h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Outdoor Survival - A4055410
Author: Erik_Nelson - U1552428

I know it's a bit of a serious piece, but I wanted to make an actual, somewhat helpful addition, the first time through. If I've forgotten something glaring, please note so and I'll be happy to add it in. If you just disagree with my opinion on wilderness survival, thanks, and I'll consider thinking about it.

Before anything else I'd consider changing the title... "How to survive the aftermath of a Plane Crash" would probably be more appropriate.

Good stuff.

I agree with Whisky though. I would suggest either changing the title or adding an intro paragraph about what kind of situations this advice is aimed at.

There are a few spelling and grammar things (there always are) and you might want to tweak the GuideML. You've got a couple of double spacing problems and you could use a tag for the 'Part II' bit. I'm sure far more experienced people will be along presently with more precise corrections.

All in all, great start. Keep at it, I think you're on to a winner here.

I like where this is going ... a few typos ("gangrenous" being misspelled leapt out at me), but other than that I only have one big question: what if you are in the desert? Water, food, fuel for a fire would all be in very short supply - or at least, so it would appear. Perhaps a bit more research into location-specific cases?

- JD

Very nice little entry. I was going to say it would be nice to put in a few links to some other entries...perhaps on how to build a lean to, or proper snow compacting techniques for building an igloo...but I noticed that there aren't really any good entries for these things out there. wink wink (come on...there has to be a boy scout around here somewhere...)

hehe...just my two pennies. Nice otherwise...

I think this has the potential to be built into a series of Entries. Have you thought about extending it in this way? This Entry is pretty good, but it is very brief and each topic could be expanded on in many ways (I personally know of three reliable ways for starting a fire without matches/lighter, and at least three methods of building a shelter, for instance). You are obviously very knowledgeable on the subject, and not to share the full extent of your knowledge would seem a bit of a shame.

B

I may do that, then. If anyone can help me with the code, especially with linked references to pictures, I'd like to try and put the rest of the information in here, over time. This entry is meant to be a very general guide to surviving most kinds of wilderness emergencies. If people think it would be useful, though, I'll go through and start adding in some useful information on alternative climes.

I'm pretty sure I spelt 'gangrenous' correctly. There an alternate spelling I'm not aware of?

The code is dead easy, really, even for the strictest anti-geek. I think A187355 should tell you everything you need to know.

B

I found it an interesting entry too. I think it needs to be split into at least two entries though - one for plane crash type situations, and one for getting lost type situations. The first half of the entry is much more specific to accident/emergency type situations and I think it'd be clearer if you focussed on that.


Who is Owen Wilson? Maybe add a footnote.


>>Avoid onion-like tubers, red and white berries, and anything that you don't see a variety of animals eating.<<

Is this specific to where you live? It doesn't really make that much sense for where I live. Keep in mind you have an international audience.


Alot of the things you discuss need to be practiced *before* one is in an emergency. Maybe you could add a comment about that, or a list of things to try out.


Don't panic! Yes very good advice, but the reality is that people in emergencies do have acute body responses that can make clear considered thinking difficult. Can you add some suggestions for how not to panic?


good stuff,
kea.

This isn't just for a plane crash. It applies equally to -any- situation, even a natural disaster in your own hometown. I may remove some of the references to plane crashes in order to help people keep more focused on the task at hand. As for the berries and tuber rules, if you know that something is edible, then by all means eat it. But the main rule that I was taught and have told everyone I've ever instructed is that if you aren't sure, -stay away-. There are several kinds of small berries in the Northwestern US for example that may look good to eat, but can cause severe intestinal cramping and even mild poisoning. I may clarifiy edible plants however in a future post, but only if I can add pictures. It doesn't work to just describe them, unfortunately.

Hello yet again Erik,

You write very comprehensively on outdoor survival in all your articles.
Some do overlap in their content, but often necessarily. Especially this piece which is general survival in almost any circumstances, so you need to mention fire building, shelter making, etc., for those who do not read your other pieces that contain these procedures. They are all sound 'common sense' in one respect, but it is amazing how one loses such common sense in an emergency situation and can 'go to pieces'. Your writing style is good in that it is 'visual' in its appeal, and one can envisage themselves adopting your techniques in an imaginary landscape.

scr

I appreciate the feedback. The reason that I wanted to make this as sparse as possible is because if I don't keep these segregated in terms of content, they'll run together into one very long article that will become impossible to wade through. You can't learn all the procedures for wilderness survival from even just one book. You need to practice them and look at a number of alternate methods at a time. This is intended to give you a rough outline of survival methodology, not the techniques included. Thanks for the advice, though.

Just to forestall furthur comments, I want to point out that this is in no way a substitute for learning these techniques on your own. I've spent a lot of time out in the boonies myself, and have had training from some of the best survivalists in the world. Lessons alone are not good enough. I had to go out and actually apply their work in a real environment before I got the hang of it. This is to give you a rough idea of what to do in these kinds of situations, but you still need to practice them accordingly. Besides, what kind of traveller are you that you don't always have a copy of the guide handy, hmm?

This is a good, well written, entry. I've got just a couple of minor corrections.

Don't panic, Step 1

"fracturs" ---> fractures

The survival section has two step 2s and no step 3

Also, the first step 2 includes a link to your entry on Emergency Firestarting, which isn't in the edited guide yet. That's a no-no because, when it gets picked, it will be assigned a new A number, which is why the guidelines say to link only to edited entries. That same link is included at the end of the entry.

It's possible that, once this entry and the Emergency Firestarting entry have both been selected, the subeditor can insert the correct link. Ideally, they'd hit the front page at about the same time.

Survival, Step 4

"Be careful to ration food, if you don’t have much. It has to last you, but remember: you can survive without for almost 2 weeks."

"and for an average person one can live for about two weeks without food at all."

There should probably only be one mention of the two-week timetable. If you use the second one, I'd suggest rewording it wo something like "and an average person can live..."

Is Erik still with us? This, like the others, is a fun but useful entry.

Nope, he was here for 3 days in May, but doesn't appear to have returned since then.

I do think this one is close enough to be picked -- and as it will need a bit of extra sub polishing, I'll gladly volunteer to be the sub should the pick be approved.


Mikey

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've therefore moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

If you'd like to know what happens now, check out the page on 'What Happens after your Entry has been Recommended?' at EditedGuide-Process. We hope this explains everything.

Thanks for contributing to the Edited Guide!