Scientific history under threat by modern intellectuals

I have been trying to find a way to breach the subject of historical revisionism for a while. I have many discussions on YouTube where claims are made about logic, science and rational thought that are completely incorrect yet touted as fact.

If I was to ask most people how the modern scientific revolution began most people would give me a blank look. We in the west, including Europe owe a great deal to this amazing era and as such it deserves some attention. Now lets go through some of the key names and events that led to the enlightenment and the scientific revolution.

The birth of rationalism
Rene Descartes was born in 1596 and was a philosopher, mathematician and a scientist who would become a key figure in the inspiration of Newton himself. He introduced the concept of the Cartesian coordinate system and wrote the standard in philosophy called "Meditations on First Philosophy" which is still taught in philosophy departments today.

Of note was his work on rationalism - innate ideas, reason and deduction - the first half of the scientific method as it were. Interestingly, his work in developing his philosophy on rationalism would play an important role in the enlightenment and inspire many scientists and philosophers who would go on to develop entire fields of science. Many came to realize that we could think our way to truth and that by emphasizing the mind over the senses we could push the limits of what could be known through reason alone.

Empiricism and the scientific revolution
Francis Bacon (1561-1626) is a name most people have not heard. In a nutshell, he is the genius who came up with the first version of the scientific method as a tool of clearing away idols and false ideas in order to get to the truth.

Bacon played a key role in skepticism. Bacon was a fan of empirical evidence as he stated that, “the human understanding is like a false mirror, which, receiving rays irregularly, distorts and discolors the nature of things by mingling its own nature with it.”

Isaac Newton (1643 - 1727)
Newton's book Principia Mathematica is still considered to be a work of absolute genius. It was a description of the mechanistic principles seen in nature through the use of mathematics. For the first time, we could understand the world through with proof through mathematics.

We came to the realization for the first time that we and the universe itself was not random but rather governed by very intricate, rational mathematical laws. This concept is taken for granted today, but back then it provided brilliant minds evidence that the universe is indeed consistent and because of this, we can discover how nature works. This would go on to have enormous impact in the fields of biology, medicine and chemistry. This is why Newton is considered the father of modern science.

The Protestant Reformation
The Catholic Church used to have a monopoly on truth and was unwilling to bend - even in the light of evidence. The Protestant Reformation started by Martin Luther and continued by John Calvin caused the split of many churches from the Catholic Church and resulted in a friendlier climate for science to blossom.
The development of the printing press in 1451 by Johannes Gutenberg was revolutionary in that it allowed the rapid printing of books through movable type printing, the first book being the Gutenberg Bible.

This tool became instrumental in the printing and distribution of the Bible in people's native language. Before this, the Bible was only to be found in handwritten form in Latin. Only Catholic priests spoke Latin and so the remainder of the population remained in ignorance towards the will of God and the understanding of the written word. So grave was this threat to the monopoly of the Catholic Church that hundreds were gruesomely executed to try halt the Bible's advance throughout Europe. This of course failed and once people saw the corruption of the Catholic Church in light of a Bible they could understand, they became outspoken and the result was the Protestant Reformation. By 1482 there were 100 printing presses in Western Europe and by 1500 there were 40,000 editions of the Bible and the Greek classics with over 1,000,000 copies in print. This had a massive impact on the advancement of knowledge and we would not be where we are today without both Gutenberg's press and the Reformation it helped start.

