11:08 – April started out very fast for kit sales but after the first week things slowed down dramatically. We ended up with total revenue for April 2016 at about 92% of April 2015. Not horrendously bad, but not good. In talking with other small businessmen who do their selling on the Internet, it seems that despite rosy government claims things have been generally slowing down over the past year. I’d guess about 60% of the people I’ve talked to say things for them are noticeably slower, with maybe 30% saying they’re about the same, and 10% who are actually doing better in 2016 than for the same period in 2015.
Regardless, we keep plugging along building subassemblies and hoping that our traditional rush period from mid-July through mid-October will be heavy. The stuff we’re building for stock–small parts bags and similar subassemblies–have no shelf-life issues, so if we end up not needing them during the rush period this summer, we’ll have them for later. Today, we’re going to bottle some long shelf life chemicals. Which is most of them. I used to pull sample containers to test years later. I stopped doing that once I figured out which solutions had essentially unlimited shelf lives and which needed to be made up and bottled as late as possible before shipping. So we’ll make up the former ones early and leave the others as long as possible.
This is in nowhere near the biz you’re in, but sales of my older books have had a notable drop, after selling at a steady rate for 3-5 years. My freelance computer income went to 0, though part of that is because I didn’t put much effort into scrounging up gigs. Various other freelance income went way down, though that was so variable that I’m not sure it signifies anything.
Several of my kin and acquaintances who are not in the government “business” have either had to take crap jobs just to put food on the table or report that business is down. This is not qualitatively different than in past years but every year it’s a bit worse. Most of them are in upstate NY, which has the egregious NY state government to contend with as well as the national malaise; some are elsewhere, including in North Carolina.
Usual caveat: plural of anecdote is not data.
“Usual caveat: plural of anecdote is not data.”
It’s plural pretty much everywhere except Mordor, for some strange reason.
“… take crap jobs just to put food on the table…”
Roger that. Done a good dozen of those since 2002. When I left state gummint. (it was either that or go insane and murder half the people in the building).
“Most of them are in upstate NY..”
And upstate Vermont. Where IBM dumped a bunch of us three years ago, and this past winter the ski resorts just barely held on.
I’m thinking, a combination of skillz, where some work when the Grid is up and the net is running, and another set where it’s not. While also taking into account a host of other factors as the slow? slide into dystopia continues.
It’s plural pretty much everywhere except Mordor, for some strange reason.
Crime pays for those fukstiks.
My online sales are up because I’m putting more effort into it. They are also up dollar wise because I got a couple of high value items that sold. What is normally selling is “smalls.” Small easy to ship items, in the $15-40 range. This is down from previous years. Put another way, my average sale price is down, but my volume is up (this due to effort.)
If you watched Deadliest Catch, right now I feel like Sig, grinding on low numbers, with the occasional full pot.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m seeing more sales to companies. I’m selling “new other” industrial items,” used” items for use, and used “for refurb/repair”. A couple of years ago, it was rare to find a company buying on ebay, and few had the means to pay. Now EVERYONE is on ebay scrounging for parts and looking for value.
The thrift stores, garage sales, and estate sales are full of buyers looking to resell too. There is a whole culture, based around youtube videos, of resalers. (awkward to type, different from traditional resellers) Look for thrift store haul videos to see some of the well known players. They do podcasts, videos, and some hold classes. It’s beginning to feel like house flipping with all the howto shows and seminars….
more in a bit, RL calls…
nick
Mr. nick, I know you’re busy but you might consider putting together a quick Kindle-type e-book on how to deal with all the stuff you’re dealing with out there. You obviously can write well and have all the intel.
That is a thought. I love the idea of do once, charge again and again that comes with writing books. I thought about doing it for my last profession as there is nothing written about how to do that job, and a need. Unfortunately the market is very small, and the desire to just steal it would be large…
Prepping is a crowded market, with a lot of dross. I think RBT’s book will do well because of his existing personal brand, and get exposure from same. Both are things I lack…
It would take a bunch of time too. When I’m writing factual stuff, I get about one page per hour (reports/proposals/etc.)
I am interested to hear what subset of stuff you would be interested in or think I would do well with.
nick
“I am interested to hear what subset of stuff you would be interested in or think I would do well with.”
