the green channel's The alaska experiment

[Kingoftheflock]

now i know some of you dont like the green channel (joe), but i was being entertained a few days ago when i was watching the show called the alaska experiment. its basically taking a bunch of morons (all of them from california) and throwing them in alaska with a log cabin and some modern supplies to see how well they survive. they were all saying about how they could survive the month without killing an animal and how none of them have ever shot a gun before, so i decided to tune in and see them fail. on day one they crept around the woods looking for edible plants that they couldnt even identify, which ended in their supervisor who was only giving them hints if they kept failing to try spear fishing the next day. i was laughing as they took long sticks and tried to sharpen them against a stone and then wildly throwing them at any fish that skimmed the water. then they got a hunting guide who was able to convince them to try hunting becuase they were failing so miserably. he gave them a few rifles and tried to show them how to shoot. one of them held a rifle with a scope that could take down a moose, i forget what it was called exactly. he took a shot at a target and the scope kicked back and gave him a bloody ring around his eye. they managed to get a rabbit with a .22 but left the meat outside. a wolf came and stole the meat and thats when i changed the channel. why are there so many stupid people? any funny comments to make?

[LDS]

Just look at it this way King, It means there's more food for the rest of us.

And when they all die off there will be a nice cabin someone can clear the bones from and use wisely.

[dixieangler]

You can teach skills and even knowledge but you can't teach reasoning, common sense, and innovation. You can only advise that the last three are as important as the first two because the last three are gained by experience and doing the first two. Neither the first two or the last three can be separated from each other, they all work together.

Recall the adage, "You can give a man a fish and he will eat for the day. Give him a fishing pole, teach him how to use it, and he will eat for the rest of his life." Well, not if he can't do the last three above as it applies to where the fish are, what the fish are doing, eating, etc. Sometimes the fish will zone in on something specific or will stop biting due to weather. Lots of variables to consider if you hope to catch fish and even then its no sure bet but your odds are much higher if you are using your brain to work it out.

[LDS]

I never heard of a single primitive culture that had a vegan subculture. They used every rescource that was available to them, plant and animal. Some of the Alaskan cultures were completely carniverous, eating only a few ounces of berries, when they were in season, as their entire vegatible diet.

Additionally, we all know that our skill set is gained through much teaching, learning, observation and trial and error. It is not something one can pick up as "On the job training" after the shoe has fallen. Most of these groups go through a 2 day or two week prep course, while being fed their choice of diets and going back to the motel each night. Bear G. survival style.

I know from my own teaching experience that people take a strange attitude in this setting. "When I need it I will be able to figure it out!" and "I will catch on when the time comes, I'm a fast learner". The other one I hear is "It can't be that hard, people did it for thousands of years and they were not as smart as us!".

You also get folk that never opened a book about the environment they are going into. "I didn't know it woud be this cold!" "No one told me it would rain all day, every day!" and the big one you hear in every Alaskan survival film, "There's nothing to eat! This place is supposed to be covered with animals!"

And the choice of participants! There is always the housewife, the lawyer, the EMT, the LEO, the waitress/school bus driver, and the guy that caught a fish once when he was 12. At least one must be a vegitarian, and another must be gay. All must be liberal in philosophy, so they can test their precepts in a real world setting (and change them), and none can have any real outdoor skills besides walking from their car into the Starbucks.

The last one they did, where they had the group traveling every 3-4 days was good. They were weeding people out and the smart adaptable ones actually got on a learning curve, ate anything put in front of them, hunted and fished what they could and almost half made it to the end.

[coon4492]

not surprised the green channel aired this pile of crap. If your going to make a channel dedicated to environmental protection talk about more than just climate change. I see they made an effort to do that but this show just flat out sucks. It seems to have no relation to environmental issues its just idiots lacking skills in a wilderness area. They just have to heavily advertise the fact that it has to do with Alaska and the "Final Frontier" alot of shows on different networks seem in love with filming alaska why? The states basically a giant sheet of ice with a few trees and a moose here and there how is that entertaining? Why don't they do a show about deforestation in the rainforests or illegal poaching threatening endangered speicies? This show sounds like a bad show National Geographic would air. I hate this channel because in reality it talks little about important environmental issues and more about how we can unplug our lamps so we save a few dollars on our electric bill and "save the planet". I switched my light bulbs to energy saving lightbulbs I think Al gore should give me a high five for that. I want to go to college to study environmental issues like deforestation or endangered species but not climate change i might have to but I really would rather not study that topic.

[Kingoftheflock]

I never heard of a single primitive culture that had a vegan subculture.

yea its pathetic isnt it? we get these vegetarian assholes in our school trying to force a vegan lifestyle down our throats and then we go and eat pizza and nachos for lunch. people are getting way too soft and stupid for comfort around here.

[dixieangler]

I switched my light bulbs to energy saving lightbulbs I think Al gore should give me a high five for that.

