Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with survival

What to bring to live in the woods?

assasinatdbeauty — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:05:34 -0800

Less obvious things to bring when going to live in the woods for a month or two? Next year i'll be going to live in the woods for one to two months, most likely in the north west of the united states. I wanted input on things to bring that i might not have thought of, i have the basics under control. I'll be there with another person but we don't want to rely on each other to bring things we didn't, we want to be essentially self sufficient. I'm looking to keep packing as light as possible, so i don't want to bring anything bulky or things that require a lot of time and construction.

Preparing for the Worst

netbros — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 04:43:30 -0800

What vegetables, fruits, fish and animals would be recommended for a self-sufficient survival farm? Whether it be climate change, energy shortage, economic collapse, or act of nature; there are many plausible reasons these days to consider alternatives to the western way of living. Perhaps people living in the communes of the 1960-70s were thinking ahead.

If you had a small, 10-20 acre family farm or slightly larger community property what vegetables would you plant, what fruit trees would you cultivate, what fish would you stock in the pond, and what farm animals would you raise to make your environment as self-sufficient as possible for your family and/or community in the face of a calamitous future? What considerations are required to care for all of this?

How do you cope with a crappy landlord?

Listener — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:57:33 -0800

I need help for coping with being a renter for a year. I just sold my house out of town and moved back to the Lower Mainland. Because I had no cellphone, it was hard to shop for a place when I was in town for a few days, and I think that`s why I ended up with something of a disappointing place, but anyway, how do I cope with it for the next year? We`ve already had problems, and we`ve only been here a couple days. We arrived well after 1st of month, but a bunch of things were not fixed -- a toilet that runs constantly, windows that do not lock at all or even shut properly, a fire alarm that is nonworking. Supposedly he`s coming tomorrow to do it, but he yelled at us and was horribly rude on the phone when we want to know when this will all get done. He said they were not essential, but I think the windows are essential security issue, even on 1.5 flights up.

He`s exaggerating, claiming we called him 13 times in a day, but we just called trying to reach him (no voicemail) because he said `Call any time.` Sheesh. There was no heat when we got here and by morning (with drafty windows) it was 60F in the place. So we called! Is it reasonable to have the heat off for the season already? He claimed they provide `reasonable heat`but he should have told us it`s off now and we wouldn`t have panicked. He lied, instead. It`s a rough start.

How do I let this go and feel okay in this place as my home for the next year? We made this change because we needed to move and we sold at a very good time, but don`t want to buy now. Renting sucks and I don`t know how to cope. Tips and resources are welcomed. I wish I could reframe this in my mind and feel okay going forward. Or maybe that`s not even the right thing to do.

The place has some good things -- southern exposure, fairly quiet, 850 a month for a huge one bedroom in Burnaby very near Boundary -- but it lacks a lot because I am not ready to pay more right now.

Mmmm, roast squirrel

hungrysquirrels — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:39:19 -0800

OutdoorSurvivalFilter: Why is it necessary to skin an animal before roasting over an open fire. Gutting I can understand. But let's say you've hunted something to stay alive. what's the minimal amount of work required to safely roast it on a pit stick.

/ignorant, and slightly drunk

Prepare for Peak Oil without looking like a nutjob?

UMDirector — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 07:01:12 -0800

Best way to mitigate effects of potential peak oil and global warming issues without looking like a nutjob? CYOA in a realistic manner? So I am trying to think of ways to cover my butt in case any Peak Oil or rapid Global Warming societal collapse issues come to pass. I tend to think society will figure out ways around much of this but it never hurts to prepare just in case...I wasn't too worried about Y2K but I did have about a weeks supplies just in case.

So what can I do to prepare but also benefit me in case nothing happens (for example I ate the food and drank the Y2K water)?

An example might be: Get one of those instant water heaters to lower your electrical costs in case the price of electricity goes way up...or get solar panels...or get the following camping books that would also serve you in case of complete societal breakdown...make sure your house has a fireplace...etc...

I should maybe note we are in the 'burbs south of Boston and will likely be having a home built in the next year so I will have a lot of options coming up to set up my life in the best way possible for such things....without my wife or friends thinking I am a nutjob!

What are some good books about life in captivity?

Telf — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:00:19 -0800

Help me find literature written about life in prisons, work camps, concentration camps etc. Can you guys please suggest some interesting works of fiction or nonfiction focusing mostly on life in prisons, prison camps, concentration camps, DP camps, refugee camps or any similar settings. Stories that take place in war ravaged occupied areas also fit the bill, think postwar Berlin etc. I'm finding myself very interested in this sort of thing recently.

