Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with safe

I don't want to cuddle my pepperspray all night.

Ms. Saint — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:46:45 -0800

I need to go to a professional conference in New York City at the end of December. I'll be going alone. Where can I find a cheap, safe hotel? I've never been to NYC, and, really, I know more about the city through episodes of Law & Order more than anything else. I really don't want to end up staying in a bad part of town, or a sketchy part of town, but I also really need to find a really cheap hotel. And even though I already know that nothing bad would probably happen to me in sketchy areas, what I want is to feel safe while there. I don't care about size of the room, I don't care about any amenities at all (except internet access would be nice), mostly I just want a place where I can sleep without freaking myself out about being alone in a hotel in a giant, unfamiliar city. So I have some questions that someone more familiar with the town might be able to help with:

1) The hostels (Chocolat Hotel and Hostel, Candy Hostel, etc) look like really good deals, but I don't know anything about them. Does anyone have experience with them, able to tell me if they're good environments?

2) What general areas should I be looking at? I mean, I know the names ("SoHo," "Upper West Side," etc), but I know nothing about what types of neighborhoods those are. Where can I find something cheap, and what areas should I avoid (as being too shady)?

3) What can I expect from a hotel room with a shared bathroom? This whole concept is completely unfamiliar to me -- I've never had a shared bathroom in a hotel. I'm not against it, in theory, but I'd just like to know what to expect. Will I likely have to interact with anyone? Is it the sort of thing that often leads to frustration (the bathroom constantly being used, no hot water when you need it, etc), or is it really not a big deal?

4) Is there anything else I should know?

Thanks for any help you can provide. I looked through all the previous Ask.Me threads about NYC hotels, but: A) only one of them addressed the safety aspect, and it's three years old; B) most of the hotels that answers claimed were available for less than $200 are showing up in Expedia for way more than that.

Also, there's a chance I'll have to cancel my trip, so please don't suggest any discount webpages or anything where cancellations aren't accepted.

Again, thanks!

Help me prevent my house from hurting this child

reenum — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:58:03 -0800

I need to temporarily kid proof my house for a party tomorrow. Any suggestions on how I do this? I'm having a party tomorrow, and one couple was unable to find a sitter. So, they'll be bringing their two and a half year old son with them. I don't mind him coming. I love the kid.

But, I want to make sure my house is safe for the youngster. I'm single and have no kids, so drilling holes and installing baby gates and the like isn't something I want to do.

Are there any temporary measures I can take to make sure the boy doesn't hurt himself while running around my house tomorrow?

Sydney in 5 days.

semmi — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:43:23 -0800

Where to stay and eat inexpensively and safely for a young female passing through Sydney, and what to see there in 5 days.

How to withhold virus infections (of the computer variety) from the ones you love?

Napoleonic Terrier — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:39:59 -0800

Suggestions for cleaning a virus-infected Windows machine appearing in a non-administrator account without resort to (1) the administrator account or (2) a nuke and re-install? So my friend has a user account on her brother's Windows XP SP2 machine, with her brother set up as the password-protected administrator. She has picked up some viruses and/or spyware on her account.

I have booted the machine into safe mode and run some of the programs (such as ComboFix) recommended from prior MeFi posts. With access through safe mode, should I be able to get rid of all the nasties or do I need to run programs from the administrator account? Any other ideas?

She hopes to fix the problem without alerting her brother. So the best solution, a nuke and re-install, is currently off the table.
Thanks!

Is a safe safe in a safe?

sandra_s — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:19:37 -0800

Does putting a fire safe inside of a security safe degrade the fire protection of the fire safe in the event of a fire? 2 safes.

#1 A regular steel security safe that is intended to keep thieves from getting into it. Not air tight, not water tight.

#2 A fire safe/lockbox that is intended to protect important papers in the event of a fire. Air tight and Water tight.

During a house fire, would the temperature/pressure inside the regular steel safe be amplified above and beyond the temperatures experienced during the house fire?

Lets just say generally, because obviously there are infinitely different combinations, capacities and endurance of safes.

Thanks in advance!

Fermented but not bottled after 2+ years

pkphy39 — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:07:45 -0800

[HomebrewBeerFilter]: In the vein of the "should I eat it" questions. I'll cut to the chase - I have had beer fermenting in a 5-gal glass carboy for over TWO YEARS. Unnecessary history: we bought our first house in May of 2007, and have been doing DIY repairs/upgrades and such since closing day (literally). 6 months later, we had our first child. I haven't exactly had tons of free time. But now with a 19-month old (and because it's Father's Day and I can do whatever I want for one day this weekend), I'm working up the resolve to start homebrewing again.

