Higgenbotham's Dark Age Hovel

[Higgenbotham]

The black population destroys the free or virtually free low cost housing they are placed in. I refuse to work in those places (personal safety) but my friends that have say that brand new housing has to be rebuilt (a gut job) every 3 years. Three! How are those people going to survive a dark age?

The Fort Wayne Housing Authority recently broke ground for a new housing development geared to help those struggling from chronic homelessness. The River’s Edge Apartments project, will also include laundry services, bike racks, a library, and more. The cost of these units is slated to come in at a whopping $248,214 each.

A simple analysis of "those struggling from chronic homelessness" would dictate that the way to build these units is the walls would be epoxy coated concrete block with restaurant tile floors sloped to a floor drain. When the tenants move, the cleanup would consist of power washing the units out with high pressure (maybe a 30 minute job per room). There would be essentially no maintenance or turnover cost. Not only will the units described cost a whopping $248,214 each, but the maintenance and turnover costs will be astronomical.

I came up with this years ago after doing some repairs on Section 8 units and also looking at some jobs Hendricks (discussed previously) wanted done, which I passed on, because the smell was so bad nobody could work in there.

[Guest]

The black population destroys the free or virtually free low cost housing they are placed in. I refuse to work in those places (personal safety) but my friends that have say that brand new housing has to be rebuilt (a gut job) every 3 years. Three! How are those people going to survive a dark age?

The Fort Wayne Housing Authority recently broke ground for a new housing development geared to help those struggling from chronic homelessness. The River’s Edge Apartments project, will also include laundry services, bike racks, a library, and more. The cost of these units is slated to come in at a whopping $248,214 each.

A simple analysis of "those struggling from chronic homelessness" would dictate that the way to build these units is the walls would be epoxy coated concrete block with restaurant tile floors sloped to a floor drain. When the tenants move, the cleanup would consist of power washing the units out with high pressure (maybe a 30 minute job per room). There would be essentially no maintenance or turnover cost. Not only will the units described cost a whopping $248,214 each, but the maintenance and turnover costs will be astronomical.

Chinese factory workers live in tiny white tiled cells that are hosed out after they vacate. I'm serious.

[Higgenbotham]

Even in a rural area where country folk are expected to do better I don’t think many will fare well as chainsaws are common while crosscut saws and axes are not.

I agree. Most people can't get it out of their heads that tools must be petroleum or otherwise powered and there is simply no alternative. I believe that's an artifact of the mindset the Industrial Age produces. Practically everyone I know who moves out on some acreage sends photos of their new petroleum powered gizmo. And if "this petroleum powered gizmo" is not working out, then surely "that petroleum powered gizmo" is the only alternative that can be considered.

A few years ago, his attempts at utopia kept being undermined by the costs of repairing his farm equipment. So he decided to cut out the middleman and forge his own gear. “If you’re going to try to build any kind of sustainable, model community, you find out quickly that the tools you need break down and are expensive,” he says. “Without fixing this situation, you’re always left conducting business as usual.”

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... -nerd-farm

It's probably going to go back to hand tools and horse drawn plows, and the only question is how long it will take before the last tractor stops running. Jakubowski understands the problem but he doesn't have a practical solution, because the seven deadly sins win out in human affairs.

The Business Week link now requires a subscription to read. To be expected.

[Guest]

A froe can be used to make wood shingles. Plenty of videos on YouTube about it. They still use wood shingles in Eastern Europe.

I have lived in several countries in Eastern Europe, and I have never seen any houses with wooden shingles unless they were old structures (either abandoned and rotting) or historic buildings. In the former Yugoslavia, the houses had orange tiles, in the Ex-Soviet union, most people lived in Khrushchev apartment blocks with flat concrete roofs or in brick shacks with corrugated fiber cement roofing.

I met a lot of builders while living in Eastern Europe; none of them would be considered the equal of a German or English one. I see builders from Eastern Europe working as day laborers on job sites in Western Europe and England all the time. The houses that have been built since the Bolshevik revolution are really low grade. They are comfortable to live in--I have lived in them--but would never pass inspection in the US.

The US and Western Europe have the best carpenters in the world.

People in Eastern Europe are good at jerry-rigging stuff. But these temporary fixes are substandard. The idea that people in Eastern Europe still possess all of the lost skills of the American frontier is a fantasy. In think, in the early 1970s, perhaps there were a lot of people like that still living in the east, but not anymore. The vast majority of people in Eastern Europe are glued to their smartphones and live in highly dilapidated Soviet Era apartment blocks. They all dream of going west. How would these people fair in a collapse? Less well than Americans. Easterners are used to living in squalor, but they do nothing to improve their situations. American farmers and backyard mechanics will do better in a new dark age.

