City Versus Country Mindsets and Expectations, by Inyokern

As we all know, City people and Country people have a very different outlook on life. Some of that is opportunity, some is envy, some is ignorance. For the last 120+ years, the US economy (and much of the world economy) has been one of capitalism and materialism. Making stuff and selling it, making the economy grow until the physical limits are reached. Well, they’ve been reached. Peak Oil has led to the beginning of what is probably a pretty long collapse, but I can only judge based on the Roman Empire and the 1929 crash, history, rather than compare the USA to places like Zimbabwe where collapse has advanced at a rapid rate due to deliberately destructive policies by a madman. We’re not really like that, and we have the advantage of a serious food surplus, even post oil America will be able to feed itself, provided that it doesn’t starve its own population to meet foreign debt payments like Argentina did. America isn’t like Europe and I’m very grateful for that.
City people have a fundamentally different approach to life. They have high expectations for their lifestyle: the power doesn’t go out, the water is hot in moments, the mail comes every day, and the supermarket is full of food which is fresh and exotic. City people work, usually very hard in often humiliating jobs to pay for a tiny apartment, a high car payment, and those luxuries they’ve grown used to. Their view of the country is from a 75 mph window on the way to somewhere more scenic. City people want it all now, and they don’t want excuses about why they should have to wait. Don’t blame them for this. The city is a very competitive place and it is our nature as a species to compete for resources.

The Country outlook is one of perseverance and hardship. Its about flexibility and disappointment, debt, and a slow pace of life. Watching the seasons turn. Flowing life closer to nature and its hardships. The closer to nature they live, the more they perceive the cyclic nature of things. Compared to City people, Country people seem out of touch with modern culture. However, in general, country people have far more important context and contact with their neighbors. Elbow room changes how you think. There is a great deal of independence in Country living, but the kind that supports ones neighbors rather than necessarily blames them. Its not perfect either. Kids raised improperly on MTV and WB want what they see on TV, and that envy, that materialism leads to all kinds of misery, and either has those kids grow up to be city people or turn into junkies hooked on Meth or Dope trying to flush away their disappointment. When it comes down to it, TV commercials, the seed of materialism, are the real enemy for country folk. They’re designed to make people buy things and they’re very good at it. Much of TV is really commercial advertising. Some programs which repute to “review” products are little more than thinly veiled informercials selling this product, [and by extension] selling debt.

City people see the countryside as a source of food, of momentary scenery, and as real estate, future subdivisions and Wal-Marts, Taco Bell and McDonalds. They can’t help that. They hate the emptiness. It makes them afraid, or bored. They’re used to the frantic pace and tight quarters that the city offers. The countryside is slow cycles and peace and quiet, for the most part. I was raised at the edge of a subdivision in the middle of the countryside, surrounded by cows and rangeland. We often had deer, and sometimes had coyotes, wild pigs, and I once witnessed a mountain lion scurry by in the early evening. Now I live in the suburbs, which is basically the city just with smaller apartments.

The basic conflict between the City and Country folk is one of money. The City sees the countryside as a life support system for them, and considers the people who live in the countryside to be socially incapable, thus they are “forced” to live out there. They don’t feel bad or think much about their city-based issues destroying the harmony of country towns, or what that means to the bigger picture.

Thanks to Peak Oil, the conflict will get more aggressive. Extreme Exurbs, subdivisions 100 miles from a city where the population commutes for work are going to die due to the rising cost of fuel, a problem that will never go away. Eventually it will cost too much to drive to work to make the pay worth the price of the fuel. Yes, carpooling and hybrids and mass transit will delay this, but there’s a limit to everything. Without income, they won’t be able to pay a mortgage on an unwieldy and badly located home. These people will either accept debt slavery (now that Bankruptcy isn’t protection anymore) or try to find work in the countryside. Perhaps they’ll prove to be flexible. Maybe they’ll surprise us. Maybe they’ll wade around in cow-muck, dig post holes by hand, haul compost/manure, or do any number of semi-skilled labor the countryside always needs done. And do it for minimum wage. Somehow, I think the City People are going to have to come to terms with much lower expectations than they’re accustomed to.

