09:26 – Barbara has been gone for a bit more than 24 hours, and civilization has already started to break down around our household. Colin suggested yesterday that we go out and kill some food and then raid neighboring clans for their women.
Speaking of a breakdown of civilization, I started watching the National Geo series Doomsday Preppers on Netflix streaming last night. There are so many things wrong with this series that it’s difficult to know where to begin, but I think the worst of it is that the leftie/progressives at National Geo treat their subjects as objects of scorn and ridicule.
Not that some of the preppers they interview aren’t ridiculous. For example, a couple of them seem very concerned that the planet is about to shift physically on its axis, bringing widespread death and destruction. Scientifically, the probability of that happening is so low that it is indiscernible from zero. I’m not sure how that idea gained currency, unless it’s some sort of religious prophecy.
Another prepper couple lives in Alberta, Canada. Apparently, the wife has had a recurring nightmare for 20 years, and they’re prepping against the expectation that her nightmare is a prediction of events that are going to occur. How does one prepare against a nightmare? I did learn one thing from that episode, though. I was under the impression that handguns were very tightly controlled in Canada, essentially unavailable to civilians. Apparently not. That episode shows the couple visiting a gun store in Canada, passing over their credit card to the clerk, and receiving their new 9mm Glock pistols. Who knew it was that easy to buy pistols in Canada?
Although there are exceptions, many of the preppers featured in this series seem to fear very specific catastrophes, most of which are, to be polite, rather unlikely. For example, one woman focuses on a catastrophic earthquake on the New Madrid fault line that cuts the country in half, isolating the East Coast from midwest farms. A New York city fireman fears the Yellowstone supervolcano will erupt, burying NYC in ash. (That guy, having been a responder on 9/11 to the Twin Towers, has good reason to fear ash clouds.) Another fears a country-wide failure of GM crops. Some of the preppers have more general (and more realistic) concerns, such as widespread rioting and civil disorder, economic collapse, and so on. Not to worry, though. The show’s producers take great care to pooh-pooh all of these concerns, again holding all of the preppers up to ridicule. Tell that to the people who lived through (or didn’t live through) Katrina, which after all was a localized disaster, with 95% of the country available to help the 5% who were affected.
There’s also a focus on preppers as individuals, families, or very small groups, which simply isn’t workable. If things ever do get really bad and you’re on your own for an extended period, you need all the family, friends, and neighbors you can get in your group. The minimum practical size for such a group is 50 to 100 adults, with provisions to match, and more is better.
Each segment ends with the self-described “experts” at Practical Preppers, LLC critiquing the subjects’ preparations and suggesting improvements. These so-called experts appear clueless to me, and I suspect that the whole series is actually just one big commercial for this company, which sells over-priced gear and “consulting” services.
13:00 – I’m seriously thinking about dropping our Amazon Prime subscription when it comes up for renewal. We haven’t watched anything on Prime Instant Video for at least a couple of months now, and Prime so-called “free shipping” isn’t the deal it once was. In fact, Prime pricing in general isn’t the deal it once was. It used to be that Prime prices were nearly always competitive. Not so much any more. I just looked at an item that Home Depot sells for $2.50. Amazon’s Prime pricing for that exact item was $9.95 or two for $19.95. What a deal. Unfortunately, such outrageous pricing differentials are becoming commonplace on Amazon Prime. For example, “Idahoan® REAL Premium Mashed Potatoes – 3.24 lbs.” are $5.98 at Sam’s Club, about the same at Costco, and $12.76 on Amazon Prime.
I’ll still buy stuff on Amazon when the price is right, but paying $99 a year for videos that we don’t watch and free shipping with no minimum order just doesn’t make sense.
I also found the show laughable. I was mostly annoyed that they seemed to pick the most oddball preppers to feature and then the network did its best to accentuate their eccentricities. What was particular awkward to watch was the spouses and children who very obviously did NOT want to be there and could care less about prepping but were playing along to get a payday from the show.
I’d say maybe 5% of what I saw on that show was of interest or made me think of some angle I hadn’t considered. The rest is designed for people to sit in their living rooms and laugh at the preppers every episode.
