Resilience against political change

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Self-interest is the dominant trait in humans. It kind of has to be or else we’d have died out generations ago. Intellectually we may think we are putting our self-interest aside when we act ‘for the greater good’ but when it’s time to bail out of the plane and theres only one parachute between you and a total stranger…well…that self-interest thing comes roaring to the surface and the knives come out.

Rightly or wrongly, a lot of people look at political results from an ‘is this good for me’ angle rather than an ‘is this good for the country’ perspective. You could argue that if something is good for you, then it’s good for the country (or vice versa), I suppose. Most people, I think, will vote their own self-interest. Whether I agree with it or not, I can at least understand it.

And while you may think you can ignore politics, I can assure you that politics will not ignore you. Sometimes that looks like an extra bite in your paycheck to pay ‘your fair share’, and sometimes it looks like a Bearcat in your driveway to enforce a ‘reasonable and commonsense’ law.

In preparedness there’s a tendency to, after an election where the ‘right’ candidate wins, get complacent and think that a bullet has been dodged and things will be ‘better’ for the next four years. Personally, I think thats a wildly foolish attitude to take – no matter who wins, there are no guarantees. Likelihoods, the odds, may change, sure…but they are never 100% against.

I suppose the trick, if there is one, is to increase your resilience to the point that a change in government will affect you as little as possible no matter who wins. You can’t be 100% proofed against the .gov but you can certainly increase your level of preparedness to the point where you are impacted far less than Joe Blow is when the political wind changes.

I guess political sea change is one of those things to add to the list of scenarios to be prepared against. What does that look like? I’d imagine it looks alot like being in a situation where you can comfortably keep your head down and your profile low when the powers that be decide to start hammering down the nails that stick up.

But…my point is this: if, when elections roll around, you think “I hope my candidate wins because if they dont this bad thing will happen that will affect me” then perhaps its worth investigating being prepared against that bad thing so you’re not vulnerable to the fickle political winds.

Get that Hawaiian shirt out

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“If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for … but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. In case of doubt, vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong.”

― Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

“When you vote, you are exercising political authority, you’re using force. And force, my friends, is violence. The supreme authority from which all other authorities are derived.”

― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers

 

JetBoil Stash

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Whenever I go hunting or otherwise tromping through the boonies, one of the things I take with me is an Esbit stove and a bunch of fuel tabs. This is so that I can boil up some water to use to make meal out of some freeze drieds while I’m out hunting. I don’t drink coffee or tea, so my need for super hot water in the field is usually just limited to rehydrating something. Certainly, I can make a cup of hot beverage if I want, I’m just saying that I normally don’t.

The Esbit stove works pretty well for what it is. It’s main advantages, to me, are the compactness and portability combined with the light weight and durability of the fuel – fuel tabs about the size of a piece of bubble gum. The drawback is that these fuel tabs don’t put out as much heat as other fuel sources, but there is always a tradeoff in things. The end result is that it can take a little bit more time to boil some water than it would using other fuel sources.

The supermegawesome gadget for making hot water in the field is the JetBoil line of products. Theyre basically an isobutane cartridge, same as found on a lot of backpacking stoves, and a cooking vessel with a heat exchanger. I was always reluctant to pick one up because, up to this point, my needs had ben adequately met with the Esbit stove and I regarded the tall Jetboil vessels, about the size of a large travel mug, to be rather bulky and overkill for my needs…after all, I only need about 12-16 oz of water for a freezedried meal.

Additionally, for my ‘crisis cooking’ at home in the event of some sort of disaster I have a kerosene stove, a Coleman stove, and an Omnifuel stove that will literally burn any liquid fuel. A JetBoil would be a quadriary level of redundancy…maybe even deeper than that.

But…I was killing some time the other day and wandered into REI and saw that JetBoil had a smaller, much more compact version called the Stash. The attraction was that everything needed nested into the small-enough -to-be-handy-but-large-enough-to-be-useful cooking pot. I already carry a titanium cooking cup to use with the Esbit stove, and this stove and fuel container would easily fit inside that…so it fits within a footprint that I am already using.

Curiosity got ahold of me and I wondered how long it would take to actually bring a goodly amount of water to a rolling boil. The most water-intensive of my freezedrieds calls for 16 oz. of water. I figured I’d throw caution to the wind and poured 20 oz. into the vessel, put the lid on, cranked the flame, and started the timer. Two and a half minutes later it was boiling mightily. That’s pretty sweet. It takes significantly longer to achieve that same result with the Esbit stove.

