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.
I think there are real issues with how much military equipment police have, and with the use of force in general, not just in inner city neighborhoods. Using someone who probably committed suicide by cop as their rallying cry only makes me think my concerns are pointless. Rally around the deaths of Eric Garner or Walter Scott, and I would be more sympathetic to their cause.
One of the problems facing rich civilized countries is that natural selection gets turned on it head. When there’s competition for limited resources, people that do the right things tend to survive and pass on their genes. When countries get too rich, they provide for everyone which breaks the feedback loop between doing the right thing and survival. To make matters worse, intelligent people who give thought to the future limit the number of children that they have while the stupid reproduce in large numbers. Soon the stupid out number the bright and things quickly deteriorate. I often wonder if this is explanation for the Fermi paradox.
As I said, I’m tired of paying for even food for these worthless people. Let natural selection weed them out, whether by starvation or gunshot wounds
Believe me, I’m with you but I suspect the majority of our dumbed down population probably is not.
No doubt, but more and more are getting on board every day.
I don’t agree with OFD that any PTBs are actually trying to make this happen. I think they’re trying hard to prevent it from happening, but they’re fighting a losing battle. It’s a completely incompatible pair of mindsets: they’re all about “we’re all in this together” and we’re in the “if you don’t work you don’t eat” camp.
So the PTBs steal from the productive people and give more and more to the worthless scum. I’m at the point now where I don’t care about any worthless scum, including children and the elderly and disabled. I’m certainly not willing to pay to support them.
We’re going to get to the point where, to steal a phrase, we’re going to see evolution in action. I just wish I wasn’t too old for this shit.
Oh, I think we are already seeing evolution in action. We have had several generations for the changes to occur already.
The current situation is the direct result of the civil rights movement and the resulting welfare state. If you were intentionally intent on destroying the lives, communities, and economic power of blacks and the poor, what would you do differently?
There used to be strong law-abiding black communities that were solidly middle class, and whose occupants wanted a better life and were willing to work to get it. But those communities were destroyed physically with urban renewal projects, and especially by highway projects that divided and destroyed historically black communities. The black nuclear families were destroyed by policy that encouraged unwed motherhood, multiple children out of wedlock, and discouraged working and education. The black psyche was changed irrevocably by emphasizing criminality, separatism, and violence, meaningless status markers (gold chains and sneakers), and impulse gratification, by the rise of the ‘thug life’ culture. They traded the slave collar for the welfare dollar, and ended up worse off than ever.
The ‘war on drugs’ and the subsequent rise to power of street gangs has also contributed. It gives societal elites another handle to control and profit from blacks either directly by selling drugs to them, or indirectly by incarcerating them (for profit), and by convicting a majority, removes them from the legitimate labor pool.
However, I think things have gotten out of hand. It is increasingly expensive to buy them off. The culture of violence is spilling out into the broader culture and affecting solid productive citizens. People who have not paid any attention, are beginning to wake up. So for societal elites who have benefited from the current state of affairs to continue benefiting, they will have to take control of the situation and mold it to their own ends. We see this happening already. Unions, Soros, and others are funneling in money and professional culture warriors. The spin meisters are at work shaping public perception. They hope to shape what is emerging and spilling out of the ghettos. We can speculate on what their goals are, and what techniques they will use, but in the end, unless they lose control and it explodes, we can be sure it will profit them.
nick
Keep your powder dry.
A lot of people aren’t old enough to remember the riots of the mid- to late-60’s, so they’re going to be very surprised if it happens again.
I remember quite clearly my dad taking me to a Chicago Blackhawks game and pointing out the bullet holes in the arena walls. This must have been a couple of years after the riots. I don’t remember the hockey game.
Having lived thru the Rodney King Riots (I was working in Hollywood, and living near Pasadena) I can say a few things.
1) some people saw it coming quite clearly. I drove past an auto dealership in my neighborhood a day or so before things got sporty, and thought, hmmm wonder when they went out of business. They hadn’t. They just saw it coming and got their cars out of the neighborhood.
2) some people got caught off guard and it f’d them up forever. Most well known is Reginald Denny, the driver who was pulled from his truck and severely beaten. He was rescued by other blacks, but too late to save him from life changing injuries. My housemate was robbed and beaten in a racially motivated crime, when he was caught unaware leaving a convenience store. A hospital stay and stitches in his face, and some PTSD was CHEAP compared to what happened to others.
3) force of arms is the only thing that will protect you and yours. The armed koreans defending their stores was a memorable image. Less well known, one of my co-workers had to shoot at looters to defend his mother’s home. He never knew if he hit anyone, but it stopped the assault. When smoke is blowing in your front door, and you can see burning buildings from your porch, a single Glock, with a spare mag DOESN’T feel like enough. when the whole city is under attack, the cops WILL NOT help you, nor will Fire or EMS. As many many many learned, the time to buy guns is BEFORE the SHTF. People were lined up outside gun stores and were incensed when they discovered there was a waiting period- I guess there IS a time when you might need to buy a gun RIGHT THIS F-ING MINUTE after all.
