Saturday, June 3, 2017

wrong model


WRONG MODEL

Now, if I veer off of topic and wish to discuss something barely pertinent to survivalism, I can do so with nary a trace of guilt.  If you don’t care for it, well, there is the next article a mere twelve hours later.  I obviously don’t make a habit of it but if it’s a topic I’m passionate about than that is what you get.  So today, I’d like to push back against minion suggested business models.  I’m not trying to be a dingus or be hateful.  If a reader takes the time to comment, or even more so e-mail, I take everything they say very seriously.  But that doesn’t mean I agree with them.  And when I don’t, I like to explain myself in minute detail so that they understand why I’m disagreeing.  And this is something you should all listen to because it can be applied to other areas of your life.  Indicative trends are always a good topic of discussion.  It isn’t JUST all about prepping for the apocalypse.  You have to get through all the trials and tribulations on the way there.  So, for instance, I believe the trend in substandard metal fasteners was actually a survivalist topic.

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First thing, you can’t always listen to the customer.   They don’t always know what they want, obviously.  How many times have you paged through a prepper site or magazine, barely paying attention to the trash lowest common denominator articles which have been rehashed for fifty years, that dead horse merely a reeking red smear by now, and been more attracted to a new product you had no idea existed?  Not just a New Mousetrap but a new product altogether.  That fire sparker that creates a spark by friction rather than a depletable magnesium rod?  That Aussie ( I think ) metal thermos that has a stove underneath so you brew a bottle of tea with some twigs, in a portable container.  There was an AR bayonet mount that went on one of those universal clamps ( much better to mount that, even if its effectiveness is questionable, than a flashlight, laser and twenty different other accessories ).  Those kinds of things.  Heck, if you offered me a non-gunsmithing solution to attaching a lanyard clip to a revolver ( other than a homemade loop attached to the trigger guard or on the neck of the grip ), and it was a $3 piece of material and you charged $30, I’d gladly buy it.  That is a piece of equipment I DO wish for, but have the rest of you considered it’s appeal?  Lanyards are one of the few military pieces of equipment-besides bayonets, obviously- that I wholeheartedly approve of.

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It is the business owners job to discover new products and let customers know about them.  Yet, most business owners are actually clueless.  Back when I was working and was in one of my periods where I was running out of ideas on what to invest my money in, I subscribed to a butt ton of gun magazines ( I responded to one super discount offer and the rest followed-I didn’t pay full price for any but Shotgun News-I refuse to call it by its new name, just a pet peeve-and that was a deal anyway ).  I’m still getting them even as I allow the subscriptions to lapse.  And I’m noticing that NOBODY has any new products.  When a new company comes out with an AR, the publications of course jump on it like the world just saw the Second Coming, but nobody is bringing out new anything.  Just tired retreads.  Really, we need ANOTHER plastic pistol?  Perhaps we do, and perhaps this company will innovate and offer the new and unique concept of an affordable quality product, but that is all I’m seeing.  New companies you need to gamble on.

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My point here is not that there is any new firearm system waiting to be invented.  There probably isn’t.  My point is that all the companies are just playing Me Too and offering nothing new.  They are just lemmings following one another.  So a company doesn’t necessarily know what customers want.  He might know what they DID want, in the past, but has no idea what they WILL want in the future.  Quentin Tarantino, modern movie genius, didn’t offer anything that Hollywood thought should be offered.  The creators of Seinfeld, one of THE funniest TV shows ever, had to fight every decision by their funding people to make the show they knew would be funny.  None of the experts in the business had any clue what constituted a new and improved product.  And, yes, I’m comparing my writing to some of the best in the moving picture industry.  At least as far as compared to my peers.  I might never be as funny as Seinfeld but I’m as good compared to any other doomer blog as Seinfeld was compared to other TV shows.  At least that is my humble opinion.

