I am going away for around two weeks. I usually do autoposts but this one kind of snuck up on me and I am pretty worn out of writing for a long time in advance. The almost two months of field time I had not too long ago took most of my easy random ideas. Anyway life has been busy and it just didn't happen.
Since our awesome free ammo contest is wrapped up it is time to decide on a winner. Here is how this is going to work. Simply go to the survey and vote for the entry you thought was most informative, entertaining or whatever. I do encourage you to be honest and only vote once. However I also encourage participants to get your friends, gun buddies, family, neighbors, internet acquaintances or whatever to vote.
The contest will run till December 7th and the winner will be announced shortly therafter.
Get out and vote. Also I would like to thank the folks at Lucky Gunner again for making this awesome contest possible.
I am going away for around two weeks. I usually do autoposts but this one kind of snuck up on me and I am pretty worn out of writing for a long time in advance. The almost two months of field time I had not too long ago took most of my random ideas. Anyway life has been busy and it just didn't happen.
Anyway please vote in the contest and do some great things to make yourself more prepared.
See you in awhile,
Ryan
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Interesting Note and a Reminder To Keep Currency On Hand
Something sort of strange happened. My sister came to Germany and of course she brought money with her. A lot of banks charge crazy (10% isn't unheard of) rates for using ATM's in Europe so we suggested she bring cash. Usually changing it to and from Euro's is easy. However it just didn't happen before Thanksgiving and stuff was closed then. We headed out of the country for a trip to Paris, her destination of choice and weren't particularly worried because we figured we would be able to change it at our destination. Most countries have those little money changing booths everywhere.
Not Paris. There are no convenient money changing booths and banks won't change money. Maybe you can do it at the airport but I am not sure. We walked around for more than an hour this morning trying to change money. It is definitely very convenient if not impossible.
It wasn't a big deal in the course of things. Our travel money was mostly in an account that doesn't have punitive charges for outside of the US transactions so we just paid for stuff. Wifey told her to just have me get whatever she wanted and we would figure it out later. I got the bonus of being able to make fun of her for nobody being willing to take her stupid American money. Things like telling her a pick pocket would just give her wallet back because it's not like he can buy anything with or change dollars here anyway.
It was nice that we could make light of the situation. However as she pointed out if she was alone it would have been a real problem. I would extend that idea into preps. If you are planning to be able to buy stuff you need a means of exchange people will accept. While can openers, AK mags, common caliber ammo and 5 gallon buckets of food are great to have for a lot of reasons they are not regular means of exchange. You need a stash of whatever the currency in your area is. It isn't necessarily a bad idea to have some money in a currency you see as stable like the Swiss Franc or the Euro or the Yuan but that should be in addition to your stash of currency you can spend at the gas station, corner store, etc.
In this precious metals have an interesting category. They are bought and sold everywhere it is legal and the same I presume is done underground in places where it is illegal. It is however not convenient. In most places you have got to sell them to an individual who understands them, knows the value and how to make sure they are legit, etc. You've got to sell them to a guy to get currency before you can go to the store. I can see how a reasonable person might not want to hold onto a ton of dollars these days, particularly if they bought a good amount of gold and or silver 5 or 10+ years ago at very good prices. However I would still say they need a decent stash of cash (sticking with a months cash expenses as a minimum) just to make things work for awhile and then if need be sell some PM's. Of course there is a risk of those dollars getting hit by inflation but there is a risk to everything. I would however submit to you that if things are bad enough that a months cash expenses getting inflated away rapidly (vs a high of even 8-15% in a year which would still be devastating) in weeks or months then you've got bigget problems than missing that bit of cash.
So keep some of the currency that is used in your area. Might not be a bad idea to keep some currency of an area where you could reasonably decide to go to if things get wonky. Wouldn't get crazy about that but enough to rent a room and get some food would be wise.
Personally I keep both of the currencies I use. I also store precious metals. Regardless of the situation I cannot see how I wouldn't go through all of at least one type of currency (even if in a day or two) before going to the shiny stuff. It is downright hard to realistically see a situation where random prep type items (even barterable ones) are more desirable for trade then the shiny stuff, let alone cash.
Not Paris. There are no convenient money changing booths and banks won't change money. Maybe you can do it at the airport but I am not sure. We walked around for more than an hour this morning trying to change money. It is definitely very convenient if not impossible.
It wasn't a big deal in the course of things. Our travel money was mostly in an account that doesn't have punitive charges for outside of the US transactions so we just paid for stuff. Wifey told her to just have me get whatever she wanted and we would figure it out later. I got the bonus of being able to make fun of her for nobody being willing to take her stupid American money. Things like telling her a pick pocket would just give her wallet back because it's not like he can buy anything with or change dollars here anyway.
It was nice that we could make light of the situation. However as she pointed out if she was alone it would have been a real problem. I would extend that idea into preps. If you are planning to be able to buy stuff you need a means of exchange people will accept. While can openers, AK mags, common caliber ammo and 5 gallon buckets of food are great to have for a lot of reasons they are not regular means of exchange. You need a stash of whatever the currency in your area is. It isn't necessarily a bad idea to have some money in a currency you see as stable like the Swiss Franc or the Euro or the Yuan but that should be in addition to your stash of currency you can spend at the gas station, corner store, etc.
In this precious metals have an interesting category. They are bought and sold everywhere it is legal and the same I presume is done underground in places where it is illegal. It is however not convenient. In most places you have got to sell them to an individual who understands them, knows the value and how to make sure they are legit, etc. You've got to sell them to a guy to get currency before you can go to the store. I can see how a reasonable person might not want to hold onto a ton of dollars these days, particularly if they bought a good amount of gold and or silver 5 or 10+ years ago at very good prices. However I would still say they need a decent stash of cash (sticking with a months cash expenses as a minimum) just to make things work for awhile and then if need be sell some PM's. Of course there is a risk of those dollars getting hit by inflation but there is a risk to everything. I would however submit to you that if things are bad enough that a months cash expenses getting inflated away rapidly (vs a high of even 8-15% in a year which would still be devastating) in weeks or months then you've got bigget problems than missing that bit of cash.
So keep some of the currency that is used in your area. Might not be a bad idea to keep some currency of an area where you could reasonably decide to go to if things get wonky. Wouldn't get crazy about that but enough to rent a room and get some food would be wise.
Personally I keep both of the currencies I use. I also store precious metals. Regardless of the situation I cannot see how I wouldn't go through all of at least one type of currency (even if in a day or two) before going to the shiny stuff. It is downright hard to realistically see a situation where random prep type items (even barterable ones) are more desirable for trade then the shiny stuff, let alone cash.
Hey Ammo Contest Folks
Hey folks, I need your email addresses so I can get ahold of you. I will obviously need to get ahold of the winner and there are a few other minor things. So please send an email I can reach you at to theotherryan@yahoo.com. In case there is any confusion here are the folks from whom I need an email.
Bro. Brandon B. http://www.pazrt.com/forum/thread-bbb-s-zombie-disposal-kit.html
Chadow http://mushyironman.blogspot.com/2010/11/what-i-use-ammo-can-for.html.
Duane http://minimeorhe.blogspot.com/.
Elliot http://www.frozenrockradio.com/.
Someone You Know http://gsiep.blogspot.com/2010/11/contest-for-free-ammunition.html.
Steve http://veteran.com/content/many-uses-ammo-cans
Teraax http://arbitraryramblings.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/a-creative-use-for-ammo-cans.
TEOTWAWKI blog http://teotwawkiblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/bug-out-ammo-can.html.
Uncle Milton http://viewfrombippus.wordpress.com/2010/10/31/a-slow-duck-day.
Please send it to me promptly so you don't miss out. Thanks for your cooperation,
Ryan
Bro. Brandon B. http://www.pazrt.com/forum/thread-bbb-s-zombie-disposal-kit.html
Chadow http://mushyironman.blogspot.com/2010/11/what-i-use-ammo-can-for.html.
Duane http://minimeorhe.blogspot.com/.
Elliot http://www.frozenrockradio.com/.
Someone You Know http://gsiep.blogspot.com/2010/11/contest-for-free-ammunition.html.
Steve http://veteran.com/content/many-uses-ammo-cans
Teraax http://arbitraryramblings.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/a-creative-use-for-ammo-cans.
TEOTWAWKI blog http://teotwawkiblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/bug-out-ammo-can.html.
Uncle Milton http://viewfrombippus.wordpress.com/2010/10/31/a-slow-duck-day.
Please send it to me promptly so you don't miss out. Thanks for your cooperation,
Ryan
A Note From Our Advertisers
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Live A Little
When you read this I will be off traveling. I will be enjoying time with family and checking out a cool new city in Europe. I plan to sleep a lot (at least 9 hours a night), see all kinds of cool stuff, eat some crazy great food and enjoy the local beverages.
Things are still sort of uncertain in terms of the American economy. For a long time it was stuff every dollar under the mattress time. I am not sure that is over entirely but even if things are still the same in a long enough situation you have to get out and live every once in awhile. I don't think this is a time to do anything crazy. I wouldn't be inclined to mess with a secure job/ income stream even if it doesn't give you that great emotional satisfaction. It is probably not time to do the huge home remodel you have been planning or go out and get a new shiny car. Unless your finances are really in order I wouldn't go for the epic 6 week European trip you have been planning forever. We are traveling but we are boring people and we save a certain amount of money every month in order to fund said travel.
If you want a nice TV or to go on a trip or something then by all means save up for it. However before you spend that cash I do encourage you to make sure your overall house is in order first. If that $500 or $1500 or whatever would be aweful useful for an emergency fund or some basic preps then maybe you should rethink the purchase.
Anyway I am off traveling Europe. Have a great day.
Things are still sort of uncertain in terms of the American economy. For a long time it was stuff every dollar under the mattress time. I am not sure that is over entirely but even if things are still the same in a long enough situation you have to get out and live every once in awhile. I don't think this is a time to do anything crazy. I wouldn't be inclined to mess with a secure job/ income stream even if it doesn't give you that great emotional satisfaction. It is probably not time to do the huge home remodel you have been planning or go out and get a new shiny car. Unless your finances are really in order I wouldn't go for the epic 6 week European trip you have been planning forever. We are traveling but we are boring people and we save a certain amount of money every month in order to fund said travel.
If you want a nice TV or to go on a trip or something then by all means save up for it. However before you spend that cash I do encourage you to make sure your overall house is in order first. If that $500 or $1500 or whatever would be aweful useful for an emergency fund or some basic preps then maybe you should rethink the purchase.
Anyway I am off traveling Europe. Have a great day.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Leaving the USA
So often people talk about how the USA has gone to heck in a handbasket and they are moving to X country. FerFAL wrote an interesting post on the subject that is definitely worth reading. Very worth reading.
I think some folks are too attached to a specific area to the point of rediculousness. I've heard folks say that they will not leave the specific county where they were born even if Zombie lava hurricanes are coming and AIDS rain is pouring down. I try to be pragmatic and if America became entirely and completely screwed to the point where we were not safe I would at least consider leaving for awhile. However on the other hand some folks are way too reactonary and poorly informed on the matter.
Matter of fact America could radically change in a negative direction (from where we are right now) and it would still be a lot better place to live then most other nations. Those living in America who have not traveled extensively fail to really see how courupt officials can impact their lives and how quickly and radically the political winds can change other nations. America has a variety of constitutional rights and freedoms as well as pro gun laws, codified laws, stable contract law, honest officials (more cops and such than big politicians), and a stable business environment such that even if all those things decreased by 30% it would still be far more desirable than most other nations around the globe.
I think a lot of the time the whole 'I am going to move to X' idea is a combination of reactionary thinking and has a lot of the grass is always greener kind of thinking. Of course not every situation is the same. Languages you speak, your economic situation (a lot of places are decent to live in but very hard to make a decent by western standards living in), family and business connections as well as your past long term travel experiences are big factors. Certainly if you speak the local language, have a few friends in the area and an already proven income stream it could well be the difference between an otherwise moderately desirable place and a good situation.
I don't mean to write off the concept. It is just that I think most ideas/ plans in this area need a serious dose of reality. It is nice to think about fruity rum based drinks and napping in a hammock; however if you think about dealing with corrupt officials in another language and trying to earn a living in a strange country it is another thing entirely.
I am not saying there won't be a good time to spend a few years abroad. It is just that for most people I do not think we are anywhere near that time. I guess you should just do some serious research and maybe consider a couple month trip to sort of look before you leap.
I think some folks are too attached to a specific area to the point of rediculousness. I've heard folks say that they will not leave the specific county where they were born even if Zombie lava hurricanes are coming and AIDS rain is pouring down. I try to be pragmatic and if America became entirely and completely screwed to the point where we were not safe I would at least consider leaving for awhile. However on the other hand some folks are way too reactonary and poorly informed on the matter.
Matter of fact America could radically change in a negative direction (from where we are right now) and it would still be a lot better place to live then most other nations. Those living in America who have not traveled extensively fail to really see how courupt officials can impact their lives and how quickly and radically the political winds can change other nations. America has a variety of constitutional rights and freedoms as well as pro gun laws, codified laws, stable contract law, honest officials (more cops and such than big politicians), and a stable business environment such that even if all those things decreased by 30% it would still be far more desirable than most other nations around the globe.
I think a lot of the time the whole 'I am going to move to X' idea is a combination of reactionary thinking and has a lot of the grass is always greener kind of thinking. Of course not every situation is the same. Languages you speak, your economic situation (a lot of places are decent to live in but very hard to make a decent by western standards living in), family and business connections as well as your past long term travel experiences are big factors. Certainly if you speak the local language, have a few friends in the area and an already proven income stream it could well be the difference between an otherwise moderately desirable place and a good situation.
I don't mean to write off the concept. It is just that I think most ideas/ plans in this area need a serious dose of reality. It is nice to think about fruity rum based drinks and napping in a hammock; however if you think about dealing with corrupt officials in another language and trying to earn a living in a strange country it is another thing entirely.
I am not saying there won't be a good time to spend a few years abroad. It is just that for most people I do not think we are anywhere near that time. I guess you should just do some serious research and maybe consider a couple month trip to sort of look before you leap.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving
As is appropriate I have spent some time today thinking about what I am thankful for. I have a lot to be thankful about for sure. I am very thankful that Walker is well and we are all able to spend this holiday together as a happy little family. While it has medically been a crazy couple months for us we all appear to be in good health. I am thankful that we aren't struggling to keep a roof over our heads and food in our stomachs. I am thankful that between preps and saving we can feel pretty secure about our overall situation. I am thankful that my sister is here and we are going to do some traveling this weekend.
It occurs to me that most of the things I am thankful for are directly or indirectly the result of my own choices. I/ we could make choices that created animousity and unhappiness in our home. We could choose to be idle or underemployed and struggle for basics like shelter and food. We could spend beyond our means and have constant worries about money. Of course luck is a factor. Right now lots of decent hard working folks are either unemployed or seriously underemployed and really struggling. If they live well within their means and have some savings they are better off but in a long enough under/ unemployment most everybody will start to have serious problems. Folks can make the right choices and have continual health issues.
It has been a pretty good Thanksgiving so far. Went to bed pretty early yesterday and slept till almost 10. Had a pretty relaxing morning just chilling out then Little Sis, Walker and I went to do some local sight seeing. It is pretty good holiday weather. Right around freezing with a bit of snow on the ground. Just enough to cover rooftops, trees and lawns giving the nice scenic winter look but not enough to muck up the roads and make it hard to get around. The food is cooking and we are all sitting around and talking. Shortly it will be coctail and appetizer time which is always fun.
We are having a sort of 'Orphans Thanksgiving' as always. Wifey cooks a bunch of food and we invite everybody who can use a place to go and feed whoever comes. Relatives, neighbors, co workers or whatever. It makes for interesting groups of people but is good times.
