The Parable of Milwaukee Burger, by Christopher T. Shields

The following Parable had to be stolen and reposted here.... It is exactly what I do not like about post-AMF Harley-Davidson and the yuppies and greed that helped corrupt a great American Tradition. It can be found following this link....

http://www.goingfaster.com/angst/milwaukeeburger.htm 

Of course this post has deeply offended yuppies across the land, so much so that he has written more on the subject, in fact it has taken a life of it's own. be sure to read more of his writtings and F.A.Q.s here.... 

http://www.goingfaster.com/angst/main.htm 

So without further delay here you go...........

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What if Harley Davidson sold burgers instead of motorcycles? Harley Davidson has become like a greasy, family owned fast food joint that tries to offer fancy four star large franchise restaurant service at four star large franchise restaurant prices without ever upgrading the beat up old shanty that they use to make and serve burgers in. Let's call this make believe burger joint "Milwaukee Burger".


Milwaukee Burger has been around since the early part of the 20th century. It is an American icon, their menus are slathered in American flags as is their establishment. It originally started out with two friends making hamburgers in their garage. The garage didn't burn down, so they somehow figured that indicated that they had the right stuff to make burgers. Milwaukee Burger was one of the first burger restaurants around and outlived all of their domestic competition.


There is no dress code for Milwaukee Burger and MB does not care who eats at their establishment, as long as you bring money with you, and lots of it. They don't care if you eat there once or every single day, just get your money out and order from the menu. They'll even mail you a menu if you want. You can dress in jeans and sneakers and a T-shirt to eat there, they're open 24/7.


Expect to pay upwards of $30 a person for a meal there and that's just for starters. Extras like fries, a drink, and condiments will all have to be produced exclusively by this fast food chain, and you'll have to buy them for super inflated prices. It's like paying $10.00 for a tired old no excitement single little burger no bigger than the size of a biscuit, adding in a $3.00 small order of fries and another $3.00 on top of that for a small drink (refills cost as much as the original drink did, even if you bring your empty cup back up to the counter because nothing is free at Milwaukee Burger!). Your condiments, all officially licensed and endorsed and enclosed in collector packets, will include Ketchup, Mustard, Salt, and Pepper at $1.00 a packet.


Although you could use condiments from outside the restaurant, that is frowned upon because these are genuine Milwaukee Burger condiments, and their nostalgic burgers are worth you putting only the best on them. Remember, price is the first indicator of quality, or so says the management at Milwaukee Burger.


Pickles, Onions, Tomato, Lettuce, and Cheese, are also available at $2 a slice, again subject to the above criteria. If your burger isn't dressed completely, with all the fancy fixings, then you obviously are too poor to eat there and you're just jealous of those who have the money to do so. Oh, and hope you're not really hungry, because you're probably going to have to wait in line for a long time as each burger is hand made using old food parts stored in food bins in the back, and Milwaukee Burger only makes a limited amount of burgers each day. There is a long waiting list to be seated at Milwaukee Burger, there's even a line outside.


They also sell T-shirts, jackets, drink mugs, etc. for the whole burger-eating experience and they expect you to dress in Milwaukee Burger (MB) jeans, MB boots, MB belt, MB leather vest, MB bandannas, MB shirts and T-shirts, MB hats, MB leather jackets, etc. and to pay for your meal using money from your MB wallet on a chain. You might can even get designer MB checks and a MB platinum VISA card! MB slathers their name on any product that will carry a profit. Shamelessly.


One enterprising employee there will break off from MB and start his own fast food franchise called Buell Pizza. He'll use some of the same ingredients as Milwaukee Burger, and will attract a few interested customers who are looking for something more than the tired old burger. This employee will later get in some financial trouble and MB will buy out controlling share in his company. Soon the patrons will be confused. They'll be able to get a Milwaukee Pizza and a Milwaukee Burger, often at the same Milwaukee Burger restaurant, but since Pizza isn't what Milwaukee Burger is known for, it will be a different experience and not entirely comfortable to long time patrons. If you buy a pizza from Milwaukee / Buell Pizza, you can sit with the patrons eating in Milwaukee Burger, but they'll sometimes look at you funny, and not really know what to make of you since you are eating something different than they are. Some of the condiments won't work on your MB Pizza either, they'll just look strange there on your pie so you're not going to be able to get the full and rich experience that is Milwaukee Burger if you decide to branch out and try a Milwaukee Pizza. But since Milwaukee Burger almost owns Milwaukee Pizza, everything is officially licensed and endorsed, and supported by Milwaukee Burger. Still, the traditional customers are confused...


Food at Milwaukee Burger will include such lovely names as the American Burger Ultra Deluxe Soft Wrap, the American Wide Patty Hard Box, and other such obscure names. Your manager will be named "Bones" and the persons in the rear grill area who actually work on your meal will have tattoos up to their shoulder blades, and go by names such as "Skeeter" and "Skinner". Every now and then, Milwaukee Burger management will introduce a new variation of the same tired old burger. It will have maybe the lettuce in a different place, or more Ketchup and less Mustard. They'll rearrange the name of the burger from American Burger Ultra Deluxe Soft Wrap to something like American Burger Deluxe Soft Ultra Wrap and you'll be lining up to fork your money down on it.


