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A woman in a hot air balloon realized she was lost. She lowered her altitude and spotted a man in a boat below. She shouted to him, “Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.” The man consulted his portable GPS and replied, “You’re in a hot air balloon, approximately 30 feet above a ground elevation of 2,346 feet above sea level. You are at 31 degrees, 14.97 minutes north latitude and 100 degrees, 49.09 minutes west longitude.” She rolled her eyes and said, “You must be a Republican.” “I am,” replied the man. “How did you know?” “Well,” answered the balloonist, “Everything you told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to do with your information, and I’m still lost. Frankly, you’ve not been much help to me.” The man smiled and responded, “You must be a Democrat.” “I am,” replied the balloonist. “How did you know?” “Well,” said the man, “You don’t know where you are or where you’re going. You’ve risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise that you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem.” “And You’re in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but, somehow, now it’s my fault.”  

3 weeks ago I posted about my Dad going to the ER and amazingly pulled off a comeback. He went to rehab but was later helicoptered to St. Thomas in critical condition. Those old lungs were just worn out and he said no more. Never went on the vent, went out on his own terms. This Saturday he would have been 88. He was sleeping a lot on his last day, my sister turned on the Lady Vols basketball game because he loved the Vols in spite of his sleeping so much. He woke up and told her Channel 11, ESPN. He drifted in and out but saw the Vols come from behind for an overtime win, closed his eyes and died later that night. We thought it would be appropriate if he had gone with the final buzzer. The last thing he did was give the keys to his truck to his granddaughter. That gave him as much pleasure as it did her. RIP Dad, you were the best.

I married the perfect women. Compassionate, caring, the best mother to our son, sweet, funny, smart but the most important title is that she has, and will always have, is the love of my life. I can honestly say without her I would not be what I am today or where I am. And through all of it, including the bad, she was right by my side to take care of me, protect me but most of all love me unconditionally. And I can never repay her for all she has done for me or endured on my behalf. And so another wonderful year begins with the perfect person for me, my best friend, my soul mate

He'll start watching Breaking Bad in 2017.

I will leave an open invite to TGOers to my place in Lebanon for a TGO bourbon tasting and general socializing / fun. Caveats: Minimum of one year and 100 post count on TGO. I reserve the right to limit/exclude or disinvite people (my house /my rules) Doors open after I move in the new place - so looking at late this fall Who is in?

Meh, to me it's just a social hobby just like any other. I rarely if ever get drunk, or even too inebriated to operate a motor vehicle legally. I enjoy the spirits for their taste, relaxing affect, and social enjoyment.

The real James Bond died when Sean Connery left the show.

