Rush 2 ExploreCamping, Hiking, Climbing and Survival Equipment and Accessories

Camping Hunting Flint

HOMINID POWER

We are hominids first...

Lucy’s tracks tantalize like a four million year-old snapshot. They are preserved as Mary Leakey found them, accompanied by two human-ape companions striding calmly across a flood pan brought to busy life by other cast impressions of insects, birds, baboons, wildebeest, rhinos, giraffes, zebras, ostriches, hares, saber-toothed tigers, pigs – and three-toed horses called Hipparion.

It’s a long way from squelching naked through wet volcanic ash to wearing bras and sipping Scotch. Almost half that distance has been traversed by people lacking stone flints or fire. Yet we flick channels past the Flintstones, activate our microwaves, and board airplanes hardly noticing that Lucy’s in the cockpit adjusting her uniform and the GPS.

But she is. Hominids who share 99% of their DNA with chimps have been driving cars for a handful of decades, personal cyberspace is 10 years old. Yet tool-making proto-humans refined our rural reflexes for more than a million years – 10,000 times longer than their space-walking descendents have been channel-surfing so far.

So next time you drive downtown, pull over and try sharpening a stick. Feel its heft in your hand. Let neglected limbic learning gauge the wind and trajectory toward the nearest dik-dik herd. 

At least go for a walk in the park.

Not all of our four million year-old hunting-gathering instincts can be successfully sublimated by scoring the new "Tragically Hip" CD, or frozen sockeye for the barbecue. Especially when we spend so much of our waking hours racing around imitating machines, instead of honoring our hominid nature.

I’m not saying that healthy hominids have to kill their dinner with a rock. But we ignore archaic needs and reflexes at our peril.

The swerve to maladaptive "mass" society came just 5,000 years ago. In that time, we’ve developed presumptions and pretensions even more dangerous than our technologies.

The biggest blunder was to divorce Lucy and our innate links to clan, place and Nature – which is our own nature, after all. 

Evolutionary psychology looks at the Stone Age traits we’ve carried into the wired age. For example, says author William Allman, we OD on fatty foods today not because we’re undisciplined degenerates – but because fat was a scarce, high-caloric food for most of our prehistory, and we scarfed as much as we could find.

The Stone Age Present reminds us that millions of years of rough-and-tumble evolution have hard-wired our hunting and gathering instincts into autonomic responses which may be inappropriate to some of the challenges facing us now.

But it’s very instructive to trace how human priorities and approaches to sex, spirit, conversation, parenthood and personal destiny have been shaped by millions of years hunting, traveling, gathering, camping and moving on.

Some 60,000 years ago our apelike ancestors started acting more like people: sewing clothes, making razor-sharp tools, decorating caves, playing blues riffs on stone flutes – and negotiating and sharing cooperative ventures like food gathering and child-rearing. These folks were probably also stoned on magic mushrooms a lot. But that’s another story.

However it appeared, language answered an urgent social need.

"Their lifestyle was all about making agreements, wheeling and dealing, cooperating, discussion," speculate two University of Arizona linguists delightfully named Pinker and Bloom.

"It makes a difference whether that region has animals that you can eat or animals that can eat you. It makes a difference whether it has fruit that is ripe, or fruit that was ripe or fruit that will be ripe."

We draw on this legacy every time we pass along bargains on organic lettuce. But we can do much more to recognize and honor the hominid within.

HOMIND HEALTH PRESCRIPTION:
Remember your roots.

Drink at least eight glasses of pure water every day.

Primate grooming has nothing to do with sex. Touch and be touched as often as mutual intention allows.

Go easy on meat and factory foods, which weren’t easily come by in Lucy’s day. Graze instead on chemical-free fruits, seeds, buts, grains, berries and veggies – especially in the heat of summer.

Walk, lie, swim, run, eat, snooze, make out or just sit still in nature looking out your eyes. Do this as often as you can. Even a few minutes’ daily stroll in the woods or along the sea or lakeshore is a great de-stressor and re-connector.

Remember that your immune system is a porous organism. Besides being bathed regularly in water that’s juts water, skin needs to breathe the breeze and suck in sunny vitamin D, too. So shuck your clothes as often as you can without freezing delicate parts or freaking out the neighbors. (But watch your exposure to soaring solar radiation levels never before encountered by humans.10 minutes "a side" is max. And never at midday.

Try relating to members of other sexes and species as tribal relatives, guides and partners engaged in a common endeavor called life. Evolutionary psychology says that over many millennia women and men have developed different mental pathways and evolutionary goals.

Women concentrated on cultivating connections long before root crops. Men’s concern with hierarchical status and reputation was as instinctive as the Alpha apes around them. As we attempt to adjust antiquated roles and move away from dominator models, it might be helpful to acknowledge hard-wired tendencies without judgment, listen more and give each other some slack.

About the Author

WHO IS WILLIAM THOMAS?

I am an award-winning Canadian author, reporter, photographer and filmmaker. A former Vancouver Sun “photog” – his feature writing and accompanying photographs subsequently appeared in more than 50 publications in eight countries, including translations into French, Dutch and Japanese.

My 30-minute video documentary Eco War won the 1991 US Environmental Film Festival award for “Best Documentary Short”. Excerpts from this “front-lines” chronicle of a three-man environmental emergency response team in Kuwait aired in an eight-part CBC Gulf War mini-series, and have been shown on CNN and NBC television, as well as Noam Chomsky’s feature film, “The Corporation”.

During and immediately after the Gulf War, I served five months in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as a member of a three-man environmental emergency response team.

