TEOTWAWKIAIFF

I moved!

2010-03-21T08:55:00.002-04:00

I've moved this blog to a new server: TEOTWAWKIAIFF.COM

Please update your RSS feeds and bookmarks!

-Natog

The White Death

2010-03-19T12:32:00.002-04:00

This is an amazing article on a Finnish sniper who fought the Soviets in the Winter war. His weapon of choice? A Mosin-Nagant rifle with open sights. I need to bust out the Mosin this weekend and make sure it's sighted in.

The US will attack Iran

2010-03-19T09:16:00.003-04:00

I was thinking of ways the US could revitalize interest in using the dollar as a shelter from uncertainty. The solution that I see as a near certainty is the US wants to start another war. Iran is the most likely target as the leader is batshit crazy, and no one wants Iran with WMD.

Just like the three wars in the gulf, when there is war, people turn to gold, oil (if they buy before it goes up), and US treasury bills. We are having such trouble with bond auctions that the administration might see this as the only solution to bolster confidence in the dollar. The obvious choice, cut spending and reduce taxes, wouldn't be considered for a nanosecond.

We have plenty of military assets in-theater, and Israel has a raging chubby to go after Iran right now. Let's face it, the apocalyptic death-cult that runs Iran right now would launch a nuke as soon as they had one built.

This week I have been cycling through my stored gas. I'm disappointed with the containers I bought, so if anyone knows of good metal ones cheap, please let me know. I fully expect gas to go up, and I want to stock up on the winter blend.

I'm still working on the new website. Work's been keeping me real busy, and let's be honest, it's hard as hell to sit in front of a computer when it's the first few days of spring. I did get out to the range yesterday, and practiced with my .22 pistol. I should have snapped a picture, all of the first 20 rounds were in the black at 25 yards :) needless to say, I was pleased as punch.

Get out there and practice. with a target pistol you should be able to put all your rounds into a soft-ball sized circle at 25 yards with carefully aimed shots at about 1 round per 2 seconds.

That reminds me, I never talked about cadence and shooting. It's one thing to blaze away, but another to have accurate aimed shots going downrange. Let's take pistol shooting for example. When the target is 25 yards away, you need to put the post on the target, line up the rear sight and squeeze the trigger. But the shooting cycle does not end there! You need to follow through on your shot, absorbing the recoil, and begin the process of putting the front post back onto the target.

This cadence of shooting is not a hard number. You don not need to fire exactly 1 shot every 2 seconds. In fact, your cadence needs to be adjustable depending on the accuracy you need. If I have a 18" silhouette at 21 feet, my rate of fire will be a heck of a lot faster than if I'm shooting at a 25 yard target keeping it in the black. Likewise the rate of fire would be different if I was shooting a silhouette at 25 yards, rather than the NRA pistol target at 25 yards.

Next time you go to the range take a sheet of regular paper with you and put it at 100 yards. practice pumping as many rounds into it as fast as you can, build up that knowledge of what rate of fire it takes you to hit that 90% of the time. Then take another and fold it into 1/4 the size and do it again. Your rate of fire will have to be different, if not speed up on the larger target.

For a scoped rifle, run this exercise at 200 or 300 yards. Another good exercise is to have targets at 50, 100, 200, and 300 yards and have a spotter randomly call out ranges for you to shoot at. Practice this from each firing position too.

Well I hope I gave you a few ideas on how to better train for the zombies. Please share any other ideas you have in the comments.

Great education Video

2010-03-16T09:52:00.002-04:00

As you all know, I'm a big proponent of educational reform in this country. Please watch this short video from the CATO institute.

I make no bones about the fact I wish a complete overhaul of how our country educates its children. It's about time life skills are taught in our schools. It's time we teach more than how to read, we need to teach how to learn.

Johnny on the spot

2010-03-16T09:51:00.003-04:00

Funny how I just posted about this subject yesterday, and lo and behold there is an article about how the mainstream media is not reporting the failing bond sales.

I wonder how fast the collapse of the dollar will happen once the news gets out to the stockbrokers that the game their playing is rigged. That the stock market is just legalized gambling.

A letter to a friend

2010-03-15T11:46:00.003-04:00

I've been e-mailing "Al" from the story all morning. He's been pretty concerned about the healthcare bill, and how it affects him and the wife (IRL he's married). I've warned him in the past, but he didn't really listen, and kinda looked at me like I was crazy. I am crazy, but that's beside the point. Here is my latest response to him:

I warned you about a year ago... Canned food and a shotguns :) handy for the zombie apocalypse, too!

The dems will do anything to pass us further into socialism. Most democrats are openly socialist now, Obama has done one thing, he galvanized the collectivist - altruistic - statists into leveraging as much “reforms” as possible to make us into a European socialist state.

Our Debt to GDP ratio has skyrocketed, it’s only a short time before no one buys bonds (the Fed Reserve is buying most now) and the Fed cannot buy all the bonds, the existing holders of the 5year+ T-bills would dump them as worthless paper. That collapses the dollar, and Zimbabwe hyper-inflation sets in.

Great for paying off loans, bad for everything else.

I’ve been reading about all this for a couple years now, and I cannot see any way out other than human stupidity. If the idiots on wall street still think the dollar is strong, and the dumbass investors don’t see the warning signs that are out there, then we might be able to do it. All it takes is one big bond investor to dump their bonds and that will trigger the rest, and the collapse comes in a matter of days, maybe even hours.

China is no longer the biggest holder of US debt. They haven’t been selling bonds, but the ones they hold they have not re-invested as they matured. China not buying bonds was the biggest warning I’ve seen. China doesn’t want to upset the apple cart, they want to divest our debt without triggering the collapse, and so far they have been doing a brilliant job. All it takes is another country to unload too fast and the shockwave panics investors and then we collapse.

The news is not covering this at all, after all these people have all their money tied up in the stock market as well. So these guys have a vested interest in “forgetting” to report the failed bond auctions, and other critical warnings.

Scary-ass shit, man.

Hopefully he will wake up.

Teachers or Riot Police?

2010-03-11T16:00:00.003-05:00

So this is pretty damn funny. The department of education is buying 27 riot shotguns... need I comment more?

What in sam hill is the department of education is doing with any shotguns is beyond me. It's official this country is too screwy for words. Common sense is quite uncommon these days. What gets me is these shotguns are sawed-off, it's illegal for a civilian to have them because the barrel is so short.

Ok everyone, sing along! (stupid embedding disabled dammit)

rebranding?

2010-03-09T14:27:00.003-05:00

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately (which is a bad thing for collectivist-altruistic-statists) and I have begun to write a bunch about it. One thing that I have been mulling over is a complete re-branding of this blog.

There are a lot of things I would like to share, but the blogger format isn't conductive for file repositories, etc. I have also given some thought to doing a podcast. Mayberry beat me to it, but not by much. if you haven't listened to them yet, you really should. iTunes is a free download and there are thousands of free podcasts to listen from, and you don't even need an account, or a iTouch or iPhone to listen to them. Just download them as an MP3 and stuff them on your MP3 player or rip them to CD and listen to them in the car.

I have found podcasts make the long commute go a bit faster, especially on the days I'm suffering from writer's block. I listen to all kinds of podcasts including technology-related ones through freedom-oriented ones, and of course a couple prepper-related ones. I have the computer and related equipment, including a good microphone, so I just need the time to do it.

Then my wicked accent can torment you guys :)

Anyway I've been looking around my 'hood, and most of the for sale signs are down, but I know no one new has moved in because the same cars are parked in the driveway. So much for "green shoots." We are in a tailspin, our economy has no where to go but straight into the hopper. For all the hubbub about lower job losses than expected, we are still losing too many jobs. I just saw an article about forcing lenders to take it in the hoop in short sales. Evidently there are no limits to what this administration will do to look good, because none of these programs will save this sinking ship.

Now it the time to be vigilant, now is the time to ready yourself for what is to come. Although I am going to Vegas on vacation, I'm doing it as frugally as possible. All spare cash is being devoted to preps. I'm buying even more food and medical supplies for the coming storm. I even bought more ammo.

Which reminds me, I forgot to mention I went to my first gun show. Now, let em preface this by saying it was in MA, so it's not a "real" one. I went for the express intention of buying a hunting rifle, bolt-action, in .308 Winchester. Preferably with a stainless steel barrel. For short money. That didn't happen because all the firearms were stupidly expensive. Like a shitty bolt-action was listed for $1000 with a scope... I can buy NEW for that, and get a decent nikon monarch scope on it, in stainless steel to boot.

For the most part ammo was damn expensive too. There were a few vendors selling reloading supplies, but they didn't have anything I needed, so I passed. I did buy 1000 rounds of .22 LR for plinking, at $30 per 500. All the other ammo was on par for what I get from my local gun store. It was worth going, and I may go to another, but this time try to be be of the first guys in the door, I spoke with a few guys from the gun range and they did see some good deals, but they didn't last long.

Well with that addition of .22 ammo I should be all set so long as I replace what I use. I have 2000 rounds set aside, and it will go quick if the poop hits the fan as I will want to keep practicing. Practice makes perfect, and the Zombies won't kill themselves, ya know.

I did manage to sight in my target .308 with it's new scope, and I have to say I am very impressed with the scope I bought from BSA. I have had poor luck in the past, so I was hesitant to buy another, but so far, so good. (knocks on wood). I'll shoot it some more this weekend, and sight it in for 200 yards. then I'll run it through it's paces and give a full report.

That's enough rambling for now, I need to finish up here so I can catch the train home. Please remember to spend a little less on frivolity and a little more on preps the next few weeks. I expect gas to keep going up until it stabilizes in the summer, so it might be good to put up another few gallons now, while they still are selling the winter blend.

Also take the time to look through your supplies and make sure nothing is amiss. It would really suck to find the yeast you need to make bread is bad after all the stores are looted...

Waffled (potty mouth)

2010-03-03T13:24:00.003-05:00

Well that's as close an adjective I could come up with to describe what the ~~cold~~, er flu has done to me the last week. The black elderberry might be a good preventative measue, but it did jack shit for me against this flu bug. I was bedridden Saturday and Sunday, only setting foot out of the house to search for Muscinex-D.

Now, I have a class A license to carry, which allows me to walk in and buy a handgun and ammo and walk out of the shop with it loaded on my person. But in this Nanny state I had to resort to fucking begging to buy cold medicine, because none of my ID's were good enough. I had a temp license from the RMV (while they printed my new one and mailed it to me), I had my expired license, I had my class A LTC, and I had my fucking PASSPORT. Yet none of these ID's were sufficient proof of my identity to buy cold medicine. Are you freaking kidding me?!?

It took 4 tries to buy cold medicine. With me hacking up technicolor phlegm in front of one pharmacist to allow me to buy the damn stuff with my plethora of ID's by scanning his own license into the damn register. I think it was on visit #3 to the pharmacy I snapped and was screaming how I could buy and carry a fucking assault rifle easier than cold medicine when they realized I was a tad out of it. I managed to leave before the cops showed up.

Anyway I'm feeling much better. I still have a bit of a cough but I no longer have that "microwaved dog vomit" feel of the flu. I'll be right as rain in time for Las Vegas. That's right! I'm going to Vegas, baby! Games, stogies, broads, and booze. Might be the last time to enjoy the city of sin before it all goes to hell. I do love that city, but my liver needs a big time-out for at least a month afterwords. Yeah I could be a "better man" and not drink and smoke obnoxious foot long cigars, and enjoy the company of morally ambiguous cougars or coeds with "daddy issues", but I'm a single guy so I'm guessing you are all just jealous.

I've been watching the financial news with the dawning understanding of what it's like to be a vulture watching some poor zebra wander around dying from thirst. The anticipation of the collapse is like the salty taste of blood on the lips. It's like we are cresting the middle hump of this 'w' shaped recovery and I want to yell "WHHHEEEEEEEEEEE" like we are on some kind of roller-coaster and not the collapse of our economy. This is what Tyler Durden felt as the bombs went off.

I finished Thomas Paine's Common Sense and Rights of Man on the ride home last night. Although both give excellent insight into the time when we were writing the Constitution and the issues our forebears were dealing with, I find that it wasn't as applicable to today as I hoped. Granted there are some great ideas in there, but reading through page after page of his assault onto the idea of a monarchy was a bit dull, to put it kindly. I found that Common Sense was a more applicable, and I encourage everyone to give it a read. It's only 52 pages in the edition I have, so it's not too bad. Here is a quote:

[...] and that the elected might never form unto themselves an interest separate from the electors, prudence will point out that propriety of having elections often: because the elected might by that means return and mix again with the general body of the electors in a few months, their fidelity to the public will be secured by the prudent reflection of not making a rod for themselves.

I wonder how many of the nitwits in Congress ever read this? Our representatives represent nothing but the special interests. They represent those who can keep them in power. They represent those whose image they can use to manipulate the polls, and buy votes with guilt. I am not a violent man, I wish to do no harm to anyone, but the idea of these robber barons drunk with their own power makes me wish to drive to DC with nothing on but a banana hammock and galoshes, and beat the piss out of every one of those shitheads (save one) with a baseball bat.

I managed to get further along in the novel while sick, but after proofreading it on the train ride in it has to be all scrapped because NyQuil does some fucked up things to your brain. None of it made a lick of sense, especially the Balrog manning a checkpoint at Rt. 90... (Note: don't watch the Lord Of The Rings trilogy while bedridden and try to write anything while on cold meds.)

PS - after re-reading this post I realize I'm still pretty out of it. I wonder if this is what mescaline is like. Maybe Musinex-D is recreational, and not used to make meth, and that is why it's restricted. Anyway I'm going to watch my screen saver for the next hour check it out at: electricsheep.org

Colds

2010-02-23T15:34:00.002-05:00

Since I started commuting by public transportation again, I've had a running cold for the last month. It sucks. But then again, I'd hate to find out just how much snot is smeared over the handles and railings...

I'm not deathly ill or anything, but I obviously do not have the self discipline not to touch my eyes or nose before smearing them in jelled alcohol. I guess I could let things take their course, until I catch up on all the cold strains I missed by riding in a car back and forth to Boston, but I rather just skip the sniffles altogether.

I do have an orange every morning as part of my breakfast, but the boost in Vitamin C isn't enough. It has been recommended to me to take Black Elderberry extract. I'll give it a shot, and let you know how it works out.

I also have been worried about the lack of fatty acids in my diet, so I'm going to start taking some fish oil caplets... the problem is I HATE fish, and fish burps can be an issue with these caplets. I have a friend that has tried 25+ brands and have suggested one for me to try. Once again, if it's good I will let you guys know.

The dollar looks like it's going to weaken some in the next week, so be sure to load up on oil and fuel before the prices jump.

Internet Security HOWTO

2010-02-18T21:10:00.003-05:00

Let's cut to the chase. This is a quick primer on how to protect yourself on the internet. Protect yourself from harm on the internet and (to some extent) from governmental snooping.

In order to keep this less than 300 pages of techno-babble, I'm going to keep this on point, and try to keep this more hands-on than theory.

First, if you do not have current anti-virus software, then get it here.

Second, never, and I mean never! connect a computer unprotected to the internet. Unprotected PC's are attacked and compromised in about an hour. If you must connect a computer directly to the cable modem then the local firewall must be enabled.

Guess it's time for a quick discussion on how the whole internet works. Every computer on the internet has and address, and each computer has a load of windows and doors for data to come in and out, called ports. These ports are defined and standardized, for example port 80 is for web(http) connections, and port 443 is for secure web(https) connections. Your address is represented by a "dotted quad" for humans (i.e. 72.14.204.103).

A firewall acts as a traffic cop, preventing traffic from getting into or out of your house. Usually these are in the linksys routers you use to connect multiple computers tot he internet. Your cable modem DOES NOT have one. All Unix, and current Mac and PC (xp+) OSes have firewalls, but they are not the best in the world. I could write a whole series on how to configure them. The default settings are better than nothing.

Since you don't want to remember these numbers, and have to type that number every time you want to go to google, they have a naming resolution system called DNS - Domain Name System. The way DNS works is there are domains that nest inside each other, and by sending the name to a server, you get the dotted quad back. Thankfully, all of this is behind the scenes 99% of the time. The reason this is important is for you to protect yourself you need to know a little on how this works.

The way DNS works is you give it a name like www.google.com, and the DNs server finds the server that runs the ".com" domain, who points you to the server that runs the ".google" part who then gets you the IP address of the "www" part. The leftmost part is the most specific, and the right hand part of the name is the most general.

Since every computer on the internet has an IP address, and that IP address is from your local internet service provider... if you go hack the NSA website and they get your IP, black helicopters know what house to go to. But we have ways of hiding that, more in a few minutes. Hit this website for a demonstration.

Ok, back to practical stuff. Every computer has a local file it uses to find addresses for computers. We can use that to stop malware and other nasty software from calling home. Edit this file and replace it's contents with the stuff from here. The site has info on how to edit your hosts file.

Next, a word about habits. Never, ever run anything sent to you in an e-mail unless you explicitly trust that person. This includes the funny powerpoint presentations, or excel files or even word docs. There is programming that can be embedded into these documents that act like a virus and can infect your machine. Do not go to any website you do not trust. don't click on any pop-up ads - ever. Do not download "free" games from pogo, or anywhere else. Sucks don't it? Only way to be sure you are safe is not to play dangerously. I'll write another document later on how to build a secure browsing computer.

Next, if anyone has physical access to your computer, then they have compromised it. Set a screen saver with a password- it will stop "drive-by" hacks - the ups guys going to use your bathroom and does something to the pc turned on in the office.

Now to protect your location from snooping you need to anonymize yourself. There is a free network called TOR that protects you from basic web browsing, but it will not protect you from flash, cookies, youtube, etc... There is a good writeup here on what it protects you from - and what it doesn't. There is a paid subscription service called anonymizer for $30/year that is pretty good, but it is not compatible with IE8 and Firefox 3, so for now it's useless.

Most of internet security is just having good habits. Once you secure yourself, then always use that security to protect yourself. A Wired magazine writer just had a contest where he tried to disappear, and bad habits got him nabbed. I read a great article about it by the fugitive, but cannot find it, here is the hunter's story.

Being cognizant of your surroundings applies to the online world too, you know.

Some Fun Stuff

2010-02-15T15:38:00.002-05:00

I wish I was half as cool as this picture:

I found my BOV:

I have been reading and doing some more writing at a furious pace, hope to have some more stuff soon. I've been thinking I need to focus a bit more on practical applications, and less on waxing poetic. Expect more how-to's and guides of a practical nature soon.

Preparedness

2010-02-10T09:17:00.003-05:00

I always wondered how people could go about their daily lives without taking minimal precautions about what challenges they face. If it was going to snow out, I'd always wear clothes a little warmer and weather-resistant that if it wasn't. I always made sure I had at least some cash for a cab ride home after a night of drinking.

It wasn't until Katrina woke me up did I start prepping for the bigger things. But better late than never, right? I now have the means to keep myself and my family alive if something really bad does happen.

Take a look at what is going on in the economy. It's a ship without a rudder and no one at the helm. From personal experience, it's just a matter of time before the boat gets swamped. Our economy is but a wave away from disaster, and we need to be ready for that, and more importantly what happens next.

Walking through the supermarket the other day, and adding up how many people live nearby, there is but a couple of day's food in the whole store. Assuming, that is, the food is distributed properly and equitably. Like that is going to happen. As a society, we are on the edge of chaos, just a hungry belly between peace and war.

We have a moral obligation to try to convince people to be ready. There is a good saying though - You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink. Those friends and family who you try to warn, but do not heed your concerns, will get a harsh enough lesson. I will give what charity I can spare to them, only because the plan is to bail for points north, leaving nary a clue behind for those to follow me.

I foresee a lot of hard decisions we preppers are going to have to face, on who we can help, and who we cannot. I can offer no advice, no sound reasoning on who to help and who we should not. I have yet to make those decisions myself.

Time for some fun

2010-02-09T09:21:00.002-05:00

There has been a lot of work to do, and not much time to do it. So while I have a few minutes to myself before the rush at work, I've surfed up some fun for everyone.

Anytime is a good time for Led Zeppelin...

And finally MC Frontalot, a Nerdcore Rapper from Boston. Although I'm not a hip-hop fan, It's funny as all hell when some dorky white guy is rapping about computers, science fiction, and comic books. Especially when he's rapping about goth chicks.

So the economy is going to all hell. The irresponsible financial policies is coming home to roost, and we are the ones who will have to pay for it, and our children. I've been banging away at a side project, so I'll have to give you a sneak peek...

A human being has the right to their own life.

All relationships are voluntary

You have the right to disagree

Humans have the right to own property

All these rights are equal for everyone. A collection of beliefs is a moral code. This is my moral code, and I firmly believe this code fits with every religion on this planet. There may be some additional beliefs and tenants, but this moral code does not, and logically cannot interfere with whatever religion you may follow. Earlier, if you answered that your Diety(s) own you, then you gave yourself to them by your own free will. Therefore, you voluntarily gave up the right to your own life for whatever benefits your belief system provides.

Note that there is no right to force another for any reason. That is the path of totalitarianism, which cannot exist in a free society based on individual rights. The only socio-economic system that allows a free society that supports these fundamental rights of humans is capitalism. In a capitalist society no one is holding a gun to your head to buy a TV or a car. That has not always been the case in our historical examples of collectivism.

Please note that these rights are equal and for all. No one has a right to your property that was earned fairly. Likewise, you have no right to your neighbor’s property or anyone else’s property for that matter. The same is true for your lives.

In any of these rights do you see where the application of force is tolerated? I do not. You cannot force anyone to do anything. There may be civil penalties if you hold back on a contract, but the contract holder cannot FORCE you to hold up your end of a bargain. I’ll get into more detail on that subject later. You cannot force anyone to do anything; it is a violation of their fundamental rights. Because Altruism-Collectivism does not support these rights, then they resort to force whenever they feel the “end justifies the means.” Mao se Tung summed up the Altruistic-Collective mindset perfectly when he said:

“All political power comes from the barrel of a gun.”

More armed thugs

2010-02-04T08:47:00.002-05:00

So the IRS has put out a bid for 60 shotguns. I like the model, but they need to realize that the adjustable stocks are illegal here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Oh, silly me, those rules don't apply for anyone but us poor serfs.

I like their choice of shotgun. The 870 has served me quite well, and if I was to buy another I would get one with the ghost ring sights. I didn't see anything about an extended magazine tube, so I would certainly have that.

This is nothing new, nothing worth getting outraged about. The Federal government has been concerned with it's own safety and well-being over it's citizens since the Cold war with it's COG (Continuity of Government) policies. I'm beginning to wonder how extensive these policies are. I'm willing to bet the day after the end of the world there will be a Tax man banging on what's left of the door to get the government's share.

Rage against Fascism

2010-02-02T09:30:00.003-05:00

Oscar nominees were announced, Grammies were given out. I am so exited I could just fart.

Bread and Circuses for the masses! Let's all "ooooohhh" and "awwwwww" as the world burns. There is so much white noise out there it gives me time to think. Like a Japanese kid having a seizure from a Manga show, I'm reduced to twitching and foaming at the mouth most days. Not from the bewildering array of "human interest" stories and main stream media distractions to what's going on. Wait a second, If I have zero interest in a human interest story, does that mean I'm no longer human?

As I twitch in a fuming rabid rage against the injustices we are being subjected to, I look upon the sheep on the commuter rails with abject scorn. How can they be so blind? I mean it is obvious that the growth of government is a BAD THING, right? Do these people have a clue?

Rage, rage at the dying of the light. I rage against the death of freedom. I am firmly convinced that this road we are led down by the democratic and republican Pied Pipers leads not to Socialist, but a Fascist state. I think the Republicans and Democrats are marching us toward Fascism so once we have a fascist state, then the two parties can duke it out in another Night of the Long knives to see who will lead, and who will be ground under the jack-boots heel. We need to find the path we were supposed to be on, and haul ass over there. The first step is to bushwhack these leaders by voting them out of office now.

I think we might be able to pull something off that has never been done before. We, the People, can amend our Constitution. Let's amend our Constitution so that on Jan 1, 2011 ALL seats of congress and the senate are up for grabs. Same with the executive branch. The Supreme Court would be adjourned so that those bums are tossed out on their butts too. Those positions can be filled by the new administration.

In this coup, there are no primaries. there is no special favors given to one party or another. Everyone votes count as the electoral college is abolished. The one with the most votes is the president, the one with the 2nd most is vice president. It how it used to be, and it's how it will be again. No longer can some political machine parade it's two favored sons out like stud horses for our liking. They got to back two separate candidates if they want to lock up the executive branch.

No more. We will end fascism in our lifetimes.

OMFG

2010-01-29T09:12:00.002-05:00

In two minutes this British newscaster rips all main stream television media a new one. How sad that our news is so formulated, so contrived as to fit into the same format for the last 40+ years...

Musings

2010-01-28T09:02:00.002-05:00

I've been reading a lot of essays and writings by many different thinkers attempting to codify how I feel about Government, the nature of Man, and Freedom. One thing that is evident from my personal experiences over the last 20-ish years of adulthood is that the conservatives in America are reactionary. They never go on the offense, except for something cooked up in the religious right. Well I'm not religious, and we have separation of church and state for a reason.

But I digress. I'm not a conservative, never have been. I prefer to take the fight to the enemy, than to give up the initiative. I chose these words carefully. This is indeed a fight for the soul of America. The time for the slow slide into a socialist, planned economy is over. It was time to fight through the 60's and 70's. Now is the time to declare WAR.

I stumbled upon the three rules of compromise, as penned by Ayn Rand: (The Anatomy of Compromise, The Objectivist Newsletter, 1/1964 - emphasis hers)

1) In any conflict between two men (or two groups) who hold the same basic principles, it is the more consistent one who wins.
2) In any collaboration between two men (or two groups) who hold two different basic principles, it is the more evil or irrational who wins.
3) When opposite basic principles are clearly and openly defined, it works to the advantage of the rational side; when they are not clearly defined, but are hidden or evaded, it works to the advantage of the irrational side.

No wonder Obama has failed to provide the promised "transparency" he made when campaigning. Point #3 shows that when there is transparency in the motivations of the two parties then we, the people, will make the logical, and therefore more freedom-based choice. The two parties seek to muddy the water as much as possible with the ubiquitous sound byte, with buzzwords that stifle thought. Only with ever-pervading confusion have the Democrats and Republicans managed to keep we Americans asleep at the wheel.

Ayn goes on:

For instance, consider the conflict between the Republicans and Democrats (and within each party, the same conflict between the"conservatives" and the "liberals"). Since both parties hold altruism as their basic moral principal, both advocate a welfare state or mixed economy as their ultimate goal.

This was written in 1964! We now have the welfare state the Democrats always wanted, and the Republicans are still reacting rather than acting. We are now firmly entrenched as a welfare state. Through ACORN and other organizations, the liberals have managed to swell the ranks of the welfare-dependent, who as a voting block, are staunchly democratic in nature. We now have a growing percentage of the population that has no useable skills. It's sad, but true, that a subsistence farmer in India has better skills than some Americans. Sure, we have a better quality of life, but without the government tit they would starve, or revert to barbarism.

The bailouts are a dramatic slide towards a planned economy. I would rather gargle broken glass than have the inept, inefficient government plan my economy. And this is exactly what we are doing. Government intervention has never, ever helped the economy. In fact, the more the government screws around with the economy, the more regulations, controls, and laws need to be passed in order to "fix" the first meddling. Rinse and repeat for a century, and you have the bureaucratic mess we live in today.

The current state of affairs needs to be fixed. The cancer has to be cut out, so the body may live. I will NOT live in a statist-collectivist-alturistic state. I would die first.

Fiction - Part XIII - Home

2010-01-28T09:00:00.002-05:00

He must have passed out. Every muscle in his body was on fire, and every breath was labored. Reaching around he felt clotted blood in his hair, and all over his face. Rolling over, he fell off of the bench onto a concrete floor.

“Well that wasn’t too bright.” Said someone who Natog was unable to focus on.

Sitting up, he tried to will his eyes to focus. His head didn’t feel attached, like his brain was sloshing around in his skull.

“Here is some water and a towel. It looks worse than it is, the blood isn’t yours. The paramedics got most of the brains and bits of skull off of you.”

“What happened? I blacked out when someone started to tapdance on my head.” Natog felt around until he could feel the offered water bottle and the towel.

“Here, I’ll get that for you. Stand up and put your face close to the bars.”

Natog felt like hell. His back was hurting and his knees were killing him. Standing while grasping the bars for support, the cop washed his face. Finally blinking his eyes open, he could see it was Roswell. “Thanks.”

“Well you had yourself an interesting night last night.”

“Yeah, I don’t know how I survived.”

“Well, you are up shit’s creek without a paddle. You killed five cops last night.”

“Five thugs, you mean.”

“Well they are, well were, cops. We have crime scene services down there now trying to put together what happened.”

Natog knew what Roswell was going to say next. “I’ll give you a statement in a bit, after I get some food in me and I can collect my thoughts a bit.”

“Alright.” Roswell collected the towel, but left the water bottle. Turning he asked, “Did you serve?”

“In the military? No. They wouldn’t take me because I was too fat.”

Roswell smirked, “Well I don’t know how you did it, but you took out five of them.”

Roswell headed upstairs, and Natog looked around. The only illumination was a camping lantern on a small table with a half-finished game of solitaire. A folding metal chair was next to it. He was the only prisoner. A bucket had been furnished with a lid that was labeled “toilet” in large letters.

Shortly, Roswell returned with another man in an unwashed suit. “This here is Murray, he’s an ADA. He will be sitting in while you make your statement.”

“Um, am I under arrest?”

“Yes, suspicion of murder.”

“Do I get a lawyer?”

Murray chimed in, “Sure, if you can find one. Look, you were booked in, but we are still investigating what happened. Your statement will go a long way towards clearing some things up.”

“I am not ready to give a statement yet, if I could have a pencil and some paper, and a couple hours I’ll be able to give a better one.”

Murray wasn’t pleased. “Look, I just want to get this over with so we can either cut you loose or send you to Hanscomm. Either way I get to go home to a freezing house and starve.”

“I’m going to have to get my thoughts straight on what happened – it was all such a blur.”

“Alright, alright.” Murry dug a pen out from inside his sport coat and took a piece of paper from a drawer in the desk.

They played Gin while Natog worked at trying to remember every step, every shot, and every kill from the night before. He didn’t mark anything on the paper except for odd mnemonic devices. After about 45 minutes, Natog had crafted a story to fit what he remembered of the night before.

Murray looked up, “You done? Lemme see it.” Glancing at the paper, he asked “What the hell is this?”

“I’m ready to give my statement. I will need a copy.

“Oh for Chris’akes, I thought you were writing it out.”

“I was just getting my thoughts together, I’m now ready to give my statement.”

It took a couple more hours. Natog wrote out by hand 10 pages of text, complete with diagrams, and a preface including what had happened a few days before. A copy was made by Natog by writing really hard with the ballpoint pen over two sheets of paper, and a coin rubbed on the copy to highlight the indentations. Photocopiers needed power, and no one knew if they even made carbon paper anymore.

Once complete, both copies were signed by everyone. Natog kept his copy, and Roswell and the ADA went upstairs to go over the statement with the crime scene services officer. After an hour, Natog was cuffed and brought upstairs into an interview room. The Lieutenant of the barracks interrogated him for an hour with the CSS officer and Murray.

Everyone wanted the keys to his gun safe. He was going to have to forfeit his weapons. Needless to say, Natog cried “bullshit” to that. They argued for an hour more, with the ADA demanding that the weapons were to be turned over. Natog held his position that since he was innocent, until proven guilty. The ADA produced a writ from the governor declaring a state of emergency. Natog finally relented and told them which key it was on his keychain.

It all added up though. He was escorted back down to his cell by Roswell.

“Well Natog, you are one lucky son of a bitch. Do you know who those guys were?”

“Nope.”

“The only reason, and I do mean the ONLY reason they are even bothering to investigate this is because one of your neighbors watched the whole thing.”

“You shitting me?”

“Nope.”

“Well why didn’t they help me?”

“C’mon, if you were watching a firefight with automatic weapons, even you are not dumb enough to try and help. You take cover and pray to God a stray bullet doesn’t catch you.

“True enough.”

“Whoever it is, I’m going to owe them big time.”

The Lieutenant’s voice shouted down from above, “Ok cut him loose and bring him up here.”

With that Natog was released “pending further investigation”. He was free, but at what cost? Two troopers drove him to his house and escorted him to his locked gun safe.

Collecting the key from one of the officers, he swung open the door to an empty gun vault. Everyone asked the same question at the same time “Where are they?”

With an acting performance worthy of an Oscar, Natog demanded to know where his weapons were, and furthermore, to go back to the Lieutenant so he could explain why his house was robbed while the cops were in charge of it. In the end, Natog had to give another statement, and asked for a written statement on how his house got robbed while being watched by the cops.

The next time he got dropped off by the Troopers, he asked them to wait. Getting a note pad from the kitchen junk drawer, Natog wrote a permission slip for his home oil to be donated for use in hospital generators. Signing and dating it, he wrote, “P.S. don’t drip oil all over the carpets!”

After the troopers left, he checked the garage. To his utter amazement, it was still locked, and no new footprints were in there. With shaking hands he checked and his ammunition and rifles were still in the jeep. Taking off a pick and shovel from the roof rack, Natog moved on to the next chore.

He then got busy using a pick to dig a grave big enough for his two dogs. It was hard work, but he planted then in the back corner of the back yard, where they liked to stand and bark at everything going on. The ground was rocky and frozen, and Natog was still quite sore. In the end he buried them halfway, then piled rocks and bricks from the firepit on top. After a moment of silence, hoping that Thor and Loki were happily chewing bones under Odin’s table in Valhalla, Natog packed his tools up and locked the garage back up.