The most obvious drawback is that this stove, and others like it, run on isobutane cartridges. The reasonable question is where do you get additional cartridges in a crisis? The same place you get gasoline, kerosene, white gas, and propane – you don’t. You either have a stash of it, or you scrounge it from somewhere. But, as I said, I already have cooking options for cooking with gasoline, kerosene, white gas, propane, and alcohol. I’ll lay in a case or two of cartridges for this thing and that’ll be that. I really only plan on using it for hunting and boonie humping purposes.

So..a new piece of gear to play with.I’m being dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 21st century but at I’m getting there.

 

Two structures I rather like

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Still looking for a piece of property that fits 85-90% (or better) of what I’m looking for. Actually found a piece that was hitting all the checkboxes…even has a developed year round spring on it. Sounds awesome, right? Problem is, there are nice neighboring properties that have documented access to use that spring as well. So, my choice is either buy it and have nine neighbors tromping through my property to use the spring, or buy nine neighboring pieces of property, remove the easements, and then sell those nine properties. That’s a bit of a stretch. So..still looking.

But I was thinking about what kind of structure I’d like to put in. I rather like a multistory tower-like structure. My first thought was something along the fire tower or blockhouse design. Here’s some examples:

I liked the idea of a relatively easily securable lower level and the ability to take advantage of the views offered by the presumably remote location. But as I was scrolling through, of all things, Pinterest to see ideas for small cabin-like dwellings I found another family of small, elevated, easily securable buildings – railroad switch/signal buildings:

They are, essentially, the same structure but without the overhanging deck. Again, though, we are back to a strong, easily secured first level while providing a non-bunker-like second level. Most of the ones I’ve been looking at are older, brick designs but they are all just a concrete rectangle with a stick-built structure on top. I would think that creating a windowless concrete rectangle out of ICF would be a great deal easier, in just about every way, than using brick.

Either way, I’m liking the idea of these two types of structures. Their common denominator is that they were built to satisfy the need of observation of the area around them. The fire tower for obvious reasons, and the signal/switch stations to see the rail traffic.

Im sure they have their own logistic or structural downsides, but at the moment I’m rather taken with both of these designs. I’m not saying that anything I’d build would be a copy of these…just the the ideas behind them would probably be a large influence on what I’m thinking of. Inspiration, if you will, for a design that may go in a different direction but still give me the features about these structures that I like.

 

CostCo flashlight

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I know it doesn’t seem like it, but not everything in my life has to be high-end (or high-mid-end) tactical. Sometimes a $29 MagLite is plenty for the anticipated task and doesn’t call for a $150 SureFire.

I mention this because I was at CostCo the other day and beheld this:

It’s a made-in-China flashlight from CostCo, but it had a couple features that made me want to examine it a bit closer. It has a focusing head, which is, I suppose, a nice feature to have. But more importantly it runs off of either a USB rechargeable battery or a battery pack of AA batts. In addition, the flashlight has a port to allow you to use it as a battery source to charge other USB devices. And, of course, its got some heft to it for those occasions that call for percussive remediation.

The USB charging (both in a and out) caught my attention because it seems like an interesting potential for a vehicle flashlight. I currently keep a D-cell LED MagLite in the console but I have to change out the batteries every year…just in case. This would be a light I could leave plugged into a USB plug-in in the cigarette lighter. The more astute among you will think “Won’t that drain the battery?”. I don’t think so. First, the draw is not that much, and I believe that once it’s charged it’s barely a trickle to maintain that charge. However, I’ll hook it up to one of the backup batteries in the house and see how long it takes to draw it down.

But I also like that I can use it to recharge my mobile devices as well. A handy feature in an emergency. Also a handy feature when you only have one cigarette lilghter outlet in your vehicle and it’s charging your phone, leaving your USB speaker uncharged. (Yeah, my vehicle is a fleet vehicle trade-in so no fancy options like Bluetooth, USB chargers, or even a CD player….so, when I travel, its a USB Bluetooth speaker and Spotify off my phone. And both need charging.)

As far as light throw, this thing isnt bad. It’s worth the $22 I paid for it, and seems a decent choice for a light to keep in the truckbox or wherever for those situations that don’t require the best and brightest. At $22 a throw theyre fairly disposable and would make decent stocking stuffers. One drawback is that if you attach a lanyard to the back of this thing it precludes being able to unscrew the cover to the USB charging ports. Que cera cera.

