kristina for writing this article.  We have talked a bit about diabetes here in the past. It has massive implications for potential survival during a prolonged crisis and if you have it then some common sense preparations would be prudent.

I do not know a lot about diabetes. However for those who don't get it during childhood I believe it comes largely from excessive body fat and prolonged unhealthy diets. Yet another reason to eat somewhat reasonably and maintain a healthy body weight.

quote of the day

"Thou shalt never be a perpetrator.
Thou shalt never be a victim.
And thou shalt never, but never, be a bystander.” 
~Yehuda Bauer

Also in going completely old school religious I  do genuinely believe that there is a special place in hell for people who choose to be bystanders. Pick the side you think is best and do whatever is in your power to help that side. In many ways I respect people who choose the wrong side more than those who just stand by idly. At least they had the guts to make a decision and act upon it.

Services Will Be Cut And You Will Be On Your Own

Due to massive personnel/ budget cuts Ashtabula County which is 720 square miles is going to have a single patrol car on duty. Ashtabula County Common Pleas Judge Alfred Mackey was asked what residents should do to protect themselves and their families with the severe cutback in law enforcement."Arm themselves," the judge said. "Be very careful, be vigilant, get in touch with your neighbors, because we're going to have to look after each other." Read the rest here.

Hat tip to Conservative Scalawag.

quote of the day

"We're not going to save our way out of this recession. We've got to spend our way out of this recession, and I think most economists know that."
-Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.)

An Interesting Discussion Going On At Surviving In Argentina, Again

Apparently I used this exact title before, go figure FerFal writes good stuff and his very practical ( and somewhat different) angle questions things. The discussion (1, 2, 3) is about rural living and security if things get weird. It goes pretty directly against a lot of what comes out of, for lack of a better word, the American Survivalist school. Personally I don't have strong opinions (we will get to my thoughts) but any time someone is really questioning things with some good points it is worth considering.To my thoughts.

First I think it bears worth repeating to be distinctly in town or out of town. Three acres with a little barn on a cul de sac or quiet side street at the edge of town probably often has the worst of both scenarios. Also the theme that small towns are safer but you can grow food in the country is rehashed.

After that I am less sure. One place where America might be different than Argentina is that by pretty much any measure rural and smaller town areas have far lower crime rates (particularly violent crime) than suburban and urban ones. I don't know exactly why this is but well it is. If things got bad in America crime rates would go up. I have a hard time seeing how they would not go up more or less proportionately with some reflection of economic changes by area.

One notable issue with the rural retreat plan is that its security relies on being able to bring 2 or ideally 4-6 couples (assuming no 16+ kids who would count as the same) together to provide local security. It is easy to say "when things go all Mad Max everyone goes to the Johnson place" and in that respect it is a solid plan. However are you going to go to the Johnson place because unemployment is at 18% and the crime rate has doubled? Can you commute to work from the Johnsons spiffy rural retreat? Sleeping in the living room at your buddies because there is a bad depression going on is a stretch in anybodies imagination. How would everybody live their lives and pay their bills with 4/12 adults pulling security at any given time? For many realistic situation especially a hyper inflationary economic mess or a slow slide it isn't going to be 3-4 families together. It is going to be you and the spouse and the kids all alone. Most likely at least one adult is going to spend a good amount of time elsewhere working, because well you need money.

One benefit of rural living, particularly if you can get at least a few acres away from the main road is that space buys you time. I've lived in places where you can see a car coming your way for a quarter mile. You just can't do that in town. A gate at the end of your road (depending on your setup) coupled with some sort of anti intrusion devices is a hard setup to beat. On the low end this could just be a dog and a motion light aimed at the road. If money is a bit less of an object a comprehensive system of intrusion devices and cameras would be difficult to beat. Realistically even without anything fancy a gate, a dog or two and some motion lights from home depot you have (before even factoring in harder homes and gardens stuff) a huge advantage over someone in the city. Time to grab a gun and if you are so inclined put on body armor. I do not know a ton about home invasions but would bet a lot that people who are awake and holding a gun (+2 for a long gun and +5 for body armor) when somebody tries a home invasion fare pretty well.

Then again if you are walking out of the shop in pajamas on a Saturday morning that one time you don't throw on a pistol and some bad folks show up the situation can get pretty ugly.

I don't know what is best. Guess it depends on where you want to live and what sort of scenario you are worried about. I hesitate very much to give a strong opinion but this has been a darn interesting conversation.

Be Able To Buy Stuff

It is great (and essential) to be able to sustain yourself and for family without outside help. However in almost every possible situation you need to be able to buy stuff. Even if you have a paid off place and can produce a good amount of your own food property taxes and the need for fuel aren't going away.You need to pay for a place to stay, food, fuel and depending on how long you hang out someplace all sorts of other stuff. However in many situations the best course of action is to, at least for a little while go somewhere else. We have bug out bags and plans to go here or there. All of that stuff is great. If you are getting out of town because of an upcoming hurricane and plan to crash at your cousins 500 miles inland it is probably more important to have money than a dozen 5 gallon pails of beans (though 2 pail is probably smart).

In most situations in the continental US dollars are best. Dollars are generally pretty useful in other places too however that may be waning a little bit. Even if the dollar (or whatever the local currency) takes a  major hit you will still need to buy stuff. Having some other currency like the Euro or Swiss Francs or the Yen or gold or silver will let you purchase stuff.


Be able to buy stuff. 

The Good Part of Saving

Living below your means is not fun. It means that you have less money to spend on general lifestyle and discretionary expenses. It does however occasionally have good parts.

Last year into the very beginning of this one our big push was setting up the emergency fund. While it didn't give us anything quantifiable, peace of mind is darn hard to beat. We have been planning to get a TV for awhile. Actually ordered one online and after we paid for it they decided not to ship it. Eventually we will get that cash back but the whole thing turned into a real big pain. In any case today we went out and got a new 40" Sony Bravia TV. We took it home at a steep discount for a bit over $800 which considering the lack of options here is great. It is really darn nice. Also it has a remote control that works which gives me more joy than you could imagine.

This year we have been primarily pushing to get a decent second vehicle.This mission is now funded. We have a line on a low mile SUV which, assuming it passes muster with our stern and reliable German mechanic could work out well. Regardless sooner or later something will come along that fits our fairly loose criteria.

When you live below your means you can save money and use it to accomplish goals. Living below your means sucks but accomplishing goals is pretty awesome so it equals out. Maybe you want to set some money aside or buy a neato rifle or a piece of junk land or a camper or whatever. This is how you get there in a realistic and affordable way. Seriously today I got a nice TV with cash and we are about to buy a car. There is nothing magical about it. We have a pretty average income and choose to live well below it. Like many things in life it is simple but not easy.

