10:54 – We may take some downtime for the holiday tomorrow, but today is just a regular workday. We got a bulk order for FK01ABC (full) forensic kits yesterday, which we’ll ship Tuesday. But that order takes us down to uncomfortably low inventory levels on the FK01A and FK01C kits and runs us completely out of the FK01B kits. So I know what we’ll be working on this coming week. Fortunately, we have most of the bottled chemicals we need to make up another eight dozen each of the biology and chemistry kits, and we’re not all that much further from having what we need to make up 15 dozen each. Sales always start ramping up in mid- to late-July and then go crazy from early August through late September or early October. I think between what we have now and what we can build on-the-fly during the crazy period, we should be okay.
I just added another item to my Walmart cart:
Armour Lard, 64 Oz. If you remember years ago when McDonalds fries were famously good-tasting, that was before they shifted from using lard to using vegetable shortening. Their fries have never been the same since. Stuff fried in lard just tastes much, much better than stuff fried in vegetable shortening. Lard has a very long shelf life. Armour even says on the label that refrigeration is not required before OR after opening. The best-by date is typically 18 months out, but that’s as meaningless as it is for any other LTS food. Even on the shelf, I’d bet that the stuff would be just as good five or ten years down the road as it is when it’s new. In the refrigerator, it’d last even longer, and in the freezer it’d be essentially immortal. Think that 2,000 year old ball of butter that was still edible. As far as I can judge, saturated animal fats like lard or butter are much healthier for humans than vegetable oils and fats. After all, we evolved eating those fats, which are much easier to come by than vegetable fats. Finally, pig lard makes excellent musloid repellent.
“If you remember years ago when McDonalds fries were famously good-tasting, that was before they shifted from using lard to using vegetable shortening.”
Okay, another one of @Dad’s “careers comes into play here.
I worked at the first McD franchise in Des Plaines IL in the 1960s. The original fry fat was beef tallow (rendered from suet) and some cottonseed oil*, provided fresh from the local butchers who also provided the fresh ground beef. The potatoes were also sliced fresh at the store. When McD started grow they went to a central supply and distribution system and the fresh fries became frozen. Later on the vegetarian nutters raised a stink about McD using “meat” in their fries so there went the great fries.
“Now you know the rest of the story.” ~~~Paul Harvey
*Since @Dad’s memory can be off I did some research and found documentation:
http://www.rense.com/general7/whyy.htm
If you want more, Google or DuckDuckGo “beef tallow french fries mcdonalds”
“Finally, pig lard makes excellent musloid repellent.”
Pig fat is one of the things that started the Indian Mutiny in 1857. Rifle cartriges were supposed to be greased with beef fat (cows sacred to Hindus) or pig fat (unclean to mooslems) and the natives had to bite the cartriges before use…
“The original fry fat was beef tallow…”
I remember that, as one of my high skool buddies worked the local McD’s and told me of it. IIRC, it was yellow. They also used it or some variant of it, again, IIRC, on the popcorn at the cinemas.
“Pig fat is one of the things that started the Indian Mutiny in 1857.”
Atrocities on both sides; rebels butchered women and children and stuffed them down wells; the Brits tied captured rebels to cannons and blew them away.
Beeyooteeful day here; we’re on the yard and cleanup details.
That’s interesting. I always used the word lard to describe rendered fat from pigs, cows, or sheep. Checking Wikipedia, I see that “lard” properly refers only to pig fat, whether rendered or unrendered, while “suet” refers to unrendered cow or sheep fat and “tallow” refers to rendered cow or sheep fat. I wonder why those distinctions were made originally.
“I wonder why those distinctions were made originally.”
Agricultural/mercantile pricing and gummint legalisms, would be my guess, but I defer to anyone who comes up with Actual Factual.
And I’m pretty sure at least one of the local markets up here sells “lard;” next time I see it I’ll find out what it is actually and factually.
From the International Finance Department:
https://straightlinelogic.com/2016/06/29/rotten-to-the-core-by-robert-gore/
My take from all of this is to keep more cash on OUR hands than in the banksters’ hands, and to continue acquiring hard assets like tools, ammo, property, etc.
“Agricultural/mercantile pricing and gummint legalisms, would be my guess, but I defer to anyone who comes up with Actual Factual. ”
That would be mine too. Like the difference between mutton and lamb.
Same animal, different ages, different price.
I know the brits used to make (and still do, hillbillies too) something called ‘suet pudding’ which is a dessert made from fat and sugar (picture a runny cake frosting). “Tallow” was used as a cheap substitute for beeswax candles, and is why you sometimes read historical accounts of starving people eating their candle stubs.
