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hnpccOK, call me a cynic but "Worst Day in History"? Really?
Geez, enough with the hyperbole already. I'm all for warning people that there is a strong possibility of fires (more so seeing that dickhead idiots keep lighting them), that they could get really bad and that the forecast is not particularly good on that front for tomorrow. But can we leave out the over-the-top stuff please, I'm really over it. "Worst Day in History", sheesh. They could add to their list of things to do as follows:
"If you don't need to go out, don't go out, it's a seriously bad day.
"If you don't need to travel, don't travel.
"Don't go on the roads. If you don't need to use the public transport system, don't use it.
"If you can stay at home, stay at home.
"If you've got relatives who are elderly, if you've got friends, if you've got neighbours, please call on them.
"Ring them ... it's going to be a terrible day for anyone who is ill or who is old."
"Fill up your bathtub and make sure you have at least 2 weeks worth of food and water in the house."
"Make sure you can load and fire a gun, and have at least a month's worth of ammunition. Remember shooters licences are compulsory in Victoria."
"Zombies can only be killed by head shots, you might want to practice."
"The rule of thumb for shooting down aircraft is a hand-breadth ahead of where it's flying for WW2, 2 fingers for roughly 1950s-1970s and half a finger for modern aircraft. Remember they'll probably bomb the shit out of you pretty much immediately afterwards, so move quickly.[1]"
"Don't step off the marked roadways in case of mines."
"Wear a mask over your mouth/nose if in contact with potentially infectious patients. It won't do much, but it will make you feel better."
"Burn the bodies of the plague victims as quickly as possible if practicable. If burning is not feasible bury the bodies in large pits, preferably layering with limestone or other acidic material.[2]"
"Duck and cover. Make sure you have a table handy."
And can we stop comparing it to Ash Wednesday before anything's actually happened? Sheesh. Yes, conditions might be similar or worse to what happened at Ash Wednesday - but that's happened at least three times I can think of in the last 5 years. Did we have a two-state firestorm? No, although we did have a bloody large area burn out in the mountains. Have we hopefully learned from the mistakes of Ash Wednesday? I think we have learned some things, particularly about not letting entire fire crews get trapped in gullies, and about when to leave early and/or pull back. I hope we have anyway.
I don't know. I'm still a bit dubious that it's going to reach the forecast temperature - given that today was supposed to be hitting 33oC or so and is currently sitting on 24oC in the CBD there's a good possibility that the temperature won't hit 43oC tomorrow, let alone fail to drop below 24oC overnight. Particularly with the forecast late afternoon (6pm) change with showers. Call me a cynic, I know.
Or it could well be as bad as they're predicting. I'm not thrilled that there's fires already in Bunyip State Forest, which is far too close to where I grew up and where my parents still live (and which hasn't been seriously burnt out since 1939 as far as I know). I'm just a little bit over the apocalyptic hyperbole.
What'll probably happen is that it'll get hot, the power will promptly black out from a combination of fires and overloads and Dean will get really, really cranky and (hopefully) want to go to the pool. :-) Oh well at least the supermarket can't catch fire again.
[1] Apologies to Robert Young Pelton, I can't remember the exact details offhand. Obviously apart from the being bombed/shot straight afterwards stuff.
[2] I've no idea how good that particular piece of advice is!
Geez, enough with the hyperbole already. I'm all for warning people that there is a strong possibility of fires (more so seeing that dickhead idiots keep lighting them), that they could get really bad and that the forecast is not particularly good on that front for tomorrow. But can we leave out the over-the-top stuff please, I'm really over it. "Worst Day in History", sheesh. They could add to their list of things to do as follows:
"If you don't need to go out, don't go out, it's a seriously bad day.
"If you don't need to travel, don't travel.
"Don't go on the roads. If you don't need to use the public transport system, don't use it.
"If you can stay at home, stay at home.
"If you've got relatives who are elderly, if you've got friends, if you've got neighbours, please call on them.
"Ring them ... it's going to be a terrible day for anyone who is ill or who is old."
"Fill up your bathtub and make sure you have at least 2 weeks worth of food and water in the house."
"Make sure you can load and fire a gun, and have at least a month's worth of ammunition. Remember shooters licences are compulsory in Victoria."
"Zombies can only be killed by head shots, you might want to practice."
"The rule of thumb for shooting down aircraft is a hand-breadth ahead of where it's flying for WW2, 2 fingers for roughly 1950s-1970s and half a finger for modern aircraft. Remember they'll probably bomb the shit out of you pretty much immediately afterwards, so move quickly.[1]"
"Don't step off the marked roadways in case of mines."
"Wear a mask over your mouth/nose if in contact with potentially infectious patients. It won't do much, but it will make you feel better."
"Burn the bodies of the plague victims as quickly as possible if practicable. If burning is not feasible bury the bodies in large pits, preferably layering with limestone or other acidic material.[2]"
"Duck and cover. Make sure you have a table handy."
And can we stop comparing it to Ash Wednesday before anything's actually happened? Sheesh. Yes, conditions might be similar or worse to what happened at Ash Wednesday - but that's happened at least three times I can think of in the last 5 years. Did we have a two-state firestorm? No, although we did have a bloody large area burn out in the mountains. Have we hopefully learned from the mistakes of Ash Wednesday? I think we have learned some things, particularly about not letting entire fire crews get trapped in gullies, and about when to leave early and/or pull back. I hope we have anyway.
I don't know. I'm still a bit dubious that it's going to reach the forecast temperature - given that today was supposed to be hitting 33oC or so and is currently sitting on 24oC in the CBD there's a good possibility that the temperature won't hit 43oC tomorrow, let alone fail to drop below 24oC overnight. Particularly with the forecast late afternoon (6pm) change with showers. Call me a cynic, I know.
Or it could well be as bad as they're predicting. I'm not thrilled that there's fires already in Bunyip State Forest, which is far too close to where I grew up and where my parents still live (and which hasn't been seriously burnt out since 1939 as far as I know). I'm just a little bit over the apocalyptic hyperbole.
What'll probably happen is that it'll get hot, the power will promptly black out from a combination of fires and overloads and Dean will get really, really cranky and (hopefully) want to go to the pool. :-) Oh well at least the supermarket can't catch fire again.
[1] Apologies to Robert Young Pelton, I can't remember the exact details offhand. Obviously apart from the being bombed/shot straight afterwards stuff.
[2] I've no idea how good that particular piece of advice is!
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no subject
Date: 2009-02-06 03:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-06 04:13 am (UTC)And of course having your wheelie bin/buckets on standby to catch the water afterwards!
(And incidentally you should see the suggestions I took out after deciding they were a bit too cynical...)
no subject
Date: 2009-02-06 04:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-06 04:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-06 04:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-06 07:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-06 10:07 pm (UTC)