08:23 – Barbara and I are both covered up preparing for the move and building kit inventory. We decided we could do without the Trooper for the next couple of weeks, so we’re piling stuff into it that we want to take up the day of the closing so that we can spend the night up there. I have to remember to leave room for Barbara.
One of the many nice things about living in Sparta will be the reasonably dark skies. Looking at the light pollution maps, it seems that our back yard will be noticeably darker than Bullington Farm and Pilot Mountain, which are two of the main observing sites of the Forsyth Astronomical Society, and darker even than the Wake Forest University lodge near Fancy Gap, Virgina, where we used to observe. Barbara and I haven’t been out under the night sky for a long time because of my vertigo. It’s much worse in the dark. If I try to look up, I topple over backward. As she says, though, we’ll have a solid deck and I can observe from a chair without ever having to stand and look up. I wonder if I can still find stuff in the night sky. Once upon a time, I was pretty good at that. We’ll see. The other nice thing about observing there is that there’s a bathroom right there (which women particularly appreciate) and it’s easy to go inside to warm up. Living up there, I may continue work on the Astronomical League’s Herschel 400 list. Many of those 400 faint fuzzies had surface brightnesses way too low to make it practical to log them with a 10″ scope from the light-polluted skies around here.
Speaking of astronomy, there’s been some discussion in the comments about the likely effects of a huge solar storm. We actually sat out in the dark watching the effects of a monster solar storm a dozen years ago. And another, much smaller monster solar storm a couple years before that.
With relocation stuff and building science kits taking up most of my time, I didn’t have much spare time, but here’s what I did to prep this week:
- I read the other three books in Theresa Shaver’s Stranded series. She’s obviously an inexperienced author, but she gets better with each book. Right now, I’d put her in the same class with the better recent PA novelists like Steve Konkoly and Angery American. Speaking of A. American, three months ago he released the sixth in his Home series, Enforcing Home. I have it on my Kindle, but haven’t gotten around to reading it. Interestingly, after publishing the first five books in the series with Penguin, he’s gone back to self-publishing. It makes sense. He earns a 70% royalty on Amazon. Through Penguin, he earns probably 30% of the 70% Penguin gets, or 21%. At the same price point, that means he makes 3.33 times as much for each unit sold.
So, what precisely did you do to prepare this week? Tell me about it in the comments.
14:13 – We’re just back from Home Depot, where we picked up a mailbox and post, paint and painting supplies, cleaning supplies, contractor bags, and so on. I was thinking about picking up another 5’x2′ five-shelf shelving unit, but decided we could wait until we actually make the move to see many more units we need. I think we could fit at least five of these units–250 square feet of shelving or 350+ cubic feet of storage–in the garage with all-around access and several more in the basement. I do need to find out how cold the garage gets, but we’re moving up there at an ideal time of year to determine that. As long as it stays above freezing in the coldest weather, we’ll be fine.
I am shocked how many Americans believe the President when he says there is no security threat from Syrian refugees. Given reports that make it at least likely that one or more of the eight Paris attackers were refugees who passed through Greece. I think any rational human being has to admit Syrian refugees pose a very real security risk. I think rational human beings can disagree over the level of that risk, the effectiveness of various screening methods and whether it is worth taking that risk. Anyone who thinks there is no risk is simply choosing not to engage in intelligent thought.
Also denying these refugees entry into the United States doesn’t mean we cannot help them. I think it would be a good idea to offer food and medical assistance to Muslims displaced by Isis who stay in the Middle East. I think we can send aid to the refugees safely and more cheaply than we can bring refugees to here.
I think if we are to bring any of the Middle East refugees displaced by ISIS to the US, it should be the Iraqi Yasidis. Second priority should be given to Christians in the region who have reason to be in fear for their lives. I’d also give an equal priority to Jews in the Middle East who want to move here. The only reason I mention them last is that could also move to Israel.
I am reminded of a very sad situation which made the news in a nearby big city. A family with small children took in a homeless guy from their neighborhood. They didn’t know why the guy was homeless, sadly they found out too late. He was homeless because he was a registered child sex offender. Now the parents feel awful, and the old guy has a home for the rest of his life. Christian Charity doesn’t mean letting monsters like that around your children.
