Comments

Episode-632- Listener Calls for 3-25-11 — 38 Comments

  1. RE: Gas masks or dust masks.

    The ultra-fine particulates that happened at the World Trade Center have to this day caused severe respiratory problems for all those who were in the vicinity of the towers as they collapsed, and also for the rescue/emergency workers who remained after the collapse.

    Additionally, when a volcano erupts, depending upon what sort of lava is involved (depending on the composition of the rock that became molten) it also could send ultra-fine particulates into the air. So if Yellow Stone were ever to go off, it could deliver a lot of micro-fine dust particles into the air for perhaps hundreds of miles around itself. As an example, the citizens of the ancient city of Pompeii, in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, died while walking in the streets from inhaling the volcanic ash that had saturated the air of their city. The city was completely buried in ash and was only just excavated during the 20th century. The bodies found under the ash were preserved with hair, skin and clothing all intact. And people’s lungs and throats were all found to be full of ash.

    The threat of Yellow Stone is one not to be taken lightly. First, the caldera there is being watched closely by scientists who say it’s possible it could blow itself in our lifetime. And second, a volcano is definitely something from which you must flee. But fleeing can be hindered by dust particles choking your vehicle’s engine into seizing up, forcing you to flee on foot. And it would only therefore follow that if the dust was enough to kill your vehicle, then (once you are out on foot) the dust will certainly be enough to kill you. And it’s NOT a pleasant way to die.

    • CORRECTION — The FULL and FINAL excavation of Pompeii was not completed until the 20th century. (The first excavations began in the 16th century.)

  2. @Jack,

    In regards to not seeing an example of how libertarianism works. Well, I think this is largely true, but based in an ignorance of our own history. If we go backwards in time, even as recent as our Grandparent’s generation, people were much less dependent on government, simply because these programs didn’t exist.

    Contrary to what welfare-state advocates would like us to believe–people didn’t die by the millions, starve to death and live horrible lives 100 years ago, before these things started being brought into our lives.

    My point is, if we had some sense of the past, more people were more independent and responsible for their own lives (which is a root of libertarianism), simply because there was no alternative.

    Only through willful, or enforced ignorance are people unaware of what libertarian living is like, and in my view learned/enforced/encouraged ignorance is the great accomplishment of progressivism/statism movements of the 20th and now 21st century. It is also one of the greatest shames or crimes ever committed against humanity in my view. This movement has been so successful, that most people aren’t just failing to be independent–they are under the belief that you cannot be.

    You’re telling, and more importantly demonstrating that this isn’t true.

    • @KAM,

      You’re last two sentences are perfect, and should be all the motivation that a person needs. It’s also worth repeating over and over again. I, too, sometimes doubt my ability to eventually become completely (or even significantly) independent of “external systems” (aka, gov’t systems). Even the mere suggestion of this idea causes 90+ percent of people to think you’re crazy (Ask 10 people if they think it’s possible/practical if you don’t believe me). The more people that ween themselves from dependency, the better off we’ll all be.

      We as a nation are heading for a bad place. It will hurt no matter what, but we can minimize the hurt for ourselves and our loved ones if we think transform our thinking and take steps to realize true liberty.

  3. RE: Items to stump today’s 20-somethings

    Few young people today have any inkling about sewing. Here are some images of two sewing items that I suspect most 20-somethings wouldn’t be able to guess.

    1) A needle threader

    http://www.maxiaids.com/ProdImages/5053555.jpg

    2) And a “tomato” pin cushion with a “strawberry” pin sharpener attached to it.

