Hmmm…solar panels and LifeStraws. What do the folks at CostCo know that the rst of us don’t?
In actuality, this is probably just related to summer-outdoor-time rather than descent-into-chaos-time….but, they do sell Mountain House freeze drieds and bulk bags of rice, so perhaps….
Actually, for someone who wants to experiment with an itty bitty solar power setup to practice their skills, that $99 deal might not be a bad buncha cheap materials to practice on.
Silver is down a bit, but the premiums are still obscene. But… a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do:
And then, since apparently it was my birthday last week, someone very generously gifted me this:
Cool, hm?
By the by, as I’ve mentioned before, I am a fan of setting goals. I actually set a goal each year for how much silver and gold I want to acquire. The goal each year is to increase the stash from the previous year by 50%. This goes a ways towards giving me a headstart on 2022. And it gives me an even greater headstart on hedging against whatever whipping up a few trillion dollars out of thin air will bring. But, being a cautious dude, I put money elsewhere as well…..cash, the markets, metals, and ….and…..land. Soon.
I simply don’t have the words:
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown privately signed a bill last month ending the requirement for high school students to prove proficiency in reading, writing, and arithmetic before graduation.
……
Backers argued the existing proficiency levels for math and reading presented an unfair challenge for students who do not test well, and Boyle said the new standards for graduation would aid Oregon’s “Black, Latino, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, and students of color.”
This, more than anything else, is how a great society or great nation descends into mediocrity and, ultimately, collapse.
Because a particular demographic ‘tests poorly’, we should eliminate the requirement that they pass those tests. That way, when they go out to get jobs they’ll be qualified to….do what exactly? When you hire someone to do work and they can’t do math or read instructions, you know what you get? Unemployed. If they’re really concerned about these ‘marginalized’ groups, they’d raise the standards so that those folks can get thebest jobs they can.
This isn’t something that should surprise anyone. What’s surprising is that people think this is a good idea. And those people vote. And their vote counts as much as yours. (Unless, of course, they’re an Oregon ‘graduate’ and have trouble reading the ballot).
A long time ago I stopped thinking that society, mine or anyone elses, was capable of being saved from it’s inevitable decline. Remember the scene in one of the Terminator movies where the guy says that his destiny wasn’t to prevent Judgement Day, but rather to survive it? Same thing. I don’t have to prevent or decelerate the descent into whatever it is we’re heading into…I only have to survive it to come out on the other side of it. Thus, I’ve stopped worrying about the gaping hole in the hull and am simply working on making sure I have a clear path to the lifeboats.
But let’s recap: trillions of dollars for ‘infrastructure’ which we are told won’t lead to inflation, supply chain ‘disruptions’, a global pandemic, opportunistic nations jockeying for a better position as the main players deal with the Wuhan Flu, and an American populace that thinks its more important to use the ‘correct’ pronoun than it is to be able to be able to calculate your paycheck or read a job application. If that isn’t a recipe for a bright, new future…well!
And in this way, I feel vindicated for my growing misanthropy. Your mileage may vary, of course, but as for me I wash my hands of the rest of humanity and, frankly, they get what they deserve. If you don’t like what you see, be patient and let natural selection run it’s course. If you think this sort of virtue-siignalling-at-all-costs is a good thing, and it appeals to your ‘wokeness’, well….you’re an idiot but at least you have others to keep you company.
It’s my birthday this week (you did send a gift, right?) and, to my surprise, I got a gift in the mail yesterday:
Its a Randall Made boot knife sort of blade. I have no idea what it cost (ok, thats not true..I looked it up) but in addition to being expensive, they are usually accompanied with a pretty lengthy waiting list to get one. So…cool birthday gift.
Today is the Missoula Gun Show, I am looking for exactly two items: a great scope for my .338 Lapua Ruger precision rifle, and a .50 BMG of some flavor…first choice is a Serbue semi-auto, second choice is a Barrett of some flavor. I’m not holding out high hopes for either.