Why should we help moslems? They’re our sworn enemies.
Anyway, the US government has no business providing any kind of aid, period. Private charities exist, and there’s no excuse for spending taxpayer money on aid.
Continued with the cleanup and organize… it is slow going in that I can really only spend 20mins at a time on it. I got more cans into the cardboard trays from Costco, and stacked. It is a convenient way to see what you’ve got at a glance- ~35 cans (or a month of meals) per flat. With 2 flats of veg and a flat of meat, I’ve got one month of meals for the family (add in pasta, bread, or rice) possibly more. That takes up a cube about 14″x14″x23″. or 2 months per shelf. I prefer single meal cans to #10s. We are much more likely to eat them in a normal rotation, and if SHTF, it’s only one meal at a time open to spoilage. I don’t plan to feed the masses.
Took some more refilled water bottles to the secondary storage location. Rotated some food from there to home.
Had a little backyard campout with the kids. Tested one of the tents, the inflatable mattresses, sleeping bags, lanterns, and the firepit. Kids and wife had fun.
Some friends (‘toy’ store owners, bang ‘toys’) thwarted an armed robbery by being observant. They spotted the lookout/surveillance in their parking lot at closing time, BEFORE leaving the store. Fortunately the would-be robbers weren’t very subtle. Unfortunately they ran before the cops could grab them. So my friends have a police escort at closing time now. Times are getting tough when 3-4 guys are willing to try a twilight armed robbery against 2 conspicuously armed people to get some ‘toys’ and cash. [trying to avoid keywords] Mentioned as prepping for mindset. Luckily these guys were dumb and obvious. The next ones might not be. And as things stay sporty longer, they will all get more experience. Open your eyes and LOOK around.
Continuing to sell the ‘inventory’ I’ve accumulated. Ebay sales of collectible stuff seem really slow. Practical stuff is selling, if priced very cheaply. Vintage audio gear is selling well, but cheaply. This may be a reflection of the economy in general. Industrial stuff is selling, which means more companies are willing to go to the secondary market to save money in business. If you’ve got stuff to sell, do it NOW. I’m starting to stress that it’s getting too late. Between people focusing their buying on gifts, and then having spent all their money, the time from Thanksgiving to Valentine’s Day is generally slow sales time, unless you are selling gift items.
The garden continues. The beets and carrots are coming in. The peas and beans are very slow. I’m getting less daylight on 2 of the beds than I thought due to shade from the pecan tree. That should resolve itself in a week or 2, but until then growth is slow to non-existent in one of the beds. The lower sun angle means that my third bed gets more shade from the neighbor’s house than I thought. Damn axial tilt. Peppers are finally coming in. They are generally dependable but did very poorly this last year. Limes and lemons are getting ready.
I fixed a couple of things around the house, got some old hand tools cleaned up and put away, and ordered some parts to fix other stuff. Big pile of repair projects, not enough time.
I have spousal approval for security upgrades to the house. I’ll be looking at alarm stuff and changes to cameras. There are still a couple of physical things I can do, and possibly some lighting. HOA rules in our subdivision limit anything in front, and it’s not yet time to cage in the front porch. We do have armed patrols 24/7 but there have still been a couple of door kick breakins lately. Lots more “non-neighborhood” people walking thru is raising my wife’s awareness level.
It’s weird not having class anymore. It gave me plenty to think about, and I miss that chance to get out of the house. I may have to add a defense class to my schedule…
Two sales last week looked really good, but were too pricey for me. I did manage 3 boxes of 22lr for $3 each, some thinsulate gloves, and a vintage fishing rod to resell. This week there are a lot of sales, but I’ve got a lot of work to do, so I don’t know. One sale has ammo and accessories, so I’m gonna try to get to that one.
Finished the last of the “Farm” series, and the Victorian Pharmacy series. Interesting to see what an unregulated market did. And funny to watch a guy talk about all the great experimentation, development and innovation that came out of it at the same time he’s praising the ever-increasing regulation. It was also a clear example of the idea that ‘whenever two capitalists meet, they conspire to use the power of government to keep competitors out.’ Pharmacists themselves called for more regulation. Interesting too to see the plant lady and herbalist featured prominently. Cool to see them purifying salicylic acid from willow bark. Definitely work for wizards after the fall.
and now I better get myself moving. Lots to do…..
nick
But but but…. wait, I thought Wilson was a hero of the left?????????????
