Elvis~SPARTA~

Everyone please check the smoke detectors in your home this weekend in their memory. If you'd like to do more, please get a fire extinguisher for your house. We've got two, one for the kitchen and one near the wood stove already. For me, I'm getting an escape ladder for our second story (storey UK).

This is a little like Lucy holding the football (US) for Charlie Brown. I really miss original Ghost Recon. Even GRAW was fun, but not as good (go Archd3vil). But I'll believe it when I see it.

I suppose some of you saw this in the few hundred world newspapers it appeared in: http://www.newsday.com/news/mountain-man-scares-owners-of-remote-utah-cabins-1.3538141 Well, this is right where the Rancho de Elvis is. Freaking awesome. The good news is that nobody's been killed yet. Of course, it's because nobody's come home to find this guy living in their house. My place has an alarm, even in the shed, and my alarm company has images of the guy that have also been turned over. And of course, woe unto the person who should attempt to enter when we're home. I just hate having to go into the place expecting to find a burglar in it. The bad news is that it doesn't really matter if we have all the photos in the world, it's a matter of finding someone who has been hiding out for five years. I know the guys who caught Eric Rudolph, and it takes a bit of trickery.

30 is just around the corner Krammy. Best wishes.

Had a windows f-up on my HDD after an update, so despite it being a SSD, I had to re-install. Being a fan of redundant safety measures, here is my inventory of gear: Acronis True Image: Have an image of my boot drive while working well stored on 2 different backup drives Windows 7 repair disk: Created from Windows 7 Help Windows 7 Install USB: Can install to a HDD faster than from a CD should I need to re-install: http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/how_install_windows_7_usb_key http://www.winsupersite.com/article/windows-7/install-windows-7-with-a-usb-memory-key Rescatux: A bootable linux CD that can repair windows boot Xubuntu: A bootable USB key that I can use if all my HDD fail (probably to find appropriate mental health professionals) PMagic Rescue Disk: A bootable Linux CD that can do some partition work My files on HDD are backed up online to Mozy, and on a separate removeable HDD that goes in a fire safe here. Stupid breakable contraptions!

If you're still a Firefox user and want things to move faster, consider Waterfox. It's a 64 bit version of firefox with most of the bells and whistles. Have been using it awhile and I rarely notice any issues, but do notice it's quite fast. My link to Waterfox download

Add me to the latecomer list. Happy Birthday!

Oh, I'm not worried about China. China has been the most powerful country on earth for most of the last thousand or two years. It invented gunpowder and didn't use it to take over the world, it built fireworks. It didn't build a great army, it built a great wall. There's over a billion of them, and they have greater capabilities than they let on. It will be see how they react to the rise of India in the next 40 years. Russia is insecure and dysfunctional, but having been the primary adversary of the germans in wwII, and had their asses kicked all the way back to Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad, they're really not a big fan of war either. Their paranoia concerns me at times, especially after finding out they almost launched on us based on false radar readings, but I don't think they have designs on New York. They are amazingly resourceful and bright, control 1/6 of the world, and deserve some respect. Its interesting to me that other people are spending lots of time and money to make things to kill one another, and that there is no reason to insist that in the lifetime of our children that the US will be the predominant military power on earth, when in the lifetime of our parents and grandparents the largest powers were Germany and France (at least on land, with apologies to the the Royal Navy, in a league all its own until...).

http://quinetiam.com/?p=1051 And all of your planes become stealth planes when they are completely underground. The Pentagon for the first time last week disclosed new details of China's deep underground bunker system that is used to protect nuclear weapons and Chinese military personnel and leaders. The bunkers are located in northern China and are connected to a network of tunnels. A disclosure in the annual assessment of China's military reveals its deep-underground facilities in the north that are connected with more than 3,000 miles of tunnels. The facilities are used for storing and hiding missiles and nuclear warheads, and for command bunkers hardened against nuclear attacks.The facilities were built beginning in the 1950s based on the Chinese belief that the weapons and headquarters are less vulnerable to attack.

Other camo tips available here:

Positive proof it is Russian:

I love bad economic times, when they dump good stuff at low prices. The best was the dot com bubble bursting. It was a merry christmas that year with a bunch of stuff at closeout prices. Thanks Vii.