On the bright side we are going through our New Years Resolutions like a bag of cocaine at an early 90's SNL party. Going to try and finish up our current goals and then do some more financial stuff. 

Please excuse me while I watch my sweet huge TV.

Book Buy!

• Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics - Henry Hazlitt
  $8.47 - Quantity: 1 - In Stock
  Condition: Used - Very Good
  Sold by: Senyah Management Inc
• The Soviet-Afghan War: How a Superpower Fought and Lost - Michael A. Gress
  $12.21 - Quantity: 1 - In Stock
  Condition: New
  Sold by: Amazon.com, LLC
• World Made by Hand: A Novel - James Howard Kunstler
  $10.08 - Quantity: 1 - In Stock
  Condition: New
  Sold by: Amazon.com, LLC
• The Modern Survival Manual: Surviving the Economic Collapse - Fernando Ferfal Aguirre
  $24.95 - Quantity: 1 - In Stock
  Condition: New
  Sold by: Amazon.com, LLC

Random Thoughts On Fighting

MD Creekmore wrote an interesting post today. I have thoughts and since what I planned to write this afternoon got pushed back (going to revise it) and I have been thinking on this for a few minutes it is going up here. Blah blah blah onto my semi random thoughts on fighting.

I have been in and around my fair share of fights. Somebody who has a half a chance at winning [sorry but when we talk about hand to hand if he is 6'5"/ 290 while you are 5'7"/ 155 and not named Oscar De La Hoya, Diego Sanchez or BJ Penn it ain't gonna be good] that lands a decent first strike then follows up generally does quite well. As for the decision to fight dirty or not.

Interestingly Chads Father, who is a pretty scary old guy in addition to being smart and stuff once said there are two types of fights. Fights with people you know and fights with people you don't know.

In fights with someone you know it is generally about something stupid and you know the reason. Heck, there is roughly a 50/50 chance you even deserve it. Almost universally it's women and pride with some alcohol thrown in. Nobody is really going to get seriously hurt. This is not the time to punch someone in the throat and then kick them halfway to death.

Then there are fights with people you don't know. These events are far more random and dangerous. You do not know them or what they are capable of.  They could be a knife wielding aids carrying rapist psycho for all you know. The point is that you don't want to know! You want to act as decisively and violently as possible to extract yourself from that situation. This is the time to break joints or judo throw someone head first into a wall or gouge an eye or whatever you know how to do that is most expedient to end the fight. Maybe you will call the cops afterword or maybe not, that is a complicated discussion with a lot of variables. However the essential task is to end the fight to prevent something bad from happening to you.

Of course these lines aren't entirely black and white. Common sense is a pretty good guide. If someone I sorta know tries to stick me with a knife I will stop them, if necessary putting them in the ER by breaking a wrist or elbow, or worse. If a random drunk guy in a bar pushes me I am not going to bounce their face off the brick wall a dozen times.

Knowing how and WHEN to fight dirty/ for keeps will make sure you stay out of the hospital/ morgue and jail.

Tires, Junkyards, Beer Brewing and Mags

Today I went to get a leaky tire fixed. I went to the automotive place and; skipping the details lets just say it significant will power to not go Patrick Bateman on them. Anyway it all turned out OK when I went to the junk yard. For a couple minutes of looking and a few more wrenching some lug nuts I got a new tire with a rim for $17. Really psyched about that.

I have been saving up my pennies and ad money so it was time to buy some stuff. Decided to just go ahead and get mags. I am not exactly sure what type of 9mm ammo I want to get and well who knows what could happen with mags. Anyway I ordered 10 Glock 9mm mags from CDNN investments. Depending on how I want to look at it they are either going to be mags for my next Glock,  to stash somewhere or just put away for a rainy day. Lately I have been feeling like my happy number of 10 pistol mags is a bit low. The idea of having a few more to stash here or there has been appealing to me.

I went ahead and got 10 US GI M1A mags also. While certainly not the cheapest .308 semi auto I do really covet the M1A and intend to get one. Ever since I saw a blurb about these mags at a sane price on Survival Blog I have been wanting to pick some up. I was going to get more like 8 but there was free shipping on purchases over $200 so it was an easy decision to get 10.  In any situation (massive gun control/ AWB) where I would be unable to eventually get a rifle to go with them the mags would increase significantly in value so I don't see a downside.

Maybe if  the rest of the year goes rather well I will make those same orders again. 

Also ordered World Made By Hand and FerFal's book. I wanted to get his book when it came out but if I recall the cost was like $35 or even $40. Too much for me to justify anyway. However at $25 it is something I can justify. Really looking forward to reading it.

Was all set to order a beer brewing kit but they wanted almost double the price to ship the darn thing. That was pretty disappointing. When companies ship to an APO they only pay shipping costs to New York State but it is used as an excuse to really stick it to us. I will do some more looking and if need be pursue buying one locally. Worst case there is a store like an hour away and that city has some nice restaurants to boot.

I am going to cruise the blogosphere a bit then pick Wifey up from work. 

Later

This Amuses Me

"A parent's only as good as their dumbest kid. If one wins a Nobel Prize but the other gets robbed by a hooker, you failed."
-Justin (shitmydadsays)

Book Review: Passport to World Band Radio

I ordered this book to help me get going with the Grundig 350DL. However because of amazons eccentricities it got here a bit late for that goal. By the time it arrived the antenna had been here for awhile and I had the radio grounded and working well. Anyway I got to reading this book today.

I ended up buying the 2008 version because at that time it is what was available. I don't think it matters much though. It started out with an interesting discussion about radio stations in Tangier. It then went into a great Getting Started section which I wish I could have read the day I got the radio.  Then it got into a long series if reviews on seemingly every radio in existence. After the reviews it goes into a comprehensive listing of radio stations by time, country and frequency. That alone is well worth the price of the book. In any situation where I need this radio to get information it will be either going to be scanning the airwaves blindly or with grid down records already on hand.

It touches on some interesting themes. First of all world band radio is one of the most free form of long distance communication out there. World band broadcasts travel (under the right conditions) enormous distances. This makes it popular for areas that are so massive that AM and FM stations are not a viable option. It has an interesting history of being used to get information into areas with oppressive governments most notably during the cold war. However still today Cuba, China and a few other countries try to prevent free listening. These frequencies are less susceptible to radio jamming than other bands.In a lot of ways Ham/ SW aka world band have been replaced by the internet. However there is the huge bonus that the input for your radio comes from the sky, not a bunch of cables running through the ground. It is impossible to monitor what someone listens to on the waves.

