meta user
network profile
| bio | website | gregcons.com/kateblog |
|---|---|---|
| location | Ontario, Canada | |
| age | 52 | |
| visits | member for | 1 year, 3 months |
| seen | 13 hours ago | |
| stats | profile views | 9 |
Consultant, developer, mentor, author, speaker. C++ and .NET, Windows 7, Sharepoint, whatever else I like.
My firm is available for online or in person mentoring, code reviews, troubleshooting and in some cases writing code for clients. If you're interested, please email me and mention you are familiar with my SO activities.
|
May 21 |
comment |
How to prevent bear bag line from tangling? great answer on a sister site: diy.stackexchange.com/questions/14546/… |
|
Apr 26 |
comment |
While backpacking, should one bring hand sanitizer, soap, or both? this is a terrific answer but I believe I read that soap actually kills bacteria even if it doesn't remove them. The use of a dry bar of soap as emergency deodorant (which works) would seem to support that. |
|
Mar 2 |
comment |
Experiences hiking with a baby: diapers You might be interested in this: gregcons.com/canoe/kidpaddle.htm full of tips and experience - aimed at canoeing more than hiking, but still... |
|
Mar 1 |
comment |
Experiences hiking with a baby: diapers the scary chemicals are mostly hydrogels and cellulose, plus the plastic cover. It's like burning a plastic bag - don't do it every day, but one week in your lifetime (or perhaps 2 or 3) for each child you have is not a huge contribution to pollution. [Switch to cloth at home for a bigger impact on the world.] They don't smell of diaper when they burn, but they can smell of plastic which is why we do it when no-one is sitting around the campfire. |
|
Jan 22 |
comment |
Trousers and jacket for winter walk up to 1085m (Snowdon) I'm a huge MEC fan, but going hiking within a degree or two of freezing is an edge case for a Canadian clothing supplier. We have to deal with cold (but it's a dry cold hahah) more than damp. Just be sure to recalibrate what pages say about "cold" and "very cold" - English news reports say "don't go out unless you have to" at -2C, Canadian ones at -30C |
|
Jan 4 |
comment |
Winter food: which types of food are less inclined to freeze? It's going to get very hard to spread either way. Eggs are probably oil based too but they freeze |
|
Jan 4 |
comment |
Winter food: which types of food are less inclined to freeze? dried foods don't freeze. |
|
Dec 26 |
comment |
What dried vegetarian foods have the highest ratio of calories to volume? I take both peanut butter and my children to Ontario wilderness, and have met brown/black bears - seen them in the day, and heard them at night and had them bash my canisters around. The peanut butter doesn't seem to have caused a problem. |
|
Dec 7 |
comment |
Why don't we apply the principles of layering when it comes to pants? In addition, women can and do wear tights under their pants for extra warmth on cold days. There's no valid reason why men couldn't do that too: they just don't. |
|
Dec 6 |
comment |
Apart from down, is there any outdoor material that should not be stored stuffed? Leaving a kink in a cable by having it wound tightly around something hard can weaken it. |
|
Dec 4 |
comment |
Are there significant behaviour differences among bear species to adopt different safety rules? How can you tell black bear scat from grizzly bear scat? Grizzly bear scat has bear bells in it. |
|
Nov 27 |
comment |
How to keep water cold in hot weather? I freeze half-full bottles on their sides with the lid off - being on a slight angle from flat if necessary to keep the water from spilling out. Then in the morning top up with water. You can drink right away with this approach and it stays cold for most of the day. |
|
Nov 27 |
comment |
How do I treat hot spots and blisters when I have no moleskin? I suggest you take a tiny amount (one or two blisters worth) of whatever you like to use for blisters, and leave it permanently in your day pack, jacket pocket, camera case, or the like. Then you will always have it no mtter what kind of walk you're on. |
|
Nov 27 |
comment |
How do I treat hot spots and blisters when I have no moleskin? Bandaid sells the Compeed products in North America. It's not always obvious on the box, but the instructions refer to Compeed being printed on one of the pieces of paper you peel off. I think it's called Blister Block these days. |
|
Nov 26 |
comment |
Will glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate prevent or repair damage to climbers’ fingers? People say it's a placebo. But when we switched our dog (on vet's advice) to food with glucosamine in it, she was able to go up and down stairs that she couldn't before. (I mean she could when she was younger, but then could no longer, then the food switch and she could do the stairs again.) That's when I started taking it myself. I don't think dogs are smart enough to have a placebo effect :-) |
|
Nov 4 |
comment |
What is a self erecting tent and why should I want one? Also a tent does not have to be self-erecting to be freestanding. My tent can sty up without pegs in rocky terrain but I have to insert and connect the poles myself. |
|
Nov 2 |
comment |
How can I build a safe, effective igloo? I've edited a little to make my point clearer. A well made igloo will be best. But a random camper is unlikely to build a well made igloo |
|
Oct 21 |
comment |
What does glass mean in the context of hunting? Can you provide a sentence that includes the word so we can have a bit of context? |
|
Oct 6 |
comment |
How can I locate the leak in a inflatable pad, while hiking yes, listening works remarkably well. |
|
Sep 17 |
comment |
How can I keep my iPhone going on a multiday hike? good point. I have one of these amazon.com/PowerGen-External-UltraSlim-Motorola-Blackberry/dp/… (also by PowerGen) and it claims to hold 3 full phone charges. It's smaller and lighter than my phone and works like a charm (plus it's a flashlight.) |