4) trouble can and will find you, no where is intrinsically safe.
5) mobs are stupid and violent. In addition to setting fires, people were stealing anything and everything. People drove away with couches on their car roofs. People stole potted plants when there was nothing else left. Another co-worker had a friend/roommate who joined the looting because “why not?” He filled his car with stolen COOKIES. My co-worker stayed in and kept his head down, he’d seen enough violence in his home country.
6) timing is everything. If it is time to go- GTFO. GO! We left work in downtown LA as the radio was reporting an active mob of looters moving toward us. On our way home we passed large crowds of people standing around outside of strip malls. 20 minutes later, we watched those buildings being looted and burned on live TV. Use whatever tools you can for situational awareness, and when it’s time, act decisively. Our boss had us secure our building by covering windows, putting everything away in its proper place (to facilitate insurance if things went badly), and letting us leave early. We were all listening to the radio as it tracked the mob.
7)people will self organize and mobs will spring up outside the major activities, and individuals and small groups will act on their own if the opportunity arises (see roommate above.)
8) seeing National Guardsmen standing on street corners next to the smoking rubble of what used to be a vibrant part of America’s third largest city is surreal, and I don’t really ever want to see it again.
9) if wishes were horses, we’d all be eating steak*, or I’m sure I’ll see it again.
nick
*Jayne, on Firefly
“…so they’re going to be very surprised if it happens again.”
Yeah, and they’re gonna be amazed at the levels of intensity and violence, too. The stuff in Ferguson, or Seattle, or wherever in the recent past was like unto a church beach picnic compared to the stuff that went down in the 1960s urban riots. And half a century later there is much more lethal firepower available on all sides and twice as many people, more than ever concentrated in the giant rats’ nests of the cities.
“… but in the end, unless they lose control and it explodes, we can be sure it will profit them.”
We could start a pool…on whether or not they’ll lose control. I’m betting they will, eventually.
The movie is “Idiocracy”. Scarily prescient. If you can get past the (lack of) plot, that is.
“Yeah, and they’re gonna be amazed at the levels of intensity and violence, too.”
Since the 60’s, we have three generations (the underclass breeds young) of entitlement and no parental involvement. These scum have zero humanity. See the post a few days ago (from a Brit newspaper, of course) about the 74-year-old guy who was beaten to death in the wee small hours in Greensboro (30 miles from here) by three mid-teen underclass scum, including one female scum. The guy was just walking to a bus stop. The scum scored, IIRC, the guy’s cell phone and $3 in cash. The court should have hanged these little bastards immediately. They can never be fixed, because they never had any exposure to humans after they were spawned.
No mention of this in the local paper, of course.
So much fail in the reporting, and in the sh!t going on.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3193440/Heavily-armed-Oath-Keepers-inject-new-unease-riot-hit-Ferguson.html
The repeated misuse of ‘automatic weapon’ and ‘heavy weapon’ are maddening.
The racism is disgusting:
“The appearance of the four men, all white, quickly drew stares in the mostly black neighborhood,”
and completely ignores the hundreds of (foolish and misguided) whites that are present every day in the protests… (and present in MUCH reduced numbers after dark)
Or this one:
‘You’re going to bring some uncommissioned citizens, white citizens, into a black community like this? It’s disrespectful,’ said Talal Ahmad, 30, who is black…”
Imagine if that read :’You’re going to bring some uncommissioned citizens, black citizens, into a white community like this? It’s disrespectful,’ said Todd Almond, 30, who is white…’
Or the gall of the police chief who calls their mere presence “inflammatory.” No mention of the outside agitators, or the hundreds of similarly equipped white cops standing around glaring at the protesters.
Nice pix of the gear though.
nick
added- love that ‘uncommissioned citizen’ bit as it fails to understand the nature of the Oath Keepers’ membership, the nature of a free people, and reveals her belief in magical blue costumes ALL at the same time she’s protesting against the power of the state, and those same blue costumed men.
I also liked the estimate of 35,000 members. I wonder how close to reality that is.
Of course, joining this particular group only formalizes a worldview that a lot of people hold independently. I’d guess there are an awful lot of real oathkeepers out there who for one reason or another won’t join this organization.
“No mention of this in the local paper, of course.”
which is why the “tabloid” UK Daily Mail is widely becoming a primary source for breaking news. I see people linking to it all over the libertysphere, and in prepper circles.
nick
cnn- no photos from fergie, small link on left, video shows baby pic of dead thug, focuses on Oath Keepers, putting them in verbal scare quotes, mentions they are protecting staff from InfoWars, a “site run by conspiracy theorists.” Linked second story is about fergie using the residents as a revenue source, something Karl Denninger
at Market-ticker.org posted about a year ago.
msnbc- second story with photo, is about the Heavily-armed “Oath Keepers” in Ferguson. Quotes Mother Jones hit piece, paints them as extremists, quotes Southern Poverty Law Center, says they are a group it is ‘worth keeping an eye on.’
foxnews,- small photo and link ‘above the fold’, calls InfoWars a “conservative website”, focuses on tweets from blacks about how they’d be treated differently if they showed up with rifles (well, I’d assume felon in possession if most of the ‘protesters’ pictured showed up). Has the police chief quote in the final graf instead of as the lead.