Used to live across the straights from Victoria, visited often on the ferry. great city, used to rent a bike and see quite a bit in a day.

If you can get them to actually work like that. I had a couple 20 years ago, poof, one big poof, and that was it. Laughed like crazy. Like the other gun-show gimmicky rounds, they are tacticool but not all they seem to be. Have had a red dot on my 870 for awhile, nice to keep the slugs and buck on target with both eyes open. Knoxx /blackhawk stock if you're doing it all day. Surefire foregrip light if you're doing it all night.

http://rt.com/news/t50-pak-fa-maks/ On display at the Moscow air show yesterday.

Oh, and now not only are the F-22s grounded, so are the F-35 prototypes. http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/08/entire-u-s-stealth-fighter-fleet-grounded/ So we now have as many advanced generation fighters as the Russians and Chinese. Oh, wait, their prototypes aren't grounded, they have more working ones than us. To quote Kiefer Sutherland: We've lost the lead!

Yes, you're right. We'll continue to see proxy wars and wars on third world countries, but going head to head against any other major power will be costly, and a risk. As for unmanned airplanes taking over, the opinion at :20 is as valid today as it ever has been: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMjm1Mu5lyU&feature=related

You seem to be really upset. You're right, the F22 is so advanced, not even the US can afford to make them. And last time I checked, no F22s were operational, all had been grounded for many weeks till they found out what was making pilots sick. And the Russians aren't selling prototypes. Fully functional front line fighters. Will they be as good as an F-22 head to head? No. But they may never meet if we don't export the F22. The competition is in the arms market, and in the jobs these planes would have brought to St. Louis or Seattle. Prophecy about the pitfalls of driving planes and maintaining an empire you can't afford: Air Force separates F-22 facts from myths Released: 4 Aug 1999 WASHINGTON (AFPN) -- As the fate of the F-22 Raptor continues to be debated on Capitol Hill and in the press, it's increasingly important to separate fact from myth. The following facts clarify America's need for the F-22 as the premier fighter of the 21st century Air Force: Myth: Delaying initial F-22 procurement will not really impact the overall program. Fact: The House vote withdrawing $1.8 billion in procurement funds for the F-22 in fiscal 2000 potentially sounds a death knell for the Raptor, the cornerstone of the nation's global air dominance in the 21st century. Even if the program survives this setback (which will be determined in a House-Senate conference committee in September), terminating current production will ultimately increase overall costs by $6.5 billion, causing the program to exceed congressionally mandated cost caps. Myth: The Air Force doesn't really need the F-22 to maintain air superiority in the 21st century. Fact: The F-22 is integral to the Air Force's tactical aircraft modernization program and the key to dominating the skies in 2010 and beyond. By the time the F-22 comes online, the F-15 (today's premier fighter) will be more than 25 years old. Without the F-22, the Air Force will steadily lose its edge in air superiority in the 21st century. By 2005, flying the F-15 into combat will be the equivalent of driving a 20-year-old car in the Indianapolis 500. Myth: Other countries don't have the technology to compete with the F-15's defense and strike capability, so there is no reason to improve on it. Fact: America's best fighter, the F-15, is on par with current Russian fighters, and behind Europe's and Russia's newest class of fighters set to roll off production lines by 2005. These include the French Rafale, Europe's Eurofighter and the Russian SU-35. The F-22's capabilities are critical to maintaining air superiority. Myth: The F-22 doesn't bring anything to the fight the F-15 isn't already providing. Fact: To maintain the levels of air superiority and dominance provided by the F-15 today, we will need the F-22's capabilities of speed, supercruise, maneuverability at supersonic speeds, stealth and integrated avionics to allow our pilots to identify and defeat threats. It also will give our air warriors a capability they've never before had: First look, first shot, first kill. Additionally, the F-15 does not provide any air-to-ground capability; the F-22 will provide first-day, near-precision, air-to-ground capability with the Joint Direct Attack Munition. Myth: The F-15 will still be able to provide an adequate defense and effective strike force 15 years from now. Fact: The F-15 is expected to provide an adequate defense and effective strike force for the next five to 10 years (when the F-22 is scheduled to become operational); but not 15. Without the F-22, we won't have the capability to counter the threat because we won't have the speed or stealth -- dramatically decreasing our chances of survival. Myth: The Air Force's insistence on the F-22 is part of an obsolete, Cold War mentality because future conflicts will be low intensity and not require the same high-tech equipment we needed for the Cold War. Fact: Low-intensity conflicts are not necessarily low technology. The threat includes not only advanced fighter aircraft, but also increasingly lethal surface-to-air missiles. The number of countries possessing the most advanced SAMs is expected to increase from 14 to 21 by 2005 -- an increase that will overwhelm our current fighter force's ability to gain air superiority. Myth: The F-22 is cost-prohibitive and not worth the return on investment. Fact: With an average aircraft "sticker price" (fly-away cost) of less that $85 million, the F-22 will cost less than 1 percent of the Department of Defense budget during its production