    No pins in the image:
    http://www.tias.com/stores/silsnw/pictures/svpc2a.jpg

    With pins in the image:
    http://www.grain-sewing.com/images/Product_Images/TOM1.jpg

  4. RE: Items to stump today’s 20-somethings (Part II)

    A typewriter eraser:
    http://static.artfire.com/admin/product_images/thumbs/–30000–18371_product_1457366295_thumb_large.jpg

    And a giant outdoor sculpture of one:
    http://publicheart.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/typewriter-eraser-scale-x/
    http://farm1.static.flickr.com/16/23137756_986ae9c9a3_o.jpg

    And two spools of typewriter ribbon:
    http://mytypewriter.com/ProductImages/B65_B76_M.jpg

    (I also tried to find an image of that white putty stuff used to de-gunk your typewriter’s strike-keys. But the images of a glop of white putty weren’t context-specific enough to have even clued-off a 65-year-old retired secretary who likely used the stuff for decades.)

  5. RE: The American South having monster bugs and snakes

    I’m in Massachusetts and the only credible “critter fears” about the South that I’ve encountered among my fellow New Englanders concern killer bees, fire ants, and certain snakes, including cotton mouths.

    Beyond standard critter-phobia of the South, doomer-prophet James Howard Kunstler (born in NYC and currently living in up-state New York) deeply vilifies the South in his writings and his podast commentaries. He insists that when TSHTF, the South is to avoided at all costs. He adamantly describes Southerners as mouth-breathing “NASCAR morons,” waving their gun in the name of Jesus, and ready to launch into a race war. He makes no apologies for that stance.

    I personally prefer to avoid the South in my own SHTF outlook only because I have my own druthers in regard to climate, temperature, and methods of water capture.

      • I can sadly offer many “first class assclown” links to exactly such sentiments by him.

        Here’s a choice selection from his “ClusterF@ckNation,” blog, dated Feb 17, 2004:

        http://www.kunstler.com/mags_diary9.html

        I confess a deep loathing for NASCAR and what it represents: the worship of destructive technology. It is easy to understand how the NASCAR religion arose in Southern culture….

        … The car in the South especially represented liberation from the suffocating ties of locality and of community — and much more intensely than in the North, in which the city itself was the medium of liberation….

        … I cringe to imagine what will happen down there on the shady slope of the global oil production story. Take away the cheap oil and the NASCAR folks of the Southern USA are going to be a very desperate bunch, desperately angry, too, at having lost their ‘entitlements’ to air-kooling, big hair, and the mighty roar of their engines. Since a love of violence is also an adjunct of the NASCAR religion, they will probably be too busy fighting among themselves over the table scraps of the 20th century to make life even harder for us here in the northeast….

        Garbage like this from him just burns me up because Kunstler is the author of one of the most important books in the Peak Oil movement, 2005’s The Long Emergency, making him a cardinal voice in Peak Oil circles. And, just like the 1997 book A Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger (and the subsequent film of the same name starring George Clooney) led to our nation’s adopting the every day expression “a perfect storm,” Kunstler’s book has likewise spawned an entire expression, “the long emergency,” as the catch-phrase used by many Peak Oil folks to describe the coming crippling of Western civilization due to our impending descent into energy scarcity. But due to the quote up above and all kinds of other bigotry-laden crap of his similar to it (including the heinous depiction of Southerners and Christians in his future-dystopian novel called World Made By Hand), I am unable to let myself pass along his name and URL to my non-Peak-Oil-aware friends and family. (My family is not Southern, but they know a bigot when they read him.) I much prefer to pass along Chris Martenson’s name instead.

        Speaking of whom, Jack, I suspect Chris Martenson, the author of the video series The Crash Course, would make an awesome guest on your show. (Kunstler would probably pull a Dervaes and snub his nose and decline to be on your show if you asked him — not that you ever even would. But Martenson would probably oblige you with no problem.)

        Here’s Chris Martinsen’s web site.

        http://www.chrismartenson.com/crashcourse

  6. some of my favorite inspiring episodes:
    531 – Life on your own terms
    443 – Change your nation by changing yourself
    438 – What debt freedom really means
    435 – The revolution is you
    185 – Lesson from the aguan valley
    106 – Call to arms

    there are many many more but i can’t think of them right now.

