Sunday, 7 December 2014

By on December 7th, 2014 in prepping, science kits, writing

11:24 – A date which will live in infamy.

One of the fun things about writing a prepping book is the research. I come across things I never knew existed, many of them girl stuff. This morning, I mentioned one of them to Barbara. It’s called the pStyle, and it’s basically a plastic chute that allows girls and women to urinate while standing up. Barbara was surprised that I’d never heard of it. But then, she’s a girl.

I wish they’d had these things back when I was in college and doing a lot of camping with my girlfriends. One of them, to her regret, squatted to pee in what turned out to be a bed of poison ivy. Another lost her balance and toppled backward into a bed of stinging nettles. As one of them commented, it’s just not fair being a girl.

Today, Barbara and I are finishing up the last few chemicals I need to build kits. I’ll get those built today or tomorrow so they’ll be ready to ship by the time the mailman shows up tomorrow afternoon.


17 Comments and discussion on "Sunday, 7 December 2014"

  1. OFD says:

    Yup, cain’t fergit the girl stuff and the kid stuff and the pet and livestock stuff, either.

    It ain’t all us big ol’ guys playin’ with tools and guns.

  2. Lynn McGuire says:

    Spent the morning helping conduct a church service in one of our local nursing homes XXXXXX assisted living centers. Was a pleasure meeting a 98 year old vet who served in WWII in the Pacific. I am fairly sure that is the oldest man I have ever met. Our preacher helped him stand up to lead a prayer as his legs just do not work that well anymore. I think that I was the youngest guy there.

    One of our worship songs was “God Bless America”. I love that song. I have spent extensive time outside the USA in my life and this is always the best place to be. And Texas doubles down on that. I am sorry for you people not lucky enough to live in Texas.

  3. MrAtoz says:

    I got to Texas as fast as I could from Wisconsin, then I moved to Vegas!

    lol The first thing I did on entering the Army at Fort Bliss, TX was to change residency. Wisconsin taxes suck dead bunnies. Now a NV resident. Wife is pining for San Antonio, so we might move back there. Or Leavenworth, KS. Or Bellingham, WA. Wutevs.

  4. SteveB says:

    I am sorry for you people not lucky enough to live in Texas.

    I am sorry for you people not lucky enough to live in Alabama. (Eat your heart out Miles_Teg–I get first pick of those Alabama Girls).

  5. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

    I think it’s interesting how many people now, particularly in the South, are beginning to identify more with their states rather than the country, just as most people did before the War Between the States.

  6. SteveF says:

    Mr Atoz, when I went on active duty, NY was one of only three states which collected state income tax on active duty military personnel. (Oragon was another; don’t recall the third but it may have been Wisconsin.) I attempted to change my residency immediately upon arriving in Arizona, and was told I couldn’t. NYS had a law or regulation about this and sued the military over it and the bottom line was that I paid about 10% of my gross income in state tax for three years despite spending a total of just a few weeks in the state.

    Have I mentioned that I hate New York?

  7. dkreck says:

    Happy to be from California. Wait this is Bakersfield. Sometimes it feels more like Texas than Texas. (yes I’ve been to Texas – many times)

  8. Ray Thompson says:

    I am sorry for you people not lucky enough to live in Alabama.

    Being from TN, and the rivalry between TN and Alabama in football, I was told when I arrived that in order to cross the border when traveling from TN to AL that you had stop at the checkpoint and bust out a headlight and a tooth.

    Oragon was another;

    Oregon pulled that crap on me as I was from Oregon. Had to pay significant tax and penalty because I did not know I had to file. Even though I spent less than 10 days in the state for the three years I got dinged. I changed my residency to TX. Required registering to vote and changing my driver’s license. Had to provide proof the next year to Oregon that I was no longer a state resident. Oregon’s position was that if you were a resident from one day out of the year, you owed taxes for the entire year. But that caused problems when I got out because I only got paid to relocate to my home of residence, TX, rather than Oregon where I was inducted.

