President to take over the Internet
Don’t like the idea of national health care or “Obamacare” ? Then you surely won’t like the currently proposed bill to allow the president to TAKE OVER CONTROL of the Internet (private sector!) whenever he likes.
“Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.”
Read More: Bill would give president emergancy control of Internet
What do you think? Should the president have this power?
1 Month no shopping
Could you go one month without shopping for food and survive?
One family is giving that a shot.
This video and exercise will surely make you realize where you are lacking in food preperation.
Common things to consider will be:
- Fresh Fruit
- Fresh Vegetables
- Fresh Eggs
- And anything else that you normally get fresh or store in your fridge or freezer.
Maybe now is a good time to start making your garden beds for next year :)
Now is not a good time to be a bank!
81 Banks have failed so far this year and it’s not going to get better any time soon it appears.
FDIC Funds Fall 20 Percent in Second Quarter
FDIC says it doesn’t need to barrow, for now!
1,000 Banks to Fail In Next Two Years: Bank CEO
“The number of institutions on the government’s so-called “problem bank” list surpassed 400 in the latest quarter, climbing to its highest level in 15 years, according to a government report published Thursday.”
With the FDIC estimating 70 billion will be required to rescue banks through 2013 one must wonder where the difference will be made up since as of now the FDIC is down to approx. 10 billion.
Alaska Experiment Episode 3 – “Hunt or Be Hunted”
Winter is beginning to set in, and some groups have not had protein for weeks. Bernice and Greg Pierson, who do happen to have a goat, are unsure if the meat is any good when Bernice’s stomach pains confine her to the cabin for days. It is up to Greg to care for Bernice and prepare for winter by himself, all while battling below-zero temperatures, fatigue, and hunger.
The friends at Flower Lake send one member to the rocky cliffsides to hunt for goat along with Jay Claus, son of the show’s resident survival expert, Paul Claus. Their trip begins on a dangerous note –first they must cross an icy river. If Tim falls in, he would only have 90 seconds to get out before hypothermia sets in. Next comes the 3,000-foot climb to the goats. Can Tim, who had never shot a gun before Alaska Experiment, shoot a goat? Less than 24 hours after leaving on his hunt, Tim returns triumphant. He managed to fell a goat with two shots, and while the challenges of gutting the goat on the mountainside and then hiking miles back to camp with over 100 pounds of meat in his sack were killer, the three friends at Flower Lake enjoyed a hot meal of fresh goat steaks. If preserved and rationed right, this meat should take them through winter.
Down on Icy Bay, Jeff and Elizabeth have barely been getting by on meager rations of salmon and the occasional clam. Neil Webster comes by to take them moose hunting as moose is the only game left this time of year. Elizabeth sits in a tree as lookout, Neil makes moose calls, and Jeff lays quietly with his gun raised, ready to shoot. After four days of tracking this moose, the couple must return to camp empty-handed.
The Wise family, too, is suffering from the cold. They decide to build bunk beds using crab netting and wood. Just getting one foot off the ground can be as much as 30ºF warmer. They also happen to be in the rainiest part of Alaska, where it rains up to 200 inches per year, so they set up a plastic tarp “slide” with a bucket at the bottom to capitalize on the fresh water. When the rain finally breaks, they go for a hike along the “berry trail,” where many fresh berries remain ripe for picking. While they don’t provide any much-needed protein, berries are high in calories and full of vitamins –very important for all the survivors, some of whom have dropped over 20 pounds.
Alaska Experiment Episode 2 – “Starving in the Wilderness”
About one month into their Alaska experiment, each volunteer has already lost around 10 pounds. The groups have been surviving mainly on dry rations, and have very little protein and fat to supplement their diet. They barely have enough food to survive at present- what will they do when winter comes?
Survival expert Paul Claus comes to Flower Lake to teach the three friends about hunting. None has ever shot a gun before, and when Tim fires his rifle for the first time, he gets “scope eye,” a cut on his face from the powerful recoil of the gun. Tim redeems his amateur’s mistake by shooting a snowshoe hare. Claus shows the group how to skin and gut the rabbit carefully because if the organs are cut, the meat could be spoiled. Later, the group goes trekking for food. There is a buffalo in the distance, but the rifle Claus gave them isn’t powerful enough to take it down. Walking further they see birds –a sign a carcass is nearby. They find a dead buffalo and are able to harvest still-fresh meat from the bones.
