Activity for Charlie Brumbaughâ€
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Question | — |
What are the pros and cons of cotton vs mesh filters for making cold brew coffee in a Nalgene water bottle? From my research so far into making cold brew coffee in a Nalgene while backpacking, I have found there to be two types of filters, cotton ones called "coffee socks" and mesh ones that screw onto the top of the bottle. I like the idea of cold brewing because I fairly often don't bring a stove, and I... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Is there an actual advantage of switchblade folding knives over any other method of opening a folding blade with one hand? More states in the US are decriminalizing switchblades, yet there are many other methods of opening a folding knife with one hand such as studs on the blade or groove to make it easier to open. I am not talking about the ones that have double edged blades but rather standard folding knives such as t... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: Is it generally safe to hike a pass in a thunderstorm? The pass is safer than the peaks on either side of it, but less safe than not hiking over the pass. When I did my Instructors course for Summit Adventure, hiking over a pass during a thunderstorm would have been considered extremely unwise, and the procedure would have been to either not cross or t... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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How is the maximum legal altitude for campfires determined? In most national parks in the United States, campfires are prohibited above certain elevations (9,600 ft for Yosemite,10,000 ft for Ansel Adams with exceptions). This is a good thing because after a certain height the trees don't grow fast enough for campfires to be sustainable. Do note that this a... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Would dry or wet flies be easier for a beginner fly fisherman? Inspired by this question, if someone was just starting out fly fishing, would dry flies (float on top of the water) or wet flies (sink below) be easier for a beginner to use? My experience is that wet flies are easier, but it has been a while, and I haven't showed a new person in a long time. Woul... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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What is the survival rate for fish restocked via airplane? In some places in the western United States, game fish are stocked into lakes via planes for fishing (every so often lakes will freeze to the point that it kills the fish). I have heard stories of backpackers coming upon lakes where the planes missed and there being lots of bear food fish on the sho... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: How do fly fishing lures work? For fly fishing, there are two types of flies, wet and dry. The wet flies are designed to sink and bitten by the fish underwater, while the dry lures are designed to sit on top and the fish will come up and bite them. If you are really lucky the fish will leap out of the water to do so. The short v... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: How do forest fires affect rain run-off? Basically it increases the runoff in a number of ways, less soil cover in the form of vegetation, ash blocking the water from being absorbed, and in some cases a hydrophobic water coating can be left behind. Loss of vegetation exposes soil to erosion; water runoff may increase and cause flooding;... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: Reusing disposable water bottles vs. buying dedicated bottles The problem with using the cheap bottles is that if they break, you can be in serious trouble. A quick price check says that 32 oz nalgenes go for around 10 bucks and 2 liter hydration bladders for around the same, so are you really saving that much money for the extra trouble? I have seen Nalgene 3... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: Fittings to connect together two hydration bladders No, pretty sure there isn't one but you do have a couple of options, Just bring two bladders and switch to the other when empty. There are 6 liter MSR dromedaries that I have used for when you need to pack water in larger amounts. There are double hydration bladders with two chambers, but it seems ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: What is the defintion of a "unisex tent"? This looks like a combination of keyword stuffing and people in the UK apparently wanting unisex products. It might be like labeling things that don't normally contain gluten as gluten-free for the extra exposure. For example of keyword stuffing in titles consider, Coleman Water Repellent Instant... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: How do I weave the backpack shoulder straps when there are two strap adjusters? You would only want to use one of them at a time. With that said there are a couple of possibilities here, There is another strap that you have missed that goes to the second point (this is the most likely option) There was a strap that used to go there but was cut off. I would double check the b... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: Artificial reintroduction of wild animals: how frequently does it happen, and what is the purpose? It happens fairly often, and usually the purpose is to reintroduce the animals to places where they used to be but were wiped out. This is know as species reintroduction/restablishment. Species reintroduction is the deliberate release of a species into the wild, from captivity or other areas wher... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: Is there any evidence that black bears (or other large predators) are indifferent to, or acutally repulsed by, the scent of humans? For certain, bears noses are good enough to smell humans, whether that is a deterrent or a sign that unsecured food might be nearby probably depends on the state of bear-human relations with areas like Yosemite where bears are used to humans being different from places with hunting. Hunters hunting ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: How best to hold/aim a Garmin InReach for satellite messaging? I have used a Garmin inReach for many miles, and your location will be more important than how you hold it. Deep canyons with throw off the GPS Signal and sometimes being under thick trees will prevent the signal from going through the first time. I have also had trouble when under trees plus a tarp... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: How do songbirds and small animals know when there's a hawk in the immediate vicinity? All it takes is one of the birds to notice and give the alarm and then the other birds join in. Even the chipmunks and squirrels will listen to the birds and then pass the message along. Birds' lives are so filled with danger that they're on alert at all times, just to stay alive. Luckily, they h... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: How to tape torn skin to continue climbing? Been there done that, I would just wrap a smaller width piece of climber's tape around the finger and then take extra care to smooth the end down as usually, that's where it starts to come unraveled. I would make sure to try and get most of the tape around the middle piece of your finger in between ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: Would it make sense to backpack with an 8 lb tent at Philmont Scout Ranch? Whether an 8 lb tent makes sense depends on a couple of things, If you are the only one using it then no, if you can split the weight between 4 people probably yes. Whether for your budget you can get a lighter tent, the lighter you go the more expensive it will be, at some point it won't be worth ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: What are good dive sites to scuba dive with cuttlefish? It looks like they are all around the world, except for American waters, with special concentrations in Whyalla Australia. They are widely distributed according to species. For example the European common cuttlefish is found all along the eastern Atlantic from Scandinavia to South Africa and the ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Is there a recommended type of can for building a penny stove? Related to this question, I have had better luck with the smaller energy drink/V8 juice cans than standard 12 oz pop cans. The other question on the site mentions both beer and Redbull cans. Is there a recommended type of can for building a penny stove? (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: How accurate is the method of finding north with a watch? TLDR: Its accurate at solar noon which probably won't correspond to noon on a watch and is inaccurate otherwise without more information. Reasons for it not corresponding to noon on your watch. Failing to account for Daylight Savings Time The difference between solar time and the time zone. Going ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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How accurate is the method of finding north with a watch? There is a method of finding north with a watch described here So you point the hour hand of your watch at the sun. Halfway between your hour hand and the noon mark is south. How accurate is this method of finding north? (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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How much difference does wind chill make if you are inside a snow cave? From this answer, -148 °F has been survived inside a snow cave, and this question is asking for the unadjusted temperature, which leads me to wonder how much the wind chill would matter. If you have your cave built properly, you should be out of the wind, except for the holes necessary for venti... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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What is the difference between AMO/AMA and ASTM spine declarations? This question asks "Are the Goldtip and Easton spine declarations AMO/AMA or ASTM??", What exactly is the difference between AMO/AMA and ASTM spine declarations and what difference does it make? (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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What is the reasoning behind not disposing of fish guts in the water? Quite a few fishing regulations say something similar to this, Don’t dispose of fish entrails or other byproducts into any body of water 2018 Colorda Fishing Fish die in the water all of the time, what is the reasoning behind not disposing of fish guts in the water? Related to both "... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Is there a standard way of marking cooking alcohol containers? The alcohol used for cooking is poisonous. Denatured alcohol, also called methylated spirit (methylated spirits in Australia and New Zealand) or denatured rectified spirit, is ethanol that has additives to make it poisonous, bad tasting, foul smelling or nauseating, to discourage recreational co... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: What is the most severe temperature that a proper snow cave can protect you from? TLDR: -148 °F including windchill has been survived inside of a snowcave. I went looking for cases of people surviving extremely low temperatures while inside a snow caves, and it looks like the record is held by the climbers who did the first winter ascent on Denali. On February 28, 1967, D... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: Under what conditions does heating a tent artificially make objective sense? I would say there really aren't any. Even a hypothermia patient would get wrapped in a hypo wrap and the stove would be used to boil water to go into Nalgene bottles. The problems with running a heater inside of a tent include, Catching the tent on fire. Carbon monoxide poisoning. There are heat... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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What can I add to alcohol to make the flame visible? One of the downsides of an alcohol stove is that the alcohol is all but invisible when it burns, and so the danger is that you won't realize its going and burn yourself. I have heard that adding regular table salt will make the flame light orange, if that is so how much would one need or are there a... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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When building a penny stove how do you keep the cans from splitting? Penny stoves are usually built from two soda cans and they look like this, Image source with some variations between the builder and so on. The basic idea is you have the bottoms of two soda cans stuck together with one inside the other. The problem I have always had is that when I go to put the... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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What conditions would make a weather inversion likely? An inversion in weather terminology is when the temperature actually rises with altitude, instead of decreasing like it usually does. As the lapse rate can be useful for calculating temperatures at higher altitudes but will be thrown off by inversions, it would be good to know when inversions are li... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: How accurate is the 3.5 - 5 degree F temperature drop per 1000 feet rule of thumb? TLDR: The rate is accurate unless you have an inversion, in which case it is completely inaccurate as the temperature will actually increase above a certain altitude. With increasing height, air temperature within the troposphere and mesosphere drops uniformly with altitude at a rate of approxima... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: Why are birds so nervous around humans? A lot of this is the natural instinct, birds that didn't fear humans got wiped out in earlier times, natural selection selects for birds that avoided getting eaten. Today in urban places the ducks or Canadian Geese who have been fed by humans have less fear and can even become aggressive towards hum... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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What would make one brick wall harder than another? Inspired mostly by this question, where a person was asking what the climbing rating of a brick wall was. Compared to all of the varied climbs in nature with the many different rock features and types, brick walls seem like they would be much more uniform (especially in vertical angle) and have to b... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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What should a beginner look for in a sextant? I have an interest in sextants and how they work, mostly from reading the Horatio Hornblower novels. I know that sextants are still sold. While I am sure that are not nearly as precise as GPS is nowadays, it would still be a fun project to learn how to use them. What should a beginner look for ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Why couldn't you eat frozen bait shrimp? We have a question about how to store dead bait shrimp, both answers suggest that you can simply eat the bait shrimp, but one says, As for freezing them, they won't be alive anymore but they should still work as bait. Whatever you do though don't cook or eat the frozen shrimp. Out of curiosity ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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What are the pros and cons of plastic and aluminim vs wood vs composite paddles for canoeing? There are three main types of canoe paddle materials, Wooden paddles. Plastic paddles with aluminum handles. Newer composite materials (fiberglass, carbon) What would be the pros and cons of each type of paddle material for canoeing? (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: Do male mountain lions kill their own kittens? TLDR: They will kill unrelated kittens, and may not be able to tell the difference. Females usually do not allow the male to approach the kittens as he may kill them because he does not recognize them as his own offspring. When a resident male is killed and a new male arrives in the vacant terr... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: Will a lighter trigger pull help me be more accurate? After finally purchasing a lighter trigger (3-4 lbs), I can say that yes, it does help one be more accurate. It's much easier when you don't have to pull as hard, and the cleaner break makes it it much less jumpy when you go to pull. It's also more enjoyable when you don't have to pull the trigger ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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What are the effects of introducing raccoons into Germany? I was reading this answer about how raccoons were introduced into Germany, and after the other questions on this site about the harm caused by non-native species,(grey squirrels, house sparrows, etc), it made me wonder what it the effects of raccoons were especially since there is some debate on the... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: Where and how is it allowed to hunt cougars in the US? Mountain lion hunting is legal in the western parts of the United States, with the exception of California. Regarding licenses and quotas, there are three types, Tags, with limited numbers availiable. Over the counter licenses with quotas. Unprotected, no license necessary. The taking of large m... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: Name of this freshwater fish with diamond shaped spots and a single top fin, caught in a river in South Florida, USA That looks like a mangrove snapper, (there are quite a few different names of snapper) and I am making the identification on two things, the pattern of diamond shaped spots and the top fin being whole and not split into two fins.. See this picture of a mangrove snapper. Image Source (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Do male mountain lions kill their own kittens? Stallions will kill unrelated foals, but I have heard that male mountain lions will kill their own kittens, ostensibly to bring the females back into heat so they can breed again. (Bears will do this). Is there any scientific evidence of male mountain lions killing their own, related kittens? (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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How dangerous is a swarm of bees? Sometimes, bees will split from a hive, and a bunch of them (including a new queen bee) will swarm, and move to build a new hive. As you can see, there is an awful lot of bees huddled together around the new queen, they aren't doing much, just clustered the tree branch. Exactly how dangerous is a... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: How to calculate the energy of a slingshot projectile? In order to do this, you need the weight of the projectile and its velocity. The way to measure the velocity is to use a modern gun chronograph, you shoot the projectile through the to screens and it will measure the velocity for you. Then you take the weight of the projectile and plug it into the e... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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How to calculate the energy of a slingshot projectile? This answer made me wonder how a slingshot would compare in power to an airgun, especially as for that location, without a license you are limited to 12 ft-lbs of energy. For hunting with firearms, more energy means that you are more likely to get a clean kill, and a minimum level is often mandated b... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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How big do ducklings get before they can fly? The ducklings are getting much bigger very quickly, to the point that it's almost hard to tell the mother duck from the ducklings, (mother duck in back of procession) How much bigger are these ducklings going to get before they start flying? (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: What sort of accuracy should I expect at 100 yards from slugs fired from a smoothbore shotgun? No better than 3 MOA, probably more like 6 MOA, and they aren't very effective past 75 yards because they quickly loose velocity and start tumbling end over end. A smooth bore firearm is simply never going to demonstrate the same level of accuracy as a rifle and will never excel at distances muc... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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Is it realistic that a duck would raise a swan? One of the older fairy tales is The Ugly Duckling where the one oddball of the bunch is considered ugly by the other ducks but turns out to be a swan at the end of the story. From what I have read, Canada geese can't tell the difference between real and dummy eggs (dummy eggs are used to control the... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: How to store fresh dead bait shrimp for a short period of time? I would just place them in a ziplock bag and freeze them until you go fishing again. It's worth point out that people going fishing with frozen bait, and I doubt it would smell. The single most widely available bait in Florida is the Frozen Shrimp. Many bait shops bag and freeze any shrimp tha... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |