Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Ruger is offering a compact carbine in 7.62×39 these days. This competes directly with the CZ 527. I’ve been wanting a compact carbine in 7.62×39 and was wanting the CZ but the Ruger makes it a horse race. I think the CZ is a better gun than the Ruger, but the Ruger has two main advanatge that I can see:

• an internal magazine as opposed to a detachable one..so no magazines to lose
• Easier parts availability (although, honestly, Ruger is known for being tricky about getting spare parts from)

I like the CZ for its accuracy, set trigger, good looks, and general quality. Ruger makes a quality product as well, but their trigger could be a lot better. On the other hand, spare parts from CZ means that if theyre American distribution network doesnt have it, its gotta come from Czechland.

Both guns feature integral bases, which is nice, and both feature Mauser style extractors.

Tough choice.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

The missus reported that someone at her place of work wound up having to clean out her deceased mothers house in preparation for a remodel. As they are cleaning out the accumulated detritus they come across canning stuff. Would I be interested? Sure. I can always use more jars. Well, in addition to empty jars (carefully inspected for nicks, chips and other damage) there were some full ones. Pears and peaches mostly. How old? Well, lets let the EOS 7D do the talking:

The box is from a Montana brewery that ceased operations in ‘48. It probably has some collector value to it…especially if it still had beer in it. But, alas, no 60-year-old beer.The contents? Well, theyre a bit newer but not by much.

Wonder how old those jars are? Fortunately, someone labelled them:

Yup, those jars are from 1963. Kennedy was President (well, for most of that year anyway) and coins were still made of silver. Ah the ’60s. It looks like things held up remarkably well for sitting on a basement shelf for almost five decades. Wait….or did they?????

Notice that the two rightmost jars appear to have sludge in them. Not surprising since the seals on those two jars have lost their integrity. The lid does not have that familiar concave depression that comes from a well sealed jar. As a result, the contents of the jars have turned into something that I would imagine is incredibly foul, putrid and toxic. (In fact, the canning books urge you not to just pour this stuff into a hole in the ground because of water contamination and botulism concerns).

The jars on either side of those two, however, have lids that remained intact and the contents appear to be just fine. I say “appear to be” because while I might open one up and see how it smells it is highly unlikely I will attempt to ingest 47 year old home-canned peaches. Although, I must admit, I am tempted to do so….just a little tiny nibble to taste.

The interesting thing about all this is that, theoretically, properly canned food will last a lifetime. I’ve no doubt the nutritional value of the peaches and pears is virtually nil but its still calories to the hungry. While I have some serious(!) reservations about consuming the 47 year old produce, I wouldnt have any concerns if it were, say, five yeras old or so.  Still, good to know that stuff can be preserved for that long a period of time.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Looks like someone at Frugal Squirrels spent too much time espousing religious intolerance and hypocrisy and not enough time checking their domain name renewal.

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

   Domain Name: FRUGALSQUIRRELS.COM
   Registrar: BRANDON GRAY INTERNET SERVICES, INC. DBA NAMEJUICE.COM
   Whois Server: whois.namejuice.com
   Referral URL: http://www.namejuice.com
   Name Server: DNS1.NAMERESOLVERS.COM
   Name Server: DNS2.NAMERESOLVERS.COM
   Name Server: DNS3.NAMERESOLVERS.COM
   Name Server: DNS4.NAMERESOLVERS.COM
   Status: clientTransferProhibited
   Updated Date: 06-sep-2010
   Creation Date: 05-sep-2001
   Expiration Date: 05-sep-2011

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Well, added to the list of Things I Never Thought Id Do….I’ve made a zombie tag.

HAVANA – What would you do if your entire city was taken over by flesh-eating zombies and communist leaders insisted it was nothing but a plot by U.S-backed dissidents to destabilize the government?

If you were the protagonist of Juan de los Muertos — “Juan of the Dead” — the first zombie flick ever shot in post-revolutionary Cuba, you’d figure out how to make some cash out of the carnage.

Remove the blood-crazed zombies from the equation but leave the broken infrastructure and crumbling economy and youve pretty much got a documentary rather than a horror flick.

cereeeeebros…..cereeeeeebros……

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

MRE’s from other countries, from the NYT.

Proof that no matter what your nationality there are some things that are universal…like cracking open a plastic bag, looking inside and going “What the hell is that?”

To be fair, the Italian one looks pretty decent.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Interesting article about some rather likely-seeming events that could be the death knell to what is left of our economy.

To see where this re-recession might begin, my colleague Dan Indiviglio and I imagined five financial earthquakes, each with a single epicenter: housing, consumers, toxic assets, Europe, and the debt. The following five scenarios are listed in order of likelihood.

