The "Brown Flag" thread

k_estela said:
At the WLC, we teach students to make transpiration bags over solar stills. Water is more easily collected this way and it requires almost no energy to set up. While stills have their place, they aren't the best option in every climate.

Here is a brown flag related to water,

"You can't get sick from drinking stream water in the winter"

Sure, fewer animals and insects will be active but there are plenty of nasties that can hurt you from drinking untreated water.
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Here's another one:
You can drink water from fast flowing water and not get sick. B.S. Granted in some situations it can work, but would trust it? Heck no!
Always treat your water no matter what. Just to avoid the nasty bugs.
 
Brian Jones said:
Those stills Calahan used are very different from the desert-style stills. In Ron Hood's Volume 13 Desert Survival video, they do an in-depth test on the solar still. The results were dismal, and they expended more sweat than they gained in water. They did everything right, and it "still" didn't work well.
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Solar stills work lousy when the soils are very dry. I've used them in the Badlands of South Dakota (where there is alot of water, but it is too silty/alkali to run through a filter) with decent results. It wasn't a survival situation; more of an experiment to see if you could reduce or eliminate the need to pack water in the badlands (a major limitation on your time/travel options.)

In sunny conditions in mid May (ground was still pretty cool, don't have any actual temps though) I was getting over a half a liter a day from each of two stills - made with cheap poly drop cloths over pits about four feet in diameter. One was built directly in a natural seep, the other in a much more sunny, but naturally dry location. The sunny one I routinely 'salted' with a large batch of (unpotable) ground water every morning. The sunny one produced alot more as long as you kept it fed with groundwater. the overall coolness of the seep seemed to work against you - that one might have produced better come summer.

Was it enough to survive on? Yes, but just barely. Was it enough to backpack comfortably on? No, not really, not at my usual one gallon a day. Sure you could probably hike out to a fix site, set up half a dozen or so, fix camp, and hangout or do some mild day hikes, but the time and effort of set-up and tending would severely limit any attempts at overland travel. Try it in the summer, when your body's hydration demands are going to soar, and you might end up in real trouble.
 
I just like the double standards with what people see as "worth the money" and they see as a "total rip-off". I'll spend $300 on a quality knife and get the "you're absolutely crazy" speech from friends and family who use $30 cheapy knives. Ok, that's fair, but then don't think it strange when I call you crazy for spending $300 on something I would sooner use a cheap version of. The world needs people who buy the expensive versions of stuff, and it wouldn't work if we all chose the same thing. So you buy your expensive Mont Blanc pen and leave me the 12-pack of bic sticks, and I'll buy my expensive Koster and leave you the knockoff rambo knife.
 
Smash05 said:
How about
"Money is no object"
I hate this because for all practical purposes, money is an object to the vast majority of people. I for one cannot afford to have the latest and greatest super duper BOB designed by so on an so forth, only to have to buy the new one next year. Don't get me wrong, I am a total gadget and gear head and I love to indulge, but please.
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I cant stand it when someone is seeking genuine advice on which knife to get out of a given selection, and people chime in "get them both!" or "get all of them!". If that was an option I doubt they'd be asking for input in the first place.
 
Noshtero said:
I just like the double standards with what people see as "worth the money" and they see as a "total rip-off". I'll spend $300 on a quality knife and get the "you're absolutely crazy" speech from friends and family who use $30 cheapy knives. Ok, that's fair, but then don't think it strange when I call you crazy for spending $300 on something I would sooner use a cheap version of. The world needs people who buy the expensive versions of stuff, and it wouldn't work if we all chose the same thing. So you buy your expensive Mont Blanc pen and leave me the 12-pack of bic sticks, and I'll buy my expensive Koster and leave you the knockoff rambo knife.
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My Dad is the same way. He looks at me like I am an idiot when I buy a $300 busse, he says "why do you need a knife like that". He very recently bought a $700 belt, no thats not a typo! $700 belt that will wear ut in a few years is ok but not a $300 knife that will outlive me. :confused:

btw I use a very thick and sturdy French surplus belt that I bought for $4.95, never lets me down like you bic pens
 
blazink said:
One thing that has bothered me is that you can get a license to carry a concealed handgun (in my state anyway) for personal protection, but a large knife or even a stick is illegal no matter what (if you say it is for protection).
A buddy of mine got arrested for having a baton under the seat of his car. He said the cop asked him why it was there and when he said for protection the handcuffs came out.
Sure seems like BS to me.
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its always a dipstick , for checking the fuel level in the tank , ya cant trust fuel gauges ya know ...
 
"You can't get sick from drinking stream water in the winter"
It's really funny when you consider that (at the kennel) we use a tiger torch on the concrete because that's the only thing that effectively kill cryptospiridium spores without leaving a chemical residue (dog safety). Even when the ground dries out, once there's groundwater again, there's contaminated groundwater. They're pretty damn hardy bugs...

On the solar stills - I've also head dismal results with every one I've made so far.

While 7 bills is a lot for a belt, a cobbler here makes cowboy boots for a similar market. I buy some leather from him and pick his brain, but I couldn't see buying his stuff. Different strokes I guess...

The BS meter pegged for me when my buddy's dad mentioned on a fishing trip that the best way to pull a fish hook was to heat it with a lighter first - bacteria AND dead tissue inside a closed wound.....sounds like a great combo
I don't generally keep my mouth shut when that happens, but we were on HIS boat !
 
sketchbag said:
I dont meant to press the issue, but I'm just trying to fathom how they could possibly sell a belt for $700.

Did someone famous hang them self with it?
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LMAO
its some hand made ostrich silver buckle yada yada
I still cant fathom it and he is my Father
he is a good guy though
 
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