This post is intended to present our ideas about maintaining an emergency food supply. It does not deal with a complete emergency plan, only the food part. If you are considering such a thing, I hope it will answer some of your questions and hopefully we have done some of the leg work for you. It is intended to be simple, obtainable, and easily transportable should you ever be faced with an evacuation, as well as being long-lasting and highly edible without cooking. Here 'tis It all fits on an 18"x48" shelf We aren't preppers or survivalists, but we have nonetheless maintained our emergency food supply since Nine-Eleven, over 13 years ago. We don't believe in Zombie attacks or the complete meltdown of Western Civilization, but we do believe our country is vulnerable to disruption by our enemies and that in such an event it may well be up to the individual family to provide for itself without outside assistance for a time. We have also seen essential services disrupted by natural disasters like Katrina and the megastorm up in New Jersey last year, so that is also on our minds as we do all of this emergency planning stuff. Now, here's another thought you might consider: There are certain events and circumstances in our region that, if they came to pass, would leave local government no choice but to order the immediate evacuation of your home area. If that happened, chaos will prevail and there will be neither food nor hotel rooms available on the evacuation routes. Even fresh drinking water would be very difficult to come by. So our emergency food and water supply is designed to facilitate quick loading in vehicles, easy consumption without cooking on the road, and long shelf life in such an event. With all that in mind, we have set up our supply to last us roughly a month on a survival basis, (but certainly not a culinary delight basis.) Here are the factors we considered to be important, presented in disorganized, willy-nilly fashion: (1) Emergency planning means to plan for the worst thing that can hit you, which in the case of an emergency food supply would be your inability to cook food. So in designing our emergency supply we chose canned foods over dried foods or MRE's because of their ready availability, variety, longevity without refrigeration, ease of immediate consumption, and much lower cost. We also chose only those canned foods that can be eaten out of the can cold. It isn't the best thing that ever happened to you, but I was in the C-Ration Army and have eaten a heck of a lot of canned food cold from the can and it will sustain you. We also went in big for high calorie foods, since it only stands to reason that food will be in short supply and you want every smidgen of nourishment you can get in relatively small quantities. .(2) Assuming that the worst season this could happen in would be winter, we went very heavy on protein, which is essential for keeping you warm. (Note that combining rice and beans gives you a complete protein.) (3) We went heavy on the foods that have a can completely full of product, like the Roast Beef Hash, SPAM Lite, Refried Beans, Spanish Rice, Fried apples, etc, etc. Greens, corn, green beans, etc. are pretty useless for providing the concentrated amounts of nutrition we want, and they have too much water in the can. Having said that, we did throw in some watery veggies like beets, carrots, and sweet peas just for variety and morale purposes, but these have far better nutritional values than the others I mentioned. (4) We went heavy on stewed tomatoes because of their high Vitamin C content and because they make a good base for a cold slumgulleon stew. I imagine diced tomatoes would work well too. (5) We went heavy on beans and bean products because of their carbs, calories, low fat, and their high dietary fiber content. (5) Getting away from sodium in canned foods is almost impossible, but I set an arbitrary limit of 240mg per serving in our canned veggies, and kept it as low as possible with our meat products. Be aware, however, that sodium content will vary from brand to brand in the same product, so you have to check each brand - i.e. Bush blackeyed peas have 540mg per serving, while Allens blackeyed peas only have 240mg per serving. Also, in the meat department, SPAM Lite has much less sodium than regular SPAM and Roast Beef Hash has less than Corned Beef Hash. So we opted for the lowest sodium content in each product category. (6) We stuck mostly with name brands unless we knew for a fact that a particular generic was as good, which didn't happen often. Our feeling is that in an emergency we will have enough to contend with without having to suffer third rate foods. (7) We stayed away from canned prepared foods like pastas and so on, but they are a consideration. We’re evaluating a 10 can pack of Ravioli to see if we want to include it. (8) It does no good at all to plan your supply around canned products and then forget the can opener. So we have one high-grade can opener, one high grade church key/bottle opener, and one good folding knife in each of our cars, and another package of these is kept with the canned foods. They are wrapped in Saran Wrap and then a ZipLok bag for rust prevention. Tough stainless steel can/bottle opener One of the best portable can openers on the market. (9) Your supply must contain a transportable supply of drinking water, and there are lots of ways to accomplish this. Here photos of the containers we used. Our total supply is 29 gallons, of which we could realistically take only about 10-15 gallons in the vehicles. Recycled half-gallon tomato juice jug 2.5 gallon water storage container with spigot (10) Your supply should contain a good supply of miltivitamins and any other meds you need on a daily basis. Finally, we do indeed have a stove to take on the road with us. It is an old fashioned Coleman gasoline stove that I've adapted to burn Propane as well as gasoline. So heating food shouldn't be a problem, but if it is we're prepared to eat cold food. OK, here is our supply as it now exists. (Cardiologists please sit down.) There are some photos thrown in to give you some idea of the amount of room it occupies. (It is all contained on a shelf measuring 18"x 48.") I believe the whole shebang would fit into, say, about a large plastic tub and a half for transportation. Here goes. NOTE IN THE PHOTOS THAT THE PULL DATES ARE WRITTEN IN LARGE NUMERALS ON THE FACES OF THE CANS. ALSO NOTE THAT NONE OF IT REQUIRES REFRIGERATION. FOOD FOR EMERGENCIES VEGETABLES AND FRUIT 105 each, 14 oz. cans of vegetables and fruit, as follows: 10 cans of Spanish rice 10 cans of refried beans 5 cans of mixed pinto and great northern beans 5 cans of blackeyed peas 10 cans of mixed vegetables 5 cans of shellie beans 5 cans of honey carrots 5 cans of regular sliced carrots 5 cans of sliced white potatoes 5 cans of sliced beets 5 cans of sweet peas 15 cans of stewed tomatoes 10 cans of fried apples with cinnamon 10 cans of Lite peach slices MILK PRODUCTS 10 each, 14 oz. cans of Vitamin D Evaporated Milk BREAD 18 each, 16 oz. cans of B & M molasses bread with raisins Excellent bread with a three year shelf life. MEATS 60 cans of meat products as follows: 15 cans of boneless chicken breast meat (Sam’s Club) 25 cans of Lite Spam 10 cans (16 oz.) canned ham from Aldi's. (similar to SPAM, but better IMHO.) 10 cans of roast beef hash OTHER 29 gallons of fresh water 100 Lipton tea bags 2 each, salt and pepper shakers 400 multi-vitamin tabs 500 enteric coated aspirin tabs We certainly don't have all the answers. This is an unsophisticated, easy on the budget, way to get a month's food in the barn. it's a work in progress, so we are constantly evaluating new products, like the ham from Aldi's. it's just the way we see things. Hope it helps answer some questions.

