Comments

Episode-742- Listener Feedback Monday for 9-12-11 — 33 Comments

  1. Hmmm, Cody Lundine (Dave Canterbury’s survival partner) makes a decent living demonstrating and teaching wilderness survival. I think there’s a niche for almost anything, provided you’re good enough.

  2. Sorry for adding another comment. One variety that is a traditional open-pollinated corn for cornmeal, etc is Wapsi. It’s developed in Iowa but it’s been developed for decades. (My husband has relatives who grow it, and have for decades) I have been seeing it increasingly at some organic CSA’s. (for instance Venetucci Farm, Colorado Springs CO says they grow it) There are still OP corn out there.

    • @Lidia

      1. Don’t apologize for multiple comments you contributions are more than welcome.

      2. There is PLENTY of OP corn out there, the problem is cross pollination. No matter what you do today it is going to happen, all we can do is do good growing practices and hope for the best.

  3. @Jack,

    Yes, the kids are probably handing in their old broken toy guns…sort of like gang-bangers turn in their broken down REAL guns for their Shoe coupons or whatever they bribe them with.

    Perfect example of idiots trying to make themselves feel like they’ve done something, spreading their stupidity around, and accomplishing nothing.

  4. Here’s an artcile on folks who are “Workampers” with some thoughts on a nomadic working lifestyle.
    http://www.alternet.org/story/152220/'workampers‘:_what_it’s_like_to_wander_around_the_country_in_an_rv_desperately_looking_for_work

    ‘Workampers’: What It’s Like to Wander Around the Country in an RV Desperately Looking for Work

    Finding a new job today often requires thinking outside the box, and you can’t think much further outside the job search box than workamping.

  5. @Jack “unfortunately for people in their 40’sand 50’s it gets hard to learn this new stuff, you have a mental block that it is even possible”
    I disagree very much. The mental block isn’t like you think. I have a friend in Australia who saw a need to use her tech/secretary type skills from home, working for herself, she got a successful home business up and running and started the first online/school/community for virtual assistants. She is doing well, smart thinking scaling up her business that way.
    Another friend after her and her husband were laid off, various health issues in family, house repoed, is making money as a social media consultant, not yet to where they were before things got back, but it is helping and she gets better at what she does.
    A friend who works from home, taking care of her disabled husband, her mother who just passed away, she has her own web design business, in fact I know several in that age group who have started such businesses, some with more success than others.
    Another friend, very non-techy, first to admit, has a journalism background. She has learned to run her own wordpress site, create and sell products there using paypal. She has a blog talk radio show, and local radio show. Using her media background she helps small businesses get media exposure, this past month she started her own local television show. A big jump for her.
    Another friend learned a new skill, making the most beautiful handcrafted wooden pens, bought a website, set up booths at tradeshows. However, not enough $ for her time and she is searching for a new niche.
    Another friend quite a bit older than that, retired teacher, who started her own successful herb farm, business is growing, this year she added a nursery, and occasionally has herb/farming classes on her land. She is active in internet forums, on facebook, blogs, has virtual assistant take care of her site and newsletter.
    A retiree, made good money in the timber business, bought a franchise, took all his time, little return, part of his business was nutritional supplements. Something he got into when he and his wife decided to get in better shape as retirees. Clients would come in from out of town, ask if they could have stuff shipped to them. I remember talking to him as he was wondering if feasible, I said sure, have a website. He did, it took off, he closed the franchise. His web business slowed down as competition increased. He started a seo business as he learned things which brought traffic to his website.
    I will admit that some have a mental block that they can do something like running their own website, but they are willing to learn, and seeing others do it give them hope and they jump right in. One lady contacted me, she wanted to be able to take care of her site like the lady who started her own TV show did, but was concerned she couldn’t do anything that techie until her friend with the TV show admitted how little she once knew.
    Another friend went into the house staging business in CA, she was bookkeeper, but realized she could never make more than the hours she had in a day. Her specialty became going in and untrashing repo’s, because of her online presence, mainly places realtors hang out, she was contacted by a news network, who was doing a feature on trashed homes, wanting their camera crew to follow her crew cleaning up a bad one. She hadn’t been in business long, but she quickly had t-shirts with business name and number on the back made up in a day or 2’s time, and the exposure brought her much more business.
    Not all these friends are rich, some doing better than others, biggest challenge is not learning these new skills but how to market, sale, make it profitable.
    I could easily find more examples, they are there.
    No matter what age you can always learn new stuff. If you quit learning new stuff, you’d lose passion for life, and who in their right mind or not, would want to live that way!

