#that requires you to go to the shelter itself to pick up the prizes

[tj-crochets]

Hey y’all! If you ever find a charity that is going to do an auction as a fundraiser, and that auction is online and is willing to let me mail the winners their prizes instead of requiring them to pick up the prizes at a specific location, let me know? I really want to donate more things for charity auctions, but my best fundraising items would be fandom related* and those will do much better in an online auction than an in-person one *I already do the Marvel Trumps Hate auction every year, but I have so much non-Marvel stuff I want to make! Pokemon, Studio Ghibli, Momo and Appa from Avatar...there are so many options to choose from

[dismuch47]

STARTING POINT

Length: Longer than a drabble, but a one shot with no intention of continuing.

Marvel AU in which Vision (I’m calling him Paul) is the illegitimate child of Howard Stark. There are tensions between half-brothers, and this is the first time that they actually talk about something other than the strange family situation. And it happens to be about... a girl. I hope you enjoy.

This has been moved over from my deactivated blog, so no, this is not stolen if you recognize it.

“’Sup, nerd?” Tony let the door slam itself shut after flinging it open in a grand flourish. He flung his bag of dirty laundry on the mahogany dining table, let his leather jacket fall to the immaculately clean floor in a heap, and then trotted over to the kitchen fridge to excavate.

Paul shifted out of his cross-legged, curved shoulder posture (his studying posture) and sat up in a rigid manner. He placed his book on the cushion beside him, his lips in a thin line.

“Hilarious...considering your field of study in Quantum Mechanics and Theory, Anthony.” Paul called out for the other youth to hear. It wasn’t in his nature to give jabs to other people... but ever since Mr. Stark... or rather Paul’s biological father... had acknowledged the existence of a bastard son in England and the illegitimate child had been included into the multi-billionaire’s home at Mrs. Stark’s request... Paul had tried to rise to the challenge in order to “bond” with the golden son, Tony Stark. Apparently he only responded to sarcasm, rather than sincere attempts of friendship that Paul preferred.

Tony peeked his face from around the kitchen door, tilting the aviator sunglasses down from his face. “I study it, I don’t wear it. What is that, an argyle sweater vest?” His face disappeared once more as he grabbed one of his father’s choice beers from the fridge, closing the door shut with his hip.

“Mrs. Stark likes it...” Paul looked down placing a hand on the sweater vest. He didn’t dislike it... but he didn’t care for it. But anything was better then the second-hand clothing that was always too small for him back at the London shelter. And if it helped the mistress of this home approve of a bastard child more...

“Your mother will disapprove if she sees that rubbish on the dining table.” Paul warned his older half brother. He picked up his thick book and began reading again. “Why you insist on bringing that home when you can just-”

“Carmen. CARMEN will ‘disapprove’. I don’t think mother has done laundry or set a dinning table since her college days...” He slumped down in a white wing-backed chair across from the couch, separated by a glass coffee table. “Besides it’s all apart of the collegiate experience: announcing my arrival home with proof of my hard work and stank of my sheer brilliance.”

“Anthony, your father-”

“For the last time, it’s TONY.” He took off his sunglasses, his dark eyes like daggers at this blonde intruder of his home. He didn’t dislike Paul... he disliked how different Paul looked, sounded, and talked... forever reminding everyone in the household of his father’s infidelity. Of his mother’s pain... and tragic kindness for wanting this person to be part of the Stark family. The dark moment passed and Tony tossed his glasses carelessly to the glass table.

“...And dad can just deal with the mess.”

Paul’s blue eyes were cast downward, trying to resume his reading... recognizing the subtext of that wording, but Tony turned on the television to an outrageous volume, swallowed and sighed loudly over his beer.

“Tony-”

“Little brother, PLEASE.” Tony cut in. “Your bro is nursing a hangover at the moment.” He took another swig of beer. “Do you mind?”

There was no warmth in the word ‘brother’; it seemed more like a reminder that Paul was an outsider that Tony had to put up with. The lanky teenager began to slowly pack up his schoolwork, not feeling particularly welcome in the space...

Tony blinked darkly at the screen; images and colors barely managing to distract him from his mood... and guilt. He was mad at his father... not the accidental child resulting from unprotected sex. His brown eyes darted over to Paul, who was quietly collecting his things to leave.

“What are you reading?” Tony asked, monotone.

Paul blinked in surprise, then looked down at the book in his hand. “A Tale of Two Cities.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “This is why you are a nerd...”

“It is a school requirement.”

“Is it your first time reading it?” Tony raised a dark brow. “Or is it your 3rd or 4th time?”

Paul shut his mouth. It was his 5th. He couldn’t explain how it was that he was able to read so fast, or find a book so compelling upon a 5th or 6th reading. He traced his long fingers across the dog-eared pages.

“At the shelter, all I had was books. I...I like to revisit them...” He couldn’t meet the Stark’s brown eyes. “Like how Mrs. Stark likes to watch old movies over and over...she says they are ‘old friends’ that never change, but grow more enriching with each viewing.”

Tony looked down at the beer in his hand. That did sound like something his mother would say. He recalled her telling that to him. He also felt super awesome for reminding Paul about his life of poverty... which was still fresh. Tony turned off the tv.

“Fine. Books are the exception.” He finally looked over at Paul. “But you have GOT to get out of that gaming stuff if you ever want to get laid, Goggles.”

“Vision.”Paul corrected, a little too hastily. His hands held on to the book a little tighter. “It is live action role-play-”

“Oh my god, I can’t tell you how much I don’t care-”

“-And it is very therapeutic. It helps me get out the frustrations of being in a new home environment, learning American customs... feeling so different. According to Dr. Cho.” Paul defended, blossoming as he talked about this passion of his. “Vision is not just a character... he is an extension of my subconscious; trying to sort out and deal with my very average conflicts.”

“Yeah, that’s the ah...mutant...god... robot thing?” Tony asked, with a belch. Pretending to care was starting to give him a headache.

“Synthezoid.” Paul added.

“Right... with the magical jewel stone for... ultimate power?” Tony yawned

“Mind Stone.” Paul began realizing how stupid this all sounded. Tony had been present at the therapy session when Dr. Cho had explained how this experimental role play with peers might be good for Paul.

“Fascinating. I think I need to go whiz now.” Tony got up from his chair, setting the empty beer bottle, with out a coaster, on the glass table. “Well have fun with that sausage fest.”

“There are girls.” Paul blurted. “...A girl... there is one girl who does it too.”

Tony backed up, a bemused expression at Paul’s outburst. “I’m sure she’s a looker... geeking it up with the oily skinned, pimple-marked-”

“She is beautiful.” Paul’s tone took Tony aback; it sounded stoney firm and  indisputable. And Tony couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit emasculated with his younger half brother now towering above him.

“Prove it.” Tony beckoned.

Paul narrowed his eyes down Tony Stark, feeling it trivial to prove his truth... as if his best friend was some prized stock animal to be appraised. Tony didn’t deserve to gaze upon real beauty... but Paul was a teenage boy. And he wanted to make this college tech jock drool.

