I have been reading blogs with newbies on them talking about guns. I LOVE to talk about guns. I keep remembering that talk about how making yourself a lamb in the midst of wolves will get your ass eaten! Not my cup of tea, thank you. I always admired the speech in the movie Patton where the guy playing Patton said "You let that other sonovabitch die for HIS country!" I love logic and reason. They couldn't have gotten a better actor to play Patton than George C. Scott.
Guns are made to kill things. Pretty simple when you consider that for anything to live something must die. Whether it be a Bull Moose or a blade of grass, something dies so that something else might live. You go out and watch nature here in the country and you soon realize that critters are eating each other night and day. It's natural. It's the way things are set up.
Science says that we can't make it without protein. It says that protein is absolutely necessary for human survival. The most concentrated form of protein I know of is MEAT. And there are all kinds of critters out there for you to eat. And our particular legacy in life, the Bible, says that animals were cleared for human consumption by God clear back in the days of Noah. In the New Testament the availability of animals was increased by vision given to Peter. So we eat meat. And we will continue to eat meat for many millenium. That was given to us and we shall do it.
If peace comes to your land for an extended period of time, then you can raise animals for meat. Pretty handy to be able to just go to the butcher shop and get some meat for dinner. But in hard times you had better be able to hunt and kill your own. Stray cattle and hogs come to mind. If TEOTWAWKI comes there will be all kinds of critters out there roaming around. And hogs will be leading the pack. I read of a hog raiser who bred 5 continuous generations of hogs, inside a building, on a concrete floor. They were fed and watered and bore litters and did this for 5 generations. They never stepped out side the building. The 6th generation was let loose and it went into the woods and started to eat mast off the forest floor immediately. It took them no time at all to go completely wild again. It is in their makeup and they are an old source old protein. Eat hearty, or as the voice said to Peter, "Kill and eat."
A rifle is probably the most efficient method of killing game such as deer. Deer are browsers and move around. They are fast and if startled will vacate the area most hastily. A good Sniper, oops, I meant deer hunter, will lay low and wait until the deer come by and harvest his meat quickly and efficiently.
Most other game beside the big fast ones, are easy to harvest with a shotgun. Birds, squirrels, rabbits, ground hogs beaver, etc. all fall to the shotgun. ChinaMart sells #8 shot 12 gauge shells for $22 or $23 a box of 100. Not a bad price. Pick one up every month. It's a wise investment. And you know, when the woman is cooking a Dutch Oven of Beans and Corn or Rice on the coals of your cookfire, you can always throw a few Tweety Bird carcasses in with the Beans and up that protein content. You gut and skin the bird and throw it in there and Mother Nature will take care of the rest. And your wife and you and your children will have protein. Good tasting protein.
Ducks and Geese generally take a little heavier shot than what ol' Tweety Bird will fall for. If this kind of meat floats your boat and it's available then stock up on heavier shot. Simple enough. We don't want to complicate this thing. If you're going out for Tweety Bird then take Tweety Bird shot when you hunt.
A 12 guge shotgun will give you the most advantage of various sizes of ammo. Heavy animal then heavy shot. Light animal then light shot. You can observe what the game is like in your area. This will give you your leading for what kind of shot to buy.
Another weapon that is popular with survivalists is the 22 LR rifle. There are many to chose from. You can go from an Olympic target gun to a single shot Chipmonk for your kid, or for you. Most folks go for a semi-automatic like a Ruger 10-22. That is what I shoot and that is what I can talk about. The thing about the 22LR is the cost. The cheapest shotgun shells are 22 or 23 cents apiece and a 22LR is about 15% of that. Very easy on the budget. And it will kill out to about 100 years if you are good enough. I personally know a man who has killed deer with a 22 Short! I don't recommend that type of shot but if it is all you have then get to it. But the smaller critters will all fall to the 22 LR. The usual suspects: Squirrels, Rabbits, Birds of all kinds, Beaver, Groundhogs,and whatever else suits your fancy.
Then we get to the matter of self defense. The best advice I ever read was to use whatever you can use to good results. Remember, if you can hit with it you can defend yourself with it. Hitting your target makes a big difference in self defense.
For CQB or close quarters battle, I prefer a shotgun. Anything within 50 yards is susceptible to dying when confronted with the bad end of a shotgun. At least a 12 gauge shotgun. I will defend my home with a 12 gauge full of 00 Buck. And God help the poor dumb puke who comes to defeat it. I can do aimed fire and I can do suppresive fire. My neighbor in the building sleeps along side of Wingmaster just like I do. Times could get tough for anyone attacking us. I can walk a tube of 00 Buck down a road or a driveway and clear it in a matter of a couple seconds. If I have a partner in the drill I can guarantee that you will hear the footsteps of the survivors running into the distance. I will bring as many rounds as my battle jacket will hold, which is a substantial amount. I will not be kidding around. You come after me and mine and you will be facing death. And I will be trying to bring it to you quickly. The longer you live, as an attacker, the harder I will have to work. But I will do it.
A 22 LR rifle will defend you and will probably hold a boatload of ammo, which is a nice thing if you are under attack. It doesn't speak with authority but it will sing a song of death if it gets where it needs to be. The thing about the 22 LR is that it will produce casualties. And wounded guys are a testimony to others who might wish to end your life on this tortured planet. Seeing your Freebooter buddy bleeding will take the wind out of your sails. And that is what a 22 is good for...making people bleed. And that is what you want to do. Make 'em pay big time for messing with you. Win an engagement and the word can go out that you don't want to go fooling with those survivalists. And that is what we want. We want to be left alone to provide for our families and worship God and take care of our own business. You know, all those things no one does anymore!