The explosion of science
There was a remarkable explosion in science which began in Europe. Below you will find just a tiny list of notable names in science, many who were instrumental in developing entire branches of science:

• Nicholas of Cusa (1401–1464)
• Otto Brunfels (1488–1534)
• William Turner (c.1508–1568)
• Ignazio Danti (1536–1586)
• Francis Bacon (1561–1626)
• Galileo Galilei (1564 –1642) 
• Laurentius Gothus (1565–1646)
• Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655)
• Anton Maria of Rheita (1597–1660)
• Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
• Nicolas Steno (1638–1686)
• Isaac Barrow (1630–1677)
• Juan Lobkowitz (1606–1682)
• Seth Ward (1617–1689)
• Robert Boyle (1627–1691)
• Isaac Newton (1643-1727)
• Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
• John Ray (1627–1705)
• Gottfried Leibniz (1646–1716)
• Stephen Hales (1677–1761)
• Firmin Abauzit (1679–1767)
• Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772)
• Albrecht von Haller (1708–1777)
• Leonhard Euler (1707–1783)
• Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794)
• Herman Boerhaave (1668–1789)
• John Michell (1724–1793)
• Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718–1799)
• Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778)
• Joseph Priestley (1733–1804)
• Isaac Milner (1750–1820)
• Samuel Vince (1749–1821)
• Georges Cuvier (1769–1832)
• Alessandro Volta (1745–1827)
• Andre Marie Ampere (1775–1836)
• Olinthus Gregory (1774–1841)
• John Abercrombie (1780–1844)
• Mary Anning (1799–1847)
• William Kirby (1759–1850)
• William Buckland (1784–1856)
• Marshall Hall (1790–1857)
• Lars Levi Læstadius (1800–1861)
• Edward Hitchcock (1793–1864)
• Benjamin Silliman (1779–1864)
• Bernhard Riemann (1826–1866)
• William Whewell (1794–1866)
• Michael Faraday (1791–1867)
• James David Forbes (1809–1868)
• Charles Babbage (1791–1871)
• Adam Sedgwick (1785–1873)
• Temple Chevallier (1794–1873)
• John Bachman (1790–1874)
• Robert Main (1808–1878)
• James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879)
• James Bovell (1817–1880)
• Andrew Pritchard (1804–1882)
• Gregor Mendel (1822–1884)
• Heinrich Hertz (1857–1894)
• Philip Henry Gosse (1810–1888)
• Asa Gray (1810–1888)
• Julian Tenison Woods (1832–1889)
• James Dwight Dana (1813–1895)
• James Prescott Joule (1818–1889)
• John William Dawson (1820–1899)
• Armand David (1826–1900)

Have you noticed?
The names above come from this page on Wikipedia:
Scientists
That's right. They were ALL Christians. Even those earlier in this blog post. The enlightenment was the result of Christian thinkers who were the result of the Protestant Reformation and the climate this created for science.
When I visit any Christian channel on YouTube, it is bombarded with comments from members of the atheist community who have somehow claimed logic and critical thinking as the mark of an atheist. The reality is that not a single atheist discovered anything of note during the scientific revolution. The entire movement was the sole consequence of Christians and their faith in God and the Bible.

So critical was this belief in God that even Newton said, 'Opposition to godliness is atheism in profession and idolatry in practice. Atheism is so senseless and odious to mankind that it never had many professors'
But how can this be? Newton is arguably one of the greatest minds that ever lived yet he had this to say about atheism? Maybe this is just a fluke though. What did other notables have to say about science and God?

"I believe that the more thoroughly science is studied, the further does it take us from anything comparable to atheism." - Lord William Kelvin

"Both religion and science require a belief in God. For believers, God is in the beginning, and for physicists He is at the end of all considerations... To the former He is the foundation, to the latter, the crown of the edifice of every generalized world view." - Max Planck

"The best data we have (concerning the Big Bang) are exactly what I would have predicted, had I nothing to go on but the five books of Moses, the Psalms, the Bible as a whole." - Arno Penzias

"To know the mighty works of God, to comprehend His wisdom and majesty and power; to appreciate, in degree, the wonderful workings of His laws, surely all this must be a pleasing and acceptable mode of worship to the Most High, to whom ignorance cannot be more grateful than knowledge." - Nicolas Copernicus

You see, the names on the list were not just labelled as Christians - they were devoted Christians and devout in their adhesion to God's Word. Their faith did not cripple their ability to understand the world around them - it was the very driving force and inspiration for why they studied the world and came to their findings. We turn a blind eye to this in modern society as it's a very inconvenient fact that modern educational institutions refuse to accept.

