Friday, February 14, 2020

last foray


LAST FORAY
Something you see repeatedly, still, Dog knows why, are discussions on last minute runs for supplies during an emergency event. Whenever I see that, I ask myself how these people ever made it to adulthood. Were their parents of the Helicopter variety? Did they go to the hospital a lot? Did they find a house that actually still had lead paint? Were they snorting dust from old asbestos ceiling tiles? Do you get the idea I think last minute forays outside the wire are a really bad idea? Because I'm running out of rhetorical questions.
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I don't think these people are necessarily short on supplies, at least not according to how much they always thought they needed, but rather were worried that Their Precious, their money, would soon be without value. Newsflash there, Barbie, your currency already holds no value. You are holding company script. For those of you confused, old timey Robber Baron companies housed you in a company home and gave you company issued currency to spend at the company store. Then during a demonstration to form a Union, the Pinkerton boys shot the worker and the company threw the family out of the house ( with the script nonredeemable elsewhere ).
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The company store always sold their goods at a distasteful markup, along the lines of ghetto Dot Indian run convenience stores charging three times grocery store prices. The profit is necessary so as to fly over a new cousin when the last one was gunned down by Tyrone on a bad day. If we weren't all racist we would put Wal-Marts in the ghettos so all the disadvantaged youths could get free food, batteries and DVD's, saving their Food Stamps to sell at a discount for recreational drugs. Alas, Honkey Mo Fo's be all like that.
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Paying your employees in Company Script is the next best thing to slavery. Anyone with a calculator and an iota of sense understands that the materials cost for a house can be ten percent of the asking price, if even that, and just the “permit” ( bribe ) for the city runs more than that, usually. It costs so little to build housing for workers, China got into that racket. Then, you don't even pay them the remainder in cash. The Company Script pays inflated prices for food and clothing, which itself is a profit center. And you wonder why Unions were a good idea?
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US Dollars are even better than company script, because the company doesn't even have to build the house first, OR stockpile a store. Zero cost, near free labor. Red Shield salutes your diligent efforts! But the main point here is that the currency is worthless outside of buying from the approved monopoly suppliers, at inflated prices. The dollar becomes instantly worthless as soon as the Spice stops flowing. Turn the oil tap off and your savings don't buy dingus. Why, no problem, you proudly peacock thrust out your chest and proclaim, I'll just pay in silver!
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Why? Silver is real money ( insofar as universal acceptance, OUTSIDE the companies control, and except for times of collapse, famine, anarchy and total war, always accepted throughout history. In and of itself it is worthless, but the trade value of it is near constant ). Whatever you are buying with your silver that can never be replaced, that item is renewable. You NEVER buy renewables with non-renewables. Take your company script NOW, buy what you going to need NOW. Anything past NOW, the company script reverts back to worthless paper.
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You are thinking, oh my, I must trade this two thousand dollars for wheat and ammo, because my head was up my ass and I didn't believe Jim about the apocalypse and thought Fracking Was Forever, and now I'm hosed. If you go outside the wire, the odds are good you will die. But if I DON'T go out, I'll also die, you cry out in despair as your lower lip quivers like a hundred fifty pound day one prison bitch surrounded by OtherColors pumped up from lifting weights. And while that may be true, by the time you get to your low cost grocery center, what makes you think anything will be there to buy?
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Your chances of actually being knifed or shot might be low, after all, folks are notoriously poor shots as they believe the volume of fire guarantees them a bullseye more than aiming or trigger control does, but the endeavor to secure the food is hampered by its being unavailable. Meaning for every can of beans you can't buy, that once low probability of being killed rises. If you were guaranteed a cart of food, the odds of being injured would be worth the risk. But to come away with only a single dented can of artichoke hearts? That is worth your life, one meal?
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And let us not forget that by the time most of the food is gone, everyone left shopping are going to be terribly upset and pissed off, desperate and willing to become more violent. As the food runs out your odds of being killed over it increase exponentially. You KNOW this. Why would anyone risk life and limb when the reward to risk ratio is so poor? Because they are idiots. They understand Darwin already mailed their cancellation notice and so they panic and double down on being an idiot. And this is just tangling with bad attitudes and guns. This doesn't even account for the other diseases and disasters, accidents and flash mobs not even shopping.
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Right now, you can go to Wal-Mart and buy a heavy duty twenty gallon plastic tote and four 25lb sacks of flour for under $30. That is feeding a family of four for a month for a buck a day. No, you do NOT just eat flour. It isn't healthy enough. But it is a base calorie you add wild greens and trapped animals to for a complete diet. It gives you the strength to carry on, to find or fight for other food. If you cannot find twenty-five cents a day to feed yourself after the apocalypse, if you cannot instantly become a thirty day prepper on pocket change, more importantly if you already have not done so, you are a complete and utter moron.
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Once a panic starts, you'll NEVER find a months worth of calories, among the panicking mobs. You've either done the very barest minimum so as to avoid crowds, or you should just stay home and die with dignity. Better yet, have a real plan that will work much better than shopping at a ransacked grocers. Hell, selling your body, resorting to cannibalism even, is a better plan. I mean, NOT, but once you are down to all bad options, at least ambushing long pork is safer than fighting a mob over empty shelves. A terrible menu choice, as eating rotted and poisoned flesh only keeps you alive long enough to die from starvation AND disease, a bonus.
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The only good thing about cannibalism is that you can actually taste the tears of liberals, AND if hunting lesbians they will be happy to know you are actually eating them out. Your communist lamp post list doesn't just have to be a boogaloo assassin list, it can also be a grocery list. Winning! But, seriously, once the spicy times begin, immediately STOP. Money went from a trade tool to fire tender. Do NOT make any more poor decisions based on money. Or luxury. I can't tell you, “sex”, because that is nearly impossible, but try not to be stupid about sex either, if possible.
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There is nothing wrong with shopping, now. You buy as much as possible, stocking up on everything now so you don't have to later when things are much more dangerous. The last day of December, 1999, I watched news reports showing Australia with the lights still on ( they had just passed midnight there ). Dammit! No Y2K? This was disappointing. But I figured, just in case, in case it was a lie, I'll drop one DefCon alert and not totally discount some danger. Did I go last minute shopping, as everyone was still at work ( I insisted on taking a vacation day )? No. I stayed home other than visiting spots not selling any desired supplies.
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It was hard, as I was hopped up and antsy, but I knew better than to fight crowds. They would be better behaved crowds, better than Black Friday, but I dared not compete with anyone panicking. Even though they probably saw the same news report I did, so the panic level SHOULD be low. For the same reason I never went to the movie theater opening week ( or the first few weeks, if a popular film ). In the best of times, crowds are dangerous.
( .Y. )
( today's related Amazon link click HERE )
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note: okay this movie HERE, a short film "Dry Shores" was very well done.  It isn't often I can go my half hour on the exercise bike so enthralled by YouTube I don't notice the discomfort.  Alas, the ending blew the soiled ass out of roadkill.  Yet it was so good I have to recommend it anyway.  Beware a tiny bit of horror in this otherwise PA flick-it passes quickly and doesn't ruin it like zombies do to a lot of films ( it isn't zombies-I'm just making a comparison ).  
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note: how to make bread with no yeast in historical america HERE 
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note: I just KNOW you all are reading John Wilder. Funny man that makes you think.  I'll just assume you meant to but forgot.  His last article, with the W.I.L.D.E.R. Doom Scale.  Must read HERE 
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18 comments:

