10:53 – I decided to start using the standard WP template formatting rather than formatting each paragraph separately. We’ll see how it looks in serif rather than sans-serif.
Dave Starr posted this comment on yesterday’s entry, and I thought it deserved a more complete reply than I could make in comments:
I’m really enjoying your LTS and other aspects of prepping articles. I’ve lived outside the USA for more than 10 years now, seriously considering moving back in the next year or two though. One of my main reasons would be LTS. Americans are spoiled by the cheapness of food in the USA and the broad choices. In most of the world, building up a few shelves of LTS items would be akin to storing shelves of gold bullion for the average person.
Year ago I used to follow the LDS guidance on food storage. We kept a lot of hard winter wheat in 5 gallon food safe containers, placing a small block of dry ice atop the wheat and letting the C02 sublimate, then sealing the containers. I assume the current practice of using oxygen absorbers is a superior way to go?
Checking into the availability of dry ice where we live now (it’s also become like gold), I found that the commercial dry ice manufacturing process is very simple, basically nothing more than capturing and compressing the C02 “frost” that forms when you discharge a C02 fire extinguisher.
Given that the ability to chill or even freeze things temporarily might be useful from time to time in long term survival situations, what are your thoughts on perhaps storing a commercial cylinder or two of C02?
No, most of us in the US don’t appreciate just how good we have it in terms of consumer goods. I’m 63 years old, and I’ve spent a total of about a month outside the US and Canada. I suspect very few Americans other than those in the military have been outside the US even that much. Moving back is a good idea. I think things are going to get worse and worse all over the world over the next five to ten years–we’re watching it happening now–and I think the US and Canada are the safest places to ride that out.
Yes, dry ice is as good a method as any of eliminating oxygen from storage containers. I use and recommend oxygen absorbers because they’re inexpensive, effective, safe to handle, and readily available from the LDS store, Amazon, and other vendors. Back 40 years ago, I did use dry ice when it was the only practical choice. Once oxygen absorbers became readily available, I started using them exclusively.
I had the problem with dry ice brought home to me in spades one day when I was visting a prepper friend, back when we were still called survivalists. He and his wife had just repackaged a dozen or so large Mason jars of dry staples, using dry ice from the ice cream shop to eliminate oxygen. Unfortunately, they didn’t wait long enough before they screwed the lids and bands on all the Mason jars. I’d showed up just after they finished. We were standing at the kitchen door when there was a loud bang from the pantry. His wife ran toward the pantry door. Fortunately, he grabbed her, because just then there was a second loud bang. I actually drew my .45, because I had no idea what was going on. He started shouting, “The Mason jars!” and told me what they’d just finished doing. I suggested he wait at least several hours before he entered the pantry. He told me later that a few more of the jars had exploded, and then when he finally entered the pantry the next morning there were shards of glass all over the place, including some embedded in the wood, as well as scattered food all over the floor and shelves. The lids just blew off some of them, leaving the glass undamaged, but at least a couple of the jars had fragmented. A carbon dioxide bomb is no joke, even in a plastic soda bottle. The takeaway here is to be extremely careful if you use dry ice, and NEVER EVER use it in a glass container.
Adiabatic cooling is certainly one option, but storing compressed carbon dioxide is very expensive, unsustainable, and dangerous. (I once saw the results of a poorly-secured compressed gas cylinder falling and breaking its valve. It blew through a concrete block wall into the neighboring lab, banged around and destroyed a lot of expensive equipment, and finally came to rest after cracking a poured reinforced concrete foundation wall. Fortunately, other than the guy who loosened the retaining strap to start the whole event, no one was around when it happened. He was uninjured, but I suspect he needed to change underwear.) Better to depend on evaporative cooling with clay containers, making provision for at least some electric power to drive standard or Peltier coolers, etc.
The font is just as readable as the old.
Some advice for the next few days:
“Well, folks, it’s only a few more days until the powers that be announce who they’ve chosen to be president but since Hillary’s emails have come back up and she is once again under investigation, I don’t know how that will affect their plans. Since she is under investigation yet again she should be disqualified from the “race” but as she has proven before, she seems to be above the law. My advice is to prep as usual but to also withdrawal $5,000 to $9,500 from your bank account if possible and put it away in a safe place so you’ll have some cash on hand should there be civil unrest after the election and banking withdrawals suspended or you can’t get to the bank. Also, if you’ve been looking to buy an AR-15, AK or other similar semi-auto magazine fed rifle or carbine then you need to do that TODAY. Also, don’t forget to buy extra magazines for that firearm six should be considered a bare minimum. Also, plan for a nuclear war with Russia – double up on those preps if Hillary manages to steal the election also be sure to find out if you’re a target in an “extinction zone” and plan accordingly. What did I do to prep this week… See above… And I voted… not sure if it will do any good but I had a few minutes to spare so I went in and pressed the button. What about you? What did you do to prep this week?”
