Wednesday, May 9, 2018

ninja shoe 1 of 2


NINJA SHOE
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note: free PA book https://amzn.to/2rvf10H .  I read this some time ago and was quite impressed with it.  Another https://amzn.to/2KQie3I . 
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You’ve all been exposed to my white hot fury when it comes to the footwear industry.  Some damn fools think baby brown people being exploited by Nike is a big deal.  I say, screw those little humpers, I’m more worried about overpaying for crap quality.  I mean, honestly, what have fuzzy foreigners done for me lately?  Boycotting tuna companies killing dolphins is all fine and dandy, I like dolphins.  I can see fighting for that cause.  But people?  They want to kill me or take what is rightfully mine as a native born ‘Murican, damnation!

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Rather than continue throwing good money after bad, I spent one last huge chunk of change on a quality pair of boots I’ll use on special occasions ( so, they will last forever ), and other than that I mostly wear plastic shoes.  Yes, the shoes I used to make fun of that only poor people working in Nike factories wore.  The shoes Habib wears in his convenience store.  I’m not exactly a pioneer here.  People on their feet all day have been wearing those Croc brand plastic shoes that look like old timey Dutch clogs, for some time now. 

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I mean, I hate people, but to some degree we are all programmed for social herd acceptance.  I don’t try to start out with new trends that make me look like a homosexual manic depressive.  But since normal people started wearing plastic shoes I’m not out of line here.  I’m not trying to emulate poor immigrants but native professionals.  And not just because of money ( but, yeh, 90% ), but also my damn feet were hurting for years.  On my feet all day on concrete, I was fine while I still had my old pair of combat boots ( and I was still young in my mid forties ).  Once I had to start wearing the new crap quality overpriced shoes ( and got over fifty ), my feet were never comfortable after that.

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So I screwed up my feet pretty good at work.   “Soccer Slides” and “generic Crocs” were so darn comfortable on my feet.  Soccer slides are flip flops, without the crap between your toes but rather a wide band over the top of your foot, BTW.  Now, I’m not sure why my feet started getting even worse after I retired/self-employed.  I notice eating too much fat, my feet hurt.  I was thinking gout.  I used to pound down butter, but I burned it up as soon as I ate it.  Once I went down to one and a half hours of exercise a day, all that butter started accumulating, I guess.

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Once I cut most that out, and potato and corn chips, my feet lost their pins and needle sensitivity.  But it could have been the cold.  After years of working outside all winter ( even if there wasn’t cold slush and rain often, it happened enough, and I couldn’t wear my warm commuter boots while working as they had no arch support-they were bike only boots ), I know I’ve exposed my feet to enough freezing for damage to occur ( yes, that is what poor people do-trading body parts for paychecks ).  So it could be either one.  Next winter should give me more data.

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But in the meantime, those damn comfy plastic shoes are a godsend.  The nerve pain is gone but I still have simple sore feet.  And when I’d get a nerve pain flare, the plastic shoes minimized the discomfort.  So, all that said, the obvious answer was to stockpile plastic shoes.  For the last year ( or perhaps it was two ) I’ve been buying a new slider or croc every time I visited Family Dollar store.  Mainly I get toilet paper there, but they also have plenty of items I’d rather buy from them that asswhore scumbag Wal-Mart. 

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Now, here is the thing.  My original slider is years and years old.  I got tired of buying moccasins or hard soled slippers I used for commuting between my camper and my underground lair.  They were never comfortable or long lasting.  So I bought the slider, by accident.  I wanted a slipper substitute that would last long, and that is what the store had.  Until my feet started hurting a lot more than usual I never used them as shoes, but just outdoor chores.  My weren’t going out to public shoes, more like flip-flop or slipper substitutes.  The first pair I bought was well designed, allowing bare feet or heavy stocking feet.

