Improvised battery firestarting

     Graphics notwithstanding here I am sure many of you have seen some form of the diagram or have seen it portrayed on TV. In a pinch any of these techniques will work for you if you have a battery with some life to it and some FINE steel wool. There are several types of steel wool out there and some of it works better than others so a little experimentation is called for. Now one can never have too many ways to start a fire, have a backup. I generally tend to use the AA or 9 volt type battery because it is very light to carry along with steel wool but do your self a favor and keep them separated, me I keep them in separate plastic boxes and use as needed. BE WARNED using batteries can be dangerous with steel wool as you will be creating red hot heat so be careful.

October, Yeah

     Well October is here and that means we can expect to be bombarded with every political add imaginable for candidate X,Y and Z. I can understand the argument for and against term limits in the house and senate and I think it might be time for them. I figure this might be a way  to get in a consistent group of fresh blood, it might even drop the cost of a candidate running for said office too, money seems to price out what would be a good candidate because they do not have 10 or 100 million to throw to a race, I do not think that is what the framers had in mind long ago. Oh well I do not see any chance of things going to a better way anytime soon, we have some very serious problems going on here in this country and this coming election is not going to fix them. Like it or not we have spent about the last 100 years digging ourselves into our messes and it will take us at least that long to get out of ( peacefully anyway ) I myself though think we will get out of it in a bloodier way.

Prepology

Colony S2 E10

Day 49

     Well the second to the last day is here, wouldn't it be nice to know when something starts and when it finishes? I did know in advance that this show would be a show and not necessarily the best show for Joe average  to gain any real meaningful information out of, just the opposite actually. I was hoping to see more on the gadget front on this season, to me those are what makes it worth it and where a person can actually learn something useful, the rest is just scripted acting. But anyway the show starts right off with the continuation of Tick doing a recon on the outsider group, you just know that revenge is in the air here but in reality it is just asking for it. 

     Work continues on the air boat that the group plans to use for their escape but the airplane motor gives them a big headache, it won't start. Plenty can be said for having simple tools and simple mechanical items of any sort, the reason is simple they  usually work. Granted high tech items are nice when they work, it like the old saying that newer is not always better. More often that not I would prefer something that is older and by far easier to work on, think about it whats easier to work on a '72 pickup or a '10. 

     Another continuing think that bugs me about the show is the security, yes it has improved since Tick has joined the group but it still is abysmal. Take the nighttime security that they have inside the house, flashlights or headlamps on at night and standing in a window is absolutely stupid in any world. Hell you might as well put out a great big neon sign that says here I am. When in a grid down situation any light produced will attract attention and you do not want that attention.  Light and noise discipline is something that you can never take for granted under most circumstances, be gray, don't be seen or heard. As for the patrol on the outside it is pretty much the same thing, you using a flashlight is just an invitation to draw attention upon yourself or worse you can draw fire. Having nightvision is preferred and there are low cost units out there but you can also spend thousands too. Nightvision is a whole complete post in itself.

Day 50

     Well the last day is here and it is full of surprises that's for sure. Sally starts off going over the airplane engine looking for the fault that plagued them the day before, they never say what the problem was but after a while it does run and that lifts the spirits of the group, they now have an escape vehicle. Over a very nasty meal of some spoiled meat Tick goes over his plan for the raid of the outsiders, part of their motivation is supply related but I think revenge is also a factor since they know that this outside group is the one that has been attacking them time after time. Now you can debate the wisdom of attacking a numerically superior force but in this case the outside group ended up being just as sloppy with their security as the colony and a lightning raid into the outsiders camp pays off the colony group as they net some canned food and a good supply of gasoline, now you could call it luck, dumb luck but remember it's a show, ERR entertainment. With their new found "booty" they load it pretty quick into the boat and they get another shock by VOPA showing up, that's shocker #1 and the 2nd shock is in that VOPA wants to know if 2 people would like to leave with them. AHH no thank you VOPA, FEMA, .GOV have a terrible track record when the chips are really down, Please use PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY and take care of yourself. Well in this case one member decides to go with VOPA vs. head out to the new location in the bayou.

      On Que as soon as VOPA leaves the outsiders show up in full numbers and of coarse they are a little miffed at the colony group, time to bail on this Popsicle stand. As the assault take shape the outsider group splits, one group heads to the colony house with the intention of fire bombing it and they do. This is in effect something you might not do as you know that there will be valuable resources in the home. Force #2 goes after the colony group but they are too slow as the colony makes it to the air boat and they leave, now this would have been a heck of a time for the engine to not start but that would have screwed up the show right.

Reflection

      The colony group motors on thinking that they pulled it off and they are home free until they approach the fishing cabin that they want to take over and they find that it is now occupied by another, damn the producers, foiled again. You can see jaws hitting the ground and then that's it, the cliff hanger from hell. A show where the supposed good guys don't win in the end. What next?

     Now that the show is over I will do an overall review on it and try to hit some of the better parts and some of the worst. Stay tuned and thanks for checking it out.

Prepology

Log cabin update roof sheeting section 2

       Finally clear skies and warm weather. We got the lower section of the roof completed ( minus the metal ) decking but that's ok we really wanted to just get it closed in to keep the weather out.

     Our BCI's rest on the log's and they fit nice, after we insulate we will be adding 1X6 T&G to the bottom of the BCI's. The goal here is to have no wall or ceiling that has drywall at all. Ugly stuff and it is not wanted.     

      It is getting a little dark in here, this is with half of  the roof done, I think some temp lights are in order.

Semi final product of the day. we will continue the roof out the front after we build the deck out the front and support the 5 logs that you see coming out the front. The decking will start just below the logs right where it turns to the block wall, it will be 8' all the way around.





Prepology

E-mail funny

Doctors

 

 

A doctor from Israel says: "In Israel , the medicine is so advanced that we cut off a man's testicles, put them into another man and in 6 weeks he is looking for work!"   The German doctor comments: "That's nothing, in Germany we take part of the brain out of a person, put it into another person's head and in 4 weeks he is looking for work!"


   A Russian doctor says: That's nothing, either. In Russia we take out half of the heart from a person, put it into another person's chest and in 2 weeks he is looking for work!"


    The US doctor answers immediately: "That's nothing colleagues, you are way behind us!  In the USA , we grabbed a person with no brains, no heart and no balls.  We made him President and now the whole country is looking for work!!!" 

 

Author unknown

Prepology