Hackszine.com: Outdoor Archives

Archive: Outdoor

February 19, 2007

Internet weather forecast accuracy

Consistency Low Bar
Ever wonder which internet weather site was the most accurate? OmniNerd breaks it down... -

Weather forecasting is a secure and popular online presence, which is understandable. The weather affects most everyone's life, and the Internet can provide information on just about any location at any hour of the day or night. But how accurate is this information? How much can we trust it? Perhaps it is just my skeptical nature (or maybe the seeming unpredictability of nature), but I've never put much weight into weather forecasts - especially those made more than three days in advance. That skepticism progressed to a new high in the Summer of 2004, but I have only now done the research necessary to test the accuracy of online weather forecasts. First the story, then the data.

OmniNerd - Articles: Internet Weather Forecast Accuracy - [via] Link.

January 23, 2007

Build a Fire with a Coke Can and Chocolate Bar

Coke Can Fire.jpg

As featured later on Mythbusters (and mentioned on the Make blog awhile back), Wildwood Survival shows how to make a fire without tools, using just a can of coke, a chocolate bar, and some tinder. A follow-up post provides some alternative methods for "people who would like to make a solar reflector from the bottom of a can, but don't want to put in too much muscle."

For more food hacking ideas, check out Slashfood's roundup of top 25 food hacks or the Food Hacks Instructables group. For more on survival and hacking the great outdoors, outdoorhacks.com is worth a look.