It can be difficult to start a fire in the snow when the environment is damp and cold, yet the production of fire can be a matter of life and death in a wilderness survival situation.

We hear stories of snowmobilers who freeze themselves to death trying to walk out of the mountains when their sled breaks down.

Why die like that?

If you light a fire the search and rescue crews will probably find you more quickly, and you have a tank of gas just sitting there.

Using gasoline can speed up the process significantly but this is also a very dangerous idea and should be approached with extreme caution.

Some physics on gasoline and fire:

1.) gasoline vapour burns most readily
2.) cold damp temperatures produce fewer gasoline vapours
3.) hot dry temperatures produce MANY MORE gasoline vapours
4.) time allows gasoline vapours to be produced

So if the ambient environment is cold and moist, gasoline vapours will be produced more slowly and it’s less dangerous.

But if the ambient environment is warm/hot and dry, gasoline vapours will be produced VERY QUICKLY and it’s FAR MORE DANGEROUS.

Time is also important.. you want to work quickly so that vapours don’t have time to build up which can lead to an EXPLOSION when you create a flame.

Bottom line: Gasoline is risky but the risks can be reduced if you are in a moist, cold environment and you work quickly.

Also, very important.. take all the gasoline away from the fire zone before making any flames!!

The nature scenes of ice waterfalls from the Nelson BC Canada area in the Kootenays seemed to me an interesting parallel to the ice comet named LoveJoy.

We all come to points in our lives where we find ourselves going through hard times. In the darkest hours, it can be hard to hold on to hope.. so this movie is dedicated to “the Light at the End of the Tunnel”. There’s a crown chakra binaural beat frequency in the audio soundtrack.. maybe it uplifts the thoughts?

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil” Psalm 23:4

The iPhone 4 is such an amazing device.. so much power and versatility in a small little package! My favourite feature is the HD movie recorder — sometimes I see something noteworthy and I take a little movie of it using my iPhone 4.

The music in this movie is “Jungle” made by Romulus of 2ACCESS

This video is a collection of random scenes from in and around Nelson BC in the country of Canada during this past year (2011):

• sunlight ripples over underwater rocks (tilt up to autumn forest and blue sky)
• toyota forklift pushes a cube of 3/8″ plywood into a storage bin
• chemically enhanced fire burns brightly in the darkness
• restored classic muscle car with blue paint and sparkling chrome
• swollen stream spring flood water rages under highway bridge
• steam rises from mineral deposits at Ainsworth Hot Springs
• airplane trails smoke in aerial acrobatic manoeuvres over Kootenay Lake
• forklift removes a wooden playhouse from a truck (timelapse)
• plasma bubble
• bin of empty liquor cans and bottles from a party in the Slocan Valley
• Cottonwood Falls colourized to look like splashing red blood
• Nelson hippie plays acoustic guitar in coffee shop
• evaporating mist blows across rippling lake water at dawn

Music is “Dawn Chorus” by Boards of Canada

This movie contains footage from four different films:

1.) a flight over Vesta by the Dawn Mission probe in the asteroid belt
2.) weather balloon explodes in slow motion at high earth altitude
3.) the Sun spits plasma from a series of sunspots
4.) the International Space Station flies over Earth during a solar storm

My favourite part is the view of Earth’s green energy shield at 2:22

Technical Notes:

This video was shot “on-the-fly” using an iPhone4 and edited using iMovie ’11.