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Different Socks
04-02-2013, 01:04
For me?--None! Are there really gadgets that people will ‘just die’ without? To see how vital technology is, spend a few days in the real backcountry(not the AT) w/o a cell phone, pager, PDA, laptop, cappuccino machine or an MP3 player. You’ll emerge cleansed and refreshed.

fiddlehead
04-02-2013, 01:13
Probably a GPS.
I don't think I could have done the CDT without it.
Maybe I could. But it made it a lot easier.
That triangulation BS is not as easy as the experts say. Especially when fog or snow is involved.

Feral Bill
04-02-2013, 02:45
I'd prefer not to do without my watch, which is electronic , but a mechanical one would do fine, as well. And I do like my digital camera, when I take it, The rest I don't use at home, let alone in the back country. Now get off my lawn!

yellowsirocco
04-02-2013, 04:59
It is funny how people don't realize that innovation is all around us. It is not just gadgets. For example these high tech fabrics like silnylon have made hiking so easy. That is not terribly different than calling for a shuttle instead of hitching. Either way you have made your life a lot easier. It seems like for some folks that if it runs on electricity it is bad and they just want to criticize people, but take their high tech camping gear away and they would probably not be able to do all this.

moytoy
04-02-2013, 05:34
Modern shoe technology changed my hiking life the most. I use electronic gadgets but I don't need them.

rocketsocks
04-02-2013, 05:48
Pit zips, custom orthodics and the Ipod (audio books)

10-K
04-02-2013, 05:59
I like my SUL Gravity Deflator that makes everything weight 75% less than it really does.. :)

Other than that it's a tossup between my phone and GPS. Those are the only 2 gadgets I take besides my SPOT which I can do without but my wife can't.

rocketsocks
04-02-2013, 06:01
I like my SUL Gravity Deflator that makes everything weight 75% less than it really does.. :)

I want one!

fredmugs
04-02-2013, 06:28
For me?--None! Are there really gadgets that people will ‘just die’ without? To see how vital technology is, spend a few days in the real backcountry(not the AT) w/o a cell phone, pager, PDA, laptop, cappuccino machine or an MP3 player. You’ll emerge cleansed and refreshed.

Cool story bro. Nice job asking a meaningless question so you can rant. Disappointed you didn't end it with HYOH.

rocketsocks
04-02-2013, 06:32
Cool story bro. Nice job asking a meaningless question so you can rant. Disappointed you didn't end it with HMHDI

fixed it for ya:D

Cookerhiker
04-02-2013, 07:11
In the context of hiking, I guess there's no innovation whose absence would keep me off the trail. I managed quite well 35 years ago.

But it's nice to take advantage of and utilize lighter gear, better quality maps, digital cameras, and the internet for researching and getting information that previously one could only obtain via snail mail.

Capt Nat
04-02-2013, 08:14
Like Mr. 10K, the cell phone and spot has changed my life the most. At my age and health, I could not drag off into the wilderness without my wife having a canniption. Spot actually gives me the freedom to get out of cell service without upsetting the family. I hope I don't need the emergency button for many years, but if I ever need it, it's good to know it's there. Even if it just facilitates the rapid recovery of my body, that is important.

Rasty
04-02-2013, 08:24
For hiking the internet has been the greatest upgrade. Much easier finding trailheads and trail information then pre-internet.

poopsy
04-02-2013, 08:49
This is a really good question. And it has really got me to stop and think. Electronics are nice to have but I don't honestly rely on them. On the other hand there are some tech breakthroughs that have really changed things.
I think the Packa is a really giant leap forward. For someone who almost died of hyperthermia in cold driving rain without any kind of cover I can see it changing my life and what I do outside.
The other thing that should be carefully considered as huge tech breakthroughs are modern fabrics and how they are used, especially for clothing. The warmth, lightness and breathability provided by polyester fleece for example is something we just take for granted but all of us have used this fabric for something in our kits. Cotton has pretty much disappeared where as it used to be in everything.

Tipi Walter
04-02-2013, 09:15
For me?--None! Are there really gadgets that people will ‘just die’ without? To see how vital technology is, spend a few days in the real backcountry(not the AT) w/o a cell phone, pager, PDA, laptop, cappuccino machine or an MP3 player. You’ll emerge cleansed and refreshed.

