Improving our improvisation.

I got an idea (no, I'm still young so this is not as dangerous as if this was Crash...). Being able to improvise in situation when everything goes wrong is our number one asset (IMO) in survival business. So I figured a way to test our selves on our skills. I will post a picture and you are to figure out different uses for the items in the picture. All you have to work with is what is in the picture. If you see a car tire and figure that you could cut them up to make shoes, but don't see anything to use for cutting you don't have shoes. Simple enough rules.

Please make clear what items you would use to make other items.

First picture, an office after an earthquake: (shamelessly from the internet)
http://earthquakefacts.net/pics/Hawaii-Earthquake.jpg

The window. To leave the messy office where I won't be doing my business anytime soon. :dodge:

Creative... How would you protect your self from the sharp glass? Remember, all you got is in the picture. (IE, no shoes, shirt... get my drift?)

If I'm in a cluttered office room with no clothes, then I'd be up to no good. Especially if there was a secretary involved.

On a serious note, it is kinda hard to see what is available in the size of a picture. Atleast to me it is.

As for covering my nude parts that could make anyone faint, there's some papers on the wall that could be used to cover those areas. I could either hol them there, or use saliva to try to make the stick.

Hell no! I am in an office with a no shoes and shirts policy. I'm going to stay and comfort the girls and send the guys to get help.

Wasn't there a survival use for a condom?

Y'all use the map I gave you and hurry back! LOL

The first thing that comes to mind is getting the metal cabinets out and using most of the components to build a shelter. Use drawers to catch rainwater, etc.

Well, lets say that the inaccuracy of the pic simulates our human tendency to miss stuff, or something. Don't try to focus on what you are wearing, for once (lol), and think of it.

There seems to be some kind of insulation sheets in the back, those could be used for bedding and or extra clothing, CD's for signaling mirrors, glass pieces for cutting(from the window you could break with number of items in there. Use the metal drawers to make pots? Brake them up using the metal pedestal of the glass globe as a hammer?

The windows don't appear to be broken......why would you break them, and ruin your perfectly good shelter, from the blizzard outside??? LOL:helpsmilie:

I need more detailed information: where is this office? Does the window overlook a major street or an alley? What floor is it on? Am I alone? Is it day or night? Outside weather? Does the power being on indicate the severity of the quake? (I don’t live in an earthquake prone area). What is my primary objective? Is it to survive in the building or to find a way out?
However, if you just want me to make stuff with what I see…
Lots of shiny metal there to signal with – reflection, beat with a drawer for noise, throw out the window to get attention, pull out the drawers and light a fire within to use as a radiant heater/stove top, burn the wooden counter for heat/signaling, remove the flexible edging from the counter to use as cordage, use my shoelaces to tie some cd’s together like a wind chime for signaling, use the crystal ball to see if I am finally alone in the universe, stick two pieces of wire in the light socket to start a fire with the paper on the wall as tinder, use the insulation above the dropped ceiling to cover the windows to keep out cold or peering eyes, break a fluorescent bulb and use it to stab a coworker in the neck (hey, a guys gotta eat!)

I'm gonna assume this much, not knowing beyond what you posted.
If an earthquake just hit, you'd want to try and get out pronto. There could be aftershocks or just stuff caving in.
What happens later or what you can salvage depends on many other things.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NCO

There seems to be some kind of insulation sheets in the back, those could be used for bedding and or extra clothing

---

Fiberglass diapers? Talk about diaper rash! No, that would be setting yourself up for infections.

I like the picture idea though.

There is some layer there on the actual fiberglass...

I don't want to go to any specific scenarios here. Just think of this like the multi-use-items thread. There is stuff there, what it can be used to? No specific goals or weather conditions at this point, just find uses for the items in the picture. Why I mentioned the earthquake is that the picture is of an office after an earthquake... Could have been any picture really, just thought this one might be more useful for this type of mind game.

Metal cabinets,ceiling tiles and insulation to build a shelter. Carpet to be used for warmth Etc it can be cut with the broken glass. Weapons everywhere. fire material everywhere. If it like most offices there will be food of some sort in the desk drawers. Smokers would leave lighters/matches in their desk.

