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Black november
Black november
9 years ago

On tool maintenance….I recently bought some INOX based on a Geoff Lawton’s son’s recommendation. I haven’t used the stuff yet, but supposedly it is better for the environment, food grade, and doesn’t have a lot of the harmful chemicals of WD40. http://www.inoxmx.com/wp-content/uploads/INOX-MX3-AEROSOL-USA.pdf

Shannon
Shannon
9 years ago

Jack
I would get a AC professional to look at your AC unit….Lots of times if your AC is dripping from the tube leading to the outside of your house, This could be the secondary drain, meaning that the primary drain is stopped up. It Could lead to AC failure or even water damage to your ceiling…. Not all AC’s are like this but in most cases that hose leaking to the outside is a secondary drain.

USCPrepper
USCPrepper
9 years ago

Right out of college, I got a job as an “analyst” for a Wall St. firm. This was during the end of the housing bubble. So, I have an intimate first hand knowledge of what was going on with the loans at that time.
I’m very nervous about the return of these absurd lending practices, but I haven’t seen anything that resembles what was going on at the time. There’s no minimum wage gardeners getting approved for $700k mortgages on a negative amortization loan etc. at least not yet. But, the banks are doing similar lending practices in auto loans, and they can and will do them again in housing as soon as they think the market will buy them.

USCPrepper
USCPrepper
9 years ago

Regarding the bad advice millenials are getting.
We are told you need to put 20% down to buy a house responsibly. We are told you need to get an education at any cost. We are told that housing prices being high is a good thing. We’re told that a house can be used as a tool for funding retirement. And we’re told that even the smallest amount of savings should “be doing something with it” which somehow always means putting it in places the oligarchs can steal from it.
Well, baby boomers… who’s going to buy your house, so you can fund your retirement with such great advice given to our generation?

John Wheeler
9 years ago

One thing about air compressors, I’m sure the one you recommended is great, but for the people who can’t afford the $250, I just want to say that having a cheap $20 one in my car at all times makes a world of difference over not having one at all. There have been a number of times when I have had a slow leak and that has saved me from having a blowout — and one time before I had it when I was not saved. It may be noisy and take 20 minutes to inflate the tire, but it is still much better than nothing.

Alex Shrugged
Alex Shrugged
9 years ago

The few things I have to add to a very long history segment are so minor I’m going to drop them and agree with Jack.

Here is the relevant paragraph from “Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War” by Nathaniel Philbrick…

“[…] there was a third name for the spirit Massasoit’s people associated with death, the night, and the bitter northeast wind: Tisquantum, or Squanto for short. By assuming the spirit’s name, Squanto was broadcasting his claim to an intimate relationship with an entity that the Pilgrims later equated with the devil.”

There is also a supporting quote from William Bradford himself…

“But by the former passages, and other things of like nature, they begane to see yt Squanto sought his owne ends, and plaid his owne game, by putting ye Indeans in fear, and drawing gifts from them to enrich him selfe; […] he made them beleeve they kept ye plague buried in ye ground, and could send it amongs whom they would, which did much terrifie the Indeans…”

So… Squanto was telling the tribes that the Englishmen had Plague stored in barrels that could be released at will and thus controlled the tribes through fear and lies.

What a sweetheart.

Alex Shrugged

Marcus Greybeard
Marcus Greybeard
9 years ago
Reply to  Alex Shrugged

“So… Squanto was telling the tribes that the Englishmen had Plague stored in barrels that could be released at will and thus controlled the tribes through fear and lies. ”

Change “Squanto” to GWB, “Englishmen” to Iraqis, and “tribes” to American People, and the story takes on an even more familiar air.

It’s pretty clear that Squanto was just another self-serving politician.

Marcus Greybeard
Marcus Greybeard
9 years ago

All good points, for sure. And it is important to view the situation holistically, to get a contextual view of Squanto’s actions.

I just always have a difficult time finding any justification for ruling through lies and intimidation.

I love the history segments! Thank you Jack and Alex!

