Steve Gillman

Safe Drinking Water - Six Tips For Backpacking

On a day hike, safe drinking water isn't an issue. You can carry what you need. But when backpacking, you will most likely be using chemical water purification or filters to resupply yourself using natural sources of water. Both of these can fail at times... Read >

Four Treasure Hunting Secrets

Treasure hunting means different things to different treasure hunters. But the bottom line of all the various types is the search for something of value that is hidden from the general public. Here are four of the more unusual secrets of successful treasu... Read >

Undiscovered Travel Destinations

Not all travel destinations are packed full of tourists. In fact, not all of them are even on the map. I have had an interest in these "secret" places since I first discovered two little lakes high in the hills and cliffs north of Ishpeming, Michigan. No ... Read >

How To Invent New Products

To invent new products, you need to know how to generate new ideas - lots of them. Then you look them over and pick out the good ones. Here is one of the many simple techniques for coming up with ideas for new products.New Products From OldStart with an e... Read >

Travel Secret - Why Slow Is Better

Our top travel secret isn't really a secret at all, but it takes a while for some of us to learn and apply it. Here it is: Slow down. Slowing down and spending more time in each location is not only a secret of cheap travel, but in our experience, it mean... Read >

Medicine Bow - Hiking To A Plane Crash

On October 6, 1955, United Airlines Flight 409 crashed near the top of Medicine Bow Peak, killing all 66 people on board (63 passengers and 3 crew) - the worst crash in U.S. history at the time. Once the bodies were recovered, explosives and napalm were u... Read >

How To Tell When Someone Is Lying

To know how to tell when someone is lying, it helps to first look at the three basic types of lies. These are lies of omission, commission, and embellishment. What follows is a short description/definition of each, and some ways to detect each kind of lyi... Read >

Big Ideas - How To Have Them

The search for big ideas starts with big questions. What's the basis of spirituality? Why can't people motivate themselves to do what they really need to do? Is there a better way to organize a city? Do we always need to understand a problem to solve it?T... Read >

Metaphors We Live By

What are the metaphors we live by? Is life a journey, a game, a dream, or a movie we are watching? How do these metaphorical perspectives affect our lives? Let's take a look at a few of them.Life Is PurgatorySome people see life as a sort of purgatory to ... Read >

Nutrition Label Facts You May Not Know

You may think you can read those labels, but there are some nutrition label facts you may not know. The following are just a few of these secrets of the food industry.Low Fat Means What?According to FDA rules, a product advertised as "low fat" must have 3... Read >

Backpacking Recipes - The Simplest

I need simple backpacking recipes because there is never a stove in my backpack, even on week-long trips in the wilderness. I often backpack with less than fifteen pounds total pack weight, and total means all food, water - everything. It's often in a day... Read >

A Mechanic In A Hot Spring And The New Economy

New or not, the economy isn't an interesting subject to most people. Probably it wouldn't have been interesting to Jack, either, so we talked about classic cars and the internet. My wife and I met Jack in a hot springs pool near Canon City, Colorado, wher... Read >

Problem Solving Strategies - Three Great Ones

Your problem solving strategies determine how effectively you deal with everything from creating new ideas to solving the routine problems of life and business. There are many specific techniques for solving problems, but a good strategy is a more general... Read >

Cheap Real Estate - Ten Reasons Why

Why is there cheap real estate? Is it just that some sellers don't know what their property is worth? Sometimes this is the case, but only rarely. More often a seller is willing to sell for less because it means selling faster or more easily. In other wor... Read >

The Backwards Lying Trap

Is he (or she) lying? There are numerous clues that can help you spot a lie. You can learn about body language and how words are used, and even how to trap a liar. But one of the more interesting ways to tell if someone is lying comes from recent research... Read >