Posts by Charlie Brumbaugh
I that most of the cases in the article you linked are an example of selection bias, most people in those situations would die. In other words, the people in that article became famous by survivin...
For how to deal with irrational fears I don't think there is any substitute for repeatedly conquering them. For instance I used to work at a place where we would take people rock climbing and rapp...
Backpacking sleeping pads come in two basic types, foam and air, with some of the air pads being self-inflating. What are the pros and cons of each and how would one decide which type to get?
While backpacking with an inflatable or self-inflating sleeping pad one runs the risk of getting holes in it. This does happen fairly frequently, and while they do make kits, I would like to know ...
It looks like it can be harmful for the turtles. Even the healthiest turtle may come out of hibernation too soon and be caught above ground by a spring snowstorm and perish. Many wild box turtl...
It turns out that raw eggs need to be either sealed or rotated, the people in the video were doing both. The egg shell is semi-permeable. As an egg ages, it loses the slightest amount of inter...
On a backpacking trip with multiple people, it is all but guaranteed that disagreements will arise. Pace, food, wake-up times, route and chores are some of the common sources of friction. Backpack...
Most of it will come from having done hard things together. Just being together, say in a classroom, isn't enough, there has to be an element of difficulty. The extreme example of this is men who h...
One of my favorite things about backpacking is the absence of time constraints, you eat when hungry, sleep when tired and sort of track how much time is left until dark. Would there be any situati...
Having a sense of community on a backpacking trip can mean the difference between enjoyment and misery. It can also be the difference between backpacking as a team instead of as random group of peo...
The easiest way to do this is to turn on the tracking function of your GPS or mark it as a waypoint. Then you can simply follow your track backwards or navigate to the waypoint.
After picking berries, you are often left with a pail full of berries, some leaves, some sticks, pieces of stems, sometimes little white worm creatures and some dirt. Is there an easy way to clean...
There has been some discussion on this question about whether or not hunting would increase or decrease the likelihood of a mountain lion attack. I have seen some websites saying that it does not, ...
The basic idea behind triangulation is take multiple bearings with the compass to recognizable points and draw them on the map. Where they intersect is your location. You want the lines to be ...
If one looks at the list on Wikipedia of fatal attacks, one will notice that fatal cougar attacks are pretty rare. At least 20 people in North America were killed by cougars between 1890 and 20...
I believe the way that it works, is the the time at which it peaks/goes darkest is marked as the day that it happens. In this case, on Feb 26th, according to this page, the New Moon will peak at ...
Beyond the ones you have mentioned, there are, Solar Compasses The solar compass, a surveying instrument that makes use of the sun's direction, was first invented and made by William Austin Bu...
Slings are difficult to master, The main reason that slingers were only found among certain groups and fought as specialized corps in the ancient world was because the sling required a much hig...
Yes, there are certainly areas where there magnetic anomalies. There is on in the Kursk area of Russia that is caused by a very large iron deposits. There is also one in Africa that they are not ce...
Would it be possible for a compass be affected by its surroundings, such as a large iron deposit or other rocks to the point where it is not working correctly? I am not talking about declination ...
Here are some other things you can try, Fill a water bottle with hot water, wrap it in a t-shirt and put that inside your sleeping bag. Don't drink warm tea before you go to bed, as that will inc...
There are a couple of things you will want to do. Headlamps are essential as you will want the full use of both of your arms. The darkness will make it more difficult, mostly because you be able ...
They certainly can and it is caused by, Please be aware that a reverse polarity is caused by exposing your compass to articles with iron content (something as simple as being placed next to a p...
Can a compass have its polarity reversed so that the end marked "north" points south and vice versa? If so, what could one do to prevent and fix this problem?
I wouldn't call it normal, but it does happen and if the bubble is large enough it will effect your accuracy. In that case you may want to purchase a new one or if possible send it back to the manu...