    I know that pro athletes have to pay tax in each state in which they play a game. Peyton Manning plays in New York, ding, taxes for what he earned for that game. Home of residence does not matter. If you earn in the state, you pay in the state. Seems that should apply to military also. You earn in the state, you pay in the state. If you don’t earn in the state, you pay nothing. But states desperate for tax will yank anyone, including people living overseas that sell property overseas. The US asshats what taxes on the capital gains.

  9. Chuck W says:

    Mass. was one of those that try to ding you for taxes if you live abroad. Before we moved to Berlin, we literally moved to Indiana, changed our IRS tax home, registered to vote, got library cards (a must when married to a librarian), and sold all of our personal possessions at auction here (which was a mistake, but that is another story).

    Did not change our driver’s licenses, however. Talking about states being more powerful than countries, Germany has reciprocity with US states regarding accepting driver’s licenses, not with the country as a whole. Indiana does not have DL reciprocity with Germany, even though for most of the time I lived there, the US Ambassador there was an Indiana political hack. He never got reciprocity instituted, because he was especially exempted, and as a Republican hack, could not care less about other people, just looks out for only himself. Fortunately, we knew this before we left, and kept the Mass. DL.

    Anyway, I made sure when I returned for good, that I did not pass through Boston, just in case. Went through Philly, which was a big mistake, because the line for security was so long, I actually missed my flight — even though I had been checked and double-checked in Europe before leaving. Never mind, leave it to the TSA. I had a legal connection of about 1 hour 40 minutes, but the TSA line was over 2 hours long, so screw the passengers who have just spent about 8 hours already in the air and it is about midnight on their biological clocks. There were a lot of European tourists going to Nevada, and were they ever pissed. One said there was no other flight to LV that day from Philly, so they were going to have to spend the night in Philly. Always wondered how that worked out for them. These days, airlines do not put you up in hotels when this stuff happens; it is a night in the airport, unless you take care of the hotel yourself.

    It is beyond maddening that not only can Congress not deal with important stuff, they definitely cannot bother to harmonize our laws with what the whole rest of the world already accepts as fair.

  10. SteveB says:

    in order to cross the border when traveling from TN to AL that you had stop at the checkpoint and bust out a headlight and a tooth.

    Ray, that’s only if you’re going to South Pittsburgh. They want to make sure you look like you came from Oak Ridge for easy identification.

    Over where I am, we’ve got NASA, MICOM and Redstone Arsenal to back us up against Yankee sympathizer invasion. It keeps conflicts to a minimum.

    Tennessee residents are accepted on day passes, but not allowed to spend the night.

  11. Lynn McGuire says:

    “A duck walks into a bar and asks, “got any grapes?”. Bartender says “no, this is a bar”.” …
    http://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2014/12/07

  12. Ray Thompson says:

    They want to make sure you look like you came from Oak Ridge for easy identification.

    Oh, that is easy. Just wait until it is dark, we glow.

    Tennessee residents are accepted on day passes,

    Indeed. A day is like a week.

  13. Lynn McGuire says:

    Germany has reciprocity with US states regarding accepting driver’s licenses, not with the country as a whole

    This is a 10th amendment of the USA Constitution issue. Although the USA government would like to issue driver’s licenses, they cannot. It is one the few areas that the feddies have not overstepped.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution

    It could be enacted with a treaty but I doubt that the German government would care enough to go through the pain and that 2/3rds of the USA Senate would affirm it.

    BTW, I have driven all over Texas, Denmark, the UK, France and a few other places on a Texas driver’s license. No problems whatsoever.

  14. SteveB says:

    Oh, that is easy. Just wait until it is dark, we glow.

    But then how do we tell the difference between you and the people who live near Bellefonte or Browns Ferry?

    They’re not allowed to be out at night either. They might rent themselves out for a lower price than TVA charges for lighting our homes.

  15. Ray Thompson says:

    But then how do we tell the difference between you and the people who live near Bellefonte or Browns Ferry?

    Our knuckles drag.

  16. SteveB says:

    Ya got me there.

Comments are closed.