It happened while I wasn’t looking, but apparently prepping has become a mainstream activity. The other day when I visited the Costco website, the featured item on the main page was a one person-year supply of freeze-dried food in #10 cans (http://www.costco.com/9687-Total-Servings-1-Person-1-Year-Food-Storage.product.100003177.html), regularly $1,500 but on sale for $1,200. I thought that was interesting and indicative. Then I visited the Sam’s Club website, which also featured storable food on the main page. Note that I browse without cookies, so neither of those sites was using my history to display things they thought I’d be interested in.
Most so-called “Reality Shows” are absurd, just from the macroscopic version of the Uncertainty Principle if nothing else…
The useful nuggets are few and far between, and end up buried in the dreck. For example, one or two of the preppers made a crucial point about the shelf life of canned goods. One of them opened a can of something that had “expired” 12 years previously and made the point that it was just as good now as the day he’d bought it. That’s generally true, but the point the show’s producers failed to emphasize is how cost-effective canned goods are compared to ridiculously expensive freeze-dried stuff.
Another thing that slid under their radar was just how good empty 2-liter soda bottles are for storing dry goods like sugar, rice, flour, etc. The PET plastic in soda bottles is an excellent moisture/oxygen barrier, not as good as glass or metal, but good enough to keep those dry goods usable for 20 years or more. One guy in one of the episodes had a wall of 2-liter bottles, stacked on their sides, but no comment from the show’s narrator about them.
It’s possible to put together a good two person-year supply of shelf-stable food pretty inexpensively. Say $1,000 at an LDS store, which buys you half a ton of dry food in #10 cans–flour, oats, sugar, dry milk, potato flakes, macaroni, spaghetti, etc. Then another $1,500 or so on cases of canned goods at Costco and Sam’s Club. Not only does doing it this way reduce costs by an order of magnitude over freeze-dried food, but you end up eating real meat, chicken, and fish instead of that TVP crap.
I wonder if the popularity of post-apocalyptic dramas on prime time like Revolution, Walking Dead, and Falling Skies has people thinking, “What if…”
I’d say the political and economic realities were a motivator, but those problems have existed for quite a while. Perhaps it’s the pop culture influence of those shows combined with post-9/11 world that has everyone thinking, “Can I feed my family if the shit hits the fan?”
I gave up on Nat Geo more than a decade ago. It used to be such a good magazine and turned into a dreary pile of leftist garbage. Now it shrilly warns of global destruction via volcanoes and other means, while laughing at people who prepare to survive them.
Buying firearms in Canada isn’t quite as easy as plonking down your credit card and walking out with your weapon of choice.
Hunting is still a major source of food for some people. If you want a hunting rifle, you have to take (or at least pass) the Canadian Firearms Safety Course (CFSC). Apply for a Possession and Acquisition License (PAL), pass a background check (they’ll question your ex-wife/wives if you have any) and receive the license. First time buyers have to wait 28 days to receive their weapon, after that there is no delay. Total cost excluding postage is around $150.
Handguns and semi-automatic weapons (including Ruger .22 semi-auto) require additional restricted versions of the CFSC and PAL at the cost of $75 & $20 respectively. Total cost is now $245 plus postage.
This last license does NOT provide a carry permit for your firearms. Concealed carry licenses are available, but are almost impossible to get unless you can prove that your life is in jeopardy. Simple fear doesn’t cut it. Most are awarded to prospectors and people who work where bears are plentiful. Additional courses and payments may be necessary. City dwellers are pretty much out of luck, but then they have 911 to call!
You cannot store your firearms loaded. You can’t simply toss your box of .22s into the bag holding your target rifle for practice at the range, unless you can also lock it. This leads to ridiculously small locks on canvas or neoprene rifle bags. You also have to store and transport your unloaded firearms with trigger or cable locks. Why they think a trigger lock is necessary for an unloaded weapon escapes me.
If you own restricted weapons (handguns, short barreled or semi-automatic) you must have an ATT (Application To Transport) complete with your planned route. You must apply for each move, so if you’re in the habit of firing a semi-automatic at the range, it’s best to store it at the range!
The above restrictions are why most murders in Canada are committed with edged weapons, with the exception of gangs who simply ignore the rules in the first place.