Well I am going to go and enjoy a lot of food, some great scotch and family.
Happy Thanksgiving
It occurs to me that most of the things I am thankful for are directly or indirectly the result of my own choices. I/ we could make choices that created animousity and unhappiness in our home. We could choose to be idle or underemployed and struggle for basics like shelter and food. We could spend beyond our means and have constant worries about money. Of course luck is a factor. Right now lots of decent hard working folks are either unemployed or seriously underemployed and really struggling. If they live well within their means and have some savings they are better off but in a long enough under/ unemployment most everybody will start to have serious problems. Folks can make the right choices and have continual health issues.
It has been a pretty good Thanksgiving so far. Went to bed pretty early yesterday and slept till almost 10. Had a pretty relaxing morning just chilling out then Little Sis, Walker and I went to do some local sight seeing. It is pretty good holiday weather. Right around freezing with a bit of snow on the ground. Just enough to cover rooftops, trees and lawns giving the nice scenic winter look but not enough to muck up the roads and make it hard to get around. The food is cooking and we are all sitting around and talking. Shortly it will be coctail and appetizer time which is always fun.
We are having a sort of 'Orphans Thanksgiving' as always. Wifey cooks a bunch of food and we invite everybody who can use a place to go and feed whoever comes. Relatives, neighbors, co workers or whatever. It makes for interesting groups of people but is good times.
Well I am going to go and enjoy a lot of food, some great scotch and family.
Happy Thanksgiving
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving and a Reasonable Christmas
My sister has been able to come over here for awhile and will be here for Thanksgiving which is pretty cool. We are going to have a quiet hodge podge Thanksgiving tomorrow. I'm sure looking forward to a relaxing day full of laying around, good food and drink.
It is about the time that if you aren't a real early shopper you are getting into gear for Christmas. I urge you to only spend what you can honestly afford. People who are worth giving to wouldn't want you to spend money you can't afford on stuff for them. Here are some ways that have helped us to spend reasonably.
First is to crunch the numbers and figure out what you have to spend. This sounds so stupidly basic but it is impossible to spend within your means if you do not know what your means are. It could be $50 or $5,000, the number isn't so important as having accurately identified what you can afford.
Next is to stick to the number you have figured out. I find it best to separate this kind of pool of money lest it intermingles with normal operating funds. You might then find yourself with a lot of nice presents and short on rent or with some extra groceries or fun money and not much for presents. In any case either way it is not the desired result. Maybe use a spare bank account or something. If things are real tight it is hard to bust a budget if you have an envelope of cash.
To make that amount I find it very helpful to identify who you are buying for and come up with a pretty firm amount you can spend per person. I'm talking you are buying for X people and have Y dollars so assuming you want to spend the same amount on each person it would be Z a piece. Of course you do not have to spend the same amount of money on each person. If you want to spend half your budget on one person then divide the rest up that is cool so long as it all adds up. The reason you need to do this is so that you don't realize you've spent 3/4's of your money on 1/4 of the presents you need to buy and end up going over to close the difference. I personally suggest for those on a tight budget keeping a reserve of 10-20 percent. This is helpful first because especially in places with sales tax everything costs weird amounts. A thing that says $20 on the tag is $21 out the door which is problematic when your $200 budget needs to purchase 10 gifts. Also there is always that one time when you find a perfect gift for someone which is just a bit more then you planned.
Have a wonderful holiday season but don't go broke doing it.
It is about the time that if you aren't a real early shopper you are getting into gear for Christmas. I urge you to only spend what you can honestly afford. People who are worth giving to wouldn't want you to spend money you can't afford on stuff for them. Here are some ways that have helped us to spend reasonably.
First is to crunch the numbers and figure out what you have to spend. This sounds so stupidly basic but it is impossible to spend within your means if you do not know what your means are. It could be $50 or $5,000, the number isn't so important as having accurately identified what you can afford.
Next is to stick to the number you have figured out. I find it best to separate this kind of pool of money lest it intermingles with normal operating funds. You might then find yourself with a lot of nice presents and short on rent or with some extra groceries or fun money and not much for presents. In any case either way it is not the desired result. Maybe use a spare bank account or something. If things are real tight it is hard to bust a budget if you have an envelope of cash.
To make that amount I find it very helpful to identify who you are buying for and come up with a pretty firm amount you can spend per person. I'm talking you are buying for X people and have Y dollars so assuming you want to spend the same amount on each person it would be Z a piece. Of course you do not have to spend the same amount of money on each person. If you want to spend half your budget on one person then divide the rest up that is cool so long as it all adds up. The reason you need to do this is so that you don't realize you've spent 3/4's of your money on 1/4 of the presents you need to buy and end up going over to close the difference. I personally suggest for those on a tight budget keeping a reserve of 10-20 percent. This is helpful first because especially in places with sales tax everything costs weird amounts. A thing that says $20 on the tag is $21 out the door which is problematic when your $200 budget needs to purchase 10 gifts. Also there is always that one time when you find a perfect gift for someone which is just a bit more then you planned.
Have a wonderful holiday season but don't go broke doing it.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
It's Getting Cold
In the PNW and Germany winter seems to finally be upon us. This is a good time to dig out your coat, boots and gloves. We don't really travel outside of our immediate area so we don't worry much about a winter survival kit. If you do then adding a sleeping bag, etc to your car kit is probably a good call. In any case tossing an old coat, a hat, gloves and boots into your vehicle is too easy not to do. I find in your winter coat it is a good practice to put a pair of gloves and a warm hat into the pockets. They go unnoticed until you need them and then you've got them.
Personally I wear a lot of fleece. A fleece hat, gloves and jacket are standard during this season. If you are hard up for cash then surplus wool is a darn good way to go. Its only real drawback (aside from aesthetics) is that it is bulky and HEAVY. Not however an issue for most people unless they are doing something really active outside or trying to live out of a bag.
I like winter or definitely appreciate parts of it. One thing I like is that it is perfect for all those warm feel good staple meals. Lets fact it people don't really want stew or chili or chicken and dumplings in August when it is 100 degrees outside. Also I like quiet winter evenings. Instead of feeling lazy when I am doing nothing at 1900 on a weekday I am happy that I am warm and inside. Sometimes having a warm drink and just looking at the horrible weather outside is a pretty good passtime.
I think when PM's drop a little bit I am going to buy some silver. Almost bought on the last dip below $25 and likely will the next time it goes there. I kinda wanted to see if it would dip into the low $24 range but maybe I just need to get adjusted to the new reality.
As a final though after spending so much time freezing out in horrible winter weather my favorite winter passtime is probably looking at the horrible weather outside from my warm residence. A nice drink and slippers help.
Personally I wear a lot of fleece. A fleece hat, gloves and jacket are standard during this season. If you are hard up for cash then surplus wool is a darn good way to go. Its only real drawback (aside from aesthetics) is that it is bulky and HEAVY. Not however an issue for most people unless they are doing something really active outside or trying to live out of a bag.
I like winter or definitely appreciate parts of it. One thing I like is that it is perfect for all those warm feel good staple meals. Lets fact it people don't really want stew or chili or chicken and dumplings in August when it is 100 degrees outside. Also I like quiet winter evenings. Instead of feeling lazy when I am doing nothing at 1900 on a weekday I am happy that I am warm and inside. Sometimes having a warm drink and just looking at the horrible weather outside is a pretty good passtime.
I think when PM's drop a little bit I am going to buy some silver. Almost bought on the last dip below $25 and likely will the next time it goes there. I kinda wanted to see if it would dip into the low $24 range but maybe I just need to get adjusted to the new reality.
As a final though after spending so much time freezing out in horrible winter weather my favorite winter passtime is probably looking at the horrible weather outside from my warm residence. A nice drink and slippers help.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Two Things That Are Really Bothering Me
I can honestly say I am a lot more pro law enforcement and government in general then most bloggers. However a couple things have really been hacking me off recently. First are supposed laws which make it illegal to film cops/ sheriffs/ meter maids/ whomever. These really anger me. Second the TSA is recently getting their way onto the same list.
I think the filming thing is one of the biggest examples of jack boot Stalinist tactics out there. They are also probably the biggest example of "lets try to call everything we don't like illegal" that I can think of. Of course some guy with a video camera following youaround would get annoying to anybody. However a cop who follows the rules and generally doesn't act like an Only One/ brown shirt doesn't have anything to fear. It is the cops who do shady illegal stuff all day long knowing that dirt bags (sorry but you know what I mean) who get treated like dirt or strait up harrassed won't say anything. Heck even if a normal non dirt bag complains about a cop of course the cop must be right. Often a recording of some sort by a third party is the only piece of evidence a DA or jury will actually believe that can refute a cops testimony. When bad cops (I don't think they are all bad) lie a video tape is just about the only way to disprove them.
What hacks me off even more about this is that cops try to record everything. I recall the case of some drunk college kid awhile back. He got arrested for disturbing the peace, drunken disorderly and attacking a cop. The kid was in serious trouble. However a few days later a video from across the street came out. The kid staggered around a corner and the cop body checked him with a horse then whooped the hell out of him with a stick. Aside from having too many drinks while watching college sports he didn't do a single thing wrong. The only thing that saved that kid from serious trouble was that video tape.
Some cops need to be held accountable for their actions and also the 'blue wall of silence' needs to be broken down. The only way I see that happening is by citizens holding them accountable in a manner people will act upon which means video (or I guess audio) tapes. This seems like a great cause for the ACLU.
The TSA probably have the biggest chip on their shoulder of any government agency. I think it is because deep down they know they are slightly above minimum wage wanna be security guard lackies. A chip on ones shoulder coupled with a bit of very narrowly defined power breeds a serious attitude problem.They are all over the media these days. They will pornoscan you or feel you up.
The whole thing is just so rediculous I don't even know what to say about it. What does this say about the sad state of our country; that we are more willing to force little kids and grandma's to get felt up by some slightly above minimum wage former mall security guard loser then openly admit what everyone knows anyway that the entire terrorist threat comes from males between about 17 and 40 of Arab nationality. More specifically Arab males who have just recently come to the US. Despite homeland security, the TSA, FBI, CIA and a few other agencies bungling we can at least accurately identify the group in question. There is no need to pornoscan grandma's from Minnessota or grope 10 year old soccer players from Iowa.
Hopefully the backlash against the TSA is finally reaching critical mass to the point where it cannot be ignored. Maybe there will be enough news pieces and people writing and calling their various representatives that they do something about it. I don't think the topic of security or anything that gets pushed under that umbrella should be beyond reproach.
All of this stuff is so stupid and the only real explanation for it that I can see is conditioning. Conditioning people to subject themselves to whatever kind of indignities some random employee of an obscure government agency tells them to. Conditioning them to not ask questions. One more paranoid than I could say the slippery slope to travel passes and inspection checkpoints a la Stalinist Russia isn't that long.
I personally don't worry about it much. Not because I like it at all but because I don't have another option. As a military family and particularly a military family overseas if we want to see our family we have to fly. It would take a lot to stop us from doing that. It is however interesting to theorize about this stuff.
I think the filming thing is one of the biggest examples of jack boot Stalinist tactics out there. They are also probably the biggest example of "lets try to call everything we don't like illegal" that I can think of. Of course some guy with a video camera following youaround would get annoying to anybody. However a cop who follows the rules and generally doesn't act like an Only One/ brown shirt doesn't have anything to fear. It is the cops who do shady illegal stuff all day long knowing that dirt bags (sorry but you know what I mean) who get treated like dirt or strait up harrassed won't say anything. Heck even if a normal non dirt bag complains about a cop of course the cop must be right. Often a recording of some sort by a third party is the only piece of evidence a DA or jury will actually believe that can refute a cops testimony. When bad cops (I don't think they are all bad) lie a video tape is just about the only way to disprove them.
What hacks me off even more about this is that cops try to record everything. I recall the case of some drunk college kid awhile back. He got arrested for disturbing the peace, drunken disorderly and attacking a cop. The kid was in serious trouble. However a few days later a video from across the street came out. The kid staggered around a corner and the cop body checked him with a horse then whooped the hell out of him with a stick. Aside from having too many drinks while watching college sports he didn't do a single thing wrong. The only thing that saved that kid from serious trouble was that video tape.
Some cops need to be held accountable for their actions and also the 'blue wall of silence' needs to be broken down. The only way I see that happening is by citizens holding them accountable in a manner people will act upon which means video (or I guess audio) tapes. This seems like a great cause for the ACLU.
The TSA probably have the biggest chip on their shoulder of any government agency. I think it is because deep down they know they are slightly above minimum wage wanna be security guard lackies. A chip on ones shoulder coupled with a bit of very narrowly defined power breeds a serious attitude problem.They are all over the media these days. They will pornoscan you or feel you up.
The whole thing is just so rediculous I don't even know what to say about it. What does this say about the sad state of our country; that we are more willing to force little kids and grandma's to get felt up by some slightly above minimum wage former mall security guard loser then openly admit what everyone knows anyway that the entire terrorist threat comes from males between about 17 and 40 of Arab nationality. More specifically Arab males who have just recently come to the US. Despite homeland security, the TSA, FBI, CIA and a few other agencies bungling we can at least accurately identify the group in question. There is no need to pornoscan grandma's from Minnessota or grope 10 year old soccer players from Iowa.
Hopefully the backlash against the TSA is finally reaching critical mass to the point where it cannot be ignored. Maybe there will be enough news pieces and people writing and calling their various representatives that they do something about it. I don't think the topic of security or anything that gets pushed under that umbrella should be beyond reproach.
All of this stuff is so stupid and the only real explanation for it that I can see is conditioning. Conditioning people to subject themselves to whatever kind of indignities some random employee of an obscure government agency tells them to. Conditioning them to not ask questions. One more paranoid than I could say the slippery slope to travel passes and inspection checkpoints a la Stalinist Russia isn't that long.
I personally don't worry about it much. Not because I like it at all but because I don't have another option. As a military family and particularly a military family overseas if we want to see our family we have to fly. It would take a lot to stop us from doing that. It is however interesting to theorize about this stuff.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Contest Roundup
Well it has had a great run but our contest is officially closed. We got a lot of great entries that I am excited to share with you. So lets check them all out.
Bro. Brandon B. http://www.pazrt.com/forum/thread-bbb-s-zombie-disposal-kit made a zombie disposal kit with a Glock 26, a bunch of mags and equipment to safely dispose of the undead which he makes dead again through awesome handgun skills. He definitely gets two extra special bonus points for creativity.
Chadow http://mushyironman.blogspot.com/2010/11/what-i-use-ammo-can-for.html uses ammo cans to store gun power and his reloading equipment.
Duane http://minimeorhe.blogspot.com/ "I use ammo cans to store most firearm related accessories including ammo, mags and spare parts. While it is not too terribly creative, they can be used for storage for anything you want to keep dry and protected."
Elliot http://www.frozenrockradio.com/ uses ammo cans to store stuff he doesn't want to get wet.
Saddle Tramp http://www.singtomeohmuse.com/viewtopic.php?p=305502#305502 "I mostly use my ammo cans for storing ammo, but they are also useful for storing wrapped coins, particularly nickels which fit quite nicely, and, on my kitchen counter, I also use one to store packages of seasonings like taco/chili powder. The ammo cans keep the spices very dry and fresh for a long time and, if used in a retreat cabin or when camping, are especially good to keep bugs and other little critters out. "
Someone You Know http://gsiep.blogspot.com/2010/11/contest-for-free-ammunition.html uses ammo cans as exercise equipment, for cooking and furniture, entertainment, storage and caches. He got really creative.
Steve http://veteran.com/content/many-uses-ammo-cans came up with about 100 uses for ammo cans.