The modern pig has been bred for leanness for 1oo years. Classic pigs had about half their body composed of fat and were “fat machines” on the farm. The meat was almost incidental to the fat they produced. (according to a couple of video sources I can’t find to link to.) The fat was a very valuable resource.
I’ve given up on buying pork chops at costco as it is too “high class” and so lean you can’t even cook it. The exception is pork roast for shredded pork in the slow cooker, and around the holidays they have a standing rib roast that is awesome. When I want pork chops I buy at a lower class store so they are nice and dark and fatty.
nick
I assure you that lard or suet can be easily found in any mexican market out here in Mexifornia. Real tortillas made with with lard beat the hell otta those now in the market by gobermint decree.
Blocks of lard are on the shelf in our groceries here too.
“Manteca” = lard
Well, google says it’s ‘butter’ followed by modifying words, so really better translated as ‘fat’ followed by a source of the fat.
When you see it on the shelf, Manteca is the biggest word on the label.
n
BTW, I’ve mentioned it before, but stores that cater to expat populations (or immigrants) are a great source for food for preppers.
Many other places in the world don’t have common refrigeration so a lot of packaged food is shelf stable. It’s a nice break from Dinty Moore stew to get some of the foreign food.
As a bonus, a good percentage is made in the USA for export, so less worry about quality.
Several things have made it to our normal pantry- canned hot dogs from Holland, pouch meat from the US in meatballs and shredded beef, pouch meat from Brazil with hispanic flavoring, and canned flavored taco and burrito meat from Brazil and Argentina. Taco night at chez flandrey is a quick and simple affair, with tortillas from the freezer, a can of taco meat, a can of salsa, some chopped onion, and (sometimes) a can of black or refried beans. [or sometimes a pouch of same] Shredded cheese from Costco tops it off.
Eat from your preps folks!
nick
Unfortunately my memory banks about the specifics and fine points of lard, suet, tallow, and other animal fats are giving me a 404 error today. I should remember more since I come from a farming ancestry, my uncle was a butcher (I have mentioned before how he got the McDonald’s contract for all meat products and used that contract to finance his own “butchery”). I also worked in the grocery business (for Jewel Companies and Super-Valu) when there were real butchers in every store and nothing arrived cyro packed (half hogs, front and hind quarter beef, and chickens with head and feet still attached). You had to be a big guy to be a butcher back then as you had to carry those halves and quarters from the delivery truck, then hook them through a shank to a hook on a ceiling rail.
As usual @nick has provided some very good advice/information for the prepared.
And from the Laughter and Tears of the Week Department:
http://takimag.com/article/the_week_that_perished_takimag_july_3_2016/print#axzz4DNW0FCEU
Is this country just a little effed up or what???
If you, a big husky bearded mofo allegedly THINK you’re a woman and say so publicly, voila, it is so! And everyone nods their heads and says allelujah. WTF? Does no one remember the nursery skool fable about the emperor’s new clothes??
And that part about Jane Sanders looking like the guy in “King of Queens?” That guy would be far better company; he’s a normal Murkan and he has a friggin’ sense of humor.
So they updated this story with pix of the savages who committed the crime. Anyone surprised?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3672324/Fast-food-shift-manager-21-stabbed-death-two-former-employees-rob-restaurant-knifepoint.html
n
“Anyone surprised?”
Nope
Of course these PiecesOfShit will get off scot-free (thank goodness for the UK Press). After all, their actions are totally understandable and justified (not) since they are owed their 40 acres and a mule and us folks of the caucasian persuasion must apologize for acts we, and most likely our ancestors, did not commit.
I’m running behind on my micro-aggression points.
From now on I’m countering “I never owned slaves and you never picked cotton” whenever I hear reparations or any of that nonsense.
n
And for anyone who doesn’t have a news site up,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3672483/Man-critically-injured-following-explosion-Central-Park.html
from the pix of the injuries I’m having a hard time imagining any kind of “firework,” especially one that detonates when stepped on.
I’m thinking IED.
Early reports are almost always wrong, which is worth keeping in mind, but the picture shows the injury…
nick
Meh, too verbose. “Go fuck yourself” works in this and so many other situations.
Eat from your preps folks!
Eat and drink from your preps folks!
FTFY (fixed that for you!).
Eat your neighbors, folks! Because they’d eat you in a heartbeat if they got the chance!
I have the equivalent of 100 cases of Ozarka 0.5 L 24 bottle cases in storage on my two heavy duty racks in my garage. The racks are the Muscle Racks from Sam’s Club. They have increased in cost over the last two years from $139 to $169 each. I store water on the bottom three shelves each and heavy stuff on the top shelves.
http://www.samsclub.com/sams/welded-rack-4-level/prod13130202.ip
I used to buy the 35 bottle cases from Sam’s Club which were changed out in January for 40 bottle cases. The 40 bottle cases are just too heavy for my bum shoulder so I started buying 24 bottle cases from my grocery store, HEB.