The Wise family has managed to can a fair amount of salmon and to stock up on firewood. They are even saving their urine to splash around the outside of their cabin to keep wild animals away. Neil Webster comes by to teach the family how to hunt moose. Carolyn and Webster go off on a four-day moose hunt, hoping to shoot down North America’s biggest land animal. Moose cause more injuries in Alaska than bear, and using a moose call to attract them is especially dangerous. Moose who respond to the call are either expecting to find a mate or a male to fight with so they arrive in state of agitation. Unfortunately, Carolyn returns empty-handed.
Greg and Bernice Pierson are luckier. They shot a goat earlier and are in the process of preserving it. That means leaving it outside on a tree to dry first, an especially risky move because the smell of meat carries for miles. Pretty soon they spot wolf tracks. He’s been circling the cabin and stalking their glacier-top home for days. Besides the threat of wolves, their water sources are dwindling. Temperatures are below freezing –good for meat storage, bad for finding running water. They must hike for hours to find a stream that hasn’t frozen over. They walk over slippery, frozen rocks and over unstable ice before they hear water running beneath them. They must use ice axes to access the water.
Jeff and Elizabeth are running very low on food. They didn’t manage to store salmon before the salmon run ended, nor have they been able to kill any bigger prey. And it’s not any more settling that a brown bear makes regular visits to camp. Jeff builds some crab traps, and they look for good places to set them, arguing all the while. The original locations of the crab traps proved unsuccessful, but Jeff is uncomfortable walking out into the sandy shoals (where crabs are more common) due to the dangers of quicksand. They face further failures. Elizabeth created a sort of refrigerator by partially burying trashcans, but after several days of rain, the stream has risen many feet and flooded their camp. They do, however, build a successful toilet –outside, far enough away it can’t contaminate their food.
Food supplies are low, and tensions are high. Planning and teamwork are two of the most important tools for survival in the wilderness and are two things that each team needs to work on if they hope to survive the Alaska Experiment.
Alaska Experiment – Episode 1 “Into the Wilds”
Can 10 regular people leave the comfort of home to actually survive in the Alaskan wilderness for three whole months…in the winter? In Discovery Channel’s new show, Alaska Experiment, four teams put it to the test. They leave behind their urban lives to prove that they can battle the elements, survive the wildlife, provide for themselves, and, ultimately, come out alive.
In episode 1, “Into the Wilds,” bush pilot and survival expert Paul Claus flies each group of two or three to a remote spot in the Alaska wilderness where they must navigate the hike to their shelters, which for some includes quicksand-like marshes, steep and rocky glacier faces, and kayaking along a bay filled with precarious ice chunks.
The first group, Greg and Bernice Pierson, now call a tiny trapper’s cabin on Hawkins Glacier home. Bernice’s passion is adventure racing and thus this challenge is an ultimate adventure for her. Her husband Greg, however, has little wilderness experience outside of the occasional camping trip and is far outside his comfort zone. The temperature in their home in the river valley will drop as low as -40º F once winter hits.
Three friends, Allen, Jasmine, and Tim, make up the second group. While they are all into extreme sports and adventure, none is a survival expert. For the next three months, they will live in a log cabin in the densely wooded Flower Lake area, where buffalo, moose, and, most dangerously, grizzly bears roam.
Jeff and Elizabeth have been dating for a few months, and with Jeff’s search-and-rescue background and Elizabeth’s survival experiences in the Australian outback, they believe they can succeed at this challenge. After kayaking through the dangerously-icy Icy Bay, they are among the first groups to find their shelter, a “wall tent,” which is basically a waterproof canvas tent attached to a metal frame. They quickly discover the challenges of living on the lake. The moisture level is so high that they can’t start a fire inside, and at night, the moisture condenses and drips down on them. They are forced to build a separate lean-to right away so they can keep wet equipment outside and hopefully keep dry inside.
The final group consists of Dennis Wise and his two daughters, Jennifer and Carolyn, who want to use this survival challenge as a bonding experience. They will live in an old fishing cabin on a beach on Icy Bay, which is open and exposed to the worst of the extreme weather. By the end of episode 1, the family is already experiencing cabin fever, fighting over which direction their shoes should face.
It took some groups days to hike just a few miles to their new homes, but once they arrived they were greeted with their rations for the next three months –basic food supplies, a survival manual, basic tools (such as fishing poles and knives), and a wood-burning stove. They have just a few weeks settle in and prepare for the coming winter, which is sure to include food shortages, subzero temperatures, and the biggest physical and mental challenges these volunteers have ever faced.
Les Stroud the Survivorman biography!
