The orthopedic Surgeons out there must love these for their job security that they provide! Grumpy
Category: Other Stuff
This adorable little rascal is the inland taipan, the most venomous snake in the world. A single bite packs enough venom to kill 100 grown men. What the heck? Photo by XLerate/Wikipedia
I don’t care much for venomous snakes. I have written about that particular phobia on several occasions in this very venue. I get that God put everything here for a reason.
However, in quiet moments, I have to wonder if He didn’t just let Satan whip up a handful of things during the Creation week just to keep the old serpent placated. I’m thinking maybe mosquitoes, water moccasins, politicians and trial attorneys.
I have waged an ongoing existential fight for survival against the water moccasins that call my backyard lake home. In the last two decades, I have killed 64 of them. I wander about a good deal after dark and have little interest in stepping on one unexpectedly.
While I dislike venomous snakes, I’m not petrified by them. I’m not struck immobile at the sight of one. I just don’t want them around me.
I like to think I’m fairly comfortable around snakes, even the objectionable sort. Here a young buddy and I are field stripping a sizable North American copperhead.
Origins
I grew up in the hinterlands of the Mississippi Delta. In my neighborhood, there were only two varieties — water moccasins and copperheads. I never saw a rattlesnake when I was a kid, and I’m fairly certain that coral snakes are not actually real. Distinguishing the good snakes from the bad was not terribly difficult.
In addition to some unique markings and coloration, pit vipers all have a distinctive triangular-shaped head and vertical pupils. Spend enough time in the woods, and you can tell at a glance. And then Uncle Sam sent me to Australia.
Way Down Under
Things are just different in Australia. Back in 1997, I was in a little town called Rockhampton in Queensland on the northeast coast as part of Operation Tandem Thrust.
This vast multinational military operation was designed to allow the militaries of various Allied nations to operate jointly to vanquish evil or some such. For me, an unwashed redneck who had grown up in the Mississippi backwoods, it was just an excuse to meet some interesting people and expand my horizons a bit.
One fine day, I spotted a modest snake in the motor pool and pointed it out to one of my Aussie buddies. This cute little guy had a skinny head and pretty benign-looking features.
Back in Mississippi, he would have been a racer or a grass snake of some flavor. My Digger pal leapt back like a cockroach on a hot stovetop. I forget the specific species, but he said that was one we needed to give a wide berth.
It turned out this was some kind of hyper-deadly compact little monster that could purportedly kill you with a glance. I forget the name, this was quite some while ago, but my Australian friend was clearly impressed. When next I had a few minutes, I found a book and did a little research.
Variety is the Spice of Life…
It turns out that Australia has the nastiest snakes literally in the entire universe. Additionally, the rules about vertical pupils and triangular heads don’t apply over there. Some of the deadliest sort in Australia would seem completely benign over here. Just thinking about it gives me the willies.
The common death adder is fairly self-explanatory. You don’t earn a name like “common death adder” by being extra cuddly and good around kids. This diabolical monster runs about three feet in length and looks like Satan’s psychotic nephew.
The eastern brown snake seems pretty unremarkable, except that it employs the second-most potent snake venom on the planet and grows to be seven freaking feet long. It is also notoriously grouchy and ill-tempered.
Were I an early explorer, I don’t think it would matter had Australia stood calf-deep in diamonds. As soon as I realized these seven-foot-long malevolent death machines populated the place, I would have packed it in and gone home.
The lowlands copperhead looks nothing like the North American copperhead. This lightweight tops out at a paltry five feet but still employs a postsynaptic neurotoxin that kills you by shutting your nervous system down so you can’t breathe.
What makes the lowlands copperhead so remarkable is its resistance to cold. Unlike regular reptiles, these guys are still active above the snow line. The normal rules about where snakes can live don’t seem to apply. When Elon Musk finally sets foot on Mars, he will probably be messily devoured by a huge herd of spacefaring Australian lowlands copperheads.