Teraax http://arbitraryramblings.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/a-creative-use-for-ammo-cans/ uses a .50 caliber ammo can as an emergency cold weather kit for his car.
TEOTWAWKI blog http://teotwawkiblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/bug-out-ammo-can.html made a Bug Out Ammo Can. It is full of ammunition, magazines and ancillary equipment for his AR, Glock and Ruger 10/22. Sort of a poor mans sneeky bag.
Uncle Milton http://viewfrombippus.wordpress.com/2010/10/31/a-slow-duck-day/"I use ammo cans during our waterfowl hunts to keep things dry. If you have ever been in a duck boat, where muddy guys with waders, and wet dogs get in and out and back into the boat, and it frequently rains and snows and moisturizes everything, then you will realize the value of a good ammo can. Before I started using ammo cans, I frequently lost my lunch to a greedy, hungry retriever."
Part of the reason I posted the entries is to make sure I am tracking them all. I got them via emails and comments on multiple posts and don't want any to get lost in the sauce so to speak. So if you entered and do not see your post on here then please send me an email with a link to the post so I can add it. In a couple days we will start the voting to see who wins the awesome prize.
Have a great day.
Bro. Brandon B. http://www.pazrt.com/forum/thread-bbb-s-zombie-disposal-kit made a zombie disposal kit with a Glock 26, a bunch of mags and equipment to safely dispose of the undead which he makes dead again through awesome handgun skills. He definitely gets two extra special bonus points for creativity.
Chadow http://mushyironman.blogspot.com/2010/11/what-i-use-ammo-can-for.html uses ammo cans to store gun power and his reloading equipment.
Duane http://minimeorhe.blogspot.com/ "I use ammo cans to store most firearm related accessories including ammo, mags and spare parts. While it is not too terribly creative, they can be used for storage for anything you want to keep dry and protected."
Elliot http://www.frozenrockradio.com/ uses ammo cans to store stuff he doesn't want to get wet.
Saddle Tramp http://www.singtomeohmuse.com/viewtopic.php?p=305502#305502 "I mostly use my ammo cans for storing ammo, but they are also useful for storing wrapped coins, particularly nickels which fit quite nicely, and, on my kitchen counter, I also use one to store packages of seasonings like taco/chili powder. The ammo cans keep the spices very dry and fresh for a long time and, if used in a retreat cabin or when camping, are especially good to keep bugs and other little critters out. "
Someone You Know http://gsiep.blogspot.com/2010/11/contest-for-free-ammunition.html uses ammo cans as exercise equipment, for cooking and furniture, entertainment, storage and caches. He got really creative.
Steve http://veteran.com/content/many-uses-ammo-cans came up with about 100 uses for ammo cans.
Teraax http://arbitraryramblings.wordpress.com/2010/11/15/a-creative-use-for-ammo-cans/ uses a .50 caliber ammo can as an emergency cold weather kit for his car.
TEOTWAWKI blog http://teotwawkiblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/bug-out-ammo-can.html made a Bug Out Ammo Can. It is full of ammunition, magazines and ancillary equipment for his AR, Glock and Ruger 10/22. Sort of a poor mans sneeky bag.
Uncle Milton http://viewfrombippus.wordpress.com/2010/10/31/a-slow-duck-day/"I use ammo cans during our waterfowl hunts to keep things dry. If you have ever been in a duck boat, where muddy guys with waders, and wet dogs get in and out and back into the boat, and it frequently rains and snows and moisturizes everything, then you will realize the value of a good ammo can. Before I started using ammo cans, I frequently lost my lunch to a greedy, hungry retriever."
Part of the reason I posted the entries is to make sure I am tracking them all. I got them via emails and comments on multiple posts and don't want any to get lost in the sauce so to speak. So if you entered and do not see your post on here then please send me an email with a link to the post so I can add it. In a couple days we will start the voting to see who wins the awesome prize.
Have a great day.
What Did You Do To Prepare This Week?
I ended up in a class where I learned all kinds of stuff about hazardous materials. Pretty interesting with a lot of 'guerilla chemist' applications and also disaster stuff too. Got a free end table from the dumpster this evening. It is pretty nice too. That matters because the dollars which could go for an end table can now go somewhere more productive like investments or preps.
Finally starting to get back into a groove when it comes to PT. I've been out in the woods a lot which has made my overall conditioning decrease. Did a particularly vicious run this week and enjoyed it.
This week I wanted to focus on taking better care of myself. I wanted to get back into the gym and also make sure I was getting the kind of sleep I need to function well. I would say that was a partial success. I didn't get to the gym at all but seeing as work days somehow became 16-17 hours I don't hold that against myself. I did a pretty good job of getting myself to bed at a decent time, making sure I can get at least 6 or 7 hours of sleep. Given (I am still really not sure how it cracked out that way but it did) the weeks crazy schedule I am content with that.
Did a lot of reading and window shopping for AK stuff. Got to do some research and then eventually put those items onto my list and at some point buy them. I have a vision and just have to figure out all the details.
Edited to include: I also stashed another 20 Euro's. Slowly but surely that fund is coming along.
What did you do to prepare this week?
Finally starting to get back into a groove when it comes to PT. I've been out in the woods a lot which has made my overall conditioning decrease. Did a particularly vicious run this week and enjoyed it.
This week I wanted to focus on taking better care of myself. I wanted to get back into the gym and also make sure I was getting the kind of sleep I need to function well. I would say that was a partial success. I didn't get to the gym at all but seeing as work days somehow became 16-17 hours I don't hold that against myself. I did a pretty good job of getting myself to bed at a decent time, making sure I can get at least 6 or 7 hours of sleep. Given (I am still really not sure how it cracked out that way but it did) the weeks crazy schedule I am content with that.
Did a lot of reading and window shopping for AK stuff. Got to do some research and then eventually put those items onto my list and at some point buy them. I have a vision and just have to figure out all the details.
Edited to include: I also stashed another 20 Euro's. Slowly but surely that fund is coming along.
What did you do to prepare this week?
Saturday, November 20, 2010
AK Stuff
It has been a pretty chill day here. Spent the first part of the day taking care of Walker which was cool. Wifey and I took an idea from Chief Instructor and did a crackers and cheese, appetizers kind of dinner. It was pretty nice and is about the only kind of date that is Walker compatable. Also it has the benefit of costing about as much as a round of drinks at a restaurant.
I spent a good chunk of the evening floating around Warrior Talk forum. That has gotten me thinking about some interesting AK ideas. I suppose it is like anything else where you can spend as much as you want.
On the bright side my most recent purchase has pretty much finished me up on mags and ammo. The great thing about AK's is that ammo and mags are, at least relatively speaking, quite affordable. The bad thing is that supplies are almost entirely produced in former Communist Bloc countries and thus can go away at the stroke of a pen and a change of import regulations. Recently good availability has returned and prices have gone down to reasonable levels. This is a great time to get squared away (however you define that) as quickly as your finances permit.
So I've got a bone stock AK (of course a sling and a cleaning kit) with a decent stash of 30 round mags and ammo. That is a pretty solid start and not at all a bad finishing point. I have been pondering a folding stock lately, one of those aftermarket side folding ones. Since they have a fairly short barrel and no weird buffer in the butt an AK folder is really compact. That would make for an easy to discretely transport package. Some parts are on my list; maybe for next year.
The idea of an AK with a folding stock, a tac light is kind of appealing to me. I think it would be a strait up CQB machine and a pretty darn good defensive rifle. I could do it for around $300. I probably just spent too much time reading about all kinds of AK configurations and accessories.
Maybe some day.
I spent a good chunk of the evening floating around Warrior Talk forum. That has gotten me thinking about some interesting AK ideas. I suppose it is like anything else where you can spend as much as you want.
On the bright side my most recent purchase has pretty much finished me up on mags and ammo. The great thing about AK's is that ammo and mags are, at least relatively speaking, quite affordable. The bad thing is that supplies are almost entirely produced in former Communist Bloc countries and thus can go away at the stroke of a pen and a change of import regulations. Recently good availability has returned and prices have gone down to reasonable levels. This is a great time to get squared away (however you define that) as quickly as your finances permit.
So I've got a bone stock AK (of course a sling and a cleaning kit) with a decent stash of 30 round mags and ammo. That is a pretty solid start and not at all a bad finishing point. I have been pondering a folding stock lately, one of those aftermarket side folding ones. Since they have a fairly short barrel and no weird buffer in the butt an AK folder is really compact. That would make for an easy to discretely transport package. Some parts are on my list; maybe for next year.
The idea of an AK with a folding stock, a tac light is kind of appealing to me. I think it would be a strait up CQB machine and a pretty darn good defensive rifle. I could do it for around $300. I probably just spent too much time reading about all kinds of AK configurations and accessories.
Maybe some day.
When Are You Done Preparing?
FerFAL was recently asked the interesting question "When Are You Done Preparing?". I found the question interesting and it sort of stuck in my head. I don't disagree with FerFAL's answer but I do see it from a different perspective. Here is how I see it.
It is worth discussing the difference between maintenance and growth (though not strictly money, also time, energy, etc) of your preps. Maintenance of your preps would be stuff like rotating foodstuffs, practicing to keep your skills fresh, etc. Growth would be stuff like increasing your food storage, learning a new skill, taking a class, buying guns, gear, etc.
I think a certain amount of maintenance is necessary lest your food goes bad, your equipment degrades and your skills atrophy. You've got to rotate food and clean weapons. Car kits and GHB's need to be periodically inventoried and have perishable contents rotated. Even the best shot will get rusty if he doesn't touch a handgun for a year. Personally I wouldn't classify this kind of maintenance as continual preparations. Now that we have that covered.
To the fundamental question "when are you done preparing?" I would reply "preparing for what?" Everyone has different concerns and worst case scenarios they are preparing for. If we imagine white being a very limited power outage and black being a full on genuine One Second After/ Mad Max/ Jericho TEOTWAWKI scenario there are almost infinite shades of grey in between. What you are preparing for has a lot to do with when/ if you can ever be done.
Lets say you are an average guy who lives on the Gulf or southern Atlantic coast. You are justifiably concerned about a hurricane. You know it can be difficult to get fuel in the run up to evacuation time so you keep a half dozen 5 gallon cans in the shed and make sure your vehicle is topped off during hurricane season. You know that the smart thing to do is to leave and you've got a plan with your Uncle who lives a few hundred miles inland to come crash there. You have maps and alternate routes planned out just in case.
Since Katrina showed you that it can be weeks before help can arrive and services are restored you keep 90 days of shelf stable, easy to cook foodstuffs around. A couple extra propane cans will let you cook just about forever on the Coleman stove you use for camping. Keeping a few extra big boxes of batteries will let you run the various flashlights in your house for some time. For water you picked up a filter at the local camping store. After seeing the madness of Katrina you ordered 500 rounds of buckshot for your 12 gauge in addition to whatever hunting loads you have lying around. You also purchased a handgun with a few spare mags and a couple extra 100 rd white boxes from Walmart. Last year you stashed a few hundred dollars in the gun cabinet just in case. Could this guy say that he is done preparing? I think so. Of course there might be a small hole here or there but the broad strokes are covered and he is in a decent spot for the scenario he is concerned with.
Someone worried about a genuine full on Jericho style collapse is probably never going to be done. They will just move from more likely and immediate concerns such as 'how will we eat next winter' to the more obscure and unlikely 'how will my grandchildren make metal tools to replace those which wear out'. A person worried about this kind of scenario is always going to be thinking of something new and trying to deal with progressively more unlikely scenarios.
Personally I do not think I am every going to be done preparing. I am going to have times where the growth slows or stops until I get to another stage (buying a home, having more space, getting some land, etc) over time. However in the big picture over time I am going to progressively work from likely situations to more unlikely ones. It is more likely that we will have to ride out a short to mid term disaster then that we will suffer an EMP or a super aids bird flu pandemic. Assuming the world doesn't end in a few more years I will likely be focused almost exclusively on relatively unlikely scenarios. It is just my nature to want to improve my situation.
It is the very last day to enter our Awesome Ammo Giveaway Contest. Hurry up and enter now so you can get a whole bunch of free ammo.
When are YOU going to be done preparing?
It is worth discussing the difference between maintenance and growth (though not strictly money, also time, energy, etc) of your preps. Maintenance of your preps would be stuff like rotating foodstuffs, practicing to keep your skills fresh, etc. Growth would be stuff like increasing your food storage, learning a new skill, taking a class, buying guns, gear, etc.
I think a certain amount of maintenance is necessary lest your food goes bad, your equipment degrades and your skills atrophy. You've got to rotate food and clean weapons. Car kits and GHB's need to be periodically inventoried and have perishable contents rotated. Even the best shot will get rusty if he doesn't touch a handgun for a year. Personally I wouldn't classify this kind of maintenance as continual preparations. Now that we have that covered.
To the fundamental question "when are you done preparing?" I would reply "preparing for what?" Everyone has different concerns and worst case scenarios they are preparing for. If we imagine white being a very limited power outage and black being a full on genuine One Second After/ Mad Max/ Jericho TEOTWAWKI scenario there are almost infinite shades of grey in between. What you are preparing for has a lot to do with when/ if you can ever be done.
Lets say you are an average guy who lives on the Gulf or southern Atlantic coast. You are justifiably concerned about a hurricane. You know it can be difficult to get fuel in the run up to evacuation time so you keep a half dozen 5 gallon cans in the shed and make sure your vehicle is topped off during hurricane season. You know that the smart thing to do is to leave and you've got a plan with your Uncle who lives a few hundred miles inland to come crash there. You have maps and alternate routes planned out just in case.
Since Katrina showed you that it can be weeks before help can arrive and services are restored you keep 90 days of shelf stable, easy to cook foodstuffs around. A couple extra propane cans will let you cook just about forever on the Coleman stove you use for camping. Keeping a few extra big boxes of batteries will let you run the various flashlights in your house for some time. For water you picked up a filter at the local camping store. After seeing the madness of Katrina you ordered 500 rounds of buckshot for your 12 gauge in addition to whatever hunting loads you have lying around. You also purchased a handgun with a few spare mags and a couple extra 100 rd white boxes from Walmart. Last year you stashed a few hundred dollars in the gun cabinet just in case. Could this guy say that he is done preparing? I think so. Of course there might be a small hole here or there but the broad strokes are covered and he is in a decent spot for the scenario he is concerned with.
Someone worried about a genuine full on Jericho style collapse is probably never going to be done. They will just move from more likely and immediate concerns such as 'how will we eat next winter' to the more obscure and unlikely 'how will my grandchildren make metal tools to replace those which wear out'. A person worried about this kind of scenario is always going to be thinking of something new and trying to deal with progressively more unlikely scenarios.
Personally I do not think I am every going to be done preparing. I am going to have times where the growth slows or stops until I get to another stage (buying a home, having more space, getting some land, etc) over time. However in the big picture over time I am going to progressively work from likely situations to more unlikely ones. It is more likely that we will have to ride out a short to mid term disaster then that we will suffer an EMP or a super aids bird flu pandemic. Assuming the world doesn't end in a few more years I will likely be focused almost exclusively on relatively unlikely scenarios. It is just my nature to want to improve my situation.
It is the very last day to enter our Awesome Ammo Giveaway Contest. Hurry up and enter now so you can get a whole bunch of free ammo.
When are YOU going to be done preparing?
Friday, November 19, 2010
Quantitative Easing Explained
I have seen this video floating around and Saddle Tramp sent me a link to it. Finally got time to sit down and watch it this evening. I suggest a stiff drink. In fact you might want to have a drink before watching this and another for during it.