Hollywood will show famous actors with Milwaukee Burgers. Unbelievable stunt scenes will be filmed involving Milwaukee Burgers surviving unscathed while other brands of burgers are left in flaming pieces all around. The fact that the Milwaukee Burger had to be glued together one piece to another until it would break a window if you threw it at the glass is ignored. It's the action, it's the intensity, it's the dynamic nature of having a Milwaukee Burger! It's advertising, and everyone wants a Milwaukee Burger because Milwaukee Burgers are tough, you're a bad ass if you go to Milwaukee Burger and walk out with a American Burger Ultra Deluxe Soft Wrap combo special. People will respect you. You must be strong to lift that heavy meal deal. And financially well off to eat there!


Recently Milwaukee Burger tried to copyright the sound of their burgers sizzling on the grill. Other companies were also producing burgers similar in design to Milwaukee Burger, but Milwaukee Burger wanted the sound of their burgers trademarked so that no other company could produce a burger that sizzled like Milwaukee Burger did. Milwaukee Burger claimed that it was the SIZZLE of the burger while it was on the grill that was so essential to the rich experience of enjoying a Milwaukee Burger and that sizzle was something that only Milwaukee Burger had invented and could hold full legal rights to. They wanted to be able to walk in to other burger joints and bring down the power of the law on anyone found to be producing burgers on a grill with a similar sizzling sound. Ultimately the high courts of the land laughed at Milwaukee Burger and dismissed the case.


Milwaukee may have even tried to copyright the design of the Milwaukee Burger, that is, the lower half of a bun on the bottom, a big piece of fatty meat in between, and the top half of the bun over that. Milwaukee Burger wants to be exclusive. They want to be the only maker of burgers in the land. You can have your pizzas, your tacos, your fajitas, and your fresh wraps. Who wants those? Americans, REAL red blooded Americans, want a Milwaukee Burger and Milwaukee Burger should be protected from copy cats and imitators, even though the competition makes a much better burger at half the price that is far more healthy and is served complete in a third of the time it takes for Milwaukee Burger to get around to serving you.


Now imagine going to this make-believe restaurant, imagine your life revolving around not only eating a Milwaukee Burger, but bragging about it to other people who do not eat or enjoy Milwaukee Burgers. For you, going to Milwaukee Burger will be a rite of passage, something to set you apart from the rest of the crowd, and show that you are better than all the rest. You simply won't be able to understand why people don't see Milwaukee Burger for the beauty of the traditional American burger and the enjoyment of consuming such a magnificent piece of culinary delicacy.


You will live to consume Milwaukee Burger.


Your life will revolve around it.


It will be the only perfect burger in the world.


All the other will be imitators.


Because it takes you forty minutes to get a burger, fries, and drink at Milwaukee Burger, you will laugh at others who claim that they got their burger at another burger joint, ate it, and were back at the office in half the time it took you to get your Milwaukee Burger. You laugh because you didn't choose to go to Milwaukee Burger for quick, convenient, inexpensive service. You chose to eat there because of the joy of the experience of having a Milwaukee Burger. Besides, the Milwaukee Burger is the greatest burger in the world, says so right there on the menu in big bold letters. And above the register. And on the door to the bathroom. And on the stall in the bathroom. And on each sheet of toilet paper that you use. And above the sink where you wash your hands with genuine Milwaukee Burger brand officially licensed and endorsed soap and each paper towel that you use to dry your hands.


Imagine having MB collectibles all over your desk at work, in your home, and MB stickers on your vehicles.


Imagine getting together in large groups for huge Milwaukee Burger cook outs in some far away location.


Imagine people who actually buy Milwaukee Burgers and then put them away in storage because they think they will be a good investment at a later date.


Imagine people paying brand new prices for Milwaukee Burgers that are ten or twenty years old.


Imagine the aftermarket for officially licensed and endorsed products; you'll be able to buy a Milwaukee Burger license plate and window decals in any gas station in the land. Even if you don't ever go to Milwaukee Burger. It's free advertising for them and maybe people will think that you really do eat at Milwaukee Burger.


Imagine people owning a Milwaukee Burger T-shirt, or having the Milwaukee Burger car tag and window stickers in their vehicles yet never actually going to Milwaukee Burger. 


Imagine these people, never having consumed a Milwaukee Burger, acting like experts on burgers and telling other people that if "they ain't eating at Milwaukee Burger, they ain't eating shit!"


Imagine that the Franklin Mint will hand craft several copies of the famous Milwaukee Burger, each detail lovingly duplicated, and each hand crafted reproduction available for four easy monthly payments of just $49.95.


Imagine Mattel coming out with a whole series of Milwaukee Burger based line of Barbie and Ken dolls, complete with all the officially licensed and endorsed MB apparel from the shoes, to the jeans, to the T-shirt, the jacket. The actual Milwaukee Burger itself will be sold separately, and will cost about 30% more than any of the dolls. According to toddlers under the age of five who somehow manage to get the Barbie Milwaukee Burger into their mouth, the plastic imitation burger will have the same taste as the real Milwaukee Burger.