Checking his cache, he was relived to find his weapons. Checking the time, he had an hour before the next scheduled radio broadcast. Lighting a fire, he boiled some of his last water to rehydrate a spaghetti and meat sauce meal. Letting the fire burn itself out, he connected the VHF radio up to his jeep battery and waited.

Thankfully, Bill and Mum stuck to the schedule and he made contact. Mum was worried sick when Natog didn’t come early this morning as his last transmission promised. Natog was smart enough not to mention anything about last night to his Mum. She would have freaked out. “I’ll be leaving here as soon as it’s dusk… there is nothing here for me now.”

“You had better! I know you’re not telling me everything, but we will be here.”

“I love you guys, over and out.”

Collecting his weapons from his cache he suited up and waited for dusk to come.

With a start Natog woke up. It was dark out, and he had fallen asleep on the couch. Waiting, Natog was unable to hear what woke him up. It took a moment to place his bearings and remember what was going on.

Checking his watch, it was 7:23pm. Thankfully, he didn’t sleep the whole night away. Walking through his home, he checked to make sure everything was packed for the fifth time. Realizing the dogs would not be coming, he loaded a few additional items into the passenger seat, where the dogs would have ridden shotgun.

Opening the main door to the garage, he pulled the jeep out, and carefully backed it up to the trailer. Once the trailer was connected, he pulled the trailer from his garage, and locked the garage back up. Stopping at the end of the driveway, Natog got out once again, and gave a long forlorn look at his house before getting back in the jeep and making his way to Dartmouth.

Natog was careful, and followed the back roads down through Lakeville then Westport. No one else was on the road, and he encountered no roadblocks on his journey. It took him two hours for the normally 35 minute ride. As he wove his way through the backroads, it began to snow, lightly at first, then gradually the wind picked up. Soon, Natog was driving through a good, old-fashioned nor’easter.

When he finally backed onto the lawn so he could unload easily, Mum and Bill rushed out of the house, smothering Natog in the warm embrace of family.

Three percent?

2010-01-16T14:55:00.004-05:00

"I am determined to defend my rights and maintain my freedom or sell my life in the attempt." - Nathanael Greene

I've been trying to find a good slogan for a viral advertising campaign. So far, this is it. Nathanael Green was born outside Warwick, RI and became General Washington's most dependable Generals.

This is a great quote, perhaps I can sum it up...

“If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands that feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.” ~Samuel Adams, August 1, 1776

I'm getting pretty pissy with how things are. Where I work now is surrounded by a organized team of mendicants that are pretty aggressive when it comes to getting money from strangers. That, and Amnesty International has a few college kids hired to accost people about "Human Rights." Coming back from lunch last week, One stepped in my path and said "Do you want to talk about human rights?" I replied "Humans have no rights." This befuddled him for a minute, so I managed to escape.

What rights do we have left? Let's have an accounting.

Article I
The right to free speech. We can have free speech in some places, usually chain link fenced areas where those who would do best to hear the peoples wrath are carefully segregated from.

"Chapter 264: Section 11 Promotion of anarchy; prohibition

Whoever by speech or by exhibition, distribution or promulgation of any written or printed document, paper or pictorial representation advocates, advises, counsels or incites assault upon any public official, or the killing of any person, or the unlawful destruction of real or personal property, or the overthrow by force or violence or other unlawful means of the government of the commonwealth or of the United States, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than three years, or in jail for not more than two and one half years, or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars; provided, that this section shall not be construed as reducing the penalty now imposed for the violation of any law. [...]

So I can't really talk about tossing these meatballs out of office by any other means than voting them out, which would be impossible because the Democrats and Republicans have a lock on all political activity.

Freedom of the press. We bloggers and micro-news sites are protected, but we cannot get access to the information worth reporting. The big news organizations are pretty much bought and paid for, as evidenced by the soft questions asked of the administration. Now if I had a news story that was true, but shook the waves of bigger fish, then you could bet your ass I would be shut down faster than you could say "cease and desist." Then I would have to fight for years to get it overturned, by then the news would be safely forgotten about. Don't have that one either.

Petition and assembly. Next Tea Party, let's walk up to the capital building and see if the congress critters would hear our petition. Not going to happen. Let's see if we can petition the President... Not going to happen. For the most part, our right to assembly is unimpeded... unless we want to talk shit about our government, then we are forced into chain-link cages, safely out of sight of those in power.

Freedom of association. Sure, so long as you do not associate with militia groups, Muslims, or the flavor du jour of domestic terrorists.

Freedom of Religion. Truth be told, this right is the least impacted. Unless you are a Wiccan in the military. Then you get shit on when you want a pentacle over your grave.

Article II

The right to bear arms. ROFL. "...shall not be infringed." Do any of these asshole even understand english?

Article III

Ok no one is making me put troops up in my house.

Article IV

Unreasonable search and seizure. I can be searched at any time when riding the T. Going through my stuff stops terrorists. It does. Believe that, and I got some waterfront property on the moon you need to buy.

Article V

Self-Incrimination, due process, double jeopardy. I seriously doubt the American Government has any idea what "just compensation" is. I wonder if all those folks in NO had checks written on the spot for the guns taken from them during Katrina.

Article VI

Speedy and public trial. So far, this one hasn't been fucked with, I don't count the terrorists in Gitmo. They can rot for all I care.

Article VII

Trial by jury. Yet another mostly left alone.

Article VIII

Excessive bail, no cruel an unusual punishments. Too bad the victims are usually traumatized more then the criminal is.

Article IX

This is the encroachment on the bill of rights by government... this is the most violated right we have, it's the right not to be fucked with.

Article X

State's rights. If it isn't in the Constitution, then it's the domain of STATE law. Not FEDERAL. STATE LAW.

So the long of the short of it is the Cycle of Governance. Freedom is eclipsed by tyranny until we can't take it anymore, then we overthrow the government, put in a new, freer one until it become tyrannical and it cycles again. This is where we are now. Our forefathers would be appalled at what we put up with. They would be ashamed we called ourselves Americans.

Time

2010-01-14T09:12:00.002-05:00

That's the one thing missing from todays society. There used to be time for a man to have a brew on the way home to socialize with his friends, then have time for the wife and kids. It's a legacy of of the "big-corporate" model of business we switched to in the 70's.

I could go off on some tangent involving a utopian fantasy, but I won't. I'm going to try to put together some ideas how we can change things now. If, like me, you are an office-worker-type, then push for flex-time, working from home, or 80-in-9. Our commute is what is the biggest waste of our time. When you are forced to commute, then use the time to your advantage. Read a book, knit some socks, plan your garden. Some tasks you can do while driving, like trying to improve your memory by memorizing license plates.

It's tough, but when the weekend comes around you need to either "play" or "work" anything you do to dilly-dally just eats time. I love watching sports, so I se the PVR to record the game, and do dishes, laundry etc. while the game starts. After 20 or 30 minutes I sit down and watch the game, fast forwarding through the commercials. In a regular football game, there is at least an hour of commercials. By halftime I'm close to live TV, so I'll pause the game and do another chore. Baseball is just as bad with a commercial after every damn batter these days.

Once the poop hits the fan we can work on a better economic model where we have more time for the ones we love, and the work that needs to get done around the house. For now, be productive in mind, body, and soul. Each facet of our humanity needs to be nurtured, or we stop being human.

Rising Concern

2010-01-12T08:45:00.003-05:00

My ears have been alerted, not by a noise, but the absence of it. I haven't heard much about the oil prices going up, and therefore the "little old ladies" freezing to death. Usually at this time of year one of the Kennedy's is pushing for donations to his oil fund for the poor. But curiously, it's quiet.

I think things are a lot worse out there than usual, and there is a sort of conspiracy not to talk about the pink elephant in the corner. I've dropped the heat in my house to 55 when I'm not there, and only up to 60 when I am there. If you don't have one, get a programmable thermostat! The local oil mafia filled me up in June, and I still have about 1/2 a tank left. I'm not looking forward to filling it again, #2 heating fuel is about $3.75ish a gallon right now...

Back to the original point. I suspect the media is drawing public attention to the plight of "poor florida farmers" and away from the economy. Funny thing is, most citrus farming is done by large corporations, not families. So everyone line up and shed a tear because Tropicana might not make it's projected profit margin! Boo-fucking-hoo.

I'd laugh my ass off if this was another mini-ice age like there was in the 1800's. It did suck, and led to all kinds of human misery, but in this day and age, I would laugh my ass off. I should see if any of the casinos in vegas would take my action on which climate change nitwit would be tarred and feathered first?

On further thought it would suck for us. Oil and food prices would go up sharply. The question would be if panic would set in? Anyway, when I order my seeds, I should plan for another crappy growing season.

The first step in avoiding a trap is knowing of its existence. Beware the trap of the mind. Don't let people think for you, try to see through the boob-tube's influence. The second wave of mortgage collapses is coming, and we need to stay vigilant. Plan for a crappy growing season. From what I heard the upland game this year was scarce, odds are it will be bad next year too. So if you are planning for pheasants to get you through the fall, then be sure to have a plan B, and a plan C.

Fiction - Part XII - Berserker

2010-01-08T15:37:00.005-05:00

The roar of a shotgun in close quarters deafened him even though he was in the basement. One dog was yelping, and Natog heard the dog retreat into the in-law apartment. The shotgun fired several more times, alternating with kicks and grunts. Grabbing his vest, he pulled it on and grabbed his M1A and the shotgun. Cautiously climbing the stairs he could hear someone working on the door with a tool. As Natog stuck his head around the corner, just enough to get an eyeball on to what was going on he heard someone try to open the front door, and gave it a few more kicks.

Natog just about jumped out of his skin when the door to the back started to be kicked in a few feet behind him. Natog lay there sweating and freaking out as they worked on the doors for a few minutes then stopped. He heard a whistle, then the crunch of people running on snow, then the roar of an engine with accompanying squealing tires. Cautiously, he made his way around the inside of the house. No one got in.

The door was smashed and had several holes blown through it near the doorknob. Natog gasped as he looked on the floor. Twisted in the braces holding the door up was Loki. Half of Loki’s head was missing. He evidently caught a slug as the attackers tried to blow open the door.

Hearing panting in the in-law apartment, Natog walked in to see Thor lying on his side in a pool of blood, his right leg dangling at an obscene angle from his wrecked shoulder. He was looking at Natog with sad eyes, and bubbles of blood were frothing from his mouth.

“My poor boy!” Natog collapsed onto his knees, pulling Thor close to him. Examining the wound revealed the slug had torn through Thor’s upper chest, his left lung was punctured, and most of the ribs on that side were shattered. Blood was everywhere. Thor’s shattered body would be unable to be healed, so all Natog could do for him was to provide the final mercy for him. Pulling his pistol from its holster Natog hugged Thor a final time, and then put a .45 caliber JHP through the back of his skull.

Returning to the top of the stairs, he recovered his shotgun and wondered what to do next. Squatting on top of the stairs, he began to cry, with heavy tears streaming down his face then dripping off his chin to spash on the threshold to his apartment.

He heard a car engine in the distance. Listening, he slung the M1A over his shoulder, and clutched the 12 gauge to his chest. As the car got closer, he wiped the tears away, and took cover. Natog could see car lights play across his yard and then shine intensely through the wrecked door. Raising the shotgun, he shouldered the weapon, with it’s barrel leveled at the ruined door. Something was punched through the glass, and the engine revved and tires squealed as the door exploded into kindling.

They say there are three kinds of anger. You can be “everyday” angry, anger in the heat of passion, and then there was angry enough to be enraged, a mindless slave to your psychotic anger.

There is actually a fourth level of anger, the Berserker. You gain the strength of the adrenaline, the pain resistance of the endorphins, but you mind is that of a predator. You become a killing machine. Natog became a Berserker this night.

The headlights were left on, providing a perfect backlight to see targets by. A large form filled the doorway and Natog put the bead of the shotgun on his chest and squeezed the trigger. He then quickly pumped the shotgun, tracking at waist height putting a slug or buckshot every eight inches along the wall where the next thug would be waiting. Six rounds later Natog dropped the shotgun and ducked behind the wall. Unslinging the rifle, he belly crawled towards the bedrooms, his mind a white fury.

As he crawled, automatic gunfire ripped through the house, as several assault rifles were emptied through the house. Natog could see the muzzle flash of two of them, one from the hallway, the other from outside the home by the door he just shot through. Natog crawled into the hallway beside the bathroom, and then turned around. He could hear several voices screaming and weapons being reloaded. It seemed like an eternity, but finally he could see the tactical lights shine as men entered his house. Counting to five, Natog fired several shots at waist height along the wall separating the kitchen from the outer hallway. Pulling the weapon down to ankle height, he fired about 10 more at ankle level across where the hallway would be. He shimmied back as he emptied the rifle randomly. Once empty he twisted and flopped into the guest bedroom, landing on his back. Bursts of gunfire erupted again through the house.

While the thugs were putting holes in his wallpaper, he popped out the empty mag, and slapped in a new one. He wouldn’t have much time as the house was small. Rolling up into a crouch, Natog quietly clicked in the stops that prevented the window from going up more than a few inches, and slid the window open, then tried to dive through it. He got most of the way out. He carried his mags on his belly, and they got hung up trying to get out. Twisting, he made it out the window, but landed on his head, flopping over to his side. He was wedged with his back to the foundation, and his belly into a bush he had for landscaping.

Thankfully, he didn’t break his fool neck and his rifle was still gripped by his right hand, lying along his body. Lifting it, he placed the muzzle along the sash between the two windows.
A tactial light lit up the night as someone yelled “Fuck! He’s getting away!

Like a praying mantis, Natog waited. Waited like cancer. Natog was a glacier, grinding the world with his slow will. In what seemed like minutes a muzzle, then a hand, then a head stuck out the window, as the figure swung left to search for Natog he swung the muzzle from where it was hidden, and put it under the thug’s chin. Squeezing the trigger the .308 kicked down hard, right into Natog’s neck, but the reward was a headless torso slumping down in the window.

Gunfire erupted from the room, and Natog was showered in debris as the bullets popped through the house wall. Natog coolly noted that the thug was panicking. Since Natog was below the interior floor, and had a cement wall at his back, he was quite safe for the moment. Looking around, he could see two figures walking towards a pickup truck on his front yard. One was leaning on the other heavily, and was obviously wounded in the leg. The truck was half on his lawn, with a thick rope trailing from the bumper to the remnants of his front door.

He could hear a racket going on inside the house still, but no gunfire. Disentangling himself from the shrub, he skirted the edge of the house, ducking around the far corner from the pickup. Using the shade provided from the corner of the house, he circled the huge forsythia bush separating his yard from his neighbors. Once around the bush, he had a clear arc of fire around his yard, but no cover. Quickly, felt around for a rock on the edge of the road. Grabbing a chunk of asphalt, he chucked it as hard as he could through the bedroom window 50 feet away.

The man with the wounded leg was allowed to slump unceremoniously behind the truck’s door as the other released him and spun bringing up his carbine. Another burst of gunfire echoed from the house, the muzzle flash visible from the living room. The thug by the truck started firing into the bedroom, as he could see where his buddy was firing. Natog calmly put the front post on the driver’s side window where the man’s chest would be and squeezed off two rounds. The effect was immediate, his carbine began to drop from his hands, as he slumped against the door. A third shot from Natog caught him in the top of the forehead.

Running as fast as he could, he rushed to the left, circling across the street. The thug with the wounded leg was screaming, not for anyone in particular, just a primal scream of rage and fear. He was on the other side of the pickup truck from Natog, so for the moment, he wasn’t a threat. Natog crouched across the street, at the base of a tree, using it for cover. Gulping air, but trying to do it quietly, Natog tried to steady himself. He was still filled with the while fury, and a cold thought entered his mind. He had to have no survivors, no witnesses. Natog did a quick tactical reload, dropping the half empty mag into a drop pouch on his vest. Sighting down the barrel of the M1A, he put the post on the chest of the wounded man trying to climb into the cab of the truck.

Before he pulled the trigger, he realized all shots would need to be through the front of the thugs, preferably with brass around them to show they were active participants. Without conscious thought he had assembled a profile on these thugs. Although they were trained, they were not combat veterans or SWAT. Likewise, other than the initial assault squad, they haven’t worked or trained together. These were all advantages for Natog.

Although he never received official training with firearms, the training to overcome the flight or fight reflexes and move under fire were honed across dozens of paintball fields. The proper use of cover was extremely important in paintball, and “slicing the pie” was second nature to him.

Illuminated perfectly by the trucks headlights, a thug in all black web gear bolted from his home, and crouch-walked to the front of the truck swinging his weapon wildly from side to side. Natog grabbed the quickest thing to throw, a loaded mag from his vest, and tossed it into the woods to the right. The thug walking from the house swung the weapon to where the mag landed and triggered the tactical light and a few rounds from his weapon. The front post was already on his chest, so Natog squeezed the trigger, pulled the post back onto his chest and fired again. The form crumpled face first before Natog could put a round into his head.

Rushing the truck, the man with the wounded leg by the truck was trying to pull a sidearm from his vest. Slowing his pace, he waited until the weapon was fully from the holster before firing two rounds into the thug’s chest followed by a third round into his left eye.

Using the door of the pickup for cover he did another tactical reload, dropping that mag into the drop pouch. Surveying the situation, there was another thug laid out by the entrance to his house. Keeping his rifle trained on the body he reached down with his left hand and verified the thug he just shot had no pulse. Picking up the weapon by the barrel, he tossed it in the back of the truck. He then did the same for the other thug by the pickup, tossing both his pistol and carbine in the back of the truck.

He then covered the thug by the door, and approached cautiously, keeping his weapon trained on the body. He quickly pulled the carbine off of the form and tossed it into a shrub on the side of the house. This one was still alive. Rolling him onto his back, Natog got his first clear look at the thug. The face was covered with a ski mask, but blood was bubbling from the mouth and nose holes. Roughly pulling the ski mask off, he saw it was one of the two officers from the other day. He coughed violently, with fresh blood coming from both his nose and mouth.

He was trying to say something, mouthing some words. “Who are you?” finally came out with a grimace of pain.

Looking down at the officer, Natog replied “For I am Shiva, the Destroyer of Worlds.”

Checking quickly, he saw that the rifle plate stopped both shotgun slugs, but at the expense of breaking almost all of the officer’s ribs. The blood and coughing meant at least one lung was punctured, and he was bleeding internally. He couldn’t last long, and wouldn’t be a threat. Getting up, Natog cleared his house quickly and efficiently.

He collected the empty magazine from the bedroom and dropped it into his pouch. He gathered the headless thug’s weapons and tossed them into the back of the truck. As he walked back into the house by the thug the man gave a shudder and wheezed his last breath into the January night.

Retrieving the shotgun, he stashed them it in his hidden cache along with his pistol, M1A and combat vest. His cache was a space between the sheetrock of the back of the laundry chute and the chimney that was impossible to find.

He was beginning to shake violently. The hormone cocktail of massive amounts of adrenaline and endorphins exacted a heavy toll when the high wore off. Feeling lightheaded, Natog went out front to get some air, and walked straight into a face full of muzzles for .01 seconds before being thrown violently to the ground and handcuffed. Shortly thereafter with cops screaming in his ear he puked his guts out.

The numbers of Martial Law

2010-01-06T08:47:00.003-05:00

There has been some discussion in the comments of my last post in regards that the entire country could be locked down. It can't, the numbers do not lie.

There are 2,300,000 Active and Reserve in the US Military. For the sake of argument, let's assume all troops across the world are brought home for this exercise. There are 860,000 Police officers. This includes detectives, Street cops, transit police, and even fish and game wardens. That's a total of 3,160,000 boots on the ground. Let's have these guys work 12 on/ 12 off and then we reduce that to 1,580,000 for active boots on the ground.

There are 6,400,000 people in Massachusetts alone! Boston itself, not including the surrounding cities of Lynn, Somerville, Braintree, Framingham, Quincy, etc is 90 square miles. This is all highly populated urban environment. How many thousands of intersections are there that will need checkpoints?

What our military is learning from Afghanistan is that the only way to control a population is with boots on the ground. Fancy robot flying machines act as force multipliers, along with tanks and C3, so on and so forth. But it is the soldier that makes it happen.

There are 167,000 total troops in Afghanistan right now, and the country is anything but pacified and controlled. Ant the country is only 250,000 square miles. The population is concentrated in several cities and then sparsely populated across the rest of the country. America is ~3.8M square miles, with many, many major cities that sprawl into each other.

Just scaling up the area of the countries, the US is ~15x bigger, so that needs 2.5M troops. We have 10x as many people, so that means 1.67M troops.

There simply are not enough boots to go around and lock down the whole country at once. The average Afghani is smart enough to know not to screw around with people with machine guns. The average resident of Roxbury, or Detroit or LA, thinks they have "rights" even under Martial Law. So it will take more troops to keep order here in America than in Afghanistan. Riots. Food hoarding that becomes food rationing. Gas, diesel, and home heating oil shortages. Brownouts and forced electrical grid shutdowns are all going to be part of it.

I wonder how long before people get sick of it and really cause trouble?

Circus Maximus

2010-01-05T08:47:00.002-05:00

It blows my mind at all the chaos and distractions thrown around by every news outlet these days. We have so much going on, but the core issues are still not being addressed. What we have here is nothing but bread and games to distract us, to entertain us, to subdue us and bend our wills to their dread purpose.

I will not falter in my pursuit of freedom. These petty distractions will not deter me from my chosen path. I am ever vigilant, filtering the wheat of truth from the chaff of noise spewing from every media outlet.

I spoke at length the other day with a older gentleman who grew up in South America. He went through several martial laws in this unspecified country, and each one was carte blanche for the military to do whatever they wanted. Even after many years of living and raising a family here in America, I could sense the fear he still had.

I fear we are coming to a time where martial law will be declared in America. There are many trigger points, and these are all possible. Even the Federal Government has taken percautions by stationing troops to NorthCOM. So someone (very) high up in the food chain has decided that this is a very real possibility.

What's this mean to us? I guess it depends where you live. There is no way that martial law could be declared across the entire country. There simply are not enough troops and police to fulfill that mission. I see it more likely that areas of the country are locked down, and the rest of us can do whatever we want, more or less.

This is food for thought to keep in the back of the brain while perusing the "news" out there.

On a separate note, we are having a tough winter, and I fully expect a poor crop this year. Take whatever additional precautions you feel are necessary. That reminds me, "Bill" is on blood thinners, and I got to find some quick-clotting agent for him.

Fiction - Part XI - Packing

2009-12-21T21:43:00.001-05:00

The next few days started off very relaxing. Natog fell into a routine with spending 75% of his time doing chores. Cooking meals and washing dishes, collecting wood, packing and re-packing supplies for the trip to Maine, loading ammunition, cleaning and checking weapons. One early morning Natog drove to the local range and checked the zero on his M1A and his bolt-action .308 Remington 700. Quickly packing up he made it out of the gun club before any nosy cops showed up.

Al and Mary stopped by. Natog made tea and chatted while they beated around the bush. Seems both sets of parents fled New Bedford and were staying in Al’s tiny apartment. Natog donated a case of canned goods, some extra candles, a roll or two of toilet paper, and five pounds of rice he hadn’t vacuum-sealed yet. He also took the time to teach them how to filter water through T-shirts and boil the water before drinking it or using it to brush your teeth.

Every night at varying times they scheduled before Natog left Dartmouth, the family chatted using the VHF radios. Nothing that would give them away was mentioned over the air. Likewise no mention of supplies, weapons, or Maine were mentioned either. If they needed to, they could have used two identical books to make a simple code that only those with the same edition could decipher, unless you had access to some NSA supercomputers.

Over the next few weeks Natog had to make many hard decisions on what gear to take, and what had to be left behind. Woodworking tools were the toughest of all the decisions. The Berger’s farm had no tablesaw, but Natog’s Unisaw weighed in at 400 pounds and was 3 feet wide and 7 feet long. Natog did pack his dado set, and other 10” blades for the trip, figuring another tablesaw might be squired through barter.

For handsaws he limited himself to two crosscut saws, and two rip saws. The flea market finds would serve him well if he needed to do any construction or furniture work while in Maine. He added his Japanese crosscut saw, a flush cutting saw, a panel saw and two dovetail saws. The dovetail saws were in very rough shape, but he hoped he could salvage them. He managed to get two large saws suitable for felling trees, and those were set aside to strap to the loaded trailer.

He packed all his hand power tools. Including his biscuit joiner, routers, and all the bits and blades he had for them. He bought his biscuits in bulk, along with woodworking glue, so he had plenty there. He did take the router lift for his big router out of his table saw so he could build a router table if needed. He also made sure to take all his drill bits.

Rounding it out he took his eggbeater drill, his brace and bits, and all his sandpaper. He took his water-based poly, and his wax, but all other stains, paints and sealers were left behind. He also squeezed in all his tape measures, rulers and layout tools. He packed a large assortment of files, with a few rasps added for good measure. Finally, he packed all his chisels and planes for the trip.

All of the tools were loaded into totes and loaded onto the trailer. The heaviest ones were put on top of the axle, and the lighter ones were set down next to the trailer to load on top. Canned goods were carefully gone through. A few items were set aside for morale boosting up in Maine, namely the Spaghetti-O’s and Canned Ravioli. As much as possible was set aside for use in the next few days. The rest was packed up and loaded in the back of the jeep, or the trailer in totes.

All of the staples such as rice, beans or, pasta were destined to be packed up for Maine. As he was packing it, he noticed a few vacuum packed bags of rice were no longer sealed, but no teeth marks could be found. Upon further examination, the rice itself punctured the plastic bags, allowing air in. When Natog checked his mylar packed corn, all but one were no longer sealed. Since there was nothing that could be done, the buckets had the lids put back on, and were packed in the trailer for the trip.

One problem Natog had was the glass mason jars and spaghetti sauce he had. The best he could come up with was to load them into cardboard boxes he had saved from moving, and cutting the box down even with the top of the jars. Then he cut the extra cardboard up and slipped it in-between the glass jars. These boxes were loaded into the truck, with clothes he was taking tucked around then to keep them from moving, and to act as added padding.

Natog packed his firearms for transportation. His M1A, shotgun, and pistol were to be kept handy, but the rest was packed up for transport along with all of the ammunition and cleaning supplies. For the M1A, Natog loaded his vest with mags, giving him 8 total. The shotgun had it’s short barrel on already, but the longer one was loaded into the truck as well as it’s choke tubes. Natog kept his skeet shooting bag out, with about 20 shells of slugs and 20 buckshot in the two halves. The rest were packed up. He also loaded the shell sock on the stock of the shotgun with 5 rounds of 3” buckshot. With the 5 rounds loaded in the gun, he had plenty of ammo for it. His prized bolt-action rifle was loaded in it’s case, with 7 rounds in it’s stock sock of hunting rounds. It’s 4 round magazine was loaded but, not in the rifle. In all his packed guns the trigger locks were left off, a clear violation of Massachusetts law, but odds are there were going to be bigger problems with the cops with the arsenal Natog was taking to Maine.

All of the reloading supplies for his rifle and pistol would be making the trip. His reloader for shotgun shells wouldn’t see much use as he had nothing but #8 shot, which would be good for quail and doves, but nothing else. He did pack 200 1oz skeet rounds for the trip, in case there were quail up in Maine. The powder and primers were loaded carefully in the jeep, and at no time did he mix powders or put one kind of primer in another box. It would be a shame to get up there and blow your own head off by being a dumbass he mused.

Clearing out his shed, he loaded his generator, chainsaw, and all his rakes, shovels, etc. onto the growing pile on the trailer. He also collected his spare bar oil, chains, the shorter bar, and so on and so forth for the trip. He filled his jeep’s tank with the stored gas he had, and still had 2 ¾ 5 gallon cans left. These would be lashed in the front of the trailer, but in easy reach. Packed deep in the middle of the pile was his spare propane tank, and the half-full one from his grill.

He had been packing for several days when a police cruiser rolled up while he was carrying a box of food from the house to the garage. Two men got out and started to approach Natog. Turning his right side away, he checked that it was a Brockton cruiser, not a Middleboro one.

The first thought through Natog’s head was a string of profanity followed by a series of ideas to get out of this situation. Before the officers could take a third step, Natog called out “That’s far enough, officers.”

They were both in uniform, and had their hands casually on the butts of their guns. The larger one shouted back, “We jus’ want to talk to you.”

“Well you can do it from there.” Natog kept his hands visible, he knew there was no way he could out-draw a service holster, and wanted them to have no excuse. He had a sinking suspicion that one of these two was the boy’s father from the other night.
The officers continued to approach. “That isn’t very neighborly of you! Bob, get a load of this guy!”

While the two were looking at each other, Natog made a run for it. Turning fast he dropped the box and dove into the garage. A few choice swears followed him as he kicked the door shut with his foot. Quickly scrambling to his feet, he turned the deadbolt as one of the cops laid a shoulder into it. Natog was heavier, so he managed to shut the door and turn the bolt. His shotgun was in the house, so he pulled his pistol and took cover behind his joiner. Finally, he could hear the cops over the rushing blood in his ears.

“Open this door you cocksucker!” The cop was trying to kick open the door, but he was unable to gain any leverage. The threshold was a foot off of the driveway, and there was just a single step. The other cop was trying to lift the garage door, but Natog kept the bolt on the door engaged with the track, preventing it from opening.

“I didn’t see a warrant, and you are out of your jurisdiction, so take a hike!” Natog yelled at the door.

“We just want to talk!” came back as the kicking on the door tapered off.

“Bullshit, why did you have your hands on your guns then? You have no reason to be on my property, so I will ask you to leave, after that you are trespassing!”

“Heh, Charlie, get a load of this faggot! We are in a State of Emergency, we ARE the law! Now you get your ass out here, we need to talk with you.”

“Any talking will be done through a door, I do not recognize your authority.”

“Recognize this. When we get you out of there, we are going to beat the fuck out of you.”

Natog thought to himself “Oh Shit.” Digging in the jeep he pulled out his combat vest and M1A out. Holstering his pistol, he took a magazine from his vest he slapped it into the magazine well and pulled the bolt back before letting it slide home.

The slide of an assault rifles bolt slamming shut makes a rather impressive sound. To Natog the sounds of Bob and Charlie scrambling, grunting and swearing while taking cover was more impressive. He took his position behind the joiner again, with the barrel of the M1A leveled at the door.

“So… What did you want to talk to me about, anyways?” Natog waited another minute “Bob, Charlie? You there?” There was no answer. After a minute he heard the dogs go crazy in the house, and one of the cops curse a few times.

Although now armed to the teeth, his mobility was limited. The only entrances and exits were through the garage door or the regular door. Both were on the same side of the garage. The garage did not have a doorway into the house. Natog took a long time listening, but heard nothing.

Pulling his shop stool around he took a seat and prepared to wait it out. He knew they were out there, as he didn’t hear any car doors or engine. Eventually, they gave themselves away by walking around the back of the building, and stepping on some snow.

“Listen, I’m not coming out of there, and you guys are not going to get me out of here by force. IF you had a legit reason to arrest me, then this place would be crawling with Middleboro cops and Troopers. So, I turned your kid in for trying to rob me and you want to blame me for it? Is that it?”

Finally they broke the silence. “My kid is going to a detention center because of you. So yeah, I’m going to take it out on you. You better grow eyes on the back of your skull, because I’m going to get my due. You hear me?”

“Whatever. Stay away from me, stay away from my house. I’m not intimidated by thugs.”

“Fuck you.” With that he heard a set of feet crunch through the snow and get into a car.

Natog strained his ears, and sure enough, one car door slammed and the car started up. Then another set of feet crunched to the car and got in. Just in case, Natog waited another half-hour before sticking his nose out. Using tactical movement, and wielding the M1A to point to likely ambush points, he made his way to the house. The box of food was gone. One of the panes on his front door was broken, but the bolt was still locked. When he unlocked the door, the dogs were freaking out, and trying to rub their eyes. They must have dumped a whole can of pepper spray into them. Thankfully, his foresight into having a deadbolt that was keyed on both sides paid off. There was some blood on the floor, not much, just enough if the thug cut himself on the glass or one of the boys bit him good.

The bathtub was almost empty of water, so he brought the dogs in and carefully washed their eyes out. It took a while, and it used half of his remaining water, but he couldn’t let them suffer. He had about four gallons left for drinking and washing. The dog’s bathwater could be used to flush the hopper.

Natog didn’t get much sleep that night. Every sound brought him wide awake, reaching for his shotgun. The next morning he unpacked the trailer enough to get at a few tools. Cutting down a 2x4 he made crude braces to help doors resist being kicked in. he made two for each door he used regularly. The front door simply had a couple scraps of 2x6 across it at chest and knee height. These 2x6’s were screwed into the frame of the door, and the next studs over. He used 3” deck screws, as drywall screws were too brittle for this task.

To add security to the door, he attached a 2x4 strip to the door just below the doorknob. He placed another on the floor a few feet in front of the door nailed into the floor joists. Two 2x4’s were then cut to fit in-between the two braces. The 2x4 was trimmed with 45 degree cuts on all 4 sides so it was very snug and form fitting between the brace and the door, likewise with the floor. This with the addition of the kickplate around the deadbolt, and 3” screws used for the hinges made the steel clad doors very resistant to being kicked in.

Using some scrap plywood he blocked off windows as best he could. He put up these over the drapes and curtians so they couldn’t be seen from the outside. He covered the windows in the living room, and the inlaw apartment, the rest would have to wait.

None of these precautions would prevent someone from getting in, it would only slow them down. With his pile of scrap wood exhausted, Natog sat down and had a nice lunch.

The hardest part was going from room to room collecting everything he wanted to take, and putting it in the living room to pack and sort. Some of his prized possessions he couldn’t see taking, but didn’t want to leave them for the looters. All of this was boxed up and brought to the attic above the garage. Natog knew that a fire would take it all, but he had no way of protecting it if he could bury it in the frozen yard.

