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YouTuber lunarmodule 5 is back with another NASA compilation video. This time, it’s a four-screen tribute to the Space Shuttle, showing every launch of the Shuttle’s 135 missions. It’ll make your spine tingle.

The Shuttle program lasted 30 years, first launching in 1981 and being retired in 2011. Along the way, there were two disasters: Challenger, which blew up on launch in 1986, and Columbia, which disintegrated on re-entry into earth’s atmosphere in 2003. Those accidents were tragic, but the Shuttle program still stands as a proud accomplishment, a testament to mankind’s scientific accomplishments and zeal for exploration into the unknown.

If you’re a space buff, a science nerd, or just someone awed by the sight of a 2,000-ton space ship launching vertically on a column of flame and escaping the tyranny of earth’s gravity, you’ll love this video—all one hour and forty-four minutes of it. [lunarmodule5]

via Gizmodo
Video of All 135 Space Shuttle Launches Is a Rocket Tribute to Space

There are several ways to upgrade MySQL. In this post, we will use a combination of shell scripts and the mysqldump application to export our MySQL data, and then re-import it back into the upgraded version of MySQL.
In this example, we will be doing a minor version upgrade. We will be going from 5.6.17 to 5.6.19. This method may not work if you are upgrading from one major release to another – from 5.1 to 5.5, or 5.5 to 5.6. You will want to check each version and review the new features/functions and also what features/functions have been deprecated. We are also assuming that no one will be using the database during the time it takes for us to do the upgrade.
If you want to upgrade from a version that is more than one major release apart from your current version, then you will want to upgrade to each successive version. For example, if you want to upgrade from 5.0 to 5.6, you will want to upgrade from 5.0 to 5.1, then 5.1 to 5.5, and then 5.5 to 5.6.
You don’t have to export all of your data when you upgrade MySQL. There are ways of upgrading without doing anything to your data. But in this post, I will be exporting the data and re-importing it, for a fresh installation. I don’t have that much data, so I don’t mind doing the export and import. If you have a lot of data, you might want to consider other options. To get an idea of the size of your database(s), here is a quick script that you can use:
SELECT table_schema "Data Base Name", sum( data_length + index_length ) / 1024 / 1024 "Data Base Size in MB" FROM information_schema.TABLES GROUP BY table_schema ; When I perform an export/import, I like to export each database as a separate mysqldump file, and then also export all of the databases together in one large file. By exporting/importing the individual databases, if you have an error importing one of the database dump files, you can isolate the error to a single database. It is much easier to fix the error in one smaller data dump file than with a larger all-inclusive dump file.
I am also going to create some simple shell scripts to help me create the commands that I need to make this task much easier. First, you will want to create a directory to store all of the scripts and dump files. Do all of your work inside that directory.
Next, I want to get a list of all of my databases. I will log into mysql, and then issue the show databases; command: (which is the same command as: select schema_name from information_schema.schemata;)
mysql> show databases;
+——————–+
| Database |
+——————–+
| information_schema |
| 12thmedia |
| cbgc |
| comicbookdb |
| coupons |
| healthcheck |
| innodb_memcache |
| landwatch |
| laurelsprings |
| ls_directory |
| mem |
| mysql |
| performance_schema |
| protech |
| scripts |
| stacy |
| storelist |
| test |
| testcert |
| tony |
| twtr |
| watchdb |
+——————–+
22 rows in set (1.08 sec)
I can then just highlight and copy the list of databases, and put that list into a text file named “list.txt“. I do not want to include these databases in my export:
information_schema
mysql
performance_schema
test
However, I will export the mysql.user table later. I will need to manually remove those databases from my list.txt file. I then want to remove all of the spaces and pipe symbols from the text file – assuming that you do not have any spaces in your database names. Instead of using spaces in a database name, I prefer to use an underline character “_“. These scripts assume that you don’t have any spaces in your database names.
If you know how to use the vi editor, you can so a substitution for the pipes and spaces with these commands: :%s/ //g
:%s/|//g
Otherwise, you will want to use another text editor and manually edit the list to remove the spaces and pipe symbols. Your finished list.txt file should look like this:
12thmedia cbgc
comicbookdb
coupons
healthcheck
innodb_memcache
landwatch
laurelsprings
ls_directory
mem
protech
scripts
stacy
storelist
testcert
tony
twtr
watchdb
You can then create a simple shell script to help create your mysqldump commands – one command for each database. You will want to create this script and the other scripts in the directory you created earlier. Name the script export.sh. You can also change the mysqldump options to meet your needs. I am using GTID’s for replication, so I want to use this option –set-gtid-purged=OFF. You will also want to change the value of my password my_pass to your mysql password. You can also skip including the password by using the -p option, and just enter the password each time you run the mysqldump command.
