Peeing on a jellyfish sting and taking right turns to outrun a black bear...

[snopes]

We take a crack at some of the popular myths and wives' tales passed down through the generations just in time for summer.

http://www.sunjournal.com/story/2170..._a_black_bear/

[Skeptic]

The bear one reminds me of my grandfather's advice if chased by his cattle - run downhill. Apparently cattle can't run fast down a slope as their bulk causes them to fall over. True or not, anyone??

[tribrats]

Originally Posted by Skeptic

The bear one reminds me of my grandfather's advice if chased by his cattle - run downhill. Apparently cattle can't run fast down a slope as their bulk causes them to fall over. True or not, anyone??

Not true. Seen plenty of cattle run hell-bent down the hill to the barn when they heard the lunch call. And it was an uneven and fairly steep grade. Also seen the neighbor's Angus clear a 4' fence from practically a standstill.

Edited to subtract 2' from the fence. Oops:o They had to make it a 6' fence to keep them in.

[me, no really]

Originally Posted by Skeptic

The bear one reminds me of my grandfather's advice if chased by his cattle - run downhill. Apparently cattle can't run fast down a slope as their bulk causes them to fall over. True or not, anyone??

My Grandfather's advice for this situation was: "jump in the back of the ute - quick"

me

[Muadan]

The advice I was given for outrunning a bear was to trip the person that was with you. Of course we would both die as we would spend all our escape time trying to trip each other

[Skeptic]

Originally Posted by Muadan

The advice I was given for outrunning a bear was to trip the person that was with you. Of course we would both die as we would spend all our escape time trying to trip each other

I have often said that I am the only person in Ireland who has been chased by a rhinoceros. It happened in Nepal. We had been told to throw hats and backpacks behind us as we ran, as the rhino would stop to smell them. But as it happened, we managed to climb a tree very fast.

[Troberg]

As for peeing on jellyfish stings:

The pee contains ammonia which neutralize the sting, as well as being a disinfectant. In other words, yes, it works. Worth noting is that one should, to reduce the risk of infection, only use one's own pee.

I prefer the sting, though.

Escaping a bear:

It doesn't matter if you turn left or right, but turning is good. The bear is several times heavier than most humans found in the wilderness, so a human is more agile and turns easier.

I've seen some footage of a nature documentary maker and his brother being chased by a bear, and they could easily outmanouver it, keeping a tree between them. It was so easy that they even started laughing.

Another way I don't recommend was something I told some americans while online gaming and I had to leave to take a leak (no jellyfish involved, just a bladder full of Coca Cola). Of course, that's a boring excuse to leave the keyboard, so I wrote: "I have to leave for a while, there's a bear going through my garbage bin again.". When I got back, they were all nervous (because they all knew that bears in the streets are commonplace in Sweden..) and asked how it went. I answered: "No problem, I just whack them over the nose with a broom and the usually move off.".

So, if you hear about someone being eaten by a bear after whacking it with a broom, you know who to blame. (just pretend the fish is a broom and the yellow smiley is a bear and I'm green)

[diddy]

Mythbusters testing the jellyfish cure, They concluded that it helps a bit, but not 100 percent.

[imjustasteph]

Originally Posted by Troberg

(snip)
It doesn't matter if you turn left or right, but turning is good. The bear is several times heavier than most humans found in the wilderness, so a human is more agile and turns easier.

(snip)

Curious...'most humans found in the wilderness'....as opposed to those found in cities?

Are humans who aren't commonly found in the wilderness less likely to be lighter than a bear?

[moonfall]

Weird. I've always been told to use a hot match to remove ticks and alcohol on insect bites. It DOES soothe the itch, even if the effects are temporary. (The article refers to black fly bites, but I usually only put it on ant bites.)

I wonder if it's true that the best way to escape from an alligator is to run in a zigzag pattern? I'm not going to be the one to try it out.

[Troberg]

Curious...'most humans found in the wilderness'....as opposed to those found in cities?