Winner of four Canadian feature-writing awards, I am the author of Days Of Deception: Ground Zero and Beyond; All Fall Down: The Politics of Terror and Mass Persuasion, Scorched Earth, Bringing The War Home, Alt Health, Stand Down, Dialing Our Cells: Cell Phone Health Hazards and the recently updated Chemtrails Confirmed.

A former pilot, ocean sailing master and frequent radio talk-show guest, I currently live and work in the Gulf Islands off Canada’s west coast.

Visit my investigative reporting website: willthomasonline.net

Visit my photography website: willthomasphotography.com

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Hunting, Fishing and Camping $18.2 L.L.Bean. In 1942, L.L. Bean, founder of the giant catalog company, wrote and published this guide. The author gives practical advice on hunting, fishing, and camping based on his many years as a celebrated outdoorsman.

Flint $10 Flint

Hunting, Fishing, and Camping $19.95 L.L.Bean, Inc. has been a trusted source for quality apparel, reliable outdoor equipment and expert advice since 1912. To celebrate its hundredth anniversary, the Freeport-, Maine-based company has updated Hunting, Fishing and Camping , Leon Leonwood Bean’s no-nonsense guide to enjoying the great outdoors. Originally published in 1942, this Maine classic offers instruction on everything from packing a canoe to stalking a bear. The new edition pairs the original text and nostalgic photographs with twenty-first-century perspective from L.L's great-grandson and Outdoor Channel television host, Bill Gorman. This entertaining and instructive book is not only a commemorative celebration of L.L.Bean’s legacy and his commitment to conservation — it is a must-have manual for the modern sportsman.

Hunting, Fishing, and Camping (Hardcover) $27.36 Description not available.

Brixton - Flint (Camel) - Hats $24.99 6pm.com is proud to offer the Brixton - Flint (Camel) - Hats: How hard working are you? Are you ambitious enough to spend those cold winter days stacking your coin? Don't let the weather affect your drive in the Brixton Flint hat. ; Billed canvas hunting-style cap. ; One-piece canvas earflap. ; Leather center logo. ; 100% cotton. ; Circumference: 22 in ; Product measurements were taken using size LG (7 1/2). Please note that measurements may vary by size.

Ames 1188000 1-1/4 Lb 14 Bit Camping & Hunting Axe $21.12 Ames 1188000 1-1/4 Lb 14" Bit Camping & Hunting Axe Ames 1188000 1-1/4 Lb 14" Bit Camping & Hunting Axe Features: Used to trim branches, prune trees, split and cut wood Drive wood stakes with the face 14" handle length 1-1/4 lbs head weight

United UC2632 Cutlery Fire Strike Magnesium Flint $21.32 Fire Starter. Great for survival or camping. Quickly lights any fire. Scraper included. 1 000's of strikes. Flint. Survival camping. Scraper included. United cutlery.

UC UC2632 Fire Strike Magnesium Flint Fire Starter $21.45 This fire strike magnesium flint is great of survival or camping. It quickly lights any fire and will produce thousands of strikes. The scraper is included. You can use it to ignite damp or dry tinder. Great for survival or camping. Lights any fire. Scraper included. Good for thousands of strikes. Magnesium flint.

Jack Flint and the Spellbinder's Curse $12.72 The battle with the Morrigan may be over but Jack Flint's quest is only just beginning. As the Morrigan struggles with our three adventurers, she hurls Corriwen Redthorn through a gateway and into an unknown world. Jack and Kerry know they must follow and find her - and, unlike Corrie who is alone and afraid, they have the Book of Ways to help them. They step into Eirinn where the land seems held in the grip of an everlasting winter. Jack and Kerry are aided and abetted in their search by friendly Leprechauns, a gentle giant and a troupe of travelling players with magical powers. They soon discover that others are hunting her too. They're up against the treachery of Dermott the much feared Wolf Lord and Fainn, his Spellbinder. They have stolen the legendary silver cauldron of plenty and the golden harp which keeps the seasons in check. But it's also been foretold that Dermott will meet his fate at the hands of a fighting woman with red hair. Could Corriwen be his nemesis? He's desperate to destroy her and anything, or anyone, who gets in his way. Corriwen meantime has saved Connor, a local boy, from being killed by Dermott's men. He's a boy, as it turns out, with quite a story to tell. And Jack Flint is beginning to unravel the mystery of who he might be - his adventures in Eirinn reveal clue after clue that might lead him to his father.

The Hunting $9.99 The Hunting

In Like Flint $5.99 In Like Flint

In Like Flint/Our Man Flint $6.99 In Like Flint/Our Man Flint

Coghlan's Watertight Match Box - General Camping $2.39 Hi-visibility orange color Rubber O-ring for a watertight seal Fire starter flint on bottom Thanks to its hi-vis orange color, it's not likely you'll lose or misplace Coghlan's Watertight Match Box. The box holds enough matches for a weekend camping trip, and features a rubber O-ring for a watertight seal. An emergency fire starter flint is mounted on the bottom of the box. Manufacturer model : 8746. Hi-visibility orange color Rubber O-ring for a watertight seal Fire starter flint on bottom Thanks to its hi-vis orange color, it's not likely you'll lose or misplace Coghlan's Watertight Match Box. The box holds enough matches for a weekend camping

Single Burner Propane Camping Stove $15.94 Compact and light, this portable stove is designed for camping, hunting, tailgating, and other outdoor events. Features powerful 10,000 BTU stainless steel burner with wind guard to prevent the flame from burning out. CSA Approved.

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