That’s roughly similar in both hassle and cost to what US citizens have to go through to purchase and transport machine guns and destructive devices.
Concealed carry laws vary greatly from state to state. I think that in Vermont if you’ve met the federal requirements you’re as free to carry an automatic weapon concealed as you are to carry any other weapon. Back 30 years ago, I had a Pennsylvania concealed-carry permit. IIRC, I had to specify a firearm on that permit. I think I specified either my Ruger .357 revolver or my Colt 1911. But once that permit was issued, you were permitted to carry concealed any weapon that you legally possessed. Later on, I used that permit to carry a company-issued MAC-10 SMG.
The National Geographic channel on cable is pure, 100% dreck, and you have seen one example of why. Somehow they allowed a once proud “brand” to be turned into crap.
On a different topic altogether…
Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) Finally Available for Linux Users, Sans Hacks
I gave up on the Preppers show when they helped a trucker setup for the apocalypse by getting a bunch of camo netting. I would drive my truck into the nearest barn if anything happened while I was on the road.
Interestingly, Netflix estimated that I’d give that series one star.
Brigitte Gabriel Responds to a Muslim-American’s Question
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-vvoRwJSPc
Ooh, I like that woman. I’d never heard of her before.
I don’t know or care if she was born and raised muslim. What matters is what she believes and professes, and she’s welcome in my home any time. I like rational people regardless of their genotype, phenotype, or life experiences.
Ok OFD, here is your apocalyptic zombie story. Basically, the author thinks that there will be nowhere safe on land after the zombie apocalypse. Survivors will need to bug out to the sea and even that will be very dicey:
“Under a Graveyard Sky” (Black Tide Rising) by John Ringo
http://www.amazon.com/Under-Graveyard-Black-Tide-Rising/dp/147673660X/
Book number one of a four book series. For what it is worth, I wish that Baen would print their authors like Ringo in a trade paperback before they jump straight from hardback to mmpb.
Very very good zombie book. The concept of an eco terrorist modifying a flu virus and adding a rabies payload to get a human zombie is slightly believable and therefore make a good story basis. I also enjoyed Ringo’s trademark humor throughout the book. I wonder how his two daughters feel about their roles in the
book?
Kind of two stories in one, the first story is the conversion of New York City to zombie rule and the second story is the building of the anti-zombie army around Bermuda. Kind of just stops at then ending, but there are more books.
My rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (I could be persuaded to go five stars)
Amazon rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (267 reviews)
Lynn:
I also greatly enjoy John Ringo’s books. Advisory: the Kildar series is definitely only for mature audiences.
Saba Ahmed? She mouths platitudes, but doesn’t actually renounce radical Islam. What she does do is attack those do. She has never (to my knowledge, which is admittedly brief) denounced Sharia law. She proclaims herself a Republican, yet lobbies for Democratic causes. In other words, she’s playing both ends for her own interests.
I also greatly enjoy John Ringo’s books. Advisory: the Kildar series is definitely only for mature audiences.
Very true. I just read “Tiger by the Tail” a month ago.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R22VCHPXH4LC7N/
OK, Brigitte Gabriel has my vote.
Who is Saba Ahmed?
The Muslim in the video. Or did you mean Brigitte Gabrielle? For she was born a Lebanese Christian. I was thrown off by the “born and raised muslim” comment.
Yes, I meant the woman on the panel. At the time I posted that, I hadn’t yet looked up Brigitte on Wikipedia, so I had no idea if she’d been born/raised muslim.
The other woman struck me as a waste of space. I had no idea she had a name.
Read the first of the Kildar series. Didn’t like it at all. Thought the pr()n section was very awkward, and the rest was, well, unbelievable.
Pournelle’s Chaos Manor reviews is back:
http://chaosmanorreviews.com/
“Rotherham child-sex victim confronts her alleged abuser in the street… but SHE is arrested by a van load of police”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2756140/Rotherham-child-abuse-victim-confronts-alleged-abuser-street-SHE-arrested-van-load-police.html
Surely this is a lie?
“I’m not sure how that idea gained currency, unless it’s some sort of religious prophecy.”
Most likely some anarcho-libertarian-atheist thought it up… 🙂