When the Shit Hits the Fan I – How to Keep Breathing
The current political situation notwithstanding, I reckon the odds of a major societal collapse to be pretty low. Things aren’t so hot right now, but the power is still on and the gas stations still have fuel. But still – we do have rolling blackouts in California. We have had riots in the streets over most of last summer. So, in the event the malodorous assimilated residue of the digestive process meets the oscillating air-movement device, it’s probably good to have some idea of what to do next. In fact, it’s probably good to have some idea what to do well ahead of time.
Even if it doesn’t actually happen, well, times are interesting, and in times like these, it’s sometimes entertaining to examine what life could be like after a major societal collapse. So, this series will give the thoughts of a simple old country boy from Allamakee County on how to get through any such really, really bad times.
Fire
Loyal sidekick Rat tends a fire.
Over most of North America, a good part of the year is pretty chilly for humans, who in spite of our vaunted technology are still, biologically speaking, hairless African savannah apes. So, a source of heat is important, not only for keeping warm but also for preparing food, sanitizing drinking water, making tools and a host of other purposes.
While maintaining a fire is easier than starting one, there are more than a few easy ways to get a handy blaze going. The Old Man, at some point in the mid-Seventies, picked up a secret weapon when it came to fire-starting, due to the advent of the cheap butane lighter. Even though he was a lifelong non-smoker, he always carried one somewhere around his person for use in the event he needed to set something on fire.
Even today you can pick these up for a buck or so. I’ve got a collection of them, in fact, from all over the place. Many were given away for free, with the name/logo of a restaurant or bar on them. They are reasonably wet proof although most aren’t terribly windproof. But if you can stock up a hundred or so of them, they’ll last you a long, long time.
Waterproof matches can also work well and there are some good ones on the market. But they have a couple of disadvantages: Like cheap lighters they are not windproof, and light for light I suspect (but have not done the analysis) that they are more expensive. Personally, I prefer just the plain old box of kitchen matches, stored in a waterproof container, be it a match safe for carrying around or something like an old surplus steel ammo can for the homestead.
Now once you have an ignition source, you need two more things: Kindling and fuel.
Kindling is of course what you use to transfer flame from the ignition source to the primary fuel, which will probably be wood in any such circumstances. While generally the kindling for a wood fire is smaller wood, like split twigs and so on, dry grasses or bundled old papers also work well. So do large, blunt candles, as they are useful in applying a steady flame to the kindling. And don’t underestimate the value of accelerants; kerosene works well for starting fires. Back in the day, when we were clearing brush, we often burned big piles of green brush and small junk trees which normally would have been difficult to set ablaze, but as the Old Man was fond of noting, “anything will burn with enough old tires and kerosene.”
Fire is important. We’re the only critters that have so far figured out how to use it. In most places, having and maintaining a fire is essential to living in extreme circumstances.
Stock up on: Cheap butane lighters, waterproof matches, big candles and kindling.
Water
Speaking of biology: You can live longer without food than without water. The ancient Romans knew clean water was important, and it’s no less so today, not only for drinking but for a host of other purposes.
There are a lot of neat little filters, some as small as drinking straws, that will allow the more-or-less safe drinking of water from almost any source. But water is used for cooking and washing as well as drinking, and while the neat little backpacker filters are handy for wandering afield, for longer terms a bulk solution is in order. Of these there are two primary methods: Treatment and boiling.
Boiling is easy and self-explanatory, although even boiled water, if treated in no other way, has a shelf life. Treatment last longer, and can be done with a variety of substances, the easiest to obtain being plain old generic chlorine bleach. In my days in Uncle Sam’s colors the Army had 400-gallon water trailers we called “water buffalos,” and those were often filled from sources like rivers and sanitized by dumping in one good old gallon jug of Clorox. I don’t remember anyone ever getting a bad case of the quickstep from water treated thusly. There are also iodine tablets and other treatments for canteen-sized containers, but for the big ones, a jug of bleach will do the trick.
Stock up on: Filters, cheap chlorine bleach, containers for boiling and water containers.
Food
Next in the hierarchy of needs, one needs to eat. There are a few ways to go about this.
Yum.
Farming
My grandmother would have stated from personal experience that it’s possible to feed a family of eight on the proceeds from a fifty-acre farm, as she and my Grandpa did during the Depression. She grew simple truck crops: Sweet corn, potatoes, carrots, turnips and so on. Grandpa also raised field corn for income. During WW1 he made a fair amount of money growing hemp (not that kind of hemp), but you can’t eat hemp, so we won’t discuss that here. Some vegetables, like carrots and turnips, yield not only the edible root but also greens that can be boiled, cooked in bacon grease, or cleaned and eaten in salads, according to preference. And if you’re solo, or have a spouse or small family, you can grow a fair amount of truck on a couple of acres.
The nice thing about root crops like potatoes is that you can save the re-plantable portion and still have quite a bit to eat. Removing the eyes from a potato for replanting results in more potatoes, which is one of the appealing things about the noble tuber. Note that this won’t work for taproot vegetables like carrots.
Still, it’s best to have seed on hand. Stored in a cool, dry place, stored seed will last for quite a while.
Stock up on: Seeds and fertilizers.
Livestock
Grandpa with chickens, probably 1935.
My Grandpa used to say “eatin’ ain’t eatin’ unless there’s a dead critter involved.” Some kind of stock is the most reliable way to eat meat, if eating meat is your thing.