Alex Shrugged
Alex Shrugged
9 years ago
Reply to  Alex Shrugged

I just wanted to point out (and will continue to point out) that the 1600s were royally F-‘d up, so running into men and women acting F-‘d up should be expected. There is a tendency to idealize these times. In 70 years from today, if you are still alive, you will be shocked by how your great grandchildren will idealize your times. Even with a full record available (which does not exist even today) our children will generally idealize us.

I may occasionally push very hard against that ideal in order to wake everyone up, including myself.

A princess of the Middle Ages did NOT run around in pink velvet slippers. A scientist of the Renaissance was NOT a solidly objective analyst. The American Indians were NOT “the Noble Savage” as the philosopher Rousseau imagined him. The physicists of the 1890s had NOT discovered everything there was to discover. World War I was NOT “the war to end all wars”. None of these people knew their future. We can see it, because we live in their future. They were blind, struggling to find their way through the dark.

Alex Shrugged

UnentitledMillennial
UnentitledMillennial
9 years ago
Reply to  Alex Shrugged

Are not we too blind, struggling to find our way through the dark? We have the light of 20/20 hindsight to view the past, but not our present.

Marcus Greybeard
Marcus Greybeard
9 years ago

Excellent point. I would add that we are fortunate enough to have a much larger, broader, and accessible volume of recorded history with which to look back and analyze.

Steve
Steve
9 years ago

Original hose for the compressor came up on Amazon while I was looking at the compressor.

http://www.amazon.com/Viair-00030-Extension-Closed-ended-Coupler/dp/B002O2DYPU/ref=pd_sim_263_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=00HNYCP6MXFX3B1MG76H

Newtopian
Newtopian
9 years ago

On the parenting thing:
I use a similar method that was mentioned. The wife and I learned it from an online “positive parenting” course.
I don’t think it’s too “statist”.
It goes something like this:
On brushing teeth, there are two choices. You can brush your teeth, or not. If you choose not to, you won’t get anything sweet tomorrow. That’s your choice.
We give my son choices, and let him decide which. But we don’t force anything. Is that statist? I’m not sure. But it works like a charm and we haven’t had to yell or get into power struggles in quite some time.

As for the air compressor, I carry a Home Depot special. It’s a $100 Husky compressor, with a 12v cig lighter and a 120 plug for the inverter in my truck. I have tires possibly similar to Jack’s, 10-ply truck tires. I keep them at 55psi. It’s not a high dollar item, but it’s not the el-cheapo one that will die after a few uses. I’ve used it several times with no issue. If and when it craps out, I’ll be getting a heavier duty one.
But as for it being a “hard pill to swallow”, like I tell my wife, “I only want to cry once”.

Newtopian
Newtopian
9 years ago

In the beginning, when my son chose to not brush, all we had to do was make good on our threat of “nothing sweet tomorrow”, and he hasn’t chosen that since.
We tell him to brush, leave the room, and he does it on his own, every time.
Whatever it was, it worked. I’m no longer the father that held his head against my stomach to brush his teeth for him. I hated being caught up in power struggles with him.
He gets into the truck, he brushes his teeth, he picks out his own clothes. But he still sometimes chooses to not eat what we cook for him. And thats his choice to go hungry. But I agree, there are some things that he must do. Wear clothing is one. Don’t want to wear shoes outside, fine. But those rocks will hurt. He now puts his shoes on without asking.
He’s almost 5 now, so I think he’s on the cusp of getting out of this “fuckin fours.”

I’d like a larger compressor, but will need a truck box first. The Husky is about the size of a shoebox, and it slides nicely under the back seat. I have a few items in the bed, but nothing of real value, until I get a lockable box. Axe, shovel, hitches, straps all ride in the back. The rest is inside with car seats, go-bag, recovery gear, etc.

Chris H.
9 years ago
Reply to  Newtopian

Newtopian wrote: “He’s almost 5 now, so I think he’s on the cusp of getting out of this ‘fuckin fours.'”

You mean there’s an end to this stage? Thank God! My son turned 4 in May and if we have to live through more than a year of this, he likely won’t make it much past 5.

Our daughter was NOTHING like this at the same age.

