Bunkers

Just watched video footage of the inside of a nuclear bunker under one of Khadaffi's "liberated" palaces. And I gotta say it drove home one thing I've always noticed about bunkers and bomb shelters: They are stifling and creepy. Even for the wealthiest of megalomaniacs. All that concrete and steel does not make for a light and cheery environment. I've never experienced anything but oppressiveness inside a concrete tunnel, bunker, fallout shelter or gun emplacement. And I've been inside as many as possible, cuz I think they are cool. It would be cool if someone designed the interior of one of these bunkers so that it was just FUN. Wonder if that's possible?

Natural caves can be oppressive, too. But they can also be airy and pleasantly cool. Part of it has to do with how deep they are, how dark, how wet or dry, and the air quality. In Joshua Tree I've found many a pleasant cave - but they are not true caves, merely pockets beneath jumbled boulders. The most oppressive caves I've been in were limestone, in Santa Cruz - very wet and muddy, with damp, cold air. Some of the most beautiful were in Southern France. One even had a shallow river with gondolas, and the ceiling was hundreds of feet overhead!

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A note on Restrepo:

Weapons I observed included an M60, an M1A with a SAGE EBR stock, M-4s, an automatic grenade launcher, 9mm pistols, SAWs, shoulder-launched rockets, a .50 rifle, Warthogs and helicopter gunships. Very interesting to watch them being used.

Stuff

*Um...what was I going to say...oh yeah: Restrepo. If you want to see what our more battle-hardened troops experienced in Afghanistan, then check this documentary out. It is impressive! It made me proud to be an American. I don't want to give any of it away, so just go see it. And be glad that those dudes were on our side.
*Word is that there are now counterfeit silver coins, bars and ingots on the US market. Washington state is seeing a flood of them. Apparently they are all (so far) being made in China and are flawed. Also, they are reproductions of pricey old coins. It seems that it's generally not worth counterfeiting silver unless one reproduces a very pricey coin with historical/rare/numismatic value, because silver itself is simply not worth that much to begin with. These coins can be identified as fakes because they have an iron core: A magnet will be strongly attracted to them, and if dropped on a hard surface they will thud rather than ring.
*For what it's worth, fake gold bars have been discovered in the US in the last year. They have tungsten cores.
*Saw 6 cop cars pull over a guy in a car outside my apartment today. The cops had their pistols out and were ducked behind their cars, yelling for the dude to get out of the car. He didn't put up a fight. He was a tall black dude with long dreads, driving a Saab. Never seen that go down before. Funny how us civilian gawkers were right there across the street, checking it out. Good thing bullets didn't start flying!

The (Diabolical) LittleFoot Agenda(!)

Those who know me well understand the true extent of my megalomania. So it will come as little surprise to them to hear of my actual plans for the tiny plot of scrubland I own deep in the mountains of _____. In the coming weeks and years I will endeavor to build from scratch the Principality of LittleFoot, a sovereign nation and EOTWAWKI lifeboat outpost for self-sufficiency freakaziod outlaws of all castes & temperaments. LittleFoot will remain first & foremost a benign dictatorship, with extensive forays into cooperative economic liberal socialism & hippie survivalist social anarchism/Libertarianism. Passports, currency & edicts will be issued in due time, as well as random Presidential dictations inspired by authentic divine madness. We will endeavor at all costs to be highly productive & prosperous while pursuing a zero-environmental burden blueprint. No, actually we will improve the landscape to the point where we not only attain self-sufficiency on 4.4 acres, but also vastly improve the landscape in all ways. We will avail to set up a local trade network, & assist the surrounding community in attaining general security. We will also create our own happy militia known as The LittleFoot Lightning Bolts. Perhaps the state motto will be: "Fuck red tape, let's get 'er done!" ?

Olive Grove Part I: The Beginningness

Above: Down in this forest, under the oak trees, lie several dozen olive tree sprouts ranging from 4 to 40 inches in height. They must have sprouted from olive seeds that birds or squirrels dropped from the branches overhead. Why this phenomenon has started only in the last couple of years, we don't know -- though the olive seeds themselves surely came from the one enormous olive tree that lies a hundred yards out of sight, to the right.

Above: Two hours of work netted this little olive tree nursery. First, I dug up the smallest olive tree seedlings I could find out in the forest, then I transplanted them into these red pots. The sprouts, the plastic pots and the (mint condition) pallets were all 100% free. The two bags of potting mix cost me $16.00. 19 seedlings transplanted today, probably 16 to go. I'll try to fit all of them onto these 3 pallets in this sunny, fenced space that is safe from hungry deer. They will be watered regularly.

In a few weeks, if they all look healthy, I'll give them some plant food. Then, in a year or two, when they are healthy and much larger, I will transplant them again, this time into the sunny meadow that will eventually contain the entire olive grove. With real soil, direct sunlight, regular pruning and watering, the grove should be highly productive.

P.S. The larger olive tree seedlings will be transplanted directly from the forest into the olive grove meadow, skipping the potting process entirely. They are already too big for pots. I will put chicken-wire rings around them, and feed them plant food and water, and hopefully these measures, along with direct sunlight, will promote their growth exponentially.

The Zero DS Motorcycle

http://www.uncrate.com/men/cars/motorcycles/zero-ds-motocycle/

This is an electric motorcycle that I can get behind, seeing as it's dual sport. One day I expect that remote ranch vehicles will be electric because they can be passively solar charged while not in use, and because they don't require extended range. I could see using an electric DS bike and an electric pickup truck for ranch or farm work. Batteries are a bitch, of course, but maybe a new technology will supplant them one day.

The Horex VR6

http://www.gizmag.com/horex-six-cylinder-supercharged-motorcycle/16584/

Cripes. A German company named Horex, which hasn't produced a motorcycle in 50 years, has now unveiled the VR6, which features a 1200 cc, 200 horsepower, supercharged six-cylinder engine. I'm in love. Deeply in love. I think this is forever this time, and I'm willing to commit. Don't get me wrong - I love Zoom too, and Zoom has a supercharged V6 with 230 horsepower, but Zoom is a truck. Let me repeat that: My truck also has a supercharged V6 and delivers 230 horsepower, but it is a truck, not a motorcycle. Furthermore, Zoom is a boy, so I could never love him sexually, like I love the Horex VR6. I just hope this (expensive) little Hore(x)'s "exhaust pipe" doesn't burn my dingaling off. Don't look at me like that -- I'm a man, and a man has supercharger needs, does he not?

More SOCOM Stuff

Not to beat a dead horse, but here are more images of a SOCOM 16 (Image 1, top) and an aluminum billet Sage Tactical stock (Image 1, bottom), and the completed Hyampom SAW (Image 2) after the switcheroo is complete. Note that IF the final product in Image 2 has a bullet button installed (AND a 10-round magazine as shown), THEN it is California legal. This puppy has a 16-inch barrel with a muzzle brake, a telescoping stock and a pistol grip; and a red dot scope and a bipod can also be attached to the front rails. Soo-weet.