You know, stereotypes are not always accurate…but…they save time and the exist for a reason. Part of me wants to say that this is a case of ‘academics’ who know their way around a college campus but have a total disconnect from the real world and it’s real world consequences.
If you’re going to go for a ‘walk in the woods’, take a moment and think about how in the span of an eyeblink you can get a broken ankle, weather change, crazed transient, medical emergency, or other sudden unexpected event that turns your walk in the woods into a scene from The Revenant. The stuff that would make a huge difference in these situations fits in a tiny daypack and between your ears.
The democrats continue to cannibalize their reputation, but it is not out of the realm of possibility that one of those clowns could wind up being President. Although Beto “Hell yes we’re coming to take your guns” O’Rourke is no longer a viable candidate, his attitude marches on.
And, amazingly, there are still people who actually say things like “We don’t have anything to worry about with Trump in office” in regards to gun control prohibition. Why rely on the whims of other people when you could simply remove all the variables from the equation and get your stuff now so these sorts of issues become moot?
If I’m wrong, so what? It means you have guns and ammo that you would have eventually bought anyway. But if I’m right….we go back to $100 Glock magazines, $1900 M4geries, bare muzzles, and ten round magazines.
When the Clinton Assault Weapons Ban sunsetted in 2004 there were a lot of people who swore they’d never get caught unprepared for that sort of thing again. I suspect not many walked it as they talked it. It’s been 15 years since that expiration and for many of you that’s almost one-half to on-third of your lifetime…thats a long time to get ready. Did you? If not, perhaps it’s time to rethink your plans for that tax refund. Or it might be time to put off buying that jet ski.
Personally, I’m okay. I’ll always want more, but if they passed a law tomorrow I think I’d feel fairly okay with what I already have.
The panic buying comes in waves, guys. First wave starts a little before Election Day. Shop now while prices are down and availability is up. And don’t count on crazy bargains if Trump gets re-elected because manufacturers went into overdrive cranking stuff out in anticipation of a Democrat victory….they aren’t going to make that mistake again, assuming they survived it the first time.
Bargains are still out there. Shop wise, shop smart, but….do shop.
I’ve known quite a few survivalists over the years. Some better than others, but all survivalists, of some stripe, nonetheless. I’ve known left-handed survivalists, brown-eyed survivalists, and I’ve even known a bald survivalist. Now, if you re-read that last sentence you are, I would imagine, asking yourself “WTF cares about a survivalist being brown-eyed?” or some similar thought. I phrased it that way because I kinda get that some “WTF cares?” when I see articles about [gay/black/female/insert marginalized group] survivalists. Case in point:I Tried To Keep Up With Black Survivalists Who Are Ready For Any Disaster.
Do black survivalists keep different blankets in their car during the winter than white survivalists? (I asked this question rhetorically to someone and then flippantly followed it up with ‘although I suppose they don’t keep as many white sheets as the white survivalists’. Bad Zero, bad.) Do black survivalists use different brands of home canning equipment than white survivalists? Do black survivalists stockpile different mouthwash, batteries, band-aids, and bleach than white survivalists? Pretty much no. So why the need to identify as ‘black survivalist’? (as an aside, the article features a link to Aton Edwards, whom we first met waaaaaay back here)
I suppose the seemingly rational answer might be “Well, black populations earn less than white populations, live in completely different (meaning urban) environments than white populations, and face great disparity in how they are treated.” Ignoring, for a moment, that attributing particular traits and qualities to a particular demographic based solely on race is…well..pretty much the textbook definition of racism…..so what? Aren’t there plenty of ‘other’ that also earn less, live elsewhere, and get treated poorly?
I’ve met gay survivalists, female survivalists, Asian survivalists, and while I have never met a black survivalist (the odds are pretty strong against it in a state as homogenous as mine) I cannot fathom that we’d get along any differently than if we both racked the same numbers on the Pantone chart.
I’m not sure why anyone needs (or wants) to throw a self-descriptive adjective before the term ‘survivalist’ when identifying themselves (gay survivalist, black survivalist, wiccan survivalist, Armenian survivalist, flatulent survivalist, etc.) You’re a survivalist…period, full stop.
I suppose the one reason that might have some merit is to meet and join with ‘like’. The gay survivalist wants to associate with other gay survivalists, the Asian survivalist wants to hang with other Asian survivalists, etc. People, broadly, tend to be more ‘at home; with people who mirror themselves in some way…beliefs, race, orientation, age, etc…..so I suppose that could be a reason. But, generally speaking, just call yourself a ‘survivalist’ and leave it at that. After all no one responds to questions about their occupation with “Im an Italian accountant”, “I’m a Lutheran plumber”, “I’m a male housepainter”, “I’m a Jewish insurance claims adjuster”.
Identity politics has already led to all sorts of nonsense and problems…why bring it into survivalism?
