Sunday 31 May 2020

Bums at The Bottom Of the World:

plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose (1849)


39 Inch British East India Pattern BROWN BESS Musket (1797-1854)
- Chairman Mao actually did say "power comes from the muzzle of a gun" in 1927.

.. Strange how as the years roll along - the more things change .. the more they stay the same.

Shitty Australians Fighting For Toilet Paper.

In 1803 an Indian Mughal official asked "What honour is left to us - when we have to take orders from a handful of traders who have not yet learned how to wash their bottoms?"

- Unwashed "Traders" with their own improved design of musket and armed forces ...

1st Baron Clive of India used his vicious military talent to enable one of the worlds very first multi-national for-profit corporations to colonise India and hugely enrich the shareholders of the London based British East India Company. - Nothing particularly novel here - just an early example of The Greedy predating the Needy.

- The failure of an invasion attempt on England in 1588 .. that we call 'The Spanish Armada' - was the result of awful weather - Spanish naval ineptitude - and bad luck for some .. but it made a HERO out of Sir Francis Drake the mayor of Plymouth - who's activities as a pirate & slave trader promoted a reward of 10 Million dollars to be offered (in ducats) for his essential body parts - but he died of a fatally erupting bottom (dysentery) in 1596 before anyone was lucky enough to claim the reward.

 - Anyway .. that naval event and further subsequent battles led to a fresh SUPPLY of many Spanish and Portuguese ocean-going vessels under a new British management .. fuelling a DEMAND from their new owners that bigger profits be taken in a deal with Elizabeth I Queen of England and Ireland - who granted these venture capitalists a charter in 1600 to rob, steal and murder all around the 'EAST INDIES' in return for Elizabeth's personal share or royalty of the plunder.
Elizabeth's Fashionable White Make-up 'Ceruse' of white lead 
& vinegar May Have Hastened Her Death:

In a much later effort to restrain this corporate looting of the subcontinent .. Great Britain established the 'British Raj' & exploited Indian resources more efficiently.

I need to point-out that I'm not complaining about history - life has always been thus - and continues to be this way. The rich & powerful have to exercise their power in some way .. otherwise there is no point in grabbing at it in the first place eh.

The City of London (and 'Wall Street' too) is simply a collection of avaricious "christians' who ignore their own rule about passing through the eye of a needle while offering it to all others who form their prey. Many 'city gents' play the traditional wealth grabbing game under the guise of "being something in the City".

People don't "make money" .. that is the first lie. - People TAKE money any way that they can.

Another lie is "the free market" - as the only free thing in the market is the polluted air in the street - while commerce, fraud & labour laws are meant to control 'the resource' while ensuring safe loopholes are retained for the wealthy.

One significant way that the privileged can elevate themselves is by the padded seats of the EXECUTIVE WASHROOM - that may by it's location or restricted-access stratify the successful's donations to a higher status ..

"One week maintenance had all the bathrooms on my floor shut off. The guy told me I had to go all the way up to the top floor and use those bathrooms. (The admin floor)

It wasn't an executive bathroom as you didn't need a key to access it. But Damn! It was way nicer than the ones on my floor!! It had cushioned toilet seats, toilet paper, that when you used it - you felt like your bum was being tickled by an angel. Newspapers and a flat screen TV (with CNN playing) were in there as well!! - Every once in a while when management pisses me off, I'll go up there and take a big ol' dump in one of their crappers. It's so tempting to NOT flush the toilet after that. (sigh) but I always do."


.. The fable that 'Moorish' survivors from the Armada staggered ashore to interbreed with the Irish is wholly false as some 6,000 of them who were wrecked on that coast either perished at sea or were slaughtered on the shores of Western Ireland by Elizabeth I's English army. The term "Black Irish' is simply a British insult that helps them to feel superior to this particular grouping of servants.

I would have been around 17 y.o in 1962 when I first worked in the UK plastics industry with an immigrant workforce mostly from Pakistan. These guys cheerfully taught me every Urdu swearword and curse that I still hold dear - while the array of collected one pint glass milk bottles throughout the toilet area together with the oily footprints on the toilet seats - suggested some cultural variation.

