Friday, April 29, 2011

Zoom Got Lifted

• • • • • • • •



A much higher & heavier feel now. That lurching sensation & a raised center of gravity. He's different. Not at all sure he's better. Every modification I make to Zoom leaves me wondering if he was better off stock. The K&N cold air filter and cat-back exhaust system gave him more power, but lowered his overall fuel efficiency. The ARB bumper & winch gave him more capability and front end strength, but added weight & increased his wind resistance & lowered his mpg even more. I predict that now his fuel economy will dip again, and he will be more difficult to drive on the highway, even though he will perform better off road & over rough terrain. Still, no regrets. Zoom is a work-in-progress, an experiment, & in some strange way a piece of survivalist art. & he's not finished yet.


Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Shtuff

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Am twizzled on tequila, beer, vodka, cigarettes, etc. BUT, here is today's copy nonetheless:

Lightning Striking White House During Easter Means World Is Ending Seriously, let's not fuck around, OK? Fuck.

•OK, here are 70 cool post-apocalyptic novels. This list contains the whole shebang, including the best PA novels I've read, plus a slew of novels I have never even heard of but now want to read.

•Fucking incredible lyrics from a song by Richard Thompson. I am told the lyrics are straight from a letter that an American soldier wrote from Iraq:

(Richard Thompson)

Out in the desert there's a soldier lying dead
Vultures pecking the eyes out of his head
Another day that could have been me there instead
Nobody loves me here
Nobody loves me here

Dad's Gonna Kill Me
Dad's Gonna Kill Me

You hit the booby trap and you're in pieces
With every bullet your risk increases
Old Ali Baba, he's a different species
Nobody loves me here
Nobody loves me here

Dad's Gonna Kill Me
Dad's Gonna Kill Me

I'm dead meat in my HumV Frankenstein
I hit the road block, God knows I never hit the mine
The dice rolled and I got lucky this time

Dad's Gonna Kill Me
Dad's Gonna Kill Me

I've got a wife, a kid, another on the way
I might get home if I can live through today
Before I came out here I never used to pray
Nobody loves me here
Nobody loves me here

Dad's Gonna Kill Me

Dad's in a bad mood, Dad's got the blues
It's someone else's mess that I didn't choose
At least we're winning on the Fox Evening News
Nobody loves me here

Dad's Gonna Kill Me
Dad's Gonna Kill Me

Dawn Patrol went out and didn't come back
Hug the wire and pray like I told you, Mac
Or they'll be shoveling bits of you into a sack

Dad's Gonna Kill Me.

And who's that stranger walking in my dreams
And whose that stranger cast a shadow 'cross my heart
And who's that stranger, I dare speak his name
Must be old Death a-walking
Must be old Death a-walking

Dad's Gonna Kill Me

7 muzzle monkeys standing in a row
Standing waiting for The Sandbox to blow
Sitting targets in the wild west show

Nobody loves me here

Dad's Gonna Kill Me

Another angel got his wings this week
Charbroiled with his own Willie Pete
Nobody's dying if you speak double-speak

Dad's Gonna Kill Me

(Richard Thompson)
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Monday, April 25, 2011

Up-Armoring My GOOD Vehicle

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Since nobody has yet published a manual on how to up-armor civilian vehicles, I am on my own and in un-charted territory. Here are my efforts and notes to date, based on viable commercial options, common sense and imagination:

Checklist w/notes:


2003 Nissan Frontier 4x4

Engine:
•3.3 Liter Supercharged V6 w/manual 5-speed transmission (210 HP) (stock)
•K&N cold air filter (12 HP) (add-on, complete)
•cat-back exhaust system (8 HP) (add-on, complete)

Slowly but surely turning Zoom from a stock cat into a survival lion. Stock mileage is 15/18; his current gas mileage is about 16 mpg, with an around-town low of 14 and an Interstate high of 20 (cruise control set at 59 mph w/a tail wind). Nothing left to upgrade on the engine except battery, ignition wires & spark plugs.

Suspension:
•2.5-inch lift kit w/shocks, swing arms, springs, etc. (add-on, in-process)

Paid for, scheduled installation is this Friday. A quality lift-kit with serious off-road capability.

Armor:
•ARB front bumper w/winch (add-on, complete)
•steel rear bumper w/trailer hitch (stock)
•plate steel ram plate (add-on, concept)
•3 tires mounted to front bumper (add-on, concept)
•ballistic film for windshield & side windows (add-on, inquiry phase)
•sandbags in truck bed (add-on, bags & shovel in truck box)
•run-flat tires (add-on, inquiry phase)

The ARB bumper is a serious ass-kicker. Spot-welding additional plate steel to it is always a viable option. If TS ever HTF, I will fasten one big tire to its center and a smaller tire on each side, for added ballistic protection and cushioning :-).

Tail gates are hollow. Is it possible to drill a hole in one and fill it with gravel for bullet-dampening effect? Probably.

To bullet-proof a truck bed, fill it with tires and line it with sand bags.

In Vietnam, some of the US helicopters had thin magnesium skin that did nothing to slow bullets. The workaround? The pilots sat in bullet-proof titanium seats, and the soldiers in the cargo bay sat on their helmets or on segments of armor plating. Am wondering if similar means could be applied to a vehicle cab. The driver and passengers could wear flak jackets or bullet proof vests. Or, segments of bulletproof plating such as the BALLISTIC CLIPBOARD could be attached to the seatbacks or to the inside of the doors/cab.