Nope no bias in the media, none at all..
nick
How on earth did FoxNews get the reputation for being conservative? I’ve always thought of them as prog/left-wing.
Quick answer in re: Faux Nooz Nitwits: They were/are a neocon media outfit, and the neocons are direct descendants of the Trotskyites. What’s funny is that they were slick enough to get some raving and bloviating talking heads on there, spiced up with the hottest hotties on the MSM, and reel in swarms of entry-level “conservatives” who’d listened to Rush Limburger a few times and suddenly SEEN THE LIGHT.
So now you’ll see bunches of supposed “right-wingers” sitting in front of Fox every night and then regurgitating the opinions the next day round the cube-prole water coolers.
It’s the phony right-wing equivalent of the supposed egghead lefties watching PBS and listening to NPR all the time. And they hate each other, which is the object of the game, of course.
An elderly Florida lady did her shopping and, upon returning to her car, found four males in the act of leaving with her vehicle.
She dropped her shopping bags …and drew her handgun, proceeding to scream at the top of her lungs, “I have a gun, and I know how to use it! Get out of the car!”. The four men didn’t wait for a second threat. They got out and ran like mad.
The lady, somewhat shaken, then proceeded to load her shopping bags into the back of the car and got into the driver’s seat. She was so shaken that she could not get her key into the ignition.
She tried and tried, and then she realized why. It was for the same reason she had wondered why there was a football, a Frisbee and two 12-packs of beer in the front seat. A few minutes later, she found her own car parked four or five spaces farther down.
She loaded her bags into the car and drove to the police station to report her mistake.
The sergeant to whom she told the story couldn’t stop laughing. He pointed to the other end of the counter, where four pale men were reporting a car jacking by a mad, elderly woman described as white, less than five feet tall, glasses, curly white hair, and carrying a large handgun.
No charges were filed.
The moral of the story?
If you’re going to have a senior moment… make it memorable.
Thought I’d heard almost every Louis Prima, when this came up on the disc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0KgiMdZ2cc
Stuck in my head so I’m trying to get rid of it by infecting y’all.
“Shadrack”
nick
For that matter, most of the other 2 louis, armstrong and jordon too.
Trump! Trump! Trump!
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2015/08/11/trump_moves_back_to_the_issues
Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2015/08/11/bernie_sanders_phenomenon
Hmm. I am thinking about voting dumbocrat in next year’s primaries. Dare I?
“Hmm. I am thinking about voting dumbocrat in next year’s primaries. Dare I?”
Problem phrase here: “thinking about voting”
Only if you don’t mind taking increasingly valuable and fewer moments out of your life to continue validating and enabling the vast chicanery that is perpetuated in this country with us as the gullible rubes, like unto the gaping, slack-jawed bumpkins leering at the carnival’s Tattooed Lady and the Amazing Sword Swallower…
Ah, you mean the Kard-ass-ians!
nick
I think it generally boils down as follows:
CNN: Middle-Left
MSNBC: Far Left
Fox News: Far Right
…and Miley Cyrus…and before that Paris Hilton…etc., etc., ad nauseum, ad infinitum…
…this country is so effed it beggars belief…but it has a long, long way to go, still…before it hits bottom.
We even have political figures and writers and thinkers who ought to know better, yet who still play in the game of charades ginned up for them by the Party and the Party’s lapdog media.
“Fox News: Far Right”
Yeah, everyone to the right of Larry Klinton and Empress Cankles is “far-right.” RBT was correct; Fox is as left as the others but puts up a phony “conservative” front and its mask slips when it ‘dump da Trump.’ Who is also most emphatically NOT a genuine conservative.
There is no actual “far-right” media in this country anymore, not allowed to broadcast on State-owned air waves anyway. Not even radio, although some apparently think that the AM bandwidth is simply riddled with right-wing maniacs. Most Murkan derps have zero idea of what real far-right stuff looks like. But far-left to them looks and sounds to them like, say, moderate Dem. And guys like Bush and Reagan were far-right.
The U.S. of Amnesia. Knows the entire scoop on Bruce Jenner in a grrl’s swimsuit but nothing of its own history or how it got to where it is today.
Sitting in the dark office with the new security lights on. We hit 105 F today after 109 F yesterday. Now there is an awesome thunderstorm coming through and the temperature has dropped to 76 F. Ah, the refreshing sound of Thunder and beeping UPSs.
Huh, we had one power blink, the NAS and all the PCs road right thru.
We got some thunder, and a really light sprinkle, but it didn’t stick. Currently, it’s the daily low at 85deg with 73%RH. Was 106 in the shade earlier.
Did a little prepping today. I’m currently washing and drying one of my $5 down sleeping bags. We’ll see how it goes with the front load HE washer.
