09:32 – Barbara is leaving mid-afternoon to head down to Winston. She’s staying at her sister’s house tonight and heading home tomorrow afternoon after running errands. It’ll be wild women and parties for Colin and me. Or it would be, except that Lori, our USPS carrier and fellow prepper, keeps an eye on us when Barbara’s away.
One of Barbara’s friends from the historical society volunteers is just in the process of moving to Sparta from New Jersey. Her husband’s family is originally from Sparta, and she and her husband have actually owned a home here for years. She’s semi-retired from teaching and her husband is retiring, so they decided to relocate here. They have a son, aged 15, and a college-age daughter. They’re doing the same back-and-forth that Barbara and I did, trying to get the Sparta house ready to move into and their house in New Jersey ready to sell. The difference is that instead of it being 60 miles between their old house and the new one, as it was for Barbara and me, it’s almost ten times that far to New Jersey. Right now, she’s living here, camping out in one room, while her husband is living in New Jersey, taking care of stuff there.
She dropped by our house yesterday and visited for an hour or two. Barbara of course gave her a tour of the house. After she’d left, I asked Barbara if she’d showed her our food storage areas downstairs. She had, and of course Barbara got the usual comment about how if things turned bad they’d show up at our door. Barbara said she’d also said that her husband wanted to build their food storage and so on, so it sounds as though we’ll be getting to know another family of preppers. The husband and son are also shooters, and the son is excited about getting started hunting down here.
For future reference:
o A 3-liter soft drink bottle can hold 5 pounds plus an ounce or two of white flour if you tap it well to pack it down.
o A 1.75 liter Tropicana orange juice bottle can hold 3 pounds plus an ounce or two of corn meal if you tap it well to pack it down.
First frost, it is 31°F. This is the earliest date that I have recorded an fall temperature below 32°F in our 37 years here.
And right on time, the 2 huge raccoons that come by on their fall and winter migration stopped by early this morning. Our cats were throwing a fit at the patio slider and the raccoons just continued to eat all the cat kibble we leave out for our feral colony. They’ll be around just a couple of days and then move on. I figure that they are about 40lbs.
Another fall/winter visitor that has shown up early is the Dark-eyed Junco (http://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/dark-eyed-junco). If you look at the map you will see a dark blue area in the SE corner of WA. They essentially “winter” here in our moderate temperatures.
“2 huge raccoons … they are about 40lbs”
Although rather less when you’ve field dressed them and made Davey Crockett hats!
BJ Klinton out squawking that tRump’s base are a bunch of Rednecks. We can add that to the list: WHITEY!, raycis, cishetero, xenophone, islamoophobe, Vet, etc., etc. Unbelievable Cankles will win with the revelations from Wikileaks. The FSA will rule America next year.
“Although rather less when you’ve field dressed them and made Davey Crockett hats!”
These guys would make a good coat.
I had some raccoon once (not road kill, but shot by my maternal Grandmother when it raided her chicken coop), tastes like strong dark meat turkey. My Grandparents on both sides ate everything they shot, that was not human 😉
Didn’t directly eat it, at any rate. I certainly hope they mulched the humans and used them to fertilize the crops. Waste not, want not, you know, and it’s not like revenooers and farm agents can hope to serve any higher purpose than mulch.
“Unbelievable Cankles will win with the revelations from Wikileaks. The FSA will rule America next year.”
It has been amply demonstrated by now that she can do whatever she wants, with zero accountability, zero qualms, and she has the apparent backing of the ruling junta. She’ll support whatever the big banks and DOD want to do, and that’s all they care about.
The FSA will continue being supported at literal gunpoint by us Normals for a while longer, until the money runs out and the golden goose has finally been gutted, cleaned out and is dead as a doornail. At which point the cities will explode again and they’ll attempt to fan out to the burbs but will be cut down like late summer wheat.
Once either one of them are elected and up through and beyond the time they’re sworn in, for all the moral and legal status that is, things will be getting real sporty here. Tool up, stock up, etc. If you live in or near a city, I fear for you. If you live on an isolated site in the middle of nowhere, alone, I fear for you.
