CRAZY PREPARED

[East Coast Hustle]

yeah, it's really hard to get good with one though.

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

can you cook things in the sun with tinfoil? what the the limitions

Yes, you can.  I made a box style cooker and it got hot enough to boil water.  I cooked a quart jar full of rice and lentils in an afternoon.  Unfortunately, I used crappy materials and half-assed workmanship so it only lasted for one use, but at least I proved the concept to myself.

potato batteries, how and how many would you need to have radio output

A simple hand crank radio would be much more efficient.  They are getting pretty cheap too. You can find one with AM/FM/Weather Band plus a flashlight for under $50.

I have one of those and mine sucks.  The WHIRR-WHIRR-WHIRR of the crank is louder than the radio.

Personally, I'm really only worried about a future where basic goods become more expensive and harder to come by, where the ridiculously high standard of living we currently enjoy is brought more in line with what most of the world lives with every day.  I know people who throw food away because they're "full".  That level of wealth is unimaginable for most people.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

You are forgetting that making the arrows is actually as difficult as making the bow.

Plus I think crossbow bolts are easier to make than traditional arrows anyway.

Earlier in this very thread I pointed out that good arrows are harder to make than good bows. 

I learned how to make both at an early age, and to shoot accurately. I can also use an atlatl and a sling. I can make a serviceable flint knife and an arrow or spearhead if need be. None of the skills I'm suggesting would be good for long-term post-apocalyptic survival are actually difficult to learn, and all could come in quite handy if society broke down to the point where it could take several generations, or even centuries, to recover. Having at least the basic ABILITY to make a serviceable longbow and arrows is just sort of a basic survival concept. I'm sure that crossbows would be more practical, assuming you had access to the right materials, but for long-term group survival it sure would be nice to know how to make everything you need for survival without requiring parts you might not always have access to.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

yeah, it's really hard to get good with one though.

'Struth. I practiced daily for over two years and never got all that good.

[fomenter]

yeah, it's really hard to get good with one though.

learning to fling a rock is a just matter of a little practice, gaining any kind of useful/hunting accuracy is near impossible,  basic rock flinging may be good for attacking crowds or defending livestock from wolves/coyote's,

they are fun to play with...

[Cain]

We bought slingshots in Peru.  And practiced with them, constantly.  Accurate, they are not.  Used in concert however, they are fucking terrifying, for everyone involved.

[Richter]

I've had similar experiences with lashing / sligning / flailing weapons.  I become a tremendous force for about 15 seconds.  Then part of my brain goes "Wow, I'm good at this.", which invariably causes me to fuck up and injure myself.

[Elder Iptuous]

We bought slingshots in Peru.  And practiced with them, constantly.  Accurate, they are not.  Used in concert however, they are fucking terrifying, for everyone involved.

Not accurate?
perhaps the fault does not lie in the instrument...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ieWrWLjii0

[fomenter]

i thought we were talking about slings David and Goliath style? an elastic and y shaped branch/wrist rocket are plenty accurate...

slings are different story it may be possible to hunt hit targets with one, but based on my trials its not easy. getting a rock to fly at incredible speeds is not so hard and is good destructive fun.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

i thought we were talking about slings David and goliath style? an elastic and y shaped branch/wrist rocket are plenty accurate...

Yeah, I was talking about this kind of sling:

[fomenter]

i thought we were talking about slings David and goliath style? an elastic and y shaped branch/wrist rocket are plenty accurate...

Yeah, I was talking about this kind of sling:

so was i

[Elder Iptuous]

ah so.
Cain said he used slingshots in peru....  I thought he veered us in a different direction....
actually....
i just wanted to show that video of the old fart with quarter pinging skillz.

incidentally....did anybody check out that last link i posted? (Cain specifically, with your previous mention of information preparedness)
reference - HYST documents: http://www.theplacewithnoname.com/blogs/klessons/p/0006.html

[LMNO]

i thought we were talking about slings David and goliath style? an elastic and y shaped branch/wrist rocket are plenty accurate...

Yeah, I was talking about this kind of sling:

so was i

Me too. 

Simple to learn, a lifetime to master.

[Telarus]

I've only ever played with a sling a little bit, but it tended to reinforce my ideas about combat (arcs and circularity trump linear strikes most of the time).

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

I've only ever played with a sling a little bit, but it tended to reinforce my ideas about combat (arcs and circularity trump linear strikes most of the time).

Unless its a rapier thrust.