If I’d seen this before, I would have posted it at the start of the summer: Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning. This is incredibly useful advice for people who live in a state with more than ten thousand lakes, or people who live on the coast, or people who live in places with swimming pools, or places with water, period.

Key point: drowning doesn’t look the way it’s portrayed in TV, with thrashing and splashing and gurgling cries for help. It looks like this:

• Head low in the water, mouth at water level
• Head tilted back with mouth open
• Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
• Eyes closed
• Hair over forehead or eyes
• Not using legs – Vertical
• Hyperventilating or gasping
• Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
• Trying to roll over on the back
• Ladder climb, rarely out of the water.

You know, somebody ought to publish that in the Minnesota newspapers every spring. It might save some lives.

(via Making Light)