Time to make everyone mad again...

Bill Mattocks

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It's been awhile since I've gone on a rant about self-defense, so I thought it time again. Particularly with recent events due to Hurricane Harvey.

Self-defense. It's a term that describes itself pretty well. Defense of self. Meaning, self-preservation. Remaining alive and hopefully functioning well. Anything that has to do with that issue is self-defense. It's pretty easy to grasp that concept, I think.

And yet, people who claim to be all about self-defense don't seem to know, or care, to take any action designed to defend themselves (and their family, loved ones, etc) if it doesn't involve A) guns, B) knives, or C) martial arts. Oh, there are the folks known as 'preppers' who sometimes take an interest in that sort of thing, but often enough, most of what they engage in is fantasy end-of-the-world stuff, not actual threats to our existence and well-being.

Do you have a fire extinguisher?

Do you know how to evacuate your home, have you practiced it? The whole family? Have you given assignments to family members, who gets the baby, who gets the cat, who gets the photo albums? When to abandon attempts to protect non-living or non-human things and just skedaddle? How about a rally point, where all the human occupants can meet up, so that no one mistakenly goes back into a flooded or burning house to retrieve someone who is actually safe, but standing somewhere else?

For those interested in more long-range things - do you have a way to quickly replace ID, credit cards, access your bank accounts that is NOT in your house that just flooded or burned down? Do you even have your account numbers, PIN numbers, phone numbers to call to begin that process?

How about a Will, Living or otherwise? Durable power of attorney on file with your attorney, mailed to relatives who don't live near you, etc? DNR's or other requirements that you'd like honored?

How about your medications? If you wear glasses or contacts, how about spares?

Can you treat a wound? Can you find a doctor in an emergency? Do you have access to antibiotics? Can you make clean water when tap water becomes contaminated?

How about clean socks? Good boots? Another pair of good boots? More clean socks?

Do you have general as well as specific plans? "If the whole city floods, we will leave as early as possible and travel by car to X location, where we already have spoken to our relatives and they will put us up if need by, and we'll do the same for them." When the roads make driving impassible, do you have a backup plan?

Can you spot bad weather coming by cloud formations and other natural signs? Ever take a weather spotting class offered free by the federal government? Do you listen to radio and TV warnings and pay attention to them and take them seriously? Seems an awful lot of people don't. They all seem to want to wait until the threat is clear and present and THEN take action, when it is of course too late oftentimes.

How about insurance? If you own your home, did you know that your homeowner's insurance (in the USA) typically does NOT cover backed-up sewer line flooding unless you specifically request it and pay a very small yearly fee? Same for floods; the government sells national flood insurance, but fewer than 20% of residents in Houston have it. Do you have it? Oh, you live outside a 100 year flood plain? Well good luck with that, sport. So did many Houstonians.

I'm not overly worried about a nuclear attack on our nation. I am worried about tornadoes, floods, and other natural disasters which I can do something to prepare for.

People tell me how many martial arts they train in, how far they can run, how much they can bench press. They tell me how good a shot they are at the range, how many guns they own, and what great one-shot stops their favorite caliber-du-jours are. Their rifles are festooned with instruments which point lasers and light up perps straight through lead walls and penetrating rounds and they can bring justice like they had wings and a halo; but they don't own a fire extinguisher, and have no idea how to actually use one if they had it. They can submit anyone in the world not named 'Gracie' but they can't put out a grease fire in their kitchen or have a spare pair of spectacles when they break theirs or lose them in a flood. They tell me about their garage and basement full of MREs, but they can't start a fire on their own, can't read a topographical map or compass, and have never spent a night in the woods that wasn't in a 30 foot camper.

So I'm just saying - if you're honestly interested in self-defense, it's time to spend some time playing reality games and evaluating risk and doing what you can to address it. Martial arts training is good. Weapons training is good. Having some non-perishable food stored is good. Playing fantasy games about how you're going to Rambo through TEOTWAWKI is not good. Or at least, not going to happen. You'll be the guy whose stuff we take because you didn't survive the natural disaster that turned out to be a boring old flood or tornado or earthquake or mudslide instead of something exciting like Chinese FEMA death camp troops wandering the streets for you to pick off with your high-powered laser-guided whatever it is.
 

CB Jones

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Do you have a fire extinguisher?

