Sunday, March 9, 2014
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Apocalypse coming to Venezuela?
Naw. It isn't gonna happen. Said the UK Guardian just four months ago.
This was the headline:
This was the headline:
Sorry, Venezuela haters: this economy is not the Greece of Latin America
Predicting a Venezuelan acpocalypse won't make it happenAnd the bottom of the article?
• The subheading on this article was amended on 15 November 2013. The original one, not supplied by the author, ended with the words "in this oil-rich country the only thing imploding is poverty". This has now been removedSeems a lot's changed in Venezuela since November 2013.
Stopped in one of my favorite gun stores today
Hadn't been in for a while.
Glad to say the racks and display cases are full once again.
What stuck me this visit was nearly all the inventory was new. Used guns were few and far between. Much more so than a couple years ago.
I'm guessing fewer folks are parting with their used guns.
Anyway, for new guns at least, variety and quantities appear to be back. Ammo too, appeared to be well stocked, as were reloading components.
Glad to say the racks and display cases are full once again.
What stuck me this visit was nearly all the inventory was new. Used guns were few and far between. Much more so than a couple years ago.
I'm guessing fewer folks are parting with their used guns.
Anyway, for new guns at least, variety and quantities appear to be back. Ammo too, appeared to be well stocked, as were reloading components.
Rice is nice
I bought a 20 pound bag of white rice this week. The contents filled 11 one-quart mason jars - with about a half jar left over.
That's about 46 cups.
A cup of rice makes a serving for four people.
The bag of rice cost $7.29 at Sam's Club.
Assuming a cup of rice, when cooked, is split four ways, that's about 4 cents per person per meal.
Three years ago, I vacuum packed white rice just using mason jars and a FoodSaver vacuum unit. The storage has worked fine.
This time, I've added the step of heating the filled jars in the oven at about 220 degrees for forty minutes along the lines of the old "oven canning" method. However, rather than let the cooling seal the jars, I still use the vacuum sealer shortly after retrieving the jars from the oven. The idea being, the heat further sterilizes the container, and kills potential impurities. And while the vacuum sealer is used to seal the jars, there's an even stronger vacuum created because after sealing, the cooling adds to the internal vacuum.
In an emergency situation, I figure a case of 12 mason jars of rice will feed a family of four for two weeks. Much longer if other items are mixed in or alternated with other long term storage food to create a more varied, balanced menu.
Even in regular times, rice is a food budget stretcher.
We had rice with our fish dinner the other night. The next morning, I had some leftover rice with little butter on it for breakfast. Then for lunch I had more rice, this time mixed with a little spicy Chinese mustard. Each meal providing a distinctly different taste experience.
Bottom line, long term food storage need not be a complex or expensive affair. It's just that people are so used to prepackaged stuff, the mechanics of storage are somewhat of a mystery to them - so they assume it too complex to do themselves.
A cup of rice makes a serving for four people.
The bag of rice cost $7.29 at Sam's Club.
Assuming a cup of rice, when cooked, is split four ways, that's about 4 cents per person per meal.
Three years ago, I vacuum packed white rice just using mason jars and a FoodSaver vacuum unit. The storage has worked fine.
This time, I've added the step of heating the filled jars in the oven at about 220 degrees for forty minutes along the lines of the old "oven canning" method. However, rather than let the cooling seal the jars, I still use the vacuum sealer shortly after retrieving the jars from the oven. The idea being, the heat further sterilizes the container, and kills potential impurities. And while the vacuum sealer is used to seal the jars, there's an even stronger vacuum created because after sealing, the cooling adds to the internal vacuum.
In an emergency situation, I figure a case of 12 mason jars of rice will feed a family of four for two weeks. Much longer if other items are mixed in or alternated with other long term storage food to create a more varied, balanced menu.
Even in regular times, rice is a food budget stretcher.
We had rice with our fish dinner the other night. The next morning, I had some leftover rice with little butter on it for breakfast. Then for lunch I had more rice, this time mixed with a little spicy Chinese mustard. Each meal providing a distinctly different taste experience.
Bottom line, long term food storage need not be a complex or expensive affair. It's just that people are so used to prepackaged stuff, the mechanics of storage are somewhat of a mystery to them - so they assume it too complex to do themselves.