Mainly the things you’ve been posting here since you’ve been on this board; a wealth of info and intel on dealing with local and regional and innernet used goods markets, yard and estate sales, strategies and tactics for working with same, etc. What stuff sells, how that changes over time due to whatever factors, and doing it safely and profitably for extra or sole income. I’d go real light, if at all, on any political commentary, though. Not everyone out there are crazed reichwingnut gunnies like us here. Lay off the prepping angle mostly, too. This would cover what you just touched upon today; what’s happening out there in the “alternative” markets.
Just so’s you stay away from The Big Book of Fart Jokes. That’s my turf.
If you write a how-to guide on scrounging and buying and selling, it’ll be very close to what you do day-to-day, which means you won’t be able to take a break from it by shifting to your other (hopefully) money-making endeavor. Maybe you should write about something else, something well separated from what you normally do.
I suggest porn. Not writing smut fiction — there’s already quite enough of that, and most of it sucks (no pun intended, on the basis of that being too obvious and easy). Instead, write a how-to guide for running a porn production company. You don’t need to know anything about that business, and in fact it may help if you don’t. Make every bit of advice bad. Hilariously bad.
The best part? Explaining to your young children what you’re working on when you’re tapping away at the computer. No, that’s second best. The best would be explaining to teachers and the parents of your kids’ friends when your kids tell them you’re writing a book.
I have a friend who writes erotic horror under his real name. He’s also got a full time job in magazine publishing. I’m not sure how he kept that separate. And it is REALLY graphic horror…..
n
Another week gone by of hellaciously insane chit in this country and what’s left of the rest of the West:
http://takimag.com/article/the_week_that_perished_takimag_may_01_2016/print#axzz47RcE4kxd
Fred has the rulers’ number; we is bruthas from another mutha, apparently:
http://fredoneverything.org/the-mask-comes-off-putrefaction-most-foul/
I spent the day doing little chores around the house.
I finished the grape arbor. It needed some additional x bracing, so now that’s done.
I transplanted some volunteer oak saplings. They needed to be removed from the raised beds anyway, so I potted them. If they flourish, they’ll join the other oaks I’ve got growing in pots. Maybe I can make a buck or two in the next couple of years growing trees? Doesn’t cost anything….
I transplanted some pepper plants, and did some garden clean up.
My big prep for the week was to buy a whole house gennie. It’s surplus, and used, so I got it very cheap. We’ll see what I’ve really got when I pick it up, but it was cheap enough I can put a fair amount of money into it in service and maintenance if needed. Then I’ll have to get it installed. It was reported as working when removed from service. Even if not working, I can get what I paid back selling it for parts or repair. Really think I scored with this one. Fingers crossed.
Carrots and beats continue to produce. I’ve got one head of broccoli developing. Collards are finally starting to grow. Japanese eggplant is flowering. Turnips are starting to plump up.
I got a ‘communications box’ from a surplus auction that has a nice Kenwood R-1000 communications receiver in it. The box looks like it was a local agency’s ham comms station. It has an old Vic 20 set up for digital text, and a TNC and phone patch. Lots of good antenna cable, adapters and wire. Someone had already removed the Kenwood transceiver before it went to auction though. Still, I’m happy. The R-1000 and the TNC will make a nice addition to my shack. The Vic 20 and old scanner will offset the cost of the rest.
We continue to get rain and flood warnings. A family got swept away in flash flooding in the middle of the night. We’re gonna be dealing with the hangover from this for a long time. Some of the major commuter roads thru the reservoir are still many feet underwater and are predicted to remain so for weeks. It’s only gone down a couple of inches since the major rain. In theory, the kids’ school principal is ‘monitoring’ the situation with the dam. In practice, I don’t think she’s out walking the berm looking for leakage….. I can’t believe I missed this massive hazard. I’ll be kicking myself for this for a while.
Well, dinner ain’t gonna cook itself….so I’m off.
nick
I’ve done mostly diddly-squat for prep this past week; can’t really function well enough to do the backlog of outside yard work or the attic workspace assemblies, thanks to not being able to stand or walk for more than ten minutes or so, and recovering from nasty chest/cough bug that wife brought back from the biological soup of East Bay Kalifornia a couple of weeks ago. I did manage to pick up a couple of very nice items for defensive (or offensive) purposes and will be doing some mods on them when I get the workbench set up properly. Also cleared out some of my office here and got a new photo-overlay/geo topo map, 5×4 feet in back of me now. It covers from just south of the village and city/town to about six miles north of it, lakeshore and the two bays included. Amazing again, the square miles of flat and very fertile farmland to our north, east and south. Pretty much our local AO up here.
