Technology and outdoorsy stuff

So this guy amputating his arm, and a variety of other things, got me thinking about the role of technology in outdoorsy stuff. Given sufficient budget, technology enables us to (almost) never be out of contact with other people, and made it (almost) impossible to get lost.

Whenever I go hiking or climbing, I carry a cell phone, and I carry a GPSr. The cell phone, most of the time, allows me to call anyone in the world from anywhere I happen to be. If I were to get injured, I could call the local police, and give them my exact coordinates.

The GPSr, on the other hand, makes it almost impossible to get lost. Now, it is very possible to be out of view of the satelites, but usually if you wait long enough, you can see them again. So, whenever I go hiking in unfamiliar territory, I put a waypoint marker in the GPSr called “JEEP”. Thus, no matter how lost I get, I can always press “Go”, select “JEEP”, and know exactly what direction I need to go, and for how far, before returning to where I started. So even when I get completely turned around, as I did on Sunday afternoon, I simply *can’t* get lost.

Now, perhaps this removes some of the thrill of exploring, and perhaps it dulls some of the instincts that hikers work hard to cultivate. But, should I ever get stuck on a ledge, or under a boulder, or just lost in the woods, the danger is largely removed. And, given my tendency to go hiking alone – hiking is usually about getting away from everything, anyway – this is a great comfort to me.

So, while I tend to think that technology makes us dumber, and that it is usually pretty hard to find emerging technology that genuinely makes life better, in the arena of outdoorsy stuff, I think that we’ve got a winner.

Always carry a sharp knife

CNN.com – Climber recounts decision to amputate arm – May. 8, 2003

I suppose it’s a measure of my weirdness that as I read about this guy amputating his own arm with a blunt knife, what keeps coming to mind was, well, at least I always carry at least one, and usually two, sharp knives, when I go climbing solo.

I simply can’t imagine the kind of fortitude necessary to perform an operation like this on oneself. But I guess, after 3 days, that one can do extreme things.

Bowens in Belize

Reading “Ghost Rider” by Neil Peart. He notes that the Bowen family owns 250,000 acres in Belize, and the Coca-Cola bottling rights for the whole country, and have been around for seven or eight generations. This would be interesting to investigate further some day.

Sleeping city

At the jeep dealer at 7 this morning for some service. Oil change. Headlight. Rubber bumper on the hood mysteriously missing. And the tach and speedometer occasionally drop out for no apparent reason.

I waited until 8, then walked the half mile or so over to the Idle Hour Barber Shop, only to find it still closed. What is it with this city? Nothing opens until 9 or 10 (except coffee shops and jeep dealers, apparently) and everything is closed by 8 or 9 pm. This is particularly frustrating on Saturdays, when time is so precious, but nothing opens until 10. Of course this encourages creativity.

Employment and geocaching

So, it appears that I am now semi-actively looking for employment. Although running my company is what I really want to to be doing, training seems to be a pretty hard sell in this economy, particularly when we are so specialized. While I am deeply frustrated about this, I need to acquire an actual income, so that I can pay bills and stuff. I think I made less last year than any year since grad school. And my expenses were substantially higher. Leaving me wondering why I don’t have tens of thousands of dollars saved up from previous years.

So, before I descend any further into self-pity, I should mention that I found THREE geocaches this weekend, two of which I had looked for at least three times before with no success. Just goes to show that life really is good after all – you just have to know where to focus your attention.

Camp Nelson

I went out to visit Camp Nelson National Cemetery today. Most people that I have spoken to are vaguely aware that it is out there, but have never visited. I was completely unprepared for the impact that the experience would have on me.

There are thousands of men and women buried out there who died to procure and defend our freedom and our freedoms. And thousands of them died without anybody knowing their name. Men who died in the Spanish American war lie beside those that died in Korea, Vietnam, and World War II. Men that I don’t know, with names that clearly came from several continents, died so that I can enjoy my freedoms.

If you have not been out there, I encourage you to visit, and pay your respects to the men and women who sacrificed everything for you.

Royalty check

I got my royalty check today, which is always exciting. I get to see how many copies of my books sold, and rake in the profits.

The check was for $7.09

Hmm. Clearly I should not give up my day job just yet.

Exploding glass

The Rodent’s Burrow: Gelled colloid versus stainless steel

I’m reminded of an experience in college. I had a glass-front stereo cabinet. One day, while I happened to be looking at the cabinet, the glass door shattered. There was no impact, it just shattered. And, to make it more exciting, all the little pieces shattered afterwards. In fact, for nearly an hour, I watched while pieces spontaneously shattered into smaller pieces. Kinda like watching corn pop, only not.

I still don’t really have any clue why that happened, nor have I encountered anyone who has had a similar experience. It was very very bizarre.

UPDATE: Almost 300 comments so far, mostly from people who have experienced this same phenomenon. See especially THIS COMMENT which contains a fairly good explanation of why this happened. Please read it before posting YET ANOTHER comment about how nobody knows why this happens. Plenty of people know.

Another Update: Somehow in my passion to purge spam, I managed to delete the comments from this post. Mea culpa. Summary: glass – particularly tempered glass – sometimes builds up internal stress, and shatters.

I’ve published a static version of the page and comments, from archive.org, HERE , or you can see their version here.

The Margin Is Too Narrow