The Mermaid said:
Well, she doesn’t choose the spot for her interviews – the producer and camera crew do. Yes, it looks like she hangs out there a lot, but so do the others. What else is there to do?
As far as her clothing choice, what did you expect? She’s in an area where it routinely gets over 100 degrees. Should she button up?!
(One person talking about this show noted that this is why you’ll never see a “Survivor: The Antarctic” – no swimsuits! 
)
Yeah, Mike looked a bit maniacal in the preview for the coming episode, covered with blood as he was. The rest of the team didn’t look all that thrilled. They’ll like the pig (or whatever he caught) when they eat it though.
Having lived in the Mojave Desert for 11 years, I spent a lot of my time in shorts and T-shirts. But I found that long pants and shirts are more practical. They keep the sun off. You need plenty of water so you can sweat. The ever-present wind evaporates it and cools the body. In short sleeves and pants, it seems to evaporate more quickly and you don’t get the cooling effect. I think that’s why we have pit-hair: It holds the moisture away from the skin and allows for a cooling layer.
As for there not being a lot to do besides lounging in the creek, they could make their camp more confortable. They could also be looking for things to eat. OTOH, the show is about bitching about the other players.
You know, I saw my first episode of this show (this season or last) on Thursday and this blew my mind as well.
So, the guy wants to fashion a crude spear out of some plastic shard and a stick and try to stab pigs with it. Why not let him? Hell, it’s not like I saw anyone else doing a damn thing except lying around in the river and whining a lot. If this guy wants to waste his day tramping through the underbrush looking for pigs, more power to him; at least he’s doing something quasi-productive.
Anyway, are these pigs or boars? In other words, do they have large menacing tusks and a fierce disposition or do they just run around and squeal a lot? I didn’t hear anyone say “You shouldn’t go out there with your crude spear because you’re going to wind up with a torn stomach from a boar attack, bleeding to death in the outback” rather than “You’re an idiot. Stop screwing around and lay under this tree like the rest of us. Bonehead.”
Johnny L.A. said:
It looks like it will almost certainly be a pig. Check out the picture on Survivor Fever (you have to page down once or twice) with Mike standing over a pig.
How long did it take you to find that, though? These are city folk thrown into the Outback.
Or you can lie around in the river and be surrounded by water. 
Jophiel said:
Well, not quite. He’s actually using their knife. Their only knife. That’s why there was some concern – that he might lose it.
Pigs.
That is an extremely lucid and valid comment.
I still can’t stand her and I still think she should button up.
Fair enough. Although I seem to recall him doing something with some chunk of broken plastic when constructing his spear. I assumed he was making a spear point out of it. Even if they’re worried about him losing their knife though, you’d think they could spend some time banging rocks together and making a stone spearhead instead of nixing the entire Kill A Pig program. For that matter, they could simply whittle down sticks to a point and fire harden them a la our caveman ancestors.
I will admit though, that it’s a lot easier to have all the answers from your living room than it is when you’re in the situation. Still, I read about fire hardening wooden speartips when I was about five in my picture books about the Ice Ages.
The Mermaid said:
Well, I can’t stand her either, and think she should button up her mouth. But she can keep the swimsuit. I mean, it shows off her only good qualities!
Jophiel: I, personally, see nothing wrong with him making the spear. The bitching and moaning came mostly from Jeff and Alicia, who, as one writer put it, are the two most likely to be pissed off about something at any given time. 
A boar is an adult male hog.
“Pig” generally refers to juveniles of the species, while “hog” is used for adults. However, in common usage, a lot of folks refer to adults as “pigs” as well.
“Wild boar” is also sometimes used to describe the wild hogs of Europe, the ancestors of most domestic hogs.
Domestic hogs released into the wild go feral quickly, and generally revert within a few generations to the behavioral characteristics and physical appearance of the ancestor species. (E.g., the “razorbacks” of the U.S. - descended from European domesticated hogs.)
In other words, if the hogs in Australia are descended from European domesticated hogs, then by this point they are likely indistinguishable from their ancestral “wild boars,” and would be every bit as dangerous.
I haven’t gotten a good look at the “pigs” on the Survivor show. It’s possible they might be Asian species or Asian hybrids, which would make them smaller and less dangerous than a pure European breed.
According to the Survivor II Field Guide (hey, I got it for free, okay?) –
*The contestants can, however, eat feral pigs. Brought to Australia by settlers a century ago, these non-indigenous porkers are the outback’s version of rats, ubiquitous and annoying. They tend to be black or dirty white (or spotted). They’ll charge if provoked. They have no manners and are unlikely to be domesticated. *[I guess that part was added in case players were thinking of making them pets?!]Food will have to be kept in trees or some other high place so the pigs don’t get it. Given the chance, they’ll nose around a campsite until they find and eat every last edible product. They have excellent senses of hearing and smell, but poor eyesight.
So, yes, they will charge, and they will tough to surprise, and it looks like they are European in origin.
It would be tough to sneak up on 'em. Hogs have one of the most highly developed senses of smell in the animal kingdom. Mike’ll have to stay downwind.
They tend to be tough to kill, too. Their skulls are extremely thick. In fact, it’s not unknown for a bullet to richochet off of a hog’s skull.
BTW- I didn’t mean for my earlier post to have a snotty-know-it-all tone. It’s just that I so seldom get a chance to show off my hog-knowledge.
Don’t worry – I didn’t think it sounded snotty.
It may be tough, but the available photos sure make it look like Mike is gonna kill a pig.
I’m going to be interested to see what they do with the pig. Most parts are edible, if not appetizing. Will they use them all, or throw away the nastier bits? Also, if they are wise, they’ll strip away the fat and cook it down into lard, to use for seasoning and bread making. Almost anything can be made palatable when seasoned with a little pork grease. Might even make that bark Kel was eating taste good.
My guess is that they won’t be so smart. They might think to use some of the less appetizing bits and the fat for fish bait, but that’s about it. Also, one of the members of their tribe, Kimmi, is a pseudo-vegetarian, so I don’t think she’d want rice laden with pork fat, or whatever, which would mean making two separate meals each time.
I can’t wait to see if Kimmi breaks down and eats meat when she’s starving. I’d love to see how well she handles watching everyone else chow down on some pork when she hasn’t had anything but rice for two weeks.
That, and waiting for Jerri to get the boot, is the only reason I’m still watching the show.
I don’t think she will break down. For one, according to her version of “vegetarianism,” it’s okay to eat fish (and worms, for that matter), so she isn’t only eating rice. For another, she was willing to cause the team to lose a challenge, which would have almost certainly meant she would be the next one voted off. I don’t see her giving in to temptation just because she’s hungry. In fact, she’ll probably be even more grossed out about the whole thing, if the clip from the next episode is any indicator.
Yeah, you’re right. I’m just so mad at her for almost ruining the challenge that I want to see her starve and be forced to “eat meat or die” just to prove a point (I don’t know what that point would be). Maybe I’m just evil.
For the reward challenge in the latest show, the contestants had to carry bags of water on a long pole that was held across their shoulders while they walked along a narrow walkway. Was anyone else screaming at the tv to place the bags near the ends of the pole, and not hear the person’s body? The reason tightrope walkers hold a long pole is that having weight far out along the moment arm makes the bar more stable, and you can walk a lot faster keeping your ballance if you carry it that way
Well, I’ll go along with the rest of the gang and agree that Jerri seems to be quite the bitch, and because of that, she’ll be around for a while.
I really like Mike’s chances. He is very athletic, and although his tribe wasn’t too thrilled with his prayer, I think they acknowledge that he is very very valuable to them. It appears that his killing the pig will upset some people, but in the end they’ll be grateful for the food.
As for Colby, hubba hubba! I’m rooting for him! Actually, he’s very athletic and seems to be a nice guy. However, the problem with the athletes is that you want them now, but once the tribes merge and individuals can win immunity, who was once good for your team is a now huge threat to you.
BTW, for those keeping score, I tape Survivor and watch Friends. I don’t work on Fridays, so I watch the tape first thing in the morning before having contact with the outside world.
I watch Survivor and tape Friends. I write episode summaries for the Web, and if I want them to be read, I need to get them out ASAP – that means by about an hour after the show is over!
Heck, I even tape CSI. I end up watching both of 'em on the weekend.
I tape Survivor and tape it for viewing later. I also tape Friends but I don’t watch it right away.
BTW, so who do we think is going this week? I’m really praying for Jerri, but I doubt it’ll be her. It’ll probably be someone from Kucha tribe and Rodger should be the one to go.