Imagine that Ford will even offer a Milwaukee Burger edition of their F150 truck. Perfect for going to Milwaukee Burger in.


Imagine a thirty year old Milwaukee Burger going for twice the price of what a new Milwaukee Burger will cost you.


Imagine looking down on anyone who goes to McDonald's or Wendy's or Burger King and pays $5.00 for a much better, larger burger that is part of a complete meal deal and all the fancy fixings and the condiments are free for the asking.
Imagine telling another person who is eating and enjoying their burger from another franchise that they aren't eating a REAL burger, and that they don't know what a REAL burger is!


Imagine looking down on and sneering at anyone who patronizes another 'un-American' burger institution, and who doesn't cover themselves so richly in the grand regalia that helps to support their choice in eating establishments. You'll laugh at someone wearing a McDonald's shirt, or a Wendy's shirt, while you are dressed head to toe in Milwaukee Burger officially licensed and endorsed action apparel.


Imagine having saved up a long time so you can eat at Milwaukee Burger and then getting your very first Milwaukee Burger, and it being ice cold in the wrap, or missing some of the extras you ordered or it's leaking Ketchup on your leg out of a hole in the wrapper. 


Imagine you having to wait back in line, and then paying someone in the grill to fix your Milwaukee Burger.


Imagine that Milwaukee Burger just introduced the double patty combination burger. Something that every other burger joint has had for decades. And it still doesn't compare to the double patty burgers at other fast food joints, but Milwaukee Burger claims it is superior.


Imagine that Milwaukee Burger jointly develops a faster burger by working with McDonald's. This new burger is called the V-Burger. It's still expensive as a regular Milwaukee Burger, but you get it in one third quicker time for service. Traditional Milwaukee Burger patrons aren't sure of this quicker burger, they think it might be an attempt to copy the 'drive through' window type service that other burger joints have had for years.  A Milwaukee Burger that is stronger than the other traditional Milwaukee Burgers and yet is quicker off the grill? It doesn't even have the same proud sizzle! The patrons are confused! Milwaukee Burger could never have designed this burger without the help of McDonald's. They don't play that part of the package up very much, though.


Imagine what a crock of shit that Milwaukee Burger really is and what level of retardation it would take to eat exclusively at Milwaukee Burger or sing its praises. That is what Harley Davidson has become, in a nut shell. Harley Davidson is Milwaukee Burger.


-Thanks to Doug Coffey for the following submission to the MB Parable! Outlaw Burger Gangs! Bwahahahha!-


How about the lawless gangs of burger eaters that only eat at Milwaukee Burger. Of course they only eat the burgers after taking the top of the bun off and they claim the burger is just raw material for building a truly outlaw burger.


They buy condiments from aftermarket burger companies that only make condiments for Milwaukee burgers. Hotter ketchup, crisper and louder lettuce etc.


These same gang members thumb their noses at Milwaukee Burger and some even sew their MB patch on upside down to show their disdain for the company that will not acknowledge their existence. Milwaukee Burger unofficially loves these defiant gangs but the official company policy is to claim no allegiance to the gangs or it's members.

No gang member is permitted to own an MB franchise but all are permitted to shop and eat there and to purchase the Burger Clothes (tm).

Milwaukee Burger will never take a public stance against the gangs because it knows the gangs drive up company profits. It seems many wannabe burger gang members will eat Milwaukee Burgers and buy the clothes and collectables just to be like their gang heroes.

When rival burger gangs have bloody clashes in public places, Milwaukee Burger sales go up.

-George Howell adds to the menu for Milwaukee Burger!-

Don't forget about when the Japanese restaurants in town made burgers that tasted better, caused fewer cardiac problems, were cooked perfectly each and every time, and cost less than Milwaukee Burgers. The response was for Milwaukee Burger to get a government tax on all burgers bigger than the kiddie burger that tripled the price of the burgers at all restaurants except Milwaukee Burger.

(In case you didn't get it, the 700cc+ tariff the federal gov't came up with in the mid 80s on foreign bikes. When the HD management bought out the company from AMF, they were so riddled with debt, customers were ignoring them, etc, etc. They lobbied the gov't to put in place the tariffs. For a time, big foreign bikes were ludicrously expensive.)

Got Glasses? A Few Thoughts on Vision Impairment During Close Combat.

I am one of those fellas that wears glasses... and despite the countless times that I have asked.. “You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses would you?” I have still been in my fair share of minor to moderate scrapes. I bring this up today because I was involved in a minor scrape Saturday night and in a very rare instance I did not loose my glasses in the process.

After everything was broke up and under control and the individual was escorted out of the building I started doing my usual self-check process. The first thing that I am always looking for are any wounds that I may have not felt. Second I start the search for my glasses or what is left of them. This time was different. BUT, this story is not about the tactical skills that I used to retain my glasses, because there were none. It was just plain dumb luck.