So we are starting the cleansing of history, and it looks like we’re in the very early days of the purges.
Anyone care to make bets on when the purges will begin in earnest?
And who’s gonna be the shock troops, BLiesM? La Raza? A new cabinet level agency, the Dept of Social Justice and Welfare?
It’s coming. all the signs are there. You just need eyes to see.
nick
ADD:
I missed the re-education camps
“Demands from Black Justice League also included called ‘cultural competency training’ for staff and classes on ‘marginalized peoples'”
Obola and his ilk don’t care if a bunch of terrorist come in with Syrian underclass scum. They are all protected with the guns they hate. This will give them a chance to take more guns away from us as the violent scum blow themselves up. Obola and Cankles will start building PRC’s for the scum, enact special “voting” privileges so they can remain in power until the revolution. It really sickens me.
Ebay sales of collectible stuff seem really slow. Practical stuff is selling, if priced very cheaply. Vintage audio gear is selling well, but cheaply. This may be a reflection of the economy in general
When I was cleaning out my Mom’s condo after her move to an assisted living center, I priced some of her “collectibles” on Ebay. Not very valuable. (She does have one item that is worth quite a bit – a pottery piece by a famous AmerInd potter that is worth even more because the potter’s husband signed it also.)
I used an estate sale service to come in and buy the furniture and all the other stuff she didn’t need, everything from the books to dishes to the sewing supplies. Didn’t get much. The buyer told me that the collectibles market is very soft and getting softer. He said young people don’t collect stuff any more. I replied that they probably just collect badges in Candy Crush on their phone.
@ech
yeah, most people’s household stuff isn’t worth very much. If they had good taste, bought quality, and it’s from an era that is popular, it can be like selling a museum.
Of course, replacing a household of stuff (post disaster) costs a lot.
So many of the estate sales I go to have a couple of nice pieces and the rest is generic crap. That may be because family grabbed the nice stuff, or it could just be the way the world works.
Christmas decor never sells. Most collections don’t sell if they are anything common. If you love Hummel, collect it, but don’t think it’s worth money. Same for beanie babies, modern star wars, modern dolls, glassware, ceramics, or tchotchkie..
nick
Probably because much of the stuff from their youth that they would be inclined to collect for nostalgia reasons wasn’t anywhere near as durable as the stuff from their parents’ and grandparents’ youth. Also, it was much more mass-produced and made after the realization that all of that silly stuff may be worth something someday. So there’s no value to it because there’s 1,000,000 of them stockpiled away by people who hoped to make as much off of it as their grandparents made off of their stuff. So, they’ve flooded the market. Think how many people have probably bought hundreds of the new toys for the new Star Wars trilogy in the hopes their value will someday be worth what the toys from the original trilogy are worth. Consequently, they’ll never be worth much of anything.
I suppose once baby boomers start dropping like flies there will be a flood of collectibles out there too.
other stuff that never sells:
silverplate
crystal decorative bowls and candy dishes
tupperware
holiday decor
ordinary wall art, and sometimes even ‘names’
most books
encyclopedias
nat geo magazines- don’t save them. no one wants them
ordinary film cameras, incl movie cameras
projection screens
Poisons, fertilizer
tins of random hardware
the crap in your desk drawers
most worn clothes
nick
What does sell at the sales:
mid-century modern furniture
ladies vintage fashion
high end cookware
chinese decorative items and art
negro or tobacco items (forget the name of the negro stuff, vintage like aunt jemima)
guns and ammo
some fishing, if listed as a lot or bulk, most fishing does not sell
tools if any kind of name brand
baby clothes if clean and well presented, if in piles or boxes no way
fabric, esp vintage
sewing machines, notions, and supplies (although not for big money)
pressure canners
Sturdy wood furniture, if not highly stylized
So that should give you an idea of what people value at the moment, in my market. So during your declutter and prepping fundraising you know what to toss and what to sell 🙂
nick
@chad,
most of the vintage buying of collectibles are people replacing childhood items, or items they couldn’t afford. There is a lag before the nostalgia hits, so ‘young’ people never buy that stuff. Middle aged people build those collections. And when the boomers die, no one will want the stuff because it lacks relevance.