He sat down, pulling out his phone and searching for a picture of her. Tony plopped down beside him and yanked the phone out of his younger half-brother’s hands. Paul protested, reaching with his long arms, but Tony was athletic and broad. He put Paul in a headlock after a brief struggle, and scrolled through the pictures on the flip phone.

Tony gave a sigh at all the larp pictures... they were in COSTUMES. “Is that face paint? Really, Vision??? Oh my god, you are going to die a virgin...” Then he came across a larper who was entirely too hot to be hanging out with such nerds. “Whoa... whoooaaaa. Is that her?” Tony showed the screen to Paul, who was still gasping for air before pulling out of Tony’s lessening grasp.

“...Yes...” Paul tried to push his hair back into place.

“Name?”

“Scarlet Witch-”

“Her real name, idiot.”

“Wanda. Wanda Maximoff.”

“Russian? Like Natasha... oh what’s her name. You know, she’s a senior this year...”

“Wanda is from Sokovia.”

“Same difference.” Tony shrugged.

“Actually-”

“Which means she probably has one of those dusky european accents.” Tony stood up, looking at more pictures. “Please tell me she has a dusky accent.”

“...Yes.”

“Oh god.” Tony looked at the screen for a beat. “You’re sure she’s only in high school?”

Paul firmly took his phone back.

“Fine... too young for me. And way out of your league.”

Paul looked down at the screen. He knew that was true, but it didn’t hurt less to hear someone say it. “She is just a friend. My only friend.” He held on to the phone for a beat, then closed it. He returned it to his pocket and picked up his book that he had discarded on the table. His shoulders sagged, and the words on the page were blurring together. Completely unreadable.

Tony damned himself when he saw the effect that his teasing had on Paul. The oh so sensitive, yet robotic Paul. “Okay. I’m taking this away.” He took the book out of his half-brother’s hands and sat on the glass table, directly across from the tall teen. “You’re tall, you have a pensively sweet British accent, and some girls like the peach-fuzz stubble look. You just need to stop slouching, and you’d be any girl’s dream boat.”

Paul looked up. “You have said that I’m oafish, awkward, and that my dialect is ‘annoying as hell’.”

“I lied. It’s hard to compete with. I cut you down to make myself feel bigger. Thank you Dr. Cho.” That didn’t seem to make Paul feel better; he seemed to slump even more in his seat, eyes downcast at the floor. “What... what is this? I basically called you pretty and you're being a pooper. What’s  the problem?”

The blonde teen took a deep breath. “Steve Rogers.”

Tony blinked. “The star quarterback? The ruggedly handsome boy next door, class president, and so patriotic that he’s Captain America at all the Sunday Picnics? Sky-blue eyed, chiseled Adonis-bodied Steve Rogers? That Steve Rogers??”

Paul clenched his jaw and looked up at Tony.

“Oh man... good luck with that.” The Stark son gave Paul a sympathetic pat on the shoulder.

Paul leaned back into the sofa, feeling defeated. He looked up at the ornate crown molding on the ceiling. “She does not talk about him all the time... but she stares at him constantly. She wants to take our roleplaying sessions out by the football field just so he can see her in her costume. She has even invited him to one... and he came. She only stayed by my side because she was too nervous to be alone with him. He smiles at her and I just... I...”

“Wait... so they haven’t hooked up?”

“...I do not believe so.”

“Has he told her he even likes her?”

“Yes... well... he told the group that he likes us and what we do. He’s actually really nice and great in battle, which is an absolute annoyance...”

Tony rolled his eyes. “And have you told her? How you feel about her?”

Paul looked down at Tony. He opened his mouth but closed it. He looked away, trying to find anything else to focus on, but Tony drumming his fingers against the glass table drew his attention.

“If I told her how I felt... and she did not feel the same...”

“Well Vision,” Tony said standing up with a stretch. “Don’t you at least agree it’s a good starting point?” He made his way to the kitchen to throw away his empty bottle.

Paul sat, thinking about all the scenarios in which he could get rejected by Miss Maximoff. But there was one hopeful scenario in which she, in her usual tender way, is caught off-guard. Her eyes would warm and a broad smile would light him on fire inside...as it always did.

“Perhaps.”

[regionalrelocationsystemsllc]

Moving in a Hurry? Tips for a Last Minute Move

Hello everyone! This is V, your moving consultant! I found these tips for you from moving.com to prepare you for your move. Put your move in the best hands by booking with https://www.regionalmovers.com. Regional provides moving services from Miami Dade, Palm Beach and Broward County to any state.

In a perfect world, you’d have ample time to prepare for any move that you have to make. Moving is a process rife with tiny details and individual tasks, and three or four weeks, at minimum, is generally preferred for doing it right. But in the real world, life comes at you fast, and so does a last minute move.

There are two primary types of hurried moves. There are the ones where you don’t have a lot of lead time between finding out you have to move and the move itself, and then the ones where you procrastinate just a bit too much and find yourself staring at a completely unpacked home a couple days before the movers are set to arrive. In either instance, figuring out how to move quickly is a necessity. Here are 6 tips to help you out.

Start with the logistics A last minute move has a way of making every task seem both imminently necessary and utterly difficult to accomplish. It’s easy to feel paralyzed by how much needs to get done, but instead of letting your moving to-dos overwhelm you, just take a deep breath and get to work crossing items off of the list. Your first step is going to be either hiring a moving company or renting a truck, depending on if you’re going to need professional help with your move or you’re planning to do it yourself. If you are using movers, you won’t have much time to do research, so use a tool like our moving company directory to quickly find a list of reputable movers in your area. If you’re renting a truck, get quotes from two or three companies and then make a decision right away. The sooner you have the logistics of your move sorted out, the sooner you can get to work on everything else.

Get rid of the things you don’t need The less you have to pack, the easier packing will be. And with a last minute move, easy packing is key. Go through each room, closet, and cabinet of your house or apartment and pull out items you no longer want or need. Separate these items into three piles: donate, recycle, and throw away. Think practicality, not sentimentality. A move is a great time to edit down your things, and a hurried move gives you even more incentive to travel lightly. Resist the urge to just pack everything with the idea that you’ll get rid of things once you’re unpacking in your new home. It’s much simpler to sort these items out pre-move and save your time and energy for the things that really matter. Once your piles are sorted, get rid of them. Take the trash and recycling out, and drop off your donations. You can donate pretty much anything to Goodwill, provided it’s in good condition. Used linens and towels can be dropped off at your local animal shelter, while unopened, unexpired food (particularly canned food) will go a long way at your local food pantry. Have furniture or other large items you’d like to donate? Depending on availability, you may be able to have a charity group come by and pick them up. Head to Donation Town, enter your zip code, and you’ll find a list of nearby charities who will come pick up gently used furniture and household items. Schedule as soon as you can so that it will be more likely someone is free to come out.

Put together a moving essentials bag Before you start packing, put aside a small duffel bag and fill it with the essentials you can’t afford to misplace in the ensuing chaos. This includes any medications and important documents you have, chargers, day-to-day toiletries, and maybe a couple changes of clothes. While this is something you would want to do even if you weren’t moving in a hurry, it’s especially important during a last minute move, when things are likely to get a bit messier and more exhausting. Once your essentials bag is put together, you can get started on the big project: packing.