I spend a moderate amount of time in the woods on backpacking trips and know this---
** The first step out of the car with a heavy pack on the first day of an 18 day trip is the best feeling in the world, despite the weight. The weight itself is the price of freedom. The cleanse begins.

** Nature herself, who I call Miss Nature, is the place humans have spent the great majority of their time as a species---it's only been until recently that we have "left" nature and sought the indoor life. Then came the gadgets. So, getting out into nature comes easy for some of us and allows us to reclaim our neanderthal roots, etc.

** It's all about bag nights and becoming a Nature Boy. The act itself is the cleanse. So, you find these sorts sleeping in the backyard every night or living in yurts or tipis or figuring out ways to devote a lifetime to living outdoors---minimal work with maximum bag nights. Some of the lucky ones are cleansed and refreshed but never emerge.


It is funny how people don't realize that innovation is all around us.

This is very true. No matter how deep you go into wilderness or for how long, there will always be 87,000 jets flying overhead every day and helicopters buzzing and distant traffic noise and the hateful roar and whine of the mufflerless motorcycles. The only time I ever experience a "true wilderness" noise wise is either in a ridgetop windstorm, a heavy rainstorm, sleeping by a waterfall or inside a major blizzard. You could be living out in a loin-clout with a bone thru your nose and still you'd be bombarded by near constant airline traffic. And I hear that 30,000 drones will be flying overhead, too.

To really get away from these gadgets you have to enter a storm like the Blizzard of 1993. I was living in a ridgetop NC tipi during the storm and it shut down syphilization as we know it and put us back to 10,000 BC for a week. THEN we had silence.

BirdBrain
04-02-2013, 09:27
The cell phone.

The progression of improvements goes like this for me:
1) Party line to private line. No more is that my ring or the neighbors. No more nosy neighbors listening to your calls.
2) Rotary phone to digital phone. No more hanging up because you didn't spin the dial quite right.
3) Wired phones to wireless phones. No more untangling that 100' cord you bought so you can walk around the house with your phone.
4) Land line to cell phone. No more telemarketers. No more answering machine. Ability to make calls from your "home phone" thousands of miles away. And the big one, the main one, the one I could not live without (I could, but I don't want to): The 160 character text message. I could write a thesis on this innovation. This has radically changed my life. But it is also two of my biggest pet peeves. I hate when people type a message that is 1000 characters long and it becomes a game of "can you reassemble the shredded message". It ought not be possible to send one longer than 160 characters. If you can't say it in 160 characters, pick up the phone and dial it. I also hate it when people text and drive. 1st offense you should lose you license for a year. 2nd offense you should lose it for life. 3rd offense you should go to jail. I would rather have a person driving while drunk then one driving while texting. At least the drunk is trying to look at the road.

But ya': The cell phone.

garlic08
04-02-2013, 09:41
Funny, I just had this conversation with some city friends the other day, though not in the context of backcountry travel. We agreed the biggest change for us was having information on the WWW, the world at your fingertips. We talked about school research projects not very long ago, and the time spent in library stacks, waiting for library clerks to find books for you, scanning indices and paging through most often in vain.

In my mind, the development (by the Swiss at CERN) of the WWW was one of the most crucial ones in my lifetime. I was a practicing electrical engineer at the time and I watched that in wonder. I believe it is changing the way we live.

Mags
04-02-2013, 09:46
For me?--None! Are there really gadgets that people will ‘just die’ without? To see how vital technology is, spend a few days in the real backcountry(not the AT) w/o a cell phone, pager, PDA, laptop, cappuccino machine or an MP3 player. You’ll emerge cleansed and refreshed.


We get it. You like to hike without interactive electronics. Cool. Good for you.

Neither do I. Just don't feel the need to start a troll-bait thread. :)


As other said, though,for day to day use, the sheer amount of info (Da Google!) I can get from a device that fits into my pocket is amazing. Of course, we mainly use it to look at photos of LOL cats or Justin Bieber videos...but hey! :)

Old Hiker
04-02-2013, 10:02
I dunno. Clean running water INSIDE my house, along with a system to remove human waste from the immediate area works pretty well for me.

Different Socks
04-02-2013, 13:09
I'd prefer not to do without my watch, which is electronic , but a mechanical one would do fine, as well. And I do like my digital camera, when I take it, The rest I don't use at home, let alone in the back country. Now get off my lawn!