As you may or may not know, I used to play the online game Warcraft. A lot. Very simply, its a role playing Dungeon & Dragons sort of thing. Here’s what’s important for you to know – when you play, you are interacting with actual people all over the world. That means every other character you encounter behaves as determined by the individual player controlling that character. So, a guy who is a jerk in Dallas can be a jerk online in the game doing things to annoy you or cause harm to your player. Contraversely, the nice guy in Des Moines might be a cool dude online giving free gear to new players and helping new players learn the ropes. In short, characters behave however the player controlling the character wants them to.
Okay, cut to the Corrupted Blood Plague. The folks running the game introduced a little challenge to the game. If you were in a specific area of the game your character could get infected with a contagious disease that would, over a short period of time, kill your character. Additionally, your character could infect other people by getting close them. This effect was supposed to be limited to this one little geographical location in the huge game world. Supposed to. Turns out, someone managed to leave that little zone and infect other people in the game, and so on, and so on.
The game was thrown into a tizzy. People who had the ability to heal other players ran around healing as many people as they could. Others ran for the hills and isolated themselves. And some, in a frenzy of nihilistic fervor, set out to infect as many other players as possible.
During the epidemic, normal gameplay was disrupted. The major towns and cities were abandoned by the population as panic set in and players rushed to evacuate to the relative safety of the countryside, leaving urban areas filled with dead player characters.[4]
Player responses varied but resembled real-world behaviors. Some characters with healing abilities volunteered their services, some lower-level characters who could not help would direct people away from infected areas, some characters would flee to uninfected areas, and some characters attempted to spread the disease to others.[1] Players in the game reacted to the disease as if there were real risk to their well-being.[5] Blizzard Entertainment attempted to institute a voluntary quarantine to stem the disease, but it failed, as some players didn’t take it seriously, while others took advantage of the pandemonium.[1] Despite certain security measures, players overcame them by giving the disease to summonable pets.[6]
The behavior of the players, some helping to heal and some helping to spread the disease, drew the interest of epidemiologists and others who study pandemics. Succinctly, the behavior of players in the game seemed to mimic behaviors in real life.
How does this come into play for you and I? Well, apparently in situations like these there are some predictable behaviors by predictable elements:
People flee the big cities for the countryside
Quarantines are ignored or bypassed
Some people actively spread the disease
Some people actively work to halt the disease
Some people take advantage of the situation
When the news media talks about everyone working to control the situation and to save lives, there’s something they gloss over – the people who do all the opposite. And we, you and I, need to be aware that there are people who, as Alfred Pennyworth said, just want to see the world burn.
I suppose the vast majority of people are good or neutral in these matters. They just want to help, or at least not become victims themselves. But, there’s always gonna be that group that thinks letting the bees loose in a subway car is great fun, or that shooting flaming arrows into a forest and watching the ridgelines burn is a nice way to spend the evening. I suspect there’s more than one or two people out there thinking “I hope someone who is infected goes to the theater and sneezes on everyone” and there’s probably a few out there who are doing just that…licking doorknobs, sneezing on public payphones, that sorta thing.
I wonder if the CDC plans and scenarios take those sort of agents into account………
I’ve mentioned in the past that these ‘tactical timeshares’ are, IMHO, of questionable utility. I would prefer not to ride out the apocalypse with the equivalent of the ten people standing in line behind me at the post office. It’s probably quite true that in a genuine apocalypse you are better served being in a group than as a solo player, but that group needs to be people that you trust and have a connection with. “Hey, I don’t want to die..and you don’t want to die..so, we’re all on the same page!” is not a connection. You need a history, a relationship, a shared life to some degree….. that means family, or close friends, and from there the bonds get more and more tenuous. Maybe you don’t get along with your family, or maybe they’re all Democrats who think Bernie and his Free Stuff Army are the way to go. Fine, then develop close friends. Not the casual ones at work, I mean close friends… the ones you trust to watch your kids, to hold onto the spare keys to your house, that sort of thing.
I suppose there might be some people who have had success just posting a ‘Looking for survival group” sorta thing on Craigslist but I’m going to guess thats a very, very, very small list.
Your mileage may vary, but I’m not riding out the apocalypse with strangers whose history I am unfamiliar with.
It ain’t exactly the Eye Of Sauron, but…I replaced the video camera system at the house. I initially installed it around..mmm…seven or eight years ago. Was a lot of work, too. Lotsa time moving ladders and running wire. But, when it was done, it covered all angles of approach and a few others as well.
Years go by and technology does it’s thing….features go up, price goes down. The DVR on the system was acting hinky and I was losing data. So..time to replace. Ideally, I wanted a system that used the existing wires and plugs so I wouldn’t have to hang new wire. Easy enough. I spent about 30% less than what they system costs those many years ago, and the features are eye-popping. Much better resolution, a larger drive, I can playback several channels of video simultaneously, and I can even remotely activate an intense light to light up an area in question. I replaced a couple cameras with the new ones and the difference in image quality was staggering. My security footage no longer looks like the Zapruder film.
I have a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) that is usually meant for desktop computers, but it works quite nicely for the camera system. When the power goes down I can still keep an eye on things until I get the EU2000 going. Handy, that.
