09:29 – Barbara is cleaning house and then heading out to meet a friend for lunch. Colin is hiding under my desk, apparently afraid that she’s going to bathe him again.
One of the commenters yesterday posted a link to the Coleman Camp Oven, which looks to be a good solution for baking and reheating dishes during a power-down situation. I wasn’t even aware this product existed, but I just stubbed in a link for it in the book.
I’ve been using classic Zippo liquid-fuel lighters exclusively for a year now, and I strongly recommend them as a primary fire-making tool. They’re extremely reliable, and just about bullet-proof. Literally, as many soldiers over the last 80 years can attest because their Zippos stopped bullets meant for them. As a pipe smoker, I use a lighter heavily, probably on average 50 to 100 times a day. That means my main Zippo has lit at least 18,000 times, and it shows no sign of not being good for another 180,000 lights, if not 1,800,000.
Two downsides: First, I go through a lot of flints. Every week or so I need to replace the flint, but they’re cheap and readily-available in 6-flint dispensers. Second, they’re not air-tight, which means the fuel evaporates in a few days even if the lighter isn’t used. Not an issue for me, because I refuel mine once or twice a day. I bought two 12-ounce cans of official Zippo lighter fluid originally, and I’ve been refilling those cans ever since from gallon cans of VM&P naphtha from Lowes. It’ll also burn just about anything volatile and flammable, including gasoline, acetone, or alcohol.
I also have a Zippo butane lighter, which uses a the same flint/steel lighting mechanism and provides a jet/torch flame. The advantage of this model is that once it’s fueled it stays fueled. I’m still running it on the butane I put in it six months or more ago, testing it every few weeks to see if the fuel has dissipated. So far, so good. It’s really intended for Barbara. She doesn’t smoke, so she needs a lighter that can be put in an emergency kit and left until needed. I also keep a can of butane and a dispenser of spare flints with it.
As I recall zippo guarantees their lighters for life all you need do is send to Bradford for repair or reconditioning
Yep. Like the Colt 1911, the traditional Zippo lighter is one of those very few manufactured items that I consider perfect as is. They got it right the first time, and have had the sense not to fix something that isn’t broken.
My father used a Zippo. When removed from the case to fuel it the bottom bit of the felt (?) could be folded up, and he kept his spare flints under it.
Have you stockpiled them? Either way, you might be interested in how to Replace your Zippo flint with flint from a dead BIC.
It appears possible to buy in bulk.
Yes, I’ve stockpiled the flints. At last count, I think I had something like twenty six-packs of flints, which under heavy use would last at least two or three years. I also have a couple dozen spare wicks, although I’ve replaced a wick only once.
Some discussion yesterday on LED lamps and I have a few items to add. I was a systems engineer on a couple of projects for the Space Station that used LEDs. The Centerline Berthing Camera System (http://er.jsc.nasa.gov/ER3/) was used to attach modules to the ISS starting in 2001. The second was a white light LED system intended to be a drop-in replacement for the fluorescent lights in the ISS, done a couple of years later, when white LEDs first came out.
In both cases, one of the major considerations was waste heat removal. A couple of our engineers had a design for heat removal that was really good, and we had patented it (or protected under trade secret, don’t remember). While single color LEDs are very efficient, they still generate significant heat. Most white LEDs are made by taking a UV LED and placing a phosphor over it to generate white light, similar to a fluorescent bulb. They run hotter because of this.
If you remember when the first tail lamp and signal light replacements with LEDs came out, you would see arrays that would have several dark LEDs within a few weeks of being put in use. This was likely due to a combination of infant mortality in the LEDs and heat failure. Needless to say, we did extensive burn in testing for the systems we built for use in space.
I was in a briefing about 10 years ago that was a joint tech project review with LockMart and a Big Company that does lighting among lots of other tech/industrial projects. They predicted that the conversion to LED lights for household use would be happening about now as it would be cost effective. I’ve replaced the floods in our kitchen and master bath to FEIT spots and floods and have been very happy.
Another couple of general non-scientific comments regarding LED lamps.
Of all the brands that I have tried only the Feit brand has met my expectations and delivered the stated lumens. Feit has been improving there LED lamps constantly and I hope Costco continues to carry that brand, exclusively if possible.