Ballistic film can be purchased via Amazon for $360. Am inquiring into professional installation. Ballistic film purportedly prevents smashing entry thru windows/windshields and reduces effect of bullets up to 44 Magnum. Will ballistic film strengthen metal if it is applied to the inside of the interior of the door as well?

Preliminary research into run-flat tires seems to indicate that they are problematic, expensive and may not be available for trucks. More research needed.

Gas prices keep climbing.

*




Saturday, April 23, 2011

This Is Urban Warfare



The following images were culled from cyberspace. They were photographed during the heavy fighting that has raged between Loyalist and rebel forces in Misrata, Libya for the last 2 months. Note the extensive use of cars and piles of sand as roadblocks. As of Friday April 22nd, Loyalist forces were in retreat.






























Thursday, April 21, 2011

New Guns Part 6

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That's right, motherfuckers: More cutting-edge pistols that you didn't know existed!


Above we have a Palm Pistol by Constitution Arms. It's a single-shot .38 Special, for use by people who can't hold a regular pistol. Honestly, I'm not quite sure what the advantages of this trippy little number are, but it's unique enough that I had to post a lil' sumfin'-sumfin' on it. The US government produced a version of this during WW II, called a Punch Pistol. The original pistol was riveted to a glove, so that it fired when you punched a person. Cruel & unusual, to be sure. But SNEAKY.

Now for the bad news: The Palm Pistol is due for production this year, but IT IS NOT YET AVAILABLE. I know that sucks, BUT YOU CAN PRE-ORDER ONE by going to the manufacturer's weblink above. Not that you will. Who would, unless they had enough money to have a frivolous gun collection? And we are not frivolous millionaires, WE ARE HIPPIE SURVIVALISTS.

One last thing: Constitution Arms is also selling the Tri-Plex cartridge, which is "a patent pending triple-projectile .38 special standard load cartridge containing three stacked conical projectiles". It's kind of cool, looks like it would debilitate at point-blank range.

Below we have a Wild West squeeze pistol. I suppose it was something you snuck into a poker game and then palmed beneath the table. Kinda cool, probably not too useful. AN OLDER VERSION OF THE PALM PISTOL, dig?


Polymer frame revolvers. They've been out for a few years now. Ruger makes them (BELOW). Smith & Wesson makes them (BELOW THAT). And, Taurus makes them (NOT SHOWN). I'm not going to bullshit you: I haven't done my homework on this subject. I don't know jack shit about these guns, except that they must be cool because they must be as light as feathers and rust-proof. And hi-tech shit is usually cool. So fuck it. If you think they are worth checking out, do some Google-ass online research and fact-find that shit! Hyaa!




That's it!
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Items of Minor Interest



Above we have a low-energy urban transportation solution that was parked down on the Avenue. Very European-looking. Not really my style, BUT worth its weight in gold for the next hundred years, I wager. In a collapsed economy, a man could eek out a living with this machine, carting other people's shit around for a fee.



And here we have something called a Burley Travoy Bike Cargo Trailer (more info HERE). The stand-up design allows this trailer to take up less space than other trailers, and also function as a hand cart. Oh, and this puppy is also collapse-able. This kind of gadget is very, very high on my GOOD list, because with a bicycle setup like this you can carry your own shit with you and get the fuck out of Dodge without needing gasoline. And you can also traverse terrain that is completely off-limits to a vehicle. I'm talking about sidewalks, pedestrian paths, gridlocked roads and rubble-strewn urban avenues. Let's face it, if shit goes south, we're going to run out of gas pretty fucking fast. What does that mean? It means: KEEP YOUR MOUNTAIN BIKE IN GOOD RUNNING SHAPE, YOU HIPPIE FUCK!

:-)

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Another NDE vision

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"I asked how [America's purification] would come about, and they said it would be simple, that our society is very dependent on a lot of very fragile things -- energy grid, transportation. In each geographical area of the United States people used to be relatively self-sufficient as far as agricultural products. Now, how long would any state survive without the transport of food and energy?


"What would happen is these very complex and delicate grids of our economic system would begin to break down. We've created a society of such cruel and self-centered people that the very nature of civilization would begin to break down. The angels showed me that what would happen is that people would begin robbing the grocery stores, hording goods, and killing one another for gasoline and tires, and as a consequence everything would break down and would end up in chaos."

-- The Reverend Howard Storm

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Concerning Prophetic Visions

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I am continually scanning the internet for prophesies, visions and predictions of the future. Some notes:

*Not interested in overly Christian predictions, as the biblical symbolism usually clouds the message beyond my ability to understand what is trying to be said.

*Accounts of Near Death Experiences (NDEs) contain much of the most detailed prophetic descriptions.

*Most NDE visions seem to come with a caveat that the future is not fixed. And, in reviewing NDEs from past decades, we see that very often what was predicted did not actually happen. Or, only some of it happened.

*And yet, certain themes ring true. For instance, Penny Kelly in her book ROBES, which concerns visions she had in 79-80, says that she saw a "Lost Generation" of dispossessed children rising up and fighting in various parts of the United States, viciously taking what they felt was theirs. And Dannion Brinkely says he saw dispossessed children shooting each other with rifles and shooting at each other from cars, because they had no family structure and thus behaved like wolves. And what we have today is a violent ghetto culture which contains very real elements of both these visions, as seen on a daily basis in Oakland, California.

