Hot answers tagged safety
23
Assuming you don't have a genitourinary tract infection, fresh urine should be sterile, the problem is that it is a waste product which, apart from making it not taste very nice, means that consuming it will increase the concentration of waste in your body which will require an increased volume of water to absorb and subsequently excrete, resulting in you ...
21
It is of course possible, but definitely not something I would recommend. The most common method for repelling without gear is the Dulfersitz method. It involves wrapping the rope around your body in such a way as to allow you to better control your descent.
The rope first goes between your legs front to back, then around your leg and across your chest. ...
20
No you should not use a bicycle helmet for climbing. They are designed for different types of impacts and will not provide you with proper protection outside of their designed activity.
Bicycle helmets are designed for a SINGLE ground impact. Like modern cars they are designed to crumple and absorb the energy from an impact. They probably provide the ...
18
Until just a few years ago I would have said tweezers. I use a tick key these days because it removes without squeezing the tick.
I get between three and a dozen ticks a year (they like me), and I much prefer this to the tweezers. The big downside with tweezers is that you are compressing the tick's body and thus forcing liquid out of the tick and...
...
18
If you want a natural solution, try lemon eucalyptus oil.
Considering that B1 does not deter mosquitos, any dose you like will be comparable to 75mg (zero effect). However, if we wish to assume it works, you'll want the patch. Eating B1 won't help much. Since B1 is principally excreted in your urine, eating a lot of it would only really help if you ...
17
When you're asking for the safest way to purify water, you're asking for the method that removes the most harmful stuff from the water, like bacteria, viruses and larger impurities like mud or sand.
No one method is really perfect at removing everything, so I usually use a two-stage approach:
Filter: If the water source is cloudy, your first step should ...
17
Copy and paste from the answer here: http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/1540/is-it-a-good-idea-to-drink-your-own-urine-in-a-survival-situation
Summary: You can do it, as a last resort, but it's dicey.
The US Army doesn't think it's a good idea and lists it on its "Do NOT drink" list, stating in its Field Manual that it "contains harmful body ...
17
It depends on how many crossings. If very few, I do them barefoot and change. If there are a lot of crossings in a short distance I have shoes that I just wear for the entire hike. I'll cover both.
General Rules
Don't use rocks if you can avoid it. Stand on the bottom of the
river. Just don't try rock hopping - you're asking for serious injury. ...
16
Urine is normally sterile (barring urinary tract infections) - so, from bacteriological stance, fresh urine isn't going to hurt.
The problem is - urine is a waste product, and so is full of stuff that your body wants to be rid of. Worse, as you get more dehydrated, your body produces more concentrated urine. That said - as a short term measure to keep ...
16
First off, weigh up whether it's worth crossing said river. I know this question is about if you "have" to cross it, but bear in mind that falling in is a real danger and if you do, hypothermia can onset very quickly and be deadly. It depends on the situation - if we're talking about a shallow, wade-able body of water that's not much more than a stream I'd ...
15
First of all, DO NOT bring anything smelly into your tent. This includes food, tooth paste, deodorant, etc. Also, keep fires away from the tend.
Set up a bear triangle campground. Cook your food in one corner, Close to that corner, maybe 50 feet away, set up a latrine area. About 200 feet or more away from both, set up your tents. Keep your food in the ...
14
Shin splints (tibial stress syndrome) can be cause by tendons, muscles, or stress fractures. It's an "overuse" injury, with multiple causes, so there's not a single treatment. Some things that might help:
Step softly. If you pound your feet when you hike, it can aggravate shin splints.
Ease up on running a week or two before hiking. Running causes shin ...
14
I traveled in Cambodia with a doctor who has decades of experience in tropical medicine. On his recommendation, our group:
Wore long sleeves and pants at all times, despite the heat. We chose the the lightest materials we could find, but kept our skin covered.
Soaked those clothes in permetherin before going. After it dries, it continues to repel or kill ...
14
I see three priorities:
Make sure no one gets hurt
Make sure possessions needed for survival (food, tents) are not destroyed
Make sure the fire doesn't spread further and become a forest fire
If the campsite you're using is an officially-sanctioned one, this last is probably the least likely to be a problem. You have a large group of people, so you can ...
13
When you meet a bear, keep several things in mind:
Never make eye contact with a bear.
Make yourself as large as possible - do this by standing on a stump or rock. take your coat and raise it above your shoulders, etc.
Never turn your back to the bear or run. This will make him think you are prey and encourage him to chase you.
Talk in a monotone and keep ...
