Fire/EMS/ERs/disasters, etc.

[GoCubsGo]

Earlier today I was sitting there on my shitter imagining what joy and delight the cat fan would get from someone taking a shit when I just happened to look over to my left and saw something on the small carpet pad in front of my bathroom sink. Upon closer inspection, I saw it was a spider. So I grabbed one of the extra rolls of toilet paper sitting there and whacked hell out of it. As soon as I did, I saw what I initially thought were ants but turned out to be baby spiders. The damn thing was giving birth on me. There must have been fifteen or so of these little spiders scrambling around. I scooped all these up with some toilet paper and flushed the whole spider clan down into the maw of the super bowl. It was a close call.

Did you alert Blueridgenow?

[Vrede too]

Earlier today I was sitting there on my shitter imagining what joy and delight the cat fan would get from someone taking a shit when I just happened to look over to my left and saw something on the small carpet pad in front of my bathroom sink. Upon closer inspection, I saw it was a spider. So I grabbed one of the extra rolls of toilet paper sitting there and whacked hell out of it. As soon as I did, I saw what I initially thought were ants but turned out to be baby spiders. The damn thing was giving birth on me. There must have been fifteen or so of these little spiders scrambling around. I scooped all these up with some toilet paper and flushed the whole spider clan down into the maw of the super bowl. It was a close call.

I was at work in an ER one day talking to a patient on the opposite side of the gurney from a curtain dividing the room from another gurney that was empty. I look up and in the middle of the conversation I say, "Well, we have to move you into the hallway." I ignored the patient's, "Wha, why?" Went back in the room and hundreds of baby spiders were coming down the curtain. Yikes.

[neoplacebo]

Earlier today I was sitting there on my shitter imagining what joy and delight the cat fan would get from someone taking a shit when I just happened to look over to my left and saw something on the small carpet pad in front of my bathroom sink. Upon closer inspection, I saw it was a spider. So I grabbed one of the extra rolls of toilet paper sitting there and whacked hell out of it. As soon as I did, I saw what I initially thought were ants but turned out to be baby spiders. The damn thing was giving birth on me. There must have been fifteen or so of these little spiders scrambling around. I scooped all these up with some toilet paper and flushed the whole spider clan down into the maw of the super bowl. It was a close call.

Did you alert Blueridgenow?

Nah, I was hoping the cat pan will follow through on that.

[neoplacebo]

A liberal admitting he's full of crap, no surprise there.

A cultist who eats the shit shoveled out by the trump cult never has that problem.....if all you eat is shit, getting rid of any of it is forbidden. No surprise there.

[neoplacebo]

Earlier today I was sitting there on my shitter imagining what joy and delight the cat fan would get from someone taking a shit when I just happened to look over to my left and saw something on the small carpet pad in front of my bathroom sink. Upon closer inspection, I saw it was a spider. So I grabbed one of the extra rolls of toilet paper sitting there and whacked hell out of it. As soon as I did, I saw what I initially thought were ants but turned out to be baby spiders. The damn thing was giving birth on me. There must have been fifteen or so of these little spiders scrambling around. I scooped all these up with some toilet paper and flushed the whole spider clan down into the maw of the super bowl. It was a close call.

I was at work in an ER one day talking to a patient on the opposite side of the gurney from a curtain dividing the room from another gurney that was empty. I look up and in the middle of the conversation I say, "Well, we have to move you into the hallway." I ignored the patient's, "Wha, why?" Went back in the room and hundreds of baby spiders were coming down the curtain. Yikes.

Whoa; that's got my episode beat. i was lucky to go in there when I did; they weren't making any noise and if I had not gone when I did, who knows what sort of spider harassment I would be in for.

[Vrede too]

Whoa; that's got my episode beat. i was lucky to go in there when I did; they weren't making any noise and if I had not gone when I did, who knows what sort of spider harassment I would be in for.

I can't recall if I ever told the patient what had happened, but I was grateful that they never saw the invasion just 2 feet away from where they were lying.

[GoCubsGo]

Whoa; that's got my episode beat. i was lucky to go in there when I did; they weren't making any noise and if I had not gone when I did, who knows what sort of spider harassment I would be in for.

I can't recall if I ever told the patient what had happened, but I was grateful that they never saw the invasion just 2 feet away from where they were lying.

Was that Pardee?

[Vrede too]

Was that Pardee?

No. Highland in Oakland. Pardee didn't want me when I tried. Their loss, I worked elsewhere for 10 years.

[Vrede too]

Phoenix apartment fire: OC wide receiver Phillip Blanks catches child thrown from building | ABC7

[billy.pilgrim]

But don't come whining to us if you can't prove beyond a shadow of doubt

https://www.thedailybeast.com/families- ... d-benefits

[Vrede too]

But don't come whining to us if you can't prove beyond a shadow of doubt

https://www.thedailybeast.com/families- ... d-benefits

Yep, I also had a hospital reject all responsibility when I got sick at work. Nothing as serious as CV-19, but I did miss a few days.

[Vrede too]

California's fires are so intense, some make their own thunderstorms. NASA calls the formations the 'fire-breathing dragon of clouds.'


A pyrocumulonimbus cloud generated by the Creek Fire in the Sierra National Forest in California, taken from an airplane on September 5, 2020.

As Thalia Dockery's flight to Las Vegas passed over central California on September 5, the passengers caught an ominous view out their windows: A huge, grey cloud mushroomed thousands of feet into the sky.

