Necessity is the mother...
Interesting. One of the news shows recently had a short piece about a chapbook that is being circulated in Tohoku, where the earthquake and tsunami was. Basically, it's a collection of survival hints. But I think the attitude behind the collection may be even more important.
As part of the news piece, they had one of the men from that area who had contributed to putting together the chapbook on. What he choose to talk about was how someone might use common kitchen stuff in case of a disaster. For example, he said, "Suppose you have an ordinary kitchen, or at least the debris from one, and you want to make tea? How do you do it?" They showed an ordinary kitchen, full of this and that. And they gave the audience a few minutes to think about what they might do. What would you do?
Here's a hint. He used some drink cans, tin foil, a paper towel, and a bottle of salad oil. How can you heat tea with that?
Here's how he did it. First, he cut the cans, so that he had one small bowl made from the bottom of a can, and at least three other "tops" that were the same height. Then in the bowl, he used the tin foil to hold up wicks twisted out of the paper towel. He poured some salad oil in, waited for the paper towel wicks to saturate, and lit them. There's the fire.
What about the three tops? He used those to hold his teapot over the heat, so he had a simple range.
Oh, and if you can't find a lighter or matches? He showed us that the round top of a clear plastic drink bottle, with some water in it, turned upside down, provides a fine focusing glass for sunshine. He apparently used this to light fires.
But what caught my attention was that he then gestured at the ordinary kitchen that they were raiding for stuff, and said, "There's lots of other stuff here you could use, too."
See, I think that's the message behind this relatively ordinary guy showing us how he did it on TV, and talking about the chapbook collection of such hints. I think that "look around and improvise" approach is the real important point here. And it might be the biggest side-effect of the disaster.
There are plenty of people who talk about the Japanese lack of creativity, and their tendency to draw inside the lines. Well, I think improvising using the odds-and-ends in your kitchen is a big step towards changing that.
It will be interesting to see if there's a fundamental shift. Will the people who went through the earthquake and tsunami end up being the innovators of Japan? What about the kids who watched a man like this improvising so they could have something hot to eat?
As part of the news piece, they had one of the men from that area who had contributed to putting together the chapbook on. What he choose to talk about was how someone might use common kitchen stuff in case of a disaster. For example, he said, "Suppose you have an ordinary kitchen, or at least the debris from one, and you want to make tea? How do you do it?" They showed an ordinary kitchen, full of this and that. And they gave the audience a few minutes to think about what they might do. What would you do?
Here's a hint. He used some drink cans, tin foil, a paper towel, and a bottle of salad oil. How can you heat tea with that?
Here's how he did it. First, he cut the cans, so that he had one small bowl made from the bottom of a can, and at least three other "tops" that were the same height. Then in the bowl, he used the tin foil to hold up wicks twisted out of the paper towel. He poured some salad oil in, waited for the paper towel wicks to saturate, and lit them. There's the fire.
What about the three tops? He used those to hold his teapot over the heat, so he had a simple range.
Oh, and if you can't find a lighter or matches? He showed us that the round top of a clear plastic drink bottle, with some water in it, turned upside down, provides a fine focusing glass for sunshine. He apparently used this to light fires.
But what caught my attention was that he then gestured at the ordinary kitchen that they were raiding for stuff, and said, "There's lots of other stuff here you could use, too."
See, I think that's the message behind this relatively ordinary guy showing us how he did it on TV, and talking about the chapbook collection of such hints. I think that "look around and improvise" approach is the real important point here. And it might be the biggest side-effect of the disaster.
There are plenty of people who talk about the Japanese lack of creativity, and their tendency to draw inside the lines. Well, I think improvising using the odds-and-ends in your kitchen is a big step towards changing that.
It will be interesting to see if there's a fundamental shift. Will the people who went through the earthquake and tsunami end up being the innovators of Japan? What about the kids who watched a man like this improvising so they could have something hot to eat?