Monday, June 8, 2020

pedal peddlers 2


PEDAL PEDDLERS 2
The great thing about Beer Virus? We just got a little taste of all the problems that were promised but was just a theory half a year ago. We all saw that JIT was a system wide issue, not just an ammunition problem ( or rice, during monsoon disruptions ). We noticed how quick the government turned into heavy handed dictatorships. We saw how quick a bank run wiped out the physical cash supply. That having race riots during a Depression tended to complicate things. That the US is far more vulnerable in a trade war than China is.
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Now, would you friggin listen to me about the vulnerability of Happy Motoring? Hasn't my paranoia been pretty spot on so far? Not predictions. Anyone can do those and they are all horsecrap. Rather, trends based on data observed from before I could read ( the Club Of Rome ). Or from before I was born ( Peak Oil ). None of what I concern myself about wasn't beat like a dead horse from survivalists long ago. The only difference was that once the Soviet Union dissolved, we all got to thinking we were hot crap and no one could defeat us and our sense of fear was severely blunted. Even hard core survivalists relaxed far too much.
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If Rawles hadn't “invented” Thirty Years To Prep And Pay The Mortgage ( with his Establishment approved 2030 Peak Oil ), someone else would have. Just like shell shocked consumers flocked to the malls after the Lost Decade 1970's, survivalists drew a deep breath after we Swords To Plowshared most nuclear weapons into Fuki electric power and moved back to the cities to helm a desk rather than a watchtower. Katrina and a little financial bubble reminded everyone that we had become the new colonies for Team Red Shield, but STILL there were too many distractions.
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Now we understand how foolish we were to ever leave the bunkers. For the first time in nearly a century, food security disappeared. All the blood and sweat spilled to “gain efficiencies” from the farmers, the corporations making money by losing money where once families farmed, the overseas adventures securing oil on the broken bodies of our youth, all of that became wasted effort. People might have gotten fed, barely, but it was a too close run thing for anyone to drop their guard. Or to think it couldn't happen again without notice. Individually, we were able to feed ourselves by going mobile and descending upon every nook and granny store as a golden horde.
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We traded weak food security for a stronger oil security. Which quickly is showing signs of also weakening. Look, the central banks messed with a gold backed currency. They loaned money to fading empires, then acted surprised when they couldn't get their money back. Lots of credit to the stock market later ( that NEVER ends badly! ) to postpone the day of reckoning and we got a Great Depression. That would never have resolved itself had we not gone to total war. That kept us out of another “slump”, as we went to Total Cold War, to continue the military industrial complex stimulus spending.
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That lasted until our oil production peaked ( Peak Oil had more to do with our Vietnam defeat than any other factor ), after which we converted our dollar to Saudi Arabian oil backing. That worked until Saudi Arabia peaked in production. After the economic fallout from that, only fracking oil allowed us to-barely-keep our nose above water. If Chinese coal production ( in BTU's-volume means crap all ) hadn't drug down their economy, it seems likely we would have been playing the British to the American subsidiary role. Luckily, fracking gave us a few more years ( how sad is it that our Fake Fuel Fracking was a better economic foundation than their Crap Coal? Oh, and a note on that-alternate energy didn't save their economy ).
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But last year, our Fracking Fuel bubble burst. What we are looking at now is there is no more miracles to keep our economy afloat, as has been done since your grandfathers youth. To believe you will keep a mortgage, a job and a running vehicle during this time is the height of wishful thinking. The party is finally over. Stop mourning the last lost bottle of whiskey and try to focus on getting sober with the minimum of a hangover. Driving just saved you from going hungry. Now something else is going to have to save you when the ability to drive ends.
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I recommend bicycles. Coupled, of course, with living in an area where you won't get Bike Jacked by Disadvantaged Minority Youth. To transition from cars to bikes, you must beat the crowd. To beat the crowd you must be willing to spend the money, to make the investment. I never had to transition from a car because I NEVER depended on one other than short periods which I could have easily resolved by moving. I never became trapped by them. You are, now. Things are going to end very badly for car dependent folks.
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My bike was always our households second car. When the battery died, I pedaled on down to our small towns auto part store ( okay, ONE of them-it isn't small enough ) and bought another. When our economy is dying WORSE than now, I'll pedal on down to the store for groceries. Or, just as likely, when gasoline joins the JIT failures. I could walk. But I have the means to not only extend my travel luxury through the economic collapse, I'll also be helping keep the bike going during the apocalypse ( for AFTER the die-off. Skulking about afoot is much smarter then ).
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I didn't NEED to do this. That is what prepping is-giving yourself options rather than impossible choices. And I chose to NOT do so four/five months ago when it looked like we were hyperbolic collapsing ( the flip side of Too Relaxed prepping is my Too Prone To Instant Panic prepping. I leave you to decide which is less worse ). A bicycle stockpile past my already stocked amount had far less priority. Food First, always. Now that I can relax slightly ( only because the food panic was only protein, not calories ), I'm giving slightly more focus to surviving a slower fall off the waterfall than I was months ago when I thought we were going to reach higher velocities.
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I won't stop storing more protein. And remember, if you are new to this prepping game, you can just go to the feed store and buy soy meal ( for your protein-wheat is your calories ). It was de-fatted so you can store it easily five to ten years. Soy is nasty. No protein hurts your body MORE. Should beggers indeed be choosers? I do need a few batteries. Basically, the preps will continue, now geared more for Slow Collapse than Total Collapse. Not because I think we will STAY slow. But just because that was where my prepping weaknesses are. I might explore that subject soon, but that is all on bike parts and stockpiles for now.
( .Y. )
( today's related Amazon link click HERE )
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29 comments:

