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Don’t just observe..observe and act

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There’s a fairly unremarkable post-apocalyptic book called ‘Wolf and Iron’ that had a character in it who was a social scientist of some sort, as I recall. In the book, he’s asked what he did before the end of the world and he tells how, as an observer of the social condition, he chronicled, recorded, and observed the world as it descended into the apocalypse. The person asking him the question then asks, if he saw it coming why didn’t he prepare for it? He answers that because of his training as a scientific observer, he didn’t let is experience and observations colour his own behavior lest they taint his research.

I was thinking about the today and I did my regular weekend shopping at the ‘Cos (WinCo and CostCo). I, and I’m sure you as well, notice the increases in price, the reduction in availability, the things that are and are not disappearing of the shelves, etc. I just need to keep in mind that observing and being aware of these things conveys no advantage to me unless I act upon those observations accordingly. Unlike the character in the book, I have no concern for my behaviour influencing my perceptions about the situation and what I observe.

And what have I observed? Gas prices were up a nickle locally. The chicken I like to buy went up 10% and is now limited to quantity you can purchase. Quantities in the meat case are reduced. The prices on everything seem to be going up. The .gov has no idea what its doing. As I’ve told people before, it’s just not smart to try and fix the hole in the hull at this point..nows the time to check your lifejacket and head for the boats.

I’ve a thirty year head start on this nonsense. I’ve increased my resilience to a level that puts me in a better position than most. not perfect…nothing ever is…but better than most. And now my goal is to maintain that resilience.

If you’re putting away money for a superrazoo 72″ high def TV, a jet ski, a new motorcycle, a trip to Greece, or anything like that I would suggest taking that money and buying whatever it is you don’t have now that will either be a) more expensive or b) unavailable at a later date. You’ll probably thank yourself later. Later this year you’ll be glad for the meat in the freezer, the extra toilet paper, the stored fuel, the cash in the safe, extra shoes and clothes, etc, etc and you won’t miss that TV at all. (In fact, you’ll probably be able to get it half-price from the grasshoppers next door.)

And if I’m wrong? Nothing bad happens.  You can still eat the food, use the fuel, wear the clothes, spend the money, and use the toilet paper. No big deal.

5.5# AR

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I picked up a KE Arms polymer AR lower a few weeks back. Palmetto was having a deal on a lightweight pencil-barrel upper with bolt carrier and charging handle. Well, why not? Put it together the other day and it is pretty light. Threw it on the scale and it came in at a touch over 5.5# with open sights. Its my understanding that if you spend the bucks and get a genuine WWSD rifle you drop the weight down to almost 5#. Thats about the same as an M1 carbine. And it’s about a pound lighter than a military M4 with 14.5″ barrel.

Gotta say, that poly lower seems pretty slick. I had heard good things about the old Cav Arms lowers and these are supposedly quite improved over them. I need to head to the range this weekend and dump a few rounds through it and get it sighted in, but it’s pretty nice.

Although I have a bucket full of stripped lowers sitting here, I think I might need to pick up a half dozen of these lowers and put together some more guns. I rather like the lightweight nature and how all the weight is carried out front.

Humour – Gun Bunny Rehab

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“Guns are heavy when they’re actually loaded.”

Priceless.

Personally, I like..no, love….gun bunnies. But, thats assuming they really know their guns and aren’t just using them as props for duck-lip InstaTwitterBook posts. And, I suppose, that some women would really resent gun bunnies for perpetuating the objectification of women in shooting sports but if there’s any merit to that…well..blame the bunny, she’s the one making the videos. Us guys…we just watch ’em.

Personally, I could watch hot gun chicks all day. But, apparently there is a Gun Bunny Rehab. Good girls make other good girls, but I guess sometimes gun bunnies unmake other gun bunnies. Still..funny stuff.

Sticker shock

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You know, the problem with living out of your freezer for months at a time is that when you ultimately do head down to the supermarket to grab some dead animal flesh you are shocked at the price because you’ve not had to be aware of pricing for the last several months.

Even at the grocery places that traditionally have been the least expensive it was still, to me, outrageous what the prices on beef was.

Chicken even took a hit….Winco had been selling boneless skinless chicken breast at 1.98/#. Then a couple weeks ago there was a note limiting purchase to four trays of meat. Then last week they were completely out. And then when I was in there today…it was back…at $2.18/#…almost a 10% increase. Hmmm.

Pork loin roasts have now become my ‘go to’ for animal protein since it’s the least expensive of the meats I usually buy.

