Conflict of the Hosts

 

I didn't see any deer on my walk today (6.7 miles) or new evidence of the destruction caused by last week's Hurricane Helena, but I did see an eastern rat snake (Elaphe obsoleta), about three feet long, attempting to cross the beltline trail. He was about a third of the way across when I saw him but he apparently got spooked by all the noisy, fast-moving simians on the trail and turned back. Once off the trail, he climbed up the nearest tree with surprising ease and speed. 

Last Sunday, I noted a broad area of low pressure located over the western Caribbean producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms. Environmental  conditions were conducive for gradual development of the system, which is now known as Tropical Storm Milton and located in the southwesttern Gulf of Mexico. The storm is expected to remain more or less in place through tomorrow night, then move across the south-central Gulf on Monday and Tuesday and approach the west coast of Florida by midweek. Maximum sustained winds are near 35 mph with higher gusts and rapid strengthening is forecast during the next few days.  The tropical storm is expected to become a hurricane by early Monday and could become a major hurricane as it moves across the Gulf. 

Summer Drum

 

For those who wonder, "what do you do all day?" I present today, a typical day in the life of a contemplative stoic urban monk:

7:00 am - Clock radio comes on, but lay in bed until 8:45, listening to news, petting cat

8:45 am - Finally get out of bed, make coffee, and take vitals (blood pressure and weight)

9:00 am - Drink black coffee and watch morning news on television 

10:00 am - Breakfast (one English muffin, toasted, no spread)

10:15 am - More news, some internet scrolling, listen to music 

12:00 pm - Watch the Celtics' preseason game from Abu Dhabi 

1:00 pm - Halftime, make yogurt with berries (blue-, black-, straw-, and raspberries) for lunch

1:30 pm - Watch second half as Celtics beat Nuggets, 107-103

3:00 pm - 90 minutes of sitting meditation

5:00 pm - Update blog, listen to music

The rest of this is planned/anticipated:

6:00 pm - First Friday: neighborhood social get-together on street, mingle, chat 

7:00 pm - Listen of webcast of BU Women''s Ice Hockey game at Minnesota

8:00 pm - Dinner (salad) between periods of hockey game

9:00 pm - Video gaming (Deus Ex: Human Revolution) or Netflix

11:00 pm - Retire, read a few chapters of a book (A Life Like Any Other, by Darcy O'Brien) in bed, and then fall asleep 

Tomorrow will be much the same, with a long walk in place of the sitting meditation, and the Georgia-Auburn football game the main sporting event. Days that follow will alternate between sitting and walking (zazen and kinhin), and the video games and novels changing as they're completed.    

It's not a life for everyone, but it suits me well.

Day of the Invisible Facade

The Biolabs facility in Conyers, Georgia that manufactured chlorine disinfectant for swimming pools caught fire last weekend. Smoke from the fire caused an evacuation of nearby residences and shut down interstate highway I-20 for a while. Since then, the wind has shifted and the plume is reaching Atlanta. The chlorine smell here is expected to last through the weekend.

State agencies and the U.S. EPA have been slow to release updates and information, or any real assessment of the actual threat to human lives and the environment posed by the fire. This, especially on top of all the anxiety over the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene, has caused reactions here to range from concerned to panic, and a lot of misinformation has been spreading on social media, including Facebook and Reddit. 

Let's be clear and look at the facts: Chlorine is a heavier-than-air, greenish-yellow gas with a distinctive, pungent, irritating odor. The odor threshold for chlorine, the concentration at which it can be smelled in the air, is between 0.2 and 0.4 ppm.

For chlorine, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommended exposure limit (REL) is that a concentration of 0.5 ppm should not be exceeded during any 15-minute work period. However, NIOSH RELs are just that - recommendations - and are not legally enforceable. The legally enforceable  permissible exposure limit (PEL) for chlorine is set by OSHA at 1 ppm, and is not to be exceeded at any time, regardless of duration.

Since the odor threshold (0.2 to 0.4 ppm) is lower than the exposure limits (0.5 to 1 ppm), you'd be able to smell chlorine in the air before it reaches dangerous levels. However, one has to be wary of "olfactory fatigue," the tendency for the mind to ignore odors after some duration of time. Chlorine, though, is also a very strong oxidizing agent, meaning it is a potent irritant to humans eyes, and the lungs and upper respiratory tract, symptoms difficult to ignore.  