There are those who espouse Battle Rifles and I am for them 100%. I especially like Jim Dakin and his rants about the .303 British rifle. I would hate to run up on him when he was fielding that gun. There ain't no doubt in my mind that he could make things very unprofitable for a Freebooter. He says it is the fastest cycling bolt action around and I believe him. As long as he can keep ammo he will be a force to be reckoned with.
The FAL is a semi-automatic .308 Battle Gun that is popular with many, including Jim Rawles. I just don't want to buy all those magazines! The M1A1, the civilian model of the Army M-14, is a big favorite, if you can afford it. I shoot a .308 bolt gun but I have my druthers. But I have it around if it's necessary. I have a Ruger Mini-Ranch on 7.62 by 39, along with an SKS. Ain't got much ammo but I could fight a skirmish or two pretty easy. My .308 bolt gun can drop deer at good distance pretty easy. That is the big advantage of bigger caliber guns. They will kill at a greater distance with good power.
I will catch lots of hell if I don't say anything about the M-15 and it's military variants. I've owned one and they shoot so sweetly it's remarkable. But I don't want one anymore. I want my 12 gauge and my 22 LR rifle and my .308 bolt gun. Call it personal preference. Call it crazy. Call it anything you wish but I can use all of those weaapons with fair accuracy. And that means I can bring someone down and take them out of the fight. If I just wound them I'll get Vlad to hit them with a hammer. That will finish the job!
*****
LETTER FROM A READER
Michael,
I thought it might be time for an update.
I moved back to the family farm during the last week of February. One draw back about coming back home was the fact that the years I spent in the city allowed a lot of things to get “deferred” on the farm. Junk trees grew up and choked out good trees. Fruit trees didn’t get the care they needed to keep producing. The garden area got mowed over and returned to lawn. What didn’t get changed with time seemed to get ravaged by building the new house. While it is “home”, there is a lot to do now to make it better.
As I wrote a while back I have been cutting out the junk trees and opening up the view from the house and giving us “fields of fire” as it were. I cleaned up the berry bushes so they can grow well and look forward to the first few handfuls this spring.
I built some raised beds for growing some stuff outside the new garden area. One bed will be another attempt at Three Sister’s due to the encouragement from Dragon to try again. The wife wants tomatoes and I think I will try some potatoes. I plan to grow a lot of stuff that will work well in soups and stews. You would not believe the game we see here weekly. Deer, coyote, turkey, pheasants, raccoon, rabbits, squirrels, hawks and a Bald Eagle have all been spotted here in the last two weeks. A few well placed traps and diligent hunting season and meat for the stew pot should be covered.
I hated to have to go buy a load of top soil, but it had to be done. I am in for a supper break but will be finishing up unloading the soil into the beds and garden area right after dinner. They are calling for rain tomorrow so I want to make sure that the dirt is down and a few seeds in tonight yet.
My youngest son came home from college this week and brought with him a pick-up load of food. He grabbed all the unused items that the others were tossing, made one last purchase on his food card, and scored some MRE meals packs from the ROTC. You might imagine I welcomed home my son and his hoard of food with open arms. He leaves in a few weeks for a couple of Army posts for summer training. He continues to build his survival skills constantly.
One big down side of this last month has been the gas situation. Not only have the prices sky rocketed, but I had to start re-cycling out my older gas. I have some cans I stored away at $2.07 a gallon. They are untreated and need to be rotated. I hate to burn up the cheap stuff and refill at $2 a gallon more, but them is the breaks.
I still have a few holes in my pantry to try and fill. I work on that all the time and with luck the gaps will be few and small by the time I need to live out of the pantry.
Just wanted to update you and let you know that we too are working to Stay Alive.
Wolverine
*********
This is all about staying alive. Any way you can.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
WARNING FROM A FRIEND
May 11, 2008
A young man who works in the oil field in the Texas Panhandle and that
I personally know, got the following notice with his paycheck this
last Friday, 05-09-08. THIS IS NOT A RUMOR! I have held the actual
notice in my own hands, seen the actual notice with my own eyes and
have retyped it verbatim as follows:
'FROM JUNE 3, 2008, ABOUT 10,000 TRAINED AND CERTIFIED OFFICERS WILL
BLANKET THE ROADWAYS OF NORTH AMERICA TO PREVENT TRUCK AND BUS
ACCIDENTS AND SAVE LIVES. KNOWN AS ROAD CHECK 2008, FEDERAL, STATE,
PROVINCIAL, AND LOCAL OFFICERS WILL BE CONDUCTING NORTH AMERICAN
STANDARD INSPECTION AROUND THE CLOCK FOR 72 HOURS FROM JUNE 3-5. THE
INSPECTIONS INVOLVE A COMPREHENSIVE 37-STEP PROCEDURE WHICH INCLUDES
ITEMS RELATED TO VEHICLE, DRIVER, AND CARGO SAFETY.'
Isn't that interesting language they used? Jone 3-5 (Tue., Wed, Th.)
looks like good days to stay home.
A young man who works in the oil field in the Texas Panhandle and that
I personally know, got the following notice with his paycheck this
last Friday, 05-09-08. THIS IS NOT A RUMOR! I have held the actual
notice in my own hands, seen the actual notice with my own eyes and
have retyped it verbatim as follows:
'FROM JUNE 3, 2008, ABOUT 10,000 TRAINED AND CERTIFIED OFFICERS WILL
BLANKET THE ROADWAYS OF NORTH AMERICA TO PREVENT TRUCK AND BUS
ACCIDENTS AND SAVE LIVES. KNOWN AS ROAD CHECK 2008, FEDERAL, STATE,
PROVINCIAL, AND LOCAL OFFICERS WILL BE CONDUCTING NORTH AMERICAN
STANDARD INSPECTION AROUND THE CLOCK FOR 72 HOURS FROM JUNE 3-5. THE
INSPECTIONS INVOLVE A COMPREHENSIVE 37-STEP PROCEDURE WHICH INCLUDES
ITEMS RELATED TO VEHICLE, DRIVER, AND CARGO SAFETY.'