RIP My Car
I got my car in 2003. It was a 2002 model of one of the cheapest cars to come out of South Korea. It was in good condition and had a shade under 20k on it. Not fancy or particularly fast or cool looking but it sure stood up well to the test of time. Got a great deal when I paid $4,600 in cash. Interestingly after I made the deal I went inside to do all the paperwork. I had to practically yell at them that I didn't want financing and was going to pay cash.
I drove it with very minimal issues until its demise. It isn't even so much that it was a total loss but that it isn't worth fixing. It was a really good car for a long time and was totally reliable until very recently. To be honest I can't complain as I got what I paid out of it long ago. Recently it has just driven me to work and around town. We use the SUV for other stuff.
We are going to be a one vehicle family for awhile. We live fairly close to where I work so we could juggle who has the SUV if need be. Also Wifey is a stay at home wife so we don't really need a second vehicle at least right away. This spring/ summer we will get a new small-medium SUV, probably a Hyundai Santa Fe. Something small enough to not kill us on fuel but still big enough to hold a reasonable amount of stuff.
In the time I have had this car lots of friends have had two or three different vehicles. Some folks just don't seem content unless they have a (relative to their income) fancy car with the inevitable loan to match. Buying a boring plain car that has low miles and is in good condition is a pretty decent way to go. It frees up money to do all kinds of other things such as prepping and saving. These are good things to do.
Remember you don't have much time left to enter our Awesome Ammo Giveaway Contest. Just wanted to make sure you are aware of it. Enter now so you can get a whole bunch of free ammo.
I drove it with very minimal issues until its demise. It isn't even so much that it was a total loss but that it isn't worth fixing. It was a really good car for a long time and was totally reliable until very recently. To be honest I can't complain as I got what I paid out of it long ago. Recently it has just driven me to work and around town. We use the SUV for other stuff.
We are going to be a one vehicle family for awhile. We live fairly close to where I work so we could juggle who has the SUV if need be. Also Wifey is a stay at home wife so we don't really need a second vehicle at least right away. This spring/ summer we will get a new small-medium SUV, probably a Hyundai Santa Fe. Something small enough to not kill us on fuel but still big enough to hold a reasonable amount of stuff.
In the time I have had this car lots of friends have had two or three different vehicles. Some folks just don't seem content unless they have a (relative to their income) fancy car with the inevitable loan to match. Buying a boring plain car that has low miles and is in good condition is a pretty decent way to go. It frees up money to do all kinds of other things such as prepping and saving. These are good things to do.
Remember you don't have much time left to enter our Awesome Ammo Giveaway Contest. Just wanted to make sure you are aware of it. Enter now so you can get a whole bunch of free ammo.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
What Do Financial Peace And Preps Have In Common?
1. I write about them both. They are interesting to me and while preps will always be the steak and potatoes of this blog financial stuff is becoming the suprisingly good tasting vegitable on the side or dare I say a great biscuit served alongside the main show.
2. Both of these are delayed gratification kind of situations where you are putting your future ahead of the immediate present. You are sacrificing money, time or whatever which could be used for todays amusement in order to have a better tomorrow.
3. They bring (or should bring) peace of mind. Since we have gotten squared away in terms of preps and more recently in terms of finances (namely a legitimate several month emergency fund) I can honestly say worry a lot less. We do not worry about money emergencies because we have a solid plan for them. It is weird but once you prepare for financial emergencies they do not come around. We also have a reasonable situation when it comes to various survival type stuff and food. We aren't in a perfect place but we also don't have to worry about eating if we can't go to the store for awhile or whatever.
4. They are both rather common sense stuff to do. Dave Ramsey says that finances are 80% behavior and 20% knowledge. I would almost go as far as to say it is more like 90/10. People know they should spend less than they make. They know they should save. They know they should borrow sparingly. They know they should save for their future. At least when you talk about basic preps they somewhat fall into this category also.
People, particularly those who live outside massive urban centers and the endless suburbs which encircle them know they should be ready for their regions various issues. The Gulf and southern Atlantic coast have hurricanes. The midwest has snow storms. Pretty much every region has some kind of disaster that happens.
In the Pacific Northwest wind/ ice storms and the power outages that follow them are a relatively common event. Lots of above ground power lines, trees, wind and ice are a bad combination that comes together in some way or another pretty much every fall or winter. In my little home area we average about two significant (as in not just a quick blip) power outages a year. One of them typically happens when a tree knocks down a power line in the mid evening. We lose power at 7 or so and it gets fixed by the early morning. The other typically comes when a wind storm, maybe with ice which weights down the trees, knocks down a bunch of trees onto power lines. This one is typically a couple days and can be a week at the long end. Folks plan for this. They keep flashlights and a few packs of spare batteries. They have some kind of radio that runs on batteries if just an old Sony boom box and a few D batteries. They have a plan to keep their home at a decent, if not ideal, temperature. They keep some water around in case their water supply is interupted. Most people keep some food around. A decent amount of folks keep a small generator to run a couple lights and keep their freezer cold.
While they might not think they need a basement full of food folks generally know that it is smart to have some stuff in the pantry to ride these things out. They know they should keep some cash around too in case they can't use an ATM or debit card. They might not see the need for a dozen semi automatic military rifles but generally see the reason to keep a gun (or a few) around. They might not stack cases of ammo in the basement next to the tons of food they can usually see the common sense of having a few extra boxes of bullets in the gun cabinet.
5. Both of these are long term projects. Unless you happen to get a huge windfall and use it responably you cannot generally gain financial peace without a long term effort. It takes time to figure out a budget that works for you, save an emergency fund, maybe get out of debt and start things really moving. Paying off a traditional home will almost certainly take more than a decade. Building up enough money to retire with dignity and maybe even have some fun will take serious effort for a long time.
Preparedness is similarly a long term project. First of all it involves a decent amount of stuff like food, gear, guns, ammo, etc and I am sorry to be the one to tell you but this stuff gets expensive fast. I am not saying you can't do it or that preparedness is only for the rich but I am saying that for most people it isn't an overnight project. Even if you happen to be wealthy and have a big chunk of money sitting around which you could put strait into preps it takes lots of time to figure out how to use gear and equipment, cook staple food and all sorts of other stuff.
I suppose it is possible that some former Special Forces NCO who grew up on a small family farm where he learned everything there is to know about food production, storage and mechanical skills and has a ton of money from his high profile job as a ER doctor could get prepared with a fat bank account and a weekend of online shopping then a couple weeks for delivery. It is theoretically possible. However I have never heard of a situation that worked out anything like that. It takes months if not years to reach a good level of preparedness.
6. Consistent long term effort is more important than any one push. It is great if one month you buy a rifle, learn to can food and start a rigerous exercise program. However it is practicing with your rifle every month and adding a bit of food every month as well as continual progress in other skills that will really get you anywhere. When it comes to financial stuff the obvious benefits of saving every month and dollar cost averaging investments should not need to be stated.
7. Some folks will not understand. Half the people I know think I am a loon when it comes to money. Simple common sense frugal lifestyles, while they make sense are not common or popular anymore. [Much to the overall detriment of society I must add.] They don't understand why I don't own a relatively new car or nice furniture or do all kinds of other things. If the people I know think I am a loon when it comes to money I don't even want to know what a lot of them think when it comes to preps. Even factoring in that I do not share anything about that part of my/ our life with anyone but a pretty close circle some folks think it is pretty crazy. I imagine more people than that think it is crazy and decide not to mention that to me.
Remember you have just until early Saturday morning to enter our Awesome Ammo Giveaway Contest. Just wanted to make sure you are aware of it. You can get a whole bunch of free ammo for no money and a very modest investment of a few minutes of your time.
2. Both of these are delayed gratification kind of situations where you are putting your future ahead of the immediate present. You are sacrificing money, time or whatever which could be used for todays amusement in order to have a better tomorrow.
3. They bring (or should bring) peace of mind. Since we have gotten squared away in terms of preps and more recently in terms of finances (namely a legitimate several month emergency fund) I can honestly say worry a lot less. We do not worry about money emergencies because we have a solid plan for them. It is weird but once you prepare for financial emergencies they do not come around. We also have a reasonable situation when it comes to various survival type stuff and food. We aren't in a perfect place but we also don't have to worry about eating if we can't go to the store for awhile or whatever.
4. They are both rather common sense stuff to do. Dave Ramsey says that finances are 80% behavior and 20% knowledge. I would almost go as far as to say it is more like 90/10. People know they should spend less than they make. They know they should save. They know they should borrow sparingly. They know they should save for their future. At least when you talk about basic preps they somewhat fall into this category also.
People, particularly those who live outside massive urban centers and the endless suburbs which encircle them know they should be ready for their regions various issues. The Gulf and southern Atlantic coast have hurricanes. The midwest has snow storms. Pretty much every region has some kind of disaster that happens.
In the Pacific Northwest wind/ ice storms and the power outages that follow them are a relatively common event. Lots of above ground power lines, trees, wind and ice are a bad combination that comes together in some way or another pretty much every fall or winter. In my little home area we average about two significant (as in not just a quick blip) power outages a year. One of them typically happens when a tree knocks down a power line in the mid evening. We lose power at 7 or so and it gets fixed by the early morning. The other typically comes when a wind storm, maybe with ice which weights down the trees, knocks down a bunch of trees onto power lines. This one is typically a couple days and can be a week at the long end. Folks plan for this. They keep flashlights and a few packs of spare batteries. They have some kind of radio that runs on batteries if just an old Sony boom box and a few D batteries. They have a plan to keep their home at a decent, if not ideal, temperature. They keep some water around in case their water supply is interupted. Most people keep some food around. A decent amount of folks keep a small generator to run a couple lights and keep their freezer cold.
While they might not think they need a basement full of food folks generally know that it is smart to have some stuff in the pantry to ride these things out. They know they should keep some cash around too in case they can't use an ATM or debit card. They might not see the need for a dozen semi automatic military rifles but generally see the reason to keep a gun (or a few) around. They might not stack cases of ammo in the basement next to the tons of food they can usually see the common sense of having a few extra boxes of bullets in the gun cabinet.
5. Both of these are long term projects. Unless you happen to get a huge windfall and use it responably you cannot generally gain financial peace without a long term effort. It takes time to figure out a budget that works for you, save an emergency fund, maybe get out of debt and start things really moving. Paying off a traditional home will almost certainly take more than a decade. Building up enough money to retire with dignity and maybe even have some fun will take serious effort for a long time.
Preparedness is similarly a long term project. First of all it involves a decent amount of stuff like food, gear, guns, ammo, etc and I am sorry to be the one to tell you but this stuff gets expensive fast. I am not saying you can't do it or that preparedness is only for the rich but I am saying that for most people it isn't an overnight project. Even if you happen to be wealthy and have a big chunk of money sitting around which you could put strait into preps it takes lots of time to figure out how to use gear and equipment, cook staple food and all sorts of other stuff.
I suppose it is possible that some former Special Forces NCO who grew up on a small family farm where he learned everything there is to know about food production, storage and mechanical skills and has a ton of money from his high profile job as a ER doctor could get prepared with a fat bank account and a weekend of online shopping then a couple weeks for delivery. It is theoretically possible. However I have never heard of a situation that worked out anything like that. It takes months if not years to reach a good level of preparedness.
6. Consistent long term effort is more important than any one push. It is great if one month you buy a rifle, learn to can food and start a rigerous exercise program. However it is practicing with your rifle every month and adding a bit of food every month as well as continual progress in other skills that will really get you anywhere. When it comes to financial stuff the obvious benefits of saving every month and dollar cost averaging investments should not need to be stated.
7. Some folks will not understand. Half the people I know think I am a loon when it comes to money. Simple common sense frugal lifestyles, while they make sense are not common or popular anymore. [Much to the overall detriment of society I must add.] They don't understand why I don't own a relatively new car or nice furniture or do all kinds of other things. If the people I know think I am a loon when it comes to money I don't even want to know what a lot of them think when it comes to preps. Even factoring in that I do not share anything about that part of my/ our life with anyone but a pretty close circle some folks think it is pretty crazy. I imagine more people than that think it is crazy and decide not to mention that to me.
Remember you have just until early Saturday morning to enter our Awesome Ammo Giveaway Contest. Just wanted to make sure you are aware of it. You can get a whole bunch of free ammo for no money and a very modest investment of a few minutes of your time.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Staple Cooking and Random Thoughts Theiron
-You need to prepare to have failures. I am not going to say you will be a failure of that everything you try to make is going to fail the first time. Just that at least now and then you are going to fail. I suggest having a backup plan so that at 8 oclock at night (speaking from experience;) when you've been waiting for dinner for two hours and the recipe has failed twice (so everyone is hungry and the cook is really upset) you've got dinner. Not saying you need a whole extra menu but a frozen pizza or a takeout menu might be wise to keep around.
-You've got to learn the rules before you try to break the rules. Some elements of cooking like BBQing, pasta and making salad's give a lot of flexibility. They are more like art where you can just sort of toss things which generally sound good together and usually it works out at least OK if not well. However staple cooking, and baking (especially with yeast) just doesn't work that way. It is a lot more like chemistry in that there are lots of rules as well as some hard and fast ways to go things. You've got to learn some rules and start with recipes that work. After you get those down you can start adding a little of this and a bit less of the other thing. People like professional chef's and bakers can just toss stuff together and have it work because they have internalized the rules and best methods for doing things. Until you get to that point you should get a recipe book or hop onto google and find some stuff to make.
-Start small. The first time to try staple cooking is not the main course when you are having your in laws, boss and 20 best friends over for a fancy dinner. A side dish (biscuits, beans, etc) on a random day is probably a better idea. The learning curve is steep so it is best to keep your expectations modest at first.
-Cook stuff you like. This should go without saying but sometimes people get sucked into the staple cooking idea and carried away. No matter how wonderfully you make it a thing you don't like isn't much of a success. If you like soup then make soup. If you like like beans cook beans.
-Don't give up. The learning curve is steep and you are going to have failures. The good thing is that once you start to figure out the rules of a certain type of cooking (bread, beans, etc) you are all of a sudden able to do all kinds of things in that category. You will be able to save lots of money and eat wonderful healthy food. You will turn a bag of this and some boxes of that into great tasting food. All of the work is well worth the end results.
Remember you have just until early Saturday morning to enter our Awesome Ammo Giveaway Contest. Just wanted to make sure you are aware of it. You can get a whole bunch of free ammo for no money and a very modest investment of a few minutes of your time.
-You've got to learn the rules before you try to break the rules. Some elements of cooking like BBQing, pasta and making salad's give a lot of flexibility. They are more like art where you can just sort of toss things which generally sound good together and usually it works out at least OK if not well. However staple cooking, and baking (especially with yeast) just doesn't work that way. It is a lot more like chemistry in that there are lots of rules as well as some hard and fast ways to go things. You've got to learn some rules and start with recipes that work. After you get those down you can start adding a little of this and a bit less of the other thing. People like professional chef's and bakers can just toss stuff together and have it work because they have internalized the rules and best methods for doing things. Until you get to that point you should get a recipe book or hop onto google and find some stuff to make.
-Start small. The first time to try staple cooking is not the main course when you are having your in laws, boss and 20 best friends over for a fancy dinner. A side dish (biscuits, beans, etc) on a random day is probably a better idea. The learning curve is steep so it is best to keep your expectations modest at first.
-Cook stuff you like. This should go without saying but sometimes people get sucked into the staple cooking idea and carried away. No matter how wonderfully you make it a thing you don't like isn't much of a success. If you like soup then make soup. If you like like beans cook beans.
-Don't give up. The learning curve is steep and you are going to have failures. The good thing is that once you start to figure out the rules of a certain type of cooking (bread, beans, etc) you are all of a sudden able to do all kinds of things in that category. You will be able to save lots of money and eat wonderful healthy food. You will turn a bag of this and some boxes of that into great tasting food. All of the work is well worth the end results.
