If you have a decent length of chain or rope you can pull almost anything. Tie the rope to an anchor point and to the object you want to move. Make it as tight as you can.
Then go to the middle and pull the middle of the rope sideways.
The mechanical advantage is astounding. You might only move the object a few inches each time but you can move a very large weight like this.
Chain or cable is actually better than rope for this because it stretches less.
Any metal will break if you can bend or twist it enough times. A good thing if you need to cut a wire and have no tools handy.
If you need to lash something down really tight and have enough cord for multiple wraps you can tighten each wrap in turn a few times each time you tighten a wrap you are adding tension and can get a lashing extremely tight.
Nylon stretches when you do this and the compression can be to high if you are not careful. Be careful not to crush what you are tightening the wraps on.
Use a hot wire or nail to melt holes in plastic. It leaves a raised edge around the hole and the plastic is less likely to split.
This also works for poking holes for buckles in nylon webbing.
A plastic bag with a small hole in the corner works as a water syringe, and also for squeezing out a bead of anything from caulking to cake icing.
When used with sterile water or normal saline solution it is good for flushing out wounds.
A piece of cardboard with slits cut in it to see through works as sun glasses or snow goggles to prevent snow blindness. You can get snow blindness on the water too. Heavy bristle board will work also.
If you have lost you prescription glasses you can sharpen your vision by looking through a narrow slit or a pin hole.
This can be made like the snow goggles mentioned above or can be made by holding your fingers close together and looking through the space between them.
If you keep a cheap quartz watch set to Greenwich or Universal Coordinated Time you can get a decent idea of your longitude just by observing apparent noon.
The Belt of Orion rises almost exactly due east and sets almost exactly due west.
Edited by scafool (09/28/09 04:33 AM)
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May set off to explore without any sense of direction or how to return.