Isn't that interesting language they used? Jone 3-5 (Tue., Wed, Th.)
looks like good days to stay home.
BASIC PREPARATION
It would seem that folks are reading survival blogs but are not paying any attention to the main points of staying alive.
The first thing I would point out to many who are in the valley of decision is the easy to understand principle of group survival being far more efficient than individual survival. Growing a big supply of food takes people. Pulling meaningful security takes people. Building housing takes people. So get people!
You need to start getting your survival group together as soon as possible. It can be family or close friends or maybe even a club or group that is interested in staying alive when things get bad. To get this group together you first must talk on the subject to anyone and everyone. And I am not talkin about a political speech or something like that. I am talking about someone who is quiely testing the waters with anyone he meets. When you find a kindred soul then make a note of that person and remember to stay in contact with them.
Try to get a group of 50 to 100 people. You are looking for regular working people and not a bunch of low lifes. You want people with families, if possible. You want people who can contribute to the group as a whole. Because once you have the people then you move out of town. You sell whatever you own and you throw the money into the main pot and you buy the place you wish to use for your village.
And that will sound crazy to most Americans. And that is okay. I don't want to be counted among the "sane" who have allowed this country to deteriorate anyhow. I want my friends whom I have known for years to make it.
I am sorry but I cannot see living in the Western United States. Forest fires are a drag. Huge distances are a drag. There are plenty of places in the rough hills of the East where a people might survive. And I have seen all the population maps and the satellite pictures of the lights and all that stuff. We have more springs and more deer that we can drink and shoot. Water is abundant in these hills. Clean pure water. And while the cropland is sorta scarce there is plenty of room for big gardens and plenty of ground for grazing and growing hay. You just have to make do with smaller fields. And it can be done.
Once you and your group have made the change from the population places to the more rural and isolated countryside you can start figuring out how to make a living. We went with a sawmill operation and became the biggest hardwood mill in the state. It started small but I am here to tell you that it grew. It HAD to grow. We had 350 to 400 acres when I came in the early years. But we prospered and used our brains and we now have almost 3000 acres. I am thankful to God for his bounty.
We are a mature group of people. This settlement is 42 years old and we own it and live on it. I can relate to preppers who talk about living on their retreat. We know this place like the back of our hand. Us grown men and now our sons have hunted every nook and cranny on the place. We know how to track the deer and catch the fish. We know the places where the squirrels nest and breed. Not too many rabbits down here because Brer Fox keeps their population down. The rabbits go away and so do the foxes. The rabbits come roaring back in numbers and the foxes return. It's a cycle, as is most things in nature. It's called Mother Nature, not Father Nature. There is Wisdom in knowing that.
Our retreat is isolated because the man who started it had the wisdom to know that nothing could be started fresh and new in a town or a city. The towns and cities had an already establishend pattern of behavior that we did not want in our lives. We did not want a crack dealer or a gay bar or a church in our settlement. We wanted things to be as natural and uncontaminatd as possible. We wanted to see how God raised a people, not how the mind of man would do it. And what the hell, we already knew how man would do it. And who needs more of that?
The land is all paid for and there is no mortgage. We have to pay property taxes but the sharecropper makes that much and we don't feel it. Anyone who is not retired has to pay $10 a week toward our shared expenses. Kids and retirees are exempt. You can work anywhere you wish or can get a job. We have people going out to teach in schools and work in hospitals and all sorts of places. And we have people with their own businesses. You can do what ever you wish! You can make a living however it works for you. You pay your own electric bill and your own phone and internet bill. And if you don't want those things then don't have them. There are no zoning laws in our settlement. It is the freest place in America.
Some words came to me this weekend. "Look around and see what needs to be done and go do it." Now how is this for governmental leadership? If you want it or it needs to be done then go do it! Things sort of reach a point of equalibrium with a position like this. There is no complaining about government. You do it yourself. This is freedom! Freedom from bitching and whining. Freedom of action. You like this? Go do it. If it is the mind of God, he will bless it. God honors his own mind.
After you get a settlement then you can start your preps. You can put in your gardens and your septic and your water systems. We have several wells here in the valley and those on one will pay about $20 every three months for their water. Not a bad water bill. Not bad at all. If you want to pack your water from a spring you are allowed to do so and would be exempt from a water bill. Freedom. An idea you can put into practice. Will it work? Show me. Our garden is watered by a big spring that gives us free water for our plants.
After the initial pains of TEOTWAKAKI things will get back to normal, or normal for the times at least. Life will be for the living of it. You will always need some security but maybe not as much after things settle down. You will always grow food but the ground wil be easier to work after a while. You will turn to arts and trades. You will turn to making clothes and foorwear. You will turn to building with stone. You will learn how to make cement. There will be buildings and shops and schools and all sorts of things for people to do. You will have babies and weddings and funerals and other things that join a people. You will have people develop into healers. You will have people develop into horse breeders and trainers. Some people will want to make wagons and tools for the horses to pull.