Also I stumbled into the wikipedia article on numbers stations. I stumbled onto one of these some time ago. After about 5 minutes of listening it was pretty darn obvious what it was and since it did nothing for me I moved on. Sort of cool to know a bit more background though. I will open this book again before purchasing any sort of radio gadgets.

Guess I sort of mucked up the usual good bad and ugly format. Oh well.

In any case I would suggest this book for anyone who is getting into world band radio.

quote of the day

"There is no such thing as tough. There is trained and untrained. Now which are you?"
-Mr Creasy in Man on Fire

Good For Them!

Arizona Clear Strict Immigration Bill

Best Breakup Letter Ever: I Don't Usually Post These But This One Is Just Hilarious

Maturing

Commander Zero writes a blog that I really enjoy.  He is probably in the posting once a week on average group of bloggers but recently has written a bunch. When I was catching up at his site this weekend I saw a quote that just jumped out at me. Here is that quote.

"Its just an opinion, but I think the sign that you’ve ‘matured’, as far as preparedness goes, is when you stop with the guns, ammo and camo and start focusing just as intently on food."

-Commander Zero

I though about it for some time. To me the point when I got into preparedness was when I started to focus on food. Prior to that I had been a firearms enthusiast. I liked collecting/ shooting guns and carried open or concealed for personal protection. I think stocking up on all sorts of camo is kind of a thing people who are into guns and stuff but have never been in the military do. Personally I have a decent amount of at least 3 types of camo lying around and doubt I will ever spend money on the stuff except what I need for work. Anyway this quote just stuck in my head.

To me one of the things that makes this blog different is that I am younger. Being in my 20's I am probably 10-15 years younger than the average reader or blogger. One of the things which goes along with that is that my opinions are being formed and changed still. Who knows there my thoughts will go, odds are they will get even crazier and more paranoid. However that is not the point.

I feel like at some point I matured in terms of survivalism/ preparedness at some point in the past which is hard to pin down exactly. For me the point where I matured is when I started looking at and preparing for realistic scenarios at least (if not more) intently than extreme and unlikely ones. In short I grew up and got real.

It is fine to spent a few minutes during a boring afternoon at work thinking about being Joe super survivalist; you know the guy with a fancy rifle who is totally and perfectly prepared for whatever semi idealistic Mad Max scenario happens. He gets the admiration of his neighborhood as he is generally awesome and passes out all essential supplies and knowledge, plus all the gals swoon when he walks by. However that is just not real life.When you realize that and think more about allocating your time, money and energy more towards the most realistic and practical situations you have grown up in terms of preparedness.

To me it isn't so much about what you are preparing for. There are many different personal situations and perspectives which could lead to weighing different risks as more or less likely. I know what I am worried about but hesitate to say others are wrong because they might choose differently. Because of this I am not inclined to say if you aren't preparing for X, Y and Z you are immature in this context.  However when you truly get real and spend at least as much time, energy and money preparing for realistic stuff as to the kind of scenario which would make for a good survivalist novel you have probably grown up.

quote of the day

"As we often discuss here, its nice to have a garden or orchard BUT PEOPLE NEED REAL JOBS NONE THE LESS. A job that pays in whatever currency is being used, real jobs and salaries."
-FerFal

Don't Mess With Texas

Things Are Getting Crazy Near The Border

"You farmers, I'm telling you right now, arm yourselves," he said. "As they say the old story is, it's better to be tried by 12 than carried by six. Damn it, I don't want to see six people carrying you." Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West.

Reader Question: Hyperinflation and Currency Devaluation

I love the photos and captions - esp. the one about the fighter plane. Keep 'em coming. Since my eldest got out of the Army a few years ago, we've been a little short of military humor.

Now a question - I dont really expect you to know this answer, but no one else I've asked has had one for me. Maybe you know someone you could ask.

Anyway - the scenario:

The Govt decides to devalue the dollar. We wake up one morning and we are told that we have to turn in all our Federal Reserve notes and we will be issued new currency at a, say, 2:1 ratio. That is, we turn in two dollars and get one dollar in new currency back, or a 50 percent reduction in buying power. (This is pretty much what happened to the people in North Korea recently and it didn't turn out well.)

What happens to all the coins we've stashed? (I heard that when this happens, the govt pretty much ignores coins because few people have more than a small stash on their dresser or  in their pockets or something.)

What happens to govt pensions? Say Im a retired fed getting $2K a month. Do I now get $1K or do I get $2K in new money? Since it is directly deposited, it's all ones and zeros anyway until I cash it out.

What about Medicare or Social Security recipients? Are their payments cut in half or just converted to new money in cash? How would this affect their debit card system?

What happens to fixed mortgages? Do they stay the same amount and you just have to pay them in new money? Or, since you had to turn in your old money, did that magically cut your mortgage in half, too? Remember, you have a contract with the bank on the mortgage.

I know how it affected other countries (like Argentina - ferFal wrote about it a lot), but that isn't quite the same, because the conversion was based on the money's relationship to the dollar. I.e., the peso went from 1 peso to one dollar, to 3 pesos to one dollar. That just resulted in basic, ordinary. crappy inflation.

What do you do when it's dollar to dollar?

Do you think the Fed will just use inflation as it's Tool of the Month, rather than actually devalue and reissue the currency? There has been a lot of discussion on the doomer blogs about the govt already having different colored money stashed for such an emergency....In fact, one of the storage facilities is supposed to be a big building down the road from where I live. We know what it REALLY is (nyahaha).

Thanks for your thoughts.

SaddleTramp

TOR here: I think Saddle Tramp wins the award for the hardest question. Usually reader questions are hitting from a T easy but this one is a real fast ball. Anyway first I think it is important to say that nobody knows what could actually happen. We are talking about a very complicated scenario. The best we can do is to look at what has happened and our knowledge of America to make some informed guesses.

First of all I think we need to look at how currency devaluations work. I would say that currency devaluations are more of a desperate last stand than an intentional plan. Basically due to government overspending usually on a large military or various welfare programs (sound a bit familiar?) the government can't bring in as much as it is spending so they borrow and print. Inflation starts getting really bad and the currency becomes close to worthless or entirely worthless. The government then comes out and says that they made some mistakes  blah blah blah and in order to address this crisis they are going to re issue the currency. It would be more likely that a New Dollar/ Blue Buck/ Amero/ Whatever would be issued and we could change in our old and close to worthless dollars at a fixed exchange rate. Governments do not do this unless things are really out of control. I imagine an exchange rate more like 10 or even 100 to 1 would be likely.  