Signed up for a bicycle familiarization class at the hippie bicycle joint down in Burlap for an evening next month, and will be doing their longer bike mechanic classes for six weeks of nights after that. I’ll fit in OK with them, I think, although apparently the cop aura still gives off vibes, despite hair longer than the guys in that Kansas vid I put up here a couple of days ago.
And have spent not as much time as I’d planned on getting ready for the job interview down in Burlap tomorrow; my haht really ain’t in it, but we need the income for a few months, at least. And the interviewer/boss, though female, apparently has both Winblows and Linux tech chops, which is a good sign, for a change, sounds like Red Hat, too. So I’ll do the due diligence thing again, I guess.
Mrs. OFD is driving down to her 3-4-day gig in Concord, NH; overcast here with light rain. When she gets back, we gotta get our tax ducks lined up and go see a professional preparer and maybe a lawyer. And bring her Saab convertible in for major work. After that, she’s off to East Bay Kalifornia again to pick up more germs and viruses from the steaming biological soup out there. MIL due back up here by next weekend, and shopping, at age 88, for yet another Saab. Princess wailing for money again for the past three days. And life goes on….
Governance versus gooberment:
http://www.cnjonline.com/2016/04/27/mcmanigal-long-past-time-to-reject-government/
But the VAST majority of peeps, derps, orcs, et. al. are True Believers in gooberment. Getting rid of it is way easier said than done. It will take a massive breakdown and reboot and chances are VERY good that gooberment will be reinstituted ricky-tick anyway.
If everyone would just shoot one prog per day, things would improve quickly.
For you budding erotica authors here is a link to some research material (NSFW):
mashable.com/2016/05/01/omgyes-review/
For those of you with time on your hands and want a little recreational web viewing I have put up a gallery of some my wedding images. The link can be found at this location.
http://www.raymondthompsonphotography.com/Weddings
Clicking a thumbnail provides a larger view, navigation text at the top of each image page, summary page at the bottom. Y’all can figure it out.
Nice pics, Mr. Ray, as always. I see the brides are about 50-50 between them as what ain’t missed many meals and them as what are pretty dahn hot.
How many “budding erotica authors” are there here, besides Mr. SteveF, I mean?
I gotta go count my ammo now, see how long before I run out while shooting one prog per day…
I write only erotica — not “porn”, thank you very much — which appeals to a very discerning market. Unfortunately, the dedicated readers of lesbian amputee midget furry porn — I mean, erotica — for some reason don’t seem to have any regular source of income and thus are unable to pay for the material.
“Muslim strong favorite to win London mayoral election…”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/muslim-favourite-run-london-racially-charged-campaign-092839903–sector.html
Shoot, that is nothing. We’ve had a muslim President of the USA for over seven years now.
But he was elected by ordinary (misguided) folks while denying he was a mooslim.
That british guy will be elected by mooslims because he’s a mooslim.
So much fun coming down the pike….
n
April started out very fast for kit sales but after the first week things slowed down dramatically. We ended up with total revenue for April 2016 at about 92% of April 2015. Not horrendously bad, but not good. In talking with other small businessmen who do their selling on the Internet, it seems that despite rosy government claims things have been generally slowing down over the past year. I’d guess about 60% of the people I’ve talked to say things for them are noticeably slower, with maybe 30% saying they’re about the same, and 10% who are actually doing better in 2016 than for the same period in 2015.
Our sales are running 14% ahead of 2015. But our collections are running behind 2015 so we are accrual rich and cash poor (we keep our books on an accrual basis). Three of our customers have filed bankruptcy in the last 18 months including a couple that most people would recognize. But one of them paid us last week and shocked us, I did not know that they could pay any bills at all.
You’ve heard me say it before, the upstream (reservoir to the well head) oil and natural gas market is a total disaster. The midstream (pipelines, compressors, pumps, gas treating and processing) is dropping a little. And the downstream (refineries, chemical plants) is doing awesome since their feed stocks are so cheap. In fact, we are seeing lots of plans for downstream industries to move back to the USA since the feed stocks are so cheap and the work environment is safe (no crazies shooting at you).