Yes

Do you know how to evacuate your home, have you practiced it? The whole family? Have you given assignments to family members, who gets the baby, who gets the cat, who gets the photo albums? When to abandon attempts to protect non-living or non-human things and just skedaddle? How about a rally point, where all the human occupants can meet up, so that no one mistakenly goes back into a flooded or burning house to retrieve someone who is actually safe, but standing somewhere else?

No we will adapt and overcome

do you have a way to quickly replace ID, credit cards, access your bank accounts that is NOT in your house that just flooded or burned down? Do you even have your account numbers, PIN numbers, phone numbers to call to begin that process?

Yes

How about a Will, Living or otherwise? Durable power of attorney on file with your attorney, mailed to relatives who don't live near you, etc? DNR's or other requirements that you'd like honored?

No

How about your medications? If you wear glasses or contacts, how about spares?

No medications or glasses needed

Can you treat a wound? Can you find a doctor in an emergency? Do you have access to antibiotics? Can you make clean water when tap water becomes contaminated?

Yes

How about clean socks? Good boots? Another pair of good boots? More clean socks?

At home lots of clean socks and boots

Do you have general as well as specific plans?

No adapt and overcome

Can you spot bad weather coming by cloud formations and other natural signs?

Yes plus we have apps on phone and department notifications

How about insurance?

Covered
 
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Bill Mattocks

Bill Mattocks

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Yes plus we have apps on phone and department notifications

22-year-old SC man dies after going back into burning mobile home for phone

22-year-old SC man dies after going back into burning mobile home for phone

Bensalem woman dies after running back into house fire to rescue her dog

Bensalem woman dies after running back into house fire to rescue her dog

Man runs back into burning home to rescue Xbox

Devoted gamer runs back into burning house to save his Xbox
 

Tez3

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Do you have a fire extinguisher?

Yes. Two full sized ones in the house and a vehicle one in the car.

Do you know how to evacuate your home, have you practiced it? The whole family? Have you given assignments to family members, who gets the baby, who gets the cat, who gets the photo albums? When to abandon attempts to protect non-living or non-human things and just skedaddle? How about a rally point, where all the human occupants can meet up, so that no one mistakenly goes back into a flooded or burning house to retrieve someone who is actually safe, but standing somewhere else?

Yes. As both of us are ex military we have plans in place. As a Guide leader I have plans in place for the meeting halls we have our units in, in fact we have a badge for the Guides ( all ages) which involves them setting out plans for home in case of fire etc. as well as who to contact, where to go and what to do. I have a long habit of risk assessing any building I'm in, comes fro my career choices.


For those interested in more long-range things - do you have a way to quickly replace ID, credit cards, access your bank accounts that is NOT in your house that just flooded or burned down? Do you even have your account numbers, PIN numbers, phone numbers to call to begin that process?

yes

How about a Will, Living or otherwise? Durable power of attorney on file with your attorney, mailed to relatives who don't live near you, etc? DNR's or other requirements that you'd like honored?

yes. It's useful to have all those things sorted whether or not there's likely to be an emergency, it saves your family a lot of grief in the vent of your demise.

How about your medications? If you wear glasses or contacts, how about spares?

Always just for everyday life.

Can you treat a wound? Can you find a doctor in an emergency? Do you have access to antibiotics? Can you make clean water when tap water becomes contaminated?
First aid trained as well as having experience in applying it. Antibiotics if obtained legally not so much but....... clean water yes.

How about clean socks? Good boots? Another pair of good boots? More clean socks?

I'm the generation that was taught 'wear one, one in the wash, one spare' though obviously have more spare these days.

Do you have general as well as specific plans? "If the whole city floods, we will leave as early as possible and travel by car to X location, where we already have spoken to our relatives and they will put us up if need by, and we'll do the same for them." When the roads make driving impassible, do you have a backup plan?

Yes because we've both been through terrorist campaigns etc and know what we will do.

How about insurance? If you own your home, did you know that your homeowner's insurance (in the USA) typically does NOT cover backed-up sewer line flooding unless you specifically request it and pay a very small yearly fee? Same for floods; the government sells national flood insurance, but fewer than 20% of residents in Houston have it. Do you have it? Oh, you live outside a 100 year flood plain? Well good luck with that, sport. So did many Houstonians.

