It’s finally open, for all you SHTF warriors that are making your annual vacation trip to Beirut, Lebanon . . . . errrr . . . . anyone reading this ever been to Lebanon?
In any case - “Buns and Guns” is a restaurant now making the news rounds, deep into Hezbollah land. It’s a theme restaurant. Everything is sliced and diced armory style. Following are two news clips covering the story. The first from the Associated Press:
The second from . . . some foreign news channel:
“The background music is gun shots” - lol - wtf!?
- Ranger Man
BTW: It’s been a real sweet time over in the New Yorker/Obama post comments section. Woo-hoo! Stadium announcer voice:
“In the left corner, kickin’ it survival girl style - is April!”
*crowd cheers - and jeers*
“In the right corner, with numerous others backing him - is Rushman!”
*crowd jeers - and cheers*
. . . . . c’mon, party people. We’re just having healthy debate . . . right? I mean . . if the chips were down . . TEOTWAWKI style . . we’d come together . . . right? Group hug everyone, c’mon . . . c’mon.
BTWx2: On a somewhat related note . . or theme . . let’s give a shout out to our Survival master homie, Rawles. Thoughts are with you and your lady with that surgery action. Word, bro.
Just when you thought home improvement projects couldn’t get any more fun, introducing the new DeWalt AR-15 nail gun.
It can drive a 6-D nail threw a 2 X 4 at 200 yards. This makes construction a real breeze. You can sit in your lawn chair, and build a fence. Just get the wife and kids, to hold the fence boards in place. You sit back, relax, and sip a frrrrrrrrosty cold beverage. When they have the board in the place, just fire away. With the hundred round magazine, you can build a fence with a minimum of reloading. Just think, after a fun day of fence building with the new DeWalt Rapid fire nail gun, the wife will NEVER ask you to fix or build anything else!
Question: How is a SHTF Samurai supposed to play Rambo without a beefy ass survival knife?
Answer: He (or she) isn’t.
My Buckmaster story:
When I was a kid, it must’ve been like 1985 or so, I went with my father to an Army Navy store in Bar Harbor, Maine (side note to tourists: visit Bar Harbor, spend your money, then go home ). There, behind the glass counter, was a monster blade unlike any I’d ever seen. It was . . . . awesome – lol. I mean, c’mon, it was the BuckMASTER! Master of all the Bucks – lol! I was a kid, so it had an even bigger impact.
My father asked to see it (for my entertainment), and I remember the guy behind the counter touting this mother of the blades. Much to my pleasure, my father let me hold it and I was in awe. It was expensive, and even if I’d had the money, there’s no way my father would’ve let me have it, so back behind the counter it went. That memory stuck with me a long time, all the way until I was old enough to make my own decisions, and (after saving money from lawn mowings, etc.) I went to a local hardware store that sold Buck knives and asked if I could order it. The guy, looking at young me, said, “order a what?” He called the distributor, and ordered it up. The knife came in a week or so later, I went to pick it up, he looked at me again, and said, “You be careful with this” – lol. I still own it:
The Buckmaster story:
The Buckmaster (Buck 184) was developed by Buck at the request of Navy SEALs. It has a massive, high-end blade that’s 7 3/8″ long. The entire knife is exactly 1′. The points at the end unscrew, which is typically the way I use it – unscrewed. I find the knife more comfortable to hold that way. The points are there so that the knife can be used as an anchor when attached to a rope or as a makeshift grappling hook. I’d have to be pretty desperate to use it as a grappling hook, but I have no doubts it’d hold me and gear should it be used this way. My understanding is that it was design primarily that way so Navy SEAL divers could anchor gear with it underwater. This seems like a logical, feasible use. It’s also my understanding that the saw edge on the back of the blade, closest to the blade’s tip, was designed for cutting wet rope.
Typical of most survival knives, the handle is hollowed out for water tight for storage of whatever components you want. Usually that’s a few matches, some fishing line, a few hooks, etc. Mine contains nothing but matches and something to strike them on. I figure if I’m lost, more matches would carry greater value than fishing line.
The sheath is built out of rugged, hard plastic. The knife was sold with optional nylon pouches that could be attached to the front for other gear. Mine is pictured with one such pouch. The back of the sheath holds a built in sharpening stone. It has a quick-release belt loop, and it can be fastened to your leg. You wouldn’t want to go on a 10 day march with this strapped to your leg, but it certainly has applications in your bug out bag. They’re rugged as hell.