Country People won’t have it too great either, in case you’re thinking they would. As heavy users of fuel to get to jobs which pay for their own high costs of living, often on very tight budgets, Country people are going to hurt, probably even sooner than the Supercommuters in the Exurbs do. Home Loans are defaulting at a surprisingly high rate in Exurbs and countryside here in California. Those envious kids will hear about how bad things are in the City, but see how much worse they are next door and have even fewer options than before. Reasonably, one can expect the drug problem to dramatically worsen, as well as spree killing incidents. If they’ve got nothing to lose, why not? This destructive trend is magnified by causing distrust in the countryside, and murder of neighbors’ junkie kids burglarizing and killing for sport will become an ugly fact of the countryside. Many of the people defending themselves will be tried and convicted of murder because the DAs and Judges are often prisoners of City Morality, which has little to do with justice. Shoot first, bury deep and keep quiet will end up the rule of thumb for two-legged pests in the countryside. If it isn’t already. I’ve met enough ranchers who had the look of men who’d killed that I think its been fact for some time now. Always be on your best possible behavior with ranchers. They’re not as patient as their reputation implies.

City people who love the countryside and want to move there but lack the training in Country Social behavior are going to have a hard time of it. (Believe me when I say that. I’m very fond of privacy which is easily achieved in the city but hard to get in the countryside.) Lumped in with other city people, they’re going to have a steep learning curve and will need to make a lot of very positive First Impressions (how many times can you make one?) and take on permanent local volunteerism to build good will and avoid becoming [seen as] “Them.” Even that may not be enough. Part of the beauty of the countryside is everybody has a very long context, often decades worth, so communication (and bitterness) has a serious intensity that Shallow City People will never have.

This insight into the difference between City and Country mindsets is really important. As the suburbs continue to citify and the exurbs die, the difference between the two becomes more and more pronounced. Material differences will matter too. Peak Oil means power outages, not just fuel. True, power will probably just get more expensive where coal burning power plants exist, so the Midwest and East will see few changes. The West, however, is going to take it in the shorts. The power will be off more than it will be on, and it will be on the cities, not in the countryside. I fully expect laws to be passed, under Federal or State emergency approval, to deny basic utility services to the countryside. That means phones, electrical power, ambulance, police presence, paving of secondary and tertiary roads will fall on the county or private associations to provide. You see, the cost of maintaining these systems exceeds the income gained from their fees. Either the country person pays something like $500/month for phone service, or they give it up after the next winter storm drops the lines. The focus for luxuries like phone service and electrical power will go to the towns and cities, and maybe the towns will be up the creek too. This is a fairly logical and practical progression, even in a first world country like the USA.

Copper is a precious metal again. Its being stolen all the time. If, for instance, you’ve lost your job thanks to economic collapse and you can’t feed your five kids at your ranch which never made money anyway, you’re going to need to pay for it somehow. You lost phone service and power last winter and the local power utility company won’t fix it. Steal the cable, sell it for scrap, pay your mortgage, put food on the plate and when harvest comes, charge a fortune for the now more expensive food thanks to the end of cheap fertilizers and insecticides. Peak Oil is forcing a morality decision and the city people have already chosen materialism rather than connection to their rural roots.

The City Person with their inbred city morality created by the good intentions of liberal intellectuals in New York and Boston can’t conceive of a life where stealing is not only justified but is moral. When you’re abandoned by your country, you survive or perish based on actions not good intentions. I foresee that the Cities will continue to grow until they can’t, and the population will continue to Hive and Specialize like insects because that’s what cities thrive on: specialists. They offer specialized goods. Keeping City People out of the countryside is a minor advantage, but Post Peak, that turns into an ugliness that we can barely imagine now.

I keep talking about this subject because the public still doesn’t get it. I hope to eventually refine this description in a shorter but still effective essay. Someday I’ll get it right and people will stop being dumb, and stop disconnecting their behavior from the consequences. – Inyokern

Odds ‘n Sods:

Hardly an unexpected news flash: Iran has announced it would replace the dollar with the euro in foreign transactions and state-held foreign assets, in an apparent response to mounting US pressure on its banking system.

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Aaron Krowne of AutoDogmatic.com notes: “If base metal values continue to increase by 5% per year on average, and the dollar continues to depreciate by about the same, then in about 26-1?2 years, a nickel will be worth a dollar in inherent value. If the rates are 10% per year, then in a bit over 13 years, this milestone will be reached.”

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Readers Sean M. and Scott D. both suggested this thought-provoking piece: “The US is Insolvent” by Dr. Chris Martenson (author/editor of The End of Money), posted at Jim Puplava’s Finanacial Sense web site.

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"If history teaches us anything, it teaches that simple-minded appeasement or wishful thinking about our adversaries is folly. It means the betrayal of our past, the squandering of our freedom." – Ronald Reagan (1983)

Note From JWR:

The Carbon Monoxide (CO) poisoning fatality count is now at 14 in the Seattle, Washington region, in the power outages following the recent wind storm. These were mostly people running backup generators inside their houses.

Letter Re: First Hand Observations on the Recent Pacific Northwest Wind Storm

Background: I am an 11 year veteran peace officer and survivalist, or in more politically correct terminology, a POP – Preparedness Oriented Person. I work in a moderate sized city in the Seattle area. On 14-15 December, the Tacoma-Seattle-Everett metropolitan area suffered one of the most deadly and damaging windstorms in recorded history. The storm easily eclipsed the last major deadly blow on Inaugural Day, 1993. That storm had been identified as a “once in a century” type storm. At the peak, over 1 million people did not have power.
This storm was modeled and forecasted with accuracy five days before it occurred. Yes indeed, people had five days to prepare. Weather forecasters warned viewers and listeners to be prepared. They were right. Gusts ranging from 55 to 70 mph were recorded in the area. Sustained winds exceeded 40 to 50 mph in many areas. A top gust of 135 mph was recorded at a ski area near the North Central Washington city of Wenatchee. A month of record rain coupled with several preceding days of heavy rains led to many more trees than normal being toppled. An unusually violent (for the area) thunderstorm produced heavy rain and ground strike lightening. At this writing, 4 deaths have been directly attributed to the windstorm. Three were from collisions with trees in the roadway and one from a tree crushing a mobile home. Additionally, the storm left clear skies and cold weather. The three following days after the windstorm had nighttime temperatures that were at or below freezing. One death was attributed to carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and over 100 people have been treated for CO poisoning. The one who died from CO poisoning, he was running a gas generator inside his home. Several homes and business have been burned, either from direct electrical line contact to roofs and buildings or from candles igniting surfaces or being knocked over.
Observations: Gosh, where do I begin? In watching the news, it was easily apparent that so many were ill or unprepared. This continues to befuddle me, as the citizens of this area are involved in frequent windstorms, power outages, and other natural disasters or events. Watching the news showed how stupid people were. In one instance, a major eastside of Seattle city was 80% without power. This meant no power to stores, homes and other businesses.
Grocery stores: Stores could not sell as the computer driver point of sale terminals were down. People could not readily buy supplies. My local Albertson’s lost over $60,000 worth of cold and frozen goods as the power was off for 18 hours and by law, they could not sell the slightly warmed foodstuffs. People were traveling as far away as 30 miles to find an open store. Many stores that were opened quickly ran out of staples. Again, my local grocery was at minimal bread, paper goods, fuels (including the supermarket wood bundles) and batteries. While I spoke with the manager, I overheard one woman on her cell phone loudly complain that it was her third store that did not have wood.
Gas stations: stations without power could not pump. Those stations that could pump saw long lines and quickly ran out of fuel. One fellow was ingenious enough to stand beside a road in an affluent city east of Seattle and advertise that he was selling 25 gallons of gas for $15 dollars a gallon! And he sold it all! Expecting the worst, I refilled some gas cans and my vehicle on Thursday morning after I got off work. At the local gas station, a citizen who knows me made a snide comment about if the world was coming to an end. That citizen now sits in his home, four days without power. It was reported that those stations that were the only ones available quickly raised their prices to 20 to 30 cents above market prices, in reflection of demand. The state will apparently investigate whether these stations were gouging.