Don’t think, pack Packing in a hurry requires a little less deference paid to organization and a little bit more paid to just getting everything in a box and setting it aside. The goal here is to get all of your things from your current home to your new one intact, and if a short time frame means that you can’t optimally sort items or keep an itemized list of what’s packed where, so be it. Instead, keep your eye on the prize and follow these packing tips for moving in a hurry:

Pack now and sort later. Don’t worry about keeping like items together or having a “theme” for each box. Put things where they fit, even if it means packing the water glasses with the board games and the spare light bulbs with the contents of your filing cabinet. As long as everything is packed safely and securely, you can deal with sorting once you’re in your new home. And it’s okay to skip labeling boxes, but do make sure to note on a box if there are fragile items inside.

Use soft items like socks and towels to wrap breakables. Fill two needs with one deed by wrapping breakable items like vases and glassware in soft items you need to pack anyway, such as socks, towels, and clothing. As a bonus, you’ll also save money on packing supplies.

Set up boxes as you need them. Keep your space as clear and manageable as possible by only setting up boxes as you’re ready to fill them. Once a box is filled, tape it up, move it out of the way, and set up a new one.

Pack clothes as they are. Save yourself a ton of time and boxes by packing up clothes as they already are. For clothes hanging in the closet, wrap a strong garbage bag around them, starting from the bottom and tying the bag’s strings around the hangers. Keep dresser drawers intact and simply remove each drawer and wrap it in packing materials or keep the entire dressers as is (provided it’s not too heavy to move).

Ask for help Moving is a big task, particularly when it has to get done quickly, and it’s totally okay to turn to your friends or family for some helping hands. Having one or more helpers can help you stay on track and prioritize, in addition to assisting you in just getting the job done faster. Truly time consuming tasks like packing up your kitchen cabinets and getting items dropped off for donation become significantly more simple when you’ve got another person (or persons) helping you out. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, but do be sure to show appreciation by ordering in a meal while they’re helping you pack or baking your helpers some cupcakes once you’re settled in your new home.

Leave some tasks to the movers One of the big benefits of hiring professional movers is the assistance you get when things are really down to the wire. I once started packing an apartment at 10pm when the movers were arriving the following morning at 7am (I do not recommend this), and if it hadn’t been for their help throwing everything in my closet into wardrobe boxes and safely wrapping up my furniture there was no way I would have gotten everything done. If you have movers coming, it’s okay to leave a few tasks, just know that you’ll end up paying a bit more in packing materials and labor. With a hurried move though, sometimes that’s they best way to go.

Moving is a stressful process no matter how much time you have. If you’re figuring out how to move in a hurry, focus on the big picture and just getting your things to your new home as safely as possible. Unpacking might take a little bit longer, but hey, at least you made it.

 Source: moving.com

[junker-town]

How sports is Seven Worlds, One Planet: Episode 7?

Christophe COURTEAU/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

David Attenborough’s new show is epic ... and sports.

We continue our extremely important mission to conduct a scene-by-scene review of the BBC’s new nature documentary, Seven Worlds, One Planet, in order to see how sports it is. We determined that Episode 1, which focused on Antarctica, was reasonably sports. Asia was very sports, as was South America. Australia was more drinking than sports, and both Europe and North America were extremely sports. Now it’s time to wrap things up with ...

Episode 7 Africa

Scene 1: Nutcracking

I don’t think we appreciate how important the invention of writing is. Not only does it allow you to transmit facts (as far as I know, bookkeeping was, more or less, its original use) writing also allows the transmission of culture across time and space. Without that, animals are left passing along knowledge through direct demonstration, generation by generation. The requirement for direct contact, as you might imagine, drastically slows down the spread of knowledge.

In the Congo, a chimpanzee mother is teaching her daughter how to crack a nut. This is a relatively delicate operation. It requires finding a suitable anvil, with a nook to prevent the nut rolling around. The hammer must be the correct hardness and weight. The mother chimp makes it look easy.

Not the Nutcracker you’re used to seeing during the festive season. #SevenWorldsOnePlanet pic.twitter.com/oRTMwYz91B

— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) December 8, 2019

But this is the ease of experience. It can take up to a decade to master the skills required to reliably crack nuts, and the five-year-old has an idea of the basic mechanics and nothing more. Trial and error is the solution, and there’s plenty of error. She tries a pebble, a boulder and a stick, to no avail. Eventually she settles on the right answer: going back to mother and having her do it.

The little chimp is too young to be a millennial but these are some highly millennial vibes.

Aesthetics 6/10

Chimpanzees are pretty cool and there’s something beautiful about watching a child learning a new skill. Even if I was worried about the poor little chimp crushing her fingers the whole time.

Difficulty 6/10

I have gone through literally hundreds of hours of wilderness survival training, and would still definitely injure myself at least twice if you gave me a rock and told me to crack nuts with it. I’m pretty confident I could eventually eat it though.

Competitiveness 0/10

No contest.

Overall 12/30

Tools are sometimes used in sports, but do not, in and of themselves, constitute sports.

Scene 2: Cuckoo Catfish

Sometimes nature documentaries show me things that totally blow my mind. This is one of those times. Lake Tanganyika’s ecosystem is dominated by cichlids, which are some of fishkind’s best parents. That may seem like a low bar, but they’re actually not bad at it. Some of the more hardcore cichlids are mouth-breeders — after laying their eggs they take them into their mouths and let them develop in a safe place. Even after the eggs hatch, the young cichlids use their mothers’ mouths as a refuge.

Nature being nature, this creates an opportunity for some dastardliness. The cuckoo catfish, like its avian namesake, is a brood parasite. And while cuckoos parasitise nests, their catfish friends manage to get their hosts to raise the catfish’s fry inside their mouths. As the cichlids spawn, the catfish eat a few of the eggs and spawn themselves. Their eggs are ingested by the mother cichlid.

A few days later ...

Peek-a-boo! I see you! #SevenWorldsOnePlanet #Wasntexpectingit pic.twitter.com/WOkBJgnugv

— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) December 8, 2019

Yep, that’s a baby catfish. And guess what it’s going to do to its adopted brothers and sisters?

Aesthetics 2/10

I’m really quite disturbed by those baby catfish coming out of that poor mother fish’s mouth.

Difficulty 8/10

A cuckoo waiting for birds to leave their nest so that they can sneak in and lay eggs is one thing. Pulling the same trick on a fish which uses its mouth as a nest is quite another.

Competitiveness 3/10

There’s not really much of a fight here. Once the catfish arrive the little cichlids are screwed.

Overall 13/30

Cuckoldry is also not sports.

Scene 3: Cheetah Brigade

In Kenya, a cheetah family hunts as a pack. Five-strong, they can bring down prey many times larger than would be possible for a lone cheetah, but with five mouths to feed they must also hunt much more often. Using scrub as cover, the gang tries to ambush a herd of topi.

Cheetah are the fastest land animals alive, but they’re not fast enough to overcome a head start of more than a few dozen feet. That means that, once out in the open, detection could ruin the hunt. That’s what happens here: the topi scatter, the cheetahs switch targets to a nearby herd of zebra, and one promptly gets bulldozed by an angry mare.