Standing on the shoulders of giants
The new atheist seeks to elevate and inflate the role of atheism in critical thought yet historically this "prerequisite" for critical thought does not even register as a blip in scientific history. When the point is raised that science as we know it is the result of Christians EXCLUSIVELY, this is written off as a mere coincidence or the argument of "the church was mean to Galileo" is thrown around.

Unfortunately, you cannot separate the faith of the founders of science from their brilliance as they themselves are quoted as giving God the credit for their inspiration. In fact, it's because they knew God through his Word and his orderly nature that they expected to find order and laws in nature. This flies in the face of every other religion where the god(s) were fallible and whimsical and inconsistent. In fact if one were to take atheism to it's logical conclusion then there is absolutely no reason why we should observe consistency in nature at all.

So how can we stand on the shoulders of giants yet completely ignore the very foundation on which those giants stand? Because when it all boils down to it, we are not as logical and critical as we like to think. We like to claim the discoveries yet refuse to acknowledge how these discoveries came about as it upsets our world view and calls the very fabric of our reality into question. There is no conflict between faith and science - merely conflict between atheism and the faith that started and stands with science.

This is why in order to continue the new atheist argument, history itself must be changed as when we really understand how we got here, atheism makes less and less sense.

I would urge you to watch this excellent debate between David Wood and Michael Shermer which covers this beautifully.

Planned Parenthood Selling Bodyparts of Children

It was a conscious decision of mine to avoid polarizing and political topics on my blog. My opinion was that life is serious enough without adding to it in my blog, however in the last week and with a great deal of thought, I have decided to write about one of the most difficult topics out there. Abortion.

I would urge that you read this whole blog post. You may want to skip the videos due to their extremely disturbing nature, but please bear with me as this subject deserves some critical thought. I have spent a great deal of time chewing this over and believe that we need to visit this topic as rational, critical thinking people to give it the thought it deserves.

It probably comes as no suprise to the more discerning readers that there has been a flood of activity around this topic with the recent videos exposing planned parenthood and the body-part trafficing of the organization:

What has shocked me most about this is how cool and calm these people are talking about the sale of body parts of the unborn, not unlike serial killers or mass murderers who demonstrate that they have no conscience. As Stalin was rumored to have said, "A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic." They have stopped thinking about who they are eliminating in order to make their profits and not considering the carnage they leave in their wake.


The process of killing the conscience with semantics and definitions
I don't know which side of this debate you are on. All I can give you is my experience and apply some logic to this argument. As a firefighter, my job was to preserve life, born or unborn. This was often done at great personal risk both to myself and the brave men I worked with. We worked with a conviction that all human life had value and if that life happened to be unborn, then it was even more helpless and this brought on a sense of urgency that was rarely found in any other emergency we attended. I have witnessed people willing to run into a burning house to save their precious children who were considered lost and with no hope of survival, yet these parents were willing to risk pain, permanent injury and likely death for the chance to save a child who was most likely dead or so seriosuly damaged they had no chance of a "quality life" as so many people put it.

On one hand as firfighters and EMT's we are told that life, even unborn if priceless and of infinate value, on the other hand as regualr citizens we are told that choice trumps life and in fact that a fetus isn't even alive. I mean, if you knew that what was growing in the womb was actually a living human being, could you carry out this type of procedure?

So how do organizations like planned parenthood define life? Well, when asked when life begins, Cecile Richards, the President of Planned Parenthood Action Fund said, “It’s not something that I feel is really part of this conversation…every woman needs to make their own decision.”

How is this not part of the conversation? If life has already begun when they carry out this procedure, wouldn't that be murder? If it has not begun, then why do they need to sever the head from the body, stab the face with a scalpel or cut through the spinal cord to stop the heart beating and the unborn from moving if it is already dead?

You see, it's far easier to convince people that abortion is morally defensible if you avoid this conversation altogether and focus on the choice of the woman.