And then there is the inland Taipan, literally the deadliest snake in the world. This thing is proof positive that mother nature does not think overkill is a real thing. This ghastly monster, though purportedly shy, grows to more than eight feet long. The venom in a single bite is adequate to kill 100 grown men. Seriously, what is up with that?
Ruminations
While on a night patrol Down Under, one of our grunts ran afoul of some gigantic spider that purportedly eats birds. I personally prefer my spiders to be small enough to stomp on. This massive example latched onto this poor slob’s face and bit him in the forehead. After I heard about that, I opted to stay inside a lot.
I had a great time in Australia, and I obviously didn’t die. If you were paying taxes back in the late 1990s, thanks for that, by the way. That experience did indeed expand my horizons. I just now got a Gun Crank column out of it.
Fun fact: Lots of people actually live in Australia without being eaten by snakes, spiders, crocodiles or sharks. The Land Down Under is indeed a most amazing place. Someday, I would love to visit there again, this time with my bride in tow. However, I think I’ll make a point to stick to the more civilized spaces. Aggressive eight-foot hyper-venomous snakes and bird-eating spiders that bite you in the face might take the shine off of a recreational stroll through the jungle.
https://m.ok.ru/video/1420753898182
To my Wonderful Readers out there,
I have just watched one of my all time favorite pictures (Lillies of the Fields with Sidney Poitier) and something struck me pretty hard.
In that I noticed something that has been bothering me a lot lately. But I just could not quite put my finger on it. Then like a bolt of lightening it hit me. In that the world that I was watching was so vastly different from the one we live in.
The big thing was that their world inspite of the racism etc. etc. seemed to be a world of hope, respect and a sense of what it use to be to be an American.
Now I know that I am an old man of 66 plus years. That & I know that the old will always say things were better in their day. (We been doing that since Cain & Abel. & But I can still remember the 60’s & the 70’s.)
That and my pain pills are on strike right now. As Spinal stenosis is a real joy that I would not wish on my worst enemy. Sorry about the moaning & complaining.
But when did we become so untrusting of our fellow man? Why is that it seems that for want of a better word has our world become so brutal and ugly? Why this race to the bottom of the pit of crassness and fake ? Why does it also seem that there is so little real beauty left anymore in our culture ? (Like our women trying their best to get ugly? Tatts etc etc.) The bottom line being as to how has this come about?
If anybody has some brillant observations about this and what we can do about this. I would really be grateful to hear it.
Anyways I am going to look at pictures of my wonderful grandkids and be thankful for my wonderful wife that God has given to his most unworthy servant.
Thanks
Grumpy
PS Please no the Jews, Blacks etc etc. are the cause. As I know quite a few of these folks and they are not happy about this either.
The Great Depression was one of the most traumatic events in American history. Following the stock market crash of October 1929, industrial production crashed, construction shrank to a fraction of what it had been and millions of people found themselves on short hours or without work. Until the economy picked up again in 1935 life was a real struggle for the average American.
To get through the economic collapse and the grinding poverty that followed it, people had to adapt and learn new skills – or re-learn old ones. For that reason, many people who lived through it looked back with a sense of, maybe not exactly nostalgia, but pride in how they managed to cope.
A lot of the things people did during the Great Depression still make a lot of sense today. With our own economy looking vulnerable, and the risk of a new collapse always lurking just around the corner, would we cope as well as our grandparents and great-grandparents did? Here are some of the ways they took care of themselves and those around them through some of the hardest times the USA has ever seen.
Important Below:
Here’s just a small glimpse of what you’ll find in The Lost SuperFoods:
The US Army’s Forgotten Food Miracle And 126 Superfoods That You Can Store Without Refrigeration for Years
Work
- Entire families moved in search of work. By staying together, they could support each other while not missing employment opportunities.
- Migrant farm work was a life-saver for many. Different crops needed harvesting at different times, so it was – and still is – possible to find several months’ work.
