Petrov: A man who lived in the woods of Mendocino County (2022)(ukiahdailyjournal.com) |
Petrov: A man who lived in the woods of Mendocino County (2022)(ukiahdailyjournal.com) |
[1] “Stranger in the Woods” by Michael Finkel: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30687200
It’s hard to know if what he was saying was true or not, but I think I believe it. He also saw my VW and immediately observed that it had been in an accident based on the way the doors hung. So, I feel like he knew some stuff.
Oh - and you automatically stay awake, when it gets too cold. Only when you are really exhausted and sleep in the cold, you will never wake up (from various movies and books I was afraid of this trope when I was younger, but nope, as long as you have energy left, your body automatically wakes you up and starts moving to create heat). Not being able to sleep, because of cold, is one of the less awesome outdoor experiences. On the other hand, the more you enjoy the sun on the next day (if you are lucky and there is sun).
Into the woods: how one man survived alone in the wilderness for 27 years - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13878801 - March 2017 (124 comments)
The Strange and Curious Tale of the Last True Hermit - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8205993 - August 2014 (86 comments)
You are unlikely to have no first name and two last names, and Zailenko looks like a last name, so the other one is likely a first name, which would be Petro.
Of course there is always a chance that he is Petrov-Zailenko.
“And I was a kid, so I thought love could fix anything,” she said, recalling how she hugged him good-bye once, “and he just shook.”
Outside of local edible vegetation, there is smaller game. And as you say, this is how many used to survive.
But beyond that, you can plant beans and have a crop in weeks. Even with a lack of pesticides and fertilizer, being able to plant a plant here, a plant there, will result in food not being eaten completely by pests.
And the ground is far more fertile, when not monocropping.
And yes, seeds can be reused, it's how farming still works today for many farmers.
To speak to this, where I grew up, many people would go into the woods, and plant a single pot seed here, another there, always close to trees etc, so overflies by police helicopters wouldn't see a crop.
Being rural, some people owned 1000 acres, and plausible denialability exists. Even if some went missing, the scatter method yields results.
I'm assuming it was Ukrainian? Although if someone tried to speak to him in Russian, they'd be able to understand that he was speaking Ukrainian and naturally understand a good majority of it.
-ko is a suffix denoting a lastname of Ukrainian origin though those were spread around even in Russian Empire.
There are a lot of people with Zayilenko surname in Russia now and Zalenko and Zelenko is still one in Ukraine now.
Given the Wikipedia article on him there is a chance it's just a corruption and he was called Petro Zelenko
[0] Petrov "Petro" Zailenko, a.k.a. Pitro Zalenko
One thing that initially annoyed me about Oahu was that there were people everywhere
Remote secluded beach? People.
Woods? People.
Forbidden, secret trail after ten “no trespassing we’ll shoot you” signs? People.
I lived there for 6 months and found more solitude when I wanted it, but also became more exhibitionist
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/23086418/tiny-cave-home-in-rem...
I was also homeless with a car for a while, but in a much warmer climate. It's no fun!
So much wealth in the world, and an eighteen year old sleeping in the trunk of a car in a continental winter
"Poverty is a sin A sin of the rich"
And: compared to past centuries (or even pre-agricultural), a bit of help from modern society can save a lot of time. A lighter here, a $5 knife or cooking pot there, some discarded materials from a construction site, etc etc.
Doesn't make primitive life easy. But it's not hard to see why some people would prefer it over navigating the complexities (or stress!) of 'living in the fast lane' modern society.
you can plant beans and have a crop in weeks.And there's plenty of small game to hunt and trap. I don't see that Petrov did this, but I imagine if he was comfortable catching and eating a neighbors duck, he probably took a squirrel or two in his life. The natives would obviously fish, take all kinds of small game, even including rat.
So relative to our modern diet, maybe your point holds, but the California Floristic Province has plenty of plants to sustain humans. IIRC, the indigenous population density was some of the highest in the world.
It's a bit of a digression, but it's a subject I find interesting and rarely pops up in hacker news. :)
(Lived in the area for a long time, but not an expert at all). Did the anthropologist provide any details? I'd love to read their work
At any rate it worked in all my snow caves, which was admittedly not a large sample but included places like Teton pass in Wyoming.
This is an interesting post! Can you explain the science behind why 32F/0C is important here? For example: If I build a snow cave in a place where it is -30C, -20C, -10C, 0C outside, will they all "equalize to 32F/0C"?
It was lots of fun. We’d hike into the snow pack set up a tent the first night, and spend the second day building snow caves and sledding. Then we’d build a bonfire that would melt down to the ground (or a boulder) by morning. Good times.
Caves take way less time to set up than an igloo and only requires a shovel for equipment. Although, it requires more maintenance for long-term shelter than an igloo. There’s good documentation on how to build one online.
Even quite mediocre sleeping bags (by modern standards) are positively toasty at 32 degrees. It was common in my group for people to sleep in their underwear in the caves! Our sleeping bags were 0 degree rated, though.
In primitive conditions, pine boughs or fur skins would be used.
Other than that, wear a cap, and if it's truly cold, boil water, pour it into a Nalgene (or similar) bottle, and slip that into a sock. It'll keep you toasty (often too warm) all night.
Sleeping bags have been very good for a long time
"modern standards" means cheaper than goose down
If you light a candle, the snow will melt and freeze into a film of ice.
The holes are important for ventilation in general, but it also allows vapor to escape.
When we built them we’d use ski poles to make the holes. You don’t want them to be too big or you risk the structural integrity of course. There was a ratio of hole count : people that we followed but I can’t remember that detail (: