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You can't really be ready for real life
I love people who think that just because they have gone camping for a weekend, and lived without walls and electricity for that time, this makes them "survivalists". It's very much like those people who own a gun or take a self-defense class and think they can survive a fight. By "fight" I mean a real fight. What they don't understand is that all these things do is provide you with confidence, they don't actually help when the shit hits the fan and that's not their purpose. The real purpose is so that you can swagger and boast when there is nothing going on and your "skills" haven't been tested. No amount of survival training can get you ready for the moment when you are truly alone and lost and nobody knows where you are, where there is no rescue coming, no hope on the horizon and you will in fact die if you don't keep your wits and do the necessary. Like kill and eat your wife.
Not even basic training in the military can ready you for the moment when you get shot at with live ammunition by somebody who intends to hit you. Nothing in life but the actual thing can prepare you for that. All the familiarity you have with your weapon, all the physical fitness goes out the door in that moment and the world changes. The nature of your life in the world changes the first time your life is truly on the line, you change in that moment and everything in your life is different, looks different feels different, is handled differently after that point.
You cannot train for life, no course of preparation can ready you completely for a particular situation seeing as it has never happened exactly in that way before, the closest thing you can find is the man who has faced something like it and survived. Every young soldier facing his first battle is, in effect, unprepared. The training is merely to get them to the point where they will show up for the fight. The fight itself can only be learned in the school of bitter experience.
Left in the real wilderness with only your weekend camping skills to survive on, maybe a few barely-remembered episodes of Man vs Wild, you will die. You will die a slow, painful death all alone in the dark because you drank the wrong water, or because the only thing you could find to eat was a bad idea, or because you tripped and fell and hit your head. The only prepared man is the man who has faced it before and come out alive, the only soldier is the man who has faced death at the hands of the enemy and adjusted emotionally and mentally to its nearness.
Cumbria floods: Pc Bill Barker died on eve of his birthday
via telegraph.co.uk
Pc Bill Barker, the traffic officer swept to his death in the Cumbrian floods, had been due to celebrate his 45th birthday with his young family this weekend. Just how every single day will be for the family from now onwards is just unimaginable.
His widow Hazel, 44, led the tributes to Pc Barker, saying:
"How do you put into words how you feel about somebody you are so proud of? Bill was my best friend, my forever friend and an amazing dad. Even when he was exhausted from work he would always take time out for the kids. I have the comfort of knowing Bill died doing the job he loved and the fact he was helping others is typical of Bill."
Rest in peace Bill.
Raw Video: Woman Falls in Front of Oncoming Train
via boingboing.net
I believe that every person has a wake-up call at one point in their lives. Whatever is going on in this woman's life at the moment, I guess this was her awakening moment, if she chooses to see it that way. I certainly do on her behalf.
Bless her!
12 Places To Go If The World Goes To H-E-L-L
which means you probably don't want to go to any of those places now.
Keeping my boy alive
Is it child abuse, or survival?
I came back from Ukraine with only my son, leaving wife and daughter behind (she doesn't trust me to look after two children). It's tough. I have to get him ready for school, make sure he gets his homework done, and most challenging of all: feed him.When we married, I was actually a better cook than my wife, since she had always eaten her own mother's cooking and couldn't do anything except boil water and fry potatoes in buckets of oil. Given her Soviet heritage, I didn't want her to even try. I was ready to become the family cook.
But in marriage, you get many surprises, some of them good. It turns out that she loves cooking, and is really good at it. When we lived in the States, she would get excited watching the Food Channel (I think this is why we had a second kid). She loved shopping at Whole Foods and learned to cook healthy, delicous meals. Whenever we ate something good in a restaurant, she would somehow manage to recreate it, with improvements.