- People were willing to try any job. They didn’t ask “Do you have any work for a…?” But, “Do you have any work?” They were flexible because they had to be.
- Everyone in a family was prepared to earn money. Kids could make a valuable contribution too. Families worked for a common goal – earning enough to survive.
- Almost anything had some value. Driftwood collected from the beach could be split and sold as firewood. Most any kind of metal can be collected and sold as scrap.
- Government “New Deal” employment programs provided jobs and taught skills. They also created a lot of new infrastructure, including many roads – and the Hoover Dam.
- There was no such thing as retirement age. Anyone who could work did When money is tight, everyone needs to contribute whatever they can earn.
- A lot of jobs became part-time as employers tried to save money. Many people worked several part-time jobs, often putting in very long days.
- Many of the jobless spent all day going round employers, looking for any work they could find. Even an hour or two’s labor would make a difference.
- People created jobs for themselves. Some women would wake early to cook dozens of meals, then sell them outside factories and construction sites.
- Flexibility helped. Someone who knew a little about several trades had a better chance of finding work than someone who was an expert at one.
- Farmers would take on workers they didn’t have the money to hire, and pay them in produce instead.
Housing
- Many people lost their homes. Often, extended families – grandparents, aunts, uncles – ended up living in one house.
- Others were forced to live in their car or truck, buying cheap meals and washing at public gyms or swimming pools.
The homeless often lived in tents – or shack or lean-tos they’d built themselves. Having a place to live, even a basic one, was better than sleeping rough.- To save energy, walls were insulated with anything that would help keep heat in through the winter – mud, newspapers or tar paper. It all helped cut fuel costs.
- Homes were kept cooler than normal. Wearing more clothes indoors reduced the need to burn fuel, and that left more money for food.
- In summer people hung wet sheets over doorways and windows. As the water evaporated it drew in heat from the air, cooling the home slightly.
- Refinancing a home was one way to keep up the payments – and it could also free up cash for living expenses.
Money
Life insurance policies were a safety net for those who had them. If money ran out the policy could be cashed in, helping keep the family afloat for a few more months.- Many people rarely saw cash; barter economies quickly grew up. Small jobs might be paid with milk, fresh vegetables or fruit, especially in rural areas.
- With millions out of work, begging was common – and seen as desperation, not antisocial behavior. Outside restaurant was a favorite spot; only the rich could afford to eat there.
- People respected banks back then, but when banks started closing the trust soon faded. Nobody knew when their own might shut, so the wise kept cash at home.
- Many stores gave credit and let regular payments slide. They just kept track of what was owed and hoped it would be paid someday. Many stores went bankrupt because of this.
Food
- Having a vegetable plot made a huge difference. In 1929, 20% of Americans still lived on farms; most of the rest had big gardens, and the skills to grow their own food.
- Hunting and fishing were major sources of protein. Meat was expensive, but if you could harvest your own you had a better diet. Surplus was great for barter, too.
- Foraging was also popular. Nuts, berries, and wild greens helped put meals on the table, and kids and older people could forage as well as anyone.
- In the country, canning was an essential skill. A well-stocked pantry was both a source of pride and a life-saving reserve for the winter.
People learned that you can eat almost anything if you’re hungry enough. Tumbleweed was used as fodder for cattle; then people found it could be eaten. Young plants are best.- No part of an animal was wasted. Offal was fried, boiled or turned into ground meat. Even chicken feet could be boiled to add some taste to a broth.
- A little bit of bacon would add flavor to almost anything. The hard rinds or dry ends of a piece of bacon could be boiled – and butchers sold them for pennies.
- Communities divided vacant lots and parks into family vegetable plots. Housewives and kids spent much of their time growing extra food.
- To keep some variety in their diets, people traded the produce they grew with friends and neighbors.
- Meals were cooked from scratch – there were hardly any prepared foods in the shops. Recipes were usually simpler than today’s. That mean they were cheaper to make.
