*Munch* And now it's not.
*Munch*
And now it's not. In keeping with the entrepreneurial spirit of survival information-sharing, I would advise all of you who work in Big Tall Buildings to go here and get one of these. Why? Because about 75% of deaths in fires are due to smoke inhalation, not burning, and because hundreds of people died on 9/11 because they couldn't get down the single remaining stairwell in the South tower. Not because of fire: because of smoke and toxic gases. The EVAC-U8 smoke hood provides 15-20 minutes of breathable air. It's a chemically reactive filter, which means that it will eliminate carbon monoxide other toxic gasses before you inhale them. The hood itself is transparent and heat resistant. It will keep your eyes clear and prevent your eyebrows from being burned off.
They're $64.95 (I've saved you the research--safehomeproducts.com has the best price at the moment), but if you have to use one in a fire the company will send you another one for free. Also useful for hotels, airplanes, subways...any place that might catch on fire for some reason. I've got one, and it goes where I go.
Now, for those of you near something nuclear (or worried about having something nuclear blown up near you) you can protect your vulnerable thyroid--if nothing else--with Potassium Iodide (KI) tablets. There's a good FAQ on the hows and whys of KI tablets here (basically, it prevents your thyroid from absorbing the damaging radioactive iodine given off during a nuclear event by 'filling it up' with nice happy non-radioactive iodine. This will save you from thyroid cancer ten or twenty years down the road...assuming you survive, of course). You can buy Radblock KI from the ki4u.com site, but they use PayPal which I don't much care for because they require you to submit personal info. I bought my KI from The American Civil Defense Association using a credit card, no problem. The price is about the same, and I didn't have to give my genetic information to PayPal in order to buy it.
There! Astonished Head's Tips For The Practical Paranoid.