Botched hunts aren’t just individual, momentary failures. They set the entire savannah on high alert. If the grazers know predators are on the hunt, they’re much harder to ambush. The cheetahs you can see aren’t the ones that will get you.

Incredibly, the cheetah gang uses this to their advantage. Antelope possess merely an indifferent grasp of arithmetic, so they’re well not prepared to assess just how many cheetahs they need to be keeping an eye on. So the topi end up keeping a close watch on four of the cheetahs harmlessly parading in front of them.

In formation #SevenWorldsOnePlanet pic.twitter.com/qtRyRS7Ndg

— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) December 8, 2019

The fifth? Well, that one is behind them and about to ... yeah. The topi run away from the ambush, but they’ve let the lead cheetah get too close. The four other cheetahs join the fray, and the gang can have a nice meal. Pretty clever.

Aesthetics 9/10

That running form is really something else. Cheetah hunts are special sequences.

Difficulty 10/10

The topi hunt is difficult enough — they’re fast and beefy critters — but the use of a decoy group to catch their attention while the trap is set really elevates the whole hunt. That takes a lot of careful thinking. Good work by the cheetahs here.

Competitiveness 9/10

It takes a gang of five cheetahs plotting carefully to bring down one topi, which makes this pretty well matched.

Overall 28/30

Obviously sports.

Scene 4: Vampire Birds

Big animals (and small animals, although theirs are mostly less obvious) come with parasites. Lots of parasites. This creates a niche for parasite-feeders, which is taken up on the African savannah by the oxpecker. These little birds are more than happy to keep any big animal as free as possible from ticks, lice, and whatever else they can find.

Keeping it chill, ignoring the little dude on my face.#SevenWorldsOnePlanet pic.twitter.com/c9mq8NlQmi

— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) December 8, 2019

Oxpeckers will go pretty much wherever food is.

Not what we meant when we said leftovers were yum. #SevenWorldsOnePlanet #didntgetthememo pic.twitter.com/OK6UxPIie5

— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) December 8, 2019

But while you might think that having oxpeckers around to clean you up sounds quite pleasant, there turns out to be a dark side to these otherwise benign little assholes. When they eat ticks, they also get a snack of the host animals blood — and they’re more than happy to cut out the middleman, if they can.

If an oxpecker finds an open wound, they’ll peck away at it, drinking blood and preventing the wound from healing. Hippos, territorial, aggressive and armed with dental sabres, are quite good at giving each other open wounds, and oxpeckers therefore are big fans of hippos.

The hippos try to dislodge their vampiric guests by splashing water on them, which fails to deter them. They also try a hippo special: the poop helicopter. No, I’m not embedding that gif. Don’t be gross.

Aesthetics 1/10

Every creature in this scene is pretty ugly, and then we get the hippo poop storm. Why!?

Difficulty 10/10

Being a hippo-annoyer sounds like just about the most dangerous job in the world.

Competitiveness 10/10

An oxpecker against a hippo is like David vs. Goliath except also Goliath throws his poop at people.

Overall 21/30

Disgusting sports, but sports.

Scene 5: Desert Hyena

In the Namib, an abandoned mining town still has one reclusive inhabitant. A brown hyena ghosts through the broken-down buildings, using them as shade against the desert sun. And she’s not quite alone. Her twin cubs await her in their lair, four months old and hungry. The mother hyena needs to bring back some meat.

While a dead town might provide good shelter, it’s not much of a hunting ground. The Namib itself isn’t much of a hunting ground either. It is something like the oldest desert in the world, bedecked by endless dunes of sand, blasted by the tropical sun and wind. How can there be enough food to support predators of any kind?

The answer lies with the Benguela Current, off Africa’s western coast. The Benguela brings up cold, Antarctic waters, which are nutrient rich and capable of supporting a vast quantity of marine life. Some of that marine life comes to the shore.

The shore is exactly where the mother hyena is heading. Fur seals congregate here, and she’s able to pick off a baby seal and flee back towards the dunes. She’s not the only one who wants possession of her kill however; and she has to face down a jackal pack to return her prize to her family.

Aesthetics 10/10

Everything about this scene is wonderfully dystopian. Brown hyenas are also surprisingly pretty animals, with long shaggy hair which looks extremely snuggly.

Difficulty 8/10

Killing a baby seal is obviously rather trivial, but making the trek back and forth from the desert lair in scorching heat is not.

Competitiveness 10/10

The jackal pack’s late intervention really makes this scene. Five jackals against one hyena trying to bring food back to her cubs makes this very interesting indeed.

Overall 28/30

It’s official: killing baby seals is sports. If you’re a brown hyena and live in the desert. Otherwise it’s just being an asshole.

Scene 6: Termite Quest

The Kalahari, adjoining the Namib, is slightly less hostile ground. Here there is some food, if you know where to look. A lot of it is underground, in the burrows where termites make their homes. Getting in there requires some specialist tools. Some of those tools belong to the pangolin.

Licking the plate ‍♂️#SevenWorldsOnePlanet pic.twitter.com/0008zwp4kd

— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) December 8, 2019

With an acute sense of smell to detect their prey and strong, claw-tipped front legs to dig them out, pangolins are specialist insectivores. (The protective scales probably don’t help them as much with their food, but they’re also pretty neat so I am listing them as well.) When a pangolin cracks upon a termite nest, that gives other critters, like small birds, a chance to get in on the action too.

But a pangolin can’t go properly underground, so they can only really scratch the surface of termiteville. Getting to the good bits requires an even more specialised termite-hunter. Say hello to the aardvark.

The aardvark is the world’s largest burrowing animal.#SevenWorldsOnePlanet pic.twitter.com/ySB7DNgxaK

— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) December 8, 2019

Aardvarks are big, hungry and more than capable of digging to depths of ten feet or so, enough to root out even the most well-protected termite colony. They need to be, as well — an aardvark needs to eat tens of thousands of termites a day. Climate change, however, is impacting the Kalihari’s aardvarks. Droughts have reduced termite numbers, and that has placed their predators on the verge of starvation.

Aesthetics 10/10

Pangolins are objectively some of the coolest creatures on the planet and I enjoy watching them very much.

Difficulty 8/10

You try digging ten feet down with your bare hands and get back to me.

Competitiveness 2/10

It’s not shown here but soldier termites are capable of giving some pretty impressive bites, even if they’re outgunned by the pangolin and aardvark.

Overall 20/30

Probably sports.

Scene 7: Elephants

An adult bull elephant needs to eat something like 200 lbs of food per day. That would be difficult enough in times of plenty, but during droughts, when there’s little food to be had, they have to get inventive.

There is still food about, in the dried-out forests of Zimbabwe, but it’s hard to get to. Trees are producing seed pods, but they do so up on their highest branches, well out of reach of even the elephants. Packed with protein, these pods are good eating. But how to get them?

Some elephants have learned a good trick — albeit one that requires incredible strength and balance:

“He weighs over 5 tonnes. This is a truly monumental effort.”#SevenWorldsOnePlanet pic.twitter.com/6xBohrr3KO

— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) December 8, 2019

That is some impressive stretching.

Aesthetics 8/10

Elephants are cute, but the parched forest doesn’t really do them justice compared to more verdant shots.