- Stores closed on Sundays, so fresh produce that would go bad by Monday would be sold off cheap late on Saturday. Shopping at that time was great for bargains.
- Livestock was a great asset. If you had a cow or even a few chickens, you were sitting on a wealth creator. Milk and eggs helped your own diet, and could be bartered.
- Meat and dairy products were expensive; bread, potatoes, and noodles were cheap and filling. People bulked out meals with carbohydrates. Lard or bacon fat added flavor.
- Soup was a popular meal. It filled you up, and the main ingredient was water. Almost anything could be made into soup – beans, potatoes, even stale bread.
Clothes
- Shoes were mended over and over. Holes in the sole were patched with leather from scrap belts or purses. Complete soles were cut from old tires.
People learned to make and repair clothes. Any fabric could be used. Rural families made clothes from feed sacks. One woman turned a casket’s fabric lining into kids’ dresses.- Fashion was canceled. People preferred to get more use out their old clothes and spend their money on food.
- When kids outgrew their clothes they were handed down to younger siblings or given to people who could use them.
- Really old clothes were cut up for rags to get some more use out of them. Why spend money on dusters and cleaning cloths when rags worked just as well?
Society and Attitudes
- Nobody felt entitled to be supported. People knew that they had to work as hard as they could to survive; if they didn’t, they could expect nothing.
- On the other hand, people were willing to help those who were trying but struggling. They knew they could be the ones needing help next, so most gave all they could spare.
Communities became closer, giving mutual support and organizing donations of food or cash to those who needed them the most.- Many towns set up welfare loan schemes. Money could be loaned to people who needed it, but it was expected to be paid back. Detailed records were kept of what was owed.
- Willingness to work hard, and to do what you could to support the community, was more highly valued than individualism and independence.
- People learned to keep a positive outlook on life. They learned that they could lose a surprising amount – almost everything – and keep going.
- Positivity was essential. There was no point complaining how bad things were – they were just as bad for almost everyone. What mattered was trying to make them better.
During a SHTF situation, pain could become an annoyance for some, but unbearable for others.
If doctors are scarce and medicine becomes even scarcer, this one little weed, found all over North America and similar to morphine, could be a saving grace.
They had more character than most people that I have met! Plus they were mega women magnets. Grumpy
Categories
Things to Look For…
Things that seem disconnected but aren’t. The thirteen bullet points below are the issues we will first notice as the general food supply chain begins show signs of vulnerability. This outline explains why it is happening and how long it can be expected.
In the previous October, November and December warnings we emphasized preparation and counted down the 90-day window. Now, as we enter the final two weeks before mid/late January, the date of our original prediction, it appears that some media are starting to catch up and the larger public is starting to notice. [NOTE: We nailed the timeline almost to the week]
Feel free to note in the comments section what is happening in your area. Hopefully, most of us are much better positioned than the average person who has not been following this as closely over the past several months.
Initial food instability signs in the supply chain. Things to look for:
(1) A shortage of processed potatoes (frozen specifically).
And/Or a shortage of the ancillary products that are derivates of, or normally include, potatoes.
(2) A larger than usual footprint of turkey in the supermarket (last line of protein).
(3) A noticeable increase in the price of citrus products.
(4) A sparse distribution of foodstuffs that rely on flavorings.
(5) The absence of non-seasonal products.
(6) Little to no price difference on the organic comparable (diff supply chain)
(7) Unusual country of origin for fresh product type.
(8) Absence of large container products
(9) Shortage of any ordinary but specific grain derivative item (ex. wheat crackers)
(10) Big brand shortage.
(11) Shortage of wet pet foods
(12) Shortage of complex blended products with multiple ingredients (soups etc)
(13) A consistent shortage of milk products and/or ancillaries.
These notes above are all precursors that show significant stress in the supply chain. Once these issues are consistently visible, we are going to descend into food instability very quickly, sector by sector, category by category.
