How to survive, almost anything

Sra Myra has given us an insider's view on how to survive just about any situation here. As students, any situation is possible, and the more prepared for them we are, the better off we'll be. Dive in, it's time to swim with the sharks!


Holiday Survival:How to Fend Off an Unwanted Kiss

On Arrival

1. Carry a present, coat, hat, or child in front of you as you enter.

2. Extend your free arm in a wide arc and move into a hug position.

3. If the greeter leans in to plant a kiss, use the head-and-shoulders maneuver. Move your head toward the kisser, then at the last moment, rotate your shoulders, throw your arm around, and bury your head in the kisser’s neck.

Under the Mistletoe

1. Find the mistletoe. As soon as you arrive, determine the location of the mistletoe. Check the lintel over doorways and hanging lights, which often obscure the mistletoe.

2. Establish alternate routes. Avoiding the mistletoe is the best defense. Plan your comings and goings so that you do not pass under the mistletoe.

3. Employ evasive maneuvers. If the mistletoe is hung in an inescapable location and someone is approaching, be prepared to use counter-measures:
• Keep walking, as if you didn’t realize you were under the mistletoe.
• Carry a drink or plate of food at all times, and quickly take a sip or bite as the person approaches.
• Sneeze, cough, or scratch your nose just as the person moves in. When they hesitate, turn the attempted kiss into a friendly hug.
• Move rapidly and place a preemptive, glancing kiss on the person’s forehead or cheek, thereby avoiding a more serious kiss.

4. Make up a mistletoe-related fib. When fleeing from the would-be kisser seems too rude and other defensive tactics won’t work, create a new mistletoe custom that would preclude the kiss:
• “This mistletoe has no berries! That’s bad luck!”
• “That’s not real mistletoe, it’s plastic! How tacky—we can’t kiss under that!”
• “Can you believe they put up mistletoe? Who believes in that anymore?”

Be Aware

• Portable mistletoe—a sprig attached to the end of a curved stick—is not valid mistletoe and does not invoke the kiss tradition. (You might also question why you are attending a party with someone who would attempt the “mistletoe-on-a-stick” trick.)

• Do not attempt to avoid a mistletoe kiss by claiming that you are not Christian. The custom of kissing under mistletoe is not specific to Christianity and is observed in many religions and countries.

IF ALL ELSE FAILS, GET A QUICK CASE OF HALiTOSIS.



Travel Survival:

How to Survive a High-Rise Hotel Fire

Always treat a hotel fire alarm seriously, and exit following hotel procedure. If the fire is nearby, use the following procedure.

1. Feel your hotel room doorknob with the back of your hand. If the doorknob is hot to the touch, go to step 2 and then skip to step 5. If it is not hot, follow the steps in order.

2. Partially fill the bathtub with cold water. Soak towels, washcloths, bedsheets, and blankets in the water. If the water is off, use water from the toilet tank. Put a wet washcloth over your mouth and nose and a wet sheet or towel over your head.

3. Open the door.

4. If the hallway is smoke-filled, get as low as possible—one to two feet above the floor. Make your way to an emergency exit. Never use the elevator.

5. If the door or doorknob is hot, do not open the door. Wedge wet towels in the crack under the door to keep smoke out.

6. Try calling the front desk or rooms on other floors to check on conditions in other areas.

7. Turn off fans and air conditioners that could draw smoke into the room, and open the window slightly. If the fire is on a floor below you, smoke may enter the room through the window, so keep the opening narrow. If the fire is not below you, open the window a third or halfway.

8. Make a tent of wet towels and sheets at the window. Do not build the tent if smoke is billowing into the room. Hold or attach one side of the towel or sheet to the window and allow the other side to fall behind you, so you are protected from smoke and are breathing outside air. The towels should help to cool the air and make it easier to breathe.

9. Signal rescue personnel with a white towel or a flashlight. Wait for rescue.

10. If the air in the room is getting worse, breathing becomes difficult, and no rescue is forthcoming, try to kick through the wall into the adjacent room. Closets are the best locations to try to break through. Sit on the floor of the closet, and knock on the wall until you hear a hollow sound. (Wall studs are normally spaced 16 inches apart.) Use both feet to kick through both surfaces of drywall. You may survive by using this as a breathing hole, or you may need to continue breaching the wall until
you can escape into the next room.

11. If you cannot breach the wall, go to a window and look at the outside of the building. If the rooms have balconies that are close together, consider climbing to another balcony on the same floor. If there are no neighboring balconies, you can tie bedsheets together and climb to a balcony directly beneath yours. Use square knots (the first step in tying your shoes, done twice) and lower yourself one floor only. Consider this option only as a last resort, and only do it if you are attempting to
escape an immediate danger or to reach rescue personnel.

