Consumer Self Defense Tear Gas and Pepper Sprays: Do They Work?

By Dean Carraway

What goes into a self defense spray? The one commonly available today to the consumer can a single chemical, or a combination of 3 different irritating agents. Two of them are tear gas which is a mucous membrane irritant. Upon contact, it burns the eyes causing uncontrolled tearing, and copious mucous secretions.

The 3rd and most common ingredient is OC (Oleoresin Capsicum), which is the hot part of chili peppers. OC is not only an irritant, it is also an inflammatory agent and when it contacts the mucous membranes it causes choking and an unbelievable burning sensation. It can also cause temporary blindness from the burning pain.

How does tear gas and pepper spray compare when used? With tear gas, you generally cannot fight through the pain. Since the tearing and choking is uncontrollable, it will blind and choke the victim if it contacts the mucous membranes. However, tear gas isnt as effective for drug crazed, drunk or super tough assailants.

Tear Gas isnt effective on wild animals or dogs, pepper spray is.

Tear gas as the name implies, disburses into a gaseous form; you dont have to nail the attacker in the eyes. You just have to get it close. With pepper spray, you have to either hit the attacker in the eyes or mouth for it to be effective.

Tear gas takes take longer to be effective, anywhere from 5 seconds to 30 seconds, while the effects of pepper spray are almost instantaneous.

You can wash pepper spray off with soap and water, but with tear gas they'll have to suffer the effects for hours or days. MACE has a pepper spray gel however that is hard to wipe and wash off! They also have a "triple action" product, that contains both tear gas AND pepper spray so you have the best of all three chemicals. It also contains a UV dye so the cops can easily ID the person who attacked you.

So what so good about carrying these types of sprays? They have been time tested by police all over the world and are still heavily used for crowd control today. They are non-lethal and very effective when sprayed in the face of an attacker, giving you plenty of time to run! Because of its non-deadly effectiveness, unlike a gun, you may actually use it before being hurt by your assailant, and this early action may save your life. Sprays are cheap, and legal almost anywhere.

Self-defense sprays also have their limitations too. For instance, it may take a moment for the pepper spray to start burning and disable the attacker. In that time he can still attack you, or worse take your pepper spray from you and use it against you! If you spray it into the wind, you may end up with MACE in the FACE!

How is "hotness" measured? Pepper spray is rated in two ways: OC% and SHU rating. The % you see listed on the can explains how much OC is in the container relative to the other ingredients (propellant, dyes, etc.). However, this percentage cannot always be used to compare the "hotness" of different pepper sprays, and there are mixtures of various potencies of OC.

The other standard rating for pepper spray "hotness" is the Scoville Heat Unit or SHU. This number represents the amount of capsasin in the OC. Since different manufactures use different grades of OC, the percentage of OC in a spray becomes irrelavant. It's the SHU or amount of capsasin that matters. Look for a SHU rating of 2 million or higher for a real punch in your pepper spray!

Will pepper spray expire? How often should I replace my pepper spray? Most sprays have an expiration date stamped on the side of the canister. OC will not degrade over time, but the propellant may, and then the unit may not spray as far as expected, if at all. To make sure that propellant does not go bad, you should test your spray every 90 days. Every time you perform a test, you reduce the contents of the canister. If you are using a key chain model and you test regularly you may need to replace the unit every 9 to 12 months.

How long do the effects last? The burning takes a few seconds to kick in, and usually lasts from 15 minutes to an hour, depending on the SHU rating. The UV Dye can "tag" a person for up to a week!

In what situations am I allowed to use pepper spray? Whenever you feel that you are in danger of being harmed. It's not ok to use the spray in an offensive manner, and you are not allowed to protect property with it. Only use pepper spray to defend life.

What is difference between foam, spray, gel, and fogger? It depends on what your going to need it for. Mace brand gels and foams are preferred by many as they are really hard to wipe off and they still spray in a stream, and it just spreads and burns! The stream is easier to aim into the eyes and mouth. The fogger is good for crowd control.

