Hubbert posted:

would you eat the bugs

quote:

Malaria diagnosed in Maryland resident who had not recently traveled: Health dept.

quote:

"We have not seen a case in Maryland that was not related to travel in over 40 years," the state health secretary said. Here's what to know about malaria

Cold on a Cob posted:

SniperWoreConverse posted:

I was going thu my 9 million open tabs and remembered somebody a while back was asking about DGGS and i mentioned having looked into it, here's a long workshop thing on how to mess with that poo poo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_n7-FPxg3s

uh, it's a 2 year old, 7 part series by Landscape Geoinformatics and you can gently caress with these systems to get what you want p much. Originally I was toying with the idea of learning and then using a pared down system to quickly fabricate TTRPG planet maps and that kinda stuff, but it's actually really in depth, you can design it to assign more info to specific regions that require more detail and all kinds of complicated poo poo. V powerful but also seems like you need to understand what you want out of it. I think hypothetically you could set it up so that you give it a set of parameters and it could form all kinda poo poo for you, like if you ever messed around on traveller map you could see how setting one of these up could basically be a huge paradigm shift.

silicone thrills posted:

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/...FlowTwt_DCBrand

skooma512 posted:

In 2023 L.A has been under a blizzard warning and a tropical storm warning. I've never seen either of those the entire time I've lived here except maybe for Nora in 97. We also had a hurricane remnant come through last September, which broke the 2 week long mega heat dome, and that set a record high and record rainfall on the same day.

Rectal Death Adept posted:

category 4 hurricanes hit Los Angeles all the time 2,000,000 years ago

skooma512 posted:

In 2023 L.A has been under a blizzard warning and a tropical storm warning. I've never seen either of those the entire time I've lived here except maybe for Nora in 97. We also had a hurricane remnant come through last September, which broke the 2 week long mega heat dome, and that set a record high and record rainfall on the same day.

Cold on a Cob posted:

Bilirubin posted:

I've sat in this very spot (when not on fire)

smoobles posted:

it's my right to eat red meat every day until I'm red and swollen and look like Alex Jones

Skaffen-Amtiskaw posted:

I choose the noble way out of filming whatever natural disaster heads my way for your delectation. I would be honoured to be witnessed as I get sucked up into a firenado, hootin' an' hollerin' as I go.

But probably I'll just slip and break my neck as a downpour makes the pavement wetter than is normal for British summers.

silicone thrills posted:

NBC News reported in July that eight cases of locally acquired malaria had been found in the U.S. since May, with seven cases in Florida and one case in Texas. Those cases were the first to be acquired in the U.S. in 20 years.

Stinky Wizzleteats posted:

If the earth cracks open and u fall into a giant chasm you better whip that phone out and record the descent and battle with the balrog

silicone thrills posted:

NBC News reported in July that eight cases of locally acquired malaria had been found in the U.S. since May, with seven cases in Florida and one case in Texas. Those cases were the first to be acquired in the U.S. in 20 years.

quote:

UPDATE, 6 P.M.: Closures along Interstate 90 have been expanded. The highway is closed westbound at the U.S. 2 interchange in Spokane, and eastbound travel is closed at the Tyler exit.

Some areas of Medical Lake have lost power as utility poles have caught fire.

UPDATE, 5:30 P.M.: Eastern State Hospital has been evacuated, according to Spokane County Sheriff John Nowels.

Speaking from a command center at Medical Lake High School, Nowels insisted that nearby residents evacuate immediately. Evacuees are instructed to travel to the Red Cross Shelter at Cheney High School.

“We’ve had people who have disregarded the evacuation orders and decided to stay in place, not believing that this fire would threaten them, and we’ve had to go rescue them with our air resources,” Nowels said. “It endangers our fire personnel, it endangers our law enforcement personnel.”

State resource mobilization has been authorized and strike teams are enroute, according to Washington Department of Natural Resources public information officer Eric Keller.

Harold McCandless sipped from a water bottle as a sprinkler twitched across the roof of his four lakes home, Friday afternoon just before 5 p.m.

His coworker, Morgan Wichman, had arrived after evacuating his childhood bus driver from her home close to the fire.

The two men hooked up McCandless boat, grabbed essentials from the home he has lived in since 1977 and waited.