Yep, I didn't include the camera b/c I knew myself as well as others would take at least a small pocket model.

Different Socks
04-02-2013, 13:14
It is funny how people don't realize that innovation is all around us. It is not just gadgets. For example these high tech fabrics like silnylon have made hiking so easy. That is not terribly different than calling for a shuttle instead of hitching. Either way you have made your life a lot easier. It seems like for some folks that if it runs on electricity it is bad and they just want to criticize people, but take their high tech camping gear away and they would probably not be able to do all this.

Just to let you know I wasn't criticizing anybody, just saying how I feel.

Aren't we doomed when it's clear we need consumer products all the time, especially tech products?

A study was done in which all communication devices were taken away from a group of 25 people. They had results by the end of the first day--Every person exibited the signs of a heart attack.

Different Socks
04-02-2013, 13:17
Cool story bro. Nice job asking a meaningless question so you can rant. Disappointed you didn't end it with HYOH.

Again, simply stating how I feel about what I see around me all the time in the modern workld, not to mention what I read about on here in regards to the large numbers of people that say that simply can't live w/o their cells, Ipods, kindles, GPS, etc when they go hiking. Whatever happened to being out ther just "to be"?

Different Socks
04-02-2013, 13:20
I spend a moderate amount of time in the woods on backpacking trips and know this---
** The first step out of the car with a heavy pack on the first day of an 18 day trip is the best feeling in the world, despite the weight. The weight itself is the price of freedom. The cleanse begins.

** Nature herself, who I call Miss Nature, is the place humans have spent the great majority of their time as a species---it's only been until recently that we have "left" nature and sought the indoor life. Then came the gadgets. So, getting out into nature comes easy for some of us and allows us to reclaim our neanderthal roots, etc.

** It's all about bag nights and becoming a Nature Boy. The act itself is the cleanse. So, you find these sorts sleeping in the backyard every night or living in yurts or tipis or figuring out ways to devote a lifetime to living outdoors---minimal work with maximum bag nights. Some of the lucky ones are cleansed and refreshed but never emerge.



This is very true. No matter how deep you go into wilderness or for how long, there will always be 87,000 jets flying overhead every day and helicopters buzzing and distant traffic noise and the hateful roar and whine of the mufflerless motorcycles. The only time I ever experience a "true wilderness" noise wise is either in a ridgetop windstorm, a heavy rainstorm, sleeping by a waterfall or inside a major blizzard. You could be living out in a loin-clout with a bone thru your nose and still you'd be bombarded by near constant airline traffic. And I hear that 30,000 drones will be flying overhead, too.

To really get away from these gadgets you have to enter a storm like the Blizzard of 1993. I was living in a ridgetop NC tipi during the storm and it shut down syphilization as we know it and put us back to 10,000 BC for a week. THEN we had silence.

Good reply!

Different Socks
04-02-2013, 13:22
We get it. You like to hike without interactive electronics. Cool. Good for you.

Neither do I. Just don't feel the need to start a troll-bait thread. :)


As other said, though,for day to day use, the sheer amount of info (Da Google!) I can get from a device that fits into my pocket is amazing. Of course, we mainly use it to look at photos of LOL cats or Justin Bieber videos...but hey! :)

Not doing a troll bait thread. Not my intention. Simply stating what I am thinking or what i wish to say. It's funny it's suggeted to post like this and yet there are posts about where to pee or crap?

Different Socks
04-02-2013, 13:25
We get it. You like to hike without interactive electronics. Cool. Good for you.

Neither do I. Just don't feel the need to start a troll-bait thread. :)


As other said, though,for day to day use, the sheer amount of info (Da Google!) I can get from a device that fits into my pocket is amazing. Of course, we mainly use it to look at photos of LOL cats or Justin Bieber videos...but hey! :)

Not trying to start a troll bait thread. I don't like those either. Just saying what i am thinking. It's funny how it's suggested to not post things like this, but posts about crapping and peeing and other disgusting things is okay?

aficion
04-02-2013, 13:30
The automobile. I would have never gotten to the trail without it.

shakey_snake
04-02-2013, 13:34
John Muir and the National Park System?

Lone Wolf
04-02-2013, 13:38
friggin' Spam singles!

Tuckahoe
04-02-2013, 13:44
The whole of human history is the story of change, innovation and the march of technology. Each and everyone of us lives on the shoulders of someone else's innovation, and none of you can survive without that advance.