I can remember a man named Herschel who came every year and plowed my parents garden. And that was 60 years ago. It was cheap. Very few dollars. But he did a world of gardens in one day. His horses knew what to do and went right to it. I would say they got an extra ration of feed on days they did gardens. And it was a wonderful life. A very small town with a heavy agriculture surrounding. The older kids could get around on their bikes like you wouldn't believe. And they knew every fishin' hole and swimmin' hole around. And all the adults knew whose kid belonged to whom and watched out for them. The adults sorta became a Supermom and Superdad to all the kids. Worked out pretty well, too. You can take a tightly knit group of people and they can become your colllective Father and Mother. All children should be blessed by this as they will be watched from dawn until dusk by people that care.
There will be wars and rumors of wars for a long time in the future. The fixing of lifes problems in your area will not heal the whole world. It will be a more gradual transition. But it WILL get done. Never forget that. This converting the world to peace and good will not happen overnight. Vigilant and dilligant men and women will have to keep a sharp eye out for trouble. Never drop your guard. Eternal security means eternal vigilence.
The first thing I would point out to many who are in the valley of decision is the easy to understand principle of group survival being far more efficient than individual survival. Growing a big supply of food takes people. Pulling meaningful security takes people. Building housing takes people. So get people!
You need to start getting your survival group together as soon as possible. It can be family or close friends or maybe even a club or group that is interested in staying alive when things get bad. To get this group together you first must talk on the subject to anyone and everyone. And I am not talkin about a political speech or something like that. I am talking about someone who is quiely testing the waters with anyone he meets. When you find a kindred soul then make a note of that person and remember to stay in contact with them.
Try to get a group of 50 to 100 people. You are looking for regular working people and not a bunch of low lifes. You want people with families, if possible. You want people who can contribute to the group as a whole. Because once you have the people then you move out of town. You sell whatever you own and you throw the money into the main pot and you buy the place you wish to use for your village.
And that will sound crazy to most Americans. And that is okay. I don't want to be counted among the "sane" who have allowed this country to deteriorate anyhow. I want my friends whom I have known for years to make it.
I am sorry but I cannot see living in the Western United States. Forest fires are a drag. Huge distances are a drag. There are plenty of places in the rough hills of the East where a people might survive. And I have seen all the population maps and the satellite pictures of the lights and all that stuff. We have more springs and more deer that we can drink and shoot. Water is abundant in these hills. Clean pure water. And while the cropland is sorta scarce there is plenty of room for big gardens and plenty of ground for grazing and growing hay. You just have to make do with smaller fields. And it can be done.
Once you and your group have made the change from the population places to the more rural and isolated countryside you can start figuring out how to make a living. We went with a sawmill operation and became the biggest hardwood mill in the state. It started small but I am here to tell you that it grew. It HAD to grow. We had 350 to 400 acres when I came in the early years. But we prospered and used our brains and we now have almost 3000 acres. I am thankful to God for his bounty.
We are a mature group of people. This settlement is 42 years old and we own it and live on it. I can relate to preppers who talk about living on their retreat. We know this place like the back of our hand. Us grown men and now our sons have hunted every nook and cranny on the place. We know how to track the deer and catch the fish. We know the places where the squirrels nest and breed. Not too many rabbits down here because Brer Fox keeps their population down. The rabbits go away and so do the foxes. The rabbits come roaring back in numbers and the foxes return. It's a cycle, as is most things in nature. It's called Mother Nature, not Father Nature. There is Wisdom in knowing that.
Our retreat is isolated because the man who started it had the wisdom to know that nothing could be started fresh and new in a town or a city. The towns and cities had an already establishend pattern of behavior that we did not want in our lives. We did not want a crack dealer or a gay bar or a church in our settlement. We wanted things to be as natural and uncontaminatd as possible. We wanted to see how God raised a people, not how the mind of man would do it. And what the hell, we already knew how man would do it. And who needs more of that?
The land is all paid for and there is no mortgage. We have to pay property taxes but the sharecropper makes that much and we don't feel it. Anyone who is not retired has to pay $10 a week toward our shared expenses. Kids and retirees are exempt. You can work anywhere you wish or can get a job. We have people going out to teach in schools and work in hospitals and all sorts of places. And we have people with their own businesses. You can do what ever you wish! You can make a living however it works for you. You pay your own electric bill and your own phone and internet bill. And if you don't want those things then don't have them. There are no zoning laws in our settlement. It is the freest place in America.
Some words came to me this weekend. "Look around and see what needs to be done and go do it." Now how is this for governmental leadership? If you want it or it needs to be done then go do it! Things sort of reach a point of equalibrium with a position like this. There is no complaining about government. You do it yourself. This is freedom! Freedom from bitching and whining. Freedom of action. You like this? Go do it. If it is the mind of God, he will bless it. God honors his own mind.
After you get a settlement then you can start your preps. You can put in your gardens and your septic and your water systems. We have several wells here in the valley and those on one will pay about $20 every three months for their water. Not a bad water bill. Not bad at all. If you want to pack your water from a spring you are allowed to do so and would be exempt from a water bill. Freedom. An idea you can put into practice. Will it work? Show me. Our garden is watered by a big spring that gives us free water for our plants.
After the initial pains of TEOTWAKAKI things will get back to normal, or normal for the times at least. Life will be for the living of it. You will always need some security but maybe not as much after things settle down. You will always grow food but the ground wil be easier to work after a while. You will turn to arts and trades. You will turn to making clothes and foorwear. You will turn to building with stone. You will learn how to make cement. There will be buildings and shops and schools and all sorts of things for people to do. You will have babies and weddings and funerals and other things that join a people. You will have people develop into healers. You will have people develop into horse breeders and trainers. Some people will want to make wagons and tools for the horses to pull.