Dug out a TNC or packet radio controller I got from an estate sale last year. Thought if I’m stuck inside, maybe I can get that up and running. Looks like I’ll need to make a couple of interface cables, but the circa ’91 hardware will work fine for HF modes, and might even be fine on VHF. All the discussion online about setting it up to access the BBSs sure brings back memories. And the connection is 300baud, too. Only thing missing is the audible handshaking tones. It fires up, but I don’t have the right serial cable to test the hardware. If it runs, maybe I’ll get a VHF radio and an old Toughbook set up just for packet….Not sure I want to use my main radio and PC. I did look at the VHF freqs that are supposed to be packet with my SDR dongle. There are clear digital signals throughout the correct freqs so that looks good. If I can get up with this old gear, I’ll add getting a modern packet setup to my list.
Wife has indicated I should stop buying some of the ‘just add meat’ to noodles and sauce style meals. I’ve been starting to rotate thru some stored meat, so we’ve been eating them more often. It’s part of the difficulty of a spouse who isn’t completely on board. If we don’t eat them, I’ll just have to accept there will be more losses than otherwise as stuff ages out. I’m still ok with that, as part of the cost of doing business. And if SHTF, she’ll be glad it’s there. It breaks the ‘store what you eat, eat what you store’ mindset, but can’t be helped.
nick
Damn, are there any Non-Arikan-Murkans left in Ferguson. I’d think the time is NOW to get out. I feel sorry for those who can’t leave. A bunch of fucking rabble rousers ruining life for everybody.
I love me a good rockin’ T-storm. Clears the air. Scares pussies and wimps out of their panties. Put on a tin hat, grab a golf club or antenna and go stand in an open field if ya got the ballz. Just kidding, kids; don’t try this at home. Somewhere else, maybe, just not at home.
We had a good soaking rain earlier; we’re eating tomatoes from the gahden and soon, zucchini. Pumpkins are spreading out to conquer the back yahd.
Hope to program both Bow-Fungs this next week and mod some other “tools” while also assembling shelving in the cellar and filling it with canned goods and bulk items. Also doing the online ham Tech license course.
Probably gotta drive Mrs. OFD to the Montreal airport on Thursday so she can fly from there to northern NB and spend a week or two with Grandma and then drive them both home. Then, guaranteed, they’ll have to BACK up again in September or October to close the place up. And then Grandma plans to head out to grandson and great-grandkids’ place in Kalifornia in November, probably for the winter, rather than Floriduh this year. But she’ll probably try to do both. At 87.
I hope if I ever get to that age, I won’t be dependent on or bothering younger family to schlep me all over hell for stuff; I’m perfectly happy at home with the radio and my books. No place outside of northern New England or the Maritimes that I care to see, anyway.
“A bunch of fucking rabble rousers ruining life for everybody.”
Hater.
Check yer privilege.
If I was found with Top Secret SCI information at home, I would be arrested and jailed. I had to sign an oath for life. Is this the end of Cankles? What happens next? I can’t wait for the next chapter! Squee! How will her Fugliness get out of this one?
The FBI has seized a cache of Hillary Clinton emails after finding that at least two hyper-classified messages were allowed to pass through her insecure home server.
This will be a good test of how Cankles is connected to the Powers that Be. That’s the danger of running your own server when you are the head of a gummint agency. No one is responsible other than Cankles. If she gets a bye, or gets to blame someone else, she can do anything she likes and will get the Dumbocrat nomination.
“If she gets a bye, or gets to blame someone else, she can do anything she likes and will get the Dumbocrat nomination.”
A done deal.
You don’t seriously think for a nanosecond that this will mess her up, do ya?
And of course you or I would be locked up and probably for a good long time, too, but we’re just Mundanes; she’s one of the Anointed and Entitled.
“If I was found with Top Secret SCI information at home, I would be arrested and jailed. ”
^THIS. I can’t even imagine the hubris that allows one to flaunt the rules to this degree. I guess that’s why I’ll never be king.
I was talking to the wife about this very thing before dinner. I’d be sitting in jail waiting for trial. Any of us would be in a world of hurt. If nothing else, she should have her clearances revoked, and should be ineligible for any position requiring one.
‘Course her office was playing ‘hide the weasel’ with classified docs from way back in the day.
I’ve said it before, three worlds occupying the same space but only rarely intersecting.
nick
My WSJ nooz update showed up just now on my iPhone saying Empress Cankles is turning over her server, whichever one that might be, to the Feebies. So we can probably bet it’s not the right server, or that the emails in question are of no import or been destroyed, or the fix is in some other way. Nothing will happen to her or to upset her run at the WH, again, a done deal.
Whereas Mr. nick, or MrAtoz or any of us would be in cuffs and orange jumpsuits right now, headed for interrogations and jail.
And this is NOTHING compared to the other shit she and Larry have gotten away with over the decades.