An uncomfortable parallel
For many young people these days, the regimes of Pol Pot, Mao and Stalin are nothing more than forgotten history. Yet these regimes put no value on the weak, the old, the infirm and the unborn. It was not strange for evil men like Hitler or Stalin to insist that inferior genetic examples like those with down syndrome, gypsies, Jews or the old were eliminated. In fact, definitions were provided by the state and it's scientists in most cases to ensure people could rationalize that they were not dealing with actual humans, but rather something inferior, something of no value. This allowed Hitler to kill millions, and Stalin tens of millions, perfectly legally of course.

But surely their argument is justified? Because at the end of the day, they were protecting their entire national community from genetic inferiority and poor health and those they disposed of from a poor quality of life. This is a much more noble cause than the free choice of just one pregnant teenager afterall. So why on earth did we execute these Nazis at the Nuremburg trial for carrying out something so noble, so valiant and something entirely legal if we apply the same standards applied to abortion? Why were their actions seen as morally reprehensable, and yet those actions of planned parenthood and similar organizations are seen as just offering someone freedom? Maybe it is because we have swept all this under the carpet, ignoring logic and moral consistancy, and rather focus on the virtues of abortion and the need for choice. This video makes the comparison perfectly:

The argument often used is that these fetuses provide life saving material and as such, the disposal of these unborn children is somewhat justified.

Inconsistent definitions
At this point, the argument for what defines life is usually brought up again. I mean, if science does not define a fetus as alive, then why should we feel guilty about allowing thousands of unborn, non-living clumps of tissue to be crushed, torn apart and sold?

Science is quite hypocritical on this issue. With all the recent activity with the exploration of Mars, scientists are looking for signs of life on the planet. NASA would be thrilled to find microbes in order to prove life exists on Mars:

Nasa and life on Mars

So Microbes are considered life, yet a fetus at up to the age of 24  weeks is not. I would urge you to click the below link to see images of fetuses aborted at 24 weeks, not for some sick, twisted reason, but because someone owes it to these kids who's parents have been duped into thinking they are not alive, have been aborted and afterwards sold as nothing more than meat:

24 week old fetus

Science and State, the standard for moral bankruptcy
So here we are at a moral crossroads. Do we choose science and the state to decide for us what is morally right, or do we use logic and the premise that all human life is intrinsically valuable? If you may have noticed, I have left choice out of this argument completely, because I don't believe that morality should be swayed by the rights of the strong to choose over the weak.

Throughout my career I have chosen employment that has saved, educated and built up those around me. I have worked in special needs classrooms and have conducted physical therapy on children physically deformed, many of who were adopted and loved as much as one could possibly be loved. They led full lives and were valuable not just to their parents, but also to people like myself who learned that life is richer giving to those who don't have, and protecting those who can't protect themselves.

I would urge all who read this to think critically about this issue and ask themselves, "At what age is it ok to kill a toddler?" If you find this question disturbing, then you cannot morally justify the killing of a fetus that can just as easily be proven to be a living, human child just waiting to be born.

Where do we go from here?

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

- Edmund Burke -

Who will speak for those who have no voice? Who will tell these young mothers that have been convinced that they are just removing a clump of cells that there is hope and help available?

If none of what I have written has disturbed you or pricked your heart, then you need to do some soul searching. At what point did we become so cold and morally bankrupt that we ever bought into this pack of lies, that killing the weak and helpless for any reason, no matter how noble we may think it is is morally justified? How is this justifiable now that we know that their tiny bodies are being sold by those touting the virtues of abortion?

I would urge you to look into this issue deeper and to start asking the questions most people don't. You may find that it may cause some heated discussion, but you may also find that you may save the lives of those who nobody was willing to fight for.

Woohoo, we made 100 000 hits!!

This is to all the visitors and readers that have stumbled onto my blog..

We have made 100 000 hits. Truth be told probably 49% of those were me checking for spelling mistakes on my posts but hey, at least I can't take the majority of the credit.