Bright sunny fall day today on the bay; we still badly need LOTS of rain ASAP. “Chance of showers” Thursday but that ain’t gonna cut it. Probably at or near “peak” foliage now.
I gotta call my primary care doc and find out WTF about my MRI and x-rays last week and what the next step might be. I’ve been sleeping in the recliner downstairs in the living room for three weeks now and it’s getting old.
I’ve been sleeping in the recliner downstairs in the living room for three weeks now and it’s getting old.
My dad has been sleeping in his recliner since he was 59 (he is 78 now). He sleeps in his bed for four hours, gets up, and moves to the recliner in his office. Turns the tv onto the outdoor hunting channel and drifts off to that. I just shudder.
My dad has been sleeping in his recliner since he was 59.
Same with my Mom since she was about 70. She’s 91, now. Her doctor scolds her about it since her legs are below her heart and swell. Not good when you have diabetes. If I hadn’t gone and brought her back from WI four years ago, she’d have no feet or be dead by now. Small town health care for the elderly is basically hospice.
“Wikileaks Podesta Hack Exposes Clinton Campaign’s WAR ON CATHOLICS”
http://legalinsurrection.com/2016/10/wikileaks-podesta-hack-exposes-clinton-campaigns-war-on-catholics/
“In an explosive new email chain released within a new cache by WikiLeaks, Podesta explains their attempts to subvert the Catholic church with progressive organizations created for the purpose of prompting a “Catholic Spring.””
“The “seeds of this revolution” take the form of progressive groups like Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United.”
@DH, so does Mrs. OFD still want to vote for Illary ?
Even Megyn Kelly is freaking on this and proclaimed last night that she was raised Catholic, practices Catholocism, and is raising her kids Catholic:
http://insider.foxnews.com/2016/10/11/wikileaks-hillary-clinton-campaign-aides-bash-catholics-evangelical-christians-palmieri
Small town health care for the elderly is basically hospice.
And that is where the elderly are. My parents live in Port Lavaca, TX, a town of 12,000 people. I suspect the average age in PL is around 70. Their oldest church member is 105, the mayor got Dad to take away her car keys a couple of years ago.
Totally awesome political cartoon on:
http://www.theamericanmirror.com/clinton-campaign-losing-patience-bill-rape-protesters/
The cartoon is at:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/450652229765c84566d357533ee20ac62003635bfc5576b0119252459f66c27d.jpg
lol! There should be *a lot* more skeletons on the floor!
“@DH, so does Mrs. OFD still want to vote for Illary ?”
This news would probably be welcome to her, to some extent, if she didn’t dig any deeper, which she generally does not do. She’s been pissed off at the Church for a very long time and gender stuff and how they allegedly treat women is HUGE with her and really sets her off if it comes up in any conversations. Don’t be around her after a couple of glasses of wine and let the chat drift around to Church stuff. So this probably isn’t gonna bother her a whole lot. Sadly.
“Halpin characterizes some members of the Catholic church as being engaged in an “amazing bastardization of the faith.””
This is classic Left ‘pot calling the kettle black’ (yes, another micro-aggression in that phrase), or “deflection.” It’s him and people like him who’ve been bastardizing Church doctrine and liturgy for generations now. And then somehow sets himself up as some kind of authority on the subject, as though he was a genuine practicing Roman Catholic theologian and historian. Whereas he is simply a political science graduate and political party operator:
“Halpin received his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and his M.A. in political science from the University of Colorado, Boulder.”
I get my Roman Catholic theology from Saints Augustine, Aquinas and Anselm, not skeevy rumpswabs like him.
@OFD: I hear you. Had to do that for a couple weeks, two years ago, due to a fun little embolism. Gets right uncomfortable after a while, since you can’t really shift position. Get to that doc…
Re Hillary: The press is *so* in the bag. Somewhere I saw that Trump’s stupid video faux pas had gotten something like 20x the coverage of the Wikileaks documents on Hillary. Do journalists ever hear words like “objective” or “even-handed” anymore? Honestly, it’s bizarre – the press used to at least pretend to be fair.