*Most NDE visions describe the weather going haywire globally, and a rise in natural disasters including flooding, volcanic eruptions, drought, tsunamis and massive earthquakes.

*Many NDEs discuss nuclear war, both limited and global, but the details vary quite widely. There is a sub-theme that the United States, after letting its guard down in a post-Cold War world, is hit by a surprise attack from Russia.

*Many NDEs describe the United States collapsing economically and bringing the global economy down with it.

*There is also a common sub-thread among various types of prophetic visions, in which the Earth heals itself of mankind's ills by shaking itself so violently that the oceans literally slosh over the continents, killing most of humanity and destroying modern civilization. This shaking results from either a near-miss by a large extraterrestrial body, or the Earth consciously healing itself, or a pole flip.

*More later.
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Saturday, April 16, 2011

The NDE Visions of Dannion Brinkley


Thirteen prophetic visions as seen by Dannion Brinkley. He refers to them as "Boxes of Knowledge" in his book, "Saved By The Light" which was published in 1994 after he suffered a near death experience.

BOXES 1 thru 3: Visions of a Demoralized Country

Boxes 1, 2 & 3 showed the mood of America in the aftermath of the war in Southeast Asia. They revealed scenes of spiritual loss in our country that were byproducts of that war, which weakened the structure of America & eventually the world. The scenes were prisoners of war, weak & wasted from hunger, as they waited in the rugged prisons of North Vietnam for American ambassadors to come & free them. I could feel their fear & then despair when they realized one by one that no help would be forthcoming & that they would live out their remaining years as slaves in jungle prisons.

These were the MIAs, those military men considered "missing in action." The MIAs were already an issue in 1975, but they were used as a starting point in the visions to show an America that was slipping into spiritual decline. I could see America falling into enormous debt. This came to me as scenes of money going out of a room much faster than it was coming in. Through some kind of telepathy, I was aware that this money represented the increase in the national debt & that it spelled danger down the road. I also saw people waiting in long lines for the basics of life like clothing & food.

Many scenes of spiritual hunger came from the first two boxes as well. I saw people who were transparent in such a way as to reveal that they were hollow. This hollowness, it was explained to me telepathically, was caused by a loss of faith in America & what it stood for. The war in Southeast Asia had combined with inflation & distrust in our government to create a spiritual void. This void was added to by our loss of love for God. This spiritual depravity resulted in a number of shocking visions: people rioting & looting because they wanted more material goods than they had, kids shooting other kids with high-powered rifles, criminals stealing cars, young men firing on other young men from the windows of cars. Scenes like these played out in front of me like scenes from a gangster movie.

Most of the criminals were children or adolescents that no one cared about. As I watched image after image, it became painfully clear to me that these kids had no family units, & as a result, they were acting like wolves. I was confused because I couldn't figure out how American children could be left to roam & murder. Didn't they have parental guidance? I wondered. How could such a thing happen in our country?

In the third box, I found myself facing the seal of the president of the U.S. I don't know where I was, but I saw the initials "R.R." emblazoned beneath this seal. Then I was standing in the midst of newspapers, looking at their editorial cartoons. One after the other, I saw cartoons of a cowboy. He was riding the range or shooting down bad guys in saloons. This vision was festooned with satirical illustrations from around the country from such newspapers as The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, & the Los Angeles Times. The dates on the newspapers ranged from 1983 to 1987, & it was clear from the nature of the drawings that they were about the president of the U.S., who projected the image of being a cowboy to the rest of the world.

I could also tell that the man in these cartoons was an actor, because they all had a theatrical look to them. One of the cartoons even referred to "Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid" & played off the famous scene in that movie in which the two outlaws jump off a cliff into a shallow pool of water. Yet despite the vividness of the newspaper clippings, I was unable to see the face under the cowboy hat. I now know that "RR" stood for Ronald Reagan, but at the time I had no idea who the "cowboy" was. A few months later, when I was recalling these visions for Dr. Raymond Moody, the noted psychiatrist & researcher of near-death experiences, he asked me who I thought "RR" was. Without hesitation I said, "Robert Redford." He has never let me forget that mistake & ribs me about it every time we get together.

BOXES 4 & 5: Strife & Hatred in the Holy Lands

Boxes 4 & 5 were scenes from the Middle East, showing how this area of eternal strife would reach a boiling point. Religion would play a large role in these problems, as would the economy. A constant need for outside money fueled much of the anger & hatred that I saw in these boxes. In the first of these boxes I saw two agreements taking place. In the first, Israelis & Arabs were agreeing to something, but what was unclear to me. The second accord was one that I could see in some detail. Men were shaking hands & there was much talk about a new country. Then I saw a collage of images: the River Jordan, a settlement from Israel that was spreading into Jordan, & a map on which the country of Jordan was changing color. As I watched this puzzling collage unfold, I heard a Being speak telepathically to me & say that the country of Jordan would exist no more. I did not hear the name of the new country.

This agreement was nothing more than a front by the Israelis to create a police force composed of Israelis & Arabs. This was a very harsh police force, cruel & unyielding. I saw them wearing blue-&-silver uniforms & having a tight grip on the people of this region. So tight was their grip, in fact, that world leaders became highly critical of Israel. Many collaborators on both sides kept an eye on their own people & reported their activities to this police force. They served to make everyone suspicious, causing trust in these societies to disappear.

