Things everyone should know.

[Vanguard3000]

What do you consider life skills? Things that people should know? Things that would make the world a better place if everyone knew them, perhaps? I'd like to make a list of these things. I'll start with a few examples. When listing things, keep in mind the forum rules, so no "how to pick locks" or "how to silence witnesses".

The Heimlich Manoeuvre

http://health.indiamart.com/emergencies/choking.html

Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)

http://depts.washington.edu/learncpr/

Morse code and phonetic alphabets

http://www.soton.ac.uk/~scp93ch/morse/

[thomas]

good pick up lines ;) 8) I'm serious htey make the world of differance in picking up chicks. ;D

[slaphapy]

Morse code???

in case you missed it there was this little invention, it's called a telephone :P

lol j/k j/k

[SurlyPIG]

I think everyone should know basic first aid proceedures, and what to do in an emergency (this ties in with CPR and the Heimlich - don't have link but courses and certification are cheap and readilly availible)

Good suggestions. I already know CPR and the Heimlich (getting CPR and first aid certified soon), but I'm not exactly sure what the morse code is for...Emergency signals of some kind? BTW the new name for the Heimlich Maneuver is abdominal thrust. The Heimlich family actually sued unions of medical associations and institutions for unauthorized use of their name. Unbelievable, isn't it? They sued because their name is attached to a common proceedure that saves lives. Thankfully instead of settling, the defendants simply changed the name.

[Vanguard3000]

Slaphapy: Just because something is old, doesn't mean it's not useful.

ACE: That's insane. I would be honoured to have such a technique named after me.

Also, unit conversions (Pounds -> kilograms; Fahrenheit -> Celcius -> Kelvin) are very important to know.

[slaphapy]

Also, unit conversions (Pounds -> kilograms; Fahrenheit -> Celcius -> Kelvin) are very important to know.

ya unit conversions would be a very usefull thing to know

at least untill they finally get everyone on the metric system or something

[Acriku]

It's against the law here to practice cpr without a certificate of authorization that shows you took a class and passed. Even if you save the person.

[Vanguard3000]

I know it's illegal in some places. Still, it's a good thing to know. If I were dying or whatever, I'd rather have someone with "amateur" CPR knowledge around than someone with no knowledge at all.

[slaphapy]

well, in the USA it's not exactly illegal to do it without a practice, the thing is if you do cpr on someone to try and save them, and they die... then as most people in the US do, the family will be trigger happy and sue u!!!

BUT FORTUNATELY they have a law that is called something like good citizenship (i know that's not it, it's something else) but it keeps the other family from making a lawsuit against you...

it's a good law...

the problem with the whole cpr thing, and having a certificate to proove that you are qualified to do cpr on someone is that the thing expires like after a couple months or something so you have to take a test on it once or twice a year....

although i suppose it makes sense there are some things that you do need to refresh your mind about, like where to place your hands so that you dont' break their xyphoid ...

[thomas]

another good skill and I'm not kidding is how to use a computer.

[Terror]

well, I would like everyone be able to speak english well enough so you can say all the basic things. Ofcourse, this is almost already happening. Most younger generations, and even some older generations can speak english quite decent.

for the rest, i wouldn't realy know