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

Didn't want to tag this to the actual "squirrels" entry (which is excellent, btw ), but... I was taught number 1 priority in survival situations is water. You can go days or weeks out in the open without shelter, food or fire, but depending on the temperature and humidity you can die for lack of water in anything from 48 to less than 2 hours. A secure water supply has to be your first priority, otherwise your shelter is just something you can comfortably die of thirst in...

H.

I was taught that shelter was, followed by water. You can die in far less that that of exposure (in some conditions, 30 minutes) and shelter has great psychological benefits.


It was the first thing we were taught when we went to an ancient technologies camp run by one of Tom Brown's pupils.

I've been wondering whether to include his website:

http://www.trackerschool.com/.

Tell me what you think, Hoo!

Cool site. Looks kinda like an American Ray Mears...

[Broken link removed by Moderator]

Water/shelter - shelter/water. I suppose it depends on environment. Always remember the story of the German couple who broke down about 30 minutes out from an oasis in, I think, the Sahara. She stayed with the car (so I suppose, shelter already sorted...), he walked back to get help. Unlike almost every other version of this story in every other similar situation, the walker lived - they were only a few miles from help, and he knew exactly where to go. Several hours later he returned, and she was still sitting in the car. Dessicated.

On the other hand... good point re: exposure. How come you went on a course like that then?

H.

Oh, pity about the broken link. I think Ray Mears is wonderful.

I'd been wanting to do their wilderness philosophy course for some while, however, with a youngster, it wasn't that easy. Then I spotted they had a children's course, so we went. We had the four survival priorities drummed into us from the beginning, then we did stuff like shelter building, water finding, fire-making, song lines (an aural way of remembering), east/west line and south finding, stalking, tracking (which we ducked out of to to flint-knapping - my then five year old's favourite), food finding and learning to walk in a straight line. I can remember most of it really well, except the food finding (although I do remember that you can make flour out of the bark of an oak tree!).

How about you?

BTW, you remember I took a picture of you and your partner at the meet? It came out really well. I've not the facility to scan it in yet, however.

http://www.raymears.com/index.cfm

OK, that link works, I just checked it.

Me? Never done anything other than very basic army-type survival, which tends to assume that (a) you've got a ration pack, (b) you're carrying the makings of a shelter and (c) if someone finds you, you've got problems. Hence the emphasis on water...

I didn't remember that photo, actually... mind you, I expect HB and me are now on quite a few photos around the country, prompting many a puzzled frown and "HOO did you say that was? Oh, I expected someone taller/shorter/fatter/thinner/older/younger. And what on earth is *she* doing with *him*? She can do better than that, surely!"

H.

Hi Hoo!

I particularly remember Ray Mears telling the story of a couple who grounded their car in the outback in Australia. He stayed with the car. She took some water (but not enough) and died trying to find help. He was found safe some while later. The heat had disoriented her and she wasn't able to go as quickly as she had imagined.

Your story of the people in the desert sounds horrid. I know what it's like in a car here in full sun, most unpleasant. I wonder whether covering the windows to shut out the sun (and sand) may have helped to conserve body moisture.

In a survival situation, you want to be found, although the advice to children is to shout, but hide until you're sure of who has found you and be wary of lone males. Sad isn't it that people would take advantage of lost and frightened children, but it happens.

Yes, you were different to what I had imagined and that is one of the joys of these meets, being surprised. I really enjoyed meeting you, BTW, and no, I didn't think that!

Some people thought I was going to be a bloke!

"you were different to what I had imagined" - which begs the question, what did you imagine???

Gnomon observed that in the flesh I was a lot more reasonable and a lot less geeky than he expected... For some reason my immediate thought on meeting you was literally "expecting someone taller"!

Age was a surprise in a few cases too - Smiley Ben turned out to be a good deal younger than I thought, as did KerrAvon (and let's not even TALK about Caper Plip, who I'd pictured as about 30 for some reason and who didn't turn up because she turns out to close to half that!), Jimster turned out to be EXACTLY as geeky as I imagined (and proud of it!) and there were one or two other slight surprises. What surprised me more than anything, I think, was the relative LACK of surprises. In quite a lot of cases, I met people and thought "so you're [insert ID here] - yes, that fits perfectly".

So, what were you expecting?
(my answer re: you would be taller, longer hair, probably more pierced. No idea why.)

H.

Yes, it's funny isn't it comparing the reality with the imagination.

I imagined you as shorter and thinner, longer hair and less handsome . In fairness, though, I'd come across you on-line less often than some of the others, so I can be excused. My most recent memories of you had been 'How to comment in Peer Review'.

KerrAvon was a little younger and taller than I expected. Gnomon - I'd no real picture and he was a nice surprise - his on-line persona is rather drier than he was. Azara was *exactly* as I pictured her. agcBen was a little older than I expected (I think).

Someone I had no image of was GTBacchus, who has edited a couple of my entries and he was such a suprise. So easy to talk to - and he'd come such a long way!

What did HB think of it all?

"I imagined you as shorter and thinner, longer hair and less handsome ."

So, not the scrawny, ugly little hippy you were expecting!

"My most recent memories of you had been 'How to comment in Peer Review'."

Not my most representative entry, but then, what is?

"Someone I had no image of was GTBacchus, ...easy to talk to - and he'd come such a long way!"

Definitely. He was actually quite a lot like I'd pictured him - I've read a lot of what he's written about his adventures in Africa, and he comes across strongly in that as a very laid back, easy to talk to person - and meeting him completely confirmed that.

"What did HB think of it all?"

Similar thoughts to myself really - weirded out a bit by the concept (room full of complete strangers we'd never met, who paradoxically we knew a great deal about - although less so in her case, natch - and in some cases more than some of our RL friends), pleasantly surprised by how friendly the whole thing was and how easy everyone was to talk to, and confused by the quiz. But then, wasn't everyone?

H.

Not uglier, plainer (there is a difference).

This was my second ever meet, so I'd met a couple of people before, although the only one I felt I knew well that I'd met before was Bossel. Previously, he was someone I didn't know what to expect, apart from the fact that his English is amazing and that he has a sense of humour.

No, I'm sure the 'What to expect in PR' entry wasn't typical. You were piqued when you originally wrote it, obviously.

I'm fairly certain that I've read some of GTB's African stuff. A long time ago, I went to Kenya and Tanzania. I wonder if he wrote the completely brilliant entry on climbing Kilimanjaro to see.
No, that was someone else. I must go and say hello to GTB again.

The quiz - my team almost won it, but we lost out in the tie-break. I heard the question and couldn't answer it, the rest of the team didn't hear it, and could have. Such is life.

At the Winter meet, my team were doing reasonably well, until it came to the round about what the italics had for Christmas. We didn't get any points on that one. Don't ask!