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You can’t do what everyone else is doing.  You aren’t supposed to be different for its own sake ( modern art might be “different”, but it is still crap ), but for the sake of being better.  I’m sure if I ask anyone, hey, should I write non-fiction in stream-of-consciousness, with run-on sentences, they would just call me a terrible writer.  Why don’t I write impersonally and professionally like everyone else?  To earn money, I should run blog ads, like everyone else ( you know why I don’t do that-it ruins your impartiality ).  To keep everyone’s interest, I should cover subjects like everyone else ( a rehash of Backwoods Home, a rehash of Yuppie Scum Survivalist Guides ).  Sure, there is some copying.  I need a lot of subject material.  But I try to cast a wide net, so at least I can minimize.  And readers, they tell you what THEY want to read.  That is as it should be, but it doesn’t help you the publisher satisfy all the other readers with differing tastes.  Even within very narrow niches, if you aren’t just preaching to the choir exclusively, taste vary. 

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Which is why I write what I’m passionate about, and trust I’ve found a group of readers who follow at least some of my likes.  How could you do it different if you want to stay different?  Don’t think I just ignore advice to the contrary.  I have plenty of blind spots I don’t even know I have.  Just that, in the end, Bison Publications International is trying to march to a different drummer.  And for good reason.

END

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23 comments:

  1. I started reading you , way back I forget when....
    Because you were different and much of your thoughts were my own. Yet enough differing to continue interest.
    I came to the net much later than most , right around 2005. Mostly because we were pretty much off grid from 98 till 2005. Floating around the islands and Floriduh lol.

    Shoot , as you know , I've been prepping since you were in diapers ha ha. So , many of the blogs out there hold no interest to me. As they , like the gun magazines , are intended for beginner yuppie scum and just spew out the same old crap to buy this or that new product.
    Of course , I don't agree with all your writing either...
    Lord Bison has proven himself to be a sage of mostly sound advice. Not to mention a good man...
    Keep it coming Jim.

    One day I need to send some thoughts about poo and digestors to y'all. In fact , manure in a continuous cycle system , can be processed and totally benign in thirty days. Even humane . Safe to use directly on plants without burning.
    Not to mention you'd be cooking and heating with gas !
    Like I said , one day I'll draw up some how to plans and step by step.
    Perhaps an idea for an article ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would love if you could do an article on methane. I'd like the info personally, not just for the minions.

      Delete
  2. Kelly Kettle is from New Zealand.

    Too many ads are annoying, the Argentine dude's blog takes a lifetime to load, too many ads. His advice isn't top notch either. Some people have dumb luck and survive.

    Nice hair.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry about the Kettle info being off. I don't read The Burning Platform every day because of the load time. Yep, I know I can open another window while it loads, but it is also the principle of the thing. Zero Hedge is another. I LOVE the comments, but don't visit much.

      Delete
  3. I worked with a guy who had a business go broke. He'd been running a weekend side business successfully & numerous customers said he should do it full time. He multiplied what he made on the Saturday by 6 days & thought "great"

    Only he didn't get that. He got what he had always got. Only now he had horrendous over heads which he couldn't afford nor get out of. So he went broke.

    The link to your post is that his customers told him what they wanted. They wanted 7 days access instead of the one. They didn't want to spend 7 times more though

    ReplyDelete
  4. I tried reading Vonnegut and he was a rambling hot mess. But, God, I hope I don't sound like a prick about frugality. Regarding Green Mountain Dude, I just look at him as one very funny mo humper with some good prepper tips. Some VERY good tips on living during the econ collapse. His funny filler is like my rant filler, what makes it interesting for us to write.

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  5. I'm getting tired of waiting for the lazy, narrow minded gun companies to create a box magazine adapter for the Rem 870 12ga pump so I'm gonna have to go ahead and invent it myself. Even with the tube extension I can only get 9 rds out my Marine Magnum and that's just not enough for my over the top paranoid a$$. I gotta have 30, right now! And at least 120 more on my belt. Yeah, I know, 30 rds is heavy but I need the exercise.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wouldn't thirty be like, two feet long? Am I missing sarcasm?