A lot of the car culture/ road sign/ hot rod stuff is that way. Buy and flip like the TV guys, but don’t hold it.
They say you will have the haircut and music of your teen/ high school years through out your life, and stuff from that period is what ends up collectible. Current generations have it harder because of the AWARENESS of collectibility, which distorts what gets saved (as mentioned above.)
As an example, atari 2600 game systems are popular collectibles now, with a brisk market in game carts too. Not lucrative, but brisk. But superNES and original playstation are junked at yardsales. In a while, those kids will get nostalgic for the games of their youth, and will be looking for those systems. No one is saving them. Same with xbox (although many are still played and repurposed), because they are a cheap MS product, they fail hardware deaths. When they die, they get trashed.
anyway, it’s hard to tell what will be worth anything given the propensity to save ‘collectibles’ and ephemera that might be collectible.
nick
Regarding books, I still find it surprising that I am buying books in dead tree form. For fiction reading I have switched almost completely to reading on my Samsung tablet. For non-fiction reading, I still buy dead tree books. I’m thinking at the moment of buying all three ham radio study guides in dead tree form. They aren’t much more expensive than the Kindle versions, and I actually would have physical copies to keep, sell, loan out or donate to the public library.
@dave
the study guides are better in paper, as the figures might not display properly on kindle, and it’s very easy to keep them in the smallest room in the house, and pick them up for a chapter or section at a time….
nick
My aunt sent me this:
Some have asked what I’ve been doing in retirement.
Well, I applied for a building permit for a new house.
It was going to be 15 metres tall and 130 metres wide with 12 gun turrets at various heights and windows all over the place and a loud outside entertainment sound system. It would have parking for 200 cars and I was going to paint it snot green with pink trim. Then I was going to hire some idiot to stand on top of it and SCREAM as loud as he could three or four times a day.
The City Council told me, Forget it….. AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN !!!
So, I sent the application again, but this time I called it a ‘Mosque.’
Work starts on Monday, and the best part is, it’s going to be tax exempt.
I love this country.
It’s the government that scares me
@nick
LOL. The only problem is we have three of the smallest rooms in the house, and don’t really have a good book rack in any of them.
Wait that isn’t a problem, there are three books. One book for each room. Technician book in the master bathroom.
I have one question. I am assuming that the Pofung radios only do FM and FMN. I am assuming they won’t do DMR or NXDN even if the frequency is in the right range.
@dave, not the baofang 5 series or the 82, not sure what they may have stuffed into the new ones with the new name…
Very likely not though, as those are, IIRC, proprietary and licensed codecs.
nick
(i think there are decoders for SDR, however.)
@nick,
I am assuming that there are digital scanners that can monitor DMR and NXDN as long as they are not encrypted. I am assuming this because there are systems using them listed at radioreference.com for my county.
In re: the musloid “refugee” situation:
I saw a graphic earlier today of a zillion M&M candies; the caption was:
“You have a bowl of 10,000 M&Ms. Ten of them are poison which will kill you. How many M&Ms will you eat?”
Very little prepping done here this past week, other than studying up on ham radio stuff, and today doing a recon of some countryside to our northwest along the Quebec border, just to get the lay of the land and see what’s what. Amazing to see houses out in the middle of East Nowhere all the time up here and wonder where the eff these people work. If they commute to anyplace with jobs, it’s a long haul, esp. in winta.
Other than that, we’re on the Five-Page-To-Do-List. While my own Prepper Fatigue continues, having read even more stuff about a dozen different areas and fields we should all be proficient in, including daily firearm/shooting exercises and drills, and hooking up with a fire team/squad/platoon and running all kinds of radio stuff all over the landscape and gathering intel and having an EMT cert and long since having a year’s supply of food, water, heating fuel and meds for that platoon, and do daily hardcore PT, aiming for 1,000 push-ups by Xmas, etc., etc.