[Grateful guest]

THANK YOU, Guest! I am so tired of Dimitry Orlov making Americans out to be talentless losers and Russians to be genius Nietzscian supermen who can build cathedrals and rockets out of old pinball machines.

Yes. I was left deeply unimpressed with Russia when I lived there. Russians are lazy and their workmanship shoddy. Rich Russians always bragged that their house was built by Germans. Yes, they flew them in to do all.of the interior work. Sometimes they had to make structural repairs left by the Russian carpenters.

Americans are still among the best at anything.

[aeden]

Over and over again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0c2P5wrRUw white space and yes consolidation. Some sign of stability.
We stuck our caboose out there in 8 to 18 month a short time to some adults objectively moving ahead.
Guess who is not going to pay attention and make it.
Demshevik Bish.

Global Liquidity will determine any spreads.

Top down arrogated ram rods projects with mid level dithering about technical semantics about attitude will not decide events
or issue of consumer dumb money to apologize to the bond markets that will decide.
The point is simple as what is your rally point to internal affairs since you know the consumer is the final arbiter to forward facts.
We are talking credibility on more levels than jpow and janet. Demographics volatility from manipulation is sighn of the times
and we see as it was forwarded alot of white space from the moving average and actual price since policy is disconneted from
consumer spending facts. Confusion is the trend as the kids are simply crushed. Long or short? Yes.

[Higgenbotham]

Another thing that comes to mind is an old Craftsman belt sander will have metal gears in it whereas about late 80s the metal gears were replaced with plastic and those will strip under heavy use. Buyer beware.

The comments below are from 2008 so the discussion of brands may no longer be current but at least tells what to look out for. When I acquired my tools, most tools were still quality. The above was an exception, but now appears it might be the rule.

I decided a couple of years ago that I no longer wanted any power tools made by the conglomerate that owns the Dewalt name.

I also decided that I would no longer buy power tools from Lowes, because they sell "similar model number" tools there. The single digit or character that is different from the professional grade tools is a sign of plastic gears, inferior motors, and perhaps other problems.

I follow the same rule at Home Depot, with the exception of Ridgid-brand tools. The Depot offers almost a lifetime warranty on Ridgid power tools, so I still consider them when making decisions. (Note that consider = consider -- I'm not automatically sold on them)

But mostly, I go to locally-owned shops and lumber yards, and get power tools there. Yes, I pay more, but the tools don't fall apart in two years either. My new circ saw is a Makita, my reciprocater is a Bosch, and my drill is a Ridgid......all new in the past year.

Politics is the antithesis of problem solving.

https://www.finewoodworking.com/forum/n ... ent-109727

I'm with you on that point. The more power tools I buy (and hand tools for that matter) the more I want to save my pennies and buy quality. I'm in the mood to support those companies that haven't gotten to big for their britches. Conglomerates only understand the value of marketing and volume. Dewey Screwem and Howe.

I think its about education and experience. People may not sweat spending a couple of more bucks on a better screwdriver, because they have had experience using cheap screwdrivers. Comparatively, they are spending a 100% more on a $4 screwdriver than a $2 one. I know the value of spending a $1,000 plus on a cabinet TS because I used a bench model for so long. Unless someone uses a $20 Stanley plane, they won't appreciate the additional cost for the quality and value of a LN plane. In the back of my mind I still want to believe I can make that Stanley perform like the LN. Experience says otherwise. We expect to pay more for quality. Not getting duped into thinking a product is quality. The web is a great equalizer, if people will only do their research.

The problem lies when a company sells an inferior product (based on mass marketing and famous faces on the tube) at a comparable price to an actual quality tool. I didn't even have to mention Craftsman.

Bosch seems to be an exception for conglomerates. They get it. They didn't try to take over the American market by selling unassuming hobbists sub par or barely adequate tools. I bought the Bosch ROS and jigsaw recently and no regrets so far. I few $$$ more but solid.

