All posts by Kenneth Shaw

Blogger, photographer and backpacker. If you like my writing or my site don't be afraid to follow me, like or share my posts here on the site. Thanks and enjoy!

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Gear

Boil time: The most useless metric in backpacking

on December 9, 2016

The pointless metric

As the title says.. Boil time to me is the most useless metric in all of backpacking. I don’t mean that hypothetical – I truly believe it is a completely useless metric. On top of that most “reviews” give boil times when calculated on a stove top in a kitchen. What’s the point? Yes I get that nobody wants to wait 15 minutes for water to boil, but what is 5 minutes compared to 3.45 minutes if the fuel saved is exponential. On top of that, we are in nature, why rush?

I always think about this when I am out backpacking and I bring my optimus Svea 123, Bushbuddy or Jetboil TI. These are all fantastic stoves in their own right, and in the confines of my kitchen the boil times are amazing. However, as soon as any of these stoves get attacked by wind, they turn almost completely useless. The boil time on my Svea 123 goes from kitchen counter 3.5 minutes to a hellish 10 minutes depending on the force of the breeze (I say breeze because these aren’t strong winds I am talking about). Fuel consumption goes from 20ml to 45ml for a simple cup of coffee. Read More

consumptionLiving simplymindfulnessminimalismminimalist

Consuming with a minimalist mindset

on November 28, 2016

Less is more. More time, more money, more freedom. The less stuff we own, the less stuff to take care of, the less stuff to be stressed about and the less stuff to distract us from our calling in life. This is what we need to think about before every purchase: How will this make me achieve my goals? Will it help me achieve my goals? Do I need it now?

There are a few different minimalist online that even suggest waiting 30 days before any major purchases. I think this is a fairly good strategy as it really teaches discipline – which is undoubtedly missing in the first place. At least it is for me. I am a man of little discipline, granted more than probably most people from my generation, but not where I want to be. I find that when I have the urge to purchase something, I simply open my iphone calender, set a date for 30 days in the future, and put in the item there. Currently the items I have in this calender are: Read More

blogLiving simplyminimalismsimplicity

Our delusional lives

on November 19, 2016

To say that humans, much like oil, peanuts and gold is simply a commodity, is true in todays ”market” driven economy. To be used and discarded when the commodity is no longer profitable, is the way the new economy is built and works. At-least that is the impression given when most companies refuse to give a living wage in the USA, and if injured, most employees lose their jobs. (If non-professional). What am I getting at? Personally I think the market economy is wrong, I think we have gone too far in this utopian fantasy, our personalities have been replaced by marketing campaigns.

We all have the little movie playing in our heads, where we are the stars, were we are the ones playing in the leading roll in the Hollywood movie, or the professional boxer who just beat the best fighters in the world, or we just walked down the runway at a Victoria secret event. Whatever the fantasy, isn’t it strange that many of us live by these dreams? Often replacing our own realities with these far fetched fantasies? I have met many people who live in constant depression because they haven’t reached the dream status of the movie playing in their heads. This utopian vision of being complete only when we have the newest gear, or the newest and best car or grill. Our souls have been purposely erased and reprogrammed since birth by a highly motivated and successful marketing campaign. Read More

blogminimalismsimplicity

The future is bright

on November 17, 2016

Winter is here in Sweden and as usual my focus starts turning from backpacking to other projects. Mainly writing. Living as a minimalist has had so many benefits for me that it’s hard to count them all. Not only is my bank account fatter than ever (from not spending money and selling most everything I own) by my mental stress is gone, I sleep better, I’m by far more productive than ever with my writing and since I’m not throwing away my money on time and useless garbage, I have a lot more time for backpacking and travel. (As of this writing I’m currently in Teneriffa in the canary islands enjoy some time with the family under the sun)

For those of you who haven’t been kept up to date on my other projects other than this site, I will do a quick rundown here:

I am currently writing a Recipe book with a friend. Hopefully we can get that done by years end and published by April. This book will first be published in paperback form in Sweden, but hopefully we will have an English variant available not to long after that can be purchased on this site as well as in your local gear shops.

I have another book on backpacking I’m working on that’s about 60% finished right now. The focus on this book is on general backpacking and different ways of thinking for different people. We don’t all have to be ultralight to have a good time. This book moves in phases of backpacking – phasing out from heavy miserable to lighter and lighter depending on needs. I should be finished with this book by April-may sometime.

A book on Climate change: Granted this book is still on planning basis and I only have about 5 chapters written. The outline is however finished now it’s the research that matters. I started this out as a small article that I wanted to write to my son who is now 3 years old. I wanted to write a letter to him about why me and my generation didn’t do more when we knew without a doubt that we are wrecking the planet. Anyway, on one sit down I wrote 8000 words in about 5 hours and realized that I needed to write more, and I needed to know all the facts myself. I don’t have a release date on this one as I really want to do it right. But hopefully within a year will be my timeframe.

Then to finally get myself more active in the world around me, I started a website call www.afterdemocracy.org. (Also to spare my backpacking friends in the world from reading my political thoughts on this site) While the main focus is on the political landscape in the USA and Sweden, I even write about other topics such as climate change. The blog helps me sharpen my focus and writing style. Instead of just talking about things I am able to compile them, research and back up my thoughts with verifiable facts. Making it much easier for me to write books later on.

I have a few other projects in the works as well, but I will save those for a later post as I want to get these projects completed first.