period. In its most costly year, 2003, the F-22 will consume less than 5.6 percent of the Air Force budget; 1.7 percent of the defense budget and 0.25 percent of the total federal budget. Myth: Air superiority is a "nice to have" that has to be weighed against budget constraints. Fact: Owning the sky is worth the cost. For less than 1 percent of the DOD budget, the F-22 will enable all of America's air, land and sea forces to operate effectively and free from enemy air attack. Thanks to air superiority, no airman, soldier, sailor or Marine has lost his or her life to enemy aircraft in the last 40 years. Myth: As a cost measure, rather than continue with development of the F-22, the Air Force can simply upgrade its current fighters. Fact: The average F-15 will be 26 years old in 2005. Even with major upgrades, it will not match the capabilities of the newest foreign fighters. An improved F-15 would only provide one-third the effectiveness of the F-22 at nine-tenths the cost. Myth: The Joint Strike Fighter is a respectable substitute for the F-22 at a much lower cost. Fact: The Air Force's modernization strategy is to develop a mix of high-capability F-22s and lower-cost JSFs to achieve dominant capability and force readiness. The JSF is very effective as a low-cost, multi-mission aircraft optimized for attacking ground targets. It is not a substitute for the F-22. The JSF is primarily designed as an affordable replacement for the Air Force's aging F-16s and A-10s, and will depend on the F-22 for air superiority. Just as the F-15 and F-16 are a highly successful, synergistic team today, the F-22 and JSF will be the winning team of the future; however, neither can succeed on its own. Toxic Air Grounds All F-22s July 28, 2011: The U.S. Air Force is making some progress in finding out what is wrong with their F-22s. It appears that some toxins are somehow getting into the pilot's air supply. This has kept all 168 F-22s grounded for three months, so far. Despite the new findings, the air force still has not nailed down the exact cause of the problem, much less fixed it. The U.S. Navy had a similar problem with its F-18s (there were 64 incidents between 2002-9, resulting in two dead pilots). The navy found that the problem was carbon monoxide getting sucked into the aircraft air system (which the navy modified, eliminating the problem). The air force is looking into the navy experience with these similar problems, to see if there is anything similar going on with the F-22s. It all began when it appeared that the F-22 fighter might be having a problem with its OBOG (OnBoard Oxygen Generating) system, causing pilots to get drowsy, or even black out, from lack of oxygen. Now it is believed that it was not lack of oxygen, but toxins in the air supply. There were 14 reported incidents of pilots feeling drowsy, or even passing out, because of "bad air." Because of that, on May 3rd, all F-22s were grounded. But the U.S. Air Force is also checking the OBOGs in F-16, F-15E, A-10, F-35, B-1, B-2, CV-22 and T-6 aircraft as well. The problem may just be with the F-22 OBOG, or a general problem with all air force OBOGs. The air force also believed the F-22 problem might not just involve the OBOG, and this seems to be the case. Meanwhile, the grounding is still "indefinite" and will continue until the source of the breathing problem is found, and definitely fixed. If it goes on too long, the air force may consider fitting some F-22s with the older air supplies, just so some of their newest combat aircraft will be available for combat. In the meantime, pilots and ground crews are using simulators and (for the ground crews) maintenance exercises on the grounded aircraft (in addition to checking a growing list of aircraft components in support of the search for the breathing problem) to retain their skills. But after 210 days on the ground, aircrew will have to undergo extensive retraining to regain combat flying status. This adds a little more urgency to fixing the problem quickly. The grounding also leaves a dozen F-22s stranded at a training base, where they were for live weapons exercises. At least six new F-22s cannot be delivered because of the grounding. The chief culprit in all this, OBOGs, have been around for over half a century. It's only in the last two decades that OBOGs have become compact, cheap and reliable enough to replace the older compressed gases or LOX (liquid oxygen) as a source of breathable air for high flying aircrew. Each aircraft, especially the F-22 and F-35, gets an OBOG tweaked for space, weight or other conditions specific to that warplane design. It's this custom design that is being closely studied, to find out how the toxins got in. Because aircraft have been staying in the air longer (because of in-flight refueling), carrying enough compressed oxygen has become untenable, and OBOG solves the problem. Since the 1990s, most American military aircraft have replaced older oxygen systems with OBOG. Most Western nations, and Russia, have followed, at least with their latest model aircraft. Most OBOG systems work by using a chemical reaction to remove nitrogen from the air taken in to the OBOG, and then sending out air with the proper amount of oxygen to the aircrew. Even helicopter pilots sometimes need additional oxygen. The U.S. Army has encountered this in Afghanistan. That's because helicopter pilots there often operate at high (over 3,200 meters/10,000 feet) enough altitudes that they need oxygen to maintain alertness. Currently, crew members get the oxygen via tubes from 45 kg (hundred pound) tanks. This restricts mobility inside the helicopter. So the army has developed a portable (2.3 kilograms/5 pound) device that you can wear on your chest. A sensor gives you additional oxygen when it detects a need. The PHODS (Portable Helicopter Oxygen Delivery System) provides enough oxygen for 2-3 hours.