Here’s the thing, though: It takes a fair amount of pasturage to support even one beef cow, let alone a herd capable of sustaining the occasional cull for eating. When considering stock for a SHTF situation, though, in general, small is better. Think chickens, ducks, rabbits, and pigs. During the aforementioned Depression Grandpa kept a couple of pigs and a big flock of chickens, and as Mom was fond of pointing out, during the Depression rural families like hers “…didn’t always have much money, but we always had plenty to eat.”
Chickens and pigs in particular are useful because of their ability to turn almost any fodder into edible (and tasty) meat. They can self-forage to some extent as well, as can ducks. Various breeds are available for various climates, and it doesn’t take a lot of acreage to support a flock of chickens/ducks or a couple of pigs. Rabbits are a little fussier when it comes to feed, but some breeds tolerate cold well and can self-forage some in warmer seasons. With chickens and ducks, you also get the bonus of eggs.
A dozen or so chickens and a couple of pigs can go a long way towards keeping your belly button from touching your spine.
Stock up on: Feed, chicken wire and bedding.
Hunting/Fishing
A fish weir.
In this kind of situation, the first thing you should do is forget about looking up your state’s hunting and fishing regs, because those will rapidly go out the window.
Now, a caveat: Over the vast majority of the country, there won’t be enough game to sustain much of the population for more than a few weeks. After a year, a freshly dead squirrel would be a damned valuable commodity – that’s why I mention farming before foraging.
But in some places, there are more game animals than people, and plenty of fish to boot. One of the main reasons we are pulling up stakes and moving to the Great Land is the abundance of good hunting and fishing. And in those places, game and fish could at least supplement your diet.
Techniques for survival hunting vary as wildly as the world’s landscapes and would probably rate a series of articles in and of itself. But there are a few common things to think about:
- Guns and ammo. As I’ve said repeatedly, you could do a lot worse than to have a 12-gauge pump shotgun and a .22 rifle. The shotgun will kill anything from quail to moose, with the right ammo, and the .22 will kill small game without messing up too much edible meat.
- Lots of ammo. In a major collapse, the bad times could last for years. And ammo won’t be useful just for shooting edible critters; in an extreme case, those folks who hoarded gold and silver will be melting them down for fishing sinkers and ammo will become the new currency.
- Netting, fishing line and hooks. Forget the fly rods or spinning tackle; in the case of bad times set lines and nets are the order of the day. A fish weir (see illustration) can also yield plenty of edible fish, especially if you’re in an area where fish annually move up or downstream in spawning migrations; these can be anything from salmon on the coasts to the big white suckers of my Allamakee County youth.
But, as noted, it’s important to have a plan A that’s more sustainable within your own personal borders.
Stock up on: Ammo, especially 12 gauge and .22, as well as nets, fishhooks, and fishing line.
A traditional long-spring trap.
A good trail snare set.
Trapping
While hunting and fishing require a certain degree of attention throughout the process, trapping is different. You can run a pretty good line of traps in an hour or so, and the preferred interval is twice daily, although you can get away with once in cooler climates.
In my youth I kept myself in shotgun shells and pizzas by running a trapline. I took mostly muskrats and raccoons, both edible critters if you aren’t too fussy (and if you’re hungry enough, you won’t be too fussy.) And in a world where the normal rules are gone, you can take all sorts of edible animals with standard leg-hold traps, Conibears and snare wire. You can even take deer-sized and larger game with snares, which may not be sporting but it’s dashed effective. Sets in trails and passage points can be very productive.
In fact, trapping is another topic that probably deserves an article in and of itself, since it’s becoming something of a lost art in most places and those of us who remember the particulars tend to be on the aged side these days.
Stock up on: Traps, trap wax and snare wire.
Stocking Up
There are some miscellaneous things you should have a good supply of.
Tools. Woodworking tools in particular.
Spare parts, for guns and vehicles.
Nails and wood screws.
Knives and sharpening tools.
A good axe and one or two good bowsaws.
Rope. I like hemp rope because it doesn’t stretch, even when wet. I generally keep a hundred feet or so in the truck and a spool or two around the garage/workshop.
Other things may come to mind depending on individual circumstances. Bear in mind that a rural homestead in Arizona, or Mississippi, or (like us) rural Alaska will have different conditions, resources, and requirements. Plan accordingly.
Keeping it All
Defending what you’ve gathered together likewise requires some planning. But that’s a topic for the next installment.
I would die so quickly.
^^^ That. If you’re lucky, that is.
Do not underestimate the primal will to survive.
That’s just toxic masculinity.
You will have lots of company. The only part the greenies won’t like is they will most likely be part of that company and all of their consumer electronics won’t do a damn thing for them.
I have so many video games that won’t even work without a Steam connection.
Or… you know… electricity.
WORST. APOCALYPSE. EVER.
Not to worry. You won’t go to waste.
Let me reinforce that preconception for you.
https://archive.org/details/james-burke-connections_s01e01
Tampons make good tinder. They come in good packaging that should be largely waterproof, and you don’t need a whole bunch (just pull some fluff off & put it back in its applicator & plastic pouch. Plastic applicators are probably best for keeping them dry.
Fourscore probably knows the old trick of paper towels soaked in beeswax as well.
two words: steel and wool
If I found myself in an emergent situation, I’m far more likely to be able to dig a tampon out of the bottom of my bag than a steel wool. Now, I do have various tinders lined up, not just tampons, but if you live amongst women, you’re likely to find them everywhere.
beeswax or paraffin work well also, they just dont burn as hot as sw. dip the tampons in wax
Birch bark. I save all the loose birch bark I find, from dead trees. I have bags of it and save it when I find it loose on my firewood. I started 3 stove fires this morning, a little newspaper, a piece of birch bark and dry pine/birch. It’s like toast in my house/garage. Pine cones work well too but take more work collecting them.
