Improvising Exercise: Y2K... What can you make from a worthless computer :)

Greg Davenport

Greg Davenport

Joined
Nov 29, 1999
Messages
632
Note: Try to answer this before reading the responses of others.

Y2K has materialized and as much as you hate to admit it... you were wrong. Your computer is now worthless. You are alone in your small house (located in the middle of no where... just like mine) and without transportation (you make up the reason why you can't get out
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It is just an exercise). The phone and electricity is dead. You have limited resources and yet you still have to meet your "five survival needs".

Following my survival step by step process you:

1. Stop and recognize the situation for what it is.

2. Recognize and prioritize your "five survival essentials" (listed below) in order of importance.

3. Improvise to meet your needs ("five essentials").

while going through the steps of improvising you inventory your manmade and natural materials. One of the things in this inventory is your now worthless computer (or is it). In addition you have a printer, scanner, moniter, key board, and mouse. (take a look at what is in front of you... give or take an item).

Question:

List as many improvised items you can think of for each of the "five survival essentials" and their sub-categories... using the various parts of the computer setup.

Recall that the "Five survival essentials" are:

1. Personal Protection (clothing, shelter, fire)
2. Siganling (manmade and improvised)
3. Sustenance (water and food)
4. Travel (with and without a map and compass)
5. Health (psychological stress, environmental injuries, traumatic injuries)

Good luck!
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------------------
Greg Davenport
http://www.ssurvival.com
Are You Ready For The Challenge?
Are You Ready To Learn The Art Of Wilderness Survival?

 
Computers? Now here is one I should know…

1. Personal Protection

-If you have a metal case (like mine) take all the insides out and make a little oven.
-Wires for utility use and snares.
-Freebee mouse pads as insulation.

2. Signaling

-Polish up a metal piece to signal with.
-Hard drive platters are pretty reflective as well.

3. Sustenance (water and food)

-Sharpen HD platters and use them as throwing knives for hunting.
-Mouse ball good for throwing.


4. Travel

-Magnets from speakers used to help make compass.


5. Health

-It’s great for your mental health to throw monitors off of roof in a post crash world.
 
I work with computers every day, 8 hrs. 40K CAD workstations down to 3K PCs. That thing fails on me and it will have one last remaining function - target practice.
 
As I type this, it is somewhere around -50F outside, and not forecasted to go above -30 till next week sometime. I wonder if this little house that Greg's got us in has a wood stove... Mine don't, and I wish it did...


I see little of use in the computer for shelter. I could dig with the case, but I would not want metal in a shelter when I have so many trees outside...

I have all sorts of wires, and a few capacitators that I should be able to start a fire with, plus I have a UPS that'll hold enough charge to handle a few fires...

The case can be hammered a bit to make into a bowl/pot for cooking, and though I've not recently looked inside a monitor, I believe I should be able to get a piece of glass that'll hold water from in there.

I have wires and cords everywhere. SHould provide rope/string/snares for a while to do whatever it is I need.

small metal pieces can be used for fish hooks or lures, and small plastic electronic pieces might work well for lures.

Plenty of paper in the printer for paper-related needs... Fire/writing/folded cups, etc.

Mouse can be tied together with the two micro-speakers to create a nice bolo...
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Keyboard can be used as an axe. (I know, ineffective, but sure would rid oneself of a little frustration...)

Printer can be used as a boat anchor (That's what the repair guy told me when the last HPII I had needed repair. )

Toner can be used on snow as signal marker

case and other metal parts can be shined and used as reflectors, glass from monitor as well.

UPS can be used to power 120V appliances for a few minutes, if a few minutes would be useful... Lamp/radio for signalling...

Subwoofer can be used as small stool. Nice, solid plastic box. Might hold water was well. Don't know what's inside, won't open it up to find out right now...
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Speakers should have magnets, can make compass by magnetizing small metal opject, though declination is so much here, and changes so rapidly, it may not be worth it...

Whole system can be set in front window as bait for looters, who can then be caught and killed for food or held hostage, or enslaved, or whatever...

I'm sure I could come up with more things, but I'm beginning to want to take it apart and find out, and that would be a bad idea....


Stryver



[This message has been edited by Stryver (edited 31 December 1999).]
 
Computer case used as hot plate for cooking (sustenance), maybe as X-trap as described in Ron's videos (sus), heated and rolled around stick as arrow shaft or emergency blowgun (sus/PP), make hide scraper, emergency knife blade, arrowheads, spearheads, drill bits/awls, reflector of heat/light into shelter, heated and wrapped to use as bedwarmer at night (PP)

Power cords -- wires inside for snares (sustenance), insulation for tinder (PP - if it's the cloth type), outer rubber tubing towards solar still or bag still, or other sustenance usage, cloth insulation as emergency bandage or tourniqet(health), made into cordage for bow drill (multi-purpose, lash outer tubing to straight piece of case for emergency blowgun -- darts from wire or slice off pieces of motherboard material, fletches from soft paper cone of speaker, or tinder from paper cone, or as rough filter for water, plastic speaker screen as water strainer/drainer, or as food dicer (just rub soft veggies on it for a fine addition to your meal
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)... (sus/PP)

