25/10/2011

morning,

 

in town, will be heading back into the brush tomorrow..

looking forward to the tranquility and being able to do my things..

 

also packing some survival loot from the technocult..  a few items...

will be nice to have the plastic buckets..   thinking to start buying plastic tool boxes next trip to Panama,

want to get things as organized as possible, so I can have more breathing room in my shelter..

 

one thing at a time relentlessly working towards my preparedness goals..

 

and will start working on stuff to build a fire piston,  and be able to light fires on days too cloudy for a lens, or even at night..

will be fun to play around with, and learn the skills, and work on some new habits, keeping dry tinder etc.. will take me a big step farther from reliance on the technocult,  with something that will fit into my refugee kit...

 

thinking I have a long 3/8's stainless bolt in my stash, to use for the piston, will have to wait a couple of weeks until next town trip, to look for some copper tubing to fit, and an O ring..  then  will make a wooden shaft to fit the tube into..  also thinking to do a brass wire bail as a keeper for the plunger, and will do some kind of lanyard attachment point for the whole device..  I like to tie my survival stuff as much as possible to the bags etc..  so it doesnt get lost in a tumble.. or fall out of a pocket..

 

when I can find the stuff, will likely make several smaller units,  and scatter them around in things like my bow quiver, maybe do a downsized version to go on key chain... so that the chances of having one at any given time are increased..

 

I have a stainless can for tinder..  will likely put the charred cloth into a plastic bag inside of it, due to the ambient humidity of the rain forest..

in the smaller kits use a plastic bottle perhaps.. here one has to be very careful keeping things dry, even the bakelite handles of kitchen knives will grow fungus... 

 

as do the rubber handles on tools etc..

 

also hoping to afford more nylon cord next month, to do some more heavy duty net bags, and to work on my wooden back back frame..  for lacing, and doing a net bag, so I can just stuff things into it..

 

tired of busted zippers on packs.. they look good but last a year at most of regular use..

Im afraid alot of survivalist types are going  be hauling their stuff in their bedraggled sleeping bags in short order...

 

fast downhill trip on yuppie gear..

 

well, I need to go take a bath, and put more bread in the oven, likely a couple weeks until next blog posting....

 

have a good day who ever you are..

 

 

 

 

18/10/2011

Afternoon,

in town,  just did a border cross a few days ago...

 

still having probs with the infection,  but using hexoclorophene for mouth wash.... and has stopped most of it... 

 

anyway, have been teaching a small tribe of girls how to bake yeast breads and today cinnamon rolls..  people who had never had a real cinnamon roll in their lives.....

 

Have been doing alot of searching on line for small scale agriculture machinery,  we are about to boot the farm considerably in the next couple years, with first priority being food security for ourselves,  and survival food stashes,  and after that use the excesses as a business...

 

the business model is a two sided thing...  with an eye to whats coming...

 

why not?  better than holding down a job and being afraid to leave it.....

 

and the cinnamon rolls are part of the plan....  soon to be selling in a market thats never tried them...  might do OK eh?

 

also bought a few items in Panama,  found 22 inch rula style machetes, not available in costa rica...

 

nice size for gardening...

 

I was reading awhile back online and ran into a thread on swords versus machetes as weapons...  guys, survival heads,  arguing over which is better..

 

Well,  let me say this about that:   swords quit evolving much maybe a hundred years ago..  made obsolete by the revolver etc...  

 

Or did they?   if you search rula machetes, or try imacasa.com  you can see images of a rather strange machete virtually unknown in the US market...

it has a narrow blade,  and comes in lengths up to 28 inches....   if you study the images, and you have any background in swords,  you will realize its basically a backsword...  differences being a wider blade...  the blade is also thinner...   basically this IS the continued evolution of the sword..  improvements in spring steel manufacture allowed the use of much  thinner stock,  i.e. a much faster lighter sword...  and the width of blade does nothing to hurt its effectiveness..

 

the sword operates on the physics principle of the inclined plane or wedge...  the thinner the wedge,  the sharper it can be...

 

so a sword thats say a 16th of an inch thick,  can cut much more effectively than one an eighth thick...   it can also travel thru the air much faster, and is lighter and takes less muscle to wield...  basically a guy with a rula could cut a man with a heavier sword to shreds...   with little chance of being blocked as with heavier slower blades...  due to blade being able to move faster than the human eye can follow...

 

I wouldnt even consider a historic sword in comparison...

 

and here in central america, you can buy the rulas for $5 or less any where theres a hardware store....

 

the steel is hard enough that it will just barely file...

 

and its flexible enough you can bend it as far as you dare....  its serious spring steel, not some immitation "stuff" from india, that wont hold an edge like it will hold a bend....

