6 any part of the car
Any three poles you can rip out of the car, so you can pitch a crude tent using the blanket.
5 first-aid kit
Just in case.
13 sunglasses
It’s good to see. Though you should do your traveling at night.
15 AM-FM radio
Good for what?
4 jar of Tang
If all else fails you can eat it (yeck).
14 lipstick
Write a message on the car in case anyone finds it. Then leave it there.
3 four Hershey bars
Food. Hunting isn’t easy.
1 blanket
Cover yourself while you sleep during the day. Travel at night. 50 miles off the road? Jeez. That’s a 10 day trip.
8 map of the area
Good job. Even with it you only travel in one direction. But still, it could help.
9 slingshot
For fun.
7 box of matches
Light a signal fire every day while you sleep.
2 pair of boots
Long walking. Need boots.
10 silk scarf
I suppose it could get cold at night, but you’ll be walking.
11 Coleman lantern
I suppose you might need it, but it’d do more harm than good, really. You need to be able to see as much as possible, but this’d limit it to seeing well a short distance.
12 ten metres of nylon rope
Can’t see much use in it, except making a sack out of the blanket with.
You can go without water for that long if you’re in comfortable temperatures, out of the direct sunlight, and taking it easy. Hiking 25 miles a day in 40 Celcius desert without water? Fahgettaboutit. Some more thoughts: What’s in the first-aid kit? It might have several useful things in it: Sunscreen, for starters (my Army Surplus kit I had for ages came with a can of SPF 100), which is obviously useful. Also, it might have potentially potable liquids in it… Take a pint of peroxide, leave it out in the sun with the cap off, and you’ve got a pint of water. Finally, sedatives of some sort might be useful for reducing water/food needs while you’re waiting for rescue (assuming that you do wait). as for the radio, the Professor couldn’t do it, but the Skipper could, from his Navy training… I forget what went wrong in that episode. Of course, a transmitter takes more power than a receiver, but the car battery should be enough to let you send a good signal to someone looking for you. You wouldn’t be able to get voice (no real microphone), but all you need is …—… I’m pretty sure I could do it, if need be. Of course, if you don’t know how, then it drops considerably lower on the list.
50 miles is a 10 day trip? I’ve done 40 miles in 10 1/2 hours.
Granted, that was under somewhat better conditions, but even allowing for your rate to be cut down to half or even a fourth, it’s still only a 2 day endeavour. now if you decided to * crawl * the whole way, it might take you ten days…
That’s why I said travel at night, and find a catus or something to suck on. Sure it might be toxic, but the odds are a lot lower than the odds of whatever you drain outta your car being toxic.
You are a member of a space crew which has landed on the moon under an emergency procedure. You can be saved by reaching ther endezvous point 100 miles away.
(the rules are the same as before – rank the items from 1 to 15 and decide what, if any, you can leave behind)
box of matches
food concentrate
50 feet of nylon rope
parachute silk
portable heating unit
two .45-calibre pistols
one case of dehydrated pet milk
two 100lb tanks of oxygen
stellar map
life raft
magnetic compass
5 gallons of water
signal flares
first aid kit
solar-powered FM transmitter/receiver
The other one: you are adrift on a private yacht in the South Pacific. As a consequence of a fire of unknown origin, much of the yacht and its contents have been destroyed. The yacht is now slowly sinking. Your location is uncertain because of the destruction of critical navigation equipment and because you were distracted in fighting the fire. Your best estimate is that you are approximately 1,000 miles SW of the nearest land.
You start with the following: one rubber life raft with oars; one pack of cigarettes; several books of matches; five one-dollar bills.
On the Moon, I assume you have a pressure suit? And is it day or night, and the near or far side? I can’t even begin to make a list without knowing that. Also, the oxy tanks… Are they 100 lbs each (270 kg), or 45 kg (100 Earth pounds)?
In the South Pacific:
[list=1][li]Sheet of plastic for a sun shade, although 4’ x 5’ is pretty small[/li][li]Fresh water[/li][li]C-rations-- Should be enough food, no need to risk not catching any fish.[/li][li]Sextant and[/li][li]Maps, but only if you know how to use the sextant.[/li][li]Rum, for bartering with when I reach shore. (also the cigs and money)[/li][li]Mirror, for signalling.[/li][li]Chocolate, more bartering.[/li][li]Oil-gas, signalling again.[/li][li]Radio-- I probably don’t have enough power here to try to transmit, but I can use it to find civilization, like BratMan said.[/li][li]Rope-- I’m not sure what I’d use a measly 15’ for, unless to tie down the tarp.[/li][li]Seat cushion-- To sit on. If I’ve got a raft, I’m not going to use it as a float.[/li][li]Fishing kit-- My C-rats will last longer than my water, anyway. No need.[/li][li]Mosquito netting-- Any flies in the middle of the Pacific? I don’t think so.[/li]Shark repellent-- We’ve got an understanding: I stay out of the water, they stay out of the raft. Simple.
