Two questions...

Wondering where I could find good information on a list of earthquake survival supplies. Also, how does one make vaseline soaked cotton balls? Thanks for the help! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Doug's got a good list on this website about earthquake supplies. Go to home page and search for earthquake in upper left corner. Search archives about cotton balls to find out about making these items.

I just take cotton balls and rub vasoline into them really well until just the very center is not vasolined (new verb?). Some people melt the vasoline and really soak them good - then wring them out.

My cotton ball w/ Vaseline method is to put a handfull of cotton balls into a ziplock sandwich bag - make sure they are 100% cotton with no synthetics. Then add a good three-finger glob of Vaseline (I use the Walgreens generic stuff). Purge the bag of air before sealing. Then massage the bag until the balls are evenly coated.

You want the outside of the balls to be well coated, but the insides to be a bit dry. When lighting with a match or lighter, fluff the ball up a bit. When lighting with a sparker, try turning the ball inside out so that the non-coated fibers are available for lighting. They should take a spark pretty easily. I tend to use two balls at a time to start a fire, but if I was resource limited I'd likely drop it down to one or even part of one.