Sorting clothes was tough, as he fully anticipated losing weight, but gaining size in the shoulders and legs. To compromise, he packed a three day bag of clothes he would live out of for the next few days, and would pack the rest around the other boxes and the nooks and crannies of the jeep. Summer clothes were the last to pack up and were going to go on the trailer in garbage bags.

In the definite pile were a fair amount of board games, decks of cards, and several series of books. Also he had a selection of cookware, camping gear, sleeping bags, and his tent. He also had all his books related to blacksmithing, Gardening, brewing, and survival.

In the maybe pile were more books and games, his laptop, and all his hard drives that had data he needed on them. He also had his big monitor and his desktop system. All his fly tying supplies, and fishing gear, including salt, fly, and bass.

In the growing pile of discards were all his RPG’s other computer systems boxes of more books, and clothes that had no use in the outdoors, mainly dress shirts. The pants could be hacked into shorts, so they were in the maybe pile.

In the end the laptop was going with the HDD’s, all but one brewing book would be left behind. Two Hawaiian shirts were going to make the trip, just to liven up the winter doldrums. 90% of the camping gear was going, he was unable to fit the three camping stoves, so the large two-burner one would be left behind. He did take his kitchen knives and a few additional pots he normally didn’t take camping because they would be useful for an extended stay.

The one item he wished he could take, but couldn’t fit was a ladder. He hoped they had one up at the site in Maine.

After eight days of packing and re-packing his jeep looked like it belonged on the set of Mad Max. The rakes, shovels, and bucksaws wound up strapped to camping gear on the roof of the jeep. The trailer was covered in several green tarps and was stacked with six feet of supplies. The trailer was rated for a ton, and Natog knew he was well over it. There was no way he could run if he had to, stealth would have to be the way to go. From past experience, he knew that he would be unable to go faster than 50mph with the rig as it was now. Nothing else could be left behind. As it was, he wished he could fit more power tools.

All packed, he saw no reason to stay any longer. He would leave very early that morning, and planned to take the same route to Mum’s as he used to get to his house. He contacted them via marine radio before going to bed to let them know the plan. Mum gave stern warnings about being careful on the trip to Dartmouth.

About oh god thirty in the morning, Thor and Loki went nuts. Exhausted from the work, Natog was in a deep sleep, and it took a minute for him to clear the cobwebs from his head. Someone was trying to break in the front door, and the dogs were going ballistic trying to get at them. Jumping into his pants, he was pulling on his boots when things went from bad to worse.

Winter Wonderland

2009-12-20T21:50:00.002-05:00

Well winter has showed up with a vengeance. Last week it was about 15 degrees F every morning when I left for work. Then we get 18" of snow over the weekend. I was ready for it, but still 18" of snow is a lot. Thankfully, it's all powder, so shoveling it is easy enough.

I had to swing by a few markets the day before the storm, not to buy anything, but to see the panicked buying of bread, milk, and eggs that precedes any snowstorm. If people panic-buy eggs for 2" of snow, I can assure you the shelves were totally bare for lat night's storm. If sheeple cannot plan ahead for a simple snowstorm, how in sam hill could they be ready for a real catastrophe?

Typically, most people forget how to drive in the snow, and as I made my way to a friends house to watch the Pats game today, I saw several knucleheads sliding all over the road. All the four wheel drive gets you is the ability to not get stuck, and allows you to accelerate without slipping. A 4x4 doesn't prevent you from sliding when trying to stop or turn, and that's what the noobie 4x4 driver doesn't get.

So part of My prepping has been to learn how to drive a 4x4. I don't get to practice often, but when I can I go out to a freshly plowed parking lot and do snow donuts. Learning how your vehicle reacts in a skid will help you if your car does start to slide in the rain or snow. Remember, we are not just preparing just for some grand disaster, but for the smaller more personal disasters that could hit us almost any time.

Being able to change a tire, or for that matter making sure your car has a spare tire. It's becoming less common in this day of "roadside assistance". I doubt AAA will be able to help you if your fleeing from a hurricane. So it's a smart idea to learn how to swap a spare tire, or change your oil, how to fill the anti-freeze, so on and so forth.

Here is a short list of skills everyone should know.

Build a fire
Change a tire
Tie the following knots: Bowline, Tautline hitch, clove hitch, sheetbend, square knot.
zero a rifle
sharpen a knive, axe and saw.
split wood & stack it correctly
perform CPR
Heimlich manuver
pitch a tent
Figure out the directions from the sun or stars.
Fell a tree
Field dress game
Clean a firearm
Use a map and compass

I could go on for hours, but this is what I could think of in the few minutes I had before going to bed. Expect the next installment of the story real soon. On the train ride to boston, I am either reading, or writing.

I just finished Heinlein's Farmer in the Sky. Although written as "youth fiction" I still found the story enjoyable, and it was a very, very, quick read. Only took me 5 hours to read the whole thing. There was a bit of deus et machina to end the book, but hey, your average movie has that to somehow have a shriveled up pitiful excuse for a plot!

Thats enough rambling for now. I need to hit the rack because tomorrow's commute is going to be brutal.

Can't Sleep

2009-12-15T22:54:00.002-05:00

I'm having some trouble getting to sleep tonight. I got a big day ahead of me tomorrow, the first day back at work in six weeks. I have a few other things bugging me as well.

I've been dickering with a 3% logo, but so far I'm not happy with the results. I don't like the III logo running around on a patch, and I'm not a big fan of the ones with MOLON LABE on them either. That's a bit to militia-ish for me. I'm not in a militia, I'm in a revolution.

More troubling is I cannot find my iPod anywhere. Damn thing is just gone. That's what I deserve for cleaning the house as thoroughly as I did. I have my old Rio player from 2001, but the software doesn't run well on XP. It like windows 98 much better. ARGH! I lost half the songs on it and I cannot load any new ones. Looks like it's going to be a long train ride tomorrow.

So nothing out in the market is making sense. the dollar is getting stronger and gold & oil are dropping. Looks to me like there is some subterfuge going on in the markets. Someone is manipulating things, and I'm willing it's the Fed. Ron Paul has been gaining support for an audit the worse things have been getting, so I wouldn't put it past the banks to pull this kind of crap.

Well it looks like the stiff drink I drank is kicking in (finally) so I'm going to hit the rack. Good night all, and be sure to keep prepping through the holidays. Speaking of which, whatever holiday y'all celebrate, I hope it's well spent with family and friends!

Back to business

2009-12-10T16:00:00.002-05:00

I have been slacking off a bit lately, and it is high time I got to get my butt into gear. With the looming Zombie apocalypse, there are a few things everyone has to do before the mindless horde comes looking for dinner.

First off, there are some movies out there that are absolutely a must-see. Zombieland is a must-see. Very funny. The Hangover gets a little raunchy at times, but I honestly fell out of my chair while watching it. This is the logical child of Animal House and Airplane! This film was so funny, I would be willing to bet the script was written in the 70's, because that's the last time I watched a move that funny. Animal House, Stripes, Caddyshack, and Airplane! could be topped by this movie on the all-time- funniest movie list. Avatar looks real good, but I am a little concerned that James Cameron might get on a soapbox.

I do not watch a lot of TV but a few shows will be missed when the balloon goes up. The Big Bang Theory is a staple for geeks anywhere, myself included. I got the boxes of comic books in the basement to prove it. The new series V, based on the 1983 & 1984 miniseries (the regular series was so bad I removed the memory forcibly by inserting an icepick up my nose) is really, really, good. Hope they don't fuck it up like Heroes. Or die off like Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles, or The Dresden Files. Flash Forward is getting high marks from friends, but I have not had time to check it out. Any if ANYTHING, and I mean ANYTHING gets in the way of me watching the last season of Lost, I will hunt you down and beat you to death with my shoe.

As for books, anything of any decent quality is being drowned under by sparkley vampires and assorted other lame-ass emo drivel. I have been going back and re-reading older authors like Heinlein, Herbert, Asimov and Tolkien. I am in the middle of the Belgariad, by Eddings right now. I couldn't find the last three books in the local used bookstores so I had to order them online. Still used, but they have to be sipped from the left coast.

So stock up on entertainment. For boardgames I recommend Settlers of Catan, and ALL it's expansions, it is a load of fun, and even women like it. Citadels is a small, compact game that is fun to play as well. Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers is fun, but not good for the youngsters. Another favorite is Boomtown, which is published by a Rhode Island Game designer. Expensive, hard to find, and out of print makes Civilization, a hard game to get, but if you're lucky enough to have one, it's a good weekend game. Finally there is World in Flames, which I played at the convention in MI this year. Epic in scale and complexity, it has the price tag to match.

So stock up on fun stuff to do, and take care of seeing those movies before it all goes to hell. If it's bad enough of a collapse I envision movies being re-done as plays by campfires. Until we get back on our feet.

A Job

2009-12-05T14:51:00.003-05:00

So I found me a job. I'll be a contractor for a major University in Boston for three months, and I have a good chance of being picked up as a permanent employee after that.

The advantage of being a contractor is I get paid for overtime, which is nice. The drawback is I got no benefits, and I don't get any holiday or vacation time. I won't even go into the insane benefits package if I become a full time employee. I am getting more $, so I can easily pay for the benefits.

So now I got me a job, so I'm going to have to go back to the grind.

This has been a learning experience, for sure. It turns out between severance, saved vacation, and unemployment, I've been making more money than ever. All of it carefully stashed away for the end of the 3 month contract, in case I'm not picked up as a perm.

What's surprising to me is the lack of stress about the whole thing. I've lost some weight, been getting great sleep of night. Funny how bad the situation was at the last place. I can laugh at it now.

Weather

2009-11-30T16:28:00.002-05:00

Anyone else feel the weather is just too freaky right now? All summer we had cool temperatures, I think we had only 2 or 3 days over 90 this year. Now, it's been a solid 55-60 every day for the past month. Not that I am complaining, as I am saving expensive oil. We had the quietest hurricane season in decades. All due to the solar cycle residing at it's lowest point of activity.

Farmer's Almanac is saying a lot of snow and ice for us this year, which means January and February is going to be a bitch. I have serious doubts about a white Christmas as well. Most of the trees and shrubs in my yard think it's springtime and have started to bud. I hope I do not lose too many when the frost sets in.

I've come to the realization that looking for a job is just as much work as having one. I normally use about 200 minutes on the cell phone a month. I've used 450 minutes, plus all my rollover minutes as of yesterday. My billing cycle starts the 18th, so I had to up my plan to 900 minutes a month. If AT&T didn't let me do this, my phone bill would be over $250. Yikes!

I have a phone screening interview tomorrow, and I need to head into PRC (the People's Republic of Cambridge) for a face to face interview. At least I am getting interviews. I haven't heard from the one last week, so I need to send an e-mail today to follow up. I'll never get anything done around the house!

I've cut way back on my news reading, it is refreshing to the mind not to be buried in the doom and gloom of what is really going on. Although the drawback is I'm limited in my foresight when the collapse actually happens. Contributing to this is a sad and terrible thing that happened to me.

You see, the day I got fired, my projector died. So I can't watch tv at all. To fix it it will cost $325 + S&H... I'll send it out once I have an offer. That's just my luck though.

Keep prepping, the crash is coming. Dubai is just another domino in the long line of causality that will terminate rather abruptly once the system collapses under the weight of it's own illicit trades and schemes.

A war in solitude

2009-11-23T14:25:00.002-05:00

It's been real hard the last week or so. I've been trying to keep super-busy in order to keep from worrying about my financial situation.

I've been running a bunch of ads on craigslist in order to get some money in under the table, but no one has contacted me for any work. After talking with friends it is easier for people to deal with the crappy and slow computer, or charge the repairs on the credit card than to pay cash. Lots and lots of people are out of a job, and it's getting harder to make ends meet for everyone.

I had two phone interviews last week and I aced them both. I have another phone interview today, and I have a follow up face to face interview from one of the phone interviews from last week tomorrow afternoon. I should be happy because I am getting interviews because there are a lot of people out there who aren't even getting their foot in the door.

So I am fighting a war, a war versus expectations, versus depression, and verses the desire for revenge. Now I'm not going to do anything stupid or rash, so the last battle on the list has been won, but every now and then I get the urge to crack the last job's systems open and basically fuck with them. Set the screensavers to nasty messages, set virus scanning schedules for 2pm in the afternoon, etc. Just mean, but non-critical, things. But I won't do it even how fun it seems like it would be.

I just finished another phone interview, and I aced it again. With the holidays this week I doubt I will get anything going, but who knows? Phone interviews are tough. You need to be confident without being cocky. My problem is I know this shit cold. Like absolute zero cold. Like a witches' tit in a brass bra cold. One problem I am having is these managers are terrified I'll take their jobs so they want to hire someone smart, but not as smart as I am.

I've been thinking a lot about the Second American revolution, and trying to see a way to make it bloodless. I can't. When there is drastic change, there will be bloodshed. I just have to figure out how to keep it limited in scope. I honestly think that there will be a collapse in government, whether from the have-nots vs. the haves, racial tension, or a flat out open revolt due to government mismanagement and absurd taxation. There will be a collapse. I just need to do my part in keeping it as small and targeted as much as possible.

Congress and the leading political families will have to leave or face the wrath of the population. In a collapse of this magnitude, you can expect a backlash against those who put us here. So all of Congress, the Senate, the Supreme Court, and the last few presidents might fall victim to mob justice. In these days expect most of wall street to go with them to the chopping block, hangman's noose, or prison.

I hope we 3%'ers who come to lead these revolutions have the wisdom and common sense to keep it contained and directed towards the return of law here in America. The rule of Special Interest Groups and mob rule have no place in our country. We were founded as a republic, and the sooner we can strip away all the accumulated years of bullshit laws, the sooner we can start down the road to prosperity once again.

Reloading

2009-11-17T08:22:00.004-05:00

Bitmap left a bunch of good reloading information on my Sunday post. For anyone interested in reloading you should check it out. I agree with what Bitmap is saying, but my problem is that the 7.62x51mm round is not the same as a .308 Winchester. The specs call for a 12,000 difference in pressure. So I could shoot 7.62x51mm out of my bolt action, but not the other way around.

Now I do use the same components. A Large rifle primer, H4895 powder and a 168grain HPBT. I use 39 grains of powder for the 7.62x51mm and 40.2 grains for the .308 Winchester. This gives me about 2 MOA from the M1A, and 3/4 MOA from the Remington 700. If I use 7.62x51mm in my Remington, I shoot about 3 MOA.

I've found that if I load the rounds long, I can squeak another 1/4 MOA of of my Remington 700, but the rounds will not load into the internal magazine. So my hunting ammo is 2.80 COAL, where my bench rounds are 2.92 COAL. I could easily seat the bullets deeper if the poop hit the fan, so that's not an issue.

Yesterday, I put 7 rounds into 3/4" at 100 yards. Five of them were in 1/4" or so. Now that's zombie hunting! If I could get a bit more consistent, I could get to the 1/2" MOA I am seeking for egg shoots.

I don't mind having different loads for each rifle. Each weapon has it's own purpose, and these don't overlap with each other. The M1A is a battle rifle, and 2 MOA is plenty. The Remington 700 is to put food on the table and to pull headshots on zombies out to 600 yards. The shotgun is for food on the table and close-quarters assault. If I ever have to kick in doors, that's what I'll use. The Sig220 is for personal protection. The .22's are for practice, small game and varmit shooting.

Thankfully, I have all the bases covered. I would love to buy a few more weapons, but considering my financial situation, I can easily make due with what I have.

Bitmap, thanks for the information! I've never used AA powders. I use H4895 for the rifles, Unique and Blue Dot for pistol, and Clays for the shotgun. I weigh my bullets for the rifle and use the odd ones for the M1A. Only those that weigh exactly 168.0 grains are used for the Remington 700. I use the Nosler Balistic Tip and Combined Technologies for hunting, and Nosler Competition HPBT for the bench shooting and the M1A rounds. For primers I prefer use CCI large rifle because they do not slam-fire like the others in the M1A. I use the bench rest version for the Remington 700. The bench rest primers are about 50% more expensive, but I have 2000 of them already :p

I need to shop around and do some research on 168 grain bullets. I'm concerned the thin-skinned 168 grain Nosler competition HPBT won't be effective enough at stopping zombies. I could use 168 grain ballistic tips, but they are about 5 times as expensive. I'd like to run some tests to see the differences, maybe in the spring I can.

Cloudy, with a chance of Apocalypse

2009-11-15T19:25:00.002-05:00

Things are real bad in the job market, nothing is moving at all. I've done so many phone interviews that my head is spinning. It seems that the interviewers are only going through the motions. No one is serious about hiring with the holidays and such.

I've been able to reconnect with more people and actually have a chance to talk with then since I'm a jobless bum. The word on the street is simply "This can't go on." Whether it's the health care crap or the theoretical "jobless recovery" everyone agrees that there is no recovery, and we are in for worse times then we are seeing today.

Now what to do about it? I'm prepping like mad. Although I am dipping into my preps to save money, I am still doing what I can to get ready for anything that may come my way. I've been packaging foods into mason jars and using my foodsaver to seal them. I've been making (almost) all my meals myself, saving more money then if I ate out at a restaurant. I'm buying foods on sale in as much bulk as I can and packaging some and eating some.

Monday, I got to tidy up a bunch of things. I got my old jeep to sell, so I need to work on that. I got to get my COBRA health insurance squared away. I also need to get in touch with the mortgage company and see what I can do, I have a Fannie Mae loan, after all. Busy busy busy. I didn't finish cleanign the yard before the rain came through so I got a lot of yardwork to finish as well. That, and finish the in-law apartment and get it ready to rent.

For other preps I have been diligently working on reloading. I already own all the supplies, now I have the time to develop the best load for each application. I'll have to post my findings later on. I'm currently testing the 5 kinds of large rifle primers I own to learn what's better or worse between them, and which provides the most consistency in ignition. Then I need to work up hunting loads for the 150 and 180 grain bullets.

I really, really need to upgrade the scope on my rifle. It's 30+ years old, dark as heck to look through, and there is mold growing inside it. Just a little bit, but it will only get worse. I also need tires on my Cherokee, so I'll buy tires and a a scope if I manage to sell it.

If it wasn't for the holiday fueled consumer economy, I think we would already have seen the collapse of the dollar. So finish what you can for preps, keep and eye on the thieves on Wall Street, and have that bug-out bag ready to go.

2009-11-11T16:21:00.002-05:00

Well it looks like gold has shaken free of the artificial restraints. I read that we would see $1500 per troy ounce by January 1st, and I think we will see it. We also saw predictions of $2000 and $3000 and ounce, but I dismissed those out of hand. Gold's price has been artificially manipulated for a while now, of this I have no doubt. I'm not claiming the Illuminati are doing it to further their plans of galactic, inter-dimensional conquest of the left wing conspiracy or whatever. Just with the inflation we have with a fiat currency gold should have broken $1000 a while ago, and is now going to correct itself relative to the weak US dollar.

Speaking of a weak dollar, I'm now having to pay attention to what stuff costs. And my dollar doesn't go that far at all. Not that the prices have changed that much, it's the contents and packaging. For example, Lay's Salt and Vinegar potato chips used to go on sale for $.99 for a 7oz bag. Now they no longer make them in that size, all you can buy is a 12 oz "family size" for $2.99. Huh, three times the price for less than double the amount of product. And Lay's saves production costs using less packaging, etc. Not that it's Lay's gouging us to make a huge profit, their costs have gone up as well.

I've been noticing this all over the place in the grocery store. I fully expect this trend to continue as people, even my frugal butt, don't notice these sorts of things until money becomes such an issue. They are sheeple for a reason, contentedly browsing the pasture, oblivious to the wolf in the woods.

One good thing about being a prepper, is you tend to buy a lot of extra when on sale. I bought all kinds of italian sausage the other day, as it was $1.99 a package instead of the normal $3.99. Took it home, vacuum sealed it in the foodsaver and tossed it into the freezer. Like wise, I bought a ton of pre-cooked breakfast sausage for a $1 a package. Handy because I actually eat breakfast these days. For a quick meal I'll heat them up and eat them with pork 'n' beans.

Back to the economy. Shadowstats.com has the unemployment at 22% nationally. Almost one in four people are out of work. How come there is no rioting in the streets is beyond my comprehension. I've been hitting the pavement real hard looking for a job, but it seems that almost all the companies slowed down their hiring this quarter. All the phone calls I was getting have dried up. I still have a few irons in the fire, but I'm not hanging my hat on anything.

Talking with guys at the club, or neighbors, or random strangers when standing in line, I get a pervasive sense that people are trying to be hopeful, but there is doubt lurking in the shadows. Everyone, and I mean everyone I spoke to has a brother or sister, son or daughter, mom or dad that has been out of work for months. As a country, we can't take much more of this. Someone is going to have to keep paying for the family member out of work. What happens when there are two, or three people in the family out of work? How much more debt can they pile on?

Stores are already running their "black Friday" sales, in order to lure customers into them. I wonder if they are trying to get the cash they need to stay afloat, hoping to lure consumers to spend more on the holidays then they normally would?

There is so many strange things going on, and it's not adding up. Consumer and retailer behavior are out of sync, the government is playing doctor instead of focusing on the economy. It's like they see the economy as fixed, when obviously it isn't. Maybe they realize it cannot be fixed, so they are throwing the mother of all smoke and mirrors show to distract everyone from something they would really freak out about?

Archery

2009-11-06T15:10:00.002-05:00

I managed to take the bow down to the club today for a little while and get some practice in. It's currently archery season here in mass for deer, and I might go out and get one. I wanted to practice for a while anyway, as there is a serenity in shooting a bow that I don't feel with firearms. Maybe it is because of the muscles used, the weight of violence contained in my hands. Then again, maybe I just need more practice with my .22!

Now for those of you without an education on Zen, here is a brief primer. There is no past. There is no future. There is only Now. There is no target, there is no archer, they are one and the same. I think Zen translates to English as "no mind." Anyway that's the best way to not think about what you are doing.

I was only shooting 10 yards, as I haven't shot in a long time I didn't want to lose any arrows. It was more about emptying the noggin, and re-training my muscles. It was bliss.

Now I don't use a fancy compound bow, I have a German glass-reinforced, lemonwood bow that was given to me years ago. The finish is a little worse for wear, the gel coat is cracking. It still pulls over 60# when I draw it. I do own a 1968 Bear compound bow, but it's just as powerful as my recurve. If I'm going hunting, that recurve is going with me. I have added silencers on the string and they are surprisingly effective. I would have to buy new arrows, though. I do have some cedar shafts, and broadheads that can fit them, but the new lighter carbon fiber arrows are better suited for harvesting game. I like the expanding broadheads, as the slower speed of the recurve is more prone to crosswind interference. And I can get them in a subdued pattern, as my cedar arrows are white and red.

If you have a bow, you should shoot once a week to keep your muscles tuned up, and your arrows in the kill zone.

On an economic note we broke the 10% "magic number" for unemployment. Jobless recovery, indeed.

Fiction - Part X - Thieves and Miscreants

2009-11-05T21:24:00.002-05:00

Peacefully asleep, Natog had been back a couple days when the dogs went ballistic in the middle of the night. Pulling on his boots, he grabbed his shotgun, and a flashlight, silently went up the stairs.

Sure enough, someone was trying to cut the chain securing his generator to the foundation of the house. Listening quietly, he could hear two voices, both male, as they whispered to each other.

"Hurry man! He's going to get up!"

"Fuck him, He's an asshole."

Now there was no way Natog was going to let himself get ripped off. But there was no way he could sneak around the house with the snow crunching underfoot. That left one option. Quickly and quietly he went downstairs and pulled on some pants. Putting his boots back on, he tied a quick knot, no need to lace the hiking boots all the way up. Climbing back up to the stairs, he quickly pulled the door open and the dogs just about went through the storm door. Hitting the pressure pad on the shotgun, the tactical light illuminated the two men, blinding them as the dogs attacked them.

"UP AGAINST THE FUCKING WALL!" Yelling at the top of his lungs Natog leveled the shotgun at the two men. The frightened faces as Thor and Loki growled and barked while nipping at the two figures sprawled out in the snow. Natog could see that one was George's boy, but the other he had no clue who he was.

George’s kid was cowering, as the dogs nipped at his hands and face. "Get your dogs off of me - I'll sue!" His reply was a few octaves higher than any normal male voice should be able to reach comfortably.

"Up against the fucking WALL, NOW!" Natog motioned with the shotgun.

The other boy rolled up and tried to make a run for it. Natog planted a swift short kick into the boy's quadricep, sprawling him on the ground again. Loki grabbed the boy's hat and started to attack it.

Cycling the shotgun, Natog yelled again for them to get up against the wall. Although this sent a shell spinning into the snow, it had the desired effect. George’s boy turned and faced the wall. The other kid was rolling around on the ground in pain, tears streaming down his face.

"On your knees, hands on your head, lace your fingers. Palms up. OK, do NOT FUCKING MOVE."

George's kid's voice cracked, "Don't shoot me!"

"Then don't move." moving so he could watch both teenagers, he motioned to the kid on the ground. "Get up, against the wall."

"It hurts!"

Natog planted a swift kick into the kid's backside, "Up, against the wall, NOW."

Half dragging, half crawling, the boy managed to get up to the wall.

George’s kid was sobbing now. "Please mister, don't kill me."

Natog spoke with what he hoped was a fatherly tone to his voice, "You'll be ok, just do what I say, OK?"

"Yeah"

The other boy chimed in "My father's going to kill you, man."

"He can try. Ok you on the left, lift your jacket, slowly." The boy lifted his jacket, and Natog took a look for a weapon. "Ok take off your belt and drop it in the snow."

Natog heard a door slam from the house behind him, and someone running through the snow. Keeping an eye on the two boys, he put the next boy through the same procedure.

Marty came into Natog's vision in pajamma's and a parka. He held a baseball bat and a flashlight. "Jesus, Natog!"

"Marty, it's alright. I caught these two trying to steal my generator."

"Those little shits, I wonder if they stole the gas from my shed last night!"

The two boys has their faces turned to each other, and were whispering to each other. Loki and Thor had wandered off, to chew on the boy's hat.

Marty looked over at Natog, "What are you going to do with them?"

"I'm not fer-sure yet. Don't even think of moving you little bastards."

Natog took the belts from the snow, and used them to lash the boy's hands behind their backs and quickly searched them. He pulled a pocket knife from George’s boy's pocket. The other boy tried to get up when Natog moved to him, but a heavy shove got the boy back on his knees. Squirming furiously was no help, as Natog pulled a small pocket pistol from the boy's jacket pocket.

"Well, well, well." Natog tsk'd tsk'd as he ejected the magazine and emptied the chamber. "Looks like a little .380 automatic."

"Christ, he had a GUN?"

"Yeah, at least he didn't try anything with it, or I would have shot him dead. That settles it though. This shit is going to the cops. Armed robbery, what are you, 16?"

The kid turned with a defiant look in his eye, "Seventeen. My dad is going to fucking kill you, man." Seems the boy got his courage back.

"I doubt that. Looks like you're going to be tried as an adult. Better start stretching that ass out now, they’re going to love you in prison."

Marty looked concerned, "Shit he's just a kid."

"He made his decision, now he will have to live by it."

"Fuck you man, my dad will get me out of it. He's a cop."

That sent a shiver down Natog's spine. Last thing he needed is a local cop with a thug kid fucking with him. "Alright, get up you two. We will drop this shit off with his dad. And the other's going to the Troopers.

"That's 2 miles away!"

"Yep, so you better get a move on."

"Hey, I'll get my car and we can drive him there. I need to change into something warmer, though." Marty was starting to shiver, you could tell because the beam on his flashlight was wiggling.

"That would be great, Marty, I'm sure our felon appreciates it."

Marty climbed back over the fence to his yard and went into the house. A few minutes later, his car pulled up onto Natog's lawn.

"Ok you fuckers, in you go."

Natog stuffed George's kid behind Marty, and the other boy into the passenger seat. Sitting behind him, he verified the safety was still on. Marty backed off the lawn and pulled into Georges driveway. Marty honked the horn until George's face looked out the window.

Natog got out of the car and slung the shotgun off of his shoulder. Pulling George's kid across the seat, Natog made sure he had a firm grip on the boy.

Geroge opened the door and cried, "What have you done to my son!"

"Your boy tried to steal my generator."

"I did ask you to share, now look what you have done!"

Natog let George grab his son from him, "I did? fuck you, that little shit is an accessory to armed robbery. I'm releasing him into your custody."

"W-w-what!" was all George could stammer out as he untied his son.

"Yeah that's right. The other boy was armed with a handgun."

"Junior, you get inside the house right now. I'll deal with you in a minute." George pushed George Jr. in the house. "Look, I didn't ask him to..."

"Relax. I know. But I have to tell the cops. Just make sure you keep an eye on him, and keep him away from my property."

"Will do."

"Know who that kid is?"

George looked into the car, "I think he lives a couple streets over. He got in trouble for spraying graffiti on the church up on Webster Street. His dad is a cop in Brockton.

"Brockton, huh."

"Yeah, rumor has it he's been on duty since the power went out."

"Ok George, you go have a chat with your boy, I'm taking this one to the cops."

George looked around a little lost, then climbed up the stairs to his kitchen door. With that, Natog got in the car, and Marty pulled out the driveway. About halfway to the Middleboro barracks the boy started crying. Marty tried to console the boy, but Natog's heart was as cold as the January night they drove through.

A few minutes later, they were pulling up to the front entrance of the barracks. A Trooper was there in his car, and he got out as Marty's car pulled up. Leaving the shotgun in the back, he got out with his hands visible.

The trooper shown the light into the car, "Tell your friend to cut the engine."

Marty turned off the car and got out. The trooper kept the flashlight on the boy in the front seat. "What have we here?"

"Trooper, that little shit tried to steal my generator."

"So you're the cops now?"

"Well yeah, it's not like the phones work."

"How did you catch him?"

"I got the drop on him, and convinced him to give up."

At this point the prisoner decided to start yelling how he was kidnapped, so on and so forth. The racket brought out another trooper from the barracks, which moved to cover the other Trooper.

"Hey, Troopers, I'm armed, and I got the pistol this kid had on him on me, and my shotgun is in the back seat. Just don't shoot me, ok?"

The two troopers drew their weapons, which solicited a quiet "Oh, Shit." from Marty. The two troopers looked at each other and the newer trooper moved in, "Just walk towards me slowly. Ok turn around, where is the pistol?"

"Right front jacket pocket. It's unloaded."

The trooper grabbed Natog's laced fingers and rummaged in his pocket. A quick frisk, and Natog was released. "Ok stand over by the door." Marty was quickly searched, and the trooper grabbed the shotgun. The other trooper grabbed the boy by his arm and pulled him from the car.

The troopers had taken the .380 as evidence, and locked the boy up in one of the cells. Two hours later, after Marty and Natog were interviewed, statements taken, so on and so forth they were allowed to head home. Marty dropped Natog off before going back home. Natog unlocked the generator and brought it in the house before collapsing in his cold bed.

Growth! Ha!

2009-11-04T06:45:00.002-05:00

So last quarter we had "growth" in the economy. All those who are drinking the magic "green shoots" kool-aid are screaming from the rooftops that we have seen the end of the recession.

The trouble is we are in a depression, not a recession. More importantly, the reason we saw a positive growth in the economy is rather simple. It's the government-funded Cash for Clunkers and the $8000 Tax rebate for first home purchases.

So when you boil it down, there really was no growth whatsoever. More smoke and mirrors, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. This is probably the last trick they have up their sleeves, and it's perfect timing. Our economy is ~70% consumer spending, and with the holiday travel, gift buying, so on and so forth, I expect to see "growth" for this quarter as well.

The sheep will buy it lock, stock, and barrel, but it's just the eye of the storm. The financial hurricane is still raging around us, but the sheep will chill out in the pasture and think everything is just ducky.

Do not be fooled. Watch the year to year and "seasonally adjusted" numbers for a real look at our economy. Notice with all the hoopla around the growth, no one is mentioning these numbers in the MSM? It's propaganda. It would be right at home in the pages of 1970's Pravda Newspaper.

I have job interviews scheduled, so I'm not going to get to Maine this week it looks like. I'll be putting the time here to good use. I've got a lot of items I'm going to sell through craigslist, even an older Jeep I was going to work on. Bill needs ammo for the FrankenFAL, so I'll load some up for him. I hate working on new military brass, removing the pocket primer crimp is a pain in the wrists. Although, I'm not goign to drop $300 for the Sinclair tool that's motorized!

Goons!

2009-11-02T21:35:00.003-05:00

Well D-Day H-Hour came and the goon squad showed up at my cube to "escort" me to HR for processing. Yep, I'm unemployed. At least I can pick between being fired and resigning. I got to decide by the end of next week.

So needless to say, I'm a bit out of sorts. I never guessed they would actually go through with it. I'm still getting phone interviews, and I'm off to see another (the 4th) recruiter in as many weeks. They have a job lined up, but it's a pretty big pay cut. Oh well, better that than losing the house.

Tomorrow, I put in for Unemployment Insurance. Dealing with that bureaucracy is always a hoot. At least with all the government extensions I might be able to collect until the system collapses. Hey, I might be the straw that breaks the camel's back, right?

To make matters worse, My projector is on the fritz. Can't even watch the boob tube. To keep busy, I've been cleaning the house, loading tons of ammunition, and playing some video games here and there. I'm planning on visiting the "Berger's Farm" in Maine tomorrow and spending a couple days helping my brother Bill finish building a barn for them.

I'm going to put together a couple of 6 gallon buckets of supplies to stash up there. Prepositioning some supplies would make sense, and I can increase the stash as I trust them more, or I hit the lottery and buy my own survival retreat. I'll be making my own desiccant
packs to keep the canned foods from rusting, and keeping the ammo good and dry. I'll also include come medical supplies like aspirin, ibuprofen, band-aids, super-glue, etc. I've vacuum bagged some pasta, rice and beans to go with the canned food, so I should be able to stretch it to a weeks worth of food for three of us. I'll also include 50 rounds of .45 ACP, at least 20 hunting .308 Winchester rounds, a box of .22LR, and 60 .308 FMJ for the M1A. Never know what you'll need, right.