At first, each retail operation will show varying degrees of the supply chain stress according to their size, purchasing power, and/or private manufacturing, transportation and distribution capacity.
♦ BACKGROUND – Do you remember, the dairy farmers in 2020 dumping their milk because the commercial side of milk demand (schools, restaurants, bag milk purchasers) was forcibly locked down? Plastic jugs were in short supply, and the processing side of the equation has a limited amount of operational capacity.
Potato farmers and fresh food suppliers were also told to dump, blade or plough-over their crops due to lack of commercial side demand. These issues have longer term consequences than many would understand. These are fresh crops, replenishment crops, which require time before harvest and production.
The retail consumer supply chain for manufactured and processed food products includes bulk storage to compensate for seasonality. As Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue noted in 2020, “There are over 800 commercial and public warehouses in the continental 48 states that store frozen products.”
Here is a snapshot of the food we had in storage at the end of February 2020: over 302 million pounds of frozen butter; 1.36 billion pounds of frozen cheese; 925 million pounds of frozen chicken; over 1 billion pounds of frozen fruit; nearly 2.04 billion pounds of frozen vegetables; 491 million pounds of frozen beef; and nearly 662 million pounds of frozen pork.
This bulk food storage is how the total U.S. consumer food supply ensures consistent availability even with weather impacts. As a nation, we essentially stay one harvest ahead of demand by storing it and smoothing out any peak/valley shortfalls. There are a total of 175,642 commercial facilities involved in this supply chain across the country
The stored food supply is the originating resource for food manufacturers who process the ingredients into a variety of branded food products and distribute to your local supermarket. That bulk stored food, and the subsequent supply chain, is entirely separate from the fresh food supply chain used by restaurants, hotels, cafeterias etc.
Look carefully at the graphic. See the fork in the supply chain that separates “food at home (40%)” from “food away from home (60%)”?
Food ‘outside the home’ includes restaurants, fast food locales, schools, corporate cafeterias, university lunchrooms, manufacturing cafeterias, hotels, food trucks, park and amusement food sellers and many more. Many of those venues are not thought about when people evaluate the overall U.S. food delivery system; however, this network was approximately 60 percent of all food consumption on a daily basis.
The ‘food away from home‘ sector has its own supply chain. Very few restaurants and venues (cited above) purchase food products from retail grocery outlets. As a result of the coronavirus mitigation effort, the ‘food away from home’ sector was reduced by 75% of daily food delivery operations. However, people still needed to eat. That meant retail food outlets, grocers, saw sales increases of 25 to 50 percent, depending on the area.
Covid regulations destroyed this complex supply chain in 2020. It takes time to recover because the replenishment is based on harvest cycles. This stuff must be grown.
When the food at home sector was forced to take on the majority of food delivery, they immediately hit processing constraints. The processing side of the supply chain to funnel food into suppliers for the grocery store has “x” amount of capacity. That system cannot (not feasible) and did not expand to meet the 20 to 50% increase in demand.
Think about potatoes. A potato farmer sells into one of the two paths “food at home” (retail stores, or a processing supplier) or “food away from home” (commercial food or commercial food processors). Other than bulk raw potatoes, the harvest goes into: (1) processing or (2) storage.
(1a) processing for retail sales (40%), ex. Ore Ida frozen potatoes, canning, or any of the other thousand retail products that use potatoes, whole or mashed.
(1b) processing for commercial sales (60%), ex. McDonalds french fries, or any of the thousand restaurant, lunchroom and cafeteria needs that use potatoes, whole or mashed.
♦ Processing – When 1b was shut down in 2020, 1a quickly reached maximum retail processing capacity. Massive multi-million machines and food processing systems have a capacity. The supplies they use also have a capacity: plastic bags, cardboard, trays, bowls, etc. The 1a processing system can only generate “X” amount of retail product at maximum capacity.
The remaining 1b commercial product was shut down. A massive percentage of 1b (commercial) potatoes have nowhere to go, except waste.
