Comments on: Survival

Survival

OmieWise — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:30:09 -0800

Arctic Survival::Desert Survival::Jungle Survival::Sea Survival

By: shinyshiny

shinyshiny — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:46:26 -0800

"always fly in the boots in which you intend walking home" (p.6, Desert Survival)

By: LakesideOrion

LakesideOrion — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:52:03 -0800

Oh... nice... goodbye afternoon.

By: eggplantplacebo

eggplantplacebo — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:55:23 -0800

Awesome! I saw these covers floating around some design blogs a while ago, and I was always curious about the advice contained within. Thanks for posting. (Also, I never would have thought to drain the oil from a plane immediately after crash-landing in the arctic. That could totally be a sweet scene in an action movie, where the hero has to get the oil before a fire at the nose of the plane crawls back to the tank and incinerates him.)

By: frankbooth

frankbooth — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:00:07 -0800

those are fantastic links. fascinating.

By: nathancaswell

nathancaswell — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:00:55 -0800

nice.

By: rtha

rtha — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:01:33 -0800

Reading about cold-weather clothing in the Arctic guide makes me extremely grateful to live in an era of warm, lightweight, breathable, wind- and waterproof synthetics. I have a thin wool shirt that I wear as a second layer, though, when I'm somewhere cold.

By: stormpooper

stormpooper — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:03:50 -0800

Man-eating shark? As opposed to Woman-eating shark and shark that eats other fish, etc.? And don't drink the urine (unless you have a parasol and a cherry in a cool glass--then go ahead and drink it)

By: stormpooper

stormpooper — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:06:21 -0800

LEAVE THE NATIVE WOMEN ALONE--unless on official business. Like getting into their "business". Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:09:20 -0800

Good to know the recommended practice of withholding all food and water for the first 24 hours adrift at sea before commencing rationing.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:09:45 -0800

Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Quiet, you.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:40:26 -0800

I think this is where the "myth of the hat" came from (or a similar 1950's era US army manual). The myth being, a large percentage of body heat is lost through the head, and therefore a hat is very important in cold weather. The truth is, the head looses no more heat than any other exposed part of the body. Maybe even less if you have a full head of hair. This is easily verified using one of those laser beam temperature guns to measure surface skin body temps.

By: bonehead

bonehead — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:53:05 -0800

I'm not certain why the Arctic book puts so much effort into wood and campcraft. The most flammable tinder one would have in a crash situation in the Arctic would probably be the pamphlet itself. Also, on a quick skim, there's no discussion of compass problems. The rest of it varies from reasonably sensible advice to charmingly outdated. The sea survival is all charmingly outdated---it's as relevant to modern sea survival techniques and equipment as an 18th century rutter would be. Survival suits, modern rafts, GPS, sat phones and RO-filter water pumps have completely changed the rules since the 50s.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:57:40 -0800

The sea survival is all charmingly outdated---it's as relevant to modern sea survival techniques and equipment as an 18th century rutter would be. Perhaps, but say you lose all that great new gear and are left with only the most rudimentary old junk that was rotting in your life raft. It can be useful to know what people deemed to work prior to better technology.

By: snofoam

snofoam — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:02:42 -0800

Good flesh should be firm and not slimy.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:19:38 -0800

Sea Survival, p.9: "Bale out (the dinghy) with the baler..." I'm still trying to slice the water. Now you want me to bale it? I'll need wider string.

By: ErikaB

ErikaB — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:23:35 -0800

Definitely don't drink your urine. Bear Grylls says you should give yourself an enema with it, instead! Watch him demonstrate [probably nsfw]. (Note: presumes you are stranded in a water-less location with plastic enema tubing.)

By: Ruthless Bunny

Ruthless Bunny — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 11:55:56 -0800

Bear Grylls says you should give yourself an enema with it, instead. Saw this. Still trying to process it. No. Still can't wrap my head around it.

By: ilovemytoaster

ilovemytoaster — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:05:44 -0800

how about urban survival? say, in the western hemisphere's poorest nation. after a terrible earthquake. with failed infrastructure and 1,000,000 other people in the same 'boat' as you?

By: Divine_Wino

Divine_Wino — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:06:38 -0800

OmieWise, This is great, thanks.

By: NMcCoy

NMcCoy — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:42:30 -0800

I misread this as one of those SAT analogies, you know, "Arctic survival is to desert survival as jungle survival is to sea survival"... Spent a nontrivial amount of time trying to figure out what it was getting at before realizing.

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:51:03 -0800

Artic Survival:Arctic Survival::Dessert Survival:Desert Survival

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:51:52 -0800

...only backwards.

By: Brockles

Brockles — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:04:49 -0800

The myth being, a large percentage of body heat is lost through the head, and therefore a hat is very important in cold weather. The truth is, the head looses no more heat than any other exposed part of the body. Maybe even less if you have a full head of hair. This is easily verified using one of those laser beam temperature guns to measure surface skin body temps. I've seen those cameras used to demonstrate the importance of ensuring head covering as an oft forgotten means of preventing heat loss. From this article it seems that the head is responsible for 7% of heat loss at rest but this can vary significantly through blood flow to teh head if the person is exercising. The '50%' is the myth, not to be confused with 'you don't need to worry about covering your head', just to be clear. According, again, to that article, it CAN be 50% but only under certain circumstances and it implies it maxes out at 10% under steady state conditions other than rest. It also suggests that hair is essentially worthless at keeping your head warm, but as someone who can feel the effects of having not very much hair and notice the difference when it's been a while since I shaved my head, I say phooey.

By: quin

quin — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:06:03 -0800

I'd love to write a deadpan serious version of one of these called "Urban Survival" that advised things like; * Keep a sport coat handy. * Make sure you have money for a cab or at the very least change for the bus. * Cross at the lights A "Rural Survival" book could be a lot of fun too; * Don't try tipping cows, it's not real. * Wear boots when walking through cow fields. * Farmers who see you in their pastures might take offense and use a 12 gauge with rock salt * Removing rock-salt is a painful process that begins with a pair of tweezers and so on.

By: NailsTheCat

NailsTheCat — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 18:05:21 -0800

don't drink your urine Got it. You won't need to tell me twice.

By: James Scott-Brown

James Scott-Brown — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 05:37:24 -0800

Those interested by survival manuals might also be interested in the US Army Borden Institute's Medical Aspects of Harsh Environments textbooks. Burhanistan Good to know the recommended practice of withholding all food and water for the first 24 hours adrift at sea before commencing rationing. I'm not sure if this is still advised. Low blood sugar impairs shivering, and hastens the development of hypothermia. Somewhere (I can't find the exact source atm), I read that a high proportion of deaths occur in the first few hours after abandoning ship, when crew are often cold and physically exhausted, so you should eat sugary food as soon as everyone is safely aboard the life-raft.

By: Burhanistan

Burhanistan — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 09:20:41 -0800

James Scott-Brown: Duly noted!