Not long after, a Spokane County Sheriff’s deputy pulled up and told them to evacuate, the fire was heading there way.

McCandless wasn’t worried about his house though just keeping himself and his neighbors safe.

“Whatever happens happens,” he said with a shrug.

UPDATE, 5:20 P.M.: Interstate I-90 is being closed between mileposts 250 and 257. Drivers will need to detour using state Route 904. The fire has reportedly jumped I-90 just southwest of Four Lakes, according to the state Department of Transportation.

UPDATE, 5:15 P.M.: Twenty Air National Guard members have arrived at Eastern State Hospital to help evacuate patients and staff. Many homes and other structures have been lost to the fire, according to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office.

Cheney High School remains the only active Red Cross shelter.

Medical Lake School Board member Ron Cooper who lives northeast of the city sat at home Friday afternoon, looking south and watching smoke plume in the distance. His father-in-law evacuated Medical Lake that day and took shelter at Cooper’s home.

“The smoke isn’t coming to our house yet,” Cooper said. “It looks pretty hairy out this way.”

Emergency responders sent a memo to Medical Lake-area bus drivers on Friday, asking for help transporting evacuees. School board member Laura Parsons was out of town visiting family when she got the alert Friday. She said her son evacuated the city Friday with his dogs to a pet-friendly hotel near the John A. Finch Arboretum.

Parsons’ son saw flames close to the middle school before he evacuated, she said.

“This is terrible,” she said. “If the schools are damaged, it’s a whole other tragedy. Trying to figure out how to get the kids to school and all that. Plus all the people’s houses that are already burnt down.”

Hallett Elementary School was threatened by the fire around 4:30 p.m., according to a reporter who was nearby, though it’s not immediately clear whether the structure was damaged.

UPDATE, 5 P.M.: The fire is estimated at 3,000 acres and remains 0% contained. Multiple structures have reportedly been destroyed. The Shriners Event Center at 7217 W. Westbow Boulevard in Spokane has opened to evacuees.

Spokane County Commissioner Al French, whose district includes Medical Lake, said he is closely monitoring the situation and ready to be of support if needed.

French compared the disaster to the firestorms that destroyed many homes in Spokane Valley in 1991.

“That fire was exasperated by high winds, which is what is happening here,” French said. “The winds are not our friend in this situation.”

UPDATE, 4:45 P.M.: The fire remains 0% contained and crews are struggling to prevent its eastward advance, Keller said.

“It’s not stopped,” Keller said. “We’re trying to get around it, we’ve got multiple resources on it, winds causing lots of problems.”

UPDATE, 4:30 P.M.: All prior Level 2 evacuation orders have been upgraded to Level 3 “Leave Now” orders. Residents between Silver Lake, Interstate 90 and West Hallett Road must leave immediately, in addition to anyone previously ordered to leave.

Law enforcement officers are going door-to-door along Craig Road, north of Four Lakes, knocking on doors and urging residents to leave.

The winds sent burning embers several miles east of Medical Lake into the area where Taylor and Medifor roads meet.

Dozens of police officers were racing from house to house in the area just west of Four Lakes telling people to leave immediately.

Within a minute of one couple being told the leave, flames crested a hill behind their home. Within minutes, the entire hill and nearby pine trees were engulfed in flames that reached 100 feet in the air.

The sound of the fire was akin to a dozen freight trains roaring past.

The house on Medifor then caught fire, and officers kept moving to homes to the east telling people they had perhaps minutes before the fast-moving fire arrived.

With airplanes focused on water drops at Medical Lake, there were no planes hitting the ember-sparked fires to the east.

Nor were firefighting rigs able to get in front of the fire as embers kept blowing ahead and starting fires.

UPDATE, 4:15 P.M.: A collision has blocked one lane of eastbound Interstate 90 near milepost 279, just east of the U.S. 195 interchange.

UPDATE, 4 P.M.: Level 3 “Leave Now” evacuations have been issued for residents east of Silver Lake, south of West Taylor Road and west of Interstate 90. Level 2 evacuation notices, warning residents to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice, have been issued for those north of West Taylor Road and south of West Hallett Road.

