M Ljin

I was mistaken in my earlier post because I used Morton's account as being for a "cold climate" when actually it is more like southern Scandinavia or central europe in how cold it is--Massachusetts reaches Zone 7 at the coast. Further inland accounts will be necessary.

Here is the transcript for those who cannot watch videos. It's very short:

Peter and I lived for seven years in a wilderness of New Zealand nomadically. We were always on the move. We had no satellite phone, no cell phone, no emergency beacon. And in all those years, I never had one accident or injury. Now, why is that?

Because we had time. I think scheduled time, as in a planning, is the most deadly thing you can have. Because on the Sunday evening you want to get back to the car park because Monday morning you have to be back at work, for example, and then people cross that flooded river and they drown. Or they go through the rain, through that storm, they get too cold, hypothermia, and die. Or they don't give their body rest because they can't afford a rest day, and they get an injury, or an accident, because the body is exhausted. So the most important thing is to be very very flexible time-wise and don't promise other people to be back in 5 days or 6 days, you know, give it a little bit more leeway. If you stay warm and dry, and sometimes have the patience to stay in your tent, you will be safe. Remember the number three rule. You can go 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, and 3 weeks without food. You will not starve overnight. So, give yourself time. Make sure you have water to drink, and make sure you're dry--and you will live.

I can read it fine. It is letters A-G, with sharps and flats. The sharps are hard to make out but you know if they're not a flat (the little thing that looks like a lowercase b).

I thought this video was very insightful.

Miriam Lancewood is a true expert in wilderness living, not just camping...

One brick at a time
he stacked with the utmost ease
Upon his bare head

I have slept outside quite a bit--though never below the low twenties (not enough blankets for that), but mostly upper twenties and warmer.

I am guessing that these are at least partly AI-created videos so they are going to be a little dubious naturally. -40F is USDA zones 3a and below. Most of Europe is not that cold. Most of Sweden is zones 4/5, with the south in zones 6 and 7 and a few isolated areas of 2/3. https://www.plantmaps.com/interactive-sweden-plant-hardiness-zone-map-celsius.php

Norway apparently dips into Zone 8 at the northernmost tip: https://www.plantmaps.com/interactive-norway-plant-hardiness-zone-map.php

It only really starts getting cold into Russia and Siberia, and most of western Russia is zone 5.

So maybe we should think about -40* winters not based on whatever medieval europeans have done--however it tends to capture the imagination of people of that ancestry--but rather go further east to northern China, Siberia, Kamchatka, Mongolia, etc.? Or west and look at Native American ways of staying warm through the long cold winters of New England, the Great Lakes & Plains regions, northern Canada, Alaska, etc.

Some of the information presented is quite valuable however! It makes me think more about creating a good microclimate that doesn't have to be heated. When sleeping outside, I found that tenting some of the blankets over my head made so much of a difference for keeping the heat in and drafts out, akin to the curtains or canopy. In native New England of old, I hear that people covered their heads with blankets (sewed out of skins) to keep themselves warm, for instance.

Lastly I will leave you with a paragraph of Thomas Morton's New English Canaan, first with the original and then with modern spellynge:

The Natives of New England are accustomed to build them houses much like the wild Irish; they gather Poles in the woodes and put the great end of them in the ground, placinge them in forme of a circle or circumference, and, bendinge the topps of them in forme of an Arch, they bind them together with the Barke of Walnut [hickory] trees, which is wondrous tuffe, so that they make the same round on the Topp for the smooke of their fire to assend and passe through; these they cover with matts, some made of reeds and some of longe flagges [cattails?], or sedge, finely sowed together with needles made of the splinter bones of a Cranes legge, with threeds made of their Indian hempe, which their groueth naturally, leaving severall places for dores, which are covered with mats, which may be rowled up and let downe againe at their pleasures, making use of the severall dores, according as the winde sitts. The fire is alwayes made in the middest of the house, with winde fals commonly: yet some times they fell a tree that groweth neere the house, and, by drawing in the end thereof, maintaine the fire on both sids, burning the tree by Degrees shorter and shorter, untill it be all consumed; for it burneth night and day. Their lodging is made in three places of the house about the fire; they lye upon plankes, commonly about a foote or 18. inches aboue the ground, raised upon railes that are borne up upon forks; they lay mats under them, and Coats of Deares skinnes, otters, beavers, Racownes, and of Beares hides, all which they have dressed and converted into good lether, with the haire on, for their coverings: and in this manner they lye as warme as they desire. In the night they take their rest; in the day time, either the kettle is on with fish or flesh, by no allowance, or else the fire is imployed in roasting of fishes, which they delight in. The aire doeth beget good stomacks, and they feede continually, and are no niggards of their vittels; for they are willing that any one shall eate with them. Nay, if any one that shall come into their {26} houses and there fall a sleepe, when they see him disposed to lye downe, they will spreade a matt for him of their owne accord, and lay a roule of skinnes for a boulster, and let him lye. If hee sleepe untill their meate be dished up, they will set a wooden boule of meate by him that sleepeth, and wake him saying, Cattup keene Meckin: That is, If you be hungry, there is meat for you, where if you will eate you may. Such is their Humanity.[240]

The Natives of New England are accustomed to build them houses much like the wild Irish; they gather Poles in the woods and put the great end of them in the ground, placing them in form of a circle or circumference, and, bending the tops of them in form of an Arch, they bind them together with the Bark of Walnut [hickory] trees, which is wondrous tough, so that they make the same round on the Top for the smoke of their fire to ascend and passe through; these they cover with mats, some made of reeds and some of long flags [cattails], or sedge, finely sewed together with needles made of the splinter bones of a Crane's leg, with threads made of their Indian hemp, which their grows naturally, leaving several places for doors, which are covered with mats, which may be rolled up and let down again at their pleasures, making use of the several doors, according as the wind sits. The fire is always made in the middle of the house, with wind falls commonly: yet sometimes they fell a tree that grows near the house, and, by drawing in the end thereof, maintain the fire on both sides, burning the tree by Degrees shorter and shorter, until it be all consumed; for it burns night and day. Their lodging is made in three places of the house about the fire; they lie upon planks, commonly about a foot or 18. inches above the ground, raised upon rails that are borne up upon forks; they lay mats under them, and Coats of Deer's skins, otters, beavers, Raccoons, and of Bear's hides, all which they have dressed and converted into good leather, with the hair on, for their coverings: and in this manner they lie as warm as they desire. In the night they take their rest; in the day time, either the kettle is on with fish or flesh, by no allowance, or else the fire is employed in roasting of fishes, which they delight in. The air doth beget good stomachs, and they feed continually, and are no niggards of their vittles; for they are willing that any one shall eat with them. Nay, if any one that shall come into their houses and there fall asleep, when they see him disposed to lie down, they will spread a mat for him of their own accord, and lay a roll of skins for a bolster, and let him lie. If he sleeps until their meat be dished up, they will set a wooden bowl of meat by him that sleepeth, and wake him saying, Cattup keene Meckin: That is, If you be hungry, there is meat for you, where if you will eat you may. Such is their Humanity.

I will add that in my own experience, I have slept on both cattails and straw before and found the former very comfortable. I recommend making your own cattail mattress, and my estimation is that cattails are more comfortable than straw.

There are many evils in the world and many contradictions in the way the system is run. I feel that the whole system we live under is at times very inhuman, and that the best rebellion is to live our own lives warmly and humanly, embracing the small and the humble and bringing ourselves into peace with the universe, and living free from fear despite the chaos raging on around us--for one person to be at peace with/in themself is a precious thing.

Is it possible however to be at peace with the situation now, and still think forward towards looking for solutions or ways to fix things at the human scale, with the power that we have by nature? For instance, can we somehow reset or rewire our immune systems to become more natural after the damage done by improper vaccination procedures? What about making our own live, natural vaccines from the contagion that are safe to ingest and use (which is quite a balance, I think)? Power over nature is very tempting, and asking people to give it up is difficult, even if it is hurting us in the process; but what if we instead tried to think together to discover and share methods of working with nature to stay free of infectious and inherent diseases?