But, geez Ruiz, 85/15 at $5.50? 93/7 at almost $7? Owie. I need to keep my eyes open for deals on meats like I do for deals on ammo.

Back the truck up..Pt. II

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Oh merciful Crom….my lower back is barkin’ at me tonight. Why? Because I don’t have enough trusted guy friends to help me load 60 ammo cans of belted .30 and .50 ammo into my truck, take them to my house, and then unload them. Owwwww.

12,000 rounds of belted ammo. Ball, tracer, and AP.

The irony? I don’t even own a .50 BMG or .30-06 at the moment. But..when opportunity knocks, get a forklift.

Some goes into Deep Sleep, the rest…well…capitalism is a beautiful thing.

Article – Black LA residents lack access to guns as wealthy rush to buy firearms amid crime wave: Activists

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To other Second Amendment activists, gun control restrictions marginalize Black Americans and have historically been racist.

“Gun control in this place called America was created to stop melanated beings from having the means to exercise their human right,” political activist Maj Toure told Fox News Digital.

….

Geneva Solomon, the co-owner of Black-owned Redstone Firearms in Los Angeles County’s Burbank, agreed with Toure’s comments. She said, “the gun control laws here are set up and intended to disproportionately affect those within the minority communities.”

She pointed to California’s complicated process of getting a concealed carry permit, saying single, Black parents in the state, for example, may have difficulty proving they have “good cause” for gun ownership.

“If the single parent is walking home and can’t prove that they’re ‘important’ by having money or high-value items taken from them, it may be really hard,” Solomon told Fox News Digital. “Which goes back to the ‘just cause’ requirement of the insurance of the CCW. Having ‘just cause’ is too big of a gray area. That means it’s up for interpretation of the person interviewing you and can lead to underlying bias.”

I suppose the more cynical and less-Woke might opine that according to crime statistics, “melanated beings” seem to have plenty of access to guns, thank you very much.

In this current atmosphere of culture war, there is very little in the political world that cant be recast as an identity-political issue. Why should guns be any different? In the past, some municipalities passed ‘gun control’ that would prohibit guns made out of ‘pot metal’ (aka Zamac and similar) in order to prohibit ‘cheap’ guns (aka ‘Saturday Night Specials’). If you’re a person-of-melanation then, according to the woke, youre a victim of ‘entrenched racism’ and ‘white supremacy’ and therefore don’t have the ‘privilege’ of being able to afford a Glock or Sig. So, all thats left to you is the cheap stuff like Rohm, RG, HiPoint, Lorcin, Bryco, Jennings, and the usual suspects you see in evidence lockers across America.

The reality is, any schmuck who can hold down a minimum wage job can afford a HiPoint within a month. Give up the cigarettes and beer and you can pick up a used Ruger or Taurus within six weeks.

But the article wasnt really about the affordability of guns, but rather the difficulty the melanated have in accessing them. But isn’t that what those same Democrat supporters (and, yes, I’m making an assumption that in that particular state most melanated beings are going to vote for the Democrats) wanted all along? A Byzantine government permission system for ‘controlling’ guns? Careful what you ask for.

 

CostCo canned meats again

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I do not like canned meats. It’s incredibly stupid, but my biggest objection is that when you open the can they all look and smell identical and are indistinguishable from cat food. But…when the apocalypse occurs it would be nice to have actual meat to eat that didnt come off the neighbor’s dog (or the neighbor).

I’ve blogged about the canned roast beef that CostCo used to carry and was quite pleased with it. Yeah, it looked and smelled horrible when you open the can but once you cook it up and get it on some rice it turns out to be pretty darned good.

Unfortunately, my local CostCo stopped carrying the Kirkland-brand roast beef several years ago, and although they recently started carrying a different brand it appears they are no longer carrying that one either. Supply chain issues, regional distribution agreements, sales numbers not supportive, whatever ther eason the end result is the dame – no canned beef.

Now, roast beef is one thing but corned beef is another. Personally I think corned beef or pastrami and swiss on rye is proof that the universe has room for luxuries. And canned corned beef, it seems, is never in short supply. Problem is, virtually all of it is imported. Most of the canned corned beef I’ve come across is from Brazil. Makes sense, Brazil is cattle country. But as far as I’m concerned it is also a Third World-ish environ that, honestly, I suspect might be a little fast-and-loose with it’s food safety.So..I avoid.

But, I was up at CostCo today and came across canned corned beef from Australia. Assuming they were sober at the cannery that day, I’d put more faith in Australian food safety observances than those of some South American venue. So, on a whim, I picked up these:

I’ll try it later in the week with some eggs. Probably should go for the full on guerrilla-gourmet experience and use the powdered eggs. Regardless, if it’s any good I’ll let you know. I need to try it soon because with CostCo’s history of dropping products unexpectedly they may be out of it by next week and I’ll never see more again.