Difficulty 10/10

That’s a five-tonne elephant rearing back onto its hind legs. What? How?

Competitiveness 0/10

It’s not shown here but soldier termites are capable of giving some pretty impressive bites, even if they’re outgunned by the pangolin and aardvark.

Overall 18/30

Difficult enough to be a de facto sport.

Scene 8: Well This Is Depressing

To close out the series (this is our last scene!), BBC takes us on a tour of what’s going wrong with the planet. Climate change is already impacting every continent on earth. Habitat destruction is causing animal numbers to plummet. Poaching has all but wiped out some of Africa’s most majestic creatures. We are, in many ways, killing the rest of the world.

This is not merely an aesthetic question or one of being morally good versus morally not. Ultimately this is a world we all rely on, and we are contributing to its sickness. As the climate crisis deepens — climate change has been settled science since before I was born, incidentally — we will not only impact the animals showcased in this series but also deepen crises that materially affect our own communities.

Cities are starting to get close to running out of water and crop failures look increasingly likely. Sea level rise, caused by melting ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica, will render coastal communities increasingly vulnerable to flooding. We’re already in the shit and nowhere near the worst of it.

It is our collective responsibility to mitigate this crisis as best we can. We must dismantle the structures which have allowed this to happen without consequences. We must accept that personal choice alone can’t save us in the face of rapacious behaviour from corporations. We must force our governments to confront the problem head on.

And we must also hold those responsible to account. For generations, fossil fuel companies have suppressed scientific knowledge about the damage they have been engineering and spreading misinformation instead, all in the name of profit. This is a crime against the rest of humanity, and the decision-makers involved then (and involved now) must be prosecuted and made to repay society.

The crisis is here and we cannot avert it. But there is hope nonetheless. We can lessen the damage it will do by mobilising to de-carbonise the economy, to move away from waste and greed and destruction in the name of “growth���. Mitigation now will save our children and our children’s children from the real brunt of the storm. We live in depressing times, but we ought never to forget that something can be done about them.

A better world is possible, and it is up to us to build it. Will it be hard? Obviously. Is it the only way? Yes.

[thecoroutfitters]

Written by John Hertig on The Prepper Journal.

Editors Note: THIS article is from John Hertig. As always, if you have information for Preppers that you would like to share and possibly receive a $25 cash award as well as being entered into the Prepper Writing Contest AND have a chance to win one of three Amazon Gift Cards  with the top prize being a $300 card to purchase your own prepping supplies, enter today. 

   When out in the wilderness (as at home), splinters happen.  This is often from wood for fire or building shelter, or various man-made materials encountered.  In the southwest, we on occasion have close encounters with various spiny plants resulting in a similar condition.  As we all know, splinters are painful when you get them, and while they are embedded, and if not addressed, can work their way deeper and become more of a nuisance.  Removing splinters as soon as practical is the best course of action.  Thus, having splinter removal capability as part of your pocket or at least readily available first aid kit is usually a good idea.

There are many techniques which claim to remove splinters “naturally”, by “drawing it to the surface”.  Do you know how many of these I have tried?  Not one and I don’t currently plan to try any of them.  All sound messy and time consuming, and just a bit mystical.  After all, who would think that a slice of raw potato or the wet inside of an egg shell would coax a splinter out?  These methods do not seem fast enough or definite enough for me.  I’m old school; my methodology is to grab the offender and drag it out kicking and screaming.  It just makes no sense to mess around applying this or that, covering it and then waiting for that sliver to sneak out on its own.  Really, what is the point?  It might be “less painful” than the brute force methods, but come on.  Isn’t getting the splinter, and living with the splinter, more painful than digging it out and being done with it?

Furthermore, there are “splinters” which are not organic (wood or thorns).  Next most common is strands of wire, but shards of glass or chips of metal or plastic can behave in a splinter-like manner.

Brute Force Splinter Removal methods

There are two such schools of splinter removal:  Tweezers and Needle.  Tweezers (technically “thumb forceps”) are sort of like micro pliers you use to grab onto the splinter and pull.  Needles are a thin pointy tool which you use to impale the splinter and drag it out.  For splinters which have an end sticking out from the skin, tweezers are the most easy and reliable choice.  But if the splinter is below the surface of the skin, there is nothing to grab onto, and the “needle” comes into its own.  You can use an actual (sewing) needle for removing splinters; better is a splinter specific tool often known as a splinter “out”, “liberator”, “remover”, “pick”, “extractor” or “probe”.  The best ones are flat or triangular in cross section, with sharpened edges to help penetrate.  Such a cross section is less likely to slide off the splinter than the smooth round cross section of a needle.  The sharp edges also allow you to cut away surface skin which is covering the end of the splinter if necessary.  This is why one of the names for this tool is “liberator”.

Choosing Your Tweezers

There are an incredible variety of tweezers out there, and most are fairly useless for reliable splinter removal.  Any gripping tool or even fingers will do when there is some of the splinter protruding.  For those small, embedded splinters, the tweezers point must be thin enough to get into a small depression and clamp onto that tiny end of the splinter.  Yet the tips must be strong enough to grasp firmly and not slide off when you go to pull on the splinter.  The tips must be aligned well enough that they meet correctly and the arms must be sturdy enough that the tips don’t slip sideways from each other.  I’ve tried dozens of tweezers and the ones I like best are by Tweezerman.  They are a bit pricy, but are the only ones I’ve found which really do the job.  Their Ingrown Hair/SplinterTweeze has wonderfully fine precision tips.  But every time I’ve got that splinter end grabbed, it always slips free.  A better choice is their Point Tweezerette, which is shorter (easier to pack), a bit wider and something it grabs stays grabbed.  This model does not appear on their website, except as part of a men’s grooming kit, but is readily available from eBay by itself.

     The Splinter Remover

These are available as sterile disposables or permanent instruments.  A top disposable is the Splinter Out and they are readily available, as are other similar products.  On the other hand, finding a permanent liberator can be challenging.  Often, they are paired with a sub-standard pair of tweezers and are fairly crude in quality themselves.  Although I am primarily a tweezers fan, there are times when the liberator is more effective, so I have some which are adequate; I only go for ones which have a tip which unscrews and screws in backwards to protect it, and the world around it.  Maybe some day I’ll break down and try some sterile prepackaged ones.

Other Needs

Having the tools to remove a splinter is great, and necessary for the task.  However, in order to remove a splinter, it kind of helps to be able to see it.  And some splinters can be very tiny, and some environments are rather low light.  Thus, the complete splinter kit includes sources of light and magnification.  Let’s see, one hand for the instrument, one hand for the light, and one hand for the magnifier.  And that assumes you are not working on your own hand, a common location for splinters.  It is helpful to consider light sources and magnifiers which do not need to be hand held.

   I have two flashlight types I like.  One is an Olight S series “baton” light with a magnet in its tail cap.  Just set it against a magnetic surface and the light requirement is satisfied without hands.  These lights are small but not tiny, and are not cheap.  I carry one at all times, and for all purposes, so that is not a problem.  But when I am building a first aid or splinter specific kit, I go for the Photon Freedom Micro II.  This is tiny; hardly bigger than the quarter sized lithium batteries it uses for power.  And it is surprisingly bright at full brightness.  Best of all, it comes with a small mount which can clip to the bill of your hat, or your pocket or other thin upright.  And it is even magnetic for even more mounting options.

