In the News

Ok, at the general (absence of) request, but that never stopped me before, let me expand a little on yesterday's picture:

We are witnessing the president of Iran (who denies the Holocaust and wants to see Israel reduced to ashes) giving a warm handshake to an ultra-orthodox Jew. So heartwarming isn't it?

Don't you worry. The earth is still round. The actual context reassures us that crazies will be crazies: it took place during an Iranian conference questioning the Holocaust (well some Americans still question man landing on the moon…). The Jew belongs to an anti-Zionist branch (I didn't even know there were anti-Zionist Jews).

It is so true that we're all equal. A Muslim fanatic is just as dangerous as a Jew fanatic. I myself am thinking of becoming an anti-fanatics fanatic. An anti-extremists extremist. Just what the world needs.


Sometimes, although it's rare, you actually find something useful in the news. Following the death by hypothermia of a man in Oregon, a story, for those interested in survival, that raises a lot of "What would I have done and what should he have done?" questions, I found actually useful information. First, the rule of three:

You can survive for three hours without shelter
You can survive for three days without water
You can survive for three weeks without food

This gives a vital insight into priorities. The other is a list of items you should keep in your trunk when travelling by car in very cold places (hey, I do that all winter long):

To keep in the car at all times:
• Blanket
• Candles
• Matches
• Flashlight
• Fluorescent tape (even just one piece of orange tape can be spotted by a helicopter)
• Shovel
• Water
• Couple of candy bars (but not chocolate -- chocolate can dehydrate you and so can, say, salted nuts)
• Coffee can to hold the candle (and melted water)
• CD to use as a reflector in case you see a helicopter

But the most important thing you can do is to tell somebody where you are going and when you expect to get there. If nobody knows where you are going, nobody knows where to look for you. Just like a pilot would, you gotta file a flight plan.

Thanks to CNN for the information.
This was my monthly contribution to my brand new "To Survive Or Not" chronicle. I just made it up since I'm chronically interested in survival issues.