3x5x.25 worth of food... I'm sorry, I just have to laugh at you CityBoy, and laugh openly. That is what, a couple packs of gum? It isn't enough stable food to worry about.

On the other hand, with a notebook and pencil, you have a multipurpose tool. You can record information for your own usage ("free water at loc.s X, Y and Z"), and for others ("SAR team, Ironraven slept here on 17 Dec 07, broke camp at approx 7am, heading east- intend to reach river, then go south." leave it tacked to a tree by your shelter site.). It gives you tinder. It gives you bait (not moving white and fluttery isn't that common in nature). It gives you something to wrap a small item (tooth, lens, mirror, etc). If it is decent paper, use it pack a hole in your shoe's insole. Give me time, and I can keep giving you uses. A lot more than you get from about three cubic inches of food.

True and true. I recall that I didn't care for it either. But I bet Matheson is making a pretty penny off the three film versions, particularly the latest!

Spoken like someone who has never been hungry. 1/2 cup of rice is the most beautiful thing in the world when you haven't eaten for 3 days.

I would rather have something to eat, than have something to write in about how hungry I am.

Haven't seen the movie, will put it on my list.

For being able to document things on the spot, a small notepad is invaluable. However, many cellphones can work well for this (and even take pictures), but a pencil and paper is faster to use in some situations and if you need to draw a quick sketch of a map with notes as a reminder of the way back, paper and pencil might be better. But that would only be needed if my GPS failed. Electronics are making us lazy, that's a given.

Over the years I have shifted to electronic media (with back-ups) to maintain info, MS Outlook even has a Journal which is pretty good. As for power outages, my laptop (I will only ever own a laptop) has it's own power for short events and there's solar for back-up. I have enough solar collector and electrical storage to power my laptop for a long time.

Another issue is capacity. I can keep gigabytes of data, historical info, How-To info. . . which would be difficult to do with pencil and paper. I may have to invest in a printer to make long term back-ups, but we're talking about a lot of info, maps that won't print well. So it may be a matter of triage, print out critical stuff and leave the rest in electronic form.

But in a disaster PC's, Palms, et al, may be unreliable for info or recording and for really long EOTW events, anything with electricity coursing through its veins will eventually die, eventually so will I.

If you'd kept some notes you might have remembered where you buried that last cache of supplies. . .

Human beings survived for thousands of years before the written word, and for thousands more after all they had to write on was stone. Such a simple thing as stacking rocks or marking trees can go a long ways towards remembering where things are.

I haven't seen the new one yet, but am a big fan of the book by Richard Matheson, it and "Earth Abides" by George Stewart both written in the 50's are the "Alas Babylons" of the super bug plague genre.

None of the four movies are "remakes" of a previous movie, but are all "inspired" by the book.

The Last Man on Earth (Vincent Price) 1964
Omega Man (Heston) 1971
I Am Omega (Mark Decascos) 2007 straight to DVD release.
I Am Legend (Smith) 200

As for journal, I carry a small pocket notebook daily in my pack, and can't imagine a PSK without one. Even moderate injury or sickness could play havoc with your ability to remember some things, and I have even seen normal people in day to day life, that have used cell and landline phones with speed dial so much, that even under slight stress couldn't remember their own family and friends numbers at the time.

Actually, some Human beings survived for thousands of years before the written word. Many others died as part of that trial and error thing, which would have gone much smoother if they'd bothered to take more efficient notes rather than passing down their info via oral history and cave wall art.

Boy, you don't know a damn thing about me or my past. Don't make a judgment like that until you do. If you had been truly hungry at any point in your life, you'd know that a half cup of rice cooks up and makes you feel better for a part of a day, no longer. That's the first thing.

Second thing, if you can't find something to eat in the woods, you are ignorant, which is correctable. If you can't find something to eat in urbanized areas, you are blind. I don't care what season it is.

Half a cup of rice is nice, but that is closer to 7.5 cubic inches, unless you are talking about the cooked volume of uncooked rice. But when we are talking about usefulness in a thousand cubic inch or more pack, anyone who is going to question the validity of spending three cubes (less than a quarter cup) on the ability to take record information in an accurate and preferment manner obviously hasn't spent much time in the field. I won't bother explaining again the uses of such an item AGAIN- I will tell you to shut your mouth, open your ears, and think about what I said.

First of all, you need to follow your own advice about making judgments. I'm a 35 year old U.S. Marine Corps veteran and I deserve better than to be listening to some arrogant ass run off at the lip because he can't handle someone with a different point of view than his own.

You carry what you think is best for you, and I'll carry what I think is best for me. This conversation is clearly going down the path of deletion and I'm done with it.