The 24 bottle cases are more expensive on a per bottle basis but there is a significant advantage. I can store four cases of 24 bottle cases in the same space that two cases of 40 bottle cases take up, a net increase of 8 bottle X 5 cases/shelf X 3 shelves/rack X 2 racks = 240 bottles. If you are space constrained (and who is not?), then anything you can store more of in the same space is more valuable to you.
At the end of the swap out from the large 40 bottle cases to 24 bottle cases, I expect to have 120 of the 24 bottle cases in storage. Using my former USMC son’s ratio of one 24 bottle case per day per soldier on his first tour of duty in Iraq, that is 120 person days of water. That may get us through a Cat 5 hurricane here on the Gulf Coast with an expected infrastructure outage of six weeks. Hopefully way less, maybe more.
I also have the two 30 gallon water heaters of water storage. I also have the 35,000 gallon swimming pool but it needs filtration and possible boiling before consumption. I do have three of the Sawyer filters.
https://www.amazon.com/Sawyer-Products-SP105-Filtration-System/dp/B00TOX6UM6/
We are now drinking last December’s water in storage using 35 bottle cases. We go through 3 to 4 cases per week. Soon, we will start using the 40 bottle cases which go through March. Then we will be on the 24 bottle cases.
BTW, this is not an expensive prep. The total cost is two $169 racks and 120 cases X $3.50/case = $758. Not much for peace of mind because, hurricanes happen. And, we drink bottled water extensively for convenience so we are just spending today’s money early for some of tomorrow’s water needs.
@nick: Taylor Friloux’s murder has been THE topic of conversation here in Jefferson Parish for the last week; considering the sheer brutality and stupidity of the crime, it’s no surprise that the story has gone international.
We’d barely gotten over the fatal shooting of a JPSO deputy a week previous by this piece of scum. A certain element of the local population is upset that the cops were perhaps a little rough with Jerman when they finally chased him down.
As I commented to my barber last Thursday. it’s as much the job of the police to protect the perps from the wrath of the populace as vice-versa. As it is, the taxpayers are now going to be on the hook to feed, clothe, and house these thugs for the rest of their natural lives.
That’s why I’m in favor of hanging the SOB’s a week after they’re convicted.
Had a strange occurrence last night here in wilds of Fort Bend County. The wife and I were awakened at 2 am with six loud noises that sounded like someone shooting a heavy handgun. I got up and scanned the back yard and did not see anyone. I then went to the front of the house and asked the daughter (who was watching tv) what she heard. She said it sounded like large fireworks to her. I then went outside in the front and did not see anyone. So, I am guessing that one of my neighbors set off six cherry bomb equivalents at 2 am freaking am in the morning. What a jerk!
I was envisioning some total freaked out family member shooting their family. We had a totally horrible situation last weekend where a mother shot and killed her daughters to punish her husband.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3671666/Fianc-Texas-schoolgirl-shot-dead-mother-weeps-grave-laid-rest-alongside-sister.html
BTW, this is evil, pure evil. The neighbors called the cops who pulled up and shot the mother as she stood over her daughter in the culdesac, firing into her. Totally freaking evil.
Agreed, the stupid pigs who beat a suspect should be hanged. Police, no matter how they view themselves, are not authorized to act as judge, jury, and executioner.
Aside from that, though, I’d support the death penalty only if there were provisions for death by torture of anyone complicit in the execution of an innocent man. Between the apparent worthlessness of police labs and the suppression or even fabrication of evidence by police and prosecutors, there’s been an unacceptable number of people executed or on death row who apparently were innocent of the crimes which got them there.
Something relevant to what OFD has been saying for years, with refrains sung by yours truly and others: Living on a slave tax farm.
Posting from my phone as our power is out.
Very strange. No indication how widespread the outrage is.
N
Nick, http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/deer_park/news/check-for-power-outages-in-the-houston-area/article_4f67c1c0-7299-11e1-8927-0019bb2963f4.html?mode=image&photo=0 shows a whole lot of yellow, orange, and red triangles all around the Houston area. It’s not like there’s a giant red triangle covering the entire county, but there are a lot of triangles.
Just to be clear, the thugs referred to in my previous post are the underclass murderers of the manager and the deputy.
Understood, medium wave. I don’t really disagree with you, nor with RBT. However, I’m a strong believer in holding the police — the sworn upholders of the law — to a higher standard. Gang attack by armed men is gang attack by armed men, and it’s a felony which would lead to either lethal self defense or lengthy jail time if perpetrated by anyone other than the “thin blue line”.
