Archive for the 'Survival' Category

These are normie web pages, and all of them seem to shy away from food slaughtering and processing specifics. A family I know is researching Kiko’s for food. FYI, goats and dogs don’t always get along; even herding breeds of dogs sometimes maul or kill goats. Does anybody raise goats?

This page isn’t great, but the two embedded videos are helpful.

Raising Goats – A Beginner’s Guide has tons of information. It’s probably a little more in-depth than only for beginners.

How To Shear Goats

1. Wash the goats and treat them for any parasite infestations a couple of weeks prior to shearing the herd.

2. Goats must always be clean and dry for shearing. A wet goat’s mohair or cashmere will get tangled in the shears causing the animal pain and the shearer to spend a lot more frustrating time attempting to get the task completed. Even light rain can cause the goat hair to become too damp for proper shearing. For best and painless results, do not shear a goat that has been wet at all during the past 24 hours.

3. Use an air compressor hose or hairdryer on the lowest heat setting to blow away as much debris and dirt as possible from the goat fleece before shearing. Never position the air straight downwards to the goat but angled at the side to prevent pushing tiny debris deeper into the mohair or cashmere. Blowing air downward or holding the pressurized air too close to the goat will cause the fine hair to tangle and cause problems and potential injury when shearing.

4. Start the shearing of a goat by trimming a single strip from along the backbone onward in the direction of the withers.

5. Now, shear down the other side of the goat along the backbone, as well. But, this time keep the blades on the shearing tool parallel to prevent them from cutting the skin of the goat as you do along the animal’s side.

6. Shear the shoulder area in an up and down motion instead of going from side to side to avoid nicking the thin flesh that surrounds the bones and runs between them.

7. Take special care when shearing the hind legs of the fiber goat to prevent hitting the tendon in the legs.

8. When shearing the underside of the goat, go slowly and pay close attention when trimming hear the testicles, penis, udders, and teats. Before starting to shear near these sensitive areas, make sure you have enough light and have positioned the goat high enough of a shearing – milking stand to ensure you have a complete view of the entire shearing area.

9. If any of the fiber goats possess wattles, use extra care when shearing around the animal’s neck and chest.

This article comes with a helpful video and many great tips, including:

Best Milk Goat Breeds:

• Nubian: This popular breed is a medium-large goat. They can produce up to 2 gallons of milk but average about 1 gallon each day. They have the highest milk fat content at about 5% fat. These goats are louder than other breeds, but their milk is ideal for soaps and cheeses. They can be milked all year long.

• Alpine: From the French Alps, they are very hardy to cold temperatures. These medium-sized goats average 1 gallon of milk a day. They are originally from France and are durable and steady. They have one of the longest lactation cycles. Their fat content is about 3.5% milkfat.

• Toggenburg: These bearded goats are good breeders. It produces about 3% milkfat. It is often bred with meat goats for dual purpose goats.

• Saanan: This is one of the largest milk goats. It produces a lot of milk, up to 3 gallons of milk each day. Average production is around 1.5 gallons a day. The Saanen milk fat content is about 2.5-3% so it isn’t as creamy as other dairy breeds. This breed is very calm and mild-mannered. These goats get to 200 pounds.

• Nigerian Dwarf: These goats are half the size of average goats. They are great for smaller lots. They produce about 2 pints of milk a day, but they have a high-fat content. Their fat content is 6.1% of the milk. They are wonderful breeders and will have many kids. They are also very mellow and often used as pets. They will even be walked on a leash.

• LaMancha: These funny-looking goats don’t have any ears! But, they are very hardy animals and very friendly. They can produce 1-2 gallons of milk a day. Their fat content is 4.2% of the milk.

• Oberhasli: Originally from Switzerland, these goats are well-suited for colder climates.  These goats don’t produce milk year round but will produce about 1 gallon of milk a day. Their milk fat is about 3.5%. They are small and ideal for smaller spaces.