For various South American nations (they pretty much all did it at some point) this devaluation usually meant changing how their currency was pegged to the dollar. I am sure if this happened in America some theoretical "we are adjusting the value to get more in line with current world blah blah blah" stuff would be said. However that doesn't matter. What matters is that overnight you lose a zero or two off your cash savings. Governments say that in theory the new currency is worth more (and at the official exchange rate it is) but it never seems to quite work that way. In reality the new currency isn't worth much more than the old one and you have a lot less of it. Either the free market values the currency where it should be (lower than the government values it) or we all of a sudden have price controls.  People have their life savings destroyed overnight.

As for coins. If I recall in Zimbabwe they did not re issue new coins so people were searching to find old Zimbabwean piggy banks and coffee cups (or whatever the cultural equivalent is) full of them.  Either coins would be re issued or they would not, really it is anybodies guess.

When it comes to pensions. It is worth noting that hyperinflation and currency devaluation are wild and crazy times. Some people get totally screwed and other groups manage to get an OK deal with little rhyme or reason except their influence with those in charge. Congress and a couple of other influential groups might be able to wrangle a discrete but comfortable deal but most folks would likely get whatever the official rate is or lose their pensions entirely.

To be honest this is really the only scenario where middle age and retired (but not yet feeble) people are in a worse spot than the young. In general assuming they have made good choices middle aged and retired folks have had decades to build skills, store deep stores of supplies, maybe set up a nice retreat and become financially stable. However these folks are far more vulnerable to a hyper inflationary/ currency devaluation scenario because they do not have time to recover. As a 20 something a currency devaluation would suck for me for a few years as I would lose savings but I have 30+ working years to get into a good spot. However for my Father it would hurt a lot. He would seriously need to re reevaluate in what sort of lifestyle, when and even if he could retire at all. For my Grandmother the picture is even worse. She would be OK but she has significant savings in addition to her pension and some real estate but that is not where most people retire. For a person who relies on that check in the mail every month having it be worth far less is a serious problem.

I would say the people who fare the worst are those on a fixed income (well except those who get killed in the protests/ riots and increased crime rates but in the big picture that group is usually fairly small). Remember the pictures of old Russian women sitting in the street begging? They were doing this because the check they got every month was at the official exchange rate which doesn't reflect reality (unless there are price controls but that is a whole different mess) and probably couldn't feed them for a week, let alone the whole month. I can not express what an ugly situation this is for people on a fixed income. Their savings are gone and the check they get every month (assuming they even still get it) buys far less than it used to.

In terms of America I imagine Social Security would stay around as it is called the 3rd rail of politics with a very good reason. However the checks old folks get wouldn't buy much of anything because after being converted to the new currency and adjusted for the official exchange rate they would be a small fraction of what they are now. 

Likely Medicare would just become underfunded and really dysfunctional. People would get health care coverage but good luck finding a Doctor or getting an appointment. Far more scrutiny would be put on all but the most basic procedures and don't even think about seeing a specialist. 

As for fixed rate debt such as mortgages. The conventional wisdom is that your mortgage would just become really cheap which would be cool. Under this theory a mortgage for 150,000 dollars would go to 15,000 Blue Bucks. However as I mentioned above this sort of climate is a wild and crazy time. All contracts would have to be changed to reflect the new currency. Groups with influence can get a paragraph put into one of the numerous pieces of legislation which would be flying through our legislatures to protect their interests. Bankers as an industry have a huge amount of influence and they sure fared pretty well through our most recent troubles. Some sort of exception which made mortgages or other debt be converted at a preferential rate or converted fixed rate debt to have an inflation index is possible.

Our money supply has grown a lot recently but we are a huge economy and a very powerful nation.  When the economy starts to recover and all this newly created money starts moving through the system we will have inflation. I think it is worth noting that hyperinflation is ruinously high inflation. There is no precise numerical definition to hyperinflation but 50% a month is a number lots of folks seems to use. It is just a question of when we shift away from the current trend of massive deficits. When the economy starts moving again interest rates could be raised to shrink the monetary supply and get inflation under control. 

As for what I think is going to happen. The situation I see as most realistic is that  the economy starts moving again at some point at least a year from now, probably 2-5 years off. We start to see inflation rear its head and sooner or later our government will decide to deal with it. They will want to do something gradual in order to not totally slow the recovery and it will take awhile for it to get to the point where it will work. Likely that critical mass will be a couple percentage points higher than anybody would like. I see double digit inflation as very probable and late 70's/ early 80's era inflation around 20% as realistic. However if we continue running at massive deficits which grow the money supply the situation could well be worse than that.

Hopefully this at least gives you an idea of my thoughts on this rather complicated question and a bit of food for thought.

Inflation and Food Dehydrators

I got a couple questions recently. Saddle Tramp asked me a very complicated question which I will address this afternoon or tomorrow. In order to address Saddle Tramp's question I think it is worthwhile to talk a little bit about inflation. Chris from AK asked how the dehydrator is turning out as he is in the market for one.

It took me a long time to really understand inflation. I of course understood that when stuff costs more it is inflation and when it costs less it is deflation. On a very individual Joe everyday trying to pay bills, save and generally live that is enough. However what about the rest of the story.

Two truths shape my beliefs in inflation as they are now. First is that it is a hidden tax. How is it a hidden tax you ask? Simply because the government (ours or some other one) prints money and spends it. This money makes the value of the money in circulation lower. Politicians like this because they get the benefit of spending more without having to raise taxes or decrease spending neither of which voters like. There is no need to take money out of peoples paychecks or extract it from them annually when they can reach into our pockets and just decrease the value.

Lets say you keep a few hundred dollars in cash at home because well that is what you do if you are smart. If we have 5% inflation the money in your sock drawer or gun safe is able to buy 5% less stuff. No guy who was too low in his accounting class to get a lucrative private job and thus has a big chip on his shoulder is going to show up at your house backed by the implicit threat of force. They just print more and it decreases the value of what you have.

The second is a bit more conceptual. Dave Duffy said it best "Inflation isn't so much that prices go up—because that would imply that groceries and stuff like that have somehow become more valuable. Inflation is when money becomes less valuable so it takes more money to buy a sack of potatoes, a gallon of gas, or hire a babysitter. It's a distinction most people don't seem to get.". 


Inflation isn't stuff becoming worth more through companies adding features to something, having increased costs or God forbid deciding to just make a little bit more profit. Inflation is the value of money going down. 

 Anyway I felt like revisiting those foundations is important for what I will talk about later. 

Not too long ago I purchased a 4 tray Excalibur dehydrator.  There were two features I initially wanted, the ability to set the temperature and a timer. Because of cost considerations I decided to get one without a timer. As Angela pointed out you can just plug it into one of those Christmas tree timers. 