It looked like the product of an atomic explosion or volcanic eruption. But what they'd spotted was a pyrocumulonimbus cloud — an enormous plume of hot, smoky air that had risen from a wildfire, then turned into a thundercloud in Earth's atmosphere....

Once rare, pyrocumulonimbus clouds are becoming more common in regions like California and Australia as climate change causes larger, hotter, more frequent wildfires. These clouds, which NASA has dubbed "the fire-breathing dragon of clouds," can grow so intense that they make their own weather. Sometimes, that weather can contribute to still more fires in a dangerous feedback loop.

How a pyrocumulonimbus forms

... In some cases, smoky rain produced by a pyrocumulonimbus cloud can help extinguish a fire, but unfortunately for Californians, these clouds don't normally produce much rain in the state. In dry environments, any rain produced by the clouds evaporates before it reaches the ground.

The clouds' lightning can hit the ground, however – and when it does, it can ignite additional wildfires or feed existing ones. Intense winds within a pyrocumulonimbus cloud can also scatter embers, which can ignite fires in new areas or strengthen blazes that are already burning.

In rare cases, the winds from pyrocumulonimbus clouds even form fire-induced tornadoes, or "firenadoes." That happens when rising air from a fire gets twisted by wind, becoming a swirling vortex detached from the ground.

Firenadoes are hot, unpredictable, and dangerous: In 2018, a tornado associated with the Carr Fire, which had wind speeds of up to 143 mph, killed a firefighter.

Climate change makes these clouds more common

... The largest pyrocumulonimbus events ever recorded worldwide have all occurred in the past three years, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

That's because large, hot fires are more likely to produce pyrocumulonimbus clouds, and climate change leads to bigger and more intense wildfires.

As temperatures rise, more water evaporates from soil, drying out land. Snow also melts sooner, and spring arrives earlier. In 2017, for instance, spring (defined as the arrival of growing season for certain widespread plants) arrived 22 days earlier than usual in Washington, DC. Early snow melt and high temperatures deprive vegetation of water, drying it out in time for wildfire season.

In California, which has seen its 10 largest wildfires in the last 20 years, the average temperature during wildfire season has increased by more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the 1980s, according to a recent Stanford analysis. The length of the state's wildfire season has increased by 75 days since the early 2000s, and a 2015 study found that rising temperatures have made extreme droughts in California significantly more likely.

In the US overall, the top five years with most acreage burned due to wildfires have all occurred since 2005, according to the Congressional Research Service. The country's average temperature has risen by 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1970.

Pyrocumulonimbus clouds can contribute to climate change themselves

A pyrocumulonimbus cloud can pump smoke — which contains carbon dioxide as well as toxic compounds like carbon monoxide and harmful fine particulates — into the atmosphere.

"It acts like a giant chimney, taking smoke from the ground and injecting it to the altitude of a jet aircraft," David Peterson, a meteorologist with the Naval Research Laboratory in Monterey, told the San Francisco Chronicle.

If a pyrocumulonimbus cloud gets tall enough, it can even affect the ozone layer, a protective shield around the Earth that protects us from ultraviolet radiation. Researchers have also found that some wildfire smoke may increase ozone levels below the ozone layer, which can have a greenhouse effect and damage lungs and crops.

[Vrede too]

I never knew this is possible:

'This has become my mission': Mom's warning after son dies from (open air) carbon monoxide poisoning while boating

That sucks.

[billy.pilgrim]

Walter Reed seems to only have the lying type. Man that Conley guy is a hacknut.

[Vrede too]

PBS: > 8500 CA wildfires so far this year.

[Vrede too]

Trump administration blocks California wildfire relief

Hundreds of California Repug candidates commented: "Aww shit!"

[GoCubsGo]

Trump administration blocks California wildfire relief

Hundreds of California Repug candidates commented: "Aww shit!"

Plenty apparently.

[O Really]

Ah yes, California taxes:

California has among the highest income tax rates for upper-income households and one of the lowest income tax rates for lower-income households. In 2017, the top 1% of income taxpayers in California accounted for over 47% of income tax revenue.

State and local individual income tax collections per capita equaled $6,077 in California in 2019, the 8th-highest in the country.

Washington, D.C. has the highest state and local tax collections per capita ($10,841), while Alabama has the lowest ($3,206).

California has the highest state sales tax rate (7.25%) in the nation, but taxes few services compared to other states.

California has the 8th-highest corporation tax rate (flat tax of 8.84%) and corporation tax revenue is projected to account for 10.4% ($16 billion) of General Fund revenues in 2020-21.

California has below-average property tax rates, but higher property values. Californians paid $1,599 per capita in property taxes, the 17th-highest in the nation. The highest state and local property tax collections per capita are in Washington, D.C. ($3,535) and the lowest are in Alabama ($548). Property taxes generated 31.5% of total U.S. state and local tax collections in 2019.

California collects revenue much differently than other states. In many states, property taxes represent a greater proportion of revenues than income taxes. The situation in California is reversed due to Proposition 13, which limits property tax rates, and its highly progressive income tax structure.

California spends more total dollars for public services than other states largely due to its large population, so per-person (or "per capita") comparisons are the most useful. As of 2018, California ranked 23rd in spending per capita with $6,834. Alaska spends the most with $14,016 and Florida spends the least with $3,696. The U.S. average is $6,135.

[O Really]

Ah yes, California crime:
CA violent crime rate per 100,000 population at 445 is above the national median of 370, but substantially below such places as, for example, South Carolina, Alabama, and Arkansas.

Property crime is below the national median.

[neoplacebo]

CA state sales tax is NOT the highest in the country. Here in TN it's around 9% but TN has no state income tax.