For Your Own Safety

[wibblepig]

I got this in one of thsoe forwardy emails. Yup, this is serious. It's better to waste five minutes on something that could help you in the future, than to ignore it and wind up regretting so.

Comments

[malatusis]

Alright, it makes some reasonable points, the tail lights thing is new to me, but this:

C.) Look at the car parked on the driver's side of your vehicle, and the passenger side. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the shop, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)No it's better to be in control and not to fear everything. Being aware and being paranoid are two entirely different things - it's *just as bad* to be paranoid as it is to be careless IMO. Paranoia can suck at you so hard it can drain away everyday confidence. That's plain impractical, do they really expect you to walk all the way back to a building to get someone to walk you to your car just because you're scared that a man is sitting in the car you're parked next to? That's going too far, and wastes your time and the time of other people (save for if the person in the seat looks very obviously dangerous, this is where common sense

[wibblepig]

I think that's where the "may" came into it

[estelio_veleth]

I think the point of this email is to at least in some part shock - it gets the message through. If it was all fluffy and vague nobody would take notice.
Some points are impractical and over the top but it makes you think - things could happen anywhere, when you least expect it.
And that thing about the serial killer is actually really creepy, do you know if it's real or made up? Or some random part of the world nobody's ever heard of?

[estelio_veleth]

Oh and a good thing to remember that this list missed is to always carry one of those personal alarms with you when you're going out alone or at night.

[dotphil]

Some of my tips for self defence

Improvise, the tops of plastic bottles of soft drinks or water are rock hard and hurt when jabbed into faces etc, people dont expect it either. Rolled up newspapers can be remarkably hard as well.

If you can manage it, and your in a situation where it is required (youre being held at close quarters but your hands are free) jab/chop/punch the attacker in the throat, it hurts, the attacker cant breathe, then run like fuck.

Also using the ball of your palm in an upward striking motion to an attackers nose will more often than not break it, it will at least disorientate him so you can run away.

My tips on awareness

If you feel youre being followed you can sometimes catch decent views of behind you in the windscreens of parked cars.

If its dark and youre in a a fairly quiet area (back streets/quiet roads etc) its best not to listen to music through headphones, it distracts you, if you do make sure its not at a volume that can drown out the noise of passing traffic.

[wibblepig]

#Suuuper Phiiil#
:P

Thankyou. And urgh, I could never even attempt to break someone's nose! Ick ick ick... *cringes at the though of the sound*

[dotphil]

you gotta do what ya gotta do...:P
It doesnt sound so bad anyways....

[wibblepig]

Urgh, it does! The clicking! *shudders*

[satansrubberduc]

Why! Why do you need to tell us! I don't wanna know that my nose will go crunch if it's broken.

To add on to Phil's thing about headphones: if you are listening to music and you think you're being followed, try and turn down the volume or mute it without actually removing the earphones - they still think you're listening to stuff (unless they could head it already) and you are more likely to hear them because they're not Being Quiet so much.

At least, that's what I do. Never actually been followed though, to my knowledge.

[satansrubberduc]

Heh, I was trying to reply to Phil's comment... congratulations George, you fail at the internet :)

[wibblepig]

Aww, no, you habven't failed!
Thankyou for the input. :)