I learned the hard way 20+ years ago that when someone throws a handful of sand in your eyes, or your eye is swelled shut, contact lenses actually complicate matters, so I started wearing glasses again. Of course that has it's own issues and the real smart thing would be to go have laser eye surgery and be done with it. That way I would be able to shoot without glasses, wear cool sunglasses, and in a SHTF situation, not be concerned about looking for my glasses. Maybe next years tax return will get that done. But for now, what can I do to better my odds in a close combat situation when my glasses go AWOL?

Your vision just like the rest of your senses, feed your brain real-time intelligence that when combined with past experience determines your next move automatically, and if you are a split second faster than your opponent everything goes well. When you lose your corrective eye wear this intelligence gathering process is disrupted in a couple ways, and it creates first a temporary psychological blindness that is replaced with the actual reduction in vision.

The first thing to go is the speed that your brain receives the intel is reduced. This occurs because your range of focus has now changed drastically and your brain is sending signals back to your eyes telling them to focus better, creating a delay. Being out of focus is just like smokescreens on a battle field, you can deal with the inky slightly covered shapes, it's the shapes just slightly further into the smoke that you cannot process. When those shapes finally do come into vision, your brain does a quick “Where the heck did that come from” and then starts analyzing things like speed and direction and threat level.

The next thing you lose is speed of depth perception. I say speed simply because you don't loose the perception, it just takes more time to process the info. Unfortunately that may correlate to a miss when you really needed to make a hit. Think of it as a Sniper using a high tech range-finding technique during a dynamic situation. He may be able to engage 5 moving threats at 5 dramatically different distances in the time that it would take to hit 1 or 2 with Civil War range-finding technology.

Peripheral vision may be hampered next, however, if you wear glasses this will not be as big an issue, though you will be loosing your “rearview mirrors”. I typically loose mine anyway due to tunnel-vision, something I have never been able to control once the adrenaline starts pumping.

You take those items and combine them and unless you are well trained, you will reek havoc on your eye-hand coordination, and in a close combat situation, you may have an issue. Now that slow punch turns into a slow miss which if your opponent knows what they are doing can be used to great advantage against you. So is this just a handi-cap you have to deal with, or is there a way to lesson these effects.

There are certainly ways to lesson the effects. The first is improve your existing Eye-Hand coordination. In the topic of Close Combat, the Speed Bag is a great choice and if you have access to one, please use it! In an article titled; How to Improve Hand Eye Coordination- Learn Key Exercises for Developing Hand Eye Coordination and Improve Your Athletic Performance, by Robert Rousseau of bodyomics.com ,several methods are mentioned. Please do yourself a favor and look that up.

Once you choose a few methods to improve your eye-hand coordination, take off your glasses and do it some more. If you can enlist a few friends to help your work out, have them toss a small fist size nerf ball at you while you are on the speed bag or punching bag, the rule being you have to hit it with your hand or block with your forearm before it hits you. Start easy with one that is bright colored and then increase the difficulty by going with a gray or drab colored ball, you want to train your brain to react to movement and speed more so than a specific color or shape.

At the Range, bring that target into realistic combat distances and take those glasses off (put some safety glasses on of course) and practice trying to focus on the front sight and shooting the center-mass of the blur. Of course, working on point shooting techniques is a good idea as well.

At the gym, work on hand strength and develop grappling skills. As soon as you have added constant contact to your threat, your brain starts receiving input from another set of senses and the reduction in your vision becomes less of a factor. Learn effective submission and choke holds.

The whole point of the matter is simple, try to duplicate the condition in training, the more often you do, the less of a shock to the brain you will have when you do lose your glasses during self-defense. While I am not a professional scrapper, I hope I given you some food for thought and an appetite to research to learn more about defending oneself while in a compromised situation.

Dan H

Do You Have An Inner Ninja???

FREE Download !!!!

The free #EFAD download period will extend all the way through Monday, until midnight PST. Please keep the ball rolling, one click, link and reply at a time.

Please follow this link and read the plan...

http://www.enemiesforeignanddomestic.com/EFADcomm.htm

Then go to amazon to get your FREE Download(s) of EFAD. If you do not have a Kindle, don't sweat it, there are several FREE Kindle Apps for most if not all electronic devices!!!!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004JF4L98

So here's the plan: on Thursday, March 1, we will engineer a stratospheric spike in the number of free Kindle downloads of Enemies Foreign And Domestic, and continue this operation for up to five days, the max allowable under the terms of the free download program. Then we will sit back and watch the bewildered and alarmed MSM explore this sudden and frightening phenomenon erupting among the unwashed gun nuts and wild-eyed Constitution fanatics. You know, us. Real Americans, out here in fly-over country.
And when they predictably condemn EFAD for its fictional assassinations of government officials, and the rest of the story that they will pretend to find so abhorrent, we will shine their own spotlight right back on them, and yell Fast And Furious in their faces!

To see the rest of the plan that begins on Monday March 5^th, please go back to.........
http://www.enemiesforeignanddomestic.com/EFADcomm.htm

Knuckin Futty Enterprises: We Have a Mission!!!!! Let's Make This Happen!!!

Knuckin Futty Enterprises: We Have a Mission!!!!! Let's Make This Happen!!!

We Have a Mission!!!!! Let's Make This Happen!!!