# export.sh
# script to create the database export commands
k=""
for i in `cat list.txt`
do
echo "mysqldump -uroot –password=my_pass –set-gtid-purged=OFF –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases $i > "$i"_backup.sql"
k="$k $i"
done
# Optional – export the entire database
# use the file extention of .txt so that your script won’t import it later
echo "mysqldump -uroot –password=my_pass –set-gtid-purged=OFF –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases $k > all_db_backup.txt"
For the individual databases, I am using the suffix of .sql. For the dump file that contains all of the databases, I am using the prefix .txt – as I use a wildcard search later to get a list of the dump files, and I don’t want to import the one dump file that contains all of the databases.
Now you can run the export.sh script to create a list of your mysqldump commands, and you are going to direct the output into another shell script named export_list.sh. # sh export.sh > export_list.sh
We can now take a look at what is in the export_list.sh file
# cat export_list.sh
mysqldump -uroot –set-gtid-purged=OFF –password=my_pass –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases 12thmedia > 12thmedia_backup.sql
mysqldump -uroot –set-gtid-purged=OFF –password=my_pass –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases cbgc > cbgc_backup.sql
mysqldump -uroot –set-gtid-purged=OFF –password=my_pass –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases comicbookdb > comicbookdb_backup.sql
mysqldump -uroot –set-gtid-purged=OFF –password=my_pass –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases coupons > coupons_backup.sql
mysqldump -uroot –set-gtid-purged=OFF –password=my_pass –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases healthcheck > healthcheck_backup.sql
mysqldump -uroot –set-gtid-purged=OFF –password=my_pass –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases innodb_memcache > innodb_memcache_backup.sql
mysqldump -uroot –set-gtid-purged=OFF –password=my_pass –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases landwatch > landwatch_backup.sql
mysqldump -uroot –set-gtid-purged=OFF –password=my_pass –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases laurelsprings > laurelsprings_backup.sql
mysqldump -uroot –set-gtid-purged=OFF –password=my_pass –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases ls_directory > ls_directory_backup.sql
mysqldump -uroot –set-gtid-purged=OFF –password=my_pass –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases mem > mem_backup.sql
mysqldump -uroot –set-gtid-purged=OFF –password=my_pass –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases protech > protech_backup.sql
mysqldump -uroot –set-gtid-purged=OFF –password=my_pass –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases scripts > scripts_backup.sql
mysqldump -uroot –set-gtid-purged=OFF –password=my_pass –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases stacy > stacy_backup.sql
mysqldump -uroot –set-gtid-purged=OFF –password=my_pass –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases storelist > storelist_backup.sql
mysqldump -uroot –set-gtid-purged=OFF –password=my_pass –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases testcert > testcert_backup.sql
mysqldump -uroot –set-gtid-purged=OFF –password=my_pass –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases tony > tony_backup.sql
mysqldump -uroot –set-gtid-purged=OFF –password=my_pass –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases twtr > twtr_backup.sql
mysqldump -uroot –set-gtid-purged=OFF –password=my_pass –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases watchdb > watchdb_backup.sql
mysqldump -uroot -p –set-gtid-purged=OFF –password=my_psss –triggers –quick –skip-opt –add-drop-database –create-options –databases 12thmedia cbgc comicbookdb coupons healthcheck innodb_memcache landwatch laurelsprings ls_directory mem protech scripts stacy storelist testcert tony twtr watchdb > all_db_backup.txt
Now you have created a list of mysqldump commands that you can execute to dump all of your databases. You can now go ahead and execute your mysqldump commands by running the export_list.sh script:
# sh export_list.sh
Warning: Using a password on the command line interface can be insecure.
Warning: Using a password on the command line interface can be insecure.
Warning: Using a password on the command line interface can be insecure.
….
The message “Warning: Using a password on the command line interface can be insecure.” is shown because you included the value for “–password“. If you don’t want to put your password on the command line, just change that option to “-p“, and you will have to manually enter your MySQL root user’s password after each mysqldump command.
Here is a list of the dump files that was produced:
# ls -l
total 21424
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 26690 Aug 1 16:25 12thmedia_backup.sql
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 5455275 Aug 1 16:26 all_db_backup.txt
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 1746820 Aug 1 16:25 cbgc_backup.sql