Time has gone by and things have changed over the years. I have moved a little from the bushcraft and axe theme and have focussed more on my machining and repairing. I also enjoy doing reviews so this is to those always trying to get free advertising into my comments section...

Send me a sample to review and I will happily do an honest review. Just don't expect me to lie if it's poop, or expect it back if it's not.

I would like to thank those people who have stayed reading the wandering axeman blog for the years it has been running. The following is especially to those longsuffering subscribers:

I know I have been slack at times but hey, I have been making a concerted effort to provide some sort of quality reading. I have the opinion that if I have nothing to write about, I write nothing. That's the difference between blogging and Facebook (which I don't do because quite frankly, I don't care about "liking" the fact that someone won dancing with the fattest loser while impressing the iron X factor).

So here we are, I believe that breaking 100k views is a big step and I have not fallen to temptation and allowed advertising on this blog. This to me is a good sign and makes me believe that you don't have to write offensive material or sell your soul for a few pennies in order to attract readers.

Now to round out this celebratory post, I am giving each of you readers an official seal of awesomeness.

Thanks again and to quote Ron Burgundy, "Stay Classy!"

My new junkyard dog

I had decided that a security system is ok, but having a killer dog is even better. I discussed this with my wife and she didn't seem to mind the idea. I spoke to a friend of ours who breeds dogs and did the deal and brought home the Mexican Wolf.

In the above picture he looks enormous. Lets add something for scale shall we?

He is very alert and despite his tiny stature, he has a heart of a lion crammed into that scrawny little chest of his. To top it off he loves the kids so it's a tick in every box. Scooter has become one of the family and does his best to keep kidnappers away from the children when he's not guarding the workshop.

The great part of having a micro dog is that his "bombs" are so tiny they blow away in the wind. Brilliant!

Stay safe.

Spam on The Wandering Axeman

 I have been going over comments of late and have had to remove some because of people linking their comments to their online stores or businesses. I don't mind doing this if I have an agreement with you, or, I review whatever it is your selling and it turns out that;

1. You are a reputable businesses person with anti fraud measures in place
2. You don`t sell crappy stuff

If you would like me to review a product that you sell or make, by all means contact me and we can arrange something but please be aware that I will be truthful and honest. If it is poo, I will state that on my blog.

Under NO other circumstances will I allow people to link to their businesses / marketing sites.Considering that to date there have been over 43200 visitors to this site the temptation is there to break this simple set of guidelines. If that is the case I will simply mark the comment as SPAM and it will be removed and sent to the fiery depths to dwell with the motivations of politicians and lawyers.

It is my intent that if I link to anything on this site it is because it is worth buying or reading. I have never intended for this blog to be filled with people plugging their wares or websites.

If you would like me to show a link to your blog, contact me about it and I will check the content and either provide a link to it on the right of my articles, or politely decline. Stay safe and spam free.

Renovations Finally Complete!

I had mentioned in the past how we were busy renovating. The house was built in the 50's by Norsk Hydro and at a quite poor standard when we bought it. The walls had been wall papered about 5 - 6 times leaving huge bulges and floor coverings were of various types and exceeded 7 different floor types in the top 2 floors alone.

Here is the house advertised online:

House Pics

Here are some previous pictures so you get an idea of the work we have put in:

Stairwell with me foreground and my brother Alex

 Bathroom floor (note the multi wall papered walls)

Kitchen

Living / Dining Room

The bathroom with the cement sheets up

I tried to find other pictures but it seems like we avoided taking photos of the worst parts of the house. These give you the general idea though.

Now this saga is done, we just need to sell the house and we can start to enjoy this strange thing called "free time". Up until now I thought this was a symptom of people who have inherited large sums from obscure relatives or a result of those not understanding that credit debt is intended to be paid off. Regardless, I aim on catching up on the last 5 years of missed holidays, weekends and afternoons after work that we have spent renovating our house. If you see me parachute into your swimming pool or wrestle a crocodile at your local zoo, just know it's not early dementia, but rather me experimenting with "free time" and all the rash behaviour and injuries this strange phenomenon can result in. Stay safe.