I have noticed that gun prices are starting to drop like Kamala Harris’ poll numbers. PSA is selling Magpul’d complete lowers for $150, which is a hundred bucks less than this time last year. In fact, PSA had some blems on sale that let my assemble complete carbines for about $450. And, one of my vendors had a sale on Ruger MPR Ar’s, so I grabbed two of those as well. I have hit Peak AR. Really, the only way I’m buying more AR’s at this point is if they are at post-2016 election giveaway prices.
Off to the gun show! See you there!
The big Missoula Gun Show starts tomorrow. I’ll be stopping in there all three days to see whats going on, visit with folks, and see what the markets will bear. There isnt really anything I need to get, but I wouldnt say no to a little Barret lovin’.
It’s been a busy week so posting was thin this week. Sorry about that… between relatives visiting, new job, and the usual constraints on my time it was difficult to get time for blogging. But, relatives leave Tuesday, so we should be back to an even keel by then.
How utterly cool would it be to have a piece of property with a network of tunnels like this?
Stuff like this turns up in Montana once in a while, but in this region it’s sometimes wet or flooded.
Awesome pictures at the link.
A reminder that Paratus, the holiday of and by survivalists, is coming up in about six weeks.
I just got this years Paratus cards delivered yesterday. If you’ve been a cool dude (or dudette) and sent me anything in snail mail that had your return address on it, you’re on the list. Note to Aesop: email me your mailing address, man.
As always, if you wanna get Zero a little something for Paratus, I prefer multicam or OD, 9mm and .223, and Glock or AR platform.
Trying to be and a responsible adult. I wake up, shower, get dressed, get in the truck to go to work, turn the key annnnnnd…whirrrwhirrrwhirrr. Frak!
Ninety minutes late for work (on the second day of a new job!). And then there was the bill for dropping the fuel tank, pulling out the dead fuel pump, replacing it with a new one, and putting the whole mess back together.
Panic? Rage? Frustration? Nope. Barely even a blip on the heartrate monitor? Why? Because I’ve got a buttload of money sitting in an emergency fund for just this sort of thing. Gave the guy a buncha cash, got in my truck, drove away. No worrying about how I was gonna meet the rent, pay for groceries, keep the lights on, etc. Nope. Just give the man some money and be on my way.
Years ago it would have been a different story. I’d have been hadning over guns at the counter of a pawn shop or something. But, now? Not even a stressful thought.
Resilience. Brought to you by an emergency fund. I know I’ve said it before but it is so freaking true: you will need $50 bills more often than .50 BMG. Prepare for the end of the world, sure…but also be prepared for the world to not end. And for that, there’s money.
My old self would be totally awed by my new(er) self. And probably want to borrow money from me.
I never get tired of hearing these stories about massive underground bunkers. Go about 1/3 of the way through the article to a YouTube tour of the Greenbrier (aka Project Greek Island).
Make no mistake, there are dozens of these facilities still out there.Certainly some are kept at a state of operational readiness. Some might even be part of those TREETOP teams. For those of you who read some of the atrocious ‘survivialist’ fiction of the 90’s, the concept of networks of secret .gov doomsday bunkers and caches was a staple of the ‘Guardians’ series as well as the ‘Deathlands’ series. (Both series, by the way, were entertaining up to a point..that point was usually about 10-15 sequels in before that lack of new ideas would give way to absolutely outlandish changes to previously established fundamentals of the series.)
What is really awesome is that sometimes these ‘decommissioned’ facilities come up for sale to the general public. There’s a big difference between buying an old missile silo and buying a palce that was built, from the ground up, as a place to survive Armageddon.
Realistically, though… unless you hit the Powerball or have an appointment with a bible on Jan 20 in DC, you’re probably never gonna have your own underground nuke-proof city. But…you can always build your own if you’ve the determination.
Yes, I dabble in the stock market. And I do okay at it. But I have literally no idea what the hell just happened here:
Did $54 worth of call suddenly jump up in value by $975 in one day? WTF? I mean, yeah, I pick a winner every once in a while but….
And, yes, I closed out that position.
Not sure why the call jumped like that, though. Ideas?
ETA: Glitch. It’s gotta be a glitch. The only way that call coulda jumped like that was if F suddenly discovered how to make a flying car.