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 492943 Aug 1 16:25 comicbookdb_backup.sql
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 1057 Aug 1 16:25 coupons_backup.sql
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 3366 Aug 1 16:25 export_list.sh
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 1077 Aug 1 16:25 healthcheck_backup.sql
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 3429 Aug 1 16:25 innodb_memcache_backup.sql
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 1815839 Aug 1 16:25 landwatch_backup.sql
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 642965 Aug 1 16:25 laurelsprings_backup.sql
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 660254 Aug 1 16:25 ls_directory_backup.sql
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 1037 Aug 1 16:25 mem_backup.sql
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 1057 Aug 1 16:25 protech_backup.sql
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 2889 Aug 1 16:25 scripts_backup.sql
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 11107 Aug 1 16:25 stacy_backup.sql
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 4002 Aug 1 16:25 storelist_backup.sql
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 1062 Aug 1 16:25 testcert_backup.sql
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 4467 Aug 1 16:25 tony_backup.sql
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 1042 Aug 1 16:25 twtr_backup.sql
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 52209 Aug 1 16:25 watchdb_backup.sql
You will now want to dump your MySQL users, so you don’t have to recreate the users, passwords and privileges after the new install.
mysqldump -uroot –password=my_pass –set-gtid-purged=OFF mysql user > mysql_user_backup.txt
I am once again using the .txt prefix for this file.
After you execute the above command, make sure that the dump file was created:
# ls -l mysql_user_backup.txt
-rw-r–r– 1 root staff 9672 Aug 1 16:32 mysql_user_backup.txt
We have now finished exporting all of our data, including our user data. You will need to shutdown MySQL. You may use mysqladmin to shutdown your database, or here is a link on ways to shutdown MySQL.
# mysqladmin -uroot –password=my_pass shutdown
Warning: Using a password on the command line interface can be insecure.
Before continuing, you might want to check to make sure that the mysqld process isn’t still active.
# ps -ef|grep mysqld
0 18380 17762 0 0:00.00 ttys002 0:00.00 grep mysqld
You are now going to want to change the name of your mysql directory. This will give you access to the old directory in case the upgrade fails. For my OS (Mac OS 10.9), my MySQL home directory is a symbolic link to another directory that contains the actual MySQL data. All I have to do is to remove the symbolic link. A new symbolic link will be created with the new install. Otherwise, just use the mv command to rename your old MySQL directory.
# cd /usr/local/
# ls -ld mysql* lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 36 Aug 9 2013 mysql -> mysql-advanced-5.6.17-osx10.6-x86_64
drwxr-xr-x 18 root wheel 612 Jan 16 2014 mysql-advanced-5.6.17-osx10.6-x86_64
All I have to do is to remove the link, and the MySQL directory will still be there:
# rm mysql
# ls -ld mysql* drwxr-xr-x 18 root wheel 612 Jan 16 2014 mysql-advanced-5.6.17-osx10.6-x86_64
Now I am ready to install the new version of MySQL. I won’t cover the installation process, but here is the link to the installation page.
Tip: After you have installed MySQL, don’t forget to run this script from your MySQL home directory. This will install your mysql database tables. Otherwise, you will get an error when you try to start the mysqld process.
# ./scripts/mysql_install_db
Now you can start the mysqld process. See this page if you don’t know how to start MySQL.
You can test to see if the new installation of MySQL is running by either checking the process table, or logging into mysql. With a fresh install of 5.6, you should not have to include a user name or password.
Note: (Future versions of MySQL may automatically create a random root password and put it in your data directory. You will then need to use that password to login to MySQL for the first time. Check the user’s manual for any MySQL versions beyond 5.6.)
# mysql
Welcome to the mysql monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your mysql connection id is 3
….
mysql>
Now that MySQL is up and running, leave the mysql terminal window open, and open another terminal window so you can import your mysql user information from your dump file:
# mysql < /users/tonydarnell/mysql_2014_0731/2014_0731_mysql_backup.sql
You won’t be able to login with your old user names and passwords until you execute the flush privileges command. So, in your other terminal window with the mysql prompt:
mysql> flush privileges;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
Open another terminal window and see if you can login with your old mysql user name and password:
# mysql -uroot -p
Enter password: Welcome to the mysql monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your mysql connection id is 3
….
mysql>
You can then look at your the user names and passwords in the mysql.user table:
mysql> select user, host, password from mysql.user order by user, host;
+—————-+—————+——————————————-+
