It’s a classic Hollywood scenario. The bad guy cuts the brake lines, the good guy gets in the car, and chaos ensues on a steep road. While you’re unlikely to be the target of a villainous act like severed brake lines, it’s not unreasonable for brakes to fail. If you find yourself in a runaway car with no means of slowing yourself down, your best bet might be to bail. Here’s how to do so in a way that ensures your best chances for survival.
Simple, effective – and definitely a money saver, because you don’t have to toss loads of food unnecessarily.
Have you ever come home from vacation, business trip or maybe a weekend away with the family – and noticed your digital clocks flashing the wrong time?You quickly realize that you had a power outage while you were away, but it’s basically impossible to tell when it occurred or how long it lasted. It’s therefore also impossible to tell just how long the food in your freezer may have thawed, gotten destroyred, and then frozen again. Or is it? In connection with Hurricane Matthews which swept over parts of the United States, a woman named Sheila Pulanco Russell shared a clever trick on her Facebook wall with anyone who was forced to evacuate their home. But the trick is certainly also good to know in case of any prolonged departure from your home – and will ease your mind about whether or not the food in your freezer is good to eat – or best be thrown out right away. The trick lies in the magical combination of three simple but effective tools everyone already has at home: a mug, a coin and some tap water. In a Facebook post which quickly received hundreds of thousands of reactions and shares, Sheila explains how to proceed. She writes:
Please share this nifty trick on to all your friends!
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The Gulf Coast and East Coast have hurricanes, the Midwest and South have tornados, and the West Coast faces tsunami threats. No area of the country is without their own special brand of natural disaster to worry about. Earthquakes, however, span state lines, cross mountain ranges, and traverse climates. With the increased practice of deep wastewater disposal in the oil and gas industry, even the typically stable Midwest and central areas of the country are seeing an exponential rise in the number of earthquakes strong enough to get your house shaking (e.g., before 2009 there were an average of two magnitude 3+ earthquakes in Oklahoma; last year there were 907).
Surviving an earthquake starts far before the tremors begin, with careful preparation and planning. You should have enough food and water (a gallon per person per day) to last a minimum of three days, and communicate to friends and family where to meet and how to contact each other after an earthquake, assuming phone lines and electricity are down. Finally, take time to go through your house and secure tall, heavy pieces of furniture and appliances that might topple over. After an earthquake, be prepared to experience powerful aftershocks, and try to get to an open area as soon as it’s safe to do so. During an earthquake, the best survival techniques depend on your surroundings, so heed the tips above.
Illustration by Ted Slampyak