Storage of pepper spray? Always store it at room temp as the propellant is under pressure. Keep it away from children and don't leave in you car on a hot day. You might get a surprise!

Think in advance how you want to carry your pepper spray. In a typical assault, you get no warnings and you will get attacked when you least expect it. Carry your pepper spray with you whenever possible, and keep it in the same place. You can put it in a loose outer pocket of a jacket or inside a pants pocket, or in a purse with an open pocket. Try a few different carrying methods and find good accessible locations for you. Practice and make sure you can draw it quickly in an emergency situation.

The keychain pepper sprays are very convenient, and you are more likely to carry them with you all the time because of their smaller size.

How should I use my pepper spray? It's very important that you get some practice with the specific spray you are going to carry. Study the canister, the nozzle, and the dispenser. Take your canister to an open field, make sure the wind, if any, is at your back, and fire it for about two seconds. How far will it spray? Is the spray a stream or a foggy mist? How did it react to the wind? Can you spray it into the eyes of an attacker?

When threatened, make sure you have distance between you and the attacker. Don't get within their stiking distance. Fire 2 or 3 second bursts directly into the eyes of the attacker. If it is not working, give them another two seconds. The small pocket or purse size will give you between 5 and 10 seconds of continual fire. Once the threat is stopped, run immediately and call the police. If your spray contains UV dye, tell the police that so they can ID the bad guy.

Is Pepper Spray Legal in my state? Pepper spray is LEGAL in all fifty states. However, some states and cities have specific regulations pertaining to the purchase, possession and use of defense sprays. Please check with your local law enforcement agency for any regulations your state may have.

New York: the sellers must be local licensed firearm dealers or local pharmacies. Massachusetts: the buyer is required to obtain a Firearms Identification Card (FID); the sellers must be local licensed firearm dealers. Michigan: OC Pepper Spray can be no stronger than a 2% concentrate. CS is the only Tear Gas accepted. Both must be no larger than 35 grams per can. No combination sprays allowed. Wisconsin: Pepper spray only. No Tear Gas, UV Dye or combination sprays. OC Pepper Spray can be no stronger than a 10% concentrate. The can must be between 15-60 grams only. They must have safety feature. California: Canisters cannot be more than 2.5 ounces. Animal Repellents such as bear spray and dog spray are legal and can be shipped to New York, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Is there anyplace where I cannot carry pepper spray? Yes. You cannot carry any pepper spray on an airplane or in carry-on luggage or in the passenger area. The FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) allows one Pepper Spray (up to 4 oz) per traveler in your checked luggage only.

Can I wash pepper spray off? If you get pepper spray on yourself, dont panic. Water, soap and time are all that is needed to decontaminate you. Exposure to fresh air should help, too. Remove all contaminated clothing. Flush the affected area with cool water. Warm water may intensify the burning and inflammation. Do not rub your face! Wash the affected area with non-oil or cold cream based soap. Don't apply oily lotions--they will trap OC resin onto your skin. Have a doctor examine the exposed area if any irritation or pain persists after the decontamination procedures. - 16928

About the Author:

Get the latest in quality MACE self defense sprays at PepperMace.org. We also have the lowest prices with FREE SHIPPING onTasers and Stun Guns

Using An Outbound Marketing Firm To Growing Your Business

By Terry Stanfield

During a tough economy any business is facing currently, it is necessary to see where budget cuts can be made. Cutting sales and marketing is detrimental to the growth of the business but finding lower cost alternatives to replace expensive current activities can help the business. This article will explain why a prospecting company can be one such lower cost alternative.

A down economy makes you want to keep your staff as productive as possible. With sales, the key is to focus upon what you are good at doing. If you are more successful at closing sales, using a prospecting company will allow you more opportunities to close business, thus lowering your cost per client.

One of the biggest obstacles for most companies is an inconsistent sales pipeline. The consistent use of a an outbound telemarketing company can help keep your sales pipeline full so that your sales can increase.

