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Episode-965- Listener Feedback for 8-22-12 — 36 Comments

  1. “i enjoyed playing with someone who is clearly mentally damaged”
    LOLed hard at that one my friend

  2. For FR notes, I keep a wad of 10’s & 5’s. I think of it like Exter’s inverted pyramid, the lower the denomination, the safer. During the Depression, change shops popped up that would make change for you for a fee. What if ATM’s are the only thing open, 20’s will still be in a big supply. I have now seen ATM’s pop out 50’s. I started experimenting while paying cash for everything, I look in the register to see what kind of change they have. Very few 10’s, many times I’ll get 3 (5’s) as change. Stock up on 10’s!

  3. To the listener that wants to shoot but is struggling to see the front sight try stick on reading lenses. The change to the directions is only use one, the eye you use to look at your front sight. Using two will hamper your distance vision out of your other eye. And place the lense on the upper portion of your glasses. Because your head will drop down to look at the sight, you’ll want the lense in that location for use. Here is a website to see the product, they might be available locally if you know what your looking for. Hope that helps. http://www.stickonlenses.net

    • aslink, good point! Something I rarely think about due to the fact my left eye is legally blind at 20/200 uncorrected.

      • Jack, I LOVED your idea for training and vision issues. See, my vision is 20/300 in my left eye and 20/700 in my right eye. Using sights of any kind is pointless for me because I can’t see them, but I can easily see people within the ranges one would deal with in a self-defense situation.

        I haven’t shot anything since I was a kid (shooting shotguns and rifles with my family in a “safe” place), and I’d love to find some help with handguns from the perspective of “muscle memory” and “just doing it”. Any suggestions where one might look for that sort of thing? I guess airsoft on my own property might be a good option because I can just practice ’til I get it. πŸ™‚ Thoughts?

        Oh, and before anyone flips out about a legally blind person wanting to carry, understand that 1) I know my own limitations and 2) there’s nothing that says a person with perfect sight isn’t going to come up on a situation where they can’t see a thing. And since fully-sighted people depend on what they see a LOT more than I do, I tend to think those folks COULD be more dangerous in that kind of situation because they don’t know how to rely on other senses. There’s also a guy (Carey something or other — the name escapes me now) who’s totally blind and has some videos of him shooting AND taking down a deer with a bow. Cool stuff!

    • Stick-ons are fine for target shooting, and will help the shooter develop an “index” for point shooting. However, I’m not a fan of specialty products that you won’t be wearing on the street.

      In the spirit of “train like you fight”, Jack’s suggestion of laser sights is a good one. For iron sights I find a vertical sighting system (like the Heine Straight Eights or XS) far superior to the standard three dot. I have both and prefer the XS Big Dots. Not cheap, but a godsend for older eyes.

      • I like the XS Big Dot sights (e.g. on one of my P7’s) and the Heinie straight-8’s (on my HK45). I think the former is better for “fast” shooting at the ranges discussed.

    • Holographic sights (e.g. EOTech), due to their physics/optics, are usually focused far out in front of the weapon (50 yds or 50 meters, IIRC for the original 55x series EOTechs). The *great* advantage of this for a farsighted/presbyopic person is that you don’t have to focus near and far, just far….

      I have not done much research as to whether the small pistol holosights and optically-based red-dot sights are similarly set-up, but I would guess that the answer is “yes” given that this feature is exactly what gives them their “zero” and intrinsic parallax correction at that distance.

      So, if you have a pistol that will accommodate one of these little sights (e.g. EOTech or Docter), it would be a viable option for sighted fire. Please check this for the particular sight you shop, as I haven’t researched models since I bought an EOTech for my AR about 6 years ago.

      Also, I agree 100% with Jack re: point/instinctive shooting at “mugging” distances.

      HTH,
      David

  4. I have tried to shore up my 401k, and my only option close to cash is a fund with 88% bonds and 12% cash. it sailed through the 2008 crash, but I don’t know what kind of bonds it is referring to so I feel screwed either way.

    • I just transferred my IRA into a money market and found similar problems. I had three to choose from. One was primarily t-bills, another primarily municipals, and the third primarily corporate commercial paper. I went with the last one. I really hate this damned if you do and damned if you don’t feeling.

      You can find out the specific holdings of any fund before you invest.

  5. Firing a weapon with visual problems: I went to the firing range with a son-in-law to try out something to carry, but due to diabetes, my eyesight continues to fade. No real problem with a 45, but with the 9mm and 22 revolver, I couldn’t focus well, and complained about what I thought was the lighting. I was getting only about 45 % of my shots in the kill zone. My son-in-law asked about where I was focusing, and I said on the sights, so he advised me to focus on the target and just let the sights line up blurred. That worked very well, and I was able to fire 100% in the kill zone. And also with my shotgun, I don’t try to battle with my glasses, I just shoot from the hip. That works well, too.

  6. Hello Jack, as to your response to the far out prediction you read to us toward the end of the show, I did not appreciate your use of “gd” in your response. I realize this is your show and I do not have to listen but you do not have to become so emotionally unwrapped in your responses that you loose decorum and insult some part of your audience. If you don’t like the story you are reading profanity does not drive the point home any more than what wisdom can do.