We are unlikely to be flooded we live on a hill but plenty of other things can happen. We live so close to the largest military garrison in Europe, a prime target in times of war.
I also, because of my mother, am ready to move countries within a few hours notice. My mother was caught by the Nazis and put in a camp. Afterwards in the UK she was always ready to move if it became necessary, she wasn't going to be caught again so had a bag with passports and an international form of currency ready. That's rubbed off on me to an extent ( and from me to my kids) but also I'm a Girl Guide who loves the motto and tries to live up to it... Be Prepared. Always!
 

CB Jones

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Yeah, the area I live is the highest part of the state.....if it floods everywhere else is already screwed.
 
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Bill Mattocks

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It's very cool to discover that at least a few of us have thought about those things. I sometimes feel like the Lone Ranger; either no one thinks about preparing for events that might actually happen and prefer to fret over fantasies about the UN invading, or they go LOL, if I die I die I don't care LOL.
 

Gerry Seymour

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It's been awhile since I've gone on a rant about self-defense, so I thought it time again. Particularly with recent events due to Hurricane Harvey.

Self-defense. It's a term that describes itself pretty well. Defense of self. Meaning, self-preservation. Remaining alive and hopefully functioning well. Anything that has to do with that issue is self-defense. It's pretty easy to grasp that concept, I think.

And yet, people who claim to be all about self-defense don't seem to know, or care, to take any action designed to defend themselves (and their family, loved ones, etc) if it doesn't involve A) guns, B) knives, or C) martial arts. Oh, there are the folks known as 'preppers' who sometimes take an interest in that sort of thing, but often enough, most of what they engage in is fantasy end-of-the-world stuff, not actual threats to our existence and well-being.

Do you have a fire extinguisher?

Do you know how to evacuate your home, have you practiced it? The whole family? Have you given assignments to family members, who gets the baby, who gets the cat, who gets the photo albums? When to abandon attempts to protect non-living or non-human things and just skedaddle? How about a rally point, where all the human occupants can meet up, so that no one mistakenly goes back into a flooded or burning house to retrieve someone who is actually safe, but standing somewhere else?

For those interested in more long-range things - do you have a way to quickly replace ID, credit cards, access your bank accounts that is NOT in your house that just flooded or burned down? Do you even have your account numbers, PIN numbers, phone numbers to call to begin that process?

How about a Will, Living or otherwise? Durable power of attorney on file with your attorney, mailed to relatives who don't live near you, etc? DNR's or other requirements that you'd like honored?

How about your medications? If you wear glasses or contacts, how about spares?

Can you treat a wound? Can you find a doctor in an emergency? Do you have access to antibiotics? Can you make clean water when tap water becomes contaminated?

How about clean socks? Good boots? Another pair of good boots? More clean socks?

Do you have general as well as specific plans? "If the whole city floods, we will leave as early as possible and travel by car to X location, where we already have spoken to our relatives and they will put us up if need by, and we'll do the same for them." When the roads make driving impassible, do you have a backup plan?

Can you spot bad weather coming by cloud formations and other natural signs? Ever take a weather spotting class offered free by the federal government? Do you listen to radio and TV warnings and pay attention to them and take them seriously? Seems an awful lot of people don't. They all seem to want to wait until the threat is clear and present and THEN take action, when it is of course too late oftentimes.

How about insurance? If you own your home, did you know that your homeowner's insurance (in the USA) typically does NOT cover backed-up sewer line flooding unless you specifically request it and pay a very small yearly fee? Same for floods; the government sells national flood insurance, but fewer than 20% of residents in Houston have it. Do you have it? Oh, you live outside a 100 year flood plain? Well good luck with that, sport. So did many Houstonians.

I'm not overly worried about a nuclear attack on our nation. I am worried about tornadoes, floods, and other natural disasters which I can do something to prepare for.

People tell me how many martial arts they train in, how far they can run, how much they can bench press. They tell me how good a shot they are at the range, how many guns they own, and what great one-shot stops their favorite caliber-du-jours are. Their rifles are festooned with instruments which point lasers and light up perps straight through lead walls and penetrating rounds and they can bring justice like they had wings and a halo; but they don't own a fire extinguisher, and have no idea how to actually use one if they had it. They can submit anyone in the world not named 'Gracie' but they can't put out a grease fire in their kitchen or have a spare pair of spectacles when they break theirs or lose them in a flood. They tell me about their garage and basement full of MREs, but they can't start a fire on their own, can't read a topographical map or compass, and have never spent a night in the woods that wasn't in a 30 foot camper.