Remember you have just until early Saturday morning to enter our Awesome Ammo Giveaway Contest. Just wanted to make sure you are aware of it. You can get a whole bunch of free ammo for no money and a very modest investment of a few minutes of your time.
Quote of the Day
"Number one, what other people think is never a good motivator for money. Whatever broke people think, you need to run the other way. It's like taking diet advice from fat people. What they all think doesn't really matter."
-Dave Ramsey
-Dave Ramsey
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
The Debt That Binds
I work with a guy who doesn't like his job much. He would like to do something else with his life but he can't. The reason he can't is that he is in debt which combined with a relatively high lifestyle means they couldn't afford the drop in income. His debt is binding them to a job he doesn't want to do any more.
The thing is that debt is a promise against your future earnings. You are literally promising to pay someone money you have not earned yet. Of course there is the matter of interest. That there is a whole industry based around people borrowing money should indicate to you that it isn't a sound fiscal move. However we can almost think of that secondly.
Also as Mayberry noted there is a certain amount of gamble present in that you are betting you will still be in a situation where you can make X payment in a couple months/ years/ decades. Every unique situation is different so for some folks that gamble is almost a sure thing as your income is quite secure. However for others it is a real craps shoot.
An implied part of promising money you have not earned yet is that you will make choices that will continue to make that money available. This limits your options. You might want to quit doing what you do now and would face at least a short term income disruption. Maybe you want to get out of the rat race and into a slower paced job or a different area. Maybe you want to live in a van down by the river or join a cult. By taking on debt you drastically limit your future options. From a certain perspective a nice car (of course on a 90 month loan), in a nice house full of nice stuff is a fancy cage.
I am not saying that you should take a vow of poverty or simplicity or anything. I am a pretty hard core capitalist and truly believe that greed is good. I want you to have nice stuff and a wonderful life. It is just that I want you to know what the non economic cost of debt (doubly so to a high % of what you earn) will be so you can make an informed choice. You might offset doing it a bit slower and less fancy by being rewarded with a heck of a lot more freedom.
The thing is that debt is a promise against your future earnings. You are literally promising to pay someone money you have not earned yet. Of course there is the matter of interest. That there is a whole industry based around people borrowing money should indicate to you that it isn't a sound fiscal move. However we can almost think of that secondly.
Also as Mayberry noted there is a certain amount of gamble present in that you are betting you will still be in a situation where you can make X payment in a couple months/ years/ decades. Every unique situation is different so for some folks that gamble is almost a sure thing as your income is quite secure. However for others it is a real craps shoot.
An implied part of promising money you have not earned yet is that you will make choices that will continue to make that money available. This limits your options. You might want to quit doing what you do now and would face at least a short term income disruption. Maybe you want to get out of the rat race and into a slower paced job or a different area. Maybe you want to live in a van down by the river or join a cult. By taking on debt you drastically limit your future options. From a certain perspective a nice car (of course on a 90 month loan), in a nice house full of nice stuff is a fancy cage.
I am not saying that you should take a vow of poverty or simplicity or anything. I am a pretty hard core capitalist and truly believe that greed is good. I want you to have nice stuff and a wonderful life. It is just that I want you to know what the non economic cost of debt (doubly so to a high % of what you earn) will be so you can make an informed choice. You might offset doing it a bit slower and less fancy by being rewarded with a heck of a lot more freedom.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Question Of The Day
Dear TOR:
What is a wooby? What is a bivy? Thanks.
-Saddle Tramp
Saddle Tramo, Thank you very much for the questions. I am consistently suprised about how rarely I get questions. I think part of it is that there is a very macho streak in many survivalists so that unless they will actually die (Excuse me but where do you keep the Israeli bandages? I have a bit of a gunshot wound and could really use one.) I like questions because they show me that someone is TRYING TO LEARN. Any time one person has the guts to actually ask a question there are surely 5 folks who didn't know what was being talked about and were embarassed to ask.
A bivy is a water resistant/ proof bag that goes over your sleeping bag to keep you warmer and dry in inclimental weather. Here is an example of one. They vary in size and exact patterns. Some are just a waterproof sack which goes over your sleeping bag and zips all the way up. Some have a small pole or two to kind of get the bag off of your head. Personally I can say the waterproof sack style bivy takes a little bit of getting used to; though the first time it really raint it is amazing how quickly you will pull the top cover all the way over your head. Unless you are truly clostrophobic (sp) I would say the ones with the poles aren't necessary. The advantage of a bivy sack instead of a tent is that it is much lighter. A bivy weights a couple pounds which is a heck of a lot less than most tents. Also they are a lot more compact.
A wooby is properly called a poncho liner. Here is a picture of them. They are a light quilted nylon/ poly blanket which is quite warm for it's weight and rolls up pretty compact (about the size of the big family sized Campbells soup can) They can in theory be attached by the little strings on the side on the inside of a poncho but I don't recall ever actually seeing anyone do that but I think it was a big thing back in Vietnam. In the last decade or so people just use them as blankets.
As the story goes they are called woobies because you would be cold without it. I bring one to every Army overnight trip I go on. They are great for slipping into your sleeping bag's stuff sack to make it a bit warmer or to put into an assault pack for a mission. In cold weather (below 35ish) a woobie alone will not keep you comfortable but it will be the difference between being somewhat cold and tossing and turning all night and slipping into the danger zone.
Also you have just until early Saturday morning to enter our Awesome Ammo Giveaway Contest. Seriously you can get a whole bunch of free ammo for no money and a very modest investment of a few minutes of your time so hurry up and enter. Even if you don't have a good use for ammo cans you can just get a whole bunch of buddies to vote for you and win that way. Seriously enter already.
What is a wooby? What is a bivy? Thanks.
-Saddle Tramp
Saddle Tramo, Thank you very much for the questions. I am consistently suprised about how rarely I get questions. I think part of it is that there is a very macho streak in many survivalists so that unless they will actually die (Excuse me but where do you keep the Israeli bandages? I have a bit of a gunshot wound and could really use one.) I like questions because they show me that someone is TRYING TO LEARN. Any time one person has the guts to actually ask a question there are surely 5 folks who didn't know what was being talked about and were embarassed to ask.
A bivy is a water resistant/ proof bag that goes over your sleeping bag to keep you warmer and dry in inclimental weather. Here is an example of one. They vary in size and exact patterns. Some are just a waterproof sack which goes over your sleeping bag and zips all the way up. Some have a small pole or two to kind of get the bag off of your head. Personally I can say the waterproof sack style bivy takes a little bit of getting used to; though the first time it really raint it is amazing how quickly you will pull the top cover all the way over your head. Unless you are truly clostrophobic (sp) I would say the ones with the poles aren't necessary. The advantage of a bivy sack instead of a tent is that it is much lighter. A bivy weights a couple pounds which is a heck of a lot less than most tents. Also they are a lot more compact.
A wooby is properly called a poncho liner. Here is a picture of them. They are a light quilted nylon/ poly blanket which is quite warm for it's weight and rolls up pretty compact (about the size of the big family sized Campbells soup can) They can in theory be attached by the little strings on the side on the inside of a poncho but I don't recall ever actually seeing anyone do that but I think it was a big thing back in Vietnam. In the last decade or so people just use them as blankets.
As the story goes they are called woobies because you would be cold without it. I bring one to every Army overnight trip I go on. They are great for slipping into your sleeping bag's stuff sack to make it a bit warmer or to put into an assault pack for a mission. In cold weather (below 35ish) a woobie alone will not keep you comfortable but it will be the difference between being somewhat cold and tossing and turning all night and slipping into the danger zone.
Also you have just until early Saturday morning to enter our Awesome Ammo Giveaway Contest. Seriously you can get a whole bunch of free ammo for no money and a very modest investment of a few minutes of your time so hurry up and enter. Even if you don't have a good use for ammo cans you can just get a whole bunch of buddies to vote for you and win that way. Seriously enter already.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
What Did You Do To Prepare This Week?
We had a pretty darn good preparedness week. First we went and got a bunch of extra formula for Walker which was really good. We already had a stash but now it is a pretty solid stash. Next I put a small Gerber folding knife onto my keychain. I just about always carry a knife anyway but knowing that if I am out of the house I have at least one knife won't hurt. Next time I go to the clothing and sales I will get a small led light to go on there also.
After a lot of consideration I decided that instead of getting body armor at this point I am going to take care of a couple things that have been on the list for a long time and a couple recent additions to the list that we can just really use. I ordered a Bianchi 100 Professional IWB holster for my Glock 19. I really wanted a good holster for it to carry while I am home on leave. I have holsters (full sized Glock size) that fit the 19 but not perfectly. The difference between a real good fit and an OK fit is readily apparant in concealed carry.
When it comes to ancillary equipment for my AK I have been way off of my own desired levels (for a rifle like this 3k roounds and 20 mags) for a long time. For awhile it wasn't really even on the radar and after that it has been towards the bottom of the list. It has been on the list for awhile now and the ammo was even on this years New Years Resolutions or at least the first round of them. I should also be able to get a full case of 9mm JHP ammo by years end. So I went ahead and ordered a case of 7.62x39 JHP Wolf ammo and 10 Eastern European surplus mags to round things out. I will go home and toss that stuff into an ammo can and aside from picking up a couple boxes now and then to go shooting not need to think about it.
Also I went out and ordered a brand new ECWS 3 Piece Sleep System. Now both Wifey and I have one. We have a couple other sleeping bags floating around but these things are a really good piece of kit.
I feel relieved to have the AK setup finally meet my own rather ambitious standards. Especially given that AK stuff is almost universally imported it gives me a lot of peace of mind to know I have a comfortable amount of ammo and plenty of mags put away. Before I had enough mags and some ammo for me to use but not much of a margin for field loss or helping a friend. Now I have that margin. Having another serious sleeping bag coming into the inventory is sure a good feeling.
I am going to let our Awesome Ammo Giveaway Contest go for a few more days as technological issues and life have put it, despite my best intentions, a bit onto the back burner. Seriously it amazes me how many people will gripe and complain about how expensive ammo is and how they can't afford it but won't put forth a little bit of effort to get a solid chance at willing a half case of the stuff for free. If you don't own any of the calibers you could stand to win (9/40/45) then enter anyway and sell or trade the stuff and buy something you want.
Also if you want extra special reader points (redeamable for all kinds of great prizes and trips) then please mention this blog to a friend, family member, gun buddy or like minded individual. Send them a link to your favorite post or just the blog itself or tell them our name and let them look us up on google.
I have some awesome stuff in store for next week so stay tuned. Got one in my head about staple cooking. Another one about chest rigs and gear. Maybe one about knives too. Probably something or another about money or home finances. Best of all you just might hear from Wifey.
After a lot of consideration I decided that instead of getting body armor at this point I am going to take care of a couple things that have been on the list for a long time and a couple recent additions to the list that we can just really use. I ordered a Bianchi 100 Professional IWB holster for my Glock 19. I really wanted a good holster for it to carry while I am home on leave. I have holsters (full sized Glock size) that fit the 19 but not perfectly. The difference between a real good fit and an OK fit is readily apparant in concealed carry.
When it comes to ancillary equipment for my AK I have been way off of my own desired levels (for a rifle like this 3k roounds and 20 mags) for a long time. For awhile it wasn't really even on the radar and after that it has been towards the bottom of the list. It has been on the list for awhile now and the ammo was even on this years New Years Resolutions or at least the first round of them. I should also be able to get a full case of 9mm JHP ammo by years end. So I went ahead and ordered a case of 7.62x39 JHP Wolf ammo and 10 Eastern European surplus mags to round things out. I will go home and toss that stuff into an ammo can and aside from picking up a couple boxes now and then to go shooting not need to think about it.
Also I went out and ordered a brand new ECWS 3 Piece Sleep System. Now both Wifey and I have one. We have a couple other sleeping bags floating around but these things are a really good piece of kit.
I feel relieved to have the AK setup finally meet my own rather ambitious standards. Especially given that AK stuff is almost universally imported it gives me a lot of peace of mind to know I have a comfortable amount of ammo and plenty of mags put away. Before I had enough mags and some ammo for me to use but not much of a margin for field loss or helping a friend. Now I have that margin. Having another serious sleeping bag coming into the inventory is sure a good feeling.
I am going to let our Awesome Ammo Giveaway Contest go for a few more days as technological issues and life have put it, despite my best intentions, a bit onto the back burner. Seriously it amazes me how many people will gripe and complain about how expensive ammo is and how they can't afford it but won't put forth a little bit of effort to get a solid chance at willing a half case of the stuff for free. If you don't own any of the calibers you could stand to win (9/40/45) then enter anyway and sell or trade the stuff and buy something you want.
Also if you want extra special reader points (redeamable for all kinds of great prizes and trips) then please mention this blog to a friend, family member, gun buddy or like minded individual. Send them a link to your favorite post or just the blog itself or tell them our name and let them look us up on google.
I have some awesome stuff in store for next week so stay tuned. Got one in my head about staple cooking. Another one about chest rigs and gear. Maybe one about knives too. Probably something or another about money or home finances. Best of all you just might hear from Wifey.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
America's Debt Crisis
It is nice to start things off with a quote. This one sums the situation up pretty succinctly.
"Right now, it doesn’t look like anybody up there can add, whether they’ve got an R or a D."
-Dave Ramsey
I am seriously concerned about America's debt. There are all kinds of worst case scenarios that are maybe's but THIS IS HAPPENING. I know we are past the point of a painless fix. At some point we will get to a place where there isn't a fix.
You can read a draft of the proposed report here. I appreciate that it is a slide show type presetation versus a dry and wordy mess. It doesn't take too long to look through. There were all kinds of ideas; some of which were pretty blah and others were more interesting. Huffington Post highlighted some of them.
•Roll discretionary spending back to FY2010 levels for FY2012, requires 1% cut in discretionary budget authority every year from FY2013 though 2015;
•Fully offset the cost of the "Doc Fix" by asking doctors and other health providers, lawyers, and individuals to take responsibility for slowing health care cost growth;
•Reduce farm subsidies by3 billion per year by reducing direct payments and other subsidies;
•Achieve 100 billion in Illustrative Defense Cuts;
•Index retirement age for Social security to increases in longevity. "This option is projected to increase the age by one month every two years after it reaches 67 under current law, meaning the normal retirement age would reach 68 in about 2050 and 69 in about 2075." There will be a "hardship exemption" for those unable to work beyond 62;
•Give retirees the choice of collecting half their benefits early and the other half at a later age to minimize impact of actuarial reduction and support phased retirement options;
•Reduce corporate tax rate to 26% and permanently extend the research credit;
•Gradually increase gas tax to fund transportation spending.
There were definitely some good parts to this whole thing. First and probably most significantly we are actually talking about our deficit problem in a broad and public venue. Next I really enjoyed that this effort was at least fairly bipartisan. Both sides of Congress and the parties they represent and really ever national level elected official except Ron Paul is to blame. You could even argue that Ron Paul shares some blame for not doing a good enough job of convincing his co workers to get on board with sound monetary/ economic policies. More significantly the suggestions which stemmed from this Commission seem to me pretty bipartisan. It suggests cuts in just about everything and is sure to have an idea or two which makes just about everybody annoyed.
Americans have a serious issue of wanting services and social type support networks but not wanting to pay for them. We want first class infrastructure and the benefits of a psuedo welfare state but want to pay the taxes of a your on your own Carribean tax haven. Americans as a group need to come to terms with the simple fact that we are going to get the government, services and benefits that we pay for.
The real issue isn't so much coming up with ideas but making those ideas palitable to enough people and actually getting them implimented. Politicians hate the idea of losing the earmarks which let them bring bacon to their home districts and keep the businesses which fund their campaigns happy. Just about every group of citizens has some pet tax credit or another which to them is untouchable such as "earned" income credit, mortgage interest deduction, capital gains, etc.