Damn, hope I can fit it all in the buckets.

I'm putting the finishing touches on the next chapter of the story too.

Seasteading

2009-10-29T14:55:00.002-04:00

Today I went to a lecture down at the University of Rhode Island to see Patri Friedman speak about seasteading. It was only an hour long, but it was a very thought-provoking talk abut the nature of government, and how to turn government into a business model.

I was the only non-student to make the trek, and I did stick out like a sore thumb. I find the whole idea of founding your own community fascinating, as that is what I would love to do. Post-TEOTWAWKI I plan on doing just that.

I probably shouldn't have taken a day off so close to my D-Day, but WTF, I needed to get away. And Patri rarely comes out to the east coast.

HR hasn't said squat about my supposed termination tomorrow, I still think my asshole boss was bluffing. well i will sure find out tomorrow, right? I did get a chance this afternoon to go to the range and run some of my pistol loads through the chronograph to compare the different loads I am choosing between. One thing I can say from my preliminary look at the data is the reloading book is way, way off. By about 200fps. I figured it was because of different pistol barrel lengths, but it turns out that they used a Sig P220 for thier test gun, so WTF, over?

Anyway, check out the idea of Seasteading sometime. It's really interesting for us Libertarian-types.

As the Days Crawl By

2009-10-27T15:18:00.004-04:00

It is interesting on how we humans perceive the 4th dimension. Time can zip by, or slow to a crawl. For me, it is crawling along.

One of the side effects of this slow economy is that employers can take their sweet-ass time when hiring a new employee. This sucks for me because I have a financial gun pointed at my head.

I went to HR to see if they could do anything for me. Well suffice to say this HR department is like every other HR department, they just try to fuck you over, and avoid a lawsuit. I do have excellent grounds for a lawsuit, but whatever cash I could get wouldn't be worth the stain on my reputation.

Time, time, time. The collapse of the American dollar is just a matter of time. Just look at this graph:
It is in freefall. a few micro-rallies aside we are going straight for the magic number of 72. Rawles feels this is the magic number for collapse, and if he is right then we will dance around it for a week or two before finally plummeting through it. It is a weird psychological barrier, like gold breaking $1000, or the DOW breaking 10,000. Break 72 it it will. The question is what do our bondholders do about it...

I'm old enough to remember Carter's presidency. What I do remember was that America was the world's bitch, to put it in the modern vernacular. Iran taking th hostages, OPEC acting tough, the CCCP throwing a coup in Afghanistan. I'm going to come out and say it: Obama is a pussy. Now I feel he will have an excellent post-presidential career as a peacemaker, like Carter. I have always respected Carter's work in that regard, but as a president he was a clusterfuck. Obama is just like him. Willing to push the Progressive "America sucks" mantra to the rest of the world. I bet that if we weren't neck deep in a multi-war shitstorm that he would be cutting military spending, even if to fund his own S.A.

This got me to thinking on how Carter and Obama are different. Carter wasn't involved in actual warfare when the rest of the world figured out he could be pushed around. The US military is under strain from fighting two wars. Our whole post WWII military has been designed and geared to support two major wars at once. What happens if China invades Taiwan? Or North Korea goes over the top into S. Korea? Our military needs to finish up Iraq and Afghanistan pronto, before something really, really, bad happens.

Question Everything

2009-10-20T17:36:00.001-04:00

By default, we accept the viewpoints and opinions of others. It’s a natural byproduct of our tribal heritage to agree with those in our tribe and to distrust those from another tribe. Of course I don’t mean tribes in the literal sense, as tribes in modern society can be numbered in the millions. And you can belong to many tribes. I am a member of the American Tribe, the Libertarian Tribe, the Geek Tribe, the Gamer Tribe, so on and so forth.

What we need to do is question everything. The white house has admitted they don’t release anything without an iron hand controlling the media. The most sought-after position is that of a “spin-doctor” or “Press relations” or “Media consultant” In other words liars. Worse than liars, as they limit access to all the facts to prevent you from making an honest opinion on whatever happened.

This is why I question everything. Nothing is accepted as fact without evidence to back it up. Let’s take a look at the Gold investment people. You have seen them quoted on survivalist websites and I know you see their banner adds everywhere. They have an agenda – to sell you gold – and they will spin any economic DNG (Doom and Gloom) news to get you to do so. They are a business, there is nothing wrong with that. But if you’re using those articles to plan for an economic crisis, realize the whole story is not presented. Avoid the trap of using only limited information.

With All this fact checking, you run the risk of being late on making some calls. The most pressing for us is when/if to bug out. I’m finding that with the research and checking of facts I’m better prepared to make calls of what’s going to happen. But understanding the information behind what crap’s coming out of the talking heads mouth, you can put together a better picture of what’s the real story going on.

A funny by-product of all this is I’m in between the two main “survival circles”. There are those who feel Waco was completely orchestrated by the illumanati, or those who think David Koresh deserved everything he got. Likewise, there are those who feel 9-11 was an inside job, so on and so forth. I’m smack dab in the middle of both sides. My brother, “Bill”, who thinks I’m “asleep” because I don’t think the jet contrails are medicine being dispensed to keep us depressed. Or my good buddy “Joe” who thinks I’m an idiot because mass passed that law to kick in doors and forcibly quarantine you and I feel that the cops are going to take advantage of it, since the WHO already declared a pandemic.

So question everything. Question why that ad wants you to buy gold. Question why they want to raise taxes. Question why Executive orders are not subject to approval by congress or the Supreme Court. Question why milk and bread prices are going up, but inflation is negative. Question why towns are cracking down on speeders and performing “taxation by enforcement”. Question ALL of it. If enough of us ask these questions maybe then we can get the truth for a real journalist, rather than some shithead who can read of a teleprompter and whiten his teeth.

2+2=5 (for very large instances of 2)

2009-10-19T18:01:00.003-04:00

So we are in the midst of a Great Revival. The worst has past. Unemployment is a lagging factor, after all, and the consumer economy is beginning to boom once more.

But wait. Why are there so many homes for sale in my town? In the last month, 25 homes have gone up for sale, and that is just the ones I can see going to the market or to work every day. there is no way in a healthy environment that there are so many homes for sale. Most are not foreclosures, possibly families want to move up in size or retireees want to move down, but that's not all of them.

Please lock your trays and return your seats into a full, upright position. We are all in for a bumpy ride.

I have focused almost exclusively on an economic collapse at this point. My personal issues aside, the dollar's value is plummeting. China will only hold onto American toxic treasuries for so long. When China dumps them we get flushed down the shitter. Our economy collapses. I am prparing for this to happen as best I can. I'm looking for side work to make some extra coin. If I don't need the cash for the mortgage, then i can invest it into land, or silver. I am 99% certian the economy will collapse, I see it an inevitable. The trick is, what happens? Do we face a slow decline into oblivion, or do we face the Zombie Apocalypse? I hope it's not the latter.

On a personal note, I've done 13 phone interviews. I have second interviews with 3, and I bet another 1-2 more will ask me for second interviews. Two of the jobs involve a lot of travel bt pay well, the other is a dream work environment at a gaming company. Wish me luck.

Now get your self some silver to go with all that food and ammo!

Decline is a Choice

2009-10-12T15:36:00.001-04:00

This article is a must read. My feeble writings are unable to summarize what this well-written and thought-provoking article articulates.

The liberals have to be stopped. I am not responsible for the sins of my father. This is America, and we laid the foundation for the removal of the feudal class system. I am not responsible for the sins of my ancestors who were slave owners. I will not apologize for something I was unable to prevent. I don't practice slavery, I didn't elect the officials who led us to war in Vietnam. I didn't fly a plane into the WTC.

I will not, cannot, and would not grovel or debase myself or my fellow Americans to the altar of "Political Correctness". I will not bend my knee to the Chinese Communists, nor to the Saudi King. They can go kiss my ass!

But yet I'm the "bad guy" because I think America has a lot to offer. I feel the idea of America is the best thing to hit this planet. What's written in the Constitution is not what we live under. Sure it is a Utopic vision that we never will reach, but we have a blueprint that works as long as everyone does their part.

I'm not making a heartfelt plea for us to return to the 1950's - fuck no. What I do want is to have the National Pride of the 1950's. People didn't litter because THEIR country wasn't a trash heap. Walk through almost any area of the country and let me know how many plastic grocery sacks are in the trees. It's the perfect yardstick to determine who has pride in themselves and their country.

I also would like to see the economic policies of the 1950's - to some extent. Industry and innovation to provide real wealth - not the funny money of wall street. I could rant for hours.

Please take the time to read it for yourself, it outlines exactly some of the things I just never understood about the Liberal mindset.

Freedom and the Welfare State

2009-10-08T10:16:00.003-04:00

I'm not crazy. Well, not completely crazy. heh. The majority of Americans don't see the welfare state as slavery. This recent article on CNN.com proves otherwise.

In this aspect, freedom is financial freedom, and slavery is being subjugated to the whims of the government. There are how many hundreds of thousands of people wondering if they will have money for food or groceries because the Senate is wringing it's hands about who should get the money. In other words, these people are slaves to the government teat.

Funny coming from me, as I'm about to go on unemployment myself. I'm looking hard and fast, but so far everything I can get quick is out in AZ, NM, NYC, or TX. All temp work too. I really don't want to live in a hotel for 3+ months, and if the balloon goes up have to cross 3000 miles just to get back home.

I'm not desperate yet, I got a few irons in the fire. The problem is at my level it takes a while for the hiring process. It's one thing if you're a desktop tech, those are a dime a dozen. Engineers are harder to get and more expensive, so companies need to interview you 4-5 times before you get the job. That's the one thing I'm short of: time.

This has got me to thinking, which is always dangerous, about the nature of freedom. What is Freedom? Is owning your own business freedom? Or is it just another form of confinement as you are slaved to your customers.

King Missile has a song called "I wish" and it's one of my favorites. In the lyrics he says "Freedom is within where I shall never find it." I suspect this is the real truth of the matter. We are all dependent on each other and our society in ways we cannot fully comprehend because we accept being dependent.

I look at the world in shades of gray, there is no absolute good, and there is no absolute evil. This has to be the case with freedom as well. You can never be 100% free, and likewise, never completely imprisoned. All degrees of freedom or slavery we find ourselves in.The $64,000 question is what are we going to do about it?

Rough Times

2009-10-03T12:34:00.002-04:00

"I'll miss the sea, but a person needs new experiences. They jar something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken." -Duke Leto Atreites

Things have come to a head at the job. I've been told I have a month to find a job elsewhere. Such is the reward for a decade of working 60+ hour weeks. I am already interviewing, and have a few irons in the fire. I do need to move quickly, though. If the new employer finds out I'm out of a job, then they can lowball the offer, figuring I'll be desperate enough to take it.

It is my responsibility. I was too dense to see the truth of the working relationship between my inept manager and the higher levels of management. I have misread the relationship between my boss and the enterprise architect. Arguing with the architect is pointless, as my boss is drinking the magical kool-aid this guys' spouting. Regardless if I am 100% right, I should have been perceptive enough not to make these kinds of mistakes.

Now the company is going to have to break a whole lot of internal policies to fire me. I'm not sure why they don't just lay me off, other than they don't want to spend any money. I have an excellent case to collect unemployment if they do fire me because of these neglected HR procedures. I can easily demonstrate that this was a hostile workplace. If I quit I get nothing, and my Boss really, really wants me to quit. So since he might not be able to get rid of me, then I almost certainly have more than 4 weeks. It takes 1 year to fire someone where I work from normally.

My plan is to get out of there without lawsuits and everything else. The reason is there are only a few companies that can hire and pay IT guys of my level, so if a stink is raised, then they will catch wind and I might fuck myself out of a job. So I'm keeping quiet for now, but documenting EVERYTHING.

I had two interviews yesterday, one with a headhunter, and another with a company a friend works at. Both were "getting to know you" interviews, but at least I'm out there. I feel I made a good impression. I had to drop $1,000 on suits for interviews, a required expense for my salary bracket. I almost bought a stainless steel Savage in .308 for a hunting rifle on Sunday. Good thing I held off.

So I'm sorry I haven't been posting a much, but once I get settled somewhere else I will post more often. I almost have the next segment of the story done, and I want to talk a bit about the conspiracy craziness out there., and the American Police Force and who knows what else.

The Big Lie

2009-09-30T22:10:00.002-04:00

I was looking through the multitude of information out there that is available on our economy and realized just how many lies we are fed every day. We get more spin than any real meaningful data for us to plan our retirement, a vacation, or home purchase. From Unemployment to GDP, all the numbers are skewed to make the current administration look good.

We are spoon-fed bullshit by a media that refuses to dig for the truth. What good is any newspaper, TV news show, or online news outlet if they don't ask the hard questions, if they don't seek the Truth.

If they are not telling the truth, then what are they? Entertainment. This is evidenced by how much time is spent on the "human interest story" in every broadcast. What is Jennifer Aniston saying now? Did you see Demi Moore in her new fabulous bikini? How about you tell me the real unemployment numbers? Including those who are discouraged, or are forced to work part-time, or teenagers who would like a job but cannot find one?

How about we see a story where the hard questions are asked to those in charge? Ask obama flat out what his strategy in Afghanistan and Iraq is? And don't let him off of the hook until we get a real answer. Not a sound bite, a honest and unambiguous answer to a direct question.

We will not see such things in our lifetimes. Our world has been forever changed with the 30 second attention span we have adopted. I'm just as guilty as everyone else. All I am asking is to get honest facts in that 30 second blurb.

Everyone has their own agenda. Remember that. Even the bloggers who try to put together the real story are slanting the news one way or another. We all see things going down the tubes, but in reality, the majority of Americans are too stupid to realize the poop is hitting the fan, and that might be enough to avoid the big crash.

You never know. All we can do is set the bullshit filter to "high" and hope we can make sense of what's left.

Quick Post

2009-09-23T15:39:00.003-04:00

Been real busy of late. A new MMO called Aion came out, been playing that pretty heavy. Working on the resume too, can't wait to be free of this crappy job.

After reading a post the other day on Survivalblog.com, I went to the store and got some Tang. I also got one of the other items I was missing from my preps and that was multi-vitamins. I had forgotten how insidious scurvy can be. The one thing you need to remember about vitamin C is that it become inert very quickly when exposed to oxygen. So get some Tang, and pack it up into week-long packages and vacuum seal them.

I didn't see another item on my list on sale, so I'll wait. Fiber supplements will be rather nice to have, if all your eating is meat for 3 months. The more I think of how poorly my garden did, the more I worry about feeding myself and my family greens when the poop hits the fan. I think that if your cooped up hiding from roving bands of mutant biker zombies, one of the only pleasures your going to have is to take a nice dump once in a while, right? I doubt my stash of liquor will last too long, so what little entertainment I get might be from my digestive tract.

I'm getting really worried. Things are not looking well at all, and I fear the "zombie apocalypse" might not be too far off. I'm still living my life, I haven't given up on the world, but I am prepping more and more as my budget allows. With the shortage of primers I am super glad I bought what I did.

I now buy almost everything in bulk. If I need toothpaste, I buy two, and put one aside. Reminds me I'm out of aluminum foil, but I'll buy a lot of that, the stuff is too damn handy. Buying extra now of the stuff I use now will make it easier to prep. The downfall is you wind up with a lot of food that needs to be inventoried. That's what the next big task for me will be. I need to see where I am light on preps and focus on getting that squared away. I bet it's protein, but I'm not 100% sure until I verify it myself.

Mum and "Bill" aren't prepping much at all. Although they are putting up some extra ammo, the food situation isn't going to well. To help with this I'm packaging up a care package for them to store. Everything inside will be vacuum sealed and will have a shelf life of at least a decade. This way if something happens to me, they will have enough food to last the a few weeks. When it's done, I'll be sure to post pics.

Fiction - Part IX - Tea at Mum's

2009-09-17T21:41:00.001-04:00

Something was hitting him in the head. Natog tried to open his eyes, but he couldn’t, and there was this awful screeching sound. He started to struggle but something was keeping him pinned to the ground. With a final THUNK, and the associated flash of light against his closed eyelids the hammering mercifully stopped.

It seemed his hearing was clearing up because the screeching was finally quieting down. Then something wet and cold was being rubbed over his face and eyes, struggling, he still couldn't move his arms, but he managed to twist his head some so he could stop the wet thing from suffocating him.

It stopped and his addled mind could start to make out a litany of "Oh my god I hope he's OK." over and over. Then a man's voice "Mum, he's going to be ok, I promise."

Finding his voice Natog managed to croak "Oi, it's just a flesh wound! But why can't I see?"

Bill's voice came from closer this time. "It's because you won't let me wash off the blood, dick-for-brains."

"Fucker, you were waterboarding me! And it's cold as a witches' tit."

Mum was still frantic, but she seemed to be calming down. "I'll get some more hot water."

Natog heard Mum go into the house. "Ok, Bill, how bad is it?"

"Er. It's a good gash. Mom was freaking out because we could see your skull."

"No shit."

"Yeah, fucking blood is everywhere, I wonder if you need a transfusion."

"Nah, I'll be alright as long as I can see. What the hell were you doing to me? hitting me in the head with a hammer?"

Bill replied, "It's the surgical stapler you gave to us for the first aid kit."

"No shit. Hurts like a bastard."

"I'm glad you were out cold, we washed the cut out with hydrogen peroxide, that would have stung."

"Just a little."

"Yeah a little bit. You gave Mum an awful scare."

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"You've been out here at least 20 minutes. What the fuck happened to you? Your Jeep looks like it was used for target practice!"

"Fucking redneck national guard. They have New Bedford locked down. I ran into a roadblock and they started shooting."

"Where? I'll go kill those fuckers right now."

"Let it go. The last thing I saw was one of 'em wrestling with the one that shot at me."

Natog heard the front door bang open and Mum come down the walkway. She was still alternating between the "Oh my god, I hope he's ok", and the "I'll kill the summbitch" litany’s now.

This time the water was hot, but not painfully so. Bill finally got up off of Natog's chest so he could help wipe his eyes clean. Finally able to see, Natog got up. It was a big mistake as the world started to spin and he barfed up his breakfast all over the front lawn.

"Easy there tiger, you have a concussion."

"Yeah, not the first time. Remember that day we went sledding in the woods?"

"Fuck yeah, we should have been wearing helmets."

"Help me into the house, My ass is frozen."

Natog looked around as Bill and Mum helped him into the house. There was a lot of blood, a LOT of blood all over the snow. With his head still spinning he let them carry and drag him into the living room where he was dumped onto the couch. Mum stripped the blood-clotted jacket and shirt off of him and wrapped him in several blankets.

Lying on the sofa, he noticed Mum hand Bill had brought the old woodstove in from the shed and had it hooked up to the fireplace in the living room.

Bill busied himself with tending the fire, "So it looks like the Berger's are going to sit tight down here for a while."

Natog watched his brother load the stove. "Why's that? Thought they would go up first chance they got."

"Well, it's cold up there, real cold, and they don't want to get stuck on the way there in an ice storm or something."

"You sound disappointed."

"Well it makes the most sense, we have food, and fuel, and up there we could survive!"

Mum came in with a bucket of water and some soap, and washed Natog's clothes sitting by the fire in her favorite easy chair. "I'm not ready to just leave, Bill, and neither are they, it seems."

Natog watched the flames of the fire through the little vent in the stove's door. "I don't think we could take everything anyways. I was doing an inventory, and I could fill my whole truck with just canned goods."

Bill sounded sullen, "So we leave some behind. We will still have plenty!"

"I know, but I think they have the right idea. If I abandon my house I know the local thugs will break in as soon as they can. Anything I leave I'll have to assume it's gone. I have the trailer, but even then there is no way I could get everything we could need. Plus, we are in no immediate danger here."

"Natog, could you handle something to drink?" Mum asked while she wrung out the fleece pullover and sweatshirt and hung them near the wood stove to dry.

"Hell yeah, I'm starving, but food might be a bad idea. Hate to waste it of I'm still out of sorts."

Mum went and made some tea from the kettle on the kitchen's wood stove. Returning with three mugs, she dispensed them to the family. "Ok, now what happened? I need to know who I'm going to shoot."

"Mum, It's the national guard from Nebrasksa, I think. They have locked down New Bedford."

"Why would the Guard from Nebraska be in New Bedford?"

Natog looked around at Bill's and Mum's faces. "Because New Bedford is burning."

Mum looked puzzled. "What?"

"At least 20 blocks are on fire, it’s a scene right out of hell.”

Mum looked a bit frantic, “I wonder if Ginny is OK.”

Bill gave Mum a hug, “I’m sure she is, Where did these National Guardsmen come from?”

“Looks like they were just about to be shipped out of Handscom when the lights went out. They were probably deployed to New Beige to assist the cops. I bet they'll be in Fall River, Brockton, etc. as well."

Mum looked concerned, "But why shoot? I mean if it comes to that..."

Bill chimed in, "The Federal government is tossing the Constitution out, and enacting Martial Law! We need to rise up and kill these totalitarian bastards!"

Natog sat up a bit during Bill's rant. "Easy there Sam Adams. Let's look at it logically. These troops were about to go to a war zone, and spent how many months in training to face a hostile population. I rabbited, and that was that, the training kicked in."

Mum turned the drying clothes and replied, "I don't know, but if anyone shoots at me I'm going to shoot back. And that is that."

"Hell Yeah!" added Bill.

"I agree, but I was outgunned, and out classed." Natog sat up more, feeling a bit better. "Now we need to figure out what we are going to do. It's tough as hell to keep in communication with each other."

Bill got a evil grin on his face. "I think I got us a solution to that." He got up and went outside.

"Want more tea?" asked Mum.

"Please, got some toast? I think I'd like to try some food."

"You always did love that as a child. I'll get the supplies we can make it here by the fire."

While Mum was in the kitchen, Natog got up experimentally and stood. Bending over he got a little dizzy, but he didn't barf, which was a good sign. His head was throbbing though from the rush of blood.

"What are you doing!" Mum cried as she came back in the room.

"I'm fine Mum, really. Just a bit lightheaded from the blood loss, but I'll be fine."

"You were SHOT in the HEAD."

"I wasn't shot in the head, it was a ricochet. It just proves just how stubborn I am."

"Got that right." Mum began warming a cast iron pan on the wood stove when Bill came bursting back in.

"Happy Kwanza!" Bill exclaimed as he tossed a few boxes on the floor.

Digging into the boxes, Natog and Mum pulled out a series of marine VHF radios. They were brand new and still in the box.

"I got a few real nice antennas too, we should be able to chat back and forth."

Mum asked the obvious question, "Where did you steal them from?"

Bill was still grinning like a fox in a henhouse, "I didn't steal them, I got their generator working, and took these in trade."

Natog and Mum exchanged dubious glances and Mum asked the next question, "Do they work?"

"Hell yeah, if we put the antenna high enough we should make the 20 miles to Natog's house."

Natog grabbed bill by the shoulder and looked him straight in the eye, "It's a good catch, but don't hang around these guys. The cops or guards will catch onto whatever they are up to. And If they will shoot at me for running from a checkpoint, who knows what the fuck they will do to a looter."

"I know, but when opportunity knocks, you got to run with it."

Mum handed Natog and Bill toast with butter, sugar, and cinnamon. While they happily munched away, Mum refilled their mugs with tea. After breakfast, Bill got suited up and went out to cut wood. Mum cleaned the house, and with Natog's urging she reluctantly went through the pantry to inventory what food she had.

With the supplies Natog brought last week, it looks if Bill and Mum were going to have enough food for the month, but that was going to be a bit tight, and repetitive. Looks like the old cans of green beans that haunted the back of the cupboard were finally going to get eaten.

Natog was feeling a lot better with the sugar and starch in his system, so despite the protesting of Mum, he went outside and cut and split wood with his brother. After a few hours, with lots of breaks, they had enough wood cut and split for a week, and enough wood brought in from the woods to easily last a month, once Bill cut and split it.

The source of the wood was hundreds of felled trees in the woods across the street and in the landlocked lot behind the house. Both property owners could do nothing with the lots because they couldn't pass perc tests, so they did nothing with them. Which includes harvesting damaged or felled trees, it seems. Bill and Natog were more than happy to provide the service to clean up the wood when Mum's money was tight, no need to ask permission, either, as the owners lived out of state.

Mum made lunch and called the boys in. A meal of leftover pasta from the night before with Mum's spaghetti sauce, sausage and the last of the bread made into garlic bread was just what the doctor ordered for Natog. During the meal, they came up with call signs and what channels to listen on at what times to monitor.

After lunch, Natog loaded the roll of cable, the antenna, and the radio into the truck so he wouldn't forget it. Then the climbed a tall pine tree in the back yard and hung the antenna as far up as they could. Running the cable into the house, Bill connected the VHF radio to a car battery. A few minutes after they powered it on, a message came over the speaker.

Mum looked up from her knitting, "Well looks like a few others have radios that are working too."

Natog picked up the packaging and sorted it into burnable and not burnable piles. "Yeah, I wonder how many base stations made it, the EMP must have fried anything hard wired."

Later on, after more tea, Bill and Natog went over his maps and managed to plan out a route through Dartmouth, Westport and Freetown that should avoid any major intersections. If they were going to go to Maine, then Natog would have to conserve fuel, which meant they wouldn't be able to see each other. With the radios they could keep in touch.

They busied themselves with patching the two bullet holes in his windshield with packing tape, and putting fresh snow on the blood in the driveway. There were two other bullet holes, one in the passenger side quarter panel, and the cross brace for his roof rack. Bill summed it up succinctly, "That nitwit needs to learn how to shoot!"

With plenty of daylight left, Natog drove down the back roads through Westport, then Freetown. Once in Freetown, he used bolt cutters he kept in his truck's tool box to cut the locks on the entrance roads through the State Forest. He closed the gate after he entered, and used a zip tie to keep the gate from opening on its own.

He drove with the window open a little, as the fresh air made him feel better. Also, the noisy Hummers could be heard far away with the radio off. It was just getting dark when Natog pulled into the garage. He had a hair over a half a tank of gas left. Feeding the dogs, he skipped dinner and went to bed after getting a small fire going to warm up the cold basement.

In Response to ADMIN

2009-09-16T10:37:00.004-04:00

A quote by Admin on an earlier post.

I don't understand right wingers.

Why are you right wingers so worried about the poor that Jesus told us to care about when it is Big Business, Corporate Welfare, and Jacked up Defense Spending taking almost all your money? The percentage the dollars going to the poor, whether deserving or not, is minuscule in comparison.

Why don't you ever worry about the rich ripping off the bulk of your tax dollars?

That seems to be hunky doory with the greedy, evil, nasty, mean and racist rightwingers (and that's how I see y'all--simply as awful people).

They shill for corporate health insurance, Big Pharma, and anybody who PAYS off some loudmouth to rile them up such as Beck or Rush.

Talk about your stupid and dumb masses.

The Scandinavians are happiest with their government, dummies. They must be doing something right with THEIR tax dollars--oh, they're taking care of their common people instead of the rich like we do.

Duh, brain dead stupidos. Go get mad at the Mexicans they are letting in to do the rich man's dirty work for pennies so the wealthy can make a bigger profit at YOUR expense. Don't ever get mad at the rich who hire them.

Get mad at the poor and unemployed instead of corporations shipping all the jobs overseas.

Maybe you can march against the native Americans next. They get some tax dollars, a few, since most of them are dead.

Why don't you stupid right wingers just go and worship Satan outright?

You greedy and evil people deserve all you get. You are like th people who get scammed--played off their own greed.

It's too bad the liberals, the progressives who actually care about other human beings (that's the difference in a nutshell) might have to suffer too.
September 13, 2009 9:29 AM

First off, let’s get this out of the way: What the FUCK did you call me? A “Right winger”? Fuck you! Obviously your rush to judgment neglected to notice the fact that I am a Libertarian, which is on the Z axis of your little “Right vs. Left” or more appropriately, “Us vs. Them” world.

Your ignorance of what I stand for is as obvious as the lies coming from a politician’s mouth. I do not support large corporations, nor do I support the military-industrial complex, nor do I rally behind big pharma. Perhaps you should take a look at yourself, and educate yourself before coming onto my blog and attempting a feeble smear campaign. A few facts go a long way, my misguided troll.

Let’s take a look at ACORN, the poster-organization for the Liberals. They are under investigation in many states for voter-fraud, and pay their officers bigger salaries than most of the fortune 500 companies. So they get you to donate money for the poor, but yet stuff their pockets with the cash. The point here is that each side is flat-out wrong, and there needs to be a change.

The tragedy here is you cannot think through your position. I’m willing to bet you never thought to ask why half of my salary should go to taxes. And a large portion of those taxes are going to “feed the poor” who will not fend for themselves.

Let’s have a thought-experiment, shall we? Let’s say we have a single mom with 5 kids. She gets welfare to provide for herself and her family. The problem is that something given has no value. Let me repeat that so it sinks in, something GIVEN has no VALUE. So the food stamps are traded at half value for cash, which is spent on the drug of choice. The food stamp money wasn’t EARNED so it is WORTHLESS. I realize this is not always the case, that there are welfare mothers out there that just need a leg up.

How do I know this? You see, I was on welfare as a child after my asshole father left. Did my Mum stay on welfare? No, she worked 3 jobs to get off of welfare. It can be done, but the vast majority of welfare recipients do not see welfare for what it is: SLAVERY.

That’s right, Slavery. Slavery is when your will is surrendered to another. It doesn’t matter if it is voluntary. These people are subjecting themselves to suckle on the rotten teat of the government. They mindlessly follow the path of entitlement and are used as political footsoldiers by the Liberals.

Now, to continue our thought-experiment, what if instead of a handout, we give education on how to better stretch the food-dollar. By baking bread for 25 cents a loaf at home instead of $3.75 a loaf in the store? Employ her part time at a reasonable wage filing paperwork in a government office, and performing data entry on old birth certificates, etc? Some of these welfare-mothers would work in a day-care with a certified day-care employee that runs the joint. That would be their job. These jobs would have a “three-strike and you’re out” rule so if you’re fired for smoking crack, then you have two more chances and then you go hungry, and the kids are put in foster care. Bet your ass these mothers would work like hell for that money, and that money would have VALUE, because they WORKED for it.

So what’s better? A handout, or work? Education in a career (probably not glamorous, but a career) or working the street to make a score? This is the limited thinking of the progressives that drives me nuts. You don’t think that the Left is not in bed with Corporations? That Big Pharma isn’t behind the National Healthcare being rammed through Congress? More healthcare = more patients, more patients = more profit. Stop being a fool and open your eyes for the truth. You really, really, need to read Atlas Shrugged. Your eyes would be opened by what the Mouchers and the Looters do. Then again, you might be cheering for them. At least I can try to convince you of your folly.

You criticize me for being part of a “stupid dumb mass” but in the last few paragraphs I have provided you with a positive, clear-cut solution to some of the poverty in America. What suggestions have I heard from the Progressives? None. Nothing but more of the same shit that is obviously not working.

While I am on the subject, you refer to yourself as a Progressive. If you have read anything of history you would not refer to yourself as that. Progressives were behind the Eugenics programs of the 30’s which was a direct influence on National Socialism and the slaughter of millions. Even in America the Progressives are directly responsible for the forced sterilization and MURDER of thousands. I suggest you quietly contemplate if you really do want to call yourself a Progressive.

If you do you will be supporting the following:

Protesting the government would be a crime
Forced sterilization of all criminals (regardless of severity of crime)
The abolishment of the middle class by taxation
Increasing reliance of all families except the political and industrial elite onto welfare. That’s 95% of Americans on Welfare.
Subjugation of Americans to a Global State, where the Bill of Rights has no legal status.
Employment into slave camps to work for the few international corporations allowed by the State.

Just read 1984, by George Orwell, for the endgame of the Progressive State. I’m not joking here, I am DEAD FUCKING SERIOUS. After careful consideration, if you still claim to be a Progressive, then realize that when the uprising happens that we will be at war. That I am one of the 3%'ers that will rise up and destroy the Progressive State. I prefer action to to empty feeling of taxing someone else to validate my theft of thier hard-earned money.

I found a Bug-Out-Location?

2009-09-16T09:18:00.001-04:00

I wrote this post from the “Berger’s” farm in Maine. I was invited to come up and hang out, and seeing as wasn’t on call this week, I made the trip up. He’s got a lot of land, and it’s very remote. The only problem is there are ICBM missile silos up here in Maine, quite a few in fact. I never would have guessed, but because of its remoteness, but still in the lower 48 it does make sense. I guess this is why JWR doesn’t rank Maine too high on his list of retreat areas.

Unless you’re worried about nuclear Armageddon, I think Maine is just dandy. You have to be prepared for the cold though. Here on the farm it gets to -30F regularly, and the maintenance of the animals in wintertime can take its toll. You need a lot of hands for the amount of animals he has up here. They have a couple horses, about a dozen geese (who I’m going to kill for getting me up at 4:30 am) a few ducks, two kinds of goats, pigs, pigeons, rabbits, a hundred chickens, and a llama.

That is a bit too much for two people to handle, no wonder Bill is up here all the time giving them a hand. That’s also why Bill, Mum and I have an open invite if the poop hits they fan. It is remote enough that a LP/OP isn’t needed, or at least I think the dogs do a better job, there is no way they would be able to provide for themselves without additional manpower. The two of them couldn’t hope to protect themselves from any kind of determined attack. The farm is a farm, not a firebase with 300m of cleared land around it.

The other reason is if the rest of the family convoys up here, they will need shooters, like Bill and myself to help them make the trip. There are 12+ major cities that you need to cut directly through to get here. The rest of the Berger family has not one clue on military tactics or what real dangers are out there. The Matriarch of the family knows the poop will hit the fan, and more importantly, she knows what she doesn’t know. That’s where Bill, myself and a couple others come in.

