If you guys enjoyed this, you'll love the Ranger Handbook. Still have mine from when I went through :) [0] http://fas.org/irp/doddir/army/ranger.pdf
Since we're on a roll, here's a CIA manual on tradecraft https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intellig...
US Army Survival Manual (2006) [pdf]
41–50 of 69 posts
Re: US Army Survival Manual (2006) [pdf]
#42Re: US Army Survival Manual (2006) [pdf]
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Very nice. Is that some kind of US military standard issue cigarette? Because they so many varieties in content now.
To your actual question yes and no. In the past, yes. Currently no. I think its more the principle. Nicotine, like caffine was evolved by planets as a pesticide. Animals (like parasites) that don't normally come in contact with it, likely don't have resitances to it. Highly evolved Apes like us, are simply to big and evolutionarily advanced to be killed by such a small dose of poison.
This completely misunderstands evolution on a very basic level, and is wrong beyond the hope of being salvaged.
Re: US Army Survival Manual (2006) [pdf]
#44If you guys enjoyed this, you'll love the Ranger Handbook. Still have mine from when I went through :) [0] http://fas.org/irp/doddir/army/ranger.pdf
Totally impractical for anyone here but a very entertaining read. There's a lot of math that goes into explosives if you want to do it right.
[1] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abatis
PS- to above poster: saw your comments a few weeks back about leaving the Army and entering the tech workforce. I have experience with both. If you have questions or want to chat, my contact info is on chrissnell.com.
Re: US Army Survival Manual (2006) [pdf]
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is not a thing. This is crack-pottery at an insane level. From the intro: "We expect about 90 degree shift of the crust as planet-X passes earth's orbit on its way through our solar system. " As other comments mentions magnetic pole shift though, that is a thing and happens every so often, about every 0.1 to 1 million years, see e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal
To be pedantic, the survival for magnetic poles shifting is "go about life as normal". The magnetic poles are constantly shifting, just not very fast (~50km/year or so). Reversal would be a bit more dramatic, though...
So it isn't entirely out there to worry a bit out reversal. Current thinking is that the Earth's magnetic field becomes multi-polar during reversals, but field strength won't dramatically diminish. So if it does happen, it'll complicate some things, and no doubt result in some economic activity, but won't be the end of the world.
Re: US Army Survival Manual (2006) [pdf]
#46An uncle gave me an early 90's version of this manual as a gift when I was in my teens. This manual, along with "The American Boy's Handy Book" resulted in days and days of outdoor activity and a plethora of failed boats/rafts/cabins/snares/spearfishing/etc... There are some awesome instructions in here and the print copy I have has an entire color photo plant identification guide in the back. My only word of warning…
> Make fish poison by immersing walnut hulls in a small area of quiet water. This poison makes it impossible for the fish to breathe but doesn't adversely affect their edibility.
Wowzer
Re: US Army Survival Manual (2006) [pdf]
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think they are actually referring to geomagnetic reversal, believed by some to be a likely cataclysmic event, in which the poles could reverse entirely and it is supposed that the protective field would have a dramatic reduction in power for enough time to cause serious problems.
Well, we see evidence for magnetic reversal in the geological record. It happened before, and a lot. Also, the strength has gone down to about 5% before. This much I'd take as fact. What is not clear is the effect this has on the biosphere. Calculations have been made for different magnetic field strenghts during the reversal and it seems that radiation can go up. By how much and how much of a problem that would be..…
Far more interesting--as in the case of climate change--is the effect on the economy, which is much more finely tuned and sensitive to change than the biosphere.
The hypothetical timescale of 1000-10000 years is based mostly on the low resolution of the data and the seeming implausibility of much more rapid mechanisms, but as the Wikipedia article suggests there are data that point to much higher rates.
Furthermore, the current theory is most consistent with a multi-polar field during the reversal, which would make magnetic compasses awkward, although probably not unusable. I used to sail in an area that had a large local magnetic anomaly (22 degrees over the course of a few nautical miles) and compasses weren't completely useless, just a tag tedious to use.
So if a magnetic reversal is about to occur there is likely to be a market for a "smart compass" or "compass as a service" that updates daily to your local conditions. Never a wind so ill it doesn't blow somebody good.
Re: US Army Survival Manual (2006) [pdf]
#48I was not aware Pole Shift Survival was a thing. The internet really is a collection of wonderful things. http://pssurvival.com/ "The information on this site is for those who wish to improve their chances for survival after the coming pending pole shift."
They are going to be bitterly disappointed by attempting to use Homeopathy in a trauma situation!
Re: US Army Survival Manual (2006) [pdf]
#49Re: US Army Survival Manual (2006) [pdf]
#50For the curious, here is also surviving guide in a pdf form issued by Finnish defense forces in 1985: http://www.puolustusvoimat.fi/wcm/61ba4180411e702ea19ee9e364... You probably can't make much out of the text, but pictures may be worth looking of, even though most of the traps demonstrated are illegal to make during peace. There's also cooking recipes in the bottom of the document, which contain oddities such as so…
I always enjoy seeing small scandanavian tactics (Norway, Sweden, Finland) tactics against German, Russian juggernauts.