Bracken Sends

Just over the transom:

Dear Enemies Trilogy readers,

In a minute I’m sending out my first message about Operation Enemies Foreign And Domestic.

Please take a few minutes to read it, and if you want to join the op, let’s roll.

Matt Bracken
Jax, FL

UPDATE 0859 EST 23 FEB 2012:

Operation “Enemies Foreign And Domestic”

First Communiqué: D-Day Minus Seven

Want to join a beat-up old ex-Navy SEAL, ocean sailor and book writer on a real-world covert cyber operation? I knew you did. So here’s the deal.

The idea is a national clandestine psyop, using my first novel as a vehicle. On next Thursday, March 1, Enemies Foreign And Domestic will be put into Amazon Kindle’s free library, for a period of up to five days.

Where EFAD’s free download promotion will be different from those of the thousands of fantasy/romance/vampire novels currently offered on Kindle, is that I’m simultaneously coordinating a mass plan to ensure that Operation EFAD goes hyper-viral on all constitutionally-oriented, freedom-loving, and Second Amendment websites and blogs at the same time.

Or on at least on as many as I can reach, and that is where you come in. There are literally hundreds of patriotic websites and blogs, and I can only reach a few. You can reach them all, every last one. And then some. More about this in the next communiqué on D Minus Six.

Despite its many limitations, Twitter will be useful for rapid tactical coordination. Operation Enemies Foreign And Domestic will be code-named #EFAD, in order to use Twitter as an always-open back channel for project updates and participant feedback. By typing #EFAD into the Twitter search field, you will find every new message related to the operation. I am @MattBracken48 on Twitter, I am Matt Bracken on Facebook, and I can be reached by email at steelcutter48 at gmail.com.

My goal is to make the spike in the number of free Kindle downloads for Enemies Foreign And Domestic so dramatic, that the national media will notice the passionate interest in this “dangerous and seditious” novel among the bitter clingers. But this is just the first step of a jiu-jitsu move. The light thrown on EFAD’s sudden nationwide surge in popularity will then be mirrored back onto the federal government’s most egregious usurpations and abuses, and on the mainstream media itself.

The idea is to force open a long overdue national conversation that the elite MSM very much wants to ignore. In large strokes, it is about our federal government morphing into a socialist tyranny before our eyes, a tyranny that is no longer soft, but getting harder with every passing month. Which is it to be: freedom, or tyranny?

The first step in forcing open this dialogue will be to explore the mainstream media’s active collusion in the cover-up of a scandal that is demonstrably orders of magnitude worse than the worst previous scandals, such as Watergate, which was “a third-rate burglary” where nobody was killed. To date, the DOJ’s Operation Fast And Furious has resulted in hundreds of murdered Mexicans and at least two dead U.S. federal agents. But instead of providing real news coverage, the MSM feeds America the pabulum of celebrity worship and an artificially-contrived debate about artificial birth control.

Imagine for a moment if President Nixon’s men, when called before the congressional committees invistigating the Watergate scandal, had provided nothing but thousands of pages of fully blacked-out paper. In effect, a giant, bored, “F—k you, what are you going to do about it?” to congress. Then imagine if the Washington Post, the New York Times and the television networks never mentioned Watergate or the hearings, except rarely, and then only to call the congressional investigators partisan hacks who were bent on destroying our beloved President Nixon.

Reverse the party polarity, jump forward through the time warp, and you have the current reality, where gangsters rule the federal government from the White House, the Fast And Furious congressional investigators are impotent buffoons, and the MSM is fully in on the cover-up. Nobody died at the Watergate, but recall what the hysterical 24-7 news coverage of the Watergate scandal and hearings accomplished: the end of a presidency, pronto. And an Attorney General in prison.

In the modern case of Operation Fast And Furious, hundreds of Mexicans were murdered as the result of a diabolically evil plot laid with the sole purpose of discrediting the Second Amendment, by deliberately funneling semi-automatic rifles to known drug cartel killers and assassins. Their goal was to bury our Right to Keep and Bear Arms beneath a mountain of Mexican corpses.

Folks, it doesn’t get much more evil than that.

And we know why these socialist dictators-in-waiting want us disarmed.

In 2012, the fictional premise of Enemies Foreign And Domestic, that a small clique of senior BATFE officials might conspire to arrange a mass shooting into a packed football stadium (also with the intention of discrediting our Right to Keep and Bear Arms), suddenly seems much less far-fetched.

So here’s the plan: on Thursday, March 1, we will engineer a stratospheric spike in the number of free Kindle downloads of Enemies Foreign And Domestic, and continue this operation for up to five days, the max allowable under the terms of the free download program. We will watch the MSM explore this sudden and frightening phenomenon erupting among the unwashed gun nuts and wild-eyed Constitution fanatics. When they predictably condemn EFAD for its fictional assassinations of government officials, and the rest of the story that they will pretend to find so abhorrent, we will shine their own spotlight right back on them, and yell Fast And Furious in their faces!

“Really? Enemies Foreign And Domestic is a terrorist manual? Well, I’ll see your fictional stadium massacre, and raise you a real-world conspiracy to murder hundreds of Mexicans. If you would ever cover the story, instead of covering it up!”

