Reddit stories from r/AskReddit
What is a fact that could possibly save your
life?
If you have a cut that gets infected and see
a streak of red going up from it, go to the
doctor immediately.
It is a sign of serious infection that can
lead to sepsis.
A girl in my middle school pointed out the
girl sitting in front of me and started yelling
that she needed to go to a hospital right
away.
The girl had what looked like a red/purple
tree root tattoo coming out of her sock and
up her calf.
Turns out she was right and it was some kind
of blood infection.
I was really confused at the time but never
forgot it.
That stuff is no joke.
Actual fires spread shockingly fast.
We all like to play "What's the one thing
you'd grab if your house was on fire?"
but the real right answer is that if it's
not alive, you should leave it and get the
hell out.
People tend to imagine a fire burning on the
floor in a corner somewhere, but the reality
is often that it's running across the ceiling
and circling around the walls.
Just get out.
I'm in Australia and recently was woken up
by a Watch and Act alert.
There was a bushfire racing up the gully two
streets away.
In that moment when I knew I wasn't going
to stay and fight and had to leave immediately,
I left with my phone, wallet, medication and
pets.
No trinket or photo album mattered.
The necessities could be replaced, and people
are really generous to those in need during
an emergency.
It was interesting packing my emergency bag
for this season, and how little I packed.
Will I be sad if my home burns?
Of course.
Will I miss some of my stuff?
Yes.
But I'm not going to care when the flames
come.
If you encounter a mountain lion, DO NOT turn
your back on it.
Walk backwards.
Cats are ambush predators.
They don't want to fight you head-on and will
wait for you to turn around to attack.
There are videos showing this behavior with
tigers at the zoo!
People will sit in front of the enclosure,
and as soon as they turn their back to the
cat, the tiger goes into stalk mode.
They turn around to face the tiger, and the
tiger goes out of stalk mode.
This works on house cats too.
My cat loves to stalk me and when I turn and
face her she's suddenly cute and fluffy and
cuddly.
I turn my back and my leg gets eviscerated.
Fun fact: house cats are barely domesticated
and are almost identical in behavior to their
wild counterparts
If you've gone two and a half or more days
without water, and you have to choose between
drinking water without any way to sanitize
it or not drinking water, drink the water.
If you don't, you'll definitely die soon.
Most of the diseases you can get from bad
water take a couple days to set in, which
gives you more time to find help.
Also, if you have any kind of tubing available,
you can force the untreated water into your
rectum and hydrate via your intestines and
you probably won't even get sick from it.
Your intestines absorb some of the water over
about 20 minutes and you kinda just give yourself
an enema.
I have a friend who can suck water up into
his butt and then squirt it out in a stream
like he's a whale.
So he'll do it while swimming and he'll pull
down his pants and then go under water and
then come up with only his butt surfacing,
and then at that moment he squirts it out.
Anyway, I guess his water butt sucking ability
is more useful than I would have thought.
If you ever find yourself caught in a riptide,
swim PARALLEL to the shoreline until you get
out of the riptide.
Swimming directly back to the shore while
caught in one won't get you anywhere and it'll
only exhaust you, making it extremely dangerous
to do so.
Alternatively if you can't get out kick back
and let the rip take you out, they usually
don't go out more than 25m.
Once it dies down swim perpendicular to the
rip and back in.
This is good advice, your average person would
have a hard time swimming more than 200m (8
lengths of your average community pool) unhindered.
Learn to let the currents do the work for
you.
There will also typically be parallel currents
that you can observe while you bide your time.
Knowing your capabilities is also important,
if you can't swim more than 200m without a
break swim near a lifeguard.
Also learn to float, I saved a kid in huge
surf who only lasted long enough for me to
get to him by doing the 'jellyfish' (rolling
up in a ball and letting the air in your lungs
float you to the top).
You CAN do the heimlich maneuver on yourself.
Seriously, think about how often you eat or
snack when you're by yourself - even if someone
is in another room, if you're choking you
cannot talk or scream.
Everyone should learn it.
It's simple.
Just make a fist and shove it up and into
someone's rib cage.
My fiancee was choking on some cake in bed
and I was able to dislodge it that way.
Shit fucking happens, be prepared.
To clarify, if your doing it to someone else,
stand behind them, clasp your fists in front
of their belly button and go inside and upwards.
You want to push their diaphragm up so they
expel enough air to dislodge what is stuck.
Basically, you're coughing for them.
Also, ALWAYS get checked at the hospital after
a heimlich.
It's 100% possible to get internal bleeding
from one, and you won't feel it.
You will go home from your dinner feeling
lucky and you will bleed out in your sleep.
Always get a check up.
If a friend of yours has fallen through ice
into a frozen body of water and you would
like to save them, lie down on the ice and
crawl out to them, DO NOT walk out to them
standing up.
This maximizes your surface area and lessens
the likelyhood that you will fall through
the ice as well, getting you both fucked.
Ooh, side note: if YOU are the one to fall
through the ice, the first thing to do is
to calm down and fight the effects of shock
by taking deep breaths (you will do no good
spazzing out and hyperventilating).
After calming down, the next step is to army
crawl on the ice (do not try to lift yourself
up on the nearest ice because this will make
that ice also fail).
Once army crawling on the ice, bring your
legs parallel to the surface of the water
and kick hard and fast, pushing yourself onto
the ice.
Similar to the above comment, this is to minimize
stress on the ice by maximizing surface area
:)
FAST.