You are able to focus your valuable time prospecting the individuals who are interested in your business. This lowers your cost in finding new clients because you do not have to deal with the tedious process of identifying interested individuals.

The example of a sales funnel is often used with prospecting. You have to talk to many people before finding interested people but you can conserve your time by outsourcing the funneling of prospects down to the few interested ones coming back to you.

This tough economy dictates that you must be extremely attentive to how you spend your marketing dollars. Using an outbound telemarketing company can allow you to track your dollars closely and help you increase sales while spending the amount of money available in your marketing budget.

Many businesses and individuals will fail to respond to a prospecting company over the phone when times are good. Tough times makes these people and businesses more receptive to talking with others about how to save money so you can avoid costly mailings and increase sales with a telemarketing campaign.

Many prospecting companies have telephone automation systems that normal businesses do not have. This allows them to touch sometimes five to six times as many prospects as your salespeople do.

Using a prospecting company can be very simple for you track and see how much it costs for you to get new clients. You can build a fixed number into your budget so that you can achieve a certain number of new clients.

Many firms have layoffs during a tough econmic times and pare down their spending. If you find that you are in a similar boat and do layoffs, you can continue to increase sales with less staff by using an outbound telemarketing company. A recession will cause you to look at the bottom line very closely. Watching how much it costs to gain a new client is one such way to grow sales and one way to grow sales in a cost-effective manner is through using an outbound prospecting company. - 16928

About the Author:

Visit Valerie Schlitt's site for information on outbound telemarketing and business to business telemarketing programs.

Security Concerns With Including A File With PHP 4 Platforms

By Chris Channing

PHP 4 is now becoming less used across the Internet, and instead being switched out with newer versions such as PHP 5. There have been many modifications that have been done under the hood, so to speak, and specifically webmasters will notice that they will have to find a new syntax in order to include remote files into a webpage.

Templates are usually the benefactors of including a remote file, as it makes it incredibly easy to read the resulting code and cuts down on bulk. PHP4 allowed developers limitless use of the include function in which to accomplish this, but PHP 5 is less lenient due to what is called an XSS attack, or cross-site scripting attacks. As a result, developers now have to learn new methods in including remote files.

An XSS attack will seek to inject code into a webmaster's website and attempt to run it. By using the normal include function that PHP 4 allowed for, this means that an attacker could easily include files from another server located anywhere in the world. In doing so, servers could become "zombies" that could spam or attack other websites and users at will, all without the webmaster knowing.

The configuration command we are referencing here is "allow_url_fopen." When functioning as a default installation, PHP 4 will allow this configuration to be on, while PHP 5 will default it as off. It essentially shuts down absolute file paths for PHP 5 users, so there is more emphasis on using relative paths. Don't fret, relative paths are just as easy to use and more secure.

Another method of using the include function in PHP 5 is to simply call the server's own base directory for calling files. This way the same syntax can be observed. The server variable for this base directory, "$_Server['document_root']," takes the place of the webmaster's domain name when including a file. Using this server variable, in effect, allows webmasters to still use absolute paths in their include functions. This is useful for bypassing changing all include functions to accommodate for relative paths.

It is recommended that the "allow_url_fopen" command be kept off, even though it could be easily changed in the server configuration if access to the server is granted. If for some reason there is no possible way to keep this configuration setting off, there should be more focus on sanitizing any input a user on a website might have into a database or variable. After all, web servers got along fairly fine with the setting defaulted to on in PHP 4.

Closing Comments

PHP 4 is slowly fading into the background as new standards are accepted and put into use. PHP 5 is going to continue in popularity, and the good news is XSS attacks will downsize considerably along the way as a result. - 16928

About the Author:

Learn more on url file access is disabled in the server configuration lunarpages and url file access is disabled in the server configuration dreamhost.