Spirit Bear
04-02-2013, 13:44
I would say the micro chip. That modern day invention has had the most impact on my life. It spawned the personal comptuer, laptops, Ipads, Iphones. It spawned the Ipod or mp3, whichever you use. Then as a result the internet took off and every year the internet seems more user friendly for practical day things.

Without the invention of the microchip, none of these things would be functioning today.

It's our modern day equilivant invention to the combustable engine.

Dogwood
04-02-2013, 13:51
What innovation has changed your life the most?
Innovation can come in many ways and pertain to many different things. Two of the most innovative things that occurred in my life are:

1)Realizing and HAPPILY accepting that I DO NOT AND WILL NOT ever know everything. Doesn't keep me from trying to know everything though!

2)What's right or acceptable for me may not be the same for everyone(anyone) else. Heck, I sometimes find it difficult finding what's right or accptable for me.

Pedaling Fool
04-02-2013, 13:54
The automobile. I would have never gotten to the trail without it.I was going to say that; also many couldn't complete a thru-hike without slackpacking significant portions of the trail.

The internal combustion engine makes nature tolerable; gets you there comfortably and outta there when it just gets to be too much. :)

Dogwood
04-02-2013, 13:59
It seems like for some folks that if it runs on electricity it is bad.....

And the other half believes that if it runs on electricity it is good.....

Kinda like. walks on two legs - bad. walks on four legs or has wings to fly - good.

NotYet
04-02-2013, 13:59
I found out about The Keeper in 2000 and the Pstyle in 2012. Both of these low-tech innovations for women have had a dramatic and positive effect on my life.:banana

Dogwood
04-02-2013, 14:06
The internal combustion engine makes nature tolerable...

That's not what the Native American Indians believed. Seemed like they were doing more than a little OK living in a harmonic coexisting realtionship with nature up until all this "innovation" started ocurring.

The internal combustion engine contibutes to the obliteration of nature too.

Jefe
04-02-2013, 14:14
The internal combustion engine makes nature tolerable...

living in a harmonic coexisting realtionship with nature



Let's ask the mastadons what they think about that statement. Humans are takers, no matter what their skin color. Just use everything up in the area then move on to somewhere new...

GoldenBear
04-02-2013, 14:18
> In my mind, the development (by the Swiss at CERN) of the WWW was one of the most crucial ones in my lifetime

The internet was in existence for many years before http.
http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/
It wasn't fun trying to remember if a URL started with telnet:\\ or ftp:\\, but we WERE able to find stuff using Gopher and Archie.

And the development of http did not involve any Swiss citizens. Tim Berners-Lee worked at CERN when he developed it; but he was born in London, graduated from Oxford, and was working for an English software company when he became a fellow at CERN. His own words describe what happened: "Creating the web was really an act of desperation, because the situation without it was very difficult when I was working at CERN later. Most of the technology involved in the web, like the hypertext, like the Internet, multifont text objects, had all been designed already. I just had to put them together."

Also, note that www sites were almost a fringe part of the internet UNTIL a practical browser -- namely Mosaic from the University of Illinois -- to be developed.

Tipi Walter
04-02-2013, 14:38
The whole of human history is the story of change, innovation and the march of technology. Each and everyone of us lives on the shoulders of someone else's innovation, and none of you can survive without that advance.

This sounds like an apologist for dystopia.


The internal combustion engine makes nature tolerable...

That's not what the Native American Indians believed. Seemed like they were doing more than a little OK living in a harmonic coexisting realtionship with nature up until all this "innovation" started ocurring.

The internal combustion engine contibutes to the obliteration of nature too.


Totally true. The love affair with gasoline and the rolling couch is flourishing here in the good old USA. I count myself as one of the many gas huffers and throttle lovers so I have to balance it out with many days a month walking. The almighty Engine is worshipped cuz it's everywhere---ATV's in the woods, snowmobiles in the snow, drones in the sky, jets and choppers, ad crapium. Most Americans hate walking and therefore you end up with blowfish with pineyes behind the wheel. At least there's hope in this---

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-roadless-rule-20130325,0,785399.story

Tinker
04-02-2013, 14:56
I like my SUL Gravity Deflator that makes everything weigh 75% less than it really does.. :)

Other than that it's a tossup between my phone and GPS. Those are the only 2 gadgets I take besides my SPOT which I can do without but my wife can't.