Even here, the only coverage on Trump is negative, even if they have to twist facts into pretzels to make it so. Most of the coverage on Hillary is grudgingly positive, as in, she’s at least better than Trump.
The main TV station in Switzerland just did a program on the US elections. There are thousands of Americans here, and plenty more of us ex-Americans. They could have invited people from each side, to explain and discuss their points of view. No, instead, they invited two of their internal journalists, both of whom are pro-Hillary, to pretend to discuss the issues. I didn’t bother to watch, because that’s just not useful.
Typical, and at least amusing: in one of the major, serious news sites here, on the “international page”, Trump’s name appears 16 times, all negative. Hillary’s appears three times: 1 positive, 1 negative, 1 neutral. If “any publicity is good publicity”, then I suppose that’s a good thing, but it sure does get tiresome.
“…but it sure does get tiresome.”
Indeed it does. Here at the debates, the “moderators” routinely interrupted Trump, rudely at times, repeatedly, and maybe half a dozen times for Killary. And his mike and sound system always seemed to have problems, while the camera operators finagled the angles to make him look like a big overbearing oaf and her just a cute little blonde trying to be nice. So blatant and obvious as to beggar belief.
Yet the rubes, bumpkins and Kool-Aid drinkers swallow it all. It’s like Barnhardt says, more akin to pro wrestling than anything else, everything is fake, story lines, plots, characters, etc.
But the shit-storm and rivers of blood coming won’t be fake.
A lot of BBC news, science, and other podcasts have become about useless. “The reality of climate change and its deniers” has been largely replaced by “the repulsiveness of Donald Trump and what the hell is wrong with his supporters”. No pretense of balance in either topic, nothing but obvious attempts to “persuade” the ignorant masses and make current true believers feel good about their superiority to the ignorant masses.
Oh, and NPR/PRI podcasts in the US have been about useless for years. Climate change is real, its deniers are retarded scumbags, and we’re all gonna die!, now supplemented by complaints about Trump and his supporters, “balanced analysis” of claims of media bias, sneers about Trump’s lack of qualifications, and so on. On the plus side, I’ve been motivated to find independent math, science, and history podcasts not affiliated with any government-funded media service.
“The Coming National Gun Ban – and How the States Can Resist”
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/10/the_coming_national_gun_ban__and_how_the_states_can_resist.html
“The legislation has already been written. H.R. 4269 would enact a national, permanent ban on the manufacture and sale of so-called “assault weapons” and all firearm magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds. The bill, introduced last December, already has 149 Democratic co-sponsors (218 are needed to pass the House).”
“H.R. 4269 would ban all AR-15 and AK-type rifles and all civilian versions of military rifles produced anywhere in the word within the past 60 years or so. The bill would also ban all parts kits, stripped receivers, “bump-fire” stocks, thumbhole stocks, trigger cranks, so-called “compliant” rifles, and “any… characteristic that can function as a [pistol] grip.” Law enforcement is exempt from the bill’s provisions.”
Looks like I need to go buy few dozen mags for my AR.
This is a prime example of what gooberment regulation and price supports have wrought:
https://consumerist.com/2016/10/12/u-s-farmers-dumped-43-million-gallons-of-milk-so-far-in-2016/
Supposedly this was done for the “family farm” but in reality it only benefits “Big Farm”.
We have got to stop this madness. Too bad it is going to take a disastrous and bloody revolution that will get exponentially worse the longer it is delayed.
Choose your hill.
“…I’ve been motivated to find independent math, science, and history podcasts not affiliated with any government-funded media service.”
If you’re able to, do us a solid at some point and throw us the relevant links; my interest mainly being history. And I’ve been motivated myself to find books and other publications in that field that are not just gummint agitprop and PC bullshit. First among these in the American history area would be the late Murray Rothbard’s “Conceived in Liberty.” Plus primary documents, of which we here and in England are tremendously gifted.
“Looks like I need to go buy few dozen mags for my AR.”
If the stuff is banned, that means it will be illegal for you to HAVE it, too. Not just buy or make it. Remember that APC parked down the street with the jeep lieutenant OTC 90-day wonder barking orders? While the fat sloppy NCO slaps your wives and kids around after his goons buttstroke you to the pavement?
If they pass this stuff as written they can expect a major shit-storm to fall on their heads. But they keep pushing and pushing until shit blows up and then they double down again, as is their wont.
“Too bad it is going to take a disastrous and bloody revolution that will get exponentially worse the longer it is delayed.”
It’s the big industrial-type farms up here that never let their cows outta the stalls that’s the problem, too. They’re the fuckers who leach the shit into the lake and water table while small farms pony up the money to do the right thing and control it. I simply assume someone is getting paid off to ignore it and/or lie about it. They dump or spray right down to the shore or riverbeds, too.
Yup, the longer we put off the house-cleaning, the worse the final shit-storm is gonna be. Financially, too. They keep kicking the can down the road and pretty soon they’re gonna run outta road.
All that milk should have been made into cheese. Then distributed to the Mooslim immigrants as basic income. Lace it with some of those ground up black walnut husks and some arsenic for good measure.
I’m sure every Fed agency is also exempt for the gun bill. That way when the Dept. of Education comes a knockin’, it’ll be on full auto with 1,000 shooster-bullet *clips*.
They Feds could use Harry Reid for target practice. We don’t want him back in NV. Open up with some of those unlimited *clips* they are going to confiscate from Mr. Lynn.
Cankles’ Wikileaks = Kill! Kill! Kill, by Libturians!
Snowden leaks = Pardon him! Pardon him! Pardon him, by Libturdians!
Hello, Boobus Americanus, wake the fuck up!
Once again, Mike Rowe, the voice of reason. I know many of you don’t use Facebook, so I’ll repost it all here. Here is the link to the original Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/TheRealMikeRowe/posts/1254500967893377
Jeremy Schneider writes the follow to Mike Rowe:
Mike Rowe responds to Jeremy:
Most here will probably enjoy this:
http://thefederalistpapers.org/us/man-goes-to-buy-a-truck-from-a-hillary-supporter-but-what-happened-next-is-epic
From the Mike Rowe response, above:
“Spend a few hours every week studying American history, human nature, and economic theory. Start with “Economics in One Lesson.” Then try Keynes. Then Hayek. Then Marx. Then Hegel. Develop a worldview that you can articulate as well as defend. Test your theory with people who disagree with you. Debate. Argue. Adjust your philosophy as necessary. Then, when the next election comes around, cast a vote for the candidate whose worldview seems most in line with your own.”
Dream on, Mike. And I gather you’re some kind of libertarian. If you expect the average Murkan derp to spend a few minutes each week, let alone hours, to read any of that stuff, I wanna know what YOU’RE smoking. Agreed on the Murkan history and I have just the texts for them to start with; agreed also on the Hazlitt. But that’s all I’d ask or beg them to read from your suggestions, certainly not Keynes, Hayek, or Hegel. It’s the Germans and French we need to ignore and quit worshiping and who got us into this mess in the first place. Hazlitt and Rothbard’s “Conceived in Liberty” would be an excellent start; throw in the King James Bible and Shakespeare and you’re good to go. And that’s about as literate and knowledgeable as Murkans used to be a century and more ago. Maybe they also read “Pilgrim’s Progress.” Even this is probably asking too much now. Not many peeps read anything anymore, and the ones that do mostly read junk.
Of the current candidates for the National Administrator role, and who has the more amenable worldview, I’m stuck with the orange-haired wrestling promoter in preference to the creature from whatever level of Hell. And there’s a chance, slim to be sure, that the wrestling promoter really does care about the country and its people. Hell, he’s got all the money and property he needs and a gorgeous wife and what appear to be pretty decent kids. The question is, why would he want that job? Ego? Ruler of the free world, so to speak? We probably won’t find out, because it’s just about a dead-certain cinch that the creature will slither into the Oral Office. But won’t last very long there.