This thing has three modes all from one button – Off-high-med-low-off… in that order. Pretty basic. The head on this thing focuses to a room-filling flood and can be narrowed down for more focused lighting. It’s no replacement for a MagLite, IMHO, but the ‘deaul fuel’ nature of the thing, and the USB charging features, are some very nice points. Footprint is about the same as a MagLite although maybe a bit longer to accommodate the focusing head feature.

Anyway,. for twentytwo bucks, its a reasonable choice for a light for inside the gun safe, the kitchen junk drawer, or for scenarios where you don’t wanna risk an expensive high-end flashlight.

BOT Q&A

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This landed in comments and became a self-fulfilling prophecy:

Got a question that might turn into an easy post for you.

So you have the good ole ‘Bag ‘O Tricks’. It probably has some flavor of a 9mm sub gun, some expensive electronics, an a fat wad of 20’s. No need to confirm or deny these things. The point is that the cumulative value of this sort of bag is kinda pricey and it probably has a gun or two in it.

Does this spendy bag go with you every time you leave the house or just sometimes? When you go into places does it stay in the truck? Get secured somehow?

How do you balance risk of this pricy kit (not to mention potentially arming a criminal) with access for your personal use?

I ask because I am directly pondering these questions for my own life. Thanks in advance and happy Friday!

– Ryan

Here’s a fairly recent link to the Bag Of Tricks ™.

So, lets address the questions that Friend Of The Blog, Ryan, asked.

It probably has some flavor of a 9mm sub gun, some expensive electronics, an a fat wad of 20’s.

One of my older Glock 19’s is in there in a UM84 holster along with a couple spare mags. There’s a small AM/FM radio in there as well as my ICOM R6. Interestingly, I do not keep a large amont of cash in the bag, although I probably should. I usually just carry a couple hundred bucks on me at any give time just in case I get mugged, decide I want another P95, and reach a deal with the mugger.

Does this spendy bag go with you every time you leave the house or just sometimes?

Spendy is pretty relative. When I was a starving college kid in my twenties, everything was spendy. Nowadays…different story. The practical cash value of the bag and all it’s contents is probably  about a grand. That’s not an inconsequential amount, but its stuff that I’ve been carrying around for almost twenty years…so, basically, that bag and it’s contents have cost me one dollar a week since I bought it…and as time goes by, that average goes lower. I’d be pissed if I lost it or someone stole it, sure…but it’s monetary value, to me, isn’t enough to keep me from doing what I do with it.

It doesnt leave with me everytime I leave the house but it does go with me to work every day. And on out-of-town road trips. But for when I’m heading over to CostCo on the weekend or going to pick up my mail at the PO? Nope. Unless….there’s some ‘heightened concern’ going on. I usually leave it in the truck behind the seat and I’ve never worried about it there.

I ask because I am directly pondering these questions for my own life.

It’s subjective, man. Just like the stuff that you put and carry in your bag, your reasons and motivations will be unique to you. Only you can decide why you’re putting together such a bag and how you’ll use it…which will determine the value of what you put in there.

My BOT isn’t a ‘get home’ bag or anything like that. It’s simply stuff I want to have around when I’m away from my house and that will give me advantages in a crisis. It’s basically a giant nylon Swiss Army Knife with shoulder straps. Whats in it? Geeze, thats a list but here’s some of it: FAK, TQ, ICOM R6, AM/FM radio, knives, TacTool, Glock, mags, holster, flashlights, spare batteries, ration bar, water filter, handcuffs, zip ties, writing equipment, hand sanitizer, matches, lighter, water bottle, multitool, paracord, etc, etc. MacGyver could build an aircraft carrier with all the stuff I have in there.

What gets used the most? FAK and flashlights. Never used? TQ and Glock. Some stuff changes out as the seasons change…like my Winter Module which is gloves, hat, mitts, etc. But just because I haven’t had to use something yet doesn’t mean that its not worth taking along. I try not to go overboard on what I throw in there, but I do want things that will give me ‘an unfair advantage’ in a crisis.

So there you have it…it doesn’t go everywhere, but it does go to work with me everyday. Interestingly, I’ve almost never had anyone at work ask me about it. I think they just assume that its got a laptop and other junk in there.

Night weirdness

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So there I was, trying to drift off to sleep at 11pm last night. I was in that half-asleep-half-awake stage when I heard, as if in a dream, a sound that I thought was someone knocking at my door. Sometimes in that half-asleep stage I’ll get some auditory hallucinations…but these seemed rather real.