I could see Israel becoming isolated from the rest of the world. As things worsened, there were images of Israel preparing for war against other countries, including Russia & a Chinese-&-Arab consortium. Jerusalem was somehow at the eye of this conflict, but I am not sure exactly how. From newspaper headlines that appeared in the vision, I could see that some incident in that holy city had served to trigger this war. These visions revealed Israel as being spiritually hollow. I had the sense of it being a country of strong government but weak morals. Image after image came of Israelis reacting with hatred toward Palestinians & other Arabs, & I was steeped in the sense that these people as a nation had forgotten God & were now driven by racial hatred.

The fifth box showed oil being used as a weapon to control the international economy. I saw images of Mecca & then of the Saudi people. While these images streamed before me, a telepathic voice said that oil production was being cut off to destroy America's economy & to milk money from the world economy. The price of oil was going up & up, said the voice, & Saudi Arabia was making an alliance with Syria & China. I could see Arab & Oriental people shaking hands & making deals. As these images came to me, I could sense money being given by the Saudis to Asian countries like North Korea, all in the hopes of destabilizing the economy of the Asian region.

I wondered where this alliance began, & I was able to see a close-up of Syrians & Chinese signing papers & shaking hands in a building that I knew was in Syria. The date that came to me was 1992. Another date came to me - 1993 - & with it came images of Syrian & Chinese scientists working in laboratories to develop a missile that could deliver chemical & biological weapons. Nuclear weapons were becoming things of the past, & these countries wanted to develop new weapons of destruction. The boxes kept coming.

BOX 6: Visions of Nuclear Destruction

Number 6 was terrifying. I was drawn into the box & found myself in a cool, forested area beside a river. Next to the river was a massive cement structure, square & foreboding. I was fearful & didn't know why. Suddenly the earth shook & the top of this cement structure exploded. I knew it was a nuclear explosion & could sense hundreds of people dying around me as it took place. The year 1986 was given to me through telepathy, as was the word "wormwood." It wasn't until a decade later, when the Chernobyl nuclear plant exploded near Kiev in the Soviet Union, that I was able to associate these pictures with an event. It was then that I made another connection between the vision in this box & the nuclear disaster in the USSR. The word Chernobyl means "wormwood" in Russian.

A second nuclear accident appeared in the box, this in a northern sea so badly polluted that no ships would travel there. The water was a pale red & was covered with dead or dying fish. Around the water were peaks & valleys that made me think I was seeing a fjord like those in Norway. I couldn't tell where this was, but I knew that the world was frightened at what had happened, because radiation from this accident could spread everywhere & affect all of humankind. The date on the picture was 1995. The vision didn't stop there. People were dying & deformed as a result of these nuclear catastrophes. In a series of what seemed like television pictures, I saw cancer victims & mutated babies in Russia, Norway, Sweden, & Finland, not hundreds or thousands of people, but tens of thousands, in a vast array of deformity, going on through generations. The poisons released by these accidents were carried to the rest of the world through water, which was tainted forever by this nuclear waste. The Being made it clear that humans had created a horrible power that had not been contained. By letting this power out of their control, the Soviets had destroyed their own country & possibly the world.

The box showed me the fear in people's hearts that resulted from these nuclear accidents. As the images of this fear unfolded, I somehow understood that environmentalism would emerge as the world's new religion. People would consider a clean environment a key to salvation more than they ever had before. Political parties would spring up around the issue of a cleaner planet, & political fortunes would be made or broken based upon feelings about the environment. From Chernobyl & this second accident, I could see that the Soviet Union would wither & die, with the Soviet people losing faith in their government & the government losing its grip on the people.

The economy played a strong role in these visions. I saw people carrying bags of money into stores & coming out with small bags of goods. People with military uniforms wandered the streets in Soviet cities begging for food, some obviously starving to death. People ate rotted potatoes & apples, & crowds rioted to get at trucks filled with food.

The word "Georgia" appeared in a Cyrillic script, & I could see a mafia developing in Moscow that I assume came from the state of Georgia in the Soviet Union. This mafia was a growing power that was in competition with the Soviet government. In scene after scene, I saw mafia members operating freely in a city that I think was Moscow. I felt no joy as I watched the Soviet Union collapse. Although Soviet-style communism was dying right before my eyes, the Being of Light was saying that this was a cautious moment instead of a glorious one. "Watch the Soviet Union," he said. "How the Russian people go, so goes the world. What happens to Russia is the basis for everything that will happen to the economy of the free world."

BOX 7: The Environmental Religion

The 7th box held powerful images of environmental destruction. I could see areas of the world radiating energy, glowing like a radium watch face in the dark. Telepathically I could hear voices speaking of the need to clean up the environment. These voices came out of Russia at first, but then the accents changed & I could tell that they were emanating from South America, probably from Uruguay or Paraguay. I saw the speaker from Russia as he talked with zeal about our need to heal the environment. People rallied around him quickly, & he soon became so powerful that he was elected one of the leaders of the United Nations. I saw this Russian riding on a white horse, & I knew that his rise would come before the year 2000.