Does anyone actually believe that Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen DeGeneres, and Ed Norton would encourage the “masses” to vote, if they believed the “masses” would elect Donald Trump?
lol! Get ’em Mike. Probably banned from Hollyweird for life.
…or if they believed the masses would vote for pro-2A stuff, or pro-life legislation.
Just did another chit-ton of paperwork and documents for the supposed Fed job that they seem to think I have in the bag. Just doing due diligence here…when it all fails, per usual, I’ll be back to other revenue-enhancing activities and learning.
Also ramping up the VA disability claim via the state vet service officer; we’ll see how far we get now, with probable appeals pending. They’re clearly stalling and waiting for us all to die off. I don’t care about myself but would like to provide something, no matter how small, for Mrs. OFD if I go out first. And that’s far from a foregone conclusion. If she goes out first, there will be nothing; she has zero insurance and I’ll truly be on my own again.
Watched a Netflix movie last night, “The Trust,” with Nicholas Cage and a minor role from Jerry Lewis, set in Lost Wages. @MrAtoz; is there some kind of space needle-type tower out there somewhere? And is it mostly treeless and rocky desert surrounding? Lotta Hispanics? Dope dealing? Gangs? Gimme a quick rundown in case Mrs. OFD has to go out there again; last time was when her asshole employers deliberately chose it as the site for their mandatory organization-wide conference/meeting.
space needle-type tower out there somewhere? YES The Stratosphere
And is it mostly treeless and rocky desert surrounding? YES
Lotta Hispanics? YES and more Asians
Dope dealing? Gangs? YES Hispanic and Asian gangs
The murder rate is up this year.
Lewis lives in Vegas now.
Bring plenty of cash to gamble with when you come.
BTW, when you go to Hartford, try to go to Salute! downtown and see if you like the cod. If it’s on special.
The FSA will rule America next year.
Isn’t the FSA running America now ? Even Trump is talking about free childcare.
$19 trillion in the hole and we are bringing in more Cat D9’s to dig the hole deeper. Armored even.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterpillar_D9
“Isn’t the FSA running America now ? Even Trump is talking about free childcare.”
Of course. He’s as big a gummint guy as anybody running or having run in the past. And he truly is your basic moderate Dumbocrat, as RBT mentioned the other day, but now beloved of the pseudo-Right. Barnhardt has the scoop on him and previous pro-gummint quotes from the past, plus a whole bunch of other stuff. She barely ever mentions Killary because it’s just assumed that she’s a creature from Hell.
“…$19 trillion in the hole”
That’s the “official” figure for today, probably a lot like their unemployment and inflation stats. In reality it’s ten times that, yea unto the generations. Unless we just Default on it all and confound the rest of the world. Including the Chicoms, who float a large chunk of our economy.
“Bring plenty of cash to gamble with when you come.”
Good one. A: we don’t gamble, and B: we don’t have cash to throw away, and C: if we did, I’d buy more ammo instead.
“Lewis lives in Vegas now.”
He did a small part OK, but boy, is he old now. Just looked him up: 90. Wow. Born the year BEFORE my late dad.
“…try to go to Salute! downtown and see if you like the cod. If it’s on special.”
Roger that, will do. Thanks for the tip, amigo. Just checked their menu…
http://www.salutehartford.com/menu.html
…and I’ll try the cod special if they have it then, but would otherwise go for the Atlantic salmon dish…will consult with Mrs. OFD…prices look reasonable. And her employer would be paying, yay! Eventually. WEEKS later.
“BREAKING NEWS: Dutch government plans to legalise assisted suicide for those who feel they have ‘completed life’ but are not necessarily terminally ill in controversial move
Dutch government intends to draft a law that would legalise assisted dying
Proposed law would allow those who have ‘completed life’ a right to die
It would not just be for those who are terminally ill, letter to parliament said
Netherlands was first country to legalise euthanasia in 2002 but only for patients considered to be suffering unbearable pain with no hope of a cure
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3835218/Dutch-government-plans-legalise-assisted-suicide-feel-completed-life-not-necessarily-terminally-ill-controversial-move.html”
anyone care to wager how long before it’s mandatory? One or two steps away?
nick
Yes, just like the disintegration chambers in the original Star Trek episode! They played war games instead of just nuking each other. If your got killed in the game, you reported to the disintegration chamber for disposal. Or Futurama, with it’s “Robot Suicide Booths” for robots who feel they’ve “completed life.” lol! “All BLM/SJW Libturdians report to the nearest euthanasia chamber for disposal. Your lives are completed.”
