Tool deserted

These are your Desert Island Tools, the seven items you find so helpful that you cannot live without them. Let me know in the comments! He has a passion for making the techno-babble of live video and social media marketing easy to understand.

Ian is co-founder of Select Performers — a family run web agency. As well as being a geek, husband, and dad to two kids, Ian is also a professional singer and lives near Manchester in the UK. Find out more. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. What an interesting post you have shared here Ian. If you ask me, I would like to have three tools, one is Canva, the second one is LastPass and the last one is Ahrefs.

Hi Katherine. Those are three great tools. Lastpass is a great choice. I would so struggle without it! How did we not know about Rev?! This is going to be a game changer for video content for us. Thanks so much Ian! Active-campaign has been in our arsenal for quite some time now since your recommendations in a previous post.

Thanks, Tez. Glad I helped you find Rev. And glad you love ActiveCampaign. Hi Tez. Actually, I have written many blog posts on all the different social media management tools out there. But to put it simply, here are some reasons.

Firstly, the social inbox. In Agorapulse I can quickly go through all my social mentions, messages and comments and either review archive , assign to a team member or reply. They then disappear from view and I can get down to inbox zero.

I know which messages I need to deal with. Also, Agorapulse has much better reporting which is available on all plans.

I also love the inbox assistant which can assign and review mentions automatically depending on certain criteria. Then, I love the fact that I can see comments to Facebook or Instagram ads — they appear in the same social inbox. Hootsuite kind of does this, but not in comment-order. You have to go through all your promoted posts and see if you can spot a reply to one of your … Read more ».

Hey Ian, that was quite engaging :smile. I would wish to have the tool in my content creation process, especially for my social media campaigns. Great post! Share Pin 9. Visit Ecamm Live. Visit Beaver Builder.

There are so many other cool features which I love and save me time: Saved replies - which allow me to reply quickly to frequently asked questions. Hashtag groups - allow me to select from groups of previously saved hashtags Instagram Story analytics - reports on the engagement from my Instagram Stories not just the last 24 hours.

Agorapulse Instagram Story Reports. Visit Agorapulse. Creating a Campaign in ActiveCampaign. Creating an Automation in ActiveCampaign. Visit ActiveCampaign. Need a little help in generating a password that you can remember? Visit LastPass. Or you could get a full transcription to create full show notes, or repurpose into a blog post! Visit Rev. Buzzsumo - Best Facebook Post Format. You've heard the expression "give a man a fish and he eats for a day, but teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.

I suppose if this rod came with only one fishhook, it's usefulness would be ended if that hook snagged on a rock or was "stolen" by a fish that got away, but those eventualities might not happen.

I've had fishhooks that I've reused for years. Also rifle and rod would at least feed me until I was able to plan and construct weirs or snares. There might be supplemental food in the form of shellfish, coconuts, etc that would tide me over. For the arctic island, I'd need only the rifle for a quick end.

Freezing to death is a hideous prospect. Being eaten by a polar bear would be faster, but just as hideous in its own way. Scott Foster. I don't like my choices but from the list I would choose the following.

Hiking boots. I imagine myself scrambling around coral looking for mussels and little fish, possibly making fish traps etc. If your feet are toast you aren't going to be doing anything.

A saw. I could build a raft, permannent shelter and basically create a base camp. Useful in just about every way, would allow for the creation of other tools, harvesting etc. Stacked Functions 4. The pot. I would have chosen the tent because of the psychology of having initial shelter. The tent poles and parts could then be used when permanent shelter was built. Then I realized I didn't have a way to make a stead supply of water so the pot it is.

I was thinking cooking I could steam Polynesian style but H2O is such a big deal. And a pot has stacked functions cooking, water, making things. Fire is an issue hopefully I can start a fire with a bow and drill.

My take on this list is I need tools to make what I need, if there isn't any food source or building materials it's going to be a short stay.

Marci, I have lost lures I bought on the first cast. I have had fish bite through line just above leaders. I have had hooks come back straightened because they were too dull to pierce the fishes mouth. And I have had fishing line no more than two seasons old be so worn out that, should you still be able to cast and reel properly, any real fight would snap the oft-kinked line.

