Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

Thank you.

It's an interesting thing to look at but falls down on being an awkward shape to store and transport. Modern bows (recurves and compounds) come down in sections which make them very easy to store. Longbows like mine are all of a piece, and obviously can't fold, my bow is 5ft 5 inches long, and there's no way to transport that discreetly.

I've actually used one of the folding longbows on the link below, guy at class bought one as it intruiged him. They're perfectly workable up to a certain point, but hard on the hand as the riser is square in the cross-section; the limbs fold down into the riser giving you an extremely tough but lightweight bow which doesn't take up much space at all. Robust enough to sling in a bag or a car.

http://www.goprimalnow.com/Compact_Folding_Survival_Bow_p/cfsb-1-50.htm

Archery has been around for many thousands of years, and had its plusses and minuses, but it's big fun to do.;)

moneyistooshorttomention

Karmacat wrote: »

I like the idea of reading both extremes of the news outlets - I do the same I think one important issue is that news is so much more prevalent now, so much more is reported (in some ways, anyway) - the news agencies pick stuff up on Twitter or whatever, and find out about stuff that way. ISIS posts to youtube! Says it all, really

But don't forget, in those "normal" times, of the 1960s- 1980s, there was Vietnam (America using Agent Orange and much else), Cambodia (millions of people dead), famine in Pakistan and Africa (millions dead), war in Chile, apartheid in South Africa, war in Zimbabwe, wars in the Middle East, we ourselves went to war against Argentina and Iceland, the IRA were at war with us, the Welsh Liberation Army was attacking English people in Wales ( a few, anyway, not on the same scale as the other things ).

Bad stuff is always happening, right along with the good stuff ...

Okays....well....they were, comparatively speaking. I was too young to take part in anything much in the 1960s - but I remember the older pupils in the school I was in and protests extended up to and within school gates. It was interesting times to go to school in sometimes:rotfl:.

So...yep...bad stuff is happening in any era and part of the difference is that overall here in Britain "Bad News" was something that happened to other people and not us (well....having said that...the 1980s was when I experienced some bouts of unemployment on the one hand coupled with the frustration of not having got my starter home yet and wondering if I ever would....). Come the early 1970s and things were still pretty Normal for most people in this country (ie I got the very first job I asked for on leaving school no problem at all....). Late 1970s and I remember problems must have started, as I was asking for my "promotion job" by then and sometimes not getting interviews even for it (so jobs had already started getting harder to get).

Karmacat

Aha! I understand what you're saying about "normal" - and if you got your first job at that time, we're practically the same age - I went to college in 1973, and it was still the 1960s in some ways, endless optimism, everything would always be wonderful etc etc etc ... by the time I left in 1976, life wasn't like that

I confess, I don't really identify with "normal" at all, and I was always way too much into globalism - I can feel five or six newspaper editorials clamouring to be let loose, on some really interesting topics, but I don't dare - I'd break the thread But yes, I take your main point, and I agree with it

Perplexed_Pineapple

I wonder whether in retrospect these times will stand out in history as times of unusual prosperity and freedom for the western world. It is easy to assume that a level of prosperity once reached will carry on but that is a false assumption as history tells us. The ancient Romans had a flourishing and rich civilisation based on slavery, which eventually fell into anarchy. We have a flourishing and rich civilisation based on industrialisation and cheap fossil fuels - there is no certainty that it will last. On that cheerful note I'm off to the lottie

jk0

Today I noticed a sign on the Waitrose chip & pin machine inviting me to touch my card to it for amounts under £20.

I recently got such a card, so had a go. Amazingly it worked. I guess I'll have to be even more careful not to lose that card now, or I could lose a tidy sum.

jk0

Interesting article by Karl Denninger here explaining why the banks let governments go on deficit spending:

http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=230008

moneyistooshorttomention

Perplexed_Pineapple wrote: »

I wonder whether in retrospect these times will stand out in history as times of unusual prosperity and freedom for the western world. It is easy to assume that a level of prosperity once reached will carry on but that is a false assumption as history tells us. The ancient Romans had a flourishing and rich civilisation based on slavery, which eventually fell into anarchy. We have a flourishing and rich civilisation based on industrialisation and cheap fossil fuels - there is no certainty that it will last. On that cheerful note I'm off to the lottie

True, ie that every single empire ever has apparently first risen....and then fallen. The Roman one included.

But they did have a few hundred years of their "Normal" until it all went down courtesy of barbarians at the gate etc.

Does this count as thinking positive for the day? I need some thinking positive - this General Election campaign is, how shall I put it, being experienced rather "differently" now I've moved elsewhere in Britain (ie England to Wales). Here I'm obviously going to have to start each General Election lead-up by making up a list of ones to "vote against" before I can start thinking who to actually "vote for". I've got to 4 to vote against so far....:(

Frugalsod

Perplexed_Pineapple wrote: »

I wonder whether in retrospect these times will stand out in history as times of unusual prosperity and freedom for the western world. It is easy to assume that a level of prosperity once reached will carry on but that is a false assumption as history tells us. The ancient Romans had a flourishing and rich civilisation based on slavery, which eventually fell into anarchy. We have a flourishing and rich civilisation based on industrialisation and cheap fossil fuels - there is no certainty that it will last. On that cheerful note I'm off to the lottie

I suspect that in a hundred years or so that this period will be one of the great wealth transfer from everyone to the super rich. Living standards are stagnant and for many are not even keeping pace.

Here is someone that I think has a good idea of what is wrong but I feel he misses the real turning point. He thinks it is the ending of the link to gold but I think that it is the ending of bank regulation starting in the 1980s under Thatcher and Reagan that are the real triggers. That was when lending really started to take off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DieONheFQ3U

Though I do agree with him that we are facing a multi decade stagnation, unless we change policy significantly but until we have another crisis I do not see that happening.

Frugalsod

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

True, ie that every single empire ever has apparently first risen....and then fallen. The Roman one included.

But they did have a few hundred years of their "Normal" until it all went down courtesy of barbarians at the gate etc.

Does this count as thinking positive for the day? I need some thinking positive - this General Election campaign is, how shall I put it, being experienced rather "differently" now I've moved elsewhere in Britain (ie England to Wales). Here I'm obviously going to have to start each General Election lead-up by making up a list of ones to "vote against" before I can start thinking who to actually "vote for". I've got to 4 to vote against so far....:(

Depends if you are a barbarian?

As for who to vote for or against I am having the same dilemma. I really do not think any of the mainstream parties are worth supporting, and they are all as bad as each other. UKIP while I do think are a change I suspect that they are merely more bigoted Tories at heart. The targeting of immigrants as the source of our problems completely misses the real causes of the social unrest - bankers.

moneyistooshorttomention

...and does anyone have any thoughts on the recently-enacted thing whereby some people 55 plus age group can get at their pension lump sums now.

- Do you think many will?
- What do you think they will spend it on if they do (between subsidising generations above or beneath them OR buying some extra "bricks and mortar" OR they've already been subsidising other generations or been borrowing heavily just to "stay put" in position).

Thoughts?