    • Some of my recent favorite episodes:

      602 – Stewart Rhodes Founder of Oath Keepers
      593 – Listener Feedback 1-25-11
      568 – Call in Friday 12-10-10
      547 – Prepper, Survivalist, or Homesteader
      531 – Life on your own terms
      506 – Why we prep, the real reasons

  7. Things to see how many people can identify:
    -Plumb-bob
    -Atari paddle controller (the round one for playing pong)
    -S&H Green Stamps
    -roller skate key

  8. @Pukwudji, those are all good, hell on the skate key how many do you think could even identify a skate of the type they were used for?

  9. LOL, I’m not sure I could ID a roller skate key. Maybe I’m a tad too young?

    Anyway…how about an 8-track tape/machine?

    My vote for shows for the Welcome Center are two of the early permaculture ones: the one that discussed the 7 layers, and the one that talked about the design principles. I had no idea what permaculture was at the time (although had heard the time) and those 2 shows got me utterly excited–ask my DH!

    I think I’m more scared of the liberal deception that’s so prevalent in the northern US than any animal (even the fire ant!) here in the South.

    Whoops, did I just say something political?

  10. Jack it has been a pleasure finding your site. A few prepping friends at church have also started to tune you in. My only suggestion for improvement at this time would be multiple ways to index past shows. One that comes to mind would be similar to Amazons suggested reading lists where each member could create such a list with annotations. Or how about a list of all 600+ shows ranked by votes. Or many other useful methods.

    You are going to be close to us here in SW Missouri and we would love to provide a work party of fellow freedom lovers for a weekend to help you with some of your initial projects.

  11. SILVER – I just bought a 1 ounce 2001 walking liberty from EZ-Pawn for $19.95 last week. Some kid had written on it with colored sharpie.

    Watch for fakes, bring your scales and measures because fakes ARE coming in from china.

    GAS MASKS – M10 Eastern Euro masks are only $10 each. I have one in my desk since I work downtown Houston and I have another in the CUCV in the parking garage. These are copies of what we used in the 80’s (M17) in the US military. There are some pepper spray tests on them online. I have never tried one with CS or anything else but for 10 buck it’s worth a try…it might keep the big dust particles out should anything happen here. Jack will attest that the filters are a bugger to put in correctly. If you can afford an M40 they are easy to use.

    PS. At $10 each I throw these out yearly and open a new one with new filters. The filters break down over time…I don’t know how much time but I can afford $20 per year for each of my family to have 2.

    http://www.cheaperthandirt.com

  12. Hey Jack,

    While I agree with you that the probability of a chemical warfare attack is very low and thus would not warrant the expense and space of a gas mask, do some searches for chemical spills from either rail cars or chemical plants. They are more frequent than one might think.

    Also, next time you’re sitting in your car irritated because you’re stuck behind a railroad train, use that time to read what chemicals are in the big round rail cars. Usually its not too hazardous stuff, but chlorine and HCl gas are quite common. Once in a while you get a good one like HF or phosphine.

    Probably a good idea to have a gas mask in your home and in your car.

  13. Pencils with erasers and EXTRA erasers are what I picked up on the last trip to Walmart. Yard sale for an old-fashioned pencil sharpener, the kind that used to be in every school classroom.

    BTW, consider keeping all of your one-sided printouts and copies in a pile for later use. I took a one-sided copy from 6 years ago and used it to print out something else this year. Then, when that’s no longer needed, I will either start a fire with it or feed it to my worms. Paper is something we take for granted. In the developing world, any kind of useful paper is a precious commodity.

  14. Some items to confuse young people from my past:
    Vacuum tubes
    Walking a mile or more to school
    Talking about growing up without computers, the internet, cable TV, or color TV. And glad to have two channels to watch
    Dress codes in public schools (no jeans, must have shirt tucked in)

  15. Been listening since Episode #15x. When episodes #335 and 336 were freely available in iTunes, I highly recommended friends to start listening there. I remember these episodes really expressing Jack’s heart felt Ethos about what he believes. I agreed. I hope someday I’ll be able to go back and hear them again.