I'm particularly interested in how people survive these situations. Profiles of people who managed to make it to the top of the ad hoc hierarchies of camp life are especially interesting to me. I'm also deeply interested in the bartering and general economies of camp life.

In no particular order, here are some works that I have read and either enjoyed have been deeply affected by:

King Rat by James Clavell. Historical Fiction. Story about life in Japanese-run POW camp in South East Asia. Profiles one low ranking American soldier who claws his way to the top.

Empire of the Sun by JG Ballard Semi autobiographical. Recounts the experiences of a wealthy British child living in a Japanese prison camp during WWII. Reveals lots deal making and bartering.

Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi. Autobiographical memoir about life in Auschwitz. Extremely honest, shows competition between prisoners.

Night by Elie Wiesel. Holocaust memoir. Perhaps more inspiring than many of the Holocaust memoirs.

The Captive Mind by Czeslaw Milosz. Has less emphasis on prison/camp life than other listed books, but does profile survivors of the camps and how they lived.

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Fiction but semi autobiographical. Account of life in Stalinist prison camp.

This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen by Tadeusz Borowski. Collection memories about concentration camp life.

Maus by Art Speigelman. Graphic Novel. Extremely powerful for a graphic novel. Depicts and contrasts the behavior of the author's father during and after life in a concentration camp.

If anyone could suggest more works in this vein, I'd really appreciate this. Bonus for providing a brief synopsis. Double bonus if you can provided some varied time periods/locations of such life.

Thanks.

Abandoned souls and the last taboo. Good readin'!

TochterAusElysium — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 17:45:28 -0800

Dan Simmons' amazing book, The Terror, has me now longing for more survival/failure to survive stories. What can you recommend? I saw the threads about books to aid in survival, but I'm looking for books about people surviving great difficulty or threat, or perhaps not surviving, and having to resort to cannibalism and other extremes near the end of their ordeal. Fiction or non-fiction.

I have read these, enjoyed them, and want more like them:

Alive (the story of the Andes survivors)
Into The Wild
Life of Pi
In The Heart of the Sea
The Wreck of the Medusa
Ordeal by Hunger (story of the Donner Party)
The Road

Help me survive the coming apocalypse!

incomple — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:42:47 -0800

I'm looking for a program (in NYC, ideally) that will help me survive the coming apocalypse. I'd like to learn a wide set of survival skills (how to make water potable, first aid, self defense, scrounging/farming food, making clothes and shelter, etc.) that will help me and my loved ones escape Manhattan in a crisis situation, and then survive in the Thunderdome world that lies beyond.

Any program that incorporates swimming skills, weapons training, and so forth would be a huge plus as well (or any recommendations for practical weapons training, or swimming lessons for adults, would also be appreciated).

I'm also up for programs outside of NYC (but still ideally in the general vicinity), provided that it's just an intensive few days. Thanks for any recommendations.

All You Need Is Blood...Blood Is All You Need?

duckierose — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 10:48:07 -0800

[family squabble filter]: My brother is convinced that a human could survive by consuming nothing but blood from other humans. I want to prove him wrong without actually testing his theory. My brother and I tend to argue. A lot. And I tend to be right. Once he was convinced he had disproved the Monty Hall Problem in five minutes, because "it had to be 50%."

Anyway, his current hypothesis is that a human being could survive by consuming nothing but human blood. He thinks that since blood carries all the important things a body needs to survive throughout the body, then it must contain every thing the body needs. So, according to him, all the nutrients, vitamins, etc, a body would need could be found in blood.

I know he's wrong, but my scientific knowledge is limited to playing with corn starch and water. So, I don't have the skills needed to, once again, prove him wrong.

So, I ask of you: is there anything a human would need to survive that could not be acquired by drinking blood? Alternatively, is there anything you could overdose on if you were to consume nothing but blood? Or is my brother, for once, correct?

Asteroid hit.

spacefire — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 06:24:11 -0800

Would we get enough warning to get out of the way if a big asteroid is bound to hit Earth? How big does an asteroid have to be to be visible for an extended period before it enters atmosphere?

Has there ever been a group of slaves shipwrecked (a la Castaway)

nameless.k — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:31:01 -0800

I remember coming across a historical account of a Dutch slave ship being shipwrecked on a tiny island, and the survivors living for many years. Sound familiar? I've exhausted my energies on Google and I'm not sure if this was an actual occurrence or if it was fictional. The jist of it was that about a dozen individuals (Dutch slave traders and their slaves) were stuck on a very small island with scant resources and some of them survived for many years (maybe as many as ten?). I believe another boat may have come by and rescued some of them (leaving slaves behind). Any idea what I might be talking about or where I might be able to find information on it? Thanks!