My friends in the custom engineering firm got a couple of last minute jobs and are holding together. But, it is week to week and they are nervous.
The Houston residential real estate market has moved from 2.5 months inventory to 3.5 months. In other words, the market is still healthy. In 1986, the Houston residential real estate market was 18 months of inventory at one point. Maybe 24 months, it was so bad that no one could tell how bad it was.
I interviewed the 40 year old Chemical Engineering PhD last Friday that approached me. He was working on the upgrade of the Dupont chemical plant that killed four workers in 2015 but Dupont just decided to scrap the plant so he got laid off in March. He is desperately looking for any job that does not require travel since he has three kids under the age of ten at home. His wife is a EE and has a good job so they are not in dire straits yet but he has never had problems finding a job before.
I thought that the cheap energy prices were going to pull the rest of the USA up but I guess that I am wrong. Of course, this is an election year and many investors are sitting on the sidelines waiting to see if we get crooked Hillary or crazy Bernie before they spend their cash on something that will get all of the profit taxed out of it.
I think that Obola’s next job will be head of the European Caliphate. You heard it first.
He’s angling for Secretary-General of the UN. They’re welcome to him, so long as they don’t give him back even after the US leaves the UN and kicks it off of US soil.
I wanna see him and Mooch in the UN building with all the musloids cheering him as he bows repeatedly to them, and then the whole building tips into the East River, thanks to shaped charges placed by haters of some kind, whereupon mutant crocs, released by more haters, gobble them all up.
This time next year I’m betting things will be getting real sporty here, esp. in the big cities. Field Marshal Rodham will try to crack down and there will be some violent pushback and then we might start seeing who among the military and police will move in whichever directions.
Here is some important advice for those who have ridden a bicycle a lot and stopped for a couple of decades from someone who knows. They say you never forget how to ride a bicycle. This is literally true. However, apparently you do forget one very important thing about bicycling. That is how to fall off a bicycle. This is a very important skill. Titanium hardware is for really expensive bicycles, not people.
OK, I’ll bite; how DOES one fall off a bicycle, assuming one has a modicum of control over the process? And what do you think about helmets?
“Titanium hardware is for really expensive bicycles, not people.”
My son designs custom Titanium wheelchairs. They’re not cheap either.
The best way to fall is to make sure you’re separated from your bike. Don’t try to hold on to the handlebars and kick your feet loose from the clips or baskets if applicable. You can probably fall and roll somewhat safely by instinct or practice, but having a bike attached to you throws that off and you’ll get hurt. In particular, do not try to protect the bike when you’re going. (I talked with one guy who was willing to risk a broken hip to protect his carbon fiber bike because he would heal but it wouldn’t. I question his judgement.)
Wear gloves with heavy palm padding. This is for normal riding protection of your palms as well as for falling. Half gloves or full finger, your choice; I’ve gotten a bit of scuffing on my fingers from a fall while wearing half gloves, but nothing major, nothing like the abrasion of my palms when not wearing any gloves.
I don’t like helmets and refuse to wear one. They throw off my balance and hearing. Possibly that could be overcome if I were to wear one enough to get used to it, but ref point #1. I’ve never banged my head from a bike accident — I tuck my head in and get my arms up if needed. There are anecdotes about Little Johnny being saved a skull fracture only because he was wearing his helmet, but I think that studies — real studies, which didn’t have their conclusion written before the funding request went out — show that helmets give little to no benefit.
Oh hell yeah; the bike can be crunched to scrap rather than me getting a scratch or bruise. Takes too long to heal up at this advanced age of decrepitude and senility. I’m not big on helmets, either, and rarely wore one in SEA, and then only because pesky brass or lifer maggot NCOs were around. Good tip on the gloves, thanks.
I have a Trek Lime autoshifter, since we’re talking about bikes. A good around town bike. I also have a LandRider autoshifter with on/off tires for longer distances. I don’t ride as much, but I recommend those two if you like autoshifters. MrsAtoz has a single speed Margaritaville big butt bike.
I ride autoshifters ’cause I’m a pussy aviator.
If I knew that, I wouldn’t have the titanium hardware. I do know that using your arm to break your fall is not a good idea. I think helmets are a good idea. The first time I wore one, I had a paramedic tell me I just saved the cost of an MRI and to buy a new helmet before riding again.