“…there’s been an unacceptable number of people executed or on death row who apparently were innocent of the crimes which got them there.”
Agreed. And way too many actual violent perps out walking around, too. I’d empty the prison gulag of all non-violent criminals and put the violent ones on chain gangs in the Antarctic or the Mojave. Death for genuinely tried and convicted murderers, rapists, child molesters, and traitors. Maybe extend that to lawyers, most politicians, banksters, and financial speculators, all of whom are on record as getting innocent people killed.
“Gang attack by armed men is gang attack by armed men, and it’s a felony which would lead to either lethal self defense or lengthy jail time if perpetrated by anyone other than the “thin blue line”.”
Agreed again.
With regard to Mr. Lynn’s post earlier, yeah, some of the fireworks sound remarkably like gunshots, and I’m hearing them now, somewhere in the ‘hood. It occurs to me that this would be an ideal time to settle scores with various individuals, like the aforementioned lawyers, politicians, etc.
I’m a strong believer in holding the police … to a higher standard.
As am I. In a perfect world Neveaux would’ve given the cops no excuse to use him as a punching bag.
In a perfect world, Friloux and Michel would still be alive.
Back on line.
@steveF, the whole neighborhood was out. Centerpoint Energy got us back up 1 hour earlier than their website showed. They have a real good outage tool for mobile users. Who knew?
You can say what you want about deregulation, but there are natural monopolies. Energy delivery is one. Send your payment to Green Mountain, or TXU, or DirectEnergy, but at the end of the day, Centerpoint delivers it, and makes sure the delivery continues. All those “low cost” providers are betting they’ll never be forced to pay their ‘fair share’ for that infrastructure and maintenance, and you sure as sh!t won’t see trucks with “Green Mountain” on the side after the hurricane.
While it was dark, I took a few minutes to tune around the short wave dial. I wanted to see how it sounded with the whole neighborhood dark. OH MAN. The bands were ALIVE. So many stations everywhere from 3 MHZ up past 18Mhz. Still noise on the bands but I’ve never heard so many stations. I tested again now that power is back up. Still getting a bunch of stations, so part of it is that the bands are open, but so much is drowned out by noise. I’m going to have to make a concerted effort to find and cut out the noise in my own house. The difference was eye opening.
One stupid windows trick… while the UPS kept my wife’s machine up, I went over to shut it down gracefully. F’ng windows did their update- don’t shut down or turn off while updating, while running on the freakin’ UPS. It finished before the UPS did, but what an bunch of arrogant sons of witches. I own my machine. I should make the decisions. When I choose power down, I want the f’ng thing to POWER DOWN. NOT second guess me and go “not quite yet my good man, I’ve got this little update to run first.” [I know, run linux. I do in places, but wife won’t.] Thought I had all that nonsense set to manual, but it either turned itself back on, or I missed something. A pox on the slimy f’rs.
WRT gunshots vs fireworks. Gunshots tend to be in strings of 5, 6, 9, 17 etc at pretty regular intervals. Fireworks ‘spatter’ for lack of a better word. Lots of gunshots in the ‘hood here. We’re surrounded by medieval peasant tribes, and they just don’t get cause and effect.
gotta gets kids to bed,
nick
@Nick re “Manteca” = lard
Nope. manteca=butter. No other translation or interpretation.
Having said that, just as you get “soft butter” which incorporates vegetable oils, manteca preceded or followed by other terms can be anything but manteca…
Evidence suggests otherwise. Ditto for any data you put on a Windows machine.
“…and you sure as sh!t won’t see trucks with “Green Mountain” on the side after the hurricane.”
Do I take this to mean y’all have a Green Mountain power utility company down there? Ours here is Green Mountain Power, based in Montpeculiar, VT. And they ARE pretty good about getting power back online after outages; we just don’t dig the way they send the next bill out within 48 hours of our paying the last one.
“…but so much is drowned out by noise. I’m going to have to make a concerted effort to find and cut out the noise in my own house. The difference was eye opening.”
We don’t have the population or electronic noise outside up here but I am given to understand that computers and peripherals contribute to it, along with phones, tee-vees, lights, etc. I’m also given to understand that antennas are wicked important and a whole realm of arcana that I have yet to delve very deeply into.
“F’ng windows did their update- don’t shut down or turn off while updating, while running on the freakin’ UPS.”
You can always just hit the power button or pull the plug; they’ll do their stinkin’ updates later anyway. And incidentally, we’ve been screwed by their “updates” more than once and I had to investigate it and figure it out and take steps, etc., etc. A real PITA. I’ve also noticed over time that setting the updates to “manual” sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t; I’ve gotten up of a morning and found the machine shut down or rebooted itself thanks to M$ “updates.”