And this can all happen by getting a million or so gun owners and other freedom lovers to download EFAD, totally for free, beginning on March 1st. This will be a coordinated “time-on-target” fire mission. Further communiqués will be forthcoming from EFAD HQ. Search keyword #EFAD on Twitter for other operational updates, including links.

If you email me (steelcutter48 at gmail.com), please include #EFAD somewhere in the subject line, so that I will know that you have been briefed to this point and are up to speed. And keep in mind that while you are all my patriotic friends and loyal readers, at various time I may know you by a screen name, a real name, a website name, or an email address name. It gets mighty confusing, so forgive me if I can’t keep all of your various handles straight.

Matt Bracken—Out.

Fuel. fuel everywhere but not a drop to drink........well maybe :)

Fire..... the #1 thing that took us out of the stone age and a prime necessity for survival today.

I have always been a fan of redundant options. Always on a bare bones budget, I have often felt that adding options is better than putting all your eggs in one basket. At first this may not make sense, but bare with me, at a minimum you may walk away with something to think about. In this post I'm focusing on fuel for cooking, heating, and lighting in down times.

With that in mind and depending on where you are, you have Natural Gas, Propane, Fuel Oil, Kerosene, Gasoline, Diesel, Alcohol, and Wood. All of those fuels can cook food, light a room, heat a room, etc. Some do it much better than others, but in a grid down situation you need to consider them all and probably have a few redundant options. I obviously will use natural gas to cook with and heat my home as long as it is available. It's clean, extremely easy, and reasonably priced compared to other fuels. But with a disruption in service, now what?

Kerosene-

Prior to my move, I was in the process of putting together a collection of Kerosene powered items, and stock piling some Kerosene. During my move I got a bit side tracked and I stopped prepping almost altogether because I had more important things to tend to. Well, I'm starting to get caught up and things where I want them, so I'm slowly getting back into the prepper mode. Kerosene was always my A#1 choice for a back up fuel.

Why Kerosene? Well first and foremost, if stored properly, it lasts forever. A very Close second would be the ability of most kerosene appliances to burn things other than K1. Third, it has some decent btu's.

As most of you know, K1 Kerosene is essentially a more refined diesel fuel. It is also a less refined version of Jet A Fuel. Between K1 and Diesel, you have Home Heating Oil, or as we call it around here, Fuel Oil. In a pinch, a Kerosene appliance will run on any of those fuels. If you have to resort to diesel fuel, add some alcohol to the mix in order to get a cleaner burn, especially if you are using it in something that uses a wick. Low odor mineral spirits also works well as a substitute and may even be cheaper when bought in bulk. You could also use Bio Fuel to run them if you wanted to go through the effort.

Back in the spring of 2008 or 9, I stumbled on to a Kerosene Heater on sale at my local Menards. They were getting ready for the spring season and had it marked down to $80. The box said 24,000btu's and that it would heat a 900sq ft area, perfect, that was the size of my house. So I bought it and two blue 5 gallon fuel cans. Went to the only station that I know of that has K1 in the area... and had a heart attack and filled only one can. Had to wait until my next pay check to fill the other LOL!

Right then, I knew this wouldn't be a cheap alternative to wood heat or even Natural Gas, BUT I was interested in seeing how it would perform in an emergency. So several months later, in the dead of winter I dragged out the heater and tested it out. Much to may amazement, it functioned 100% as advertised. It kept the house a comfy 65 degrees (3degrees warmer than I normally keep it) and the fuel (just under 2 gallons) lasted for 12 hours. I did this several times just to make sure the performance was repeatable. A side bonus to the use of the heater was a fair amount of light that it creates.

Another Kerosene appliance that is good to have would be a Kerosene Stove. Kerosene stoves have been around forever and if you dine in the finest of third world country restaurants you have a good chance of eating food cooked on them. These are simple wick based stoves, the more wicks the more btu's. They are built to handle the weight of a water bath canner without issues, and well insulated ovens are available the fit right on top for baking. They burn approx 1 pint of fuel per hour.

Kerosene lighting is also easily accomplished. From simple and inexpensive wick lanterns and lamps, to more expensive pressurized lanterns that put out tons of candlepower.

Propane-

I used to despise propane. I never cared for propane camping accessories and I still feel it has a lot of draw backs, primarily availability in a SHTF situation. BUT, it has some good things to consider. Clean and easy are the first things that come to mind, and during good times it's readily available. I currently have (6) 20lb tanks, all except one were acquired by garbage picking and then exchanging them for a nice clean and full tank. I also have (4)100lb tanks that are full waiting for a rainy day. Thankfully, propane also has a shelf life of approximately forever + 1 day.

Do to my days of camping at Appleseeds, I picked up a couple of propane stoves. The first simply screwed on the top of a bottle. Not my favorite at all, but it cooked a lot of breakfast and made a lot of coffee in it's day. I then upgraded to a 2 burner Coleman camp stove which is a lot nicer to use. I also have a high output propane burner that came with my turkey fryer. The stand for that is obviously stout enough for a large pot full of oil and a turkey, so handling a waterbath or pressure canner is no issue.