Les Stroud, known primarily for his role on the new Discovery series Survivorman, is more than just a television host. Although the show Survivorman does depict Les as an outdoorsman, how much he is interested in the outdoors and adventure is not limited to this show or this style of survival. He has done many other things in his life that attest to his interest in, and desire to be involved in, the great outdoors. He also has many other interests, including music and film.
Les Stroud was born in Mimico, Ontario, Canada in 1962, and graduated from high school in this same town in 1980. He followed up with an education in the Music Industry Arts at Fanshawe College in London (Ontario). He was also involved in two bands—one called New Regime, acting as songwriter and lead guitarist (the band went on to be signed by RCA records the day after he left the band in the largest up-front deal by this record company at the time) and the other a cover band for David Bowie called Diamond Dogs. While in this band, he worked as an associate producer at MuchMusic, a music channel based in Ontario and as assistant director of music videos for artists such as Rush and Corey Hart. He did this up until a hockey accident that broke his wrist in eight places, and caused his musical drive and creativity to take a backseat. After a canoe trip that sparked an inordinate interest of the outdoors, he went to work for Black Feather Wilderness Adventures in 1987, and he met is wife (a photographer) during a survival course while working there.
His marriage began with adventure, as he and his wife Sue Jamison immediately left for a honeymoon that would last a year in a remote part of Ontario. This trip was part of the documentary Snowshoes and Solitude, and it won many awards including Best Documentary at the Muskoka Film Festival and Best Film at the Waterwalker Film Festival. Les Stroud then lived and worked in several areas in Canada, typically working as an outdoor instructor, in some cases catering to locals with special needs. It was in Huntsville, Ontario that Les and his wife began their own outdoor instruction company and media company. They were called Wilderness Voice and Wilderness Spirit Productions, respectively. It was during this time that Les began watching the popular reality show Survivor, and he decided to pitch a more realistic version of the show. Les found a way to combine his love of film and the outdoors when he spent a week surviving in the wild and filmed it.
He went to Discovery Channel in Canada and pitched two shows—one called One Week in the Wilderness and the other called Winter in the Wilderness. These were filmed in 2000, aired in 2001 as two one-hour episodes titled Stranded. They had such success, the series Survivorman was born (with these two shows becoming the pilot episodes), and is now produced by Survivorman Productions, Inc, which includes Les Stroud and producer Dave Brady. It began in 2004, with nine episodes for the first season. Not only does the series air on the Discovery Channel Canada, but it is also shown on OLN Canada, the Science Channel in the US, and Discovery Channel International. As sole host, writer and producer of Survivorman, Les Stroud has made history many times over. Not only is it the only show produced in this manner, but it has become the highest rated show on the Science Channel and OLN, and is headed in that same direction for the Discovery Channel.
Aside from making music videos, being an outdoor guide and instructor, and filming Survivorman, Les has many more accomplishments to his credit. He has participated in adventure racing, and went to the Canadian championships. He has been involved in the production of many shows, and he acted as host for many, such as Shark Feeding Frenzy, I Shouldn’t Be Alive, Surviving Urban Disasters and Expedition Everest, all for Discovery Channel. He also created Off the Grid with Les Stroud which was created as two one-hour episodes for OLN Canada. This is a show which follows Les and his family throughout the process of building and living in an off-the-grid home. They are taking an old property containing a farmhouse and converting it into a home with solar and windpower, and they do rain harvesting and toilet composting. The show not only watches the changes being made, but it also details the difficult adjustments his family has to make in doing so.
Les didn’t abandon his love of music for the film and outdoors industry, however. After an eleven year hiatus from music, he began playing the harmonica at a local blues bar in 1996, and then became part of a blues duo with Ridd Sorrensen. He then teamed up with Ian Auger, and together they traveled the festival circuit, winning awards and leading Les to begin writing and performing songs again. He recorded his self-titled debut album in Ian’s Ogeriff Studio. After that, he teamed up with Jake Thomas and played the festival circuit for another 18 months. It was the show Survivorman that led to his being a part of his most recent band, Les Stroud and The Pikes (renamed from the original The Northern Pikes after the singer/guitar player contacted Les to join forces), and they composed the Survivorman theme. They recently released an album, as well, and Les takes his harmonica with him on all his excursions. He is also working on another solo release album, which is dictated by much of the signature blues harmonica playing that can often be seen and heard on Survivorman episodes.
He will soon be working on a new series tentatively titled Stroud’s Legends. This show will chronicle the world’s greatest explorers and their accomplishments.
