Staggering Numbers

[Ninurta]

@"Bally002" -

I know nothing of the Australian government other than what I hear here, so thanks for the education.

Australia sounds like it operates the way the US was supposed to - weak Federal government that oversees primarily foreign affairs and disputes between states, and strong states which are pretty much autonomous in everything else.

I think part of the problem in understanding, particularly for Americans, is that our Federal government has been slowly encroaching on state responsibilities for well over 100 years now, to the point that "the government" has become synonymous for all practical purposes with "Federal government". People tend to see everything else through the lens of their own experience. That is ours, and so we color what we see coming out of Australia with that experience, which appears to not really apply for there, leading to confusion and misunderstanding of the situation.

I have heard other Australians, mostly truckers, complaining about having to comply with new covid restrictions every time they cross a border, what we here would call a "state line", and your explanation of Australian civics sheds light on that for us when we hear such things.

So really what we are seeing, it seems, is reaction to particular restrictions in a single place or state, and then we are applying that nationwide in our own minds, erroneously. If I have been guilty of that, then I apologize, and resolve to do better in the future.

I understand what you are saying about folks bullshitting and claiming a medical exemption they are not entitled to regarding the masks, and then not having to produce any evidence that they are entitled to an exemption. The same situation applied here in Virginia, where the governor issued a mask mandate, but in the executive order made allowance for medical exemptions and specified that (due to HIPPA rules) no one could be forced to produce medical documentation that they were entitled to one. That led to a lot of folks doing just as you described.

Grace could produce such documentation if required to do so (which isn't allowed) because she has been diagnosed with COPD. I have not, mostly because I avoid doctors like they were Mengele himself, but I can say that 10 yards of hill climbing with a mere load of groceries leaves me practically flopping like a fish on dry land, gasping for air, even without a mask, and that a  mask further impedes my air intake, Whether I have COPD or not, they leave me unable to breathe after just a few minutes in one.

I have a military gas mask that I can breathe better in than one of those cloth monstrosities, because it has intake valves at the filters to allow free air flow... but, because it has those valves, it is not approved for covid protection. Let that sink in - a military gas mask, designed to protect from all manner of biological and chemical nasties, is not up to snuff for covid restrictions - but a cloth bandanna is. There is something wrong there.

So I go without a mask in most situations, and if I do have to put one on, it will only be for a short period of time, because I've gotten attached to breathing over the years. With that said, I also minimize getting onto situations where one might be required, to avoid such unpleasantness. I've never had to claim a medical exemption due to that avoidance behavior. I just don't go where one might be required, and I don't miss going.

But in the matter of the perceptions of what is going on in Australia by outsiders, I think it's down to interpreting reports coming out of there through the lens of folks' own experience of government in their own home turf. Clarifying the way things work there goes a long way in dispelling such misconceptions, and I thank you for it.

.

[Ninurta]

I find myself agreeing with you quite often Ninurta, mostly we see eye to eye (it's uncanny sometimes). Now, I may be a stump jumping Michigander, a refugee from Detroit, but there is a place in my heart for the Appalachians, the Smoky Mountains esp. and as the song goes, "Country boy can survive" applies to both Yanks and Rebs.

Based on the amount of 30 round semi and full auto-reports I hear more frequently within a few miles, and the local's knowledge of trapping and hunting, I suspect the state and fed boys might think twice in some areas around here.

Even though some may find your resolve to be BS, you ain't telling tales. I would sure think of you as one of the good folks and if I lived by you, a good neighbor like the clan south on my road, all church going people. I feel certain if my neighbors had a meeting, we'd come up with some plans and take care of things with the necessary manpower and heavy equipment.

I've got respect for you "stump-jumping Michiganders". I went to high school many years ago with a red-headed import to these hills from Detroit, and while all my ancestral roots are here, I was personally actually an import from Cleveland, OH, at the time. I'm a "naturalized hillbilly".

There is no doubt that some do find my resolve to be BS. I have been told as much by some of them, but that's part of my charm, I reckon. They won't know the facts of the matter unless and until they try me, until they test that resolve, and by then it'll be too late for one of us.

I do that on purpose, just like I have taken playing the "dumbassed hillbilly" to a high level of art. It fosters an impression in folks' minds, and generally causes them to underestimate me.

I like surprising people. Who doesn't like surprises?

Keep 'em guessing.

.

[BIAD]

I find myself agreeing with you quite often Ninurta, mostly we see eye to eye...

I've got respect for you "stump-jumping Michiganders"...

I see a nail-filled blunderbuss being discussed here in the future and how to anchor it to a gate-post for better positioning
for aim. And maybe a bullet-ridden sign suggesting City-Folk should just drive on, will be chatted about too.

[Ninurta]

@"Bally002" 
No worse than my Country of Birth.