Well, Mr. Creekmore, I’m taking out $9,500 a day until I’ve got the whole hundred-thousand out, ’cause I don’t think $9,500 will allow us to live up here in the style to which we’ve become accustomed. And I sure will run out and buy half a dozen ARs and AKs and tens of thousands of rounds of ammo and dozens of magazines if I can find a local dealer that has all that in stock right now. Heck, maybe I’ll just visit all the gun shop dealers in Vermont and New Hampshire. Nukular war with Russia? Got that covered, too; the backhoe should be here later this afternoon with the cement truck and we’ll have that underground bunker configured in a jiffy, probably in time for the NFL games tomorrow! Sorry, though; what’s an “extinction zone?”
Is this guy serious? Or is it some kind of parody?
Parody.
That much cash (particularly all at once) is screaming I have money rob me SHTF or not. I can see having $1000 of cash on hand, but not getting it all at once or having anything larger than a $20.
Beyond that, I would not stockpile cash. I’d stockpile useful things. Make a Sam’s Club or Costco Run. Hit the LDS Store. Buy a generator.
I’m going to have Barbara pick up some cash (bills and change) Monday at the bank.
Other than that, we’re as ready for election day as we’re going to get. I have a bottle of 100-mg doxycycline (25 to 50 courses) and five or six courses of levofloxacin that’s to arrive Priority Mail on Monday. I’m going to store those along with the amoxiclav, metronidazole, and 50 courses of SMZ/TMP in LDS foil-laminate bags with oxygen absorbers and stick them in the freezer. Other than that, we’ll just wait and watch to see what, if anything, happens.
Jeezum Crow, I sure hope that WAS parody. I know he has a sense of humor but I wouldn’t think he’d mess around with something like that this close to 11/8.
We’ll most likely have diddly for cash lying around, per usual, but there is a slim chance I could skim some from Mrs. OFD’s next check if it gets here this next week, which is doubtful. Sure, I’d love for us to have three to six to twelve months of all our living expenses in ready cash but that’s just likely to happen anytime soon. And it also brings to mind the question of WTF do people do to prep when they’re working full-time with kids in school and older relatives, maybe, to take care of, or like many other peeps lately, working two or three part-time jobs on a wacky schedule with zero bennies from any of them? Where would they find the time, motivation and money to prep for much more than a week or two of troubles?
Well, like RBT, as concerns 11/8, we’re nearly as ready as we’re gonna be, too. A month of food, and if the power stays on we have the well, and a roof over our heads, radios, first aid supplies, three cords of firewood (and I’ll top off the oil tank), and household defense capability. I’ll keep getting three-packs of gallon jugs of wotta and buying more canned goods, stuff we can heat up on the stove (not in the cans!) and grill. Probably also jam-pack both freezers. And that’s gonna be about it.
Meanwhile I have NRA firearms courses underway, completed the Vermont Master Composter class, and signing up for the Vermont Master Gardener class; both certifications require volunteer activities each year in meatspace around the state, fine by me. I need to get up to the range more often and get wife up to speed on at least the pistols and shotguns, and I gotta get back on track with the ham radio licenses.
And never any shortage of things to do in the house and yard; winter projects will be to FUCKING FINISH the cellar storage and attic work space configurations.
Meanwhile just got an appointment reminder email from the VA; they’ve got me scheduled for 08:00 Tuesday, All Saints Day. Which means I gotta get up at 04:45 to leave by 05:45 to get there by 07:45, two hours down and two hours back, how to see a day devoured by locusts. It’ll be worth it if they can put an end, even partway, of the six months of pain and discomfort I’ve had and show me a road map for the near future. Someone is supposed to drive me back but I’m telling Mrs. OFD not to bother with it; she’s been driving all over hell and more to come today and tomorrow thanks to MIL and Princess, after working a full week of intense stuff in Albany. They don’t care; they just expect her to hop to it regardless. So multiple trips back and forth to Montreal and airports and won’t really be back here for “good” until tomorrow night.
MD is serious, if a bit toward one end of the spectrum. Prepping is how he makes his living after all.