Interestingly for many months there in that hot plastics factory I worked 12 hour shifts on a big hand-opened & closed injection moulding machine that was locked 'over-centre' against the injection pressure by swinging and pounding down on a long 'crowbar' .. this needed & exercised my physical strength to the extent that the "powder-man" would bring me every hour a pint bottle of cold water as he refilled the machine's powder hopper.

- I gratefully sucked this water into my mouth replenishing my fluid losses from piece-rate-induced heavy sweating - without once questioning the prior use of those milk bottles.

Life is Good eh.

Marty K.

Wednesday 27 May 2020

J Rock Cooper Pistol .. Keeping It Simple Stupid:


Smooth modern lines from 171 years ago .. even I can't remember back that far.
 Patented 1849 - Is that elegant or what?
 J Rock Cooper was an English gun maker of quality ..

But take a second look - as it is not only good-looking .. but so simply designed as to function rather like a Glock .. in that if you pull the trigger it goes BANG .. & if you don't pull the trigger it can't fire.

TWO only moving parts.

That is sophisticated use of the technology of the era ..

The J S Cooper Under-hammer Pistol trigger capsule percussion pistol was specifically designed to be very simple and low cost to manufacture.. but they were quality products selling well all around the world.


The Cooper company built a range of firearms including pepperbox multi-shot revolving arms - but this patented design must have taken much thought.

Mr Cooper made me laugh out loud when I saw he had named the forward mounted spring-hammer as a "SPRING STEEL SLAPPER"  in this early drawing .. brilliant.

I'd try to describe the gun as a 'screw-off' barrelled percussion-fired single shot pistol using a 'ring trigger' pivoted from a rear lug that tensions and cocks the forward mounted spring 'slapper' as the trigger is pulled ..  releasing it at it's "apogee" to whack the copper cap & fire the round. - Two moving parts - double action.

It is a sophisticated design in how it's parts interact so beautifully.. 

The forward facing lever of the ring trigger is shaped to cover and protect the cap loaded onto the nipple and it is held in place there by the slappers' spring tension but when the trigger is pulled the lever cocks and releases the slapper firing the shot.
'SLAPPER' - action-spring-hammer

- There is no lockwork in the 'breech' - nor in the handle. - This linked Russian site shows and explains the design well in translation ..

http://historypistols.ru/blog/kapsyulnye-pistolety-i-revolvery/kapsyulnyj-pistolet-c-nizhnim-raspolozheniem-kurka-dzhozefa-kupera-j-r-cooper-underhammer-pistol/

Imagine modern production machinery knocking-out an updated quality version of these .. well there is something around that might be nearly as simple - a modern utility screw-barrel 'zip' in 9mm & .380"  costing $100 made by Altor Corp in Phoenix Arizona .. but it is a plasticky piece of nastiness - however it does work .. Link:
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/gun-review-altor-corp-single-shot-9mm/



Marty K.
Proud member and supporter of Sporting Shooters Association NZ


Sunday 24 May 2020

Massad Ayoob On Safe Carry & My Favourite Things:

"whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woollen mittens"

Some of my favourite American things are Greg Ellefritz (Weekend Knowledge Dump) & Massad Ayoob .. both are writers of fact based common sense .. Link:

https://www.tactical-life.com/lifestyle/tactics/10-commandments-of-concealed-carry/#10-commandments-of-concealed-carry-1

This photo image says much about U S society - but I won't comment...

I've been called "politically naive" a few times - I guess that's a price I have to pay for trying to focus on fact-truth-function rather than political expedience ..

.. Nah - I've GOT to comment. - If you are so aware of your ongoing safety that you get a handgun and your 'carry permit' in the States - please also pay attention to safety's life partner .. your Health.

These folk are at least training & learning eh - It fascinates me that while nobody would buy a bassoon for example and then think that they were a musician .. nor even would a billionaire buy a helicopter and announce that he was now a pilot - but many U S citizens buy a handgun thinking that they are then defensively capable ..
___________________

I'm a little shy in showing too many of my favourite things as one needs to 'keep a little back' .. while I recently passed some old collectables to my favourite auctioneers ..