    • @txmom, actually you just made my point for me, all those people prove it is possible. Hence my call to 40-60 somethings, IF YOU WANT and that is key, IF you want something more than you have, go do it, it is only a mental block.

      Most of the people today that have this block actually resent it that a kid today can become a millionaire by 19 without following the rules so they choose the block and hence cheat themselves. Anyone who has any real passion for anything can do it today, the choice as always is ours to make.

      While I know a lot of highly technical stuff the stuff that REALLY makes me successful anyone can learn in 3-6 months on their own. The key is you got to want it and you got to have passion. Most kids do, that is why I hate to see anyone tell them what they can’t do, it is bs in my view.

      In fact say a kid wants to do __________ online as a business and starts at 15, gives it hell for 5 years. At the end of those 5 years they know all they need to know to build something on ANY subject even if the fist one is a wash. That education in my view trumps ANY degree, period.

  6. Glad you liked the Jobsolescense article. It really hit home with me since it mirrors my experience over the last four years or so.

    In early 2008 I lost my job and wasn’t having any luck looking for a new one. After several months, one of the companies that I had contacted about a job called me up and offered me a contract consulting position (which I took).

    Fast forward three years and I’m still doing consulting work (although for different clients). I’m currently making about three times what I was making when I had a job.

    Having a business instead of a job was the best thing I ever did.

  7. Just a thought on situational awareness. An LEO posted on another blog about using a fire extinguisher as a defensive weapon. I’ve wondered since Columbine if it would be helpful to note fire extinguisher and fire hose locations, and what good it would do to hose down a shooter. Could a firearm be jammed or disabled with a blast of chemicals from an extinguisher?

  8. @Grandpappy- Doubtful. I dont think the discharge from a fire extinguisher will cause a firearm to malf… But I have never tried it. The big fire hoses could work to hose an attacker, but you still have a big water gun, and they have a real gun. Advantage to the person with the real weapon.

    • @Whiskey I agree what it will disable is the shooter. If you take a blast of that crap in the face it will shut you down really fast. That is probably how the LEO meant for it to be used.

  9. What’s disturbing to me about the “homeless man story” is the antagonistic attitude of the person who reported it. If perhaps he had treated the guy with a little humanity and civility, things wouldn’t have escalated and he wouldn’t have to get all afraid.

    Long ago I was friends with a man who lived on the street. He said that one of the things that was so difficult was people looking right through you like you didn’t exist. His name was Bobby, and he was a WWII veteran, and he was a kind, funny, smart and upstanding gentleman. He taught me about what it was like to be on the streets in the 80’s.

    Even if I don’t have money to offer, I always make eye contact and say something friendly when approached (sometimes I’ll make the first contact), and I’ve never been in fear of an attack. Ever.

    You know what? Being homeless doesn’t make a person a criminal, dangerous or scum. Treating someone who is living such a difficult life like they are scum is just plain wrong, and says more about you.

    I’m agnostic, but I grew up in a very Christian household and the importance of this issue was brought to my attention at a very early age. There but for the grace of god, etc. Think about it. Be NICE. What does it cost you? Things are BAD out there for a lot of folks. Gratuitous hostility is never the right thing.

