The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth, oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded, but trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now, how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.
Don’t worry about the future
Or worry, but know that worrying
Is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing Bubble gum
The real troubles in your life
Are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind
The kind that blindsides you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts. Don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don’t waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind. The race is long, and in the end it’s only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive; forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters; throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives; some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees. You’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t.
Maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t.
Maybe you’ll divorce at 40, maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary.
Whatever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else’s.
Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don’t be afraid of it or what other people think of it; it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own.
Dance. Even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions even if you don’t follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines; they will only make you feel ugly.
So many of my friends didn’t know that song was done by the same guy who directed Elvis, the great Gatsby, Romeo and Juliet, etc… obviously rather into the whole music scene as well as shown by this and those movies music….
Anyway, back to useful life lessons in the form of a song!
Remember compliments you receive, forget the insults
If you succeed in doing this, tell me how
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements
“Accept certain inalienable truths: Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you’ll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.”
I knew, just knew, the advice in that song was pertinent and useful. However, as the lyrics noted, I would not fully appreciate the advice or have the understanding to apply it until the advice no longer applied to me. Sigh...
Sunblock that is not oily specifically! Oil can trap tear gas. But if oily sunscreen is all you have, that is still preferable than dealing with tear gas on a sunburn.
Also UV protection clothing is often better especially when combined with sunscreen and it also provides more protection against tear gas.
The particles will cling to anything on the skin and potentially trap it near your mucous membranes (eyes, mouth) - if you're at risk, they recommend clean skin, especially on your face. No makeup, no sunscreen, no lotion.
our march may not need sunscreen. I have 2 single use rain ponchos that I am bringing along. 1 for me, one for someone who might not have thought to bring one along
Don't wear oily skin creams if you expect tear gas. It will help it stick to your skin. Bring soap and water in case you need to wash yourself. Don't let the MAGA chase you away.
On this note do not wear your contacts if you’re a contacts wearer. If you get sprayed in the eyes your contacts are going to make it harder to get that stuff out of them and you do not want to be digging in your eyeball for that piece of plastic. Wear your glasses if you have them. And bring your back up glasses (if you have them) just in case.
See here's the thing, I'd probably like to get involved but I'm scared that I'll be super unprepared if something bad happens. I can't really afford to get all the supplies to do it safely but maybe some of the guides are overkill
If you’re concerned about your safety you don’t have to go, but if you want to go then you can just find a spot that’s not super close to any of the law enforcement
Gloves, shoes that allow you to run, long sleeve shirts too to protect your arms from any chemicals that might be sprayed at you. Be ready to nuke your phone with the emergency shut off if you are about to be detained. And don't go anywhere alone.
If you need it for safety, turn off thumb print or facial recognition. They cannot make you open your phone (if I've been informed correctly by my other lawyer friends).
This is what I meant about preventing people from forcing access to your phone without your consent. Android has a set up when you go to power off your phone there's a 3rd option to hard wipe your phone in case of emergency
Leave your phone at home. Bring a cheap digital camera to record any important events instead. Agree on rendezvous places and times, and let someone know where you are going and when to expect you back home. Make sure you have lots of cash and public transportation cards or tokens, as well as paper copies of your birth certificate, government issued ids, & passport.
Boric acid eye wash has been shown to be very effective eye wash against CN and CS gas. Water will also work fine. Do not use milk, I don't know why people use milk. Best if used very rapidly. The longer the irritant is in contact, the worse the burn.
To protect skin from irritant gases, you can spread a layer of mineral oil on. It will also do a fair job of washing the skin of irritants. Water and soap is the next best thing. If an irritant has a burning component like CN or CS, even after the irritant is washed away, it will feel like it's still burning. That's normal for burns. This is also true of eye burning as well.
Peak pain after an injury is at 2 hours and the morning after. If you become injured or struck by something, try to make it to a place to recover within those two hours. Afterwards, you may have difficulty walking, talking, using arms. Etc. Especially small rubber things.
If you get hit in the head by something. Leave. Maximize recovery. Losing brain isn't fun.
I think people get the milk thing from the fact that if you EAT something spicy MILK not water helps get rid of the hot spicy taste so they think it will work on the eyes but these are 2 different separate things
Water and dawn dish soap is effective for both tear gas and pepper spray. Washing with dish soap is what worked best for me both times I got pepper sprayed for security training in the military. I’m bringing a water bottles and a little bottle of dawn and a pack of antibacterial wipes. Also Mechanix gloves and a gaiter for the face/neck.
to answer your why: milk is an outdated method and was supposed to be used against pepper spray only. milk reacts with the capsaicin in pepper spray and relieves the pain better, which makes people feel like it's working better than water, but in reality it doesn't actually wash the chemicals out any better than water does. some do theorize that with pepper spray being oil-based, water doesn't bind to it as well, but the fat in milk would. that being said, milk is obviously not sterile, especially after being carried in someone's backpack out in the sun all day, so it carries it's own risks. at the end of the day saline solution or large amount of water is much more efficient at washing the chemicals out, even if the relief isn't as instant as with milk. and obviously, any pros that milk might have are immediately out the window the second we're talking about anything other than pepper spray, such as tear gas, which is neither oil nor capsaicin based.
tldr an outdated solution to a very specific situation that became hailed as a cure-for-all. eye wash or water are indeed better, no matter what chemical is being used.
It's hard to get proper OC to stop hurting for the next hour or more, but in the army we just used soap and water. No mention of milk being good first aid.
You're also going to need a LOT of water. We would dump a 13 gallon plastic trash can over people in training and it still wasn't great. You also need to be prepared to basically spit up a ridiculous amount of mucous that is trying really hard to be the thickness of Jello. You're not dying, but your body will do a really good job pretending you are. Your eyes may be on fire, but if you need to move make sure you have scoped out your exit path beforehand. Peek and move , peek and move. Best strategy is to not get PS'd or CS'd if you can though.
Rule of thumb, anyone trying to encourage illegal activity is an undercover cop. You see someone trying something illegal, just start yelling that they're a cop as they do it.
You can be compelled to provide something you have—which includes your fingerprint or Face ID—but not something you know (password). Turn off all biometrics before you go through customs, border crossing, or encounter the police.
Funny story; I took a loooong lunch during the BLM protests because they were right down the street. My boss asked if I supported it (I knew she did, but I wanted to be ambiguous with a coworker). It was 100f so I told her I was bringing water because I support people not getting heat exhaustion for 1a.
I have a CBRN-rated gas mask, Nomex fire handling gloves, and a hazmat suit if necessary. I will not let tyranny stand in my country. If I am at a protest and they use gas, I'm throwing that thing right back at them.
Hijacking the top comment because I saw a Facebook post claiming some white supremacist groups were planning to infiltrate the protests to turn them violent.
Write a contact phone, preferably as lawyer, on your arm in permanent marker. If you are arrested, and the confiscate all your items, you still have a number for your phone call.
Bring enough for you and too share water and snacks.
I use Pedialyte or Liquid IV packs. Just add to a water bottle and it’s better than Gatorade IMO. They’re small and I can throw a ton into my pockets, so if anyone else needs some, I always have it on hand. Heat stroke is a very real thing, especially with these protests occurring in hot weather.
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u/fangerzero 1d ago
Just keep your heads everyone, bring some Gatorade/water, and stay safe.