But here are some of my different favourite 'paper punchers' ..
 Four Rugers - a .45" Percussion 'Old Army', two SP101's in .22" & 327 Fed. Magnum
a pretty .22" S/A and a Glock G19x.

Favoured Tools - Folders & Fixed - Mostly Low-Cost ..

- None of these is selected because it is 'perfect' but each is designed to function well .. I'm interested & perplexed by what is it that makes me value and learn about such tools .. while many other folk go on oblivious to many of life's possibilities?

- Yet Another of Life's Many Mysteries .. why have I always liked things made of copper - perhaps because I couldn't afford gold?

Copper-ware LASTS .. it doesn't rust like steel .. it doesn't weaken and fall apart after a year like plastics - slugs & snails hate it - and it kills superbugs & viruses on contact. And it's beautiful to see.



Some Of My Useful COPPER Treasure 
 - The large cylinder at back is my 'log basket'
.. I made the wee bowl 62 years ago at school

I just like old copper - I even strangely enjoy occasionally cleaning it ... can I be psychoanalysed?

Marty K.
A Proud member & supporter of Sporting Shooters Association NZ.






Thursday 21 May 2020

Johnston Atoll & MT Vulcanus - Agent Orange - Nukes:

I always thought that vulcanus was something related to why the inner tubes of my childhood 2nd hand London push bike needed frequent re-inflation and the occasional rubber patch gluing-on and dusting with chalk before being re-inserted into the outer casing.  - Wrong again.

- Well naturally you won't have any idea of what these names mean other than the clue I've put at the end of the title .. nor did I until mate 'J' sent me a "heads-up".

The MT Vulcanus doesn't seem to exist any more .. either scuttled or scrapped - but for years this ship was engaged profitably incinerating toxic wastes such as TCDD - Dioxins & dioxin-like material, - liquid chlorinated hydrocarbon wastes - and later more than EIGHT MILLION LITRES of  Agent Orange left over from the Vietnam War in the South Pacific.

Built in 1955 as a freighter she was converted into a floating incinerator  and renamed Vulcanus in 1972 having two incinerators installed aft plus waste tanks for the nasties.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MT_Vulcanus

Vulcanus motored around the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico for years spewing out smoke before moving down to the South Pacific in 1977 where she pumped-out most of the AGENT ORANGE from the storage tanks on Johnston Atoll and set about partially burning that into our local skies.


- MT Vulcanus was re-converted into a tanker in 1990 after seaborne incinerating was banned ..

Johnston Atoll previously called Kalama Atoll is one of those "Artificial Islands" that some of the big powers like to construct for military purposes .. but unlike the Chinese ones in The South China Sea that we've been told all about by the media - Johnston Island was built and run by the U S  government supposedly as a closed 'National Wildlife Refuge' .. but in reality for nearly 70 years, the atoll has been under the control of the U.S. military. During that time, it was variously used as a naval re-fueling depot, an airbase, a nuclear and biological weapons testing site, a secret missile base, and a chemical weapons and Agent Orange storage and disposal site.
Johnston Island with Sand Island In the Forefront;

Johnston Island /Atoll has been used for rocket launch testing, herbicide tests - biological - virus and chemical warfare development - and multiple Hydrogen Bomb tests both "successful" and failed -  and is variously contaminated with Plutonium and other toxic substances. This contamination is reducing as the "island' is slumping back into the ocean that it was dredged-up from and the toxins are dispersing widely.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnston_Atoll

- I don't think that The U S Military want Johnston Atoll anymore ..


.. anyone fancy it? - and more to the point ... Anyone know why we let these maniac governments do this stuff to our planet?

Don't panic - as Jacinda has banned semi-auto and other rifles ..

Marty K.

P.S. There are two 'Nimitz' Class nuclear powered aircraft carriers USS Theodore Roosevelt and USS Ronald Reagan in service up around Japan and Guam which are both reported as suffering from a serious infection with COVID-19. - News of the illness and it's effect on the deployment of each carrier's roughly 5,000 crew members is of-course restricted by the military mouth-pieces. Roosevelt's Captain was fired for requesting help ... then the nutter who fired him has also resigned ..