    • @Lou Giacona, while I do not often use that term it simply came up. If it troubles you that deeply go elsewhere, you can start by going to this page and reading section 3 http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/about-tspc/disclaimers-policies-2

      Likely you are worried about the “Lord’s name in vane” component, if so you may want to learn the actual meaning of that commandment before getting so upset about it.

    • I very, very rarely engage in theological dicussions online. It is not generally productive. However, Jack makes a good point. The primary offense against God’s name is not using it indiscriminately, but using it to teach false doctrine and/or lying by it. That is what is really meant by swearing…not “colorful” language, but rather, using God’s name as an endorsement of lies. That is, claiming untruth in the name of ultimate truth.

      Now, certainly, inappropriate use of it is an offense/irreverent and even sinful if you take an inerrant view of Scripture. I’m not condoning it…just suggesting that if you want to be offended by misuse of God’s name, there are far better examples of it: those that lie under oath and those that stand in the pulpit (or in front of the praise band) at many of your neighborhood churches.

      My apologies for delving into an area that is better left to other settings. This just hit a nerve of mine, I guess.

      • @RationalHusker, take a look at Travis Shute’s link below it will further expand your view on this issue. I think you are on the mark to a degree but if you really want to take this in historical content the article is a great resource. We need to remember that the commandments in many ways were designed to keep the Jewish people in effect “God’s people” in a polytheistic world. The Jewish faith was one of the first true monotheistic faiths, the “take not the name of the Lord God in vain” was designed to say, man does not speak for God, God will speak to man, when, how and IF he chooses.

        A quarter back saying, “God told me we will win this game” would be more taking God’s name in vain then me calling upon God (my version by the way not yours) to “damn” something. One is a decree something where man speaks for God (um televangelists anyone?????????) the other is a request, in fact it is not stretch to say that saying you want God to damn something is in fact a prayer.

        • I saw Travis’s link, and I agree that what it included and what you articulated are certainly on target. It is one of the many reasons God instituted this commandment. And while I do think there can be a completely valid way to use the phrase “GD it,” it is more often than not, flippant and irreverent. Not saying you did that at all…in fact, I haven’t even listened to that podcast, yet. Even if you did, it won’t ditract from my listening experience. So I’m not at all disputing your point and agree that historical context is huge.

          In fact, I think it reinforces my point that not using God’s name to teach falsely or lie really is at the crux of this one. Claiming to speak for God while telling untruths or pontificating personal beliefs, trying to escape civil punishment by invoking God’s name in a lie, and false teaching are all examples.

          Totally agree with your statement about QBs. What an arrogant thing to say…as if God is on your team and wants to “smite” the bad guys with different colored helmets…Ridiculous…and a lie.

          You can have the last word…I’m done on this, only out of consideration of those who’d rather not have this debate in this forum.

          –RH

        • @RationalHusker, good stuff all I will add is it isn’t rational or reasonable to expect other people to abide by you faith if they don’t share it. So in this case while I understand the religion and respect your right to practice it, I don’t feel obligated to follow it. Again as a deist I believe in God but I don’t believe in any organized faith. So saying GD to me may be frivolous but to me that doesn’t really matter.

          I don’t feel God keeps score. I know many do and I respect your view, really I do, it just doesn’t matter to me personally. Just like I don’t worry about reincarnation well at least the way a Buddhist does or worry I might offend “The God and Goddess” the way a practicing pagan might, though I have a tremendous respect for the pagan understanding of duality.

          Too me many (certainly not all) Christians want it both ways. They want to have other faiths not influence society but want to do it with their own. Doesn’t work that way, I don’t think you do BTW. Just this is an example, “don’t say that as it offends my religious beliefs”.

          I mean frankly unless it is a direct attack on a person for their faith me offending you isn’t my problem it is yours. Plenty of people are offended when I say shit or when I say I don’t care if two gays marry, etc. Putting it simply if I worried about someone being offended by what I say TSP wouldn’t exist.

    • Hello Jack and thank you for responding to my post. It is with sadness that I write this but for me it is a matter of principle and yes, it is more about what I believe and how I believe than what you say or what others say. I must sever myself from The Survival Podcast. I have read through your responses as well as all the others and while I see many examples tossed in front of me to read that should enlighten my thinking there are just two words missing that I would appreciate more, I’ll let your imagination lead you to what those words are. I have been with you from almost the beginning when you drove your car to work and put on a great podcast suffering through the traffic just like the rest of us and you were concerned about the everyday stuff just like the rest of us. I and my wife were some of your very first investors in the brigade wall and we invested into what you have today. I have listened to great shows and always looked for something that would help my family and I found a great deal. God has blessed you greatly and has brought you an audience like very few have, your words carry a great weight with many and that is why they contact you asking questions to which your answers will have lasting effect on their lives as you have done for me. You are right about many things and I will agree that I shouldn’t put up with hypocrisy – especially from myself. At this point to continue to listen would be hypocritical on my part since I raised the issue, please understand I know what the scriptures say about the use of the Lord’s name, it is how it was used, to cut down the belief system of another person and that is where I draw the line. Not about material stuff or such like that but a person who reached out and sent their material to you in hopes to make some sort of connection with you because of your status. I didn’t agree with what he said either but that isn’t the point, is it? Have a great life Jack and I wish you and your family no ill will. Be prosperous all your days and remember the One who makes it all possible. Lou.