For you folks that have them, seems this is quite a good deal, .20 each?   http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/product_info.php/pName/50rds-762-nagant-fiocchi-98gr-fmj-ammo/cName/pistol-ammo-762-nagant?utm_campaign=Make%20the%20Most%20Of%20Your%20Range%20Budget%20Today%20With%20ATG&utm_content=ATG%20Newsletter%204-2-15%20Split%204&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_term=   - OS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UR707aRExiI

I am glad to see Oper8r is back in the spot light. :) I have no idea why I haven't liked you guys on facebook yet. I will though here in a bit.

I thought "These colors don't run" was funnier...that being said...OperatorError is one funny dude. He reminds me 98% of someone I grew up with, looks the same and kinda even acts the same.

Merica indeed! lol

  It is an defense to illegal possession with intent to go armed if done in your home, and you must possess with intent to go armed to be guilty of the felony provision in 1307.   I suppose you could still be guilty of the misdemeanor part of 1307, though, so just make sure all the firearms are loaded at all times if you don't do firearm instruction. :)   But seriously, methinks this homeschooling topic area seems a bit overblown, no prosecutor is going to split a hair like this.   - OS

Well I'm 5 years and 4 days late to this party, but I just binge watched all 5 seasons in about 3 weeks. I bought the season pass on iTunes for season 5. Allows me to eliminate the commercials without fast forward. I have enjoyed the entire show. It had had it's slow moments but with binge watching I got over it quick. Anyhow I'm here now :thumbsup:

As a gunsmith and instructor I've seen and done a lot of shooting over the years. I have only shot maybe 4 boxes of cartridges from Freedom that I had received in a trade. One box contained 2 rounds with primers that were either backwards or sideways and crushed in place. I figured it was a rare anomaly so I saved the defective rounds to teach with. Then about a year later a student said they had some ammo at home that was the same way, so they were afraid to shoot it. They brought it in for me to examine and it turned out to also be from Freedom. I assumed it was an odd coincidence, and it probably was, but it was a good example why you should never purchase defense loads from a reloader, remanufacturer, or unknown source. And I never personally buy or shoot any non-commercial reloads (loaded by just some random guy), and I always carefully inspect any target ammo I might acquire that comes from a remanufactured or surplus source.