I do think it’s appropriate to let an individual make one’s own decisions about one’s death… and about one’s life! Wow, what a concept!
“anyone care to wager how long before it’s mandatory? One or two steps away?”
It’s another slippery slope that some of us were aware of back in the early 1980s; this, with abortion, and various sex/gender issues. Appropriate alright, for a culture of death.
So the euthanasia slope went from people who were suffering constant unbearable pain and had zero hope of ever coming out of it before a horrible death, to people who had a couple of minor medical issues but were also DEPRESSED, to someone with a hangnail and bummed out about it, to now anyone who thinks this afternoon that their life is basically over so let’s pull the switch. Some of us have been around long enough to know that after a good night’s sleep, you wonder WTF you were so bummed out about and life is grand again. Or at least bearable.
And like abortion, it’s routinely phrased and touted as a royal perogative/decision YOU by jeezum have the absolute RIGHT to make. It’s YOUR fucking body and you can do what YOU want with it. We see the results of this in tens of millions of dead babies every year in this country alone, the increased acceptance of every conceivable kind of sexual practice and some we hadn’t even imagined possible, and charlatan snake-oil huckers like Jack Kevorkian and his rolling Deathmobile snuffing people with runny noses and having a couple of sleepless nights. Portrayed in the MSM as some kind of modern-day heroic medical genius along with Louis Pasteur and Jonas Salk.
It is indeed a slippery slope and only a few small steps and sliding to the kind of society and culture put into practice by the Nazis, Soviets and Chicoms. Perfect for a burgeoning totalitarian nightmare and a great way to engineer population control and genetics on one end and dispose of undesirables and deplorables on the other.
“…I’ve been motivated to find independent math, science, and history podcasts not affiliated with any government-funded media service.”
Aduni.org
Undergraduate Computer Science cirriculum. No agenda. The only downside is that the video codec is Real.
I did convert “Theory of Computation” to DVD for my third (!) trip through that textbook when my new Masters program wouldn’t transfer the credit from my previous program. Most lecturers are hopeless with that material, but Shai Simonson is brilliant.
Dutch government intends to draft a law that would legalise assisted dying
Proposed law would allow those who have ‘completed life’ a right to die
It would not just be for those who are terminally ill, letter to parliament said
Netherlands was first country to legalise euthanasia in 2002 but only for patients considered to be suffering unbearable pain with no hope of a cure
Don’t be sad. Someone may misinterpret your desires and throw you in the immolation booth.
I wonder if the new immolation booths will inject you with a unconsciousness drug first ? You know, before the immolation ? I hate to get that in the wrong order. I want that milk drug that Michael Jackson was using, seems to have worked for him to just fade away.
“…$19 trillion in the hole”
That’s the “official” figure for today, probably a lot like their unemployment and inflation stats. In reality it’s ten times that, yea unto the generations. Unless we just Default on it all and confound the rest of the world. Including the Chicoms, who float a large chunk of our economy.
Oh yeah, I know. Official figures and all that. Just the future payments of social security, medicare, and medicaid are in the hundreds of trillions of dollars in the next 4o or so years. If you are a worker, work so the rest can live life.
And the Chicoms will come to San Diego to collect their debts.
Undergraduate Computer Science cirriculum
I took a class in IBM mainframe assembly language once. Does that count ?
I read a book about C programming by two AT&T dudes once, all the way through (awesome for me). And a book about C data structures (got lost halfway through).
I am debugging some fortran tonight. It is not going well as the desires of the programmer and the facts of the code seem to be … not in complete agreement. I mucked around in this code back in October of 2010 and added a highly user desired feature. My changes passed the tests then but the tests were … too simplistic. And the users have real life situations that they want to model using a Propylene refrigeration system. Sigh, back onto the treadmill.