  1. Forays are also my probing patrols outside my wire. Unless a SOPMOD-sweet meteor of death, or mass corona solar radiation ejaculation fries the earth with no warning, most collapses will have some oncoming indicators. Limiting the frequency of errands to bi weekly or less so will limit exposures, but allow some infrequent recons of the area characteristics and commerce functioning. This will give a Minion some on the ground or nearby heads up of changing conditions that the heroic news media and .Gov fail to provide. There will of course be a personal lock down or defcon status threshold that each Minion will have to operate from.

    Illuminated by fires night skies, sporadic gunfire, intermittent or disabled utility and communications services will likely be everyone's red line to start popcorn production for the spicy times show. Stay foray frosty.

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    1. Just don't wait three plus months to go out like I did, losing touch with local conditions. Well, I went walking, but 5AM so little was revealed. And obviously, OVER three months is best when the time comes to batten down.

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    2. That's o.k. Jim, if you were self cloistered for work at home/study or rehab of sorts. Even a Ted K. hermitting operation is acceptable as long as it is productive time while detached from the systems. It would be a good independance training module to practice for when such a long term hermitage is a survival requirement. Just don't lard up on a couch and go to rot. Have partner drive you around during errands and forays and sit in the passenger side staring out the window at happenings with mouth hanging open like when on that short bus to school as a kid. :):):) Stay frosty.

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    3. Now you have me thinking of the movie Forrest Gump. And thanks for that-I LOL'ed. Made my day.

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  2. Yea, as long as the spice flows, solgoode

    Does that make Trump Baron Harkonnen ?

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    1. Trump is a genius manipulator at his level.
      Remember he's manipulating the likewise not the common man.

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    2. Okay, I guess I have to give him that. Otherwise, why would Red Shield have funded him, right?

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  3. I am a little surprised you didn't mention the most common source of company script today, the debit/credit card. At least hard cash will still have some value for a while after the panic starts. Credits cards cease to be useful the second a switch is flipped. Nothing like fighting the masses for a can of Alpo to find out Visa is no longer accepted.

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    1. Good point. Even though "ATM's don't work grid-down" is pretty much Prepper 101, you are correct about the cash utility. No excuse except it is off my radar. I only use debit for mail order and cash for all retail. And sometimes I dive too deep and forget the basics.

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    2. I understand your reason, yes, that pretty much is Prepper 101, but no one pays in cash or even a check anymore. Everything is direct deposit and if you don't use a bank, they give you a card. Nothing like being able to generate some 0's and 1's on a screen to placate the work force.

