Knowledge that should survive a dead battery. Each sheet prints on one page — — and is written for a stranger with no one left to explain it. Paper copies belong in the glovebox, the go-bag, and the kitchen drawer.
💧 Water — make it safe to drink
Best: BOIL. A rolling boil for 1 minute (3 minutes above ~2000 m / 6500 ft altitude). Kills everything biological. Let it cool covered.
No fire: PLAIN BLEACH. Regular unscented household bleach (5–9% sodium hypochlorite, nothing "splashless"/scented): 2 drops per litre (8 drops per gallon). Stir, wait 30 minutes. It should smell very faintly of chlorine — if not, repeat once and wait again. Cloudy water: filter through cloth first and double the drops.
No bleach: SUNLIGHT (SODIS). Fill a clear plastic bottle (≤2 L), lay it in full sun on a reflective/bright surface for 6 hours (2 days if overcast). UV does the work. Works only on clear water.
Always: filter murky water through tightly-woven cloth first; store treated water covered; never mix bleach with anything but water.
Chemical contamination (fuel, pesticides) is NOT fixed by any of these — find a different source.
🪢 Four knots that do almost everything
Bowline — a loop that will not slip, unties easily even after load. "The rabbit comes up the hole, round the tree, back down the hole." Use: rescue loop, tying to an anchor.
Sheet bend — joins two ropes, even of different thickness (thick rope makes the bight, thin rope does the work). Use: extending line.
Taut-line hitch — a sliding hitch that grips under tension. Use: tent guy-lines, clotheslines; slide to tighten, holds where you leave it.
Trucker's hitch — a 3:1 pulley from pure rope: make a mid-line loop, run the free end through your anchor and back through the loop, haul tight, lock with two half-hitches. Use: lashing loads, tensioning a ridgeline.
Practice each until your hands know it in the dark. A knot you must look up is a knot you don't have.
📻 Morse code — the thousand-mile whisper
A ·— B —··· C —·—· D —·· E · F ··—· G ——· H ···· I ·· J ·——— K —·— L ·—·· M —— N —· O ——— P ·——· Q ——·— R ·—· S ··· T — U ··— V ···— W ·—— X —··— Y —·—— Z ——·· 1 ·———— 2 ··——— 3 ···—— 4 ····— 5 ····· 6 —···· 7 ——··· 8 ———·· 9 ————· 0 —————
SOS: ··· ——— ··· (no gaps — one continuous sign). Timing: a dash is three dots; letters are separated by three dots of silence, words by seven. Anything rhythmic works: a flashlight, a whistle, a pot lid, tapping on pipe.
🪑 Running a meeting that stays kind
Open: say what the meeting must decide (one sentence). If it decides nothing, don't hold it.
Rounds, not free-for-all: go around the circle; everyone speaks once before anyone speaks twice. A talking-object (any object) makes this physical.
Proposals, not complaints: a complaint must arrive holding a proposal, even a bad one — it gives the group something to improve.
Decide visibly: restate the proposal, ask "can anyone not live with this?" Consent (no one blocked) beats consensus (everyone thrilled) and is usually enough.
Close: who does what, by when, said aloud and written down. Read the list back. End on time.
Disputes: the two people speak in turn, uninterrupted, each then restating the OTHER's case to the other's satisfaction before any judgment. Most disputes end at that step.
♟ Print-and-play — a board and three games
Checkers: 12 pieces each (bottlecaps vs coins) on the dark squares of the first three rows. Move diagonally forward one; capture by jumping; chains allowed; reach the far side to crown a king (moves both ways). No pieces left or no moves = loss.
Chess (same board): back rank from each corner: rook, knight, bishop — queen on her own colour, king beside — bishop, knight, rook; pawns in front. Pawns walk one (two from home), take diagonally. Knight jumps an L. Trap the king so he cannot escape capture: checkmate.
Nine Men's Morris: draw three nested squares joined at the edge midpoints. 9 pieces each, placed one per turn on intersections; three-in-a-row (a mill) removes an enemy piece. After placing, slide along lines. Down to 3 pieces you may fly anywhere. Down to 2 = loss.
Dice from a pencil: shave six flats on a short pencil stub, number them, roll it.