♦ Storage – Each processor in 1a stores product (deep cold or frozen storage) for 365-day processing and distribution. Those storage facilities have a limited amount of capacity. The 1b customers need fresh product for the majority of their outlets. Ergo storing for 1b customers who might eventually be allowed to open later only works for a short period of time. The fresh potato sales missed by 1b outlets = the 1b discard by potato farmers.
When you restart 1b suddenly the 1b short-term (fresh) storage product is quickly depleted. Refilling that 2020 storage is dependent on a new 2021 harvest, which simultaneously has a greater immediate demand because the supply chain on the processing side was boxcar’d (over capacity) and then reset to a higher capacity playing catchup.
The amount missing from 2021 storage, because it was used instead of saved, is essentially equal to the amount that was wasted in 2020.
Now you end 2021 will less reserves because storage is depleted, because a greater percentage of the current harvest was immediately used. You enter into the beginning of 2022 (winter) in a race to try and spread out the stored potatoes as you cross your fingers and race against the clock for the next harvest before running out.
You probably noticed – but attached to this issue is yet another motive to keep people (employees) away from large industrial cafeterias and even students from school lunchrooms. The total food supply chain needs time, and harvests, to catch up.
In the example above you can replace *potato* with just about any row crop or retail/commercial food commodity like milk.
The reason I list the shortage of potatoes as the #1 precursor is because every food outlet sells a potato in some form. Every supermarket and every single restaurant (fancy, sit down or fast food) sells some form of potato. Potatoes are demanded by every single food outlet; therefore, a shortage of potatoes is the first noticeable issue.
The 2020 demand disruption problem now becomes a 2021/2022 supply chain problem on both the fresh and processing side (depleted inventories), with each vector now competing for the same raw material: wheat, soybeans, grains, beans and stored row crops.
Making matters worse, the protein suppliers also need grain as feed for cattle, pigs, cows, chickens, etc.
[Note: who gets the short straw? The pet food manufacturers]
That’s the nub of the background supply chain issue in the food sector. Additionally, recovery is not a single-issue problem.
The recovery price and shortages relate to everything from current oil and gas prices to diesel engine oil prices, to fertilizer and weed killer costs, to plastic costs and petroleum packing shortages (Styrofoam especially), to cardboard and sustainable packaging costs, to energy costs and transportation/delivery costs. All along this complex supply chain there’s also workers and higher payroll costs.
Thus, we get the double-edged sword of higher prices (inflation) and simultaneous shortages.
Here’s what you can do to offset grocery store shortages (while possible):
(1) Buy the generic or store brand equivalent (sub-set inside retail supply chain)
(2) Purchase the organic version (another sub-set inside retail supply chain)
(3) Purchase the powered/dehydrated version (potatoes, milk, etc) and experiment (jazz it up).
Each retail operation, or chain of stores, will show varying degrees of the supply chain stress according to their size, purchasing power, and/or private manufacturing, transportation and distribution capacity.
This is where field to fork supplier relationships can make a big difference. However, every outlet regardless of their operational excellence, is going to have significant shortages in their inventory. It’s an unavoidable outcome of the previous chaos.
On average the retail shortages will last for about as long as one full harvest schedule (4 to 6 months) depending on the commodity. By September of 2022 the various sector should be relatively recovered.
However, government intervention could make the issues worse, or the recovery time take longer, depending on how they respond when people get seriously stressed in a few weeks. The densely populated urban areas are going to be making a lot of noise and demanding the government fix the crisis.
Final note on INFLATION – The short-term prices will go up again, another 10, 20 up to 50% should be expected depending on the item. Those prices will eventually level off, but it’s doubtful they will be able to come back down until supply and demand find some equilibrium again, if ever. Right now, predicting future retail prices is too far off to even fathom.
I hope this outline provides you with information to help you make decisions for your family.
‘Welcome to Big D’, President Kennedy. Dallas, Texas.
Morning of November 22nd, 1963