BillyS
BillyS
9 years ago
Reply to  Newtopian

We use the same “Love and Logic” system as well. I think it may have been misrepresented by the caller. The choices you give your children are meant to give them input into things they otherwise have no control over.

“You are going to wear a shirt to Grandma’s house. Whichever shirt you choose is irrelevant, but no shirt is unacceptable. Now, which will it be, the red or the blue?”

It’s not an illusion of choice because she does have some say in what happens. And before, she’d throw fits and make all kinds of hell for us. Now, she feels like she’s part of the process and instead of a stubborn and frustrated kid, we have a pretty well-behaved and cooperative one.

Now, the little, inconsequential choices may seem pointless, but the thing is, they’re supposed to grow in importance and complexity as your child grows older. They learn that decisions have consequences and as they show responsibility, you grant them greater privilege. The course is designed to develop critical thinking and rational decision making in children.

I’m thinking that if this is the same course the State endorsed, then perhaps they didn’t read to far into it. It’s about 30 pages in, though, so probably not.

USCPrepper
USCPrepper
9 years ago
Reply to  BillyS

I was the one that sent in the story to Jack.

What really made me laugh about the advice the state was providing was the fact that they told us to narrow the choices down to 2, and make sure that they are both choices that you are okay with, and relatively arbitrary in nature. That’s where I really lost it, because they might as well have said: ‘Do you want corrupt politician who’s a slave to big money interests with a D after his name? Or an R after his name? If you don’t choose one… you can’t bitch and you’re unpatriotic’ And the fact that they knew they could tell us this information and trust we wouldn’t turn it back on them says a lot about what they think of us. Also, I was literally the only one in the room that saw it (including the instructor), so they apparently think pretty accurately of us.
FWIW – we follow a Montessori style program (more or less) with our son, and that does include a lot of choices, but they’re REAL choices, presented at appropriate times (i.e. it’s playtime now, would you like to play with the train, or the dump truck?) The kid really gets to decide at that time what he wants to play with. They don’t just get to play with the dump truck in the middle of a funeral because they want to, but at a time when it is appropriate to do so. And the choice has to be appropriate for their cognitive ability, which will vary with every child at every stage of development.
In my very limited experience, offering a young child who isn’t ready for the choice between two arbitrary things will either result in an answer of BOTH!, or NONE! Also, giving a choice to a child that cannot vocalize the choice results in a child that is WAY too old just pointing and grunting their answers to everything.

Marcus Greybeard
Marcus Greybeard
9 years ago
Reply to  USCPrepper

“FWIW – we follow a Montessori style program (more or less) with our son, and that does include a lot of choices, but they’re REAL choices, presented at appropriate times (i.e. it’s playtime now, would you like to play with the train, or the dump truck?) The kid really gets to decide at that time what he wants to play with.”

I’m not sure how this example demonstrates a “REAL” choice, or is that different than the shirt example. It’s just my opinion, but playtime is actually one of the times that I would not want to offer such specific choices, and step back a bit to see what activities the child gravitated towards, in the absence of pre-determined options.

I’m not criticizing your approach to playtime activities, just offering a differing view. The fact you are even thinking about offering your child choices and being engaged in playtime activities shows you are a loving, caring parent, already headed down a solid path.

Good luck with the Montessori school. I have heard pretty positive things about their program.

BillyS
BillyS
9 years ago
Reply to  USCPrepper

Our daughter is in a Montessori program as well, which ironically led to the problems we were having. She wanted to wear her sandals to school but because of the mulch and the sand in the yard, sandals were not allowed because the kids kept getting crud under their shoes and complaining about it.

Every day at 6 AM, Dearie Pie would be giving us hell because she wanted to wear her sandals. She used to get to wear her sandals, it’s so hot outside, Mom wears sandals… So many valid reasons why she should get to wear sandals and she either didn’t understand or care that it was the rules. It was a daily thing. And yes, I can be quite convincing when I lower my voice and make a demand, so it didn’t matter- she didn’t wear the sandals.