BOXES 8 & 9: China Battles Russia

In boxes 8 & 9 were visions of China's growing anger toward the Soviet Union. When these visions took place in 1975, I didn't know that the Soviet Union would break up. Now I think the tension I saw in that vision was a result of the death of Soviet Communism, which left the Chinese the leaders of the Communist world. At the time, the visions were a puzzle to me. I saw border disputes & heavy fighting between Soviet & Chinese armies. Finally, the Chinese amassed their armies at the border & pushed into the region. The main battle was over a railroad, which the Chinese took in heavy fighting. They then pushed deep into the Soviet Union, cutting the country in half & taking over the oil fields of Siberia. I saw snow, blood, & oil & knew that the loss of life had been heavy.

BOXES 10 & 11: Economic Earthquakes, Desert Storm

Boxes 10 & 11 came in rapid succession. They revealed scenes of the economic collapse of the world. In general terms, these visions showed a world in horrible turmoil by the turn of the century, one that resulted in a new world order that was truly one of feudalism & strife. In one of the visions, people lined up to take money out of banks. In another, the banks were being closed by the government. The voice that accompanied the visions told me that this would take place in the 90's & would be the beginning of an economic strife that would lead to the bankruptcy of America by the year 2000.

The box showed images of dollar signs flying by as people pumped gas & looked distressed. I knew this meant that oil prices were accelerating out of control. I saw 13 new nations entering the world mark in the late 90's. These were nations with manufacturing capabilities that put them on a competitive footing with the U.S. One by one our European markets began to give their business to these countries, which slowed our economy even more. All of this led to a greatly weakened economy.

But the end of America as a world power came as visions of two horrendous earthquakes in which buildings were swaying & toppling over like a child's wooden blocks. I knew that these quakes happened sometime before the end of the century, but I couldn't tell where they took place. I do remember seeing a large body of water that was probably a river. The cost of rebuilding these destroyed cities would be the final straw for our government, now so financially broken that it would hardly be able to keep itself alive. The voice in the vision told me that it would be this way while the images from the box showed Americans starving & lined up for food.

At the tail end of box 10 came images of warfare in the desert, a massive show of military might. I saw armies racing toward one another in the desert, with great clouds of dust billowing from the treads of tanks as they crossed the barren ground. There was cannon fire & explosions that looked like lightning. The earth shook & then there was silence. Like a bird, I flew over acres of destroyed army equipment. As I left the box, the date 1990 came into my head. That was the year of Desert Storm, the military operation that squashed the army of Iraq for occupying Kuwait.

Box 11 began with Iran & Iraq in possession of nuclear & chemical weapons. Included in this arsenal was a submarine loaded with nuclear missiles. The year, said a voice in the vision, was 1993. I saw this submarine powering through the waters of the Middle East, piloted by people I knew to be Iranians. I could tell that their purpose was to stop the shipping of oil from the Middle East. They were so praiseful of God, in their speech, that I had the sense that this was some kind of religious mission. The missiles that occupied the desert of the Middle East were equipped with chemical warheads. I don't know where they were aimed, but I do know that there was worldwide fear of the intentions of the Arab nations that had them.

Chemical warfare played a role in a horrible vision of terrorism that takes place in France before 2000. It begins when the French publish a book that infuriates the Arab world. I don't know the title of this book, but the result of its publication is a chemical attack by Arabs on a city in France. A chemical is put into the water supply, & thousands drink it & die before it can be eliminated. In one brief vision, I saw Egyptians rioting in the streets while a voice told me that by 1997, Egypt would collapse as a democracy & be taken over by religious fanatics.

The final visions from box 11 were like many images we now see of Sarajavo: modern cities crumbling beneath the weight of warfare, their inhabitants fighting one another for reasons ranging from racism to religious conflict. I saw many towns worldwide where desperate citizens were eating their own dead. In one such scene, Europeans in a hilly region of the world were weeping as they cooked human meat. In rapid succession I saw people of all five races eating their fellow humans.

BOX 12: Technology & Virus

The 11th box was gone & I was into the 12th box. Its visions addressed an important event in the distant future, the decade of the 90's (remember, this was 1975), when many of the great changes would take place. In this box, I watched as a biological engineer from the Middle East found a way to alter DNA & create a biological virus that would be used in the manufacture of computer chips. This discovery allowed for huge strides in science & technology. Japan, China, & other countries of the Pacific Rim experienced boom times as a result of this discovery & became powers of incredible magnitude. Computer chips produced from this process found their way into virtually every form of technology, from cars & airplanes to vacuum cleaners & blenders.

Before the turn of the century, this man was among the richest in the world, so rich that he had a stranglehold on the world economy. Still the world welcomed him, since the computer chips he had designed somehow put the world on an even keel. Gradually, he succumbed to his own power. He began to think of himself as a deity & insisted on greater control of the world. With that extra control, he began to rule the world.

His method of rule was unique. Everyone in the world was mandated by law to have one of his computer chips inserted underneath his or her skin. This chip contained all of an individual's personal information. If a government agency wanted to know something, all it had to do was scan your chip with a special device. By doing so, it could discover everything about you, from where you worked & lived to your medical records & even what kind of illnesses you might get in the future.

There was an even more sinister side to this chip. A person's lifetime could be limited by programming this chip to dissolve & kill him with the viral substance it was made from. Lifetimes were controlled like this to avoid the cost that growing old places on the government. It was also used as a means of eliminating people with chronic illnesses that put a drain on the medical system. People who refused to have chips implanted in their bodies roamed as outcasts. They could not be employed & were denied government services.