Did I get completely off the subject here?

https://www.finewoodworking.com/forum/n ... ent-109728

Two years ago, I bought a Milwaukee brand Sawzall at Lowe's. At the time, I noticed that the model number was different from those at other stores, but thought that the single-character difference was probably something to do with packaging.I used that Sawzall on a few remodeling jobs, and I loved it. Until about two weeks ago, when it continued running, but stopped actually moving the blade. The gears were stripped.Yes, they were plastic. When I bought it, it appeared to be a professional-grade tool. It was not. I remember that when I was investigating that original purchase, lots of Milwaukee's (with similar model numbers) specifically stated "metal gearbox" in the ads.I allowed myself to be misled.My new reciprocater is a Bosch, with metal gears. And LED headlights. And a "cord" that will never get cut by the blade. And this one came with a case, and a no-tools blade change system. The bad news was that I lost a couple of hours on my current remodel job, and could not take the time to price-shop for the new saw.

Politics is the antithesis of problem solving.

https://www.finewoodworking.com/forum/n ... ent-109734

I would only post this kind of stuff when I don't think the topic is well known to most people and the info isn't covered much on the internet. I hope that's the case here.

[Guest]

Makita is always good?

[Higgenbotham]

Makita is always good?

I have no idea what the current situation is. I'm looking into it now. Back when my power tools got heavy use, Craftsman had a lifetime warranty on their power tools. Probably they don't anymore. My power drills and belt sanders got heavy use and the rest got normal use. I would burn out a Craftsman drill every year or two and take it back for a replacement. That's not to say their drills were crap. I was sanding wood siding and the paint dust would melt on the drill motor, coat it, and burn it out. That's not a normal use for a drill and it's likely even a top of the line brand would have burned out too. So what I have now is the last Craftsman drill that didn't burn out.

It's possible that if the shit hits the fan, my drill could be getting the same kind of heavy use again and I will need to have a plan other than taking a burned out drill back to Sears for a replacement. It may be that it would be better to buy a few old drills on EBay or at estate sales, similar to what Tim is doing with hand saws.

[Higgenbotham]

Water and tools are important, but food is too. Which reminds me of this post from a couple years ago.

My wife wondered why I was buying a generator in the summer. I told her it was just in case. In case of what she asked? In case the power grid goes out. I told her it was like insurance. I bought it and hoped I would never have to use it. I left the generator in the shipping box and put it in the garage.

This post has some good advice about how to deal with family members who haven't gotten to the stage of accepting that collapse is coming.

I had read an old book from the 1970s that told how to store food according to the Mormons. I bought some food they recommended that could be both stored long term and provide complete protein, enough food to survive for about a year and about 20 5 gallon pails from Sherwin-Williams. To store the food properly, I rented a nitrogen gas cylinder. I put the hose from the cylinder into the bottom of the bucket, put the food into the bucket, then put the lid over it, turned the valve on, which displaced the air out of the bucket with nitrogen until a match would go out when placed near the bucket, pulled the hose out, and snapped the bucket shut. Then put it all in the back of the closet.

One day, my wife was cleaning out the closet and she asked what was in the buckets. I said it's food storage, just in case. Like just in case the grocery stores are closed and there is no food available. She looked at me like I was nuts. She said this doesn't belong in a closet. I said, well, we can put it in the garage but the summer heat will degrade it more than it being in this closet and if we really need it, someone might see us carrying buckets around when they don't have any food. It went into the garage.

This week we had an ice storm, similar to what you described. The roads were too icy to get to the grocery store safely, many grocery stores were closed, and those that were open had long lines and reduced hours (noon to 5 in this area).

I asked my wife whether she thought that food might be better in the back of the closet. I said what would you do if you were out of food and saw someone carrying a 5 gallon bucket? She said she would ask them for some food, then agreed that the back of the closet is now the best place for that food.

I almost forgot to mention. When I returned the nitrogen gas cylinder, the owner of the gas company asked what I was doing with it. I told him. I asked him if anyone had ever rented a nitrogen gas cylinder for that purpose. He said no, not in the 25 years he'd been in that business had he ever heard that.

The food storage isn't for the kind of crisis that happened in Texas this week. It's for the kind of crisis that could have happened if the power grid had gone down for months (the news says that it came dangerously close to doing that) or more likely the crisis that is coming our way after the financial system collapses.

I believe the food storage info I got was from a book by Howard Ruff. Howard Ruff was a Mormon who wrote some best selling books in the 1970s. The times might be kind of similar with the shortages and high inflation but the reaction to them seems to have been different because of the generational aspects. In the 1970s people like Ruff had lived through the Great Depression and World War II. Probably anybody looking for practical advice could get some by going back to what was written in the 1970s by the hero generation.

Also, the Mormons sell bulk stored food. I believe it is packed in nitrogen.