But it was messing up MY day to have every flipping day start with an argument, fits, threats, punishments, etc. Now, sandals aren’t an option, and they’re never discussed. She can wear the pink shoes or the purple ones. If she replies with sandals, pink shoes it is and we’re off. I’m not arguing and neither is she. We’re all a lot happier.

Of course, mileage may vary.

As she moves into new phases, I’m going to do the best I can to teach her how to think critically and rationally. To see the emperor wears no clothes. It’s going to be a serious task to educate against state propaganda and the statist sheep mentality of what I imagine will be all her friends and family except for me.

Taking a deep breath…

USCPrepper
USCPrepper
9 years ago
Reply to  USCPrepper

@Marcus Greybeard –
Maybe that’s not a great example, I was just coming up with one off the top of my head. The important thing is that he is learning through play, and not just running around knocking things over. Or just looking like a zombie while staring at a TV screen.
I do consider the choices that he gets to be REAL choices, and obviously as he gets older he will get more choices.
Yes, you’re right about the play having more choices available than just two, I just wasn’t going to write them down in the comments section of this page.

USCPrepper
USCPrepper
9 years ago
Reply to  USCPrepper

@ BillyS –
Wow, you and I sound similar!

FWIW, I consider you limiting the choice to only shoes that are appropriate to be still giving real choices. My son would choose fleece footsie pajamas when the temperature is 100 degrees+ or shorts and sandals if it’s below freezing given the option. I don’t make any apologies for limiting the choice of super warm pajamas for cool nights or shorts and sandals for hot days.

If it’s of any help at all: My son was doing the same thing when he wasn’t ready to make a choice, and everything I offered was just NO! So, I took the choice away from him and just got him dressed for a little bit, without giving him a choice and then he started asking for specific shirts or shoes etc. indicating to me that he was ready to have the choice back. So I would just tell him that he could, if he asked me politely, “Daddy, can I please wear my Thomas the Train shirt today?” or whatever. After a couple times of modeling it, he began to do it on his own, which had the added benefit of having a 2 year old that speaks in complete sentences while my friends are making excuses for why their 4 year old only points and grunts. Or occasionally says something like, “MINE THOMAS!” as if we’re supposed to understand that.

Best of luck!

RonBoots
RonBoots
9 years ago

FWIW- I reguarly listen to a real estate podcast and recently one of the guests discussed how they were moving into mostly commercial deals (apartments of 5 units or more) because commercial loans were so easy to get right now. I believe he even said something like “pre-collapse easy.”

USCPrepper
USCPrepper
9 years ago
Reply to  RonBoots

God, I’m so glad I got out of the industry!

But, I don’t get why the guest would brag about that? He’s basically saying that he’s investing heavily in a space that has already been artificially inflated by the banks to the point where it’s about to collapse for no other reason than he doesn’t have the financial means to do something wiser.

RonBoots
RonBoots
9 years ago
Reply to  USCPrepper

I don’t think that is where he was headed. I could be wrong about the specifics, but if I remember correctly the discussion was about obtaining mortgages to buy more investment properties. Banks that sell to Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac will only allow 4 loans so then investors start looking for portfolio lenders (smaller banks who keep the loans in house.)

Once they have maxed out those options, most of them have been successful enough to to move into larger properties. The person being interviewed just made an off hand comment that they were mostly concentrating on commercial loans as that is where they were at now in their business goals and that the commercial loans were easy to get currently, at least in his area.

Alan
Alan
9 years ago

On the compressor, if you have room and don’t have a Steven Harris battery bank, you could always do the less expensive, more flexible, Porter Cable and buy an inverter that would clamp to your battery. Both the PC compressor and inverter would be lees expensive than the one specialized unit, leaving you with 2 very useful tools.

Jose Garcia
9 years ago

Take away from the show: “A good business is worth more than a 401K plan.”