As for magnifiers, there are many; most are not “hands free”.  Hands free magnifiers tend to be too big and heavy to be considered “portable”.  I often use either a stand mounted assembly magnifier or a magnifying visor – at home.  For portable use, I depend on a nifty little gadget called a “thread counter” or sometimes “linen tester“.  This is a moderately high power lens mounted in a small folding stand.  And it is possible to clip the Photon Freedom to it, giving you a freestanding light and magnification solution.  There are thread counters which have built in lights, but I have not tried them since their batteries are tiny, so they probably are neither bright nor long lasting.

Afterwards

So you got the splinter out.  Whew, relief is at hand.  But wait; you are not done yet.  After all, that splinter punctured your skin, dragging who knows what with it.  The pain from the splinter may be gone, but is pain (or worse) from infection warming up in the bullpen?

You also need some basic skin puncture first aid.  That is, a cleansing pad such as Benzalkoniam Chloride to clean the area, an alcohol pad or lighter to sterilize your instruments, and a packet of antibiotic cream and a Band-aid for when the surgery is completed.

The Process

Ouch, you think you just got a splinter.  The first thing to do is to see if you can see it, and if it is big enough, grab it and pull it out.  Whether or not that is successful, carefully clean the area with your cleansing pad.  If not sterile packed, sterilize your tool(s) by wiping with alcohol or holding it in a flame.  Use your magnifying device to find the little dickens, and attempt to grab it with tweezers and pull it out, or drag it out with the tip of your liberator.  If this does not work, use the tips of the tweezers or the point of the liberator to pull back or cut a bit of skin from above the splinter, hopefully exposing enough to grab and pull, or drag.  Repeat until the splinter is out.

Once the splinter is out, wash the area with hot water if available, pack the wound with anti-biotic ointment and cover with a Band-aid.

  The post OUCH? Dealing with Splinters! appeared first on The Prepper Journal.

from The Prepper Journal Don't forget to visit the store and pick up some gear at The COR Outfitters. How prepared are you for emergencies? #SurvivalFirestarter #SurvivalBugOutBackpack #PrepperSurvivalPack #SHTFGear #SHTFBag

[psychotherapyconsultants]

Understanding and Managing Children’s Misbehavior

Let’s start with the most basic of basics: Children are dependent on us adults. They need our attention. Their survival depends on it. Adult concern and attention are required if they are to have shelter, food, safety and, yes, comfort. Wanting our attention is not a problem. Pulling for our attention is a child’s survival mechanism.

Most children, at least most of the time, find positive ways to seek out the attention they need. As infants, they have the advantage of being cute. As they grow, they figure out what the adults around them will respond to and do it.

Did you know that even babies who are only a few months old actually initiate interaction with the adults? When a smile or coo or squirm makes mommy or daddy laugh or pick them up, they learn it’s a reliable way to get their parent involved.

But some children get discouraged in their efforts to get what they need physically and emotionally. The adults are overwhelmed by whatever is overwhelming them. They are distracted. They may be ill or depressed. Maybe they were never adequately parented themselves so haven’t a clue how to respond to a child’s needs. Such parents may not intend to be inattentive to their child’s needs but the child interprets their emotional absence or busyness or unpredictability as a threat to their own emotional or physical survival.

When children feel abandoned, ignored or unheeded, they start to randomly try out ways to get adult attention. The kids quickly learn what will and won’t provoke a response. Screaming sometimes works. So does annoying the adults or refusing to do what the adults want. Some kids figure out that destroying property or being aggressive will do it. A response, any response, is what the child needs most — even if the response is to be shouted at or hit or ignored some more. Once a parent responds, the child knows that at least the adult knows the child is there.

From this point of view misbehavior is not, in itself, a problem. The child isn’t “bad”. The child isn’t a discipline problem. The child isn’t too needy or mentally ill. The child is desperate! Misbehavior, then, is an understandable though sometimes crude effort by a child to get recognized; to feel like they matter.

Adults who don’t understand this most basic of principles often react to misbehavior in equally misbehaving ways. They get aggressive; yelling and spanking. They take away a prized possession or a privilege. They abandon a child through lengthy “time outs” that only make a child feel more alone and scared — and often just make the child escalate a tantrum in order to — finally — get a response.

A negative cycle then gets going: The child feels unheeded and frantically does whatever will get an adult to affirm that he matters. The adult responds with frustration, anger or revenge. The child, feeling even more isolated and uncared for, escalates their behavior. The adult escalates or withdraws, only confirming to the child that he doesn’t matter or isn’t liked. The cycle continues until the adult “wins” simply by being louder or more forceful. Usually it ends with the child sobbing in a heap, and the adult feeling some combination of vindication, relief it is over and guilty that she or he didn’t handle it better.

The more often such a cycle is repeated, the more entrenched the misbehavior becomes resulting in an even more damaged parent-child relationship.

6 Ways to Manage Misbehavior:

Scolding, nagging, and punishing don’t work if the goal is to manage misbehavior without damaging your relationship with your child or the child’s self-esteem. There are better, more effective ways to deal with misbehavior.

Recognize the root of the problem. Recognize that misbehavior is a crude form of problem-solving. The child’s needs aren’t being met. Sometimes the needs are really basic. The child is hungry or exhausted or needs to run around. Sometimes the need is for touch and comforting and reassurance. And sometimes, as difficult as it may be to admit it, we haven’t given our child enough consistently positive attention for him to feel secure in our love.

Resist the temptation to misbehave yourself. Children’s tantrums can be impressive. But responding with an adult tantrum (yelling, screaming, name calling, threatening, etc.) won’t result in better behavior or a loving relationship. It may stop the immediate problem but it only models to the kids that the loudest and biggest tantrum wins.

Don’t abandon a child who is distressed: Remember that a tantruming child needs to be held, not abandoned to a “time out” or “naughty chair”. Hold her so she can’t hurt herself or others. Reassure her that when she calms down, you’ll be happy to talk about the problem. Say only that. Just hold on with a gentle and firm hug until the child regains self-control. Once she is calmed, quietly talk about what happened.

Provide positive, constructive ways for the child to feel validated and seen: Build a “bank” of positive interactions. Talk to your children. Hug often. Read to them. Play with them. Answer their questions. Be interested in what interests them. When children are shown that they are loved by regular, positive attention, there is little need to engage you with misbehavior.

Catch them being good whenever you can. Praise and acknowledge times when your child is behaving well. Regularly commenting on what is right is a far more powerful method of instruction than punishing what a child does wrong.

Learn constructive ways to respond to misbehavior: The best parenting book I’ve ever found is Children: The Challenge by Rudolf Dreikurs and Vicki Stolz. Though first published in 1956, the ideas and tips for parents are timeless. Constructive, practical ways to understand and manage children’s misbehavior are clearly explained. The many examples in each chapter are realistic and reassuring. It’s true that babies don’t come with a manual. But a book like this one comes close.

from World of Psychology https://psychcentral.com/blog/understanding-and-managing-childrens-misbehavior/

[renegadesepiida]

From February 3 until February 11 another King of the Hammers race week made Johnson Valley an enormous cloud of dust. I’d heard about the craziness of this event since I arrived in the Southern California desert five months ago. That was the time of innocence, thinking there was no possible way our country would take the turn that it has, and out here I was definitely in the minority.