99.9% of the time, the cameras just pick up the normal comings and goings, Jehovah’s Witnesses knocking on the door, the UPS guy dropping of packages, etc. But, once in a while, something worthwhile gets recorded. I’ve got excellent footage of several car accidents, and one video of someone trying to break into my neighbors house.
What I really appreciate about it is that when the doorbell rings I can glance at the monitor an see who is at the door and, more importantly, who might sneaking around the back of the house while my attention is diverted to the front door. Forewarned is forearmed.
Y’know, in just about ever sample of survivalist fiction there is that scene where the hero is forced into some situation where all that stands between him and obliteration is whatever goodies he craftily packed away for just such an eventuality. For people who envision this sort of scenario, Springfield announced the appropriately named ‘Evac’ takedown AR ‘pistol’.
Takedown AR’s arent really anything new. Heck, for a little while even Ruger was making one. But, as best I can tell, this is the first time someone has mated the takedown capability to an AR ‘pistol’. (And, yeah, air-quotes around pistol because we’re all adults here and know whats really going on.)
For some reason I have always been fascinated with takedown guns….some guns are inherently takedown, like the Thompson Contenders, and some are purpose built, like the Ruger 10/22 Takedowns. But, for some reason, they’ve always had an appeal to me.
I suspect that a gun such as this one Springfield is introducing will have a major attraction to the person who has to work in a …unpermissive…environment but wants to have the option of something with a bit more horsepower than a pistol if things go south. Imagine, for example, the guy working in an office in L.A. when the Rodney King riots started. Be nice to be able to reach into the bottom drawer of your desk, pull out a little PDW and have something to keep around ‘just in case’.
Would I buy one? I dunno. Dealer on them is showing about $1500 which makes it about the same price as a PTR MP5K copy (which, with a sidefolder ‘brace’ might be a handier option), and is twice the price of a similarly configured CZ Evo. Honestly, at some point I suspect Ruger will make a version of the 9mm PC takedown with a 10″ barrel and a folder ‘brace’ which would be pretty sweet.(And if Ruger doesnt pick up the ball and run with that idea I am sure the aftermarket will at some point.) .223 out of a stubby barrel like that doesn’t really offer any tremendous advantage, in my opinion, over a 9mm carbine in that same barrel length.
Interestingly, if you can be serious for a moment and not reflexively dismiss it, the .22LR guns that are out these days have some potential for being a super-subcompact PDW-style tool. Ruger makes a takedown version of the Charger pistol and with the right combination of parts you can make a pretty compact little gun that still has the utility to keep people from charging up the stairwell to your office. And 1000 rounds of ammo fits in your briefcase.
When it comes to guns, it often (but not always) does not pay to be an early adopter. While the Springfield Evac looks interesting I’ll wait a little while for some actual shooting reviews to come out, and for the inevitable bugs to be worked out. But…I like where Springfields head is at.
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that my experience, and the experience of pretty much everyone else reading, has been that at some point your Duracell batteries are going to crap the bed and ruin your device. To prevent this sort of thing, I’ve instituted a pattern of checking the batteries in all my devices on a regular basis in order to catch these things before they do irreparable damage.
An alternative to this sort of thing is to use lithium batteries. It seems that the leaking issue doesn’t occur with the lithium batts nearly as often as with the others. The problem, of course, is that lithium batts, while being awesome, are not cheap. As it turns out, Costco, which is often the source of the troublesome Duracells, is also selling bulk packed lithium AA batts.
At eighty-five cents each, that’s a rather large discount from the 4- and 8-packs that you see at the cash register of your local supermarket.
I was checking the batteries in my gear the other day and discovered that the rechargeable Eneloops that were in my ICOM R6 (highly recommended) were deader than Biden’s nomination possibilities. They apparently just self-discharged over time. Disappointing, but thats why I make sure to carry extra batteries with my gear. Since CostCo is make the lithium batts affordable, I’ll swap those into the R6 instead of the rechargeables. (And also into the spare battery carrier that I keep in my Bag O’ Tricks).
So far, I have not experienced any problems with the lithium batteries but I’m not foolish enough to just assume I never will. So…regular gear inspections will continue, even if the item in question has lithium batts in it.
You guys remember a couple months back I told you the tale of the son of a buddy of mine who had a bit of an accident while processing his deer and almost bled out. He was lucky in that he was able to get to a neighbor who called 911 for him. (As it turned out, when your hands are slick with blood the touch screen on your smartphone becomes quite unresponsive.)
Two is one, yadda yadda yadda. I must say, I’m very impressed with the value here. It was, as I recall, about $50 ea and the tourniquet is usually about $30 of that. And while there are better deals to be had on Amazon and eBay it was absolutely not worth the risk of winding up with made in China knockoffs spawned from Peoples Glorious Moulding Factory #52.
It occurs to me that the tourniquet itself is not actually visible in the picture. Its in an exterior pouch separate from the zippered one. But, trust me, it’s there.
Nearest Stop The Bleed course, for me, is in Hamilton (40 miles) at the end of the month but I have a scheduling problem. Gonna have to keep an eye open,.