So I'm just saying - if you're honestly interested in self-defense, it's time to spend some time playing reality games and evaluating risk and doing what you can to address it. Martial arts training is good. Weapons training is good. Having some non-perishable food stored is good. Playing fantasy games about how you're going to Rambo through TEOTWAWKI is not good. Or at least, not going to happen. You'll be the guy whose stuff we take because you didn't survive the natural disaster that turned out to be a boring old flood or tornado or earthquake or mudslide instead of something exciting like Chinese FEMA death camp troops wandering the streets for you to pick off with your high-powered laser-guided whatever it is.
Much like our MA training, most of us have areas of this where we are week. The most important thing is to recognize those weaknesses, and either accept the risk they entail, or go about fixing them.
 

oftheherd1

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All good stuff Bill. Having been a Boy Scout when young, and serving a long time in the military, one learns to make efforts to be prepared. But it requires thought and fantasy gaming. Since I had never owned a home, I wasn't as prepared as I could have been, but thankfully, still somewhat so.

I taught both my girls how to change a tire on a car, resulting on one very surprised good Samaritan.

I made sure everyone knew relatives to contact, as well as church members.

But depending on the catastrophe, if you don't keep up with yourself, and try to think ahead, Murphy may strike.

Anyway thanks for the reminder.
 
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Bill Mattocks

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But...but..it was an Xbox...... I mean......it is worth risking life and limb for...isn't it :rolleyes:

Heh. I don't know. I've never played a computer game, despite earning my living these days in IT. Never owned a game console. I mean, I played Pac-Man at the arcade when I was a kid, but nothing since them. Just not a gamer. Don't watch TV either. Obviously something wrong with me.
 

oftheherd1

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Heh. I don't know. I've never played a computer game, despite earning my living these days in IT. Never owned a game console. I mean, I played Pac-Man at the arcade when I was a kid, but nothing since them. Just not a gamer. Don't watch TV either. Obviously something wrong with me.

You were OK until you got to the no TV. Ignore button for you!! :D :D :D :D
 

Xue Sheng

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Heh. I don't know. I've never played a computer game, despite earning my living these days in IT. Never owned a game console. I mean, I played Pac-Man at the arcade when I was a kid, but nothing since them. Just not a gamer. Don't watch TV either. Obviously something wrong with me.

You and me both, the kids have a Wii, but I never use the thing...I played a lot of the video arcade stuff way back in the old days.... and I've been in IT for many years
 

Gerry Seymour

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You and me both, the kids have a Wii, but I never use the thing...I played a lot of the video arcade stuff way back in the old days.... and I've been in IT for many years
I'm sure, somehow, you are both violating the TOS. If not for MT, at least for America.
 

Xue Sheng

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I'm sure, somehow, you are both violating the TOS. If not for MT, at least for America.

You're just jealous because you were able to play video games what Graphics as AWESOME as Bill and I were able to use

ByOaF.gif


tumblr_nslw6h4f4f1tdjgz4o1_500.gif
 

Danny T

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Last video game I played was Pong...in the bars. At that time was the only places it was available.

Bill I am in agreement with most all you presented above.
Self defense has little to do with fighting though fighting can be a form of self defense.
 

Buka

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Good stuff, Bill. Taught a women's self defense course just a few weeks ago. Went over a great deal of what you mentioned. [never thought about spare glasses, though, good tip, thanks Bill] It was limited as it was only two days, but, hey, you do what you can.

A lot of what we covered was specific to our area - middle of the ocean, most isolated land mass on the planet, side of a God damn volcano, dealing with tsunamis, fire, local power outages, dealing with local law enforcement, utilizing the "coconut wireless" when power is gone, baby, gone. How to case your own house, bug out bags, having a pre-planned, flood free zone to meet up with your family when IT hits the fan - one with more than one access point. About gas in your car, cash in your stash, charged cell phones, no cell phones, how bubble wrap is great against hypothermia, water purification things you should have on hand, canned foods, where to go on this island, where not to go on this island etc. And a lot more.