While I don’t want to get too wrapped up in politics, it does have an influence on the world we live in and of course how people see each other. It is a shame, which is why I prefer to keep traveling, to experience every culture, and to understand it with respect. I looked at this event as a perfect way to do just that, understand and respect why these people feel this way.

The first thing I should do is to explain what King of the Hammers is. How my boss explained it to me and just so everyone knows these are the words coming out of a government park institution leader whose family all grew up in this area (so don’t hate me if you’re offended by the next sentence). “It’s a shit-ton of drunk rednecks who come out here with all their heavy machinery to tear up the desert.” Honestly, after hearing that I was way more terrified of participating than I was at the actual event. I expected super rowdy drunk off their ass spectators and racers on motorcycles, quads, and every other tricked out ATVs (all-terrain vehicles) you could possibly think of. There were plenty of tricked out vehicles, which were soooooo awesome to watch. I originally thought the vast majority of people were extremely kind and were just there for fun. In fact, there weren’t people just from that area, but all over the country and even the world. It was truly an international event with people driving from Canada, flying from England, Australia, and even China (along with many others).

I couldn’t believe some of these rigs, they cost upwards of hundreds of thousands of dollars, crazy. I could never save up money for that, it’s the racers business, and if this event is anything to go by, business was good.

BOOTH DUTY

For my part, I was working with Art, the Mojave Desert Park Ranger (the only one), to educate the public on the native flora and fauna out in the desert and show them that they should protect it. A lot of the education was geared towards kids, but the teens and adults also got involved with questions and wanting to hold the animals Art brought. All the animals were rescues, or in the case of the baby desert tortoise, born and raised in captivity.

In the case of the desert tortoise, which is an endangered species, we told the people that, should they want a pet tortoise, to adopt one from a shelter. When they are taken out of the wild and interact with humans they develop a respiratory condition that can cause them to die around 15, the female breeding age, and will be passed to their offspring. Therefore, none of them can ever be returned to the wild. And this is especially sad because they can normally live for over a hundred years, and could be passed down through human generations. But they might be picked up, exposed and after a few years the people who took them get tired of looking after them and leave them back out in the desert where, soon enough, they die.

BTW: It’s actually illegal to take them, even really to interact with tortoises at all (except if they are on a road, then you can pick them up, keeping them low to the ground, and move them off in the direct they were originally going.) Also if you see any broken shells DO NOT COLLECT, scientists need to be able to see that that area is a tortoise habitat, otherwise people may try to build on it, displacing many more animals.

PSA… Anyways…

We also passed out maps of much of the land for free, don’t want anyone to get lost, and then it would also help them know where and where not to ride their ATVs. Everyone was extremely grateful for all of this information, and they were happy that the BLM (Bureau of Land Management – who I work for along with ACE – American Conservation Experience) was out getting involved with the public. A government branch that actually cares about the environment and the people – crazy!

Almost everyone who came by our booth really opened up to us: telling us where they are from, what they like to do for fun, and how they feel about the entire environment we were currently in. It’s interesting to see how people will act when you get them talking.

Along with the tortoise we also had a dead, stuffed raven, to explain how they eat the baby tortoises (first pecking through the soft underbelly of the shell, and then one they develop harder shells pick them up, bring them to telephone wires and then drop the tortoises on the rocks to break them – smart animals). Other than the tortoise, the living animals were as follows:

A false widow – looks like a black widow but not venomous and very common.

A desert hairy scorpion – also big (ladies are larger and almost white – glow in the dark with a black light, males are smaller and darker) and a little venomous, but not dangerous unless you’re allergic, like bees. And also very common here, shake out your shoes and jackets, really anything you left on the ground while camping.

A chuckwalla – lizard who thrives in 90+ temperature, with loose skin flaps on its sides so when it runs between rocks it can blow itself up like a balloon to keep predators from yanking it out and the detachable tail.

A California king snake – black and white (sometimes brown or red too, depending on the region) snake who eats all the other animals (including rattlesnakes) so the top predator that is nice to people and keeps us all safe and happy.

The desert may seem empty, but it’s sooooo not.

I spent most of the time with a baby northern alligator lizard, that Art saved to feed to his king snake, who loved my body heat and crawled up my sleeves and hung out under my shirt collar for hours on end. I named it Geoffery Carlile, and didn’t change it when I found out it was female; the name was too good. So now I have a pet/buddy.

OTHER SHIT

We did have a couple less than sober people come by, especially because the vast majority of adult (young to old) were carrying around cans of beer in cozies. But with thousands of people passing over the week there was only one man (probably in his late 50’s or 60’s) who passed celebrating Trump’s idea of shutting down the BLM, and all the ideas he had for tearing down all the governmental structures. What that man probably didn’t know is that, without the BLM Johnson Valley would be taken over by the military and, thus, they could never access it, which would mean no more off-roading. So, YOU’RE WELCOME.

Also btw, that is not me being ok with how much of the land and habitats the off-roaders are messing up with all this crazy behavior. Just trying to appeal to what they care about.

  TIME TO ESCAPE

Because standing/sitting in a booth all day is boring as shit, there were times when I would take a walk to the bathroom and take a longer way back, passing the other stalls and the stages. Almost none of the vendors were selling their products because, as I later learned, the man who puts this on every year charges through the nose for placement, and makes the vendor give him a percentage of whatever they sell. By the end, he’s basically pocketing around a million dollars a year.

But, to the casual fan, this stuff doesn’t have too much of an effect. The booths instead have people sign up through email, which gives them an opportunity to win a $500 credit with their company, spin a wheel, and get free little prizes (like hats, cozies, stickers, etc.). While $500 might sound like a decent amount, most of the products cost over a thousand dollars, so good if you are in the market for stuff like what they sell, but worthless if not.

On Thursday, the day before the final 200-mile car race, one of the fire station volunteers (who also volunteers for the BLM) offered to help me escape the monotony of the booth for a while. I took him up on the offer, we climbed into his jeep and showed me two of the coolest parts of the racetrack: chocolate thunder and the waterfall.

Since I am more comfortable in heels, rather than flat shoes (completely serious) I wore my high heeled boots every day, this made it more impressive (?) to onlookers when I jumped out of the jeep at chocolate thunder and walked through the steep sand hill and over the rocks one handed. The lizard was hanging out in my sleeve still and I didn’t want her shaken up too much. When we arrived we could see that one of the customized jeeps had flipped and the crew was trying to set it right so they could finish the race. The canyon was very steep and rocky and we watched long enough for me to take several pictures and videos of the jeep being righted and passed a couple times.

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The second location was “the waterfall” which had a straight three feet rock that both cars and motorbikes had to navigate both up and down, depending on the race direction. I only got to see the cars going down, but that was pretty awesome. Took some pictures and more videos (btw they have cameras along the track and in helicopters overhead so they can film and live stream the entire race) and my favorite was when one car drove through it like it was nothing, almost on the tail of another car and then after getting through the rocky bit slammed on the gas speeding up on the sand. Vroom Vroom motherfucker

            Watching the whole race filled me with adrenaline; I just wanted to jump on a bike or into a car and speed over all obstacles. Wouldn’t even think twice, as long as the owner wouldn’t care if I messed up the vehicle… no fear. Didn’t get to, though.

