Campus Newspaper Raffles AK-47

news channel 7 ^ | February 22, 2006 | Alison Storm

[beaver fever]

"Back to the envelopes!"

I hope your using a wet sponge otherwise your tongue is going to swell up to the size of a football.

I love your volunteer work it sounds like it is very rewarding.

[Lurker]

We've to a machine to seal these things. I'm not going to end up like George Castanzas fiance and die of glue poisoning. Besides the County supplied these envelopes so you know they come from the low bidder. There's no telling what that stuff is made of.

I got this job through my volunteer work. And yes it is rewarding. I've met some really cool people working with CERT. It's good to know that if something really bad should happen I've got the skills to see that my family is safe and then I can help out my neighborhood.

The job with the County is intersting, too. Well, it's not interesting right this very minute but when things get exciting they get really exciting. Our EOC has assets that local jurisdictions can't afford to keep waiting around so when something happens that is too big for the standard emergency response we can help out.

We've got comm gear, lighting assets, traffic management equipment, technical and high angle rescue gear, mass casualty gear, and other things that local fire depts can't afford. When they need some help they call us and we go out and supply them with whatever assets are needed.

It's pretty cool actually. Fire and EMS guys are great, but they're all focused on fighting fires and getting folks stabilized and to the hospital. Getting 'stuff' to the scene isn't really their forte. So that's what we do. We're kind of the logistics specialists for major emergencies.

We also assist municipalities with their Emergency Operations Plans to see that they're up to date and will actually work if the ballon goes up. So we help them out with everything from table top excersizes to full scale disaster drills complete with cops, fire trucks, ambulances, and 'professional victims' who show up and play casualties in a realistic manner. That's lots of fun.

I took a class to be a 'professional victim' so know I know how to act when role playing different types of injuries. That class was taught by a Professor of Emergency Medicine from Cook County Hospital so she's seen just about everything.

We also got trained in moulage which is the art of making and applying fake gore. I have a feeling I'm going to be real popular with the kids next Halloween. It'll be fun to turn the neighborhood kids into the walking dead. Of course with some of them it'll be pretty much like they are normally.

But lately I drew the short straw and got the graveyard shift. Mostly I just wait around for something to catch on fire. Thankfully that doesn't happen often. It does give me a chance to catch up on my reading, Freeping, and taking some college level coursework in Emergency Management.

If your interested, FEMA has some really good classes available on the web. You can find them here. I don't know if they'll send the completion certificates to Canadians but you can take the classes anyway if you've a mind.

L

[beaver fever]

This is getting very interesting.

It is a bit sentimental but the first time a became aware of death was during a radio broadcast of tornado warnings in the mid west.

I was seven and a half years old at the time and we lived in a rented house on a farm that had a root cellar. The root cellar looked like a storm shelter so in my little mind I put two and two together and thought my mother was going to die in a tornado.

We were living in central Ontario at the time, well out of reach of tornadoes sad and silly at the same time.

As far as moulage goes my scout troop took part in a recreation of a vehicle accident using moulage techniques when family was stationed in Churchill Manitoba. The prosthetics included fake blood pumps.

My baby sister who was six years old saw me in full make-up after the demonstration and passed out like a light. My mother of course went freakoid.

Years later my sister told me she had nightmares for months afterwords, poor sweetie.

Anyway Lurker if you want to ping me about your volunteer work feel free, I'm very interested.

[Paul_Denton]

Colleges have shooting teams. Plus who the f**k cares what the world thinks.

[muir_redwoods]

"We make no qualms about being very biased of the right wing," he says."

If you've been quoted accurately Andrew, you might want to study a bit of grammar before you get much more involved in that newspaper career.

[beaver fever]

Hey I don't care what the f**k world thinks either.

My point is that if you have time for recreation at U you are not going to be anywhere near the top of your class.

It's four years out of your life and you have to get the work done the first time.

No repeats, no excuses. It's like the Olympics. A certain American skier partied through the Turin Olympics rather than put in a week's hard work. He is finished for life. He will never get the chance again.

When I went to U it was one bad mark in first year and you are out of the game.

