Great find Eric. I spent part of my childhood in Arctic Bay, which is one of the areas that he talks about and have made the trip to and from Iglulik in the spring by snowmobile before. I can attest to the fact that Inuit are indeed among the most ingenuous people in the world. Over the course of the trip from Arctic Bay to Iglulik, which usually takes 2 days, every snow-machine in our party broke down and the frame of my father's cousin's snowmobile actually broke in half while crossing a large crack in the ice.

Most other people would have simply given up on the machine and would have abandoned it on the ice, but instead, without hesitation he turned the machine on it's side and began repairing it using rope, bolts and strips of hard plastic from one of the jerry cans. This quick fix was strong enough that the machine made it to Iglulik and back to Arctic Bay! After he got back home, he sold a couple of his carvings and bought a new machine.

This example pales in comparison to what the older generations did, of course.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

Fantastic post. I spent six months in Pt. Barrow- and can attest that it must have taken incredible ingenuity to stay alive without modern conveniences like snowmobiles and shipped in heating oil.

It's true, we rock.

Kayaks (Qajaqs FYI) made of nothing but animal parts. Whale-bone tent frames. Harpoons with toggled spear-heads (still unmatched by any other civilization in the world). Buoys made from inflated seal-skins. Kamiks - the lightweight, durable, waterproof footwear which we still use today (much more comfortable than boots). Pots and pans at local hockey games. The igloo.

Currently I have my PC serving triple-purpose as a home computer, an improvised oven, and a sock-dryer (using the fan on the CPU).

Dag - did you get to go hunting while you were up there?

*quality

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by Throbbin.

i tried making a shitknife and stabbing my roomate to death with it. it didn't work so well. i wanted to make a sled out of her too. guess i'll have to downvote.
ok, now someone please chime in with the global warming is a myth thing.

That is truly a shitty knife =D

*canada *nature *eco *catsanddogs

Yeah, try making a sled from the ribcage of a cat. Dogs 1, Cats 0.

Also, most Inuit did not see the British as Gods. Instead, white folks were (and still are) referred to as 'kablunaaks' - Kabluqs = eyebrows (because they found the white folks had big, bushy eyebrows), and Naak = Stomach (because they had big stomachs). Inuit on Baffin island were amazed at the technology the Europeans brought with them, but Inuit on eastern Baffin island had also heard stories from Greenland Inuit who had clashed with and run-out-of-town the Vikings sometime before, and were well aware of the existence and mortality of Europeans.

Adding video to channels (Canada, Catsanddogs, Eco, Nature) - requested by Throbbin.

Apocryphal: Of questionable authenticity.

Aprophycal: A completely made up word that make's ryjkyj almost downvote an otherwise great video.

His example of why we should keep pre-industrial societies afloat is a shit knife? I agree completely, but I don't necessarily know that's a solid argument. However, it was an awesome tale!