Would the internet survive Armageddon?

szechuan — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 19:24:50 -0800

Would the internet survive Armageddon? For the purposes of a work of fiction, I am trying to ascertain what likely forms of communication would be available after an apocalyptic event (full scale nuclear war, some sort of pathogen that results in massive depopulation etc). All internet history notes that it was designed to survive, but is this only in the context of dedicated machines in government bunkers?

Obvious impediments would be EMP damage to computers, lack of electricity, general unavailability of ISPs. But if you can power your laptop on your bicycle, and you have the right equipment, will the internet still be available after the end of the world?

Tell me about the downside of drinking directly from a camels hump

tellurian — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 11:13:22 -0800

People drank from a rumen. Although no-one died, is it really okay? In the buff morning light, Riley saw a native boy plunge his head into the camels gaping rumen and drink. Hamet seeing Riley's interest, told him to remove the boy and take his place. Riley scooped the nauseating cavity with a bowl and poured the ropy green fluid down his throat. What he swallowed could not have been more refreshing had it been the spring water he once dreamed of turning into a spa. "Though its taste was exceedingly strong," he later wrote with his usual equanimity, "yet it was not salt, and it allayed my thirst". Skeletons on the Zahara: A True Story of Survival

Help me eat without a kitchen

jontyjago — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 08:34:29 -0800

Due to works in my flat I will not have a kitchen for the next couple of months. What can i keep in stock which is easy to prepare and can be stored without refrigeration? I will basically have very limited access to a fridge or cooker for the whole time. I have a kettle, but the whole packet noodles thing would get old very quickly. I have plenty of supermarkets and takeaways near me but would like to stock up on things that are edible as bought, and don't require a great deal of preparation, as any washing up will have to done in the bathroom.

I'm thinking along the lines of ready made salads and bread and can obviously buy chilled things on the day and eat them as soon as i get back home, but is there anything else you can think of?

"You walk in to the restaurant, all strung out from the road..."

Slam I Am — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:05:33 -0800

What survival tips for health and sanity would you give to someone going on an ad-hoc two-week road trip with five others on a tight budget and involving a lot of couch surfing? I'd like it all to be unforgettable in the good way. Tell me everything you think I need to know.

This could include, but isn't limited to, best things to bring for getting a comfortable sleep on someone's floor (air mattress? foam? secret ninja trick?), best way to keep the immune system tweaked without pharmaceuticals (I get sick easily), best way to stay alert without relying on coffee and sugar, best way to pack light but still get sustenance without dropping a ten at every diner we pass, best way to not want to kill my companions (I don't know any of them terribly well), best way to deal with a lot of strangers in rapid succession, etc., etc.

What makes a trip like this more enjoyable and valuable? What have you done right on past trips? What have you done wrong? What would you bring? What wouldn't you?

Individual's survival without a society?

philomathoholic — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 22:44:09 -0800

Which books (or movies) have a similar survivalism theme as 'I am Legend' by Richard Matheson? The specific theme I'm looking for: one person, fighting to hold on to their sanity without the support of any other people. Not necessarily postapocalyptic, just a person struggling to maintain their humanity despite limited/no other human contact.

upwardly mobile hobo?

longbaugh — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 05:00:29 -0800

What sort of gear would you recommend for someone who wants to try living out in the open air for 6-12 months? It costs to much to be a single person renting a property right now - I work full time and still cant cover basic bills and expenses. How can I leave the world of home-living behind? I was genuinely interested in seeing if it is possible to live without rent/mortgage, phone, gas and electric, council tax etc. Could someone carry all they needed on their back and live under the stars for six months to a year?

Imagine not having to pay for any bills save for a cellular phone, post office box and that's it. You can still work and get paid and even visit a gym for exercise/cleanliness etc. The necessary monthly expenses will probably come to less than 15-20% of my salary as opposed to the current >95%.

What sort of equipment would you suggest/recommend? It's the UK, it's not exactly warm and it's got to all be portable. Internet access is required via wifi cafes etc. I'm reasonably fit and not afraid of sleeping in a tent in the wild since we're not exactly inundated with dangerous wildlife here.

It's a thought experiment right now but if it can help me out financially then it's cool. Plus, when it's over and done I can maybe write a book about the experience and then retire to a nice warm apartment somewhere.

Survival/first-aid/woodscraft webpages?

