Survival tip of the day (Ongoing Participation Thread)

Yep, that's why the high test stuff will hurt you.

 

Alum flocculation using Aluminum sulfate. Grind to powder. Add to water - varies on turbidity. Once water clears (overnight) decant to clean container, add calcium hypochlorate to finish treatment.

Aluminum sulfate purchased in block form stores well...

 

How Not to Die: 20 Survival Tips You Must Know

Some accidental deaths are unavoidable—wrong place, wrong time. But most aren't. Staying alive requires recognizing danger, feeling fear, and reacting. Here's what you need to know to survive bear attacks, chainsaw accidents, and even vengeful vending machines.

American Artist
Accidents are the leading cause of death among U.S. men 18 to 50 years old, accounting for 37,000 of the roughly 148,000 annual fatalities. Some instances of unintentional death, to use the official term, are unavoidable—wrong place, wrong time—but most aren't. Staying alive requires recognizing danger, feeling fear, and reacting. "We interpret external cues through our subconscious fear centers very quickly," says Harvard University's David Ropeik, author of How Risky Is It, Really? Trouble is, even smart, sober, experienced men can fail to register signals of an imminent threat. Here we present 20 easy-to-miss risks, and how to avoid or survive them.

1.Outsmart Wildlife.
If you come face-to-face with a wild animal, the natural response is to bolt, but that can trigger the animal's predatory instinct. On July 6, 2011, Brian Matayoshi, 57, and his wife, Marylyn, 58, were hiking in Yellowstone National Park when they came upon a grizzly bear and fled, screaming. Brian was bitten and clawed to death; Marylyn, who had stopped and crouched behind a tree, was approached by the bear but left unharmed.

STAT: Each year three to five people are killed in North America in wild animal attacks, primarily by sharks and bears.

DO: Avoid shark-infested waters, unless you are Andy Casagrande. As for bears, always carry repellent pepper spray when hiking; it can stop a charging bear from as much as 30 feet away. To reduce the risk of an attack, give bears a chance to get out of your way. "Try to stay in the open," says Larry Aumiller, manager of Alaska's McNeil River State Game Sanctuary. "If you have to move through thick brush, make noise by clapping and shouting."

2. Don't Mess with Vending Machines.
You skipped lunch. You need a snack. You insert money into a vending machine, press the buttons, and nothing comes out. You get mad.

STAT: Vending machines caused 37 deaths between 1978 and 1995, crushing customers who rocked and toppled the dispensers. No recent stats exist, but the machines are still a danger.

DON'T: Skip lunch.

3. Stay on the Dock.
On May 20, 2013, Kyle McGonigle was on a dock on Kentucky's Rough River Lake. A dog swimming nearby yelped, and McGonigle, 36, saw that it was struggling to stay above water. He dove in to save the dog, but both he and the animal drowned, victims of electric-shock drowning (ESD). Cords plugged into an outlet on the dock had slipped into the water and electrified it.

STAT: The number of annual deaths from ESD in the U.S. are unknown, since they are counted among all drownings. But anecdotal evidence shows that ESD is widespread. ESD prevention groups have successfully urged some states to enact safety standards, including the installation of ground-fault circuit interrupters and a central shutoff for a dock's electrical system.

DON'T: Swim within 100 yards of any wired dock. But do check whether docks follow safety standards.

4. Keep It on the Dirt.
On the morning of July 14, 2013, Taylor Fails, 20, turned left in his 2004 Yamaha Rhino ATV at a paved intersection near his Las Vegas–area home. The high-traction tire treads gripped the road and the vehicle flipped, ejecting Fails and a 22-year-old passenger. Fails died at the scene; the passenger sustained minor injuries.

STAT: One-third of fatal ATV accidents take place on paved roads; more than 300 people died in on-road ATV wrecks in 2011.

DO: Ride only off-road. Paul Vitrano, executive vice president of the ATV Safety Institute, says, "Soft, knobby tires are designed for traction on uneven ground and will behave unpredictably on pavement." In some cases, tires will grip enough to cause an ATV to flip, as in the recent Nevada incident. "If you must cross a paved road to continue on an approved trail, go straight across in first gear."