“Princess wailing for money again for the past three days.”
Ever thought of telling her to get a job? I was off my parents hands by 21,
“I was off my parents hands by 21,”
Beat you, 18.
However my Dad (12) and his older Brother (14) supported his Widowed Mother and 3 younger Sisters during the “Great Depression”. They never missed a day of school, except during a blizzard that had them home-bound for a week.
If I knew that, I wouldn’t have the titanium hardware. I do know that using your arm to break your fall is not a good idea.
I tried using my right arm to break my fall and broke my humerus bone one inch above the elbow. It was a clean break so I got to spend six weeks in traction. Peeing and pooping into a bedpan. I advise against that.
“Beat you, 18”
Beat YOU, 17! (and couldn’t wait to get outta there, between four siblings, sharing a room with my little brother, ten years younger than me, and I HATED skool by then.)
So I went to Vietnam. Yeah, that’s right; I ain’t the sharpest knife in the dishwasher.
“Ever thought of telling her to get a job?”
She had a summer job last year and she better get one again this year. Prior to that, she took two summers and farted around, including a European “tour” at our expense, plus the “gap” year after high skool in Italy. And recently she had the nerve to tell her mom to “be more responsible” with money. Which went over real well, as you can imagine.
“I tried using my right arm to break my fall…”
Ya know, a lotta what we do in situations like that is simply instinctive, and it may not be the smartest thing, but gee whiz, it’s only a matter of seconds. I watched a series of vids recently on how to whip out your handgun from inside a vehicle behind the wheel, and there’s like half a dozen ways to do it, but R U gonna be thinking about which one to use in the nanoseconds of a decision? Unless you practice with a blue gun relentlessly for months and develop the “muscle memory,” you’re just gonna go with whatever as fast as you can.
When I was falling a lot learning to ski, I managed to mostly land on my butt or hip where there is the most padding, and usually came out OK. Once, though, I had zero control, and was tumbling end over end down a slope, with stuff flying outta my pockets, etc. When I finally came to a stop, I got to watch toddlers flying down by me not even using poles.
My primary employer is feeling the pinch. Contract machining, contract heat-treating, and a testing lab are all down – for about 18 months now. We’re not HURTING yet, but we’re watching dollars, knowing that there’s a pinch. There is enough reserve to weather the storm for a couple of years, but some of the big-capital projects with 5-10 year payoffs will likely be postponed.
My side business, which has grown for the past 5 years, is noticably down this year. About 10% for most races. Some are off by a lot. Only 2 have grown over last year. Overall about 10%. Since it’s recreational, I attribute it to the pinch everyone is feeling. $20 to run a 5k is great when Daddy’s getting overtime. It’s ‘way too much when Daddy’s laid off. And our area just had a major employer lay off about 1% of the region’s workforce, which trickles down to impact 30-40% of the workforce. That sucks.
Re: bikes & helmets.
When you fall, you fall badly. I don’t know that there is a way to practice. Just think about it in advance so that when it does happen, you don’t have to think about it.
1 accident when I was 14 or so. Riding down a hill as fast as possible with a curve at the bottom. There was a car coming the other way, so I couldn’t hit the inside of the curve. I hit gravel, slid 20 or so yards one one side, bike first. I then hit a rut, flipped, and hit a tree with my melon. Concussed, but not terrible. It’s a wonder I didn’t break my neck. 35 years later, there’s STILL a dent in the tree and I’m f-f-f-fine. I don’t remember the slide or the tree, but I do remember talking to my Dad as he drove me to the hospital. It took me 15 minutes to figure out 15×15=225, but I kept at it because I didn’t want to go into shock. (14-year-olds have funny thoughts.)
Helmet – I wasn’t wearing one then. I usually wear one now, but that’s mostly to hold the mirror I find useful when riding to work. I don’t worry if I forget it & ride anyway. Friends that comment get my dark stare, and they shut up. I don’t suffer fools who cannot mind their own business. All of that said, I think helmets are a good idea. The can absorb some of the impact and help protect the melon from scrapes that still show.
It took me 15 minutes to figure out 15×15=225, but I kept at it because I didn’t want to go into shock. (14-year-olds have funny thoughts.)
At 49 I was busy trying to figure out how my arm could be broken and not hurt. The broken was kind of obvious. Well that and picturing a copy of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with the words “Don’t Panic” featured prominently on the cover.