Our state has been very lucky the last few decades, our hurricane season is July - December. But, of course, it's just a matter of when, not if.
 

lklawson

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It's been awhile since I've gone on a rant about self-defense, so I thought it time again. Particularly with recent events due to Hurricane Harvey.

Self-defense. It's a term that describes itself pretty well. Defense of self. Meaning, self-preservation. Remaining alive and hopefully functioning well. Anything that has to do with that issue is self-defense. It's pretty easy to grasp that concept, I think.

And yet, people who claim to be all about self-defense don't seem to know, or care, to take any action designed to defend themselves (and their family, loved ones, etc) if it doesn't involve A) guns, B) knives, or C) martial arts. Oh, there are the folks known as 'preppers' who sometimes take an interest in that sort of thing, but often enough, most of what they engage in is fantasy end-of-the-world stuff, not actual threats to our existence and well-being.

Do you have a fire extinguisher?

Do you know how to evacuate your home, have you practiced it? The whole family? Have you given assignments to family members, who gets the baby, who gets the cat, who gets the photo albums? When to abandon attempts to protect non-living or non-human things and just skedaddle? How about a rally point, where all the human occupants can meet up, so that no one mistakenly goes back into a flooded or burning house to retrieve someone who is actually safe, but standing somewhere else?

For those interested in more long-range things - do you have a way to quickly replace ID, credit cards, access your bank accounts that is NOT in your house that just flooded or burned down? Do you even have your account numbers, PIN numbers, phone numbers to call to begin that process?

How about a Will, Living or otherwise? Durable power of attorney on file with your attorney, mailed to relatives who don't live near you, etc? DNR's or other requirements that you'd like honored?

How about your medications? If you wear glasses or contacts, how about spares?

Can you treat a wound? Can you find a doctor in an emergency? Do you have access to antibiotics? Can you make clean water when tap water becomes contaminated?

How about clean socks? Good boots? Another pair of good boots? More clean socks?

Do you have general as well as specific plans? "If the whole city floods, we will leave as early as possible and travel by car to X location, where we already have spoken to our relatives and they will put us up if need by, and we'll do the same for them." When the roads make driving impassible, do you have a backup plan?

Can you spot bad weather coming by cloud formations and other natural signs? Ever take a weather spotting class offered free by the federal government? Do you listen to radio and TV warnings and pay attention to them and take them seriously? Seems an awful lot of people don't. They all seem to want to wait until the threat is clear and present and THEN take action, when it is of course too late oftentimes.

How about insurance? If you own your home, did you know that your homeowner's insurance (in the USA) typically does NOT cover backed-up sewer line flooding unless you specifically request it and pay a very small yearly fee? Same for floods; the government sells national flood insurance, but fewer than 20% of residents in Houston have it. Do you have it? Oh, you live outside a 100 year flood plain? Well good luck with that, sport. So did many Houstonians.

I'm not overly worried about a nuclear attack on our nation. I am worried about tornadoes, floods, and other natural disasters which I can do something to prepare for.

People tell me how many martial arts they train in, how far they can run, how much they can bench press. They tell me how good a shot they are at the range, how many guns they own, and what great one-shot stops their favorite caliber-du-jours are. Their rifles are festooned with instruments which point lasers and light up perps straight through lead walls and penetrating rounds and they can bring justice like they had wings and a halo; but they don't own a fire extinguisher, and have no idea how to actually use one if they had it. They can submit anyone in the world not named 'Gracie' but they can't put out a grease fire in their kitchen or have a spare pair of spectacles when they break theirs or lose them in a flood. They tell me about their garage and basement full of MREs, but they can't start a fire on their own, can't read a topographical map or compass, and have never spent a night in the woods that wasn't in a 30 foot camper.

So I'm just saying - if you're honestly interested in self-defense, it's time to spend some time playing reality games and evaluating risk and doing what you can to address it. Martial arts training is good. Weapons training is good. Having some non-perishable food stored is good. Playing fantasy games about how you're going to Rambo through TEOTWAWKI is not good. Or at least, not going to happen. You'll be the guy whose stuff we take because you didn't survive the natural disaster that turned out to be a boring old flood or tornado or earthquake or mudslide instead of something exciting like Chinese FEMA death camp troops wandering the streets for you to pick off with your high-powered laser-guided whatever it is.
American Warrior Show, podcasts 101, parts I and II.

The American Warrior Show

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk
 

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