Gear/Use Matrix ?

First - Thanks for the great web site and forum format! I recently found you all (looking for something else, of course) and have been very glad to find (a) info I didn't already have, and (b) a group with whom to discuss things.<br><br>Having gone thru all of Doug's various suggested PSK variants and the reviews of commercially available kits, it struck me that I knew how to use some of the kits' contents, but others left me puzzled. It also appeared that some kits included duplicate means to accomplish the same goals. So my question is this: Has anyone published a simple matrix that indicates the purpose of the contents of these kits. I'm not looking for a survival manual, just a quick comparison of the ways to accomplish a given goal. It seems to me that such a comparison would serve the entire forum family, by showing all of the alternatives a person might want to consider when putting together a kit, in the light of the specific intended purpose and environment.<br><br>ALAN

I don't know about a usage matrix, but I can coment on the redundancy. "Two is one; One is none."<br><br>For a PSK, you want it to be as versitile as you can, but for fire and signalling, you want all the options you can get. A singel match is non-redundant. But you wouldn't want to be stuck to just that. Or just to matches. Sometimes might have plenty of time until dark, and no immediate concern about cold, but you will want to have a fire up and going pretty soon in a lot of situations, so you the sparkright or the spark or MFS from your kit. Those aslo serve if you are in trouble long enough to be out of matches, or they get soaked despite all you attempts to water tight the kit and make the matches waterproof.<br><br>Fire is the most rundedant thing in the PSK, and for good reason.

Oh, please don't mis-understand. I believe in redundancy for some things - fire especially. The point of my question was that we need all of the cogent comparisions we can get so that, as thinking individuals, we can have facts in making up our minds. Opinions are useless without facts. ;-)<br><br>Alan<br>

But opinions are based on facts, which change from person to person based on thier perceptions and experinces. :)<br><br>I think what you describe would be a lofty project, but everyone builds and rebuilds (and rebuilds and rebuilds) thier kit based on the equipment available to them, frequently making at least some of it (super-X-actos, pens that hold water tabs, et al) and scrounging the rest. But it depends, also, on thier needs and skills. That is where the problem of developing a concrete listing may come into play. It would onlyr be a listing, in general terms, of the bare minimums, or just one persons kit that may or not look like anything more suited to someone elses needs.<br><br>Either that, or it will be a massive thing that we all contribute to, all of us tossing in our 3 cents, about what we like and use. Easiest way would be as a guestbook-type thingy, broken into catagories, and spat out as a table, but it would have to be admined. Chris?

Thanks for helping me put my thoughts into words. You are absolutely right about the non-existence of a concrete list. If there were one, we would all have identical PSK's. My thought was to tap the experience resources of the group in order to provide the lesser lights (myself included) with alternatives, so that as skill, circumstance, and personsonal finance levels change, we could be reminded of options that hadn't occurred to us as individuals.<br><br>Alan

Ah......<br><br>For that, go through the archives of the forum. We've discussed just about everything here at one time or another. <br><br>Or ask old queastions as new ones- we've probably forgotten who asked it in the first place.

I think that a gear/use matrix is a great idea for those of us who are neophytes and trying to gain a lot of information as quickly as we can. I am not sure if there are enough of us novices out here to make it worth the time and effort, but I think it would be great. It is like any body of knowledge, I think. Those who grew up acquiring this expertise (and that seems to be a good majority here) don't really know how mysterious this can be to those of us (or me at least) who are still at the level of trying to figure out the acronyms. What I have found is that everyone here is super helpful when asked a question, but if you are at the level where you don't even know the right questions, you are still in trouble.<br>I think cyberraven has a terrific idea of having people tell us what is in their kit,why, and how to use it. If that could then be fashioned into a matrix, I think it would create a wonderful tool worthy of this site. <br><br> Please understand that the people I work with have often advised me that I can think of terrific ways to make work for other people to make my job easier--so view this suggestion with that bias in mind.<br><br>Robb

Ill discuss this with Doug. Perhaps a third forum dedicated to a few complete units, photos and detailed descriptions ( I still find Doug's the best.). Doug is very busy and travelling right now so be patient. The problem I see is limiting this to someones Altoid tin. I suspect we are a lot like the movie cliche of the hero disarming. You know, multiple handguns, grenades, brass knuckles and knives from every pocket and hat.