Back in the saddle again

Life has a funny way of bombarding you with things. It seems like I hav'nt posted on my blog for years. Well what has been the hold up I hear you say over your cup of coffee? Well, a new job, moving, renovating, buying a new house, then moving again. Needless to say that spare time has been in shorter supply than "Change" of late.

Bushcraft has taken a back seat at the moment due to the time necessary for us to settle in at the new house. On a positive note there are great trout and salmon fishing in the local area. I don't know what I did to deserve a wife like mine, but she has agreed that a canoe is a must so I am given the go ahead to buy one. I literally live within strolling distance of the river and could probably carry the canoe there from my garage. Yes, the garage also deserves special mention. I have been able to claim the double garage for myself. There is no room for parking since my metal lathe and milling machine will occupy one half, while my bandsaw, thicknesser, table saw and work bench will occupy the other half.

There is a certain satisfaction that comes from finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and having things the way you like them. I have been waiting years to be finished with renovating and it is just on the horizon. This spring we put the final touches on our old house and sell it. As much as I love that house, it has been a huge amount of work and stress on us and I will be quite happy when it's sold.

Our new house has been a real blessing to us. It needs no work done to it, is roomy and practical. Add to that it's great location to the river, the stores and my job and you have a tick in every box. I guess it's just nice to finally have internet again and the ability to go about life normally.

Since this is my first post of the year, I wish you a happy and prosperous new year. May good friends stay by your side and bad situations make themselves scarce. You will be seeing more posts appear on thewanderingaxeman. I am back in the saddle!!

The axeman has a new job

Well folks it's official. I have a new job. I went back to an old vocation of mine and am now training adults rather than teaching teenagers. The change had a lot of benefits but also came with some sacrifices. One of which is that I have no internet access where I live during the week. This means I am limited to blogging during the weekend and this has become tougher since I want to spend as much time with my wife and kids as possible. Rest assured though, this is only a temporary setback and I will be putting out reviews and articles when I can.

My new home is a cabin in the woods surrounded by small creeks and pines. It used to have quite a few birch trees around it until the resident beavers decided that they had to come down. I don't mind. Beavers are nifty critters and I admire any animal that can gnaw through a log for kicks. I have access to an outdoor toilet and for the most part spend my afternoons in the bedroom because we have had a cold snap. I don't have the time to wait until the rest of the cabin warms up because I get home late, and am exhausted when I arrive. My typical day consists of getting up at 0530, and getting home at 1830. This has also left little time for bushcrafting but it's only temporary as I need to spend some extra hours to get my head around the job.

I will be participating in a Bushcraft USA meet next weekend. The Bushcraft USA members in Scandinavia have decided to get together and swap some gear, eat some food and just generally chew the fat for a weekend. I have been waiting for about 6 months for this, eagerly going over a gear list in my head. We are a pretty small group, but consist of some quality individuals who enjoy the outdoors. There will be loads of photos and a run down of activities in my TRIPS section.

Well folks, thats it from me for now. I hope you have all been keeping well and enjoying the outdoors. Stay tuned for some more posts from me, including my Tuatahi work axe review when I get my eager hands on it.

Survival versus Bushcraft

Survivalists and bushcrafters have a great deal in common. In general both are believers in self reliance and appreciate the need to learn skills often thought of as outdated by the general populace. I think the difference is that in the survivalists mind, scenarios are quite extreme and they often see themselves alone and against daunting odds. I prefer bushcraft. It seems less complicated and requires less paranoia. By no means am I saying you shouldn't store some food and provisions. In fact, I encourage this. I am a firm believer that whoever feeds you owns you so make sure you have enough to get by in lean times. In my opinion this is good housekeeping, not survivalism.