$5k-10K isn’t that much in the grand scheme of things. If you’ve got it in the bank, why not be sure you can get to it by having it at home? Most people advocate having 1-3 months living expenses (all of them, car, house, insurance, food etc) at home in cash. I’m gonna guess that $5k is reasonable for that for most people who own a home, car, etc and aren’t already living on a cash basis. The people in Cyprus and Greece were certainly wishing they had cash at home when the ATMs shut down. As for ‘that can’t/won’t happen here’ WTF is going on in y’alls brains? Half or more of preppers’ daily discussion is how things here are failing, how many places are ALREADY living in 3rd world conditions, how banks are getting set to fail, etc. THAT MEANS IT CAN HAPPEN HERE.
In 2008, if you believe anything the bankers and .gov were saying, we came this close to a total banking collapse. Think they’d have the ATMs on if it happened? And there was NO warning. Thursday everything was fine, Monday my retirement accounts were frozen. And they stayed frozen for 2 years.
Nothing MD is recommending is irreversible. You can always put the money back if you decide that’s the smart thing to do. You can keep or sell the guns, there is always a market, and prices aren’t even high at the moment. Mags are expendable and you should have a bunch. Same for ammo.
Many people here have expressed the idea that there will be HALF the population that will be VERY unhappy with the election results, no matter which way it comes out, and if there are irregularities or disputes that is likely to be expressed PUBLICLY. so prepping for civil unrest seems PRUDENT to me.
Come on Dave, your reaction is the very text book definition of cognitive dissonance and normalcy bias. All the things MD recommends have been discussed and advocated to one degree or another here, by us. NOW it is crunch time, and a very real part of you is going “NO WAIT, I didn’t really mean that!” It is NORMAL to feel that way.
Imagine how our version of prepping sounds to the straights if a professional prepper, repeating in one paragraph all the things we’ve been discussing, causes you to recoil like that. No wonder they think we’re crazy.
(wrt the ‘extinction zone’ I’d take that to be outside any active base, DC, any nuke facility, basically any primary target. I don’t think Russia’s gonna go for a first strike, for reasons I laid out a couple of days ago, but other’s might reasonably draw that conclusion from all the news about Vlad’s new capability.) That’s really the only part of his advice I can find any objection to.
nick
Only consider CO2 canisters manufactured to current US DOT safety standards if you go that route
My family used to distribute CO2 in the 70s, and even 40 years ago, the commercial-grade canisters were designed to survive significant mishandling and vehicle crashes. I imagine that, with the proliferation of fast food across the country since then, the specifications are much tougher, especially post-Cankles I reign in the 90s.
@ the other Dave:
“That much cash (particularly all at once) is screaming I have money rob me SHTF or not. I can see having $1000 of cash on hand, but not getting it all at once or having anything larger than a $20.”
This is a reaction I see all the time from people who aren’t used to dealing with cash. I wrote a long comment about it when RBT said Roberta had the same reaction.
YOU are the only one who knows you have that much cash!
The only tipoff to crooks is YOUR behavior. It’s like when people start daily CHL carry. They are worried, fretting with shirt and cover garments, fussing with holsters, etc. People who don’t carry cash also have ‘tells’ like touching pockets to be sure it’s still there, fiddling with it, acting paranoid, etc.
DON’T TELL ANYONE, and there is NO WAY for them to know!
That said, there are strategies to minimize your losses if you are robbed.
Have some “give up” money. I carry a wallet with cash in it, but mainly keep my ready cash in a money clip. I don’t have more in the clip than I can afford to lose. It’s my “Here you go” money if someone jacks me. Or if they demand a wallet, I keep the clip.
Savvy travelers know to separate their cash into smaller packets. Keep the envelop with $500 in you pocket until you get to the store…
At home, have a couple hundred in very small bills so it looks like more, in a drawer or desk you can get to quickly. A robber will find the money and many will be satisfied they found your stash and split.
Don’t flash you cash, don’t act weird when carrying, don’t keep all your eggs in one basket, and you will be fine.
It is one of those things that takes practice to get used to, which is why I advocated getting out there and starting now, while we mostly have ROL, at least on a local level.
nick
We lived in the UK for 3 years then transferred to Hong Kong, and finally ended up with three years in New Zealand. Most households in the UK have at most 2 days of food, in Hong Kong, probably less. Both countries primary population either eat out almost every day or just run around the corner to the shops for “just in time” shopping. New Zealand is much more rural and agrarian with many farms and dairys. Driving through New Zealand is much like driving through the American Midwest, small towns with large farm equipment dealerships separated by miles of fields and countryside. If SHTF New Zealand would be a great place to be. It’s no target on anyone’s strategic map and has huge agricultural exports so food is no issue. If I could, I would return to New Zealand but they have very strict immigration law and bar those over 55. Do note that cost of living in New Zealand is very high but quality of life is very high also.