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And I kept buying the same kind of slider as my first pair, from the same company at the same price.  Now, remember, I don’t go out shopping much.  To me, a dozen pairs represented shopping at Family Dollar about once every other or third month.  But time did slip away from me and I had those accumulating quicker than I thought.  I never thought to check the shoes.  I had found a good item and stocked up on it.  Weeeellll.  The company completely changed the design on me, and it wasn’t a visible change.  The length, even on the same size, shrunk slightly and the band going over the foot started shrinking also.

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You could no longer wear the older stockpiled ones with heavy socks.  Then, the newer ones, you couldn’t even wear with thin socks.  The newest ones, I could barely wear with bare skin!  I’ve been blissfully unaware of quality compromise this whole time ( I’m sure the thickness on the bottom shrank also, but that I could have lived with.  No big deal, the shoe lasts four years instead of five.  But NOOOO! ).  The only reason I found out, thankfully prior to the apocalypse, was my old pair was getting so thin I was feeling sharp rocks get too painful, and went to the stockpile to replace them.

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Now, don’t get me wrong.  Family Dollar is NOT a bad place.  Compared to Wal-Mart they barely screw you.  But it isn’t like they don’t try to be sneaky some times on some things.  I just got unlucky on their shoes.  I did get lucky in that half are crocs rather than sliders, so I have half that are good for winter wear with wool socks ( but too loose to wear with bare feet ) and the other half that are summer wear.  Except the very last pair I bought, which simply have little room for an actual foot.  They are probably going to be a barter item eventually.

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My whole point here?  How much in our stockpile do we actually test?  And how much is lowered quality we don’t know about?  Continued tomorrow.

END ( today's related link https://amzn.to/2rn2bSG )
 

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20 comments:

  1. Yeah, my experiences as well. I note some poly vinyl rubber shoes/sandals soles leach out oils from their china design or will crack after only couple years in indoor storage. If a minion scores a quality product even if a little more expensive, take a camera phone picture of the product,package,brand,label etc. Then on next foray outside the wire of your compound, if you're looking for that product or just foraging in stores for free entertainment (like tightwad immigrants walking around and not spending any money) you can rediscover/identify correctly that worthwhile product again if still produced to previous specs, before corporate cuts the quality. Side example will be the yuppie casualties laying at roadsides missing their boots. Bushwackers spotted the 300 dollar Danner boots on unlucky Larry, and behold! They were the right size! Score!

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    1. I spent around $150 for my last boots, and thought I was being anally violated. $300!!!! I got that kind of scratch I'm buying a boltie in 5.56

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    2. Yeah, made in america inflated costs. I only buy them for on duty use, they don't give me bad back or feet problems. (Put quality insoles in @$8.00, like gold) Last about 4-5 years of moderate abusive use so that is the redeeming quality. The stitched down uppers into a kletter sole is usually the most durable. Rubber glued onto upper man made materials or minimalist use of cheaper thinner leather usually suck after a year or so. I am going to have to recon thrift shops and yarder sales for more industrial grade clothing and boots as that is number 2 need / barter gear behind food (of course!)

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    3. I personally don't think Made In America needs to be so expensive. Maglite manages to hold costs down, even if they had to use extra machinery rather than labor. I think corporate execs use that as an excuse. "Thwart our business model of globalization, will you? Off with their heads! Charge triple!" Asswhores.

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  2. Shoes. That was one of the best bits of that, "Bible, Denzell Washington, blind" film...when, near the beginning, DW finds a bloke who's hung himself...and checks the bloke's shoe size.

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    1. Not the worst movie, but I had sooooo many issues with it survivalist-wise. Like, once again channeling Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, a town in the desert! How do they eat? They had salvaged wet wipes to bathe, yet the town survived in the desert! I could go on. To me, the one good part was the gal being used as bait in the ambush. Good life lesson on that one.

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    2. Right, females and waif kids can be counted on to squeel and makes excessive movements to draw in predators to a kill zone. Keep a lock and length of chain or handcuffs from your law and order days handy to lay out a rat trap or tie off captured slave laborers at night.