Works for me. Works for them. A win-win if there ever is one.

It is beautiful up here. The trees are just starting to change and the sky is clear and cool. Autumn in Maine is a grand time, it is my favorite of the 6 seasons they have. Oh yeah, Maine has six seasons, didn’t you know? You have Winter, Spring, Black Fly, Summer, House Fly, and Autumn. Black Fly season is legendary, as swarms of black flies roam for the blood of humans for a couple weeks in June. House Fly season is in the end of August, when houseflies swarm from who-knows-where for a few weeks. I talked with a few locals and they originally scoffed at the six season idea, but after a few of the farmers agreed, they all decided it was a keen observation from a Masshole like myself.

The whole point of the trip was to see a 4ish acre parcel of land with a cabin for sale for ~$10k. I never got to see it because of a few scheduling issues. I’m pissed, but that’s Bill being Bill. I’m going to have to make the trek up there soon to see it before it’s snowed in. Once the snow falls the only way in or out of this cabin is by snowmobile, or on foot for the 5 mile hike to where the roads are plowed. So I need to get up there sooner, rather than later.

I’ve always wanted some land in remote Maine, for camping. Now, it would make a good place to run too, but the Berger’s farm would be better. The small town has a medical center that would come in real handy, along with other infrastructure that the cabin would be too remote to use. I know people are thinking about a town + lack of food = lawlessness, but in this part of Maine, just about everyone has chickens, goats, or pigs they raise to fill the freezers for the winter. Plus the game is plentiful, and the population sparse. IF I make the drive up here again, I better see this place or I’ll strangle Bill.

The Liberal Mindset

2009-09-08T21:57:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the delays in posting. Work has seen fit to block all access to any blogging or related site. I'm working on a solution to bypass these blocks, but I need to do it carefully so I don't get in trouble.

I've been trying to understand the liberal mind set. For the life of me I just cannot understand how people are willing to let their hard-earned money go to support those who will no care for themselves. Not that I fault those who get the handout, after all Thomas Paine said: "What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly." In other words you do not value what is given, only what is earned. It's human nature to stay on the dole, why work when you can eat for free?

Now let's us separate right now those who truly cannot fend for themselves and those who can. I know several people bound to wheelchairs, and they have jobs. One's a banker with CP, and the other has a spinal injury who is trying to find a job after being laid off from an insurance company. I also know two people who are fully able to work, but yet are on social security. It's infuriating to see such rampant abuse of the system. So for those that are truly disabled, this rant is not directed at you.

What percentage of freeloaders vs. deserving recipients are out there? We will never know for sure, but I'm betting the percentage isn't as high as one side will see, and not as low as the other side believes. For the sake of argument, assume that 75% of all welfare and those on Social Security Disability are actually able to work. Maybe it's not a great job, but it's solid work. If I had the cash, I'd hire all kinds of people for a tech support center where you work from your home... but I don't have the startup money. Who cares if you're in a wheelchair, or missing a leg, or allergic to everything? Read from cue-cards as tier 1 support or "technical routers" to make sure you get someone who's accent you can understand. But, I digress from my point.

Or do I? Isn't it better to teach a man to fish, rather than just give him one? This is why I hate welfare so much. Teach these folks how to make a living and have a family, rather than sucking on the teat of slavery. make no bones about it, for that is exactly what it is. Slavery. the Welfare State wants everyone under the control of the State. This way the population is easy to manage, as they cannot take care of themselves then they will always support the State or starve.

I was at a bar the night Obammy won the election. You could tell the liberals because they finally have "hope" that this snake-oil salesman, and ALL politicians are snake-oil salesmen, won. What a farce. Now the talking heads (not the band, silly) can talk about reparations and race equality. Bleh. Most liberals I know are anti-American. They might not think they are, but in truth they want America to have feet of clay. This is why such nonsense as reparations and apologies for slavery are brought up. My family owned a plantation in the south. My family owned slaves. Am I proud of it? Hell no. Should I get on my knees and beg the forgiveness of every black person in America? Hell no. I am NOT my ancestors. I am NOT responsible for anyone's actions but my own. My apology for Slavery would be about as impactful and meaningful as apologizing for the bird that shit on your car the other day.

Why do they want us to feel bad about the country we live in? I mean, any rational person knows that America has screwed a lot of people over. The Native Americans, most if not all of South America, and a healthy dose of people in southeast Asia. And then we fuck over a lot of our own population too, don't forget. So if everyone apologizes to each other can we get on with trying to do better in the future? But the Liberals want us to march to their drum. They want their path to be the only available option. If we are not constantly reminded of our own fallacies and spend all the time hugging each other than we cannot come up with better solutions to the problem. It's like they want to focus on the problem instead of working out a common solution.

I equate the liberal mind set with vampirism. It bleeds the energy of the victim, until they are feeble and without the will to live. Wealth equality. What a load of bullshit. There has never, ever, been a time on this earth when there wasn't an inequality in wealth. Even if Bob the cave-man had a pretty rock he showed his cave-woman, then he was wealthier than Frank the cave-man. Steve showed them both up by having a nicer cave closer to the river. To see why wealth re-distribution is such a load of horseshit take a look at prison. Yep, the prison world is the most tightly controlled economy in the world, but yet there are those that have more than others. Even look at online virtual economies, like in MMO's like World of Warcraft. Those who put in the time and effort have more money than those who don't. Wealth inequality is a natural state for humanity. Even if we took all the money in America, the land, and cars, everything and divided it equally. I bet you anything that within 10 minutes someone would have more than someone else.

Whilst tilting at the windmills of wealth equality, Liberals will tax, regulate, ban and outlaw anything and everything to get it. History has shown that budgets are always over-inflated with promised to fix this ill or the other, betting that the utopia will be here to make it all better. Hate to be the killjoy, but utopia's not coming. Liberals are the eternal optimists of the most dangerous kind. They max the credit cards today, because they will win the lottery tomorrow.

Responsible capitalism is the most beneficial, sustainable economic model we have developed in the ~10,000 of human civilization. But we are led to believe that capitalism is evil. Hogwash. What we have now isn't a free-market economy, it's a maze of self-interest groups battling it out for the scraps left from the government's table. They say the love of money is evil, Ayn Rand maintains it's the root of all good, and I tend to agree with her for the most part. Money is a tool. I love my 28 ounce framing hammer just as much as my savings account. Although I have to admit I love my delta unisaw more than money :)

We are in a time of change, but the grassroots backlash against the two established parties is going to be the change, not some catchword from the liberal elite.

Fiction - Part VIII - Running the Blockade

2009-09-01T10:50:00.002-04:00

Natog left that morning to go to his mother’s house. He only made it as far as Route 140 before he saw the plumes of smoke. New Bedford was burning.

Thick, greasy clouds of smoke billowed from several areas of the city. As he stopped at the roadblock manned by a State Trooper it looked like the heaviest concentration was coming from the southern end of the city, where the old mills were concentrated.

A Trooper got out of his cruiser and walked up to Natog as he was gawking in the middle of the empty road. “Sir, please turn around.”

Natog came out of his trance. “Uh. Sure.”

The trooper looked a bit stern, “Right now, sir.”

“Uh… yeah. Hey, would you like some hot chocolate? I was on my way to Mom’s to help her cut some wood.”

There was a brief crack in the “Cop’s Mask” On the trooper. “Sir, if you’re not on your way back in 5 minutes I’m going to toss you in a cell, get it?”

“I get it, but you are out here freezing your beans off, and I’m not going to drink all this myself. Maybe it’s bribery, but I need to get to Mom’s to cut wood for her or she will freeze tonight.”

“Your Mother heats her house with wood?”

“Yeah, since ’72.”

“Ok out of the car, please keep your hands where I can see them.”

“Yeah, I am armed. My license is in my wallet.”

“Really. When were you going to tell me? “

“As soon as you asked me to step out of the car so you could frisk me before you had some hot chocolate.”

“Wait a minute, I’ve met you before. Your friends with Joe on the night shift.”

Keeping his hands visible, Natog nodded his head enthusiastically. “Yeah I met most of the Middleboro barracks, but I was doing Jägermeister Ice Luges that night. That was a good night.”

“Yeah you were pretty lit, At least you didn’t drive home. Ok, get on out.”Natog continued the conversation as he slowly got out of the car. “I never made it home, fell asleep on Joe’s porch.”

“That was a heck of a party. Sig P220, nice pistol.”

Natog handed over his license to carry. “Thanks, I went with the Sig after I shot Joe’s at the range, got the .45 for more pop.” Natog finally could read the nametag, ROSENCRANTZ. Somehow, the alcohol fueled memories managed to work while sober. “Roswell, right?”

“What you say?”

“Your name, you go by Roswell, right?”

“Well not really.”

“Hey, YOU were the one doing ice luges of Jägermeister with me. And that hawt cop from the Brockton Police…”

“Yeah, that was me.” Roswell replied as he tucked the Sig into his duty belt. “Anything else on you?”

“Nope. Didn’t buy a backup yet.”

Natog met “Roswell” at Joe’s memorial day party a last year. The other Troopers busted Roswell’s balls because he fervently believed in UFO’s and that ET’s existed. Other than that, he was a normal enough guy.

Natog pulled the thermos out of the back, and made sure Roswell could see everything he did. It wasn’t too cold out, it was in the high 20’s with only a light breeze. Roswell’s cruiser wasn’t running, so they must be low on fuel. Roswell got into his car and motioned Natog to the other side. Other than a battered copy of “Chariots of the Gods”, there wasn’t much mess on the passenger seat. Very unusual for a Troopers car.

After poring himself a cup of hot chocolate in the thermos top, and pouring Roswell some in a “recycled” coffee cup, Natog asked “So what’s going on in New Beige?”

“Well someone must have torched a few of the mills. Those things will go up, go up quick and hot from all the oil in the wood.” Roswell was referring to the practice of soaking down the wooden floors in the textile mills with oil to keep the dust down in those sweatshops in the early 20th century.

“Yeah, I used to rent some space in one with Joe. Was a lot of fun. After 75+ years you still would have anything directly on the floor soak up some oil.”

“Yeah at least five of the big ones are on fire now. The other fires are from homes, knocked over candles and kerosene stoves too close to drapes.”

“Jesus, how many blocks are on fire?”

“Over twenty.”

“My God. What are they doing with the homeless?”

“Well, the Red Cross has a shelter set up at the high schools, but a lot of the people got out with nothing. Most figured the power would be back on.”

“I wouldn’t count on that, passed by a few transformer stations a few days ago and they all looked like they had a barbeque.”

“Yeah, and everyone with a generator is low on fuel. Even St. Luke’s Hospital is down to a few days of diesel.”

“Wow, that is not good. How are you guys holding out?”

“Doing well enough, we are all working double or triple shifts. I can’t wait for the overtime check.”

“No shit.”

“Yeah the wife isn’t too happy, but we got a shitload of MRE’s delivered to us from the Guard. They suck, but it’s better than nothing.”

“That was nice of them.”

“Nice my ass, it’s some sort of contingency plan. They need us on the street to keep the peace, so they make sure our families are all set. Cathy and my daughter are staying with the sergeant’s fam along with a few others. They have a diesel genny, and they got extra fuel from the Guard too. They are setting up something at Otis AFB too.”

“Like in hummers and shit, you’re fucking with me.”

“Seriously. Full combat load. They were in Hanscom due to ship out for a tour when the shit hit the fan. Get this, they are from Nebraska or something.”

“Rednecks in New Bedford… Wonderbar.”

“Yeah, well, they will be taking over this checkpoint soon, and then I can hit the rack for a whole four hours or so before I go back on shift.”

“Waitaminute, full combat load, what the fuck’s up with that?”

“I don’t know. Guess the Guard’s worried shit will turn nasty. Last night, I had to bust up a pimp putting his girls out in this weather for food and jewelry.”

“What! Now you’re really fucking with me.”

“No way man, you could get your wick dipped for a fucking ham sandwich.”

“Hey, Gimmie that hot chocolate back, I got to head to Brockton!”

“Yeah yeah. Fuck you.”

“Other than the weird shit, nothing big going on?”

“Thankfully no. The LT thinks it’s because it’s cold. If this shit happened in July… Let’s just say it would be a lot more criminal.”

“Well, I’m supposed to get to Dartmouth, what’s the best way to get there without running across any more road blocks?”

Roswell gave Natog a sidelong glance. “Took you long enough to beat around the bush.”

“Well, you know…”

“Yeah well forget it. All major roads into and out of New Bedford are blockaded, and you can expect checkpoints at all major intersections, with patrols out in the city. They are not going to let you through, and if they do, they won’t let you back out.”

“What are they doing with troublemakers?”

“Jail. The courts are all shut down so don’t do anything stupid. Rumor has it they are putting tents up at Hanscom AFB to make a makeshift prison camp.”

“Bull. Shit.”

“Seriously, it makes sense. What else we going to do with all the criminals when they start stealing food?”

“I dunno. I wondering if I should pack my shit up and head to mom’s.”

“If you have food, I’d stay put.”

“Yeah I have some left, I went grocery shopping the day before it happened.”

“Lucky bastard, my neighbor had nothing, had to give him a couple MRE’s.”

“What’s he going to do for more food?”

“I don’t know. FEMA or the Red Cross is at the high school.”

“Hmmm. Any way to get a message to my mom? She is going to be worried sick.”

“Not from here, this car was towed here, it’s fried.”

“Whoa.”

The two men chatted for another half hour, until a couple of humvees could be seen making their way up from New Bedford.

Roswell and Natog got out of the cruiser while the hummers were still a mile or so off.
Turning to Natog Roswell returned the pistol. “Put that away, they might be confiscating weapons.”

“Right. Thanks.” Natog quickly put the pistol back and pulled the fleece jacket over it.”

The Hummers pulled up, still painted with desert camouflage. Two men jumped out of the first hummer. The first wasn’t more than 25 years old, with a lieutenant’s bar on his collars. Both had Assault rifles, and web gear over their parkas. Natog distinctly noticed that they had grenades on their gear, and both hummers had M60’s. Although they were not manned, and no boxes of ammo was mounted.

“Trooper, you are relieved. The civilian will put his hands on the car and submit to a search.” The accent was definitely Midwestern.

Before Natog even started getting pissed off, Roswell looked the kid square in the eye, “He’s with me, he volunteered to run food to us out here from the barracks.”

The young lieutenant turned towards the trooper. “This is a guard operation, and therefore I am in charge here. If you have trouble with that, I can kick it up the chain of command, and we can see who’s boss has a bigger dick.”

“Now you listen here, this isn’t Afghanistan or Iraq, so you can that shit for when your in-country.”

The lieutenant eyed Natog up and down. “Very well. He will give you a ride back to the barracks so I can send my second squad out on patrol.”

After Natog and Roswell climbed into the Jeep, Roswell muttered “Little prick” under his breath.
“No shit.”

The two men continued to chat on the ride back to the Middleboro barracks. The drive was uneventful, and the streets were empty of cars.

After pulling up to the barracks, Roswell got out of the car, laughing, and said, “Don’t get caught.”
Natog laughed “I won’t. Think they have orders to shoot?”

“Nah. You will be fine, just stay away from the main intersections, and take a lot of weird turns to outrun the radios.”

“Take it easy Roswell. Good luck with your famliy”

“You too, thanks for the hot chocolate.”

Natog turned his Jeep Grand Cherokee back towards New Bedford. The problem was that there was no way to get through to Dartmouth without either going through New Bedford, or cutting across the tip of Fall River and then through Westport. All of which were on main roads with obvious chokepoints.

Pulling over to the side of the road, he broke out a street map of the area, and plotted out a rough course. The eastern side of town was the “rougher” section of town, being close to the docks. So he would have to cut through the industrial section to the north, which might be patrolled. At least Natog was very familiar with the city after years of horsing around with his friends in a variety of shitboxes.

With a last glance at the map, he folded it up so the western side of the city was highlighted, and tucked it in-between the seats.

He ran into his first patrol in the industrial park. Spotting the hummer in the distance, Natog quickly started a series of turns, then pulled off into a parking lot. Pulling in behind the building, he turned off the jeep, and got out. With the freeze-thaw cycles of the last few days, the roads were pretty clear, so no tell-tale tracks were there to give him away.

He could hear the diesel engine on the hummer as it came slowly down the road. After it passed, Natog waited a few minutes before starting up the jeep and continuing on. He made it through the rest of the industrial park, and the North of the city without further incident.

As he made his way along the western edge of the city, He was shocked at the pall of sooty black smoke coming from numerous homes, stores, strip malls, etc. No firefighters could be seen. Wondering if they were all trying to keep the high schools safe from the flames, He continued, avoiding the burning blocks by weaving through the city. Once past the fire’s front lines, he saw many families frantically climbing into military trucks. Evidently they were being evacuated. There were a few working cars, all fully loaded with whatever precious belongings they could grab before the flames could claim them.

As Natog approached Dartmouth, he foolishly used a main road, and stumbled across a road block. Two humvees were blocking the street with soldiers inside to keep warm. As Natog approached two got out with weapons and motioned for him to stop.

The two soldiers trained their weapons on him and began to approach. Natog just about shit his pants. The last thing he wanted to have happen is get shot by a couple of nitwits trained to go to Iraq, who were stuck in America. Natog had stopped about 50 yards from the humvees, too close to try to drive past them. So without thinking, he dropped it into reverse, and floored it.

Cars were made to drive forward. This is what must have saved him. That, or pure blind luck. When you drive backwards really fast, the car tends to wobble a little. The soldier on the left raised his weapon and began firing, the first few rounds were hopelessly off target, but Natog heard several slap into the Jeep. Jacking on the brakes and cutting the wheel hard, he brought the Jeep up on two wheels in a half-assed J turn. Slamming it into drive, he glanced back at the roadblock where one soldier was obviously yelling at the other, with his muzzle held up in the air.

Gunning the engine, Natog roared back the way he came. Natog tried to remember the statistics of the HMMWV form Twilight:2000, a post-apocalyptic RPG he used to play. He remembered that they were not as fast as gasoline cars, but they were true off-road vehicles. His only hope was to outrun, or outfox, them.

Cutting across several rights and lefts, Natog made a roughly circular path until he was heading back south. The Humvee following him was in the distance, cutting across lawns and parking lots to keep up. Natog knew these streets like the back of his hand, having lived here most of his life. This knowledge is what enabled his escape. Cutting back and forth he pulled a screeching right across Mr. Kimble’s side yard, between two houses too close together for the wide humvee to get through. A quick left and right and another right and he was parallel to his original path. Another left and right, and he pulled onto the road sideways about a quarter mile farther south on Tucker Road.
A few minutes later, he pulled into his mother’s driveway. Turning off the Cherokee, he sat and shook for a few minutes as the adrenaline worked its way through his system. Calming himself down with slow steady breaths, he popped the hood and got out of the car. With his hands still shaking, he checked the radiator and engine.

Strangely, there was red fluid on top of the valve cover. He wiped his brow and saw where the fluid was coming from, a gash on his head was bleeding profusely.

Natog just about went into cardiac arrest, thinking he was shot in the head. Suddenly, the world was spinning, and the last thing he remembered was the taste of blood, and the crunch of snow as he fell into darkness.

Disaster Recovery

2009-08-31T16:28:00.002-04:00

I work as a Server Engineer. Recently my company has been looking into planning for Disaster Recovery (DR). In the I.T. biz, that means making sure we have all our data and applications online in case something really bad happens. Things like flooding in the Data Center (DC), or some nitwit in a backhoe cutting all our fiber links to our remote DC. Stuff like that. Computer systems are not designed from the get-go for DR. For example you cannot have a subnet online in two geographical locations without some big $ being thrown around.

So I thought I would see if some of these thoughts would work for prepping. In a DR scenario you split your applications up into different tiers. Let's take a fictional company's applications for an example.

Payroll
Accounts payable
Accounts receivable & billing
Inventory
Shipping
Home directories file share
HR file share
Intranet web site
Extranet website
E-mail
Printing

Ok so that's a small list of the applications used by a small company. Most of the mail order companies of any size will have at least this many apps. The hard part is to group them into levels of importance.

Tier 1
E-mail
Inventory
Accounts receivable & billing
Extranet website
Printing

Tier 2
Payroll
Accounts payable
Shipping

Tier 3
HR file share
Intranet website
Home directories file share

So for our example let's say we are an online survival store. Now, the idea of the I.T. department is to make sure orders go into the system as the most important. This way users out in cyberspace don't go run off to your competitors when your DC gets flooded. Picking tickets need to be printed so the warehouse guys can pull orders while the rest of the systems are brought back online.

A word about the tiers. The tier 1 applications are your core. You cannot operate without these at all. Tier 2 need to be available for weekly or monthly tasks, and tier 3 are the little things that make life easy. I think I see some parallels already.

But onto this company. Now what most DR planners forget is that none of these systems will run at all without some infrastructure. A network, account authentication, etc. So let's add a tier 0.

Tier 0
Active Directory
Network
Power

So many DR consultants forget to plan for power. That wafer of silicon ain't doing jack shit without some electrons there, buddy!

Well you get the idea. Now in DR planning we talk of an alternate site. This site is either a Cold, Warm, or Hot site. If you are a fortune 500 company we can talk about hot sites, otherwise your too poor. A hot site is fully online simultaneously with your primary site. Downtime (if at all) is measured in seconds.

Warm sites are up, but might need infrastructure to be changed in order to go online. Like shutting down a subnet in one data center and bringing it up in your DR network. Recovery is measured in hours.

Then there is the Cold site, which is just about useless. Sometimes hardware needs to be ordered, or physically carried form your production site, dried out, then powered on and tested. Trust me from past experience this sucks hairy monkey balls.

Ok now after that hour long explanation, let's see how this works in the prepping world. Let's start with the sites.

A hot site would be where you have all the equipment and supplies pre-staged and ready to go. Now if you live at your retreat, that's not a hot site. That's your primary site, and your DR site might be a debris shelter in a national park... Anyway, very few people will be able to afford this. Since I didn't win Mass Millions, I'm still poor, and cannot afford this.

A warm site would have the infrastructure ready, but not everything is ready to go. This could also be a friend's or family member's house out of state.

A cold site is just that. You got what you can carry, that's it.

Now onto the tiering of the prepper's infrastructure:

Tier 0
Health

Tier 1
Shelter
Water
Food

Tier 2
Security
Communications

Tier 3
Power
Gasoline/diesel
Luxuries

Now it's interesting that I made Health a Tier 0. I did this because you're not doing squat if you got dysentery, a broken leg, or a new hole somewhere there ain't supposed to be one. The rest I think are self-explanatory. Hope this simple system helps a few out there get rolling on planning what is important, and what isn't. Sure, a gas grill is nice to have, along with that nifty new flashlight, but a tent is more critical to your survival.

I also hope people start to think about the next step. There are a lot of people ready to make a stand at their remote homes, but your still need a backup site in case a forest fire or flood, or who-knows-what-else happens. Even if it's a barn at your brother-in-law's on the other side of the valley.

Don't forget now is the time to stock up on mason jars. I bought 5 cases of quart jars for ~$10 a box. I'll be working my foodsaver overtime this week packing away food.

The Declaration of Dependance

2009-08-25T13:20:00.001-04:00

IN AMERICA, August 25th, 2009
The popular Declaration of the fifty Progressive States of America

When in the Course of human incompetence it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the rights and freedoms which have connected them with one another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of God, Allah, Buddha, Ganesh, Isis, and the Force entitles them, a political correctness to the opinions of mankind requires they should declare the causes which impel them to the suppression of free will to that of the State.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all humans are created equal, although some are more equal than others, that they are endowed by the State with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Welfare, Political Correctness, and the rejection of thought. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among humanity, deriving their just powers from the mindless submission of the governed, That whenever Form of Government becomes destructive to these ends, it is by the Right of The Progressives to alter it to their ends, or to overthrow it and institute a new, Progressive, government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Welfare. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that humanity are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

But when a long train of neglected entitlements and benefits, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to make their own living, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future welfare.

Such has been the patient sufferance of these States; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present Constitution is a history of repeated neglects, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Free Society over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
This Free Society has refused their Assent to Entitlements, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

This Free Society have protested the passage of bailouts of immediate and pressing importance, they have protested increased taxes which were for the betterment of some.

This Free Society have refused to increase Entitlements for the accommodation of large numbers of non-citizens, unless those people would go through the lengthy process to become citizens.

This Free Society travels to town hall meetings and does its best to usurp the carefully choreographed audience membership, They demand to be seen, nay, even heard! For their views are alien to us, and therefore unable to be understood by rational peoples of this Welfare State.

They have refused to obstruct the Administration of Justice by enacting Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

They have made Judges accountable on performance alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

They have protested the erection of a multitude of New Offices, and refused to embrace the hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

They have kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies to protect this society from enemies foreign and domestic.

They have combined with others to subject us to a just constitution, and acknowledged by laws; giving their Assent to their Acts of Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed citizens among us:

For attempted reduction of the Trade deficit:

For reducing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by the Media:

For establishing the second amendment, for all of God's, Buddha's, Allah's, Isis', Zeus', Odin's, Ganesh's etc. children know that guns are Evil, and therefore if we disarm the population then the criminals would no longer need firearms to steal, rape, or murder:

For the attempting to balance the wages of the unions with the businesses need for cost-management:

For fighting globalization by every available means:

For repeated attempts to discern the true nature of the Federal Reserve, and to bring that institution's accounting into the light of day:

For asking for proof of global warming:

For refusing to acknowledge the feeble shreds of evidence our scientists hath gathered, pointing out such nonsense as the lack of evidence and the neglect to include solar activity into the results:

For refusing to play the race card:

For taking away our Entitlements, abolishing our most valuable Pork-barrel projects and refusing to alter the fundamental Forms of our Governments:

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the Main Stream Media: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated inquiry as to why our cranium is inserted into our rectal cavity.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Free Society brethren. We have warned this Free Society from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their compassion and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably cause us to have to work for sustenance. They too have been deaf to the voice of our justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, as something we can mooch off of.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the Progressive States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these States, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Welfare States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the United States of America, and that all political connection between them and the United States of America, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Welfare States, they have full Power to levy Taxes, condone Looting, break contracts, establish Entitlements, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other your Fortunes.

Great P220 article

2009-08-24T16:22:00.000-04:00

I love my Sig P220, and this blogger does too. Check it out.

Insanity

2009-08-24T14:44:00.001-04:00

How do you know when you are crazy? When do you know that line between the sane and the insane has been crossed? I think our brains have evolved a way to police itself, and try to keep from going off the deep end. It makes sense. If we went nutty too easily, then how as a species would we have survived so far.

Don't get me wrong, we, as a race, are a little tapped. A bit off kilter. It's an advantage to (sometimes) think in non-linier paths of thought and reasoning. But there is a line that has been crossed. The government of America is now bat-shit crazy.

I think, as a nation, we are about to cross that line. The Tea-Parties are like a white blood cell for the psyche, trying to fix the damage before it gets to far. As a nation, we are on the road to ruin. Even if we are out of this depression, there is another just on the horizon. Every time we manage to make it through a depression by direct and drastic action, we make the next one exponentially more dangerous to our economy.

When was the last time in this nation we had such a crisis? We have a federal government completely out of touch with the average American. Our economy is failing from too much debt and a middle class taxed at an unsustainable level. We have been invaded by a non-incorprating population that is leeching off of our health and social services system. Our military is involved in four major wars (drug, Afghanistan, Iraq & Terror) with no exit strategy or clearly defined goals in any of these conflicts. Our neighbor to the south, Mexico, is on the verge of complete collapse - a failed state in all but name. Let us not forget the unemployment rate is 21%!

And now the Democrats want to ram through health care reform at a cost of $9,000,000,000,000 over the next 10 years. Of course this is assuming the unemployment rare remains at 8.5% which it hasn't. Even the government-published unemployment rate is ~9.4%. The lack of tax revenue will add to these deficit numbers.

I fear there will be a time soon when the house of cards comes tumbling down. For the preppers like myself, it will be an interesting time (to say the least!). What we must do during the collapse is lead whatever is left of America into a new age. We need to be the councilors and confidants, the psychiatrists and priests to the fledgling nation that rises from the ashes.

There will be a lot of hurt in the world, and we will need to help heal it. Many will be lost without the teat of uncle sugar. Those that survive should be free of their addiction. We will need to act as a preventative force - preventing the system of dependence and encouraging the virtue of what this nation was founded on - INDEPENDENCE.

Threat Assessment

2009-08-20T11:56:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking (and writing) a lot lately about the government, politics, healthcare, etc. It's time for a threat re-assessment. Periodically you need to look at the threats out there in the world and make sure you are doing your best to plan for these threats, and make sure you and your family will be prepared for any of these catastrophes.

The way I am looking at things now, here is the list of "bad things" and the percentage chance they will be the "bad thing" if a "bad thing" does happen.

Economy 45%
Pandemic 10%
Solar Storm/EMP strike 10%
Hurricane 30%
Food Shortages 5%

First on the list for me is economic collapse. My preps in this area have gotten much better, but I still am short in regards to having hard currency at the house. Silver has been a bitch to find anywhere near the spot silver price. I have been saving, and I'm currently on my way to building up 6 months of cash for bills. That is a lot of cash, though. It seems that every time I get past a month's worth, something I've been wanting a really long time goes on sale. The most recent culprit was the vises I need for my woodworking bench. Ah well.

Hurricanes are a fact of life on the east coast. Just because we haven't had one for a few years doesn't mean squat. I'm within 60 miles of the cost, so any cat 3 or better storm can cause a lot of damage before it swings back out to sea. I have all the supplies I'd need for this disaster. This was the first thing I worried about way back when I started this journey, so I am the most prepared for it.

Next up is a Pandemic. It could be Swine flu or bird flu or who-knows-what. I'm not as concerned with this as some are. Avoiding human contact is quite easy for me. I did get some N95 masks before the prices shot up. which was good. I also bought several big bottles of the alcohol gel stuff at the dollar store. The hard part would be laying low while FEMA rounded everyone up. I seriously doubt the local fuzz would let me stay in my home. Regardless of my personal rights, In this scenario I fully expect LEO to forcibly try to take me to a FEMA camp if I'm found out. That would be bad. It's not like I'd be able to hide, as odds are they would go house to house to check for the dead. Of course while they are in there they will search the place top to bottom confiscating guns and such. I need to think about this some more and see if there is a way to keep the LEO's hands off of me, without a big confrontation.

We are in a low point in the Sun's natural cycle of solar activity. When the Fusion furnaces kick up again we will see a huge spike in the frequency and intensity of solar storms and CME's (Coronal Mass Ejections). Our antiquated power grid cannot handle a huge EMP pulse, so I fully expect weeks to months without power. The whole northeast corridor is flagged red on NASA's danger area for EMP strikes. So if this happens, I expect it to get real bad real fast.

There has been talk of food shortages. This wonky summer weather really has caused a lot of crops trouble. Even my small garden isn't a lush as it should be. The corn is at least 3 weeks off schedule, it started flowering the week I was on vacation. On the trip out no flowers, on the way back the fields were filled. I recall that usually happened in July. I'm not too concerned as long as I have a job I can make the cuts to buy food at the inflated prices, using my preps when the food riots and rationing breaks out. An unlikely scenario IMHO, so I've assigned it a low priority.

Finally we have a small chance of getting nuked. I think New York, LA, or Washington DC would be a higher-value target, but I'm no terrorist and have no clue what they have up their sleeves. But in this day and age, we need to think about suitcase nukes, dirty bombs, chemical or biological attacks. This is the weakest area of my preps, and I don't see it getting any better anytime soon.

Barney Frank

2009-08-19T16:14:00.001-04:00

What a tool. Getting into a shouting match with your constituents is a good way to continue your alienation of the moderates, driving more into tea-party demonstrations.

Barney the Boob got angry because the woman was comparing Obamacare to the policies of the Nazi's. And Barney got his boxers in a bunch about it. Is such a comparison so unfair?

Now Obammy isn't a Nazi. Since he is half black half white, either side of the race war Tim Mcveigh tried to start would toss him out on his ear (or much, much worse). But the policies of the modern Democratic and Republican parties are very much of a progressive nature.

Let's establish a timeline. In the early 20th century the progressive movement started here in America. Some of the key points of the Progressive Movement were betterment of mankind, and government reform. Sounds good on paper, but the reality was this. Prohibition, eugenics, the welfare state, ICC, FDA, FTC, Income Tax and The Federal Reserve system are all direct results of Progressive policies.

The Nazi's liked a lot of the progressive policies. The Nazi's were not all evil. We would like to think so, but I can assure you they were not. I've talked with some, and they are horrified to what happened. I'm convinced some had no idea about the death camps, but that doesn't excuse their anti-semmitism.

The Nazi's were elected on the promise of stopping the spread of communism, restoring pride in Germany, lowering unemployment, governmental reform, so on and so forth. Sound familiar? In fact, the ideas of eugenics resonated with the Nazi elite, and led directly to the deaths of millions. Not just the Jews, but Homosexuals, the mentally retarded, the crippled, the blind, etc. The Nazi's were so intent on the master race crap that they killed off millions of their own citizens in order to keep the bloodline pure.

Now progressivism is back in style. In this day and age of yellow journalism, i was shocked at the lack of outcry when Hillary Clinton called herself a progressive. Shivers ran down my spine. What if these days the "impure" are those that don't support homosexuality or the welfare state? a committee of nitwits could condemn anyone to forced sterilization for harboring anti-state thoughts.

I'm all for choice, and it looks to me that is the target of this administration. I see a removal of free enterprise and choice in this health care "reform". We didn't have a choice with all these economic bailouts. We have no choice as the economy is buckling under the load of debt, and he is adding more and more.