Costco has carried GE, Phillips, and Sylvania, I have tried them all. Using a light meter none of them produced the lumens (using a photographer pro grade light meter) stated on the package and were several degrees warmer (using a non-contact IR thermometer, again professional grade). My wife does not get “technical” with color temperature, but she likes the LED lamps when doing her sewing.
I hope Costco continues to carry that brand, exclusively if possible
I have been very unhappy with Costco LED bulbs. Out of 12 bulbs (I bought or exchanged 4 packages of 3 bulbs) four of the bulbs don’t work properly. The difficulty is intermittent connections in the bulb. You can move the bulb in the socket and the light will come on. Turn the switch off and you have to repeat to get the bulb to work.
I finally gave up as the hassle of returning was just not worth it as I would get another package with a failed bulb. Costco wanted the original packaging and all three bulbs returned to exchange. Getting that Costco huge packaging to survive opening was difficult and then gathering your bulbs to take back to the store was a hassle.
Never had a problem with the CREE bulbs.
A couple of quick hits from Strategy Page:
South Korea improves MREs: http://strategypage.com/htmw/htmoral/articles/20150529.aspx
Of interest to preppers:
New .556 ammo for the Marines?
http://strategypage.com/htmw/htweap/articles/20150530.aspx
A couple of quotes:
and
I replaced the can lights in our kitchen with the LED upgrade lights from Costco. They produce a really nice light with excellent color rendering. There is a significant savings in heat and electricity for us as we were using 90w floods. As an added bonus, the replacements form an air seal to the ceiling, saving me the trouble of retrofitting the cans. I replaced 12 lights.
We also used them in the bath with good results.
If anything, they are too bright. We usually run the kitchen dimmed to about 85%, and they still look great.
I used to be a theatrical lighting designer, so color temperature, brightness, and color rendering were critical for me and my wife. Dimming too for that matter.
I’ve been less happy with the replacements for other lamp (bulb) types. I just put the candelabra style ones in a ceiling fan fixture. They are brighter, and look good, but don’t dim smoothly. I have the R30 flood replacements in some landscape lighting. They are just ‘blah’ and do not replace the halogens well. I have a 90w flood R38 style to try, and a regular A lamp or edison style bulb to try. I don’t have high hopes but the A lamp will be a godsend in the handheld shop light just for sturdiness.
They are still pricy enough to be optional and discretionary. Shouldn’t be too much longer before there is no reason not to buy them.
nick
@Ray, sorry your experience with Costco LED bulbs was so bad. I purchased 10 3-paks of 60watt equivalent Feit LED bulbs. There was not a bad bulb in the bunch, my only problem was a socket that was making intermittent contact so I replaced the socket.
Your return experience at Costco sounds atypical. At the Costcos out here if you have a receipt you get a refund. If you don’t have a receipt, they look up your account on the computer, find the product in question and issue you a Costco Cash Card. If what you bought is a multi-pack and only one is bad I have seen them give a Costco Cash Card refund for the whole multi-pack. Costco does track your return history so chronic “returners” are watched. I also realize that certain parts of the country feel that they are special and do not have to follow company policy.
@Bob, glad you liked the Coleman Oven idea. Walmart sent that to me in an email ad and I bit for $27.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Coleman-Portable-Camp-Oven/895626
I noted the other day that you had a six magazine carrier for your 1911. Do you have any thoughts on how many magazines a person should own for each of your semi automatic weapons (handguns and/or rifles)?
When I went to Frontsight handgun school a couple of years ago, my shooting partner had a special belt with at least six mags (maybe eight mags) on it for his 1911. His mags were 8 rounds each if I remember correctly. He was dropping mags everywhere when we were shooting.
@OFD, that S&W 9mm Shield is starting to look better and better as a carry weapon. I like the safety on it. I missed the $389 sale on it last week. Of course, the finest carry weapon is a S&W model 629 but some people seem to object to that.
http://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/smith-wesson-m-p-shield-9mm-pistol/pid-549607
Actually, the Sparks Six-Pack is a hold-over from my combat pistol shooting days. It gave me a full box of ammo–six 7-round mags in the Six-Pack, one 7-round mag in the pistol, and one round chambered. Nowadays, I’d routinely carry only two spare magazines.