How to Increase Business through Using a Prospecting Company

By Terry Stanfield

A recession causes anyone to look more closely at the bottom line and how any resources can be changed to improve profits. A prospecting company can be one such resource. This article will explain why you will want to look at a prospecting company to gain more sales at a lower cost.

A prospecting firm takes care of the outbound telemarketing that can communicate the benefits of your business. This can free up your salespeople to focus on other activities that they do well. The dread of outbound telemarketing can lower the productivity of your salespeople so placing this task on the shoulders of a prospecting firm can help you increase sales.

One of the biggest obstacles for most companies is an inconsistent sales pipeline. The consistent use of a prospecting company can help keep your sales pipeline full so that your sales can increase.

Many companies do not watch their advertising dollars very carefully. Using an outbound telemarketing company can allow you to closely track your return on investment and often is more cost effective than expensive television advertising campaigns.

Most businesses reduce their expenditures during a recession. You can choose to spend less money but use an outbound telemarketing company because this is a fast and inexpensive way for you to develop leads, increasing sales in your company.

Any business in a recession will watch their dollars very closely and want to be extremely frugal with them. Using a prospecting firm can allow you to free up current staff to work more closely with existing customers to gain more market share while still filling a new customer pipeline.

Businesses or individuals often are more receptive to ways to save money during a recession. Outbound telemarketing companies can have greater success due to this cost consciousness during a recession than during an economic boom.

With marketing budgets decreasing, few of your competitors will be apt to do business over the telephone. Using a prospecting company can allow you to increase your market share so that your sales increase either at that point or in the future when buyers reopen their wallets.

McGraw-Hill did a study to compare maintaining marketing activities and dollars versus reducing them during a recession. They found that those who maintained and increased this dollar amount enjoyed a 275% increase the first year after a recession and this is a spectacular argument why to spend money on an outbound telemarketing company.

Many firms have layoffs during a recession and pare down their spending. If you find that you are in a similar boat and do layoffs, you can continue to increase sales with less staff by using an outbound telemarketing company. A recession will cause you to look at the bottom line very closely. Watching how much it costs to gain a new client is one such way to grow sales and one way to grow sales in a cost-effective manner is through using an outbound telemarketing company. - 16928

About the Author:

Visit Valerie Schlitt's site for information on outbound telemarketing and business to business telemarketing programs.

The Reverse Mortgage is Great Except for This..

By Matt Vanrock

Many older home owners are beginning to use the reverse mortgage to get rid of some financial problem. To do so you need to be at least sixty two and have a pretty good equity position in the home.

It is definitely case by case in terms of whether the reverse mortgage is the right decision. For many it certainly is.

Those refinancing with the reverse mortgage can use funds in any manner they deem necessary. I find most are getting themselves out of their current mortgage to free up money. Others want to pay off debt or to supplement income.

It's pretty easy to see why the reverse is becoming so popular. Using this mortgage a borrower can solve their problem, not be forced to make payments to the bank, and never lose title to the home.

Additionally, interest rates are very competitive. Traditional mortgages have interest rates just barely better than the reverse.

As long as the program is explained properly the reverse mortgage is a very strong financial option. However, it is not without fault.

When comparing closing costs of forward and reverse mortgages you'll find reverse closing costs to be much higher.

You gotta wonder why this is the case.

Well, the biggest reason are the origination fees, mortgage insurance and title insurance are based upon the appraised value rather than the mortgage amount. The other main point is HUD insurance is two percent.

Put your calculator to given home value and these costs are fairly hefty.

The reverse mortgage is a great mortgage except for the costs. As such one must be thoughtful before going forward with this.

Reverse mortgage companies provide a disclosure which discusses the cost of the mortgage annually. It takes into consideration these closing costs.

The document will show annualized costs over various years in the future.

The idea of the disclosure is to show how the actual cost of the mortgage reduces as you get further and further away from closing.

The idea is to give you real data to help you determine, based upon the actual costs, if the reverse mortgage is for you. - 16928

About the Author:

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Is There a Way to Burn the Fat and Keep the Muscle?