I live in piney woods hills no shortage of pinecones
wife dips them in wax, great fire starters
I’ll second the birch bark recommendation.
When I light a fire in my fireplace, birch bark makes things easier.
Same here. We start a fire every morning using birch bark. We get about 6 full cords to heat every year. All paper birch. Burns great and the bark will go even if a bit wet.
That’s about what I burn in the furnace. Another cord or 2 in the parlor stove and some in the garage. I’ll have a little pine/oak/maple mixed in when I’m clearing shooting lanes, etc and dead stuff.
Do that, and they poof up. Then your fire gets TSS .
Also good for wounds. Sterile before opening, expands with liquid to plug, say, bullet holes.
That’s what they were originally made for. #thatsthejoke
See, you get me.
Dryer lint. Cotton balls covered in vaseline.
saw dust soaked in isopropyl alcohol does well.
THIS is absolute money! If you run out, you’ve been in the woods for several lifetimes.
You generate excellent tinder every time you do laundry.
If you’re really concerned, save all your dryer lint.
I’ll put it on the shelf next to my scat collection
What about raclette? How do we deal with a raclette shortage?
Ask Swiss.
You are gonna need a cow, and a bull (well, only seasonally) and some rennet…
I no longer have access to the wood-heated logcabin that my dad built. Torn down by the new owner. 🙁
Still, minus the winter months, the area wouldn’t be a bad place to hole up. Sparse population, lots of farms, access to fresh water, deer, etc. I would have to hunker down on the empty 20 acres I own … maybe some sort of RV?
There was a survival show that Mr. F was binging on for a while over the holidays, ‘Alone’ IIRC. It was a lot like many of those shows where they drop folks off in the wilderness (the first couple seasons were on Vancouver Island, I think).
Anyhow, unlike the majority of the shows of that ilk the contestants demonstrated some useful tools and techniques for building shelters, fishing, starting fires.
Great article, Animal!
Another nice thing about the lighters is that when you run out of butane you still have a convenient flint and steel setup.
Pull the spring out and wrap it around the flint. Heat the flint to cherry red and throw it at a wall. Oooh sparklers!!!
it hasn’t Benn long since leftists were floating the idea of making home vegetable gardens illegal. expect a return of that
FDR smiles upon this.
And Filburn weeps.
Victory gardens, WW2.
That’s just good city planning!
“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow” – Audrey Hepburn
Good stuff, Animal. I ordered some (dead tree) gardening books before they are banned. Can anyone recommend books on cleaning game? I’ve only hunted birdies.
I listened to this podcast the other day. Interesting stuff about the vast benefits of small livestock
Thanks to whoever recommended his stuff. It’s quite interesting.
try this
basic principles word with any game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2bo23n16tI
Cool! Thanks!
Steven Rinella has a couple of books. Book 1 is big game, Book 2 is small game.
https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Hunting-Butchering-Cooking/dp/0812987055/
He also has a show on NetFlix called “MeatEater” that I enjoy. I especially enjoy the cooking episodes.
Thanks! I heard him on The Art of Manliness podcast. Really good dude.
I’m an ass. I vowed to try to not use Amazon in the future.
So I just ordered that book from Amazon without a second thought.
Habits… habits are everything.
Just ordered books 1 and 2. Plus 4 books on backyard homesteading.
So, on a couple of new lists now.
I ordered those, as well as his wilderness survival one. What the hell.
Stupid question: “cheap butane lighters” Are these the little Bic lighters you see in the check-out aisle at Walmart?
Yup.
Thank you.
I like the ones made by Scripto. Adjustable flame and a transparent tank to check remaining fuel.
I quit smoking 40 years ago and still carry a lighter in my pocket, as well as in both cars and all over the house.
I actually had a reason to buy a couple a few weeks ago, to melt needlepoint plastic mesh, so I’m looking at one right now. Clear sounds better than running out of fuel while you’re trying to light a fire.
They’re useful for melting the ends of paracord. In extreme cold they also warm a padlock enough to open.
My mom used to buy those. Then my brother and I learned you could fuck with the little lever to make the flame shoot a foot in the air. So she switched to Bics.
Yep. Must have near a dozen lighters in the house, garage and car. So much easier than trying to start a fire via either friction or those sparking rods, although I have two of those, too.
You could go with gasoline jellied with Styrofoam too. Very effective. 😉
Got in trouble telling newbies to collect a fuel sample using a styrofoam cup.
For new guy games, I always went with the exhaust sample. Watching the FNGs run around with inflated garbage bags made me laugh every time.
I actually got one to go over to the the motor pool to change out the air in the tires from summer air to winter air. We also had FNG response kits like a box of old maps cut up along grid lines for when any where sent our way.
Gas and Dreft powdered soap. Poor mans napalm. We use it for burning out stumps.
It’s disgusting, but drier lint in a ziplock bag is a great fire starter.
So, I used to collect Spanish bottles. I have 3 of them displayed with red lamp oil in them because… I found marble stoppers (look kinda like wine corks) with holes in the middle where you can put a lamp wick down in them.
They have come in super-handy several times when the power went out. The light is bright (although smoke is a tidge of a problem), but the marble gets super-hot.
I also keep hurricane lamps.
“holes in the middle where you can put a lamp wick down in them.”
“when the power went out” Sure, sure. Using them for lamps, uh huh.