Orb2069 — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 07:38:28 -0800

I'm making up a shelter/survival kit - Now that I've got the Laser Printer hooked up, can anybody reccomend web pages I should print out and pack along? An example of the sort of thing I'm looking for is the Tarp Shelters FAQ - First-aid, hunting/trapping, build-your-own-boat, makeshift NBCWarfare procedures, McGuyver-esque survivalism stuff - Solutions to the 2% of problems that having a few days food/water and a change of clothes won't handle. If nothing else, it'd be fun reading while waiting in the shelter or maybe useful as tinder to get a fire started.

Living in a Kevin Costner Sci-Fi Movie

Telf — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 13:42:58 -0800

Where should I move in order to maximize my chances of surviving the apocalypse? Ok, I'm not actually anticipating The Rapture or anything. I've just been reading too much James Howard Kunstler and peak oil stuff.

Based on a few older AskMeFi posts, I spent most of my summer reading old post apocalyptic fiction books and self sufficiency manuals.

I'm not saying that I really buy all these worst case scenarios, but just in case....

I figure that American suburbs with their huge dependence on petroleum products and imported goods will be one of the worst places to reside in.

Let's also assume that global warming is real and that water levels have raised to the most pessimistic projections.

Should I join a commune? Is Europe a better bet? Should I hole up in a third world country? Some place like Brazil that produces its own Ethanol? What are some factors to consider?

I'm mainly interested in environmental scenarios, not so much in being left behind while everyone else is ascending to heaven.

How long can humans last without water?

Amizu — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 05:28:43 -0800

How long can a reasonably healthy human survive without water? I'm trying to find credible, reliable sources that tell me the maximum amount of time a person can survive without any hydration whatsoever. I realize this varies person to person and depends on factors like heat, shelter, etc., but I'm looking for the maximum. Assuming no real medical treatment will follow the experience.

What's the simplest, cheapest yet most complete diet available?

6am — Tue, 02 May 2006 16:57:38 -0800

What's the simplest, cheapest yet most complete diet available? Being the creative type I tend to exhaust my energies working on projects leaving little time to prepare food, and little money to afford it. I often end up eating junk because it's more convenient, but it adds up. So I wanna break the habit, but I can't be doing with buying masses of ingredients that I might only use once to make one dish.

I read "Passport to Survival", which says you could get by on Wheat, Honey, Salt & Powdered Milk alone. I like the idea of that, but I think I could afford to get a few extra ingredients...

Go hive mind, go!

Pre-Apocalypse Living In A Post-Apocalypse World

cyrusdogstar — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 08:59:52 -0800

Ways to maximize one's chances of survival, or even to regain some mere semblance of pre-disaster developed-world lifestyle, after an apocalyptic event? Apologies for any incoherence, and for any overlap with previous questions. I searched for a handful of words/tags and found nothing that really matched.

I was thinking about the average post-apocalyptic scenario, and how the authors of such usually present the world and how society and technology exist afterwards.

The stories taking place long after the event show a feudal/medieval society where the old world technology exists only in a few artifacts (e.g. Fred Saberhagen's Empire of the East). The ones closer to the event show people still trying to use remaining scrap, such as fighting over existing resources required to run technology, like gas for vehicles (e.g. Road Warrior).

The main reasoning behind these scenarios appears to be: current technology depends on the entirety of civilization, and could not exist outside it. For example, take a machine gun--even if you had blueprints for one, you'd still need raw materials, mining abilities, the machinery for both of those, electricity and its infrastructure, and so on and so forth.

So, given that any sufficiently "modern" piece of equipment requires a pyramid of now-mostly-destroyed technology, I wonder: just what could a sufficiently driven individual or group accomplish post-apocalypse? Consider it fairly open-ended w/r/t timeline and amount of left-over pre-apocalypse tech (within reason).

Inexpensive survival gear website for Canadians?

rinkjustice — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 02:00:45 -0800

I'm looking for wholesale water purification tablets online... for Canada... cheap... and with inexpensive shipping... I'm also looking for other survival knickknackeries appropriate for a 72 hour kit. Again, it has to be either a Canadian operation or with reasonable (read:dirt cheap) shipping charges.

Thanks to all you wonderful MetaFilter readers in advance!

Why consciousness??

0bvious — Wed, 25 Jan 2006 07:43:06 -0800

Why did consciousness evolve? I was inspired by this quote of Kurt Vonnegut's:

"I was taught that the human brain was the crowning glory of evolution so far, but I think it’s a very poor scheme for survival."

I think Vonnegut's comment extends to the realm of consciousness in general. Why did evolution happen to move in the direction of conscious reflexion when there are surely simpler, more efficicent ways to aid an organism's survival?

Expansive answers more than welcome...