Bear Grylls Biography aka Man vs. Wild
Bear Grylls, as he is known, was born Edward Michael Grylls in 1974. He is most known and recognized for his role as the host of Man Vs. Wild, but television host is not his only title. Bear is also an author, an adventurer and outdoorsman, a mountaineer, and a motivational speaker. He currently lives with his wife Shara and his two boys, Jesse and Marmaduke. They all live on a boat in the Thames in London.
The most-talked about, and the most impressive, accomplishment on Bear Grylls’ resume is his climb to the top of Mount Everest. There are only approximately 30 people who have ever successfully done so and return alive. Bear Grylls is not only one of them, but by doing so at the young age of 23, he set the world record (it is recorded in Guiness) for being the youngest to ever do so.
While this is one of his most notable accomplishments, it is not the only one that is noteworthy. Bear has had an interesting life full of adventure, success and setbacks. He became a Karate Black Belt and served in the UK Special Forces as a Sabre Soldier. During this time, he was trained in desert and winter warfare, parachuting, signals, and more. Then he spent three years working in the British Special Air Services (often referred to as the 21 SAS). He was actively deployed to North Africa twice, and it was during a parachuting free-fall in Africa that he broke his back in three places. While it took him many months of rehabilitation to recover completely and be able to climb mountains again, he did accomplish his goal of maintaining his love of mountain climbing.
In 1997, he became the youngest Briton to climb Mount Ama Dablam in the Himalayas, which has a peak of 22,500 feet and had previously been described as “unclimbable.” A year later, he was climbing Mount Everest, enduring 90 days of extreme weather and nearly being killed when the ice cracked beneath him at 19,000 feet. His teammate saved him from plummeting to his death, and he didn’t let this near death experience stop him.
In 2000, Bear led a team of people in circling the UK on a personal watercraft, in an effort to raise charitable moneys for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. In 2003, he was successful in leading a team across the North Atlantic Arctic Ocean in an inflatable boat. This took weeks, and they filmed this experience to sell documentaries as a means of raising charitable funds to be given to the Prince’s Trust charity. They also turned it into a book titled Facing the Frozen Ocean, which was named Sports Book of the Year after its release. This was yet another record breaking expedition by Bear, and earned him the Honorary Lieutenant Commander position in the Royal Navy Reserve for it. in 2007, Bear flew a petrol-powered paraglider over the Himalayas, even higher than Mount Everest, in which over a million dollars was raised for the charity Global Angels. His depiction of the experience was filmed for Discovery and Channel 4 in the UK. This was claimed to have been a world record, but has been challenged by many. Although this record-breaking attempt didn’t garner him the title of world record holder, another feat did. With David Hempleman-Adams, Bear Grylls did create another world record, in which they held the highest ever open air formal dinner party. At 25,000 feet in the air, they were dressed to the hilt, including masks to provide breathable air, and they earned charitable funds for the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Charity.
Not only is Bear Grylls a thrill-seeker and adventurer, but he is also known for his books and television appearances, as well as motivational speaking. The first book Bear wrote was titled Facing Up, and it went on to be on the top-10 best seller list in the UK. It was then released in the United States under the title The Kid Who Climbed Everest. His book titled Born Survivor: Bear Grylls (which is the same name as the television show in the UK), quickly reached the Sunday Times Top 10 Best-Seller list. In his books and his motivational speaking, he uses his experiences as examples, and shows how they can help in the corporate world and in everyday life.
Along with the well known show Man Vs. Wild, there are many other shows Bear has also been involved with. Escape to the Legion was the first major TV experience for Bear, and it was a show in which Bear went through simulated basic training in North Africa for the French Foreign Legion. This show was filmed for Channel 4 in the UK, and was quickly backed up with an offer to film Man Vs. Wild for Discover Channel Worldwide. This show is also shown on Channel 4 in the UK and is shown under the title Bear Grylls: Born Survivor.
Bear is in the process of filming for the third season of Man Vs. Wild, in which he is dropped into remote areas all across the world, and has to use only natural resources for survival, showing viewers how to survive if they are ever stranded in the wild. There has been much controversy surrounding Bear Grylls and the show, which has led to changes in the way the show is broadcast, including disclaimers.
Not only does Bear undertake some adventurous expeditions to raise money for charity, but he is also vice president for The JoLt Trust, a charity that allows disabled children to experience a month-long wilderness expedition. Bear always repeats that it is not about pushing limits, and that it is instead about overcoming challenges and living your dreams.
Wild about Survival Shows
Bear Grylls vs. Les Stroud – Who is the true Survivorman?