| user | host | password |
+—————-+—————+——————————————-+
| root | 127.0.0.1 | *BF6F71512345332CAB67E7608EBE63005BEB705C |
| root | 192.168.1.2 | *BF6F71512345332CAB67E7608EBE63005BEB705C |
| root | 192.168.1.5 | *BF6F71512345332CAB67E7608EBE63005BEB705C |
| root | 192.168.1.50 | *BF6F71512345332CAB67E7608EBE63005BEB705C |
| root | localhost | *BF6F71512345332CAB67E7608EBE63005BEB705C |
+—————-+—————+——————————————-+
5 rows in set (0.00 sec)
OPTIONAL:
Since I am using GTID’s for replication, I can check to see how many transactions have been completed, by issuing the show master status command:
mysql> show master status\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
File: mysql-bin.000005
Position: 644455
Binlog_Do_DB: Binlog_Ignore_DB: coupons,usta,ls_directory,landwatch
Executed_Gtid_Set: e1eb3f38-18da-11e4-aa44-0a1a64a61679:1-124
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
We are now ready to import the database dump files. We can use this script to create the import commands. Copy this into a text file named import.sh:
# import.sh
# script to import all of the export files
# run this script in the same directory as the exported dump files
#
> import_files.sh
directory=`pwd`
for file in `ls *sql`
do
if [[ $(grep -c ‘.txt’ $file) != 0 ]];then
echo "# found mysql – do nothing"
else
echo "mysql -uroot -p"my_pass" < $directory/$file"
echo "mysql -uroot -p"my_pass" > import_files.sh
fi
done
Then run the import.sh script. The script will print the output to the terminal window as well as into a new script file named import_files.sh.
# sh import.sh
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < 12thmedia_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < cbgc_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < comicbookdb_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < coupons_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < healthcheck_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < innodb_memcache_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < landwatch_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < laurelsprings_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < ls_directory_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < mem_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < protech_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < scripts_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < stacy_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < storelist_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < testcert_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < tony_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < twtr_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < watchdb_backup.sql
Look at the contents of the new script file – import_files.sh – to make sure that it contains all of the database files. You will use this file to help you import your dump files.
# cat import_files.sh
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < 12thmedia_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < cbgc_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < comicbookdb_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < coupons_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < healthcheck_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < innodb_memcache_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < landwatch_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < laurelsprings_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < ls_directory_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < mem_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < protech_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < scripts_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < stacy_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < storelist_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < testcert_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < tony_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < twtr_backup.sql
mysql -uroot -pmy_pass < watchdb_backup.sql
WARNING: Be sure that this script file does not contain the main dump file or the mysql user’s file that we created.
I was exporting and importing eighteen (18) database files, so I can also check the line count of the import_files.sh script to make sure it matches:
# wc -l import_files.sh
18 import_files.sh
I am now ready to import my files.
Optional: add the -v for verbose mode – sh -v import_files.sh
# sh import_files.sh
Warning: Using a password on the command line interface can be insecure.
Warning: Using a password on the command line interface can be insecure.
….
You databases should now be imported into your new instance of MySQL. You can always re-run the script to make sure that the databases are the same size.
OPTIONAL:
Since I am using GTID’s for replication, I can check to see how many transactions have been completed after importing the dump files, by issuing the show master status command:
mysql> show master status\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
File: mysql-bin.000003
Position: 16884001
Binlog_Do_DB: Binlog_Ignore_DB: coupons,usta,ls_directory,landwatch
Executed_Gtid_Set: cc68d008-18f3-11e4-aae6-470d6cf89709:1-43160
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
Your new and fresh installation of MySQL should be ready to use.
 