Yes, beans and rice form a complete protein and lasts forever in storage. You konw what else forms a complete protein? Meat. I am not going through the apocalypse just to live in a future of textured vegetable protein and other fake meats. I mean, what would be the point?

Article – New Law Will Install Kill Switches In All New Cars

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It gets even better: Barr points out that the bill, which has been signed into law by President Biden, states that the kill switch, which is referred to as a safety device, must “passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired.” In other words, Big Brother will constantly be monitoring how you drive. If you do something the system has been programmed to recognize as driver impairment, your car could just shut off, which could be incredibly dangerous.

Yet another reason used car prices continue to head north.

The usual crowd will say its about ‘safety’ and that ‘if it saves just one life’, etc, etc. But, realistically, it’s another poke in the eye to people who don’t like .gov having their thumb on them.

If you think this is just fine because “If you’ve done nothing wrong you have nothing to fear” then how would you feel if that technology was in your pacemaker, insulin pump, or internal defibrillator

It is my hope that people far more technologically savvy than I will have DIY guides to disabling this sort of nonsense.

Freezer Day

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There’s a lot of things I like about being a survivalist…the clothing is usually quite durable, the sense of security is quite nice, and there’s a satisfaction from being somewhat resourceful and prepared. But, on the other hand…the hours are horrible and there is often a lot of heavy lifting. Case in point…..

Because it was solidly below freezing today, today became Organize The Freezer Day. It could also be called Arctic Archaeology Day.

Let’s be reasonable, if you’re going to ‘clean out’ and organize your freezer you need to temporarily remove the frozen contents. The key challenge in this is, naturally, keeping stuff frozen. There are two ways to do this: have an empty extra freezer or wait until it’s 5-degrees outside and stage your freezer contents outside. I went with option #2.

First off, I discovered that I have a lot more butter than I thought I did. A lot. Same for ground beef. And at least a half dozen half-turkeys that were bought at post-Thanksgiving sales five years ago. but, since they were vacuum sealed and in the freezer all this time, they’ll cook up just fine. They are, however, bulky. Stuff I did not know I have? Well, there was a brisket the size of a folded beach towel. And a buncha short ribs. I had no idea they were there but they’ve been there for at least the last six years so it’s time to crack them open and do something with them. It was also interesting to note the prices over the years as well. It made the coming year look even more dismal.

But…it needed to be done. I was literally out of room in my deep freeze and in the kitchen freezer. On the good side, having no room means I am at full capacity on food. The bad news is that I  have no capacity to increase the supply unless I wanna buy another freezer…which I do not.

But, my advice to you is this: if it’s close to 0-degrees where you are, one of these weekend you might wanna block out a few hours and go through your freezer(s) and get a feel for what you have and make some more space for more food.

Operation Tracer

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Do you know what immurement is? Its a form of execution that has been seen sporadically up to the twentieth century. Succinctly, you seal someone up in a confined space and leave them to die. The stories I’ve read usually involve castles that have a condemned person thrown into a room and then the exits/entrances to the room are walled up. The person is left in the dark to die of thirst and hunger. I believe there are a couple tales in classic literature (Poe?) about someone being ‘walled up’ or ‘walled in’, in a similar manner.

But..those were unwilling participants. Could you imagine a circumstance under which you’d pick a half dozen men to volunteer to willingly be entombed in a concrete bunker…sealed in….with several years worth of supplies and the instructions that they remain sealed in until their jobs were done? Such is…Operation Tracer.

NATO had Gladio, the Nazis had Werewolf, and apparently the Brits has operation Tracer…a plan for some ‘stay behinds’ to, well, stay behind and monitor ship movements from the tactical advantage Gibraltar offered.

Turned out the plan was never activated because the Axis never took over Gibraltar. The secret bunker was sealed up and glossed over and disappeared from history and into legend. Until some spelunkers investigating rumours re-discovered it.

The concept is fascinating, of course. But what I’m more curious about is what you put on the shopping list when you’re pitting six guys into a sealed box for,at least, a year. This exercise is actually not much different than planning for a space mission or a submarine tour, I suppose. But, nonetheless, I find it fascinating and thought I would share.

We joke about bunkers around here, but it’s interesting to note that some people not only planned to make a hidden bunker but actually planned to be entombed within it like some sort of military Houdini-esque escape trick.