In a land of TV show copycats, The Bachelor and Joe Millionaire, The Singing Bee and Don’t Forget the Lyrics, there emerges (last year) yet another face off in TV show creatorship history: Man vs. Wild and Survivorman. As with other copycat shows, there are a plethora of opinions on both shows but unlike other shows, these two don’t seem to divide people as much as bring them together, at least until July of 2007. Perhaps it is the fact that they are carried by the same channel (Discovery – Science Channel is an offshoot of Discovery) or the fact that neither really beat the other in becoming a routinely viewed show by a majority of people (that is probably due to the difficulties in producing an episode). It is true that Survivorman lists its premiere date a year ahead of Man vs. Wild but when Bear Grylls hit the airwaves he hit like a ton of bricks including guest appearances on late night TV and the eerily influential Oprah Winfrey Show. When comparing the two shows we must consider a variety of ideas from the production of each show to the recent controversy surrounding one of the shows to the hosts themselves.
Man vs. Wild Controversy
We cannot proceed further without first tackling an apropos issue, the controversy behind the show Man vs. Wild. The problem occurred in July when a British TV network discovered that the host and several crew members stayed in motels when they were depicting themselves (I assume in the final cuts of the respective episodes) as roughing it in the wild. As a result, there has been a feeding frenzy of sorts both in the form of late night TV hosts jabbing at the shows authenticity to Web forums lighting up with webloggers who, I suspect take more liberty in the anonymity of the Internet, to wring out Bear Grylls and his show with derisive commentary and typical media mob mentality. What boggles my mind and several other people I have shared this issue with is how TV viewers still don’t understand that what is broadcast on major networks is entertainment first. Doesn’t it make sense that a survival enthusiast would be overly-cautious? Would viewers have preferred to have heard that Bear and his crew met their demise because they didn’t take proper precautions? How did you feel when you heard that Steve Irwin died swimming too close to a stingray? If he had backed off would he have lost his authenticity? This is certainly a topic for exploration at another time but for now let’s compare the two shows without this alleged betrayal to the TV viewer.
The Men Behind the Shows
Les Stroud is a musician, survival and wilderness guide, and now TV host, among other things. Bear Grylls is an author, motivational speaker, ex-SAS member, and self-proclaimed adventurer. He does have a long list of accomplishments under his belt that gives credence to his adventure status (plus, his name is Bear). Background alone, Bear wins.
Les Stroud is laid back, soft-spoken, but not afraid of anything. He has a good knowledge base and does obvious research prior to filming an episode. He doesn’t shy away from exotic foods and his puffy eyes and groggy face when he wakes from a miserable night of sleep give him a genuine quality that is admirable and relatable. Bear Grylls is excitable and kinetic, somewhat of a man-boy with ADHD. He his likeable in his youthfulness and his enthusiasm is contagious. He is also anxious to try vomit-inducing cuisine and doesn’t appear to be afraid. Both hosts rattle off valuable tips as they press on through their respective challenges. They both tell of survival stories they’ve researched or heard that connects with the area they are in which lends to the drama of them trying to ‘survive’. Personality and on-air presentation: tie.
The Format
The format of Survivorman is simple: Les Stroud is stranded in a mock survival situation (plane crash, ran out of gas, etc.) and with a few simple items and cameras he has to survive one week. Man vs. Wild is similar Bear Grylls has his trusty knife and is usually clothed accordingly. There is one vital difference between the format of the shows: Les is his own cameraman and is alone, Bear has a crew with him. Bear claims that the interaction with his crew is limited, and that could be the case, however, he still has that ever important presence of another human there as a safety net. Les not only has to be a survival guide and host but a filmmaker as well. On many weblogs people question how he is able to have the different camera shots and assume that he has a crew with him as well. Les has addressed this from the beginning by explaining the painstaking task of filming shots from dramatic perspectives and then going back to retrieve the camera, doubling his travels. The clear winner here is Les.
Lasting Impressions
For two very similar shows to coexist there are a few prerequisites to consider: 1) they cannot be on the same broadcast network (the same cable network makes sense because most cable channels are thematic – Emeril and Bobby Flay share the same network), 2) they must entertain and remain unique, 3) they must not try to become bigger than what they originally intended. The recent controversy may also factor in to this equation as well. In fact, it is possible for the Man vs. Wild maelstrom to actually take out both shows. Audiences are fickle and now that one show’s authenticity has come into question all shows like it will face severe scrutiny. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. In fact, let’s hope that both shows forge ahead and conquer every environment possible before twittering out. Let’s hope that Bear doesn’t try to overcompensate and get injured on an episode.