Is it safe to bottle and carbonate this beer (a scottish ale)? Am I going to have a monster alcohol content? Will it even taste good? It's been in a dark room at the same relative temperature since moving day, no growth on top - I think the integrity of the seal has been maintained. But I don't know if I should bother priming and bottling, or just give up and use it as fertilizer.

And if I *DO* opt to use it as fertilizer (seriously), will my yard stink? Grow yeast? Any side-effects? (I recall reading that beer is excellent plant food).

Thanks, MeFites!

India a save place to visit?

Mastercheddaar — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:42:22 -0800

How save is India for travelers? First off I don't mean to sound insulting, I just don't know the answer here.

My mother might have to travel to India because of her job. Some of my family have been wondering if it is save for her to travel alone there. Is this just a "we do not know much about India/ fear of the unknown" type thing or are there some tougher areas that she would want to avoid? How are their attitudes towards Americans?

Thanks

The germs crawl in, the germs crawl out...

Bardolph — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 09:44:47 -0800

Kid's due this spring, and we've amassed huge piles of used baby gear. What are some safe disinfecting procedures that will reliably rid all this stuff of any lurking mold, bacteria AND viruses? I'm not a germophobe or anything, and I understand and believe the hygiene hypothesis-- but with all the stuff in the news recently about what happens When Microbes Attack (black mold! obesity viruses!), I'd at least like the kiddie to start out with a blank slate, flora-wise, instead of Freecycle's Best premium microorganism assortment. Criteria for disinfection procedures: must be

ultimately baby-safe (so, not necessarily completely natural or nontoxic, but should be rinsable or removable to leave a safe end product)
as un-damaging as possible to the stuff itself (won't be easy with fabric cushioning/other mixed-material stuff, I know), and unlikely to break down plastics to yield toxic byproducts
effective against molds, bacteria, viruses, and (ideally) bacterial spores.

My current idea is to start by dousing everything with a mild bleach solution to clear the field, then follow up with Dr. Bronner's Tea Tree Soap and lots of baking in the sun to remove residual chlorine. I was also considering just using lots and lots of 95% ethanol, but wasn't sure whether it'd do much against viruses and molds. Would love to hear critiques and/or better suggestions for how to accomplish this!

How to pop popcorn safely

acoutu — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:02:46 -0800

What's the safest way to make popcorn -- air popper or microwave popper? My microwave popcorn popper just fell on the floor and broke. I'd replace it, but I've grown increasingly skeptical of microwaving a plastic container to make popcorn. The alternative seems to be a hot air popper, but I suspect that also results in heating of plastic. What's the safest way to make popcorn, without ending up with all sorts of plastic leaching? Popcorn is very important to me.

Note: The Silicone Zone popper is reputed to be safer, but it is too tall for my 9" high built-in microwave. And I don't want to pop my corn in oil, since that's not exactly healthy either. I also wonder if microwaving popcorn in a paper bag results in any weird melting of glue and thus some sort of adhesive leaching. It seems I can't win.

Thanks.

Safe Places to live/stay for the coming New World Order.

Nillocsoc — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 10:44:21 -0800

Safe Places to live/stay for the coming New World Order. I am looking for countries, regions around the world that are relative safe-havens for what is occuring. Food shortages, disease, police state, chemtrails, etc...

or where the rockafellers might be staying during this chaos?

Safest banks for my down payment?

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:56:23 -0800

I recently sold my house and got a significant chunk of money which I will be using for my next down payment. It's over the FDIC limit. With all the turmoil going on, I'm looking for suggestions of either a) good, solid FDIC-insured banks to open accounts in, or b) reliable, up-to-date sources of information on bank soundness that are understandable by ordinary folk. Details: I do not know exactly when I will be buying a house - it could be three months, it could be a year. All of the down payment money right now is in ING Direct savings accounts, as part of a revocable living trust. I need to protect between $300K and $400K.

I have banking relationships with USAA and WaMu already as well as ING. I'm not that keen to put anything more into WaMu until the dust settles on who they've raffled themselves off to. So I need two more $100K allowances. I would also like to get as good an interest rate as I can without locking myself into a CD.

Bonus points for having branches in the Berkeley area, for not aggressively pushing a bazillion other products once they've got my cash, and for being able to turn things around very fast when it's time to buy. (Even in this real estate market, houses around here close escrow quickly.)