Alternative power: boy howdy! You can certainly tell who has alternative power. I could easily see their houses all lit up long before I heard the generators. A local firefighter I know half-humorously stated that he could make his retirement if he had some generators for sale on Craigslist.com right now. He is right. On a news report today, a local Home Depot had people waiting in line, just to buy a Coleman portable generator. Home Depot sold out of two pallets worth of generators in a very short time. Around here, folks would rather have that High Definition 42-inch plasma screen rather than a solid generator. POPs like me should look for a whole slew of lightly used generators for sale come springtime.
Alternative heat: a majority of homes in this region do have working fireplaces. However, you would think they are decorative as I heard of so many people looking for firewood. Local firewood dealers were busy selling and stocking. Additionally, many new homes being built do not have real working fireplaces but instead have what amount to nothing more than decorative gas fireplaces (which look nice but produce little usable heat). During the daytime, you could tell who did not have power and heat due to so many fireplaces burning. The chimney sweeps in this area should have a good spring.
Security: while patrolling, I was amazed at how many people in power out areas left their garage doors open. I was told by a few that they left them open because the power was out. When asked about the manual disconnect, they seemed generally amazed that there was such a thing on mechanical garage door openers . . . In addition to security, I was also amazed at how many people ran their generators in their front yards! Easily accessible and in less than 20 seconds, gone.
Where are the cops, firefighters, public works, etc? Folks, I can tell you everybody was out there (who were scheduled). My small fire station, which usually handles about 20 calls for service in a 96 hour block, saw over 150 calls during the same period, most storm related. A tree branch damaged one of the firefighting rigs. Cops were out there and stretched thin. Between doing road closures and stopping yet another knucklehead who could not read the “ROAD CLOSED” sign, they were busy. A couple of my fellow officers had to do traffic stops on people simply driving reckless around down trees, power lines, etc. People in this area simply got “a case of the stupids” when the weather went sideways. Public works crews from all the cities had their hands full. I know of one case where a woman nearly went to blows with a crew simply because they were cutting “her tree.” Of course, her tree was fallen across a street and blocking it. Again, the stupids. One public works worker I know told me of a story of a downed power line, hanging chest high in a roadway. They were blocking one side and flashing their headlights and amber rotators at people. One fellow stopped his car on the other side of the live lines, walked underneath them and ambled up to their truck to tell them that the lines were down. (The same ones he had just walked under–which were also the ones they were parked next to and trying to keep people from driving into .)
Power distribution: one of the things preventing having everyone up and running is short order has been the interactions of trees, lines, poles and crews to get things cut up. Per policy, public works crews are not to cut a tree until the downed power lines are declared safe. However, some lines cannot be declared safe until the trees are partially cut. Add to the mix that many power poles were snapped. No utility in the area had enough poles stockpiled so they have to be shipped it from the east. With the mountain passes suffering blizzards and some occasionally extreme weather, trucking becomes a challenge. Why power lines are not brought underground in this region is a mystery to me. Perhaps can enlighten me as to why.
As for my family, and me we took the warnings seriously. I made sure I had plenty of fuel in the cans, generator and cars. My battery/inverter setup was fully charged and ready. I had plenty of firewood stacked and ready. I purposely bought a house that has gas appliances and a fully normal fireplace with a heat exchanger system (with low wattage power blower – works great on just the inverter setup). I had my supplies established and weather the storm with ease. I did not have a tree fall on my house and the tree limbs I collected (that many people were disposing of with either services or green waste) made for a huge stack of logs to be seasoned for next winter. Best Regards – MP

Letter Re Maglite Flashlight LED Conversions

I just purchased a Maglite Brand LED conversion for a two D-cell Maglite.[These replace the original filament light bulb holding “head” of the flashlight.] It was $20 at a Lowe’s [hardware store] in Oregon, with no sales tax. These take only three minutes to install. The focus feature still works great, but the best feature is that it is very bright, almost blue/white. Much better battery life and outstanding bulb life, not affected by dropping. All in all, a very good conversion for one of the best lights made. They also have them for 3 D-cell , and 4 D-cell lights. Mag also sells their lights as LED lights too. These are worth looking at. – Tom in Oregon

Odds ‘n Sods:

From Tom at www.CometGold.com: Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez is directing a growing share of the country’s oil profits into euros as the dollar and crude prices fall.