 

 

Ive used alot of machete steel..  its good stuff...  very seldom break them.. even cutting serious tropical hardwoods...   and the locals use them on larger trees, I have seen latins cut down trees over two feet thru, with machetes, with the blade "ribboning" between strokes due to its flexiblility...

 

try that with your immitation historic sword....

 

basically what it amounts to, is the rula is the height to date for a slashing sword.  and after you use them down a bit they tend to get very pointy...

 

they are also ubiquitous...   dont elicit much notice...   and if you want to practice,  just find a brush patch in need of clean up....  

 

reason I mention this, is I realized something about the bible and swords...  lets assume I am correct on my overview, book of Enoch etc...

basically the aliens running the test,  are of some kind of militaristic culture,  i.e. Jehova of Arimies.....

 

OK,  Jesus said if you dont have a sword to sell your robe and get one...  strange statement for the prince of peace..

 

but recently heard a passage that might explain some...   in the bible,  old testament I think, and it was that  the last of the reptoids were going to be finished off with the sword..

 

connect this to the cutting of necks in the book of enoch....   ie it answers the question I have had about it being done with expedient pocket knives, or swords, axes, etc....   and considering the descriptions of depth of blood from the event being up to a horses bridle,  it would take alot of swords, and I wondered if the aliens were going to supply swords or box cutters or something, as the way its written in Enoch, they are going to order the suvivors they like to cut the necks of those who fail the final tests, ie did you do anything for those at the very bottom of the pile of greedy self centered humanity..   JC himself explains this one, and that the losers will be led off to be cut off into eternal darkness...  connect with Enoch..

 

anyway on towards my point;  that JC is sked to be appointed ViceRoy of this planet,  comander in chief big time,  rule with an Iron rod, and all that..

 

so all the Christains who read the sword passage and think it justifys an AK-47 or an AR clone,  may in fact be considered to be disobeying a direct order...

 

nothing a military mind hates more,  than troops who think they know better than their leaders....

 

if I am told to get a sword,  a sword I will get, and the very best one I can...  doesnt need  to be spendy or fancy looking,   needs to be a good sword, not a fake,  and in my book,  a rula would make a much better issue battle sword than anything in the catalogs of the self professed experts of a dead art...

 

old chinese saying,  that those who speak, do not know, and those who know do not speak...

 

the real experts with blades  in modern times are guys who work in the brush and jungles with blades every day, all day long, clearing acres, planting food etc., with nothing but a machete...   and they have the muscles and skills to prove it...  if you ever come to central america,  observe the men, you can tell a campesino from a town dweller in a quick glance..   the  country guys are gnarly...  and the tool they use most is the common machete, and most prefered for serious work are the longer rulas...  and many of them can clear an acre or more in a day....   you try that....

 

in battle,  its not a 30 second thing, goes on until only guys from one side or the other are left standiing...  and its not a place for a purist thrusting weapon...

 

Id much rather be on the side of gnarly campesinos than city types with ornate relics...  

 

now to point...  if this is all a big test,  following orders might carry some points with it...  and following that order might be what shifted the balance enough to put a sinner on the side of the cutters, rather than the cuttees...  and a humble blade that was of better practical use would be more respected than a historic dinosaur blade, who's design and materials enhancement stopped a hundred years ago, or that was impractical in a real battle....

 

and yes, I could design a better sword than a rula, but the rula would be my starting point....

 

and its a sword that anyone can afford...

 

I bought three this week for $3.50 each...  and got the shorter 22 inch and a 24 inch rula, because I was buying them  for use by small women....

 

For myself, I like the  26 and 28 inch rulas..

 

anyway, my point is; that  it might be advisable to have one on hand for everyone in your clan...

 

they are a prime survival tool.. here where its warm all the time, it aint an axe...   if I had to get down to one possession, it would be a rula...  I can grow food, gut fish, or defend myself and my family, and do it very very effectively with that one single device....

 

and do it for next to nothing, and carry the thing full time in my hands if need be...  and here in central america, they are the weapon of choice killing snakes..

 

most of which are extremely toxic.. they also leap, yes, large snakes eight feet or so long at times, that can leap more than their body length...

 

hope you are really really good with your shovel....

 

so...   they might be considered the appropriate tool to rid the planet of two legged snakes..

 

and for a final point, there is a guy in Ciudad Neily who begs on the street..   he sits on the sidewalk with his plastic cup..  he has a leg thats had exposed flesh for most of my years here, you can see the meat any day of the week you happen by....   he got bit by a local snake..  once years ago.. and went from a working man to being handicapped for life in half a second....

 

I went past him a couple days ago, on the way to buy art supplies for a young girl, on the way back,  the change went into his cup, and I heard him say thankyou as I kept walking...   there but for the grace of God sit I......  I live in the brush,  toxic snakes are a part of my life..  and there is no shortage here...

 

anyway, do search rula machetes,  and if you are really serious about edged weapons or following orders exactly,  get one...

 

G!