When it comes to heat, propane is very easy to deal with. There are many types of heaters available with btu ranges from heating a small tent to a small house with everything in between. These heaters can be quite small and portable as well.

For lighting, you can go the camping lantern route, though you will go through a fair amount of propane and they are a bit noisy.

Alcohol-

Alcohol stoves can be a real pain in the.... But they are out there and if you look in the marine world, you can find some quality stoves that will handle all your needs, but they can be pricey. What I do like about Alcohol stoves and heaters is the renewable resource of alcohol.

While distilled alcohol would best be suited for your internal combustion needs or liver therapy first, it is a viable back up source of cooking and heat if you are going through the trouble of running a still in the first place.

Wood-

Wood is great and if your lucky free. It does add to the chore list and is a bit dirtier than the above examples, but when it comes to heating a house, it's hard to beat wood. If you choose (or build) your wood stove wisely, it will have a nice flat top so that you can cook as well. But wood does have draw backs.

The most obvious is that it is labor intensive. This is fine if your fit enough to get it done, but cutting, hauling, and splitting wood is a work out. I know this because the last 4 years we lived in the old house, we heated almost exclusively with wood, with a non-electric back up gas heater only used for back up. Depending on the quality of the wood, your labor can drastically increase. Soft woods burn up quick and creates a lot of ash. Pine or spruce will have you cleaning the chimney 10X as often.

Another draw back with wood is cooking with it in the summer because you will really heat the house up. Then you have the smoke, personally I like the smell of wood smoke, but in a post SHTF situation it may be a “dinner bell” for those who didn't bother to prepare for themselves.

Conclusion-

I hope that left you with some food for thought. I have redundant options for emergency cooking and heating so that all the bases are covered. I'm using Kerosene, Propane, and Wood as my back up sources and will use them as the situation dictates. If I was locked onto 1 fuel source, that would limit my options on resupply sources, so I would have to stock pile that much more. The following is a list of links for further information on the subject.....

Links-

http://www.defender.com/stoves.html#Alcohol Stoves

http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_heaters.html

http://www.solarseller.com/emergency_and_disaster_preparedness_resources.htm#cooking

http://www.milesstair.com/

http://www.milesstair.com/kero_fuel_primer.html

http://www.stpaulmercantile.com/index.php?ref=Miles&action=store&page=KeroseneStovesAndOven

Vintage Motorcycle Drag Bike Nationals to be held at Eddyville Raceway Park.

Shamlessly stolen from St. Lee and his blog Knucklehead Theology for the Revival of the sport!

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Vintage Drag Press Release

Wayne, head honcho over at the NVMDRA recently sent this press release my way. Looks like a great venue and one to put on your schedule for next summer. As for "The Knuckledragger" and me, all I can say is "God willing, we'll be there!



Vintage Motorcycle Drag Bike Nationals to be held at Eddyville Raceway Park.


Eddyville Raceway Park an 1/8th mile drag strip at Eddyville, Iowa will have an all motorcycle event on Saturday, August 25, 2012. This event will be called Motorcycle Mania. This event will include a double header race for Eddyville`s Pro Bike class, a Street Bike class, and other classes TBD. The track was contacted by Wayne Skinner of the National Vintage Motorcycle Drag Racing Association about an event for vintage drag bikes. This race for vintage drag bikes has been added to the Motorcycle Mania event. There also will be a charity motorcycle ride from various places ending at the track. The charity ride will benefit the Wounded Warrior Project.Gerald Kramer, co-owner and general manager of ERP was a motorcycle drag racer for 20 years and is super excited about having the vintage drag bike event. He started racing bikes in 1968 at Eddyville and in the 70`s & 80`s raced at IDBA and Dragbike all bike national events in sportsman classes including events at Bowling Green, KY.

Gerald feels that there is a potential for this to become a very big event but will take time to grow. Wayne has laid the ground work to promote the vintage bikes and hopefully together we can grow this type of event. We are going to need the support of guys out there with the old drag bikes looking for a place to play or just display if not race ready. This event is all about having fun not about racing for big money! The persons working on the charity ride also hope to make that an annual event and if we get some cool bikes for them to see it will also grow.

Eddyville Raceway Park is located about 60 miles S.E. of Des Moines, Iowa right off of Hwy 63/163 a four lane road and is easy to get to from all directions. It is a nice 1/8 mile facility with a state of the art Musco lighting system, clean restrooms, showers, good race track, plenty of parking, and a friendly staff.

We are still working on details of the event such as times, entry fees, classes, payouts, etc.There will be a test and tune on Friday night and Sunday will be a raindate. Gerald can be reached by email at manager@eddyvilleraceway.com or cell # 641-780-3534.

AMA Pro Racing Announces 2012 Schedule for AMA Pro Flat Track Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship

AMA Proracing News

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (December 21, 2011) - AMA Pro Racing is pleased to announce the 2012
AMA Pro Flat Track schedule. The 19-round 2012 AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com schedule has 16 confirmed dates and three additional events in final negotiations.