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I noticed that recent short-term strengthening of the U.S. Dollar has pounded down the spot price of silver from around $14 per ounce to about $12.50. Buy on these dips!

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Hawaiian K. forwarded a link to some gloomy predictions from The Market Oracle: Three-Pronged Collapse … Stocks, Bonds and Real Estate

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Unlike other nations, American identity is not based on ethnicity or geography. It’s based on a moral proposition. This proposition comes straight from the faded and yellowed document: The Declaration Of Independence.” – Chuck Colson

Note From JWR:

My sincere thanks to the just 1/2 of 1% of SurvivalBlog readers that have signed up for 10 Cent Challenge subscriptions. You 74 people know who you are. Subscriptions are entirely voluntary, and gratefully accepted.

Letter Re: Advice on Affordable Yet Reliable Night Vision Scopes

Jim:

Who makes the best Gen 1 and Gen 2 night vision optics? I am not sure I can afford to purchase Gen 3 for five people at this time. I can afford Gen 1, maybe Gen 2.
Thanks, – Martin

JWR Replies: I’d recommend that you purchase a professionally re-manufactured U.S. military contract Gen 2 scope such as the AN/PVS-2B. Beware the many “kitchen table” re-manufacturers out there! Buy a full mil spec scope from a reputable vendor such as Ready Made Resources or STANO Components, that will have a genuine, new, Gen 2 image intensifier tube with a bona fide data sheet.

The following is some guidance and contact information that I included in my newly-released Rawles on Retreat and Relocation book:

Late issue Third Generation (also called or Third Gen or Gen 3) starlight scopes can cost up to $3,000 each. Rebuilt first gen (early 1970s technology) scopes can often be had for as little as $500. Russian-made monoculars (with lousy optics) can be had for under $100. One Russian model that uses a piezoelectric generator instead of batteries is the best of this low-cost breed. These are best used as backups–in case your expensive American made scopes fail. They should not be purchased for use as your primary night vision devices unless you are on a very restrictive budget. (They are better than nothing.) Buy the best starlight scopes, goggles, and monoculars that you can afford. They may be life savers! If you can afford to buy only one, make it a weapon sight such as an AN/PVS-4, with a Gen 2 (or better) tube.(Or the bulkier AN/PVS-2 if you are on tight budget.) Make sure to specify that that the tube is either new or has very “low hours”, that it has a high line pair count, and it that displays minimal scintillation. (My troops used the highly technical term “The Sparklies”to describe the scintillation phenomenon.)

Again, it is important to buy your Starlight gear from a reputable dealer. The market is crowded with rip-off artists and scammers. (A Russian importer who shall remain nameless once offered to supply a U.S. dealer with forged data sheets “at no extra charge” with each starlight scope purchased wholesale. Caveat emptor! As previously mentioned, in addition to Ready Made Resources, another dealer that I trust is Al Glanze (spoken “Glan-zee”) who runs STANO Components in Silver City, Nevada. Contact: STANO Components, P.O. Box STANO, Silver City, Nevada 89428 FAX: 775-246-5211. Phone 775-246-5281/5283 or 1-888-STANO-FX (1-888-782-6639) Or e-mail: NV@night-vision.com