I have those kind too but only because they last longer than incandescent bulbs. If you think you are helping the environment with them, you are just kidding yourself. Think about the materials and energy used to construct them and the fact that the materials they are made out of are hazardous to the environment.

AlGore probably would give you a high five from the comfort of his mansion, limo, or jet. LOL Not only is he wrong from the lies he spins (no one ever confronts his Swiss Cheese theories and statements with the facts, historical and otherwise) but he is also a hypocrite. He is also a Nobel Prize winner for all of the above. LOL!!!!!

we get these vegetarian assholes in our school trying to force a vegan lifestyle down our throats

If you are in a long term survival situation or primitive living and only ate plants (mostly carbohydrates and vitamins), you would die from lack of protein and fat. That is a fact. I doubt you would die from a lack of carbohydrates but you do need vitamins or parts of your body would start falling off (like hair, teeth, and fingernails) as well as get some nasty wasting diseases like scurvy and beriberi that you would die from. But you would eventually die due to lack of proper medical care (appendicitis, internal bleeding, etc.), things you can't fix in your body by yourself even if you use basic first aid and holistic or natural medicinal remedies. I don't think I can carry a medical (surgical) doctor in my pocket. LOL This is why no one can completely live a primitive lifestyle alone without help unless they are fortunate enough to never need medical attention (very unlikely). Before modern medicine, folks just died and many died prematurely because they did not have the medical knowledge, skills, medicines, and tools needed to survive to a ripe old age and those that did live to old age were fortunate.

[Kingoftheflock]

Before modern medicine, folks just died and many died prematurely because they did not have the medical knowledge, skills, medicines, and tools needed to survive to a ripe old age and those that did live to old age were fortunate.

thats why older people were considered to know the most in a tribe or society.

fortunate? im not sure id like to live to be in my 80s, especially in a wilderness survival situation. ill take the death at 75 by a heart attack than slow decline of my brain from alzeimers at 87 thank you.

[coon4492]

He is also a Nobel Prize winner for all of the above.

yea it doesnt seem to hard to win a peace prize these days all you have to do is make big promises about bringing peace alot like a certain world leader who won the nobel peace prize recently.

[Kingoftheflock]

lets be realistic here, one of the only reasons why he won was because he was the first african american president.

[coon4492]

lets be realistic here, one of the only reasons why he won was because he was the first african american president.

well then shouldnt the american people as a whole have recieved the reward since we were the ones who learned to treat everyone as equals?
Oh well they said he won because he put an emphasis on diplomacy with his talks with Iran and such. In reality he got the award because he made the United states a multi lateral nation something the europeans missed since the bush administration took on a unilateral tactic. all the Euros like obama and he has improved relations with them atleast thats something he seems to be good at doing.

[dixieangler]

fortunate? im not sure id like to live to be in my 80s, especially in a wilderness survival situation. ill take the death at 75 by a heart attack than slow decline of my brain from alzeimers at 87 thank you.

LOL If you think the other alternative death is better than life.

all the Euros like obama and he has improved relations with them atleast thats something he seems to be good at doing.

That's because all the governments of Europe are socialist governments. Birds of a feather tend to flock together. I live in the US so I can have liberty and live free and tell the government (my representatives) what to do all under the rule of law (US Constitution). I can't do that if government controls everything and my representatives don't do what I tell them contrary to the rule of law (US Constitution). Socialism is opposed to freedom and liberty by its very nature. Either the people have power over their own lives or government does. The less I have to be a slave to the government, the better.

[LDS]

The Nobel Peace Prize means nothing any more, really never has. Pure popularity contest. A couple of years ago they gave it to Yasser Arifat, Gore got it for being a popular dufus (Great Britian's courts have banned his global warming vidio from their schools for its nonfactual content), I am suprised they have not given it to Stalin posthumously for stopping the Russian Civil War.

I was watching the BBC the other night and they were doing on the street interviews in Germany. They were as stunned as we are. "What has he done to deserve it?" was their main reply.

It has gotten to the point that if you do not watch Fox and the BBC you are only getting the propaganda hype from the White House press releases.

I am really surprised they did not give him the prize in economics too. After all, you have to know a lot about econimics to do as much damage as he has in 10 months.

[dixieangler]

I am really surprised they did not give him the prize in economics too. After all, you have to know a lot about econimics to do as much damage as he has in 10 months.

LOL I often wonder if he is intentionally trying to destroy the nation. Like that Iranian "president" (what a joke) is trying to destroy Iran. If not, it sure looks that way.

[coon4492]

lol I'm surrounded by Republicans somehow I fall slightly to the left of the political spectrum despite my love of guns and hunting not sure how I ended up on that side. If I'm a democrat I'm not a very good one I walk up to other Democrats and say "hello there Comrade" but they can't seem to stop looking at the six different knives strapped to me and the rifle on my back lol. Yea I'm not a fan of socialism either not a good idea. Personally this fear of climate change has people ignoring more urgent real environmental threats.