Tony Darnell is a Principal Sales Consultant for MySQL, a division of Oracle, Inc. MySQL is the world’s most popular open-source database program. Tony may be reached at info [at] ScriptingMySQL.com and on LinkedIn.
via Planet MySQL
Upgrade MySQL to a new version with a fresh installation & use shell scripts and mysqldump to reload your data

A few hours watching the Discovery Channel can prompt extreme survival fantasies involving frog licking and urine drinking, but what basic skills would you actually need to survive in the wilderness? Here’s a look at the basics you need to become an adult Boy Scout straight from a cadre of survival experts.

Blast from the past is a weekly feature at Lifehacker in which we revive old, but still relevant, posts for your reading and hacking pleasure. This week, we’re talking about how to rough it on your own, or survive out in the wilderness if you go camping, get caught away from your friends, or just need to make it home in one piece.

The key to surviving in the wilderness is preparation. But this post isn’t about stockpiling food or preparing for disasters at home (although both are a good idea). This is about the skills and tricks you can learn and remember now that will help save your life if your car breaks down in the woods, you’re lost while hiking, or a terrible disaster strands you in the wilderness. Before we get started on technique let’s make a list of priorities to keep you alive and we’ll go through them in more detail in a moment.

Know Your Priorities

I talked with survival teacher and founder of onPoint Tactical Kevin Reeve for help coming up with a list of priorities for survival in case of a disaster. This is what he suggests:

1. Immediate security: If the building is on fire, get out. If someone is shooting at you, move to cover. Whatever the immediate danger, get away from it.
2. First aid: Attend to any medical problems that may have happened in the original event. Check yourself for injuries and treat them.
3. Self protection: If you are at risk from predators, two-legged or four-legged, you must arm yourself. This might be a sharpened stick, a knife, machete, shotgun, or banjo. Just have something to attack the zombies with.
4. Physical needs (in order): Shelter, fire, water, food, and hygiene.

It’s also worth noting that nearly every survivalist, doctor, paramedic, and teacher recommends one key survival tool everyone should follow: positivity. It seems silly, but it can provide you with the mental endurance to stay safe in any number of situations. A recent study in Psychological Science also suggests that your own perception of illness and the potential for treatment has an effect on the outcome. In short, the idea of mind over matter can help you survive.

Let’s look at each of these in a little more detail, starting with your first priority after making sure you’re not it in immediate danger: first aid.

Learn to Perform Basic First Aid Techniques, Kit or No Kit

Basic first aid is a good life skill to have in general, but it’s an essential survival skill to have in case of an emergency. Knowing how to fix three common injuries will usually get you by. Performing these on yourself will probably cause some tears, but at least you will be able to move to safety. I talked with firefighter and trained paramedic Philip Carlson to find the best solutions if you’re stranded without a proper first aid kit.

Cut and Scrape First Aid

In most cases, you can ignore small cuts, but keep the wound clean and watch it for infection. If the injury is deep and you can’t stop the blood your last resort is a tourniquet to stop the flow of blood. Tourniquets should be at least one-inch wide (a strip of shirt, belt, anything like that will work) and tightened around the limb above the injury. Tighten the tourniquet until the bright red bleeding stops and cover the injury with any clean material you have.

