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Sometimes you can't anticipate what you'll wish you'd stockpiled...
China's government has responded by launching an anti-terror campaign and tightening security measures. An already-heavily armed police presence has been stepped up inside Xinjiang. Earlier this month, authorities confiscated matchboxes from stores and hotels in multiple townships, including Yarkand, to "eliminate potential security threats."

http://online.wsj.com/articles/over...s-label-of-deadly-attack-as-terror-1406715490
(If you search the story through Google you'll get past the paywall.)

It might sound pretty funny from where you sit with your 1911 on your hip and your AR propped behind the door, but to these people ordinary matches are a big deal. Imagine trying to strip the citizens of any conceivable source of their power, down to a matchbox - how desperate is that government - how helpless are those people?

(FWIW, I'm not supporting or defending anybody in the Uighur conflict - sometimes in war they're all bad guys.)
 
That was code for that in China, there are 28 death penalty/capital offense crimes. and then they bring the meat wagon van to your house to pop you in the head and then harvest your body to then be sold on the international market to the highest bidder/buyer.
great times! poor bastards
 
And recently, it has been reported that if you use the internet a bit too much in China, you are an "addict", and you will be scooped up and hit in the head a good many times with a lead pipe only after you've dug a six foot deep hole. yay
 
I visit China a lot, and in the cities things are really pretty normal. Remember their motto, "The sky is high, the emperor is far." Meaning you can get away with most anything except criticizing government officials.

Like the Aussie bar-owner told me a couple weeks ago in Shenzhen, "What's freedom, anyway? Back home if I park a cm over the line they write me a $100 ticket, or if a camera behind a tree snaps me going 3 km over the limit they mail me a demand to pay a $300 fine. So I feel more free here than I did back home."

It's a big country and you just can't generalize. I'll bet it's been a nightmare in Xinjiang province since the crackdown, but most city folks wouldn't even notice any change in their routine.

You sure don't want to get stuck in a poor area where there's lots of anti-government protests - just like here.
 
I think the question is... why stockpile? Matches contain potassium chlorate, and sulfur, and the strikers on safety matches contain red phosphorus. The reaction between the chlorate and sulfur catalyzed by the phosphorous is what causes a match to ignite. Thing is, matches don't store well, the phosphor oxidizes and becomes useless over time (I've seen this happen). I think the question is... what do you need all those matches for? Lighting fires, or making bombs? If lighting fires is the way to go a zippo lighter, a pack of flints, and a can of fuel will light millions of fires. If you want to make bombs, there are much easier/better ways.

"The sky is high, the emperor is far."

That's a fantastic quote... Like most trite sayings that are either actually chinese or simply attributed to the chinese, there are many meanings.

Like the Aussie bar-owner told me a couple weeks ago in Shenzhen, "What's freedom, anyway? Back home if I park a cm over the line they write me a $100 ticket, or if a camera behind a tree snaps me going 3 km over the limit they mail me a demand to pay a $300 fine. So I feel more free here than I did back home."

Again, no argument. Freedom gets to be pretty abstract when you start talking specifics. A war on terror? A war on Drugs? A war on Poverty?

There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.

Sometimes it's like watching someone who is so excited to go somewhere, walk right into a sign post.
 
I've said it before. I like small BIC's. I read a lot of Selco's stuff and one thing he talked about was how people needed fire starting items. He found a way to refill them from bigger propane canisters i believe. But for me it's easier to buy a small pack every now and then. You can never have too many. I put one in everything I carry or might carry. I still have plenty of matches as well though. And they could make good barter items should the need arise.
 
Get a QUALITY MAGNESIUM device. A friend of mine has the one endorsed by Bear Grylls. I have seen him start many fires very quickly with it, and sometimes in the winter with less than dry tinder.
 
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I heard that Bear Grylls also endorsed "Peaches" and "Sugar" down at Foxy's in Lakewood, and they weren't so hot after all. :rolleyes:

For me the best recommendations are from people I know who have actual field experience with the gear.

When it comes to fire starting in wet cold conditions, a can of charcoal lighting fluid and one of those extended BIC things will do you just fine, as will a couple bags of Fatwood.

For barter some 5-packs of lighters are pretty handy and are stable, small and cheap...
 
For me the best recommendations are from people I know who have actual field experience with the gear.
Same here, and that is why I recommended it. But there are people out there who couldn't start a fire no matter what they were using -
seen that before also. Oh BTW thanks for the update on 'Peaches' and 'Sugar' at Foxy's - If I am ever in the area I'll make sure to avoid the place.
 
Bear Grylls ... heh "when the going gets tough, Bear Grylls goes to the hilton!"

It's quite unfortunate that gerber decided to use Grylls as a branding aid, however, Les Stroud is pimping camillis' stuff, he was at the camillis booth at shot a year or two ago.

For starting most fires, the classic magnesium firestarter has been the best way to go, with a little bit of practice (I mean about 10 minutes with someone who's used one before) even a 10 year old can get a fire going, after that it takes about 30 seconds to start a fire, even with wet tinder.

Personally, other than the mag fire starter, I like liquid fueled lighters, you can use kerosine in a zippo, it's a bit harder to light (ronson flints work best).
 
Didn't we all make Reynolds Wrap Rockets in our misspent youth? Y'know, if you just hit one of those strike-anywhere match heads with a hammer on a hard surface, it'll detonate! Don't do it in your garage without hearing protection - trust me on this one.

You'd have to be seriously hard-pressed to resort to making IED's from matches, if you have available gasoline, kerosine, and/or propane in virtually unlimited quantities.

It's our creativity and unpredictability that make the average preppers so darn scary to establishment wonks who have everything to lose if we all stand up and proclaim that the emperor has no clothes.
 
The thing that I've always wondered about... with the "establishment wonks" rather than creating an inclusive environment where "average preppers" are a normal and accepted part of a pluralistic democratic republic. Instead they have created a cult of fear (both for themselves, and everyone else) by being adversarial. Once upon a time I liked and trusted my government, now I fear my door may be kicked in, my dog shot, automatic weapons pointed at my family (oh, and this is best case), because some "informant" said he bought an ounce of weed, or the police can't read the address on the search warrant.

It's jarring... it really is.
 
Again, no argument. Freedom gets to be pretty abstract when you start talking specifics. A war on terror? A war on Drugs? A war on Poverty?

The Australian government took away most of its own citizens' firearms, too. In Australia you might get a speeding ticket from a traffic cam, but happens elsewhere, too.

Are the large Chinese cities anything like London, where there are cameras everywhere?
 

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