Clever Garage Storage

via alpharubicon.com

Clever storage solution via rightc0ast.

Posted via email from crasch’s posterous

Vertical Gardens, Grown on Walls

via nytimes.com

These days, Mr. Riley’s project isn’t that unusual. Vertical gardens — which began as an experiment in 1988 by Patrick Blanc, a French botanist intent on creating a garden without dirt — are becoming increasingly popular at home. Avid and aspiring gardeners, frustrated with little outdoor space, are taking another look at their walls and noticing something new: more space. And a number of companies are selling ready-made systems and all-in-one kits for gardeners like Mr. Riley who want to do it themselves. (For those who prefer to leave it to the professionals, landscape designers can build vertical gardens for a hefty fee.)

Posted via web from crasch’s posterous

Aquaponics, a Gardening System Using Fish and Circulating Water

via nytimes.com

“THERE’S a “Beyond Thunderdome” quality to Rob Torcellini’s greenhouse. The 10-by-12-foot structure is undistinguished on the outside: he built it from a $700 kit, alongside his family’s Victorian-style farmhouse in Eastford, Conn., a former farming town 35 miles east of Hartford. What is going on inside, however, is either a glimpse at the future of food growing or a very strange hobby — possibly both.”

Posted via web from crasch’s posterous

Macrame for Survivalists

Macrame for Survivalists

For example, learn how to make a utility belt that with one flip and a pull, turns into a safety/escape/rescue rope:

Via flutterby.

Opinions of MGI MARCK-15 modular AR-15?

[crossposted to guns]

MGI MARCK-15 Modular Weapons System (pdf) manufactured by MGI military ?

I’m interested in the gun from a emergency preparedness perspective. With the appropriate mag wells and barrels, the gun can currently accept the following magazines:

5.56 x 45 AR-15
7.62×39 AK-47
9 mm Colt style or the traditionally modified Uzi style
.45 M3 Grease Gun magazines

Note that these are unmodified standard magazines. Mag wells that accept .22LR, .308 Winchester, and many other calibers are also under development.

The upper receiver uses standard barrels and is compatible with all mil-spec lowers. Likewise the lower is compatible with all mil-spec uppers. The magwell and barrel (assuming you have the MGI Quick Barrel Change (QBC) upper) can be changed out in a few minutes without tools.

From a preparedness standpoint, the gun has the following advantages:

* reduced parts count. In addition to requiring fewer spare parts, the guns can be cannibalized to provide parts for each other.
* reduced training complexity. Aside from barrel and mag well, the gun is the same for all calibers.
* reduced cost of training. When the .22LR magwell is released, one could train with the gun very inexpensively.
* increased adaptability. In a SHTF situation, magazines and ammo are likely to scarce and catch as catch can. Therefore, a gun which can adapt to the available ammo would be useful.
* aside from the lower receiver and magwell, the gun uses standard AR-15 parts, which allows it to be used with the wide variety of AR-15 accessories that are available.
* Easy breakdown and cleaning. With the QBC upper, the gun can be broken down in minutes without tools.

Possible disadvantages:

* reduced accuracy.
* reduced repeatability
* reduced reliability

All of the above stem from the fact that a tool that is capable of multiple tasks is not optimized to be great at any of them.

Questions:

1. Has anyone here shot the gun? If so, what are your impressions of the gun’s accuracy and repeatability?
2. If I were to buy the lower receiver alone, does that count as buying the gun for legal purposes? I ask because my intent is to buy the lower receivers now (in anticipation of a likely gun ban), and finish them out later.
3. As I live in CA, I plan to install a bullet button. Anyone else done this? What brand would you recommend?
4. Anyone have recommendations for a FFL holder in the Bay Area to ship the receivers to?

Thanks!

Not so safe deposit boxes

Not-So-Safe-Deposit Boxes: States Seize Citizens’ Property to Balance Their Budgets
Resources to Search for Unclaimed Property in Your Name
By ELISABETH LEAMY

May 12, 2008 —

The 50 U.S. states are holding more than $32 billion worth of unclaimed property that they’re supposed to safeguard for their citizens. But a “Good Morning America” investigation found some states aggressively seize property that isn’t really unclaimed and then use the money — your money — to balance their budgets.

Unclaimed property consists of things like forgotten apartment security deposits, uncashed dividend checks and safe-deposit boxes abandoned when an elderly relative dies.

Banks and other businesses are required to turn that property over to the state for safekeeping. The problem is that the states return less than a quarter of unclaimed property to the rightful owners.

Not-So-Safe-Deposit Boxes
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