Mend Fractures and Dislocations

If you dislocate a bone you need to get in back in place. For shoulders, you can roll on the ground or hit it against a hard surface to reset the bone. Kneecaps can be popped back in place by stretching your leg out and forcing it into the socket. For fractures, you need to find material to create a splint. In the woods, a couple sticks will do the trick. Stabilize the fractured bone with the sticks and tie them together with shoelaces to hold the brace in place.

Treat Burns

To care for a first (reddening) or second degree (blistering) burn from fire, remove any clothing and find lukewarm water to run over the burn or coat it in honey if it’s available. Wrap the burn loosely with a wet piece of clothing. If water is not available, clean out debris, dirt, and any loose skin as best you can and find water as soon as possible. Keep the wound elevated whenever possible and do not open any blisters that may have formed.

Self Protection

While Liam Neeson can get by punching wolves in the face, that’s generally not the best way to approach a dangerous situation. Instead, it’s best to get away from the animal slowly.

The Boy Scouts recommend a simple approach for wolves, coyotes, and cougars: face the animal and slowly back away from it. Don’t play dead, run, or approach the animal. If you’re cornered, make yourself as big as possible. Spread out your arms and make a lot of noise. If this still doesn’t work, throw anything you can find at the animal.

If it comes down to it, you might have to weather an attack. In his book, Emergency, author Neil Strauss provides a means to defend against wild dogs that can apply to other animals in an emergency: If the animal does attack, block its mouth with your non-dominant arm and smash the heel of your hand into its snout or hit it in the eyes. If you can temporarily disable the animal, run and find a tree to hide in before you attempt first aid.

Photo by Dennis Matheson.

Physical Needs: Build a Shelter and Start a Fire

In order to survive, you need to maintain your body temperature. On one end of the spectrum, this means keeping warm, but you also need to know how to keep cool if you’re caught in a desert. In either situation a shelter is your first order of business.

Build a Shelter to Protect You from the Elements

Even if you can start a fire with everything ranging from your glasses to a bottle of water, you’re going to need a shelter at some point. Thankfully, the human body doesn’t need the Hilton to survive, and your shelter only needs to meet two requirements: it has to block the elements and insulate for warmth.

The A-frame shelter in the video above is the simplest to build in a hurry, but anything that gets you out of the snow, rain, or sun will work. Location and comfort are also two important details to consider, and Kevin Reeve has suggestions for both:http://ift.tt/1sdCuhphttp://ift.tt/1qAn4k9

Focus on finding a shelter that protects you from the ground, the wind, that insulates from the cold or heat, and protects you from rain and snow. A tarp or garbage bag is a lifesaver if stuffed with leaves or grass to form a wind/cold/rain barrier.

Once your shelter is built, it’s time to make a fire.

How to Start a Fire with Nearly Anything

Firefighters recommend keeping two things in mind when starting a fire: the wind direction and the surrounding area. A fire is an important part of your survival, but you don’t want to catch the entire forest on fire just to attract the attention of rescuers. The USDA Forest Service recommends building your campfire away from overhanging branches, rotten stumps, logs, dry grass, and leaves. Fire might have been one of the first things we humans learned how to make, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to start a fire. Let’s look at a few tricks for using materials you might already have.

• Start a fire with eyeglasses: In order to properly start a fire with glasses, your best bet is a pair of far-sighted glasses, which better resemble a magnifying glass. To use eyeglasses, spit on the lens and use the lens to angle the sun at a pile of kindling (dry leaves, twigs, or Doritos all make great kindling). It will take a while, but your kindling will heat up enough and smolder. Carefully blow on the fire to start the flame.
• Start a fire with a bottle of water: The same idea as the eye glasses can apply to a bottle of water (or a condom or ice). Focus the sun’s rays through the water so that it creates a single point of heat. Eventually, it will catch fire.
• Start a fire with you cell phone battery: The above two methods require a sunny day, but you won’t always have that luxury. If you’re stranded, there’s a decent chance you have a lithium battery. It may be far-fetched, but if you also happen to have some steel wool you can create a short between the positive and negative terminals to cause a spark. If you don’t have steel wool around, you can use your knife or any conductive material you can scavenge.
• Start a fire with sticks: This is by far the hardest method, but it’s also one of the most likely scenarios you might find yourself in. This method requires you to quickly roll a stick on a log and use the friction to start a fire. This will take a while even if you have practice. The good news is that you can safely practice this in your own yard. It took me almost an hour to get a spark this way, but I leapt for joy when I did.