I was snickering about that too
I must be missing the joke.
oh, some Russian has a cocktail named after him. its really good for throwing parties
Marble seems like a waste for that
Good article, but it needs more 550 cord.
I actually have a big spool of that in the workshop. Can’t imagine how I overlooked that.
I also keep sterno in the car with a small sterno stove.
In the winter you can use it to melt snow for drinking, boiling water, or heating food.
I keep the same in the basement next to Dbatteries and a LED lantern.
If the SHITF for more than a few months, I’m not planning on living that long.
More prepared for short term natural or man made disasters.
With the wife’s business and us building out the trailer ourselves I have acquired a lot of useful tools, two generators, a multitude of gas canisters, 2 water tanks of 21 and 25 gallon capacity (though one we would have to really clean out cause it is used for gray water storage).
And ammo won’t be useful just for shooting edible critters; in an extreme case, those folks who hoarded gold and silver will be melting them down for fishing sinkers and ammo will become the new currency.
I told a prepper friend of mine many years ago that in a collapse ammunition will be more valuable than gold or silver.
He thought I was crazy.
Then one day he started reloading. The light bulb went off in his head.
I should be into reloading.
I believe Suthen has written a whole series on reloading for Glib. I can’t seem to locate it at the moment.
I remember the series.
It’s probably in the archives that SP has been setting up.
Good luck getting powder and primers
match heads and black powder
(Makes a note to do an installment on downgrading technology, i.e. flintlock smoothbores)
Do you have any suggestions for good pre-1899 rifles?
Probably. What are you planning to use it for?
re-selling
Look at the prices some of these are going for:
https://elkcreekcompany.net/product-category/antique-rifles/
I get that old sometimes equals pricey, but…
I also realize he is sort of a boutique seller.
If you’re looking for resellers, you can’t go wrong with the big names from the day: Colt, Winchester, to a lesser extent Marlin. But the bucks come from collectors, and the buying will also be from collectors, so the chance of profit may be iffy.
Looks pricey to me.
I paid about $800 for my 96/11, and mine doesn’t have the ugly import mark. Mine does have worse metal finish.
The Chilean carbine looks rough. I wouldn’t pay $1350 for one in that condition. It is legitimately antique. Loewe reorganized into DWM in 1896 if I remember correctly.
That OVS Mauser looks like it is in good shape.
That 1894 Swede Carbine looks rough. I’ve seen nicer ones on GunBroker listed for less… and they don’t sell. I don’t remember all the ins and outs of the the Model 1894 variations. Maybe this is a rare variant, but it still seems pricey for what it is.
I bid on that LEC Mk I on Gunbroker. The RNWMP markings look familiar. I lost.
The “Enfield Arsenal Lee-Metford” is a Khyber Pass Special. 1887 would make it a Lee-Metford, but it has Lee-Enfield buttstock socket markings, a Lee-Enfield bolt, and an Enfield rifling marked barrel. Stay away.
The 1898 rifle Krag looks OK to me, price wise and condition wise. Yeah, it’s missing the handguard and I don’t remember all the rear sight variations, but its price looks in-line with what I’ve seen antique 1898 Krags go for.
The 1896 Krags I don’t know too much about. I don’t see them sell as much. You have to be careful with carbines. Sometimes people pass sporterized Krag rifles off as original carbines.
I bid on that LEC Mk I on Gunbroker. The RNWMP markings look familiar. I lost.
To elaborate as my memory is coming back: If this is the carbine I’m thinking of, the GunBroker seller was in BC. I got outbid, and I wasn’t willing to go higher because of the mismatched bolt and incorrect nosecap (it’s a LEC Mk I* nosecap). You could tell from the pictures in the GunBroker listing that the carbine had the wrong nosecap, but you can’t tell in these pictures.
I’m going to guess the Elk Creek guy is the guy I lost to.
Animal’s advice is good.
And last bit…
Buy the book before you buy the gun. You see that wall of text I posted about the guns? A lot of the detail is the result of book learning plus some collector’s forums plus watching auctions for prices.
A $100 book is a small investment before you buy the gun.
Yes, as DEG points out, buy the book.
I love my old Model 12s, but it seems like every show I go to, when I’m looking around for these fine old Winchesters, most of what I see are old plain-Jan corncob-fore-end field guns, with maybe 70% original finish, and some clown is asking $1,500 for what should be a $400 gun. People who don’t know any better think “Ooh, old Model 12, collectors will snap that up” and don’t seem to understand that their gun is nothing special.
Now, a Pigeon Grade, or a Black Diamond, or a pre-64 28 gauge – those are rarer and will bring some bucks – and set you back some bucks in the obtaining. Not long ago I bought a 1940 Black Diamond trap gun that was probably 90% original finish and was just gobsmacked to get it for a little under a grand.
Knowledge is power. Read first, buy later.
There are two different definitions of antique guns in Federal law. One is for purposes of the NFA and taxes (pre-1899 receiver which is not chambered for a commercially available cartridge), the other is for background checks on other firearms and other things (pre-1899 receiver).
My Finn Mosins, my Schmidt-Rubin 96/11, my Lee-Metfords, and one of my Lee-Enfields are not antiques under the NFA/tax definition, but are under the other.
I ran into a gunshop owner who said the ATF told him a Finn Mosin on a pre-1899 receiver was not an antique. Yes, under the NFA/tax definition it is not. But under the definition for background checks, it is.
Shoulda linked the references.
NFA definition of antique firearm
GCA definition of antique firearms
Great article, Animal. You hit the necessary requirements. Those things are necessary, even in the short run. I try to live sort of that life style now, but with electricity.
