Poor Man Survival
Self Reliance tools for
independent minded people…
ISSN
2161-5543
A Digest of Urban
Survival Resources
NOTE: If you’re like me, most men hated the dreaded
wife request of “honey, would you mind picking up a package of tampons for me
from the store?” At the superstore of
your choice there is an entire wall spanning the galaxy of various brands and
choices from slim, wide, ultra, maxi, ultra-maxi and what seems like 1,000s of
choices-enough to drive a sane man over to the sporting goods aisle in short
order seeking some sanity…however, take heart guys, there are many positive
uses for the tampon. Stick with me
[yeah, there are those too] on this!
The tampon is
actually regulated in the US by the Food & Drug Administration as a Class
II Medical Device. The word "tampon" is a derivative of the French
word tapon which means "a little plug or stopper." My research
indicates that tampons were used as early as the 19th century as battle
dressings to plug bullet holes. There are even accounts of tampons being used
as wound plugs in modern warfare. A friend of mine told me that it's not
uncommon for Army Medics to carry tampons in their med kits. They are also the
perfect product for a bloody nose. There seem to be mixed accounts of whether
the tampon was used as a feminine product before or after its use on the
battlefield.
Regardless of
intended use, the common tampon has many practical survival uses. I've
highlighted a few survival uses below.
TAMPON
Survival Use #1: Medical Bandage
Tampons are sterile, come very
well-packaged in their own waterproof sleeves, and are designed to be
ultra-absorbent — making them the perfect first aid bandage. They can be opened
and then taped or tied over a wound as an improvised dressing. And, as I've
already mentioned, they can be used to plug a bullet hole until more
sophisticated medical attention can be administered. Accounts of this use date
back to World War I. Many items in modern society were first developed as a
facet of military research - tampons may very well be one of these products.
TAMPON
Survival Use #2: Crude Water Filter
Another excellent tampon survival use is as
a crude water filter. While it will not filter out biological, chemical, or
heavy metal threats, it can certainly be used to filter out sediments and
floating particulates. This would be considered a 1st Phase Filter, which can
drastically increase the life and efficacy of your main water filter. You can
also use a filter like this before boiling to filter out larger particulates.
In this example, I've pushed a tampon into the neck of an empty water bottle. I
poked a small hole in the cap and then poured in dirty water to filter through
the tampon and into the container below.
TAMPON
Survival Use #3: Fire Tinder
Nearly everyone knows that cotton makes
excellent fire tinder. When the dry cotton fibers of a tampon are pulled apart
and hit with a spark or flame, they will burst into a nice steady fire. If
you've done the right amount of fire prep work, you can easily split 1 tampon
into 3 or 4 fire-starting tinder bundles. Add in some chapstick or petroleum
jelly, and you've got an even better fire-starting tinder.
TAMPON
Survival Use #4: Crude Survival Straw Filter
Yes, I have a tampon in my mouth — don't
laugh! As a last ditch water filter, you can make an improvised Survival Straw
from the plastic housing and cotton from a tampon. As you can see in the photos
below, just tear off a bit of the cotton and stuff it into the plastic housing.
I find it better to leave a little bit sticking out to make the housing pieces
wedge tightly together.
Again, this filter will not PURIFY your
water by removing biological, chemical, or heavy metal threats, but it will
filter out sediments and particulates. This would be a last ditch effort if no
methods of water purification were available.
TAMPON
Survival Use #5: Wick for Improvised Candle
In the photo above I used the string on a
tampon as a wick in an improvised candle which I made from rendered animal fat
and a fresh water mussel shell I found down by the creek at Willow Haven. After
the string soaked up some of the fat, this candle burned solid for 20 minutes
while I took the photos and still had plenty of wick left. Pine sap would have
also worked as a fuel.
Learn
more here:
Bruce,
the Poor Man- philosopher, social critic
& cynic
BONUS REPORTS
How to Survive
the War on the Middle Class
14 of the best reports I’ve assembled on protecting your
freedom…Here is the download link. http://1drv.ms/1d9kfiU
Sticking
With a Frugal Lifestyle
These tips can help you live frugally month after month.
These tips can help you live frugally month after month.
Rosefield is
a classic traditional cabin, which can be built for less than $6,000. The
cabin is open plan, which has the advantage of making it far easier, cheaper
and quicker to build than more intricate cabins with separate rooms. This
particular plan also includes a detailed cabin assembly diagram and step-by-step
instructions which includes a foundation guide.
[282sf’]
Related posts:
- Things
You Can Do To Be More Self-Sufficient
- Small
Scale Self-Sufficiency
- Top
10 Tips For Urban Homesteading
- Get your
free credit score
- Cost cutting tips and tricks
- Sources of extra cash
A Final Note…
Contributors and subscribers enable the Poor Man Survivor to post 150+ free essays annually. It is for this reason they are Heroes and Heroines of New Media. Without your financial support, the free content would disappear for the simple reason that I cannot keep body and soul together on my meager book sales & ecommerce alone.
An Unsurprising Study:
School is Making Kids Dumb
Children are born creative geniuses but the public (non)education
system squeezes that creativity out of all but a precious few who are somehow
able to overcome their programming. This
fact is borne out by a study developed for NASA to help the organization
measure the creativity of its rocket scientists and engineers. The test was
successful for NASA’s purposes but led to more questions, like, from where does
creativity come; are creative people
born with it, or is it learned; does it come from the individual’s experiences?
The test’s developers, Dr. George Land and Beth Jarman,
gave the test to 1,600 children ages 4 and 5.
They found that 98 percent of the children fell in the
genius category of imagination.
Land and Jarman decided to make the study long term, so
they tested the children again at age 10.
They found that only 30 percent of those same children now fell in the genius category.
Five years
later, when the children reached age 15, only 12 percent
were geniuses.
When the test was administered to adults ages 25 and up
(average age 31), Land and Jarman found
that less than 2 percent scored at genius level.
Improve
your brain
Battling
brain fog? Chlorophyll doesn’t just make plants
green, it also switches on enzymes that help your liver quickly break down and
excrete fatigue-triggering toxins, according to recent British research. No wonder tiredness and brain fog are often
the first signs that your liver needs a chlorophyll boost. Get it by eating at least four daily cups of
green vegetables such as peas, broccoli, spinach and/or kale. UCLA researchers say fuzzy thinking and
fatigue can be reversed in as little as 10 days.
Support
our efforts by shopping my storefront…
A
Smoking Frog Feature, Shallow Planet Production
2 comments:
Oh boy...that's too funny, the part about going to the store for your wife. All men have probably had that experience. More importantly, tampons have been included in our medical kits for years. They're excellent for stopping bleeding on the battlefield and EMTs use them too.
Love it!
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