I can remember a man named Herschel who came every year and plowed my parents garden. And that was 60 years ago. It was cheap. Very few dollars. But he did a world of gardens in one day. His horses knew what to do and went right to it. I would say they got an extra ration of feed on days they did gardens. And it was a wonderful life. A very small town with a heavy agriculture surrounding. The older kids could get around on their bikes like you wouldn't believe. And they knew every fishin' hole and swimmin' hole around. And all the adults knew whose kid belonged to whom and watched out for them. The adults sorta became a Supermom and Superdad to all the kids. Worked out pretty well, too. You can take a tightly knit group of people and they can become your colllective Father and Mother. All children should be blessed by this as they will be watched from dawn until dusk by people that care.
There will be wars and rumors of wars for a long time in the future. The fixing of lifes problems in your area will not heal the whole world. It will be a more gradual transition. But it WILL get done. Never forget that. This converting the world to peace and good will not happen overnight. Vigilant and dilligant men and women will have to keep a sharp eye out for trouble. Never drop your guard. Eternal security means eternal vigilence.
Monday, May 12, 2008
LONG TIME NO SEE
Hey! I'm back up and rockin'. I had to have a new video card, a new power unit, and a little bit of finagleling to some software but I am back in business. I had one hell of a time gettin things to run right. Neither my mailer nor my browser could access the internet. I was not expecting a flawless renewal of my internet activities but this time it was a bitch. Couldn't get my machine to boot up or nothin'. It tried but it wouldn't go through the steps to giving me a screen. Then the Handmaiden remembered that the guy at the computer hospital had given her a new power cord just in case mine was on the blink. Swapped out the power cords and we were making some advancements.
Then I couldn't get on line. Went crazy trying to figure out how to get back there. Finally did some swapping out of some lines and got ME back in good shape, but the wireless router would not work because I had to go around it for ME to get DSL. But the router being out of the equation meant the Handmaiden could not go online for ANYTHING. And she is the one who popped for the $6o router to begin with. "But Honey! The router ain't getting any power! Unless I go around it neither one of us will have internet." And then I am looking into a pair of very sad Irish eyes, and wondering how they would taste fried with my eggs in the morning. Then she came out with a golden nugget that one of those little transfomer blocks plugged in under my desk was very wobbly and maybe the connection down there was bad. "Thank you, Darling." Back to the drawing board.
So it was up to me to untangle the rats nest of wires on my desk and run one of them back to the wobbly transformer. Sho 'nuff, the damn thing was loose and I got the transformer freed up and isolated from the other wires. Then I plugged it into my Octopus and plugged it into the router and lo and behold the router once again had power. Then I simply re-hooked the DSL box into the back of the router and plugged the router back into the socket on my machine. I was so cool I was just enthralled with myself. I asked the Handmaiden to see if she had an internet connection with her lap top and she did. The Mighty Michael, Techno-Wizard, had triumphed again.
Then "I" didn't have any internet. Kiss my glutamus maximus. All that technical triumph and my own connection was now failing. I went out on the porch to smoke a cigarette and the Handmaiden was out there doing the same. I told her that "MY" connecton was no longer any good. I failed to see any remorse in her eyes at that comment. I went on and explained that sometimes things just didn't do well if they had been disconnected from their computer and things had been changed. I said that sometimes those Mozzilas had to kiss and make up before you could get a decent response from your machine. And all mny security programs were probably screwing me around.
Back in to the desk and checking things out. The router and the DSL box were both with power and should be putting me on line. Then I got to wondering if maybe my security programs WERE keeping me from getting on the web. So I shut off my firewall and tried to check my email. TOUCHDOWN! Worked like a champ. Turned my firewall back on and checked again and NO PROBLEM. Once that mailer of mine had broken through, the firewall recognized it and things were back to normal. Same with my browser. Worked like it was supposed to. Then I put the browser to the ultimate test and played a song on YouTube. And the video played just like it should, except I had no audio. But a switcheroo of a couple of plugs in the back of my machine fixed that immediately.
I am now restored to electronic life and am staying alive. You stay alive also.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Then I couldn't get on line. Went crazy trying to figure out how to get back there. Finally did some swapping out of some lines and got ME back in good shape, but the wireless router would not work because I had to go around it for ME to get DSL. But the router being out of the equation meant the Handmaiden could not go online for ANYTHING. And she is the one who popped for the $6o router to begin with. "But Honey! The router ain't getting any power! Unless I go around it neither one of us will have internet." And then I am looking into a pair of very sad Irish eyes, and wondering how they would taste fried with my eggs in the morning. Then she came out with a golden nugget that one of those little transfomer blocks plugged in under my desk was very wobbly and maybe the connection down there was bad. "Thank you, Darling." Back to the drawing board.
So it was up to me to untangle the rats nest of wires on my desk and run one of them back to the wobbly transformer. Sho 'nuff, the damn thing was loose and I got the transformer freed up and isolated from the other wires. Then I plugged it into my Octopus and plugged it into the router and lo and behold the router once again had power. Then I simply re-hooked the DSL box into the back of the router and plugged the router back into the socket on my machine. I was so cool I was just enthralled with myself. I asked the Handmaiden to see if she had an internet connection with her lap top and she did. The Mighty Michael, Techno-Wizard, had triumphed again.
Then "I" didn't have any internet. Kiss my glutamus maximus. All that technical triumph and my own connection was now failing. I went out on the porch to smoke a cigarette and the Handmaiden was out there doing the same. I told her that "MY" connecton was no longer any good. I failed to see any remorse in her eyes at that comment. I went on and explained that sometimes things just didn't do well if they had been disconnected from their computer and things had been changed. I said that sometimes those Mozzilas had to kiss and make up before you could get a decent response from your machine. And all mny security programs were probably screwing me around.