  1. Right Jim. The back stocking of bike(s) is like insurance policies, a prudent necessity. One really should have a couple of bikes or more for redundancies and it would not be too expensive, aquiring over time. Even if just a casual rider, and not requiring it for transport in the current slogging along systems economy it would be wise to have a little stable of bicycles and kit in standby. Don't buy them and leave them to rot and rust forgotten in the corner or back yard. Have decent riding skills and confidence ability with that bike, necessary in spicy times, and along with some limbered up muscles to make the thing go fast too.

    I am challenged with configuring some attachments to my bikes so as to carry anti dog countermeasures. Like a buggy whip or such to snap their yapping snout with. It is too early in the collapse yet to brain shoot them with a .22 (riding and shooting like cowboys on horses movies!) and roll home with the carcass on the bike rack for the stew pot, the karens and dorks would be calling that in to police. Keep peddaling and stay frostiest.

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    1. I use wasp spray for those wretched mutts. Beware the generics, which cone spray rather than stream.

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    2. Wasp spray, brilliant! Good point on stream spray pattern, with wind drift. (Same for those cop sized pepper spray cans), always get stream specifications. Thanxs Jim.

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    3. Technically it is against the law to use it on anything other than its intended purpose, so just keep that in mind.

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    4. Get yourself some of the gel pepper spray, it’s cheap enough. That’s what you want, if you fear blow back, since it’s far less effected by the wind (First link below, and it’s attached to a hand/wrist strap, that makes it convenient for bicycle carrying).

      Been reading a lot of reviews on the stun guns. Many people were attacked by dogs, which is why they got them. But don’t just get any model; you need one with some kick, that puts out a high decibel crack (like the one in the second link below). With the exception of one reviewer, all others said that a quick discharge, without the dog even coming that close, sent the cur scurrying in the opposite direction. The sound alone scares them, as well as wild animals. It also doubles as a neutering device for liberals. One touch, and you’ll turn them into Euell Gibbons (You know, because he had smoked hickory nuts :D Okay, no one’s going to get that joke, but anyhoo :D )


      https://www.amazon.com/SABRE-RED-Pepper-Gel-Spray/dp/B002E6RERU/ref=pd_bxgy_2/130-1249693-1739709?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B002E6RERU&pd_rd_r=2d93db62-259e-43c8-8374-16589f429da7&pd_rd_w=SYqmp&pd_rd_wg=mUzck&pf_rd_p=4e3f7fc3-00c8-46a6-a4db-8457e6319578&pf_rd_r=ME79WA5710SPWA01HEXS&refRID=ME79WA5710SPWA01HEXS&th=1


      https://www.amazon.com/VIPERTEK-VTS-989-Billion-Rechargeable-Flashlight/dp/B01FHDZGGM/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

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    6. When I tried that, the dog was too fast. Of course, that was ages ago, before I got over my fear of being bite ( by being bit regularly on the bike ). I still like the idea of the dog suffering from poison.

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    7. Okay. That was some wasted humor :D Maybe this will help put it more into perspective :D

      Euell Gibbons Puts the Nuts in Grape Nuts

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGp7OzTaoe4

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    8. "I carry a nice stick and slow up just enough that the dog closes in. Then I smack him on the skull."

      "I still like the idea of the dog suffering from poison."

      You two should be careful what you wish for. While most dogs that run free and chase cyclists are the result of stupid owners who don't train their dogs, you run the risk of hurting or poisoning a dog that someone actually cares about but accidentally got loose. Should that happen, their owner might just try very hard to track you down and return the favor. Deterrence is one thing, killing or illegally poisoning is quite another.

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    9. Spoken by someone not bitten by a dog, perhaps? The wasp spray is deterrence. If it just happens to kill them, it cannot be helped. I'm not taking a chance with those flea bitten curs.

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    10. 5:53-I think you got an award for most obtuse humor attempt :)

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    11. "Spoken by someone not bitten by a dog, perhaps?"