Bears repeating...
I've updated my post from a couple days back accordingly.
But the updates on ammo exports from Russia bear repeating atop the blog:
From Bearing Arms: Russian Ammunition Cutoff Rumors Are Bogus
But the updates on ammo exports from Russia bear repeating atop the blog:
From Bearing Arms: Russian Ammunition Cutoff Rumors Are Bogus
Friday, March 7, 2014
Breakfast this morning...
Started my day with some black coffee and steamed rice made of elements from a long-term food storage project.
Okay. I cheated. Put some butter from the fridge on the rice.
But the point is, if you're going to put stuff away in reserve, try some out every once in a while.
Normalize it's use. Rotate your stock. Just remember to replenish what you use.
Okay. I cheated. Put some butter from the fridge on the rice.
But the point is, if you're going to put stuff away in reserve, try some out every once in a while.
Normalize it's use. Rotate your stock. Just remember to replenish what you use.
Central planning in education
Via the Daily Caller:
A Minnesota public high school was so committed to obeying its fire drill policy to the exact letter of the law that it forced a female student–dressed only in a swimsuit, and sopping wet–to stand outside in the freezing cold for ten minutes. As a result, she suffered frostbite.Welcome to the new America - where bureaucrats lack the intelligence, will, or authority to deviate from central planners explicit instructions.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Ball of Confusion
That's what Connecticut is today. Hey, hey.
(Sorry, the classic Temptations lyric was too close a match to resist borrowing).
(Sorry, the classic Temptations lyric was too close a match to resist borrowing).
Anyone have confirmation on this?
Silver Doctors website reports that Putin is now blocking export of Russian ammo to the U.S.
I've have thought Bad Vlad would have waited, and let Obama be the one to ban U.S. importation of Russian ammo - and thereby take a PR hit from U.S. shooting community.
So far, I'm only seeing the ban reported on this one blog. But if this is true, we may have another panic round of ammo buying - especially in the cherished 7.62x39 caliber. Heck, I suspect Silver Doctors is right in one regard; that buying's already picked up on speculation.
Update: David Codrea posts this at his War on Guns blog.
Update II: Bob Owens at Bearing Arms also knocks it down.
The largest wholesale gun & ammo distributors in the US have informed us in private conversation today that a massive scramble is on for all 7.62 as Russia has reportedly halted all exports to the US of Russian made ammunition.Seriously?
I've have thought Bad Vlad would have waited, and let Obama be the one to ban U.S. importation of Russian ammo - and thereby take a PR hit from U.S. shooting community.
So far, I'm only seeing the ban reported on this one blog. But if this is true, we may have another panic round of ammo buying - especially in the cherished 7.62x39 caliber. Heck, I suspect Silver Doctors is right in one regard; that buying's already picked up on speculation.
Update: David Codrea posts this at his War on Guns blog.
Update II: Bob Owens at Bearing Arms also knocks it down.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Hypocrite
President Obama and members of his team seem upset that Russia doesn't seem to play by the Obama team's interpretation of international law.
"There is a strong belief that Russia’s action is violating international law. I know President Putin seems to have a different set of lawyers making a different set of interpretations, but I don’t think that’s fooling anybody," Mr. Obama said yesterday.
This is the same Obama who unilaterally alters Obamacare deadlines for political gain, and contrary to written American law. Just last week, a noted legal scholar told Congress that Mr. Obama takes the law into his own hands with alarming regularity on a widening array of issues.
President Obama likes to dictate legal terms to others, but has bragged his phone and his pen allow him to rewrite rules as he desires.
Obama squandered any moral authority he may have had internationally by the way he practices political expediency at home.
"There is a strong belief that Russia’s action is violating international law. I know President Putin seems to have a different set of lawyers making a different set of interpretations, but I don’t think that’s fooling anybody," Mr. Obama said yesterday.
This is the same Obama who unilaterally alters Obamacare deadlines for political gain, and contrary to written American law. Just last week, a noted legal scholar told Congress that Mr. Obama takes the law into his own hands with alarming regularity on a widening array of issues.
President Obama likes to dictate legal terms to others, but has bragged his phone and his pen allow him to rewrite rules as he desires.
Obama squandered any moral authority he may have had internationally by the way he practices political expediency at home.
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