Really good AAR:
https://survivalblog.com/hurricane-matthew-some-lessons-learned/
nick
Not as good AAR, like for example, why is the response to an active shooter to bug out? And why is mommy trying to ride to the rescue? But there are a couple of good points.
[trigger warning- praying, non-sarcastic mention of God, church, faith ]
https://survivalblog.com/terror-in-texas-an-active-shooter-by-sophie/
n
“Really good AAR…”
Some good tips there applicable in places other than Hurricane Alley, Floriduh. Here’s another great tip: don’t live in Hurricane Alley. Or Tornado Alley. Or Earthquake Alley. Or near an inner-city underclass riot area.
One of the good tips that person had was for Floriduh people to avoid rushing north automatically with the vast hordes; they could have simply headed over to the west coast or Panhandle.
One of wife’s colleagues lives on the 8th floor of a high-rise in Fort Lauderdale and she and her “partner” made it through OK but they were really stressed by the worry. The partner is in her 70s and doesn’t need that kinda stress, but there they are, having moved from perfectly fine Rhode Island a couple of years ago.
As I’ve no doubt tediously mentioned here before, our biggest threats are the usual ice storms and blizzards which can knock out the power, and whichever local yokel dirtbags might wanna break into the house or cars. So I need to organize some winter preps over the next couple of months, but right now we’re in good shape with firewood (three cords) and we’ve got a bunch of FLASHLIGHTS and batteries and a central location for the latter near the front door. That’s light, heat and shelter. I’ve begun stocking three-gallon packs of water, picking up one or two of them several times a week, every time I have to go to the store for groceries or whatever. And I keep lobbying for a generator to run the well pump.
We’ve probably got enough food to last us a good month, so I need to pile up much more of that. And make sure we both know where the medical stuff is and the firearms. I’ve got two Amazon Kindle Fire tablets and a Libertas Droid tablet, which is pretty darn secure and has a bunch of interesting security apps on it. The article reminds me to put a bunch of stuff on a couple of USB sticks and also transfer a bunch of stuff to all three tablets. And we’ve got a hand-crank radio around here somewhere, plus two Bow-Fungs, a Grundig Satellite shortwave, a TecSun shortwave, a Yaesu FT60, a CountyComm portable shortwave, a Radio Shack scanner and a Uniden Bearcat scanner. I’ll make sure they’re all ready to go whenever needed.
So let’s see, heat, light, shelter, water, food, meds, commo and defense. More or less in good shape; categories to beef up fast and heavy are the food and wotta. Get it? “Beef up”, hahaha, sometimes I kill myself!
Wife just called; just got off the plane in lovely San Francisco after three shitty days in Denver, exhausted, on her way to son and DIL and grandkids in even more lovely Brentwood. Son, though, is in Tampa this week, so wife is taking some of the load off DIL home alone with three screaming kids. Great-grandma going out for the month of November, apparently.
Had Princess here overnight the night before last as she was on her way back up to Moh-ree-all and back to senior study at McGill in advanced music theory courses and ‘business for musicians,’ so I guess she’s dead-set now on doing the Celtic harp thing professionally. And working also as a translator or whatever in about ten languages. More power to her, and thank you, FSM, that this is her LAST year bleeding us dry with tuition, books, fees, travel expenses, car, and apartment.
“… And why is mommy trying to ride to the rescue? But there are a couple of good points.”
That’s what mommies do, sometimes without thinking things through; not much mention of the hubster in this piece, either. What was he doing?
Otherwise, a good couple of lists of things done wrong and things done right, a good wake-up call for the rest of us, too; who’da thunk there’d be some shit going down at a podunk college in a place like Abilene?? Shit can happen anywhere these days. And then you have the State forces rolling in long after the actual shit has gone down and securing that quadrant of the United States and busting everybody’s balls.
I give both articles that Mr. nick linked to high marks for honesty and clarity.
I read a book about C programming by two AT&T dudes once, all the way through (awesome for me). And a book about C data structures (got lost halfway through).
