I can think of a half dozen local plants that can produce some nasty things for an arrowhead, but a well placed arrow doesn’t need any help. There is always coral snake venom if you are looking for a sure kill, and they aren’t that dangerous to handle if you know what you are doing.
It is only for educational purposes that the Ranger Training Camp has a poisonous reptile collection. Education is important to Rangers, in case anyone was wondering.
It sounds like the recurved composite bow for mounted archers on the Steppes. They really were an effective design, and compact.
Hey, we had advanced first aid to help people. How people-friendly can you get?
]]>I had to learn to use a bow & crossbow in adv. training. I liked using the bow, felt right to me. I preferred it to a rifle actually (at short-medium ranges obviously, though a 80-120lb war bow has an amazing range and can send an arrow though a tree)! I must be old fashioned, the military had special light-weight alloy bi-flex bows with the pulley system, and they were more compact and easier to use, and pretty accurate once you got used to them… but I preferred an old-fashioned composite bow. I got frowned at a lot, but I rarely missed so they just decided to go with it. Military is funny that way. π I tried dozens of different bows until i found one I really liked. Apparently, it was an ancient Chinese design. The ancient Chinese knew how to make weapons that worked! π The thing with an arrow is, if you want a guaranteed kill from even a flesh wound, you can dip the tip in curare or blow fish toxin. I read that somewhere… maybe a movie… Rambo or something? never did that, of course, Military would never sanction anything like that. That wouldn’t be cricket. Mind you… The ancients never had a problem doing such things. Nice that we are so much more enlightened, eh? π Most people (who only read fiction or watch Hollywood propaganda) probably wouldn’t realize that ‘curare’ was a name for a broad range of plant toxins. Only few of which were used by the Sth. American natives as a weapon. Some were used as effective medicines. π See, military training isn’t all about death and destruction. Just… mostly. π
]]>Too bad about the crossbow. Actually, if I could find a paintball gun that would hold pressure, that would take care of most of my issues without anything having die. They all suck, and they use CO2, which I’m not happy about releasing into the atmosphere.
It is sort of weird, but I have found that people who are born and raised in a place are generally easier to deal with, than people who came because they didn’t like where they were born, or were forced by a job. It is probably the fact that if you stay, you are comfortable in your environment.
I’ve always had friendly neighbors when I lived in cities, so experience colors my perception.
If you aren’t happy, you should move, because life is too short to spend it in an uncomfortable environment.
BTW, the trains would sell me on the town. That is one big problem with the US – a lack of mass transit.
]]>We decided the big city sux. Got a good price on the unit and moving to clean air and friendly people. The town is Bendigo, about 2 hours out of Melb. There’s a good new freeway connecting Melb to Bendigo and a train service every hour, so it’s well connected to the city. It’s one of the original old Gold mining town, but has grown a lot. I like it because they are doing all the right things to attract people and want to grow. Everything there is cheap! Can get a decent block of land for about $75k compared to $160k in Melb. And rent is half what it is here. And, the people are very friendly, even the service in stores etc. π I went to a cafe when we went up a couple weeks ago, and got a coffee (a real one! Mmmm) and they gave me a choice of a free pastry! I got a cinnamon donut. π Nobody in Melb does that, unless they charge $8 for the coffee. π We found a place in the heart of Bendigo less than 2km from the main exchange that services my ISP, so I won’t loose my great Internet service! That was a prime criteria. π
Glutton for punishment, yeah… I musta been a right evil bastard in previous lives! I really have tried to be pretty good in this one. So I must be paying for past lives, either that, or life just seriously sux! π π
Maybe, that will change after I move. I’ve always been happier in the country. π
]]>Depending on your laws, a crossbow is as handy as a firearm, and you can reuse the “ammo”, but a good, sharp hoe will deal with most problems very effectively if they won’t take a hint.
Everything else, and a move – you’re a glutton for punishment, Kryten.
]]>My grandfather taught me two things. Never own a weapon unless you intend to use it. Never point a weapon at anyone unless you intend to use it.
Also, it’s a very dangerous thing to try to pull or point a gun at someone with advanced combat training. We spent well over a year training our muscles to react in specific ways under certain conditions. They don’t forget, and if I happen to have a knife, they loose. π
I’m moving to a large country town in 5 or 6 weeks. I’m considering whether to get a hunting or varmint license, but probably won’t. Definitely be planting veggies and some fruit trees. π
]]>We saw how effective they were in the last Presidential election, so they only really have significant power with the Republicans who are are fading,
The best long term survival strategy is to learn how to farm. If you don’t have food, the rest is pretty silly.
I have a lot of tools, but I don’t worship them, and I can make do without. Things would be harder, but they can be done.
]]>Practically speaking, the person with the least qualms about using a gun — i.e., amoral murderers — win if we devolve to rule of gun like the NRA often seems to be advocating. I have firearms for home defense and for hunting, but even when I lived in a state that handed out concealed weapons permits like candy I didn’t carry outside the home. The reality is that in a face-off between me and an amoral murderer, I would still be trying to figure out whether the situation called for deadly force at the same time that the amoral murderer was plugging my plump penguin ass. As for the nonsense the NRA types like to spittle out about guns and resisting a dictatorship, there is no contradiction between a nation flooded with firearms and dictatorship. As long as the dictatorship provides special privileges and such to the minority of people who are amoral murderers, the amoral murderers will then keep the rest of the populace in check no matter how many weapons the rest of the populace possesses. Just ask the people who lived in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Iraq was flooded with guns (as we found out to our chagrin), but since most people only want to go about their lives in peace, handing out special priviliges to amoral murderers was more than enough to keep Saddam in power for over twenty years…
In short, guns are nice and all, but they simply don’t solve the problems that the NRA claims they solve, and add problems that the NRA refuses to acknowledge. I support the right to own and bear arms because it is the law as written in the 2nd Amendment, not because I have any delusions that guns are some sort of magical talisman that solve all problems.
– Badtux the Practical Gun Penguin
]]>fallenmonkΒ΄s last blog post..Damn Smart Birds
]]>Guns are not a magic wand, and owning one doesn’t guarantee anything. People who think that guns are anything beyond a tool have a real problem. Can anyone imagine the treatment of an organization dedicated to the proposition that every American should own a chainsaw?
I still own guns because I have a specific use for them that is dependent on the particular place I live. I have a reasonable expectation that I will have a real use for this tool. If I lived somewhere with better animal control and police response, I probably wouldn’t bother. They are expensive and require maintenance, so owning them is not just a matter of a one time purchase.
The NRA has turned the gun into an idol. They are some seriously deluded people.
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