I am not an economist or an accountant or a financial genius. However like most other people I have had to balance budgets and deal with bills and all that. Like anyone else I have had times when I didn't pay attention or made mistakes and lived beyond my means. I think the first and most significant step is realizing you have a problem, if just a temporary one. Next you look at what kind of income you have coming in. You put your expenses and obligations onto a list in terms of priority. WHAT DO YOU REALLY NEED? A place to live, utilties, fuel and food are quite important. After that you pay whatever bills you have. Additional money can be used to try and pay off debt and have a little bit of fun.
What does this have to do with anything? The same train of thought could be made in terms of our national budget. We need to cut out fancy stuff like foreign aid, farm subsidies and meddling in health care and focus on basic services, reasonable defense and just plain getting our house in order. The situation is that we need to get our own house in order and that might mean we can't do all kinds of things we like doing.
Personally I have some thoughts on how to deal with our debt. In no particular order:
"Right now, it doesn’t look like anybody up there can add, whether they’ve got an R or a D."
-Dave Ramsey
I am seriously concerned about America's debt. There are all kinds of worst case scenarios that are maybe's but THIS IS HAPPENING. I know we are past the point of a painless fix. At some point we will get to a place where there isn't a fix.
You can read a draft of the proposed report here. I appreciate that it is a slide show type presetation versus a dry and wordy mess. It doesn't take too long to look through. There were all kinds of ideas; some of which were pretty blah and others were more interesting. Huffington Post highlighted some of them.
•Roll discretionary spending back to FY2010 levels for FY2012, requires 1% cut in discretionary budget authority every year from FY2013 though 2015;
•Fully offset the cost of the "Doc Fix" by asking doctors and other health providers, lawyers, and individuals to take responsibility for slowing health care cost growth;
•Reduce farm subsidies by3 billion per year by reducing direct payments and other subsidies;
•Achieve 100 billion in Illustrative Defense Cuts;
•Index retirement age for Social security to increases in longevity. "This option is projected to increase the age by one month every two years after it reaches 67 under current law, meaning the normal retirement age would reach 68 in about 2050 and 69 in about 2075." There will be a "hardship exemption" for those unable to work beyond 62;
•Give retirees the choice of collecting half their benefits early and the other half at a later age to minimize impact of actuarial reduction and support phased retirement options;
•Reduce corporate tax rate to 26% and permanently extend the research credit;
•Gradually increase gas tax to fund transportation spending.
There were definitely some good parts to this whole thing. First and probably most significantly we are actually talking about our deficit problem in a broad and public venue. Next I really enjoyed that this effort was at least fairly bipartisan. Both sides of Congress and the parties they represent and really ever national level elected official except Ron Paul is to blame. You could even argue that Ron Paul shares some blame for not doing a good enough job of convincing his co workers to get on board with sound monetary/ economic policies. More significantly the suggestions which stemmed from this Commission seem to me pretty bipartisan. It suggests cuts in just about everything and is sure to have an idea or two which makes just about everybody annoyed.
Americans have a serious issue of wanting services and social type support networks but not wanting to pay for them. We want first class infrastructure and the benefits of a psuedo welfare state but want to pay the taxes of a your on your own Carribean tax haven. Americans as a group need to come to terms with the simple fact that we are going to get the government, services and benefits that we pay for.
The real issue isn't so much coming up with ideas but making those ideas palitable to enough people and actually getting them implimented. Politicians hate the idea of losing the earmarks which let them bring bacon to their home districts and keep the businesses which fund their campaigns happy. Just about every group of citizens has some pet tax credit or another which to them is untouchable such as "earned" income credit, mortgage interest deduction, capital gains, etc.
I am not an economist or an accountant or a financial genius. However like most other people I have had to balance budgets and deal with bills and all that. Like anyone else I have had times when I didn't pay attention or made mistakes and lived beyond my means. I think the first and most significant step is realizing you have a problem, if just a temporary one. Next you look at what kind of income you have coming in. You put your expenses and obligations onto a list in terms of priority. WHAT DO YOU REALLY NEED? A place to live, utilties, fuel and food are quite important. After that you pay whatever bills you have. Additional money can be used to try and pay off debt and have a little bit of fun.
What does this have to do with anything? The same train of thought could be made in terms of our national budget. We need to cut out fancy stuff like foreign aid, farm subsidies and meddling in health care and focus on basic services, reasonable defense and just plain getting our house in order. The situation is that we need to get our own house in order and that might mean we can't do all kinds of things we like doing.
Personally I have some thoughts on how to deal with our debt. In no particular order:
- It is absolutely imperative that we get entitlements under control. I say again, it is absolutely imperative that we get entitlements under control. While a few hundred million for this project or a billion for a bailout catch headlines but Social Security, Medicare and Medicade are going to bankrupt us. At the same time we need to honor our promise to individuals already recieving these benefits and those who will start to collect them soon. However those under a certain age (somewhere around 52-55) have time to adjust their plans. Then some smart people could sit down with an actuary table and figure out how to fund benefits for those who were close to collecting. We have to bend the bell curve or it is going to destroy us.
- We need to have a serious discussion about if we can afford to continue our overseas adventures; particularly Iraq and Afghanistan. Without even talking about if these wars are good or meaningful we need to talk about how to pay for them. The idea that we can fight wars and not actually pay for them just doesn't mesh with reality. Our overseas footprint in general should also be up for serious articulate discussion. Having some strategic bases as well as prepositioned logistics makes sense. I would be willing to would wager that we could dramatically decrease our overseas presence at little or no cost to our real military capabilities. Europe and Asia can afford to pay for their own defense and if they should choose not to well that might play out badly for them. I am stationed in Germany and I hate to tell you but the Russians aren't storming through the Fulda Gap any time soon. North Korea doesn't have the fuel and rations to invade anybody and why should we care if they invade South Korea anyway?
- We need to motivate businesses, particularly the kind of manufacturing that provides decent paying jobs in medium to large numbers to stay in or move to America and make things which people want to buy. This will go a long way toward fixing our import/export problem. This whole idea of an information or finance or service economy isn't working well. Of course all those things occur in any economy but we have just got to start making stuff that people in other nations want to buy. At least if we ever want to fix our trade situation.
- We need to admit that we cannot afford to continue foreign aid on anywhere near the current scale. Buying a few million pounds of rice so hundreds of thousands of people in some crappy African country do not starve to death is to me acceptable and in the big scheme of things isn't a drop in the bucket. However we do not need to be giving money to nations like Russia, India, Egypt and Indonesia. We just can't afford it.
- Farm subsidies in the USA are just rediculous. If I were in charge I would cancel them all immediately. At a minimum we need to stop paying massive agri businesses a whole bunch of money that was meant for small family farms. Also the idea of paying people essentially not to produce food on a given piece of land is rediculous. I mean heaven forbid we piss off Iowa because they have the first primaries and all but this is just completely and totally stupid.
Quote of the Day with a Bonus Question
"Own 30 luxury cars. Drive a Bentley. Get the whole Ferrari, not just the horn. But do it when you’re really ready, meaning when you can actually pay for them. With money. Real money. "
"So today, ask someone who knows you well and cares enough to be honest what your blind spots are. Maybe it’s a gun collection that’s bigger than your budget. Maybe it’s a fleet of shoes you don’t really wear, but couldn’t really live without. It could be any number of things that would be perfect for you, if you were financially ready for them. But if you’re not ready for them right now, what might be a fun purchase next year is actually a blind spot today. "
-Jon Acuff
One part I really like about this quote is "it could be any number of things that would be perfect for you, if you were financially ready for them. But if you’re not ready for them right now, what might be a fun purchase next year is actually a blind spot today." It isn't saying in some kind of judgemental way that you can't have and by implication do not deserve the things you want. Just that right now you can't afford it and should wait until you can.
Guess I will start with the sharing. For a long time my blind spot was my gun collection. I was in gun nut, then survivalist mode but hadn't drank the Dave Ramsey coolaid yet. I was definitely gun poor (large gun collection and little to no savings) for a really long time. I ultimately got out of this one not because I trimmed down the gun collection (though I did a bit of that for other reasons) but because I drastically increased my income. In hindsight when I was younger and had pretty a meager income I should have just purchased and stuck with a good basic setup (pistol, shotgun, defensive rifle, .22). Then just maybe purchased a extra couple extras like a scoped rifle and or more concealable pistol then held fast until my income grew. Instead of having several more guns and all their ancillary equipment I should have saved up at least Baby Step 1 and maybe even started on an emergency fund.
Nowadays I am not sure we have a blind spot or at least not a massive one. We live a pretty frugal life that is safely below our modest income. The only thing I which comes to mind is that we spend a lot of money on travel. Probably over the course of the year more money than we realize. Between occasional trips home and traveling Europe it adds up. We pay cash so it isn't a real issue, just a question of if that money would be better suited elsewhere. It is quite unlikely that we will change our travel habits but questioning expenses is a healthy exercise.
What is your blind spot?
Please remember that we are running an awesome contest. Write a post on your site/blog/forum elsewhere online about how you use ammo cans. Here is a shell you can use if you want.
" Lucky Gunner partnered with TSLRF to put together a contest. The goal is to come up with the most creative way to use ammo cans. I use ammo cans to _____________________. The prize is a half case of free ammo! See the full details here."
If you paste that shell into your blog or website or favorite forum then add in what you use ammo cans for and you will be good it go. You do not need to use the above shell. I just wrote the shell out to make it as easy as possible for you to enter. For a qualifying post you just need to be sure you link to ammo cans and TSLRF in your post!
b. Copy the link to your post and add it to the comments section on this post. You can also email a link to your entry to me. This enters you into the contest.
c. The contest will run until 14 November. After the contest has closed, I'll do another post w/all the qualifying entries. Our readers will get to vote on which post was the best (either entertaining or most informative) via a survey. Folks who enter can tell their readers/ friends and family about the survey and they can vote in favor of your entry - so be sure and spread the word!
d. Based on the poll results, the winner gets their choice of 500 rounds of ammo from Lucky Gunner. See full details here.
"So today, ask someone who knows you well and cares enough to be honest what your blind spots are. Maybe it’s a gun collection that’s bigger than your budget. Maybe it’s a fleet of shoes you don’t really wear, but couldn’t really live without. It could be any number of things that would be perfect for you, if you were financially ready for them. But if you’re not ready for them right now, what might be a fun purchase next year is actually a blind spot today. "
-Jon Acuff
One part I really like about this quote is "it could be any number of things that would be perfect for you, if you were financially ready for them. But if you’re not ready for them right now, what might be a fun purchase next year is actually a blind spot today." It isn't saying in some kind of judgemental way that you can't have and by implication do not deserve the things you want. Just that right now you can't afford it and should wait until you can.
Guess I will start with the sharing. For a long time my blind spot was my gun collection. I was in gun nut, then survivalist mode but hadn't drank the Dave Ramsey coolaid yet. I was definitely gun poor (large gun collection and little to no savings) for a really long time. I ultimately got out of this one not because I trimmed down the gun collection (though I did a bit of that for other reasons) but because I drastically increased my income. In hindsight when I was younger and had pretty a meager income I should have just purchased and stuck with a good basic setup (pistol, shotgun, defensive rifle, .22). Then just maybe purchased a extra couple extras like a scoped rifle and or more concealable pistol then held fast until my income grew. Instead of having several more guns and all their ancillary equipment I should have saved up at least Baby Step 1 and maybe even started on an emergency fund.
Nowadays I am not sure we have a blind spot or at least not a massive one. We live a pretty frugal life that is safely below our modest income. The only thing I which comes to mind is that we spend a lot of money on travel. Probably over the course of the year more money than we realize. Between occasional trips home and traveling Europe it adds up. We pay cash so it isn't a real issue, just a question of if that money would be better suited elsewhere. It is quite unlikely that we will change our travel habits but questioning expenses is a healthy exercise.
What is your blind spot?
Please remember that we are running an awesome contest. Write a post on your site/blog/forum elsewhere online about how you use ammo cans. Here is a shell you can use if you want.
" Lucky Gunner partnered with TSLRF to put together a contest. The goal is to come up with the most creative way to use ammo cans. I use ammo cans to _____________________. The prize is a half case of free ammo! See the full details here."
If you paste that shell into your blog or website or favorite forum then add in what you use ammo cans for and you will be good it go. You do not need to use the above shell. I just wrote the shell out to make it as easy as possible for you to enter. For a qualifying post you just need to be sure you link to ammo cans and TSLRF in your post!
b. Copy the link to your post and add it to the comments section on this post. You can also email a link to your entry to me. This enters you into the contest.
c. The contest will run until 14 November. After the contest has closed, I'll do another post w/all the qualifying entries. Our readers will get to vote on which post was the best (either entertaining or most informative) via a survey. Folks who enter can tell their readers/ friends and family about the survey and they can vote in favor of your entry - so be sure and spread the word!
d. Based on the poll results, the winner gets their choice of 500 rounds of ammo from Lucky Gunner. See full details here.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Thoughts on Knives
As I noted awhile back recently my EDC Cold Steel folder was a field loss of sorts. I didn't lose it but it is gone. Anyway I think that is a good reminder of a point about knives. Don't buy one that is so expensive it will be a real loss if it is lost/ broken/ stolen/ whatever. I hesitate to say an exact dollar figure that everyone should use because it depends so much on your situation. Being able to readily replace a lost knife is probably a good test. For me that is somewhere in the $50-65 range. For other folks it might be more like $25 or 400.
Like any tool you carry and use sometimes knives are casualties of some kind of event. The same could be said about a lot of other stuff including guns. Another benefit of carrying affordable knives is that you can, if so inclined, just keep a couple spares lying around in a box somewhere. Getting a couple of the folder I like to carry every day as backups is on my long list. A lifetime of outdoors activities has left me with a decent collection of random knives and a recent Cold Steel purchase gave us some intentional redundancy. It would however be nice to have spares of the exact knife I like to carry in my pocket. Maybe next year.
Anyway before getting sucked into the coolest new $342 tactical urban ninja SPECOPS elite fighting knife you really should think twice. Affordable knives have the benefit that it isn't a huge hit if they are lost or damages. Also it is a lot easier to keep a few extras around which never hurts.
Like any tool you carry and use sometimes knives are casualties of some kind of event. The same could be said about a lot of other stuff including guns. Another benefit of carrying affordable knives is that you can, if so inclined, just keep a couple spares lying around in a box somewhere. Getting a couple of the folder I like to carry every day as backups is on my long list. A lifetime of outdoors activities has left me with a decent collection of random knives and a recent Cold Steel purchase gave us some intentional redundancy. It would however be nice to have spares of the exact knife I like to carry in my pocket. Maybe next year.
Anyway before getting sucked into the coolest new $342 tactical urban ninja SPECOPS elite fighting knife you really should think twice. Affordable knives have the benefit that it isn't a huge hit if they are lost or damages. Also it is a lot easier to keep a few extras around which never hurts.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Veterans Day
We got a long weekend because well, as my Dad said it would be pretty messed up if we worked Veterans Day. Veterans Day is certainly a good one but I will take any excuse for a 4 day. Wifey and I did some various errands this morning and pretty much just hung out for the rest of the day. Didn't do anything big or special. No parades or celebrations or anything like that. I just didn't really feel like doing much of anything special. Wifey asked what I wanted for dinner (tacos) and suprised me with some Heineken which was cool.
Maybe I should say something cliche about sacrifice and honor and all that but I just really don't want to. I am a veteran in the most literal sense of having personally been in combat and just don't really feel the need.