5. Mow on the Level.
Whirring blades are the obvious hazard. But most lawnmower-related deaths result from riding mowers flipping over on a slope and crushing the drivers.

STAT: About 95 Americans are killed by riding mowers each year.

DO: Mow up and down a slope, not sideways along it. How steep is too steep? "If you can't back up a slope, do not mow on it," Carl Purvis of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission advises.

6. Beware Low-Head Dams.

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Found on small or moderate-size streams and rivers, low-head dams are used to regulate water flow or prevent invasive species from swimming upstream. But watch out. "They're called drowning machines because they could not be designed better to drown people," says Kevin Colburn of American Whitewater, a nonprofit whitewater preservation group. To a boater heading downstream, the dams look like a single line of flat reflective water. But water rushing over the dam creates a spinning cylinder of water that can trap a capsized boater.

STAT: Eight to 12 people a year die in low-head and other dam-related whitewater accidents.

DO: Curl up, drop to the bottom, and move downstream if caught in a hydraulic. "It's a counterintuitive thing to do, but the only outflow is at the bottom," Colburn says. Surface only after you've cleared the vortex near the dam.

7. Don't Hold your Breath.
If you want to take a long swim underwater, the trick is to breathe in and out a few times and take a big gulp of air before you submerge. Right? Dead wrong. Hyperventilating not only doesn't increase the oxygen in your blood, it also decreases the amount of CO2, the compound that informs the brain of the need to breathe. Without that natural signal, you may hold your breath until you pass out and drown. This is known as shallow-water blackout.

STAT: Drowning is the fifth largest cause of accidental death in the U.S., claiming about 10 lives a day. No one knows how many of these are due to shallow-water blackout, but its prevalence has led to the formation of advocacy groups, such as Shallow Water Blackout Prevention.

DON'T: Hyperventilate before swimming underwater, and don't push yourself to stay submerged as long as possible.
20 Survival Tips You Must Know

MY FAVORITE IS #7 'Don't Hold Your Breath'

 

Never underestimate the value of last minute preps. Texas Louisiana border today. The river is higher than its been since 1874. I-10 is closed; 62,000 cars a day are being diverted north through rural East Texas and Louisiana.

 

Trust me, these are not pictures of the rough areas. You should see (haha) my front yard.

 

Dewyville?

 

Not quite. Haha.

 

Another thread discussed rats, and it might be worth more discussion to address rats and their spread of disease, and how or what to do as the rat population expands, post SHTF.
One thing we take for granted is pest control ,and if commercial dependency on this is not found some home grown solutions the enemy might not carry guns but their fleas and mites may do far more damage.
They can also have a devastating effect on agriculture , and trapping alone may not be enough.

 

I learned this in my class and I see in Brussels after attack say memo:

During emergencies it is better to text then call. Texting takes up less BANDWIDTH, where as calls may not connect due to circuit overload.

Why It's Better to Text Than Call in a Mass Emergency

 

I purchased a Chlorine Producing Unit from Safe Water International Ministries (SWIM) (www.swimforhim.org) for $50. SWIM is a religions organization which makes the units and distributes them to third world countries funded by donations (I also donated $50). I order the unit online and it arrived in about a week. It is composed of the unit itself, a chlorine test kit, an eye dropper and a couple of plastic bottles for storage, all in a red plastic case.

As instructed I added ¼ cup of salt to one pint (16 ounces) of chlorine-free well water and mixed until dissolved. The unit was then hooked up to a 7ah 12 volt battery (any 12 volt battery will do) and the water-salt solution poured through five times over about three minutes. The water bubbles and gets warm while passing through the unit and gives off a strong smell of chlorine gas. Once complete, I disconnected the unit from the battery and rinsed well with clear, clean water.

I added four drops of the chlorine solution to one liter of water and tested it with the test kit. It did show the presence of chlorine but was below the 2 ppm indicator. I had to add 12 drops to reach this threshold. At 12 drops per liter the 16 ounces of solution would treat 220 gallons of water for the price of the salt and battery power.