My garden requires irrigation water, I can’t find the reloading powder I need, in case I find that waterlogged accident. Small, inexpensive reloading equipment is available, just takes longer. Watch Craig’s lList and the club bulletin board. Buy everything, can always trade those unnecessary dies to someone that can use the odd caliber. Can always reload and trade as well. Pick up all your brass after shooting, trading material at least.
Even canning jars became impossible to find this past summer.
Of course, a bee hive in the back yard is certainly doable, even for city folks. Alaska folks may have a little problem with that though.
This reminds me: I need more Coleman stove fuel (white gas) for the portable stove. I was a lot more up on this stuff when I lived in the Lower Rainland™, where the threat of a major earthquake was very, very real.
Most Popular President In History To Be Inaugurated In Secret Behind Giant Wall Guarded By Thousands Of Soldiers
Democrat States Follow The Science By Doing What Florida Did Back In May
I liked the BB better when they were a parody site
The world insists on parodying itself.
I saw in the news that the FBI is now background screening the soldiers being deployed to Fortress DC for possible insider threats.
Which is the likely reason- the FBI and the feds are so ducking incompetent that they don’t regularly screen the DOD employee base apart from demand background investigations and have no automated name matching/flagging or they’re using illegal databases and sources to screen the President’s Own?
Tim Pool has a vid talking about that. It’s not an unfounded worry but it’s creepy as hell.
it is an unfounded worry and it’s creepy as hell.
Maybe but it only takes one guy or gal. Then again, if they’re going to be that paranoid going forward it’s going to be a long four years.
Legitimate insider threats didn’t just start this month. The FBI and the services should have been doing this all along, certainly as part of a competent counterintelligence program. Hah, competent.
I can also recommend the bulk bags of IKEA stearin (rather than paraffin) candles. Good for emergencies, and stearin wax doesn’t smoke nearly as much as paraffin wax does, plus it lasts longer and burns somewhat hotter (nothing wrong with having an extra source of heat and light, albeit small . . . ).
Another tip is look for discount religious glass candles after holidays like Easter, Yom Kippur, etc. Most of these burn for 5+ days.
Hmm.
Cringe af.
Yikes.
Jesus fuckity fuck
is it possible to get more creepy?
I keep telling y’all we need to expel Michigan from the union
Sweet Jesus…
I think the Jewish Messiah may have a problem with this. I might want to have some on hand just to prove my left wing bona fides.
I’m not into candles. Can we get them as banners? Preferable displayed on public buildings.
Knew it!
A menorah burns for 8 crazy nights.
It’s good to KISS
I hate GlobalProtect VPN. Palo Alto Networks can DIAF. What a piece of crap.
Nord and ProtonMail both offer VPNs; has anyone here had any experience with either of them?
You can use the Brave browser with the built-in Tor utility. Seems to work fine for most things.
I have Nord. It seems to work ok, but I don’t really have anything to compare it to.
Corporate vpn so no choice.
Having a couple cases of Everclear squirreled away also isn’t a bad idea: antiseptic, has calories, doesn’t go bad, and worrh its weight in gold and great for trading if things really go into the crapper.
Agreed
Societal collapse in this country would be a lot like living in the 70’s.
Groovy
The 1470s?
nah. The power is not going out if the dollar collapses. Living in the 1970’s would lead to an incredible amount of excess deaths for a great many people.
Hey at least the shitlord Conquest of Paradise had not yet occurred then.
*hums Vangelis’ theme music*
I’m going to start combing the local Goodwills for a plaid leisure suit then.
/closes closet door
The US Capitol was partially evacuated Monday morning when smoke from a nearby fire at a homeless encampment was spotted
lolsnort
*insert quote from The Hunt for Red October here*
One Ping Only.
Was Elizabeth Warren trying to garner support for another bill or something?
Whole blocks were on fire seven months ago – but those were the peaceful protests.
I have a few prep items on hand at all times. I figure you can’t really prep for the apocalypse but you can prep for things that are likely. I figure on the likelihood of up to a week or two power outage, possibly in the winter and a temporary disruption in food supplies. Also a possible disruption in communications. As such I have several oil lamps and extra oil, long term storage food for a week+ for two people, water, water sterilization and filtration, matches, lighters, solar charging radio/light/device charger, solar device charger, power bank that supposedly holds three smart phone charges, jump-box/compressor that is also a power bank, ham radio, etc. Some of it is duplicated in a sense because I keep some smaller items, like the small power bank, in my travel bag. I also have fishing rods/gear and other fishing rods, such as my Angler Royale model 15 with several spools of string and around a thousand lures. I probably need more lures.
The heating without power is something I have yet to tackle. House doesn’t have a fireplace or wood stove. Leaning towards getting a generator that can run a couple electric heaters. I suppose a kerosene heater is another option (but storage would be an issue.).
That reminds me, I may have to accelerate the plans to provide solar power to the trailer in a quicker timeline.
The US Capitol was partially evacuated Monday morning when smoke from a nearby fire at a homeless encampment was spotted, according to reports, underscoring the tension in Washington, DC, ahead of Inauguration Day.
They thought it was a mob with torches and pitchforks, on the way to express their displeasure?
Ad at top of local TV station’s home page – an ad which disappeared before I could click on it: “FEMA is hiring.”
::manipulates Reynolds Wrap into jaunty millinery::
I missed that. I damn sure woulda applied too.
And of course archive.org has nothing for them this year.
Is anyone else having issues getting to the forum?
I get”
I have it bookmarked and got in just now with no trouble.
Yeah, I get the same error.