Best Meat Goat Breeds:

• Boar: Native to South Africa. It has a fast growth rate and is very fertile. It has short horns. Boars come in red, red-white, or brown colors. They are disease resistant and used to hot dry areas. They are ready for slaughter as early as 90 days after birth and will grow to around 200-340 pounds for the bucks and 190-230 pounds for the does.

• Spanish Brough: This goat was imported to the New World by the Spaniards. They have been raised for meat for hundreds of years. They do very well in most climates. They also breed more often than annually. They are also called bush goats, briar goats, wood goats, and scrub goats.

• Kiko: This white goat is very hardy. It thrives in cold climates. It is fast-growing and can reach up to 300 pounds. It has spiral horns. The nannies are good mothers and low maintenance.

• Pygmy: These goats are fertile. They breed every 9-12 months, which allows for more batches of kids. They are often used as pets because they are smaller goats. They grow to between 50-75 pounds.

• Rangeland: The majority of the commercial goat meat comes from rangeland goats. They are generally low maintenance and thrive in dry conditions.

• Kalahari: This goat is from South Africa and does its best in dry hot conditions. The meat is more tender than other varieties. They are reddish-brown and can kid multiple times a year. They are also disease resistant and durable.

• Nubian: Good milk and meat goat. The males reach 175 pounds. They can be bred with boars for even larger offspring.

• Black Bangle: This goat is used for meat primarily in Bangladesh. It is easy to feed and care for. It can have kids multiple times a year and usually has 2-3 kids twice a year. They are ready for reproduction at 15 months old. They are dark with medium-sized horns.

• Verata: These goats are found mostly in Spain. They are durable, healthy goats. They do well in hot and cold climates. They are really good foragers and adapt easily. They are ready for meat at about 45 days. The does also provide a good amount of milk.

The headline is a ruse; it’s actually the same this time. The times it was different were in 1987, 2000, and 2008. We’re talking about the economy and stock market crashes, of course. In all three of those recessions, there was a so-called V-shaped recovery in which the economy and the market bounced back fairly quickly. Those times were different and not the norm at all. What’s coming now is much more akin to serious historical economic problems.

In 1987 was the Saving and Loan crisis. Instead of bailing out the failed Savings and Loan banks, the government insured the depositors. That’s the exact opposite of what they did in the 2008 housing crash when they bailed out all of Wall Street. In the 2000 technology crash and in 2008, we had disinflation, the definition for which is not very good. We got disinflation by shipping manufacturing and production overseas; prices on many things stayed flat relative to inflation in domestic items and services. Technology is the best example; computing power has doubled several times in the last 20 years, but the price of a PC is still 600 to 1000 bucks. T-shirts at Walmart are another good example; they are (were) still 7.99 to 12.99 and have been for decades. But those prices are now on the rise.

The point of that boring background is to say this: the economy is in real trouble this time, something America hasn’t seen since the 1970s, two generations ago, and governmental mismanagement is exacerbating the conditions of the setup.

Steve Forbes isn’t wrong, but he is part of the supply-side establishment that got us into this mess.

The ‘real cure’ for inflation has gone ignored, Steve Forbes says

In focusing on raising interest rates to cool inflation, central banks and governments have overlooked the importance of maintaining stable currencies, said Steve Forbes, chair of Forbes Media.

[…]

“Today, unfortunately, not only is the Biden administration putting up obstacles to deal with supply-side problems, but also the Federal Reserve and other central banks think you have to depress the economy to bring inflation down,” he said, disputing the idea that a recession is the only solution to combating inflation.

“They do it by artificially raising interest rates. So they have fewer people employed … that is not the real cure,” he said.

“The real cure is to stabilize the currency. You don’t have to make people poor to conquer inflation.”

The money printing started a century ago, but the profligate printing started by Trump bailout checks and continued by Biden’s democratic policies to “recover” the economy from the “pandemic” is backfiring. There’s no more disinflation to cover the cost of money printing. The lowest practical overseas wage has been realized. Moving manufacturing to Africa is not a viable solution, so there’s nowhere else to seek lower wages. That’s but one set of problems. The war in Europe is another thing. But the worst problem is cutting off domestic energy and food production coupled with hyper-regulation of mineral exploitation and use; those choices will be crushing.