Production began in 1984. The knife came in non-reflective stainless and black. The first design included a small compass on the inside of the grip’s cap, but there was so much steel in the knife that it rendered the compass useless. Buck stopped producing these things in 1997, and they’ve since become popular with collectors. An early production Buckmaster will sell for $400 or more. The later models, like my own, go for about half as much. 110,000 of these babies were sold. If you’re interested in one, beware the cheap knock-offs that companies have tried to pass off as Buckmasters. They’re Buckmasters only in appearance. Specify “Buck 184.”
- Ranger Man
BTW: The Buckmaster design was later tweaked to build the M9 bayonet, also a nice blade.
Holy Barack Obama is a terrorist! At least, that’s the way he and his wife appear on the latest cover of the New Yorker magazine. This thing is causing an uproar. Check it:
The New Yorker is, of course, saying the cover is satire, a play on how the right wing is seeking to portray him. Catch the flag burning in the fireplace, scope Osama’s painting on the wall, check Michelle in the . . . . . . . she looks kinda good in fatigues.
The Obama campaign claims the cover is tasteless and offensive.
Creative satire or tasteless and offensive? You be the judge, but you heard it here first (or maybe second).
- Ranger Man
BTW: Thanks to whoever bought a few gardening books through the SHTFblog Amazon search bar/store. *thumbs up*
Saturday, 7/19 update: experiencing a nice surge in traffic from stumbleupon.
I love you people!
You’ve probably heard about Iran stepping up their show of force in response to Israel’s threatening gestures and suggestions. The “successful” Iranian missile test photo quickly circulated the web. Here it is:
Hmmmm, something look strange about the photo? Of course! Aaaaah, the wonders of Photoshop. You’d think they’d have pulled the inserted missile from a completely different photo if they really wanted to pull the fake off, but noooooo - not that bright.
Here is the ORIGINAL photo:
Charming, huh? Idiots!
I have Photoshop - this is my version:
Share the pics with your friends, distribute via e-mail, send people back to the blog, make me . . . . a star!
- Ranger Man
BTW: If you want a wicked cheap ad placed on the blog, I’ll use Photoshop to build it for you. Now THAT is raging cool!
T. Boone Pickens, the 80-year old Texas billionaire oil man, has BIG plans for wind energy. Crazy, huh? Not really, it doesn’t take a brainiac to figure this one out (which may be why President Bush hasn’t). So, if you watch news and pay attention, chances are decent you’ve heard about Boone’s plan to build a whole pile of windmills from Texas to North Dakota. He claims it could produce 20% of the nation’s electrical power within 10 years. If that happened, the natural gas currently used to produce 22% of the nation’s electrical power could be freed up for use in natural gas powered vehicles. Translation: less dependence on foreign oil, cheaper gas, greater national security. If this isn’t good news for the SHTF samurai, I don’t know what is!
Suh-weeeet!
Such a grand plan, even by a Texas billionaire, would require government action, however. This is why the plan is well timed - a new President takes office in January. Boone is trying to create a critical mass to push this issue forward. He’s begun airing television commercials, though I’ve only seen it online (don’t watch much boob tube), and he’s planing to air the ads during prime time presidential election time (must be nice to have money). But hey, he’s looking for people to hop on board the plan. He calls them supporters, I call them . . . Wind Warriors! <sigh> The campaign for this plan would have such a cooler delivery if I was in charge of media relations. “Wind Warriors - MOBILIZE!” lol - I digress.
Seriously, though. It’s a killer plan, you totally gotta scope the action: www.pickensplan.com.
Check the television commercial he’s airing:
Watch him describe the plan in greater detail. Seriously, you should . . . watch it. This guy became a billionaire on energy. He knows his shit.
Go to his site, pickensplan.com, and sign up to be a Wind Warrior, lobby your elected officials, get engaged, get enraged.
- Ranger Man
BTW: Have YOU told someone YOU know about SHTFblog today? Would ya, please? Link to me, baby . . . link to me.
). There, behind the glass counter, was a monster blade unlike any I’d ever seen. It was . . . . awesome – lol. I mean, c’mon, it was the BuckMASTER! Master of all the Bucks – lol! I was a kid, so it had an even bigger impact.