      • @Lou also if you have listened as long as you say it is FAR from the first time you have heard it.

    • I find that Jack talks like a normal guy when talking to normal guys in the podcast. I find, in spite of myself, that my own vocabulary expands when I am in certain groups. If children are around there is some sort of guard up though. However, I’m not going to cut ties with myself because I don’t like this one aspect.

      That said, it would be nice if I could hang out with Jack in the car with my kids as he says things they need to hear. Oh well. I will continue to listen on my commute and talk about things with my family at the table.

    • I am not religious and the “gd” blew right by me but I have to agree that the emotionally unwrapped responses, as you put it, are a little offputting. I am usually wanting to follow the gist and get the message that seems to get lost in the rant. I gave up on talk radio because of ranting and would hate to give up on something that I feel is beneficial and very informative. Luckily, it isn’t every episode.

    • @Travis, while I have not read that article it is exactly how I have always understood the commandment. While I am personally a deist and do not personally feel bound by any organized faith, I respect the faith of others. I do expect though that as practitioners of said faith they should know their own faith better then I do. Sadly few of them do!

      If you are okay with shit and asshole but not GD, welp, think about that folks and please if that is you go read Travis’ link it is spot on. That might not mean that you decide to use the phrase but it may allow you to be fricken LOGICAL in the fact that if others do so it isn’t tantamount to clubbing a baby seal or burning down a church.

  7. has anybody heard of the dhs buying unbelievable quantities of hollowpoint and ap ammo recently? i’ve seen two articles saying that.

  8. Years ago I was flipping through the TV channels and I came across Jimmy Swaggart talking about the ten most evil things in the world today. Numbers one and two were money and television.I remember thinking to myself, well here is this guy on television asking for money,where does he fit on this list. About a month later,he got busted with the hooker. Haha. These people use the name of God and his word to get into peoples wallets.To me,that is the apex of taking his name in vain.

  9. Regarding blossom end rot and bio-available calcium: milk. Works just about immediately.

  10. Great show, Jack. While listening to what the tin hatter had to say, I was reminded of song by the Rock band Iron Maiden, ” When the wild wind blows” if you listen to the song and read the lyrics, I think you will see the connection I am making to the whole 2012 thing. I fear at times some people with take things to literally and do something rash as in the song in December thinking the world is going to end. Tell me what you think:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb5ojdciO1E&list=PL8BA3592BD5677439&index=4&feature=plpp_video

    • First loved Maiden back in the day but never heard that song. However it sounds to me more like a modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet then say 2012 or Y2K, to that I point out.

      “When they found them, had their arms wrapped around each other
      Their tins of poison laying near by their clothes.”

      Take some 80s/70s fear of nuclear war toss in some William Shakespeare and that song is what you get, don’t read to much into it.

      “Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide.
      Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on
      The dashing rocks thy seasick, weary bark.
      Here’s to my love! (drinks the poison) O true apothecary,
      Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.”

  11. Jack,

    I appreciate your frank comments re: concerns for a sooner decline in the markets. My gut agrees, though my specific knowledge base is far eclipsed by yours in this area.

    I would be interested in your thoughts or those of anyone else here on:

    -Decreasing volatility within tax-deferred accounts. E.g. metal funds are going up now, but they often sell off to cover debt due to equity declines. I have metal funds and am perplexed beyond placing a few trailing stops and a “gut check” or two.
    -Metal miners. They’ve been beaten up… One of Chris Martensen’s guests called this a while back. Thoughts on fundamentals?

    On another note, that of putting capital into tangible and sustainability-building areas. I’m very likely going to pay the 10% penalty on IRA distributions to put some IRA money towards taxes on IRA money used towards a house purchase earlier this year. I figure this has three benefits:
    -Money in a great house that shelters us and is a platform for permaculture and community. Some of my plants look funny, but we’re learning together… πŸ˜‰
    -Getting out of the market.
    -Getting a haircut now but avoiding exposure to high tax rates and regulatory threats later; completely agree that this is the most regulated money out there.

    Anyhow, Jack, I’m not asking you to take any responsibility for advising me financially (I’m a big boy, and if you tell me the sun will turn black, and to buy Mayan 3 month bonds, it’s on me…) But I would appreciate any thematic insight.

    Best regards,
    David

  12. In regards to the blossom end rot; it is usually a calcium depletion but this can be the result of poor ph. You can use crushed oyster shells but they also have a high content of lime which will change your ph higher. Tomatoes prefer a ph of 5.5 to 6.5 and when that is different it makes it difficult to aquire the nutrients. So if you are going to apply crushed oyster shells then you may need to apply elemental sulfur to balance the ph. the best way to determine this is to get a soil test through your local extension service.