Be Aware

* Ladders on fire trucks usually reach only to the seventh floor of a high-rise building. Consider booking a room below this level.

* Poolside or courtyard rooms are likely to be inaccessible to ladder trucks, even if they are below the seventh floor. Consider staying in a streetside room.

* Upon check-in, make sure the hotel has smoke detectors and fire sprinklers.

* Count the doors between your room and the nearest fire exit. This will help you get out safely if smoke reduces visibility.

* Keep your room key where it can be found in the dark.

* Never jump from a height of more than two floors or you risk death.


Here is a few tips from the site to wet your pallet:

Dating & Sex Survival

How to Sober Up Fast

1. Avoid pills. Do not take ibuprofen, acetaminophen, or
aspirin just before, during, or after drinking.
Acetaminophen may cause liver damage in conjunction with
alcohol. Ibuprofen can cause severe stomach irritation.
Aspirin thins the blood, which may exacerbate a hangover.

2. Drink lots of fluids. Dehydration from alcohol can be
treated with water, sweet juices, or sports drinks. Orange
juice and tomato juice contain potassium, which will help
overcome the shaky feeling of a bad hangover.

3. Take vitamins. A good multivitamin or Vitamin B complex
can be used to combat vitamin depletion.

4. Eat. Starchy food like bread, crackers, rice, or
pasta break down into sugar, which speeds absorption of
alcohol into your system. A spoonful of honey (which is
high in fructose) helps to quickly burn off any remaining
alcohol in the stomach. Listen to your body’s cravings: If
eggs sound good, eat them. If something spicy sounds
better, eat that. There are no right or wrong things to
eat; just take your food slowly and in small amounts.

5. Rest or sleep for as long as possible.

6. Repeat steps 2 through 5 if you wake up with a
hangover.

How to Prevent a Hangover:

* Eat before you begin to drink and snack while drinking.

* If you do not eat, coat your stomach with a full glass
of milk.

* Pace yourself and drink water between drinks.

* Drink clear liquors. Some spirits are higher in
congeners (impurities) than others; red wine, brandies
(including cognac), and whiskies usually have more than
other types of alcohol. Generally, the clearer your
spirit, the fewer impurities, and the less severe the
hangover.

* Champagne and mixed drinks made with carbonated sodas
allow for faster alcohol absorption; they should be sipped
slowly.

* Know your limits. In most states, a Blood Alcohol
Content (B.A.C) of .10 means you are legally drunk and
some states now use the stricter .08 B.A.C. For most
average-size adults, this can mean as few as two drinks in
an hour.

* Don't mix your liquors. Each spirit has different toxins
that must be processed by your liver. It is best not to
overload it.

* Before going to bed, have a snack of a banana or cheese
and crackers.

* Keep water beside your bed and drink it if you awaken
during the night.

Extreme Survival

How to Fend Off a Shark

1. Hit back. If a shark is coming toward you or attacks
you, use anything you have in your possession of a camera,
probe, harpoon gun, your fist to hit the shark's eyes or
gills, which are the areas most sensitive to pain.

2. Make quick, sharp, repeated jabs in these areas. Since
sharks are predators and will usually only follow through
on an attack if they have the advantage, making the shark
unsure of its advantage in any way possible will increase
your chances of survival. Contrary to popular opinion, the
shark's nose is not the area to attack, unless you cannot
reach the eyes or gills. Hitting the shark simply tells it
that you are not defenseless.

How to Avoid an Attack:

1. Always stay in groups because sharks are more likely to attack
a solitary individual. Do not wander too far from shore.
This isolates you and creates the additional danger of
being too far from assistance.

2. Avoid being in the water during darkness or twilight
hours, when sharks are most active and have a competitive
sensory advantage.

3. Do not enter the water if you are bleeding from an open
wound or if you are menstruating a shark is drawn to blood
and its olfactory ability is acute.

4. Try not to wear shiny jewelry because the reflected
light resembles the sheen of fish scales.

5. Avoid waters with known effluents or sewage and those
being used by sport or commercial fishermen, especially if
there are signs of bait fish or feeding activity. Diving
seabirds are good indicators of such action.

6. Use extra caution when waters are murky and avoid
showing any uneven tanning and brightly-colored
clothing as sharks see contrast particularly well.

7. If a shark shows itself to you, it may be curious
rather than predatory and will probably swim on and leave
you alone. If you are under the surface and lucky enough
to see an attacking shark, then you do have a good chance
of defending yourself if the shark is not too large.

8. Scuba divers should avoid lying on the surface, where
they may look like a piece of prey to a shark, and from
where they cannot see a shark approaching.

9. A shark attack is a potential danger for anyone who
frequents marine waters, but it should be kept in
perspective. Bees, wasps, and snakes are responsible for
far more fatalities each year, and in the United States
the annual risk of death from lightning is 30 times
greater than from shark attack.