Season 2 of Discovery channel's The Colony has started and this time they are showing the full episodes on their webpage.
Link

For those who haven't heard about this, it is kind of a reality show (though more of a role-playing show if you ask me) where the premise is 99% of humanity has been killed off by a super-flu. A group of survivors are placed together in an urban wasteland (this season it's 10 blocks of New Orleans earmarked for razing after Katrina) and they have to "scavenge" and build stuff to survive.

Of course, their area is pre-stocked with assorted things like tools, food sources, and assorted other bits of technology to make their lives easier. On the other hand they are also occasionally "attacked" by raiders who steal their supplies, vandalize equipment, molest their shrubbery, and sometimes kidnapped members.

I'm pretty sure any of you watching the show spend as much time shouting at the tv as I do, but there are actually some good lessons to be learned from the show:

1. I'm pretty sure the actions/reactions/thought processes of the people in this show mimic those of 99% of the general population. By studying them we can learn what errors to expect from others.

2. Most people would do well with lessons on how to display negative feelings in a constructive manner. There's a lot of passive aggressive stuff going on which just leaves bad feelings festering. When someone screws up let them know, ask them they how they could have done better, tell them they need to do better next time, then drop it.

3. Shy people with good ideas are easily beaten down by loud people, mean people with bad ideas.

4. Hide most of your supplies, only leave out what you'll need that day.

5. Security security security!

6. If no one is in charge then the loudest (and often dumbest) person is in charge.

7. Most people have no imagination and have a very hard time understanding anything outside their little world. For instance, a root celler is a useful thing in Montana, but a 2-ft deep hole dug in in the ground in New Orleans isn't going to keep your fish soup from spoiling. Sidenote: the rule of thumb is ground five feet deep will be at the yearly average surface temperature for that location. Up north this is great, down south it's still going to be warm.

8. Do something great and people will think you are great. But if you do something wrong the next day you'll become the worst person in the world.

Overall I am finding theprogram enjoyable though mainly as a away of learning what to expect from others. I personally think their adventure looks like a lot of fun and I keep wondering if I made a mistake turning down a spot on the show.

-Blast