Chronos - I did these as part of an interpersonal skills / group-working course. The instructor refused to clarify any vague details, just to see how we reacted and what assumptions we could agree on. IIRC, we assumed that we had functional pressure suits like the current technologies.
box of matches–useless–you gonna start a fire (I guess youcould burn w/ the O2 tanks, but they might be good for breathing
food concentrate–ummm, yes. #6
50 feet of nylon rope–I suppose there could be a use for this, but you’re on the frickin * moon; * what are you going to do, use it to string up your food so the bears don’t get it?
parachute silk–might have a use, though I can’t think of what
portable heating unit–ummm, yeah, it gets pretty fricking cold #5
two .45-calibre pistols–so you can be a yahoo and shoot em off into the air? Or are you going to kill space-bunnies for food?
one case of dehydrated pet milk–ok, good #8
two 100lb tanks of oxygen–hmm, I think I’ll leave thses behind and just breathe the atmosphere. #1
stellar map–well, that could be usefull. #7
life raft–for the raging moon seas?
magnetic compass–not sure it would work so well on the moon
5 gallons of water–a wee bit important #3
signal flares–you betcha #4
first aid kit–yeah #6
solar-powered FM transmitter/receiver–you just might want to have this along #2
You’re female? You mean Satan isn’t female? Does this mean heatherlee isn’t male? Jeez, now I’m completely confused.
For the desert one:
Water is much more important than food, and chocolate makes me thirsty (especially if it’s dark). The map probably won’t be all that useful; you can just follow the tire tracks back. Waiting for rescue seems pretty silly; how long do you think it will take for people notice you’re gone? Probably at least a week. Besides which, if help does come, there isn’t any need to signal; once they find your car, it’ll be pretty easy to find you. For the “lost at sea” one, signaling is important, because they have thousands of square miles to search. But in the desert one, there isn’t much ground to cover. I suppose that you might want to set fire to your car just before leaving. I don’t think that starting a fire is all that important; you’re going to need to keep moving during the night.
You’re going to want to cut down on your bulk as much as possible. Unless you can arrange the blanket so that you’re actually wearing it, rather than carrying it, you should dump it. The Coleman lantern’s just going to slow you down; you’re not going to be able to hold it steady while you jog, and it will only last a few hours anyway.
The first aid kit would be good for blisters, as will the boots (assuming they’re broken in).
As for whether there is a “correct” answer: one of my teachers in junior high gave us the “lost at sea” one. After we ranked our items, he gave us a list of the “correct” rankings, and had us figure out how far off we were.
OK, I’ll give answers for both day and night, and assume that if it’s night, we’re on the Earthward side, so there’s light. Either way, it’s safe to say that the oxygen is the first priority, although I’m not sure if you’d need one tank or two. After that:
Day:
Parachute silk-- Keep the Sun off you, or you’ll cook.
Water
Radio
Food
Rope (for climbing)
Flares (assuming they’ll work in vacuum)
The heating unit will be unnecessary in the day.
Night:
Heating unit, or you’ll freeze to death.
Water
Food
Rope
Flares
Shade will be unneccesary, and the radio won’t work (it’s solar, remember?
Days and nights on the Moon are two weeks each, so you’d probably be able to make it to base before then, but if it’s close to sunrise or sunset, take the heater, parachute, and radio.
Leave behind in either case:
Compass: No significant magnetic field on the Moon
Star map: Anything I’d need to know from it, I know already. A lunar surface map, on the other hand, would be great.
Dehydrated milk: All milk would be good for would be the water, and it’s dehydrated.
Matches: It’s vacuum.
Pistols: Can’t signal with them (no sound), and nothing to shoot at.
Raft: Why?
First aid kit: If it’s not built into your suit, you won’t be able to use it anyway. You can’t just roll up your sleeves to put on a Band-aid.
Oh, and back to the Pacific one, I forgot to mention that I’m assuming that I also have a working wristwatch… Without one, the sextant is nearly useless.
Oh, forgot to add my commentary:
This junior high teacher was a very idealistic man. He believed in having his students “think outside the box”, come up with creative answers… and then tell them that they were wrong when they didn’t agree with him. I’m sure you’ve all met people like this.