Call me a prig but I don't think guns have any place on a University campus unless you are an Olypic duathalon contender. Last time I heard they don't use AK's in duathalon.

[Lurker]

They're going to move the control point for the tornado sirens down here sometime this year so that'll be some more buttons for me to push. Should be pretty cool.

Hopefully all I'll ever have to do is test the darned things but one never knows. We do get our share of tornadoes around here. There was a real bad one just a few years back that just about wiped out a small town just 50 miles or so south of here in Utica IL.

It pretty much wiped out the downtown area and killed several people who had taken shelter in a bar. It's wierd because just the summer before my in laws were in town and we were staying in the Inn at Starved Rock State park about 10 miles from there. We ate lunch in that very bar. It was a rather Historic old building. It looked real solid to me...made out of quarry stone and masonry but that twister just reduced it to rubble and killed a few of the folks inside.

So believe me around here we pay attention during tornado season. Weather events are mostly what we plan and practice for around here but since 9-11 terrorism is a very real concern.

Some parts of our county have very real flooding problems. Back in 97 almost a third of the county was seriously affected by flooding and it literally overwhelmed the communications systems. So we can sympathize with what happened in NO. We've got special radio networks set up for that eventuality. We hope not to get caught with our pants down again!

I can relate to your root cellar story. My grandparents had one at their place in southern Ohio. I remember my grandma heading us young uns down there more than once. I'll probably always relate the smell of musty dirt and canned goods to bad weather.

My son can't wait for the next mass casualty drill. He wants me to gore him up real good and take pictures for his 5th grade class. After his teacher sees that she'll most likely call the authorities but I think we'll risk it. Besides if you can't hook a blood pump and fake a sucking chest wound on your own kid who can you do it to?

If you have anything like a CERT program or Weather Spotter network in your area check it out. You'll learn some valuable skills and meet some great folks. Besides it keeps me off the streets and that's almost always a good thing.

Hey thanks for that steamed fish recipe. We gave it a try with a couple small mods. It's very good. We put a few drops of toasted sesame oil on it before serving it. Yummy.

Oh boy, another shooting. Sounds like somebody caught a 9mm or two in the chest. That'll wreck your whole day.

L

[Paul_Denton]

It adds to the value of an education by familiarizing college students with both the art of the rifle and the preferred weapon of Americas enemies.

Agree. It would serve to promote interest in firearms too.

[beaver fever]

Thanks for the long and interesting narrative. You are definitely living in a more exciting climate than I am.

For me a 30 mph wind with rain is a major disaster. If I get my shoes wet I call the Department of National Defense.

I'm glad you liked the steamed fish and vegetables. If you have some favorites pass them on. I tend to stick with a few dishes and it gets boring sometimes.

Say hello to the Missus for me and keep in touch.

BF

[beaver fever]

"Hey thanks for that steamed fish recipe. We gave it a try with a couple small mods. It's very good. We put a few drops of toasted sesame oil on it before serving it. Yummy."

So how did the Mahi Mahi come out? I think I want to try that out myself.

I'ld also like to try skate its a coarse fish and I think it would steam up nice.

There is another delicasy that you will not be able to buy.

It's West Coast smoked salmon. The natives call it Indian Candy. It's open smoked on a rack.

There is a canned version in the Comox Valley where the salmon is rack smoked and then canned in fish oil.

It has black char from smoking like BBQ prime rib and it is butter tender.

The fish oil comes from rendering the skins and is used by the natives like olive oil as a preservative and for cooking.

Man a plateful of that with honey dew and cantelope balls (made with a melon scoop) and you are in West Coast heaven.

Am I driving you crazy yet?

[Godebert]

"So fire away. You will die of a heart attack reading my replies before I'm zotted. I love this place and no poser like you is going to kick me out. Dukes up dude. I'm waitin' BTW do you have any higher ambitions in life? I mean your life not mine."

I wouldn't bank on that. Mr. Robinson doesn't take kindly to folks coming in here and taking a piss on our Constitution, be they Canadian or otherwise.

[Lurker]

I smoked a whole side of salmon last night. That's one of my favs. It's so easy but people flip out over it. Noone can believe we make it at home on the Weber.

