SURVIVAL4YOU

PANASONIC LUMIX GF-1

2011-12-09T16:59:00.001-08:00

I'm the proud owner of a brand spanking new Panasonic GF 1 with the 20mm lens!! That's right I think I'm the owner of one of the last few GF1's with the 20mm lens and man does it rock!

The day after the Music died........

2011-10-06T10:45:00.000-07:00

Wednesday 5th October 2011 Mr Steve Jobs died of Pancreatic cancer. Well whatever your view on Apple or big industry or technology you cannot hide the fact that this man changed the way we interact as a species. I grew up with the Atari, macintosh, Spectrum 16k/48/126k, Pac Man,Pong, Space Invaders, Meteorite to name but a few incredible introductions to the world we all know today. I can remember sitting in front of our giant black and white TV with the Atari and two cables running out to a controller with a dial I think? so long ago, anyway moving that paddle on the screen up and down to connect with the incoming"ball" well this was just mind blowing as a teen that you can do this in your own home on your own TV and to be honest when I think about those days it still amazes me. I have no comprehension how programmers have the insight to put some wires together and make the screen come alive, it is way above my pay grade lol I remember the first mobile phones on TV and watching men in suits carrying a ghetto blaster size phone to their ears and talking to someone on the other end, those must have been interesting calls in the early days. Then it seems like the progression of the technology just increased at a rate of knots which nobody could imagine, Watching TV on a device in your hands Ha Ha Ha are you mad!!! Well today its commonplace and just plain expected. You should be thankful that you lived in the times of Steve Jobs, Google, facebook and all the other names we are just oblivious to today, I mean its only been 3 decades since all this technology has come in and kids are being born straight into this modern world and will never understand when you tell them "I used to put money into a box and make a call" Yes its happened already, those of us in our 40's and 50's are technically living between two worlds, old school and new school....holy crap! Well I feel lucky to have grown up amongst these pieces of electric magic and today I'm as happy scrolling my iPhone 4 to check the weather as I used to be trying to escape the ghosts in Pac Man. I guess what I'm trying to say is never forget your roots and what you have experienced to get to today because no amount of money or cool can take that away from you. RIP Mr Jobs and thank you for making my day to day life a little bit more fun.

You Tube and making videos

2011-09-29T07:13:00.000-07:00

I have been posting videos like crazy recently due to a number of factors including a new camera, the Panasonic LUMIX GF-1 micro four thirds which has a 20mm lense. I am in love with this camera and the quality of the pictures is outstanding, I stuck a new camera mount in my truck too which has added some interesting options to making footage. The other thing is life in general has got into a rhythm and for once a good rhythm! balancing life/work/family/hobbies is a very hard thing to do but for a while its been happening. Now the newest videos are sort of around my winter preparations especially clothing as I'm expecting this year to be a very cold one. I also recently got my channel Monetised which is a great way to gain back a few dollars here and there for my time and gear that I post, its not the main motive for me as when I first started my channel I had no Idea this was an option. It really is a big commitment to do videos as the average video is about 10 minutes long which by the time you get a video you're happy with leans more towards 45 minutes. Filming in HD is a great way to get quality videos BUT uploading to You Tube takes a long time.....a 15 minute video will take 8-10 hours!!!! maybe I'm doing something wrong?? But at the end of the day what I really like is reading the comments and seeing the views increase as this tells me my work is of interest to someone out there lol

I'm Back!!!!!

2011-09-21T23:26:00.000-07:00

Ok Its been two years since I posted on my blog!! Well I've been busy lol Ok so I've added 85 videos on my you tube channel since the start of my first video which was the SOG seal pup elite. I really have neglected my blog as It seemed to me that people don't follow blogs as much anymore or am I wrong? well In the last two years I've added a lot of gear and gained a lot of experience in different areas of my Survival plans. A lot of world events have come and gone and seem to be happening on a regular basis so having a plan is more important than ever. I will add an updated list of gear to the site soon and discuss where I think I am and where I should be.