awesome NP.  Good for you.   We received some EH Taylor cured oak bourbon yesterday.  Had some dude come in Monday night looking for it.  I told him we had none and maybe Tuesday we would get it.  He asked if we could save him a bottle.  I plainly told him NO.  I did not know how much or if we even would get any.  We got three bottles yesterday. They were all gone by 5 pm.   Dude comes in today and asks if we ever received any.  He was told yes but it was all sold.  He started raising hell saying some guy ( me ) promised I'd save him one.  I clearly told him NO.   What an asshole.  If I told him I'd save him one I'd have saved him one.  I am so glad we had none to sell this guy.     Dude comes in whenever something special has been released.  Sometimes he scores, sometimes not.  I can about promise he will score no more.  Jerk!

My Secret Santa got me a Kershaw Blackwash with a Tanto Style, 3.75 inch blade. In fact I think it's the #3 knife in your second set of pics on post #15. I've found it to be a very good, strong, and sharp general purpose carry knife.    With the "flipper" it opens very easily and it has a good strong lockup. Very little flex on the pivot.   I think it's a great blade, and if you shop at Bass Pro, it's almost as cheap as Amazon and e-bay prices. lol   Seriously, it's a very good knife, and I thank my Secret Santa every time I clip it on.   But like the rest of you knife clowns/nuts/collectors/accumulators, I been afflicted with the desire to not carry the same one each day.   Darn you Willis. lol

I'm longing for the day Google fiber is available. I can't wait to call Comcast and tell them to cancel. The conversation with the retention department will be fun...

One of these days I'm going to learn to not get on the internet on April 1st.

They are a 3# module trigger made by Velocity triggers. The brothers that owned Timney split up and now one of the brothers has started offering these triggers. If there is enough interest my guy said that he would offer a 10% discount on top of that which puts it $85-$90 less than a Timney or other comparable trigger. They offer a few different models ranging up to 4.5# but as for right now I'd rather only have to keep track of one model. If this turns out to be an issue then I may rethink it but I'm just trying to keep it simple right now. This price is picked up in Murfreesboro but I could work out shipping for actual cost. You can Google Velocity Triggers or I believe the website is www.velocitytriggers.com and research them a bit. I'm headed out of town tomorrow for a pig hunt and will return on Monday so I'll see what kind of interest there is at that time. I will have Internet access when I'm not in the woods if anyone should have any questions but I guess it's pretty self explainatory. http://velocitytriggers.com/view3.php?area=&id=1#a

I have talked about this for months, and finally complete (thanks to some great ideas on how to fix a muzzle brake index issue in the troubleshooting forum)! Built this to deer hunt with, and mid-range target shooting (500-600 yards). Things still to add: Scope - looking at a Vortex Viper 4-14x44 Dedicated bolt carrier - plan to buy a Stag Arms 6.8 BCG and keep that bolt as a spare Possibly a bipod - Caldwell has a Harris style that seems to have high reviews. Receivers are from Palmetto State - I thought about going with a "higher end" set but PSA receivers have worked well for me so far. Lower: Gray Magpul Moe K2 grip Ambi selector Seekins enhanced bolt catch/release Larue Tactical MBT-2S trigger VLTOR Emod buttstock Upper: 16" socom profile barrel from ARP (AR15Performance). It has their hybrid 5R 1:11.25" twist, melonite finished. Matched ARP 6.8 Superbolt 15" Seekins keymod rail YHM gas block YHM slant muzzle brake Strike Industries extended latch charging handle BCM keymod QD sling adaptor BCM keymod vertical grip - likely will get replaced with bipod

Wow - and boxer brass to boot!

That's a damn good price.

I have closed off the bottom door and made one out of the side since I took this picture. They didn't want to go up through the bottom. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It would be a great favor for the state of IL and rest of the US if Chicago and Cook County drifted off and sank into Lake Michigan.  