As to rifle magazines, better just one you can trust than truckload of those you can’t. I habitually load 20-round mags to 18 rounds and 30-rounders to 28, simply because I’ve seen too many FtF problems with mags loaded to nominal capacity, even high end and manufacturer OEM mags. I typically keep half a dozen mags per rifle, with lots of spare ammo in stripper clips.
“@OFD, that S&W 9mm Shield is starting to look better and better as a carry weapon. I like the safety on it.”
I’m happy with the Shield as EDC, with LaserMax grips and two spare extended mags in an AlienWare IWB holster and 9mm JHPs. Light, flat, shoots nicely with hardly any recoil and should do the trick for what are the most-often CQB situations, probably seven yards or seven feet, hahaha.
“Do you have any thoughts on how many magazines a person should own for each of your semi automatic weapons (handguns and/or rifles)?”
Plenty of mags on hand at all times for both; as regards regular carry and/or on-body carry: two spare mags normally for the semi-auto pistol. If out and about in combat situations with the rifle, then six to eight; I’ve experimented with loading them to the max and also keeping a round or two short in them and haven’t had any problems either way, but I stand by the MagPul brand for those. Two can also be nicely taped together side-by-side and swapped out really fast.
With revolvers you want speedloaders and/or stripper clips but with any of this stuff you gotta practice using it all, including at speed and under stress, in different positions, one-handed, and with possible malfunctions. Dry-fire practice at home, making triply sure the weapon is unloaded.
Your return experience at Costco sounds atypical
First time I just took the one bulb back. Costco said I needed to return all the bulbs and the packaging. I no longer had the packaging. Costco would not budge. So I bought another pack of three, went to the parking lot, opened the package, took out one bulb and put the bad bulb back in the package. Got my money back for the entire package. But alas, another bulb went bad that I had bought previously. So I did the same procedure.
After the fourth bulb I just gave up. No more Costco bulbs.
Opened up the bad bulb. The globe is plastic. Eleven flat LEDs surface mounted on a what appear to be a plastic covered board along with what looks like a current regulator. Four wires going to the board, Black, Red, White and Grey. The fins are metal so I am guessing that is the heatsink. Will have to work to get further into the device.
More dis-assembly. Wires are LED+, LED-, Ground and what I am guessing is a sense wire. Perhaps to sense the temperature of the LEDs. There is small circuit board in the base that does voltage conversion (switching) and current limiting.
The flaw in the bulbs is the neutral wire to the socket. It is only touching the base and not soldered or spot welded to the base. This causes the intermittent connection. Thus wiggling in the socket will restore the connection but it does not last. A cheap shortcut that should not have been done in the assembly process.
I agree. I’ve never been treated that way at Costco. You should have asked to speak to the manager.
Our good friends and allies in Oz are under assault again from commie scum:
“Australian firearms owners are in for round 2 of the fight over (what remains of) their rights. Not content with being embarrassed after an attempted gun grab was defeated, as we reported on earlier, the socialist anti-gun crowd have decided to up the ante, by recommending a new electronic database that contains information on all firearms owners as well attempting to track the life of all firearms and associated parts . . .”
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/05/robert-farago/australian-gun-grab-goes-to-the-next-level/#more-360804
And you can get a pizza delivered in less time than it takes for the police to respond, twenty minutes…a lotta bad chit can go down in twenty minutes, hombres…
Our condolences, and we hate to see it happening to our allies and friends in Oz, O Kanada or the U.K. Total bummer.
I habitually load 20-round mags to 18 rounds and 30-rounders to 28, simply because I’ve seen too many FtF problems with mags loaded to nominal capacity, even high end and manufacturer OEM mags. I typically keep half a dozen mags per rifle, with lots of spare ammo in stripper clips.
I was instructed at Front Sight to never fully load out a magazine. And if the magazine holds more than ten like my XDM .40 (16 spaces!), then leave the bottom two empty. Plus, I am not enough of a man to load those last two spaces in the XDM magazine. I took only two magazines to Front Sight, that was a mistake. I would like have at least four even though my belt mag holder is for only two.
Sounds like you advise having a half dozen magazines for all semi auto weapons. I’m not sure that I have more than three magazines for any of my semi autos. But all of the magazines that I have are OEM labeled. Maybe time to spend some more time at http://www.cabelas.com .