Actually, I have no idea how Pournelle’s wife feels about it.
WRT Creekmore, I assumed the first part of it was written by him, and intended seriously, and the remainder was a comment by one of his readers, and intended parodiously.
@RBT, yes of course, my apologies to you both!
n
Hide the cash at the bottom of a box of adult novelties, underneath the Clinton-endorsed blow-up dolls.
We do a variation of that with the cash we store at the house.
I wonder if any of Creekmore’s readers had/have similar reactions to mine, and the question of parody, in whole or in part.
“Come on Dave, your reaction is the very text book definition of cognitive dissonance and normalcy bias.”
I beg to differ; we just don’t have $5-10k sitting idle at the bank to just withdraw whenever we want; the IRS takes a chunk out of us every month for back taxes and we’re on one income with a kid in her last year of college. We have three hots and a cot and the innernet, phone, tee-vee, books and radios but we rarely go out to eat and one or the other vehicle always needs work. I don’t think our situation is uncommon here in North Murka.
Cognitive dissonance is when peeps have reality staring them in the face and simply won’t face it and choose their own. Normalcy bias is the thinking that everything is more or less copacetic and normal and like Alfred E. Newman sez. “What, me worry?”
I have reality staring me in the face every day and have had it going on for half a century now, with little time for fantasy or choosing my own (outside of those pot and acid trips I took as a teenager). And I sure as hell know things ain’t normal anymore in this country and that it’s gone down the rabbit hole big-time.
So we do what we can; like I said, I have stuff on hand here, very little cash, and the most I might be able to have on hand is closer to ONE-thousand than five or ten. Just the way it is. If I’d been more COGNIZANT and DISCIPLINED over previous years, like many others, apparently, I would have put a LOT more aside and learned a LOT more just as fast and as thoroughly as I could. But 60-hour weeks in the cops and IT jobs and raising kids didn’t leave a lot of free time or discretionary income; I know full well that we’re not alone in this, and we’re doing what we can at a late date. Maybe we’ll just all be caged and slaughtered like pigs, but I doubt it. Not this week.
And “not my Sunday.” (anyone else see that ad where the guy kicks his boat loose? funny as chit…)
You can migrate to NZ at up to 75 if you bring your own sheep… 🙂
“Hide the cash at the bottom of a box of adult novelties, underneath the Clinton-endorsed blow-up dolls.”
My variation is inside Gavin Douglas’s Middle Scottish translation of Virgil’s Aeneid.
We all have different situations, priorities, threat assessments, etc. I try to strike a balance, as I’m sure most preppers do. I may think someone who has 10 years’ worth of stored food is overdoing it, just as he may think keeping $1,000+ worth of antibiotics is overdoing it. Ultimately, we all have to make our own decisions.
@nick,
Yes, I get it. I do need to beef up the cash here, and I am in a position do so. Thanks for reminding me. Yes, I have conformation bias.
But I still think I have a point. The article in question is talking about withdrawing $5000 to $9500. Why doesn’t he say $5K to $10K? Because $10K triggers all kinds of government interest in a single transaction. I’d rather make a max withdrawal from the (drive up) ATM every day between now and the election than go inside and withdraw the money in one lump sum.
Also, if I were going to do something with $5K of money to prep, I’d rather buy a generator with some of the $5K and make a Sam’s run and a Costco run.
Update: If I were to make a max withdrawal from the ATM, I wouldn’t go to the same ATM or do it at the same time every day. I really am trying to work on my normalcy bias thank you.
Just made a Costco run. Found two LED FLASHLIGHTS, 3C cell each, two brightness levels, (three if you count OFF), for $16.00. That is not much more than the cost of the batteries. Will stash one in the mower shed the other is still to be determined.
On the way to Costco passed the adult store (been there for 30+ years so grandfathered on zoning) between the Harley Davidson Store and Bojangles chicken. The sign said they had adult toys including FLESHLIGHTS (yes, FLESHLIGHTS). Almost made me want to stop and find out if it was a CREE light and used CR123 cells for more power. Although the shape of the light was probably slightly curved with some texturing.
Let’s see, what would ol’ OFD do with $5k or $10k if it could all be devoted to prepping stuff and not taxes or bills?
At $5k I sure would get a generator and an outdoor shed to store garden tools and fuels.