WRT bicycle safety:
You bicycle guys/gals/whatever might want to consider this airbag helmet:
http://www.hovding.com/how_hovding_works
I was trying to find a whole body version but there doesn’t appear one yet. Anyone up for a Kickstarter? 😉
Heh. I’ve seen that contraption before. Nice idea, but if I’m going to rely on something to cushion the melon, I don’t want to have to rely on it actually working before I need it. That’s why I prefer seat belts to airbags. The bags are nice, but I’m not counting on them.
Well just this afternoon I witnessed the result of modern highway safety engineering combined with modern automobile design, and airbags….
I was about a couple hundred yards back from a guy who hit the end of a guard rail at highway speed. He then spun around and ended up perfectly in the lane, facing the right direction.
I pulled up to render aid, and he was shaking his head clear, then jumped out of the car and ran around to the shoulder. Airbag and shoulder belt. Crumple zone in the right front of the tiny eurobox. Guard rail crumpled for several feet. He had no idea what happened. Maybe dozed off?
Guy hit an immovable object at 65 mph and walked away.
That’s engineering right there!
After checking his ABCs*, I backed down the freeway to the curve and set some flares to divert traffic out of the lane, and the sheriff’s deputy was already on site.
So many ways that could have been worse….
nick
*airway, bleeding, consciousness
Good job there @nick, you’re doing it right.
BTW, shock can be a killer so just because someone is up and walking around they need to sit down at least and IIRC lay down and elevate feet (if no bleeding head wound).
Yep, good job there, Mr. nick. Did all you could do.
The other day somebody (a 50-year-old guy from South Burlap) went off the southbound side of the interstate about five miles south of here and down into the median/ravine, where his car evidently caught fire immediately. When I drove by the car was just a smoldering frame and there were three towns’ worth of fire apparatus up there along with half a dozen state cop vehicles and another half-dozen vehicles, some cops and some citizens. The flames had spread and caused a brush fire about a hundred yards in both directions; I’d seen the smoke in the sky from three miles out as I was heading in that direction from near downtown. Turns out only minor injuries, no idea why he went off the road or what caused the fire.
Cars rarely just explode into fireballs like in the movies and on tee-vee but they can otherwise go up pretty fast, as happened to me in 1980 with my Kharmen-Ghia.
Mrs. OFD just called and is sick again with cough making her gag and vomit and has now crashed for the night. One more day in NH and then she’ll head back up here. And she still plans to spend more extra days with grandkids out in Kalifornia in a couple of weeks, where she caught this shit in the first place (and gave it to me). I see she also has more gigs lining up in June for OK, NC and CA. We gotta get her in to see the MD ASAP for a complete medical exam, etc. Hard to make appointments with her schedule and also the insurance mess and late pay checks, though.
Yep, once the sheriff’s deputy was there, I figured care was on the way. I checked the guy a couple of times (visually and verbally) to see if there was any change indicating head trauma or internal bleeding, and, care was on the way. Driving away I went thru the whole scene again, as a mini AAR, and decided I had assessed the scene, secured our safety, done the initial assessment and followed that up, and if the deputy wasn’t johnny on the spot, I’d have sat him down. I was worried that he’d get diaphoretic, weak and shocky, but good safety design did it’s job.
The last one I helped with, a girl in a minivan had hit a tree, probably at about 35mph. Vehicle was smoking heavily, and had visible flame in the engine compartment. Another guy had already extracted the driver, and then we moved her back farther when the flame grew. Within a couple of minutes the whole vehicle was involved, glass was popping and crashing, shit was being flung out of the fire, and there was a LOT of heat. Normally the rule is ‘don’t move the victim’, but it was the right choice in this case. She had a nasty compound fracture of her upper leg, and that certainly suffered with the movement, but it beats being burned to death. I think she was probably unrestrained, as the leg break, and scrapes on her abdomen seem to indicate she moved A LOT before and after hitting the airbag. That’s the accident that made me get a big extinguisher for the Expy…. if there was a kid, or a problem getting her out, the only thing that would have helped at all would be delaying the fire. There was nothing left of the minivan but an engine block and what looked like frame rails.