I just made your first sentence lighter by taking the "t" off of weight :). Something may weight something else, but only if you put it on top as in "I weighted down the ground sheet with a rock so it won't blow away".

Alll things have a weight. That means that they weigh something. ;)

Fwiw, I'm sort of attached to my car as far as getting to and from trailheads. :)

Tinker
04-02-2013, 15:01
The automobile. I would have never gotten to the trail without it.

Beat me to it..........I'm getting used to it. :D

aficion
04-02-2013, 15:15
Beat me to it..........I'm getting used to it. :D

fwiw... I just sold my car to my daughter, and my truck to one of her co-workers. My only wheels now are a bike and the local bus. Finally going to get some "it's just walkin" done daily.:)

Tinker
04-02-2013, 15:26
fwiw... I just sold my car to my daughter, and my truck to one of her co-workers. My only wheels now are a bike and the local bus. Finally going to get some "it's just walkin" done daily.:)

That's my current plan for retirement - can't drive much while you're attempting a thruhike. :)

aficion
04-02-2013, 15:35
That's my current plan for retirement - can't drive much while you're attempting a thruhike. :)

Well much of the appeal of backpacking lies in the freedom derived from stripping away the non-essentials.....I'm just getting an early start, as I won't be able to attempt my thru for a few years yet.

Dogwood
04-02-2013, 15:45
Let's ask the mastadons what they think about that statement. Humans are takers, no matter what their skin color. Just use everything up in the area then move on to somewhere new...

Humans can be takers OR GIVERS. Humans can destroy OR CREATE. Humans can act out of hate OR LOVE. Humans can act in a self absorbed human centric manner OR consciously be considerate of others, including non-human species. DEPENDS on how humans CHOOSE to behave! ....no matter what the skin color!

From what I'm aware of, Native American Indian cultures WERE NOT in the general habit of or characterized by being inconsiderate self absorbed human centric thinking hateful take it all until it's gone and move on to somewhere new to ravage peoples!

Pedaling Fool
04-02-2013, 15:48
That's not what the Native American Indians believed.
Native Americans didn't have a car, so how could they believe that then:confused:


Seemed like they were doing more than a little OK living in a harmonic coexisting realtionship with nature up until all this "innovation" started ocurring.



And we do very well today without personal transportation to anywhere in the world at a moments notice. But once that invention comes online people will bitch about it also, just as they do about the car today; yet it will be just as "necessary". It's so easy to complain about something when you have such easy access to it, it's also easy to protest on a full stomach. Americans have it so good, yet always bitching :D:rolleyes:




The internal combustion engine contibutes to the obliteration of nature too.
I bet you sit in a vehicle more than I do ;)

Pedaling Fool
04-02-2013, 15:58
Native Americans didn't have a car, so how could they believe that then:confused:

But if they did get a car they would have very much become attached to it, just as they did with the horse. http://www.texasindians.com/HORSE.HTM

Excerpt:

"When the first horses arrived they looked like very wonderful and magical dogs that could carry a lot of stuff. That is why many Plains Indians called horses "sacred dogs".

In a very short time Plains Indians learned to be expert riders. Along with hunting they learned to use the horses to make war and go on raids. They could go much farther than they ever could on foot and arrive rested and able to fight. The tribes who learned how to use horses first and fast had a huge advantage over other tribes. They quickly pushed other tribes out of their former territories and expanded their territories. Tribes like the Comanche and Cheyenne who had horses and knew how to use them first pushed other tribes like the Apache, Wichita and Tonkawa south and west off the plains. The Apache who now live in New Mexico and in Old Mexico used to live way up in the Texas panhandle and north of Texas. Bands of Comanche warriors on horseback were powerful and feared by everyone – Indians and Europeans.

Next time you see a picture of a Indian on a horse, stop and remember what Indian life must have been like before the sacred dogs came along."

Tinker
04-02-2013, 15:59
Ok, I'm all in with a serious answer:
Lightweight, low top footwear, and a close second,
Sealskinz socks.
I wore the two in Md. the weekend before last and hiked for a day and a half in snow. Feet got a little soggy from their own sweat but never cold, and had I been wearing the heavy leather boots I used to wear, I would nearly have doubled the weight of footwear from water absorption.
Ten pounds of footwear is not comfortable. I know. I've been there.

flemdawg1
04-02-2013, 16:02
I would say the greatest innovation would be commercial agriculture, no more hunting and gathering!!