Another $5k would get me a couple of grand in cash to have on hand and a pile of food, water, meds, ammo, etc.
But we need to not only keep paying back taxes but also glom onto a decent tax lawyer ASAP, and we need to get the window installations done on wife’s studio, because if you wanna talk dissonance and normalcy bias there it is right there, and she’s the wife and main breadwinner so that’s that. I am lobbying hard for at LEAST a storm door on the back door entrance and we also need to get the rest of the house windows and shutters done.
Meanwhile I’ve managed to get a bunch of prep-related stuff in here over the past couple of years, most of which she’s unaware of or only marginally aware of. In short, she is NOT on board with the prepping stuff, short of what we’d do anyway for winters and maybe roaming goblins, the latter of which she probably figures is something that an ex-cop, ex-soldier can just take care of. I also think she forgets I’m fucking 63 years old; I don’t look it or act it but the decades’ toll on body and mind don’t lie.
“Although the shape of the light was probably slightly curved with some texturing.”
Hmmmm….sounds like you DID stop in and check it out first-HAND.
-gasp-! Thus speaks the voice of evil!
ref a classic den Beste essay (and the essay which inspired it, which you should read first) and a recent essay on a closely-related topic.
Hmmmm….sounds like you DID stop in and check it out first-HAND.
Just probably how I would design such a light/device. But using the only reference that is close at hand for a model to use for measurements it would probably a light/device that uses a single AAAA cell.
“…it would probably a light/device that uses a single AAAA cell.”
TMI, buddy.
Um, the Fleshlight is actually more of a socket….
@OFD dave, yeah I get it. I’m just saying that your first post sounded like you thought MDs suggestions were crazy talk, and my point is just that they’re the same things we’re all talking about anyway, just not all at once and all in one place, and not Right Here, Right Now.
He’s not talking about withdrawing $5k and SPENDING it, just having it on hand for normal expenses. It’s not $5k extra, just getting it to somewhere you have control over it.
I totally get it that most people aren’t gonna have the money in advance. Poll after poll shows that the majority don’t have $400 extra. I’d say that one of the absolute best preps anyone can do is pay off debt and build a cash reserve. Yes, it’s hard. There are always reasons not to. But the benefits are clear.
Although I’m 10 years younger than you, I’m no longer working in my field (any of them) and not likely too again on a regular basis. MY kids are just entering elementary school, so I’ve got 15 more years of supporting them at a minimum. Like you, my wife is the current breadwinner. There is a lot of potential upside with her job, but it could literally vanish tomorrow (her contracts are 30 days.)
I’ve given up on the idea of continuing in my field (any of them) and am ramping up the secondary business of the last 15 years. I doubled my income for the last 2 months just by doing more of it. I’ve not reached the saturation point, so I can probably double again with hard work. (the realization that I had to do this came slowly and I tried to deny it. A couple of months ago, it was driven home and I stepped up my game.)
Anyone can increase their income. Most people can decrease their expenses. Finding the way that works best for them is the hard part. For some it’s the second job, or moonlighting, for others there are service, craft, and reselling opportunities. Of course it all depends on the economy continuing to exist.
If the world continues, financial security is the best prep anyone can do.
@ the other Dave, it’s not just $10k withdrawals that will trigger reporting. Withdrawals near that will too. So will anything that looks like “structuring” to avoid triggering reporting. Someone very recently posted about the details of the different reports, where they go, and who sees them.
The answer, both for practical reasons and reporting, is a little at a time and steadily. Like most preps…
Even if you trigger the reporting, so what? You aren’t committing any crimes, right?
nick
ADDED- I can’t recall MD ever saying, but I’m pretty sure he’s never married, no kids. That right there saves so much money the differences are STARK. And not having to get partner buy in….
My brother who lives near me is never married, no kids. He makes half what I do, maybe two thirds if I’ve had a bad year, but he has plenty of money for hobbies such as building his own race cars, while I’m barely above living paycheck to paycheck. There’s a lesson there, and not one that’s good for the furtherance of society.
@nick,
My plan is to pull some cash and find places for it. For security reasons (and the fact I haven’t decided yet) I won’t say how much cash. I’m probably thinking about more than one ATM withdrawal but small enough that there is no way the IRS will think I am trying to avoid the $10,000 reporting limit.
Would anyone think me crazy if I put an envelope with $100 under the spare tire of each car?
If I could, I would return to New Zealand but they have very strict immigration law and bar those over 55.
Well, the US has the same…oh wait, forget it. Viva La Raza!