A proud member & supporter of The Sporting Shooters Association of NZ.
If you are not yet a member - please click on the image.


Wednesday 20 May 2020

British Redcoats In NZ Land Wars:

A thoughtful & respected fellow shooter recently said .. " I have in the past been a 100% supporter of New Zealand police .. However, they have over the last few years destroyed my enthusiasm for them  - with their duplicity, arrogance and aggression towards those who have been more carefully vetted than their own recruits.  So right now I see no reason to cooperate with them when the result of that will be that they make our sport and our interests more difficult and more expensive."

If you have not yet watched this bit of video from COLFO - I recommend it for it's 'common sense' :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeDBlPK8dzk

NZ Armed Constabulary 1869 .. Formed 1846:
__________________

- RNZ National broadcast an old interview with History Professor Charlotte MacDonald where she declared that during our 'Land Wars' as many as 18,000 British troops were rushed here by the London Secretary of State for War from all around the world to help suppress Maori resistance to white settlers taking their best lands - between 1845-1872.


That's quite an astonishing number - considering that our present 21st century military comprises less than 9,400 members.

These British Infantry regiments and RN Marines fought alongside a few settler volunteer militia - against only some 4,000 Maori warriors.

This overwhelming British force prevailed despite skilful & strong resistance - and then the government confiscated large tracts of land for "settlement" - while imprisoning Maori opposition.

At the time of the major campaigns in 1863-64 there were around 12,000 British soldiers in New Zealand. - About one in five of these soldiers applied to take their discharge from the army in New Zealand. - Giving up their issued rifle and uniform they became 'soldier settlers'.


British Soldiers of the Light Infantry Company, 65th Regiment (Yorkshire, North Riding)
- which saw action in Taranaki and the Waikato. Photo / Alexander Turnbull Library.

Much respect is due to those Maori warriors forced from their homes .. and it is most interesting that many of our current 21st Century military force are Maori (.. around 20% of our army).

Link to 2017 newspaper story: 
 https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11938508

____________________

"Winter is coming" .. well yes of course - but change is coming soon to New Zealand in that our settlement by Maori and Europeans is to be introduced into the school History curriculum by 2022. - For the very first time since ownership and control of this beautiful land was assumed by "The Crown" - the factual historical record of the years of armed conflict will now have to be taught in our schools ...

Marty K.
A proud member & supporter of The Sporting Shooters Association of NZ.
If you are not yet a member - please click on the image.

Sunday 17 May 2020

Firearms Law AND CRIMINAL GANGS In NZ:

.. Today's Latest Police press release  'boasting' ..

"The search warrants executed have resulted in 93 arrests on more than 250 charges.
Police have seized 43 firearms, 25kg of methamphetamine, 30kg of cannabis, and small amounts of cocaine, MDMA, GBL, and LSD.
There were 14 clandestine labs located and a substantial amount of chemicals and equipment relating to methamphetamine manufacture seized, along with more than $1.2 million in cash.

Gangs targeted include Comancheros, Mongrel Mob, Black Power, Nomads, Headhunters, Rebels, King Cobras, Tribesmen, and Mongols.
Charges laid relate mainly to the manufacture and supply of methamphetamine, supply of cannabis and MDMA, possession of firearms and ammunition, and breaching court bail. .."


While I applaud police achievements - their results do confirm that the TWENTY MILLION PLUS DOLLAR BUY BACK & the rushed ill conceived gun law changes have been a total failure and an abject waste of public funds.

Can we now have both our Civil RIGHTS and our lawfully owned firearms back please? .. Oh I expect that it may be too late for that ..

- However - I do note that the responsible Police Commissioner & Deputy Commissioner Mike Clement have both now been replaced-retired-resigned .. Is there any connection?

Marty K.
A Proud member & supporter of Sporting Shooters Association NZ.


Saturday 16 May 2020

Have You Cottoned-On Yet?