I am really enjoying the dehydrator. If we had a bigger family I would have purchased a bigger one but since we don't the smaller and cheaper model is just fine.  Not having a timer is a bit of an annoyance but I just time it so I will be around when the stuff should be done. The trays just get tossed into the dish washer and come out clean. There is no need to rotate trays as with some models. 

I found it well worth the roughly $100 it cost. Hope that helps.

Big Stuff Was Achieved

Today I finished archiving my entire blog, all 4 years worth of it and thousands of pages. I have it on our PC and stored up in the (non Google) cloud. At my nearest convenience I will get a thumb drive to put it onto.

I have no immediate plans for this stuff but sure don't want to lose it. Now and then it is fun to put up a throwback post and maybe in the future I will think about putting together a best of type book or something. If nothing else I enjoy going back and reading old stuff I wrote.

This took a lot of time and energy but I am really glad it is done. From now on every 4-6 months I will get the stuff written since the last archiving. I have some peace of mind now which is nice.

Special Considerations for Women

Something struck me last night. It was a thing my Grandfather told me a long time ago. He said that every woman needs to have the ability to earn about 35k a year to support herself and her children should something happen. Often this means a degree but a certification or a skill or whatever could suffice. Simply put things go bad in life. A guy can turn out to be a scumbag. often this happens fairly quickly but sometimes it is spontaneous after some time together. Also relationships (divorce is a long complicated conversation but anyway) do fail. Men, particularly in more dangerous professions sometimes die. Through injury or illness primary wage earners can find themselves no longer able to make a living.

I personally know a couple women who have gotten married, had a kid or two and then been in an ugly situation where they were either stuck with a total jerk or left without the ability to support them self and their children. A woman who can support herself has options.

Also I believe women should have the ability to operate the defensive firearms around them. It is pretty common knowledge that some men can get a bit too preoccupied with self protection. Sometimes women go entirely the opposite way. They will be in a great place on food and fuel and such but the plan for dealing with a crazed violent criminal involves some spicy stuff in a can or a doohickey that goes on their key chain. Ideally women should have their own designated firearms for self protection. However often if there are already guns in the house picking up new ones is a low priority. In a world with tight budgets and all sorts of other preps to get to low priorities are often slow in being filled.

Of course it would be ideal if women (and men too but this is an issue less often) practiced regularly with firearms and maybe sought professional training. However again since women are often less concerned about protection and quality training is fairly expensive this goal may never be met. At a minimum women should know how to load, shoot, clear malfunctions and unload the defensive arms they have access to. Of course more training is better but being able to load the darn thing, make it go bang, keep it going bang and unload it is a darn good start. If the nightstand pistol is a .357 magnum that is what you need to know how to shoot. If Dad or your roomie or whomever has a pump shotgun then you should know how to shoot it. If Hubby's Winchester 30-30 is the go rifle then know how to use it. Being able to work most common firearms is a great goal to focus on AFTER YOU CAN USE WHAT IS ALREADY LYING AROUND THE HOUSE.

I have thought about this a lot. Our collection includes a variety of different firearms including some that operate rather uniquely. Does Wifey really need to learn the eccentricities of the 1911, I don't think so. She can shoot (rather well actually) Glocks and revolvers which given our collection is sufficient. Down the road when I teach her to shoot long guns I see no reason (unless of course she wants to) to teach her to shoot oddballs like the Garand. Instead of spreading out the limited time and energy Wifey is probably going to spend on firearms training in a manner where she does a short  familiarization fire on everything; I think it might be better to spend more time focusing on the guns we rely on; the Glock 9mm, revolvers, pump shotguns, and the AR.

So ladies, in my personal opinion you would be well advised to get (via a degree/ certification/ skill) the ability to support yourself and your children regardless of if you plan to work. Also if you have not already done so then learn to operate the primary defensive firearms around you. The world is a crazy place; if you can earn a living for yourself and shoot the guns around you then you are far better able to deal with its crazy twists.

quote of the day

"Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."
-Tyler Durden

A Late Night Conversation and Random Thoughts Theiron

I couple days ago I ended up pulling an all niter. Had a bunch of work that needed to get done so I was working until about 1 o'clock. I had to wake up at 4 the following morning. Since I would have the opportunity to take a nap the next day I just stayed up. Ended up having an interesting conversation with the night shift folks.

Personally I am not so sure about the security and stability of China. Their ability to keep totalitarian rule going is something I doubt. Buying people off with letting them own property, make money and such works OK as long as the economy is good. However if it gets too good they have problems. Right now their system works to a large part because the rural poor from the inland area are forcibly held in place. Also sooner or later rich people will want the same sort of social and political freedom as they have for the economy.

While there is was some debate on how bad things could get in the US the picture is bleak. At best I see a rather painful decade coming up. When people eventually get back to work and businesses grow and borrow and invest we are going to see inflation. I just can't see a way that when the massive amount of new money gets moving through the economy it will not decrease the value of currency. It might be catastrophic hyperinflation which could lead to war or a full on default. It could just be late 70's to early 80's style high inflation and interest rates. One fellow saw the Fed getting shut down and replaced with a true government currency. Avoiding adjustable rate interest debt like the plague and generally being financially fit is good advice. If you can afford it putting a few spare bucks into silver and gold isn't a bad idea either.

We were generally not enthusiastic or optimistic about this new health care bill. That it started by being billed as stopping big, evil insurance companies from hurting people and ended with people being forced to buy health insurance from big, evil insurance companies is sad, ironic and not at all surprising. Personally I think we the people are getting taken for a ride but soon enough government may well stick it to insurance companies. In general our government likes to start a program (special education is a great example) and then gradually remove funding but still under threat of something bad, force the program to continue.

There was significant concern voiced by one fellow that since the government is now in the health care business they can and probably will stick their nose further into people lives. Even aside from trying to centrally manage (or at least shot call) 1/6th of our economy it is a great excuse to get all up into peoples business. Think of it like the Commerce Clause but for personal behavior.  Since you doing X might arguably cost the government money via health care it is now taxed/ restricted/ banned could become a common summary of upcoming legislation and decree's.

In some ways the recent problems with the Euro were surprising to us. Then again if you really stop and think they shouldn't be. First of all the relatively recent times where the Euro has pwned the dollar have not been about the Euro's getting stronger but about the dollar getting weaker. Secondly lets look at Europe. In general northern Europe and particularly Germany have solid economies though now and then their socialist programs (they are expensive) cause issues. Southern Europe is a big financial mess. They have relatively similar socialist programs as the rest of Europe but without the economies to support them if things go less than perfectly. Europe is an expensive place to do business and especially the kind of business that employs lots of people. Those whose industry can be anywhere often avoid Europe's high wages and crazy powerful unions. The last couple years chaos has hurt them albeit slower and to a smaller degree than the US but I am not convinced these issues haven't been building for awhile.