After all is said and done who is the true winner here? That’s easy: the viewer.
Survivorman: Kalahari Desert
Survivorman: Kalahari Desert
The scenario – you’re alone, you’ve run out of gas, you have limited supplies, and you’re in the one of the world’s most treacherous environments. Survivorman: Kalahari Desert, with host Les Stroud, offers a loose guide to extending your stay in a formidable desert without succumbing to the elements, at least not until you feel the signs of heat stroke and dehydration.
Aside from the extreme heat Les has to be cognizant of other dangerous elements. Scorpions from the Parabuthus genus, which includes the world’s deadliest version of an already eerie creature, highly venomous puff adders and the Cape Cobra. Les is particularly weary of the Cape Cobra and repeatedly mentions it as a threat. The sometimes aggressive snake likes to hunt in weaver bird nests, huge communal bird nests that hang relatively low from the acacias and camel-thorn trees that dot the landscape. Being the only shade in this unforgiving environment these trees are a good choice for shade, but a poor choice for avoiding deadly snakes.
With extreme temperatures ranging from 149F on the surface of the sand and 107F in the shade to 44F at night battling the elements can take not only a physical toll on the body but the psychological effects can be your downfall. Fortunately, preparation and experience help Les slog through his visit while offering up a few kernels of knowledge to the viewer. In particular, the search for water becomes informative as it is imperative to him because his stay is scheduled for seven days but he only has a four day water supply. In light of this, Les gives us four desperate ways to attempt to collect water. He assembles a urine still, a plant still, a rain catch, and he chews on the bitter but watery root of a local plant called hemsbok.
A Survivorman episode wouldn’t be the same without some sort of animal trap or snare. Unfortunately, there are no desert hares or fuzzy rodents running around for Les to nosh on. His target, the very deadly scorpions he is so worried about every time he sits by his fire (Les tells us that scorpions are attracted to fire). Six succulent scorpions become Les’s unusual kabob snack along with a huge ostrich egg (a gift from locals).
On day six Les has had enough. Suffering from dehydration headaches and nausea Les tells us he is walking to the safety crew camp. He’s somewhat apologetic to the viewer for not staying the full week. No apologies necessary, I’d say you stayed about five and half days longer than most of us could handle.
Learning with Les
Tidbits and tips from the episode Survivorman: Kalahari Desert
• Cape Cobra bites are usually fatal without treatment
• Deathstalker and Fat-tail Scorpions are among the deadliest in the world
• The placement of the sun and stars took Les some getting used to (he’s from the N. hemisphere)
• Drink one gallon of water a day in extreme heat
• In intense heat, sit still in the shade during the day
• If possible, make a weapon, such as a prong-headed spear for peace of mind more than anything
• Make a tightly woven fire bundle, use fuel and oil from the parts of the truck (if possible) to make fire easier to achieve
• To cool down quicker, moisten your carotid arteries, and wrists to bring down your core temp.
• Crossing the terminals on a truck battery with metal offers a good spark to start your fire bundle
• Make a mound to rest on because scorpions don’t like to climb up the sand (snakes are another story)
• There are many animals that live in the Kalahari
• Locusts are “surprisingly” tasty
• Breathing in too much alkali dust can cause severe nosebleeds
• Hemsbok plants have an unusually high water content in their root system
• Weaver birds build large communal nests – and are difficult to spear
• To trap a scorpions – build a little deadfall just outside its nest with a container for it to fall in – which looks like a slit in the sand near rocks or vegetation
• Cut off the stingers of scorpions before eating them – the venom is not harmful to humans if digested unless you have ulcers
• You can cook eggs in the hot sand near your fire
• The underside of a soda pop can is good for magnifying the sun to start a fire – just polish it up with chocolate (it’s the wax in the chocolate that does the polishing)
• The convection of the hot wind sucks the moisture out of you more than the heat alone
• Don’t eat millipedes they contain cyanide
• You can get water from your urine by making a solar still – dig a hole and put a container in it – pee around the container (not in it) and cover the hole with plastic or a material that won’t soak liquid – make sure that you arrange the cover so that any liquid that condenses on the underside of it will drain down into the empty container
• You can get water from plants – wrap part of the plants leaves with a plastic and tie off one end – essentially the same process in a solar still works here but – water yields vary
• Eating a large meal after days without adequate food or water can cause nausea
• Never enter the desert without a multi-tool and plenty of water
Next Page »