Where is Larry, by the way? Any sightings of that asshole? Seems to have disappeared into thin air for some reason. I don’t watch tee-vee so I may have misses whatever story or stories. Probably seen by her operatives as a liability, thus the no-show. Imagine that: you’re running for the most powerful position, allegedly, in the solar system, and your spouse is a liability. What’s funny is not only that this would work either way now for both of them, but that tens of millions of Murkan cretins and derps would vote for them anyway, just like they did with Obola.
Achtung, Trumpeteers!
http://www.barnhardt.biz/2015/08/11/so-you-think-a-man-who-builds-mirror-penis-skyscrapers-and-names-them-all-after-himself-is-cause-for-hope/
lol The Mighty Trump ™ is the biggest dick of them all! When I’m TMT’s Chief of Staff, salaries will be based on cock length. Bro’s befo’ Ho’s. Misogynist, racist, WHITE!, hetero, veteran, proto-ape that I is.
“When I’m TMT’s Chief of Staff, salaries will be based on cock length.”
Questions abound: Flaccid or erect? Does circumference count? Circumcised? Extra credit for rest of apparatus?
“Misogynist, racist, WHITE!, hetero, veteran, proto-ape that I is.”
You forgot “married” and “breeder.”
Old joke:
So Bill and Hillary are driving thru the back woods of ARK, and stop at a station for gas.
The attendant comes over and say Hi to Hillary. They used to date! Boy howdy, isn’t it a small world?
As they drive away a laughing Bill says “Hey, just think, if you’d’ve married him, you’d be married to a gas station attendant!”
Hillary just looks at him and says, “No, If I’d married him, HE’D be President of the United States.”
budumbum! Thanks, I’ll be here all week, don’t forget to tip your waitresses….
nick
never really got any rain, although external temps are down to 78deg. One more power blink, although short enough everything rode thru.
RE “Questions abound:”
Perhaps some version of UPS shipping regs? length times width times girth?
Anyone with knicknames like “tripod” “meatbat” “lady killer” gets a signing bonus?
Hookers and blow for everyone! Lets party like we’re investment bankers!
When I’m TMT’s Chief of Staff, salaries will be based on cock length.
So, you going to be working for minimum wage?
“Hookers and blow for everyone! Lets party like we’re investment bankers!”
The downside to that is if the markets crash, we have to jump outta windows.
“…you going to be working for minimum wage?”
And Mr. Ray wins the innernet for yesterday!
We got some thunder, and a really light sprinkle, but it didn’t stick. Currently, it’s the daily low at 85deg with 73%RH. Was 106 in the shade earlier.
We got well over an inch of rain here in the Land of Sugar. We needed it badly.
Lucky you!
The sprinkle did lower the temps but no joy on the rain.
It’s been now over 3 weeks. Most of my neighbors are losing their lawns. I’m watering every day.
Pretty unusual for the swamp.
nick
So, you going to be working for minimum wage?
I’m a big cock.
That didn’t come out right.
Is that supposed to be one complete sentence?
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.
BTW, congratulations! It is nice to hear that someone is doing well in this economy. We closed two deals so far this week but we have got a lot on the back burner. People are expecting crude oil to head to $25/bbl fairly soon. I do not have a clue where natural gas is going, staying at $3/mmbtu would be good.
I feel for you. I’m expecting oil to be in the teens and gas below $2.
I know that you and Texas are hurting, even at current prices, but the good things are the knock-on effects of cheap fossil fuels for our economy and the fact that low prices are devastating a whole lot of nasty countries.
I know that you and Texas are hurting, even at current prices, but the good things are the knock-on effects of cheap fossil fuels for our economy and the fact that low prices are devastating a whole lot of nasty countries.
Massive quantities of inexpensive hydrocarbons in the USA are severely propping up the national economy. Otherwise, the USA would be in a severe, deep and long national recession right now. The USA is built on cheap energy. Obola is trying to transition us to the high energy prices of the Europeans but cannot figure out how to do so without getting impeached, tarred, and feathered. He has the EPA ready to impose new energy taxes but is scared to do so. I now figure on his last week in office for these to be released. And, without the consent of Congress, based on the monetary fine provisions of the 1971 Clean Air Act that have never been implemented.
WA State is doing its best to ensure that gas never drops below $2/gallon here. We just got a 7¢/gallon tax increase with another increase coming in 2016. Plus WA State has a habit of sticking in a tax increase whenever. Costco which has the best gas prices is about $2.97 for regular here in the Southeast corner, the Left Coast is always higher by 25¢ to 75¢ just because they can. We are almost to the point where all the gas taxes are more than the gas. Our roads and bridges should be in perfect shape. Well they are not.
Sorry, I didn’t mean gasoline @ <$2 per gallon, although we'll likely see that here. I meant natural gas @ <$2 per million BTU.
There is a lot of evidence that the cheap gas isn’t really helping our economy much. Oh, it should, and was widely predicted to, but it didn’t.