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    3. I can't believe my real job was almost three years ago! I had direct deposit, and ALWAYS raced to get all my money out before a bank holiday was declared over the weekend. I guess I'm just extra paranoid. I should be given a reward. And no, not a straight jacket :)

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    4. “Nothing like fighting the masses for a can of Alpo”


      Better that, than fighting Wez and the Golden Boy over a can of Dinky Di dog food. Because in this latter scenario, you are in a full on collapse. Fortunately, you had the foresight to get the Feral Kid in your tribe, and he landed a metal boomerang upside the Golden Boy’s skull, thus ending the dispute, along with Wez’s love life :D

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  4. Have strategy approach for forays. I have to have category lists and adjust for priority needs. Not wish list crazy shop one area (food=example) and not attending to other areas hygeine, sanitation, medications first aid kit, house farm shop expendable supplies (2 years oil change or service parts to stay up and running etc) I like cash off grid when retailing about but will use debit as a payment source on forays thus to save cash for the third or fourth destination shops later on in the foray. Also keeps some cash loose for yard sale or pick up deals (chums selling off guns cause ol lady nagging him) you may come across. Foray On!

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  5. Despite the admonishments of our Gracious Host with the Awesome Hair, praise be to His Hirsuteness, his lanky strands of keratinized protein glinting in the setting sun like the feral eyes of the rabid rodents I will be hunting down for temporary protein post-SHTF - I'll sorry, where was I...?

    ...ah yes, despite both being warned of being a last-minute preparer and in usual fact certianly not being a last-minute preparer in my Home Country BIL and US West BIL; I find myself in the slightly unusual and certainly moderately concerning position of being a last-minute shopper, because I just accepted a three-month assignment close to a major city on the east coast of CONUS.

    I knew what I was getting into. I could have stayed home but that's not me. Work is what I do. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I will keep getting paid even if it I get home, for a while anyway. So that will be good for the bride and kids. Plus, the horse may learn to sing (classical allusion) = we may all collectively dodge the viral bullet.

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    All I can take with me is a suitcase and a backpack/BOB; and while the US chain of supply as I type this on Friday is not yet gotten clogged or fallen over, as far as I can tell from my colleagues in the relatively small township about 30 miles drive from a major east coast EBT-Empire, when I land in the middle of the night early next week I'm gonna have to start from scratch.

    I've done it before, but not with quite such a global pandemic pending. Usually what I do is in the first couple of days head out with a rental to a Walmart or Target- equivalent and work from a long-prepared and validated list. This time I am hoping (yeah I know, hope be not a good strategy) that I'll have 3 to 5 days of grace to stock up after I land & the shelves won't empty over this weekend. For whatever reason.

    I have partly covered my bases by buying some stuff on Amazon and having it shipped to the office waiting for me when I arrive. Mainly to do with extra water filtration, a standby hand-cranking and solar power unit, a reasonable assortment of OTC medications in the event of, some long-storage lightweight food options, and soap/washing stuff. In my suitcase, I have the usual suspects plus, unusually, extra TP, masks, gloves, duct tape, disinfectant, sanitiser, and more jerky and protein powder than is usual.

    The only changes I made to my home preps for wife and children are extra rice, wheat, spices and meats and a few extra masks; having dealt with SARS and Ebola face-to-face in past years, my PPE stocks may be more than many.

    Just saying, not everybody who preps at the last minute could have avoided that. The preps cached / stored at an ear my US BIL are a couple of thousand miles away :-)

    Actually, I just checked, they would be 2135 miles were I walking / via the interstate.

    Anyway, as my very first drill sergeant (may he rest in peace) told me in no uncertain terms, nobody lives forever; and also, yeah, I might be walking in the gutter, but I'll be looking up at the stars. But not too often, as I might be tripping over corpses, until I join them.

    my current and complete guesstimate of whether this pandemic will end up shutting down the economy, travel and international flights for between three months and three years: 3%. Up by an order of magnitude from three weeks ago... luckily you're not paying for this complete WAG!

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    1. This isn't your first rodeo and it sounds like you'll do fine. Probably better than even some readers of the blog. Not that I'm pointing out anyone is particular ( cough, fracking fanboys, cough. I'm kidding! ) Best to you

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  6. I've got my 100lbs maybe 120lbs of eye-talian dry spaghetti, easily accessible groundwater and filtering skills, and am all about trapping animals/birds and wild greens. Just be sure to eat "the whole mouse" to quote Farley Mowat in Never Cry Wolf.

    (Yes, he ate mice because they were plentiful, he saw the wolves he was studying eating them, and decided to try the Mighty Mouse diet for himself. It didn't do him good at first, until he realized he's got to eat the whole thing guts and all, then the mouse diet had him, as with the wolves, glowing with health.)

    Dmitry Orlov's "Shrinking The Technophere" is on sale for $10 on The Evil River, and I glommed a copy since it's half price maybe a bit less. Just a heads-up because you mentioned it being an OK book but not worth the normal price.

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    1. I hadn't read that one yet. I think I said all his books are overpriced, but I can't remember exactly. I wish he'd get back to writing the blog. Been phoning it in lately.

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