My first inclination was to ignore it, but then I figured I better go check it out. I pad in to the living room, buck naked, and glance at the security cameras. Sure enough, there’s some idiot standing on my porch.

Now, I learned a long time ago, and at great cost, that the best course of action when there is a stranger at your door, is to not open the door to ask what they want. Instead, I go up to the door and yell “What do you want?”

Back comes this meek and sorry voice saying “I just want talk to someone”. Are you freaking kidding me? This scraggly bearded hippie is either drunk, stoned, both, or otherwise not in their right mind.

So..definitely not opening the door.  “No. Go away.” (‘Go away’ sounds less confrontational than ‘get lost’. So I go with that.)

He turns around and wanders into the night.

So… Back to bed for me? Well, that was the plan. Except my neighbors on both sides are women who live alone. :::sigh::: Pull on a pair of sweats and a hoodie, slip on my shoes, grab the MP5A2 and step outside to make sure he’s not freaking out the neighbors. No sign of him. Ok, duty fulfilled…time to go back to sleep.

This isn’t the first time some sort of weirdness like this has occurred. I think the reason is that my computer room is at the front of the house and since I leave the computer and monitors on all night, it gives the impression that someone is awake in the house. Thus, someone wanting to interact with a human, for whatever reason, is going to go to the house where the lights are on. I may need to start turning off the monitors at night since it seems to be the flame that draws the whacko moths.

Before anyone asks, no, this isnt a particularly dangerous town. At least, it didnt used to be. The two biggest ‘threats’ in this town are drunk college kids and crazy homeless people. Neither one is particularly better than the other, and both are tremendously annoying but its still calmer than NYC or LA.

Mountain House math at CostCo

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“Ah, how good it is to be among people who are reading.”
― Rainer Maria Rilke

Was up at CostCo and beheld this:

Five Day Meal Kit, eh? Hmmm. Lets run some numbers. First, lets grab the data off the back of the box:

So, this is supposed to be five days of food for …I’m guessing one person. Without evidence contrary to that, let’s run with it – five days for one person.

According to the box label, you’ve got a total of fifteen pouches in there. Makes sense, right? Three meals a day for five days is fifteen meals.

The next thing of interest is the caloric value of each meal. This is going to be a tad misleading. Lets take the first item listed on the box…Beef Lasagna. The box says 220 calories. Thats about 1/10th of your daily recommended calories (if you follow USDA guidelines of 2000/k per day). But keep reading…each container is two servings. So, each pouch of that Beef Lasagna is actually 440 calories, or about 1/5th of your daily calories. Slightly better.

So keeping an eye on those calories-per-serving and servings-per-container, you can see that if you add up the entire caloric value of this box you get…an average of 1488 calories per day. Thats about 75% of your daily 2000 calories. And thats 2000 calories for just sitting there doing nothing. Factor in chainsawing downed trees, hanging looters, hauling supplies, etc, etc, and you’ll see that 1488 calories is better than nothing but you better plan on adding a few notches to your belt.

Does that mean that a package like this has no value? Heck, no. I’l take 1488 calories of freezedrieds stored in a 5-gallon-bucket in the back of my truck over the 2500 calories of food that got destroyed/looted/washed away/burned in my house. Something is, usually, better than nothing.

Now, if you took this box, dumped out the pouches and sealed ’em up in a five gallon bucket with some pouches of tuna, packets of oatmeal, instant coffee packets, Gatorade pouches, and maybe a few small cans of Dinty Moore….well…you’re sitting pretty when the dinner bell rings in Heleneville.

The takeaway from this post isn’t that freeze-drieds arent the Perfect Solution. You should already know that. The takeaway here is that you need to read the labels and do the math. Don’t plop down $320 for four of these, stick ’em in a closet, and pat yourself on the back thinnking you, the wife, and kids are now ‘taken care of’.

Two thousand calories per day is a baseline. And there are a lot of people who think that number is of questionable value. Only you know what kinda caloric stockpile will work for you. Run the numbers. Being prepared is sometimes a pain in the butt, but do it anyway. We can all probably stand to miss a few meals and wind up being the better for it, but in a crisis there is very little that calms you down and gets your brain on an even keel more than a tasty hot meal at regular intervals.

So, yeah, pick up some of these at CostCo…at $6 per pouch its not a terrible value. But don’t think youre done once you throw that box in your cart.