By Ricardo d Argence

The reason why most people choose to go on a diet or exercise is not because they are concerned about the amount of unsightly muscle on their body. It is a sad fact that this is the idea that most people bring to losing weight.

They do end up losing weight because of this, but the weight loss is from muscles instead of fat. But, there are good ways to maintain your current muscle mass while losing weight, which is good news.

The main mistake that most people make during an attempt at weight loss is to cut back on caloric intake too substantially. This is logical because you gain a pound in weight for every 3,000 calories you consume and don't burn. Unfortunately, this is the worst tactic you could try if you don't want to lose muscle.

When your body stores up fat in the first place, it does so because it wants to have a backup supply of energy in case you go through a famine period. That is a period when you don't have enough to eat to keep you alive.

You might think that when you stop taking in calories your body would automatically start using up these stockpiles but that's the case. Those are the emergency, last resort rations.

So you don't need as many calories in the first place which makes it harder for you to lose weight,first, your body is going to convert your muscle mass into energy and that's going to slow your metabolism.

A better plan is to gradually reduce your calorie intake and let your body adjust to the changes. For example, you might reduce your calories by 10% the first week, another 10% the second week, and so on. This prevents your body from going into starvation mode.

You must perform the proper excercises in order to burn fat and not muscle. To focus on cardiovascular workouts, is what most fitness instructors and health advocates are going to tell you. It will help your heart and lungs get stronger so you can do more exercise without getting worn out, so it's a good way to start.

But, it will be great if you need add some weight training to that recipe at least 2 to 3 times a week. That way you'll be replenishing lost muscle and adding new muscle mass. Your metabolism is going to increase which means you'll burn off more calories and lose weight if you have a lot of lean muscle mass in your body.

You'll also see another benefit of adding some weight training into the mix, muscle tone. Many people who lose weight too quickly or without properly exercising end up flabby.

Plastic surgery is always an option, but of course, this comes with risk as well as being expensive. The best way to increase your muscle tone and to prevent loose skin is exercising while you lose weight. - 16928

About the Author:

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One way links link exchanges and link popularity

By reklicom

Why do i charge to attending for alternate links, backlinks or one way links ? basicly the added links pointing to your online website or blog the added important the seek engines anticipate you are. bethink seek engines are robots and if they spider your website all they are searching for are agreeable and links.

To be acknowledged with your internet business, you will acquire to absorb abounding altered business methods. There are two altered bond strategies that you wish to use. These are recipricol bond and one way linking. This commodity will focus on one way bond which is an important cartage architecture strategy.

The one way or backlink blazon is a little added difficult as what you are allurement a simalar website buyer to do is, set up a hotlink from their website to castigation administration their cartage and appropriately highlighting your accent to the seek engines. these are the a lot of powerfull links to accretion and accordingly added difficult to get authority of, some websites will action featured links this normaly contains your logo discription and hyperlink to your site, for a fee of course. addition way to get chargeless one way links is by commodity writing.

After you acquisition abundant sites that you wish to get one way links from, again go advanced and abide your website to them. Each website will acquire their own rules about bond to them, so you charge to accomplish abiding that you yield the time to apprehend about their rules. This is important because if you don't do this again you will acquisition that your website may not be affiliated on their site, which will beggarly that you won't get cartage from that site.

So you acquire no hotlink to your website to added admitting your website will consistently be linked. But one point needs to be reminded that the commodity should not be awkward and of no benefit. The commodity should be simple to read, informative, acquire all the answers that you're searching to accomplish it through added and added amount of users.

Never get involed with affairs that action to get you bags of links pointing to your website in an instant, google can peanalise you for it so beware.

Accomplish abiding your hotlink on addition website has ballast argument with it, already afresh if your affairs cat aliment affection this in the ballast argument and do not cover things hotlink bang actuality bang me ect ect. - 16928

About the Author:

Rekli search engine optimization and one way links service is an old and valuable service