There was some talk of the world reserve currency shifting away from the dollar. Personally I think that baring a complete economic melt down of the US, that is unlikely. I think this because there isn't any better option. The Euro certainly isn't as solid as it seemed not too long ago and in terms of managing it the Europeans have too hard of a time getting anything agreed on. I don't think anyone is stupid enough to go with the Chinese Yuan because of a lack of long term history and well, China is not the kind of government one would want to trust with something that big. The Japanese Yen is all over the place and their whole weird pseudo fascist system plus people still vividly remember their Lost Decade. The Pound Sterling is probably in some ways worse off than the Dollar. Russia is a totally unstable Gangsterocracy and heavily dependent on energy prices staying high. That whole "basket" idea seems unreliable and outright nutty. I have a hard time seeing enough nations being willing to buy into it. Then again it is so nutty and prone to manipulation that governments might love it. I see the dollar staying as the world reserve currency for the foreseeable future, if just because better options are not currently available.

 Also, at least for relatively short periods of time coffee helps you stay awake.

Lastly I have been enjoying The Drudge Report as of late. If I have just a 15 minute coffee break to get the news a glance there and one at the BBC News front page gets me up to date.

Since it is late I am going to bed now.

This Is Funny, Except That It's True

Atlas Shrugged IPR#1

So I am about halfway through Atlas Shrugged. The review portion is going to be a bit shorter than normal because I do not want to spoil anything for those who haven't read it. Basically it follows a series of people. The people fall into 3 groups: producers, moochers and looters. About as simple as it sounds with producers producing stuff (they are big industrial types), moochers thinking they deserve something for just being themselves and looters taking by force. It is interesting. Onto the review.

The good: It has made me think a lot about all sorts of stuff. There have been (without ruining it for you) 2 points that really stuck out to me. First is that even a theoretically well intentioned highly centralized planning committee can not manage an economy in a decent fashion for very long. Not a big surprise there, Russia pretty much proved that one. Also the reminder of how well things are going in North Korea helps. Even if Thomas Sowell ran things along with Milton Friedman and Adam Smith who were brought back to life for the occasion it wouldn't work. Markets work because of dozens of decisions made daily by every person involved. They produce and thus earn and consume by turning the fruits of their labor (or ill gotten gains) into things they desire. A particular product like a new type of soda doesn't succeed or fail because of a report by experts that report to a committee. It does because people choose to try it or not and then whether to drink it in the future.

The problem I see with centralized planning is that markets are complex and unpredictable and thus impossible to plan. It is nice to think of them like making a sandwich, want some more lettuce so you just add a bit more, ditto for tomato, cheese, etc. However markets are a lot more like baking with yeast. They are their own weird creature and when you start tweaking things (heck even if they stay the same) then who knows what will come out of the oven. One discrete (and lets just say, well intentioned) move made by a central committee can have all sorts of crazy and entirely unanticipated effects. Think of the movie Butterfly Effect but with the economy.

Secondly I think it is important to remember that in an environment where the granting of favors to preferential groups is customary, even if it works out well for you once, it will probably not always go that way. For example Middle class home owners deserve the massive tax breaks they get but corporate tax cuts are unacceptable and earned income credit is welfare. Just about everyone would like to keep whatever breaks fit their situation and get rid of ones that benefit other groups as those are wrong.

Taking it to a corporate level General Motors has been helped in incalculable ways by the federal government. Without pet legislation (buy American, tariffs, bail outs, etc) they would likely not exist. However a big part of why GM is stuck with its very powerful union labor force. If tomorrow the president of GM (whoever he is) was able to fire his entire workforce and go non union it could be a very different ball game.

In a climate where preferential treatment is given in order to garner influence just don't be surprised if sooner or later politicians want to buy some other groups vote. Also revisiting our first theme central planning, which includes pet legislation often has unintended consequences.

The bad: Ayn Rand is long winded. The book is good but it could easily be 25% shorter.

The ugly; Ayn Rand is really long winded. The ideas which are part of the actual plot of the book are good. However frequent random paragraphs about the way a characters clothes fit their certain type of body and the expression of their face when they sat with their leg sprawled onto a table smoking a cigarette in a certain way is a bit much. It is really lame when those paragraphs don't matter at all or relate to anything. Saying that the character sat in a chair and smoked a cigarette would suffice and skipping it all together might even have been better.

I am enjoying it and hopefully will finish it in the next month or so. 

Suprise

Hey All, I am back at home for a bit. That means I will be writing and commenting in real time which is always fun. Also it means I got to shift the scheduled post to plus up the second half of this adventure.

quote of the day

“You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end – which you can never afford to lose – with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale, USN

Family Confesions

My Great Grandfather  was a rum runner. During prohibition he had a fleet of boats but didn't seem to fish. One night he woke the family up in the middle of the night and they moved states for 3 months. Great Grandpa owned a business later but didn't do a whole lot after prohibition ended. After he died Great Grandma continued to live in a nice house and never worried about money though she outlived him by 30 years.

Maybe true, maybe not, but that is how it should be!

Conversation  overheard on the VHF Guard (emergency) frequency  121.5 MHz while flying from Europe  to Dubai . It's too good not to pass  along...
  

The  conversation went like  this...
Iranian Air Defense  Radar: 'Unknown  aircraft you are in Iranian airspace. Identify  yourself.'
Aircraft: 'This  is a United States aircraft. I am in Iraqi  airspace.'
Air Defense  Radar: 'You  are in Iranian airspace. If you do not depart  our airspace we will launch interceptor  aircraft!'
Aircraft: 'This  is a United States Marine Corps FA-18 fighter.  Send 'em up, I'll wait!'
Air Defense  Radar: (no  response .... total silence)

God  bless our troops.

Hilarious

I haven't been cursing on here for awhile but this is just too good not to post.

For The Start Of The Week.

How To Make Questionable Water Drinkable

There are several ways to make questionable water drinkable.  Below
are just a few well known methods.  I am NOT an expert on this topic.
Entire books and websites could be devoted to this one topic. The
purpose of this article is simply to give people a very quick overview
of what options are available to make questionable water drinkable.  I
encourage people to click on the links I have provided to read more in
depth about this topic because it is incredibly crucial.  Now is the
time to educate yourself, your family and your loved ones on this
vitally important topic.

