https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/m ... P=ema-1133

Interesting read.

Very interesting, will watch out for the book coming up secondhand...

Removing yourself from society is fine but I find it kind of ironic that without society to steal off he'd have died quite quickly ... 'twas only what he was 'escaping' from that enabled him to do it.

Yeah quite right - it started off good then he just... became a thief that lived in the woods? I mean I guess he made a decent shelter but he just... stole stuff, from empty holiday cabins over a long period of time?

He sounds like a bit of a prick to me.

Agree with that, I've got a lot of respect for people with the skills to go into the wilds and survive of the land, but this guy basically left society to become a raccoon...

Parasite.

Was there, the journalist asked him, some grand insight revealed to him in the wild?

“Get enough sleep,” he said.

pikey........but worse. at least pikey's pretend to do a bit of work berfore stealing from you.........

Obviously the 'stealing' bit makes a mockery of the enterprise.

However I hadn't realised there's positions available for 'ornamental hermits' which sounds a fantastic job - with contracts of up to seven years! I don't remember this ever being mentioned at school careers advice sessions. I'm going to send off for an application form.

Funnily enough I was thinking only this morning that we haven't had a decent 'philosophical' thread for a while. I was going to do one along the lines of 'what actually is the definition of self-supported bikepacking' but I'm too shy to start a new thread..

I liked that live-in hermit job too : ) perfect summer job for a student ..

The stealing food thing, to me shows how hard it might be to live long-term in the wild in many places without a wider network of people farming, trading etc, to get the range of things you need, if only the variety of food. Skills that some can manage with but few could learn fast enough to make a move into solitude like this work.
It's a shame he wasn't able to accept the offers some cabin owners made to him as a better outcome might have been to live on a sort of benefits system and offer them something in return? Maybe if you need to be alone that much it couldn't work out that way.

Very quickly learn during E&E training that 'foraging' amongst human habitation is much easier than living off the land. However, nothing honourable or worthy about doing so.

His woodland den looked right a real sub standard tip; and none too clean shaven in his arrest phot. strange individual.

'Strange individual' - well to me he looks not entirely dissimilar to a considerable percentage of the inmates of this forum!! (and yes obviously me included )

RIP wrote:'Strange individual' - well to me he looks not entirely dissimilar to a considerable percentage of the inmates of this forum!! (and yes obviously me included)

Noted! It wasn't his looks I was referring to. The clean-shaven thing was a reference to the article - apparently he would spruce himself up before a bit of thieving.

Right then, we know what's coming next don't we children....... yes! roll up, roll up, it's the Great BBB Chris Knight Lookalike Contest!

Here's your starter for ten. I think that's the worst fork-mudball I've ever had too (I think we already had the Muddiest BBB-er contest a few months ago on another thread though?). You wouldn't want to meet him on a dark night. Or a slightly-overcast day come to that. Arrest that man immediately officer I'd like to point out this was taken nearly 30 years ago, like a fine wine I've improved with age, no sniggering at the back there PLEASE.

RIP wrote:Obviously the 'stealing' bit makes a mockery of the enterprise.

However I hadn't realised there's positions available for 'ornamental hermits' which sounds a fantastic job - with contracts of up to seven years! I don't remember this ever being mentioned at school careers advice sessions. I'm going to send off for an application form.

Funnily enough I was thinking only this morning that we haven't had a decent 'philosophical' thread for a while. I was going to do one along the lines of 'what actually is the definition of self-supported bikepacking' but I'm too shy to start a new thread..

I've got something similar lined up when I retire.

Basically I get to stand at a stile on a footpath near Ocle Pychard wearing a straw hat and smock, chewing on a strand of hay. All I have to do is say "Yarp" to any passers-by in answer to any question they may ask. Ability to point in random directions and accept scrumpy in payment is all that's required.
There is a graduate entry scheme if any young uns are interested.

The stealing food thing, to me shows how hard it might be to live long-term in the wild in many places without a wider network of people farming, trading etc, to get the range of things you need, if only the variety of food. Skills that some can manage with but few could learn fast enough to make a move into solitude like this work.

I read an article a while back about a family that survived decades in the boreal forests of central Russia. When they were found they didn't know WW2 had ended.
I wish I could find the link as it gave a real insight into the hardship of that way of life.

Edit: found it! http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/f ... i-7354256/

The series called "Alone" I think it's on the history channel give a good insight into living totally off the land. The first two series are set on the most northern tip off Vancouver island where 10 men start and the last one wins $500,000. Some only can handle it for 24 hours, the winner survived 56 days eating mostly seaweed and slugs, the total solitude is the hardest thing to deal with.

That article is great Ian, read it a while back, think there was a link on here?

Considering you can't easily forage enough to survive and fertile land has been deliberately made a scare commodity so farming is pretty much out (unless you are affluent enough to buy land). Why not steal from people who have more than you do?

The fact people offered to help with grocery lists and hanging out bags suggests that the people were able to afford to lose the food he stole. Added to the fact he is stealing from people's holiday retreats not from their homes suggesting a level of affluence that means they can happily stand the cost of what they lost.

What's wrong with raccoon's? They're just animals like us trying to survive.

ctznsmith wrote:Considering you can't easily forage enough to survive and fertile land has been deliberately made a scare commodity so farming is pretty much out (unless you are affluent enough to buy land). Why not steal from people who have more than you do?

The fact people offered to help with grocery lists and hanging out bags suggests that the people were able to afford to lose the food he stole. Added to the fact he is stealing from people's holiday retreats not from their homes suggesting a level of affluence that means they can happily stand the cost of what they lost.

What's wrong with raccoon's? They're just animals like us trying to survive.

Really? Woah

Rule #1 - don't be a dick

IMO, stealing = being a dick. There's some (probably very limited) times and places I can see it being essential / unavoidable / excusable but this doesn't strike me as one of them.

Cheeky Monkey wrote:IMO, stealing = being a dick

Why?

Bearbonesnorm wrote:Removing yourself from society is fine but I find it kind of ironic that without society to steal off he'd have died quite quickly ... 'twas only what he was 'escaping' from that enabled him to do it.

True, however society also removed the ability to escape without stealing or interacting with it in some form. i.e. by removing land for farming, altering habitats with corresponding reduced possibilities of foraging and making the necessities of life a commodity to be traded/exchanged for money.

You can't escape.

ctznsmith wrote:

Cheeky Monkey wrote:IMO, stealing = being a dick

Why?

**Nips round to Ctznsmiths house, to raid the fridge while hes out**

So where does that justification for pilfering stop? How about you just steal the GPS off somebodies bike, because they can afford to replace it? Why not just take the entire bike; it's just an expensive toy for that rich exploiter of the oppressed; your need must be greater than theirs...

There are some extreme occasions when a person might have to steal to survive, but when it is through a lifestyle choice then it's not justified. Just my opinion, but I hope it's one most people in society would endorse.

Why?

Because it's a societal norm that, in a large part, helps the world, in all its multiple and many splendoured imperfection, to tick along. IMO.