My 'Countdown' supermarket receipt lists 100g Vaseline @ $5.89 - 200x cotton balls Made in India @ $2.50 - & 80x Help at Hand Make-up Pads (pure cotton-Made in India@ $2.50

Now you well might smear a little Vaseline onto each of your cotton-balls for use as fire starters and put them into some sort of screw-top jar or zip-lock plastic baggie - but I reasoned that the disc shaped cotton make-up pads might nicely peel apart to let me smear a wee glob of the petroleum distillate inside with my knife blade and squeeze shut again neatly & cleanly .. yes - I reckon that these clean non-sticky campfire starters work-out at around 10 cents each .. packing nicely into my antique copper lidded "Tinder Box".

When checking a batch of (cotton) Denim char-cloth - I just now thought I should try see what sort of char those pure cotton balls from India might make ... the key feature has to be how well they might catch a spark and form a nicely glowing ember, - and so this proved to be .. except the hot well charred cotton balls cooked very easily and needed sealing from the air least they rapidly self-oxidised .. when spilled fresh from the charring can they wanted to self ignite and glow cheerfully until only ash remains. - Hmm - better sealing & properly screw lidded retort vessels needed.

Possibly ...
Vegetable Lamb Of Tartary.

Many Northern Europeans in earlier days believed that cotton came from vegetable lambs that grew on the ends of tree branches .. but they found God rapidly after restoring English Royalty & then the British East India Company saved India from independence .. As Donnie Trump said - "The population of Britain is very dense."

Even the best of tinder needs decent kindling to start your woodland camp fire - if you are trying to use a wet cabbage ..  you'll be in for a cold evening.

Marty K.



Friday 15 May 2020

VASELINE .. Great For Your Balls:

I got a phone call last week .... Hello I'm "Moira" from CIVIL DEFENCE - just ringing to see if you are all right ... "Why wouldn't I be - but the cat's just puked-up onto the carpet"  - Ah mine's done that today too she says - but we are checking to see if you are all right under the 'Covid-19 Shut-Down' - She says, - I'm a farmers wife up here .. we've got 4,000 sheep .. Blimey you must be a bloody millionaire, with lamb chops costing $10 dollars each .. No she says - we haven't got any money .. A nice lady so I ask - Tell me, what would you have done for me - if I'd replied that I was going stir crazy and had no food, no power and was depressed and pulling-out my hair? - well says she - I've got a couple of phone numbers I could give you for counselling ....  ...

I guess that I'm already notorious for suggesting CANOLA OIL from your supermarket & kitchen shelves for superb all-round gun lubrication .. see:

  https://flicense.blogspot.com/2020/03/gun-lube-or-canola-oil.html
Great Lubricant in Wet Conditions.

.. So I've nothing to lose by suggesting Vaseline as a nice pure non-allergenic non-carcinogenic greasy lube for everything else you can think of - especially for smearing on your balls - that is your pure cotton-wool balls that are close to 100% CELLULOSE and will catch a spark from your flint and steel magic fire lighter very readily once you have practised and refined your technique eh.

I suppose that I should include here a 'PC" WARNING that both oils & Vaseline are flammable substances ..

.. Just don't go putting a 50:50 mix of concentrated nitric & hydrochloric or sulphuric acids on your cotton wool - NO  .. naughty  (.. nitrocellulose = guncotton).

- I've just been rung and told that an old work mate Dusty Miller has passed from a stroke .. on my birthday. That old pommy blighter genuinely owed me a bottle of Scotch for getting him voluntary redundancy from Air NZ years back when I was Eng. Union Delegate. It would be rude to tell his wife but ..

Yes Vaseline - originally called "rod-wax" 😁 is a (flammable) petroleum distillate that may be used as a lubricant.

The name Vaseline  comes from the German Wasser (water) and Greek elaion (olive oil).

I suppose that I might take a step too far if I were to suggest that a clear(ish) wax such as beeswax is THE RIGHT STUFF to apply to your favourite lovely sharp knives ? - NEVER use oil (except when sharpening maybe) on a decent knife - as that attracts grit .. whereas a nice furniture wax - maybe 'RENAISSANCE Wax' will be perfect for blades - handles & sheaths  and for your blued firearms too ... Don't argue - I'm a step closer to making 80 this week and I know that of which I speak ..
Very expensive WAX & "Elbow Grease"

Yup - but you've got plenty of dollars .. go ahead and spend some on weird smelling fancy canned & gas propelled aerosol stuff .. they do look pretty on the retailer's shelf eh .. probably won't do any harm.

