Outdoor survival for the homeless 'Zine

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Outdoor survival for the homeless 'Zine

Submitted by security_six on Fri, 11/30/2007 - 9:04pm.

After Rob suggested an idea for a 'Zine to be handed out at Bread and Roses with information on outdoor survival for the homeless, I commited to creating one for him. I created some content and sent it to him for his approval.

I hope to finish this project by this time next week. Briefly I am going to cover urban and woodland camping, various survival tactics and tips, gear and equipment, improvised shelters and gear, staying dry, staying warm, hygiene, first aid, etc...

As I get a little further along, I will post it here, and invite criticism and suggestions. Anyone who would care to help me can PM me and I'll send what disjointed materiels I have written already. By Tuesday I'll have a fairly coherent looking document (I hope)

Everything original I write will be released under the Creative Commons license...

security_six's blog
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Thanks for doing this

Submitted by Guglielmo on Sat, 12/01/2007 - 1:51pm.

and making your resourcefulness a resource for the community. You might think about starting a wiki if you want people to contribute. Then it could be an ongoing, updated urban survival guide. What ever you do, thanks.

Good idea

Submitted by security_six on Sat, 12/01/2007 - 8:27pm.

When I get far enough along, I will post it as a wiki. Now, can you tell me how to make the Wiki? :-)

Just go to Rick's "social Contract" wiki and sign in.

Submitted by Guglielmo on Sat, 12/01/2007 - 8:43pm.

Then you can start your own.

I'd love to get some copies of this for the library...

Submitted by agathafrye on Sat, 12/01/2007 - 8:42pm.

I'd love it if you could let me know when it's finished. I'm happy to print and staple them if you send me a digital file.

I'm Happy to Help Staple

Submitted by Chia on Mon, 12/03/2007 - 2:57pm.

Please send a personal message if you'd like help stapling because I'm not sure I'd see a comment.

---------
Nonviolence Includes Animals:
audio
"PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk's address to the International Nonviolence Conference in Bethlehem"

I'm working on it....

Submitted by security_six on Sat, 12/01/2007 - 8:54pm.

n/t

Nice going!

Submitted by Debmonstrative on Sat, 12/01/2007 - 10:39pm.

I thought it was a great idea but my thoughts were bigger than any actions. I'll look over your stuff when you post it. I'm not an expert but I have a bit of experience, and I make my living as an editor to boot. Pun attempted.

just a suggestion

Submitted by a.future.with.n... on Sun, 12/02/2007 - 2:14pm.

first i want to say that i think this is a fantastic idea.

i would like to encourage you to make most of the articles image based on account of the high rate of illiteracy in the greater homeless population. also, maybe consider a spanish version.

other than, good work! i can't wait to read it.

The wiki is up

Submitted by security_six on Sun, 12/02/2007 - 2:21pm.

http://olyblog.net/outdoor-survival-homeless-wiki-and-running

Thank you for the suggestions regarding foreign languages and illiteracy.

I will add some images when I get the chance. I think I have some public domain images but I need to find them and then find someone with a scanner.

Anyone who can translate is welcome to do so.

I will attempt to make a simplified semi-literate version when I get a chance. First things first, create the main document, then make sub versions.

There is still a lot of work I need to do, hopefully will have much of it done by Tuesday.

Can we continue future comments to the "up and running" blog entry please.

"the high rate of illiteracy"

Submitted by hazzardus waste on Sun, 12/02/2007 - 4:44pm.

i say hogwash to that. the poor are no more illerate than the rest of the population

Actually, that's incorrect

Submitted by Guglielmo on Sun, 12/02/2007 - 4:52pm.

Poverty is very closely associatd with litteracy and level of education. That relationship may or may not be as strong with respect to living condition, but I'd be willing to wager it's more of a problem among the houseless than in the rest of the community. It may be an exageration to characterize the illiteracy rate as "high," but it's probably higher than expected. Regardless, it is wise to create a document that is easily understood by someone with limited reading skills. It's a matter of survival.

I have to agree with the G-Man

Submitted by security_six on Sun, 12/02/2007 - 5:12pm.

I thought of that as I was preparing my first draft. Rather crudely I asked myself 'Should I dumb this down?" I decided I will make a complete draft an submit it to the community as a whole.

Beta testing distributions may need to be done.

I have found though, assuming verbal communications skills are any indicator, most homeless people are literate, but a portion, often the most desperate portion are not. With literacy comes better jobs, ability to fill out applications and forms, etc...

I have heard former addicts who were barely able to form complete thoughts, and I have had high level intelectual discussions with pan handlers.

Let me finish the document, and variations can be worked on from there. I'm all for a basic "cartoon" style of illustrations. All the illustrations I have right now are from US Military publications (of which I found a HUGE treasure trove online in PDF format) and rely to some degree or another on the technical text that they accompany. I can "dumb" down the text easily enough though to go with the illustrations.

People are smart though, I think that some basic illustrations of supplies and packed kits, along with some improvised shelter illustrations would go a long way. I am assuming that whomever wil be distributing this (and I'd love to see it go beyond Oly) will have some one on one with many of the recipients and can judge the literacy needs of whomever is reciving the document.

urban camping reality. don't let the poop hit the fan

Submitted by hazzardus waste on Sun, 12/02/2007 - 5:15pm.

i havent been able to read what has been written so far on this so i dont know if some one covered this issue. pooping. access to bathrooms is one thing that the poor are less able to access. customers only, late night early morning ect. in a truely wooded situation this problem can be solved the standard ways trench,pit poopers, ect. keeping in mind the water table and overloadind the area with too much human poop. im no going to go into this issue but it should be addressed. my thing is the idea of pooping into plastic bags when regular waste facilitys are unaccesable. dog poop and diapers already go to the landfills so the poop laden plastic bag entering the waste stream is a non-issue with current waste disposal tecneques. how to : take a regular safeway or whatever plastic shopping bag with handles one will work but two or three put together prevents any leakage or busted bags. take the bags holding one handle in each hand, squat hold the opening of the bag over your but with the two handles. poop then you can wipe after holding the poop bag in one hand putting the waste paper in the bag. knot the bag and dispose of just like the yuppies do with there dog poop. this only works for poop, some exercise mite be needed to hold your pee till youre done pooping. im not a good writer so please let me know wether i civered all the angles so as you can understand how to poop in a bag. and if you dont like poop rember Rabellias book pantagreul which has a whole chapter on poop and shitting. i use this method as neccary and it works well

Good info

Submitted by security_six on Sun, 12/02/2007 - 5:21pm.

I have not gotten to hygiene yet, but my notes cover this topic, and some of the solutions provided.

I recomend the book How To Shit in the Woods
for anyone who has further interest in the subject.

Very good point

Submitted by Guglielmo on Sun, 12/02/2007 - 5:21pm.

How to use a Safeway Johnnie!

how to shit in the woods

Submitted by hazzardus waste on Sun, 12/02/2007 - 5:26pm.

i read this too but im talking about urban or semi wooded situations which is way diffrent. and should be defined

Yeah

Submitted by security_six on Sun, 12/02/2007 - 5:28pm.

I am still researching some solutions to the whole human waste issue. For the moment I have settled on the old "shit in a bag" routine.

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