Turns out that any money saved on gas got saved, or used to pay down debt.
and really, how much is that savings anyway? Really bad assumptions, 40 mile commute, 10mpg, 300 days, 1200 gallons a year. So gas goes down $1 and you save $100 a month. Most people IRL are going to save what, $30? 50? So they have an extra $2/day. Not gonna buy a house on that!
There are much more effective ways to reduce your daily spending. Cut out tobacco use. Cut out alcohol use. A pack a day with a sixer (or bottle of cheap wine) and you’ve spent almost $5000 a year. That IS a new house, around here anyway.
Just cutting out soda, and bringing a lunch vs eating out will save thousands. Same with Starbux every day.
The money saved by the transportation industry isn’t putting more goods INTO the trucks and stores. Retail is WAY down. So shipping is way down.
In the mean time, the few bright spots in the economy regionally are being crushed by the manipulation of oil prices by other nations. And THEY are doing it because they see a value in it. Whether that is setting back shale and fracking in the US so they can raise prices later, or just to humble the great satan, or some other larger political game; it’s not good for US.
Jerry’s observation that we need cheap energy and lots of it is true, but I think applies more to commercial uses, than directly to gasoline prices.
nick
(since our cost of extracting oil is high, since we can’t get it in some of the ‘easy’ places for political reasons.)
Sorry, I refuse to give up my PBR 😉
“Just cutting out soda…”
Can’t do. Sorry. I’m addicted.
I stopped drinking alcohol and it saved me, minimum, $300/month. That is just a cheap bottle of wine with dinner. It doesn’t count any drinking in bars. Saves the cost of the health issues later on too. (Of course, over time, I found other things to spend the money on.)
Cutting out alcohol also cut back on any cigars I might have been smoking. It’s not the same without a whiskey or port, or so I’m told.
I’ve taken up drinking small brand sodas, one per day, as a replacement way to relax, but even that is a huge savings.
Since I don’t travel anymore, I make my coffee in the morning. When Seattles Best rebranded, I had to try others anyway, so I found a locally roasted brand and I mix 2 varieties together to get exactly the taste I’m looking for. It is half the cost of other premiums and even better tasting. It’s still a bit of an extravagance, but it’s affordable luxury at $4/ week. The organic whole cream I like in it bumps the cost a little. SHTF I’m drinking Folgers in cans. Oh well. And all my go kits have the instant powdered Starbux. Better than nothing until it runs out.
One of the risks with prepping, or extreme frugality, is cutting back too much, and taking all the joy out of life. I replace some of that joy with the thrill of the hunt, and the satisfaction of getting a good deal. But I’m careful to leave in the little things that make life a joy too.
nick
Stopped drinking booze nearly six years ago, that saved us $2,000/year. And I don’t smoke, or drink coffee or tea. I’m kinda addicted to Moxie and/or Dr Pepper, though, and decent stick pretzels. And I can use the empties for wottuh or whatevuh. Mrs. OFD probably does a liter of vino per week.
We eat out at a restaurant maybe a half-dozen times a year, and never anyplace fancy.
Never go to the movies; hell, there ain’t nuthin’ worth a piss-hole in the snow for the past five to ten years anyway.
My remaining addiction is to books.
I gave up booze for eight months in about 2008. I thought my medico might order me to give up, and I wanted to see if I could. Never got the order, decided I’d like a drink, so I went back. I could not give up soda or fruit juice.
“My remaining addiction is to books.”
I only buy the occasional textbook now. My library is enormous, and I don’t have bookcases for all of it.
“My library is enormous, and I don’t have bookcases for all of it.”
I’ve been RUTHLESSLY winnowing through the books here; if it’s techie stuff I’ll never use again, it goes out. Techie stuff I’ll probably never use again, likewise. Books I got but lost interest in over the years, out. Books I’ll never likely get around to reading in the time left to me on Earth, out. And tons of junky paperbacks that Mrs. OFD keeps piling up for plane and airport reading. Out.
I gave up the booze ’cause it was gonna kill me and getting off it cold-turkey nearly did. I’ll occasionally think wistfully about having a nice cold drink on a nice summuh day and how I could probably get away with it, but I WON’T DO IT. I look upon it now as rat poison, guaranteed to eff me up again. And don’t like being around other folks who are drinking and don’t like the smell of it anymore, either.
If the stuff hits the fan then I figure coffee is gone. I’ll just shift directly to coffee beans.
One of the programmers that used to work for me would fill a coffee cup half full of coffee beans and eat those throughout the day. Lots of fiber, I guess.
Two cups of Eight O’clock Colombian each day.
http://www.amazon.com/Eight-OClock-Colombian-Coffee-40-Ounce/dp/B003GVBN1A/
One diet Dr. Pepper in the afternoon.
“My remaining addiction is to books.”
I only buy the occasional textbook now. My library is enormous, and I don’t have bookcases for all of it.
Hey, this is getting too real for me! I have five 72 inch tall, 36 inch wide bookshelves, four of them are double stacked (two rows per shelf, front and back). Including my SBR (strategic book reserve) bookshelf which has 500+ books in it TBR.