Marty K.

Wednesday 13 May 2020

'Antis' Emotionally Disturbed BUT Motivated;


I planted 50 daffodil bulbs over the last two days .. a very calming process and they'll be lovely when the coming 'down-under' winter ends ..

The anti-gun movement has been shouting since about an hour after the fire lance was invented

Voices of The Anti-Gun Lobby invariably are neurotic, suffering from fear of the other - while happy to substitute lies & 'perceptions' for reasoned argument - seemingly incapable of learning fact.

Anything that some people do not understand - frightens them.

Here is an observation from Australian antique arms collector the late John Swinfield writing in 1978 .."The anti-gun lobby has always been with us but it has stepped-up it's activities to a new high lately, and if the responsible owners of antique firearms (and indeed modern arms) do not remain on the alert, we will see a diminishing freedom of ownership of those old weapons which have a great historical background because the unthinking 'do-gooders' do not heed the differences between old and new arms."

I have been subjected to a variety of ignorant neurotic personal argument over the last 62 years - ever since I was instructed aged 14 in the required skills to safely control and shoot a rifle at school in the Combined Cadet Force.

When wound-up and ready to go the 'anti-gunners' are even demanding 'pointless' knives ..

Of these many "anti-gunners" NOT ONE has retained even the most basic understanding of how a firearm works - what are the SAFETY RULES - or of the fact that it is not the tool that is dangerous .. but rather it is the insanity, - lack of control - or violent nature of the dangerous person who uses that tool to take life, - that is the danger.
2016 Bastille Day Killer Murdered 84 Using This Truck In Nice France:

Without exception these gun banners do not trust us with firearms because they would not trust themselves to control any such tool - fearing their own uncontrolled emotions and violent actions.

When reminded that they depend on armed Police & Military for their own safety .. inevitably they respond something like .. "Ah but that's different because they are properly trained and under control of the Government".

Themselves often being vegans - they see no need for others to enjoy wild harvested organic meats - as they function on factory farmed processed vegetation and grain.

Every Gun Banner I have been close to has displayed the early signs of agoriphobic emotional hysteria and willing ignorance .. If I were to be unkindly critical I might sum them up as DEMENTED AND DELUDED .. but sadly that same assessment might be applied to many persons promoted into positions of power.

These anxious & disturbed Anti-Gun Lobbyists do however seem to have emotional energy and a religious fervour that is sadly missing from our New Zealand shooters - who's dominant characteristic seems to be APATHY & a stubborn refusal to support those who support them - the unified shooters rights associations.

Marty K.
A Proud member & supporter of Sporting Shooters Association NZ.

Sunday 10 May 2020

Purpose Of Government Weapons:

I think both we Kiwis & our popular Head of Government Jacinda Ardern should be reminded that she is in charge of the government's many offensive weapons including MSSA's, pistols, machine guns. artillery - aircraft, armoured vehicles & ships.

It is a FACT that the only weapons in New Zealand are those held by the New Zealand Government via the Police & 'Defence Forces' - licensed collectors - plus a few unlawfully held by violent criminals such as 'Gangs' and the security officers of visiting foreign statesmen.

- Just hold that fact in your brain's forefront ...

All other legally held firearms are permitted sporting arms owned by fit & proper Firearms Licence Holders.

.. In reply to my 2019 Official Information Act enquiry Superintendent Andrew Sissons of the NZ POLICE stated that they have: 

NZ POLICE WEAPONS:

3,021 x GLOCK Auto-PISTOLS.
2,913 x AR15 (TYPE) MSSA RIFLES.
53 x Semi-Automatic MARKSMAN RIFLES.
10 x Bolt Action MARKSMAN RIFLES.
74 x Firearms Capable Of Fully Automatic Fire - SUB-MACHINE GUNS.
40 x Grenade Launchers - for GAS GRENADES & SPONGE ROUNDS.