UPDATE, 3:30 P.M.: The Gray Fire has jumped to the east side of Silver Lake. Evacuation orders now include the east bank of Silver Lake and 3 miles further to the east. The size of the fire is estimated at 700 acres and multiple structures, including cell towers, are now involved.

silicone thrills posted:

Situation around spokane washington is reading really loving grim

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2023/aug/18/fire-south-of-medical-lake-spurs-evacuations/

quote:

90% of Great Lakes water samples have unsafe microplastic levels – report

About 90% of water samples taken over the last 10 years from the Great Lakes contain microplastic levels that are unsafe for wildlife, a new peer-reviewed paper from the University of Toronto finds.


About 20% of those samples are at the highest level of risk, but the study’s authors say the damage can be reversed if the US and Canada quickly act.

“Ninety per cent is a lot,” said Eden Hataley, a University of Toronto researcher and study co-author. “We need to answer some basic questions by monitoring … so we can quantify risks to wildlife and humans.”

The Great Lakes provide drinking water to over 40 million people in the US and Canada, hold about 90% of the US’s freshwater, and are home to 3,500 species of plants and animals.

The authors reviewed data from peer-reviewed studies from the last 10 years, which showed the highest levels are found in tributaries leading to the lakes, or around major cities like Chicago and Toronto. The highest median levels were found in Lake Michigan and Lake Ontario.

Though myriad microplastic sources exist, wastewater treatment plants seem to be a major Great Lakes basin contributor, as they are elsewhere, Hataley said. Pollution from microfibers that come off clothing in washing machines are thought to be another common source, as are preproduction plastic pellets used in manufacturing. She noted concerning levels of microplastics have been found in sport fish consumed by humans and beer brewed with Great Lakes water.

But the consequences for human health are unknown, Hataley said.

“We know we are being exposed, but what that means in terms of harm or what’s a safe level – we have no idea, and that’s going to take more research,” she said.

Getting a handle on the question starts with the US and Canadian governments coordinating the monitoring of microplastic levels, she added, and the nations’ Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement already has in place monitoring programs for other pollutants.

Adding microplastics to that list would not be a heavy lift, Hataley added, and would help researchers and regulators understand pollution trends over time, identify hotspots and point to major sources of pollution.

Solutions, like adding filters to washing machines or storm sewers at manufacturing sites, exist and are relatively easy to implement, she said. Though Canadian and US governments have known about microplastic levels for at least 10 years, it can take time for regulators to act, and the new paper highlights the situation’s urgency, Hataley said.

“The timeline is not that shocking, but it makes a lot of sense to do it now,” she said.

Xaris posted:

have some copium

quote:

Chowdhury’s article points out that recent news stories about the latest heavily promoted claims of a breakthrough in nuclear fusion research, and the much-hyped announcement by two South Korean researchers that a room-temperature superconductor had been discovered, didn’t get the response the media expected. By and large, people yawned. To Chowdhury, this is appalling,

Zeta Taskforce posted:

Honestly this is the best thing that could happen to areas where Malaria is more common. If the US and other rich countries start contacting it then finally more money will be spent trying to cure Malaria vs trying to cure baldness.

Just a Moron posted:

Lol, no one's gonna do poo poo about malaria

Zeta Taskforce posted:

Sorry about that. I fixed it

Honestly this is the best thing that could happen to areas where Malaria is more common. If white people the US and other rich countries start contacting it then finally more money will be spent trying to cure Malaria vs trying to cure baldness.

silicone thrills posted:

Situation around spokane washington is reading really loving grim

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2023/aug/18/fire-south-of-medical-lake-spurs-evacuations/

Xaris posted:

GOD DAMNIT. loving doughy white rear end honkey midwesterners are ruining the plan to drain 👏 the 👏 great 👏 lakes 👏 to 👏 save 👏 phoenix by making them too polluted. hosed up imo

gently caress COREY PERRY posted:

I have drank from lake ontario, the last and most polluted of the lakes, my entire life

both my parents have died of cancer

Cold on a Cob posted:

Zeta Taskforce posted:

Sorry about that. I fixed it

Honestly this is the best thing that could happen to areas where Malaria is more common. If white people the US and other rich countries start contacting it then finally more money will be spent trying to cure Malaria vs trying to cure baldness.

smoobles posted:

you think a mosquito net can stop a tiny virus? 🤣🤣🤣

Cold on a Cob posted:

Hubbert posted:

what if we held hands while the world ended