Innehållsförteckning för Winter 2020 från SkillSet

OK Jason, let’s try not to get political here … I grew up in a family full of teachers, and getting a good education was definitely a top priority for me. That said, was I good in school? Not really, but I did understand what subjects were vital for success in the “real world.” English, basic math, civics, health and physical education were important parts of what I needed to help me fit into society and to become a functioning adult. However, one subject I don’t remember taking in high school was propaganda. Maybe I missed that elective, or maybe the “programming” wasn’t in full effect yet in the part of the country where I was raised. Fast-forward to 30 years later, and as I listen to my teenage daughter…

When the bike-riding misfit Pee-wee Herman uttered those six unforgettable words, “I’m a loner, Dottie, a rebel,” he framed a personality type that many of us wish we could adopt for ourselves—the mysterious traveler, the outsider without remorse, the quintessential “lone wolf.” Think Mel Gibson in Mad Max, Ryan Gosling in Drive or Genos in One-Punch Man, for all the anime fans in our audience. In the animal kingdom, lone wolves are somewhat rare but are usually more intelligent, stronger and, by all accounts, more dangerous than their pack-running brethren. In the world of humans, the same traits apply, but it takes a certain inner peace, determination and self-discipline to remain a lone wolf in a society that is deeply based on tribalism. Human lone wolves tend to be creative,…

No hunting trip, fishing weekend or guys’ night out would be complete without some cards and chips. Poker night is even sweeter when you walk away with a thick wallet and you can scoreboard some friends. While your skills may not mean a trip to the World Series of Poker or the World Poker Tour, a few adjustments may mean raking more cash game pots or finding a spot in a tournament’s winner’s circle. Here are five things to remember when facing off with friends for some Texas Hold ’em fun. 1. PLAY FEWER HANDS Televised poker shows huge bluffs—junk hands getting rewarded with big pots. But in general, that is not the norm. Being more selective means more winning hands than those that come in second or third. Those…

A dead German’s journal described a fierce American airborne enemy capable of striking anywhere and anytime as the “devils in baggy pants.” That enemy was the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division, and no other paratrooper was as efficient at dispatching Nazis as bilingual Lt. Col. James “Maggie” Megellas, the son of Greek immigrants and recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts. He is the 82nd Airborne’s most-decorated officer. ONE LIFE, ONE CHANCE When the ramp dropped and their boots splashed into the saltwater, Megellas’ men were answered by German dive bombers unloading all munitions onto the beaches of Anzio and small arms fire ripping into the paratroopers. The men splashed, swam, ran, rolled and crawled to get…

Here is a look at some of the most ridiculous federal and state laws throughout America that, were you to break them, could actually cause you to do hard time. Although not intended to be a how-to guide, the following will certainly give you a peek into some of the more peculiar ways to break the law throughout the United States. So, if you ever do find yourself locked up and the question “So, what are you in for?” comes up, hopefully it won’t be for one of these crimes. Why, you ask? Because being jailed for breaking any one of these inane laws would be embarrassing, to say the least, and furthermore, because we told you so—that’s why. # In North Carolina, a marriage can be declared void if…

1-12 You are most definitely not a lone wolf. Spending a few minutes of “alone time” in the john doesn’t count. You are not alone, even if you are lonely. 13-24 You have some friends, some happiness, and you are more of an extrovert than an introvert. But every now and then, you need a break from the mouth-breathers. Nevertheless, you are still one of the pack. 25-36 Hail the Lone Wolf! You wear your solitude like a crown. We would have an award ceremony for you, but we know you wouldn’t show up.…

Running an extra mile or two around the neighborhood park or throwing on another 25 pounds of weight on the leg press machine may seem to you like you are pushing yourself to the extreme, but compared to Spetsnaz’s training, you are basically a couch potato. The training these elite Russian soldiers go through maximizes their thresholds of physical, mental, emotional and perceptional pain. Assault courses are run with live ammo whizzing just above recruits’ heads for spot-on realism. Instruction in self-defense and martial arts uses sharpened, “live” blades, and cuts and stabs are just par for the course and reinforce that these soldiers’ next mistake may be their last. Constant physical punishment is dealt by their superiors throughout their training, including punches to the gut or face to desensitize…