Our NZ 9,400 odd Government Military Forces & SAS have their Glocks and M16 rifles plus a variety of other more potent weaponry .. 

military or armed forces is an armed force primarily intended for warfare, - but our PR guided governments are advised to refer to their military as "Defence Forces".  - For much of military history, the armed forces were considered to be for use by the crowned heads of their society. - But in a democracy the military would be run in the public interest - as a public force.

- I'd like to also remind you that New Zealand is a 'Constitutional Monarchy' .. not a democracy.
____________________

The police force is armed only for the sole purpose of defending the public and police personnel themselves from life threatening acts. - There is no other justification for police weaponry than that common law right to self defence - which applies to all citizens.

This is FACT - not opinion or perception.

Marty K.
Military 280 kph Boeing AH-64 Apache

Link to some interesting military weapons:    https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2020/05/10/danish-leopard-2-battle-tank/


Wednesday 6 May 2020

Shut-Down Life Is Like A Smoked Spam Sandwich:

When you eat a Spam sandwich .. you know that while it tastes something like a ham sandwich ... you're really being ripped-off - because this meat was made from mushed-up leftover scrappy bits of pig with lots of salt'n'stuff added to glue it all together.

The mustard you add is also a bit of a life-choice ... you can use the REAL STUFF - strong flavoured hot English Mustard thinly spread - or you can squirt runny baby diarrhoea American Mustard a quarter of an inch thick from a plastic bottle onto every surface and wonder why it still tastes like shit.

- I'm a bit of a "BE PREPARED" & "belt and braces" type .. sort of semi-serious but also for fun..

When the BIG Southern Alpine Fault earthquake lets go with it's serious shape-changing efforts .. the left-over survivors from Covid-19 will get to experiment with providing their own light, heat, shelter, food, water, security & weather proofing for months - gawd help 'em if they were originally all electric.

Would you believe that when New Zealand relaxed our "Lock-Down" regulations from level 4 to level 3 - people were reported as queuing for hours in the night outside McDonald's for them to reopen & again offer 'Big-Macs-with-cheese' .. perhaps they hadn't eaten much for some weeks?

Whatever - I've got two "Kiwi thermettes" for brewing cuppas, - a gas barbecue, - a two-burner gas camping stove, - two solid fuel HEXAMINE stoves, - a meths burner, - a living room log-burner with a cook-top - a garden brazier .. and now a stainless steel Arnaud Kombuis rocket stove:
Arnaud Rocket Stove:
It burns twigs & then all packs away into the cook-pot:

Looking forward to the drought condition FIRE BAN to also come-off so that I can play at being "Outdoors Man" on a fine day ... but what has tickled-my-fancy is that I've discovered that my old Italian Moka Express stove-top Coffee Pot fits perfectly on top of the rocket stove - it's base being almost exactly the same size as the Arnaud 1 litre pot ... Yippee - this is going to be fun eh.

I do enjoy a strong sweet-milky cup of REAL Coffee several times a day
 .. mostly from a "French Press" but the Italian way is good too.

- Running my own limited fuel-efficiency tests on this gear - it took 38 smokey minutes of poking in twiggy bits to produce a 'Moka' coffee outdoors .. but next I had my ancient copper kettle steaming in just 32 minutes while I slurped at the coffee .. Great fun if - like me - you prefer your clean(ish) clothing wood-smoked rather than laundered.

I was kinda expecting the rocket-stove to roar like a Boeing .. but it seemed content to wave the occasional flame in any old direction - maybe my twiggy stuff was short of  therms ?

I Couldn't Afford A Proper Titanium  'FIREBOX' Unit Like This One
 - So I Bush-Bodged One ..

If you don't have any left-over perforated metal .. you could build a hobo-stove from a large can or even bend a six inch strip of corrugated roofing steel into a circle and perforate it on your rifle range - once they re-open. A better idea might be to cut a length of stainless steel flue-pipe & fit a grate?

Remember That Old Copper Kettles Are Antimicrobial
- Copper metal kills Covid-19 & SUPER-BUGS On Contact:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/copper-virus-kill-180974655/

Marty K.