THE FINAL VISIONS

At the very end came a 13th vision. I don't know where it came from. I didn't see a Being of Light bring it forward in a box, nor did I see one take it away. This vision was in many ways the most important of all because it summed up everything I had seen in the 12 boxes. Through telepathy, I could hear a Being say, "If you follow what you have been taught & keep living the same way you have lived the last 30 years, all of this will surely be upon you. If you change, you can avoid the coming war." Scenes from a horrible world war accompanied this message. As the visions appeared on the screen, the Being told me that the years 1994 through 1996 were critical ones in determining whether this war would break out. "If you follow this dogma, the world by the year 2004 will not be the same one you now know," said the Being. "But it can still be changed & you can help change it."

Scenes from World War III came to life before me. I was in a hundred places at once, from deserts to forests, & saw a world filled with fighting & chaos. Somehow it was clear that this final war, an Armageddon if you will, was caused by fear. In one of the most puzzling visions of all, I saw an army of women in black robes & veils marching through a European city. "The fear these people are feeling is an unnecessary one," said the Being of Light. "But it is a fear so great that humans will give up all freedoms in the name of safety."

I also saw scenes that were not of war, including many visions of natural disasters. In parts of the world that had once been fertile with wheat & corn, I saw parched desert & furrowed fields that farmers had given up on. In other parts of the world, torrential rainstorms had gouged out the earth eating away topsoil & creating rivers of thick, dark mud.

People were starving in this vision. They were begging for food on the streets, holding out bowls & cups & even their hands in hopes that someone or something would offer them a scrap to eat. In some of the pictures, people had given up or were too weak to beg & were curled on the ground waiting for the gift of death. I saw civil wars breaking out in Central & South America & the rise of socialist governments in all of these countries before the year 2000. As these wars intensified, millions of refugees streamed across the U.S. border, looking for a new life in North America. Nothing we did could stop these immigrants. They were driven by fear of death & loss of confidence in God.

I saw millions of people streaming north out of El Salvador & Nicaragua, & more millions crossing the Rio Grande into Texas. There were so many of them that we had to line the border with troops & force them back across the river. The Mexican economy was broken by these refugees & collapsed under the strain.

The quickest way to change the world is to be of service to others. Show that your love can make a difference in the lives of people and thereby someone else's love can make a difference in your life. By each of us doing that and working together we change the world one inner person at a time.

Dannion Brinkley

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

The Lost Road








I found The Lost Road yesterday. It was really cool - my kind of road. I thought, if I ever make a movie, I'm going to film part of it here, on this overgrown highway. Some Space Age vehicle will make its way down this track, its pilot venturing into a forgotten, future wilderness. And I took photos instead.

There's something about seeing what lies beyond modernity that I really like. You know what it is? It's that when we're on a highway, or in a shopping center, those man-made edifices are so real that they seem permanent. Watch the cars drive down the road all day every day, week in and week out, year after year, decade after decade, and the road just gets bigger and smoother and brighter and faster. Same with the shopping center. Fortunes are made, crimes are committed, mall cops arrest kids, and it's all so fucking important.

But we know it's going to end someday. It has to. It's almost unimaginable, but it doesn't matter. It has to end. There is no other choice. The shopping mall must one day rot, abandoned to the pitiless sun. The road must one day revert back to nature, where it will crumble away and be swallowed by hungry bushes. And that's the shit, right there. That sums up the age we live in, this time and place. The End of Modernity. My time.

Twilight always was my favorite time of day.

* * * * * * * * * * *

An interesting solution to Peak Oil, parked down on the Avenue. The front box appears to be a child's seat, but could also be used to transport materiel. Something tells me this bitch was made in Europe.




Friday, April 8, 2011

Late Night

*It's Friday night, and I'm not out getting drunk or laid. I'm sitting on the couch with the Couch Behemoth:



This warm fluffmonster has attached itself to my legs and won't let go. For the time being I am stuck right here, where I sit. Life could be worse.

*Courtesy of ML, I present to you an old-school method of keeping one's pencil from rolling downhill:



Seems quaint to some of us, but keep in mind that there is a whole generation or two of spoon-fed Americans out there who have not only never considered utilizing this trick, but probably aren't capable of thinking of it to begin with. That's shopping mall culture for you.

*Movies to recommend: Mesrine, Parts 1 and 2, and Carlos, Episodes 1 thru 6. Mesrine concerns the career of the French master criminal by that name, and is a 2-part, 4+-hour epic crime bio. Carlos is a 6+-hour French fictional mini-series concerning international terrorist Carlos the Jackal and his Dr Evil-esque crime capers. It is even better than Mesrine. If you like 70's crime complete with shootouts, you will like these films. Actually, Munich would complete this series. Don't watch them too close together though, or the stories and events will all start to bleed into one another and you will find that you cannot remember what happened to who, when.

Let me add, as a caveat, that both Mesrine and Carlos were BAD, BAD people, and I in no way condone anything they did. I do, however, really dig 70's crime flicks that have lots of shootouts.

*I probably shouldn't post this, since I lifted it directly from Penny Kelly's blog. BUT, I think it's cool and timely, even if some elements of it are too New Agey for me. Here is what Penny Kelly has to say about:

The Economy

People keep asking me what I see for the economy. Over the years, I have often been present at a global gathering of planetary citizens. This is a gathering that happens in an other-than-physical setting and at which we decide how to move ahead as a collective, as a civilization. Usually, millions of people are present.