” [I know, run linux. I do in places, but wife won’t.]”
Ditto here, but I’ve been piling up evidence and grievances so that she can see them and take notice. At some point, and I will have had all our stuff backed up in at least two places, I suspect I may be able to convince her to ditch Windows and go with some Linux distro or other. She’s had to use backup netbooks and laptops running Linux distros when her Windows machines bit the dust, and has seen that she can still do Office-type chit, get email, surf the net, etc., so there’s that. And I’ve taken every opportunity I’ve had to point out things Linux invariably does better, like on boot-up seeing the net immediately; recognizing printers and other peripherals likewise; much simpler and quicker scanning apps; and, of course, the security.
“Gunshots tend to be in strings of 5, 6, 9, 17 etc at pretty regular intervals.”
Indeed. And this is what we heard a couple of hours ago, as though someone was methodically firing a handgun until the ammo ran out, about nine or ten shots. And it wouldn’t surprise me that much, as there’s a lotta guns up here.
“We’re surrounded by medieval peasant tribes, and they just don’t get cause and effect.”
Pretty much just one tribe in this AO, the Cock-A-Soid one, but of different economic statuses and cultural outlooks. We have basically three sub-tribes: the very well-off who live in nice Victorian piles up on the Saint Albans city hill and the nouveau-riche McMansion types with big piles at varying distances from the lake shore; the regular working stiffs and working-class drones who man the machines and suchlike at the factories and farms; and our version of the urban “underclass,” mostly of the FSA type, and getting most of their support from the State and our taxes. Some of them supplement that support by engaging in welfare fraud, dope manufacturing and dealing, and Lord knows what else.
In another droll episode tonight; I just finished a biography of Mercy Otis Warren, a lovely and brilliant anti-Federalist who wrote a history of the Revolution from that perspective. Wife just read it, too, and then saw online that Mark Dice character asking various derps at some beach near San Diego, I think, what they knew about July 4th, the Founding Fathers, etc. Naturally maybe one out of a dozen at best knew even the most basic stuff. And as I’ve said before here, we could go take a little survey around both sides of the lake, NY and VT, and ask folks what they know about the lake area’s history and come up with goose eggs, mostly. This lake, incidentally, has had a chit-ton of dramatic Murkan history associated with it, from the earliest inhabitants through the French explorations, King Philip’s War, the French and Indian Wars, our War of Independence, the War of 1812 (where there were freaking NAVAL BATTLES under sail out there!), etc. Samuel de Champlain, Roger’s Rangers, G. Washington, and B. Arnold were all through here. But most current inhabitants are clueless.
Somebody forget to tell me that WW IV started? I’ve got around 20 mortars in a radius of one mile constantly belching around me. Looks pretty but we haven’t had rain in several days for the first stretch in quite a while.
“Somebody forget to tell me that WW IV started?”
I was just thinking along those lines earlier today; all these firecrackers going off is a good approximation of various types of small arms fire going off just down the block or two. Excellent acclimatizing if we could add screams, a lot more smoke, some structural fires, and corpses scattered around that no one has gotten around to picking up yet, and it’s a good question whether anyone ever will.
And here’s a comical graphic:
https://westernrifleshooters.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/tumblr_o9qo8fclcl1r7p8tto1_500.jpg
You bet, honey! Now why doncha try it out in a full-fledged “socialist” regime like North Korea; let us know how it turns out, willya?
Made a quick trip to Costco to pick up a ladder earlier today and noticed something interesting.
If we take it as a given that Costco carries items with a mass market appeal, at least among the mass market it cultivates, we might be able to draw some conclusions about the coming apocalypse.
I saw a big end cap display with 4 different glossy printed large format books, all about surviving disaster. Pix of guns, animals, etc on the cover. Then in the middle of the “normal” summer books, I see Cooking with the Cast Iron Skillet, and The Dutch Oven Cookbook, nestled right up to Natural Healing Wisdom, and Survival Wisdom & Know How.
Costco sees a market for survival books.
Maybe the end is closer than we hope….
nick
Naw, it’s just that one or more of their wizard marketing drones saw another area to make a buck. But if it gets more drone shoppers into approaching that frame of mind and actually learning HOW to do stuff like that, then we’re all betta off.
All those “low cost” providers are betting they’ll never be forced to pay their ‘fair share’ for that infrastructure and maintenance, and you sure as sh!t won’t see trucks with “Green Mountain” on the side after the hurricane.
