The Proverbial Watering Hole


Recommended Posts

Find yourself refreshing the page or checking the discussions every minute to see if something new has been posted? Want to chat with other survival-like minds on the forum? Here's a shout out thread for chit chats.

How's your work day? What's the weather like in your climate? Small talk for all TLD survivalists that doesn't seem to fit in another discussion, but doesn't need to go to private messages!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well Down Under living in the country 300km Sth/East of Perth, the weather was a balmy 27c and its now Beer-o-Clock. The sun is down and because I'm a small town of 5000 peeps, the network is back and running at full speed again.

Come 5pm until 7pm everyone comes home from work and hit their computer to update their bloody FB page and it slows the network down. So i go out and walk my Staffy at that time, and come home to a 15mb/s Up ADSL2+ . . . I know its poor, but when the Government puts in the FO, ill hopefully looking at 100mb/s + Up . .

Cheers to the all us special people to be the first ones to play The Long Dark . . . .

My Puppy Elmo !!!!

3CrTd8o.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh my, what a handsome dog! I'm just starting my work day. I usually wake up around the time my boyfriend gets up for work (early to bed, early to rise mentality), so I've been off and on drowsing since 0230. Finally got up around 0400 to check online stuff. I'm fortunate to not have to worry about download/Internet speeds!

Got to work about 40 minutes ago, armed with coffee and banana. The weather is starting to dip below 18C in the early mornings. And now I'm waiting around here to meet some more backers!

@TattooedMac: What is your occupation, if you don't mind me asking? How old is Staffy?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For me, it's 50 minutes and the work week is over. Just finished translating an interim report and my brain is fried (just think about changing hundreds of spaces into commas (thousand separators) and commas into periods (decimal separators)). Unfortunately, there's still some more checking to do, just needed a small break before that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Good grief, @TarjaS, that sounds intense. Are you the final set of eyes on that report or is there anyone else that checks after you? I presume you're staring at a computer screen most of your work day while you fix this report; do you feel like you strain your eyes?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh my, what a handsome dog!

Why thank you :) I love my Staffy's and especially the Brindle colour . . . . .

@TattooedMac: What is your occupation, if you don't mind me asking? How old is Staffy?

Im retired now, due to Military injuries, in the head, as well as physical, and they can both hurt as much as each other at the worst of times. But after being in the Aust Army (Armoured Corps) for 10 yrs, went on a 3 yr working Holiday in the UK/Europe, then came back and Drove Road Trains (50mtr long Trucks ~ Truck with 3 Trailers) then got into the Demolition business, which i had some expertise from my Army days, which brings me to now, teaching myself C, Objective C and Cocoa Touch to get on the iOS Developing Bandwagon. I also do a little Beta Testing on top of it all too.

Just this month, i am in a partnership with my fiancé in a Startup Online Business as well.

Im also a semi-pro Photographer in my spare time, and a dad to a beautiful 10yr old boy, so I'm pretty busy.

OH PS : Elmo is just gone 17mths old, so its time to get him knackered :(

For me, it's 50 minutes and the work week is over. Just finished translating an interim report and my brain is fried (just think about changing hundreds of spaces into commas (thousand separators) and commas into periods (decimal separators)). Unfortunately, there's still some more checking to do, just needed a small break before that.

There is a App that can do the hard work for you, like a good Text Editor, if you need to replace ALL of something with ALL of something else. If your on a Mac and have the Mac App Store, i use a great little App from a 1 man Dev called Textastic and there is also a iOS version. You can do this in Pages, and I'm sure if Pages has it, so would Word (have never used it) But let the Software work for you :) Just trying to help, but you are probably all done now lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is something I was wondering about and think some people here (like @robdoar) might be able to shed light on.

I remember watching an episode of Survivorman where Les Stroud simulates a plane crash in Ontario and limits his abilities with a "broken arm" (simulated). He ends up scrapping that because he would not have lasted long at all if that were the case.

Anyway, how realistic is the show and what about his level of skill? If so, maybe it is worth my time to watch the arctic survival episodes! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@TattooedMac: Poor Elmo! And your photography skills are exceptional; it was clear even in that more static picture how much you care about your pup! You sound extremely enterprising and hard working. I admire your lengthy military service. What's your online business about? I'm all for supporting start up/small businesses where I can!

@Brendan_Meyer: Great question, I'll be looking for their answer, too. ^^

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Kessa, yes, intense would be a right word, but fortunately there are people going through the report after me. And it's not that bad eye strain as I recently got separate eyeglasses just for computer work. All I can say is that I was dumb not to do that sooner (I normally use multifocals).