Physical Needs: Learn How to Find Water and Feed Yourself

Your fire-starting skills are great for keeping you warm, but you need to find something to eat and drink to keep you alive. Your first priority is water, so let’s take a look at how you can find and sterilize water for drinking.

How to Find Water to Drink

In many parts of the country you can find water by following the sound of a flowing river, but that’s not always the case. If you have trouble finding water, a few pieces of knowledge will help you on your way:

• Grazing animals usually head to water near dawn and dusk. Following them can often lead you to water.
• Flies and mosquitoes tend to stay within around 400 feet of water.
• Dew that hangs on grass in a field is an excellent source of water. You can collect this by running an extra piece of cloth through the grass as you walk.
• Stagnant water is not usually suitable to drink even if you can boil it.
• In the desert you can often find water if you dig up a dry creek bed.
• Once you find a source of water, bring it to a boil if possible. Even the cleanest of mountain streams can have microbes and parasites in the water. If boiling isn’t not an option, search out water from a flowing stream or the dew on leaves. You can also create a filter by layering bark, stones, sand, and charcoal and running the water through the materials. Remember, no matter how hungry you are, water is more important to your survival. That said, you can settle your gurgling stomach as well. Let’s look at how you can do it without killing yourself.
  

  Learn the Big Four to Always Find Edible Plants

  

  The easiest solution is to remember plants indigenous in most areas. Kevin Reeve suggests being familiar with four plants:

  1. Acorn from Oak: The entire nut is edible and they’re easy to stockpile.
  2. Pine: The nuts and inner bark of the tree are edible. You can also make pine needle tea.
  3. Cattail: This is one of best options out there. The base stalk is like celery, the root and tuber can make flour, and the pollen is very healthy.
  4. Grass The corm (aka the base) is starchy, but edible and filled with water and carbohydrates.

  Learn the Universal Edibility Test

  You might have heard the old rule of thumb that you should follow animals around and eat what they eat, but that’s not a foolproof method. In order to find if a plant is edible, you need to test it. You can follow the Universal Edibility Test, which requires you to place a small piece of plant against your lip, then your tongue, and finally in your whole mouth. Unfortunately, you have to wait for eight hours before you know if the plants safe to eat and it’s still possible a plant can poison you.

  If you’re more of a berry fan, you can follow a simple mnemonic from former Green Barret Myke Hawke to remember which berries are edible:

  White and yellow, kill a fellow. Purple and blue, good for you. Red… could be good, could be dead.

  Like the edibility test, the mnemonic isn’t fool proof, but it’s useful if you have no other options.

  Physical Needs: The Basic Hygiene You Can Ignore (and What Not To)

  If you end up in a long-term survival situation you need to keep up with a few hygiene habits. For the most part, you can ignore a lot of it, but I spoke with Dr. Dan Weiswasser, a primary care physician in Massachusetts about a few hygienic issues you shouldn’t ignore:

  If you’re keen to pay attention to hygiene while stranded somewhere, I would primarily address dental care. Dental plaque can build up in a hurry, and dental infections are painful, dangerous, and expensive to repair. Brushing and flossing require relatively universal, rudimentary tools and can go a long way towards preventing such infections (you can make a toothbrush from birch or by just wiping your teeth with a clean piece of cloth).

  Beyond that, I would say that a lot of hygiene consideration depends on what conditions are like where you are stranded. Bacteria and fungus flourish where it’s moist, dark, and warm. If you’re trapped in the jungle, you’ll want to keep intertriginous areas (areas where skin touches skin such as the armpits, under breasts, in groin, between the toes, and in other skin folds) as dry and aired out as possible. Again, this can simply be an issue of wearing dry clothes. Baby powder or corn starch can also be helpful for absorbing moisture.