SOG seal pup elite

2009-11-15T19:27:00.001-08:00

SOG SEAL Pup Elite, black TiNi finish and Kydex sheath

Straight edge version

Blade length- 4.85 inches
Overall length- 9.5 inches
Weight- 5.4 ounces
Blade- AUS 8 steel
Handle- Glass reinforced Zytel
Made in Taiwan

So this knife is designed for, as per the name the US Navy SEALs so a huge part of this knife is to be able to perform in salt water so corrosion resistance is a huge factor.
The handle has a great and I mean great feel to it an especially when wet it still seems to stick to the hand with the textured handle.
Now this version is an upgrade to the SEAL pup and has thicker steel stock (.185)
the handle is longer, the blade is shaped slightly different and the rasping allows better thumb placement.
This knife has great balance in the hand and in combination with the Velcro kydex attachment can be placed almost anywhere.
The sheath has a notch built in which allows you to cut cordage without removing the knife which is a great feature.
While kyaking this past summer I used the velcro sheath to attach to my lifejacket which was very handy!
The knife comes with a Nylon sheath as standard and I paid extra for the Kydex option.
I was looking for a "survival" knife and this blade seems to have hit the target for me.
I highly recommend this knife.

Knives and tools

2009-11-06T08:26:00.000-08:00

Now this subject is discussed everywhere as to which type of knife to carry, how many to carry, which brand, which size etc etc.
Knives are as personal as car's and its all about trying to find the knife or tool that can achieve the most tasks that seems to be the holy grail.
So Im going to discuss the knives I have chosen currently and then as my knowledge expands most probably my carry options will change.

Now the first things you need to look at are whether you are in an Urban or wilderness situation.
Next you need to decide what tasks you want your knives/tools to perform.

So I live in an Urban enviroment but if I had to leave the city then I would be in a wilderness situation. So my current options for around town or my EDC (Every Day Carry) is the Cold Steel Mini Lawman folder.
My options for my BOB I have a KBar camp knife for general duties, SOG seal pup elite, hand saw and a gerber suspension multi tool.

I'll discuss all of these in further detail below but basically my thoughts are that in a city a small blade folding knife is adequate for small tasks, opening mail, cutting string,wire etc, opening boxes.
Now this knife is small enough not to look threatening if I deploy the blade or if its seen in my pocket, the last thing you want is to be seen as the guy who carries a big scary knife around.
The other reason I decided on a EDC was after I saw two events on CNN, both happened within a close time frame but the one that sticks out is where a woman and her kid where in a mini van or SUV can't remember the type of vehicle, and basically somehow the woman rolled the vehicle and it came to rest upside down, everyone was in a seatbelt but then the vehicle caught fire!
The vehicle was well alight when some off duty firemen went to assist, they managed to pull the woman out and then even though the vehicle could have exploded at any time.
On the first attempt they had to break the windows with bare hands,then when the fireman tried to get the child out the seat belt had malfunctioned and couldnt be freed, no matter how much they tried it was stuck, now remember the vehicle is up in flames and all of this is taking minutes to occur. So on the news cast the next thing you hear is the fireman shouting "Has anyone got a knife?" "Somebody get a knife!"
Eventually a knife was found in someone's house and the child was rescued with some burns but I think survived.
Now this child could have burned to death because nobody in the crowd who had gathered had a knife, ANY knife small large anything would have helped at this point. So Im guessing after this event the fireman went out the next day and purchased pocket knives!
This in turn made me decide to do the same.
Mankind has used tools and sharp implements since cavemen times but now due to a number of reasons its not seen as necessary by most people to carry a knife and in fact in a lot of western areas its against the law to carry a blade or its restricted to a certain length, the length allowed depends on the area you live but generally I think its basically the distance to the heart.
Now of course theres a HUGE amount of discussion that could be made here but Im not going to do this, needless to say ANY sharp implement could be used to stab someone.
Western countries all have similiar knife laws and you could argue in todays world why do you need to carry a knife, but if you look a the rest of the world knives are still carried as tools!
So basically keep within the laws of your area and always assume the bad guys are going to ignore this whatever.

In the Bush

In a survival, hiking, camping, bug out scenario you need to be able to perform certain tasks, splitting wood for fire, for shelter, for preparing game, self defense,making tools, etc etc
Everyone has to decide on their carry options regarding weight and situation.
I have decided to pack the hand saw to give me my first level of wood preperation, the saw I have is from Coghlans and is very light and very sharp. Using a saw is an easier way to cut wood and also will use up less calories in a survival scenario.
The saw blade is the weak link and unless you carry spare blades there is always the possibility of it breaking, so this is where the KBar camp knife comes in, this is my next option for splitting wood and general duties, the SOG would be a knife to carry on my person and is still capable of splitting wood if needed and can do a lot of smaller tasks. Both the Kbar and SOG are full tang knives and are very strong so most tasks would be covered.
I think its reasonable to carry 1 large fixed blade, 1 medium fixed blade, 1 saw, 1 folder or multi tool.
This combination is open to whatever brand type of knife you like, I dont carry knives with saw options on the blade as I find it almost impossible to sharpen saw edges correctly and especially in a survival situation, again personal choice.