The technology they will use to do this is the same mechanism they will use to block access to sites featuring anything that doesn't contribute to the empire of the billionaires. Want to grow your own food? Too dangerous, you don't need to know that. Buy at McDonalds. Oligarchy, fascism, the death of privacy.

And now the Koreans may be buying it. No, not THOSE Koreans, but the ones with money: http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2011/07/russia-pitches-pak-fa-to-the-o.html Of course a Cessna is better than an F-22 that never gets built.

I hope they don't get wet either. My architect and reviewing structural engineer preferred these due to their strength to weight ratio. As you can see, the roof won't be shedding snow very much in winter, so there could be 3 feet of it on there. They built the sport shop at the local ski resort and that survived this year's record snow, so I've got my fingers crossed. Unlike Florida, the cabin gets about 10 inches of rain a year, mostly in the form of snow. Humidity is 16 percent today, lower in winter. You're right about OSB and water. If water gets in, well, water won't be getting in. http://www.gp.com/build/product.aspx?pid=1390 Durka: Metal is the only way to go there because of the harsh weather. Elevation is at 8000 feet and most days are sunny all day long, so everything else takes a pounding. But there isn't much of anything else there. I've seen one guy with shingles. Too many crevices for snow to melt, water gets in, freezes. Bad. Metal does seem to keep the heat out during the summer. There's a neighbor here in GA with a silvery metal roof. I'll ask him, but my guess is that it acts like a mirror to keep the heat out. Don't stick your tongue on it in winter.

The retreat is just that. We retreat from Georgia. Food layed in, water from a well, generator backup, propane, electric and wood stove for heat, no heat or AC needed most months of the year.

Trivia: take a magnet to the sediment you collect. Tiny black dust that is collected by the magnet is from meteors. No, really. Adding a bit of space to the bunker is in order, so that's the project for this summer. Yes, we will get rid of the existing inner wall after the new walls are done. Squirrels, mice and similar rodents are plentiful. Another wing like this goes on the other side. That will be a dining room. These are two bedrooms for the kids. Note thick walls, thick rafters to accommodate snow load. How much snow? The zombies will feed upon the weaker and easier to find first. PS: We've found another, simpler method to capture rain. Freeze it.

Nice system. PS: Ha Ha you have a topsy turvy tomato. I'd consider having a primary tap on the side of the tank an inch or two up from the bottom to allow you to draw water without sediments, and use the drain at the bottom to flush out the tank when needed. Yes, I know that's not how the tanks are made, and that you would treat the water prior to drinking. However, having lived for many years in a house where our water came from a tank, there's an amazing amount of gunk that can collect. My future plans include --- a chicken coop. Yes, it's time to start farming eggs. PPS: Same signature since 2008. Prophetic or what?