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>from every pocket and hat.<p><hr></blockquote><p><br>Hey! I never thought of my hat! Gee, I learn new things every day here...<br><br>Scouter Tom

Chris, speaking as a person here who probably has the least knowledge of anyone, I don't think the "what" is as necessary as the "why" and "how" questions. Doug's articles about his own kit and his review of other kits are great the "what." I think that it is easy to assume that we (the novices) would know why something is in a kit and how to use it(and indeed the multitude of uses when the primary use may be obvious). When I first read about Doug's kit, I couldn't figure out the condom. I thought that Doug must have incredible excess...uhhhhh...."energy" to give up precious space in a psk for a condom, when the rest of us would be busy working like the devil to get a fire started. Took a little more in depth reading to discover.... oooohhhhhh for water, I get it, as a water carrier/purifier. I think it is the second, third and fourth non-intuitive uses for a particular item that would be great to hear about.<br><br> Thanks for the consideration! Robb

O.K. NOW I understand ( I can see through a brick wall if I stare long enough.) Maybe for now we can start a series of posts to wring out each item. I don't want the extreme sillyness ( like the .22 case whistle from another website for a whistle.) Lets get some good " thinking outside the box" or Altoid tin as it were ;O)

Guys,<br><br>I've had a VERY bad day, so forgive me.....<br><br>If this is, in fact, a democracy (this project sounds like a helluva lot of work for either/both Chris and Doug; final decision should be up to them), I vote yes on this project. Or....I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours. <br><br>Andy

Chris, perhaps the easiest way to go about this is to create a FAQ like document with each item and a list of its uses. Probably the best way to gather the info is in this forum, and maybe post something new twice a week. Monday post "What would you use safety pins for?" and then Thursday something else, and then take the best suggested uses and put these in FAQ form. This should offset the load of making you or Doug rack your brains trying not to leave any detail out, and maybe read about some ideas you haven't thought about.<br><br>Just my $0.02<br><br>David

Seems as though there are several axis to examine this issue from. A true multi-dimensional matrix is probably what we need. Check out Everything2 for an example of a hypertext matrix. The content is way off topic but if you poke around you will see how a hypertext matrix could be useful. The application for supporting this is available from that site and is GPL or opensource and could be run on this site with an admin'd topic such as PSK contents and usefulness/utility. Some of the axis's of the matrix as I see it are <br><br>Items useful for a categorical need<br> sparklites for firestarting<br>Categories of need for a given scenario<br>PSK<br>BOB<br>water<br>desert<br>forest<br>urban<br><br>Items contributing to a complex task<br>such as:<br>building a lean-to<br>wire-saw<br>trash bag<br>cord<br><br>Items with un-obvious use<br>potasium permanganate + sugar = fire starter<br>safety pin = fish hook<br><br>Instructions for use of item<br>How to set a snare<br>How to use a sparklite tinder<br>How to fill a condom from a stream<br><br>This matrix could start off with a list of the 7 categorical needs<br>fire<br>water<br>shelter<br>food<br>signalling<br>medical<br>orienteering<br><br>for each category you would want a link to gear, scenarios, solutions.<br>For a gear list found by following a link from a category you would have a list of possible gear (submitted by us the committed community and reviewed by Doug the expert )<br>For a piece of gear you would have links for How to use, alternative uses, other categories also served and how.<br><br>The scenario list from a category would be a set of scenarios for which that category is needed and why and how urgently. These might be war-stories submitted by the forum. Such stories might include links to the gear that was used and suplemental correlations between the gear and how the specific mix of gear made the difference. <br><br>Gets me excited thinking about how to put this together. I do web development in my day job.

Hey, sounds like Brad just volunteered! Way to go, Brad!<br><br>A couple of thoughts to toss out:<br><br>1. Some things have other uses depending on a) what they are combined with b) what is available to mangle, er, adapt them with.<br><br>2. As someone else mentioned, we suffer from lack of female input - they truly see things we miss. (And specifically about this sort of subject).<br><br>I look forward to seeing the fruits of Brad's labor <grin><br><br>Scouter Tom

Bingo!<br><br>My Boy Scout days (Pioneer merit badge, etc.) are long past, and my normal urban urban environment doesn't lend itself to constant reminders of "what I could be without real fast" should I find myself in an "off-airport landing". Don't you just love the euphamisms we come up with?<br><br>Anyway, yes, the "why's" and the secondaryd/tertiary "why's" are what I had in mind in my original post.<br><br>Chris/Doug - What can I do to help this effort? I figure that since I brought up the subject, I'd better stand up and be counted. E-mail me off-line, if you wish.<br><br>Alan Gideon

wow....anyone doubt that there are some really bright people hanging around here?

Thanks Robb.<br><br>Yes, I would be willing to participate in this project. Chris, contact me directly if you want my technical assistance. There are endless details to actually implementing such things.

A gear/use matrix would be a great resource. However, I'm not sure building a new "gear-use forum" paradigm would serve the purpose efficiently.<br><br>It would be important in this type of application to filter out the bad ideas and "ditto" type of comments. Possibly even to correct grammar and improve clarity. So the matrix would have to be moderated. Otherwise Chris might as well just build a new WWWThreads Forum entitled "PSK Items" with subforums for each of the 7 item categories. The same type of chaos and offtopic chatter would likely occur in an unmoderated matrix.<br><br>A good idea might be to actually create such an unmoderated set of forums here and let people brainstorm at will. Then Chris or Doug could sift through that material from time to time and update a static page that contains the real gems. The new forum category would help to winnow the offtopic content a bit and make Chris and Doug's job easier.

Let's talk. I'll reply via email.