The conditions are not favorable at all for an easy recession that recovers quickly. Those last crashes were sudden; this time, it’s coming on slowly and will likely be long and grinding. Tell your family you love them.

Mr. Weingarten explains several drills that can be used to prepare for a bear encounter.

AmmoLand:

Realistic bear defense drills can help prepare gun owners for actual situations.

The success of Eli Dicken in stopping a mass murder in the early stages, with excellent marksmanship at a claimed 40 yards, has engendered a plethora of people creating and executing some form of a “Dicken Drill” of ten shots at 40 yards.

There have been a number of “bear defense” exercises, usually arranged to simulate a worst-case scenario. I know of one such scenario, as it was related to me, by the inventor/trainer who ran it for a major agency.

The “bear” ran on a cart, as I recall, starting 10 yards away.  Speed was determined by the person who ran away from the shooting line, pulling the bear, which also moved up and down on the terrain, toward the trainee shooter.

I’ve seen a video of a drill similar to this.

The trainer prepped the trainee, to be tested, thus the trainee was armed with a pump shotgun with a sling. There were rounds in the magazine, but none allowed in the chamber. The shotgun had to be slung on the shoulder, with the safety on, and the bolt locked forward.  To engage the target, the trainee had to unsling the shotgun, disengage the bolt lock, work the action, disengage the safety, then shoot.  Alternatively, the trainee could unsling the shotgun, disengage the safety, dry fire the shotgun, which would disengage the bolt lock, work the action, and then shoot.

Once preparation to do the drill was ready, the trainer would engage the trainee with a question or small talk. When the trainee’s attention was off the “bear” the trainer would give the secret signal to start the bear charging at the trainee. Unsurprisingly, few trainees managed to get off a shot and hit the “bear”.

Trainers can create a drill to obtain the effect they want to establish.

A bear’s brain is reasonably close to the size and shape of a 12-ounce beverage can. To build confidence in shooters concerned about bear defense, I suggest these drills, taken from actual bear defense situations. The 12-ounce can should be oriented close to how it would be in a bear.

I have serious reservations about going for a headshot with a grizzly or even a black. Their skull is pretty thick. Large caliber hits at center mass seem like the best option. He explains The Ralph Fletcher Drill, The Dusel-Bacon Drill, The Cecil Rhodes Drill, and The Tanner Allen Drill.

Source:

US health officials have called for new prevention and treatment efforts as the number of cases of sexually transmitted diseases, which include gonorrhea and syphilis, has been skyrocketing over the last few years.

Speaking at a medical conference earlier this week, Dr. Leandro Mena of the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that it was “imperative” that the US work to “rebuild, innovate, and expand” STD prevention. This comes as the rate of syphilis infections last year reached a 20-year high, and the number of new infections shot up 26%, beating a record set in 1948.

They need to “rebuild, innovate, and expand” what God has already prescribed in ordination from the start?

The head of the National Coalition of STD Directors, David Harvey, whose group is pushing a proposal for at least $500 million in federal funding to be earmarked for STD clinics, has described the situation as “out of control.”

Health officials are suggesting a number of possible solutions to the problem, such as, for example, promoting the use of condoms and developing at-home testing kits for some STDs that would make it easier for people to learn if they are infected and thus prevent further spreading of diseases.

“4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” – Jesus, in Matthew 19:4-6. He goes on to discuss divorce in the next several verses.

Jesus is citing Genesis 1:27 perhaps, but certainly Genesis 2:21-25. It seems that God has set forth from the earliest foundations in His created order all the innovations needed to curtail sexual diseases. The diseases themselves aren’t the problem; they are simply an outward result of sin. Sin, dear friends, has consequences.

What better way to show that sin is real and affects the sinner? Without fornication, there would be no STDs at all. God owes us nothing to prove Himself, but by His grace, He makes evident His existence by the very operation of the creation under His hand of divine dominion.