Maybe this needs to be another thread... but I think that however much harm has been done we can find ways to move forward and find more harmonious and human ways of living. Maybe, as JP described earlier, sanitation is a major issue still. It seems to me that with recent knowledge coming to light, it's more important to have lots of the good bacteria, or have an antibacterial, fresh-smelling environment rather than wiping out the microbiota of environments with antibiotics, antiseptics, and other nasty things. My guess is also that reducing artificial surfaces such as plastic and replacing them with fragrant coniferous woods and other antiseptic materials would be more sanitary. Other things we could do might be living in tighter knit communities, travelling less/having less contact with people who might be carrying disease, reducing pressure children & adults to go to school/work while sick (umm... permaculture...), and supporting/taking care of ourselves with good food and a hospitable, human-centric environment.

A podcast I heard once mentioned that you do not get someone to stop drinking and smoking by telling them it's bad for them, because that does not address the core issue of why they are drinking and smoking. Knowing that something is bad for you is one thing, but stopping is another. The reason why people go to drinking or smoking despite the health issues is because it does something for them that adds enough value to their lives that they keep doing it. In general, they use smoking and drinking to reduce stress and anxiety, which are rampant in society today. Finding ways that people can reduce & cope with stress in ways that aren't daunting, will by far make the greatest impact on a person's addiction (according to the podcast). My experience with de-addicting and quitting chocolate (the only addictive drug I am familiar with!) has been promising. What I mostly did was took a day or three--as long as needed--to settle down and rest myself with the understanding that things would not be the same and I might not get the energy I normally had gotten from eating chocolate, but that once I had rested myself and recovered the innate strength to go through my life unaffected without eating chocolate, I would feel normal again and it would be more liberating.

To connect the metaphor, the reason for wanting vaccines has nothing to do with autoimmune, allergies, or other chronic, non-infectious diseases. It is because they are effective in building immunity to particular, living pathogens or germs which can invade the body and cause damage. Talking to someone about an autoimmune disorder that could be caused by certain kinds of vaccines, is not likely to make the person any less afraid of getting tetanus. So focusing on effective remedies and preventative measures for these very terrifying diseases, seems relevant...

So back to the chocolate. Sometimes when we want to change, we actually have to slow down, not get moving. When I was trying to quit chocolate, the first few times I couldn't succeed because I was pushing myself too much. I couldn't expect that my state of mind & discipline while active were the same when low energy. So minimizing energy expenditure and stress was what allowed me to adapt and reshape the way my mind & body were functioning. Now I am happily without any form of caffeine or any stimulants & depressants which prove so addictive to people... So if we want to make a change, we can't always just get moving, even though that seems like the best way--superficially. It can prove necessary that when we get to a sticky problem, slowing down is the better option--slowing down, looking around, reducing stress and being gentle on ourselves until we find a way. Sometimes we need to be in a "lantern awareness" that we don't get into until we slow down, sometimes we need to go there, let the world captivate us, be playful, and that way new solutions and good ways forward come with less resistance.

Also I put all picks, capos, etc. into a special bowl. Anything small and musical goes there, and it is a good system of organization for me.

Oh! I forgot to mention, quills have been used too...

One thing about the bone is that it can be filed back into shape... plastic would just create plastic dust. So even if it doesn't keep its point after a while, it could be restored.

Looking through wikipedia, more historically used plectra include, coconut shell and mesrab, which is made of metal wire. There are all sorts of plectra made from various gemstones too: https://elmntpicks.com/ I suppose the major qualification is that they are a hard and polishable enough material that they will not abrade at the strings, but will pluck. Harpsichords have been made with leather plectra, and I've used little pieces of birch bark too (but not with too much success--it was quite quiet).

Hello, hell

It went to hell in a handbasket!