Just take a side of salmon, oil it up and cover it generously with fresh cracked black pepper.

Once again make a nice hot grill but this time put the hot coals on one side of the bottom of the kettle. Cover the hot coals with hickory or oak chips that have been soaked in water for an hour or two.

Put the salmon on the side of the grill opposite of the coals and cover the kettle tightly. Crank the holes on top almost all the way closed and then just walk away for about 45 minutes.

When the salmon is just slighly firm to the touch at its thickest point take it off the grill and let it rest until cool. That's it. It's done.

Serve it on Romaine lettuce leaves with a bit of cream cheese and sprinkle some capers on top. If you really want to go all out, top it with a dab of caviar and enjoy with a glass of champagne.

This morning I made smoked salmon omelletes with shredded gruyerre cheese and capers. You could subsitute some fresh dill for the capers and it would be pretty good too I imagine.

We subbed Mahi for the fish in your recipe and it came out fine. Thanks for the recipe.

I'm off work here in less than two hours and believe it or not I think I want fish for breakfast.

L

[beaver fever]

Come on, I got two warnings from Jim Rob and he got two honest apologies back.

And where did you get the idea that I am pissing on the US Constitution. I have more respect for it than most Americans.

As far as I know JR and I are on good terms and I have one pleasant and courteous email for our beloved leader that confirms my opinion.

So go ahead make my day.

I am unapologetically Canadian, I think Harper is the best thing that has happened to Canada since the invention of wheat and I grew up in a military family.

What are your credentials? I've been here for almost two years. My 2nd birthday is in June 2006 and I have been called a troll twice and never been zotted.

If you are frustrated by anything I have said then turn your computer off and punch yourself in the face.

I like it here and I plan to stay.

[beaver fever]

Lurker you are a good man, an evil man but a good man.

It's 4:17 PST and there is not a salmon to be found.

The smoked salmon omelet was especially cruel given the hour.

If this friendship is to continue you have to stop sending my such good recipes after the stores close.

[Lurker]

You have my deepest apologies sir.

I shall refrain from any dispensing any more culinary information until a decent hour.

This place amazes me. We start out discussing the relative merits or lack thereof of a college student raffling off an inexpensive semi-auto rifle and end up exchanging recipes.

If you ever get down this way I promise to prepare one of those omelette's for you.

I'm down to my last hour on duty. Thanks for helping me to pass the time.

L

[On the Road to Serfdom]

That is a mighty big "if". Being in sports I was quoted a few times by my campus newspaper and not once was my comment even paraphrased accurately, much less quoted accurately. Quotation marks were always put around what I 'said'.

[On the Road to Serfdom]

My point is that if you have time for recreation at U you are not going to be anywhere near the top of your class.

Wow. Are you really saying more people should be near the top of their class? I am sure you realize that is impossible so I don't get your point.

I was not at the top of my class as an undergrad, was on two sports teams, had a social life, shot some guns, and was able to go on to complete a Ph.D. in one of the 'hard' subjects along side all those foreign students.

If I had it to do over again would I give up the sports and fun to change my undergrad GPA from 3.4 to 3.9? No.

By the way, I did mostly give up all that stuff during grad school.

[CT-Freeper]

Actually...I studied Russell in undergrad (we were required to take three philosophy courses) and I certainly don't see how his works could be useful to anyone.

"Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly the terror of the unknown and partly, as I have said, the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes. ... A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men." — Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian and Other Essays on Religion and Related Subjects

[libstripper]

Is this the newest version of the VEPR? I have a VEPR II I bought in the last year of the AWB. It doesn't have a bayonet stud, is all black, and the front hand guard is solid instead of ventilated.

[absolootezer0]

I do , they have killed far too many good Americans. They flood the third world making every punk revolutionary and radical like God over their unarmed neighbors. Don't see any M-16's in Africa do you? Just AK's. If you want an AK buy a Galil , it's better karma .

ya think there's maybe a reason why there's a lot of AKs floating around and no M16s? perhaps because the ak is cheaper, more reliable, more battle proven, and has better ballistics than the M16. only thing the m16 has over the AK is accuracy... and that's the only reason i have an AR instead of an AK clone.