Barney Frank is the classic example of what is wrong with congress. His unabashed incompetence as he lied to the press on how financially secure Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was. His smug attitude, and vile demeanor to voters who hold a different viewpoint. His inability to talk rationally, as he spouts hate and raises his voice to elicit emotion. All he needs is a pencil mustache and a podium in a beer hall.

Truth be told we cannot say if the current crop of progressives are worse than the Nazi's. I have no idea what they are up to. On thing these progressives have learned from the Nazi's is how to manipulate and control the press. So we won't see what the Truth is until history is written, long after these events unfold.

Back from Vacation

2009-08-18T14:17:00.000-04:00

Well, I slacked off on vacation. I went on a personal news blackout, and not surprisingly, there wasn't a whole lot to bitch about.

I took the northern route through Canada on my drive. I like the drive especially the great lakes and rivers I cross on the way there. I'm so used to the "dingy" Atlantic, that the pure blue of the water is shocking. And it's all (mostly) drinkable with a filtering and a boil.

I did take my BOB with me, in case something really bad went down when I was 700+ miles and 60ish gallons of gas away from home. I'm back so all is well, but it was comforting to have it. Glad customs didn't search the car, they might have figured out I'm a "right wing extremist" or whatever I'm labeled as. Now that I think of it, why did I need to get a passport to get back into my own damn country? bah!

I did notice all the border guys were wearing tons of body armor. I thought the American customs agents looked positively comical in their faux combat gear. No webbing, but the boots, and black BDU's and flack vests. The Americans were armed to the teeth with 9mm pistols, the Canadians had body armor over their old, blue uniforms. no guns for the Canadians.

Looks like more of the same shit while I was gone. The messiah is going to make us bend over and take the obamacare right in the pucker.

They figured out who made the obamajoker poster. whoop-dee-doo. The MSM said nothing intelligent, even the Michael Vick 60 minute interview was a complete pillow fight. bleh. Ask the hard questions you sissies.

I've added another blog to the role call "The Coming Depression" not bad, they link to articles all over. I find the perspective a bit heavy on the doom and gloom, but it does give a good feed of information you can use in making up your own mind.

Last night I went fishing on the ocean again with my brother. It has been a long, long time since I was on the water. I didn't realize how much I missed it. We didn't catch squat, but it was relaxing - a perfect nightcap before I had to come to work again.

On Marriage

2009-08-06T15:06:00.000-04:00

I'm getting ready for vacation. I am off to WIFCON out in Lansing, MI for 9 days of gaming. Yes, I am a wargamer geek. I've gone before and it is fun and challenging at the same time. Due to domestic and logistical issues the local group has been unable to play, so I am a bit rusty.

I'm going to try to post from the con, we shall see how that goes.

Anyway, I wanted to collect my thoughts on marriage and a few other things from my earlier post.

See I don't really care who marries who, as long as they are of consenting age. Marriage is a cultural and religious ceremony. Despite the terrible divorces I've witnessed in my family and friends, I still think it's a good thing.

Now from the state side of things, marriage should be pretty much irrelevant. Yeah you read it right. No tax breaks, no insurance for the spouse) zip, nada, nothing.

There are a few reasons for this position I'd like to go over.

1) In our current society, I am penalized for being single. If you give one group a benefit, then the other group gets penalized by omission. Why should I pay higher taxes?

The assumption is that the wife stays home while the husband works. This model is simply a way of re-routing the dependency so everyone can feel good. The truth of this model is since the wife wasn't working, why shouldn't the breadwinner claim her as a dependant on his taxes?

2) Society is evolving and changing. Fifty years ago polyamory wasn't on the cultural radar. It was there, but way, way out in the fringes. Now how does an insurance company insure a workers 4 spouses? Wouldn't that bump up the rates for everyone, single, monogamous relationship, etc?

Even the simple problem of who can pick the kids up from school is an issue. Can husband C pick up wife A and husband B's kid from school if the student feels sick?

3) The State has no right into my bedroom. If I want to be hog-tied and smothered in pepto-bismal while wearing a Don Knots mask while I get spanked by a Democrat - that is my own business and no one else's, as long as both parties are consensual.

4) The State has no right to tell me who I can have a relationship as long as everyone is an adult. The one place the State has in the marriage is with blood relatives. There is untold amounts of documented proof that marrying your sister is a bad idea. There are whole communities where this crap has been going on. One I have seen with my own two eyes is in Wareham. It's a trailer park we called "pinkeye village" because of the rampant Albinism. What if it was a more sever genetic disorder? Why damn your children to that?

5) Let's get real unconventional. In the very near future, you will be able to buy or rent a "love robot." When AI gets here in the next 50 years, that robot could be controlled by another sentient life form. Can I marry it?

The conservative mantra of "family values" is shouted from most rooftops when dealing with marriage. How can these people have any idea what my family values are? People should worry about teaching these values to their children, not forcing them on other people. Lead by example.

Businesses will need to change their benefits packages, and insurance companies will need to re-think how they insure their customers. In the end I don't see it costing any more than it does now.

Middle class tax

2009-08-04T14:05:00.001-04:00

The federal government cannot get anything right, therefore we need to minimize the impact of it's ineptitude by reducing what the Federal Government is responsible for. So let's recap my position on the responsibilities of government. And you can quote me on this.

1) Protect my inalienable rights - Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That's it. Seems a small thing, just one line of text. then again there isn't a lot that needs to be done. We need to defend our borders. I can't be free when under the thumb of a foreign power. I cannot pursue happiness when I'm robbed, assaulted, or killed. I cannot be happy when I get defrauded.

Liberty to pursue my own religion in whatever form I see fit, so long as it doesn't infringe on anyone else's rights. So I cannot marry a 16 year old, even with parental consent, as the child bride's rights are inviolate until she decides to act on them as an adult - 18 years old. I can marry 12 women, if I wanted that many headaches (ha ha) so long as all did it of their free will. Heck, if a woman in Boise wanted 55 husbands to rub her feet and peel grapes for her, so much the better.

Likewise if a group wanted to all marry each other I could care less, lust like I don't care if two men or two women married. When it comes to the secular side of the marriage - NOTHING APPLIES! More on that in another post.

Freedom to assemble, freedom of the press, all part of my pursuit of happiness.

After that, there is NOTHING I want from the government. I give you a case-in-point, the "cash for clunkers" program. Poorly designed, ineptly implemented, and stomps on my liberty by taking over my PC when I agree to their splash screen. That is the face of the modern federal government. Any car that was affordable to a low-income family is now $4500, since that's what the government will buy it for. So if Cindy Citizen, a single mother of three, needs a minivan because hers died is now unable to commute back and forth to work, and goes on welfare. The $500 shitbox she would have bought is now $4500. Good job Fedz! Aren't you supposed to help people get off of the government teat?

I could not even begin to enumerate how the current federal government is unable and/or unwilling to provide my basic rights.

How many millions of people, not just south Americans, but east Europeans, Africans, etc., cross into America illegally? Time to secure the border. If that means pulling troops from Germany, Turkey, Greece, Cuba, and so on and so forth - then DO IT. It's a hell of a lot cheaper to house troops here in America than it does to put them up in South Korea or Okinawa.

Taxing me 50%+ of my income is not part of my happiness. Some taxes and fees are inevitable. This tax rate is inexcusable. I do not want government healthcare or retirement. We have already seen time and time again that the federal government cannot run any program in an efficient and profitable manner.

Eliminate the bulk of spending and tax me the same as everyone else. 7% across the board is fair. How can I enjoy liberty when I pay for everyone else to loaf around? I can do a better job managing my retirement money than the government. I can pick my own health insurance company. I am financially responsible for myself.

One thing that needs to be changed, which has been changed recently but not enough is bankruptcy law. I know people that maxed their cards buying stuff, flipping it for cash, then burying the cash and declaring bankruptcy. 7 years later they have a great credit rating, and can buy a house with all the $ they stole. I'm leaning that people should not be able to declare bankruptcy. But then again, what if someone gets sick and cannot work, so they cannot afford the mortgage and bills... I would have to say personal bankruptcy should be available, but only under extreme duress. the advantage for this is people will have to think before borrowing money.

It is so simple, I can see it so clearly the strength and prosperity we could enjoy. The best part of it is we wouldn't have to invade other countries or such militaristic nonsense. We would have a negative impact on those countries who we give aid too. But then again America is not supposed to be a welfare state. Perhaps in time these countries would turn themselves around as long as we could lead the way. The American revolution sparked massive change around the world for the betterment of all, I think the second revolution could do the same.

So went Rome, so goes America

2009-07-30T16:13:00.001-04:00

I am an amateur student of history. What we are living through these days has only one parallel in western civilization that I can see. That parallel is the Fall of Rome. Now Rome didn't exactly fall, so much as split into two Empires then crumble a quake a lot before melting away. There are valid arguments on both sides of the crash vs. slow decline when discussing both Rome and America. Until we actually have survived it we might have an answer. For now, let's all assume that either case is likely.

So let's see what Rome was like at the end of the 5th century AD.

There was a vast disassociation between the aristocracy and the Plebians (citizens). The ruling families that actually had a chance to be elected to the senate or maneuver themselves into the Throne were in their own world. Does this have a modern counterpart? Try to imagine the top 5% of either party having any sort of commonality with a middle-income or low-income American!

During the 2nd through 5th centuries, the military became more and more integrated, eventually resulting in a large portion of the Legions soldiers coming from German lands. This "Germanization" of the military was touted as one of the main causes for the fall of Roman Empire. Like Rome, the American military is a great way for someone to earn citizenship. At the end of the Empire, almost all of the Legions were "Barbarian." We are no where near that many foreigners in our military, but it is a trend worth noting. Another interesting tidbit is the Empire relied more and more on Mercenaries for their army. How many "defense Contractors" are employed in Iraq and Afghanistan? Another troubling trend is how street gangs join the military for training to use on the street.

There were many, many Barbarian invasions towards the end of Rome. Not to call the Latino Hordes 'Barbarians" but we have no border security. America is rapidly losing it's cohesive identity. Rome suffered similar problems. As the Huns pushed from Mongolia on the Eastern side, the Western borders let loose millions of immigrants into Rome. The Goths, Germanic Tribes. etc all made their homes inside the Empire. Like our immigration problem, these ancient immigrants did not mesh with the Roman Empire for many generations, weakening the bonds of community.

When the waves of immigrants from Europe came over they all learned English. Italian or German immigrants, it didn't matter. But now we have whole swaths of cities and whole regions of the country that do not speak, nor do they intend on learning English. Without a common language, it takes generations to intermix and fully identify yourself and your family as "American." From Cambodian neighborhoods in Lowell, to the Portuguese of Fall River, to the Cape Verdians in Dorchester, to the Brazilians in Sandwich, the many "Chinatowns" in major cities, or most of the southwest of the United States - no one will learn English.

How can we build a community if everyone acts like they are back home? I'm a New Englander, through and through. How many friends would I have if I kept talking and acting like one if I moved to Georgia? That's in the same country, and I'd be an outcast! now multiply that times many thousands. Until we integrate with a common language then we will continue to fracture like the Roman Empire.

Economic theories abound as well. Rome didn't produce many goods. The reliance on importing almost everything, along with the shortage of precious metals is another major contributing factor. Rome needed the metals to mint currency. As the available supplies of metals dropped, they used less and less silver and gold in their coins, which created inflation. For a modern equivalent, our inflation rate over the last decade was averaging above 5%. Like Rome, we don't export much anymore. With the exception of Debt, that is.

A more shocking economic parallel is that of the marginal farmer. In Modern terms think of these guys as small businessmen. The Senate needed to make more money, and Rome didn't have exports, so they raised taxes. Eventually, they raised taxes to the point that the marginal land couldn't be farmed except at a loss, so these farmers abandoned they lands and moved into the cities to eek out a living. Most could not. The Senate thought that the State needed to provide for those too poor to eat with a dole, very much like the American welfare and unemployment systems. How did they pay for these programs? By taxing those farmers who managed to stick to it, of course. Just like today, the Progressives in power make everyone else pay for these programs, while they use every loophole to get out of tier share of the burden.

The writing is on the wall for all to see. Unless there is a return to common sense in government, where the minority doesn't dictate to the majority. then we are a failed state that hasn't gotten around to falling flat on it's face.

There is some debate wether or not this Nation can be saved. I personally feel that it can, but it would require self sacrifice from every citizen. Tough love to those abusing the system. Addiction counseling for the debt-addicts of wall-street and middle America. This pervading sense of entitlement would need to be curtailed, sometimes forcibly. We would all have to be Americans, Americans without hyphens.

The Dying of Massachusetts.

2009-07-28T10:09:00.002-04:00

I saw a billboard on the ride into work today that stated that $1750 leaves Massachusetts every minute. I didn't get a chance to write down the URL they had under the billboard. Obviously, there is something in Massachusetts that is driving businesses and the wealthy somewhere else.

It turns out that when asked, business leaders rank California, New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey as the worst places to do business. Citing high taxes and anti-business legislation these business leaders have opened up shop in friendlier states.

Business is the key to a healthy economy. I'm no economist, I'm no great thinker, but common sense dictates to me that there is a synergy between the government, the workforce, and the business that has to fit together for a healthy economy.

The government needs to ensure a fair set of rules and boundaries for businesses to operate in. Impartial courts to settle disputes between businesses, between workers and business and between government and business. The government needs to ensure there is a level playing field for all businesses to have an equal opportunity. Likewise, a business can't use unfair practices to stifle competition, becoming a monopoly. Likewise, there is a framework of rules for business to operate - they cannot be allowed to dump toxic waste into a river, or deforest land so the topsoil erodes away.

Businesses are slaved to supply and demand. They make a product and pay for the raw materials and labor according to supply and demand. Then, they sell thier product slaved to supply and demand. They are taxed on profits to pay for the government.

The workforce has it the easiest. They get paid salary and benefits to work for a business. They then spend thier wages to businesses for food, clothing, entertainment, etc. They are also taxed to pay for the government as well.

Now in Mass, the cost of doing business is higher than in other states. So if your a painting contractor it's not that big a deal. It's not like you are going to pack up your business to go to a different state every time new laws are passed that impact you. But you might.

If your a business that has a great new idea for a product, and have capital backing you via bonds or a stock sale, and you are looking for a location to build a factory, then Massachusetts is towards the bottom of your list. If you have been in business making goods for years and shipping them across the country, and Mass passes a bunch of laws that cost you more profit to stay in business here, then it might be worth closing the Massachusetts factory and building a new one in Colorado. The cost of the new factory is offset by cheaper taxes, and increased efficiency in your new factory. Massachusetts, which depends on business and employed workers for money is the loser, along with the workers in Massachusetts.

To me, it's not hard to get this balance right. But then again, I hold the view that a minimalist government is all we need. Business and industry are what makes a country prosperous. France is the perfect example, with 53%+ of its population employed by the government. In a good economy they lag way behind in thier GDP as they don't really make much to export. In a recession, however, they don't suffer as badly because they print money to pay thier workers. In the end, though, the bill comes due and thier worthless fiat money can't feed anyone.

If America is to survive and prosper in the future, we need to recapture that innovative and frontier spirit that is being drowned under the tide of cheap, Chinese goods. We need to rise up and seize opportunity when it knocks, not milk the system for what we are "entitled" to. We are not entitled to anything except life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. As an extension of the latter, we are entitled to an equal opportunity to make a fair wage. No wide-reaching government meddling in our health care. No taxation so others don't have to work.

The larger a system gets, the more waste it produces in an exponential amount to its size. The larger it gets, the more it wastes. Why does the government has to meddle with health care at all? Why does the government have to provide for retirement? If the Social Security administration was spun off into a private organization in the '70's then it would be showing a profit! Run it like a business, and get it out of the money-grubbing politician's hands. Likewise, if medicare and medicaid were made into private health insurance companies, wouldn't they be healthy enough to survive?

This is why Massachusetts is a failing state. With the current progressive mind set of anti-business, pro-freeloader, there can be no change for the better. Without a fundamental change to bring business into Massachusetts, then the government will need to increase taxes on the workers to pay for the spending programs. Then the migration of talent will escalate, as I can assure you it has already begun in earnest. Eventually all that will be left are the refuse of society, the Leeches, and thier political masters.

Minimum wage

2009-07-24T14:38:00.001-04:00

Right now I am very concerned with the unemployment numbers. About 125,000 people enter the workforce a month. These first-time employees don't make it into the unemployment rolls until they get a job, then lose it. We are at 21% unemployment, with no signs of that number turning around. the MSM would love for us to drink the "Kool-Aid of Hope" and believe that only loosing 500,000 jobs a month is improvement.

The Great depression saw unemployment rates of 25%. We are only 4 points away. But yet I am surprised at the lack of crime and lawlessness that I thought 20% unemployment would bring. Maybe it's because I have zero faith in humanity I got this wrong. Or the quality crime investigation or medical dramas that currently fill out airwaves have keep the screaming horde at docile.

I then see all over the news that the minimum wage was raised $.70 an hour. I was speechless, which for me takes a lot. This is such a colossally bad idea that I cannot come up with a euphemism to describe just how bad it is.

Let's take a look at a fictional company that assembles widgets. It has a workforce of 100 people. The workers have a fixed raise of .25 an hour every quarter for the first year. After that it's all merit based, or via promotions to line supervisor, etc. Assume for this argument that these people are not unionized.

Now this raise happens, and 50% of his workforce just got bumped .70 and hour. If I've been there 9 months, I'm only getting .15 an hour more than some noobie off of the street. The company now has about $275/hour in higher expenses from the pay raise, before they give longer term employees raises to keep thier pay in line with thier length of service. (it would be $350 an hour if they were all minimum wage, but assume some were there for 3 months.)

It's far cheaper to force overtime on people than to hire new employees. You don't need to train them, they don't earn additional vacation time or sick days. The social security and unemployment insurance the company pays per employee is saved as well. It's a no brainer.

So this fictional company fires 25 people, and makes the rest work overtime and actually makes more profit. Good job Congress, way to fuck over your green shoots!

This fictional example is based on real life. When I was in high school they raised the minimum wage and this is exactly what happened where I worked. The last thing a government needs to do is penalize small business form hiring employees. This will hamstring your economic recovery, and cripple the largest employers in America - Small Business Owners.

Breaking point?

2009-07-23T11:20:00.001-04:00

I had lunch with a good friend yesterday. Well, it was breakfast for me because I worked all night again, but that's a whole 'nother rant. He's a smart guy, and has a young daughter and a wife that's in the medical field.

At one point we were discussing the economy, health care bill, etc and he asked a very pointiant question. What is the tipping point? New Yorkers who make over $225k are going to be paying 57% taxes? At what point does the word revolution creep in?

I was listening to WEEI this morning with the interview of Larry Lucchino, and the hosts were asking him what percentage would Larry be willing to be taxed at by Obama? He declined to answer, but they penciled him in for 80%.

The WEEI morning show are two republican neo-cons. Gerry Callahan is one of those neo-cons who thinks anyone who disagrees with him is a moon-bat liberal. Larry Lucchino is one of the owners of the Boston Red Sox and is as liberal as it gets.

The point is there is definitely a line in the sand somewhere. The way we are taxed now is hard to see whether that's because we turn a blind eye, or because we are unable to consciously perceive it. I'm taxed at 33% or thereabouts in straight income tax. If I added property, gasoline, utilities, sales, etc I'm over 50% easily. Now if my income tax is 57% like those New Yorkers, what's the real tax rate? 70%? 75%? That is flat out insane.

Every chance I get I try to inform anyone who is having a political discussion with me on their REAL tax rate. It's my own personal policy of sedition.

I'm flabbergasted at the political pace Obama is moving at. At his rate he's going to have to start holding meetings while he's on the hopper. He's already "saved the economy" and now he's ramming through this health care bill, and he's got the whole cap & trade thing to save mother earth (and tax business more).

Notice he's slacking on the bigger things though. Israel and Iran are about to have a steel cage match. North Korea are being nitwits again. We are still fighting a "Global War on Terror", an extended military operation in Afghanistan, and we still have a counter-insurgency and pacification operation going on in Iraq.

Notice how no one is chatting about the "war on terror" anymore. Notice Obammy isn't saying shit anymore about an exit strategy from either Iraq or Afghanistan. We would need those troops there to launch another invasion and pacification war in Iran. For all his talk of change, now that he's in the big-boy chair it's more of the same shit.

What is the tipping point? Is it his failing promise to close Gitmo? The additional taxes imposed by this forced healthcare insurance? Israel nuking the bejesus out of Iran in a preemptive strike? North Korea invading South Korea? The published unemployment numbers crossing 10%? What will finally be the last straw that Americans take?

Fiction - Part VII - Natog's Sekret Bunker

2009-07-23T10:00:00.002-04:00

The next three days were a frantic blur of activity. The first order of business was to get a heating system running in the house. Without a larger inverter and battery bank, the oil furnace in Natog’s home was a giant paperweight.

Natog had bought a small potbellied wood stove, but he didn’t have any pipe to hook it up in the basement. So that Friday morning Natog was out and about walking around town right after a quick breakfast. He spoke briefly to everyone, just bullshitting about stuff to get a feel of what was going on in town. Stopping by the hardware store, no one was inside.

Leaving a note just in case they were around, Natog made his way around the back of various stores looking for scrap metal he could make pipe out of. It was when he was crossing from behind one building to another when he was stopped an interrogated by a local cop. Thankfully, the cop never got out of the car and frisked Natog. As Natog was carrying his Sig P220, he probably would have had to go to the station at the least. At least the cop let him head back home, but warned him not to be caught sniffing around any of the stores, then he would be brought in for attempted burglary.

It was on the way back home Natog saw some sheet metal beside a run-down home surrounded by junk. Making his way to the front door, he could hear a dog barking inside.

Natog was reaching up to knock on the door when a man’s voice called out “What do you want?”

“Oh hi. I’m a neighbor down the street, and I’d be interested in trading for some of your sheets of scrap metal.”

“What for?”

Natog looked around to see if he could see anyone in the windows, figuring they were just behind the door, he answered “Oh just a fix. My shed is leaking and I wanted to patch it until I could go to Home Depot and buy some tarpaper and shingles.”

“Huh, well I’ll be out in a minute. Meet me by the side of the house.”

“Ok”

Natog walked around the house around various piles of junk and then in between a rusting car on blocks and a Ford Explorer. A 40ish year old man came around the corner just as Natog got to the pile of metal. He was in a stained sweatshirt, jeans and untied workboots. He had a greasy patriots ball cap on, and his face showed the strain of many years of hard work and many regrets. “Let’s get this over with, I’ll freeze my balls off.”

Natog quickly went through the pile, and pulled out two large sheets of thin galvanized steel. “What do you want for these four?”

“Damn, man how big is your shed? Gimmie twenty bucks.”

Natog happily handed over a $20 bill. The man snatched it out of his hand so fast Natog was thankful he was wearing gloves so his fingertips didn’t get friction burns. The man scurried off into the house without saying anything else.

“Thanks!” Natog called out to thin air. Shrugging, Natog picked up his metal and made his way back home.

It took an entire day’s worth of work, but by the end, Natog had connected up the wood stove to his furnace in the basement. The hardest part was making pipe from the sheets of galvanized metal. Using a sandbag and a ball peen hammer with half-a tennis ball to cushion it he beat the piss out of the metal until he had a rough “C” shape. Then using a short piece of pvc as a form he bent it into a tube.

In the basement he pulled out the existing chimney pipe from the oil furnace and re-arraigned it to point to a new direction away from the oil furnace. Luckily, the original installers had additional bends in the run to the furnace to make up for their laziness in moving water pipes. With these extra bends he didn’t need to make any bends himself, although the stove was right next to the chimney, and only 10feet from the oil tank.

Using a piece of paper on the inside of the pipe to figure out the circumference since he didn’t have the internet to look up the formula, Natog cut one of the metal cylinders with an extra three inches to make a seam. Trimming it for length was next, and finally bending the last two inches into a V with the wide part facing the inside of the tube. He bent the last inch of the other side of the seam up 90 degrees. Inserting this tab into the open V started the seam. Once the V was hammered flat on the edge of his workbench, he then folded it over creating an interlocking seam that was air tight once it was sufficiently hammered flat. Taking his homemade pipe into the basement he fitted it into place.

It fit perfectly, after 15 minutes of beating it to death with scrap lumber, the ball peen hammer and a plethora of curses. He then wrapped aluminum foil tape around the joints to make sure they wouldn’t leak exhaust into the room. The tape was rated at 300 degrees, so as long as the stove was kept to a low heat he should be ok, as the first seam was 5 feet off of the stove.
A crude damper was fashioned from a wire coat hanger and a scrap of the metal trimmed to roughly fit. The wire coat hanger was fed through holes punched in the disk and then bent around notches in the metal so the damper wouldn’t fall off inside the pipe.

Throughout the whole process Natog was certain to keep an eye on how the pipes fit together. There couldn’t be any leaks of exhaust gasses into his living area. Carbon Monoxide was a colorless, odorless gas that was a natural byproduct of combustion. It bound itself to the body’s hemoglobin better than oxygen, and as the amount of oxygen was absorbed it slowly suffocated the victim. It was one thing to have a wood stove in a kitchen, but a homemade one in an enclosed basement was a recipe for disaster. Luckily Mum had given Natog a portable CO detector years ago when he lived in a small basement apartment. It was battery powered, so it should sound any alarm before he was incapacitated from the gas.

The next step was to go on a scavenger hunt in the woodshop and the yard for wood. None of the pieces was very large, but since the basement was well-insulated, not much of a fire had to be kept going. The wood from outside needed to dry off, so it was leaned against the wall near the stove.

By the time he had enough wood to last the night it was dark outside and a couple chicken breasts were cooking on the grill. With cold fingers Natog tore a few sheets out of an old phonebook and lit his stove. Adding bits of kindling, he built up a small fire. While the stove started to warm up the basement, Natog cleaned off his fly tying desk and brought down some candles for additional light.

Natog ate at the fly tying desk next to his washing machine, watching an episode of the BBC series “Doctor Who” he had recorded onto his network storage. The Notebook cast a strange light, it was the first LCD he looked at in over two days. Natog had no idea what he would do without his music and movies. If he figured out who spared his electronics from the wrath of whatever event caused the outage, he was fully resolved to give them a big kiss.

By the time he was done with the show, and put the laptop away, it was getting noticeably warmer in the basement. After reloading the wood stove, and stripping off the outer sweatshirt, he began to figure out how to keep as much heat in the main basement room as possible. After rigging up some blankets and hanging the door he took off from the top of the basement stairs when he moved in, things were getting rather snug.

The rest of the night was spent resizing .308 brass. He had 200 or so lake city match brass, and 1000 once fired military brass. Using a trim die and file was a slow process, but there really wasn’t much to do. Plus, the bench was in his warm basement, which was a definite plus. He trimmed the interior flash holes, chamfered the outside of the neck, used a bore brush to clean the inside of the neck, and cleaned the flash hole with a little tool he bought for it. He then got down to removing the military crimp on the brass, which was a very tedious and slow manual process with the tools Natog had. The plan was to load these with 168 grain hunting bullets for his bolt-action rifle.

Natog managed to get his mattress down the basement stairs without breaking anything, or throwing out his back. A second trip brought the sleeping bags and pillows down. The last trip brought down the shotgun and a box of buckshot after making sure all the doors were locked and the dogs had fresh water and food.

Natog added just a little more wood to the fire, knowing it would go out anyways during the night. Before curling up in his sleeping bag, Natog laid out the makings of a fire for the morning.
That night Natog dreamed of many things, but the one thing that he remembered upon waking was surreal. Walking naked across a burnt landscape, Natog had a flaming sword in his right hand, and a tuna fish sandwich in the other. Behind him walked a blurry shadowy host. The clinking of weapons and web gear accompanied the booted feet of the formless soldiers.

After waking and lighting the fire, Natog climbed back into bed and dozed off for another half hour until the dogs started barking upstairs to go out. Running upstairs he let the dogs out.

Digging into his stores, he got out a box of baby wipes. After giving himself a “whore bath” with two of the baby wipes, Natog let out a curse as he forgot his clean socks and underwear upstairs.
The first chore was to get power back up and running. From his garage he brought his generator into the back yard. With a masonry bit in his battery powered drill, he switched it to “hammer drill” mode and drilled a ½ hole a couple inches deep by the back basement window. Using a anchor bolt, he used some heavy chain he had originally used to secure his canoe to the garage foundation to securely lock the generator to the foundation.

Once that was done he got a couple of extension cords from the garage. One he ran to the fridge, the other downstairs in the basement. Filling the generator with gas he had stored, and replacing the oil he drained from the genny when he put it up, he got it started on the second pull. Making sure the fridge was working, he then went to the basement and made sure the two UPS for his computers was charging as well as the battery for his drill. He also plugged in the laptop to charge that battery too.

He made breakfast while keeping his shotgun on the counter. Although the odds were small, he knew from reading about Katrina that nothing brought the sound of thieves faster than a running motor when the power was out.

Making breakfast took his mind off of potential thieves, but eating the last of his eggs made Natog wonder how bad it was going to get. Right on cue as he started washing his dishes there was a loud banging on his front door.

Clutching his shotgun, Natog shouted through the door, “Who is it!”

“George!”

“Who the FUCK is George?”

“Your neighbor!”

Peeling back the towel he stapled up to black out the window, Natog carefully peered out of the window. Standing there in a parka and the dorkiest winter hat Natog has ever seen was his neighbor from across the side street. George was a man in his early 40’s with three kids, a punk teenage son, a tween daughter and another pre-teen daughter. George was of average weight for his 5’10” frame, but looked pudgier because of his poor posture.

George was fanatical about mowing his lawn. He mowed it crosshatched, like the baseball fields in the major league ballparks. Natog watched the neighbor one day with a ruler measuring the grass. Through the neighborhood grapevine Natog learned George despised Natog because of his lack of regular mowing. Compounding the problem was that George never returned a wave, and always went into his house whenever Natog walked over to say hi.

Natog didn’t like George.

“Oh yeah, the lawn Nazi. Hold on a second.” Natog flicked the safety back on the shotgun and put it in the hall closet. After adjusting his holster with the Sig in it, he unbolted the door and let George in.

Stamping his feet on Natog’s carpet, he pulled a glove off, and gave Natog a limp handshake. “Nice to meet you.”

“Ahhhh… What can I do for you?” Natog was staring at the puddle of mud and slush on his carpet.

“Well, I heard your generator, and your right across the street, so I was hoping we could plug in so we could microwave some food and give the kids some TV.”

“Well nice to finally meet you, George. Now good day.”

“What?” George looked perplexed and a little hurt.

“I don’t enough fuel to run a microwave and TV for the kids, sorry.”

George raised his voice, “But we need power, to run the fridge! And the kids are driving me crazy.”

“I’m sorry, but that isn’t my problem.”

“But, why not? It’s the neighborly thing to do.” George realized the mistake as soon as the words left his mouth with the fierce, almost feral look in Natog’s eyes.

“Neighborly, you talk about neighborly! Fuck you! I tried to talk with you a dozen times and you always walk away, you badmouth me to the rest of the ‘hood, about my lawn. Is that neighborly?” George tried to stammer out a reply, but Natog cut him off. “You have shown a complete lack of respect for me, and you expect me to give you a big handout? Huh?”

“Well, no I can pay for the gas. I wasn’t looking for a handout. I…”

“Bullshit. You came over to mooch power. What do you have to trade?”

“George looked a little lost, well I have some cash. I’ll give you $20 for the gas.”

Natog sighed. “Look, money is no good here. Go home to your family. Collect ice from the pond to keep your fridge cold.”

“But my kids are driving me crazy! Why should I collect ice when you have a generator?”
“To be honest, because I was smart enough to buy a generator...”

“Well I...” George stammered before getting cut off again.

“Now, I never complained about your kids making a racket after I worked 3rd shift. I never pissed and moaned to anyone about your punk kid leaving burnouts in the street on his rice rocket. So you can get the fuck out of my house. I catch you or anyone in your family on my property and we are going to have a big fucking problem. You get me?”

“That’s not a very Christian attitude!”

“Actually it is. Now good day, sir.”

“I just need …”

Natog shouted “I said good day, sir!” and took a few steps toward George. He stumbled out the door, and retreated across the lawn.

He watched George cross the street and head to his side door. George paused before opening the door to his house and gave Natog a half hearted middle finger.

“Took you that long to work up the nut to do that huh?” Natog shouted as George went inside. Natog noticed movement in the drapes as George’s kid was watching Natog with a sullen look. Closing the door, he went back to finishing his dishes.

Natog played some videogames on his pc for a little while, then collected up the extension cords and shut down the generator. After the muffler and engine block had cooled down, he carefully wrapped it in a tarp to protect it from the elements.

Taking some fishing line, he tied it to the leg of the generator, then pushed it against the house to conceal the chain. Opening the window in front of the sink, he snaked the fishing line inside the house, then closed the window. After checking the fishing line easily pulled through the weather seal of the window, Natog took a empty soda can from the recycling bin and dropped some pennies into it. Placing the soda can on the edge of a counter, Natog tied the fishing line to it. A slight tug on the line resulted in a loud crash from the falling soda can. Resetting the alarm, he felt it was loud enough to wake him up if someone messed with the genny.

Locking the shotgun back up in the safe, Natog pulled on his outerwear, and went out into the bright morning. Kids were still running through the neighborhood playing in the snow. The sky was clear and cold, but the air was foul with the smell of burning plastic.

Natog set out on a tour of the neighbors, to make sure they were ok, and to see if anyone had any news.

All his friendly neighbors were ok, and, Frank, a retired NY cop, was doing better than he was. They were making roast beef for dinner, with all the fixings. They had a generator in the garage hooked up with a transfer switch and a propane tank for fuel. They invited Natog over for dinner, but he had to bring some butter, as they were out. Natog readily accepted.

The rest of the day was spent loading rounds in the basement, keeping the stove going, and listening to his iPod thought some computer speakers. Natog had some butter in the fridge, and some frozen dinner rolls he was going to cook for the next gaming night.