They don’t have to pay a dime for infrastructure and maintenance in Texas. All of that is in your Centerpoint bill. The Texas deregulation was done by taking the power lines away from utilities like HL&P in Houston and creating what became Centerpoint. Reliant (now a division of NRG) kept the generation plants. If you look back, you will see that the Centerpoint bills went up a bunch after the Katrina/Rita/Ike series of storms. Centerpoint had a bunch of repair work to do, did some hardening, and went on a more aggressive tree trimming schedule. All paid for by a rate increase.
while “suet” refers to unrendered cow or sheep fat and “tallow” refers to rendered cow or sheep fat
My mom makes a delicious plum pudding using suet. I make soap using tallow or lard. The quality of the soap differs when I use lard versus tallow.
When I render the suet to make tallow, the heat and skimming change the product significantly. An attempt to make plum pudding with tallow one year, and lard another, yielded a nasty tasting poorly crumbed disgusting plum pudding.
Her best plum puddings were the years she obtained suet from around the kidneys. It has a crumbly texture you don’t find in the suet from other parts of the carcass. The suet in other parts (of the sheep at least) are denser and meatier.
I rather expect the different names were because back when we used all of the animal we butchered ourselves, those distinctions mattered because the product created required a particular item to have the desired qualities.
Or something like that.
Tsk tsk, Jenny. Bringing facts into the discussion and bringing an end to uninformed speculation? It… it… it just isn’t done! It’s clear that you’re not suited for a career — a calling! — as a thought leader in a university or think-tank.
I’m somewhat familiar with suet, at least as the term is used in the UK. It refers specifically to fat from near the kidneys that has a significantly higher melting point. This makes suet behave differently in cooking: “When the melting point of suet is finally reached, the surrounding batter has already begun to set. By the time full baking temperature is reached within the pudding, the suet has melted, leaving a void in the batter. Consequently, the use of suet in such dishes as puddings, dumplings, and mince pie results in a spongy texture.”
“I’ve given up on buying pork chops at costco as it is too “high class” and so lean you can’t even cook it. ”
Thick boneless chops (~1.5″) salt & pepper. Cooked on the grill, indirect heat, water bath over the heat, 20 minutes. Grill on high 5 minutes each side, or until done. I use a light smoking as well. slightly pink, moist, wonderful flavor,
That’s why I’m in favor of hanging the SOB’s a week after they’re convicted.
Why the delay? Once convicted take them immediately outside the courthouse and drop them while a rope is around their neck. Publicly viewed, local broadcast mandatory by all stations.
Historically, the delay was to allow the person time to have final meetings with family, write a will, meet with a preacher, etc. On the other hand, when the culprit has been caught red-handed, there’s a lot to be said for how they handled horse thieves and cattle rustlers back in the Old West. There was always a rope handy and a nearby tree.
Historically, the delay was to allow the person time to have final meetings with family, write a will, meet with a preacher, etc.
They can do that while they watch the rope being tied.
Well, I’ve often said that hanging less than 1% of the population would pretty much eliminate crime. And they need to concentrate on the career criminals, people who pursue crime against strangers as a means of making a living. Once they’ve hanged all the musloids, true rapists, child molesters, people who defraud the elderly, email and phone scammers, spammers, etc., they can move on to politicians, bureaucrats, and lawyers. After that, they can can hang burglars, robbers, etc. With all of those gone, life would be a lot better for those who remained. But come to think of it, those all would total more than 1% of the population. Oh, well.
I’ve given up on buying pork chops at costco as it is too “high class” and so lean you can’t even cook it.
It’s pretty much everywhere like that. Most pigs today have been bred to be overly lean. If you want old-fashioned pork, you have to go to high-end stores and pay more. (In Houston, there’s Central Market.)
One of the better Tex-Mex places in Houston, El Real on Westheimer, renders their own lard from heirloom pigs. Their tortillas are excellent and their refried beans are incredibly silky and tasty.
I saw four survival books at Sam’s Club. Although I was more interested in the book about stuff they used to teach in home ec and shop class.
Survival and”the old way” are making it into the mainstream. That’s either a sign of how bad it is, old encouraging that folks are trying to get ready.
N
I’ve re-jiggered my thinking somewhat and have gone to the “prep from most likely to least likely scenarios,” i.e., simple street assaults and robberies, B&E’s and home invasions, and now, mass shooters, usually in crowded urban areas and “gun-free” zones.
To that end, I plan to escalate my CCW skillz, advance my emergency med abilities, and get cracking faster and harder on the commo and AO intel.
SUT and woods/jungle/mountain/rural guerrilla warfare? We may get to that, but first things first. We probably should learn and practice both, but one step at a time for old farts like me.