Letter Re: America’s Interstate Highway and Freeway System in Decline

Hello James,
Another indicator of America’s decline: our interstate highway system. [The following was in part excerpted from a Department of Transportation history web page. and from an article at The Tax Foundation web site.] The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1952 authorized the first funding specifically for construction of the interstate highway system, but it was only a token amount of $25 million a year for fiscal years (FY) 1954 and 1955. Legislation in 1954 authorized an additional $175 million annually for FY 1956 and 1957.
Under the leadership of President Eisenhower, the question of how to fund the Interstate System was resolved with enactment of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. It served as a catalyst for the System’s development and, ultimately, its completion. Title I of the 1956 Act increased the System’s proposed length to 41,000 miles. It also called for nationwide standards for design of the System, authorized an accelerated program, established a new method for apportioning funds among the States, changed the name to the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, and set the Federal Government’s share of project cost at 90 percent.
Title II of the Act – entitled the Highway Revenue Act of 1956 – created the Highway Trust Fund as a dedicated source for the Interstate System.
Revenue from the Federal gas and other motor-vehicle user taxes was credited to the Highway Trust Fund to pay the Federal share of Interstate and all other Federal-aid highway projects. In this way, the Act guaranteed construction of all segments on a “pay-as-you-go” basis, thus satisfying one of President Eisenhower’s primary requirements, namely that the program be self-financing without contributing to the Federal budget deficit.
However, it was inevitable that politicians (Republican and Democrat) would cast a greedy eye on the highway trust fund.
The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1968 included the first recorded specifically earmarked highway project, funded through the highway trust fund. The popularity of earmarking projects grew so much that President Ronald Reagan vetoed the 1987 transportation bill because of the largesse of its 152 demonstration projects.
The most recent highway bill, SAFETEA-LU, was passed by large majorities in Congress and signed by President Bush on August 10, 2005. SAFETEA-LU authorized $286.5 billion for transportation programs from fiscal years 2004-2009. The Bush administration insisted that the highway bill should be entirely funded with resources from the Highway Trust Fund. The 2005 transportation bill shattered all earmark records by containing 6,373 separate earmarks worth $24.2 billion.
What sort of spending programs are contained in those earmarks? In the 2005 highway bill, one earmark worth $6 million dollars went toward graffiti elimination in New York, another sent $2.95 million to Alaska for a film about state roads, and nearly $4 million was earmarked for the National Packard Museum in Warren, Ohio, and the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

And where are we today? If you travel the interstates, you know the state of disrepair they are in. What do the politicians propose? Why of course!!! Let’s continue to collect the highway use taxes, but in addition, let’s charge a toll for using these roads that the taxpayers paid to build!

Here is a wire service news story that ran on Sunday, December 17, 2006:
Indiana leased its 157 miles of interstate toll road for the next 75 years to a foreign consortium. In return, the state received $3.8 billion up front. That’s right, $3.8 billion.
Commuters in Minneapolis and San Diego are paying to drive in a fast lane, while others creep along nearby. The trip in the so-called Lexus can cost from $2 to $8, depending on traffic, and the charges can be paid with a credit card.
Wyoming has had some tentative public discussion about the benefits of making Interstate 80 an old-fashioned toll road. Travelers might pay $12 to $15 to drive the entire 400-mile section across southern Wyoming, or about 3 cents a mile, according to Wyoming state Sen. Michael Von Flatern.
Nebraska leaders haven’t started that kind of discussion, yet, but retiring state Sen. Tom Baker of Trenton thinks they ought to.
It would be interesting to put together a committee with people from Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, and Wyoming, said Baker, chairman of the Nebraska Legislature’s Transportation and Telecommunications Committee. I-80 tolls would generate some revenue, primarily from folks who are passing through, said Baker, who leaves office in January. – Dutch in Wyoming

Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"Remember that if the opportunities for great deeds should never come, the opportunities for good deeds are renewed day by day. The thing for us to long for is the goodness, not the glory." – F.W. Faber

