Regarding the question about being dropped in the wilderness, I achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, and I think I remember enough about maps and compasses that I could find my way to the nearest village. I said I would get there in two weeks, though, because I likely wouldn’t take the most direct route, and I’m admittedly not in the best shape so I’d probably walk slower than average. Since I know population centers generally have roads or railroad tracks or rivers or such that lead to them, I’d probably use the strategy of “I know if I walk in a generally easternly direction I’ll eventually reach a river. Once I get to the river I turn left and it will lead me to town.” That’s assuming it isn’t super rugged terrain, and the river isn’t at the bottom of a canyon or something like that.
Yeah, in Hawai’i, people usually don’t use compass directions. The two main directions are “mauka” (toward the mountains) and “makai” (toward the ocean).
Bacon + peanut butter sweets sound horrid.
I might be too. I expect I could figure out the compass and the maps, but I have no idea how to use a sextant.
I chose to believe that “a week away” means “a distance I could cover in a week, on the given terrain, in my current condition.” Which is going to be a whole lot closer than it would have been when I was in my 20’s. But I suspect the actual answer is ‘either within a week or two if I’m lucky, or never if I’m not.’
I’d probably throw a ball a couple of times at home, but no amount of practice would be likely to accomplish very much, so it wouldn’t be in the hope of not making a fool out of myself but just out of curiosity. And I’d probably think the situation was so weird that I have no idea whether I’d be nervous, or just dazed.
I think with a good compass I could find my way back, I don’t know if I am fit enough to do it in a week, but I’m going to count it.
I do also own a sextant (it was a retirement gift, long story) and I know in principle how do use it, but I really don’t know how to do all the adjustments like difference to sea level or some other things you have to adjust for that I’ve long since forgotten.
We were just discussing the peanut butter bacon shake today (among four adults, three of whom like peanut butter, bacon, and milkshakes) and we all agreed that we wish companies would get over this insane compulsion to put every kind of food together in one item. Not everything has to be peanut butter bacon salted caramel chocolate maple flavor! Also, in the horror over the shake, don’t miss the fact that they are also selling a peanut butter bacon cheeseburger, because Sonic hates all that is good on earth, apparently.
I said I’d stagger into town starving, but what would likely happen is that I’d believe I would make it right up until I passed out and the bear ate me.
The pitch? My shoulder hurts right now, and the most strenuous thing I’ve done today is move laundry from the washer to the dryer. I have enough trouble with my joints already; I’m not about to destroy one trying to throw a ball. I wouldn’t be scared, though. I’m fine in front of crowds, and if you made me get up there, I’d play it for laughs as I walked over and handed it to the catcher.
Peanut butter and bacon milkshake? No thanks, but I’d drink it as a beer.
In my day/hydration pack, I carry a good amount of survival gear. Assuming the temps were not much below freezing and I had water, I’d be okay for a week or so, altho the snacks and sandwich I bring wouldnt last long. I have an extra layer, a survival bivvy sleeping bag, etc. I do bring water, but if the temps were high, I’d be in trouble without water. I do carry a compass but without it I am good at locating the North star, and of course the sun sets in the West. But with all that gear, I’d have little issues with finding my way. But I am pretty old, I’d have to rest often.
The idea you can gather food in say- the cCA mountains and survive indefinitely is doubtful, unless you were in an area with lots of oak trees and acorns, Yeah, there are edible plants, but few make a full meal, maybe cattails. I mean miners lettuce is easy to spot and kinda tasty, but it aint much of a meal.
I’ve had bacon added to a peanut butter milkshake at Five Guys, but I normally have it without the bacon. I’ve never been to a Sonic, so I have no idea how their milkshakes compare. But I’m willing to try it.
I think Sonic is only in the U.S., so I probably won’t get an opportunity soon.
Heh, you said it better than i would have. Only it’s the south side of my house that faces east.
I, also, assumed that “a week away for someone in my condition covering this terrain.” Any i assumed i have appropriate gear for the weather. I have a terrible sense of direction, but i think I’d make it out. (But not efficiently.)