I have a verbal warning from the wife about the quantity of books that I have. And I lost well over 1,000 books in the great flood of ’89. Maybe 2,000. Most of my Heinleins, all my Asimovs, etc, which I have been slowly replacing. She says that I owe her one of my bookshelves (I have no idea why).
@OFD,
yeah, never thought I was quitting for good, but after the kid was born, I just didn’t have the same interest in slowly killing myself. Had some health issues, and the wife had to stop because of daughter #1 being on the way, so I stopped completely. I’d given up whiskey and any other liquor a couple of years earlier. With the exception of 2 or three inadvertent swallows when a bar or restaurant served me the wrong beer, I haven’t had any for 7 years.
No program or anything like that for me. Might start back up at some time, but probably not. I do miss it with a cigar (theoretically) now and again.
I found that Becks NA is the most beer like of the NA beers, followed by St Pauli Girl. It is close enough for one with dinner, esp in a nice restaurant, or after cutting the grass. The FRE brand NA wine is ok in their Muscato as a cold sweet wine. Their reds are grape juice. That was the hardest thing for me, replacing my dinner drink.
Funny that in Europe, there were always NA beers available, and they are ALL better than Oduels… In Mexico, the waiters just laugh when you ask for a non-alcohol beer.
@lynn, I chose to become addicted to the coffee while working in LA, and if SHTF, I’ll learn to do without. Until then, 24oz a day of dark, dark coffee. (My dad mixes it 1:1 with water if he’s visiting.) Any less and I get headachey, any more and I’m in the bathroom. So a perfectly managed addiction 🙂
nick
BTW, I think caffeine and other stimulants have a place in everyone’s preps. There’s a reason the army put them in MREs. I’ve got 2 sticks of caffeinated gum in my ‘mini’ everyday survival kits, and a pack in each vehicle. You just might need that extra energy to get home. (I usually eat half a stick if I’m driving and get sleepy in the afternoon.)
BTW, I think caffeine and other stimulants have a place in everyone’s preps. There’s a reason the army put them in MREs. I’ve got 2 sticks of caffeinated gum in my ‘mini’ everyday survival kits, and a pack in each vehicle. You just might need that extra energy to get home. (I usually eat half a stick if I’m driving and get sleepy in the afternoon.)
Too much caffeine and I get heart tachycardia or atrial fibrillation (I’ve got both since the heart attack in 2009). Many people over age 60 have this reaction to caffeine.
My grandfather used to perk a pot of coffee at 5am each morning. He would drink that, smoke a pack of cigarettes, and make another pot to share with my grandmother. He would drink another pot during the day. And smoke three packs of cigarettes a day until his cough got bad and he would cut back to two packs a day.
Like OFD, we’re on a general crusade to get rid of stuff. I just auctioned off a bunch of antiques that came with the house. Probably worth more than I’m getting, but they’ve been sitting around since with bought the place, and I sure as hell don’t want to move them. Next come all the boxes I brought back from my mother’s place, when she died a couple of years ago. I had only about two weeks, so I couldn’t be as thorough as I should have been, and those boxes are also just sitting in the attic.
Books are likely also on the chopping block. I love having a room full of books; it was a dream-come-true that I could devote an entire room in this house to be a library. But now I’ve had that, and realistically I read most things on a Kindle now. There are plenty of books that I haven’t touched in 30 years. Nice to look at, but do I really want to move them, when we move to our next house? No. Definitely not.
The basement room I finished a couple of weeks ago just got its first set of shelves. Currently, they have some good Scotch whisky sitting on them. Hey, that’s important stuff! Yes, we both drink more than is good for us. Not at a dangerous level, but more than we should. Unfortunately, it’s kind of hard to avoid, when you run a whisky business. When we sell the business in a few years, things should moderate…
Anyhow, slow progress, but progress. My wife agrees with keeping some stuff, but isn’t convinced for the rest. She’s one of those who enjoy going to the store every day or two, to pick up something fresh – she cooks most things totally from scratch, all the way down. So anything we store will be fundamental stuff, like flour, sugar, oil, etc..
And her preserves and jams, of course. I think a good way forward may be to encourage her to make more of those, and a wider variety. For eggs and meat, she’s talking about getting chickens, or maybe ducks. I’m not so enthused by that idea – sounds like a lot of work and mess – but it is a sensible option.
“some good Scotch whisky ”
Always willing to help out in that department… 🙂
@Brad
Bulk staples are perfect, particularly if you sneak in some stuff that’s only going to be used in a long-term emergency, like powdered eggs (assuming no chickens), canned meats, etc. etc.
As to raising chickens, Barbara’s friend Bonnie does that on a very small scale. (Her chickens each have names…). I think she has 3 or 4 left. One died of natural causes not long ago. But just a few are enough to keep them in eggs, and from what Barbara said Bonnie told her are not a hassle or time-consuming.
As to canning, perhaps you should work your way up to a boutique jam/jelly/preserve business, assuming Swiss law makes that possible. Perhaps add in sauces, meats, etc. That way, your inventory becomes a large stock of long-term storage food for you if things get bad.
