Summer time

We have had an incredible amount of rain this spring, literally, we have gone from drought to flood in 4 months.

Which is great for the plants, not so good for the people.

Inflation is slowly appearing out in the Real World

Alas, it's been a month since I posted simply because there is so much turmoil at the moment that patterns had yet to form, until now:

Gasoline has risen from 1.97 to 2.13

Motor Oil has suddenly spike upwards, premium brands are now 3.20 a quart, even the store brand at Advance Auto has jumped to 2.69 from 1.59 even during the height of the oil crunch last year.

Spaghetti Sauce has jumped from 1.00 or so to 1.25, even plain old boxed pasta has increased from .88 cents to 1.37 a box of rotini.

Ammunition is still scarce, with astronomical prices being asked for a single box of ammunition, 47.50 for a single box of aummunition.

The M1 supply has risen 10% already,  with more to come, meaning inflation will really kick in this year, meaning what you purchase now will be a better investment then most of the traditional intangiables investments that served so well from 1982-1999.

We've had an unusually wet spring so far, the home garden is doing well, and hopefully, home gardening will continue to grow in popularity as it will provide an offset to the inevitable increase in the price of gasoline and other food stuffs, in this case those in warmer weather climates will have an advantage over those in the northern parts of the US, or for that matter, the globe. If you have the climate and the space, there is little reason not to grow a garden this year, and grow that which will be expensive at the local grocery store, Red Peppers for example, are a good crop, Corn on the other hand, is not as 3/1.00 vs 1.89 per pepper makes quite clear.

The Propeht of Doom Syndrome v Enlightened Self Interest

No doubt about it, these are troubled times Spiritually, Ethically and Financially, from Bank Collapses to Nationalization to Inflation to increasing structural costs, and of course anyone who is even partially serious about a Religious Faith is the subject of scorn.

Times like these a Jeremiah or a Nietzsche arises to pronounce this era is the most trying ever and destruction is certain to come. It's human nature to seek out what we feel is the "truth" for the times, in good times, Anthony Robbins or Chris Warren, in bad times Gerald Celente or Peter Schiff.

The Prophet of Doom is set upon a pedastal and either praised or mocked depending on what one's views are, the Sunny Optimist is either called out of touch or bringer of hope, depending one what one wishes to hear. 

As a Preparedness Aware Individual, it is wise to maintain a balance between both, to be Optimistic about one's preparations but a Prophet of Doom subscriber is not a mutually exclusive philosophy, in fact, it is simple Enlightened Self Interest to grasp the fact that times are never as bad as they seem, nor as prosperous as they seem.

A year's worth of supplies should cost about a month's pay depending on family size and Cadillac tastes, and using the Alpha Strategy, one is insured either way, it is a safe bet that inflation will be a fact of life, so prebuying items that will cost more later makes sense in the case of job loss, or hyper inflation or simple piece of mind. So one has effectively hedged against both a crash or even a return to normalcy.

I enjoy Gerald Celente's work, I also like Rick Warren's outlook, I don't plan on moving to the hinterlands (yet) nor do I plan on putting on a happy face...

Ammunition is literally disappearing off the store shelves in what can only be described as a "panic". 

Nothing wrong with that, people should cherish their Rights, the problem is, how do you save money and still remain armed and accurate? 

Enter the ChiCom .177 pellet rifle, typically sells for 50 dollars or less, pellets are relatively cheap, and they hit hard enough to bring down small game such as rabbits or squirrels or soda bottles and since they are modeled after the SKS (which is now a 300 dollar rifle, weren't they 59 dollars not that long ago?) one can also have some training time behind a similar rifle. The cheapy ChiCom also allows for a telescopic site to be added which helps with accuracy a great deal.

This gentleman used his pellet rifle to successfully bring home some supper:

http://www.americanairgunhunter.com/huntingwithchineseAG.html

The price increase in SKS rifles is a great example of inflation in action, when they first became available in the early 90's, they were viewed as semi crappy fixed magazine rifles that could be had for next to nothing, now they command a week's pay and the ammunition is no longer 1.99 per 20 cartridges..and that happened in 13 years or so.