      Delete
    2. BOX magazine, not tube.
      The 870 loads from the bottom.
      So, remove the gate on the bottom, snap-in the adapter and then box mags could be clicked into the adapter.
      A box mag is like what if used on the Rem model 700 rifle and zillions of other rifles.
      It takes too long to reload the normal tube feed magazine.
      Yeah, I know about the fact that the bad guy doesn't know you're empty and while you keep the gun trained on him you are reloading a single round over the top right in to the chamber. I just have an infatuation with the box mags and lots of ammo at the ready.

      You gotta admit, them guys back in the 1870's, according to all the old B/W cowboy shows back in the 50's, they had balls of cast iron to do what they supposedly did with just a measly 6 shooter. LOL

      Delete
  6. Yeah that guy is funny, no question about that.

    The thing is, I'm interested in why people do stuff, not how they do it. As far as I can tell, his plan is not very interesting survivalist-wise (following the Ms, who works for NGOs, to some Third World SHTF-insta-death large city with no water).

    I was also quite annoyed by his (perhaps real, perhaps fake) conversation with a young guy where they tried to see who had read most survivalist articles and concepts, which was something of a pissing contest, measuring each other's dicks or something.

    This guy is hungry for credentials, and his blog screams this. There is nothing of use for me there.

    The story of a guy trying to move with a truck to a desert planet... I mean, desert Junk Land, and experiencing critical problems along the way is much more valuable to me.

    Also, the hair.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Okay "attaching a lanyard clip to a revolver" Why? I've seen lanyard rings on other pistols and thought "What is the point? You're not going to hang it from your side on a string. What's the reasoning for wanting one on a revolver?

    Curious minds want to know...
    -Novice

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You can drop your pistol, or it can be wrestled from you. The lanyard helps with both. Mostly the dropping/losing part.

      Delete
    2. I picture an old revolver hooked to one of those retractable key ring holders janitors made famous. Let go of the pistol and it automatically goes back in its holster. Grandad had one. Probably only work with an underarm rig.

      Delete
    3. That's that old MP mentality coming out of you. I toted a .45 a few times while on payroll guard but for the life of me I can't remember where the other end of the lanyard attached? To the pistol belt? Shirt pocket button? Where?

      Delete
    4. The lanyard is in a loop closed by a sliding ring. Your arm goes through that end loop and the top of the lanyard is on your shoulder. In Class C or with a jacket, the loop is held in place by the epilet/shoulder strap of the garment. If no epilet, you took a thick baby pin and from the inside poked through the fabric, over the lanyard, back down through the fabric to the inside of the shirt so it is hidden. Yep, the military issuing crap you had no equipment to use properly. Kind of like doing jeep patrol on gunner position in Korean winters with no head warmer gear. You had to buy/improvise your own. Then the rest of the time they yelled at you for not being in uniform :)

      Delete
  8. Well, duh, of course the hair! He is on a kind of sabbatical now, down in SA. He'll be going back to Canada soon-and that should be interesting. Near Artic homestead. Give him more time.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Damn... you're too nice to say it... so I will. If you think you need a shotgun with 30 rounds in it you're not really planning on surviving are you? These are exactly the people we need to be hiding from... so we CAN survive. Let them blow each other away and clear out some of the rif raf.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm pretty sure it was sarcasm.

      Delete
    2. Why is it *normal* to have 30 rd magazines for an AR15 but abnormal to have the same for a 12ga?

      You don't need to hide from me, I'm already hiding from the brain dead people that think 6 rds is plenty.

      Delete
  10. I'm not knocking your 30 round shotgun... I'm knocking the REASON for it. I don't think engaging in numerous firefights is a good survival stategy... sooner or later you're going to lose one. Maybe a lucky shot?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So, I assume you are also opposed to semi-auto's for the same reason?

      Delete

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