Face, arms, speech, time.
It's a way to spot a stroke.
Face: If you've got an uneven smile or a part
of your face is drooping.
Arms: if you raise your arms and one of them
slumps or cant be raised as high.
Speech: slurred or unintelligible speech
Time: is of the essence.
Call 911 immediately.
***Edit: guys I work in a kitchen.
Stop asking me specific questions.
I'm not a doctor.
So important.
My wife is a nurse and made sure I knew all
this stuff.
One day, at work, a young co-worker (who was
a very healthy person who ran every day) had
a stroke.
I called 911 (against her vehement protests)
and she was in a hospital within 30 minutes.
None of my coworkers had a clue what was happening.
For teaching me this stuff, my wife gets all
the credit.
Lock your doors at night.
If you’ve been stabbed and the weapon is
left in your body, do not remove it.
Edit: as has been brought to my attention,
lock your door ALWAYS.
Hollywood has film after film with a scene
where someone is shot and the entire focus
is on getting the bullet out.
Once the bullet is removed the characters
relax as if a great harm was avoided when
that is the worst thing you could do in those
circumstances.
Don't dig the bullet out.
Wait for a qualified doctor to do that.
In the meantime that bullet is plugging the
hole that might cause you to bleed to death
or in the act of removing the bullet an artery
could get severed or nerve damage could be
done.
Movies are so full of bullshit.
Learn to swim.
You don’t have to be Michael Phelps racing
a shark.
Just learn the basics.
> Swimming isn't a sport!
Swimming is a way to keep from drowning!
- George Carlin
Not really a fact, but someone once told me
this: “If you wouldn’t dare to put your
dick in there, don’t put your finger in
there neither”.
This is useful, especially with big machines
and other things with ‘holes’.
You can prevent some serious injuries like
this.
Dude you just made nose picking a whole new
experience
In a crisis situation, people run for the
door they came in from.
When the shooter walks into the restaurant,
run for the kitchen.
There’s always an exit through the kitchen,
and very few people will think to run there.
Plus if you’re not armed, a kitchen is full
of killer cutlery to defend yourself with.
same on a plane.
flight attendants arent just telling you the
exits are here, here and here for fun.
Go out the nearest exit, not the one you came
in through.
If someone is trying to abduct you and fighting
back or yelling for help doesn't work, then
pretend to faint, or vomit on them.
If those tactics don't work then take the
chance of getting stabbed or shot to escape.
Once you get in the vehicle with an abductor
your odds of surviving are less than if injured
in public.
This.
Do not let them take you to the second crime
scene.
Fight for your life.
If you ever come into contact with a gorilla
(especially a male), stay low and quiet, and
no sudden moves.
Don't look them in the eyes either.
They take loud noises and movement as a challenge
and they'll crush you like a soda can.
And don't smile with visible teeth too.
Teeth=menace in animal communication.
If you have to smile jeep your lips closed.
And still don't look him straight in the eyes.
Same is valid with big aggressive dogs known
for difficult behavior (example: Rottweiler
or any dog that recognize one only superior
alpha male in the family.
If you are not the chief in charge in the
pack avoid looking in their eyes, they can
take it as a challenge)
If you're at a bar or club and some asshole
antagonizes you don't let your ego get involved.
Seen so many people get hurt when they could
just walk away.
Funny thing is most people think fighting
back will defend their pride but to me and
a lot of other people you just look insecure.
Be the cool guy who just laughs it off.
Yours sincerely.
Former bartender.
Honestly, knowing that a bad punch can kill
you easily, I’d never get in a fight unless
it’s necessary to defend my life.
People should be taught self defense at school
mostly to learn that a bar fight can easily
kill them.
In a kidnapping situation where the person
is trying to get you to force you to go somewhere
(somewhere secluded or into a vehicle) even
if they have a weapon, always always fight
to not go with them and run.
If their trying to get somewhere private they
are planning to do something very bad to you
that requires privacy.
It's better to be stabbed or shot at in a
public place where people can hear you rather
than in a secluded place.
Usually making alot of noise and screaming
will scare most offenders off.
That’s so true!
Please don’t get into the car ladies (and
gentleman.)
My mom was attacked by a man, and she said
her biggest regret was getting into the car.
She knew she should’ve just taken her chances,
and screamed for help.
He made her get into the car, and was trying
to take her to a secluded area to do God knows
what.
She was told to get out of the car, and that’s
when she started to fight back.
The guy hit her with the gun breaking her
jaw, but she got right back up still fighting
him.
Well, guess that freaked him out he just ran
away, and she got help.
Don't be too proud to ask for help.
Life has this odd habit of throwing us curveballs
every now and then.
It can be difficult to overcome it on your
own.
So don't be alone.
Open up.
Confide in people you trust.
Seek professional help.
And be patient.
It takes time.
Just don't keep it all in you and fight it
alone.
That's a recipe for real damage to your mental
health and happiness.
In an emergency situation if you need help
for yourself or someone else, don’t just
yell “HELP” or “CALL 911”.
Use specifics, instead say something like
“You in the blue shirt, help”.
Unless called out personally people have a
tendency to walk on by, assuming someone else
will help.
Using a personal detail gets them involved.
Can confirm - was taught this during first
aid training.
Same goes for anytime you need someone to
act or perform task.
Asking a group will result in no action as
everyone assume's everyone else will do it,
thus nothing gets done.
By putting the onus on a specific person they
feel obligated to do it.
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