    • @Ellen, let me say this CLEARLY so you can fully take it in, “NOT EVERYONE IS YOUR FRIEND”, there are times to help others and times to take care of yourself. At the point that the listener and this man came into to contact he had already STOLEN and SHOWN NO REGARD FOR THE PRIVACY OF OTHERS by panhandling in a restaurant after STEALING.

      There is nothing wrong with helping the homeless but there is a time and a place for everything. Your assertion of befriending a person in the middle of criminal activity is a great way to end up robbed, mugged, raped or possibly dead. Keep in mind the man’s response was to then shadow the listener when he left which was no doubt an attempt to intimidate.

      I could also spend hours about the many “homeless” in Dallas that beg on a street corner and then take the proceeds across the intersection for a bottle of JD or E&J, the last time I saw it the lady told me oh he is a regular and he isn’t homeless he lives in the Trailer Park down the road, that is his “job”. I am all for helping people, BUT you can’t help everyone so who you help is important not just from a personal protection standpoint but from a charity stand point. If I help a leach that is one more truly needing person I can not help because my resources went elsewhere. I know exactly the type of person this man was, they harass people and they are dangerous.

      • I’m just saying that there was a better way to defuse the situation than open hostility as a preemptive strike.

        • @Ellen, as you were not there and it wasn’t your ass at risk I say you are making a big leap in second guessing the person who was there and did see and feel the situation. Always trust your gut, those that don’t usually end up dead or sometimes worse.

        • As somebody who has helped feed the homeless, I thought he defused the situation quite well. Being “nice” to such people only enables them to continue their rudeness / lack of respect for others.

  10. Anyone else see the irony in the toy gun buyback being done by a group called “Fathers ARMED Together to Help, Educate, Restore and Save. “? Or are they also a Polka dancing troupe? And the fact that they intend to ‘bury’ the plastic toys with no mention of actually destroying them so either someone might dig them up in the future or they’ll just be burying trash which will never decay….how wonderful.

  11. I agree about Eddie Eagle. I’ve taught my kids what to do if they find a gun while playing with that one DVD. Since then, iLve given the DVD to my son’s preschool. I hope they start showing it in class. I’ve also started teaching my kids to shoot responsibly with a Daisy BB gun.

    Also, your recommendation of how to bring up safe storage is spot on. As far as the listener thinking about buying a firearm, contact an instructor and get training first. Every instructor I know has a variety of guns and will bring them so you can see what works for you.

    • I second the Eddie Eagle program. My now college age daughter quite literally cut her teeth on Eddies beak (the doll) and carried an Eddie Eagle backpack to school her first few years.
      I taught her to shoot at age 5 and we would go shooting about any time she asked. I think this combination taught her that guns are tools that require adult supervision, but they were not a mystery that you had to sneak around with.
      It’s a good program and I think the materials are still free for schools if they make a formal request with documentation, like their letterhead.

  12. Jack, I was sooo excited to get your feedback on my RV question today. Believe it or not we decided over the weekend before we heard your answer to start eating our stored food, we had 3 mo worth that’s been sitting around waiting for the STHTF and we are now going to transition to living on that at least for 50% of our meals. On top of that we are going to take your advice and get into the RV within a couple of months so that we can leave our apartment and rent and live in LA while still working our usual jobs. This will allow us to save up a bit more cash and get used to the lifestyle now. Thanks again really appreciated your advice and will follow up on the WWOOF.

  13. That is really sick someone would want their child to live in fear of something. I also played guns as a child it was good times as a kid. What is nice about paintball is when you hit them there is proof. Vs. what you did as a kid “bang bang i shot you” other kid “no you did not i dodge it”

  14. Not sure what’s difficult to understand that there are people (vegetarians, vegans, etc) who do not wish to contribute to or partake in a system that’s extremely cruel to animals- be it for food, entertainment, clothing, etc.