  16. Correction: Actually it was these episodes that I meant to suggest for newcomers. After relistening, I highly recommend you put this on a list of crucial shows for veteran TSPers to revisit as well. Potentially paradigm changing to asleep Americans if not reinforcing to Libertarian and Freedom minded people.

    Episode-335- The Illusion of Freedom
    Friday, December 11th, 2009

    Episode-337- Individual Sovereignty and Defining Liberty
    Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

  17. @Oil Lady, sometimes I wonder about Kunstler. In his older writings, he is as liberal and progressive as they come (I studied urban planning once upon a time). Listening to some of his more recent podcasts, he seems somewhat to have opened his eyes to reality and moved toward the middle. With his take on peak oil and the likelihood of it spurring truckers strikes etc, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he is a closet prepper. On a recent podcast, he revealed that he recently received his NY handgun license – a little ironic given his “gun waving” comment.

    @Modern Survival, with regard to a Gen-Y stumper, how about a car with crank windows (or a car without A/C).

  18. Jack,

    I am pretty sure I still have at least one of the 45 record adapters but they are in storage. Also, I live in Arlington so I will try to locate it before you move.

  19. @CPH,

    Do not sweat it another listener is already mailing me one. That said if you live in Arlington and would like to meet for a beer or something before I bug out permanently send me an email.

  20. I really like Joe in Missouri’s idea of being able to rate each show.

    I think it would be a great way of recommending shows to newcomers!

  21. the episode i believe should be at the top of the list:
    506-why we prep
    this was my first episode and i revisit it whenever i feel overwhelmed, also i burn copies of it to hand out introducing new listeners and i’ve never had a bad response to it.

  22. Re SILVER: Just got around to listening to this episode and in the context of the Silver question from a listener you explained what a short position is. What you explained however was a put option not a short position.

    A put option is the option to buy something at a lower price than it is trading for today in the future while a short position is the sale of something you do not own, or in essence buying a negative amount of something. I know – it is strange.

    Now – when a put option is about to expire you are not required to exercise it – hence the term ‘option’, you will however loose your investment should the price of the underlying security/commodity be above your put option target. When the price drops however below the put option target you cash in the difference. Great risks and huge rewards when you are right.

    A short position works a little differently. Since you are trading in something you do not own, you will at some point have to cover your shorts. When the price has fallen in the mean while below your sale price then all is well and good. Should the price however have risen above your sale price you are likely to get a margin call. Meaning: your brokerage account has insufficient funds to cover your short position by purchasing the underlying item in the open market and unless you top up your funds your money will be used automatically to buy the item to satisfy your ‘long’ counter party.

    But what if your buy order fails because the market throws you a curve ball by going offer less on you? You got yourself into a classical short squeeze. Well, now you have three options:

    1) You can go double or nothing by short selling even more of that stuff thereby depressing the price and potentially digging yourself in a deeper hole. This is very risky and expensive and in addition there are position limits in place that prevent a single player from digging too deep of a hole from himself. JPM and a few others are however exempt from these limits.

    2) You capitulate and chase the offer price to the stratosphere, and risk taking astronomical losses in the process as happened for example with VW shares in 2008 (http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/10/28/us-volkswagen-idUSTRE49R3I920081028)

    3) You default

    The silver situation is interesting, since the numbers published by the LBMA (London Bullion Market Association) and the COMEX (Commodity Exchange) suggest that some big players have indeed sold way way WAY more silver short than can possibly be delivery to their counter parties, and that inventories are indeed being drained from silver bullion.

    I am not telling you what to do or what to think, but the silver situation is very very interesting at this stage and I would not be surprised if Jack will have to eat his words when the LBMA/COMEX runs out of silver bullion and JPM is indeed caught in a massive short squeeze…

  23. One of my favorite episode titles:
    Episode-467- If the World Doesn’t End Won’t You Feel Stupid?