Let it Bleed

Most people say that you should be careful when using sharp objects.  They are trying to tell you to watch out and prevent an accident, whereby you may cut yourself.  Very good advice.

Being a lifelong Scouter (see: Boy Scouts), I pride myself on being prepared.  Preparedness includes, of course, having the experience and tools to be ready for unplanned circumstances.  It means planning for mistakes and, occasionally, accidents.  It means, too, taking precautions so that most accidents can be avoided.

But when accidents do – inevitably – occur, preparedness helps us mitigate the severity of the pain, suffering, and damage.  There is an adage – no pain, no gain – but this is concerned with planned pain, the work that is necessary to become strong.  Bad pain is the kind you can get when you fall down a flight of stairs – or worse.  Many of these accidents can be avoided with precaution and good habits, a huge part of being prepared.  “Be Prepared” is also about tools, including maps, rain gear, lights, extra batteries, and the like.  Of course, it includes First Aid.

What good is a first aid kit without bandages.  Sure, there are needs for other things, but when you are out on a mission with kids or youth, the lowly band aid is what you often need the most.  It is surely an essential, but it is something you don’t really need to think about, a throwaway.  Or is it?

Help is a company dedicated to helping you help yourself.  It makes and sells products to help you when you can’t sleep, have a headache, have allergies, or when you have a blister.  Instead of calling the products by their standard names, often the name of the medicine itself, it names its products by the thing it is trying to remedy – i.e. help® I can’t sleep.

This makes their products a whole lot easier to find – and use.  But then they found a way to go a step further.

Instead of just helping yourself, what if you could help others when you help yourself?  That might be more difficult.  Maybe.  Probably.  But what if it wasn’t?  Would you help?

The answer is pretty easy.  Most people would.  And do.

“Help® I cut myself (and I want to save a life)” costs a bit more than the average bandage.  But you can help save a life when you cut yourself.  And do so without really any substantial effort.  Help partnered with DKMS, the world’s largest bone marrow donor center to provide bone marrow donor registry kits inside packs of help I’ve cut myself.  While you’re bleeding, use the enclosed swab to swipe a bit of the blood.  Then, put the swab in the envelope, fill out the form, and send it off to get it registered in the DKMS database.  It’s that simple.  And, you’re already bleeding.

Watch their humorous video:

So good luck.  Be prepared.  And, next time, let it bleed!

Related articles

• Cut Your Finger And Save A Life With Bandaid Bone Marrow Donor Kits (psfk.com)
• Health tech startup takes on blood cancer with a bandage kit (holykaw.alltop.com)
• Thank You Sharp Objects (e-clecticism.net)
• Marine Donates Bone Marrow, Wins $2.9 Million in Vegas (wdednh.wordpress.com)
• South Street Home Store Hosting Bone Marrow Donor Drive (philadelphia.cbslocal.com)
• Colorado Soldier Desperate For Bone Marrow Transplant (denver.cbslocal.com)
• Bone-Marrow Diseases and Anemia (everydayhealth.com)
• Bone Marrow Drive In Queens (myfoxny.com)

Japanese company unveils iPhone Geiger counter – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Japanese company unveils iPhone Geiger counter – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

Instead of paying ¥60,000 or more for a Geiger counter, this new device, coupled with a standard iPhone, will make it possible for anyone to measure radiation around them following the Fukushima nuclear accident.  At a price of 9,800 yen, the new device and app, called Geiger Bot,

My best days are ahead of me…

I had the great pleasure of celebrating my 49th birthday yesterday! I celebrated it with a 15k run in the afternoon, then another 15k cycle ride with my elder son Stevie in the evening. I am quite convinced that the best way of celebrating growing older is with great health! I feel great!

Actually, I started the celebration Friday evening, going to a Boy Scout camp with the family. It was a rainy evening, but we arrived to a damp camp in Ikego after a 2+ hour train ride. After heavy rains all through the night, we had a fantastic breakfast, then a day filled with camp activities – archery, rock climbing, pumpkin carving, campfire, fright hike, hot dogs, peach cobbler, and lots of running around with a hundred or so kids.

After a 2+ hour ride home after the campfire, on Sunday, the boys and I rode around 25k to a park, played soccer, and had a very active day of fun.

Then, yesterday, on the day itself, I ran and rode to celebrate the next year ahead, which will be the last of my 1st half Century. I’m planning to make the 2nd one even BIGGER!

A friend sent my a card online, in which was included this great musical birthday wish:

I am quite certain, too, that my best days are ahead of me!