“To understand Trump’s support, we must think in terms of multiracial Whiteness”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/15/understand-trumps-support-we-must-think-terms-multiracial-whiteness/
Oh WaPo, you never fail to have the stupidest take.
It’s like they took the worst of the postmodernists, Foucault, Marcuse, et al and said to themselves “How can we make this even dumber?”
It couldn’t be that people are tired of identity politics, or that they are afraid their job will get shipped off to China, or they actually like law and order and want the police to patrol their neighborhood. Nope, it has to be some new convoluted theory of racism. Talk about tone deaf.
keep in mind when they say ‘whiteness’ what they mean are the ideals of the western enlightenment
it has nothing to do with race
multi-whiteness. they are nothing if not mendacious
Holy crap, I had to tap out I was laughing so hard. What a gigantic steaming pile of horseshit.
They’re trying to make the Nation of Islam look reasonable by comparison.
Didn’t red the article, but “multiracial whiteness,” is an inescapable conclusion once you realize that “white” is a meta-ethnicity:
https://www.glibertarians2018.link/2018/01/05/unbearable-whiteness-of-being/
President Cartoon Troglodyte
The strong link between performative masculinity and the Trump presidency is not just anecdotal. There is a growing body of scholarly evidence of the links between gender attitudes and Trump support: for example, in a newly published study from Terri Vescio and Nathaniel Schermerhorn at Penn State University.
——-
The idealization of a particular type of masculinity has gone hand in hand with hostility to women. Research has also found a link between “hostile sexism” and Trump support. In addition, numerous reports since the Capitol Hill riot have cited misogynist language among the rioters toward women leaders like Pelosi and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Too bad there is no footage of Congresswomen being dragged around by their hair, cavewoman style.
“Researchers report.”
scholarly evidence, cant argue with that
I’m guessing that ‘performative masculinity’ translates to ‘the ability to do things that impact the real world, as opposed to the ability to manipulate symbols and emote publicly.’
yep. they dont just mean men, they mean competence in general
that’s why they start foaming at the mouth over any mention of meritocracy
Science!
Reeducation camps, I’d imagine.
Couric intimated that members of Congress might have colluded in the mob’s action on January 6, claiming, “It is so shocking, not only are they not conceding, Bill, but there’s thoughts that there might have been some collusion among members of Congress. Some are refusing to go through magnometers, or whatever you call them, to check for weapons; they’re not wearing masks during the siege. I mean, it’s really bizarre, isn’t it, when you think about how AWOL so many members of this Congress have gotten.”
“But I also think some of them are believing the garbage that they are being fed 24/7 on the internet, by their constituents, and they’ve bought into this big lie,” she continued. “And the question is: How are we going to really, almost deprogram these people who have signed up for the cult of Trump?”
I missed the rule where a candidate and his/her supporters have to concede.
People need to be programmed to believe OUR lies, not those other people’s lies! Our cult is better!
Couric is a lying sack of shit. She should have been drummed out a decade ago after deceptively editing interviews.
that lying sack is still around
Hmm..there is that term again…”deprogram…”
“Joe Biden should not concede under any circumstances because I think this is going to drag out, and eventually I do believe he will win if we don’t give an inch and if we are as focused and relentless as the other side is,” [Hillary] Clinton said.
Stacey Abrams spent two years not conceding, and it worked.
Fixing to leave, so quick:
– Dental floss
– Zip ties
Are you trying to survive or overthrow the government?
Trump’s broad appeal to voters and the way that he emboldens right-wing extremists reflect broader global political trends, in the opinion of Soraya Chemaly, executive director of the Representation Project, a nonprofit that fights gender inequality.
“I think there’s a lot going on. I think that one thing is that there is a global tide of macho fascism and masculinist backlash against change,” she said. “And I think that what we saw in the rise of Trump was part of that tide.”
Case closed. Remand the defendants into custody.
Lock ’em up and throw away the key.
Gender inequality activists truly have their finger on the pulse of America.
Needs moar 1st aid kits. Good write up Animal.
Yeah, sure.
A legislator in Monroe County, New York, admitted Saturday to sending a picture of his genitals to a 19-year-old woman he was working with after she accused him of sexual harassment on the day he was sworn in as president of a New York chapter of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People).
Monroe County Legislator Ernest Flagler-Mitchell defended himself by citing his faith in God and claiming he intended to send the photo of his genitals to his wife. He also claimed without evidence that he is being blackmailed over the incident because of his work for minority communities.
Holier than thou dick-pics to the wife.
Wait, he SENT the pics AFTER the accusation?
I snorted at that too
wait, he is being blackmailed because of his work for minorities? id be curious exactly what that work is
Might as well be hanged for sheep as a lamb.
Pics or GTFO
No… wait… I take that back… nooooooo…..
Why would he even have a 19 year old’s number in his phone? It says they worked together, but for me it would be very rare for me to have a co-worker’s number unless we did stuff outside of work. And after being accused, you’d think deleting that number would be a good idea.
Because he wanted to send her pictures of his dick.
Work-related pictures of his dick only though.
Turns out, she’s a penile cosmetician.
“Hey, baby.”
Also… *shudder* I went to elementary school in that area and it’s one of the worst gang-infested shitholes in Rochester. I’m sure the good legislator is full of workable solutions.
Fatherless kids from broken homes easy pickings for sexual predators? Who knew?
I should have said “sexual predators and gangs”, but there’s a lot of overlap.
Survival Russia: Four Days of Life in Extreme Cold Weather
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jWM3tqFro4E
Actually looks idyllic but I throw on long johns when it gets under freezing so I doubt it’d be for me.