Ma and Pa Kettle here will probably end up dying in a front-door or back-yard firefight with either costumed gummint thugs or mad-dog cannibal goblins from Megalopolis, I guess. They’ll inherit my guns, pooters, whatever food we’ve got left, and a decent library of classical English and American literature and history. But after they’ve got the good stuff, they’ll probably torch the place and it will be a medium-sized pile of charred bricks. The lone survivors from both sides of the families will undoubtedly be our autistic nephew and grandson.
@dave,
I don’t think so. All the links I found have people listening with SDR using the RTL dongle and some digital decoding software that’s been reverse engineered. Or they are using actual digital radios, programmed with their local channels, and with derived copies of the digital keys.
Could be wrong, haven’t looked that hard….
nick
and do daily hardcore PT, aiming for 1,000 push-ups by Xmas, etc., etc.
lol I feel for you buddy. MrsAtoz now wants to buy a condo in a Vegas high rise for us to retire to. That’ll cut down on prepping space by 90%. She’s looking at one on the 4th floor, so at least when the power dies from the CME or Zombie Stripper Barackalypse, I can hang me butt over the terrace and let the poo fly. Maybe I’ll look for a little shack up in northern WA to hide out at.
@ofd,
I hear ya brother… it does pile on. Deciding what you WON’T do is important.
I’ve decided NOT to worry about the tactical/fireteam/IIIper/militia aspects. I’m kind of a low trust guy anyway, and doing stuff with others, esp. those drawn to that activity, can expose one to unwanted scrutiny, and prosecution.
I will continue to pursue the personal Self Defense aspects, getting some more training when and where I can. Until then, youtube and TV (Best Defense on Outdoor Channel) and basic range days will have to suffice. There are thousands of people who have successfully defended their lives using guns that have little or no training. I’m hopefully at least up to that.
I’m adding the medical (if I can get in the class) because of the kids, ailing father, and if I can’t shoot the bastards, I can at least help the wounded. It’s already paid off at a traffic accident. I’m focusing on first aid, and trauma, and maybe eventually, will get to actual care, with something like wilderness EMT.
I won’t be learning any bushcraft, outside of camping skills and boy/girl scouts level. Living off the land as a nomad was a hard, cold, pain filled, short life, and I have no interest in it. See Selco or FerFal for some thoughts on that. (where you gonna forage when every tree has been burned and people are eating grass?)
I don’t feel the need to learn about essential oils. We’ve got a functioning medical system. There are a lot of practitioners out there. I have a couple of reference books as backup. Low priority for me.
I have a background in woodworking/metalworking/construction so those skills just get expanded into old school and manual ways of doing the same work, and I like the old tools so collecting them can be a bit of a hobby. I don’t see a need to learn primitive construction techniques or practice building a turf dugout. I would like to learn and practice some blacksmithing, at least on the level of 1890’s farming. IE. general work and repairs by someone who is not a blacksmith by trade. I don’t have room for a forge, anvil, etc, so that will have to wait. (in the mean time, I know it’s a goal so I’m collecting stuff when it come up, like books and tools.)
I got my ham ticket as a prep, and then found I like it as a hobby. I used to lie in bed tuning my old am radio for distant stations as a kid, so it’s neat to get into shortwave listening, and HF ham listening. I don’t have much interest in talking using personally identifiable info when I don’t know who’s listening.
In moving from preps for a short/regional disaster, to a more long term or more wide spread disruption, I’ve had to rethink some things, but mostly just expand what I was doing anyway. The biggest learning thing is the garden. I can bury my mistakes, and eat my victories. That and shifting my food storage strategy.
I’m fortunate to have spent the last 2 decades working in a project based, team of experts/specialists, essentially part time format anyway. It’s pretty clear this will be the future of work in the technical fields anyway. Problem exists, put team together, solve problem, each goes his own way…. Plenty of experience as an independent contractor too.
I’ve moved into and learned about the secondary economy by buying and selling in it for the last several years. What used to provide mostly fun money, and act as a way to get things I wanted cheaply, has turned into the primary way I make money (at least as a percentage of my time.) Currently I declare it all, pay the taxes and run it as a business, but if things fell apart, I could keep doing it, adding barter to the mix.
