Favorite Shows

[Grenadier]

I love the survivalist shows myself. But I just couldn't get into Survivorman. Mainly because the guy looked as if he was the long lost brother of a guy I once knew. Even talked like him. And the guy I knew was a terrible pillhead. Snorted more pills than Advil cranks out a year. Even when he wasn't snorting pills his nose was always snorting and sniffing. Of the survivalist shows I like Man Vs. Wild most. Bear seems very knowledgeable. And it's always fun to see what the next disgusting thing he'll eat or drink may be. Just when you think he couldn't do worse he always does! I also like the one with the army guy and the hippy. And I'm not too keen on the one with the married couple. If I were that guy I'd abandon the nagging crybaby. One thing I like about all those shows: each one of them has had an episode filmed in my neck of the woods.

[DarkLink]

Don't take advice from Man vs. Wild. Bear Grills is an adrenaline junkie, he finds waterfalls to jump off of and then does it for fun. It's entertaining to watch, but it's a horrible idea in an actual survival situation. I actually have a lot of respect for Bear Grills, and he's done a lot of crazy stuff like climbing Mt Everest at a very young age, but the show itself isn't always the best advice. In fact, Bear usually says something like "ok, it'd be totally crazy for me to try and free climb down this cliff, so I'm gonna go for it". He is very knowledgeable, but his show is for entertainment first and foremost.

Les Straud knows what he's talking about. He gives extremely good advice for surviving an a wide variety of situations.

Incidentally, just for reference, I'm an Eagle scout, I've been backpacking in the Sierra Nevadas since I was like 8, and I've been a member of Search and Rescue for about 5 years now, with some years off when I was away at college. So it was really cool watching the Survivorman episode set in Yosemite, since I've been to the top of Half Dome twice and spent a lot of time in that environment.

[Necron2.0]

Disregarding all now defunct shows, the only thing I watch with any regularity is "Castle" and "Dr. Who." I occasionally will watch "Lost Girl" with my wife. Other than that, nadda.

[Grenadier]

Some of Grylls advice is reasonable though. Specifically things pertaining to ways to find water, make a fire, etc. For example, that time he used a shoestring to sop up water trickling down a rock face. With the string ending inside a water bottle. Pretty clever and something I've never thought of. But yeah, the stuff like diving off a cliff is not recommended. In a survival situation its better to go the long way around than to do something that can risk serious injury and death.

I grew up here in the Appalachian mountains of southeast Kentucky so I'm no stranger how to survive at least in a forest environment. Hell, as a kid my playground was the mountains. In my day we didn't play in our rooms on Atari or Nintendo. We ran the mountains. Swinging on vines across narrow gullies or "tree riding." Learning what to eat and what not to eat. And what to watch out for when it came to dangerous animals. Even tracking animals. I wouldn't trade that for some rich kid's lavish childhood let me tell you.

I was a scout too. But a terrible one! Any merit badges I got were given to me mainly out of pity! Like the one for swimming. They just gave it to me! To this day I don't know how to swim. My poor little scout's shirt had very few badges and merits on it.

Don't take advice from Man vs. Wild. Bear Grills is an adrenaline junkie, he finds waterfalls to jump off of and then does it for fun. It's entertaining to watch, but it's a horrible idea in an actual survival situation. I actually have a lot of respect for Bear Grills, and he's done a lot of crazy stuff like climbing Mt Everest at a very young age, but the show itself isn't always the best advice. In fact, Bear usually says something like "ok, it'd be totally crazy for me to try and free climb down this cliff, so I'm gonna go for it". He is very knowledgeable, but his show is for entertainment first and foremost.

Les Straud knows what he's talking about. He gives extremely good advice for surviving an a wide variety of situations.

Incidentally, just for reference, I'm an Eagle scout, I've been backpacking in the Sierra Nevadas since I was like 8, and I've been a member of Search and Rescue for about 5 years now, with some years off when I was away at college. So it was really cool watching the Survivorman episode set in Yosemite, since I've been to the top of Half Dome twice and spent a lot of time in that environment.

[DarkLink]

Yeah, Bear himself is knowledgeable. In fact, he's the youngest senior member of the UK Scouting program, I don't remember what the official title is. Chief Scout, or something like that. The show just stresses entertainment over education. I remember one episode where he jumped into a freezing cold river with a log as a raft to cover distance quickly. Since he knew where he was and had a crew to get him out of trouble in emergencies, it was no problem, but in real life the odds of the lost person freezing to death after something like that are extremely high.


Apparently Bear and Discovery have parted ways, though. No more Bear Grills in Man vs Wild.



You might like another show I found on Netflix about surviving after the apocalypse. I forget the title, but they take ten random people (engineers, mechanics, doctors, etc) and stick them in a simulated apocalypse in a complex in LA. They have other actors pretend to be raiders and other survivors, leave limited supplies lying around for them to find, etc, for three months, while they video tape what happens. Sometimes the drama gets played up a bit, but it's a cool show to watch sometimes. Like when they manage to make a radio out of scraps of wire they find lying around, or a solar-powered car from some spare solar panels they find.

[Grenadier]

I've seen that show. Can't remember the title but it had that lovely Fallout 3 post apocalyptic thing going on. Finding ways to survive as a group. I seem to recall them running into some simulated trouble with bandits.

There's already new shows on about people who build bunkers in their backyards and are preparing for doomsday. Its all a bit silly to me. The world isn't going to end later this year. Still, preparation and knowledge of survival skills isn't a bad thing. I'm pretty sure after Katrina a lot of folks wish they had some skills.

[DarkLink]

I found a picture that pointed out something funny about the 2012 apocalypse.

See, the Mayan calendar didn't have leap years. Their measurements weren't precise enough to figure out that each year was a couple hours off.

So, if you do the math of one extra day every four years for the last couple thousand years, by the Mayan calendar it's actually July 2013 right now.

Congratulations, we're already living in a post apocalyptic world.

[eldargal]

Then there is also the fact that we don't know when the Maya started their calander from and 2012 is just the midpoint in a range spanning hundreds of years. Not to mention that a new cycle starts when an old one ends without a literal ending of the earth. Bloody sensationalist media.

[Necron2.0]

Is the world coming to an end? YES, emphatically yes!!

It's coming to an end for all of us, only probably not all at the same time. Regardless of the specific date, death is inevitable.

tick-tock ...
tick-tock ...
tick .........

And on that cheery note, I bid you all goodnight.

[eldargal]

Our lives = the world? I think not. Even of humanity ends the world will endure. Plus if Aubrey de Grey is correct I've got a pretty good shot at living for centuries/indefinitely barring accidents.