Oh, and I have had fishing rods snap, too. My point is that if my life was on the line, I wouldn't want it to be an old, used, abraided fishing line. I would set my sights on items that would have decades of useful life, if properly taken care of, as no timeline for rescue was offered, so I assumed that I would be setting up a civilisation of one.

Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish with a rod and reel, and he eats until any one of a number of components break. Teach a man how to weave fish weirs and set them about the island with bits of his previous meals as bait, and he will continue to eat as long as he makes rounds to check the weirs for fish, rebait them, and rebuild them at need.

Chris, I guess our different perspectives have much to do with how long we both intend to stay on that island. You mention decades, whereas I envision a year at the very most, but more likely a month. I've lost a lot of fishing equipment the same way as you, but I've also had gear that has held up, so Also I know how to fish, but building a weir would be a lengthy learning experience , if the island even offered suitable materials. The guy who opted for the hiking boots has a very good point.

Collecting crustaceans in the rocky shallows would probably be the most reliable food source. I think on 2nd thought I'd trade the tarp for the boots. Boots would eventually wear out, but then I'm not planning on a long stay. If I was planning for an uncertain future, I would, by default, choose items that would retain usefulness the longest, because I wouldn't be able to guarantee that I would be rescued within the lifetime of the rod and reel.

It's for this reason that I chose the only item that you could reasonably propose to have viable food seed in it. I just think that it's poor survival strategy to decide that rescue must happen eventually. Kyle Knight. Everybody's answering this question as if it was "what four things would you choose if you had to live the rest of your life on a deserted island" but the question is only about being stranded on a deserted island.

My priority would be to get the heck off of the island and not die while I wait. So my main tool of survival would be the flare gun, which I would use to signal for help.

I would use one of the flares to start a fire. The knife, tarp, and pot are my other three for reasons already mentioned above. So I figured any purses, glasses, etc, would have presumably been lost along the way.

I took "first aid kit" to mean an average one or at least what was able to be seen in the photo. Besides the disinfectants, I didn't find much value in the rest.

The people who picked flare guns I can understand, since realistically if you washed a shore an island, that means the ship you were on was likely was on a well-traveled route that wasn't too far from the island.

If you only had limited opportunities to signal a ship, you'd want to make the most of it. However, my outlook was similar to Chris' in regards to planning for the worst case scenario. The above point is also why I chose the mirror as the 4th item - it's a dummy-proof way to start a fire. Ben Waimata. Assuming it's a warm climate, I'd take the 5 ounces and sit back and enjoy the sun. Someone had to lower the tone Dan Grubbs. Su Ba. Location: Big Island, Hawaii ' elevation, 60" avg.

Thought provoking. Not knowing how long I'd be stranded, I'd need to think long term. It could be weeks or months if I were lucky enough to be near a shipping, fishing, or tourist region. But if I were stranded due to my world traveling solo boat or hot air balloon being lost, I could be so remote as to be stranded for the rest of my life.

Let's assume the worse and I'd be there there for years. Then I'd be looking at long term and durable items. If the island is not inhabited, that means that it is small and does not have abundant food sources, otherwise it would have people living on it already. So I assume it will be small, and hopefully has a variety of vegetation. Also I'll assume that it is an island in a tropical area since a hammock, insect repellent, and sunscreen are among my choices.

So not good for the long term. I could live without it. Worthless for survival. Good item. I might seriously consider this one. If I were choosing this I might as well prepare to die. Not on my list. Most likely I'd already be wearing some sort of footwear. If not, coarse serviceable sandals are easy enough to make out of most available vegetation. While initially useful, it won't be long before it will need resharpening. That would be very difficult to do on a deserted island.

So I won't choose this. A smoky fire would do just as well for getting attention, and actually will send a signal further.

A flare gun would only be useful if a boat or ship passed nearby. I pass on this one. A consideration. It has lots of cons -- how to inflate and re-inflate. How to repair punctures. It sure could be useful for me in the short term. The raft pictured would not be suitable for a long ocean journey to escape the island, so it loses lots of potential value in this point alone. Such a short use item that I wouldn't even consider it.