Overall, the experience was generally enjoyable and I’m glad I got to talk to groups of people that I would normally clash with. And, as it is Valentine’s Day I wish love and understanding to all people of the world, wouldn’t that be great?

  Happy Valentine’s Day and be safe on all your adventures.

Long Live the Hammer King From February 3 until February 11 another King of the Hammers race week made Johnson Valley…

[thecoroutfitters]

Written by Wild Bill on The Prepper Journal.

What if you were suddenly overwhelmed by an event? An earthquake, a micro-burst along a lonely road that did in your vehicle, you barely got out before it was washed down a swollen creek during a flash flood? An avalanche that cut off your trail back to civilization? Heads down in your work and you step out the door to finally head home for the night and you step into the middle of a riot? Or a pandemic? The world suddenly gone mad!

Assuming being prepared is a habit chances are you have your EDC (every day carry) with you, and we all have a general idea of what that  should be, but most of it was in that car now heading down the river to a used car lot in rural Arizona to be sold in the future as “newly arrived.” Or your pack stolen the minute your emerge from your office door, headphones still on, oblivious to the SHTF going on all around you? What is the one tool that would serve you the best if you were smart enough to keep it close?

In The Prepper Journal’s opinion it is a knife. The universal tool that has served humans since we first picked up a stick and realized we needed something to sharpen it order to make our point and carrying a boulder as a sharpening implement was not working out.

And knives throughout history have been made from many interesting materials from sticks and stones and animal bones and are at the foundation of the development of metallurgy throughout human history. History actually defined as the Stone Age, The Bronze Age et al. 

So, whether you are a newbie to prepping and survival or an expert,  the importance of survival knife for not only a planned adventure but a true survival situation, is clear.

While some people may consider knives as a prized possession, I for one have a special one as a wall decoration hanging between two black-powder pistols, all in their own clear display cases, I also have others for use as survival equipment to their full potential when faced with dangers of the unknown, the unexpected.

From self defense to making fire to making traps and spears to obtain food to opening found supplies to making shelter the knife is the singular tool I would never want to be without (other than when the government makes me – airports, government buildings, public schools, and the like.)

As Caityln Bell says, finding the best survival knife is not just about convenience  – it’s about safety. If you don’t have a good knife in your survival kit, you are not prepared. So, with hundreds of options in the market, it can become hard to choose the right knife that would suit your needs. That’s why she is going to break it down for you today and make  choosing the best survival knife more an intelligent process than a random selection on factors that may catch the eye but not preform when the rubber meets the road. 

These are a few factors that you must keep in mind while choosing the right knife.

Blade Type and Material

While a pocket knife is convenient to carry and use, the fixed blade knife is really the best bet for survival. Fixed blade knives perform well from carving to chopping and they don’t have a built-in fail point where the blade connects and folds into the handle. Of course folding knives are easier to pocket, but at a price – durability. Therefore, you should go for a knife with a spine ranging from 0.6 to 0.25-inch thickness, which lasts longer without failing on demanding functions. 

Talking about the blade material, you can pick from carbon steel and stainless steel to find your right match. Carbon steel blades last long but get rusted if you don’t take proper care of them. On the other hand, stainless steel blades don’t rust- but are more difficult to keep sharpen.

Blade Size

Size matters! When it comes to picking the right survival knife, it is important to choose a knife that comes in the right size. Since you’ll be using the knife for multiple functions, don’t pick one that’s too broad as you cannot use the same for cutting down snare traps. Similarly, a small blade might be too delicate for cutting wood. 

So, pick an average sized knife, of about 10 to 12 inches, that is good enough to do most of the tasks that require the use of a survival knife.

Now, carrying a 12″ knife everyday, to work and play is a challenge in itself, so temper this with your attire and your daily travels. A knife with a blade of less than 4″ is not going to be a true survival tool. 

Handle

Just because the blade is strong enough to cut a piece of wood doesn’t mean that the handle is not important. If you go wrong with the handle, you might be putting a lot at stake. The knife with a small handle can give you blisters while the one with a large one might not have an excellent grip.

That being said, go for a knife that has a firm handle and facilitates better action. Also, make sure that the guard of the knife is sturdy enough and excels at keeping your hand from running up onto the blade.

Shank

A shank or tang is the back portion of the blade component that connects the blade and the handle. If you are looking for a reduction in weight, then you can choose between the partial tang and half tang, but if you are after something that helps you tackle extreme conditions, then the only tang worth your money and time is full tang. 

Since the handle is connected to the tang through bolts, pins, glue and more, opting for a full tang allows for great balance and leverage capabilities. The bottom line is a full tang will reinforce stability, ensure a firm grip and enhanced strength when in use.

These are some of the things you must consider when you are out picking a survival knife for long trips in the back-country. Just make sure the survival knife you choose, is the right one for you.

Fixed Blade V/S Fixed Blade: The Knife For You

Choosing a survival knife is mostly a matter of personal choice. And when it comes to picking either a fixed blade or folding knife, the debate has been going for years among knife aficionados and we already gave our two-cents above but…

Every knife owner has their opinion on what works the best given the tasks they face in their everyday life. Therefore, the following section of the article looks at some general areas for both types of blades.

Folding Knives

When it comes to everyday survival, folding knives are generally considered the most popular for their ease and convenience. Generally, folders are associated with everyday carry because they are perfect for routine tasks that make people want to carry a knife in the first place. 

For instance, trimming a wire, cutting open a box, cutting a rope or paracord or self-defense. There are some more advantages of the folding knives:

They are more discreet and easy to conceal

Th blade of a well-constructed folded knife is as tough as a fixed blade

On the other hand, the biggest disadvantage of a fixed blade is that their folders are tough to clean and also have, historically at least, been known to break easier.

Fixed Blades 

Perhaps because of the way they have been introduced in the movies, fixed blade knives have a reputation for being the more serious type. That’s definitely true. But, this doesn’t mean that they cannot be used in almost any situation. 

There are a lot of advantages to the fixed blade. For the most parts, they are associated with rough outdoor work – jobs like splitting, food preparation, skinning a buck, digging etc. Other advantages include:

They are big and come in whatever size you need, from a small handy blade to a large-monster sized blade. One trait that is common among all sizes is the strength of the blade 

They are easier to clean and maintain. So, you don’t have to worry about the hinge as you have to with a folding knife

They don’t break easily as there are no moving parts on fixed blades 

Fixed blades are generally twice as long as folding blades

During tactical situations, a fixed blade knife can be brought into play faster than a folding knife.

On the other hand, the biggest disadvantage of fixed blade knives is that they are not as convenient to carry and are harder to conceal.

There you have it – Advantages and Disadvantages of Fixed and Folding Blades. The ultimate decision comes down to the buyer and how they plan to use the blade! 

Be Safe out there and be sure to check out The Prepper Journal Store and follow The Prepper Journal on Facebook!

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