Turns out most of the neighborhood had been invited, with the noticeable exception of George and his family. Natog mused that he wasn’t the only person George had pissed off. Frank, his host openly carried a Glock .40, and made it clear that it was quite acceptable for Natog to carry in his home. Denise, his wife was confined to a wheelchair, but would beat anyone with an extra long wooden spoon at any offer of help.

Before dinner, four families were crammed into the small living room trying to get any signal from his TV or radio. All were filled with static. His satellite box was fried, and wouldn’t power on. Wild rumors and speculation filled the conversation between the neighbors before dinner.

Dinner was eaten wherever anyone could find a spot to eat. No one worked as far away as Boston, so Natog filled everyone in what he saw in his exodus from the city. Marty, from behind Natog’s house, saw similar effects in New Bedford, and his wife, who worked in Providence, figured only 1 in 10 cars were working. She was lucky enough to catch a ride from a co-worker to Fall River, then catch a ride from a State Trooper the rest of the way home.

Marty’s wife Susan had baked chocolate chip cookies for dessert, and they didn’t last long. Jill, a single mother with two kids lived on the other side of Franks had brought a box of hot chocolate and coffee. After dessert, the conversation turned to worrying about the future. Natog and Frank insisted crime would go up sharply. The other families were more worried about how they were going to get food and water.

More speculation, but no real answers to that question filled the rest of the night. Everyone agreed that in two nights they would get together for dinner again. Natog had a package of chicken breasts in the freezer he was willing to pony up, Marty had a bag of potatoes, and frank had some canned veggies.

With the date set, the families returned home. Before leaving, Natog made sure they didn’t need help with any dishes or anything. Then he gave a sharp yelp as he was smacked in the bottom with a wooden spoon.

Natog was awoken at 7am by a banging on the door, and the dogs going spastic upstairs. Tossing on some clothes he managed to get to the door before they kicked it in.

“Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Whatcha want?” Natog shouted through the door.

“Police, could you open the door?”

Natog had a single vision in his head of the old lady getting the shit kicked out of her for a little pistol during the Katrina Disaster. Natog had a huge automatic on his hip.

“Can’t do it, dogs are all worked up. What can I do for you?”

Natog could hear the disappointment in the cop’s voice. “Just letting you know there is a 6pm curfew in effect from now on, and the grocery store will, be opening tomorrow at noon. Bring cash, only fifty bucks per family worth of food a week.”

“Oh, OK officer! Thanks for the information.”

“Remember, 6pm curfew.”

“Yes, sir.”

After he heard the officers walk off, he peeked out the window, and saw officers canvassing the neighborhood, all in obvious tactical gear under their duty parkas. Two officers had Sig assault rifles slung over their shoulders. Flyers were being stapled up onto telephone poles and flyers placed on the doors of houses no one was at.

“Guess they brought out the heavy artillery.” Natog mused to his dogs. “Ok out you go!”

Natog spent the day alternating between chores and goofing off. He ran the generator another 4 hours, and even got Marty hooked in too. He scavenged more wood from around the yard and set that to dry out in the basement. He managed to get half a game of Civilization IV played before his 4 hours was up. He then collected his chainsaw and gear and loaded it into the truck for tomorrow. He finished loading 100 rounds for the .308 bolt-action, and sealed the primers and bullets with some stuff he bought just for that purpose. He also prepped about 200 of the brass for his M1A, but didn’t get to load much.

And with that done, he went to bed. He noticed without a lot of artificial light, he was going to bed earlier and earlier, but waking up at the same time, just after sunrise. Natog wasn’t looking forward to the hard day’s work cutting wood tomorrow, that was certain, but Mum needed the wood.

National ID

2009-07-20T14:46:00.001-04:00

I've been opposed to the idea of a national ID card for a long time. This article from merry England is showing what the nanny state's citizens get with that ID card. the government keeps tabs on your big purchases, you know - to prevent fraud - then matches your purchases to your income level to see if your cheating the tax man.

Priceless. Just Priceless.

There is no reason for any federal documentation by my purchases - including firearms. The only possible exceptions would be explosives, undetectable poisons, Enriched Uranium / Plutonium, and nasty diseases - Ebola, HIV, Hepatitis, etc. for research. That's it. It's not supposed to be the fed's job for any of this, but there needs to be a centralized structure in case someone buys stuff in separate states to make a nuke.

Throughout history, governments love to spy on it's own population. Usually under the guise to "prevent crime." today is no different as the feds use web crawlers to read web sites, read our e-mails with Carnivore, and who knows what else. All of this I personally feel is over the line.
We have enough intrusions into our privacy without .gov tracking our every purchase of $X. As our net-presences grow, expect the feds to come barging in with a heavy hand until a court tosses out a few high-profile cases and .gov is reined back in. By then the precedents have been set, and another part of your life is monitored.

The National ID card comes up every now then in our congress. Eventually I fear it will pass and then we will be in for a whole new level of Big Brother. There is a clip on YouTube about the National ID card and how the health care companies will use it to up your pizza costs by having high cholesterol and a "fat tax" on the sausage pizza. I'm at a clients so I can't go looking for it.

The Socialist Healthcare Agenda

2009-07-16T13:40:00.000-04:00

First off, I am very sorry for dropping off of the face of the earth. Work has been unrelenting along with some special projects for friends, and searching for another job have all kept me too busy to read blogs, never mind post one.

There has been many stories in the news about making health care a right. There is a 1000 page bill being rammed through Congress right now about it. Locally in Boston we can see where this leads. Boston Medical Center is a merger between City Hospital and University Hospital. It's a non-profit hospital that treats the poor and uninsured of Boston.

Now that the government is cutting back on the money reimbursed, the hospital is not going to be able to keep treating patients without uncle sugar's help. Now B.M.C. is suing the State to keep providing free health care. So the state will have to tax someone more to raise the cash to pay for the free health care.

Now to guarantee health care as a right is so stupid it is beyond me. the US healthcare system would be unable to cope with the flood of new claims. Think about the level of entitlement that people have now. Add the right for free health care and watch everyone flock to the emergency room for every little boo-boo because they have a right to see a doctor.

Mien Gott, it's going to be a zoo. I can just see some woman yelling that her civil rights are being violated because it took 2 hours for a over-worked doctor in an understaffed ER to look at her sprained ankle. Watch the lawyers run through the streets like wild dogs to get that case.

We have our rights covered by the Constitution. If we add to these willy-nilly eventually everyone will have a right to a 50" plasma TV. Healthcare is very important, but it is not the State's job to provide it.

As a child my parents used discretion when bringing myself or my brother in. We had health insurance, but that's no excuse to go to the ER for every little thing. We got the care we needed including regular doctor office visits without any hassle. If we needed to go to the doctor we could get an appointment that afternoon or the next morning. No problem.

Now, to see my primary care physician, I need to schedule out 6 months in advance, unless I'm real sick then they tell me to go to the ER where I can wait all day before getting in. How is this better? Now my health insurance costs a fortune, and my doctor tries to schedule as many visits as possible so he can tweak the billing to the health insurance company without raising any flags. He overcharges for my care so it covers his loss when he gets boned out of payments on another patient. It's too screwed up to even describe properly. Health insurance companies tell doctors how to treat patients by publishing what they will pay out. So on a list somewhere it will say

Broken arm $5000

And even if it's a compound fracture with massive trauma, the health insurance company is going to point to the list and say $5000 not a cent more. So the doctors charge everyone the maximum amount so they can offset the losses. It is pure stupidity. No insurance company should dictate my heath care.

This is what these socialist policies will bring. The doctors will be unable to maintain their practices unless they can toe the line when treating patients. Talk to people from the UK & Canada about health care. Ask them why they come to America for major surgeries. There was just an article the other day about how arthritis treatments take 9 months to get in the UK. This is the Socialist agenda: shitty service for everyone. Turning a house of healing into the DMV.

Gahden Update

2009-06-22T16:09:00.000-04:00

Well figured I'd post about what has been going on with my little garden. In some ways it has been doing a lot better than I thought it would, and in others I am very disappointed with the results.

My first mistake was planting too early. I lost my cabbage and onions from planting them too early. I lost both crops. I lost 3/4 of my lettuce crop in transplanting. Setting up the garden took a lot of work, and I'm using pre-made soil. I could only imagine the amount of back-breaking labor to get a plot of lawn ready for planting. I am also disappointed with some of the heirloom plants. My tomatoes grew sideways for a full month, my cayenne peppers are still growing sideways. Very frustrating. Another frustrating aspect is that many, many seeds are not germinating. I planted 3 beans per hole, and out of 36 holes, only 7 have plants. Same with the failed onions, carrots, etc.

Because of the loss of crops I bought several "regular" plants to transplant in the garden. I bought six jalapeno plants and a dozen onion plants, along with dill, basil, and oregano.
My tomatoes are starting to get small flowers which is good. Likewise the store-bought onions and peppers are thriving. The garlic is going crazy, I cannot wait for it this fall. Yummy!

I need to start planning when crops will rotate out, so I can try for a winter crop of some kind. I am pleasantly surprised how little weeding I need to do. I spend 10 minutes a week weeding! ha! The other garden maintenance is also very easy. That aspect of the SFG method is very, very nice.

So far I have learned a lot about growing your own food. I wonder if I should plant wheat for a winter crop? that will be interesting. Maybe just a few squares at least. I realize that if I was dropped onto an island that growing and procuring my own food would take about 60% of my time. that number varies during the seasons, like planting and harvest, but that doesn't leave a lot of time for training, working on a better shelter, preserving the food, etc. Very eye opening.

If you didn't plant a garden this year, you are crazy. Next year you better, even if it's a few tomato plants on the fire escape. No excuses! These skills might make the difference between malnutrition and thriving during these economic tough times. If the poop hits the fan, they might mean the difference between living and dying.

Bumbling Bearer Bonds

2009-06-18T15:13:00.001-04:00

The MSM completely missed that $130 Billion of US issued bearer bonds were attempted to be smuggled across the Italian/Swiss border. The bonds were in a suitcase with a false bottom.

Read this Bloomberg.com article. And this article on market-ticker.

German media is now reporting the bonds are real. Now I wasn't 100% sure about what exactly a bearer bond was, excpet my knowledge from Die Hard, so I wanted to bone up on it with Wikipedia.

According to the US treasury, there is only $105 million remaining of these bonds.
Now with all the zeroes we could get confused, but $130B is a fuckload more than the $105 million left, according to the treasury. So what's up?

Either the bonds are real, and the US treasury is lying to us, and all the countries buying our debt, or the bonds are fake, and they almost pulled off a real big caper. But wait a second... Bearer bonds are SERIALIZED, so you can bet your first born child that whoever is going to pony up that much cash for a bond is going to make DAMN sure it's real.

So I'm leaning towards they are real. Which should scare the shit out of everyone.That means the US treasury has been printing bonds without the knowledge of the American people and selling it. The money raised with the bond sales was used for who-knows-what nefarious plans.

I fully expect that bloated toad Barney Frank to do nothing about it.

Radio Blah

2009-06-15T12:03:00.001-04:00

I listen to a lot of the Radio on the way to and from work, never mind driving around town running errands all weekend. And to be honest, there isn't much out there on the radio waves that has perked my interest.

I listen to a wide range of music, so when the radio plays crap I pop in a CD and get my fix that way. Plus, it's hysterical to roll up on a group of kids while cranking opera, or bluegrass, or Scandinavian death metal. It's the little things that brighten my day.

It seems we hit a dry spell for new releases. The latest Metallica album was about as exciting as a postage stamp collection. The new Green Day album sucks. Although the new Killers album is interesting, so far I only like one song. I like going to shows and concerts, but right now there isn't a whole lot going on.

The warped tour had Bad Religion, Less than Jake and Anti-Flag... is it 1992 all over again? Oh yeah Offspring, a re-united No Doubt, Stone Temple Pilots, and Staind are touring as well. Yep it's the 90's again.

ZOMG! the B-52's have 2 shows out on the cape, might have to go! Wait a sec, they are going to be in RI on 8/7! I'm going, never saw them live so that will be a hoot. I brought up the list of shows that are coming, and this jumped right out at me.

I just noticed Little Feat is still touring. Wow. I got dragged to see them in Boston like 20+ years ago, and they looked old then. wow. I thought they sucked - I'm not into the whole jam band thing. (It's surprising what we will go see when there is a hint of hooking up. So i wasn't "dragged" per se, just lead there by my dick.)

Wow. Just noticed REO Speedwagon/Styx/.38 Special coming to Boston. And later on this month Judas Priest and Whitesnake. That is a riot.

Then I noticed that KMFDM is coming to the house of blues on 9/26. I'm definitely going to that show.

Is it me or is there a lack of new music out there? If bands like Motley Crue, Whitesnake can tour 20 years after their peak and have successful tours. How about Judas Priest or Styx touring after 30 years out? Instead of getting a modern equivalent of The Cars, or Areosmith, or Rage Against the Machine we are bombarded by the marketing machine of the Jonas Brothers or Mylie Cyrus. Yuck!

I guess what I was saying back in the late 80's when MTV went from a radio station on the TV to a media powerhouse has come true. Because of the nature of music videos and the "image" being equal to the song's star power, I seriously doubt anyone as fugly as Stephen Tyler could make it today. I've met him in person, and he is one ugly guy. He's really cool in person, but that doesn't cut it when your agent is running a media blitz with your face all over the late night circuit.

And it's a shame. Shame on all of us. There could be great singers but because they don't look like a fashion model they never get a chance. I spoke with quite a few people who went to the American Idol tryouts and unless you were half-naked wearing a wonder-woman outfit, or looked mildly retarded, you didn't stand a chance. There were several people I know that could sing who never even got a chance. Now if it was one, I would think about maybe stage-fright or something, but when several people say the same thing? c'mon.

Style over substance. It's more important on how you look than you perform. Open almost any magazine today. How much is bubble-headed crap vs. real information. Even the woodworking and gun magazines have articles pimping someone's latest product, rather than any objective journalism on the pros and cons of whatever they are reviewing. I cut my subscriptions down to one, Fine Woodworking, but even they print occasional articles of man-love for whatever sponsor's product they are pimping that month.

Style over substance is one of the hallmarks of the Cyberpunk genre. Another is the corporate buyout of the federal government. Are we there now? When the dollar crashes will a consortium of corporations bail us out, forming the first mega-corporation in the process? I need to re-read Neuromancer to get prepared.

woodworking

2009-06-11T08:59:00.003-04:00

I sense a perverse serenity throughout the area these days. It's as if the sheeple are just going through the motions, waiting for the next hit. Even my liberal friends are starting to realize that Obama might just be another politician, and not the messiah.

I continue to get ready for whatever may come my way. I cannot see a way for the economy to get out of the mess that it is in. I feel that wall street is just a pile of get-rich-quick schemes devised to fleece average Americans from their money. So, I'm off to HR to reduce my 403b to the minimum after I post this. It will give me an extra $40 a week, which I will invest into silver - when I can find it.

There are a few things I need to do. I need to finish the in-law and rent it. I need to get rolling on my resume and get out of this god-forsaken shithole of a job. I need to get wheat and store it along with a grain mill. So much to do with limited money and time.

As for time I have been helping "Al" with the design of his saltwater fish tank. I'm an OK woodworker, and the tools I have will work for the plexiglas he needs to cut for his tank. I would post a picture, but I cannot get google sketchup to download - it's blocked by the security team. :/

I have a renewed interest in my woodworking hobby. Working on the inlaw apartment always gets me going. I have a lot to do woodworking-wise as I bought a lot of lumber when it was cheap, and now I need to make some projects out of it.

The first project will be a short hall table to go under my projector screen to hold magazines and the center speaker for the surround sound system. Reading magazines, not the ones that have ammo in them! The next project will be a workbench. A real one, with a tail vise and face vise. It's going to be about 84" x 32" and at least 2" thick - all rock maple. The legs will be ash, and I'm going to go with a patternmaker's vise for the face vise and the Lee-Valley twin screw vise for the end vise. I can't wait. Finally, I need a coffee table. So I'll make a nice one with a top that lifts up so I can use it as a TV tray to eat dinner while on the couch watching my Red Sox.

I will have to post pictures of what I have already made and what I am working on, since somewhere there is a Midas Mulligan who I might need to get the attention of. (hint hint)

I originally started with blacksmithing. I loved it, but I didn't have the time to do it right. I still have my two anvils, forge, etc. but not the time to learn how to do it right. Woodworking I got into shortly after I gave up on the smithing. I have always loved fine furniture, not the fancy gaudy shit, but the shaker style.

Shaker furniture is plain, almost drab until you notice the clean symmetry, the exquisite craftsmanship, and the functional design. The first piece of furniture I made was my nightstand. It's crooked as all hell but I cut the mortise and tenons myself. I fitted the drawer. It's hard maple finished with nothing but shellac, but it is now a rich, warm flesh color. When the sunlight hits it right it looks like it will start to breathe.

Being ~~cheap~~ er, frugal, the last piece I made was made of poplar. Poplar gets a bum rap in my opinion. It's a cheap wood because it is prone to streaks and stains of brown and green through the light yellow to creamy wood. It also lacks any distinct grain pattern. But with the right touch, you can stain it to mimic cherry or walnut.

I needed a stand for all my AV components. Normally these are in a TV stand of some kind, but I use a projector mounted to the ceiling so nothing store-bought would work. I made a stand about 36" tall with an oversized top with a shaker undercut to make the top look thinner. I should have made the legs thinner, I think they are about 1/2" too thick. The shelves are adjustable with movable shelf supports and are made from plywood with poplar banding around the edge.

The project was stained with a walnut stain - minwax, I believe. I then gave it three coats of a water-based polyurathane, sanding between each. the last coat was rubbed down with steel wool. The final coat was with Renissance Wax, which makes the wood feel silky to the touch, and adds a little additional protection. I should hit it with another coat of wax. I will see about taking a picture and posting it when I get home.

I picked up woodworking because I always knew I would need to work the rest of my life. I was too late into saving for retirement, and I knew I would go nuts if I didn't have a job. So I figured I could become a furnituremaker and make one of a kind, high end furniture for the rich once I retired from the "real" job. Lately the "real" job has been preventing me from enjoying my hobby, but hopefully soon that will end.

I just got to figure out how to get my tablesaw to fit into my bugout bag!

Sunday Flea Market

2009-06-10T08:55:00.002-04:00

I managed to head out to the Flea Market on Sunday. Wow, there were twice as many vendors there. Sign of the times. As usual, many of them were selling piles of junk. It took me several hours to go through the market, when I normally could have blown through in just over an hour.

One guy was selling Sthil chainsaws for short money, but I have one so I had to pass. There were several vendors selling fresh fruit and veggies. They even have a little food truck for burgers and hot dogs now. And there were TONS of people. It was a nice day, but there were many more people than usual, about 3x as many.

I have been very frugal of late. I'm worried about the job, and I want to be ready to take advantage of any pile of ammo that becomes available. Plus, I have more junk in my house than I need so it's time to cut down on the crap in the house.

There are a few items I am always looking for. I want more mortise chisels for my woodworking.I need a scorp, and an adze. I also want to get the wooden molding planes, but they tend to be real pricey. I needed a small kitchen table. And finally, I need a twin bed for the guess bedroom for when by buddies crash at my place when their wives are being a pain.

I was digging through one vendors table when I came across a kerosene lantern. He wanted $6, I got it for $4. I found two others in even better shape, and got those for $4 each too. So now I have 3 kerosene lanterns to add to my preps. Two have wicks, but checking online, additional wicks are about 50 cents each.

After doing some research at home, these lanterns should last forever, just need to replace wicks. Kerosene has an indefinite shelf life as long as it doesn't have water in it. I plan on stopping by the local hardware store for some. Now the big deal with these lanterns is NOT to burn anything but kerosene or clear lamp oil in them. Dyed stuff will gum up the wick. If you try to burn gasoline, paint thinner, etc your going to blow yourself up, so don't try it.

All told, for about $30 bucks I have plenty of light for post-SHTF. Turns out you can get a decent lantern on amazon.com for $9. Considering just one of my coleman propane lanterns was $90, plus $3 a propane cylender every 5-6 hours on low, kerosene lanterns are the way to go. Although my expensive lantern is as bright as an arclight when on full, but the tank lasts only 90 min.

Oh yeah, I did get a small kitchen table for $10. :) I love the flea market.

Movie review - Star Trek

2009-06-04T15:41:00.000-04:00

I am a wicked geek, and yes I did go and see Star Trek a couple weeks ago. So I figured I'd give a short review on what I thought about the movie.

I an not a trekkie. I like the original and especially the Next Generation. Deep Space 9 was boring, Voyager was an excellent idea but it jumped the shark very early. Enterprise was a clusterfuck from the start. I consider myself more of a sci-fi fan than any particular show or series.

Having said that, I loved it.

It had a very good story, and made it abundantly clear that this is a separate timeline, an alternate reality from the original show. Unlike the original series the acting in this was top notch. Zachary Quinto delivers an amazing performance that will get forgotten around Oscar time.

The series is updated to what we would think the future would look like, not what someone in the 60's would think. Inside jokes like the "red shirt" kiss of death were kept. The story is a well-balanced mix of story, drama, and action. Yes, you can bring a girl on a date to it and still have a decent chance of getting some.

I am looking forward to the next one.

Fiction - PartVI - Mum's

2009-06-03T23:02:00.001-04:00

Natog pulled up to Al’s apartment, and parked on the side of the street. Grabbing the package of toilet paper, he pulled two rolls out. Then he grabbed the baseball bat and soda bottles of ice along with the toilet paper and made his way up to the second floor apartment.

Banging on the door with the bat because his arms were loaded with stuff, he was eventually greeted with a meek “Who is it?”

“It’d FEMA, open up!”

The door tentatively opened a crack, and Natog just pushed it open. Sprawled on the ground was Mary, and Al looked positively fierce brandishing a wine bottle.

“Here use the bat, it will do a better job.” Natog stepped over the sprawled Mary and dropped his load of supplies off on the table as Mary squawked in indignation.

Al put the bottle on the table, “What’s this? And Who is Feemah?”

Natog replied as he helped Mary to her feet, “Federal Emergency Management Agency, you know the bad guys. This is some supplies I had extra I know you crazy kids could use.”

“Oh he brought toilet paper! Natog, I’m going to marry you!”

Al picked up the wine bottle, “I think it’s time for a domestic, now that the cops are busy!” and playfully grabbed at Mary. She scampered off with the rolls of TP toward the bathroom.

Natog grabbed the bottles of ice and put them in the fridge. “These will help it stay cool, and the water in them is safe to drink.”

Mary stepped back in the room, “Natog take off your coat and stay a bit. What’s going on?”

Natog pulled off his coat, and draped it over a chair. He was pulling another chair out to sit on when Mary asked “What’s that?” pointing at his pistol.

Natog looked ashamed, “You’re right, I should have asked before entering your home with a weapon. Well, besides the baseball bat.”

Al looked like he didn’t know what to say, “It’s ok… I guess.”
“Thanks. That reminds me, never, ever open the fucking door until you know who’s out there. Dumbasses.”

Al looked indignant, “I had a weapon!”

“Pfft. That’ not a weapon, that’s a fucking beverage. Keep that little league bat handy. Just hit them in the head until they stop twitching. Just pray they don’t have a fucking gun, and, more importantly, know how to use it.”

“In that instance is shitting yourself and prayer a good plan?” Al joked.

Smiling, Natog replied, “Better than no fucking plan at all!”

Mary gave a disapproving look, “You two swear like sailors!”

Al laughed, “Worse, we are IT guys!”

Natog looked shocked, “Fuck is not a swear, it’s a punctuation mark!”

The three friends went on for another 20 minutes or so. It was good to unwind after the hectic day before. Al looked refreshed, and didn’t look too worse for wear. Natog figured he still had beauty supplies for another month.

After a particularly raunchy joke from Mary, Natog started getting up. “I got to get going guys. I’d like to get to Mum’s before dark.”

Mary and Al got up when Natog did. Mary asked, “So why is that Federal-thingy the bad guys?”

Natog pulled on his coat, “Well technically, they aren’t but they like to stuff people in camps where they can be controlled, and food and water distribution is centralized.”

Al looked confused, “But isn’t that a good thing?”

Natog slowly shook his head. “Not in my book, if you are in a camp, you have little to no rights, and little to no freedom. First thing they do is disarm you, and then you are at the mercy of those that are bigger and stronger than you are.”

“Oh” was all they had to say.

“It gets worse. People like me who rather stay in our homes will be forcibly moved into the camp. They did that in Katrina to people who were high and dry and had plenty of food and water. To me a FEMA camp is death.”

Al and Mary exchanged glances. Al spoke up first, “Hey, I really appreciate what you have done for us.”

“No problem man, you two stay safe. If I can I’ll check in from time to time.”

Natog made his way to his Jeep dodging snowballs from the first floor’s tenant’s kids. After climbing into the truck, Natog paused for a moment and hoped FEMA wouldn’t come to town. Turning the ignition, Natog pulled out into the snowy street, and made his way towards Rt 79 South. Mum would be worried about him, more than he was worried about her and Bill, his brother.

Route 79 was more of a country road than a highway. It meandered though Lakeville and other small towns towards Fall River. At Route 118 Natog started towards New Bedford. Both New Bedford and Fall River were mill towns that never recovered from the loss of textile jobs to the south after the civil war.

Higher crime, high unemployment, and poor education plagued both cities throughout the 70’s to 90’s. That had turned around by 2000, but the crime had moved underground with the rise of the Latin Kings, MS 13, Bloods, and Crips. New Bedford was always worse off with a large fishing fleet shackled by new government policies. The fishing fleet provided an easy route for narcotics to enter the country.

Right in the middle of this were the communities of Dartmouth, Westport and Tiverton. Mum lived in the south of Dartmouth, in the village of Padanaram. Natog’s parents bought the house in the 60’s long before the influx of rich tourists bought up all the land, turning it into subdivisions. To get to the south of Dartmouth, Natog would have to cut through New Bedford.

From 79 he hopped onto 140 South, a true divided highway. There were some tire tracks in both directions. It must have been less than a score of cars on the roads. Route 140 ended smack dab in-between Dartmouth and New Bedford. The north of Dartmouth was heavily commercialized, and bared no resemblance to the rural, agricultural south of the town. Mum was politically active and wanted to separate Padenaram from the northern half of the town politically. She wasn’t a very popular person in town, although the selectmen gave her respect while trying to shoo her out of the meetings.

140 ended at route 6, in a very busy intersection on the corner of Buttonwood park. As Natog drove past the dark traffic lights he could see kids everywhere in the park. Adults wandered among the children having snowball fights, pulling sleds behind themselves, and generally having a good time. As he made his way through the back streets to Slocum Road, he had to pull over for a cop with his lights on leading three power company trucks.

Taking his time, Natog made a detour to follow the trucks. The fresh tracks in the snow from the dual tires made it easy. After a mile, he knew where they were headed. There was a power distribution site a few miles down the road.

Sure enough, the trucks were pulled up with the gates open to the site. The power company guys were walking around piles of charred slag that were once transformers. Slowing down to check out the situation, the cop noticed and started yelling something at Natog.

With a wave, Natog resumed his trip to Mums. Twisting down the unplowed roads he occasionally had to drive around some branches in the road. Here and there people were seen trying to get a car started, or shoveling their driveway.
As he pulled up to Mum’s he could see his brother’s truck in the driveway, along with his Mum’s Mini Cooper. The Mini had its hood open and it looked like Bill was screwing around with it.

Bill looked up from the Mini when Natog pulled in. As Natog tried to get out of the Jeep Bill tackled him into the snow.

“Damnit, you asshole!” cried Natog as he wrestled his brother in the snow.

“Fuck you man, we were worried sick. We thought you were stuck in Boston.”

Right on cue, Mum burst out of the kitchen door, “Natog! Thank Christ! I was worried sick!”

Natog managed to get to his feet in time to get bear hugged by all 5’3” of Mum. “Natog, do you have any idea how worried I was…” Mum rambled on while the three of them walked to the kitchen door.

Entering the kitchen, with its perpetual smell of home cooking and wood smoke, the family naturally gathered around the wood stove to warm up. Mum still heated half the house with wood, it was cheaper than the gas furnace used in the rest of the house. Mum had a pot of water on the wood stove for tea, evidently the gas lines didn’t have pressure.

Mum made tea while Natog told of his long walk from Boston with Al. Mum was wondering how some of the cars were working, because none of the cars in the area were. Turns out, Bill was out on the cape with his on-again, off-again wife. Somehow his truck was ok, and he got back late last night.

Natog brought the tote of food in and unloaded its contents onto the kitchen table while Bill filled the wood bin next to the kitchen wood stove. Turns out Mum had made a batch of her famous spaghetti sauce on the weekend, so there was plenty of sauce.

It wasn’t until well after dark that Natog got back on the road again. Even though Mum had made sauce, he left the sauce so she could drop it off to some elderly friends in the area. The two brothers brought as much wood inside as it could fit, and refilled the wood rack outside with whatever wood they could find and cut with Mum’s beat up chain saw. The blade was as dull as a fart, so the boys had to be very careful not to maim themselves with it.

Mum and Bill had homework assignments to pack up bug-out-bags for themselves. Natog had given them the assignment at least a half-dozen times in the last six months, but they never got around it. It took a heated discussion about what would happen with a chimney fire with no firemen on the way to save the house to get them finally on board.

It was stressed to Bill to conserve fuel at all costs. Luckily, Bill had ¾ of a tank, and the dead Mini had about half a tank. Natog promised to bring his chainsaw the next time he came down so they could cut more wood. Mum went through about 5 cords of wood a year, but that was with the gas furnace to help out. Without that the wood would go much faster. She only had about a quarter of a cord, she had placed an order a week ago, and it wasn’t delivered yet.

There was plenty of woods behind her lot, and across the street that was owned by out-of-towners. Bill and Natog had ventured in there to cut felled trees here and there over the years when economic times were tough. No sense in letting good wood rot when it could heat their house.

The plan was to stick it out for another three days, and then Natog would come down again to cut wood. By then, they hoped, news should be circulating around about what was going on. How widespread the outage was, what the government was going to do about it, and by that point people would begin running low on food, and they can see the police response to any increased violence and crime.

Bill had his Class A, and had already purchased a small arsenal. The frankenFAL, a beat-up looking but quite functional FN-FAL in .308 with three magazines, a S&W M&P .45ACP handgun. Mum had applied for her Class A license and Natog and Bill bought her a Thompson .22LR rifle for her birthday. Bill got a great deal on a 9mm handgun, and bought that so he could transfer it to Mum once her license came in. The problem was they both liked to shoot – a lot. Bill had only 60 rounds of .308 ball ammo, a box and a half of .45ACP ammo, only 20 rounds of 9mm personal protection rounds, and 20 or so .22LR rounds.

Bill carried his .45 everywhere, but since Mum had no license she was unable to carry it legally. They came up with the idea that the 9mm would be unlocked and out, but if the cops showed up for whatever reason it would be tossed into the gun safe. Mum wouldn’t leave the house with it.

It was late after a spaghetti dinner with garlic bread roasted over the wood stove that Natog tossed the empty tote into the back of the jeep and climbed in for the ride home. As Natog made his way back to Middleboro, he ran through his mind what Bill had reminded them of during dinner.

A month ago, Alex Berger, an old friend of Bill’s had come forth and admitted that the farm he owned in Maine was a survival retreat for his family. The family was loaded, and the farm, which was a hobby of the son’s was a fully functional and nearly self-sustaining farm in the middle of Maine. The nearest city, Skowhegan was quite a ways from anywhere. Bill had spilled the beans about his “survivalist brother” to the Berger family when up in Maine doing handywork for Alex around the farm. Alex’s mother Karin had been shooting with Natog and Bill a few times. She was Mum’s age and Mum found it surprising that Karin was such an avid shooter. It was Karin who convinced Mum to get her class A, so “all the kids wouldn’t hog all the fun.”

The biggest problem for the Bergers was after Alex rolled up his entire inheritance into the farm was they didn’t have enough resources to protect it if they had to. Bill explained to Natog that December morning that it was his proficiency with his .308 bolt-action rifle, and his ability to hand-load ammunition that convinced Karin that Bill and Natog would be a good fit for them. Bill was approached a week later and told that the three of them were given an open invitation to go to the farm if the shit hit the fan. Mum was never told about this until this very night at dinner.
Bill was emphatic that they should pack everything up and head out to Maine the very next morning. That Karin and whatever children she had were going to head to Maine ASAP. Mum and Natog were not convinced. No one knows how bad the situation is yet, and to just abandon their homes was crazy. Natog knew there was no way he could fit all his stuff onto his Jeep and trailer that he would want to take with him. Just in hand tools alone there must have been a half a ton of supplies.

In the End, Mum put her foot down. “I didn’t work and starve and scrape every dime I had to pay the fucking mortgage on this house just to leave when the power goes out! We made it trough he Blizzard of ’78 and untold hurricanes. I am NOT leaving this house for some fantasy-land in Maine!”

Bill was going to swing by the Bergers the next day to see if they had left already. And if they hadn’t, find out when.

It must have been well past midnight when Natog pulled the Jeep into his garage and locked the door. Making his way into the dark house, he let Thor and Loki out for a while after feeding them, then crawled back into the rack after letting them back in the house.

More cooking of the books

2009-06-03T12:08:00.001-04:00

Well one thing we forget when we look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average is that the 30 companies that make it up are not the same ones that started there. In September, Kraft replaced AIG in the DJIA. Well since Kraft has done a lot better than any of the financial institutions, don't you think that that would provide a boost to the average?

On June 8th, Cisco will replace GM and Travelers will replace Citigroup. I'm in the IT industry, and Cisco is one of the heavyweights. I fully expect a huge jump in the average when this takes place.

The average sheeple would just see the jump, not the reasons why and just figure this ~~depression~~, er recession is over. They will believe the hype.

