Interesting thoughts...

But who said I would be digging with my hands? The hook on my belt buckle is sharp enough to cut open an empty water jug .Open up the mouth and leave the handle in place and you've got a nice little spade that scoops a half-gallon of sand on every pass. Mind you, I'll have a fresh one at the end of every day, so it only has to work once.

If I really need to start a fire, I wear glasses (and yes, they darken up in bright sunlight). If you say you're taking my glasses away, then the $10 worth of stuff ain't gonna help me anyhow. Oh yeah, and the glasses make for a pretty good reflector too, especially in bright sunlight!

Now, I don't think 7/11 sells compasses, but even if they do how will it help with your suggestion. How are you going to take a bearing in the middle of a sandstorm? You wouldn't wanna be walking in that anyway... unless you just want to be sandblasted. Take a nap and ride it out. The silk and needle thing aint gonna help in the middle of a sandstorm either.

It's all about assessing the biggest threats. I'd like to have my Swiss Army knife, my windproof lighter, my Photon II and my carry gun (all of which I have on me if I'm wearing my pants!) if I'm out in the desert. But if those are taken away and replaced by a $10 bill and a trip to the 7/11, then the question I'm going to ask is "what are my greatest threats to survival?" In this scenario, the answer is just one thing, "water". All the other possible threats are orders of magnitude down on the scale. I might get bitten by a sidewinder, I might trip over a rock and break my leg, I might get caught in a freak blizzard in April... but I'm not spending any of my $10 to insure against those contingencies.

I mean no disrespect, but I do want to leave you with a thought. Do you guys really think you need all that stuff all the time, or do you just have to have a lot of this gear as a kind of security blanket?

At least no one has suggested they need fish hooks, I am thankful for that! <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />