Hre we go again. A hiker missing in Mt Rainier NP for two weeks has yet to be located. Family desires search to be continued when conditions allow.

https://news.yahoo.com/family-hiker-missing-2-weeks-050924137.html

Mt. Rainier isn't Zion, even in the lower country, not by a long shot....

Wow, great news! A woman who'd been missing in Mount Zion National Park was just found alive! As usual the news story had very little detail, and stories like this tend to get bumped down the page by the news cycle but I would like to learn more! Family said she's an experienced hiker (but it seems like everyone that's ever spent a night camping is called an 'experienced hiker' by the media) but it's kind of unusual to see someone found alive after so long. Clearly she did a lot of things right to have survived!

https://www.sciencealert.com/experts-wat...sible-collision

It's been known for a long time that there's a lot of junk in orbit. If two big pieces hit even more junk is created, all traveling at extremely high speeds. Back in 1978 the NASA scientist Donald Kessler started pointing this problem out and how it could eventually render certain popular orbit uninhabitable by satellites.

On Oct. 16th, 2020 two large pieces of space debris with a combined weight of over 6,000 lbs have (at latest calculation) a 20% of colliding. Close calls like this apparently happen several times a year. A hit wouldn't immediately result in other satellites being destroyed. The effects would be gradual at first but then accelerate as impacts released more and more debris. Normally I'm a big fan of exponential explosions but this sort of cascade could cause far-reaching technological issues. Perhaps Elon Musk should spend some time cleaning up space in addition to launching more stuff.

Anyway, just something else for y'all to think about.
-Blast

Runner tracked by mother cougar for six minutes after stumbling on its cubs.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/13/us/cougar-attack-utah-trnd/index.html

Looks like he handled it pretty well (when you put yourself in his shoes).

Hi everyone, it's been a while since I last posted but I do still pop in from time to time.

Phaedrus's thread "Flashback Sunday!" reminded me that I've been wanting to get some more of Doug's pocket survival paks. I've searched for them online but I can't see them in many places. Does anyone know if they have been discontinued?