Iodine or Chlorine?

There are still far too many people using iodine tablets to disinfect their water when there is a much better product on the market - chlorine dioxide.  There are also too many people drinking water that has not been disinfected simply because they don't like the taste of iodine not knowing that there is a new product on the market that doesn't leave an after taste.

Chlorine dioxide tablets made available by the Katadyn Company and also by Potable Aqua have been around for several years now but have not been embraced enthusiastically by those who recreate or work in the outdoors.  Old habits die hard I guess.  Or perhaps it's just ignorance!  Either way you are putting your health at risk by drinking water that has not been disinfected.

If for no other reason you should consider using tablets that release chlorine dioxide because of its effectiveness in killing cryptosporidium, an organism commonly found in water - something that iodine was never able to do effectively.

Regardless of the manufacturer the tablets are individually packaged in sheets of ten tablets per sheet and are sold in containers of twenty or thirty tablets for $10 - $13.

Disinfecting your water is easy.  Simply drop a tablet into a quart or liter of water and the chemical will destroy viruses, bacteria, Giardia and Cryptosporidium leaving no chlorine after taste.

For more information on Micropur tablets go to Katadyn.

A Better Way to Build a Fire

This ebook is available now!

I attended the Photographic Society of America conference last week here in Colorado Springs and learned a lot. Also met some great people.  Always fun to interact with like-minded people!  One of those that I interacted with was Mike Moats (www.tinylandscapes.com) who, in addition to being a wonderful photographer was willing to share his "lessons-learned-along-the-way."
 It seems like the three hours we spent together over dinner one night flew by.  Of all the topics we discussed "eBooks"  and how to produce them really caught my attention.  To that end I have spent much of my time since the conference developing my first eBook titled "A Better Way to Build a Fire." 
This seventy-two page book is now finished and will be available on my website in the next week or so.  Initially it will only be available as a CD ROM.   My website manager (Brian Hinderberger of Buzztouch Designs) is setting up a way to download it directly from the shopping cart.  Stay tuned.

The eBook takes you through why a fire may be needed, the tools both good and bad that are available to facilitate fire starting, a way to build a fire that is different from anything you've seen before and one that works better than any method you've used before.  The eBook finishes up with a look at the many myths and misconceptions surrounding fires and fire craft.
I'm happy with this first of what I want to be a series of eBooks covering the most important practical aspects of surviving a wilderness emergency.  Check my website from time to time and if you decide to buy "A Better Way to Build a Fire" please let me know what you think.  The beauty of an eBook is that it is easy to go back into the book and edit it.  Easy to correct mistakes and easy to add new information!  I want to provide an informative, easy to read book not another bookshelf space filler! (To read a review of the ebook, click here.)