MetaFilter posts tagged with Emergency

Madam

infini — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:35:00 -0800

Today would have been Indira Gandhi's 92nd birthday, had she not been assassinated by members of her own guard in her own backyard on October 31st, 1984 (I was there in New Delhi in a cab when the driver suggested it might be safer if he turned around and took me straight home). Often confused as a relative of the more famous Gandhi, fashionable, stylish and well groomed Indira was actually the daughter of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru and used her married name, although divorced from her Parsi exhusband. Daughter and mother of Prime Ministers of India, she herself held office with an iron fist, remembered for the "Emergency", a brief period of martial law often overlooked in the democratic vibrancy of Indian politics. Will Mrs Gandhi's legacy of dynasty be continued by her half Italian grandson?

There are zillions of locksmiths in the naked city

grobstein — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:53:20 -0800

High-priced emergency locksmith services clog up local business listings (and Google Maps), driving all the emergency calls to their numbers. It's happened all over the country. E.g., a 'brash new locksmith company' comes to Madison, WI.

ClusterF**k Nation

Lord_Pall — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 03:59:46 -0800

Jim Kunstler gives his predictions for 2009. Previously: 1 2 3 4 5

999 Call Transcripts

roofus — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 10:01:11 -0800

JS (Aged 5) She can't wake up.
Operator No? Is she breathing? Can you see her chest go up and down?
JS I can see her shoulders going ... I can see her doing [Makes breathing noises]
Operator She's breathing, is she? But you think she's having a fit.
JS Yeah, I think she is and ... I don't know what to do.

6 transcripts of 999 operators helping people cope with emergencies: a mother giving birth alone, a 5 year old whose mother is fitting, a mother and son trapped in a house fire, a brother and sister resuscitating their father, a husband saving his choking wife, and a neighbour saving his friend with an amputated arm

How To Find Yourself In One Easy Step

scrump — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:33:44 -0800

Approximately two years ago, James Kim died after he and his family were stranded, snowbound, in their car on the Oregon coast (Previously, previously, and (selflink) previously). But what if he'd had a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB)? PLBs are a subset of emergency locator transmitters, which have been in mandatory use on aircraft since 1973. Somewhat more recently, Mo Nickels posted in 2001 on the COSPAS-SARSAT program. Founded in 1982, it's still going strong twenty-six years later, as you can read in their reports on rescues. In 2003, PLBs became available for nationwide civilian use: prior to that time, only Alaskans could use them. According to ACR, a major PLB manufacturer, PLB use has exploded since the Kim tragedy in 2006. As of October, 2008, NOAA credits emergency beacons with helping to save almost six thousand people in the US and over twenty-four thousand people worldwide, including 236 people so far this year. You can rent them, you can buy them, and, most importantly, you can find out how well they work from the gearheads at Equipped.org. Finally, if you already own a PLB, you can register yours with NOAA.

Flawlesss Aircraft Emergency Landings (QLYTP)

five fresh fish — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:24:22 -0800

Flawless Aircraft Emergency Landings (QLYTP). Breatheless reporting aside, it looks like when a pilot can control the landing, these aircraft are tough enough that no one need be hurt. Many more excellent videos in the post-video links, too.

Major Hurricane Gustav heads for Louisiana

cashman — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 14:30:20 -0800

Hurricane Gustav is headed for landfall in Louisiana in the next 48 hours, with currently around an equal chance of being a category 3 storm or a category 4 storm. Gustav has 150 mph winds at the moment as it begins to enter the gulf of Mexico and a million people evacuate. After failing in their response to Hurricane Katrina three years ago, Fema is trying to be more proactive. Of course, some people are staying in harm's way, live blogging, and once again, there's the cry "bring it on".

New Orleans tries to do things differently this time.
The RNC national convention schedule may be adjusted because of Gustav.
Gustav could send gas prices back to more than $4 a gallon.
Neighboring states evacuate as well.

The Emergency Party Button

milestogo — Sun, 11 May 2008 12:29:38 -0800

Emergency Party Button via

Let me through, I'm a nosy person

The corpse in the library — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 12:26:35 -0800

Curious why the power is out at your office or the fire engines are rushing past your home? If you live in Seattle, public911 might be able to tell you.

Newsfilter

hadjiboy — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 22:53:03 -0800

“I will not let my country commit suicide,” says General Pervez Musharraf in an address to the nation, after declaring Martial Law, in Pakistan, yesterday night. Benazir Bhutto, who had earlier returned to the country to a large reception (and whose convoy was later attacked) along with former Prime Minister Nawaz Shariff, have condemned the act.

Where there is no doctor

Avenger — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 03:34:33 -0800

"Where there is no doctor", a "village health-care handbook", was originally published by Mexican health activists in 1973 as a response to a critical lack of medical care among Mexico's poor. Now available for free download, the book covers such topics as "Family Planning" [pdf], Healing without Medicines [pdf], Common Medicines, their uses and doses [pdf], the right and wrong uses of modern medicines [pdf], and (in the midwives edition) DIY abortion [pdf]. Other topics include: Where Women have no doctor, violence against women, mental health for women, Female genital cutting, Where There Is No Dentist, HIV health and your community and more. Special thanks to MetaFilter's own mr. bill for introducing me to this resource and providing a the downloads in convenient single-pdf format.

Cuz when you gotta go...