So what are the best banks for me, or the best ways to find them? I've looked at bankrate.com; how accurate are their ratings?

Superglue for food processor workbowl repair?

sirion — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 05:17:20 -0800

What glue can I repair my food processor work bowl with? Can I use super glue? I dropped my food processor work bowl and put a big crack through half of it. How do I repair it? Superglue would be the easiest, but I'd rather not have toxic chemicals leeching into my sauces. I'd need to use a thin liquid glue of some sort to get inside the crack.

Replacing the work bowl isn't a decent option, unfortunately. I'm in Austria, and bought a multifunction cheapie blender/food processor/mixer, and I might as well buy a whole new one if I need to replace it.

If you give glue brands, please give as much info on the chemicals as possible, as they won't have the same brands out here (also the labels will be in German, and my chemistry vocabulary isn't exactly great in German! :)

Buying travel drugs online, how safe?

parttimeninja — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 11:52:17 -0800

I'll be on the road traveling for a few months so I visited a travel clinic and was prescribed Doxycycline and Ciprofloxacin for malaria and diarrhea, respectively. My question: is it safe to purchase these drugs online (Canadian pharmacy) and if so which sites would you guys recommend?

What to do after losing keys to safe?

suddenfrisson — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:14:54 -0800

What do I do when I lose the key to my Honeywell safe? I recently lost the keys to my own safe. It is a small Honeywell safe which requires both keypad and keys to open. All the pertinent information regarding the safe is actually inside the safe (Oh no!) Does anyone know what to do? Would a locksmith be able to open it if I have the correct passcode?

Travel dates in the months before passport expiration

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 09:12:30 -0800

My U.S. passport expires 13 Oct 08 and I need to book one international trip before then: leaving New York 17 July 08, returning 2 Aug 08 (one destination country, a non-EU-member in Eastern Europe, plus stops for flight transfers in one or two EU member countries). Is it even worth researching various countries' and airlines' how-close-to-expiration-date safety ranges for travel, or should I just assume I MUST renew my passport before then?

SM question?? (very personal)

Anonymous — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 07:41:54 -0800

SM question?? (very personal) I am trying to understand something. This guy I dated was into SM, but said it "wasn't that important" to him. I expressed interest but when we first tried it I thought it was really scary. He was very forceful and teased me about ignoring my safe words. He also tried to do stuff that I had told him not to do when I was in a vulnerable position.

This episode really scared me. However, I liked the guy a lot so I told him that he needed to respect my limits and we needed to take things slow.

Ever since then things were "different" and he pulled away from me sexually. He since broke up with me and said his feelings changed around that time but didn't explain why, just that he felt more like a friend to me.

I don't know much about SM...was his behavior normal for SM? I thought safe words were "sacred," and not to be joked about. Was I wrong to feel scared and like my limits weren't respected? What do you think happened from his perspective? Why would this change his feelings towards me?

"Machine that spits out the shape I want."

scottMontgomery — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:25:08 -0800

Trying to find a company that makes a machine that can make food moulds in the shape of an animal. Anyone? I've heard that there is a German company that makes these machines only I didn't get the name and now I can't seem to find this company anywhere on the internet.

Non-Evil Makeup?

airguitar2 — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 17:08:29 -0800

What kind of makeup is the safest, most natural, and least chemically toxic? I'm trying to re-vamp my makeup collection (foundation, bronzer, mascara, eyeliner, eye shadow) with an eye to makeup that's as natural and least toxic as possible. Realizing that the healthiest thing is to simply wear *no* makeup-- but that sometimes a girl's just gotta do it-- is there a line of makeup that comes close?

I've heard good things about Jane Iredale and mineral-based makeups. Are these safer than the department store brands? What's best for the skin? What about nanotech? Has anyone sifted through the research about this?

Mascarally yours,
airguitar2

Help out my creaking old computer.

By The Grace of God — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 03:00:02 -0800

Succour for Aged Computers Filter: I've got an old computer that is having two problems. 1) When it boots up, it always asks to go into safemode. This is an old problem. 2) when it boots up, I can use the kb to select safemode (or not) or make selections in the bios, but when XP loads up, mouse and kb aren't working! I will note that when I set up this old beast, the kb and mouse worked, and it would usually boot into windows after two or three tries. (It's a backup computer for when there are too many people in the office.) Now, it will boot up after two or three tries, and then the mouse will hover in the centre of the screen; the keyboard won't work (the caps lock key won't even light up at this point, and the green keyboard light goes off).

