Desert Island: Newsletter Challenge (06/14/05)

Why on Earth do I have a mummy with me?

Hey, maybe you're an archaeologist returning from an excavation. You needed the freezer and generator to preserve samples after removing them from the dry desert climate. As for the answer, I'm not sure. The freezer would have a fan that could be used as a propeller, powered by the generator. Could the mummy wrappings somehow make the fan waterproof?

Easy. Use the generator to run the freezer. Make many large blocks of ice. Use the sawdust to preserve the ice like in the olden days. When you have enough, build your own iceberg boat. Set sail and you can use melted ice as a fresh water source to go along with that fine mummy jerky.

There's no way you could make enough ice to float your boat.

I'm assuming this is a large chest high freezer.
Fill the freezer with water and have the mummy create a hollow in the top of it to create a place to sit. You would end up with a canoe like boat that you could coat the top of with the sawdust to help keep the ice from melting.

1. Cut the mummy's brain pan open and use part of it as a spade to dig a hole.
2. Start fermenting something, like coconut juice. Put the liquid in a container in the hole. This should provide a decent temperature for the fermentation to take place.
3. After it is good and fermented, start up the generator run the freezer so the alcohol gets nice and cold.
4. Enjoy drinks with your new friend the mummy as you slowly go insane and give up hope of living.

-Boon

Building a boat Disassemble the freezer, use the freezer's compressor attached a fan (made of mummy parts), use the freezer box as a boat and attached the generator. Run the generator for electrical power and used on the freezer's compressor. Do not bring the mummy.

I like the iceberg thing but I can't see where the water comes from, after all sea water is awefully hard to freeze. We pondered the gutting the freezer to make a boat idea and use the gennerator as a motor as a better option because the Freezer is very bouant vessel with all that insulation. Eagerly waiting the answer.

As written in the 6/21 issue of Specs & Techs from GlobalSpec:

First of all – ditch the mummy (it was only included to trick you...). Then in the large freezer (which you have laying flat), create a thick mixture of sawdust and water. Using the generator, you can then freeze this mixture into a solid block. Once frozen and removed from the freezer, it will serve as a flotation device that you can use to transport yourself to safety. This frozen substance is called "pykrete" — discovered by Geoffrey Nathaniel Pyke (1894-1948). Pykrete is extremely durable and very slow to melt. In fact, it was evaluated during W.W.II with the thought that it could be used to make ships that would be impervious to torpedoes. (For more information, click here to connect to "The Improbable but True WW2 Story of a Top Secret Project.") And why not give it a try - mix up a little pykrete in a milk carton and see for yourself!