Back in to the desk and checking things out. The router and the DSL box were both with power and should be putting me on line. Then I got to wondering if maybe my security programs WERE keeping me from getting on the web. So I shut off my firewall and tried to check my email. TOUCHDOWN! Worked like a champ. Turned my firewall back on and checked again and NO PROBLEM. Once that mailer of mine had broken through, the firewall recognized it and things were back to normal. Same with my browser. Worked like it was supposed to. Then I put the browser to the ultimate test and played a song on YouTube. And the video played just like it should, except I had no audio. But a switcheroo of a couple of plugs in the back of my machine fixed that immediately.
I am now restored to electronic life and am staying alive. You stay alive also.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Saturday, May 10, 2008
LOCAL NEWS BULLETIN
The Handmaiden just got back from her ususal Saturday morning shopping. She always goes to the Amish and then shops her way home. She stopped in a small town that had a low cost food market. It's a small town with most of the local businesses gone. Not much of a payrole in that town. A lotta drug dealers and cops in the area.
She went to this cut-rate store and found 5 pound bags of rice for $8. That is $1.60a pound. Plain old white rice. She found 2 pound bags of Pinto Beans for $2.89 a bag. That is $1.45 a pound. With the beans you got a small envelope of chemicals that made the beans taste like they had been cooked with pork. Prices are definitely going up!
ChinaMart still has rice for 40 cents a pound. BUY IT!
Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
She went to this cut-rate store and found 5 pound bags of rice for $8. That is $1.60a pound. Plain old white rice. She found 2 pound bags of Pinto Beans for $2.89 a bag. That is $1.45 a pound. With the beans you got a small envelope of chemicals that made the beans taste like they had been cooked with pork. Prices are definitely going up!
ChinaMart still has rice for 40 cents a pound. BUY IT!
Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?
The Nanny-state is ready to rock 'n roll. Nobody likes the junta in Myanmar. They don't play fair. They copy a lot of Western Nations.
TIME Magazine on CNN
Saturday, May. 10, 2008
Is it Time to Invade Burma?
By Romesh Ratnesar
The disaster in Burma presents the world with perhaps its most serious humanitarian crisis since the 2004 Asian tsunami. By most reliable estimates, close to 100,000 people are dead. Delays in delivering relief to the victims, the inaccessibility of the stricken areas and the poor state of Burma's infrastructure and health systems mean that number is sure to rise. With as many as 1 million people still at risk, it is conceivable that the death toll will, within days, approach that of the entire number of civilians killed in the genocide in Darfur.
So what is the world doing about it? Not much. The military regime that runs Burma initially signaled it would accept outside relief, but has imposed so many conditions on those who would actually deliver it that barely a trickle has made it through. Aid workers have been held at airports. UN food shipments have been seized. US naval ships packed with food and medicine idle in the Gulf of Thailand, waiting for an all-clear that may never come.
Burma's rulers have relented slightly, agreeing Friday to let in supplies and perhaps even some foreign relief workers. The government says it will allow a US C-130 transport plane to land inside Burma Monday. But it's hard to imagine a regime this insular and paranoid accepting robust aid from the US military, let alone agreeing to the presence of US Marines on Burmese soil — as Thailand and Indonesia did after the tsunami. The trouble is that the Burmese haven't shown the ability or willingness to deploy the kind of assets needed to deal with a calamity of this scale — and the longer Burma resists offers of help, the more likely it is that the disaster will devolve beyond anyone's control. "We're in 2008, not 1908," says Jan Egeland, the former U.N. emergency relief coordinator. "A lot is at stake here. If we let them get away with murder we may set a very dangerous precedent."
That's why it's time to consider a more serious option: invading Burma. Some observers, including former USAID director Andrew Natsios, have called on the US to unilaterally begin air drops to the Burmese people regardless of what the junta says. The Bush Administration has so far rejected the idea — "I can't imagine us going in without the permission of the Myanmar government," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday — but it's not without precedent: as Natsios pointed out to the Wall Street Journal, the US has facilitated the delivery of humanitarian aid without the host government's consent in places like Bosnia and Sudan.
A coercive humanitarian intervention would be complicated and costly. During the 2004 tsunami, some 24 US ships and 16,000 troops were deployed in countries across the region; the mission cost the U.S. $5 million a day. Ultimately, the US pledged nearly $900 million to tsunami relief. (By contrast, it has offered just $3.25 million to Burma.) But the risks would be greater this time: the Burmese government's xenophobia and insecurity make them prone to view US troops — or worse, foreign relief workers — as hostile forces. (Remember Black Hawk Down?) Even if the U.S. and its allies made clear that their actions were strictly for humanitarian purposes, it's unlikely the junta would believe them. "You have to think it through — do you want to secure an area of the country by military force? What kinds of potential security risks would that create?" says Egelend. "I can't imagine any humanitarian organization wanting to shoot their way in with food."
So what other options exist? Retired General William Nash of the Council on Foreign Relations says the US should first pressure China to use its influence over the junta to get them to open up and then supply support to the Thai and Indonesian militaries to carry out relief missions. "We can pay for it — we can provide repair parts to the Indonesians so they can get their Air Force up. We can lend the them two C-130s and let them paint the Indonesian flag on them," Nash says. "We have to get the stuff to people who can deliver it and who the Burmese government will accept, even if takes an extra day or two and even if it's not as efficient as the good old US military." Egeland advocates that the UN Security Council take punitive steps short of war, such as freezing the regime's assets and issuing warrants for the arrest of individual junta members if they were to leave the country. Similar measures succeeded in getting the government of Ivory Coast to let in foreign relief teams in 2002, Egelend says.