Not at all. Make it 20s, 10s, and 5s, to be able to pay smaller amounts to people for assistance if that’s what comes up. Also, put the envelope in a plastic bag. Spare tire wells tend to accumulate liquids, not limited to water.
Spare tire wells tend to accumulate liquids, not limited to water.
Is that a reference to the FLESHLIGHT Mr. Ray is fascinated with?
“Anyone can increase their income. Most people can decrease their expenses. Finding the way that works best for them is the hard part.”
Indeed. Working on it, and for the same reason/s you mentioned; probably not gonna work in “my field” again, at least on a full-time basis for big organizations. One clue that keeps smacking me in the face is seeing all the emails, web sites, online IT classes and ads for them, is that everyone in the pics and vids looks barely outta diapers. No fat old guys or fugly old womyn or even anyone above the age of 30, if that. It’s like the ad for exercise equipment and gyms: the peeps in them are ALREADY in fantastic shape! I guess they’re just keeping it that way, lol.
Anyway, yeah, we’ve got a lot of financial chit on our plate here and grabbing $5 or $10 from where it’s sitting in a bank account is like unto a wild fantasy for us, thus the shockingness, maybe, of my earlier post. And then his suggestions for grabbing rifles and tons of mags and ammo, etc. My criticism, if one can even call it that, is that his suggestions to do all this in the next ten days seemed kind of unreal for most of us out here. Hopefully we’ve done some of that already, but to expect someone to right now jump in with both feet is not realistic, unless, of course, they DO have that kinda cash lying idle and these ideas and our Current Situation are just now occurring to them.
Overcast today with periods of slanting rain being blown in from the bay. Temps in the fotties. No idea where Mrs. OFD is; last I knew she was staying overnight at the Montreal airport hotel after getting MIL there for her flight to Kalifornia. Left a vm on her phone, no response. I don’t know if she gets it that I worry about HER, driving alone all over the place and being in Condition White, mostly, unarmed, and with a couple of serious medical issues. And then tells me she TOLD me about all these plans but that was weeks ago and only mentioned once and I never got the details or dates or times exactly. Acts annoyed that I don’t remember.
“There’s a lesson there, and not one that’s good for the furtherance of society.”
I hear ya loud and clear.
Hardline atheist endorses Trump… I enjoyed reading this.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2016/10/03/high-profile-atheist-explains-why-hes-on-the-trump-train-an-interview-with-robert-m-price/
Um, the Fleshlight is actually more of a socket….
My thinking was inverted. Should have used Google.
Is that a reference to the FLESHLIGHT Mr. Ray is fascinated with?
Not anymore.
@ofd, I used TripIt for managing and sharing itineraries when I traveled. The wife and I still use it on occasion. It is very easy. Just forward your airline and hotel confirmation emails to tripit, and they automagically get parsed into your itinerary. You can name others who can see, add to, or change your itinerary too, and it works with Outlook and google of course. It’s about the easiest way to follow someone else’s travel.
@ the other Dave, I would def put some money in each vehicle. I usually keep a couple hundred under the floor mat as back up estate sale money, as well as preparedness money. I usually stick a couple of 20s on the visor between the cd holder and the top of the visor. Gives a thief something to grab and get out…
nick
Thanks, Nick, for the heads-up on Academy Sports clearance. I get in there all too often, but I made a special trip to check for deals.
Got a DUTCH OVEN (my first) quite cheap partly because apparently the one with legs can be broken and this one was tagged “with legs” and with wrong UPC. This is the 10″ store brand one, no legs, with lid: $10 ! Supposed to be $18. Regular price on legged’ one is $20, and no lid on that (I looked at website), so be alert.
Check academy.com for dutch ovens; several options available. One with a skillet lid (Lodge brand “combo cooker” $30) might be a better investment.
Overall survival lesson: research products and prices… and sometimes you get lucky.
How about putting some cash in the vehicle ashtray(s) ?
A car jacker will likely be a smoker, but it’s certain he will toss ashes and butts out the window.
A few common sense tips:
http://qpolitical.com/8-tips-emergency-situations-save-life/
I already knew most of them, but the “one cup tip” was new to me and makes alot of sense.
The method of using of duct tape for “stitching” is something you should know how to do.
My 2-cents for today.
Make sure that Crisco candle is in a tin can, not a cardboard or plastic one!
Thanks for the TripIt tip, Mr. Nick. It’s the fems up here who do all the traveling and I worry about them all; I, like Mr. RBT, stick close to home almost all of the time. Only travels are (previous) job commutes and the vets group, all within 35 miles.