So why is survivalism negative? I don't think it is, but it attracts quite a few weirdos. By weirdos, I mean folks who:

• Feel the need to hammer their knives through an anvil to make sure that it will survive a typical survival scenario.
• Folks who stockpile tactical clothing. They don't realise that if war broke out, someone dressed as a special forces soldier would be sniped or vapourised with a hellfire shot from a drone within the first minute of stepping out of the door.
• Carry a giant knife when a small folder would do perfectly. I mean, you don't need a kukri to open a letter.
• Paint their Chevy C10 in camo, even though they use it as a round' town car.

Bushcraft is romanticised and has become very popular. Really, it's just people who enjoy, and have become proficient at camping. It's nothing mythical or magical. If you know someone who hunts regularly, chances are they are great bushcrafters who could do quite well at living off the land.

Since Discovery channel has been featuring more "survivalists" and even men who are apparently competing against nature, people have started looking at bushcrafters as being extreme or following the survivalist line of thinking. I think this is a grave misunderstanding. For the most part, bushcrafters are not extreme adrenaline junkies, yahooing as they backflip off waterfalls after drinking their own urine from an elephant's foreskin. Quite the opposite really. They are generally people who like the quiet and enjoy activities that require patience. You see most of the old skills required time, patience and an understanding that everything takes effort and time if it's to be done properly.

So what is my take on survivalism? I think anyone can be a survivor. I think it's a state of mind rather than a preoccupation with tacticool equipment. When the chips are down, will you keep your head and do what you have to in order to get yourself and those around you through it? If you answered yes, then you are a survivalist. Some people have all the gear, but no idea. I think it's better to have less but know how to use it to it's full potential. This is why I advocate using less equipment, but buying quality. Learn to use less and you will learn to think and plan more. This is a useful skill to practice and no amount of gear will develop this skill.

Making the transition from a survivalist to a bushcrafter requires a shift in thinking. Start using your equipment and gear in practical ways. You will quikly find out if your gas mask is as useful as an aluminium pot when your out in the woods. I can guarantee you that you will start to realise that you have bought into a great deal of marketing hype and for the most part, have spent a lot of money on crap you will never use. I often chuckle when i read threads on forums where people ask what knife / axe / phone would be best in a survival situation. Most times, you won't have any of these items with you, that's why it's a "survival" situation. This is why skills are more important. Knowledge, skill and common sense will serve you much better than the best knife or camo paint.

That's my take. Skills and knowledge weigh nothing and only require use to stay maintained. For the most part these can be had for free. It just takes time. If your willing to spend the time, you are already on the road to being a bushcrafter. Stay safe this Easter.

Having what you need rather than what you want

I have a problem. I am wired to fix things I see and try improve systems to run better. I have tried to work on it so that I can be blissfuly  ignorant, but have failed miserably at it. This way of thinking has lead me to pay very close attention to my kids, how we raise them and outside influences that will shape them as they grow.

It really is a war zone. There is a fight raging for the minds of people. This begins very early, because, as any political tyrant or marketing guru knows, if you can win the minds of children and the weak willed, you have a generation of zombies to fleece and command. This often equates to government sanctioned manipulation. Don't believe me? Turn on any kids TV channel and see how much advertising the kids get bombed with. We are against children working, yet we are more than happy to manipulate them in other ways to make our money from them. We prosecute and hunt paedophiles and righfully so, yet allow these kids to be sexualised and manipulated by marketing.

I believe it all comes down to sex. The sooner you can have children making adult decisions, the sooner you can start manipulating them. Giving people rights to choose as adults without the responsibility that adults have is a recipe for disaster. When young men and women are exposed to sexuality and sexual content, several things happen. Women begin to buy products to make men notice them. Men do the same. This covers everything from lip balm to turbo chargers on cars. Our whole economy seems to hinge on sexualising everything and marketing things in a way that will make you feel like you will be the envy of all your friends, and people will want you. The only problem is, these items have cycles. Every 2 - 4 months there is a new and better product out, so you need to keep up. This inability to keep pace with the marketing image causes all kinds of grief. Serious identity confusion is probably the biggest problem of them all.