I am pretty sure that if I can’t get into the EMT class, I’ll be adding something else that also provides some exercise. Either a martial arts class or something shooting related, like IDPA competition. Getting out of the house was nice, as was learning new things with a group (I don’t count sitting at the computer when I think about learning. That’s what I do all the time anyway.)
So it can feel overwhelming. And the stress of current events adds to it with a sense of urgency and impending doom. Everyone seems to be waiting for the shoe to drop. Get a ‘panic buy’ out of the way to fill any big holes you’ve discovered, and then take a breath and settle down for the long haul in that category.
It just adds up over time. I can’t believe where I am vs 1999. And I kick myself thinking about the things I didn’t start. If I’d started a once a week class in martial arts when I moved here, I’d have a decade of practice already. Use the concept of a ‘panic buy’ or intensive training to get you some breathing space for the long haul…then just keep plugging away at it.
nick
BTW for anyone interested in disaster prep, the CERT classes are a good way to start out. They are sort of the ‘intro to everything’ with broad but thin coverage of disaster topics. I recommend for anyone to take them.
@MrAtoZ,
If there is a city that is more dependent on infrastructure, I don’t know what it would be. Power, WATER, food, every last bit and bite comes in daily. It’s like a space ship. And it is FREAKING hot in the summer. I lived there for a short while, working in a casino showroom, and you couldn’t pay me enough to go back for anything longer than a week or two.
Yikes.
nick
This reminds me of Vietnam and Johnson calling in the daily air strikes, “Obama Won’t Hit ISIS Tankers, Says Drivers Are “Civilians””:
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2015/11/20/obama_won_t_hit_isis_tankers_says_drivers_are_civilians
“MrsAtoz now wants to buy a condo in a Vegas high rise for us to retire to.”
And now I feel for YOU, bud; that has gotta be one of the last places I’d ever wanna retire to in the face of the coming chit-storm, outside of Mordor and NYC, that is. Yikes. I’d also be looking at a more remote bug-out site ASAP, so with enough warning, y’all can boogie on out there and you can use regular facilities instead of spraying the city with your excreta. OTOH, though, that could be fun!
“I’ve decided NOT to worry about the tactical/fireteam/IIIper/militia aspects.”
Ditto. Local range, get the wife up to speed, and defend this house and family FIRST; the ‘hood second, with neighborly cooperation, hopefully. Being gray man is more important to me than running around the landscape with tacticool costumes and gear, although I know of several legit training venues for real world stuff. Can’t afford it now and getting older at the same time. Maybe old-timey muscle memories and training from my soldier and cop days will kick in when and where it counts.
And I gotta keep doing PT before and/or while any self-defense training stuff. Again, previous experience and training may be useful. Or not. I’m a pretty large guy but wouldn’t last long unarmed against multiple assailants. (at least one or two are still gonna need a trip to the ER or morgue, though.)
“…I’m focusing on first aid, and trauma, and maybe eventually, will get to actual care, with something like wilderness EMT.”
Roger that; I’ve got Red Cross First Aid/CPR/First Responder certification and will be looking into the Green Mountain Club’s local Wilderness First Aid course soon.
“I used to lie in bed tuning my old am radio for distant stations as a kid, so it’s neat to get into shortwave listening, and HF ham listening. I don’t have much interest in talking using personally identifiable info when I don’t know who’s listening.”
Ditto. I remember listening to distant stations in the summers in our back yard with a cheap-ass AM transistor, picking up the atmospheric “bounce.” Working on the ham certs now and once gotten, will hook up with the local club and maybe get into the ARES stuff. Also wanna learn Morse and play with low-power kits and “stealth” antennas. Yes, listening is two to three times more important than yakking anyway.
“It’s pretty clear this will be the future of work in the technical fields anyway. Problem exists, put team together, solve problem, each goes his own way…. Plenty of experience as an independent contractor too.”
Roger that; I also have that experience, but involuntarily, I guess, with large corporations; they hired us, used us and then dumped us. Now I’m looking for voluntary situations like that in my particular IT field, and occasionally I get an email about one or another, and the chance to work remote. Nothing’s panned out yet, though.
