Google's How To of the Day

How to Treat a Stingray Sting


On September 4, 2006 Steve Irwin (aka "The Crocodile Hunter") tragically died when a stingray barb pierced his heart. Fortunately, stingray stings are rarely fatal. This article offers tips on how to treat a minor stingray sting when professional medical attention is not possible.
Relax. Despite the tragic death of Steve Irwin, stingray stings are rarely fatal. Stingray stings are caused by a sharp barb that transmits a protein-based venom. This venom causes extreme pain that will spike and decrease over the next several hours, and often leave cuts and abrasions at the sting site. It is common for a sting to bleed and swell.


If you experience any nausea, vomiting, muscle cramping or chills, stop reading this article and go to the nearest emergency room immediately, as this could be a sign of an allergic reaction or overdose of venom.
Expose the sting by removing any clothing around the affected area.
Soak the affected limb in the hottest water tolerable for at least an hour. Because stingray venoms are composed of heat-labile proteins, doing this will cause the venom to be inactivated. Beach lifeguards frequently keep buckets of hot water around the station on busy summer days for this reason. The venom will often become gel or jelly-like and ooze from the open wound--this is desired.
Wrap the wound in a makeshift bandage from any available clean, lint-free cloth soaked in hot water once the wound has stopped oozing.

Use a topical antibiotic to reduce the chance of infection and relieve pain. If the wound site shows any signs of infection, such as redness, prolonged swelling, or pus, seek medical attention immediately. Topical antibiotics are not a substitute for proper medical attention. Untreated infections can result in loss of limbs or death.



Tips
Vinegar, urine, orange juice, or any other liquid besides almost-scalding hot water will NOT be effective against stingray venom. (Acids may, however, ease jellyfish stings.)



Warnings
If in doubt, always seek medical attention, especially if the wound becomes inflamed, or infection does not subside within a few days with at-home treatment. In fact, see a doctor anyway just to prevent that from happening.
Individuals with compromised immune systems such as diabetics or those with HIV/AIDS should pursue immediate and aggressive medical treatment.



Things You'll Need
OTC Antibiotics such as Neosporin or Bactine
Lint-free cloth or part of an old cotton T-Shirt
Hot, fresh water at the warmest temperature that the injured person can tolerate.

well thank heavens you posted this valuable bit of info..........

Yes now you know, don't pee on a sting ray sting, it wont help.

How to Calculate the Distance from Lightning


You know how it is: a thunderstorm is approaching, and suddenly you hear an absolutely deafening clap of thunder. Woah, that sounded close! But how close is the lightning, really? It is difficult to determine the distance of a lightning bolt just by looking at it, and the volume of the thunder isn’t a good way to tell either. Read on for a simple, potentially life-saving method you can use to approximate how far away lightning is.



Steps
Watch the sky for a flash of lightning.
Count the number of seconds until you hear thunder. If you have a watch with a second hand or a digital watch that does seconds, begin timing as soon as you see the lightning and stop as soon as you hear the thunder start. If you don’t have a watch, do your best to count the seconds accurately. Say "One one thousand" in your mind for each second.
Divide the number of seconds by five to calculate the distance in miles (or divide by 3 for kilometers). In other words if you counted 15 seconds from when you saw the lightning, the strike was 3 miles (~5 kilometers) from your location. The delay between when you see lightning and when you hear thunder occurs because sound travels much, much slower than light. Sound travels through air at about 1100-1200 feet per second — (330-350 m/s) a little more than one mile per five seconds (one kilometre per three seconds).
Seek shelter immediately if a storm is approaching.



Tips
If a lot of lightning is occurring close together, it may be difficult to approximate how far away a given flash is, since it will be hard to tell which clap of thunder "belongs" to which flash of lightning. In this case, you’ll need to keep trying the steps above until you can finally be certain that a given bang resulted from a given flash.
If you are in an area with a lot of background noise (if you are on a busy city street, for example, or working around heavy machinery) you may not be able to determine when thunder starts, if you can hear it at all.
Sound travels through air at slightly different speeds depending on air temperature and relative humidity (density). The difference is fairly small, however, and won’t substantially affect your calculations. For more information, see the sound speed calculators in the external links section below.
Tell people. Many people still believe the myth that the number of seconds you count is equal to the number of miles away the lightning is.