Cold Steel Mini Lawman

Scales are black G10
Overall length 6.38 inches
Blade length 2.5 inches
Blade steel AUS 8A Japanese stainless
Lock is the TRIAD system
weighs 2.6OZ
Blade thickness 3mm
Stainless steel carry clip

Now this is my first folder in over 20 years and I remebered the last one always failing due to the lock, this TRIAD system is touted as a very safe unit.
I have had no problems to date.
It fits nicely into any pocket although the carry clip is really stiff, so it wont fall out but it will possibly destroy some pockets over time.
It cam pretty blunt and to be honest Ive struggled to keep a good edge on this possibly just due to the blade being pretty small.
I have a lanyard attached to the knife which is very handy, the black TiNi finish is just starting to come off which kinda gives it character I guess.
The G10 scales are very good in the hand and the finger grooves are really deep giving you great safety there when using.
its a little hard to open one handed and not as fast as others ive seen on the net.
You have the option to change the carry clip to the other side if needed.
I would recommend this knife to a first timer as its reliable and small I just need to get my sharpening skills down!

Fire starting

2009-10-25T08:26:00.000-07:00

FIRE
Now a long long time ago.....Wait! Its not really that long ago when Mankind needed to be able to make fire to survive, In fact in huge areas of the earth people still need this skill to get through each day.
So how is fire relative to us today in the age of technology and electricity?
Well think of the scenarios that could happen to you, In an urban enviroment most of us are lucky to have electric or gas to make our hot water, cook our food, wash our clothes light the house and keep us warm. So what if the power goes out? this couldnt happen to me well never say never.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/08/14/power.outage/
This is one example of a lightning strike causing major disruption within Canada and the United States.
Now living in the prairies of Canada we tend to get very frigid weather for at least 4 months at a time and if we lost power we would have no way of heating, eating, lighting in fact doing anything.
So what are some easy things that could be done to plan ahead for such a scenario?

Well I keep around the house a number of cheap Bic lighters, matches, candles, 3 flashlights and 1 headlight, 2 small gas stoves and obviously lots of warm clothes.
with these options I could survive for some period of time.
Now what to use in the wilderness? If you head into the wilds for a camping trip or a hike you need to carry some form of fire starting, for 2 reasons really, one being a planned hike and second the possibility that something happens and you end up stuck in the wilds for longer than planned and your fun hike turns into a survival scenario.
I have been researching lots of ideas on the net and you tube and the following are the items that I find would work for me.

1/ Bic lighter I would carry 2 but be warned if they get wet they wont work and if its really windy they wont work, but they are cheap!
2/ Some kind of butane stormproof lighter is a good idea I have the Windmill Trekker which has a large fuel tank and is good in 80 MPH winds.
3/Magnesium block, these are solid blocks of magnesium which is stable in this form, with a knife you scrape off a pile of shavings and use the striker on the other side to ignite. The blocks are cheap and create a high heat for starting tinder, the main disadvantage is the wind again, the shavings are easily blown away!
4/Swedish fire steel, this is a very popular method a piece of high grade flint and striker which again creates very hot sparks, these are pretty much fool proof.
5/Ultimate survival technologies Blastmatch, this again creates very hot sparks
6/Cotton wool ball soaked in vaseline, these are a great tinder and once you fluff the balls up the cotton will burn in most conditons for a good 7-8 minutes, carry a dozen of these and youll have fire at any time.
7/Char cloth, this is just pure cotton that has been burnt inside a sealed metal tin till its charred, again this catches sparks very easily. Again this is cheap just cut up an old pure cotton T-shirt!
8/9V battery an wire wool, now this is a genius idea, just take some wire wool used in the kitchen and brush the surface with the points of the battery and watch the sparks take in the wool, again simple and cheap.

Theres also lots of "primitive"methods of fire starting but these are highly skilled techniques that you need to practice a lot to be able to rely on these methods, personally I make sure I have a combination of the options above to give me peace of mind.