I was cold weather infantry. Not much fun. But it actually gets easier to stay somewhat warn once it gets below about 15 degrees F, when all the humidity drops out of the air. At least until it gets really cold, like that -26 degree day he was having.
Abuse of power.
The Founding Fathers would have been disgusted by President Donald Trump’s serial abuse of the pardon power. Nearly 90% of his pardons to date have gone to friends or politically connected allies — including corrupt politicians. While the President’s pardon power may seem unconstrained by the Constitution, a closer look shows that Trump is violating every principle the framers of the Constitution assumed would be followed by a principled President — and there’s evidence they intended special constraints on a President’s pardon power after they’d been impeached.
Remember, the Founders were focused on restraining the power of the President to ensure he would not turn into a new type of tyrant. That’s why the President’s pardoning power was so hotly debated at the constitutional convention.
Virginia’s George Mason argued that the President “ought not to have the power of pardoning, because he may frequently pardon crimes which were advised by himself… If he has the power of granting pardons before indictment, or conviction, may he not stop inquiry and prevent detection?” Mason warned that this could “destroy the republic.”
But wait, some will say, the Founders did not ultimately enshrine Mason’s warning into the Constitution’s broad final language: “power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.”
In response, I’ll raise you President James Madison and Alexander Hamilton.
Madison argued that a President’s pardoning power would be restricted during the impeachment process — precisely the situation Donald Trump finds himself in today.
“Remember, the Founders were focused on restraining the power of the President to ensure he would not turn into a new type of tyrant. ”
Up next, a look at Biden’s first executive orders, including his mask mandate!
Agreed. He might pardon his son committing treason. Wait who are we talking about?
Twisting the meaning of words. Clearly the prohibition is that the President can’t just pardon a duly impeached and removed officeholder and then just restore them to the office.
Uploading the Final Hat and the Hair Superfuntime cartoon. Trump ruins everything, Gropin Joe will be so much better!
Accidentally posted this in the dedthred:
Whoever linked the Jordan Peterson-Matthew McConaugheeeeeeyyyyyy interview, thank you! That was a great interview. I probably won’t get the book, but that’s because I don’t like to read nonfiction. I may borrow the audiobook from the library if they have it.
I think Tundra passed that gem along. It was good background to my boring day at work.
So is MM an affable dunce or fairly sharp?
He came across as sharp, humble.
saw him give a speech to some football team
all of the players had crinkled brows looking at each other with “what the fuck is this douche talking about?” written all over their faces
you decide
“Time is a flat circle in which I get older, but high school girls stay the same age.”
guy 1, looking at beautiful young woman: “I wish I could be invisible and go look up her skirt”
guy 2 responds: ” invisible? that’s easy, just turn 40″
LOW ENERGY SUTHEN BOY IS TOO OLD TO GET A HOT DATE! MELANIA WOULD NEVER EVEN NOTICE A LOSER LIKE THAT! SAD!
(I’m enjoying the antagonistic Trump tweet format in the absence of the real thing)
+3 allright
Speaking of your work, I’m kind of curious about your take on GPS outages and how they’re going to negatively affect the nextgen ATC systems. Seems like there are far too many outages and jamming tests/exercises going on…I haven’t experienced it much in the Northeast yet, but from what I’ve heard, in the
West and Southeast, there are enough of them that it poses a threat to GA IFR traffic, especially as more VORs are retired and people start dumping their VHF nav receivers.
You can have my NDB approach when you pry it from my cold dead ha- oh never mind, it’s gone.
No Big Deal as long as they don’t cripple the replacement system…
It will be interesting. Generally speaking, we are fed a service volume that is then sent to our automation systems. So on the ATC side, unless we lose all 13 of our ground stations that feed our terminal environment, they will still be able to separate aircraft.
On the customer side, that is obviously different as you might be reduced to navigating by the stars and landmarks if you are outside controlled airspace or radar coverage.
Also since we are now required to continuously report position via ADS-B out in most airspace, which is GPS based, and so in an outage area, there’s no position source…
I’ve been kind of curious how they are/will handle that. My GDL-82 is supposed to give me an amber fault light, and I assume loss of signal is one of the faults. Does that mean I’ll get a letter in the mail if it happens while I’m in the Spokane C airspace? Does everyone get a letter?
Ill talk with my airspace and procedures guy…he might know.
And that gets a little iffy when VFR on top or in IMC…
Hmmm… Maybe a business opportunity to market an STC for an astrodome on the Pacer?
I was wondering if I was going to need to buy a sextant and replace the top of the cabin on my Mooney with plexiglas!
I have a friend who’s a retired airline guy who actually took a sextant along and played with taking star shots on long flights, also got into sailing and did a trip from the east cost to Bermuda and back using only celestial nav. Another guy who just retired from UPS as a 747 captain says the 74s all have a star window.
Interesting. I wonder if the new ones still have it.
It’s about time.
Kamala Harris finally resigned from her senate seat on Monday just 2 days before the presidential inauguration.
Harris formally submitted a letter of resignation for her senate seat to California Governor Gavin Newsom.
A 50-50 senate gives Kamala Harris a very powerful tie-breaker role as US Vice President.
Gavin Newsom appointed scandal-ridden California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to replace Kamala Harris in the US Senate.
I think Kamala is the only person alive who makes Hillary look slightly less of a monster
maybe Pelosi…
It’s clear that you are just a misogynist.
Maybe. But I like that Noem chick out in Hickville Flyoverland.