It's not a USB keyboard - it came with the (Dell) computer and plugs into its dedicated port in the back.

As regards the safemode booting: It boots up, and the black screen ("we apologize..") comes up with the option of safe mode, safemode with networking, load windows normally or load windows with the last working settings. I usually do normally or last working settings, and windows will either load (slowly) or will freeze while loading.

When it does load, the networking etc. are working - i can't test anything due to no mouse or kb input tho! When the kb and mouse were working, everything did work properly when windows would start up.

I'd appreciate help with either or both of these problems. Many thanks in advance.

Help me find old car safety ratings?

phoenixy — Mon, 28 May 2007 19:51:09 -0800

Seeking safety data for old used cars. I'm looking for a cheap, reliable, used car, something that won't set me back more than 3-4k. The problem: I'm also looking for a car that is safe, medium to compact sized, and gets good mileage. This is turning out to be remarkably difficult. Most cars in the age range I'm looking for don't have side impact crash test ratings, and I can't find other data (like real-life accident data) that would help me figure out which cars are safest. I have been able to find this report from Australia, but it's of only limited usefulness. For one, of course, it only covers cars sold in Australia, but also I'm a bit confused because it doesn't seem to square with crash test results. The '98 Corolla, for example, gets the best possible rating from the Australian resource, but only an average rating on US crash tests. (Why?)

How can I figure out which mid-90s fuel-efficient small cars are the safest?

What is the service that lets you change your DNS settings to route through a safe-site filter?

JPigford — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 14:16:33 -0800

What is the service that lets you change your DNS settings to route through a safe-site filter? Just weeks ago I remember reading about a simple service that would let you modify the DNS servers on your computer so that all internet traffic would be routed through a "safe-site" filter so that it'd block questionable sites.

There was nothing to download or anything of that nature and it was free...just simply modifying the DNS servers on your computer.

Any ideas?

Pimp my home security!

aceyprime — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 10:51:02 -0800

Help me secure my home! I need input on a safe and a security system. 1. I need to get a safe to store valuables at my house. Looking for something fire & water-proof to store jewelry, documents (letter & legal size) and 2 laptops.

a) How heavy a safe should I get? Is 100 lbs really going to deter a thief? Do I need something 200 lbs or more?
b) Would it be better to get something that can be drilled into the floor?
c) Most secure lock option: key, electronic, combination, fingerprint, other?
d) Personal recommendations for a home safe?

2. I have some previously-installed security system wires going to windows & doors but system itself is non-functional. Can anyone point me to helpful resources on DIY security systems and options? I'd like to put in a new core system if possible while reusing the cabling.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Oxycodone after expiration date?

lazaruslong — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 13:06:10 -0800

Is it safe to take a pill after it's expiration date? My girlfriend is feeling like crap and I want to know if it's okay for her to take this painkiller she has. It is Oxycodone W/APAP 5/325. The expiration date was 12/3/2005, 2 years ago. Do pills really "go bad"?

I need a cheap car CD player

the ghost of Ken Lay — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 13:20:45 -0800

I need a cheap car CD player with a line-in for my ipod that will be very unattractive to thieves. I live in a large city and am getting a little tired of the FM transmitter I currently use to play my ipod through my car stereo. My stereo is a tape player, but not one that accepts tape adapters anymore.

I'd like to buy a replacement radio but Im afraid this will make me a target for theives. Im sure no one wants my stock radio, but if I got a new one, albeit a cheesy one, it might be an invitation to break my window and take it. I do not have a car alarm and I often park in a marginal neighborhoods on the street.

Should I just go with a removable faceplate? Will a radio with an activation code make a difference? Should I invest in some kind of alarm?

I hesitate to go with the removable face because it adds cost and I dont want to remove it everytime I park at night, but if I have to I will. An alarm feels like overkill but if thats the most cost effective way to protect my car it might be worth it. Any advice?

Also, while Im getting this installed I'd like to ask them to make my cigarette lighter work only when the car is running. How much more for install should I expect this modification to take? Is this something a technically minded person could do on their own?

Setting up an internet cafe

gfrobe — Sat, 18 Nov 2006 09:50:41 -0800

A friend of mine is opening a cafe with internet access and has asked for my help setting up the computers. What needs to be done? She's clueless with computers and as I'm only semi-clueless, she's asked for my help. I'm just looking for the absolute essential things I need to do or add to each computer to make her network (wired) and computers reasonably secure. At this point, all I planned to do was set up guest accounts, add Zone Alarm and an anti-virus to each. Is this enough? All computers are XP.