    For a better look at what really goes on behind the scenes, check out the movie Earthlings. Narrated by Joaquin Phoenix (who btw, did an awesome Johnny Cash).

    http://www.earthlings.com/

    • @Jason I never said I didn’t understand people not wanting to eat mass produced meat, I said I didn’t understand (though I do respect) people that don’t eat meat. The two things are VERY DIFFERENT. We eat 100% grass fed beef, pastured pork, wild game and mostly pastured chicken. Some times we do eat mass produced meat but it is the exception not the rule and if we have the option to choose something more healthy and ethically raised we always do.

      Humans evolved eating meat, we did this for about 190,000 years before the first field was plowed. Check out tomorrow’s episode I think you may learn something from it if you listen with an open mind.

      FTR I totally agree with the stance you take on mass produced meat, that is ONE of the many reasons I am developing AgriTrue to make meat that is from humanely raised animals more available.

      • My reply was in response to you saying it was “nonsense” that a vegetarian / vegan type would be ticked off if they discovered their compost had animal renderings. I can understand why’d they be ticked off. I can almost guarantee you those animal renderings came from a factory farm- regardless, my comment still stands- most vegetarians / vegans don’t wish to participate / contribute to any system (cosmetics, body-care products, entertainment, food, etc) that makes a profit from something that results from in cruelty to, experimentation on or abusing animals. You can disagree with their decision / reasoning, but I don’t think its completely unfathomable why they choose not to eat meat.

        Hey, I completely applaud your AgriTrue efforts & labeling and appreciate you speaking out about the ills of factory farming & animal welfare. Keep on keepin’ on. Can’t wait to see it on a label @ my local farmer’s market.

        • @Jason, fair enough, nonsense is probably to strong a word but I will tell you flat I “don’t get it” vegetarianism I mean. To me based on my knowledge of biology and anthropology it just doesn’t make any nutritional sense. I find most vegetarians think they are healthy but science real science shows otherwise. I also studied Natural Health from Clayton College for about a year, there was an email list and vegetarians were always saying how much better it was health wise they were also always the ones with chronic problems. Again I respect your choice because I respect you as a man and it is required of my libertarian principles but I don’t get it.

          Lastly I do think it is kind of foolish to take issue with animal rendering compost, the animal is dead, it wasn’t killed for compost so what better way to be a righteous vegan that to use it to grow veggies. Isn’t that better than into a landfill?

    • @Jason I think should raise chickens the AgriTrue way. Be an example of how we should treat animals. Thank them in the proper way for their lives and for sustaining ours. Protest by doing! Do not protest by not eating. Show them the way. Show them that there is profit in doing it the right way. Show them ethical way of it should have always been done. It is down right disgusting what they do. Show them a better way.

  15. No matter what compost or soil you use, you should have it tested for trace minerals. Test your well water as well. You need to make sure you not only have enough, but also in the right proportions. Some minerals can get toxic if you get too much in the soil and some diminish the effectiveness of other minerals. If you add minerals without knowing what is already there, you can get too much of some and may not be adding enough of others. The extension service in your area can help connect you with a good lab and livestock nutritionist. Even if you have no livestock, the mineral mix should be about the same for humans as well. Don’t assume your soil is fine. Some areas in the US are iodine or selenium deficient. Others have toxic levels of copper and selenium or other undesirable heavy metals. I found out that the high levels of sulphides and sulfates in my well water ties up the copper and zinc and renders them less effective when I water my garden with it. Both these minerals are needed for good immunity.

  16. For the topic on using the chemical light sticks, one thing to note is that this is a good time of year to get them. My local Dollar Tree currently has a large quantity of them in stock in all sizes, shapes, and colors; some for $1.00, some 2 or 3 for $1.00. They are meant for the upcoming Halloween festivities, and this is when and where I stock up and rotate my stock.

  17. Its absolutely ridiculous that at US GOVERNMENT JOBS you don’t have the protection of the US CONSTITUTION! 2nd amendment “…the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Not, “Shall be infringed whenever we feel like it.” >.<