My guess, based on personal experience, is that the people who spend time in the wilderness tend to be less fat than couch dwelling city people. On an average, of course.

I wonder if it's true that the best way to escape from an alligator is to run in a zigzag pattern? I'm not going to be the one to try it out.

Mythbusters tested that one, but I can't remember the result.

I'd always heard that you're supposed to pee on a stingray sting. I know that heat helps to neutralize the sting from a stingray's venom, but I'm not sure if something in urine is supposed to do anything to it or if it's just the heat that helps.

[ganzfeld]

Originally Posted by Troberg

As for peeing on jellyfish stings:

The pee contains ammonia which neutralize the sting, as well as being a disinfectant. In other words, yes, it works. Worth noting is that one should, to reduce the risk of infection, only use one's own pee.

If it's your own sting, do what you like but this is not recommended treatment for jellyfish stings. There are several problems with this treatment: 1) Not all jellyfish stings are the same; They vary greatly in pH. 2) Urine has never been shown by any scientific study to be helpful, even if it did have the "correct" pH. 3) Urine is not always sterile and, when it's not, it can contain some nasty stuff. Using your own pee might minimize risk of viral infection but does little to avoid bacteria, etc. 4) Urine, alcohol and "folk" remedies (which, for some messed up reason also appear in some medical guidelines despite the evidence that they are wrong) have been known to cause further discharge from remaining tentacles. In any case, peeing on a jellyfish sting almost certainly isn't going to help and might hurt. This remedy is pure folklore and there's no reason at all to pee on a jellyfish sting unless you happen to like that kind of thing.

The best first aid treatment for a jellyfish sting, if you're not an expert, is to wash the area with sea water (not fresh water), remove any tentacles and get to medical experts as quickly as possible if pain persists or the patient shows signs of shock -- never to put urine or some other substance on the stings.

The advice in the article, to use vinegar (which you will note is acidic, not alkaline), is also not a certain treatment so I wouldn't do that, either. If you're stung bad enough to need medical treatment, better to get that treatment at a hospital as quickly as possible. If you're not, better to grin and bear it than to make it worse with misinformed treatments.

[Morrigan]

Originally Posted by Troberg

Mythbusters tested that one, but I can't remember the result.

IIRC, the alligator gave up and didn't run very far.

And it couldn't run in a zig zag pattern because of how it was built.

But it was a lazy alligator.

Morrigan

[Nick Theodorakis]

Originally Posted by Morrigan

IIRC, the alligator gave up and didn't run very far.

And it couldn't run in a zig zag pattern because of how it was built.

...

"Serpentine! Serpentine!"

Nick

[guruwan2b]

Originally Posted by Class Bravo

I'd always heard that you're supposed to pee on a stingray sting. I know that heat helps to neutralize the sting from a stingray's venom, but I'm not sure if something in urine is supposed to do anything to it or if it's just the heat that helps.

I was watching some show on TV the other day, some documentary type show about lifeguards. A guy stepped on a stingray and the lifeguards had him put his foot in very hot water. They said the hotter the better. It took several hours for the hot water to neutralize the poison.

Yeah, one of my friends got his foot whacked by a stingray at the beach once and the lifeguards gave him a chemical heat pack to help neutralize the poison.

[Banrion]

Around here, meat tenderizer was always the recommended treatment for jellyfish stings.

[Meka]

Originally Posted by Morrigan

IIRC, the alligator gave up and didn't run very far.

And it couldn't run in a zig zag pattern because of how it was built.

But it was a lazy alligator.

Morrigan

More or less. As I recall, the conclusion was that since alligator attacks occurred in or near water, and the alligators wouldn't pursue prey very far out of the water, the best response was to simply get away from the water as quickly as possible.

[geminilee]

That is pretty much true. Alligators just aren't very aggressive. Crocs may chase you, I don't have much experience with them but I have heard they are much more aggressive than gators. Gators tend to be pretty laid back and lazy, as a rule.