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Posted on 12/25/2025 7:02:53 AM PST by marktwain
We live in a golden age that far surpasses all previous golden ages. Some call it the Industrial Revolution. Some say it is the digital revolution. This correspondent refers to it as the petroleum age.
Those who live in golden ages seldom consider themselves to be living in a golden age. To them, having been born in, and growing up in a golden age, it is simply normal, what is. Some, perhaps after the golden age is gone, may reflect on what was lost.
The petroleum age differs from all previous ages because it is where we learned to extract energy from the earth and make that energy available to the vast majority of people. The precursor was the age of coal. Coal had replaced wood as the primary heating source in many cities by 1850. By 1900, 270 million short tons were being produced in the United States. That was 3.5 tons for every person in the United States. But coal was not nearly as accessible to most people
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
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I agree! Well said.
Plus, we have the internet, Amazon, Elon Musk, and AI!
"Affordability", a name dropped to incite us into a frenzy...isn't working. We continue to buy what we need to buy....perhaps passing up a few of the excesses...but damn...if we want steak...we'll buy it and put off those new Nikes till spring.
P.S. Aldi had Prime Rib for $7.99/lb...and that's Christmas dinner...again this year.
The rise in everything came under Biden...continued briefly and is now retreating. We're doing fine.
Well fed and well armed, and a sudden twenty year low in murders in America without any new “gun control”. AR15s still everywhere. How can it be??!
More people are healthy and well fed than ever before in the history of the human race.
It's like a check in....I'm 82 and they're in their 60s.
Next up, lower mortgage rates, which also means lower borrowing rates on construction materials and construction loans.
Housing is major contributor to the economy.
A Positive Message on a Beauty
Of A Day Dan!
Gas just dropped 10 cents Here
Things Are Going Positive!
.
The Golden Age..
Live It
Love It
.
Love Jesus!
- Millennial males have very few opportunities to have a good-paying, family-supporting career because they are discriminated against in nearly every workplace as they are pushed away in favor of "diversity".
- Now the second hammer is arriving in the form of constantly evolving and improving AI, which will be taking many or most of the jobs in the future.
- Marriage and therefore families are disappearing because of the ascendency of women in the workplace because a woman with a decent career is making more money than most of the eligible males - and having children is only peripheral (and painful) to women, so why not avoid that altogether?
- Anybody notice that the quality of many areas of entertainment, politics, law, even business competence are failing miserably? Stupid/biased decisions are wrecking nearly every sector because competence and talent aren't the hiring criteria now.
My view of the world ahead of us is a lot less Pollyanna than some of us. It's kind of nice that firearms and ammo are less expensive - but so what? we keep electing people who are quietly eviscerating the 2nd Amendment.
Got my own Prime Rib on sale. Saving it until today!
Oil is everything.
It is transport of everything, including food to shelves. It is power for tractors to plant and harvest food.
In Saudi Arabia, it powers generators for electric power (they have no natgas and why use anything you don’t have plenty of).
How can it all fall apart. Magnet scarcity. China can create a downstep of civilization in any country they wish, for about 10-15 yrs.
No rare earth magnets, no electric motors. No rare earth magnets, no electric generators.
Did we get along just fine with old style magnets with 0.1X the power? Yes, because we needed 0.1X the electricity then.
If I may:
-DEI is on the way out, if it hasn’t been kicked out already. There were tons of stories this year about firms closing up these sectors in HR.
-my workplace is as white as ever. It’s also black, yellow, red, and other shades of color representing America, but in most business it’s competence over color. Youngsters of all walks get job offers. What I HAVE seen online, is the ascent of White Victimology, the mindset of choice for unmotivated white guys who rail bravely from their Mom’s basement. As for those situations where bigotry may be at play in the hiring process, here’s a news flash, kids: life is tough…stop whining, get a helmet, and get a job even if it takes you a few months…or start your own business.
-AI will do the same thing to the workplace that the word processor did to typewriters. It’ll transform how work gets done. Secretaries no longer type memos all day: they manage calendars, inboxes, schedule business trips, onboard employees, etc. Yes, a lot of AI is vaporware and tech bros are as dumb as a box of rocks. That just makes it easier to master AI.
-On the contrary, things are looking up for marriage. https://www.theglobalstatistics.com/united-states-marriage-divorce-statistics/
-Despite all the allegedly stoopid business decisions, the equity markets are on a bullish trend. The money knows where to go. As for entertainment, what you’re observing is the collapse of a monopolistic situation. There is an explosion of independent filmmakers, musicians, bands, and other “creatives“ eschewing Big Media. If you want quality new music, go to https://www.bandcamp.com, not Sony Records.
-and all the great gun stuff.
On Jesus’ birthday, let’s remember the parable of the servants who were given talents and what happened to the servant who buried his talent.