Starting in January, 2010, we could not agree on how to handle the situation in the world. For more than ten months there was a deadlock. The impasse was over the subject of money. Some people felt that the money system should be preserved and we would just have to work out the current problems within that framework. Some felt the money system should be abolished as the source of all our problems. Some felt that a shift toward balancing financial systems and changing the rules in First World countries was the answer. Others felt the money system should be left in place but utilized with a totally new kind of license and largesse. And some felt that power in the financial markets should be shifted to new countries, which would not really have solved anything.

Then, in November, 2010, there was a collective decision to allow the old financial system to go down. Everyone agreed that they were willing to work through whatever challenges would come up as a result of this decision. The general consensus was that the stalemate could not go on any longer and that this would serve as a good test of our willingness to work together, to heal ourselves, to heal the planet, and to be more inclusive in our creative designs for the future.

Everyone agreed that the best way to take the money system down was slowly, easily, and with lots of warning so that people could make changes and shift their thinking, while at the same time shifting their money into investments that would build a new world AND develop the basis for a new money system. The critical window of how to start the process was set for March 1st through June 15th of 2011. The idea was that if we could make it through this window of time without a catastrophic crash, we could ease out of the old financial system and into a new one.

We are in that window now. The old economic paradigm is coming apart and the new one is just beginning to come together. New investment money is starting to move into place to fund the business, machinery, research, and systems that are much more Earth-friendly.

If you are looking for signs to tell you what to do with your money, consider the following. The old system is greed-centered; the new system is heart-centered. The old system is predatory; the new system is family-oriented. The old is based on tightly centralized control and hierarchical decision-making. The new is dispersed, individualized, and springs from common sense. The old is global in approach; the new is local in approach. The old system is characterized by careless destruction of Mother Nature, whereas the new system is careful to rebuild and nurture Mother Nature. The old is based on capitalism; the new is based on communalism (take note – that is not ‘communism’). The old is based on democracy and the ability to hide behind big, collective institutions; the new is based on personal responsibility and a willingness to take action on your own. The old operates like a drama queen; the new operates like a monk. The old is based on captains of oligarchy; the new is based on servant leaders. The old is featured in media struggles daily, the new is not even on the radar screen yet. However, the economy of the new paradigm is taking shape as we speak, growing and moving toward a new vision of the future, while the old paradigm keeps talking about recreating the past.

Can we nurture the new paradigm wisely and well, without the mistakes caused by being in a hurry, and get the new system to resilience before the old one is completely defunct?

(The above blog entry was written by Penny Kelly)

*That's it, Champ. I'm off to bed soon. My nephew turns 1 tomorrow. Gotta get up early and head South for the day, get him a present and all that. One more thing - worked on a new tool box today, but it's a bit of a bummer because the box itself just isn't very high quality to begin with. I can't take it apart and put it back together soundly because the pine slats will shatter. So, I reinforced the inside corners with metal brackets and attached the lid with hinges and a hasp lock. Tomorrow I stain it and then I let it dry for a few days. Ciao.


Friday Update


*Some homeless man in Brazil built a car out of junk and scrap parts (LINK). It took him 4 years, and he cut the sheet metal with a hammer and chisel, but as you can see below, the finished product is quite extraordinary! I've seen factory-produced cars that looked far shittier.


*Sarajevo Survival Tools: I recommend taking 10 minutes to view this online museum, which contains all manner of tools that the besieged citizens of Sarajevo hand-built during the 90's in their time of dire darkness and need. I'll tell you, what strikes me about these tools, which range from guns to wood-burning stoves, is the extreme poverty that they exude. Take the wagon - it is made out of an old-fashioned milk crate and old-fashioned roller skates. Not just old-fashioned, but antique. The level of technology used to build all these tools is reminiscent of 70's India or World War II -- they were completely hand-built without the use of any advanced machinery. The shotgun is frightening to behold, it is so crude. I would seriously question whether the pipe-barrels would explode if I pulled the trigger. That said, simple is good cuz it don't usually break, and I like all these tools because they are down-to-earth fixes to the problems of everyday life.

*Let us not forget 2 cool survivalist websites: The Survivalist Blog by M D Creekmore, and Bison Survival Blog by James M Dakin. These guys are low-budget survivalists who walk their own talk. I particularly enjoy Dakin's earthy and critical assessments of Jim Rawles' Survival Blog, though I am the first to admit that I religiously check the Rawles site every day for cutting edge survivalist news.

*Check out this Shockwave Engine. Well, we'll just have to see how this pans out, but this engine has extraordinary potential. Reminiscent of a hi-tech rotary engine, it has few moving parts and can run on a variety of fuels. Sounds as if it has the potential to replace traditional generators. My fantasy car is a series electric hybrid powered by small, horizontally stacked shockwave engines. As I need more power, the engines kick in one-by-one, then they shut off instantly when not needed. If we imagine that each engine has 20 horsepower, and they each feed into a central battery pack/capacitor that in turn powers the 4 hub motors on my 2024 Nissan WRX STI Road Commando, we can also imagine that there might be 4 5-engine stacks under the hood, providing a total of 400 horsepower. Shoot for the moon, and you might hit a branch!