Yikes! K&R is a painful way to learn C.
Python and Git are probably the most useful skills I’ve picked up in grad school. Python came from Google-ing, but I actually found a decent book to learn Git.
hahahahahahahahahahahaha!
History podcasts I listen to (or listened, if they’re complete) include:
Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History
Mike Duncan: The History of Rome and Revoloutions
Zack Twamley: When Diplomacy Fails blog, page with RSS feed, iTunes
Scott C: The Ancient World
Lars Brownworth: 12 Byzantine Rulers and Norman Centuries podcasts. And buy his books. They cover more material than the podcasts and are excellently written. (Though I haven’t read The Sea Wolves yet, I have no reason to think it’s not as good as the rest.)
I think there were a couple others that I finished a while ago, but I can’t think of what they were. Tired.
You might also check out
https://history-podcasts.com/
http://www.agorapodcastnetwork.com/
Thanks; I’ve read several of the Brownworth titles based on your earlier recommendations. Will check out the other stuff.
Construction yard noise here this morning at 07:30, guys working on the town hall outside walls for the past week, loud trucks revving their engines past the house repeatedly, crane operation, guys hollering, etc. A pox on them all.
Addendum: now one of the guys is tossing bricks one by one from the crane down into the back of a pickup truck. I guess the whole friggin’ ‘hood is awake now, fellas, thanks!
In Winston, we had a law to deal with that. No one was allowed to make such noises before 0600.
Well, these guys started at 07:30 so they would have been within the limit. And it doesn’t happen that often around here; it’s just that it’s hard enough to sleep in the recliner and then to get jerked awake like this is a PITA.
Oh well; I can always take a little nap later, after I get back from the vets group, maybe. A couple of the meds make me drowsy.
Listen to me; just yesterday I was running track and doing the high jump. I know damn well it was yesterday…
“More power to her, and thank you, FSM, that this is her LAST year bleeding us dry with tuition, books, fees, travel expenses, car, and apartment.”
Nah, next year is her Diploma in Education, then on to a PhD in Harp.
Mrs. OFD allegedly told her that any grad skool is on HER dime. If so, watch MIL undermine us again and hand out money that we then have to pay back to MIL. We shall see.
The racket continues outside. The town hall has gotten a lotta work done on it this past year, mostly outside brick wall stuff and the roof.
And I see the “campaign” is getting progressively nastier out there. A veritable circus freak show and continues in the proverbial statistical “dead heat.” More fun later with the EC, hanging chads, Russians hacking the system, etc. We seem to be getting ‘prepped’ for something even nastier down the road.
“…$19 trillion in the hole”
“That’s the “official” figure for today, probably a lot like their unemployment and inflation stats. In reality it’s ten times that, yea unto the generations.”
Back in my Nuke Navy Days we called that “RadCon math”. Factor of 10 or 100, it’s just some zeros.
Back in the mid-60s I met Senator Everett M. Dirksen as he sat in a Bob’s Big Boy having lunch. He saw me staring at him and motioned me over. He was a tower of a man with gigantic hands that dwarfed mine as he shook it. And then he said something that has been his quote hallmark, but never properly quoted. He said to me, “young man, remember that in politics we talk a million here and a million there, and pretty soon we are talking real money all without taking into account that it is not our money (pointing to his chest) but it is your money (pointing to my chest)“. One of the last of the real old time politicians.
One of the last of the real old time statesmen.
A close contemporary of my grandfather, another World War I vet.
Yeah, we have fiat currency rolling off the gummint presses and all our money is really just ones and zeroes floating in cyberspace. Just a big game, really, and we ain’t invited.
Thanks for the correction @Dave, that is what I should have said and there is a world of difference. Give me a statesman any day. Politicians are not good for anything.
Wait, what? “Politicians are not good for anything.”
Huh?
I heard it on here that they are good for mulch, fertilizer, shark chum, and target practice.
You forgot my proposed hunting season on politicians, which I’d run from January 1st through December 31st. With no bag limit. Any type is okay: bucks, does, and fawns, without restriction.