NightSG

Multi-post

Depends on what you've trained for; axes are slow, but assault rifles run dry from time to time, and are really hard to use against somebody who's determined to stay in body contact while pounding your face and/or kidneys into goo. Battle axes generally have back spikes and butt spikes for close in work.

I know several instructors who have demonstrated what can be done in three minutes (a very good police response time) with a 5 shot snubnose revolver and a pocketknife. Of course, that assumes they don't get mobbed while reloading, which obviously was realistic for this situation, but not necessarily when dealing with a crowd with more realistic self preservation instincts. With a 5-shot and speedloaders, it takes me about 4 seconds to empty the gun accurately at targets within 20 feet, (one shot per target, getting center mass hits) and a bit under 3 seconds to reload. That's 25-26 targets in three minutes, and this guy had 60 times as long. It could have been a lot worse.

The engine, sure, but there have been a number of odd placements of the ECM (often in the passenger compartment, sometimes just under the vinyl shell of the dash) that leave it fairly vulnerable. Even when it's well shielded, it shares a bus with the BCM, which is usually in the passenger compartment, and often controls other critical bits like an anti-theft ignition lockout.

The other question becomes what has happened that causes us to need message runners; even in the case of a widespread EMP, there are plenty of us who could rig up spark gap transmitters and crystal receivers from pulse-resistant scavenged parts and send quite a lot of information in the time it takes even to drive 70 miles.. If we need some physical object small enough to carry (vaccine, whatever) from outside the area, then it makes more sense for the carrier to come from the less damaged area, where they're likely to be able to use at least a dirt bike to cover 70 miles of damaged/cluttered road in an hour or two, compared to four hours of heavy exertion for even a serious bicycle racer, who would then have to make the return trip to deliver the item. Far more likely that we're looking at temporary migrations outside the disaster area. If we're talking EMP, major weather disaster or mass casualty event, there are probably a bunch of dead cars blocking the roads, so even your points ignition 1969 Ranchero with a dozen fuel cans in the back is going to eventually run into something you can't get through. Your Kawasaki can go around, but most aren't really set up for cargo, so you're not going to be hauling much in the way of supplies, and if you run out of gas, a motorcycle has a lot of useless dead weight to push. Additionally, if fuel has gotten scarce, even just locally, the sound of an engine is going to be like an electric can opener among hungry cats to those of lesser moral values. Then there's other travel; you'll hunt out the area around your bug out location, if it's any good for hunting to start with. A utility bike gives you a good way to head down the road a few miles, and hopefully lug some sort of dead animal back home. Family and friends will be an important resource, but only if you can get to them effectively. If you're bugged out away from town, you'll probably want to go in to trade from time to time. Then there's home teaching, because a little catastrophe is no excuse for letting your numbers slip...

Loaded, across terrain that a bicycle can't handle, 2mph average (when actually moving - i.e. not counting rest breaks) is pretty optimistic. Lots of factors impact that, but realistically, 15-20 miles a day is about the best you could hope for, and that maybe two days in a row before fatigue or injury slows you down more. 40 miles could easily still be within the catastrophic destruction area of a large disaster, where everybody else is too busy tending to their own problems to help. I figure if I'm having to head for a hunker down spot, I'm only going 6 miles to mom's place far enough out of town to be overlooked for a while. On a bike, I could make multiple round trips in one day if I want more than I can carry at once. Walking, a round trip would take up too much of the day. If we need help from out of the area, the next place of any significance at all is 30 miles, and the nearest real metro area (Fort Worth) is 70 miles. 4 days minimum on foot, two not-too-rough days for a reasonably fit touring cyclist with a moderate load, or an intense morning for a dedicated road racer with the bare minimum of supplies.

Hard to carry more than 3-4 days worth of basic supplies on foot, and if you can drag a handcart, you could have gotten even a fully loaded touring bicycle through. Maybe pushing the bike in the bad spots, but riding in the good ones. Plus, short of massive surface shifting and buckling, huge mudslides or lava flows, the roads we now have aren't likely to go away, You'd easily be able to triple your daily walking distance even with a heavy load.

Suffice it to say that things found in the floor of the girls' locker room are highly unlikely to make that list.