“I think she has 3 or 4 left. One died of natural causes not long ago. But just a few are enough to keep them in eggs, and from what Barbara said Bonnie told her are not a hassle or time-consuming.”
From what I have heard, raising chickens for eggs is not much of a problem. Evidently trying to remove the feathers from a dead chicken before cooking is a problem.
Regarding chickens, ducks, and other livestock:
If you are unfortunate to live in an area with a Homeowners Association (HoA) you will probably absolutely not be allowed to have chickens, ducks, and other livestock. At best there will be severe restrictions as well as many cities place restrictions on chickens, ducks, and other livestock within the city limits.
In my town we are allowed 3 chickens, all must be hens absolutely no roosters, and the neighbors can report you if you let your chickens out of your yard or you do not keep their coop and run clean.
Some one a couple of streets over recently got some chickens, what he was told were all hens. Well Sunday morning when I went out to get the paper I heard a hearty cock-a-doodle-doo. Somebody is going to be having fried chicken real soon.
BTW, your County Extension Agent is a source for chicken raising information. You will also need to seek out a real grain and feed store.
“As to canning, perhaps you should work your way up to a boutique jam/jelly/preserve business, assuming Swiss law makes that possible.”
Good idea. It’s absolutely possible – my wife already does that on the side. Kind of strange, I suppose: Scotch whisky, Texas BBQ (that’s me), and Swiss preserves. In a 98%/1%/1% ratio, but hey, the last two are more for fun.
No such thing as an HOA here, at least, I’ve never run into one. The individual towns can be strict, and tattling neighbors are a problem. But where we expect to move, it’s pretty rural, so I don’t think it will be a problem. Assuming we get over the hurdle of being accepted. That will take a bit of effort.
We have an HOA with a no livestock policy.
BUT I can hear roosters so SOMEONE is breaking the rules.
Chickens and esp roosters are very popular with hispanics, and our neighborhood is about 30-40% hispanic, so I’m not surprised.
I am surprised no one ratted them out yet.
nick
Wife would be onboard with chickens, at least in theory. And egg prices have doubled since before the flu. Currently $4.89/ 18 at costco. More elsewhere. That’s up a dollar in the last 3 weeks.
“Chickens and esp roosters are very popular with hispanics…”
Egg gathering and chicken enchiladas?
Or cockfights and Santeria?
I think 2 more than 1. They seem to have a macho thing with the roosters too. VERY ornate and colorful breeds.
nick
Take a closer look at the roosters if and when ya get a chance; see if any of ’em have metal spurs attached.
Then take a hike down the railroad tracks, keeping yer eyes open, esp. at crossings, and look for deceased poultry and other livestock, maybe a goat’s head, usually with throats slit. The blood has been used elsewhere.
And they scream bloody murder at La Coulter for her latest book, of course.
Or cockfights and Santeria?
Racist! And check your Catholicism.
“And check your Catholicism.”
I did check it: it’s fully Authorized.
I used to think Santeria was a kind of wine, like Sangria, but then found out it was blood, mainly.
I’ll go into the Yerberia and talk with the bruja.
nick
¿Habla bien el español de América, señor? Pregunta a él o ella sobre las manchas rojas en sus zapatos …
Viva El Gallo Rey!
Busting up cock fights a big deal for the sheriff around here.
No chit, hombre? Must be fun to work nights in the summers on weekends with them deputies….I missed all the good chit workin’ the cop gigs in small-town and small-city Maffachufetts years ago…all we had was biker bar brawls, suicides, car wrecks and domestic disputes.
But they probably got cock-fights and Santeria going big down there by now, too…
?? the red spots in my shoes??
I try to avoid anyplace that might require language skills exclusively, esp after dark.
Better than the ebonics neighborhoods, but still pretty easy to get yourself in trouble.
When I rode, I hung with the hispanic (crotch rocket) bikers in south phoenix. I didn’t know there was a place where the crackers rode until much later. I rode every weekend for a couple of years with mostly the same guys. There were some funny anecdotes to come out of that. Funnier if you think being near shootings, fights, and late night rides with kard-ass-ian sized girls on the back is good times… but also some plain funny stories.
nick
Riding daily in Phoenix, my exposed skin was darker than some of the youts in Fergie, so I fit in pretty well. It did lead to one of those funny stories involving a pool and me taking off my shirt, and looking like I still had a white t shirt on….much to the surprise of the guys who had FORGOTTEN I was white 🙂
“?? the red spots in my shoes??”
Red stains on their shoes. Presumably from flinging poultry blood all over each other.
“Funnier if you think being near shootings, fights, and late night rides with kard-ass-ian sized girls on the back is good times…”
It was pretty funny, except I was thirty years younger and wearing a blue uniform then. A briskly swung pool cue can be easily dispatched, along with its swinger, by a Monadnock Prosecutor PR-24 baton…and huge-ass gorillas even bigger than me go to their knees, weeping, when The Claw is applied…
…good times…yeah….