“Use the concept of a ‘panic buy’ or intensive training to get you some breathing space for the long haul…then just keep plugging away at it.”
Good idea; for us, more canned goods and step up the wotta storage, while also identifying an alternative pumping solution for the well. Those are my biggest concerns right now, on top of getting ready for a cold hard winta. I can spend lots of involuntary indoor time working on commo and firearms stuff in the meantime.
Thanks for the encouragement and tips, as always; your stuff on here has been VERY valuable and interesting, all along. Hats off!
MrsAtoz now wants to buy a condo in a Vegas high rise for us to retire to.
I would show her this video as to why you are in no way moving to high risk perch in the sky: “American Blackout 2013 – National Geographic”. One way in, one way out and you gotta run through the thieves to get out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYoXxVnTePA
Although the mental image of someone hanging their booty over the railing and letting fly made me LOL.
“Erased from history: Princeton president agrees to remove mural of ‘racist Klansman’ President Woodrow Wilson
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3326007/Princeton-protests-enter-second-day-activist-demanding-Woodrow-Wilson-s-removed-campus-sleep-president-s-office-despite-risk-disciplinary-action.html
Thanks, I sent that to my Dad. He got his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Princeton on Shell’s dime. I was there also, from six weeks to three years old. Imagine driving from Freeport, Texas to Princeton, NJ in 1960 with a six week old in a ’48 Dodge sedan.
BTW, if I were the President of Princeton, I would expel them all. Life is too short to mess with that nonsense.
“This reminds me of Vietnam and Johnson calling in the daily air strikes…”
No chit, hombre; but wait–you were only a little toddler when that stuff was going on!
“Well, if they’re off-limits, there’s no end to this, and if they’re off-limits, there’s no way we’re gonna win this with these kinds of rules of engagement. It simply isn’t gonna be possible.”
Indeed. I have several volumes in my bookcase behind me right now by several AF fighter pilots in the ‘Nam capers and they got the same shit to deal with from the brass and the ass-hats back in Mordor. Hit this one but not that one; don’t fire back when they fire at you, etc. And we were in SEA for a quarter of a century; I’m a baby ‘Nam vet; went in at the tail end at age 17. I routinely run into guys ten or fifteen years older than me who were in earlier periods of those wars. One guy in our group actually got OUT in ’62; he was Army Airborne special ops in Laos, and his little band got run over there from Panama. I was nine years old when he left active duty. (He started giving me shit about being an AF flyboy a couple of times and I told him off: “Hey asshole I was in your fucking Army, too! How you like them apples!” He’s been my buddy ever since.)
I’ve also educated a couple of them boyz on the AF’s security police role as de facto infantry around air bases in hostile fire zones when no dogfaces or jarheads were around, and also on how quite a few of them guys were ecstatic to see us overhead when we rolled in with air support and bombing/strafing runs, or picked their sorry asses up outta there while I was covering the LZ with my Pig.
O to have my Pig back again! And a million rounds of ammo.
Ditto. Local range, get the wife up to speed, and defend this house and family FIRST; the ‘hood second, with neighborly cooperation, hopefully.
BTW, I did not realize how important it is to have a heavy caliber around to defend yourself. Steve Konkoly states in his Perseid series that a 7.62 mm will go through a sandbag or a vehicle door whereas a 5.56 mm will not.
http://www.amazon.com/Perseid-Collapse/dp/1493695649/
I bought a cheap plastic shelf at Sams Club the other day to put light weight stuff on for $40, “36” x 24″ x 72″ 5 Tier Resin Shelf”:
http://www.samsclub.com/sams/resin-shelf-24-deep-36-wide/prod8800234.ip
“Steve Konkoly states in his Perseid series that a 7.62 mm will go through a sandbag or a vehicle door whereas a 5.56 mm will not.”
I’ve seen nines and .38s and 5.56 whip right through vehicle doors, trunk lids and radiator grills and into the engine blocks. Better, though, of course, to have the 7.62 for such work. If you have to hide behind a car while being shot at, the front end is preferable, thanks to said engine block, etc. Second choice is the rear; the sides not so great.
I think truthaboutguns.com looked at this too.