Review of the Maxpedition Vulture II backpack

2009-10-24T21:09:00.000-07:00

Maxpeditions Vulture II

Designed as a 3 day pack, 2810 cubic inches, 46L capacity.
Uses a 100 OZ reservoir.
Comes in OD green, black, foliage green,Khaki and ACU- digital foliage camo
Weighs 3lbs, 8oz when empty.
Equipped with YKK #10 Zippers and paracord knot pulls.
Covered with Molle attachment points
Non-slip abrasion-resistant bottom

1000 denier water and abrasion resistant light weight ballistic nylon fabric.
Du Pont Teflon fabric protector
UTX-Duraflex nylon buckles
Triple polyurathane coated for water resistance.
High tensile strength Nylon webbing.
High tensile strength composite nylon thread.
Stress points double stitched.
Internal seams taped and finished

Thats the specs out the way now to the meat and potatoes!

My pack is in OD green and Ive owned this for about 4 months now.
The pack doesnt feel like almost 4lbs and to be honest on first inspection it seemed small too small, but wait it opens up away from the body and it actually has lots of room. Now this pack is designed not to protrude above shoulder level to prevent restriction of vision where as a civilian rucksack is usually high above the head.

To wear the pack it has padded shoulders, a waist belt and a sternum stap, the waist belt can be stowed away in a hidden pocket if wanted.
The pack also tends to sit just above the hollow of the back, this is another design feature for military use, this being where you would wear a utility belt around the waist and the bag sits above this area, something to think about before buying.

Although the pack is pretty spacious I am still going to add some pouches to the outside of the pack via the Molle points to allow me to create a layered system of storage which I will discuss in a later blog.

This is a well constructed piece of gear and feels like it will last a lifetime, I am using this for a 3 day pack currently but I think a slightly bigger version to allow 5-7 days would be a good option.

Now the other thing to decide is your setting if you want to blend into an urban enviroment then woodland camo isnt for you, black tends to look to tactical so pick a colour that blends, with the OD green it seems to blend into Urban and wilderness scenarios, Maxpedition are also doing some civilian colours for their packs if you like that kind of thing.

Why try to blend? well you dont want to send out signals too people that youre carrying a big bag of goodies just waiting to be stolen now do you!

Purpose of this blog

2009-10-24T14:43:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Thanks for checking my blog out, the purpose of this site is to provide information on survival.
I have recently started my journey into the world of survival be it in an Urban enviroment or in the wilderness. I have always been a fan of "Gear" relating to survival and have never really thought about the possibility that I would ever be in a true survival scenario, I mean I dont travel the Jungle, climb mountains, swim in shark infested oceans,but you know what, never say never!
Im originally from the UK where there are very few dangerous animals apart from the human ones, the weather is pretty mild and predictable but over the last twenty years the country has started to see the firsts, first eartquakes, tornadoes, major floods, hurricanes, now not on a massive scale as in other parts of the world but its heading that way.
We are also all aware of the energy crisis thats been looming over us for over twenty years, how much longer will we have the ability to flick that switch and have electricity flow out to power all of our gadgets and toys? How long will we have heat at a flick of a switch? most living dwellings no longer have fireplaces so the option to provide a heat source for your self in the home is gone. How much longer will we have petrol(gas) to run our cars and SUVs?
Food...food is no longer the cheap item it has been for so long, rising fuel costs and the turning over of food crops to fuel crops is rising, which in turn raises the price of the raw ingredients.
So basically our easy western lives are gonna change dramatically at some point because we can no longer meet demand with the limited resources the planet has to offer us.
Survival, my thoughts have returned to the basics, water, Fire, shelter, first aid,food, navigation.
Now all of these skills mankind used to possess, and in lots of areas of the world the skills required for day to day survival are used.
Western living has destroyed the need for these skills to be taught/learnt although there is a growing number of people who are waking up to the idea that re-learning these skills could be beneficial.
Hence the demands for information regarding survival all over the net and places like you tube.
With the advances in technology the "Gear" you can purchase for survival is amazing,but remember all the gear in the world will not replace the knowledge you need to use it or if you are in a situation with limited or no gear knowledge is all you will have!
I have no military background or survival training so Im going to show my journey into the world of survival and share my thoughts and ideas with anyone who wants to listen.

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