I think it’s fairly encouraging that the ideas are out there, and that well-known celeb figures like Ted Koppel put stuff out that peeps will look at, maybe, and that more folks seem to be getting on the stick with this stuff. If nothing else, prep for the usual breakdowns and threats in your AO; floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, mass shooting incidents, Turd World tribe invasions, street crime, B&E’s and home invasions, whatever.
Here our big threats are ice storms and blizzards with accompanying power outages, and of course the local AO crime patterns, much of it associated with illegal narcotics manufacturing and distribution, and also increasing gangbanger activities from elsewhere. If suddenly the Feds start rolling in busloads of young male musloids to settle down here, then we’re probably gonna have to think about escalating the CQB and SUT stuff.
Comically, our biggest group/s of imports from elsewhere are thus fah turning out to be Mormons, as the Sharon, VT area was the original home of one Joseph Smith. And I’m talking HUNDREDS and possibly thousands of people moving in and setting up some kinda “community” down there, just off I-89, too.
And then, again mostly in urban areas, we have running street battles like it was post-Great War Germany:
http://takimag.com/article/he_who_stabs_last_stabs_best_jim_goad/print#axzz4DTM3LXoD
If you see this kinda stuff starting to break out, my advice is to GTFO of there ASAP.
And from the Story Time is Over Department:
http://takimag.com/article/the_kindergarten_narrative_gavin_mcinnes/print#axzz4DTM3LXoD
“Comically, our biggest group/s of imports from elsewhere are thus fah turning out to be Mormons, as the Sharon, VT area was the original home of one Joseph Smith. And I’m talking HUNDREDS and possibly thousands of people moving in and setting up some kinda “community” down there, just off I-89, too.”
My general and specific experience with Mormons (LDS seems to be their preferred label out here) has been good to excellent. As with all groups/tribes there are the bad examples, big mouths little action, and super evangelists but with LDS that percentage seems to be substantially lower than normal. Best neighbors I have ever had.
My general and specific experience with Mormons
My older brother and his son (not the daughter) are strong Mormons (LDS, whatever) as was my mother and grandparents. I was raised in the church but left many years ago for what I think are better pastures.
Anyway, when I was living with my mother and she went through the divorce. Times were really tough and I think without the support of the church people she would have not been able to make it on her own.
I remember one move that we made from Wrightwood to Victorville. A bunch of people showed up from the church with pickups and a couple of trucks. Within a few hours we were moved and my mother never paid a dime. We also made one other move in Victorville and again the church members showed and got everything moved.
I also think that, but am not certain, that my mother got some financial support from the church and most certainly got food and some clothing from the church. Times were really tough on her and the church helped her make it through.
I don’t really subscribe to their beliefs but I am impressed with their willingness to help each other when there are problems. My impression is that LDS as a group are good people, strongly hold their beliefs, and I would have no issues with having any of them as neighbors.
Within my family they know I left the church and my feelings about their beliefs and the church in general. At any family event there are no discussions about trying to convert me back or otherwise sway my opinion. They just leave the issue alone.
I have also worked with a couple of Mormons over my career and they were also quite good people. One person (we both in the USAF at the time) left for two weeks leave. We asked him what he was doing on his vacation and he said he was going to find a wife. We asked if he had a girlfriend, he did not. But at the end of two weeks he came back and was engaged to Mormon girl.
I would have no issues with having Mormons as neighbors.
I like every Mormon I’ve known. I’d welcome Mormons as neighbors and friends.
In all these years, I think that’s that’s the first time you’ve mentioned your association with the LDS Church.
I think that’s that’s the first time you’ve mentioned your association with the LDS Church
That would be correct. I was raised as a Mormon because my parents were Mormons. I was transferred to my aunt and uncle because, in my opinion, my mother really did not want to be bothered with kids nor did my father. So shortly after divorce I was transferred. While with my aunt and uncle I never attended a Mormon church again as my aunt (my mother’s sister) also left the church. She and my uncle hated the church but I found their hatred to be wrong.
As I was able to start making my own decisions and make my own choices I decided some of the beliefs and rules of the church just did not make sense. Thus shortly after joining the USAF I filed with the church to have my name removed from their records. It took a couple of letters, a couple of visits from church people, and a couple of legal threats to get my name removed.
My older brother, a nephew, a cousin, my mother, her parents, and a large chunk of my family on my mother’s side were/are Mormons. I have a document about family history specifically details the family leaving their home and traveling to Utah before it was a state to pursue their religious beliefs.
However, the fact that I am no longer a member does not change my opinion of the people within the church. Every single one that I have met were good people that helped when needed, especially with members. As I stated, had it not been for the church my mother would have crumbled. The moving that would have been impossible without the church, the food support, suspected financial support, were provided without any strings attached.