Well, Merry Christmas - but I guess we’ll wait and see: Disney is still pushing trash, the birth rate is still descending, and the idiots just elected Abigail Spanberger and Jay Jones in Virginia.. And my youngest son will be looking for work soon.
“Fear Not”
.
And Look to The Hills
Whence Your Salvation Comes!
.
The Best Is Yet to Come Amigo!
Well..having just ranted about “get a helmet” let me, soberly, take “your side” to a certain extent.
Back in the day, youngsters could talk to a manager and get hired.
Nowadays, even for entry-level retail jobs or even a barista, the candidates are directed to a website. In this internet gateway, the candidate uploads his/her resume, types in the same info AGAIN, and may have to undergo a video interview where responses are taped.
The backbone of these portals is run often by Workday, which is being sued for bias. I know GenZers, good “kids” and not the whiners I referenced, who have been effectively ghosted by these corporate employers….repeatedly.
AI-hardwired Ageism? Maybe. I also believe many adults have sucked in the MSM lies about today’s kids being stupid pod-eaters, and redline them.
There are bigly numbers of people under 30 that are losers. There are also loser Boomers, GenX, and so on. The problem is the elders have short memories: My GenX brethren were called lazy, self-absorbed, depressed flannel-wearing losers in the 1990s. Most of us turned out ok.
I really believe it’s harder for kids today to get an entry-level job than it was for my Gen. At the same time, I also believe the opportunity for youngsters to become self-sustaining entrepreneurs is greater than for my generation.
Will today’s youths find their way? Of course…but only if they remain loyal to the American ways and morals, don’t blame the whites/blacks/legal immigrants/etc. and don’t give up.
I’ve seen way too many youngsters - and elders- give in to Groyperism. They’re pathetic. They’re the target of my ire. Not the likes of your son.
Merry Christmas FRiend.
People don't realize that one of the benefits of the oil age is better health by reducing pollution, reducing disease and reducing deaths.
Without oil we would still be relying on horses to provide transportation and haul cargo.
Consequently, before the age of oil the streets in towns and cities were running with horse poop and horse urine polluting the air and water..
The air was rancid with the dust of dried horse poop and breathing it made disease and repiratory ailiments common.
As an example, In the late 1800s, NY City had over 150,000 horses, each dropping up to 30 pounds of poop and gallons of urine every day.
The daily total was more than 3 million pounds of manure and 40,000 gallons of urine.
In rainy and snowiy weather the streets became swamps of manure and urine soup.
In dry weather the dry poop was in the air people breathed and was carried by the wind everywhere - into homes, businesses, food and drinking water.
Manure was shoveled into piles along the streets and in vacant lots there were piles 40 feet high.
Those piles were breeding grounds for trillions of disease carrying flies spreading diseases like typhoid and diarrhea.
The horse poop and urine washed into creeks, rivers and other waterways polluting the water that people drank.
Even people outside the city who relied on ground water for drinking were impacted by the pollution.
The advent of petroleum powered transportation ended the age of the horse gaving us cleaner air, cleaner water and better health.
In the mid 1950s a 50 round brick of .22 LRN ammo was about 50¢.
That statement is based on first hand experience.
According to the internet the 2025 value of a 1955 dollar is about $12.
So that 1955 50¢ is equal to about $6 dollars today.
The cheapest .22 long LRN ammo on AmmoSeek today is about 9¢ to 10¢ a round.
The cost of a 50 round brick today would be about $4.50 to $5.00
So the cost of standard .22 LRN ammo today is about 16% to 25% less than the eqivalent 1955 cost.
I find plenty of 40 grain round nose lead .22 LR ammo on Ammoseek at less than 6 cents a round, with free shipping.
Target Sports USA ( if you buy 12 boxes of 525)
Outdoor Limited, 3250 rounds for 6.7 cents a round, free shipping.
Mad Wolf Armory, Federal AutoMatch 7.1 cents a round free shipping 325 round box.
CCI Standard Velocity, 1000 rounds, 7.6 cents a round free shipping.
https://ammoseek.com/ammo/22lr/-rimfire-40grains?sh=low
Yes, you are correct, there are very good deals out there.
I purchased .22 LR about 1965, a 50 round box at Erickson gas stations for $.49 a box.
In constant dollars, we are pretty close as cheap as it ever has been. It was about 4.5 cents a round from 1993-2006 in 2022 dollars.
Today those dollar equivalent would be about 7.2 cents a cartridge today, or about $3.60 for a box of 50.
https://www.ammoland.com/2022/06/111-years-of-22-lr-rimfire-prices/
Fascinating Guys!
.
As a side note in my search for Long Range .22 Ammo, CCI Standard Round Nose Lead is the Best for Consistency at a Great Price.
Going to Top Grades like Lapua .22 gives slightly more Consistency at a Much higher Price.
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