Letter Re: MURS Alert Intrusion Detection System Product Review

Jim,
I received my MURS Alert intrusion detection system last week, and have given it a good preliminary test. So far, so good. I am very impressed with this unit. All I had to do was turn a couple of dials to tune it to the channel and sub-code that I wanted it on, and it was good to go. Although I did disable the red “walk test” light, because with it turned on, it looked like a one eyed beast at nighttime when it tripped. The only other thing I did and that I highly recommend is that you put a small desiccant [packet] inside the unit before you deploy it. What is really nice about this system is that [because it is wireless] you can easily move it around to suit your needs. During the day, I have it stations in the front of my house to warn me if someone approaches. And during the night, I have been pointing it at the door to my “safe room” (a reinforced outbuilding beside my home) and keeping the radio beside my bed. The range on the unit also seems to be very good. I live on the edge of a small town, and I drove into town a little over a mile. I then called my wife and had her walk in front of the unit. My radio responded clear as a bell…”ALERT ZONE ONE, ALERT ZONE ONE, ALERT ZONE ONE’ in a clear “five by five” signal level. The unit has not false alarmed one time, and has alarmed every time it should have. You can’t ask for more. As I noted in a previous post, it is very important to “terminate” the “beam” on an object within its range. This is needed to give the infrared detector a good reference. Problems start to occur with this type of detector when the beam is hitting nothing but air.
Then they may false alarm, or not go into alarm at all. I now intend to purchase three more of these detectors (as they can be set to report four different zones) and use them to secure a perimeter around my campsite the next time I go looking for Bigfoot up in the Pacific Northwest. – Actually, it is always nice to know if a bear is snooping around close by in the middle of the night.
Last night we had a big storm roll in off the Pacific coast. The rain came down sideways as the wind gusted to over 50 MPH. This is very hard for any passive infrared (PIR)-based detector (like the MURS Alert) to deal with. However, the system came through with flying colors. It did not false alarm one time. And to make sure it would still alert under these extreme conditions, I put on my rain coat and walked into the sensing area. When I came back inside, the wife told me that it had indeed tripped as it should have. Man, am I ever sold on these things! – Gung Ho

JWR Replies: Thanks for that review. As previously mentioned, the MURS Alert intrusion detection system uses frequencies that can be programmed into MURS band walkie talkies, (such as the slightly used surplus Kenwoods sold by MURS Radios–one of our advertisers.) A transceiver than you can carry on your belt tis a very handy way to keep informed of perimeter intrusions. Best of all, it can be used a long range walkie talkie and it can also be programmed to receive 2 Meter and Weather Radio (“WX”) frequencies. I’d classify that approach as a huge “win-win.”

Letter Re: Glock Grip Reductions and Replacement Frames

Dear Jim:
A very attractive option to make your Glock pistol point like a M1911 (and reduce the grip size) on your Glock is the CCF Race Frame.
This is an aluminum, titanium and stainless steel replacement for your Glock polymer frame that can keep the traditional Glock grip angle, or change it to 1911 angles and reduce the grip size. Plus they have tweaked the frame for many other ergonomic upgrades, plus an alloy frame gives a crisper trigger pull. (See the website.)
Alas, they aren’t out for the .45 caliber Glock, but they are “studying the G21 market.” We can only hope. 🙂
A major caveat is consistency. Don’t switch one Glock to 1911 angles, and leave your “other” carry gun unchanged, i.e., keep all the grip angles on all of your carry pistols the same A consistent grip angle for consistent muscle memory to point the pistol the same every time, is crucial.
E.g., If you carry a 9mm Glock 19, I would not convert your full-size 9mm until they have the compact Glock 19 compact frame out. They don’t plan to handle the tiny sub-compact models, such as the G26, G27, G30 or G36, so if that’s your main carry gun, you’re out of luck.
The big question for multiple Glock owners is – do you want to drop ~ $300 per Glock to convert?
The final caveat is that you have to buy these replacement frames from or through an FFL dealer, as the frame is treated just like a complete pistol. If you bought privately, you may not want to now endear yourself to the gun owner databases being (illegally) collected!
If you only own one or two Glocks, bought from an FFL – I’d go for it just as soon as it has been around long enough to demonstrate that it doesn’t reduce any of the legendary Glock reliability.
Would anyone be so kind as to get one, test it for 1,000 rounds, and be a guinea pig for the rest of us? 🙂 Regards, OSOM – “Out of Sight, Out of Mind”