And once your economy does start going south in a big way how do you keep the populace on board with your hope-n-change? Introduce a ration card with a catchy name:

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

A trip to CostCo or UberWalMart is always an…empowering….experience. Why? Because about 1/3 of those purchases get squirreled away ‘just in case’ and by the time that’s done it is an awesome sight to behold. Trot over to the computer, update the spreadsheets, print out a copy to keep on the clipboard with the supplies, download a copy into my Blackberry for shopping convenience, and we’re good to go. The economy may be skipping a few cylinders but we’ve got a solid headstart on the majority of the population in case things get weird.

Theres enough food, including meat, that I think we could suffer a rather severe food shortage and we’d come though just fine.

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Speaking of food, next week, assuming things work out, there will be another mouth to feed here at the bunker.

Yup. Its a dog. Specifically it is Dog, General Purpose, Mk. 0

We’d been looking into getting a dog for a while now. The missus wants a meatshield/companion for hiking and I could stand to have an extra set of ears to alert us to any problems while we are sleeping. Additionally, its another layer into the escalation of force should the need arise. Canine body armour isn’t cheap, but………..

We’ll have to stock up on dog food, dog medical supplies, grooming, etc, etc. Still, it beats having a junior human running around.

Name? Well, we’re still undecided on that. You’ll hear more about it Im sure. Dog entries will be tagged.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

PTR-91’s are on sale at Davidsons for $979 dealer.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Someone very astutely pointed out to me that if September is National Preparedness Month then the other eleven months of the year we’re supposed to…..? Rely on the .gov?

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Have you seen those portable tankless water heataers that run on propane? There are several of them out there these days. They designed for producing on-demand hot water at remote locations. They usually consist of a 12v pump, some tubing, a heat exchanger of some kind, and a coupler for a 1# propane bottle. I wasn wondering if anyone had any experiences with them. Come the apocalypse a supply of hat water would be nice to have and something a little more convenient (and safer) than hauling scalding  hot pots of water around would be nice.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

September is National Preparedness Month

From floods, to hurricanes, earthquakes to tornadoes, you never know when nature will unleash its fury. Though many of those natural catastrophes can catch you by surprise, there a few things each of us can do to minimize damage to life and property.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Ready Campaign kicks off National Preparedness Month hoping to raise awareness and promote action by businesses and communities on emergency preparedness.

Seriously? Our .gov is designating this as National Preparedness Month? These clowns are hardly in a position to talk about preparedness. Nevertheless, lets follow this rabbit hole and see where it goes.

Hmm. The fedgov has a cute little webpage about it. And apparently Fearless Leader took time off from his golf game to make a proclamation about it.

Unless the .gov is really prepared to take some solid steps towards encouraging citizens (or subjects, as the current administration may view them) to be prepared, real actual roll-up-your-sleeves steps, this is all just hype and window dressing.

Some states in hurricane country have tax breaks at certain times for people purchasing perparedness supplies and thats a good step in the right direction. (Notice that its a state/local incentive…not a federal one). What could the fedgov do if they really wanted to encourage citizens to be prepared?

Bunker Tax Incentive – you build a disaster-proof home you get tax breaks on it across the board. Drawback: your home has to be vetted by some .gov goon. Perhaps administer it on a local/county/state level to keep it a little more private.

Repurposed surplus .gov/military gear – skip the DRMO. Tents, field kitchens, water trucks, earthmoving gear, etc, etc that .gov was going to retire goes to individual state preparedness  organizations.

Federal support of state preparedness initiatives and organizations – One size does not fit all. If each state can come up with educational programs and training the feds should offer to back it up. Or, at least, not screw with it.

Decommissioned military bases retasked as state-level disaster bases – those old military bases with their runways, concrete bunkers and acreage? Give ‘em to the states for the purpose of becoming disaster headquarters. Runways for supply flights,  plenty of acreage for staging vehicles and supplies, hardened facilities, commo bunkers, power generation sites, etc, etc. They would make excellent headquarters for each states disaster response programs.

Theres a host of other things the feds could do if they really wanted people to be prepared. You could argue that the more prepared a populace is the less need it has for .gov assistance and that might be counter to what the politicians want these days. :::shrug::: I dunno. I just know that the Tom Ridge-era of duct tape and plastic sheeting jokes hasnt really passed yet and the number of people taking this sort of thing seriously in .gov hasnt seemed to have increased.

But…in the spirit of National Preparedness Month I will certainly buckle down and work a little harder to prepare for the upcoming economic collapse/revolution/zombiepocalypse.