Sunday, April 3, 2011

Sunday

*OMFG, I just had authentic Mexican food at my neighbors' house and I'm so full I'm just trying to keep it all down. Good Mexican food is the bomb.

*There is a high-quality hand crank butter churn for sale at the Homestead Store. It's what I've been looking for. Honestly, the hand crank butter churn in the Lehman's catalog sells for the same price and it has plastic gears and looks like a piece of crap. This one is going on my list of MUST-HAVES. Steel, wood and glass construction.

*Warm kitty beckons from couch...must go now...must snuggle.




Saturday, April 2, 2011

More Shit, All of It Cool




*Parry Blade (Brute) Survival Knife (pictured above) - costs a ripping US$325, but I gotta say it's the nicest survival knife I've ever seen. The details are very impressive. Here is the description, from Survival Cache:

In the Mid 1990's, Mel Perry, a retired Warrant Officer QGM, and a veteran of the well known 22nd Special Air Service Regiment (British SAS) saw the requirement for a new generation of of professional blades that could replace the legacy of survival tools that had been standard equipment through the decades. Mel Perry knew that these professionals deserved something better. Collaborating with both service members and retirees from elite special forces throughout the world, he began to design what would be recognized as a breakthrough in both functionality and quality of manufacture. This breakthrough took the form of the Perry Blade in 1995.

Unfortunately due to various commercial considerations the production of the Parry Knife did not proceed after 1995 as planned, and therefore a period of some 13 years has elapsed since the current model, incorporating a number of improvements over its predecessor was re-introduced in 2009. The knife is hand crafted in Sheffield, England by Samuel Staniforth a cutlery maker since 1864 and acknowledged as producing the finest knives available, being part of an industry that was first established over 700 years ago. The knife is fairly simple in design with a bellied Bolo/Bowie type clipped blade with a serrated back edge, and finished in a black Dupont Teflon coating. However, on closer examination the knife offers several different cutting edges and holds, making it extremely versatile.

The knife is strong and heavy, with a blade 9 inches long made from ¼ inch thick X46Cr13 420 stainless steel. The main cutting edge is bevel-ground for strength, whilst the deep belly shape takes the weight forward, in the manner of a Khukri, giving the knife a powerful chopping stroke. The point looks clipped in shape but is ground to provide a spear point that accentuates its use for prying /levering and digging. Also near the choil is a hollow-ground section which is honed to razor sharpness for fine cutting and whittling, ideal for making fire sticks The serrated edge on the spine of the blade provides for a sawing action capable of cutting rope, webbing or gristle. The knife is of a full tang construction, with black linen micarta screwed to the tang providing for ease of replacement, resulting from either wear, damage or the choice of an alternative grip to be fitted.

Also in order to extend the survival attributes of the knife it has been found that by wrapping paracord around the handle, this provides some 2m of cord for use in either a survival situation or correspondingly as a means of restraint for when the role is reversed to one of combat.




*WREX Titanium Adjustable Pocket Wrench (pictured above) - costs a surly US$179, but it's TSA compliant. Here is the description, lifted straight from PocketToolX:

The WREX adjustable pocket wrench is precision machined in the USA from high-grade 6AL-4V titanium, heat-treated 154CM stainless steel, and weighs only 2.9 oz. Boasting a trigger-lock adjustable wrench jaw, this tool will adapt to any situation. Add a replaceable titanium coated knife blade and you are truly ready for anything, including stripping the occasional wire. Forget about the blade at airport security? No problem - use the onboard driver bit to remove the blade so that you are TSA-friendly! This USA made, full-sized, rust resistant bit is secured by the built-in neoprene bit holder and conveniently hides in the body.

*All good survivalists know that silver is the new gold. And so they should also know about The Lydian Mint, which mints some exceptionally beautiful silver (and gold) bullion coins and bars. And they mint them in interesting denominations: Silver in 1 oz and 1/4 oz rounds and 5 oz bars, as well as gold in 1 oz, 1/4 oz and 1/10th oz rounds. Silver is usually found in 1 oz rounds, but that could prove problematic in terms of barter - 1/4 oz rounds allow for a more precise transaction. Example: If a loaf of bread was priced at 3/4 oz silver, would you rather trade 3/4 oz silver...or 1 oz silver? Well, if you only have 1 oz rounds, you may well pay 1 oz, my friend. I'm sure you get the jism of the situation.

*The age of high-speed warfare has arrived. The Road Warrior is alive and well in Libya. I viewed a news video the other day, and it showed the rebel convoy racing down the highway, deep in the wasteland. Supposedly they were traveling at 100 mph...though that seems impossible, loaded down as the cars and technicals were with men, machine guns, AA guns and ammo. But it doesn't matter. The point is, armor and artillery have their place, but increasingly motorized masked freaks with AK-47s and RPGs rule the battlefield. Warfare has degenerated into guerrilla warfare, and now the guerrillas are going high speed.

Wanna make a fortune? Build high-speed armored vehicles like the Oshkosh M-ATV Special Forces Vehicle or the Carbon Motors police car or the extremely badass Local Motors Rally Fighter. These vehicles are the future, folks. And the future has arrived. Speaking of which, why doesn't someone start a service to up-armor conventional vehicles? I'm not talking armored limousines as much as I'm talking plate steel spot-welded to the cab of my pickup truck, or solid steel ram-bumper installation, or bulletproof radiator grills, or custom roll cages. Hopefully it'll happen. Soon.

Lates.