Cob: bullet resistance of cob

[Don Stephens]

On Tue, 16 Nov 1999, Tom Fetter wrote:

> Fair enough - makes sense in war zones.  I was reacting from the point of 
> view situation of what I think is most members of the list -- folks living 
> somewhere in Canada or the US.  While it's perfectly rational to want to 
> build in some "fortress" characteristics to your housing where civil or 
> other wars are endemic, that's not the situation for most of us here.

Tom.... perhaps it would be wise to wake up and look around before taking
rather untenable positions.  You say we don't live in war zones in the US,
and yet, for those who live in urban/suburban areas, random shooting,
drive-bys, stray slugs from police or citizen weapons in the heat of
domestic violence standoffs or other SWAT incidents and accidental
discharge of weapons by careless firearms handlers, are regular parts of
the evening news.  In rural areas, add the thoughtlessness of both legal
hunters and poachers who discharge hunting weapons, in the fever of the
kill, without adequate concern for back-stops, awareness that their
bullets have the mass/velocity to travel a mile or much more, or knowlege
of whether some owner/builder's home and family are through the trees or
over the hill beyond their intended target, in their bullet's trajectory
(or should I say "tragic-tory").  And then there are the folks out testing
their "Walter Mittey" combat arms at cardboard or paper targets, with
similar lack of safety-awareness.
 
Granted, to avoid attacks of panic, one must remember that even with the
number of such nuts out there, the chance of one's home being hit by any
of them is certainly slim (thank goodness), but then so is the chance of
being hit by a tornado, even in tornado alley (how often have we heard a
senior citizen, standing in front of a pile of building debris say "I've
lived here all my life and never saw a twister before...").  Both natural
and human-caused calamities are, none-the-less, realities, whether or not
we try to wish them into none-existance, and it doesn't hurt to take them
into consideration as factors to concider in the design and materials
selection of one's "castle". 

> What I was reacting to, maybe too swiftly and judgementally, is a worry that 
> the list would be hijacked for a while by discussions reflecting a 
> libertarian "Montana Freeman-esque" view....  

Whoa!  Careful!  It's possible to fire off one's mouth just as carelessly
as one's gun, esspecially when name-calling/branding groups of folks with
whom one does not think they personally identify.  Many of us on this list
have also expressed a bit of concern with some of the arbitrary strictures
we have experienced in the peaceful act of planning and building our
eco-homes, in areas ruled by over-zealous building officials and other
"statists".  I'm not a member of the "Montana Freeman", but as a lifelong
advocate of RESPONSIBLE personal freedom, I can certainly relate to the
validity of some of their concerns.  And some of my best friends are
"Montanans"...

Your comments regarding Central 
> America are valid -- but I still feel that a discussion of the 
> appropriateness of cob building to folks of a paramilitary or isolationist 
> bent is more appropriate off this list than on.

When did we start screen participation in "on-list" discussions by
political bent?

> As to another list member's comment that a firearm is nothing more than a 
> type of drill - a value-neutral object designed to make holes....
> ... uhm, fine -- for hunting rifles.  But you won't convince me that...
  
When someone states, before hearing another's ideas, that "you won't
convince me that...", it hardly suggests the kind of open mind that one
would hope to find on a discussion list of alternative ideas...

> > > With respect, I'd prefer that this discussion was carried on off-list.  
> > I'm not only uninterested in the bullet resistance of cob... 

Sorry, but I'm sure we've all encountered discussion strings on this list
that didn't perfectly focus on our personal interests (and will again)...
when we do, most of us just hit "D" and leave list management to those in
charge...<G>

...Don