You, dear reader, need to stay on top of these shenanigans. We need to educate those sheeple to see the lies. Not just the big lies but the little ones as well. We should not be afraid of our government the government should be afraid of us. Afraid of the light of Truth. Afraid for their jobs. Someone turned on the lights and the politicians scurry off like the cockroaches they are.

Yesterday, I had a day off to fight a ticket in court. The officer from the local PD that represents the town for all the tickets was drunk. Like fucking hammered. A disgrace. Well at least he's only driving drunk to and from the court, instead of a whole shift, right?

I understand there is a brotherhood between police officers, as there should be. But a real brother would get the guy help, not stuff him off to court to continue to be disgrace the department, and a danger to the community.

I did stop by bass pro shop, since I had the rest of the day off. I picked up some new shoes, and they had a butchering kit for $14. It's just the knives and such, but it's all in a case and it was cheap. I tossed it in with my camping preps. If I do run off to the woods, at least I have what I need to butcher the big game.

They also had boxes and boxes of 9mm Luger. It was FMJ, but since it has been so scarce, and Mum has been shooting the 9mm, I bought 10 boxes. I'll stash 5 boxes at my place, and give the other 5 for her use. I have a box of personal protection ammo for her once she has her LTC. (Right now, the gun is in my brother's name, and we will do the legal transfer once Mum has her license. Obviously, she is not in possession of it unless she is at the range with myself or my brother. So it's 100% legal guys! No, seriously, we are 100% legal, I'm not losing my LTC by making a mistake.)

I did find out some about why ammo and reloading supplies are so short. Turns out the federal budget is up on July 1st. So all the big agencies have been loading up with whatever they have left in their budgets. So 90%+ of every ammo maker's stock has been getting sold to the DHS, ICE, FBI, DOD, and all the other alphabet soups. What's left then goes to state police, then to municipal police suppliers. What little is left we get. We should see the markets return to normal for ammunition by the end of the summer, once the existing orders have been filled.

Now the reason why these agencies are buying ammo by the factory load is for two reasons. First, their budgets are up so they need to spend the money or lose it. Secondly, ammo will go up in price next year, and we can expect all the budgets to be reduced. Most are figuring a 33% reduction in budget because these agencies know the fed cannot keep printing money and the DoR (Day of Reckoning) is coming. Since ammo doesn't go bad it's better to stock up now and then the budget cuts don't cut as sharply.

Hopefully this puts some of the fears to rest. One guy was telling me Blackwater was buying it all to fight a revolutionary war once our economy collapses and put the neo-cons in charge. I hope not, they are just as crazy as the liberal moon-bats.

Arbeit macht frei

2009-06-02T15:12:00.002-04:00

These were the words the Nazi's displayed over many of their concentration camps. Translated into English it means "Work will set you free." Part of the pure evil of the Nazi regime was that thier biggest lies were fundementally true. I am certain that unless you saw the unmasked truth of what the Nazi's really stood for it was very easy to get caught up in the propaganda machine. (Another similarity to our current situation?)

The problem is we are like the inmates in Dachau, except we cannot see the concentration camp. Make no bones about it we are working and toiling not for our own freedom, but for the freedom of the Looters, for the welfare state, for the military-industrial complex. Now before everyone puts on their tin-foil hats, I haven't bought into the conspiracy theory just yet.

The progressives want "Social Justice." From my point of view it means I work to give a handout to others. That's a crock of poop. Human beings are a low-entropy creature. In other words, if left on their own they would gradually settle to a lower-energy state. So, if you make it so they don't have to work, they won't.

I don't even have a clue to what social justice is. I'm a white male (Actually, I'm Cherokee but I'm white as wonderbread so for this argument, let's go by outward appearance.) To me it means I have to work harder to get a job than a female, or a minority to get a job. Companies get all kinds of perks for hiring minorities. Now I got to work ten times as hard to compete against a minority female. So to mean social justice, for me, is the end of affirmative action. To someone else it means something completely different. Companies will hire a lesser qualified minority applicant just because whatever tax breaks or quotas they meet are worth it.

Working for the welfare state makes you a slave, not free. If you work for yourself, and for your own benifit, then work can really set you free. I want to be free. I want to be free from outrageous taxes, free from carrying the dead weight of the unwilling worker. Free from a union that is out to preserve the status quo. So I need to find a Midas Mulligan who is setting up an Atlantis and sign up. Or, I need to get the cash to become Midas myself.

So work will make you free. You just have to know who your working for - yourself and your family. You work your ass off until you can throw off the yoke that is choking you. The hardest thing will be to keep your eyes on the prize. I'm having trouble with that these days. I don't know if America will go tit's up tomorrow or next week. I just want to be ready just in case. In the meantime we need to put up a fight for our country. Work will set you free, so work for the political changes it will take to throw these assholes out of power. You cannot bank on a collapse, so we need to cover all angles by working towards political change now!

It's like your buying land in Arizona hoping California will slip into the ocean. If it happens you got prime real estate, but you cannot bet the farm on it our odds are you are going to lose. We cannot sit idly by while the progressives, the "modern liberals" run this country into the shitter. If we do not make an honest attempt at trying to fix it, then we are no better than the golden horde as it rampages around. The blood of the innocent sheeple will be on our hands.

I'm on the prowl for another tea party for the 4th of July. I'll see about starting one if it already isn't in the works.

Atlas Shrugged

2009-06-01T11:44:00.000-04:00

Well I am most of the way through Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I have about 40 pages left in John Galt's speech and another 150 or so to go. I will have to re-read the speech a few times for it to all sink in.

The book is fundamentally changing my consciousness and how I perceive the world and the role of government. I'm not going to go into much detail about the book, because I think everyone should read it for themselves.

The question I have is this: Can we somehow make our own Atlantis somewhere? And the follow-up is this: How? Every time I look at my paycheck and see how much is gobbled up by the socialist machine. My hard-earned money taken to fight a war I do not support in Afghanistan, to continue a war with no exit strategy in Iraq. To feed and give cars to those who don't want to get jobs. Money I earn encourages people to have as many children as possible so they get more welfare money.

My hard-earned money goes to pork projects like libraries for drunken senators. A quarter of a million for Obesity research. 750M for a bus terminal in Fall River and another half billion for one in New Bedford.

It is mind boggling to me how much better I would have done for myself if I invested that money. Even with the stock market as bad as it is I would have had a heck of a lot more of a retirement than I do now. Even with an act a simple as putting extra $ towards the house, I'd be better off.

It is infuriating to me how wasteful the government is. What do I expect from the federal government? Defense of our borders. Protect me from fraud. Investigate inter-state crime and prosecute and punish the guilty. Act as a supporting framework for the states. Provide a common currency. Maintain and promote American History and science. Maintain a national archive and museums. (Library of Congress, Smithsonian) Provide a national registry for patents. An intelligence agencies) to provide our military with what it needs to raise hell and to defend us. A tariff and taxation division to charge import and export tariffs to help fund the government and to give Americans an edge if they can produce it locally. A common level of business responsibility for the chemicals used, workers safety, realistic emissions control and monitoring - no you cannot dump toxic waste into a river.

In addition to defense of our borders we need a volunteer military that is competently trained and properly equipped to let us do whatever ass-whuppin we need. Let's face it, some meatball somewhere is going to fuck with us, so we need to put such a beat down on them that the next crazy bastard picks on China or Russia instead.

All of these things can be done better without the layers and layers of bureaucracy. Nationally, the Personal Income Tax would go away. Most corporate taxes would go away. This frees up a LOT of money for charity, to get your own retirement, to pay for your own health insurance. Business would hire more workers, more money would flow from consumers to American companies and products. Which hire more workers, so on and so forth.

At this point I am so tired all I want to do is be free. Not the illusion of freedom I'm fed by mass media but true freedom. Freedom to make it or break it on my own. If there is a Midas Mulligan out there? Need someone to scrub a floor, to do landscaping or dig ditches until I save up enough to start a woodworking business?

Passed!

2009-05-26T20:15:00.002-04:00

Well that was the hardest exam I have ever taken. Still passed it first shot, which saves me $175. Now I get to do the "easy" Microsoft exams, Next one is in a week.

There is one rule when it comes to the IT field. "He who has the most initials after his name wins." I already have the A+, Network +, MCSE NT4, VCP. One more M$ exam and I add MCDBA 2000, and MCSE 2000 to the list. I never finished college so I make up for no 4 year degree with having more certs than the people that bothered.

If I do lose the job I'm going to look into getting a degree. Since I'm a minority I'll check into a grant or something to pay my mortgage while I go to school. Most people do 4 years, I figure I could do a double major in 3, so long as the classes are available. Who knows?

I have been completely slacking off on preps for the last month. Been to busy and stressed out. After this next exam I should be in a good spot to jump ship. There are not many VCP's running around, so I have a good shot of getting the fuck out of there. The Boss tld me that there were no decent applicants out there for the positions we have open. He tried spinning it that I would have a hard time finding a job. HA! If I'm competing against shitheads I'll have no problem at all upgrading, never mind getting an equal position. Typical. Just because I'm not the best at Microsoft Project the paper-pushing boss thinks I'm a bad engineer. No one else knows perl, VB, ASP, T-SQL, CSS, or even VBscript in my team. The web guys know vbscript, but they report to a different manager. The DBA's know T-SQL, but no other engineer does. Typical.

Whoops, rant off tangent. I was talking about preps. I think I need a summer gun. The Sig is WAY to big to carry with just a T-shirt on. I might get a small .45 for a summer gun. Something smaller that hides well. The local shop has a Para Ordance Lite Hawg for $900. Tempting. I think I'll see if they can order the single-stack Slim Hawg. 6+1 is enough, since I'm looking for concealment. I would make sure I have an extra mag on me anyways.

I need to do a full inventory. It's been a while, and I should go through everything and see what I got. Plus, I need to make room for hard, red, winter wheat. I've inquired at m local source, but they never called me back. I'll have to swing by Saturday and light a fire under their asses. I'm still waiting on the price of a ton as a group buy too. Dammit.

Well i'ts 8:40 and I'm going to bed. Stayed up most of the night studying and memorizing crap that didn't help me on the exam. Be safe out there, poop is coming hard and fast. There's a little fly on it onderign why the spinning thing is getting so close so fast :P

unemployment

2009-05-21T10:12:00.000-04:00

So I saw an article on bloomberg.com that the job losses for last month were 12,000 less than projected. Gee, you think that the losses would lessen more considering we are losing 650k jobs a month!

It's common sense to me that if we have 6.66 million people collecting unemployment insurance that the numbers of initial job losses would slow down. That isn't the issue so much as no one is hiring! If 600k factory workers loose their jobs but are hired as UPS drivers... it sucks if your one of them but at least you got another job! With the current economy a job loss is a sentence of poverty as no company is hiring.

Where I work has had an on-again off-again hiring freeze for two years now. We are way understaffed and management just wants us to suck it up. Well working all the time means burnout, and I'm making mistakes I never would have in the past. I, and my fellow teammates, are just too tired to get it done right.

So the bigger question is what does this mean. I think this is definitive proof that there is active stock market manipulation going on. With sustained job losses of this magnitude there will be no recovery anywhere in the near future. The CBO estimates our budget deficit of 9.3T over the next 10 years. In 2009, it will be about 1.75T. Did I mention that is with an unemployment rate of 8.1%? Silly me, that number will skyrocket as our unemployment numbers will top 11%. those are the cooked numbers, not the real ones. Real numbers for unemployment is at 20%, courtesy of shadowstats.com.

There is no flipping way there are any "green shoots" or any of that other malarkey. This bear market is just a false rally that is trying to suck in whatever fools money they can. Do NOT invest one cent in the stock market. Buy tangibles! Fill up your heating oil tank now, buy precious metals. Buy land, livestock and farm equipment. With the gun-grabbers in power it might be a good idea to buy additional firearms just to sell them later. If I wasn't in the shit at my job I would. I was about to buy a popgun(ar-15 clone) and 200 rounds of ammo to sell it years later at a slight profit (inflation, don'tcha know). But there went that idea.

Buy tangibles. Buy food, water, medicine, heirloom seeds, etc.

so tired

2009-05-19T20:02:00.002-04:00

Well I'm taking a break from studying to post. I have been slacking off a lot lately, and for that I am sorry. I am studdying to get my VCP certification, and it is a lot of just dumb memorization. That's how they get you in IT certifications. I'm close to being ready to take the exam. This will be a big step in my "marketability" as not a ton of people have it. To get the cert you need to take a $3,000 class, then pass an exam. You have to take the class, It's VMware's way of seperating the "paper" VCP's and the real ones. No one is going to pony up $3k for a class when they can use braindumps to get a dozen Microsoft and Cisco exams for the same cash.

After that I got to do one more exam and I become a 2000 MCSE and a 2000 MCDBA. These don't mean anywhere near as much, but then 2 more exams and I can get my 2003 MCSE. Then I need to pass 3 more for my 2008 MCSE. The M$ exams don't carry as much weight, as the brain dumps make them so much easier to take.

I did spend some cash on myself and saw Star Trek last weekend. OMFG it was really, really, good. Cast and acting were spectacular. So good I didn't need to be wowed by FX to get through the movie. I highly recommend it.

I also am looking forward to Terminator: Salvation. I'll see that in a couple weeks.

The garden is doing well, not as good as I hoped, but I am rather new to the whole growing green things. Mold is no problem, just look in the back of the fridge. Plants are a different story. Garlic is doing tremendous, and I finally planted the peppers, beans, and cukes. The tomatoes and peppers have flopped over no matter what I have tried. Next year it was suggested to me to have a fan blowing on the tomato plants to beef up the stems. If we have electricity, I will.

The market is scaring the crap out of me. Not just because I need to switch jobs but because we are still losing 600k jobs a month. Obammy's budget figured a 8.1% unemployment rate (faked numbers) but we will hit 11% no problem even with the government's cooked books. We are right now at 20% unemployment - real numbers.

Mum is getting her class A license as well. The tough thing is she has her eye on a 9mm and I can't find jack shit for ammo. Primers are non-existent. I have cut way back on my centerfire shooting, and using the .22LR pistol and rifle for shooting practice. I placed an order for shotgun supplies for skeet, and no one in the club ha any idea when our order will be filled. Between all the guys it's like $5k in stuff, and we can't get it. Damn.

Well I hope everyone out there is safe, and enjoying the early summer. Wish me luck on the exam, I think I'm going friday or the tuesday after.

Fiction - Part V - No Rest For the Wicked

2009-05-14T10:28:00.002-04:00

Saying to himself, “No rest for the wicked!” Natog got up off of the couch and stretched. While letting the dogs back in, he got the grill fired up for dinner.

His second stop was his gun safe. Pulling his holster from off the top, he put it on his belt. Opening his safe, he pulled out his Sig p220, two magazines and a box of .45ACP jacketed hollow points. Loading a magazine in the Sig, he racked the slide to load a round in the chamber, and then decocked the hammer. Ejecting the clip, he loaded a round from the box of ammo into the magazine and loaded it into the pistol again. Slipping the pistol into its holster, he adjusted it until it was comfortable. After filling the second magazine and slipping it into his pocket, he put the box of ammunition back in the safe, locking it up.

His dogs were watching him and begging for food with their eyes.

Turning to the dogs Natog asked, “Should I load up the shotgun?”

Thor turned his head with his ears perked up, looking very much like he understood exactly what Natog was talking about and gave a small bark. Loki looked bored with the whole situation.
“Yeah I guess Loki’s right, no need to get hasty. The golden horde won’t be running amuck for a while yet. Heaven help me if the cops show up to check in and see it, I’d get my ass kicked like that old lady on the hurricane Katrina video.”

Puttering about the kitchen, Natog fired up the stove to heat up some baked beans without thinking about it. It wasn’t until he tossed his steak onto the grill he realized he still had gas pressure for his stove.

While the steak was cooking and the beans warming, Natog raided his linen closet. Using a stapler from his garage, Natog blacked out the windows in the common area of the house with extra dark colored blankets and sheets.

Natog’s home was a small cottage that had an in-law apartment attached, with a garage on the far side of the in-law apartment. It was built in the 40’s and a lot of work had been done updating the electrical system. Half of the cottage was a living room – kitchen area, connected to the kitchen by a very large hole in the common wall. The rest of the house had three bedrooms, one of which was used as an office, the other as a guest room, aka the dog’s room.

The in-law apartment was almost done being refinished for rental to a “roommate”, i.e. tenant. The heat was currently off, and the only way the pipes were kept from freezing was by keeping the doors between the apartments open. The only items of value in the in-law were a few hand tools and assorted ‘antique’, more like junk, pieces of furniture Mum had stored down in the basement.

Once the windows were blacked out, Natog lit a few candles in the kitchen then hurriedly grabbed a plate to get his steak from the grill. While eating dinner at the table, Natog began jotting down ideas on what needed to be done, and when, if the power outage lasted for a long time.

Natog didn’t finish his list until well after dinner was finished, the dogs fed, and let outside again. The list was based on the idea that something knocked out the power, and it wasn’t coming on anytime soon. One item of note was to determine if the transformers were blown.

First things first, though. He went down to the basement and turned off the main breakers for his home and the in-law apartment. He also flipped off all the other breakers for the individual circuits in the house. This way if he hooked up the generator he wouldn’t power up anything outside the house and only what he specifically wanted.

The second item on the list was to consolidate his living area. He checked the windows in the spare bedroom, then closed the door to the spare room, and stuffed some old t-shirts he was going to cut up for rags under the door to stop drafts. He did the same for the office door after moving any computer equipment he had lying around.

Fighting off a yawn, Natog went out to the shed and grabbed a few buckets. While there he checked his generator and made sure he hadn’t forgotten to fill up any of the eight 5-gallon gas cans he had in the shed. One was half-full, but the rest were full and had been stabilized.

After locking up the shed and the door to the house behind him, Natog went down into the in-law apartments basement and shut off the water supply with a pair of vice grips. He then emptied the water in all the pipes by opening the main outlet in the basement and all the faucets upstairs. Bucket after bucket was emptied outside in the snow after he filled the bathtub in the inlaw apartment. As the pipes trickled dry, he left the drain open and a bucket to catch the last drops.

Turning his attention to the main part of the house, he filled the bathtub and another bucket with water. It must have been well past midnight when Natog let the dogs back in the house, and pulled his winter sleeping bag from the hall closet. After some deliberation he curled up on his bed with the dogs and fell quickly into a deep sleep.

* * *

He felt as if he just closed his eyes when Loki was barking in his ear to go out. Forgetting for a second what happened the day before, he crawled out of bed in his boxers to let the dogs out. He was halfway across the kitchen before the cold really sank in. Now that he was wide awake he hustled to let the dogs out then dived back under the warm covers.

His conscious wouldn’t let him fall back to sleep for long. Well, it was more of the dogs barking outside, but either way he hastily dressed, then ran around to warm up the clothes. It felt like it was 30 degrees in the house, but it couldn’t have been less than 50. Modern homes are too well insulated to drop in temperature that fast.

Natog stumbled into the kitchen still rubbing sleep from his eyes. Pulling back the sheet he stapled up in front of the back window, he saw it was about 8 am or so. The dogs were happily playing in some fresh snow from late last night, chasing each other around the back yard.

Firing up his stove he put on a frying pan to heat up and a kettle of water to boil. Shortly thereafter Natog had a hot breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausage and hot cocoa. He cooked the whole packages of the bacon and sausage, and put the leftovers back in the fridge. He pulled a couple of frozen steaks out of the freezer and tossed them into the fridge to defrost for lunch and dinner. The defrosting steaks would help chill the fridge too.

He let the dogs back in, made sure they had water, and locked the back door. Suiting up, Natog went out into the bright sunshine.

It was clear and cold. A cold sun shone across the fresh snow. Kids were laughing and running through the neighborhood with the simple joy of a day off from school.

Natog turned south, and started walking towards the train station in the south of town. Trudging along the unplowed road, he waved at the few adults up and about. Most were shoveling out their driveways into the unplowed street. It was only about three inches of fluffy snow, but a few New England thaw-freeze cycles and it would turn into a sheet of ice.

After a half mile, Natog opened up his fleece to keep from sweating. After a mile, he took off the outer fleece pullover. As he approached the train parking lot, he was reassured by the sight of car tracks leaving the parking lot.

“At least I might not have to carry all of my crap back!” Natog said to himself as he rounded the corner and walked into the parking lot. Natog’s Cherokee was off by itself covered with snow. Thankfully, there were not footprints around his Jeep, and the snow looked undisturbed.
As he walked up, he mashed the remote button on the key fob repeatedly with no effect. Dusting the snow away from the seam for the door, he manually unlocked the door and opened it. A surge of relief passed through him as the interior light came on. Brushing out the snow that got sucked into the car when he opened the door, Natog jabbed the key in the ignition and turned it. The jeep started up first try. Natog cranked up the heat, and reached into the passenger side to grab the ice scraper.

He quickly cleaned off the car, and climbed in. Shifting into 4WD, the Jeep easily navigated its way through the parking lot. Out of the two hundred or so parking spots, only a dozen or so were empty. The rest looked untouched.

As he drove back along the unplowed roads with dark traffic lights, Natog scanned the radio. There were no broadcasts on either AM or the FM bands. It was nothing but the hiss of static. Popping in a CD, Natog made sure the radio was actually working. As Big Black blared out of the radio, Natog wondered what would take out the radio stations, but leave his car working.

The drive back was uneventful with the exception of occasionally stopping for kids sledding in the streets. Back at the house, Natog went into the garage workshop and moved the tools into half of the garage, so he could back the jeep into the garage. Natog had all of his tools on mobile bases for just such a purpose. Usually, it was for a vacation to Las Vegas or a fishing trip, normally he just parked outside so he could use the wood shop without moving all the tools every time.

With a sigh of relief, he locked up the garage. Having a working vehicle was a Very Big Deal. Turning from the garage door, he noticed the tire tracks leading to his garage. With a slump of the shoulders he grabbed his snow shovel and shoveled the driveway.

By the time he was done with that he was stripped down to a hat, gloves and a t-shirt. Hastily grabbing his sweaters and fleece, he scampered into the house. He carefully set the clothes out to dry and got a drink from the fridge.

Grabbing his list off of the table, he collapsed on the couch. As he relaxed and caught his breath, he ran through the list again. The next item would be to make sure his Mum and brother are ok. Mum and Bill recently got on board with prepping, but focused on weapons and had little in the way of food stores. Natog remembered warning them over and over, but Bill insisted that his friend in Maine would let the family go there and there would be plenty of food. Unable to make them see reason, Natog put up additional food for them by himself.

Throwing on a light sweatshirt, Natog went down into the basement. Using the stapler, he blocked out the windows in the basement with some scrap carpet. Turning on an LED lantern, Natog cleared out all the crap out of the way, including his weight set. Once there was room, he began pulling items from a recessed closet in the back of the basement. It took over an hour, but he pulled out all his food stores and laid them out for an inventory. As he inventoried what he had, he was kicking himself for not doing this earlier. Turns out he was desperately short on ketchup. Starting a list on a blank piece of paper entitled “Stuff I need”, the first item was “Ketchup!” in big letters.

Once his inventory was complete, he packaged up 10# of beans, 20# of rice, a package of hot cocoa, some granola bars, 10# of spaghetti, and two jars of spaghetti sauce into a plastic tote and brought it upstairs. He made note of the change of inventory, and then put all his food stores back into the closet. He packed as much as he could into plastic totes.

He bought a pallet of these totes from an auction years ago. They were from a stocking company, and were about 24 x 18 x 18 and were made of very heavy duty plastic. After selling enough to friends and family to pay for the pallet’s worth, he had about 10 left. They were sturdy enough to be filled with cans and carried, although they couldn’t be stacked on top of each other when that full. Natog made use of these when camping all the time, and was one of the best investments he made.

Natog brought the tote out to the Jeep, and added one of the 5 gallon gas cans from the shed. He made sure his toolbox was in the Jeep along with the Jeep’s BOB. The Jeep’s “bug out bag” had a pair of boltcutters, tow straps, a 2 ton come-along, funnel, hoses, bottle jack, hatchet and a set of extra fuses, wiring, etc. After thinking about it, he got one of his two spare tanks of propane out of the shed and used a strap to secure it and the gas can in the back of the jeep. Running back in the house, he grabbed a couple of 2 liter soda bottles filled with water from the freezer in the in-law apartment. He then went down to the basement and grabbed a package of toilet paper and a roll of paper towels. He brought all that to the jeep, and tossed it in the back.

Natog fired up his grill to warm up, and went back in the house to make some lunch. While eating lunch, he heated up a large pot of water. Turns out he still had water pressure. He then used water sparingly to do his dishes in a 5 gallon bucket. Filling the pot of water back up, he put it on the stove for later. After thinking about it for a second he filled all his large pots and put them on the stove.

Natog lived on top of a small hill. After he began prepping he figured that the sewer line would back up at the lowest points first, so he didn’t have to worry about that. But his water supply would go out first. Rather have to melt snow for water than have poop backing up in the house.

With a full belly, Natog bundled back up, grabbed his BOB and the aluminum little-league baseball bat by the door. He then shouldered his BOB and locked up the house. Loading the last of his stuff into the jeep, he fired it up and pulled out of the driveway.

Year One

2009-05-13T15:46:00.000-04:00

Well it's been a year since I started this project.

There has been a lot of work, and more importantly, a lot of learning. This journey has only begun. I fear we all will be burdened with hardship over the next few years at least.

For anyone not currently prepping, there is still time to get ahead of the game. I'm not talking about building NBC bunkers with field hospitals like Mr. Rawles. Just some simple food and water and you will increase your survivability in a natural disaster by a lot.

That reminds me. We are so focused on the pending economic collapse, no one saw the swine flu coming. We need to stay vigilant, not just for the obvious threat, but the potential threats as well.
To think I started by worrying about the upcoming hurricane season. From there the veil of deceit was lifted. I have grown in so any ways I couldn't begin to count them. Although I have to admit that in one major way I am even more close-minded. I'm now a militant agnostic... :p

I used to be politically agnostic, now I am (mostly) a Libertarian. I still cannot stomach their drug policy, though. I've seen first hand what happens to youth who use hard drugs.

I have gone from being an unarmed sheeple to a rather well-armed man with some solid shooting skills. I still need to get some better training, especially in defensive pistol, but I have a foundation to work from.

I used to keep barely 3 days of food in the house to having months of food stored. I also have plenty of ways to have water. I have some stored, plus I have the means to make an infinite supply.

I used to have a few band-aids, hydrogen peroxide and Tylenol in the house to a extensive medical kit. No birthing kits, but trauma patches, surgical staples, etc. I guess I'm more worried about getting shot than pregnant.

As I have changed so has the world. Even if this economic situation resolves itself (it won't) then we are looking at the inability of the Federal Government to pay Social Security, etc. for all the baby-boomers that are retiring.

There is no certainty in the economy, in politics, or even religion (I really don't like the new pope). Will it be this year that the American Catholic Church splits from Rome? Will unemployment go over 20%? Wait a sec, it's AT 20% now!!!

We don't know what the future holds, that is precisely why we prepare. So keep on prepping, I will.

A kick in the beans

2009-05-12T08:54:00.001-04:00

Just what I needed was a kick in the balls. Looks like my financial situation wasn't as secure as I thought. I got in trouble at work, and it's been made clear that I need to become a devoted slave working 70+ hours a week, or I need to move on. Step 1 of the official process has been taken.
Just goes to show, the one area of preps you neglect will bite you in the ass. I was hoping to have an extra mortgage payment or two set aside, but I don't. I'm not fired, but I don't have 100% job security. So now I'm in miserly mode, only spending on what I have already committed to, or necessities.
I've been focusing on another kind of prepping, and I've had to cut back on my news reading and blogging in order to get this done. I've been studying for my VCP certification which would be a very, very good resume builder. Some claim with the VCP I can write my own ticket. That is not the case, but it certainly helps since I don't have a collage degree.
This summer I'm going to go down to Tampa to get a copy of my father's birth certificate. With that I prove I am a minority, Cherokee Indian, and qualify for all kinds of stuff. Most of which I don't care about because I'm no mooch, but the small business loans, the educational loans and grants are worth it. This makes it harder for them to fire me, as my company is terrified of firing any minority. It also gives me options if I do lose my job. I might be able to get a degree, or open a small business.
We will see. The stress is getting to me though.
On a more practical side my brother got his class A LTC here in Mass. Mum is applying for hers too. For mothers day we bought a .22 Thompson rifle for her, although I have possession of it until she gets her license then I'll transfer it over. All legal.
Mum hated guns growing up and it was forbidden for us to have them. Funny how she loves to shoot now. She's not that great a shot with iron sights, but she's decent with a scope.
I joined the New Bedford range. It's closer to Mum, and they have a 500 yard range for me to flex those .308 muscles. Not a bad place, but there are some safety rules I don't like. They don't have lights for a warning and the other shooters don't check if everyone is all set before firing. Some old fuck yelled at me for being across the range when he got back and started fucking with his pistol, he never checked if we were done setting up targets when he got back.
In my book this is how it should go.
1) make eye contact with everyone at the range, and make sure everyone is ok with you going down.2) step back from your weapon3) people go downrange and do their thing.4) once everyone is back, make eye contact and make sure everyone is behind the line and everyone is ready for the range to go hot.
This boob yelled at me that I wasn't safe when he ignored #4. but then again he was in a big rush to shoot 6 shots then pack up and go home. You cannot rush around and be safe.

Ammo?

2009-05-06T17:27:00.002-04:00

Now I'm not one to panic, but there is definitely something up with the ammo supply here in New England. I had me a day off on Monday and went up to Kittery Trading Post to stock up on some reloading supplies, and buy a box of 9mm Luger for a brother's friend.

Well Kittery is renowned for it's supply of ammo. Truth be told they were out of almost all reloading supplies. The only primers they had were shotgun and magnum large rifle. That's it. That is crazy. They didn't know when or if they were goign to get any more of it, either.

It blows my mind. they did have .308 and .45ACP American Eagle rounds, but I could care less. Al I saw for 5.56mm was 3 cases of 500 rounds. all the 20 round boxes were gone. They had plenty of the weird ammo types, but little else for .357 Mag, .38 Spcl, 9mm, .380, etc. but they had .308 and .45ACP. About a case of each... How sad is that.

I had to go to several stores to finally get the 9mm. Suc a pain in the butt. That store was out fro 5 months, just got some in the other day. I had to resist the urge to buy extra. Mum's going to get a 9mm at some point, but I didn't have the extra cash this week to invest in ammo she might need. I got a huge order of supplies coming in through the gun club. At least $400 worth of goodies. Including 1000 CCI military rifle primers and 8# of H4895 powder. the M1A will love that.

Well there is an ammo shortage, as soon as it comes in it's flying off of the shelves. I wasat bass pro shop and some guy had 500 rounds of shotgun ammo in 00 buck, #4 buck, #6, #2 and BB. Along with 250ish rounds of .40 and 500 rounds of various rifle ammo. I had to help him lift the baskets into a carriage. nuts.

If you can it's time to stock up. Although all the stores were short of ammo none were gouging. A buck or two extra a box is all I saw. That's a refreshing site.

Oh yeah anyone looking for the see-through polymer AR15 mags, Kittery had cases of them for $20 a pop I think. No good for us Mass people (cough) but for those in other places they had plenty.

Working for the MAN

2009-05-05T21:59:00.002-04:00

I heard an old classic, by Devo, "Working in a coal mine" today. got me to thinking. Thinking for me is dangerous, you see. It usually gets me to the point of being pissed off at something.

Today As I was busting my ass in my cube, that the "Man" everyone is talking about is plaing the average American like a fiddle. The sheeple are dancing to the beat of these media-savvy monsters, and too busy to see what's going on. Just grinds my gears.

I'm going down to green, the swine flu is sort of a bust, but it got the Health and Human Services director posted without a squawk. They didn't have time to see if she cheated on her taxes...

Work has been real tough on my lately, sorry for the lack of regular posts. It's dangerous for me to go to non-work sites from work computers so I'll have to post once I get home. Just an inconvenience, but it is a work pc I'm using while there, bitching won't get me anywhere.

Hope everyone in the interweb's doing well, haven't had time to catch up on what's going on. Well just wanted a short post before I hit the rack. Another long day tomorrow... ugh.

Swine Flu

2009-04-29T13:20:00.001-04:00

Well the swine flu has officially infected Mass. Two girls have it in Lowell, about 25 miles NW of Boston. Time for condition Yellow.

Saturday Survivalist Meeting

2009-04-28T00:25:00.002-04:00

Sorry I didn't post about this Saturday night, but the weekend was real crazy. Work was crazy too, considering I'm still working and it's 12:30 am the next day.

Anyway, Heading out to Franklin for the Meet was awesome. Met 9 other preppers from three States. Between the 10 of us we covered all walks of life, ages, etc. And we showed up with an open mind and chit-chatted about prepping. I personally learned a lot about HAM radio. Others learned about Faraday Cages and Solar flares from yours truly. Others had great info on where to get pre-1965 coins for silver. There was so much information going around it was a bit of an overload.

A few ideas circulated around. There might be a group buy put together for pre-1965 silver. I'm going to see about what it would cost for a whole pallet of hard red winter wheat for a group buy. Evidently I'm blessed by having an Agway I do business with. So I need to check on that.

We tentatively scheduled another meet for sometime in June. This one will be in a park or something so we aren't scaring the sheeple as much. We also can do some live skill demonstrations. Two of the guys were HAM operators, and I'd love a walk through of the basics. I could do a weapons rundown, or firestarting, or squad communications. Another fellow was an EMT, maybe a trauma 101 class.

Great stuff. Anyone out there should reach out to their fellow preppers and have similar meetings before we all get the swine flu.

It was a great time, and not filled with as much doom and gloom as you would think. Thanks to everyone who came, and if you didn't, try to get to the next one!

Oh yeah "Get off of my lawn!"