I think the question about imparting your belief system on your child is broken. Children are little sponges, trying to learn about the world, and their parents are one of their principle sources.
Parents aren’t the only source, and peers can have a stronger impact. And children also check against “the physical world”. But trying to raise a child without a belief system is like trying to raise a child without a language.
(Which, yeah, maybe with enormous effort or some abusive neglect, you can. But it’s not a realistic expectation.)
Yeah, I picked “other”—raise the child with its culture’s belief system, but feel free to mitigate that in other ways. It’s not all or nothing.
I was raised without religion, along with the idea that I’d choose for myself when I was older. Unsurprisingly, I grew up believing in God but fantastically ignorant about Christianity. I didn’t know the basics about Jesus until I heard Jesus Christ Superstar in high school, or that Jesus was supposed to be a god, too. I thought he was a demigod like Hercules.
Those Belgian waffles were good!
If we presume that I’m in a good position to raise a kid, then in that situation I’d adopt. Depending on other factors we might in one fashion or another try for a biological child of my partner’s (if I had no partner, then I personally would not be in a good position to raise a kid. I know there are others who can pull it off.)
There is no way a child I was raising wouldn’t get some sense of what my belief system is; and if I were part of a community of such people there’s no way that the child wouldn’t get a sense of that, either. I would be explicit about the beliefs – and I would also teach the child that other people have other beliefs; that many of them are also excellent people; and that the child when grown would make their own decisions on the matter, and could in some ways start doing so before they were grown.
You’d have to know how to prepare the acorns. I believe you have to leach them with a batch of water, but I don’t know the details.
Yeah, I was assuming that as well. And that ‘supplies for two weeks’ included some form of shelter – at least a tarp or emergency blanket, maybe a backpacking tent – and some water plus its containers and if applicable a water purifying device; and that there’s water a whole lot closer than a week’s hike away. I wouldn’t get any distance at all carrying two weeks’ worth of water.
I was however also assuming that my starting location, or the location of the town/village/hamlet, or both, are not marked on the maps. I hope this wilderness isn’t either flatlands or extremely steep, as either would pretty much destroy my chances – in the first case there’d be no indication of where to try for a starting direction (downhill, then follow the water, using the maps to try to find passable areas and the compass to avoid going in circles), in the second I’d almost certainly either take a bad fall or freeze in place for fear of doing so.
Some part of my mind is pleased with that hypothetical and wants to keep thinking about it. I think that part of my mind wants to actually try it. It’s thoroughly outvoted by the portions of my head which are 73 and know better.
I’m 60, but I had the same reaction. I was actually thinking it would be fun to take some kind of orienteering course.
Of course, if I knew that I was going to die in six months hooked up to stuff in a hospital –
if I did make it to where the town was in sight, I could always turn around and go in some other direction.
I can beat that, anecdotally.
When Desertwife and I were active in the Libertarian party the county we were members of, Santa Clara, hosted the state convention and we were both on the organizing committee. We decided to have two banquets, the larger, fancier one on Saturday and the smaller, more fun one on Friday.
One of the other members of the committee had been raised by, shall we say, free spirits. Among other thing they had both been fictionalized in Kerouac’s On the Road so I suppose the were Beats more than anything else. Anyway, we were wanting to have the banquet cost $19.95 but were having a tough time budgeting that and maintaining the profit margin we wanted. Somebody made a remark about serving loaves and fishes instead of chicken.
He hadn’t a clue why the rest of us were laughing.
Agreed!
Several leaches. You need either a basket, a canvas bag, or a pot.
Teaching kids about religion can help them navigate the real world, and it is in fact an interesting subject.
Teaching kids that the mythology of any given religion is actually real is where things get dicey, especially before their critical thinking skills have kicked in. “Child abuse” might be overstating things just a bit, but perhaps not by a lot.
Or, I suppose, an area on the edge of a stream; with enough water flow to wash away the toxins, but not enough (maybe with the aid of some rocks placed to enclose it) to wash away the acorns. (I looked it up – you don’t need hot water.)