@TattooedMac, I'm a big fan of Find-Replace operations and my translation software can handle most conversions, but because it makes mistakes, all figures need to be checked manually as an incorrect figure in the report could have legal consequences.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@TarjaS: Oh good, I'm relieved. I was going to recommend those swanky yellow-shaded lenses! Do you listen to music while you pour over your reports?

@robdoar: >< I keep giggling when I see the new title of the book thread and it being a result of my comment. I haven't watched Reading Rainbow in far too long!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here is something I was wondering about and think some people here (like @robdoar) might be able to shed light on.

I remember watching an episode of Survivorman where Les Stroud simulates a plane crash in Ontario and limits his abilities with a "broken arm" (simulated). He ends up scrapping that because he would not have lasted long at all if that were the case.

Anyway, how realistic is the show and what about his level of skill? If so, maybe it is worth my time to watch the arctic survival episodes! :)

Great question! I think I've seen every survival show there is. You need to remember, all of these shows are for entertainment.

My disdain for Bear Grylls is pretty well known. It's simply because the average person will die trying to do what he does. Some of what he does is sound, most of it is dangerous. He is able to take the risks he does thanks to the large team off camera, and warm bed to sleep in.

I have slightly more respect for Les Stroud than Bear, but not much. On his show, he repeatedly says things like "you should never" only to backpedal. (like your example)

On another episode when he was using a dog team, he said "Never steal your dog's food, they're your lifeline"(adlib). After unsuccessful foraging and trapping, he took the dogs food.

I think it was the same episode where he used about a dozen valuable hunting cartridges trying to start a fire.

Les also takes advantage of things that someone in a real survival situation would never find. (a cabin in the woods, a ready made boat, plane wreckage shelter, etc.)

He also puts a lot of value in the "fact" that he's filming it all by his lonesome. This is not true. I can tell you without any uncertainty that he has additional cameramen. (Sometimes it even says so in the credits.)

To be fair, these guys get paid to make a show. They're entertainers. The problem is they make it seems that "anyone can do it, if you listen to me." Read about Richard Cole from Toronto. When out on a Les Stroud inspired adventure and died with nothing but a knife, and a copy of Les' book.

If you want to use TV to learn survival skills, you are going to be disappointing when it comes to practical application. TV makes friction fire look easy. I've done in for 10 years, including military training, and I am lucky to get it done in under 10 mins. TV makes it looks like 30 seconds.

Nothing beats in-person training, from a qualified instructor.

There is a place for media to observe new techniques to try in the field.

For that, I would recommend Ray Mears. He's a humble guy, knows his stuff, and spends time with natives to learning how locals do it.

Sorry for the rant.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Robdoar and his answer. To be fair i know exactly what your saying about Bear but i can't comment on the other as i have never seen a full show of his. But as it is, all the basic survival stuff Grylls shows, is right on par. ie : Collecting water, drinking one's urine, how to test if something is edible (rubbing it on the sensitive skin (back of wrist, inside bottom lip) and seeing a reaction) and even though the proper way should take 8hrs he is still on track. But i agree the risks he takes, and shows off with, (he is a showman and entertainer) is wrong by a long way.

I myself, have served 10yrs in the military, and have been on a couple of survival course's 1 By Les Hiddins and 1 in conjunction by the Aust SAS and then sent out into the Aust Outback for 3 weeks and told to Find Home, so i have extensive knowledge as well.

Hahaha the fire trick, yea that isn't as easy as one is led to believe, but then again, in ANY pack, (camping, hiking or anytime i go bush) i ALWAYS have Condy's Crystals and white sugar with me, because you never know when your going to need a fire ;)

Anyways, i didn't want to rain on your parade, but i just needed to say that, yea all the Basic Survival stuff Bear ever showed was spot on, but making ropes out of vines, and then tying a log on it, then throwing it so it got stuck in the rock 10mtrs away and then trying to crawl across it, and have it all go to shit, is ALL FOR SHOW ;)

@Kessa I'll reply tomorrow at it just past midnight, and i love my sleep lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@TattooedMac You're not raining at all. I think you agreed with me.

The basic things are fine, but he teaches them with as much confidence as the guano crazy stuff. It's hard for the novice survivalist to separate sound from stupid advice.

Exactly right on the Universal Edibility Test. Learned that at SERE, and it's not as quick as it seems, and almost useless if you're on the move.

