this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2025
70 points (96.1% liked)

No Stupid Questions

43728 readers
843 users here now

No such thing. Ask away!

!nostupidquestions is a community dedicated to being helpful and answering each others' questions on various topics.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must be legitimate questions. All post titles must include a question.

All posts must be legitimate questions, and all post titles must include a question. Questions that are joke or trolling questions, memes, song lyrics as title, etc. are not allowed here. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.



Rule 2- Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your question subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Questions which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding META posts and joke questions.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-question posts using the [META] tag on your post title.

On fridays, you are allowed to post meme and troll questions, on the condition that it's in text format only, and conforms with our other rules. These posts MUST include the [NSQ Friday] tag in their title.

If you post a serious question on friday and are looking only for legitimate answers, then please include the [Serious] tag on your post. Irrelevant replies will then be removed by moderators.



Rule 7- You can't intentionally annoy, mock, or harass other members.

If you intentionally annoy, mock, harass, or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here. This includes using AI responses and summaries.



Credits

Our breathtaking icon was bestowed upon us by @Cevilia!

The greatest banner of all time: by @TheOneWithTheHair!

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I watched the long walk and now I'm reading the book. I was wondering, how credible is the distance? It's 300 to 400 miles. What would happen to your body on the way?

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] QuinnyCoded@sh.itjust.works 4 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

your body is designed to keep going at all costs because we used to run around and chase things evolutionarily. iirc your body will start to digest your muscles in any sort of attempt to just keep going for a little longer

iirc at least. This knowledge comes from a "explain the joke" subreddit

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Our ability to keep carrying on is what makes us unique. Most animals will eventually get so tired that their body literally shuts down and they can't proceed any further. Early humans used this to their advantage when hunting.

[–] toddestan@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

If you use the book's pace of 4 MPH, which is actually what many people would consider a brisk walk, 300-400 miles would take 75-100 hours, or around 3-4 days. That's a long time to stay up without sleeping, let alone being physically active the entire time. I'd guess someone who is really fit might be able to do half of that before collapsing, with most people probably not making past the first 24 hours.

Someone who was using drugs or doping might be able to do it, but even then I'd be skeptical.

[–] LadyButterfly@piefed.blahaj.zone 5 points 16 hours ago

I did wonder that they walked for days and hadn't done training for it. I just can't see it's possible

[–] solrize@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (4 children)

I watched the long walk and now I’m reading the book. I was wondering, how credible is the distance? It’s 300 to 400 miles. What would happen to your body on the way?

I don't know what happens in the long walk, but if you mean nonstop, 300-400 miles isn't happening unless maybe as a death march. OTOH for someone who is in shape, 300-400 miles with stops for sleep and provisions is certainly doable. The Appalachian Trail is 2200 miles and lots of people through-hike it. It typically takes 5 to 7 months though some do it faster. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_Trail

Oh man, the long walk sounds nuts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Walk_(novel)

Sleep deprivation, no pooping, etc. Yeah, I found Stephen King to be a horrible writer and never understood his appeal.

[–] adhocfungus@midwest.social 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

I haven't seen the movie, but the book is very detailed about how the death march is tearing apart their bodies and minds. Some basically sleepwalk and get the tiniest fraction of rest. But even those that do are driven insane.

I'm not really a fan of most of King's work, but The Long Walk is worth a read even if you don't like his other stuff.

[–] solrize@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

My main dislike about the few King works that I read was that the characters got put into horror-like situations and then had no freedom of action. This sounds like another one of those. I guess I'll make a note of its existence in case I find it on a park bench someday, but I don't feel likely to go looking for it. Thanks.

[–] Professorozone@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

I think he's a great writer that frequently drops the ball with the ending and has a few big flops.

However, he wrote the Green Mile and the Shawshank Redemption, which are awesome. He also wrote Thinner, which I quite liked. I recently read, I have to remember the date 11-23-69 I think it was. That was pretty good. I think many people liked the Shining. I personally never saw or read it though. So personally I have mixed feelings.

[–] RubberDuck@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

But they do poop in the book and the movie. In quite graphic detail lol

[–] einkorn@feddit.org 6 points 1 day ago

300-400 miles isn't happening unless maybe as a death march.

He-he, I guess you typed that before reading the wiki page.