Tinker
04-02-2013, 16:04
Being one of the tribe (human), I confess to being lazy by nature, and will take the easy way unless ego makes it attractive to martyr myself for the sake of attaining official MACHOdom.

Thankfully, becoming an old fart makes being macho much less attractive to me. :-?

Carrying extra weight for the sake of he-man bragging rights isn't even on my radar. :D

Pedaling Fool
04-02-2013, 16:05
I would say the greatest innovation would be commercial agriculture, no more hunting and gathering!!
Interesting book on that topic http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/60726/description/Book_Review_Pandoras_Seed_The_Unforeseen_Cost_of_C ivilization_by_Spencer_Wells

flemdawg1
04-02-2013, 16:10
For me?--None! Are there really gadgets that people will ‘just die’ without? To see how vital technology is, spend a few days in the real backcountry(not the AT) w/o a cell phone, pager, PDA, laptop, cappuccino machine or an MP3 player. You’ll emerge cleansed and refreshed.

So you walk completely naked and carrying nothing. And also without speaking or other form of communication. Laying on the bare ground to sleep and using nothing (not even leaves or dirt) to cover yourself. Otherwise you are using a form of technology. So begone w/ your self-righteousness.

S'more
04-02-2013, 17:28
The whole of human history is the story of change, innovation and the march of technology. Each and everyone of us lives on the shoulders of someone else's innovation, and none of you can survive without that advance.


How about everything in the last 113 or so years?

Feral Bill
04-02-2013, 18:04
If we are talking about backpacking gear, Id say the invention of the padded, wrap-around hip belt was a huge change. Those who remember hiking without do not do so fondly.

Dogwood
04-02-2013, 18:24
Might disagree with some of your pts of view or opinions at times but I sure like that you push me into rethinking things

I bet you sit in a vehicle more than I do - John Gault

Actually, I spend VERY little time in a vehicle that burns fossil fuels or riding loud motorized wheeled vehicles. I like walking and riding a bike as often as makes sense TO ME. OFTEN, "my feet are my only carriage" not out of necessity but out of CHOICE. Pros and cons to most everything but I like what I get out of walking and riding a bicycle. Pertaining to walking and riding a bicycle, the potential benefits sometimes outweigh the potential negatives, FOR ME. I will also take public transportation on ocassion rather than always driving my truck. No, my truck is not a gas guzzler either and it's used as both my biz and personal vehicle. I like what I'm being a part of in that I"M IN CONTROL of how I get to places not simply following the conditioned masses. Choices Choices I don't always make the right choices in hindsight but at least I've expanded my range of choices by thinking ouside of the box.

Dogwood
04-02-2013, 18:34
Commercial industrial agriculture is an excellent example of something that can have BOTH positive and negative consequences. IMO, problems arise when we are blinded to opposing or different perspectives. Being knowledgable about and only accepting as valid one's current perspective isn't knowledge or enlightment at all. Sounds more like intolerance and ignorance to me. :o

gizzy bear
04-02-2013, 18:46
The cell phone.

The progression of improvements goes like this for me:
1) Party line to private line. No more is that my ring or the neighbors. No more nosy neighbors listening to your calls.
2) Rotary phone to digital phone. No more hanging up because you didn't spin the dial quite right.
3) Wired phones to wireless phones. No more untangling that 100' cord you bought so you can walk around the house with your phone.
4) Land line to cell phone. No more telemarketers. No more answering machine. Ability to make calls from your "home phone" thousands of miles away. And the big one, the main one, the one I could not live without (I could, but I don't want to): The 160 character text message. I could write a thesis on this innovation. This has radically changed my life. But it is also two of my biggest pet peeves. I hate when people type a message that is 1000 characters long and it becomes a game of "can you reassemble the shredded message". It ought not be possible to send one longer than 160 characters. If you can't say it in 160 characters, pick up the phone and dial it. I also hate it when people text and drive. 1st offense you should lose you license for a year. 2nd offense you should lose it for life. 3rd offense you should go to jail. I would rather have a person driving while drunk then one driving while texting. At least the drunk is trying to look at the road.

But ya': The cell phone.