13
Sound like a human, so TALK
Wear a bright orange vest, and other bright (not white) clothing
Try not to hike deer routes in the peak times (6am to 9am and 6pm to
9pm)
Similar to the one above, stay on trail.
Generally large game are the seasons of highest concern (deer
mostly)
Your local DNR (Department of Natural Resources) website (example) will have ...
13
No, it is not safe to use denatured alcohol for two good reasons:
Denatured alcohol refers to a class of ethanol produced for industrial uses that has been "denatured" which essentially means "made undrinkable" by mixing other compounds that are toxic or unpleasant to humans. The thing is, you, as the consumer, have no idea what exactly was mixed in. ...
13
I'm answering my own question to share some knowledge.
First, cold toes/fingers is serious. You start feeling discomfort, then a little pain, then you stop feeling them and forget about them, then you get them amputated. So you should constantly check if you can still feel toes and fingers, and if not, start to warm them up.
Second, I find most effective ...
12
If there is another person person onboard, have them do nothing but watch the person in the water. They should point a finger at person in the water and never take their eyes off.
Toss out life buoys, life slings, floating cushions, etc.
If you have it, hit a man overboard button on your GPS. If not, make a waypoint.
Stop the boat, lower the sails.
Motor ...
12
In addition to @xpda's answer:
Any time you're out sailing and hat or something falls in the water, it's time to practice a MOB drill. Run the full protocol, including yelling out "MAN OVERBOARD" (even it's it's a female hat).
Set up deliberate drills by throwing a fender overboard.
Practice in a variety of conditions (especially wind strength) and ...
12
The other two answers mention 'summer camp' type environments. My answer is more focused at family camping, but has some relevance to both:
With younger children it can be very simple, although possibly not the most comfortable:
You sleep across the doorway. For any child to get out at night they need to climb over you. If you think they could sneak around ...
12
Any pole will have a fractionally greater chance of attracting lightning than a piece of flat ground or a dome tent - but this doesn't mean the increased chance is that high. If you are in the middle of an entirely flat field and your tent pole is the highest object for miles, then it will be a slight risk, but some points to consider:
If you are anywhere ...
12
First, lets dispel a common myth: Rock fire rings do absolutely nothing to contain, corral, or control a fire.
That being said, a fire needs 3 things: air, fuel, and heat. An overabundance of one will create an uncontrollable fire. Thus, keep the following in mind:
Consult the local fire conditions. Public lands agencies will rate the fire conditions. ...
11
I've never taken an unpowered, hand-built raft out onto a commercial river, but I do have experience under sail and under power on the Columbia River in the United States. What I know about maritime law, tradition and etiquette might not be exactly what they expect in Europe, but I imagine the principles are much the same.
In most cases, a craft without a ...
11
In the core alps (Liechtenstein, Switzerland, and Austria), you can drink water almost everywhere directly without filtering. There are only two exceptions: If there is a thing or something like this that forbids drinking it, or if you can see an obvious reason not to drink it, like for example a strange smell or abnormal color.
In the other countries in ...
11
This is an extremely deep topic which has entire forum sites dedicated to it. However I will attempt to summarize the key points for the average enthusiast.
First - Don't ever travel into uncontrolled avalanche terrain if you have not received proper training from an expert in avalanche conditions, triggers, mitigation, and rescue. It's stupid, seriously ...
11
There are three criteria to be balanced in my thinking on the situation of when and if to activate a call for help to a rescue service:
Do you have the skills and training to extract yourself safely from the current situation? Equally important is your assessment of what other means of communications are likely to be available in the timeframe your current ...
11
The most important thing is to know what is being hunted so you can know how the hunters should be approaching their prey. It's best to talk to several hunters to find out from them where they will be concentrating, but it's hard to control for any random person with their own ideas about how they will be approaching their hunting. The vast majority of ...
11
This does have a basis in a known technique, back burning, but by your description the application wasn't orthodox.
From Wikipedia:
Back burning is a way of reducing the amount of flammable material
during a bushfire by starting small fires along a man made or natural
firebreak in front of a main fire front. It is called back burning
because the ...
11
Cheese:
Long time. Especially hard cheeses. You can just cut any mold off the edge that might creep up. Cheeses sealed in cheese wax (gouda) are a good bet.
I've had extra-sharp cheddar un-refrigerated in the AZ desert for 8+ days, in the rocky mountains for 15+ days with no issues (aside from sweat.)
Blocks last longer than a pile of shredded cheese.
Be ...
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