Most office building nowdays have a lightweight concret floor which is fire resistant so after you remove the carpet and the pad you could build a small heating fire without danger of burning the building down. It could be a small one as the metal cabinets would reflect the heat back toward you.

The required fire sprinkler system would have some water stored in the sprinkler lines. Desk lamps Etc electrical cords have many uses.

If you have ever had to empty a desk after someone left or were fired you know the stuff they store/leave in the desks. Paper clips for fish hooks. ball point pins for straws, wooden pencils for tinder, sanitary napkins for bandages. Staplers for fastening things together including cloth.

The office I worked out of before I retired I could have lived in there for a week or so on the stuff left in the desks and the refrig. I would of had clothes, food, liquid, reading material, first aid kits, weapons (knives Forks Etc from out of the break room) finger nail clippers, finger nail files, scissors. the blade off of the paper cutter, cleaning supplies to make caustic defense weapons. broom handles. plates ( paper, plastic, glass) drinking cups & glasses, paper towels, rubber bands, cordage from the blinds: ETC, ETC, ETC

If you want to play that game go to a construction site and look in the trash and see what you could use to surive.

If my world is that room and this is an earthquake then my first priority is to assess injuries. It looks like there is little beyond filing cabinets and almost all of them have toppled, which could have caused crushing injuries. I'd use the aluminum tracks from the overhead ceiling that are hanging down for splints and the string out of the shades on the window to hold them in place.

My next big concern would be after shocks. That looks like a desk unit in the back left of the picture. The kind you might find at a receptionist position. That would be more substantial than anything else in the picture and appears to have come through unscathed so I'd make that my safe area. Move any injured (if they can be moved) to that area.

I'd take the white ceiling tiles that are hanging down and the felt marker on the counter top (yeah, that little white thing. Hey, it's my story and that's a marker!) and fashion a HELP sign to hang in the window.

Then wait for help to arrive. Fortunately, all those CDs are labeled, "What to do in case of Earthquake" so that will be really handy listening to them while I wait.

I think this is more like it. :innocent:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NCO

Creative... How would you protect your self from the sharp glass? Remember, all you got is in the picture. (IE, no shoes, shirt... get my drift?)

---

I have never had an earthquake make my clothes fall off. Been through several and that has never happened.

Tequlia used to work on a girlfriend. Made her clothes fall off. Then the earth might or might not shake, depending on how far gone she was.

There was a R&R radio station that had Naked Monday in Nashville many years ago. I guess if the New Madrid fault gave way on a Monday this could happen at the station.

That is the only way I can imagine this senerio.

This is going off the track... As usual, lol.

The simple idea of the thread is not to ask how to react in different scenarios. I simply try to use the pictures as material lists. What can be don with the items and only with the items in the pictures. What the situation is and what the picture is is not the point.

View it this way, there is a bunch of stuff, what it can be used for?

I think it's time for a new picture:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_ZLDsoqZPBAg/TO...9nAvLOK_fs.jpg

Ps, lets say that the scooter won't start...

I don't knnow if it's my computer or not, but I don't see a picture?

You passed the test. Once the scooter starts the picture will appear.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Beans

Metal cabinets,ceiling tiles and insulation to build a shelter. Carpet to be used for warmth Etc it can be cut with the broken glass. Weapons everywhere. fire material everywhere. If it like most offices there will be food of some sort in the desk drawers. Smokers would leave lighters/matches in their desk.

Most office building nowdays have a lightweight concret floor which is fire resistant so after you remove the carpet and the pad you could build a small heating fire without danger of burning the building down. It could be a small one as the metal cabinets would reflect the heat back toward you.

The required fire sprinkler system would have some water stored in the sprinkler lines. Desk lamps Etc electrical cords have many uses.

If you have ever had to empty a desk after someone left or were fired you know the stuff they store/leave in the desks. Paper clips for fish hooks. ball point pins for straws, wooden pencils for tinder, sanitary napkins for bandages. Staplers for fastening things together including cloth.

The office I worked out of before I retired I could have lived in there for a week or so on the stuff left in the desks and the refrig. I would of had clothes, food, liquid, reading material, first aid kits, weapons (knives Forks Etc from out of the break room) finger nail clippers, finger nail files, scissors. the blade off of the paper cutter, cleaning supplies to make caustic defense weapons. broom handles. plates ( paper, plastic, glass) drinking cups & glasses, paper towels, rubber bands, cordage from the blinds: ETC, ETC, ETC

If you want to play that game go to a construction site and look in the trash and see what you could use to surive.