And if that fails? "It's important for the rulers to know the world has other options," Egeland says. "If there were, say, the threat of a cholera epidemic that could claim hundreds of thousands of lives and the government was incapable of preventing it, then maybe yes — you would intervene unilaterally." But by then, it could be too late. The cold truth is that states rarely undertake military action unless their national interests are at stake; and the world has yet to reach a consensus about when, and under what circumstances, coercive interventions in the name of averting humanitarian disasters are permissible. As the response to the 2004 tsunami proved, the world's capacity for mercy is limitless. But we still haven't figured out when to give war a chance.
TIME Magazine on CNN
Saturday, May. 10, 2008
Is it Time to Invade Burma?
By Romesh Ratnesar
The disaster in Burma presents the world with perhaps its most serious humanitarian crisis since the 2004 Asian tsunami. By most reliable estimates, close to 100,000 people are dead. Delays in delivering relief to the victims, the inaccessibility of the stricken areas and the poor state of Burma's infrastructure and health systems mean that number is sure to rise. With as many as 1 million people still at risk, it is conceivable that the death toll will, within days, approach that of the entire number of civilians killed in the genocide in Darfur.
So what is the world doing about it? Not much. The military regime that runs Burma initially signaled it would accept outside relief, but has imposed so many conditions on those who would actually deliver it that barely a trickle has made it through. Aid workers have been held at airports. UN food shipments have been seized. US naval ships packed with food and medicine idle in the Gulf of Thailand, waiting for an all-clear that may never come.
Burma's rulers have relented slightly, agreeing Friday to let in supplies and perhaps even some foreign relief workers. The government says it will allow a US C-130 transport plane to land inside Burma Monday. But it's hard to imagine a regime this insular and paranoid accepting robust aid from the US military, let alone agreeing to the presence of US Marines on Burmese soil — as Thailand and Indonesia did after the tsunami. The trouble is that the Burmese haven't shown the ability or willingness to deploy the kind of assets needed to deal with a calamity of this scale — and the longer Burma resists offers of help, the more likely it is that the disaster will devolve beyond anyone's control. "We're in 2008, not 1908," says Jan Egeland, the former U.N. emergency relief coordinator. "A lot is at stake here. If we let them get away with murder we may set a very dangerous precedent."
That's why it's time to consider a more serious option: invading Burma. Some observers, including former USAID director Andrew Natsios, have called on the US to unilaterally begin air drops to the Burmese people regardless of what the junta says. The Bush Administration has so far rejected the idea — "I can't imagine us going in without the permission of the Myanmar government," Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday — but it's not without precedent: as Natsios pointed out to the Wall Street Journal, the US has facilitated the delivery of humanitarian aid without the host government's consent in places like Bosnia and Sudan.
A coercive humanitarian intervention would be complicated and costly. During the 2004 tsunami, some 24 US ships and 16,000 troops were deployed in countries across the region; the mission cost the U.S. $5 million a day. Ultimately, the US pledged nearly $900 million to tsunami relief. (By contrast, it has offered just $3.25 million to Burma.) But the risks would be greater this time: the Burmese government's xenophobia and insecurity make them prone to view US troops — or worse, foreign relief workers — as hostile forces. (Remember Black Hawk Down?) Even if the U.S. and its allies made clear that their actions were strictly for humanitarian purposes, it's unlikely the junta would believe them. "You have to think it through — do you want to secure an area of the country by military force? What kinds of potential security risks would that create?" says Egelend. "I can't imagine any humanitarian organization wanting to shoot their way in with food."
So what other options exist? Retired General William Nash of the Council on Foreign Relations says the US should first pressure China to use its influence over the junta to get them to open up and then supply support to the Thai and Indonesian militaries to carry out relief missions. "We can pay for it — we can provide repair parts to the Indonesians so they can get their Air Force up. We can lend the them two C-130s and let them paint the Indonesian flag on them," Nash says. "We have to get the stuff to people who can deliver it and who the Burmese government will accept, even if takes an extra day or two and even if it's not as efficient as the good old US military." Egeland advocates that the UN Security Council take punitive steps short of war, such as freezing the regime's assets and issuing warrants for the arrest of individual junta members if they were to leave the country. Similar measures succeeded in getting the government of Ivory Coast to let in foreign relief teams in 2002, Egelend says.
And if that fails? "It's important for the rulers to know the world has other options," Egeland says. "If there were, say, the threat of a cholera epidemic that could claim hundreds of thousands of lives and the government was incapable of preventing it, then maybe yes — you would intervene unilaterally." But by then, it could be too late. The cold truth is that states rarely undertake military action unless their national interests are at stake; and the world has yet to reach a consensus about when, and under what circumstances, coercive interventions in the name of averting humanitarian disasters are permissible. As the response to the 2004 tsunami proved, the world's capacity for mercy is limitless. But we still haven't figured out when to give war a chance.
NEAT LITTLE BOTTLE, IF IT WORKS
Friday , May 09, 2008
By Allison Barrie
FOXNEWS.COM
There's a reason they call it the "Lifesaver."
On the outside, it looks like an ordinary sports bottle. On the inside, there's a miracle: an extremely advanced filtration system that makes murky water filled with deadly viruses and bacteria completely clean in just seconds.
The Lifesaver removes 99.999 percent of water-borne pathogens and reduces heavy metals like lead, meaning even the filthiest water can be cleaned — immediately.
It will be a boon to soldiers in the field, so it's winning accolades from the military.
It also stands to revolutionize humanitarian aid. It could be the first weapon in the fight against disease after a natural disaster, like the one in Myanmar this week.
I attended the Lifesaver’s launch at DSEi London, the world’s largest arms fair. Its inventor provided a pool of dirty pond water as a test subject, and I drank some after it was filtered. Not only did it look pure once it passed through the Lifesaver, it tasted pure, too.
• Click here to see a British soldier demonstrating how the Lifesaver will clean even the dirtiest water.
The process takes only 20 seconds and is simple enough: scoop some water, pump it through the filter and you’re ready to go. The instructions are displayed in pictures on the side of the bottle, so it can be used by anyone, removing the language barrier.
Outdoor enthusiasts may find it useful, but the Lifesaver is perfect for the military. The bottle is designed to “scoop and go,” so soldiers won’t have to carry the added weight of clean bottled water. They can pick some up out of any source and keep moving.
As an added bonus, the bottle can shoot a pressurized jet of water from any angle, which will be useful for washing wounds free of contaminants and debris.
Other filters use ceramic pores and can’t catch most bacteria and viruses, but the Lifesaver uses microscopic pores a mere 15 nanometers across — about one-hundredth the width of a spider’s silk — narrow enough to stop the tiniest threats. That means virtually nothing — not even bacteria and viruses — can get through.
And since the bottle uses a carbon filter, it makes water safe and sterile without any chemicals, removing that iodine or chlorine taste.
The bottle weighs about 1.5 pounds and can filter one and a half pints of clean drinking water each go. Its replaceable filter can handle more than 1,500 gallons of dirty water before it has to be replaced. And since it won’t process any water once the filter has expired, it will be impossible to drink contaminated water by mistake.
Michael Pritchard, a British entrepreneur, designed the Lifesaver in the wake of freshwater shortages that followed the 2004 tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.
Delivering bottled water to disaster areas is difficult, especially in places like Myanmar, where the government is currently interfering with efforts to distribute supplies and aid. If disaster victims had access to the Lifesaver, they could have ongoing access to clean water without the need for airlifts.
Delivering those planeloads of water is expensive, too. A U.S. Army study revealed that the cost of delivering bottled water to Afghanistan was $4.69 per gallon. Pentagon figures on Hurricane Mitch showed the cost of air freight was even higher: $7.60 per gallon.
Just one Boeing C-17 transport plane full of Lifesaver bottles would provide 500,000 people with access to safe drinking water for up to 16 months — saving millions and saving lives.
By Allison Barrie
FOXNEWS.COM
There's a reason they call it the "Lifesaver."
On the outside, it looks like an ordinary sports bottle. On the inside, there's a miracle: an extremely advanced filtration system that makes murky water filled with deadly viruses and bacteria completely clean in just seconds.
The Lifesaver removes 99.999 percent of water-borne pathogens and reduces heavy metals like lead, meaning even the filthiest water can be cleaned — immediately.
It will be a boon to soldiers in the field, so it's winning accolades from the military.
It also stands to revolutionize humanitarian aid. It could be the first weapon in the fight against disease after a natural disaster, like the one in Myanmar this week.
I attended the Lifesaver’s launch at DSEi London, the world’s largest arms fair. Its inventor provided a pool of dirty pond water as a test subject, and I drank some after it was filtered. Not only did it look pure once it passed through the Lifesaver, it tasted pure, too.
• Click here to see a British soldier demonstrating how the Lifesaver will clean even the dirtiest water.
The process takes only 20 seconds and is simple enough: scoop some water, pump it through the filter and you’re ready to go. The instructions are displayed in pictures on the side of the bottle, so it can be used by anyone, removing the language barrier.
Outdoor enthusiasts may find it useful, but the Lifesaver is perfect for the military. The bottle is designed to “scoop and go,” so soldiers won’t have to carry the added weight of clean bottled water. They can pick some up out of any source and keep moving.
As an added bonus, the bottle can shoot a pressurized jet of water from any angle, which will be useful for washing wounds free of contaminants and debris.
Other filters use ceramic pores and can’t catch most bacteria and viruses, but the Lifesaver uses microscopic pores a mere 15 nanometers across — about one-hundredth the width of a spider’s silk — narrow enough to stop the tiniest threats. That means virtually nothing — not even bacteria and viruses — can get through.
And since the bottle uses a carbon filter, it makes water safe and sterile without any chemicals, removing that iodine or chlorine taste.
The bottle weighs about 1.5 pounds and can filter one and a half pints of clean drinking water each go. Its replaceable filter can handle more than 1,500 gallons of dirty water before it has to be replaced. And since it won’t process any water once the filter has expired, it will be impossible to drink contaminated water by mistake.
Michael Pritchard, a British entrepreneur, designed the Lifesaver in the wake of freshwater shortages that followed the 2004 tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.
Delivering bottled water to disaster areas is difficult, especially in places like Myanmar, where the government is currently interfering with efforts to distribute supplies and aid. If disaster victims had access to the Lifesaver, they could have ongoing access to clean water without the need for airlifts.
Delivering those planeloads of water is expensive, too. A U.S. Army study revealed that the cost of delivering bottled water to Afghanistan was $4.69 per gallon. Pentagon figures on Hurricane Mitch showed the cost of air freight was even higher: $7.60 per gallon.
Just one Boeing C-17 transport plane full of Lifesaver bottles would provide 500,000 people with access to safe drinking water for up to 16 months — saving millions and saving lives.
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