1.) SteriPEN      www.steripen.com

The SteriPEN uses ultraviolet light to destroy viruses, bacteria, and
protozoa.  The SteriPEN can purify 16 oz. of questionable water in 48
seconds. According to their website, "SteriPEN utilizes C wavelengths
UV (ultraviolet light).  UV-C light is a short wave light, between
x-rays and visible light wave lengths, which destroy the DNA of
microbes in seconds".

Advantages to SteriPEN:

a.) lightweight
b.) compact
c.) you can use a container made of glass, ceramic, metal and nearly
any plastic with a SteriPEN

Disadvantages to SteriPEN:

a.) requires batteries
b.) does not filter out debris
c.) depending on your budget this can be expensive - the price range
seems to be between $60 - $100 or so
d.) will not decontaminate threads in your screw top water bottle
e.) you can only use clear water with a SteriPEN because cloudy water
inhibits its effectiveness

2.) Boiling Water     www.epa.gov/safewater/faq/emerg.html

Boiling water kills most types of disease causing organisms.  Boil
water for one minute, let cool, and then drink.  At altitudes above 1
mile, boil water for 3 minutes.  Some websites suggest boiling water
for up to 10 minutes.  Again, now is the time to start doing research
on this topic so you can decide for yourself how long you think it is
necessary to boil water to make it safe.

Advantages to boiling water:

a.) no special equipment or skills needed
b.) currently relatively inexpensive (so long as fuel is inexpensive
and plentiful)

Disadvantages to boiling water:

a.) water must be filtered first if filled with debris
b.) water may have flat taste after boiling (if it's a TEOTWAWKI
scenario then who cares)
c.) requires fuel (wood, propane, electricity, etc.)
d.) boiling water may give away your location especially if you are
doing it outside with a wood fire
e.) you may lose precious water during boiling process because of evaporation
f.) may be time consuming (especially if you need to build a fire)

3.) Potable Aqua Iodine Tablets       www.potableaqua.com/faq.shtml

Iodine tablets kill bacteria, viruses, and giardia.  Iodine tablets
work by "penetrating the cell wall of the microorganism, therefore
rendering it inactive".

Advantages to iodine tablets:

a.) relatively cheap (approximately $6.50 for 50 tablets). Two tablets
treat 1 quart of water.
b.) lightweight
c.) portable
d.) can be used to treat cloudy water, low temperature water, and
water with extreme PH

Disadvantages to iodine tablets:

a.) must wait at least 30 minutes before drinking
b.) not effective against Cryptosporidium or chemical contaminants
c.) should not be used on a long term basis (6 weeks is the limit)
d.) opened bottles of tablets go bad after one year
e.) tablets may add strange taste to water
f.) must filter water to remove debris
e.) women who are pregnant or people who have thyroid problems should
consult a doctor before using iodine tablets (this may be impossible
in a TEOTWAWKI situation)

4.) Chlorine      www.epa.gov/safewater/faq/emerg.html

Use non-scented household chlorine bleach to treat water.  Chlorine
kills microorganisms.  (I was unable to find out exactly what chlorine
does/does not kill and it how kills it. If anybody knows, please
post.) Click on above EPA link to view the chart regarding how much
chlorine to use to treat water.  Mix water treated with chlorine,
cover, and let stand for 30 minutes before drinking.

Advantages to using chlorine:

a.) relatively cheap
b.) fairly easy

Disadvantages to using chlorine:

a.) water may taste strange
b.) must filter out debris

5.) When there is nothing to treat water, but water is still available
then try to gather fast moving water rather than stagnant water. Stay
away from water that has floating debris, an odor, or a dark color.
WARNING:  Do this only in a TEOTWAWKI situation.  Even clear water
with no debris can be contaminated with nasty stuff.

Like I previously stated, I am NOT an expert on this topic.  If anyone
has anything to add to this post (i.e. corrections, clarifications,
personal experiences, etc.) then post away!  Today is the day to talk
about this topic before TSHTF.

P.S.  Once my Go Berkey Water Filter arrives then I'll do a review of
that.  Can't wait!  :)

Sincerely, Samantha In The Trailer Park

Picture Post

Money Gives You Options

Hey Folks, Just wanted to say that I am fine. I am about 200 pages into Atlas Shrugged and while a bit dry it is making me think about a lot of stuff. Wifey and I can email back and forth which is, while not as nice as going home everyday is still good. She has been sending me comments to reply to. This one got long enough to become a full on post.


Chris said...
Stockpiling gold/guns/food/etc is better than stuffing federal
reserve notes under a mattress but its still not an investment. Its
better thought of as insurance against disaster, calamity, or
hyperinflation.

In fact, a huge stockpile of stuff takes money
out of your pocket every month. I don't know about you, but I find  thatI pay about 1.5% of the value of my firearms for insurance every year,
plus the prorated cost of a safe, sq footage in my home, etc. If you go
without insurance then you accept the risk of total loss in the event
of the disaster most likely to occur to you (a home fire). Looked at
from this perspective, under normal conditions, a stockpile of stuff
incurs storage costs of about 2%/year; about the same as historical inflation rates.
I'm not a huge fan of "Rich Dad/Poor Dad" but one line that I did
like was something like this:
Wealth is best measured by determining how long you can get by at a
given standard of living without working.

Generate enough investment income and you can live indefinitely without
working.Stockpile stuff and you'll always eventually run out.

I'm not saying not to stockpile stuff; I'm just suggesting that its
better looked at as insurance than an investment.

Chris, I look at preparedness more as insurance than as an investment.  A Glock to carry and a shotgun in the bedroom plus maybe a rifle in case things go totally nuts will probably not increase in value (baring major changes in our laws which freeze supplies) significantly beyond inflation. Not saying you can't make money wheeling and dealing guns, a couple old guys at every gun show would prove otherwise. However that is more of a business than just a guy buying a gun. I do not buy or use them for that purpose. It costs me next to nothing to insure my firearms but I do it just in case there is a fire.

When it comes to stocking up on food and other supplies. I have a hard time seeing your train of thought. Prorated cost of storage doesn't make sense to me because we almost always end up finding space in wherever we happen to be living anyway. I can't imagine saying "I can't afford this couch because of the prorated cost of the space it takes up in my living room". I have a decent gun collection and we spend more picking up burgers for dinner on a random Wednesday than we do insuring the guns for the month.

I personally know you can SAVE a lot of money by stockpiling things you normally and regularly use. If you buy 3 cans of corn a week you will buy them at normal prices or on sale because you want to have corn with dinner 3 times. However if you keep a case or 5 of the stuff around you can wait until it occasionally goes on sale for half price and then stock up. This can be done with most food stuffs, particularly relatively long term (say 6 month) shelf stable stuff and will really drop your food bills. Someone with predictable needs and desires as well as some advanced thought can do this with clothes and personal hygiene items as well. You SAVE money and also have the ability to live normally for some time with limited outside resources.