Useless for survival. Yards of useful string for making things. Might be quite useful initially. If I couldn't figure out where the compass points are by observing the sun, then I'm on track to die anyway!

It has its uses, but it's not all that useful for survival, nor rescue as far as I'm concerned. But I could make a nifty fire starter out of it, good fish lures, and sharp mini-knives. But I'll pass. I wouldn't even begin to consider these. Any fresh water source on an empty island is more than likely not contaminated in a way to necessitate the water filter.

But most small islands don't have fresh water. If I could know in advance that there was a pond on the island, I'd choose this in order to have easy clean water to start out with. While the ocean would most likely be my foremost source of food, a single fishing rod will quickly become disfunctional.

Now if I could have a whole tackle box full of assorted hooks, that would be a different story. Something handy, especially for the first year. A consideration but not high on my list unless we are are taking about a mile of rope. Not a consideration. A small island won't have large game. While the metal may be useful to making other things, I'll pass on this one. Depends upon the quality. If it has viable seeds, then it might have value. But even so, I think I could pick items with more value to me.

Of course it depends upon the kit, but the picture shows a fairly large one. It most likely has a good assortment of useful items. I'll pick this. It has plenty of uses other than a shelter, but It won't last. Not as important for me as other stuff. This is my number one choice. Initially I'd love to make an easy fire, but with effort and perseverance I could get a fire started eventually without the matches.

So reluctantly, I'll pass on the matches. Here's my choices: Knife First aid kit Pot The fourth item is a difficult choice. Since the shoreline sealife won't have enough fats in them to sustain my life long term, I need to harvest fish in order to survive Oh by the way, since I'm assuming the island is small, the chance of birds and other wildlife is slim.

Birds would be a great food source if they existed. And the unraveled hammock strings could be used to make mist nets for bird catching. Drinking water would my first consideration for the first few days on the island.

I would be looking for any possible fresh water source on the island or praying for rain in order to collect it. Assuming no fresh water and no rain, I couldn't figure out how to use any of my choices for desalinating enough drinking water each day to survive. Anyone come up with a solution? I could boil sea water in the pot and collect the steam on a cooling chamber made out of the raft or tarp.

But it would taste terrible because of the leaching chemicals, then I'd need the water filter to make it drinkable. Any better ideas? I'm fascinated by the idea of starting a fire with a mirror.

I recall as a child that the light from a mirror was pretty warm, but I didn't know it could start a fire. Can a fire be started with a flat mirror, or does it need to be a curved mirror? Also, would a mirror start a fire in cloudy weather? The pot shown includes a lid. One could conceivably just boil sea water constantly, catching the condensate on the underside of the lid. Offsetting the lid so one side overhung the pot, the condensate could be caught on a broad leaf and channelled into a cup made from a leaf.

Rebecca Norman. A magnifying mirror or lens can start a fire easily, but I don't think a flat mirror would, since it can only double the intensity of sunlight at best. John Indaburgh. I can verify that there are mosquitos that far north. I've also learned that they are only in some spots so if you find mosquitos you want to move and get rid of the ones hovering over you. Without a boat I'd get in the water and do some diving.

I did learn that if it froze overnight there were no mosquitos the next day. I'm assuming that I kept whatever footwear I was wearing when I got in this predicament. If I had the tarp then I'd need the rope, but that only leaves 2 choices so, no. I'm guessing that the rod would come with line and hooks. I'd use bait and carve some lures around an extra hook, if available. Speaking of carving, I'd carve a spoon and a fork, an oar for a raft.

About the knife sharpening I have a story. I once kept cattle and found a butcher to do his work. On one trip he forgot his metal knife sharpener rod. I forget the name. So he asks me if I have a stone. No I said, don't have one. You don't have a stone. Love words? Need even more definitions? Ask the Editors 'Everyday' vs. What Is 'Semantic Bleaching'? How 'literally' can mean "figuratively". Literally How to use a word that literally drives some pe Is Singular 'They' a Better Choice?

The awkward case of 'his or her'. New Year, Recondite Vocabulary Take the quiz. Advanced Vocabulary Quiz Tough words and tougher competition.