As it stands I still have a few articles lined up for this site and will continue to actively publish here. So don’t worry, I will just be working more along the lines of quality over quantity.

Did I mention I’m still a full time dad, husband and Boss?

blogminimalismsimplicity

Minimalism and me

on October 30, 2016

I’ve written in earlier post about my move towards a minimalist lifestyle, in many ways inspired by my backpacking. So far my conversion from consumer to minimalist is working out just fine. There have been a lot of changes that I have had to make, but to be honest the feeling I get everyday is that of less stress, less worry and, well, less. I am not constantly obsessing about the stuff I own or what I need to buy to be complete. I have found the latter part to still be a fight though, I do find things I would like to buy and would make my life easier. Though admittedly it’s now about what one thing can replace several and help me with my productivity.

One example of this is have an iMac 27” an iPad Air and two iPhones. Considering I am rather un-productive on an iPad (I just surf the internet and read magazine). My iMac I don’t like sitting at because of it being downstairs and at a desk with a really bad chair. I decided to get rid of the iMac and iPad and replace them with a MacBook Pro instead. (I haven’t really figured out which I would like as my needs include video, photography and writing) I did purchase a MacBook Pro 15” but it is a bit heavy to have with me everywhere. Read More

Going Lighter

The art of camping

on October 23, 2016

Lets be honest, not every hike needs to be an ultralight trek across the Americas lasting 6 months. Sometimes just a simple overnight trip is more than enough to reset our brains and energy, and more importantly it’s these overnight trips that prepare us for the longer treks, letting us experiment with different set-ups, gear and explore our own preferences when it comes to weight and comfort. It’s damn easy to sit at home at say “shit yeah, all I need is a tarp, two sticks and a big ass knife and I can live like a king”. But the truth is, that until you try it for yourself (which I have), you realize not only is it fairly difficult to actually find food in the wild, a nice comfortable bed and to keep warm, it also sucks bad. Just ask the wild tribes of Amazon if they actually think life is awesome living off the land, sleeping under banana trees and piercing their penises with twigs is actually fun. (I’ve seen too many pictures in Nat-Geo that I can’t unsee) Read More

blogminimalismsimplicity

The failure of man

on October 18, 2016

Here is an article I wrote awhile ago but never got around to publishing. I call it the failure of man because we are always striving after “something” – yet what we don’t truly understand is that we already have everything we truly want or need. Enjoy.

This post is going to be a little different from my normal ones. Namely this isn’t about gear or specifically about hiking. It is simply about the philosophy and meaning of life. Small subject I know. I think about this question a lot, it’s one of those priviledges in life where I have a lot of free time and this allows my brain to focus on other things than work and paying bills. I think about this as I have lived my life fairly materialistic, there has never been anything I truly wanted that I haven’t been able to just go out and buy, and more often than not, I do just go out and buy with very little oversight or thought.

However over the years I have also been accutely aware of my materialism: I know I buy an amazing amount of gear, stuff and many times just garbage that sits in my closet. One of my mental phases or perhaps coping mechanisms with this insane materialism is that I sell just as much as I buy, I rarely lose money on the things I sell, but the fact remains: I am addicted to buying shit. Read More

blogGoing Lighterminimalismsimplicity

What I think about when I hike

on October 3, 2016

Backpacking has given me so much in life. Nature is my psychologist and my mentor, it humbles me and it challenges me. What I get out of my hikes I could never possibly formulate in writing, anybody who has ever been on longer hikes would probably feel the same. Being in the wild reminds us of who and where we really are on earth. Our place in the natural order, somewhere in the middle of the food chain. There are all kinds of bad shit that can happen to us in the wild, from falling and breaking something, to being eaten to being poisoned, freeze to death, starve to death or heat exhaustion. You name it, you can die from it in the wild. It is when you are alone in the vast expanses of the wild that you realize just how insignificant you really are. An ant on a child’s playground. Read More

blogRamblings

Opting out of the NSA spy games

on September 20, 2016

2013 it was revealed that the NSA had been recording, cataloging and spying on just about every human being on earth. With the majority of spying being done on it’s own citizens. Now, perhaps what had been unclear for many people, myself included, was what and who was being spied on. See I thought “well, it’s not so strange that Merkel is being spied on, she is after all a high ranking official.” You could make the argument that it’s a US ally, but in reality, the US doesn’t really have Allies, just servants to the corporate interests of the USA. (as per the Wikileaks documents). I also thought in my ignorance that only brown people named Mohammed are spied on. This of course is the ignorance that most people suffer from. Or atleast most middle class white people.

We don’t really know how to respond or feel about racial disparities, because we rarely if ever experience them. Instead we are able to live confidently within our false bubble of white persecution because nobody has a voice loud enough to snap us out of our delusion.

Anyway after watching an interview with Ed Snowden I started to think “well, I’m glad I don’t have any secrets that I wouldn’t want out” – so this spying doesn’t apply to me of course. Read More

Recipe

Recipe: backpacking oatmeal

on September 14, 2016

In recent years I have switch to a more oatmeal based breakfast because it keeps me full much longer than a cereal based breakfast. Just 1 deciliter oatmeal will keep me full long after 3-4 hours. In any case I found that it’s just as easy to make an oatmeal based breakfast as it is for a milk and cereal breakfast while hiking. I would say easier. Read More

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