One book I have been meaning to read is called "The Alpha Strategy". I think it talks about this sort of stuff a lot.

I look at arms as a sort of pro active insurance via the ability (if coupled with ammo and proper training;) for self defense. When it comes to gold and silver (or platinum/ etc) I personally do not look at them as an investment. Some people do treat gold and silver as an investment and for the right person with the right perspective they can be a good one. However relatively speaking precious metals are quite volatile. A person who bought gold in the early 80's would have been able to break even just recently. Think the dollar has inflated a bit since then? Also gold doesn't benefit from compound inflation. A one ounce Krugerrand in the gun safe does not give birth to a 1/10th ounce fractional coin every year.

I look at precious metals as economic insurance. They are a non dollar denominated, widely recognized, relatively easy to identify and a  historical store of value. If heaven forbid rapid (70's era) inflation or worse hits the money I have put into gold and silver will be protected. I also look at them as  (this goes a bit against what I said above but just go with me) a portion of my overall financial/ investment plans. Some folks park a chunk of money into some uuber safe place, knowing it will earn little to nothing just so they know it will be there in case. I buy and store precious metals for that purpose.

Of course having a lot of beans, bullets and band aids will not make you rich. Some folks discount talking about money and investments/ whatever not relating to preparedness/ survival at all. I disagree with this because money is how you are going to be able to stock up on food, or buy defensive weapons or that "hunting cabin" or have the investment income to at some point be able to live in BFA rural nowhere. In order to build wealth/ whatever you want to call it you need to save money. Letting appreciation of real property and compound inflation do part of the heavy lifting seems the smartest way to do this.

The question is how much of your discretionary (not going strait to housing, bills, etc) income to put towards what purposes. I don't know a simple or easy way to answer that. Suppose it is different for every unique set of circumstances, really it is probably more about what you are comfortable with than anything else. To me the big things are balance and thinking realistically. Having a decades worth of food, clothing and fuel plus enough guns and ammo to get a squad through WWIII and $200 in savings would not be balanced. Having a million dollars in property and 2 million in investments and cash but just a couple weeks worth of food, a few 2 liter coke bottles full of water and 50 rounds of ammo for your night stand .357 would not be balanced either. Also I hate to tell you this but it is more realistic that you will have some sort of emergency/ interruption of income or grow old and wish you had saved something to live on than that you will need to survive a 10 year famine or arm a squad for WWIII.

If I didn't have at least a month or two worth of food, basic water filtration, a pistol and/ or a pump shotgun plus a couple hundred bucks on hand I would probably (if strictly choosing between the two) delay investing for the short term to take care of this super basic stuff. However once you are fairly ready for this sort of Katrina type scenario it gets more difficult.

I personally save (for mid-long term goals) and invest for retirement significantly (like 2-3x) more money than I put into guns, ammo, silver, gold, and stuff. A bit part of this is thinking realistically. Maybe the area I am in will have problems and maybe the whole region will go to heck in a Katrina shaped basket, I do not know. However I am sure that if the world doesn't end I want to get a second car (almost there) and in a few years purchase a home. I am also sure that if the world doesn't collapse and I make it to old age I would like to be able to live in relative comfort and with some dignity.

In closing I will steal a line from Chief Instructor "Money gives you options".

So Funny Story

A couple days ago I went out on a land navigation course. Didn't bother to use a compass and just terrain associated. On this course it worked fine, even at night. In deep Georgia woods or flat plains it wouldn't but in a relatively open area with lots of terrain it does.

On the day course about 30 minutes from the end time a Sergeant (E-5) walked up to me. It is fairly standard for a person (who is maybe a bit lost) to ask if they are where they think they are or if there is a point in the area or if you think the intersection they are standing at is the one they need or whatnot. Technically it isn't authorized but it has happened on every course I have been on and involved all ranks (E-1 to 0-5).

A little bit of background. This course in particular is self correcting. That means the points all have their exact location written on them. So if you are looking for ET 1234 5678 and you get to where you need to be then see a point you check if it says ET 1234 5678. This makes it a bit easier to navigate successfully but mostly cuts out the 'is this my point' sort of questions. You know 100% it is your point because it says so.

In any case the Sergeant asked "if the numbers written on the points were supposed to be the same as on your sheet?" I told him that they were in fact supposed to be the same and he said "shit" then just walked off.

First off, I would like to thank Berkey, TOR, and the TSLRF blog for
the Go Berkey Kit.  Thanks a million!  :)

Appealing aspects of the Go Berkey Water Purifier Kit:

1.) very portable - won't take up much room
2.) the carrying case/bag is great because it has separate
compartments that are padded
3.) fairly light - easy to grab and go
4.) easy to conceal when in its carrying case - if clean drinking
water is a hot commodity you could easily get thru a crowd of people
with this device and it would remain undetected
5.) attractive stainless steel  - this thing will probably last
forever so make plans to put it in your will
6.) only a few components - not complicated or cumbersome
7.) removes just about everything under the sun in order to make water
drinkable - microscopic pathogens, toxic chemicals, heavy metals,
tastes, odors, cloudiness, etc.
8.) simple design
9.) replacement parts can be reordered - they are pricey but worth it
10.) comes with a limited warranty
11.) water is tasty and refreshing after being purified
12.) comes with a Sport Berkey Portable Water Purifier
13.) proven - has been used by several well known worldwide disaster
relief organizations
14.) relatively easy to clean

Areas of concern:

1.) priming the filter requires a faucet - in a TEOTWAWKI situation I
don't know if  water will come out of faucets - Berkey suggests using
a Sport Berkey or clean bottled water to overcome this obstacle - I
don't know, it sounds kind of complicated and it requires a second
person to assist you
2.) it takes questionable water a while to get through the filter
system - if you are pressed for time this could be an issue
3.) wet purification elements should not be allowed to freeze - we
live in New England and if the power goes out and TSHTF this could
pose a problem to us
4.) water purification elements must be allowed to air dry - if we are
forced to be on the move this could be an issue especially in foul
weather conditions
5.) the price - yes, it is pricey but clean water saves lives - I
would consider it "an investment"

Overall, I give the Berkey water "gravity filtration process" a 9 out
of 10.  The most appealing aspect of the Berkey is the fact that it
filters out an impressive amount of nasty stuff.  If you are hard up
for money start saving up a few dollars a week in order to buy a
Berkey (they come in many sizes).  Like I said, it's a life saving
investment.

Thanks again to Berkey, TOR, and the TSLRF blog!

Samantha In The Trailer Park