• _stranger_@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    There was a guy a few years ago who tried to live off grid. He died, having left behind a journal detailing his final days. In it, he logged the exact process you outlined above for various things he foraged, which included wild potato seeds. Turns out those things pass all the above tests, but contain a deadly neurotoxin that builds up over time (that even modern science didn’t really know about). Poor guy starved because he was too weak to even crawl.

    nature be scary fellow humans. Be careful out there.

    https://www.theverge.com/2013/9/13/4726722/into-the-wild-author-reveals-chris-mccandless-cause-of-death

    • Zron@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      He also wandered into the Alaskan wilderness with basically just a sack of rice and a .22lr rifle.

      He was a a couple miles from safety the entire time, but did not buy a map so believed he was stranded when the river rose and cut off the main trail. But there was another trail with a raised cable crossing over the river a few miles upstream.

      He was totally unprepared and essentially just committed extended suicide. The fact that he remembered some basic tips from a Boy Scout handbook doesn’t mean he was an expert. Kid was an idiot who got in way over his head.

    • hardy@lemmy.ml
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      3 months ago

      That some guy ISNT JUST ANY GUY! 😤

      • Documentaries were made about him
      • A very successful movie was made about him “Into the wild”
      • Countless Youtubers keep making videos about him; Thoughty2 made a very good video about him…
      • _stranger_@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        The point of my comment was to highlight that even if you follow all the good advice, there’s still a chance you discover some new things that will kill you.

        • hardy@lemmy.ml
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          3 months ago

          Cool… I also forgot to mention all the books written about him… 😅

          • reinei@lemmy.world
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            3 months ago

            Eh, it’s sort of a tradition at this point. You just win some and lose some (and as is quite obvious the outliers of both categories are really out there!