Oh, and I’ve been carrying those road flares for 13 or more years, maybe as many as 20. Never needed them. Had them this time when they were needed. That’s the nature of preps. Not sure where to get replacements. Do they even let normal people buy road flares anymore?
nick
In the past year or year and a half, I’ve helped with that girl, helped put out a debris fire in the back of a pickup, asked if the driver needed help with an oil fire under his vehicle, and now this one today. Shit happens people, get some gear….
So… are you deliberately causing all these vehicular incidents, or do they “just happen, that’s your story and you’re sticking to it”?
It’s been years since I’ve been near an accident or car fire or anything that wasn’t already being handled. Probably less than ten years, but I’m not sure even of that. Hell, the last one that’s clear in my memory was almost 20 years ago, when a guy rolled his jacked-up pickup. I pulled the door off, which was quite difficult because of the way the roof was crumpled, then helped the driver and passenger climb out, then directed traffic as more knowledgeable people did first aid.
Side note: aside from the physical effort involved in getting the door off, directing traffic was much more difficult and stressful. The incident was on a fairly busy side road, one lane in each direction but steady traffic in both directions at commute time. The people not being allowed to proceed at any given moment were very pissed off at me for interfering with their sacred rights. Never mind that the truck was blocking one and a quarter lanes and cars could go only one direction at a time and only with caution.
“In the past year or year and a half, I’ve helped with that girl, helped put out a debris fire in the back of a pickup, asked if the driver needed help with an oil fire under his vehicle, and now this one today. Shit happens people, get some gear….”
Bear in mind you live in a very heavily populated area with a shit-ton of traffic. So lots more shit happens there than up here. But you’re right; we should all have the right gear with us anyway.
“The people not being allowed to proceed at any given moment were very pissed off at me for interfering with their sacred rights.”
I assume you got their plates, vehicle descriptions, and remembered their faces and you went and killed them all later.
I haven’t been involved with any incidents/events like this, either, not for a very long time, probably decades. But then I’ve lived up here for two of those decades and whatever shit happens is over by the time I see it and someone else has dealt with it. But as we all know, that can change any minute of any day for any of us. Have the gear and know how to use it.
No, but I did tell the worst offender, a woman (of course a middle-aged, plump woman who obviously hadn’t been told No in quite some time) who’d been jerking her car forward tiny bits to try to make me nervous, that if she hit me with her car I’d punch out her window and pull her head off. That threat normally wouldn’t sound plausible, but there was a pulled-off car door just a few feet away and my hands were bloody from where the metal and glass had sliced into the palms.
Hah, out damn blood!
I am a bit surprised too. Add to the litany of disasters that have happened to me or near me, and it’s starting to look like a pattern… maybe I’m the Forrest Gump of disaster?
I don’t even drive that much. For years it was less than 5k a year and now, I probably do 10k at the most.
I am not proud of it, but once on a red eye flight, after having the back of my chair kicked by a child non-stop for a couple of hours, despite my repeated appeals to the parent, I snapped and told the kid that “if you don’t stop kicking my chair, I’ll wait ’til you’re asleep and kill you.” The look was priceless. And he stopped. ‘Course the parent looked at me like I was the anti-christ…. probably go to jail in this day and age.
nick
“…if she hit me with her car I’d punch out her window and pull her head off.”
Outstanding. Ain’t it amazing the chutzpah some people have? Yet they don’t have it when it comes to doing the right thing. Which nowadays is: Resist. By Any Means.
“The look was priceless. And he stopped. ‘Course the parent looked at me like I was the anti-christ…. probably go to jail in this day and age.”
I would have additionally threatened the parent with the same, once I’d caught up with them off the plane. And yes, we’d go to jail now; they’d divert the flight to Bangor, Maine and have us off in cuffs. We’re just supposed to eat shit indefinitely and not complain.
SteveF wrote:
“…I did tell the worst offender, a woman (of course a middle-aged, plump woman who obviously hadn’t been told No in quite some time) who’d been jerking her car forward tiny bits to try to make me nervous, that if she hit me with her car I’d punch out her window and pull her head off.”
Reminds me of the scene in Witness where Harrison Ford tells an obnoxious female tourist that if she photograps him he’ll rip her bra off and strangle her with it.
When I started working for PennDOT summers while I was in college, they started me off as a flagman. I thought they were doing the new guy a favor. Nope. Flagging is the most miserable job on a road crew, much worse than shoveling hotmix or clearing out ditches. I can’t count the times that a driver intentionally tried to hit me, not to mention the ones who almost ran me down because they hadn’t noticed me standing there in my blaze orange vest, holding a 10-foot tall stop/slow sign. One of them chased me all the way across the verge into the trees and stopped only because she hit a tree.
But there were some nice ones, too. I still bless the pair of college girls. I was standing there in full sun for a couple hours with it over 100F in the shade. When I waved them to go ahead, they stopped beside me and one of the girls handed me a large Coke from McDonalds. She said, “Here. You need this more than I do.” I’ve always hoped they had good lives.
I thought you were going to say they flashed their boobs at you.
They didn’t. Others did.
Yah. Though that has nothing to do with you being stationary and little to do with the vest and sign.
I used to drive a small, road-colored car, and people were constantly almost hitting me because “they didn’t see me”. I was annoyed but attributed it to the smoothed-off silhouette and grey paint. But then I borrowed my dad’s van for something. Full-size Chevy van. 7′ tall, 7′ wide, 18′ long, cherry red. And people didn’t see that and I was nearly hit several times in a couple hundred miles.
It’s much worse with anything other than a car anywhere near the road.
Bottom line: people as a whole are stupid, and most of them should die for the betterment of the world.
“Bottom line: people as a whole are stupid, and most of them should die for the betterment of the world.”
My late Aunt Elinor, a live-at-home spinster and accountant for some Fed office at Government Center in Boston, would commute back and forth daily from Fairhaven, MA. She was a hot ticket, and could play classical piano very well and had a floor-to-ceiling collection of classical LP records, and I wish I knew what happened to them all. Anyway, she used to tell me “David, 98% of the American people are stupid.”
And now I have Mr. SteveF to back up that long-ago claim, plus my own 62+ years in the country, minus a couple in SEA. Let’s call it an even sixty years on. Whaddya expect? Mostly dumkopf peasant stock, originally mostly British Protestant, then Irish and Italians, etc., etc., and they/we got dumbed down first of all in the German-derived publik skool systems, and then that was doubled-down on via tee-vee, which is on, apparently, for many hours per day/night in most Murkan households, and the innernet. Top all that off with substance abuse via booze and dope. Is it any wonder we’re surrounded by millions of cretins? Watch half of the eligible voters who bother to vote go ahead and vote for Cankles; they voted for Larry Klinton twice and Obola twice already. Amazingly stupid. But hopefully, and I use that word very tentatively, more peeps now see what a huge fucking charade it all is and that the country is on its deathbed and its death throes are imminent.
2% of the population are eligible for MENSA, and as I’ve been saying for years and as Fred Reed said a couple weeks ago, only a small fraction of them are smart enough to be economically useful. We’re now at the point where only the top 0.01% or even 0.001% in IQ really matter. The problem is how to deal with the other 99.99+%.
“The problem is how to deal with the other 99.99+%.”
See Mr. SteveF on that.
Incidentally, I’m not eligible for MENSA nor am I in any of those tiny percentages. However, I could be useful for intel and commo functions and cooking up grub for the troops. Also teaching their kids English literature and history, and Latin. Hey, SOMEBODY’s gotta carry on a bit of our Western Civ to the next generations.
Eh? That’s not a problem, in the sense that there’s a straightforward and effective solution: biodiesel feedstock.
Or, if you want to take the kinder, gentler approach, there’s always the breeding program to get rid of the stupids and the other defectives.
Evidence suggests that a breeding program has been in place for generations, but someone either screwed up or has a really obnoxious objective. The species has been breeding for stupids and other defectives for over a century in some places. The effectiveness of the program cannot be disputed.
That tiny fraction of the top are useful for innovation. The next block (5%, 10%, 25%, whatever) is useful for making good use of those innovations. You cannot count them out, for without the folks that put those innovations to use, they’re simply a waste of ideas. Then there is the group that supports the second block. The farmers. The laborers. The tradesmen. Without them, the upper blocks would collapse.
Then you have the useless bunch. Those that consume without contribution. I won’t go so far as Mr. SteveF would suggest, but I agree in principle. They’re useless consumers and a waste of good air. We would be better off without them.
Ninja’d.
The worst part of society today is the producers are too busy producing to reproduce, and the reproducers are too busy to produce. Idiocracy. We need to improve the gene pool.