[–] Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk 46 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Ultra-marathon runners will typically run/jog for over 100 miles without stopping (except for a piss), and the hard-core ones will just piss themselves anyway.

With decent footwear and training the only thing stopping you from walking will be your need for sleep which will come at the 48-36 hour mark. But even then I suppose the desire to not be shot will keep you going further.

At an average walking pace of 4mph, you can walk 300 miles in just over 3 days without stopping

[–] blarghly@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

and the hard-core ones will just piss themselves anyway.

If you're a guy, you can walk and piss at the same time. Just walk sideways and whip your dick out.

[–] CrazyHorse@lemmy.cafe 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Walking backwards works too!

[–] njm1314@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

A regular Plennie Wingo

[–] LadyButterfly@piefed.blahaj.zone 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

God that's a long distance! It's beyond me

[–] treadful@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 day ago

Like Dean Karzanes. Dude can run almost indefinitely.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 4 points 1 day ago

I mean I walk like 4 miles an hour when fresh so that would be like 100 hours if I could keep it up which im not sure I could keep it up for more than a few hours but like even assuming I could that would be over 4 days with no sleep which I doubt I can do. At some point I would be shambling like a zombie from the walking dead.

[–] kaidenshi@lemmy.world 34 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's been theorized that human beings' ability to walk or jog long distances is what brought us out of our primitive era and made us the most advanced species on the planet.

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature03052

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yep. It brought about a new hunting strategy that a lot of prey didn't have a counter strategy for.

[–] Wytch@lemmy.zip 16 points 1 day ago

Sweating is OP

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 30 points 1 day ago (2 children)

It is unknown what the the max distance is. Terry fox ran a marathon every day over the course of 140+ days and ran around 3500 miles ….. and he was missing a leg when he did it.

[–] reptar@lemmy.world 1 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Just learned about Terry Fox from Do Go On. What a legend

[–] IWW4@lemmy.zip 2 points 16 hours ago

Absolute legion!!!

[–] AtariDump@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Was he running to find his leg?

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Over 2000 miles, barefoot.

But Americans collapse after halfway across the parking lot.

[–] SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] otp@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

Most are at airports, but it's amazing to me that number one is a shopping mall in Canada... albeit Canada's Texas.

The other non-airports were media-related amusement parks (mostly Disney)

[–] pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

"Paweł undertook this challenge to raise money for the Diamond Soul Foundation, a charity he co-founded which supports people in their recovery from addiction. They also organize free one-week camps in Sicily for underprivileged children."

Very cool.

[–] LadyButterfly@piefed.blahaj.zone 3 points 16 hours ago

That's incredible 😲

[–] SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

There was a pilrimage/challenge a friend of mine went on. It was walking 20 miles each day for 3 days for a total of 60 mi/96.5 km. That was in upstate NY where there are plenty of hills to keep it interesting

Blisters, chafing and fatigue is common but many people do that every year

[–] Drekaridill@feddit.is 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I don't know what math you're using but 20 miles is 32.2 km

[–] Trail@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Now multiply this by 3 and you will understand what he meant.

[–] SomeAmateur@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 day ago

Yes you are both correct, I'll fix myself

[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The Appalachian Trail is about 2000 miles and a lot if people walk that. Worth a Google search. There are documentaries, memoirs, plenty of before/after photos, etc.

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 13 points 1 day ago (2 children)

They mean without stopping.

If you're unfamiliar with the Long Walk, it's a story where a bunch of kids are in a contest to see who can walk the longest. If you stop walking, you get shot.

[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago
[–] feannag@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago

Ooohh. I definitely read that first as The Long Walk about Slawomir Rawicz's escape from the gulag to India.

[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Without rest? I don't know. I could walk a marathon distance with the right shoes but would need to stop to pee. Two marathons? Probably not without training some months, and where would I find the time? Also, if it was in the day here, risk of heat exhaustion is pretty high at midday & afternoon.

300 miles? No.

[–] Trail@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Assuming male, because it's the internet afterall, you don't need to stop walking to pee. Just saying.

[–] CandleTiger@programming.dev 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

You really do. Have you tried it?

[–] Trail@lemmy.world 1 points 18 hours ago (1 children)
[–] CandleTiger@programming.dev 1 points 8 hours ago

I guess different people have different special talents.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›