I can say that everybody is mentally affected in some way by combat. How the mental stuff comes together from your past experiences and personality and whatever experiences you may have in war is truly intangible. I am not going to use value based words like weak or strong but for whatever reason the way people react to the same stimulus and experiences is not at all consistent. It absolutely is not A+B=C. What will profoundly affect one person might not do anything to another.
One interesting thing about OIF and OEF is that our soldier survivability has improved dramatically. Body Armor, new advanced medical training implimented down to the soldier level (in particular needle chest decompression) and better/ quicker access to higher levels of medical care are responsable for this. However an unfortunate second order effect of this (particularly quality body armor) is that while fewer soldiers are dying we are seeing a lot more amputee's. Basically with an IBA or OTV and a helmet on unless the face/ neck gets injured or one is completely vaporised there is a pretty high probability of survival. If you have ever spent any time near Landstuhl Regional Medical Center or Walter Reed you have almost surely have seen the real scars of war up close.
I think about these seriously wounded soldiers (and marines, airmen, etc all) a lot. I don't think you can see a young man missing multiple limbs and covered in 3rd degree burns and not consider it. I think about what their lives are going to be like. Hopefully they can find some kind of a meaningful career and a good relationship and build a life for themself. Unfortunately I believe the statistics aren't optomistic.
Despite my intentions otherwise this got all heavy and depressing, sorry folks. To be honest I just find veterans day really depressing. It is a testimant to my personal functionality that I do not spend it alone in a dark closet with a half gallon of whiskey.
Maybe I should say something cliche about sacrifice and honor and all that but I just really don't want to. I am a veteran in the most literal sense of having personally been in combat and just don't really feel the need.
I can say that everybody is mentally affected in some way by combat. How the mental stuff comes together from your past experiences and personality and whatever experiences you may have in war is truly intangible. I am not going to use value based words like weak or strong but for whatever reason the way people react to the same stimulus and experiences is not at all consistent. It absolutely is not A+B=C. What will profoundly affect one person might not do anything to another.
One interesting thing about OIF and OEF is that our soldier survivability has improved dramatically. Body Armor, new advanced medical training implimented down to the soldier level (in particular needle chest decompression) and better/ quicker access to higher levels of medical care are responsable for this. However an unfortunate second order effect of this (particularly quality body armor) is that while fewer soldiers are dying we are seeing a lot more amputee's. Basically with an IBA or OTV and a helmet on unless the face/ neck gets injured or one is completely vaporised there is a pretty high probability of survival. If you have ever spent any time near Landstuhl Regional Medical Center or Walter Reed you have almost surely have seen the real scars of war up close.
I think about these seriously wounded soldiers (and marines, airmen, etc all) a lot. I don't think you can see a young man missing multiple limbs and covered in 3rd degree burns and not consider it. I think about what their lives are going to be like. Hopefully they can find some kind of a meaningful career and a good relationship and build a life for themself. Unfortunately I believe the statistics aren't optomistic.
Despite my intentions otherwise this got all heavy and depressing, sorry folks. To be honest I just find veterans day really depressing. It is a testimant to my personal functionality that I do not spend it alone in a dark closet with a half gallon of whiskey.
Just In Time, Formula and Your Food Supplies
The whole concept of Just In Time inventory is an interesting thing. Basically how it works is that there is no (or very minimal) inventory in storage. Lets look at it from the perspective of a small store. The store doesn't have a "back room" with inventory in it. What is on the shelves is it. Lets say they have two of those big boxes of butter finger candy bars. When the first one is finished they order another from the little card (usually a bar code) on the box. Maybe they reorder cases of Dr. Pepper when they are down to two.
The reason businesses do this is that it makes economic sense for them. The combination of UPC codes, computer tracking and cheap regular deliveries make it the way to go. Instead of a big grocery store paying for a bunch of storage space they just get regular deliveries by trucks. Less worry about inventory (when applicable) going bad and no money tied up in inventory that is just sitting idle.
However JIT has a whole lot of weak points. The supply chains are long and complex. Truly a logistical feat and nightmare. While a combination of programmed reordering and inventory forecasting works pretty well it doesn't have much room for adjustment. A sudden jump in demand throws off the whole system for some time because it isn't just the last point in the supply chain (the store where you buy stuff) that practices some degree of JIT. Nobody has whole warehouses of food or batteries or bullets to respond to an unanticipated demand.
We recently had a good reminder of this when it comes to formula for kiddo. The AAFES (don't even get me started on them) folks use JIT. Here is US Army Europe there are very long supply lines that definitely have hickups even during normal business operations. There are periodically shelves bare of a particular item for some time. Not much of an issue for us as we stock up. However we are just getting into the whole formula feeding thing.
We had a good supply of one kind laid in as we got a great deal on it. However after some consideration we decided to try putting kiddo onto a more affordable brand. (Like a lot of things the stuff is the same minus labels, marketing and markup. To the point where it is sometimes made in the same factories.) It was working well so we decided to keep him on it. The stores here recently ran out of this type as well as the other two brands they stock. We had a bunch of the other kind but don't want to be switching things around on him all the time unless it is necessary. Today we were at another installation and picked up 6 more cans of the stuff we are using now. That gives kiddo about a month's worth of the stuff we use (not including our emergency stash) which should be plenty for those occasional times when we can't get it on the shelves.
This was particularly significant to me because when it comes to kiddo he eats just the one thing. We can get one percent milk instead of fat free (or whatever) or this kind of burger instead of the other kind but kiddo doesn't do that. I guess this was just a good additional reminder not to rely on JIT (even aside from various disaster scenarios) because something like a snowstorm in Nebraska can screw up food getting to stores in your neck of the woods. Yet another reason to have a decently stocked pantry.
Please remember that we are running an awesome contest. Write a post on your site/blog/forum elsewhere online about how you use ammo cans. Here is a shell you can use if you want.
" Lucky Gunner partnered with TSLRF to put together a contest. The goal is to come up with the most creative way to use ammo cans. I use ammo cans to _____________________. The prize is a half case of free ammo! See the full details here."
If you paste that shell into your blog or website or favorite forum then add in what you use ammo cans for and you will be good it go. You do not need to use the above shell. I just wrote the shell out to make it as easy as possible for you to enter. For a qualifying post you just need to be sure you link to ammo cans and TSLRF in your post!
b. Copy the link to your post and add it to the comments section on this post. You can also email a link to your entry to me. This enters you into the contest.
c. The contest will run until 14 November. After the contest has closed, I'll do another post w/all the qualifying entries. Our readers will get to vote on which post was the best (either entertaining or most informative) via a survey. Folks who enter can tell their readers/ friends and family about the survey and they can vote in favor of your entry - so be sure and spread the word!
d. Based on the poll results, the winner gets their choice of 500 rounds of ammo from Lucky Gunner. See full details here.
The reason businesses do this is that it makes economic sense for them. The combination of UPC codes, computer tracking and cheap regular deliveries make it the way to go. Instead of a big grocery store paying for a bunch of storage space they just get regular deliveries by trucks. Less worry about inventory (when applicable) going bad and no money tied up in inventory that is just sitting idle.
However JIT has a whole lot of weak points. The supply chains are long and complex. Truly a logistical feat and nightmare. While a combination of programmed reordering and inventory forecasting works pretty well it doesn't have much room for adjustment. A sudden jump in demand throws off the whole system for some time because it isn't just the last point in the supply chain (the store where you buy stuff) that practices some degree of JIT. Nobody has whole warehouses of food or batteries or bullets to respond to an unanticipated demand.
We recently had a good reminder of this when it comes to formula for kiddo. The AAFES (don't even get me started on them) folks use JIT. Here is US Army Europe there are very long supply lines that definitely have hickups even during normal business operations. There are periodically shelves bare of a particular item for some time. Not much of an issue for us as we stock up. However we are just getting into the whole formula feeding thing.
We had a good supply of one kind laid in as we got a great deal on it. However after some consideration we decided to try putting kiddo onto a more affordable brand. (Like a lot of things the stuff is the same minus labels, marketing and markup. To the point where it is sometimes made in the same factories.) It was working well so we decided to keep him on it. The stores here recently ran out of this type as well as the other two brands they stock. We had a bunch of the other kind but don't want to be switching things around on him all the time unless it is necessary. Today we were at another installation and picked up 6 more cans of the stuff we are using now. That gives kiddo about a month's worth of the stuff we use (not including our emergency stash) which should be plenty for those occasional times when we can't get it on the shelves.
This was particularly significant to me because when it comes to kiddo he eats just the one thing. We can get one percent milk instead of fat free (or whatever) or this kind of burger instead of the other kind but kiddo doesn't do that. I guess this was just a good additional reminder not to rely on JIT (even aside from various disaster scenarios) because something like a snowstorm in Nebraska can screw up food getting to stores in your neck of the woods. Yet another reason to have a decently stocked pantry.
Please remember that we are running an awesome contest. Write a post on your site/blog/forum elsewhere online about how you use ammo cans. Here is a shell you can use if you want.
" Lucky Gunner partnered with TSLRF to put together a contest. The goal is to come up with the most creative way to use ammo cans. I use ammo cans to _____________________. The prize is a half case of free ammo! See the full details here."
If you paste that shell into your blog or website or favorite forum then add in what you use ammo cans for and you will be good it go. You do not need to use the above shell. I just wrote the shell out to make it as easy as possible for you to enter. For a qualifying post you just need to be sure you link to ammo cans and TSLRF in your post!
b. Copy the link to your post and add it to the comments section on this post. You can also email a link to your entry to me. This enters you into the contest.
c. The contest will run until 14 November. After the contest has closed, I'll do another post w/all the qualifying entries. Our readers will get to vote on which post was the best (either entertaining or most informative) via a survey. Folks who enter can tell their readers/ friends and family about the survey and they can vote in favor of your entry - so be sure and spread the word!
d. Based on the poll results, the winner gets their choice of 500 rounds of ammo from Lucky Gunner. See full details here.
Quote of the Day
"Some say freedom is free, well I tend to disagree. Some say freedom is won at the barrel of a gun."
-A line from an old cadence.
Corrected and edited to note. The d and the s are right next to each other on the key board.
-A line from an old cadence.
Corrected and edited to note. The d and the s are right next to each other on the key board.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Houses and Housing
I have been thinking a lot about the nature of this beast. I think sustainability and affordability are sure interesting. Something occured to me recently. We think about housing almost all wrong. The concept of a home as an investment is kind of a misnomer. I think houses (and to a certain degree all realestate) as a physical brick, mortar and wood structure are a good investment. Of course they aren't going to go up 30% a year like they did in the run up to the housing bubble. However assuming you make reasonable choices house values will go up. Also in the meantime they can product income for you. Sort of like a stock that pays dividends you will do OK even when the market is flat. Where I think people go so wrong is that they lump housing in with the brick and mortar structures themselves. Housing is definitely a liability. Housing is a liability because you need, in some form or another, a place to live. To me the concept of purchasing some dirt and a structure isn't about investing it is about a place to lay your head and keep your stuff. Paying off that place is about reducing your liabilities.
Affordability is so important and is something we seem as a culture to have lost. The smart money folks say things like a payment not more than one third of your income. I have also heard your high total amount shouldn't be more than 3 times your total annual income. Our blog friend's advice to ignore the loan people and get what you know YOU CAN AFFORD is sound. Personally I think being pessimistic is the key. Don't think about the good months where you get some overtime or the great months where you get a big bonus but the bad months when you have a few down days and some unexpected expenses. Assuming you take the life of a loan to pay it off you are looking at between 15 and 30 years. While your income may grow and or inflation will make the true value of the monthloy cost lower a lot of bad things can and will happen in that amount of time.
Our Grandparents typically bought a home and stayed in it. Sometimes they got a really small starter home and upgraded after a kid or three to a place with more bedrooms. However the difference is that THEY STAYED THERE. Also though a house might have 4 or 5 bedrooms it wasn't typically a gazillion square feet. A house payment which might have been a little tight when the kids are young and the parents are in their early 30's (they got married younger) was comfortable 10 years later after Dad went from working on the line to being a supervisor or bring a teacher to a principle or whatever. Their payments got more comfortable because their incomes grew and there was some inflation. Conversely today people upgrade their house every time they get a raise and take out home equity loans to boot.
I think the way to look at housing and homes both as an investment and a place to live needs to be adjusted. The housing boom is over and while prices may rise they aren't going to be the idiot proof investment they have been for a decade or so. Think more about securing your families ability to well, not be homeless, than making a profit.
Write a post on your site/blog/forum elsewhere online about how you use ammo cans. Here is a shell you can use if you want.
" Lucky Gunner partnered with TSLRF to put together a contest. The goal is to come up with the most creative way to use ammo cans. I use ammo cans to _____________________. The prize is a half case of free ammo! See the full details here."
If you paste that shell into your blog or website or favorite forum then add in what you use ammo cans for and you will be good it go. You do not need to use the above shell. I just wrote the shell out to make it as easy as possible for you to enter. For a qualifying post you just need to be sure you link to ammo cans and TSLRF in your post!
b. Copy the link to your post and add it to the comments section on this post. You can also email a link to your entry to me. This enters you into the contest.
c. The contest will run until 14 November. After the contest has closed, I'll do another post w/all the qualifying entries. Our readers will get to vote on which post was the best (either entertaining or most informative) via a survey. Folks who enter can tell their readers/ friends and family about the survey and they can vote in favor of your entry - so be sure and spread the word!
d. Based on the poll results, the winner gets their choice of 500 rounds of ammo from Lucky Gunner. See full details here.
Affordability is so important and is something we seem as a culture to have lost. The smart money folks say things like a payment not more than one third of your income. I have also heard your high total amount shouldn't be more than 3 times your total annual income. Our blog friend's advice to ignore the loan people and get what you know YOU CAN AFFORD is sound. Personally I think being pessimistic is the key. Don't think about the good months where you get some overtime or the great months where you get a big bonus but the bad months when you have a few down days and some unexpected expenses. Assuming you take the life of a loan to pay it off you are looking at between 15 and 30 years. While your income may grow and or inflation will make the true value of the monthloy cost lower a lot of bad things can and will happen in that amount of time.
Our Grandparents typically bought a home and stayed in it. Sometimes they got a really small starter home and upgraded after a kid or three to a place with more bedrooms. However the difference is that THEY STAYED THERE. Also though a house might have 4 or 5 bedrooms it wasn't typically a gazillion square feet. A house payment which might have been a little tight when the kids are young and the parents are in their early 30's (they got married younger) was comfortable 10 years later after Dad went from working on the line to being a supervisor or bring a teacher to a principle or whatever. Their payments got more comfortable because their incomes grew and there was some inflation. Conversely today people upgrade their house every time they get a raise and take out home equity loans to boot.
I think the way to look at housing and homes both as an investment and a place to live needs to be adjusted. The housing boom is over and while prices may rise they aren't going to be the idiot proof investment they have been for a decade or so. Think more about securing your families ability to well, not be homeless, than making a profit.
Write a post on your site/blog/forum elsewhere online about how you use ammo cans. Here is a shell you can use if you want.
" Lucky Gunner partnered with TSLRF to put together a contest. The goal is to come up with the most creative way to use ammo cans. I use ammo cans to _____________________. The prize is a half case of free ammo! See the full details here."
If you paste that shell into your blog or website or favorite forum then add in what you use ammo cans for and you will be good it go. You do not need to use the above shell. I just wrote the shell out to make it as easy as possible for you to enter. For a qualifying post you just need to be sure you link to ammo cans and TSLRF in your post!
b. Copy the link to your post and add it to the comments section on this post. You can also email a link to your entry to me. This enters you into the contest.
c. The contest will run until 14 November. After the contest has closed, I'll do another post w/all the qualifying entries. Our readers will get to vote on which post was the best (either entertaining or most informative) via a survey. Folks who enter can tell their readers/ friends and family about the survey and they can vote in favor of your entry - so be sure and spread the word!
d. Based on the poll results, the winner gets their choice of 500 rounds of ammo from Lucky Gunner. See full details here.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Got Skills?