And so it begins, we are beginning to see the effects of all of the money that has been created even down to the "can of sauce" level of the economy, what used to be 98 cents is now 1.19, add in the coming increase in sales taxes and we are looking at a 1.25 a unit price.

The way around this is to rely on oneself and purchase Canning Jars and lids and the industrial sized cans of stewed tomatoes, and stir up your own sauce with a blender and can it before hand. Doing thus also lets the cook make their own sauces to taste, add basil from the garden or oregano or extra onions or garlic in either whole form, or powdered form.

Another clever way to enjoy pasta and to save some money is to harvest wild greens such as Nettle Tops or Kale or what have you, and make Pesto sauce with them, leave out the pine nuts and such pesto will be much more affordable to create and it utilizes one's own environment to improve your bottom line.

The Knife in self defense mode, cheap, handy and effective

Knife use in self defense is a pecuilar passion of mine as to me their potential is underrated and their effectiveness at defense (by being offensively defensive) is without a doubt. Fortunately there are some wonderful resources on the WWW that are not only free, but also were used in WW2.

W.E.B. Fairbairn's Get Tough comes to mind. Colonel Fairbairn designed a stiletto style dagger based on his years in the Changhai Police Force, in fact such a dagger is the picture at the top of the Blog.

More pertinent for this post is, Col Fairbairn also created a chart showing the major arteries in the human body along with an estimate of how long consciousness would be lost if one were severed as appears above.

A recent work by Paladin Press entitled Contemporary Knife Targeting studied Col Fairbarin's chart and asked medical professionals about it's accuracy or lack thereof. The work claimed Fairbairn was overly optimistic and that the volume of blood and heart rate would make the chart impractical and of lesser value.

My conlcusion is Col Fairbairn was too optimistic, but the Paladin Press work was to conservative in that the rate a injury will cause shock in an attacker varies from person to person, from situation to situation, they also failed to account for the increased heart rate and blood flow internally that a conflict will create. Authors Grasz and Janich however, did offer an effective biomechanical cutting program that relied more on targeting muscle groups then arteries.

That said, taking Col Fairbairn's chart and authors Grasz and Janich's study, it can be reasonably said that either penetration into the body cavity, or slashing a artery or muscle group can be done with the smallest of knives.

That 2 dollar steak knife literally can be used to save one's life in a pinch, if not knowing knife use system is a problem, it is one of a lack of knowledge only, the triceps, qaudraceps, radial artery (inside the wrist) are well known to most.

A steak knife one may ask? Of course, it is the deadliest blade in America, often a domestic dispute will erupt and the first thing that comes to hand is used, be that a chair or a knife from the butcher's block on the counter.

Of course things can be more complicated then this, and training never hurt, especially if one's life is in the balance, or could be in the balance, but do not let the "ninja master" syndrome effect one, mankind has used knives for thousands of years, it is not rocket science at a most basic level it is quite simple.

Frugality is the new fad...

When a major media outjest manages to run a story on the new sincerety, one has to take notice.


The nightmare of a consumer driven economy, the Urban Professional cuts back spending even when there is disposable income available, no worries though, tax increases and regulatory burdens and the hidden tax of inflation will destroy the value they are hoarding. That is the issue with merely hoarding cash under the mattress, it loses it's buying power to inflationary termites.

It could be said that official inflation is quite low, and that would be a truism, however in this downturn we are experiencing producer price hikes at the overseas manufacturing locations, the US inflationary measures also do not account for food or fuel, they basically are worthless as a economic measure in a Global Economy.

Those new to value hoarding would be well served by purchasing items that will increase in price over the long term that are fit to warehouse. Otherwise sticker shock at the local Wally World could make it to America's Funniest Home videos.

The idea to use plain vinegar over even plain jane fabric softener is a good one.