I am sure they exist but I have yet to find a Mormon with whom I would have any issues. I would welcome them as neighbors.
From what youse guys are saying, and in my own experience with other religious denominations and groups, the LDS members seem to be much better at extending helping hands to people in need or in dire straits. So while they talk the talk, they also walk the walk, and I have zero issues with that and commend them heartily for it. My only problem is with the talk part, in terms of church history and “theology,” but hell, even in my own little denomination of a billion-plus, too many, probably most, in fact, have zero clue about either. And I don’t see Roman Catholics humping valises around and wearing shirts and ties in all kinds of weather. Nor do I see them evangelizing, as we are also called to do. But….mea culpa, mea maxima culpa …too.
I was just ruminating again about various stuff; remember when you were a little kid and fantasized about what you wanted to be when you grew up? Maybe a teacher, a policeman, a fireman, the President, an airplane pilot….?
Teachers’ main objective now and for the past several generations is to inculcate their charges with commie propaganda and lies.
Cops are badly trained and their default setting is lethal force, ’cause they wanna go home at the end of their shift with no bruises, cuts or butthurt.
Firemen do very dangerous work but are normally heavily unionized and under more or less constant affirmative action and diversity assault.
Airline pilots have chit-loads of training and experience but are paid chit and are also mostly unionized.
The President is almost always a lying, thieving, serial adulterer, substance abuser and war criminal.
We need new pre-school and elementary school coloring books ASAP.
I always wanted to grow up to be a scientist, writer, and entrepreneur.
Scientists gave us eugenics, the atom bomb, biological warfare, and genetically modified produce, and then there was the mad scientist in prehistory according to Nation of Islam lore who created the Frankensteinian white race. Evil, the whole bunch.
For writers we’ve had Susan Sontag, Germaine Greer, and Kalil Gibran. Wonderful.
Entrepeneurs include Krupp Arms, the Edsel makers, and whoever gave us the friggin’ Pet Rock.
Nothing wrong with eugenics as a science or as a goal. If they want children, anyone with any sense picks their spouse at least in part on traits to pass down to the children. The problem with (what was called) eugenics came from applying it on a wholesale rather than a retail basis — politics, racism, culturalism, and “ick factor” all worked their way into that. Religion, too, for that matter.
remember when you were a little kid and fantasized about what you wanted to be when you grew up
Most of the usual stuff, fireman, policeman, astronaut (out of reach because of vision issues), telephone installer (days of AT&T being the only game in town). Then I took a computer programming course at a local college when I was a junior in high school. IBM 1130 I believe if memory serves me correctly. That sealed my career path and it had to be with computers. It has been what I have done for 40+ years, soon to be saying goodbye to all of it.
“Nothing wrong with eugenics as a science or as a goal.”
Just joshing. And I’ve always got a kick out of that Nation of Islam mythology.
“It has been what I have done for 40+ years, soon to be saying goodbye to all of it.”
32 years on and off for me, and mostly off over the last fourteen or so. And I was never a programmer or developer; I started as a night-shift operator on VAX/VMS and then drifted into the sys admin drone areas, ending up in my hay-day, haha, doing sys, net and security admin chit at IBM with RHEL. Apparently also saying buh-bye to it all now, thus mote it be. More fun playing with guns, anyway.
I’ve never met a Mormon I didn’t like, although I think their beliefs are whacky,
The thing about them that fascinated me was they had a huge computer centre built inside a mountain, well above the water table, with CDC Cyber computers and huge IM/DM databases for their baptism-for-the-dead racket. It probably wouldn’t have survived a direct hit from the Soviets but they were dead serious about protecting their data.
I would have loved to have been an electrical engineer. Work for a few years for an employer, then start my own firm, do some university lecturing part time in my speciality…
Not smart or dilligent enough, I’m afraid.
Got hooked on computer programming at Adelaide University in 1977, using a CDC 6400 (may peace and blessings be upon it) running NOS/BE (the operating system of heaven) to learn Pascal, Fortran and Compass assembler (may peace and blessings be upon them). Had a great career, in the Eighties I would have worked for nothing if I didn’t need the dough. But then the narks and managerial types took over. Was glad to leave three years ago.
The Mormons I know are very nice people as well. I could probably go to the middle of the local Mormon Temple and say Joseph Smith was not a prophet, and walk out unscathed. There’s another prophet I won’t even mention whose followers are not nearly as nice.
There’s another prophet I won’t even mention whose followers are not nearly as nice.
Obola?
There’s another prophet I won’t even mention whose followers are not nearly as nice.
Obola?
Close, very close. Starts with an M and ends with uhammad.