BTW, Obola is working on some new gun rules by his imperial edict. If you visit a shrink or have domestic abuse convictions then he wants you to turn your guns in.
http://thehill.com/regulation/243520-administration-preps-new-gun-regulations
My mags are always fully loaded now, and will be until such time as I run into a problem because of it. Yes, at least six on hand when patrolling with the semi-auto rifle; six or more for the patrol semi-auto handgun. For EDC CCW, then a couple anyway with the semi-auto pistol, or speedloaders for the revolver. You won’t be CCW with the rifle, not in normal times.
I recommend MagPul mags for the rifles. And OEM for the semi-auto pistols.
Dear Leader and the fugly political hack bitch Carolyn Maloney in the Vampire State (attention: Mr. SteveF!) can both go piss up a rope. Maloney looks like Mrs. Chuckie.
Can anyone help me figger out if I’m losing what little mind I seem to have left? A few days ago, I read a post somewhere that mentioned the poster not watching much TV but had discovered Foyle’s War and another British show that was just now starting to be shown on US PBS stations. Of course, I can’t remember the name of that show.
I thought it was a comment somewhere here, mainly because I don’t read comments much of anywhere else. But searching back a week or 10 days showed nada. Anyone have a memory of seeing that here?
I’ve bought about a half dozen of these FEIT LED 100W equivalent bulbs and put them all in outside fixtures at the office and house.
http://www.amazon.com/Feit-Electric-Conserv-Energy-Dimmable-BR40/dp/B009B0TETS/
So far, so good. No failure yet and the oldest is around 2 years. The only downside to them is that they are long (stick out of can fixtures) and very directional light. An LED omnidirectional 100 W light is now available for FEIT for $19 but I have yet to try it.
http://www.amazon.com/Feit-Electric-Directional-Dimmable-Lumens/dp/B00OMEI296/
OFD wrote
“Carolyn Maloney” blah blah blah
Boy, the years haven’t been kind…
I got a bunch of LED lights for the outside of my previous place in Canberra. The electrician said they’re expected to last 40 years, which means I’ll probably kark it before they do.
You should have asked to speak to the manager.
It was the manager. My first attempt was using the regular returns person. I asked to speak to a manager. The manager repeated what the clerk told me. I had to return all three bulbs including the packaging. Thus I bought a new package, swapped the bulb in the parking lot, and returned the package. I told the manager exactly what I did and told her I thought it was a stupid policy. She agreed but said it was the rules.
Wow Ray, someone must have been having a bad day. I’ve returned half eaten bags of veggies, completely eaten bags of veggies, LED lights that didn’t fit in the can, other stuff too. I’ve never even gotten a raised eyebrow, except one time it was 90+ days later. I still got the store credit.
I’m really surprised by the bad quality merch too. I wonder if there was a bad lot, and you kept getting failures from that same lot.
I often see piles of returns of whatever the instore demo was, just a few days later. Buyer’s remorse, or some other issue, but there are lots of returns of some items.
I know there is variation store to store. Some markets don’t do their own ordering, it is done by a different region. And there are variations by region too both on what’s sold, and how it is displayed. Lately our store here has had a problem with fresh veg. I’ve pretty much given up buying fresh as it was very poor quality and spoiled quickly. This is a big change from a year ago, when it was awesome quality and lasted forever in the fridge. I spoke to a manager about it. He says they are always changing suppliers due to cost. I told him they have gone too far toward cheap. We’ll see if anything changes.
On a side note, pork prices seem to be going down slightly. Ham went up 10-20% a year ago, and then stayed constant, but has recently gone down about 5-10%. Chicken prices have been stable for a year, we’ll see what happens with this bird flu thing. Fresh eggs are so cheap, even if the price doubles for us it won’t be as much as some people currently pay for ‘organic’ eggs.
nick
Wow Ray, someone must have been having a bad day.
I think it is because the store was less than one year old at that time, probably hired former managers from Walmart. Those people think everyone is a loser that is trying to cheat the store. Probably true for most at Walmart. I would suspect that Costco cheats are significantly lower than Walmart.
Regardless, I will never buy another Costco LED light.