News Aug 3, 2014 at 8:39 am

Comments

1
Same reason J. Edgar Hoover never resigned (or got canned).
2
Great. Ebola virus brought to the U S. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
3
Surprisingly, the lighting story _may_ be true.
4
Should you be concerned about Ebola? Use this simple test:

1. Are you worried about Ebola?
If no, stop here. You're fine.
If yes, go to #2.

2. Have you had direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person?
If no, stop here. You're fine (and you should STFU).
If yes, contact the CDC.

Thank you, BoingBoing.
5
@2 Well, they're at a facility which is staffed by leading physicians and scientists who are beyond reproach in dealing with rare diseases, the CDC in Atlanta... Uh oh.
6
What's that? Dozens were injured and thousands of dollars were spent rescuing them after a bunch of stoners got behind the wheel? I'm so outraged I'm going to write a letter to the editor! Oh wait, no, it was just alcohol, carry on.
7
i'm picturing the 5 other kids in the car - are they telling the driver to slow down? are they laughing and saying "go faster"?

i blame seafair.
8
The NYT gets it's first ad revenue for marijuana and it all becomes clear. Money makes the world go round.
9
@4 So if you've had direct contact with bodily fluids but aren't worried about it, then there is no need to do anything?
10
@8: Grrr, now you went and got that stuck in my head again.
12
@10: Auf Wiedersehen...à bientôt...
13

Flash Flood Watch in Southwestern California

http://alerts.weather.gov/cap/wwacapget.…

14
Green. Lake. Two words.
15
I caught TB in Seattle nine years ago, so I know what it feels like to be quarantined and have health care workers treat you like a pariah. I hope these folks coming back from Africa with Ebola get the best care possible, recover completely, and don't suffer any residual stigma from their diagnosis.
16
Classical physicists are mad at the makers of the infinite improbability drive because they don't get invited to those sorts of parties.
17
he still didn't get the lightning on camera.
18
He didn't get the lightning on camera but you could actually hear the electric current, which was kind of cool.
19
@17, 18: Actually, he did catch it, within the limitations of his phone cam. I'm not a EE and I don't know what the frame rate for phone videos would be, but there's maybe one frame where a scan region is whited out, with a couple of spark-like artifacts on-screen. Tweeted here: https://twitter.com/boygobong/status/496…

That was followed immediately by the shock wave and him and/or the camera falling to the ground, presumably because of the current effects on his muscles. This would be ground current rather than a direct strike, or he'd be dead.

I'm guessing the induced current surge in his phone's electronics would have addled the sensor and/or memory anyway no matter what mode the camera was in, so he would have only captured artifacts at best. And the relatively short lead lengths within the microcircuitry of the phone probably kept the voltage from the surge low enough to not blow out the components permanently.
21
@20 - What combat has the blue angels squadron seen?

Also, we never stopped - if the bed is high enough, it's just one more place to pack fudge as you are undoubtedly aware from all those times you were hiding there from mommy's disapproving eyes. I know you have massive amounts of guilt and tears of shame each time you beat off to sears catalog male underwear models, but stop projecting your own insecurities onto the rest of us.
22
Dammit, no thread today obsessed with Israel. I guess we Sloggers obey the the topics handed to us by Ansel and his fellow Boy Scouts.
23
Pridge: several members of the Blue Angels squadron have died in combat in the past.
24
@15, I hope that if the Ebola sufferers who come back to America recover, they are kept in isolation for another 3 weeks because the virus is live for at least that period of time.
26
Several blue angels might have died in combat in the past, but that doesn't mean they "provided" us with any freedoms. Even the WWII vets just defended our freedoms. Everything since WWII has just been political dumbassery. People served well and bravely, but it wasn't to provide anyone with any freedoms, and sure as hell wasn't in defense of anything. That boat sailed about 1865.
27
@26: You contradicted yourself. 'Dumbassery since WWII' vs. 'boat sailed ~1865' - please clarify.
28
@23 - but the squad itself hasn't. They aren't out protecting our freedoms, they're putting on a show. That's their entire function.
29
@23, so the planes I saw today were flown by....
GHOSTS?
No, but really, @28, it is a show, but it's enormous PR and a fantastic recruiting tool. I'm not saying it's worth the cost, but there is motivation beyond simple entertainment.
30
@27

Seems pretty straightforward--all you need is an understanding of basic English and basic U.S. History.

Catalina distinguishes between "providing" freedom and "defending" freedom and is saying that the last time the U.S, military "provided" freedom was in 1865, which is the year the American Civil War ended. I'll assume you know something about the Civil War.
31
Ansel lives a sad, sad life.
32
@30, I believe Catalina means that there has been no US military action since WWII taken with the aim of providing anyone with freedom OR defending our own. They have all been motivated by good old fashioned economic and/or strategic concerns. Our freedom have never been threatened by foreign powers, not even during the War of 1812. (The Nazis likely would have come after us if they had succeeded in subjugating all of Europe first, but they never had any aims toward the Western Hemisphere.) And if we happened to win freedom for anyone, well, that was good for publicity but otherwise they couldn't have cared less.
33
Thank you for clarifying, seatackled dear. You laid it out exactly as I meant it. Raindrip my love, you are right. My wording was a bit kludgy.
34
@23, if those pilots died in combat, how is it they're able to fly a plane now? Or is that where the "Angels" part comes in?
35
Thank you Catalina. My reading was a bit kludgy when I read this last night (after blowing $35 on what looked to be a fine 2010 Pinot Noir at Whole Foods - that was disappointing -- but I digress).
Yes seatakled, I know a lot about the Civil War. I've seen 'Gone with the Wind' many, many, times and my cat's name is Scarlett.

Matt in Denver: It is not true that the US was not under threats and attacks in WWII. There was some miserable fighting in the Aleutian Islands, and those that grew up during the war here in Seattle will recall having to turn lights out at night for fear of the Japanese bombers. Also I believe there were some shenanigans with some Nazi saboteurs on the east cost.
36
@16 There's a frood who really knows where his towel is!
37
@11 it's called money laundering. The strip club empire needs a place to claim all the money it made from the illegal coke, boner pills and hooking they run. If it just shows up in the bank account, then someone is going to ask questions.

Open a coffee stand, staff it with peelers willing to show the cooch to suckers buying a $20 dollar cup of coffee, move illicit profits into the coffee and they are in the clear.

Make sure to change the business every 3 months so there is never an audit!
38
@ 35, all penny ante stuff. Find evidence of full scale invasion plans and then you'll have something. The closest to that are some initial-stage-only planning of an invasion of Great Britain by Germany.
39
@38: Of course, from the rear view mirror of history. But at the time, there was legitimate worry.
Then later in the early 60's, people built bomb shelters on their property during the Cuban missile crisis like my parents - which then was only used for into a pantry and wine cellar.
And there was 9/11, which an attack in the new age of asymmetrical war with terrorists.
40
@35 - Ugh man, I know it's totally first world problems, but I hate plunking down good money for what I hope to be good wine, only to be sorely disappointed. I feel for you.
41
@40: And it was a French import too, to please my Francophile host. Thx :)
42
I can grant you WWII and the Cold War as how people were concerned, but the only threat to our freedom from radical Muslim terrorists is in the form of drastic overreaction by our government - which was actually largely driven by the American people's overreaction.
43
@15 They are American doctors who volunteered themselves to combat the epidemic. They won't be treated like pariahs (though they will be in isolation for quite a while yet with minimal human contact), and unlike TB, which is airborne and highly contagious, ebola is actually fairly hard to get as it's not airborne. It's easy to contain when you have a steady supply of nitrile gloves and a hospital with electricity and bleach.

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