Well, I did do the recent trip down to MA and CT, but those things are maybe once or twice a year. And no one EVER comes up here.
What did you think of Hartford, sir? We walked everywhere while we were there. Hotel to Travelers to Salute! and back.
Did somebody, Mr. Nick maybe, mention packet data transmission via ham? That would be a fun project for the “group” to work on. I’m not a ham, yet, but would be willing to participate, get equipment etc. Not sure how I would antenna *up* from Vegas.
Wow… The BBS… uh, blog guys getting together in meatspace… and now Ham!
Creepy…
“”Only travels are (previous) job commutes and the vets group, all within 35 miles.””
Scary road trips!
Furthest I have been in 3~ months (no more of that previous type trip!), I drove 20 miles to a buddy’s and he drove the Jeep 100 miles in a loop to look at several properties in his area. He is motivated, being somewhat isolated with minimal allies close, so…
Reading between the lines of all the latest news regarding KIllary I would say that Huma is going to take the fall. I also predict that Huma will slit Weiner’s (Carlos Danger’s) throat and then commit “suicide”. You heard it here first folks.
Watch the other hand.
I’ve got all the gear to get up with packet on UHF/VHF and on HF. Just need the time and know how to get it together…
For that matter, I’ve got the gear to get up on 2.4 Ghz on the ham allocation using linksys wifi access points with custom firmware. It builds a mesh network.
No time though. Like today. Happily working along on household and halloween stuff, but there is a neighborhood group thing for the kids. 2hours for that. But, that is life, and what life is about. And I met a couple neighborhood dads, one of whom runs the dad’s group. Apparently they sometimes go shooting! Had some good conversation with others within a couple block radius too. All in all, a good 2 hours, even without considering the time with the kids and all the fun they had. (Tested the inverter on the vehicle too. Works– but needs bigger terminal rings installed.)
nick
Ah, there’s blood in the water. There are chinks in the armor. Some other cliches too.
Hillarity’s inevitability is crumbling and people are starting to get bolder. FINALLY the Daily Mail has some ‘open mouth’ shreaking pix of H up on the front page. They also occasionally run a pic of T without the snarled open mouth.
n
Reading between the lines of all the latest news regarding KIllary
I predict some major bombing or celebrity murder will take place thus diverting the news media from the Hildabeast issues. Such events orchestrated by her criminal machine.
Most people advocate having 1-3 months living expenses (all of them, car, house, insurance, food etc) at home in cash.
No, the usual suggestion is build up to 3 months living expenses in cash equivalents, i.e. a bank deposit in savings or checking. No way would I keep that much cash at home. I do have some stashed at home, but it’s not nearly that much.
You misspelled “Huma is going down for Hillary one last time”.
DadCooks wrote:
“…I also predict that Huma will slit Weiner’s (Carlos Danger’s) throat …”
Hells bells! I first read that as Dangler… 🙂
She sure reminds me of Il Duce…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-30/us-election-clinton-lashes-'strange'-fbi-email-probe-letter/7978092
“Off with his head” means something other than what you’re thinking.
@ech, you’re probably fine leaving it in the bank, this specific reco was to have it at home in case there is a big hit to financial markets either from the election or reaction to it.
You can always put it back when things turn out to be normal.
nick
that atheist guy makes sense to me. The commenters, not so much. Want to talk about anything other than addressing the points in the article.
The support for hilarity is hi-larious too. “oh the poor trans people, too stupid to choose wisely” ‘cuz we know h is a big supporter of gays, ^wink^
And the disbelief that h has left a trail of bodies throughout the country and politics is mind boggling.
n
Would anyone think me crazy if I put an envelope with $100 under the spare tire of each car?
I always keep $100 in $20s under the passenger side floor mat of my car. Perfectly normal excuse — the “No sauce. No forks. No whining.” BBQ places outside of town tend to be cash only, and we often head out on short notice if the weather is nice and the chores are done.
“What did you think of Hartford, sir?”
Hey, I was enlisted scum and a human being! Wife worked in Hahtfud; I only drove out to her AirBnB place in West Granby and we dint go near the city, other than when leaving, we dropped her rental off at the Bradley “International” Airport. She made awesome bacon-cheeseburgers at her place.
“Did somebody, Mr. Nick maybe, mention packet data transmission via ham?”
Mighta been me; I wanna study up on it after some prelim network research. Plus mesh networking. For now and when SHTF.
“It builds a mesh network.”
Which seem to be touted currently as working best in densely populated urban areas; I’d like to see how it might work in a fairly close-knit/residential village.
