Safety Tips - Blog Posts

safety thingy

Hey guys i normally don’t post this kind of thing, but as a freshman at a new university and I’ve already experienced and seen some things, I feel the need to say this.

on my campus in the last two weeks we had an unfortunate incident where a physic ward patient broke out of the hospital across from the campus, stole scrubs and snuck into the locked dorm building to commit suicide. The school tried to cover it up by saying that a staff member found the victim when it was actually a second year student.

shortly after this incident, campus security got slightly better. However instead of reassuring the students and staff, they chose to bad mouth the man and his family while also saying that the student deserved to find the man.

then not even a week later a very close friend of mine that lives in the dorm directly above me, had experienced a horrible situation that has left not only our mostly female campus on edge but also my friend as her dorm was broken into and was r@ped very early in the morning. I have gotten her permission to share this as she also wants to warn any new students to university.

college can be fun but there are many things that you should be careful of.

Always lock your door: it doesn’t matter if you’re just going to use the bathroom or to get a water, take your keys with you and lock the door behind you. My roommate and I have club that we place one the door when we’re sleeping to ensure that we feel protected.

dont hold the door open to strangers to the building: if you don’t know that they for sure live in the dorm, don’t hold the door for them

if possible, late at night if you need to go anywhere out of the dorm: bring a buddy and stay with the buddy

be careful about who sleeps over in the dorm: let’s say your roommate has friends over and they are drinking. If you aren’t comfortable with them staying over as they can’t drive home, ask your roommate if it would be possible for them to Uber home. 5. if you live in the first floor of your building: ensure that all windows are locked before you go to sleep

I have a few other tips that I will be including in a separate post as this one is getting quite long, but please please ladies and gentlemen stay safe and if you don’t feel safe walking alone call your campus security as they can walk/drive you back to your dorm. I have used this twice in the last week as my friends and I have not felt safe walking back from the library to our dorms.

stay safe and I wish you all luck on your finals

love,

Daphie :3

Masks for Protest Safety

I have seen a lot of people out protesting without masks. I want to point out that masks are not just for safety from illness! If you're at a protest that seems at risk of turning violent or being extra controversial in some way (being held in a hostile conservative area, for example) it is a very good idea to have a mask on you to avoid facial recognition software. Even if you don't do anything wrong there is always a chance law enforcement could give you a hard time for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time (particularly if you are a minority).

Other useful tips: Keep your phone turned off or carry a burner, wear long clothes to protect from chemical agents (and cover identifying tattoos), bring water (to wash eyes and drink), don't post photos of people without their consent, avoid contact lenses and eye makeup (due to pepper spray), don't carry anything you wouldn't want to get arrested with (drugs, valuables, etc), avoid loose hair and jewelry that can get caught or grabbed, write down (maybe on your skin) or memorize contact info for people you are with.

This post was prompted because I noticed throughout my fundraising that I have not sold any masks. This is totally fine, I've made plenty of other sales and stickers usually have the highest margins anyway. I do hope this means most of you are using keffiyehs or masks you have left over from Covid though! It's good to be safe (I'm always nagging the friend I'm raising money for to take more safety precautions at his protests, haha).

Here is a small sample of some of the masks I have:

As usual, ALL PROCEEDS from these are for my Palestinian best friend, to help his girlfriend afford to join him safely in America and to help his friends and family in Palestine and around the rest of the Levant who are being hurt directly and/or financially by the attacks on Gaza, the increasing Israeli raids in the West Bank and the collateral damage in surrounding countries. All designs found here (Redbubble will show you a random product, click on each to see more product options such as masks, stickers, shirts, mugs, etc). I'm still adding new ones nearly daily.

Thank you so much to everyone who has helped out so far!

Useful info.

Safety with non-electric heating, aka "Don’t Fuck Around with Carbon Monoxide”

If you don’t have to deal with this kind of cold normally you might be tempted to use what you have for heat, but you might not know what’s safe. This is non-exhaustive and I’ll link as many resources as I can, but the bottom line is you gotta be extremely careful when burning anything for heat because even with ventilation carbon monoxide can easily build up and that shit can kill you fast if you don’t notice.

-Never idle a car in an enclosed space. If your garage is attached to your house, never warm up the car in your garage even with the door open. If your garage is detached, you can warm up the car in the garage as long as the garage door is wide open.

-Don’t sleep in an idling car, especially during a snowstorm. A few reasons: First, if it runs out of gas during the night you’re stuck with no heat AND no fuel to get anywhere. If it snows overnight it could block your exhaust pipe and allow CO to flood the cabin. And this last one is rarer but even with a perfectly clear exhaust pipe, there could be a leak in your exhaust system that allows CO to build up.

If the car is the only warmth available, idle it for brief periods to warm up and then turn it off and set an alarm to idle it later. Open the windows every once in a while to vent the air.

-Never pile up snow around your car. Either you got snowed in, or you’re stranded off the side of the road. You’d think that snow will insulate the car and let you stay warm longer- DO NOT. Snow makes it harder for rescuers to find you. It gets your car even more stuck and it’s really easy to damage your car in the process of digging it back out. Finally if you block the exhaust system too much then CO will quickly build up in the cabin. 

-Never start a car when the tailpipe is blocked by snow. Even in the short time it takes to dig out the car, CO can reach deadly levels. Dig the car out first, THEN start it.

-Never use propane or charcoal (like a grill) for heat indoors. I get it, it’s available, but it’s incredibly dangerous. People have already been hospitalized in Houston this week from using their grills for heat. These grills are made to be used outside, where there’s no way for dangerous gases to build up. Also, it’s a huge fire risk.

-Never use an oven or gas range for heat. Same reasons as propane.

-If your house has a fireplace and chimney, don’t use it unless you know it’s been inspected and deemed safe. Just like a blocked exhaust pipe on your car, a blocked chimney won’t vent CO properly and it can build up in your home. Also, if it hasn’t been inspected in a long time, it may be structurally unsound or full of stuff like twigs or squirrel nests that are a serious fire risk.

-If you have a gas generator, make sure it’s far enough away from your house. Never run it inside, or in a basement or garage.

-Get a battery-powered CO detector.

Click2Houston: Carbon Monoxide Safety Primer

NSC: Basic CO Safety

CPSC: CO Information Center and Resources