You mean the one who denied The Science?
*horrified face*
Yeah the relentless derision and defamation of her in the MSM was astronomical. Well, it would have been, but of course it all looks tame now in comparison to what they whipped up for Trump in the last 4+ years.
I dunno. I think Pelosi at least eats some human foods. Hilary feeds only misery.
Slightly.
Survival Russia: Four Days of Life in Extreme Cold Weather
I have been in no shit 42 degrees (Yanqui) below zero weather. Fuck that.
FIL punched a phillipino officer for desparaging the US. his punishment? stationed to the bering straight to keep an eye on the ruskies
they had a couple of guys injured because their corneas froze
fuck that is correct
Sounds like Officer Mano didn’t appreciate a lovin’ spoonful of FREEDOM.
something something “…the harder you hit em the better their english.”
FIL was 6’4″ , strong as an ox and tougher than a piney woods rooter. he never would say but I figured there is a decent chance he did some serious permanent damage or even killed the guy. if he survived I’m sure his English was impeccable
-42º F is damn close to its equivalent in commie-grade; -40º C is where the 2 scales cross.
On the plus side, it was 418º Rankine
A sizzling 232 Kelvin in the Alaskan tropics.
My maternal grandfather was in the first couple waves of Operation Deep Freeze; they built McMurdo Station in 1956. He said they had to wait until it warmed up to -50° before they could safely work outside.
At least it wasn’t -42C
Close enough.
I was once in a deep ravine at night in Edmonton back in the winter of ’76-’77, when the December temps dropped into the -45° Celsius (-49° F) range at worst; me and a long-dead buddy hiked down into the ravine to test out a fancy-schmancy digital thermometer he borrowed from the testing labs at his workplace. The bottom of the ravine was about 50 meters lower than the area we accessed it from, and the thermo claimed it was -55° C (-67° F). It was, um, not pleasant.
I was 18 years old. Haven’t seen a temp quite like that ever since, thank God.
I remember one exercise in Alaska in January. Spent a couple weeks living in a tent with temperatures below -40. We even slept one night without heat because we were too tired to do fire guard. Woke up with the inside of my sleeping bag coated in ice.
Animal, your friend Rat is wearing Blaze orange. Hunting in MN (required for deer season)?
Allamakee Co needs blaze? Inquiring minds and all.
Fourscore you better watch yourself. You need to wear blaze orange for hunting small game in Minnesoda even when there isn’t a deer season going on. Ups the difficulty of squirrel hunting when you need to wear blaze orange.
around these here parts…depending on where you are, blaze orange may increase your chances of being involved in a ‘hunting accident’
I don’t hunt the smaller critters any more. I have people that bring sharp tail grouse, I had one for lunch today and it was much appreciated. Some fantastic Korean dumplings in the freezer, Mrs F says she’s saving them for herself. I thought marriage was the richer/poorer nonsense. Seems I’ve been snookered twice.
Colorado requires if for general rifle deer/elk, which is what we were up to.
LOL just got locked out of my work machine. Guess they don’t want me to fill out my timesheet on my day off after all.
oh, rifle discussion: mauser 48s are solid, dependable workhorses that can be had for just a few hundred and 8×57 has impressive ballistics
I have a Yugoslavian Mauser and those are still made new in Serbia and are great guns. Fairly cheap too.
“.@RepCohen on his concerns w/ the National Guard securing the Inauguration: “The [National] Guard is 90 some-odd percent male; and only about 20 percent of white males voted for Biden … there are probably not more than 25% of the people there protecting us that voted for Biden””
http://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=392202
Well I’ll be, they really are descending into a ferocious paranoia if the quote’s accurate (vid won’t play for me).
It’s the classic dictatorial paranoia. So scared of the people they must wall themselves into their compounds and declare martial law, only to then purge a large part of their enforcers our of abject fear that they too will turn on them.
?
That 20% is largely without metaphorical testicles, so drop that number even lower.
I said it before and I’ll say it again. These are not the actions of people who really believe they have a majority of voters on their side.
They created an environment where politics is a life or death struggle between good and evil, and they are reaping what they sow good and hard.
Eh, they know they have a brigade of journalist that will carry the water for them and will wrap it all up in “We have to do this because of the domestic terror threat we
made upare facing”Unfortunately we’re going to be reaping what they’ve sown too.
Not only did they not vote for Biden, they were labeled as racists, Nazis, and terrorists because of it. Also, they need re-education.
Yep
The Dems have to know that they are hated by a large portion of the electorate now, if not the majority. They kept upping the stakes with each lie, with each accusation, with each ad hominem till they had fully dehumanized the political opposition.
surprisingly this road only goes one place. if only we had known
if only we had seen it before
Forget the paranoia aspect of it. These are the same people who spent years decrying Trump’s supposed attack on our institutions for his legitimate concerns that he was being undermined by political creatures within the bureaucracy. They are now basically asking for a political loyalty oath from our volunteer part time soldiers.
Totally not like this.
I had to do a second take while I was filling out my time-card…
Inauguration Day (Wednesday, January 20).
Inauguration Day is a legal public holiday, for purposes of pay and leave, ONLY for employees who are scheduled to work in the Inauguration Day area (Washington, DC; Prince George’s and Montgomery counties in Maryland; Arlington and Fairfax counties in Virginia; and the cities of Falls Church and Alexandria in Virginia).
What in the actual fuck? This is why I hate my own kind also.
Some animals are more equal than others.
Leave me out of this.
Not until the oppression of my murine brothers and sisters ends.
The SAS and Air Force Survival books are both excellent.