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    3. Every damn movie you see, those crap covered finger lickers are always making noise or not following orders. Suggested are withheld meals and regular beatings. Kids need to get back to the ideal of seen and not heard.

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  3. "But it isn’t like they don’t try to be sneaky some times on some things."
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    I'm tellin ya man, that stuff's everywhere these days, you can't keep up. But you have to keep tryin'.

    This article was the matchead to this tick's ass. I'm heading over to amazon right now and buying another pair of the boots I'm wearing right now. Hi-Tek brand. And if the new ones fit like the ones I'm wearing I'm going back and buying 4 more. A little pricey, but for me they work good. These: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H5H0SJ4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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    Replies
    1. That saying has always stuck with me, when they were interviewing a guerrilla group. Something to the effect of "shoes were harder to get than guns". Glad my articles have a positive effect-I'm not JUST doing this for my health :)

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  4. shoes; every pair must be tried on before purchase. even if buying two identical pairs. also run your fingers around the inside to feel for lumps and bumps.
    don't buy it if you don't try it.
    and, save the sales slip in case a return is necessary.
    also, alternating three pairs will make them last more than three times as long. don't just wear one pair down to a nubbin, alternate.

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    1. Ah, the good old days of running into the shoe store and buying the same brand, knowing they were exactly the same. No trying on, no worrying about shrink or material substitution.

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  5. Dear Lord Bison,
    Go to the wally world pharmacy and buy a home HbA1c test. Your foot problem sounds a lot like diabetes caused pain. The HbA1c test is a better indicator of your average blood sugar levels that a fasting glucose. Or you could buy a cheap Walmart glucose meter and test your blood fasting, 1, and 2 hours after eating those potatoes or wheat (or any carbs). If the fasting is above 120 (under 100 is best) or after eating it is above 200, you have problems!

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    1. The NOL made me test for diabetes, and I was okay. Thanks.

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    2. Speaking of diabetes. Remember the ring around your calf from wearing blousing rubbers in the army?
      A few years ago I noticed that starting to happen on my calves from ordinary socks. When I took them off in the evening there was an indentation all around my leg and the itched like crazy where the socks were. My first thought was the cheap assed Hanes gray crews socks were old and time to got new ones. Was at Rural King one day and looked at their selection and saw a type of sock called "non-binding". Hmmm...never heard of that before so I got a pair to try out. Look like normal socks but the tightness in the barrel, the part on the leg, was very light. I always bunch the tops of my socks down to the top of my hikers so I wasn't concerned if they would stay up on my calves. Turns out these non-binding socks do not cause the indentations nor do they make my legs itch. They're not as cheap as the wally Hanes gray 8 pack, about $5 for a 2 pack, and I bought the place out and that's all I wear now.

      Any more you hafta heavily scrutinize everything up front as best as possible. I so hate taking or sending stuff back.

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    3. Sounds like Old Guy socks. LOL. Boy, I can't wait until it is my turn!

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    4. we wear diabetic socks for comfort, they are nonbinding. expensive at the pharmacy but can get the same thing cheaper at overstock or discount store.

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    5. Hell, what isn't expensive at the pharmacy? I don't understand how they stay in business, unless we pay seniors too damn much. CVS has probably paid to push social security issues, knowing once Ollie Oldster shuffles into the place for his heart medicine he'll stay for the $10 four pack of D batteries. Unless he steals the batteries ( Seinfeld reference ).

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  6. I use Crocs as my outdoor-around-the-house shoes also. If you leave them in the sun, they'll irreversibly shrink several sizes. I keep mine outdoors year round, but sun protected. If you leave them in a vehicle where the heat really builds up, it may have the same effect as leaving them in full sunlight. Doesn't full sunlight have an effective temperature increase of 20 degrees or so over being in the shade?
    Peace out

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