I can’t imagine the 556 not going thru a door, cars are pretty thin skinned.
But yeah, AK = mo betta for that.
nick
Steve Konkoly was talking about an AR-10 with the 7.62 x 51 mm round instead of the 7.62 x 39 mm round.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.62%C3%9751mm_NATO
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.62%C3%9739mm
My son (with the FFL) wants an AR-10 but has yet to find one he likes for less than $2,000. My Dad has a Browning .308 without a butt pad that will beat your shoulder senseless, but, I still plan on stealing it someday.
well that works too, although it’s not just the massier bullet.
nick
BTW, I may know where there is an ar10 for sale at a reasonable price. I’ll check tomorrow.
My light anti-materiel rifle is a 7.62/.308 with armor-piercing incendiary ammo. My heavy one is Boyes.
Although the mental image of someone hanging their booty over the railing and letting fly made me LOL.
Maybe you get one of those “Rocky the Flying Squirrel Suits” and glide over and away.
Opps, wrong hat.
For your idle time viewing pleasure, some basketball pictures from the local high school.
http://www.raymondthompsonphotography.com/OSHS
Gee whiz, Mr. Ray, U is one rockin’ photog! Wish we’d had you when I was running as an “end” on the f-ball team and doing the high jump in winter-indoor and spring track, so I’d have decent proof that I could once do that chit. I can barely make it up or down the friggin’ stairs now…
On the AR-10s; it is possible, of course, to roll yer own, either with hand tools and maybe a router, off an existing 80% lower, or, for even more fun, the Ghost Gunner, hooked up to yer pooter.
But once again, I wish I had my Pig back and also the LAW, cases of them, actually. They’d work great in traffic jams and on pesky scofflaws that piss me off on the interstate.
Here’s a little cultural tidbit.
For some unknown reason, I got a catalog in the mail, selling the top items from other catalogs. So like the top 1000 mail order items in the US. Whole sections of cat jewelry, silly t-shirts, welcome mats, that sort of thing. And right in the middle, a countdown clock to Obammaa’s last day in office.
No other political stuff at all, but there it was.
Top 1000 mail order items and one is that. Sweet!
Says something about the people who buy from catalogs anyway….
nick
Fred on today’s joke of “higher education.”
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2015/11/fred-reed/bad-american-universities/
I never made it as fah as the PhD and a tenured position, but went home anyway and hit the books on my own. No more papers to write OR correct. Fred’s prof likes Xenophon; I dug/dig Thucydides.
The stuff Fred’s prof talks about was in daily evidence at one niece’s college down in MA; pretty sure it’s been ditto for two other nieces, and truth be told, it was going on in their high skools.
I can count on two hands, maybe only one hand now, the number of colleges or universities here in the U.S. that I’d send a kid to for a decent education. Unless, of course, it’s for hard sciences or engineering.
“…a countdown clock to Obammaa’s last day in office.”
There’s been one of those for every WH stooge for quite a while now. Obola will do as much damage as he can before he leaves and then his successor will double- or triple-down on it. We’re sliding faster now toward the precipice.
As for catalogs I get in the mail, they’re almost always for stuff that corresponds to my current interests anyway.
“I can count on two hands, maybe only one hand now, the number of colleges or universities here in the U.S. that I’d send a kid to for a decent education. Unless, of course, it’s for hard sciences or engineering.”
And nearly all of those are private, conservative, colleges with religious affiliations.
Did our libertarian, atheist host just say that?
Yep. The enemies of my enemies are my friends.
Ray wrote:
“For your idle time viewing pleasure, some basketball pictures from the local high school.”
Where the hell did those baggy, all-encompasing tops and “shorts” come from? Has ISIS been making donations? Back in the early eighties ladies wore sleeveless tunics on top and slightly oversized knickers down below. Was well worth watching… 🙂
@Miles_Teg: Dunno about Oz, but the Approved Uniform for all Murkan males these days of whatever age is baggy saggy shorts, 4X tee shirt, and multiple tatts. Face metal optional. And when these males take off their shorts it looks like they’re wearing red or tan or brown socks.
Under their shorts they have skin tight shorts, short leggings I guess. Don’t want the junk showing.