Of the 16 confirmed events, the fire-breathing Grand National Twins will appear 10 times, which includes five half-mile and five mile tracks, and the 450cc Grand National Singles will be featured in three TT and three short track events. Every event on the 2012 calendar will also feature the Motorcycle-Superstore.com Pro Singles class, which debuted in 2009 and showcases the future stars of AMA Pro Flat Track piloting 450cc single-cylinder machines.

Once again the season will kick off with the traditional Bike Week doubleheader on March 15th and 16th, 2012 at the DAYTONA Flat Track, which is located just outside of Turns 1 and 2 at the mighty Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. In the 2011 contest, Grand National Championship title contender Sammy Halbert swept the mid-week openers in dramatic fashion.

In the world of flat track racing, Memorial Day Weekend and the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Ill. go hand in hand. May 26th, 2012 finds the Series at the Rodeo Arena for a TT race that serves to whet the appetite for the first "big bike" race of 2012, scheduled for the next day, May 27th, 2012. The Springfield Mile is one of the most coveted wins on the circuit and is one of the most highly-contested races each year.

Next up for the Series is a to-be-announced event scheduled for June 9th, 2012, with the series moving on to the first "cushion" race at the Allen County Fairgrounds in Lima, Ohio three weeks later on June 30th, 2012. The 2011 season saw the return of pea gravel to the Lima half-mile oval and the return of the sideways, rooster-tail shooting action.

The Series heads farther East on July 7th as Hagerstown, Md.'s Hagerstown Speedway hosts the only round on the east coast that features what is typically a very smooth, and very fast, half-mile track. Many consider this venue the "home track" for defending Grand National Champion Jake Johnson, and the New Jersey native will surely be looking to repeat his 2009 victory.

I-96 Speedway in Lake Odessa, Mich. returns to the series calendar on July 14th, 2012 with its always action-packed half-mile circuit, before the Series moves to the west coast on July 28th, 2012 for the Sacramento Mile at Cal-Expo in Sacramento, Calif., the highly-successful Bob Bellino-promoted event run alongside the California State Fair.

A drive up the coast will find the AMA Pro Flat Track stars back on their 450cc singles at the Castle Rock Race Park TT in Castle Rock, Wash. on August 4th, 2012. Next up is another TT, and the granddaddy of them all, scheduled for one week later at Peoria Race Park in Peoria, Ill. on August 12th, 2012. The Peoria TT has been a staple on the Grand National circuit since 1947 and still packs the hillsides with spectators eager to watch the high-flying singles take to the track.

The Indy Mile at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Ind., returns to the 2012 schedule on August 18th, 2012 and the event will once again coincide with both the Indiana State Fair and MotoGP's state-side return for the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Labor Day Weekend means a return to the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Ill. for a Short Track and another Mile, scheduled for September 1st and 2nd, 2012, respectively.

September 8th, 2012 will mark the return of the Series to Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa. The 2011 event saw one of the closest finishes in the AMA Pro Flat Track's long and storied history and all signs indicate that next year's race will be just as close.

Details about an event scheduled for September 15th, 2012 will be released soon; following that race the Series will head to the Santa Rosa Mile at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa, Calif. on September 30th, 2012. The last time a Grand National was held at the beautiful fairgrounds was in 1970, which saw Jim Rice win the contest on a BSA.

The last to-be-announced event on the schedule is will be held on October 6th, 2012 before the 2012 AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com schedule comes to a close on October 13th, 2012 on the half-mile track at the LA County Fairplex in Pomona, Calif.

Complete 2012 AMA Pro Flat Track Schedule:

March 15, 2012
Daytona Flat Track I
Daytona Flat Track, Daytona Beach, Fla.
Short Track

March 16, 2012
Daytona Flat Track II
Daytona Flat Track, Daytona Beach, Fla.
Short Track

May 26, 2012
Springfield TT
Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield, Ill.
TT

May 27, 2012
Springfield Mile
Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield, Ill.
Mile

June 9, 2012
TBA

June 30, 2012
Lima Half-Mile
Allen County Fairgrounds, Lima, Ohio
Half Mile

July 7, 2012
Hagerstown, Half-Mile
Hagerstown Speedway, Md.
Half Mile

July 14, 2012
I-96 Half-Mile
I-96 Speedway, Lake Odessa, Mich.
Half Mile

July 28, 2012
Sacramento Mile
Cal Expo, Sacramento, Cailf.
Mile

August 4, 2012
Castle Rock TT
Castle Rock Race Park, Castle Rock, Wash.
TT

August 12, 2012
Peoria TT
PMC Race Park, Peoria, Ill.
TT

August 18, 2012
Indy Mile
Indiana State Fairground, Indianapolis, Ind.
Mile

September 1, 2012
Springfield Short Track
Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield, Ill.
Short Track

September 2, 2012
Springfield Mile II
Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield, Ill.
Mile

September 8, 2012
Knoxville Half-Mile
Knoxville Raceway,Knoxville, Iowa
Half Mile

September 15, 2012
TBA

September 30, 2012
Santa Rosa Mile
Sonoma County Fairgrounds, Santa Rosa, Calif.
Mile

October 6, 2012
TBA

October 13, 2012
Flat Track Finale
LA County Fairplex, Pomona, Calif.
Half Mile