Chinese lockdown rule-breakers are publicly shamed and paraded through the streets carrying placards with their names on in bid to ensure Covid rules are obeyed

It is the Leaders not the average people.

I think that, culturally, Chinese people are more susceptible on average than Americans are to the social pressures of public shaming. Americans are, on average, lowbrow enough to think of something like that as "Oh lookee! We get to do a private protest march with our very own police protection!" where Chinese culture enforces more of a shaming result.

Put another way, Americans are just more shameless.

With the advent of social media and younger folks getting on board with it, however, that appears to be changing in America, with more and more of us becoming prone to public shaming and the associated "social credit scoring". It might take us another generation or to to get there... or this may be the One.

.

[Ninurta]

I find myself agreeing with you quite often Ninurta, mostly we see eye to eye...

I've got respect for you "stump-jumping Michiganders"...

I see a nail-filled blunderbuss being discussed here in the future and how to anchor it to a gate-post for better positioning
for aim. And maybe a bullet-ridden sign suggesting City-Folk should just drive on, will be chatted about too.

Blunderbusses are so low tech, and expensive for a one-time set trap. Once it goes off, any survivors know exactly where it is, and they can then confiscate your expensive equipment! Plus, there is no craftsmanship, no "art" art to it using off the shelf stuff like that!

I leaned years ago how to set "Malay whips", or, alternatively, home made bows and arrows to fire up a trail, and how 3/4 iron pipe nearly perfectly fits a 12 gauge shotgun shell - all makeable at home, expendable, and inexpensive! Who cares if they confiscate your blown up 6 inch pipe nipple after it's already blown up?

But the nail filling is a great idea - I used to use "flechettes", which are really just finishing nails with fins stamped on the end where a nail would have a nail head... and you can pack quite a few of them inside a 3/4 pipe nipple on top of a powder charge.

And for folks that prefer to go big, a "fougasse" is just a 6 or 8 inch water pipe buried in a hillside with a special surprise inside, just like a box of Cracker Jacks!

Who doesn't love surprises?

.

[BIAD]

I find myself agreeing with you quite often Ninurta, mostly we see eye to eye...

I've got respect for you "stump-jumping Michiganders"...

I see a nail-filled blunderbuss being discussed here in the future and how to anchor it to a gate-post for better positioning
for aim. And maybe a bullet-ridden sign suggesting City-Folk should just drive on, will be chatted about too.

Blunderbusses are so low tech, and expensive for a one-time set trap. Once it goes off, any survivors know exactly where it is, and they can then confiscate your expensive equipment! Plus, there is no craftsmanship, no "art" art to it using off the shelf stuff like that!

I leaned years ago how to set "Malay whips", or, alternatively, home made bows and arrows to fire up a trail, and how 3/4 iron pipe nearly perfectly fits a 12 gauge shotgun shell - all makeable at home, expendable, and inexpensive! Who cares if they confiscate your blown up 6 inch pipe nipple after it's already blown up?

But the nail filling is a great idea - I used to use "flechettes", which are really just finishing nails with fins stamped on the end where a nail would have a nail head... and you can pack quite a few of them inside a 3/4 pipe nipple on top of a powder charge.

And for folks that prefer to go big, a "fougasse" is just a 6 or 8 inch water pipe buried in a hillside with a special surprise inside, just like a box of Cracker Jacks!

Who doesn't love surprises?

You scare me at times.

[Ninurta]

You scare me at times.

 

Nah, I'm mostly harmless. Just knowing how to do something and having a wee bit of practice at it is not the same thing as doing it now. If there is no need for it's use, it just stays dormant, locked in my head where it can do no harm!

I mean, Oppenheimer knew how to make nuclear bombs, but he didn't go 'round blowing stuff up with them all the time!

.

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

To BIAD: Nothing wrong with creativity and resourcefulness. Many animal snares and traps can be modified for larger prey and once you explore trapping, you catch on to the concepts and can expand on them with stuff around the house like Ninurta using plumbing with a surprise.

Knowing basic chemistry, particularly pyrotechnics,  is handy as well. It's just having a well rounded education and being a Jack of all trades basically. Know what you have on hand (or know where to find it) and how it can be used for "stuff".

[F2d5thCav]

Meanwhile,

https://twitter.com/Tim_Roehn/status/147...4402349066

What the guy writes here is that a respected health institute in Germany [RKI], states, of 4,206 cases of the Omicron variant,

fully 4,020 of the cases were people already vaccinated, and, of those, 1,137 had received "booster" shots.

Only 4.4% of the 4,206 were unvaccinated.



Cheers

[Kenzo]

[/url]Greg Reese video

[url=https://banned.video/channel/greg-reese]

IRREFUTABLE EVIDENCE: The COVID-19 Vaccines Are Killing People!


They are like shooting the children, says the doctor