07:34 – I see that authorities in Ferguson, Missouri have declared a state of emergency. Apparently, the underclass scum there are marking the anniversary of what’s-his-name’s suicide-by-cop by rioting, looting, burning, and shooting at cops. I suggest a new campaign name: Underclass Scum Lives Don’t Matter!
Because they don’t. I hope they all line up and the cops shoot them. It’d reduce the burden on the taxpayers. Haul the bodies out in garbage trucks and dump them in the landfill. Let the underclass areas burn to the ground. It’s a cheap form of urban renewal.
I don’t expect the violence to spread widely this year or even next year, but it could happen. If it does come to Winston-Salem while we’re still living here, we’ll be ready for it.
More work on science kit stuff today.
14:46 – We just matched our total kit sales for all last month. That isn’t bad for August 11th, which is still in the slower half of the month. I just took a break from building more kits. I’m always paranoid at this time of year that we’re going to run out of kits. With Barbara away on a trip next Sunday through the following Friday, we need to be as ready as possible for whatever happens while she’s gone.
At current run rates, we have about 10 days’ worth of kits in stock, assuming a normal mix of orders, with more a-building. What scares me is that we get unpredictable bulk orders, particularly at this time of year. A bulk order for 30 or 50 of one type of kit knocks all my plans askew. The best we can do is make sure that we have enough components and subassemblies available that we’d be able to build a big batch if necessary.
Email from Jen. She and her husband were thinking about going camping with Jen’s brother and his family last weekend, but they all decided to run another readiness exercise instead. They did completely without utilities, other than Jen’s husband keeping his cell phone on in case there was an emergency at his veterinary practice. They ate only from their long-term food stores, and instead of drinking stored water they used one of their water filters to treat the water from the rear of their property. No glitches this time. Everything went as expected.
Jen said her husband and brother actually seemed to enjoy the weekend. She and Claire enjoyed all but having to use primitive toilet facilities and doing without air conditioning. Still, Jen said that after doing it for a couple of days, she and Claire agreed that they could do it for a couple of months or even a year if they needed to, although it’d get kind of old. They decided to have their next readiness exercise late this year, when staying warm will be an issue.