Speaker magnets and pieces of wire from the speaker cables to create magnetic compass (travel/navigation), speaker magnet and frame as socket for bow drill, magnet as counter weight for bird trap or drowning trap (sus), or bola weights (sus/PP)

Rig magnets and wires for morse code transmitter (signalling)

Emergency splints from frame (health), parts of frame as slingshot frame

Reheat solder on boards to make new connections between materials -- small scale welding (any use)

Sharpen CDs on edges for throwindg weapons (sustenance, PP), or use CDs for signalling (one CD can simultanteously serve both purposes)

Inside of monitor screen can be used as parabolic cooking oven, or as cooking pot (sus), glass from screen boken into pieces for knives, arrowheads, spearheads, or crushed as stropping rouge, or friction for bow drill productivity

Toner used for camouflage in hunting (sus), inkjet printer cartride for cup (AFTER THROUGH CLEANING!!!!), possibly ink from printer as fire starting material (? -- time to try it out for the tinder challenge), or as poison for small game on end of blowgun dart (sus)...

Fan blade from motor fashioned into bladed tools (scraper/knife) or weapon (sus/PP)

Pieces of circuit boards and small pieces of metal from frame to rig Ottoman Sun Compass or other navigation compass, or drill holes in frame at night for use as sextant for celestial navigation and latitude finder(travel/nav)

Replacement clothing buttons from knobs on computer (PP)

Metal frame in computer or printer as cooking frame over fire (PP)

That's about all my poor brain can think of off the top...without tearing open my 'puter...

Brian.

------------------
Suburbia: Where they tear out the trees, then name streets after them.
 
I had to "sleep on this one"!
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First of all, I'm going to include all my peripherals as well! I have a printer, two large speakers, video camera and flatbed scanner!

I see a LOT of electrical components in the scanner and I'm sure the printer or computer has some of the same. I think I'm looking for a CAPACITOR! What I'm thinking is the item that 'holds an electrical charge' it may even BOOST it. Take that and some wire and see if you can get it to 'discharge' creating a spark for fire starting!
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The plastic cases could be heated and molded over a fire for containers for water and food as well as a waterproof cap and snow goggles.

The wire from all components could give one a LOT of cordage for building traps, snares, fishline, shelter.

The metal casing from the CPU could be shaped for cooking. Make a bowl and/or skillet. You could cut/bend/break pieces off for tools-crude knife, spoon, fork, fishhooks/gorges, arrowpoints, spearpoint for small game/fishing.

My speakers have METAL SCREENS with small holes. These could be used for cooking grills, small game traps, fishtraps, splints for injured limbs!

Video camera lens could be used to direct the sunlight for fire starting.

The glass from the flatbed scanner could be used for a window in a shelter!
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Lots of nuts and bolts for building/improvising tools. I see some heavier pieces of metal in the scanner for building purposes. (Better than the CPU case for some purposes!)

Rubber feet on the bottoms of everything could be used for tinder/smoke generator for signaling.

Wire clips to hold wire connections could be used for fishhooks, or wherever you would use a safety pin.

The gears in the printer, scanner, CD player could be used to build a primitive "lathe" for turning wood or metal pieces for more improvising.

There is an aluminum tube in the printer about 16" long that could be used as a blowgun.

The ink from the printer could be used for writing messages on the paper in the printer. The paper could be used for tinder, cup making, box making, and entertainment.

The keys from the keyboard could be used for games for entertainment!
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The CD's could be set up to reflect sun light for signaling.

I see a small mirror in the scanner that could be used for hygiene and signaling!

The monitor tube MAY be used as a container to hold water. If you can remove the back piece and have an opening without destroying the tube!?!?!

You could remove the fan and set up a pulley system to cool yourself!
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I'm running out of ideas! How did I do?

Thanks for these thought provoking posts!



------------------
Plainsman :)
primitiveguy@hotmail.com

You use what you have on you, then you improvise! :)
 
I'm kicking myself!

I just read throught the others posts and I missed some obvious items:
MAGNETS.
Tubing from the wire coating.
Glass from the tube for cutting tools.
Solder.

WOW! A computer COULD be useful when the power is not on!



------------------
Plainsman :)
primitiveguy@hotmail.com

You use what you have on you, then you improvise! :)
 
Any scrap Al from the 'puter, when filed into a fine powder, and combined with iron oxide (brown rust), will make a dandy combustible: thermite. Walt
 
Isn't there supposed to be a battery of somekind in a computer? You know to keep the internal clock running and stuff? Might be able to start a fire with that. Keyboard keys can be used as trail markers. The metal thingy on some floppies would make decent skinning blades. The support disk under the monitor could be used as a plate. Shiny objects can be used as lures. Nuts and bolts could be used as fishing weights.
 
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