Acute (short-term) studies have reported tickling of the nose at 0.014 to 0.054 ppm, tickling of the throat at 0.04 to 0.097 ppm, itching of the nose and cough, stinging, or dryness of the nose and throat at 0.06 to 0.3 ppm, burning of the eyes after 15 minutes at 0.35 to 0.72 ppm, and discomfort ranging from eye and respiratory irritation to coughing, shortness of breath, and headaches above 1.0 ppm.

Higher levels of chlorine have resulted in mild mucous membrane irritation at 1 to 3 ppm; chest pain, vomiting, shortness of breath, and coughing at 30 ppm; and toxic pneumonitis and pulmonary edema at 46 to 60 ppm.

The U.S. EPA has set up air-quality monitoring stations around the Biolabs facility. The air samples are not being analyzed by a laboratory (at least those posted so far online) but instead were performed using portable field instruments, specifically hand-held Multi-RAE analyzers, larger Area-RAE equipment, chemical-specific Draeger tubes, and SPM analyzers. There instruments are good for rapid, real-time measurements, but lack the accuracy of laboratory analyses. I'm not implying that they're "inaccurate," but their minimum detection limits (the lowest concentration they can detect) are higher than laboratory analyses, and the accuracy (e.g., +/- 0.00x ppm) isn't as precise as a lab. Still, they're useful, especially for gathering lots of readings in a short time period, and they're used by emergency workers to assess air quality before entering a hazardous environment. If firemen and first responders trust them with their lives, we can take their reported concentrations at face value. 

EPA has published the tabulated results of 12 of the monitoring stations online. Analyses are reported for chlorine, hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds, with some stations additionally reporting hydrogen chloride and phosgene. Of the most recent published readings (5:00 pm yesterday), only one of the 12 stations reported chlorine levels at a concentration (1.51 ppm) exceeding the OSHA PEL of 0.5 ppm. The other gasses were all below their respective action levels. 

Some people in Atlanta have expressed concern that air monitoring isn't being performed here, as that's the direction the prevailing winds are now going. But the Biolabs facility is some 30 miles away from Atlanta, and if nothing else, dissipation and dispersion will reduce the concentrations from their source area in Conyers. And since the concentrations in Conyers are below the PEL in all but one of 12 stations, and concentrations at that one non-compliant station are below levels with severe health effects, there's no reason to believe that concentrations in Atlanta will be worse, even if they can be smelled.

Here's a guide: if you're healthy and don't suffer from a respiratory illness, it's fine to go outside in Atlanta. You may want to stay indoors if you're asthmatic or suffer from some other  respiratory disease. If you can smell chlorine, that means concentrations have risen above 0.2 to 0.4 ppm. There's no reason to panic though, as you're still well below levels harmful to health. If you experience tickling of the throat or itching of the nose, move indoors or at least out of the area you're in (especially low-laying areas where the heavier-than-air gas might accumulate). If you're experiencing pain or discomfort instead of mere tickling or itching, you're approaching the dangerous levels and need to move indoors.  

A lot of agencies have been advising that if you're indoor to avoid exposure, you should turn off the air conditioning. That's a boiler-plate recommendation for national advisories. Here in the American South, most AC system are central air systems and circulate indoor air instead of drawing it in from outside like the window-mounted systems used in the North. If you have central air (even with an outdoor compressor) there's no need to turn off the AC.

I'm not dismissing the risk, nor am I justifying the release from Biolabs. I'm as outraged and angry as anyone. However and on the other hand, I don't want people to experience unnecessary stress and anxiety over the issue, or to panic if they can smell chlorine.  As a point of comparison, your exposure to toxic gases, especially carcinogenic benzene, is greater every time you fill your tank with gasoline than being outdoors in Atlanta right now. 

I don't want people to panic nor do I want to lull them into false complacency,  but I do want them to make informed risk decisions.

Release from Dawn

 

More mysteries of the Universal Solar Calendar - Monday was Stone of the Dawn and, two days later, today is Release from Dawn. Don't know how the AI interpreted "release from dawn" to depict the Fall Guy avatar as some sort of hybrid corn stalk/wicker man.

Did you watch the VP debate last night? The Fox News pundits apparently watched it with the sound off. The headline on their website today says that a body-language expert claims Governor Walz was nervous and fidgety and displayed the body-language tells of lying, while Senator Vance was cool, calm, and collected, and appeared like a confident ship captain in control of the situation.

Right, whatever. If you actually listened to what was said, you'd have heard Vance flat-out lie and say that he never supported a national abortion ban, when there's ample videotape evidence of him saying very much the exact opposite. You'd have heard him petulantly complain that the moderators weren't supposed to check his facts after he lied about "illegal immigrants" overtaking Springfield, Ohio (the moderators pointed out to the television audience that Haitian immigrants were in Springfield legally). You'd have heard him try to change the subject without a direct answer when asked point blank if Trump had lost the 2020 election and try to maintain that Trump peacefully transferred power after the 2020 election, and is January 6th never happened.  

If, like the Fox News pundits, you went with the visual impressions, you'd have seen Vance do his imitation of the Dramatic Chipmunk meme whenever he was caught in a lie.

Of course and on the other hand, Huffington Post's headlines claim in bold, all-capital letters that "SPINELESS: VANCE WON'T ADMIT TRUMP LOST, CLAIMS DON PEACEFULLY TRANSFERRED POWER! SHIFTY & SLIMY: JD WHITEWASH WHIRLWIND! PLUS: FACT-CHECK FLIP-OUT!

My impression was that Walz did appear nervous and hesitant at first, but grew in confidence as the debate proceeded, while Vance tried his best to pivot toward the political center and appear to be a mainstream politician until his multiple lies caught up with him. But that's just my opinion - you're impression may differ. 

Day of the Rusted Machines

 

MAGA Republicans are trying to claim that the federal government is not responding to the crisis in western North Carolina from Hurricane Helene because it prefers to spend money in Ukraine and on undocumented immigrants. 

Newsmax claims that FEMA’s top priority is not disaster relief but to instead push diversity, equity and inclusion. “Unless you’ve got your preferred pronouns spraypainted on the side of your submerged house—you won’t get a penny from Uncle Sam. Western North Carolina is just too Conservative and too Caucasian for FEMA to care.” 

Meanwhile, Trump touring Valdosta, Georgia, where people are still without power amidst the devastation. Trump claimed he had spoken to Elon Musk to get his Starlink satellites into North Carolina, even though FEMA has already provided 40 of the systems to North Carolina. Trump further claimed that Georgia governor Brian Kemp was “having a hard time getting the president on the phone. They’re being very non-responsive.” Kemp himself told reporters that Biden had called yesterday. “And he just said, ‘Hey, what do you need?’” Kemp told him, “We got what we need, we’ll work through the federal process," adding "He offered that if there’s other things that we need just to call him directly, which I appreciate that.” 

Other Republicans have joined in the praise of the federal response:

• South Carolina governor Henry McMaster, a Republican, called the federal response “a great team effort…the federal government is helping us well, they’re embedded with us. There is no asset out there that we haven’t already accessed.” 

• Republican governor of Virginia Glenn Youngkin told reporters that he was “incredibly appreciative of the rapid response and cooperation from the federal team at FEMA.” 

• Asheville, North Carolina, mayor Esther Manheimer told CNBC “We have support from outside organizations, other fire departments sending us resources, the federal government as well. So it's all-hands-on-deck, and it is a well-coordinated effort, but it is so enormous….” 

FEMA responded to a post claiming that FEMA was refusing to help certain Americans, saying: “This is a lie. We help all people regardless of background as fast as possible before, during and after disasters. That is our mission and that is our focus.” 

On NPR yesterday, I heard an interviewer try to corner Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas with "gotcha" questions. "Why didn't you get water to western North Carolina earlier? Predictions of the storm's path were quite accurate for quite a time before the storm?" That's simply bullshit. As of about 1:00 am last Friday morning, just before Helene made landfall, the National Hurricane Center was still forecasting the storm to track much further west, crossing directly over Atlanta and then up into Tennessee. I know this, because I was glued to my screen that night. However, after making landfall, the storm instead tacked significantly eastward, crossing over Augusta, Georgia and on up into western North Carolina. The NPR reported was working with "alternative facts," but hey, a "The government's not doing enough to help you" is a spicier story than, "They're doing all they can in a difficult, arduous situation."     

On MSNBC, I saw a victim of the storm up in North Carolina tell a reported "the government doesn't care about us. They're only interested in elections." Rhetoric like that of Newsmax and Trump is making things worse by crushing the morale of the people who most need help, and may even discourage them from seeking assistance from where they are most likely to get it. 

Alert readers will recall that when "president," Trump repeatedly withheld federal aid from Democratic governors—including North Carolina—after disasters in their states. No wonder he thinks that's what real capital-P Presidents do.

Thanks to Heather Cox Richardson for many of the quotes and much on the info cited here.