      Several times, in fact, with scars to prove it. I'm sorry that you've had that experience but I work with dog rescues and have a higher opinion of dogs than I have of most of the people who bring them to us. My favorite quote, that I have hanging over my desk, is one from Mark Twain: "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and man." In my thirty years of doing that work, I've come to believe that if a dog is being an aggressive jerk, it's almost certain that they learned it from their human.
      Unlike pepper spray or a stun gun, wasp spray is not a deterrence. It's a neurotoxin that is lethal to humans and animals in sufficiently high doses. Please learn the difference...and the potential consequences.

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  2. EchoSixWhiskey Ret'dJune 8, 2020 at 9:37 AM

    Out here where I live in Oklahoma near the edge of the metro, I am afraid I would become a hood ornament for some no load bearing human being behind the wheel of a vehicle. I have been hit twice and fortunately, walked away only to be sore the next day. Don't want to chance a third time.
    Also, as I was out today I have noticed the price of gasoline is really starting to climb. B*stards have forgotten there are beaucoup unemployed, not that it matters.

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    1. There were two things I hated about Oklahoma ( I loved everything else ). 10% sales tax on food. And not being able to ride a bike. Perfectly nice folks otherwise, they had a combo of Road Rage and Selective Blindness when it came to bikes. The only place I've lived a car was mandatory-and I lived in a LOT of places. Oh. Perhaps three things. Tornadoes. Not fond of those, but they were far less dangerous than drivers. Perhaps hate would be too strong

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    2. Maybe as bicyclists some political advocacy group type of action could be undertaken as a sideline interest. one could be a gadfly to the town boards, county commission, etc to get designated bike lanes, signage posted on the roads for bicycle share the road notices, media campaigns, etc. Get the moms brigades involved as it can be turned into a children's safety issue and get more political traction for results. Might as well get the .gov officials all virtue signalling involved as well. Bribe a few bums with alcohol to help march with signs at city hall, "peddaler lives matter!"

      Stay frosty.

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    3. This mostly seems to have been accomplished in many places. Except Oklahoma. Almost perverse, an anti-Oakie anti-poverty thing. Of course, it IS supporting the state economy by driving, so there is that

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    4. Anti-cyclist rage is incredibly irrational. I for one don't get it.

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    5. I can see it in the big cities, which are already overcrowded. But in the country?

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    6. "Anti-cyclist rage is incredibly irrational. I for one don't get it."

      "I can see it in the big cities, which are already overcrowded. But in the country?"

      You mean like here in Colorado where it is the law that you must give cyclists three feet of separation from your car, so the cyclists ride side-by-side on narrow two lane back roads, forcing you to wait for an opportunity to safely cross the line to pass them? Some of my co-workers are cyclists and they openly brag that they do this because the law is on their side (screw common courtesy) so they deliberately ride two and three abreast to cause maximum inconvenience to motorists, especially during the morning and afternoon commutes as they demonstrate their moral and physical superiority by cycling to work. Sorry, but my experience with cyclists around here is that the vast majority are incredibly arrogant a$$holes.
      For a humorous take on this, have a look at the Pearls Before Swine comic strip where Jef the cyclist is featured, such as these: https://www.gocomics.com/search/full_results?terms=Jef%20the%20Cyclist&category=comic&short_name=pearlsbeforeswine

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    7. My experience with cars, when I'm nice enough to ride on the edge of the pavement because I'm letting them pass or trying to keep them from sliding on ice is that inevitably they are mere inches-single digit inches-from clipping me. So now I stay a comfortable distance away from the edge and they must cross the paint. Only later did Nevada pass the three foot rule. Now they avoid me to avoid a ticket-but they had no trouble nearly killing me before. And these are the asswhores that passed me every day.

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    8. Cute cartoons. My definitions:
      Cyclist-athletes, as douchee as all of them
      Bicyclist- poor person transporting

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    1. Hmmm, perhaps Baby Jesus DOES love you. I thought I was the only one.

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  4. A bike and even walking assumes no road blocks to check your papers and their is something you need/ want that is available.

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    1. I can't see roadblocks lasting too long, both from lack of fuel and lack of excess soldiers. I'm assuming most share an aversion to bugging out too late

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    2. There is always a hypothetical situation in which your strategy, tactics, and logistics are all wrong. Still better off with a plan in place than doing endless mental gymnastics.

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  5. "When our economy is dying WORSE than now, I'll pedal on down to the store for groceries. Or, just as likely, when gasoline joins the JIT failures. I could walk. But I have the means to not only extend my travel luxury through the economic collapse, I'll also be helping keep the bike going during the apocalypse ( for AFTER the die-off. Skulking about afoot is much smarter then )."

    I would like to request you develop this into a full-length article.
    Thanks,
    Romans 14:11

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  6. Sold my bike several years ago when my sense of balance left. What do you think of getting a trike for us teetering old folks? easy to put a basket on the back. I've been thinking of getting one. I know they're expensive, but they gotta be less than a car.

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  7. If I ever run across a road block SHTF, they better kill me. If they let me go, I will come back and blood will be spilled.

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