I have been sort of reflecting about my blogging recently. I realized that I talk a lot about stuff and using stuff and storing stuff but not much about skills. So for awhile I wondered why this is. I realized that it was because at least for where I am at in life (when I buy some land and start growing plants and raising animals this will change) I have the vast majority of the skills I want and need. I don't talk much about, just for example .45 acp ammo either. Not that it isn't important by any means it is just that awhile back I got enough that I stopped worrying about it. Since I write about the stuff I think about it is just natural that things which I am not thinking about don't get mentioned.
I guess I was sort of lucky when it comes to skills. My previous interests and work history put me in a pretty good place or at least a pretty good starting point. By the time I got fairly motivated and into preparedness I had just, through the course of my life, acquired a lot of the necessary skills. A lifetime of camping, skiing and backpacking had me pretty solid on being able to handle myself in primative conditions. Living out of a bag, starting fires, rendering first aid, etc. My time in the military and other experiences left me reasonably competent in terms of defending myself with or without weapons. [It was also convenient that I had a ton of camping type gear and was a bit of a gun nut so was at an OK place there also.] Because of this I just haven't worried about skills all that much.
I suppose in a way this is doing a bit of a disservice to my readers. I could probably talk about skills more as well as the reasons for them and lessons learned while acquiring skills (though I may have forgotten them). I fear that too many skills I just take for granted would be really beneficial to you guys.
I am not however sitting on my lorrels. Over the past couple years thanks to my job I have improved dramatically in terms of tactical stuff from shooting (close quarters or distance, magazine changes, etc) to planning and conducting offensive or defensive operations. I have forgotten more about tactics and field operations than I used to know. I have also learned to use world band radios and make all kinds of food from scratch. I also have learned to brew my own beer.
There are definitely some more skills I want to acquire. Right now I am pretty much in a holding pattern because most of the skills I want to acquire are not available here or the cost benefits derived from them are skewed in my current location. I would like to take a couple of defensive pistol courses as well as a defensive shotgun course. I would love to go to Appleseed and work on being a better shot (the great thing about this is pretty much everyone can improve). If I found a place I thought would actually teach me anything in terms of tactical carbine stuff at a price I could afford I would go there. When we get back to the states we will start canning food and other food storage stuff. I would like to get a ham radio license. The list goes on. Being a jack of all trades is hard.
I think I will try to talk more about skills.
I guess I was sort of lucky when it comes to skills. My previous interests and work history put me in a pretty good place or at least a pretty good starting point. By the time I got fairly motivated and into preparedness I had just, through the course of my life, acquired a lot of the necessary skills. A lifetime of camping, skiing and backpacking had me pretty solid on being able to handle myself in primative conditions. Living out of a bag, starting fires, rendering first aid, etc. My time in the military and other experiences left me reasonably competent in terms of defending myself with or without weapons. [It was also convenient that I had a ton of camping type gear and was a bit of a gun nut so was at an OK place there also.] Because of this I just haven't worried about skills all that much.
I suppose in a way this is doing a bit of a disservice to my readers. I could probably talk about skills more as well as the reasons for them and lessons learned while acquiring skills (though I may have forgotten them). I fear that too many skills I just take for granted would be really beneficial to you guys.
I am not however sitting on my lorrels. Over the past couple years thanks to my job I have improved dramatically in terms of tactical stuff from shooting (close quarters or distance, magazine changes, etc) to planning and conducting offensive or defensive operations. I have forgotten more about tactics and field operations than I used to know. I have also learned to use world band radios and make all kinds of food from scratch. I also have learned to brew my own beer.
There are definitely some more skills I want to acquire. Right now I am pretty much in a holding pattern because most of the skills I want to acquire are not available here or the cost benefits derived from them are skewed in my current location. I would like to take a couple of defensive pistol courses as well as a defensive shotgun course. I would love to go to Appleseed and work on being a better shot (the great thing about this is pretty much everyone can improve). If I found a place I thought would actually teach me anything in terms of tactical carbine stuff at a price I could afford I would go there. When we get back to the states we will start canning food and other food storage stuff. I would like to get a ham radio license. The list goes on. Being a jack of all trades is hard.
I think I will try to talk more about skills.
Breast Feeding, Formula and Diapers
We planned to have Wifey breast feed Walker and to do cloth diapers. Long story made short breast feeding didn't work. She saw a dozen nurses, a half dozen doctors and a couple of lactation consultants. We still aren't sure what the issue was but he wasn't getting fed and just kept losing weight. It was necessary to switch to formula so kiddo actually got some food. It was devastating to Wifey and pretty rough on me too as we really believe in breast feeding. It was hard enough on her that I didn't mention it on here for some time and only then after discussing if she was OK with me posting it. However at the end of the day the kid has got to get fed. He is a lot happier now that he isn't like starving and stuff.
As punishment for his failure kiddo will not recieve a Breast Man onesie. I think this was the first big lesson that sometimes things will happen beyond our control when it comes to kiddo. The saying "If you want to hear God laugh tell him your plans" comes to mind. Probably a lesson that was coming anyway.
His legs just got big enough to fill out cloth diapers which we are excited about as it means no more disposables. The breast feeding failure, while beyond our controll, definitely redoubled our motivation to make cloth diapers work. It is too early to say for sure but it doesn't seem like much of a hassle. She has those ones with the outer thing and a liner and just keeps a spare ready to go so changing is the same. I am sure we will talk more about this later.
Anyway I've got to get to work. Talk to you all later,
Ryan
As punishment for his failure kiddo will not recieve a Breast Man onesie. I think this was the first big lesson that sometimes things will happen beyond our control when it comes to kiddo. The saying "If you want to hear God laugh tell him your plans" comes to mind. Probably a lesson that was coming anyway.
His legs just got big enough to fill out cloth diapers which we are excited about as it means no more disposables. The breast feeding failure, while beyond our controll, definitely redoubled our motivation to make cloth diapers work. It is too early to say for sure but it doesn't seem like much of a hassle. She has those ones with the outer thing and a liner and just keeps a spare ready to go so changing is the same. I am sure we will talk more about this later.
Anyway I've got to get to work. Talk to you all later,
Ryan
Monday, November 8, 2010
I'm Back and Republicans Won The House
Our internet was down for a few days. I enjoyed spending extra time with the family and also was able to catch up some on my reading. During that time the Republicans won back control of the House of Represenatives. I am particularly happy that some Tea Party type folks won. Having a Paul in both the House and the Senate is going to be really fun. I anticipate at least double the long winded speaches nobody pays attention to and numerous bills which will never get out of commitee. Seriously though I think this represents a shift in a significant part of the "conservative" side and that is a good thing. We have had about all of the crony capitalism this country can handle. If this newfound majority can do a few things to get governments hands out of peoples pockets while starting to get our deficite under control that would be great. If they can at least mount an effective defense against any more madness that would be OK too. Personally I have rather limited expectations. If they can manage to act fiscally conservative some good stuff might happen. Time will tell.
There is all kinds of stuff in my head but I worked a super long day and am beat. Thoughts are not cohesively forming. You will get a few good posts over the long weekend I am sure. Have a good night.
There is all kinds of stuff in my head but I worked a super long day and am beat. Thoughts are not cohesively forming. You will get a few good posts over the long weekend I am sure. Have a good night.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Reader Questions: Alternate Title Ethics and Pragmatic Thinking On Medical Debt
First off thanks for your blog. I read it regularly. I do have one question about living within ones means, as I have been doing by default(bad credit).
After many attempts to dig out of debt and be debt free minus the needed bills- car ins., utilities, etc. I have fallen into a somewhat unique scenario. I had an employer file bankruptcy and eliminate any chance of COBRA health ins. shortly after being unemployed, I had an emergency surgery to the tune of $70,000. Since that time I have been accumulating massive medical debt, despite currently having health ins. My question is how can I justify continuing to pay a mortgage payment of debt? After all the different payments to different doctors even at modest monthly payment are added up, I cannot manage a $700 monthly payment on my modest salary. Bankruptcy is not a word in my vocabulary, but is it something I should look into? I have been paying some of them regularly, but am only paying the interest at this point.
As far as planning for any emergency, if I get $10 a week set aside, I am having a banner week, but some medical issue comes up my puny savings is wiped out again. I don't know if I am looking for insight or just venting so I do not shoot off all my bullets saved for a different day.
Thanks, DS in NJ
DS, First of all I just want to convey my sympathy for the rough situation you are in. Life can sometimes bring bad things at the time we are least capable of dealing with them. Anyway here are the issues I see. First is ethics as they apply to debt. Maybe it is ridiculously antiquated but I believe when you borrow or are advanced goods or services you are giving your word to honor it and pay under the terms of the agreement. I believe that you should think about these choices and if you can't repay then don't borrow. However as we mentioned things can happen. People can make reasonable (maybe not text book perfect but certainly not bad) decisions and still end up in a rough spot. Particularly when we talk about medical problems or the current climate of seriously long term job loss bad things can happen to good people who made solidly normal choices. I believe that we have bankruptcy laws for a reason. Folks can through bad luck, bad choices or some combination thereon get into a situation where they are not going to be able to repay their debts. Instead of people just not paying debts they can't pay anyway we might as well make it legal and let them, in time, move on with their lives.
Ethically I believe if you can afford to pay back your debts you should do so. [I find the concept of "strategic bankruptcy" and its passive friend jingle mail, provided you can afford the mortgage) completely unethical.] This debt should come after the basics like shelter, food, utilities, fuel, etc. Being homeless and sleeping in national forests with an empty stomach so you can try to pay off debt, while a dramatic choice, is probably a bit extreme. This debt should however come before luxuries like expensive entertainment, electronic gadgets, cool new guns, new cars, travel, etc.
I do not think bankruptcy is something to be proud of. Personally if I had to declare bankruptcy because I made a whole bunch of stupid choices I would be really ashamed of myself. However if I found myself with huge medical bills which got racked up over an inopportune time; or faced for whatever reason a drastic and permanent drop in income I wouldn't feel super happy about my situation but wouldn't look at myself negatively. Sometimes stuff happens to you and you just move on.
Speaking to your situation pragmatically. Without knowing all of your information (savings, debts, income, interest rates, etc) it is hard to say anything specific. I do not have all the information. To be honest I am not a professional financial anything and beyond generic thoughts I can just suggest you consult a professional. I would certainly at least look into bankruptcy. Go see a professional and run the numbers. Take some time and think about the second and third order effects of both scenarios; paying these debts and potentially filing bankruptcy then make a decision.
I wish you the best,
Ryan
After many attempts to dig out of debt and be debt free minus the needed bills- car ins., utilities, etc. I have fallen into a somewhat unique scenario. I had an employer file bankruptcy and eliminate any chance of COBRA health ins. shortly after being unemployed, I had an emergency surgery to the tune of $70,000. Since that time I have been accumulating massive medical debt, despite currently having health ins. My question is how can I justify continuing to pay a mortgage payment of debt? After all the different payments to different doctors even at modest monthly payment are added up, I cannot manage a $700 monthly payment on my modest salary. Bankruptcy is not a word in my vocabulary, but is it something I should look into? I have been paying some of them regularly, but am only paying the interest at this point.
As far as planning for any emergency, if I get $10 a week set aside, I am having a banner week, but some medical issue comes up my puny savings is wiped out again. I don't know if I am looking for insight or just venting so I do not shoot off all my bullets saved for a different day.
Thanks, DS in NJ
DS, First of all I just want to convey my sympathy for the rough situation you are in. Life can sometimes bring bad things at the time we are least capable of dealing with them. Anyway here are the issues I see. First is ethics as they apply to debt. Maybe it is ridiculously antiquated but I believe when you borrow or are advanced goods or services you are giving your word to honor it and pay under the terms of the agreement. I believe that you should think about these choices and if you can't repay then don't borrow. However as we mentioned things can happen. People can make reasonable (maybe not text book perfect but certainly not bad) decisions and still end up in a rough spot. Particularly when we talk about medical problems or the current climate of seriously long term job loss bad things can happen to good people who made solidly normal choices. I believe that we have bankruptcy laws for a reason. Folks can through bad luck, bad choices or some combination thereon get into a situation where they are not going to be able to repay their debts. Instead of people just not paying debts they can't pay anyway we might as well make it legal and let them, in time, move on with their lives.
Ethically I believe if you can afford to pay back your debts you should do so. [I find the concept of "strategic bankruptcy" and its passive friend jingle mail, provided you can afford the mortgage) completely unethical.] This debt should come after the basics like shelter, food, utilities, fuel, etc. Being homeless and sleeping in national forests with an empty stomach so you can try to pay off debt, while a dramatic choice, is probably a bit extreme. This debt should however come before luxuries like expensive entertainment, electronic gadgets, cool new guns, new cars, travel, etc.
I do not think bankruptcy is something to be proud of. Personally if I had to declare bankruptcy because I made a whole bunch of stupid choices I would be really ashamed of myself. However if I found myself with huge medical bills which got racked up over an inopportune time; or faced for whatever reason a drastic and permanent drop in income I wouldn't feel super happy about my situation but wouldn't look at myself negatively. Sometimes stuff happens to you and you just move on.
Speaking to your situation pragmatically. Without knowing all of your information (savings, debts, income, interest rates, etc) it is hard to say anything specific. I do not have all the information. To be honest I am not a professional financial anything and beyond generic thoughts I can just suggest you consult a professional. I would certainly at least look into bankruptcy. Go see a professional and run the numbers. Take some time and think about the second and third order effects of both scenarios; paying these debts and potentially filing bankruptcy then make a decision.
I wish you the best,
Ryan
quote of the day
"I don't want to be the biggest, the fastest or the strongest but I want to be BIG and FAST and STRONG"
-Merc today speaking about functional fitness.
-Merc today speaking about functional fitness.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Want Free Bullets?
It really doesn't take much effort.
a. Write a post on your site/blog/forum elsewhere online about how you use ammo cans. Here is a shell you can use if you want.
a. Write a post on your site/blog/forum elsewhere online about how you use ammo cans. Here is a shell you can use if you want.
" Lucky Gunner partnered with TSLRF to put together a contest. The goal is to come up with the most creative way to use ammo cans. I use ammo cans to _____________________. The prize is a half case of free ammo! See the full details here."
If you paste that shell into your blog or website or favorite forum then add in what you use ammo cans for and you will be good it go. You do not need to use the above shell. I just wrote the shell out to make it as easy as possible for you to enter. For a qualifying post you just need to be sure you link to ammo cans and TSLRF in your post!
b. Copy the link to your post and add it to the comments section on this post. You can also email a link to your entry to me. This enters you into the contest.
c. The contest will run until 14 November. After the contest has closed, I'll do another post w/all the qualifying entries. Our readers will get to vote on which post was the best (either entertaining or most informative) via a survey. Folks who enter can tell their readers/ friends and family about the survey and they can vote in favor of your entry - so be sure and spread the word!
d. Based on the poll results, the winner gets their choice of 500 rounds of ammo from Lucky Gunner. They get to choose between:
or
or
The winner gets to pick one of those and of course, that 500 rounds will also come w/the ammo can: http://www.luckygunner.com/surplus-ammo-can-50-cal-green-new-1
If you have any questions please leave a comment or email me. I can't wait to see your creative ideas and for one lucky reader to WIN A HALF CASE OF FREE AMMO!
If you have any questions please leave a comment or email me. I can't wait to see your creative ideas and for one lucky reader to WIN A HALF CASE OF FREE AMMO!
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