As her skills grew, mine atrophied. I never even noticed, since when I'm living alone I just spend more time with friends in restaurants and bars. But I can't do that with a boy in the house. He has to do his homework and he doesn't like beer very much.Before our trip, my wife bought hundreds of chicken drumsticks and put them in the freezer to make sure there would be something for us to eat when we got back. Very thoughtful (except to the flock of chickens that had to die for her cause). For a while, that was fine, but soon we both got tired of drumsticks. So I took him to the supermarket. We came home with bread, spaghetti, canned food, eggs, and apples. Now he's learning to eat like a 22-year old right out of college. It's horrible, but he loves the change. And it should keep us alive until my wife gets back.
Skimble Halloween Survival Guide
The Halloween countdown continues and Skimble knows just what's racing through your mind! You're dying to know the answer to this pressing question:
How am I gonna survive Halloween?
Well, whether you're up in the mountains or creepy crawlin' around the city, these are the essentials for a unforgettably active Halloween:
1) Stay Hydrated
Go with a black Klean Kanteen or an orange REI Nalgene bottle and fill it with some Orange Gatorade Drink Mix!
2) Light up the Night
If you're partying in the bushes, be sure to bring your Halloween-worthy light source. Get the Princeton Tec Apex Extreme LED Headlamp or the Black Diamond Orbit Lantern. They're both super bright, black and orange...and amazing!
3) Keep out the Creeps
Wrap yourself in an Arc'Teryx Jacket such as the Men's Arc'Teryx Beta AR Jacket or Women's Arc'Teryx Epsilon SV Hoody Jacket.
These Arc'Teryx jackets will warm you up and make you look great on Halloween night. What's more is that they will definitely keep you performing up in the mountains!
4) Be the First-Aid
Now, are you or your buddies prone to Halloween mishaps? Come prepared to party and patch-up with this essential Adventure Medical UltraLight First-Aid Kit.
5) Regenerate with Treats
Try our favorites: Clif Kid Organic Spooky Smores ZBar, Clif Kid Organic Twisted Fruit, Clif Shot Bloks
6) Protect Yourself
We know how you roll so as the night progresses we recommend you take some extra precautionary measures: helmet, ice axe, and rescue rope
7) Pack it Up!
All these survival pieces will easily fit into the rugged Mountain Hardware Splitter Pack:
8) Kayak out of Trouble
Rumor has it that zombies and goblins loathe water. Paddle your way out of harms way in this:
9) Know What Shat That...
When you've finally found your way back on safe ground, stay alert and in the know...about what shat that:
And when you've figured out it's something grizzly...
10) Hug it out!? No, Spray it out.
Skimblers: be active, be safe and survive Halloween!
Ong´s: Survival hace campaña en favor de un pueblo de India
Noticia en The Guardian con vídeo: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2009/may/28/india-mining-dongria-kondh
(download)
Si puedes colaborar de alguna forma: http://www.survival.es
Recession survival strategies for small and medium businesses
I was honored to be part of GetConnected Magazine Spring 2009 Issue.
This issue helps you save money with green savvy practices (pg.16) hear from the technology companies making creative and agile decisions (pg.22) and get inspired by some of the big things happening in Canadian Telecoms (pg.28). Whatever industry you are in there is a technology you can employ to help you through the economic climate.
We were interviewed for one of the featured article: “Surviving and Thriving in the Downturn” by Steve Kim. The article looked at SME businesses who employed cost cutting measures to ensure survival during this downturn but also to set them up for growth. Read more…
During the downturn, one of the most effective measure is to get rid of your office lease but if you still the basic small business amenities to still grow your business then The Network Hubprovides some very attractive options. Shared office space or short-term lease rental which includes costs of all utilities, amenities such as fax, reception service, meeting room and mail receiving and more importantly, a predictable budget so there is no unpredictable extra cost. For those who found comfort in transitioning from office to their home office but don’t want to find clients at their door step, we offer downtown business address at $25 dollars a month.
In ending, the most memorable lesson from the article is that “the best offense is a strong defense”. Pick up a copy of the issue at your closest London Drugs location.