The elections have come and gone, some people still think the electoral college is a university, and roughly half of everyone who just voted ended up with a president they didn’t ask for—what else is new? Now, there is a new reason for people to violently express their feelings, and since we still aren’t allowed to purge (soon …), it is time for people to riot! Hopefully, given that we are all adults here and most of us still respect our neighbors and communities (not to mention that many of us have trouble successfully getting out of bed on the first try in the morning), we won’t be included in the minority of those participating in this ass-backward and ultimately nonproductive variety of social protest. Which isn’t to say that…

PRISON FOOD SUCKS! Food may seem like the least of your worries when you’re staring at a long sentence, but after one taste of prison nutraloaf at the cafeteria, you’ll discover that a decent meal goes a long way. Besides conjugal visits, there are few things more coveted than a well-funded commissary account. The creative juices formerly used to create schemes and scams on the outside are now put to use coming up with tasty commissary concoctions. After all, you have nothing but time ... And on that note, we have for you a few favorites passed down from those who have been there that could turn you into a cellblock chef, which may literally keep some of the more aggressive inmates off your back. Therefore, and without further ado,…

Martin Lawrence said in the 1997 film Nothing to Lose, “Welcome to Hell, Biiiitch!” And here we are. Although many of us yearn for a damn bar to be open to drown our sorrows at after being furloughed from our jobs for seven months—me, to be specific—we still have to eat, damn it! A good way to save a little money during this shitty 2020 existence is to rummage through the old pantry and use what we stashed away for the apocalypse a few months back. As the outdoor temps begin to drop, what better way is there to use all the scraps and canned crap lying around than to throw it all into a pot and heat it up? If you do it right, you will wind up with…

Mick was toying around with building knives when he was as young as 13, but it wasn’t until he turned 18 and had enlisted in the U.S. Army that he felt the need to build a better knife than the one the military issued. Eventually, some of the guys in Mick’s unit saw the knives, and requests started pouring in. Next thing he knew, he was knee deep in building custom knives for other soldiers, and the Strider knifemaking business was born. In the early ’90s, Mick and his old friend Duane Dwyer teamed up to form Strider Knives. They initially designed a handful of fixed blades and then traveled around the U.S. doing about 30 gun shows a year. Some shows were better than others, but at the end…

The American educational system is broken. There is no shortage of blame to go around, including politics, poor or mismanaged funding, apathy, abdication of responsibility from parents, disgruntled teachers, unions, etc. However, there is no “fix” until we identify and acknowledge what is broken. Shall we? A Google search of “goals of education in America” nets roughly 652,000,000 results and about that many “goals.” Therefore, let’s keep it simple and say that the main goal of public education is to prepare students to become functioning adults, regardless of a chosen postsecondary schooling direction. If we agree on that, then we have to look at what is commonly taught and ask, “Are we giving kids what they need?” I think it is hard to effectively argue that we are, given that…

“The first round hit him in the right forearm. “Shit, I’m in a gunfight,” he realized.” On May 18, 1972, in San Antonio, Texas, Officer Antonio Canales got ready to leave for work. He said goodbye to his two young sons and kissed his wife, cupping her belly. She was just six weeks pregnant. Later that day, he was on patrol when the call of an armed robbery at a gas station came in. Canales saw a vehicle that matched the description of the suspects’ car and stopped it. As Canales approached the vehicle, the passenger, Eugene Spencer, spun out of the car with a sawed-off shotgun. Before Canales could get his service weapon out, Spencer shot him in the chest. He fell to the ground but was able to…

A nearly full moon hung in the sky above Silver Spring, Maryland, on March 3, 1993, and the two-story house on Northgate Drive was bathed in a gray pall. A rental car with stolen license plates sat under a tree across the street, and a shadowy figure with a .22 AR-7 tucked under his coat approached the gloomy house. Moments later, six muffled shots rang out, and then a shrill, piercing alarm filled the silent cul-de-sac. The shadowy figure retrieved the spent casings and scurried back to a nearby Days Inn to make a phone call to Lawrence Horn, an ex-Motown sound engineer hard up for money. The deed was done, but the gunman was panicky. “I could take a picture, I could take a picture of him. You know,…