James,<br><br>The answers you recieved from Jet and Cyberraven pretty much cover the issues (Thanks guys!). This site is focused on practical survival equipment and basic survival skills. No basic survival guide, which by definition is what the article "A Survival Primer" is about, can or should include esoteric skills unlikely to be useful to a novice who hasn't had instruction. We make no pretense at providing anything but the most basic techniques here. This site stresses carrying basic survival gear on your person so that the average person is encouraged to have the gear they need when they need it. My aim is to help those who are interested to select the best equipment for their needs, encourage those who are prepared to improve their preparations and to encourage those who are not currently prepared at all to become prepared in at least a minimal manner comensurate with their minimal and basic skill set. For those interested in advanced techniques, there are plenty of good resoruces, some of which are linked on our schools, books and links pages.<br><br>Learning primitive survival skills such as you ask about is valuable for a host of reasons, and can be great fun, but the reality is that 99.99999% of the time, simply carrying reliable, waterpoof fire making gear in your pocket will do the job with minimal skill necessary. For that matter, 99.9% of the time a lousy butane lighter or book of paper matches will do. If I could get everyone to just do that and read our SurvivaL Primer, many lives could be saved.<br><br>Hope this answers your question.