Bad mental image. Where's that brain bleach?

How far can you push it? When 9-11 hit, gas prices went up 150-500% in plenty of places, and many hurricanes have left gas stations out of gas for several days. When my bike runs out of fuel, it'll be because I'm finally so finely chiseled that I can just take my shirt off and wait for the sugar mamas to line up and fight for who will take care of me.

As long as you're staying in one area and the temperatures aren't too cold, solar stills are hard to beat. Sure, they're slow, but once built, all you have to do is continue providing dirty water. Several small ones or a couple of large ones should be able to provide plenty of drinking water, and basic sand filtration will handle bathing water if your source isn't clean enough for that already. For a large solar still, a hoop house is a pretty good starting point; figure out a way to catch water at the sides, and a big shallow pool of dirty water in the middle should evaporate effectively.

You know, it's funny that in a church known for its missionaries on bicycles, so many are absolutely dependent on the family minivan. The first sign a disaster is real is when the fuel prices go through the roof...if there's any fuel to be had. How are you planning to get around when you can't top off the tank for $20? How many have a commute/utility bicycle available and stay in good enough shape to get to Sacrament Meeting or across town on it? Lots of options out there for hauling kids, too, though as soon as they can be trusted on a two wheeler, letting them carry their own weight (literally) is the best plan.

The crystallized part gave it more texture. I think there was just enough liquid honey mixed in to make it whip smoothly.

Can't remember the name of the company, but there's one near Georgetown TX that somehow whips crystallized honey into fresh honey to make a spread that's still pure honey, but spreads like butter. Sounded like the sort of process that's dead simple, but takes some experimentation to find the ratios and method. The end result is addictive though. If you could find a way to whip butter into it at the same time, you could save a step when prepping toast.

I did a couple months as a janitor at my old high school when I moved back to town while looking for something permanent. Girls locker room had an exterior door, but the light switch was by the interior hallway door. Crossing that room in the dark, and <SQUISH>. I never hoped so much that I had stepped on a dead small animal. No such luck, though.

Well, that and they really shouldn't have any empty wine bottles laying around.

So you're saying Trump is the best of us?

Without knowing exactly how the questions were phrased, it's impossible to properly interpret any poll like this. After all, one could ask "is it acceptable to kill an unarmed Japanese man if he's raping your child" and use the results to show that Mormons overwhelmingly support genocide of Asians.

Amusing anecdote there; I once got laid off, and since I had some savings plus unused vacation time, I ended up accepting a job where I couldn't start for around two months. (Training classes were full, mostly of my fellow laid-off folks from the previous job.) I had "enough to get by," but figured since I'd been paying into unemployment, I might as well get some back. This was before they cared about anything beyond "employment contacts." You could literally walk into WalMart, apply for CEO with no qualifications and count it as a contact. High school dropouts would apply for jobs that required significant experience beyond a PhD just so they wouldn't accidentally get hired before their benefits ran out. The fact that I had accepted an offer and just couldn't start yet was irrelevant to them; I had to make 2-3 contacts per week and turning down an offer would have to be justified with the local office in order to not have to pay back any unemployment compensation received. More than once, I filled out applications with "sex: hopefully tonight," and a whole list of other somewhat inappropriate answers. ("Why are you applying for this job?" "Because TWC says I have to apply for something.") Somewhat disturbingly, a few places called for interviews. Fortunately, when I went to the interviews and explained what was going on, none of them wanted to offer me their $6/hour jobs (minimum was $5.25/hr at the time) for a few weeks until my $12.75/hour job started.

I always figured it was for forms, so people like me would stop putting "as much as possible" in the blank.

Need to add a pre-K lesson in how what's between your legs tells you exactly what gender you are, and how to man (or woman) up and deal with it whether you like it or not.

In at least a few cases, I'm not sure they sober up enough to spot the inconsistency before the TR interview.

Yeah; she would have started throwing small appliances at me before the wedding, rather than just a couple months before the divorce.

Highly doubtful; what woman would want a man who really is always right and really can walk on water? Besides: "I have a headache." "Not anymore."

But will these be available to all service members regardless of gender?