Chris H.
9 years ago

So I did a quick search on the Stefanie O’Connell who was quoted in the financial article that Karim sent in, and it’s even worse than you thought, Jack. Here’s her profile on the US News and World Report website:

Stefanie O’Connell is a New York City based actress and freelance writer. She chronicles her struggle to “live the dream” on a starving artists’ budget at thebrokeandbeautifullife.com and her book, “The Broke and Beautiful Life,” is now available.
http://www.usnews.com/topics/author/stefanie-oconnell

Now, perusing through her article titles I see a bunch of stuff about how to live frugally and spend less money while still enjoying yourself. That by itself is not exactly a bad thing. But why on earth she is being quoted giving INVESTMENT advice when it’s pretty clear that she doesn’t even do any investing herself is just baffling.

Paul
9 years ago

Another great show

I’m off to fly an effing helicopter

Gave me a chuckle

:~)

ILW
ILW
9 years ago

Regarding chloramine in the water, chemically it can be broken down very quickly with Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C).You only need about 20mg/Gallon of water. Just buy vitamin C 1,000 mg tablets and treat a 55 gallon barrel with one tablet with every refill. At that point, the remaining chlorine will gas off like normal in a few hours.

Insidious
Insidious
9 years ago
Reply to  ILW

Thank you for posting this!

Jeff campsey
9 years ago

There are some paint strippers that use orange oil as the active ingredient. I used one a while back and it claimed to keep working for up to 24 hours. Much more pleasant than petroleum distillates.

Michael Sparks
9 years ago

Couple of things.

WD40 sucks for rust prevention. It drys and leaves no protection. I’ve had rusted guns after wiping down with WD40.

Cleaning your tools and using simple mineral oil will do a better job it doesn’t dry, yes of course it will collect dust, but it’s easier to wipe of dust than remove rust. AMSOIL metal protector is a better rust protectant (dislaimer I’ve got financial interest with that statement so take it for what’s it’s worth)

On the Wood protectant, I’m partial to Boiled Linseed Oil (B.L.O.) be sure to get the stuff that is actual oil and not some synthetic chemical. All my wood handles are treated, I prefer the sanding method for a couple of reasons.
1. you can get handle smoother and free of imperfections, most handles are rougher’nacob. taking it down to 100 or even 150 grit makes for a nice feeling handle.
2. I have yet to use any varnished type of handle that doesn’t give blisters. I nicely finished BLO handle will not do this over extended use.

On to treatment, don’t get that shit too heavy on your applications, it will be tacky, sticky and gooey if you do and that will surly give you blisters. Use some 0 or 00 steel wool if it’s tacky. That will take off the top layer, then reapply a small amount of BLO let it sit for about an hour and wipe it off. Also it’s best to apply on a warm, non-humid day or it takes forever to dry.

Last on the BLO, it reminds me of being a kid, my dad refineshed gun stocks and the smell of BLO takes me back to my childhood.

Michael Sparks
9 years ago

On to the financial.

I’m not sure where this 90 days emergency fund thing came from. Oh and a $1000 doesn’t buy shit if you have an emergency. I’m partial to 1-3 years emergency fund. The size of your emergency is directly proportional to the size of your emergency fund. I prefer the larger the better.

Most people can cut $100-$300 a month of bullshit from their budget to put towards savings. It’s not that hard to do.

As far as safe investments. I talked with millennial last year that was only earning 5% but guaranteed to never go down. His “financial adviser” told him he needs to have other investments to gain more ROR. The so called adviser said you have plenty of time before retirement that if the market goes down you will be able to make it up.

His rebuttal was, your right I have plenty of time, that’s why I don’t need work risk on trying to get a high ROR. “I’ve got so long to compound, and my money will never go negative that I will stick with the lower return”. Of course the financial adviser didn’t like that.

Lastly, I believe many people discount the risk of business, and other investments compared to the stock market. I’m just the opposite, while yes being a business owner can be risky, it has far great potential than any market returns over the long term, and as far as being risky, isn’t having a job putting all your eggs in one basket? I doubt 100% of my customers will quit buying all at once.

Michael Sparks
9 years ago

I like the bucket method, that makes a lot of sense. Especially the investing bucket. So many are stuck in this dollar cost averaging, whereas if they had a good sized bucket of money they could take advantage of quantity discounts or larger investments that the potential of higher returns.