19 Uncommon Facts That Might Come in Handy Some Day

1. Every part of a dandelion, from the flower to the stem to the root, is edible.

2. If you are ever involved in gunfire or a shooting of any sort, a sharp cracking sound means the gunfire is aimed at you, a deep thumping noise means the gunfire is aimed away from you

3. During the winter, it is WAY better to be slightly cold than it is to sweat. If you start to sweat, you can go hypothermic way faster.

4. Pack a whistle. There’s no chance your voice will hold out yelling at the top of your lungs, and whistles carry long distances. Especially handy if you’ve injured yourself, and need to rely on others finding you.

5. If you ever fall off a ship/ferry at sea and were lucky enough to be spotted – don’t try to swim your way to safety. The more you try to swim, the lesser the chances of survival. Just try to keep afloat and conserve energy (and body heat) while rescue team do what they’re supposed to. Unless you are in hypothermic waters, the best bet always is to stay afloat without trying to swim to somewhere. This information about falling overboard, hypothermia and conditions, survival at sea etc are based on my own experience of 12 years sailing on merchant ships.

6. If you’re about to pass out from being exposed to heat, pour cold water on your forearms. Ice works even better. This is an old farmer trick. You will feel the effects immediately. You will stop being dizzy and feel better almost immediately.

7. Cut four times the firewood you think you’ll need.

8. If you somehow are in a situation where you feel like you could drown and have no energy to go on turn on your back and do the backstroke!! Saved my life while at the beach last week after getting sucked out by rip current.

9. If you’re walking and suspect someone is following you, pretend like you’re calling someone on the phone asking them their whereabouts, then face a direction your follower can’t see (Like the corner of a building ) and raise your hand and start waving it saying “Yes I see you, I’m over here”. Your follower will think you’re meeting someone who’s around the corner and will go the other way.

10. If you are in the car, to confirm someone is following you, take 4 right turns, and if they are following you around the block call for help or drive to a busy location/police station.

11. Elevator stuff: The STAR symbol on the elevator panel indicates the floor that is the most direct route to outside.

12. This is a tip for surviving with mental health issues. I often ignore my own advice, but when I remember to do it, it usually helps. When you’re feeling super depressed ask yourself these questions: Am I thirsty? Am I hungry? Am I tired and in need of sleep? Have I showered today? Have I gotten up and walked around in awhile? Have I gotten out of bed and dressed? I find that a surprising number of times something(s) on that list needs attending to. And once done, I often feel better. There’s no cure for depression. There’s just learning to manage and live with it. Hope that helps someone.

13. Dryer lint is super effective for starting fires.

14. Anything standing its ground and being loud just wants you to leave. If you don’t they will attack. When they are relatively quiet they have already decided to attack. This goes for humans too.

15. I should add that for many (African) animals, the best action is to simply stand still until the animal finishes its tantrum and leaves of its own accord. I say this as someone who has been stormed by elephants many times. If I had started to move out of the way too early, I would have been trampled. There is one exception: Hippos are evil. And they don’t even have the decency to eat you after shmooshing you all over the ground.

16. In general, signals in groups of three are signs that you need help. Anything that’s clearly not natural counts. That could be piles of rocks, signal fires, strips of cloth tied to a tree, etc. Obviously you want it to be visible/audible to whoever might be searching for you. But the group of three means that it’s not an accident or a coincidence and so draws attention.

17. Just because you’re drinking water doesn’t mean you’re safe. You need to take in salt as well. I’ve seen this kick people’s asses big time. They drink and drink and drink water but still overheat/throw up/pass out because they didn’t take in any salt or electrolytes

18. Most subway platforms have space for a person to crawl under in case they fall on the subway tracks. So if you fall off the edge of the platform and onto the tracks. Instead of trying to climb back up, if you see a train coming there’s a crawl area underneath. It might be tight, and you’ll certainly get dirty, but better than dying.

19. If you get stuck in your car in the snow, STAY WITH YOUR VEHICLE!!! Hypothermia makes you delirious and you can wander the wrong direction and freeze to death. Your vehicle is also a LOT easier to locate than YOU are.