Awesome on the aussie outback. I'm sure you could kick my butt in the outback. my experience is much more in the woodland/plains/tundra arena. (Which is another thing that bugs me on the survival shows, no one is truly an expert in worldwide survival)

I always have a minimum of 3 unique ways of starting fire. (And usually redundancies) Fire is life.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@robdoar, I'm no expert and even I know Bear Grylls does some really stupid stuff. I remember seeing an episode where he was in the desert and went into a deep well (without a rope) to get water. All I could think was "if I was dying of thirst, I wouldn't have the energy to do that, and if I had the energy, I wouldn't waste it trying to do something that stupid." I guess if the only way to survive was to get the water by getting into (and out of) the well all by myself, I'd choose dying in the sand rather than falling in, breaking some bones and then dying.

What do you think about Dual Survival? I think the first two seasons were entertaining as the overtly macho Dave and cautious Cody were a great pair. I liked Cody, because he did stuff the way I would, thinking carefully and not taking unnecessary risks.

The probability that I'll ever need wilderness survival skills is almost non-existent, so I just watch the shows and pick up a few useful ideas here and there. The way I see it is that if several different people in different shows tell the same thing, it probably works. For the more outrageous claims, there's always Google.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@TarjaS

I enjoyed Dual Survival. I was a big fan of Canterbury's videos before he was on DS. I've actually attended one of the Pathfinder schools. Dave's survival philosphy is close to my own.

Cody knows his stuff, but also does stupid stuff.

I respect his no shoes/no pants choice of lifestyle, but he repeatedly puts himself and his teammate at risk because of it.

Dave also did some guano crazy stuff like sealing a wound with blackpowder.

I lost a lot of respect for Dave after his lapse of integrity. But moreso because his YouTube videos have turned into infomercials for his products, rather than the "hardware store" survival stuff he used to do.

I think aside from Ray Mears, DS has some of the best basic skills instruction on TV.

But alas, entertainment still was more important to the show than accuracy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@robdoar, I really liked Ray Mears' Wild Food, which he made together with Gordon, the paleo-ethno-botanist. Ray is a pleasure to listen to and Gordon is your stereotypical absent-minded professor, who's a virtual encyclopedia of plant info. My main reason of going to forest (at least in autumn) is to go berry picking and mushroom gathering, so of course I liked that show best.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Speaking of berry picking and mushroom gathering - all of the tastiest autumn foods! Anyone doing pumpkins this month? Or grabbing some apples from the orchards? I'll definitely be grabbing some cider donuts and apple cider as soon as drive to upstate New York this weekend. ^^

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

@TattooedMac: Poor Elmo! And your photography skills are exceptional; it was clear even in that more static picture how much you care about your pup! You sound extremely enterprising and hard working. I admire your lengthy military service. What's your online business about? I'm all for supporting start up/small businesses where I can!

@Kessa I never did get back too you about this question, and a big thank you for the kind words as well. Im currently on a Military Pension, so i have been at home and i have taught myself iOS Developing as i had a idea one day, and not the $ to pay someone to do it for me, so I'm teaching myself.

I know enough to throw it together now and put it on the App Store, BUT i like to have things polished and if i could have done it better (which i can, by 500%) and i put it on the store, i would be pissed at myself, then my name would have a working half baked App on the App Store, and people will be wary next time i put one up.

But the other business we (myself and fiancé) have just finished building the websites, got our Blog set up, all the Social networking, and we are now working on the Marketing, and due to Intellectual Property, and everything is set up and LIVE and we have the proper licensing, i can't really say too much, just like i wouldn't tell you my App idea ;)

Nothing personal, and i know you understand. But once its Alive, we will be in a position within 12 months to buy a house cash, and then i can really get into my App development, where i will probably go back to school, because I'm struggling with Apple changing Xcode every other day, trying to keep up with their rules, and also the technology that Apple keeps adding to the iOS devices.

I like where i have gotten myself now, but i want to be better and if i can do that by correspondence then I'm going to be the best i can be, at something i love to do, and that is create, be it by code, or Paper by 53 or Procreate on my iPad Mini, or with my camera. I just want to keep learning, because once i stop, it will be the day i can't go on anymore :)

Well there you have it hehehehe

PS : How was the Cider and Donuts ?? Never heard of Cider Donuts before, but they sound divine but i do like a good Cider every once in a while. Its coming into summer here, so we are in Stone Fruit season very soon, and i have a Peach, Apricot and Plum tree out the back, but if I'm not quick, the kids on the way home from school get to them first. Makes me laugh that there is a metre wide area that is alway green because they can't lean over any further without Elmo scaring the shit out of them hahahaha

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.