I’d be good with putting cash in hiding spots in the vehicles and around the house, too. Assuming we had cash to do that, lol.
I’m not taking bets via Mr. DadCooks whether or not Huma and her weird-ass pervy husband will take the fall for Cankles; the Clinton Crime Family has a LONG history of throwing their friends, lovers, and associates from the sleigh or under the bus, whichever metaphor you prefer. Quite a few of them end up permanently horizontal, too.
We keep $100 in $20s in each Cars get-home-bag. I also keep a couple of $20s within easy reach of the drivers seat for misc. stuff. Often comes in handy.
I had $2k in cash at home but spending emergencies have whittled this down to $800. Still have over 100 oz in silver and a couple ounces of gold. If I can make it to bonus time in March I will replenish the cash stored.
“If I can make it to bonus time in March…”
Pray, sir, what is this “bonus” that you speak of?
Last bonus check I got at work was in 1998 at now defunct EDS. That was also the last place that sent us IT drones to training on THEIR dime (Global Knowledge for OpenVMS and Windows NT).
Last bonus check I got at work was in 1998 at now defunct EDS. That was also the last place that sent us IT drones to training on THEIR dime (Global Knowledge for OpenVMS and Windows NT).
I got iOS developer training out of Death Star Telephone as late as 2008, but I had to commit gross insubordination under FL law in order to get the class at (I’m not kidding about the name) The Big Nerd Ranch.
The young, hungy, Red Bull-swigging guy I worked with claimed he could learn things out of a book over a weekend. Of course this appealed to management since they got to pocket part of the unspent training money as a bonus.
In 1990 I did 55 working days of training at my employer’s expense, including numerous trips to Sydney and Melbourne. This despite my turning down several courses I thought irrelevant (for example, CICS Systems Programming) and going to Europe for eight weeks on my first OS holiday. In the last five years it was almost impossible to be sent on a course.
It got to the point where the PHB manglers absolutely HATED to send IT people to training classes; cut into their greens fees and yacht berth costs and their childrens’ private skools, and I often heard them express fear that someone would learn stuff at their expense and then move on.
Now it’s expected that you will learn, like that Red Bull swigger, on your own time and at your own expense, in a weekend, if possible. That’s it, good doggie! Now get back to work!
I woke up at 07:45 today and had some clear, cold, sobering Sunday-morning-coming-down thoughts: on the remote chance I get the Fed job, I’ll have to bone up on a couple of things real fast while I’m “onboarded.” OK, fine.
Failing that, I need to just barely keep a hand in the IT stuff from now on, mainly for current local and SHTF purposes, and concentrate on producing additional revenue streams here and get this house in order. While ramping up the prepping stuff on all fronts, but mainly food and water and property security.
Overcast again and possible showers, temps in the 50s during the days and high 30s and low 40s at night and still no frost here on the bay. Fine by me. Globalchangewarmingclimate? Bring it. (within reason, some slightly warmer winters would be good and more snow would also be good, i.e. wet climate w/temps in the high 20s, can we all get along?)
I keep a wad of $100s on me at all times for high stake slots, hookers and blow.
“I keep a wad of $100s on me at all times for high stake slots, hookers and blow.”
Wow, you rock, bro. I gotta see what them hookers like for a Franklin. And how much blow you get. Or is that two separate things?
You should have gone down to Rio, MrAtoz. You coulda gotten five hookers for a single C-note. Of course, judging by the pictures shown just before the Olympics, any one of those hookers would have outweighed you and had more facial hair, but that’s not the point.
If Rio is a little too far for you, buy $100 worth of groceries and head down to Venezuela in another month or two. You can probably find women willing to compromise their morals in exchange for food. Normally I wouldn’t joke about that, but Venezuelans repeatedly chose commies to lead them, and now they’re sucking on the consequences good and hard. They deserve all the mocking laughter they get.
(OK, I lied. Of course I’d normally joke about that. That, and every other topic under the sun.)
I gotta see what them hookers like for a Franklin.
It’s a “wad” of C-Notes. I peel them off walking through the casino and wait to see what shows up.
Uh, I’m awake now. I made all that shit up about $100 bills. You probably knew that, though. MrsAtoz gives me an allowance now and then. You probably already knew that, too. Pussy whipped.
-gasp-! That word! That word! I need a safe space!
“MrsAtoz gives me an allowance now and then.”
Whoa! You get an ALLOWANCE! I have to PAY to live here!
“That word! That word! I need a safe space!”
Not only that, but if he’s thinking of running for office ten or twenty years from now, he’s just disqualified himself.