If you sin, then you will have illness with permanent consequences. Don’t sin, and you won’t get sick. What could be more precise in the economy of the Almighty than that?

At the fall in the Garden, the devil is cursed, the woman is cursed, Adam is cursed, and the very ground is cursed.

The CDC is correct; it’s “imperative” that the US solve this problem. Jesus Christ is the answer, and has been from the foundation of the world, and is evermore. He paid your sin debt on the cross in His blood for your forgiveness. By His resurrection is salvation from eternal hell (1 Corinthians 15:3-4): the Kingdom of God is at hand. Having received forgiveness, seeking Him first in all things that you sin against Him no more (Psalm 119:11) is the solution; that is full repentance. In John 8:11, Jesus didn’t say go and neglect a condom no more. After forgiving a sinner by His grace, He said: “go, and sin no more.”

There’s a reason that the DoD considers STDs a readiness issue. But for us, this stuff affects your family and church’s preparedness, not just medical preparedness. If you’ve got active sin of any kind in your camp (Joshua 7), it can destroy the foundations of unity. You need cohesion.

Of course, proper Christian training of children from the start averts a lifetime of confusion and physical, emotional, and phycological problems. Ask anybody saved later in adulthood what the price of sin is. I tell you, it’s too high, for if you knew what things they had done, you wouldn’t let them in your church or near your family.

If you’re a young man or woman, find somebody that you can cleave to for the rest of your life, and never let go.

Some of these things we still eat in the south. But view this more along the lines of survival foods.

Sassafras twigs are pretty fibrous and flexible. You can splay one end of them as a tasty toothbrush.

We’ll also mention that Gelitin from hooves and skin scrapings provides essential animal collagen for bone and joint health.

You must cook turtle and snake very thoroughly; worms and other parasites are just an added bonus.

Bear is one thing I’ve never eaten, nor beaver. It might not be a terrible idea to have recipes for some things that are common to your area. Knowing how to process and prepare unusual foods could save your life.

The Author used to comment here from time to time. Haven’t seen him around in a while.

Source:

It is interesting to look at American history based on the firearms owned by civilians. Americans, and of course I mean the people who built this country and not those that showed up in the last generation or two, have always had a love affair with our guns. The right of the people to keep and bear arms is paired with the right to free speech and religion in the Bill Of Rights.

In much of the first half of the 20th century, a man who was a “sportsman” wasn’t a guy in multiple fantasy football leagues. A sportsman was a guy that hunted and fished. Men hunted and fished, it was what they did. For certain, many of these hunting trips were just an excuse to get away from their wives for a week, eat like crap, drink beer and be slovenly. Guys that didn’t hunt or fish were considered to be a little soft and effeminate. Back in those days you could order a gun from the Sears catalog and have it sent to your house.

[…]

At this stage, most of us spend most of our time with pistols. While we certainly have lots of rifles and maybe invest a lot of time shooting those rifles, we generally aren’t carrying them around with us. I have more long guns than handguns when counting shotguns and hunting rifles but most of them spend most of their time in the safe. We went out to eat with some Amish friends last night but I didn’t stow a 6.5 Grendel AR under a trench coat. I carried my Hellcat in an OWB holster under a button down shirt. While I subscribe to the school of thought that a pistol is simply a tool to keep you alive long enough to get to your rifle, right now if I get in a situation where I have to go kinetic it will be with a pistol.

He goes on to explain that the day of the rifle, or we could put it, the day of the Rifleman, is coming.

H/T WRSA

The reason the large tech companies wanted all of the social media data and search history algorithms was to build the AI. For over a decade, the tech gurus in the late 80s and 90s lamented how to build it. They knew it could be done; they just weren’t sure how. Then somebody said; just get the data; it’ll build itself from there. That was a simple and brilliant strategy.