Warnings
This is not an exercise to perform outside. If there’s lightning around, get to shelter immediately.
Lightning can be deadly. These instructions can help you avoid danger, but only if you take action when lightning is near. See the related wikiHow article below for more information on staying safe in a thunderstorm.
Storms can travel very fast, and lightning frequently strikes up to 10 miles from a storm (occasionally up to 50 miles). Thus, even if you determine that the lightning is quite far away, you should seek shelter, as the next strike could be much closer.
Due to the way sound travels and how various objects, such as mountains and buildings, interact with soundwaves this is NOT the most reliable way to predict lightning distance. Don't let your life depend on it. Listen to local weather authorities.







External Links
National Weather Service Description of the “bang-flash" method described above, with a handy reference table
Georgia State University Speed of sound calculator
EnviroMeasure Another speed of sound calculator; this one takes humidity into account
USA Today Transcript of a chat about lightning with a meteorologist
[1] CSGNetwork.com Lightning Distance Calculator

Anna wrote:

How to Calculate the Distance from Lightning


You know how it is: a thunderstorm is approaching, and suddenly you hear an absolutely deafening clap of thunder. Woah, that sounded close! But how close is the lightning, really? It is difficult to determine the distance of a lightning bolt just by looking at it, and the volume of the thunder isn’t a good way to tell either. Read on for a simple, potentially life-saving method you can use to approximate how far away lightning is.



Steps
Watch the sky for a flash of lightning.
Count the number of seconds until you hear thunder. If you have a watch with a second hand or a digital watch that does seconds, begin timing as soon as you see the lightning and stop as soon as you hear the thunder start. If you don’t have a watch, do your best to count the seconds accurately. Say "One one thousand" in your mind for each second.
Divide the number of seconds by five to calculate the distance in miles (or divide by 3 for kilometers). In other words if you counted 15 seconds from when you saw the lightning, the strike was 3 miles (~5 kilometers) from your location. The delay between when you see lightning and when you hear thunder occurs because sound travels much, much slower than light. Sound travels through air at about 1100-1200 feet per second — (330-350 m/s) a little more than one mile per five seconds (one kilometre per three seconds).
Seek shelter immediately if a storm is approaching.



Tips
If a lot of lightning is occurring close together, it may be difficult to approximate how far away a given flash is, since it will be hard to tell which clap of thunder "belongs" to which flash of lightning. In this case, you’ll need to keep trying the steps above until you can finally be certain that a given bang resulted from a given flash.
If you are in an area with a lot of background noise (if you are on a busy city street, for example, or working around heavy machinery) you may not be able to determine when thunder starts, if you can hear it at all.
Sound travels through air at slightly different speeds depending on air temperature and relative humidity (density). The difference is fairly small, however, and won’t substantially affect your calculations. For more information, see the sound speed calculators in the external links section below.
Tell people. Many people still believe the myth that the number of seconds you count is equal to the number of miles away the lightning is.



Warnings
This is not an exercise to perform outside. If there’s lightning around, get to shelter immediately.
Lightning can be deadly. These instructions can help you avoid danger, but only if you take action when lightning is near. See the related wikiHow article below for more information on staying safe in a thunderstorm.
Storms can travel very fast, and lightning frequently strikes up to 10 miles from a storm (occasionally up to 50 miles). Thus, even if you determine that the lightning is quite far away, you should seek shelter, as the next strike could be much closer.
Due to the way sound travels and how various objects, such as mountains and buildings, interact with soundwaves this is NOT the most reliable way to predict lightning distance. Don't let your life depend on it. Listen to local weather authorities.







External Links
National Weather Service Description of the “bang-flash" method described above, with a handy reference table
Georgia State University Speed of sound calculator
EnviroMeasure Another speed of sound calculator; this one takes humidity into account
USA Today Transcript of a chat about lightning with a meteorologist
[1] CSGNetwork.com Lightning Distance Calculator

hmmmm tired of playing SIMS?