Great post ... After a reassembled it, that is ;). :cool:

Biggie Master
04-02-2013, 19:43
Penicillin...

Wise Old Owl
04-02-2013, 19:51
Hammock pulled me out of retirement

JAK
04-02-2013, 20:16
I have had alot of fun with heart rate monitors, and now Garmins, but more for performance monitoring than for navigation. The main benefit is to keep the mind interested enough to have another excuse to get out for another run or hike or whatever. Experimentation for Recreation.

MontanaJoe
04-02-2013, 20:25
Lets all admit it, the flush toilet. I dont like running to the outhouse in 60 below!

Wise Old Owl
04-02-2013, 20:57
what the hell?

chief
04-02-2013, 23:08
I actually though about this a lot and it's a tie - condoms/no fault divorce.

Swordpen
04-02-2013, 23:42
My hip resurfacing prosthetic.

It got me out of a wheelchair that I was in for 7 YEARS, & able to walk again. & got me out of a deep situational depression.

Thank you, Dr Amstutz!!!

Skyline
04-03-2013, 00:10
I don't think there's any new technology that came into wide usage during the past 20+ years that I've used on backpacking trips.

Hairbear
04-03-2013, 05:09
But if they did get a car they would have very much become attached to it, just as they did with the horse. http://www.texasindians.com/HORSE.HTM

Excerpt:

"When the first horses arrived they looked like very wonderful and magical dogs that could carry a lot of stuff. That is why many Plains Indians called horses "sacred dogs".

In a very short time Plains Indians learned to be expert riders. Along with hunting they learned to use the horses to make war and go on raids. They could go much farther than they ever could on foot and arrive rested and able to fight. The tribes who learned how to use horses first and fast had a huge advantage over other tribes. They quickly pushed other tribes out of their former territories and expanded their territories. Tribes like the Comanche and Cheyenne who had horses and knew how to use them first pushed other tribes like the Apache, Wichita and Tonkawa south and west off the plains. The Apache who now live in New Mexico and in Old Mexico used to live way up in the Texas panhandle and north of Texas. Bands of Comanche warriors on horseback were powerful and feared by everyone – Indians and Europeans.

Next time you see a picture of a Indian on a horse, stop and remember what Indian life must have been like before the sacred dogs came along."

Funny that we look at the transportation as the problem,but never see the real problem is in the transported mindset of the person driving.

Hairbear
04-03-2013, 05:11
For me as an owl a Banana Hammock.... lunch is all good.
A banana hammock is a speedo,no lunch there for me lol.

Hairbear
04-03-2013, 05:19
[QUOTE=Hairbear;1454012]Funny that we look at the transportation as the problem,but never see the real problem is in the transported mindset of the person driving.[/QUOTE

Imagine if a virus had the ability to travel at an average speed of an automobile.we would all be dead. Our presence here on this planet has the same effects as the virus does on us.Mindless destruction in the wrapping of technology.

Pedaling Fool
04-03-2013, 08:10
[QUOTE=Hairbear;1454012]Funny that we look at the transportation as the problem,but never see the real problem is in the transported mindset of the person driving.[/QUOTE

Imagine if a virus had the ability to travel at an average speed of an automobile.we would all be dead. Our presence here on this planet has the same effects as the virus does on us.Mindless destruction in the wrapping of technology.You posted this a 0519, so I'm going to assume you hadn't had your first cup of coffee and were just rambling.:)

moytoy
04-03-2013, 08:23
[QUOTE=Hairbear;1454016]You posted this a 0519, so I'm going to assume you hadn't had your first cup of coffee and were just rambling.:)
[QUOTE=Hairbear;1454016]
http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/images/Eloquent/miscgreen/quote_icon.png Originally Posted by Hairbear http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/images/Eloquent/buttonsgreen/viewpost-right.png (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?p=1454012#post1454012)
Funny that we look at the transportation as the problem,but never see the real problem is in the transported mindset of the person driving.[/QUOTE

Imagine if a virus had the ability to travel at an average speed of an automobile.we would all be dead. Our presence here on this planet has the same effects as the virus does on us.Mindless destruction in the wrapping of technology.



Maybe he just arrived home and has had no sleep for 24 hours. It might have been 3:19 his time. Just sayin...

Hairbear
04-03-2013, 08:53
poted a quote to the wrong thing. I am not responsible for dream posting lol.