TOTM Dec. 2015- Rule of Threes

The "over-react" statement I'm pretty sure dealt with filling up for fuel and getting to a safe place...didn't really mention running over anyone in site to get there.

 

I've heard a saying before...I'd rather be "judged by 9 than carried by 7" or something like that...that's seems like pretty fair statement most would agree to....if you had a choice of the 2.

 

Doesn't smoking meat look so tasty on the shows like Alaskan Bush People, Life Below Zero and Alaskan Frontier? I've never done it, but it sure looks good!

 

The quote is " I will be judged by 12 (a jury) before I am carried by 6 (pall-bearers). It means I will be judged for my actions(legal or illegal), in a court of law, before I will allow myself to be killed.

 

I'd rather not have to deal with the hassle, either way.

Yeah, smoked meat is the bomb. Cold, Hot, or Broiled.

 

Literally, at this point in my life; why would I care about being PC? Long ago, I lost my cherry in SE Asia. Since then, thousands of others have done the same. No offense intended; however, until you've been there and done that, it is all conjecture.

 

Hey, maybe BarryObozo can dictate this in an executive order...I am sure it will stop looting cold!

 

3 minutes without air - 3 hours without shelter
3 days without water - 3 weeks without food

Although I think the priorities are in the right place, I have always doubted the reality of the times.

For one thing, I used to be able to do 10 minutes underwater on a breath, and 4 minutes was easy. However, that was 40 years ago. Don't ask me to prove it now. My point is that it is an extremely variable thing, and with a very small amount of training and good healthy lungs it can be expanded. However, most folks can't make a minute or two without passing out. I'm probably one of the few people you'll meet that has actually had to do this kind of stuff for real. I got caught in a cave flood-in back in 1983, and had to swim underwater for a while to get out after the cave flooded shut. Two guys behind me got out that night. The two behind them didn't. I don't know if it was more or less than 3 minutes, since I spent a good bit of time sucking air off the roof, before I went under.

For another, I nearly succumbed to hypothermia back in my caving days. I'd just rejoined the group after a hard solo push and sat down on a rock to rest. Within 15 minutes, I had my buddy in my face telling me to get moving or die, and all I remember was the warm fuzzy feeling and being pissed at him. Similarly, I know a fellow caver that wound up in the hospital with hypothermia after flopping into his tent in wet clothing at 70F in Florida in the late winter. The need for shelter is extremely variable.

Now that I'm middle aged, if I don't get a regular meal and stay hydrated, I curl up in a ball and go to sleep and it takes me a day or two to recover. 3 Weeks? Try 24 hours for this old turd. Even in my prime, I could not stay effective beyond 48 hours without a meal. If you don't know for a fact you can live without water and food for an extended period of time, about the only thing you can do is figure out a way to hunker down and protect yourself after you lose effectiveness.

The bottom line in all this "Know Thyself." Don't go armed into the wild with the Rule of 3's unless you've tested them on yourself and do not use them as a judge of others. Example: I once had a leg go bad on a backpacking trip with a Baker's Cyst. My decision to hop out on one leg and my staff was made knowing I only had provisions for an overnighter, I was sucking water at 3 times my normal rate, and if I hunkered down I was committing to being rescued. I also knew the blown cyst was bad enough that my leg would be useless by morning and there was a 2-day rain expected. All of a sudden a solo overnighter was turning serious. When I got back to town I had to be carried from my car.

 

Spiles arrived today.

 

One thing about the 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food is the reaction from your body. I once heard someone say, it is okay because we can go a day or two without water. What they failed to consider is how doing without would affect their abilities. After one starts to get dehydrated, it will start to weaken them. Then it takes a bit to recover.

 

3 hours in below freezing weather w/o something to keep you warm and dry is more than enough to do you in, if you're wet even less time. HOWEVER, if you know what you are doing and prepare before you go wandering about... . A plane crash in unfamiliar territory is a whole different ball game.