---

Excellent answer, saved me the trouble of typing it all out.
If the scenario was an earthquake, and not a party, getting out would be my first concern, aftershocks being a large concern.

NCO, your idea of this drill is a good one, using salvage materials for use for survival.

Just goes to show that your most important tool for survival is your mind.
Rep to both

Thanks hunter63.

BTW, the picture should be fixed now.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NCO

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_ZLDsoqZPBAg/TO...9nAvLOK_fs.jpg

Ps, lets say that the scooter won't start...

---

Remove all the trash from it's receptical and place the cardboard down for bedding. Newspapers could be blankets and insulation.
Look through the trash and you might be able to find leftover food. May also find some 9-volt batteries, wires, bathroom tissue (hopefully unused), or even an empty lighter to start a fire. It could be placed outside of the trash receptical and the umbrella can reflect the heat the bedding, or the umbrella could be used as rain/sun protection.
The scooter could be used as a source of a spark and maybe it also uses gas and can be used to start a fire if the garbage doesn't have the needed items.
Scooter mirror as a signal. The sign on the fence may be reflective as well.
I believe the best bet would be to rummage through the garbage and see what is inside.

There could also be a ton of gold under all that, but I can't see it And you can't use what you can't see.

The vacuum leaning against the wall has a cord and that means a motor. I'd salvage that to use to recharge batteries or cell phones. A hand crank turns it into a generator.

I spy with my little eye an umbrella just to the left of the dumpster. Nice wind break/shelter cover. Plenty of tin cans in the trash so I should be able to make a hobo stove. There is a yellow something by the scooter. If that's a broom or map handle I have a walking stick/protection. Have to check for fuel in the scooter and pull the battery if it's electric start. Both items would be handy. I also see some plastic soda bottles in the trash so they could be used to carry water. All that plastic would make a good ground cover and/or roof. The plastic garbage bags could be emptied and used to carry supplies. Maybe hang one on one end of the yellow pole and one on the other end and carry it over your shoulder. There is a bonanza of "stuff"!

Exactly,

How about kicking some of the bricks loose and reshape the trash "box" to have four walls for better shelter?

Again, splints by ripping some of the cardboard in pieces, staking them together to make the pieces more sturdy and then using plastic bags for cordage.

You also could break the mirror(I know, bad luck) and use some of it for a cutting tool.

One side of the trash bin has a clamp on it. I assume the other side does to but if it doesn't you could use the fence. Just slide that yellow thingy across there and cover with some plastic and you have a door.

There is a yellow mattress kind of thing on the back of the bin, that would be obvious mattress. duh...

Red umbrella too.

The box of smokes will make a kazoo.

How about, get on the scooter and head for the house?

If you can't hot wire a scooter and push start it you need to crawl in the dumster and give up.

As detailed under the picture, the scooter does not start.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NCO

As detailed under the picture, the scooter does not start.

---

Yes, you said that, does it roll?

How about one for those of us that stay the heck out of town, wear clothes and carry a multitool.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/shoes_on_wires/4447701613/

Welcome to redneck heaven! We put our slum anywhere you want it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by NCO

... View it this way, there is a bunch of stuff, what it can be used for?

I think it's time for a new picture:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_ZLDsoqZPBAg/TO...9nAvLOK_fs.jpg

Ps, lets say that the scooter won't start...

---

Scooter may have light or battery for firestarting, wire for shelter building rope, snares, etc. oil/ gas for lamp, signal mirror or mirror for looking at yourself, lol. The cardboard for shelter along with plastic. Plastic bags can make cordage. Plastic bottles for gathering water, minnow/ crawdad traps, etc. Tin cans for cooking, stove, lantern, spear heads, knife. Is that a blue tarp? shelter, raincoat. Plenty of paper for kindling or insulation. Looks like an old umbrella for a spear point, gig points or spit for the fire maybe??, catching rainwater maybe, I see bigger fish trap possibilities in it. Looks like a mop handle by the scooter for a club or spear/ gig shaft.

PS, that fencing would make for a real good permanent type large scale fish trap.

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