Dave Faris — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 08:21:57 -0800

MizPee works on your mobile phone to help you locate the nearest, cleanest bathroom.

Hey Good lookin'! I'll be back to nuke you up later!

Smedleyman — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 17:16:27 -0800

AHHHH!!! An unintentional disruption pre-empted morning radio and television throughout Illinois this week when a FEMA contractor mistakenly sent the highest level of alert codes (Presidential) through the Emergency Alert System during the installation of an upgrade. (A year to the day after the upgrades were ordered) It's not the first time false warnings have been sent. Apparently (before the upgrades) the EAS data headers had no authentication and someone could have hacked a t.v. or radio station using a Mr. Microphone. The old Emergency Broadcast System had an authenticator word list, like the tone, and the voice, the words themselves were slightly unsettling. I know the old EBS tests used to scare the hell out of me. The 1971 false alarm was initiated with the code word: HATEFULNESS.

I will provide emergency contraception to any woman who requests it, no questions asked, in complete privacy, free of cost.

amberglow — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 10:43:19 -0800

Emergency Kindness -- a new network dedicated to providing emergency contraception for women in need. Members ("Janes") promise to have some Plan B on hand to immediately send to women in need, whether they were denied by their local doctor or pharmacy or couldn't get to one.

In Connecticut, it shouldn't take more than a short ride to get to another hospital - Joe Lieberman

orthogonality — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 15:41:36 -0800

Folks, the condom broke Friday night and I searched all weekend for someone who could prescribe me EC. It is now Monday and I have to report that I have been unable to find anyone who will write me a fucking prescription for EC. None of the hospitals in the surrounding counties would write it for me. I stopped my search at about 100 miles from my home because my telephone book wouldn't take me out any further than that.

I have been asked about my sexual practices. Whether I'm 'monogamous' or 'in a relationship' if I'm married, if I have kids, how many kids I have, if I was raped or 'traumatized' but there wasn’t' ONE question about my health. Not one. The few places that said that they had a doctor who would occasionally write prescriptions for EC told me that I had to ask for that doctor specifically and then they proceeded to tell me that I would be 'interviewed' to see if I meet that doctors 'criteria' and then they proceeded to ask me all the above questions before telling me that I should 'try anyway' and I 'might be able to talk him into it'.

Can we abolish war?

infini — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 01:27:55 -0800

Green Parrots: I just finished reading this book by Dr. Gino Strada, a war surgeon and founder of Emergency, an Italian NGO, whose mission is to provide medical treatment to civilian victims of war. A series of essays on his experiences in far away places like Peru, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Sudan and Cambodia where 90% of the casualties he treats are better known as collateral damage. One third are children under 14. He ends with a heartfelt essay that asks, "Is it legitimate to accept war as an inevitable prospect for current and future generations?"

TerRARists!

nathan_teske — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 10:48:33 -0800

Yesterday United Flight 735 from Chicago to Sacramento made an emergency landing in Denver when an unruly passenger tried to open the cabin door. (bugmenot/bugmenot) A member of the Flyertalk forum was on the flight, and provided a first hand account of the emergency.

Gimli Glider: How to glide a 767

five fresh fish — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 19:27:03 -0800

The impressive Gimli Glider. Yes, seriously: it can be a glider. An amazing story of a commercial pilot with mad emergency landing skillz.

It's not chaos, it's just life.

d-no — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 21:17:37 -0800

Kyla Brettle makes radio documentaries. 000 Ambulance and Trauma are both particularly moving. You can listen to them here.

Emergency State

Sticherbeast — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 16:32:38 -0800

Emergency State: First Responder and Law Enforcement Training Architecture.

I.C.E.

azul — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 11:40:27 -0800

Have you got ICE in your mobile? "Following the disaster in London . . . East Anglian Ambulance Service have launched a national "In case of Emergency (ICE)" campaign with the support of Falklands war hero Simon Weston. The idea is that you store the word "ICE" in your mobile phone address book, and against it enter the number of the person you would want to be contacted "In Case of Emergency". LINK.

Constitution to be suspended

mfoight — Fri, 21 Nov 2003 09:17:42 -0800

Gen. Franks Doubts Constitution Will Survive WMD Attack Gen. Tommy Franks says that if the United States is hit with a weapon of mass destruction that inflicts large casualties, the Constitution will likely be discarded in favor of a military form of government.

Wasting the emergency services' time

Mwongozi — Sat, 03 May 2003 13:37:45 -0800

Communications operator : "Hello police"
Caller: "My wife's left me two salmon sandwiches which was left over from last night... and I'm a sat in the chair here and she's out there decorating. She won't put any food on or anything for anybody, I don't know what...."
Communications operator: "I'm sorry but I really can't take this. It's not an emergency because your wife won't give you anything to eat."

thirteen — Wed, 06 Feb 2002 08:50:13 -0800

E911 technology allows for the location of a cellular phone to be determined by the wireless service provider within several hundred feet. As consequence, privacy groups have been extremely resistant to the implementation of E911. In the wake of the September 11 tragedies, however, the balance between privacy concerns and national security to have changed for many American citizens. Sort of via 2600 This seems to be coming, what do you think?

mantaray — Wed, 09 Jan 2002 04:39:31 -0800

911 operators wrong but not biased, boss tells court. Two Winnipeg women murdered after repeated emergency calls ignored.