In order to work, the machine would need loads of data about everything in the world. A computer has no soul; it will never actually be sentient. However, it can have so much data that it may “out-think” humans, appearing to have awareness. And its decision tree will be so thoroughly complex with innumerable options while being immensely quick that it will appear to make independent decisions. Like a master chess player, it will know the answer regardless of your next move. And since it “thinks” faster than anybody and has more data to act upon than anybody, it is, for all intents and purposes, the smartest evil super-genius ever.

We don’t use the word evil lightly. All the depictions of an AI turning evil are not in error. Every man knows he’s a sinner, deep in the depths of his own heart where he won’t discuss it and dares not to tread too often; we all know what we are, wicked. Here is the scary part: everything feeding the AI system is evil because you are feeding it the data. The system will appear to run after the image of its maker, fallen man.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” – Jeremiah 17:9

“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:” – Romans 3:10

You are evil, totally depraved, a sinner. All men are. In fact, you’re so far gone that you’re probably telling yourself right now, “no, I’m ok, I’m not that bad.” You operate within your own capacity, in a fallen state of sin. And you, along with 7 billion others just like you, wholly wicked and full of wretchedness, every last one, are programming the AI.

Source:

The idea of artificial intelligence overthrowing humankind has been talked about for decades, and in 2021, scientists delivered their verdict on whether we’d be able to control a high-level computer super-intelligence. The answer? Almost definitely not.

The catch is that controlling a super-intelligence far beyond human comprehension would require a simulation of that super-intelligence which we can analyze (and control). But if we’re unable to comprehend it, it’s impossible to create such a simulation.

Rules such as ’cause no harm to humans’ can’t be set if we don’t understand the kind of scenarios that an AI is going to come up with, suggest the authors of the new paper. Once a computer system is working on a level above the scope of our programmers, we can no longer set limits.

“A super-intelligence poses a fundamentally different problem than those typically studied under the banner of ‘robot ethics’,” wrote the researchers.

“This is because a superintelligence is multi-faceted, and therefore potentially capable of mobilizing a diversity of resources in order to achieve objectives that are potentially incomprehensible to humans, let alone controllable.”

This article seems to be written with the intent to make you a little dumber and a lot more helpless. It could have been a very good article. Worrying that the machine will “think” of something we didn’t is self-center beyond belief; it’s even egotistical to care about such a thing. I’m not worried at all about the computer coming up with some unforeseen thing. I’d be much more worried about it perfectly emulating all that it’s learned from its input subjects.

H/T Instapundit

Proverbs 22:7 comes to mind. Source:

The U.S. has about $30.9 trillion in national debt, according to the latest data from Treasury Department, and that total will reach a record $31 trillion as early as later in the month.

Roughly $24.3 trillion of America’s total public debt outstanding consists of debt held by the public, and $6.6 trillion is intragovernmental holdings, according to Monday data from the Treasury Department.

Intragovernmental holdings include federal trust funds, revolving funds and special funds, as well as Federal Financing Bank securities, the Treasury Department said on its website.

You can be sure that nobody will pay this “intragovermental holdings” debt but you, dear reader.

Debt held by the public consists of all national debt “held by any person or entity that is not a U.S. federal government agency,” according to the Treasury Department. That includes corporations, domestic individual investors, local or state governments, Federal Reserve banks, foreign investors, foreign governments and other entities.

Maybe the best, virtually without fear of overpenetration and harm to people in other homes.

A 17-year-old shot and killed two armed intruders during an attempted home invasion, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies were called to the 16000 block of First St., for a shooting in progress.

According to officials, three armed men wearing a mask attempted to force their way into a home. The home was occupied by a woman, 12-year-old boy, and two 17-year-old males. Deputies say a 17-year-old got a shotgun and fired several times, striking two of the suspects. Both suspects were pronounced dead at the scene. The third suspect fled …

Wait a minute!  You mean he was a 17 year old, not a paying graduate of tacti-school training with tacti-cool instructor former JSOC-operator/Ranger/SEAL/SWAT-cop ‘Tacti-dude’?

A shotgun seems like a fine weapon for a multi-man home invasion to me.