Yeah, would not want the most law abiding group in the State hanging around their children armed.

I know right. After I watched the first episode on Netflix it was all over for me.

Yep, and net neutrality may have started the ball rolling for ISPs to be categorized as a utility service, which is going to bring in a few more taxes.

I wrote them off after I ordered 480 rounds of .308, waited months, and then they canceled my order. I immediately went back on the site to see what was going on, and they had raised their prices and had some ammo back up for sale (that sold out quickly). That happened during the gun ban panic fwiw. With business practices like that, I'm done with them. :down: Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I'm not defending Comcast because I dislike a lot of things they do, but why are you mad at them and not Govt for the increase in taxes? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Sorry to hear of your family's loss. Will be praying for ya'll. The story was very touching. I lost my father in 1972 and although it has been almost 43 years I still think of him quite a bit, maybe not everyday but very often. I was 19 when he passed away and I have wished several times to have 5 minutes to ask a question or 2 or get his advice. Time heals but you will always miss him.

So very sorry to hear this my friend. But sounds like his passing was peaceful and that he was surrounded by the people he loved. He had made his peace with his coming end and accepted it with the most strength and dignity that any of us can hope for.    I'm so glad that he knew you were there with him, I'm sure that was a great blessing to him.   I know this isn't easy, and the coming days will be difficult. Losing a parent is totally awful. The pain will lessen. But the memories will stay forever.   I know this. Although its' been 24 years since I lost my dad, I feel his passing again with every loss that we hear of here.   God Bless and Keep You and all your family.

Whiskey Gods shined their favor on me while at some estate/yard sales out of town today ... Blanton's Gold Blanton's Straight from the Barrel Elijah Craig Barrel Proof Angel's Envy Cask Strength

That is what he is implying. He owns his own, and they keep trying to charge him.

that happens to me from time to time, a quick call and it is fixed again.  But it tells me that they probably try that every so often to see who is watching their bill and who isn't.  If they can, they are going to charge you for your own modem I believe which is very shady, as I believe they do it on purpose.

The state senator in the second paragraph has it figured out that people with the handgun carry permits are not the ones to worry about wherever we carry, whether that is in the capitol, a store, church, or a school.  We are the ones that paid the money and went through the process to be legal and should be trusted. 

I mention evacuation only from the standpoint of the portability of this food supply, not whether or not it's advisable. The point is that if you are forced to boogie, this supply is transportable and edible without cooking. Nothing more.   As for the advisability of leaving, I agree that unless I'm in the kill zone of an impending nuke or chemical/biological weapons attack, I'll stay home too. But having survived the entirety of the Cold War, I believe those things to be entirely possible any more, so I'm going to plan as if I believe so. I have destinations where friends can put us up in all four directions from here. The least I can do is show up with some food.

I like the Bond films, it's Daniel Craig I'm not fond of.

Only thing I got from this thread is that I need to buy some spam and go to gfs and buy a can of 6lbs of corned beef hash Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  Lo there do I see my Father........drunk on the couch Lo there do I see the line of my people back to the beginning....all drunk on their couches. They bid me to join them.......drunk on the couch and to bring more beer!

i hate the 300 it's like the poor mans Bentley Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Marquis Men.... imagine they're made up of a bunch of soul/rock crossover musicians led by a dude named Mark. They could be Marquis Mark and the Funky Bunch!

Is it true that most Crown Vic owners like this buy their cars because they've had so much experience riding around in the back of one in cuffs?  :)

THAT I would open carry in Walmart.

  Aaron dropped his bag when the walker grabbed it, I think.

I am an ATGATT (All The Gear All The Time) rider and I believe that riding without a helmet is just the right amount of chlorine in the gene pool. However, I agree with you on freedom. If you're an adult, you should be able to make stupid decisions if you want to. I feel exactly the same about seat belts and seat belt laws. Or pretty much any law that dictates behavior of an adult.