- It takes a couple of days of solid out-back driving in relays to get there eh - but that's no great hardship when you are towing a trailer loaded with the best food money can buy and multiple crates of bottled amber liquids and cider behind each of the (cool box equipped) Toyota Landcruiser 4WDs. I guess that it does help when one of the company is an ex-chef !! - One strange effect of the Aussie Outback is that I seem to prefer to drink cider with my steaks (to beer) when I'm there in good company - I don't know why, it's just one of lifes mysteries eh ! (- nothing wrong with Aussie beer but).
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Massad Ayoob wrote 'THE TRUTH ABOUT SELF PROTECTION' in 1983 and I have been known to call this book "my bible" when in company with real people. Although it (like me) is now getting on a bit, you may still find it for sale - try Amazon.com on the internet. Mas Ayoob is a well known US Police Training & Crime Prevention Instructor and Author of many fine gun related books and contributor to shooting magazines.
He writes: "I ran with criminals as a kid. Later, because I was lucky enough to get out of their mold before it marked me, I became a police officer. Then I arrested criminals. Since then, I've spent a lot of time researching them."
- So Mas knows what he's talking about then. - Some more telling quotes from this book, talking about a psychotic killer: "- he's bright and engaging and informative to talk to, and when I'm alone in a briefing room with him, I keep my hands free and my chair back from the desk so I can move fast, just as if a strange Doberman had walked into the room."
Massad tells you that you need to be aware - and then tells you, under 47 headings, some ways that you can prepare to protect yourself and your family.
"Psychiatrists call them sociopaths. - Sociopaths don't really care about other people one way or another. They see people as a resource, as food as it were..."
" - Being a sociopath isn't necessarily bad. There are times when society deliberately trains sociopaths since they can serve extremely useful functions.. a personnel executive who can be ruthless about firing people who don't produce .. he is doing it impersonally"
Personally - I well recall resenting being classed as "human resources" by management !
"The sociopathic outlaw .. does it for the greater good of himself; the suffering of his victims doesn't concern him. He is isolated from it. He feels he has his own problems that drove him to this lifestyle; the agony that he causes others is simply their problem." - Why do I think of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher when I read that ?
Security Locks, Alarms, Telephone use, Safes, Cars, Makeshift weapons, training in Non-lethal Force, Survivalism, and of course Firearms - Remember this is an American book written where it is not unlawful to defend yourself.
Ayoob likes the 'Police Flashlight' (Maglight) - a four or five 'D' cell heavy alloy torch that can have multiple emergency uses. I'd certainly suggest that living here in earth-quake prone New Zealand is plenty of justification for keeping a torch handy at all times - both at home and in the car.
'The Truth About Self Protection' is a most thorough text and you'll gain a lot of thought-provoking info from reading it. - If you take in what he says, you may well find it would be healthier exercise to join a martial arts club rather than the golf club, - the exercise will improve fitness and help control weight - while the physical skills might one day save your life.
Some folk might think that you need to be paranoid to listen to Ayoobs advice, - I mean, - just because violent crime and "terrorism" is on the increase, there's a looming oil crisis, the Credit / Finance & Banking racket has collapsed around the world and America has bombed more than 33 countries since 1950 - why would anyone need to consider their personal security?
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The Australian 'Outback' pig hunt was, as usual, great fun in great country, with great mates. I shot a few wild pigs, a very big and healthy looking ginger feral cat (-a long shot with a 30-30 - they each reputedy kill hundreds of native birds a week)
- and I gave-up shooting kangeroos as just too easy (Just whistle loudly and they stop bounding away, sit-up and wait for you to fire!). The meals of steaks, good Aussie red wines - Cheers Fred, and fresh caught 'yabbies' (blue fresh-water crayfish) cooked in garlic sauce in the shearers quarters were so good.
- Aagh, I also picked-up a nasty spider on my shirt when having a leak in the bush, but was rescued - thanks Johnno. I love Australian back country in their winter - those fence-lines disappearing over the horizon - you definitely need a GPS - but I don't think I could take their summer temperatures - up to 50 C ( over 120 F !)
Marty K
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