  But what do you do when the call of nature is too strong and you need to find toilet paper? Kevin Reeve has a simple solution:

  As for primitive toilet paper, in the winter, a snowball is actually quite invigorating, but most of the time, leaves of a plant like mullein are the go-to method. Sometimes an unopened pine cone will work, but ouch! One of the keys to this is to squat not sit. This forces the cheeks apart and means that there will be far less cleaning necessary.

  Navigation Methods to Help You Find Your Way Home

  http://ift.tt/1xMO5nf… If you’re lost, the Boy Scouts recommend a simple mnemonic: STOP (Stop, Think, Observe, Plan). In most cases, you want to stay where you are and wait for help to come. If it starts to get late, you can build your shelter, start your fire and search for food. If help doesn’t come, it’s time to move on. The first thing you need to do is find north.

  In order to figure out your basic directions, remember that the sun sets in the west and rises in the east (just think about which coast starts their work day earlier if you struggle to remember this). There’s also a few simple tricks that will help you find north quickly,

  • Use a stick to judge the sun’s movement. You can see our own Adam Pash try it out for himself as well.
  • Use your watch to find north.
  • Locate the Big Dipper in the night sky to find the North Star.

  Finding north is only half the battle. You still need to know which direction to head. If you have a general understanding of an area, head toward the nearest road or town. If you don’t know the area, follow a water source downstream, or head toward a clearing where you can better signal for help.

  How to Get Rescued

  In order to get rescued, you need to know the most basic hand signals to alert a helicopter or plane you see pass overhead. Curiously, a wave is considered a sign to not land. Instead, if you see a helicopter or plane, form your arms in a "Y" as if you’re ready to perform the Village People’s "YMCA".

  If you have a signalling tool like a flare, flashlight, or mirror, make use of them the second you see a rescue helicopter. Reflect the sun off the mirror in the direction of the helicopter to attract its attention.

  If you hear rescuers in the distance but don’t have any way to signal them, you can call in a deep voice. Normal natural sounds are usually a high pitch. Call out in a low tone so rescuers know you’re a human.

  ---

  If everything goes well, you won’t ever need these skills, but even if you don’t venture into the woods on camping trips, the chance of a disaster in your city or being stranded on a road trip is always a possibility. With the above survival techniques you can get yourself safely out of any number of situations.

  Have some tips you’d like to share? Sound off in the comments.

  Photos by Thomas Quine, Daniel Oines, Andy Arthur, and Anthony Kelly.

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The Wilderness Survival Skills Everyone Should Know

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A recent test done by the independent antivirus research group AV-TEST—whose tests we’ve mentioned in the past—took a look at the performance of today’s most popular malware removal applications. Most of the applications showed excellent performance, but only Malwarebytes—a free download—managed a perfect score.

AV-TEST sought to answer an important question: can anti-malware software completely clean up and repair a Windows system after an attack?

It’s a worst-case scenario many users have experienced: Malware defeats the security barriers of their system and becomes embedded there. Is it even possible, in the aftermath of such an attack, to restore the Windows system to its previous condition? It ought to work with the help of antivirus software or clean-up tools. But how effectively do these first responders do their job?

The good news is that overall each application was very effective at providing cleanup and repair to Windows machines, which is important if you think someone has broken into your machine or downloaded some suspicious plugins.

Each application was put through a rigorous endurance test that lasted a total of 10 months. During this time several different malware families were tested repeatedly and the malware even underwent constant evolution along the way. All of the samples used were already known to the removal applications, so the primary purpose of the test was efficiency in detection, complete removal, and restoration. Tests were also conducted on antivirus software, but keep in mind there’s a difference between antivirus and anti-malware.

In the end, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free scored a cool 100% in total system repair. The paid apps Bitdefender Internet Security 2014 came close in second with a score of 99.4%, and F-Secure Internet Security 2014 tied with Kaspersky Internet Security 2014 at 97.8%. The next best scores for free applications came from AVG AntiVirus Free 2014 and Avast! Free Antivirus 9.0.

Remember, it’s important to keep in mind that these were tested for malware removal and not for virus protection. We can show you what we think are the best desktop antivirus applications, and if you’re curious to see how antivirus apps ranked at AV-TEST, click the link below to read more.

17 software packages in a repair performance test after malware attacks | AV-TEST

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