I caught the back half of this show. Not too bad. The guy is somewhere between a Les Stroud and a Bear Grylls I think. Some everyday practical information mixed with catastrophy scenario modeling makes it worth the look.

Not to Hijack this but Man v. Wild's new season started last night. I noticed they changed/added a tagline to the show commercials stating its not about how to survive but how to live on the edge or some such connotation. I think its a good way to shift the debate on the merits of his shows.

My son (6) saw an episode on Discovery and asked, "Daddy, when is Survivorman coming back on." Anyone know the answer to that.

I'll give Apocalypse man a look. Hadn't heard of it.

benjammin:

We started discussing this in the "surviving historic disasters" thread... I said that if Discovery/BBC didn't have "Man vs. Wild" trademarked, you could have called it "Man vs. Wild: Apocalyptic Edition"

If you are into running through sewers, jumping bridges, climbing fences, and other odd useless things, watch A-man. The show was semi-sorta-kinda-Omega man meets Bear with a strong dose of Junkyard wars thrown in. Some fairly useless information, some common sense stuff, nothing I found new and/or exciting. Fact is, given the choice of taking his advice and trusting to my own devices/skills, I win.

If you can't tell, I wasn't impressed too awful much. Don't think it's a series, just a show for the Applesauce week on History.

Saw it, and was wondering why he made his own diesel fuel when he had visited a gas station previously to siphon out gas for the generator. Also, during the bridge crossing scene, if the city was that big there would be adequate resources on either side of the river.
For the recent Man vs wild, Bear killed a reindeer, then subsequently LOST the entire thing when he dropped it in the river...all he could salvage was part of a leg. That was a complete waste of time and energy, and seemed he did it just to prove he could. He should have dresed it immediately and taken what he could, considering he had a pack with him. I took it as a slap in the face of what's practical and necessary in a real survival situation. Such wanton waste is inexcusable and reckless, my two cents worth.

Well, he did mention when at the gas station, that the diesel tank was almost empty. But I'm sure they just wanted to show that you could use old cooking oil to run a diesel powered vehicle.

However, for a guy who keeps emphasizing keeping a low profile in the city to avoid attracting attention and constantly scurrying around, I'm wondering if heating up used cooking oil in the open and filling the air with the smell of fried food would be considered "low profile"!

I haven't seen the show yet but from this review this reviewer didn't seem all that impressed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2B0suMMZ5U

Yeah, the more I think of it, the more I am inclined to agree. I guess I was anxious to fill the void that Les has left.

Over on one of those outdoor channels, I've been watching a series called "Best Defense", among others. I believe they present more realistic scenarios for survival in a catastrophe type situations. For one, they include the use of firearms as survival tools, which I believe is an imperative if things get bad enough to make people desperate, but not so bad that we all die.

That was one big thing missing from the urban survival reality show that was on last year where a group lived in a big warehouse.

So I watched this train wreck of a show. I personally encourage anyone and everyone to watch and learn from this guy. Because while everyone is scurring to hook up a CB on a roof top and start generators in hospitals, I am going to quietly slip to a remote location and eak out a life. I may not have a deisel suburban, but I dont have one now.

Not impressed with this idiot. Him and Bear should get together and re-inact the Darwin theory. Sorry. Just hate idiocy. It is like a book about how to learn to read.

I watched the show last night and it was terrible. It is just trying to join the bandwagon of apocalyptic setting movies and shows which have proliferated recently. I guess they needed to get some of that market share.

There are other more-fuel efficient solutions to transportation: bikes, and if you want to go faster, farther: mopeds. Yeah, you need fuel, but as Susan pointed out in the other thread, if there are people getting out of town, plenty of vehicles left with fuel. I only needed 1 gallon (yes, 1 gallon) to go about 100 miles. Had a moped during college for a internship. Filled up once a month.

I watched the last 15min or so and it seemed like they tried to cram a LOT of info into it with very little 'showing'. Just talking about what can be done. I think it was a mix of entertainment, what-ifs, and education.

I think they need to concentrate on one thing and go from there.

Watched the episode of Apocalypse Man the other day but missed how he made the mix used in the diesel engine. Okay, he used that cooking grease BUT what was that other stuff he mixed with it before straining? What percentages? Anybody know?

Although he could've just strained the used cooking oil and poured that straight into the gas tank, he turned that cooking oil into biodiesel, which is better for the engine and won't gel in cold temps. I'm sure there are some biodiesel experts that will chime in with more info, but you can easily find the ingredients (just lye and methanol) and how to cook it by searching for "biodiesel recipe" on the web.

try these shows....


http://www.spike.com/full-episode/pandemic/34531

Off topic but have been catching survivorman on the science channel. Not sure if they are new episodes or reruns. FWIW.