Mum and Dad work. What we see on TV changes monthly, if not daily. We have nothing firm to take hold of to create our identity and feel familiar with. This is the environment that our kids are growing up in. At some point we as parents need to put the brakes on and realise we are rich because we have what we need, not necessarily what we want. I catch myself out from time to time chasing dreams in the illusion that I will make use of something I see advertised, when in reality I probably never will. I have even been fleeced a couple times by the advertising. I am starting to grow out of this as I get older and see the scam for what it is. I have decided to rebel.

I don't wear clothes with flashy brand labels. I will not advertise for companies. I encourage people to buy secondhand. If a product survives long enough to become second hand, it is a good product. I don't watch TV. I don't care about Dancing with the Biggest Fatty Idol. I don't need a new car. I will not borrow money to buy a new watch. I spend time with my wife and children outside instead of going to resteraunts and the cinema. I learn to do things myself rather than depend on others. I try to teach my children to see past the fasade and the sugar coating, trying to reveal the farce that lies beneath. I teach the importance of saying what you mean, and meaning what you say. I show my kids that a life without honor is hollow and makes you a coward, ready to sell yourslef and others to provide your lusts.

It's all about self control and saying no. We are taught that saying no to yourself is bad. How often do we hear this line, "I have worked hard all week - month - year... I deserve to...". Sometimes there is no justification for doing stupid things and catering to some desires. If we view our time, money and relationships as an investment, then we need to look at short term pleasure versus long term gain. We should view what we see around us in the same way. How will giving in to this desire / advertising / attitude better me or others around me. When I started thinking like this, I filtered out a great deal of garbage in my life and liberated a heap of time I would have spent watching TV, sitting at the pub, partying etc...

Being still and reflective is not the same as doing nothing. You don't have to be a rat on a wheel to get somewhere. Spend time in refelection and think about how your are investing yourself and what legacy you will leave behind. I think about this daily now that I have kids. I had practice doing this while working as a teacher as I always took this role seriously and saw my job as one of great importance. This is why the outdoors is great. No distractions, just you and your attitude. This is why wilderness therapy works so well. Distractions hide who we are, like the magician's lovely assistant distracts us so the magician can hide his secrets, our weak character traits hide behind the ipod and TV.

Focus on what you need, not what you want. You will be as suprised as I was at how little we actually need to be happy, and make others around us happier too.

An introduction to the axeman

I am relatively new to blogging but I thought it necessary to try my hand at it. I'll begin with a short introduction about who I am and what I do, plus the aim of this blog.

I have grown up on the land in Queensland, Australia. From an early age we were encouraged to go out and entertain ourselves in the bush. My parents were never scared to have us use knives and axes and I have been using these tools most of my life. I have studied education, biological science and human movement science in university. I have also had the honour to be a member of the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service, serving as a full time firefighter. I have since moved to Telemark in Norway and started teaching again. This has allowed me spare time to pusue things I enjoy, like playing music, metal work, knife making, axe refurbishing and of course camping. I am a family man and am lucky to have a lovely wife and 2 great children, my daughter who is 4 1/2 and son who is 2.

I have been contemplating starting a blog for quite some time but have been put off by the number of utter garbage bloggs out there. I don't aim to entertain people but aim to provide accurate information about products, repairs, improvements and use of things camping and outdoor related. I have been reasonably disappointed by the mis-information that is spread on the internet by so-called experts in these fields. I find that often there is a complete lack of common sense in what I read.

It is my intention to provide information that I believe to be factual, well founded and researched. I will not make myself out to be an expert in fields I am unfamilliar with, and, I will not take the work of other's and pass this off as my own. I believe that credit should be given where it is due and as such, will not hesitate in featuring guest articles from people I believe to be knowledgable in their fields. I hope to keep education as the goal first and foremost, and entertainment second. I also encourage open, civilised discussion.

Now that the serious issues have been covered, it's time to start writing some real articles.