I store some chlorine bleach and calcium hypochlorite (pool shock) which is much easier to use than this unit. However, they have a limited shelf life which this unit should not have as long as it is kept clean after each use.

All in all, I think the unit is worth the money for the peace of mind. I have a deep well with a hand pump and do not need it now, but it provides one more level of redundancy.

It occurs to me that the units could be a very easy DIY project. To rods of different metals each hooked to a battery terminal and submersed in a salt water solution should do it. A good place to find a prebuilt unit after the SHTF would be an abandoned salt water swimming pool. They all have them.

 

Facts about the cold

The body loses heat 25 times faster in water than it does in air

The human body temperature normally stays within a range of about 97.52° – 98.96°F or 36.4° – 37.2°C
If it falls just 2° below that hypothermia will start to set in.

The body loses heat much faster through the ground than it does to the air so there is an old saying that when sleeping on the ground, a blanket underneath is worth two on top.

Snow is a good insulator. It is filled with loads of tiny air bubbles which trap your body heat.

Survival Facts - survivor-magazine.com

 

This will give 2-3 hours of light-


Can of tuna (in oil)
nail or something to punch hole in top
paper towel or cotton cord (think mop head)

 

The Emergency Food Can
Posted on June 27, 2013 by admin

The following article was sent to me by my friend Ed Harris. This is his suggestion for a one week supply for one person.

Howard

Emergency Food Can – The following all packs into a one M2A1 waterproof steel ammunition can as an emergency 1 man/week food supply for your boat, vehicle or aircraft. 1 gallon per day of potable water, minimum, is still needed for drinking, washing and cooking.

• 3 lbs. dry rice
• 2 lbs. dry beans
• 2 cans SPAM
• 6 ozs. dried onion flakes
• 2.5 oz. Chipotle seasoning
• 2.75 oz. Cajun seasoning
• 7 teabags
• 64 wooden strike anywhere matches,
• 12 trioxane fuel bars
• 12 petroleum jelly infused cotton balls
• Ferro rod
• Fire starting tool NSN 4240-01-160-5618
• Hand twist-type pencil sharpener to produce wood shavings from sticks as tinder
• Mil-K-818 or Swiss Army Spartan pocket knife
• Razor, folding, utility
• Saw, folding, utility
• Canteen cup and warming stand
• Mess kit fork and spoon
• 1/3 c. measure; 2/3c. rice to 1/3c. beans, soak overnight in 2c. water before cooking.
• Personal illuminator and four extra AA batteries
• Land Survival Pamphlet FAA-P-8740-59, AFS-803 (1999)
• 100 rds. .22 LR hollowpoint ammunition (substitute water filter if no firearm is in survival kit).
• 50 ft. light duty nylon utility cord, for taglines

The Emergency Food Can - Preparedness AdvicePreparedness Advice

 

There are only 7,500 calories in the food ration, only enough for 3 days of stressful labor. Leave it and all the cooking gear (unless you want to carry it for tea) behind and add five 3,600 calorie emergency ration bars. You will be sick of them a week later when you get where you are going but at least you'll have the strength to get there. A grown man will need 17,500 calories a week, 2,500 a day. The weight will be about the same and you will need no water for cooking.

 

Found this tip buried in an old thread-
one trick i use is trick birthday candles... i carry 24 in my Bob/survival kit... cant be blown out and work great for starting a fire with out the bulk of other tinder...
Tip by @Witch Doctor 01

 

Life is not fair.
Never expect it to be ,
ever .

 

If you store PPE/ non-latex gloves in your car, you should swap them out every 4-6 months. The heat and cold break them down faster.

 

Good recipe to memorize- expecting parents or grandparents. When SHTF, one never knows

Emergency Baby Formula:
The baby formula has a basic three-ingredient recipe:

• 13 OZ evaporated milk
• 19 OZ boiled water
• 2 TBSP corn syrup (or sugar)

How to Make Emergency Baby Formula | TruePrepper