Your daily 'thing to be afraid of'

[cupper]

Not poisonous, fine. But there are certain parts of the male anatomy that could easily be mistaken by a Rat Snake as being a rat. anic:

 

[CougarKing]

Speaking of spiders and arachnophobiacs... 

Yahoo News

Recluse spider bite liquefies part of a woman’s ear

Some spiders are renowned for their size or the potency of their venom, but the bite of the notorious recluse spider is particularly nasty, as an unlucky 22-year-old woman from the Netherlands recently found out.

Recluse spiders live in warm climates, and they aren't known for being aggressive, so bites from them are fairly rare. This is a particularly good thing, because of what the recluse venom is capable of doing to the skin, muscle and bone around the bite. When the venom is injected, rather than attacking the nervous system like other poisons do, compounds in the venom immediately start to destroy the tissues they come into contact with, in a process called necrosis. This liquefies the tissues, and can cause large, gruesome patches of blackened skin that need to be cut away in order for the wound to heal. Further danger from the bite is that all the destroyed tissues can easily lead to an infection, and if the poison manages to get into the bloodstream, the necrosis can spread to the blood itself and get transported throughout the body.

(...)

 

[OldSolduer]

Three Letters:

RSM

 

[cavalryman]

Three Letters:

RSM

The dreaded Recluse Spider Menace?

 

[OldSolduer]

The dreaded Recluse Spider Menace?

Pfffttt.......one glare from these fellows have been known to freeze Sgts in their tracks and lessen the height of MCpls by two inches.

 

[cupper]

Pfffttt.......one glare from these fellows have been known to freeze Sgts in their tracks and lessen the height of MCpls by two inches.

Hell, I once had to change my underware after experiencing  just a sideways glance.  :'(

 

[daftandbarmy]

For those of you who are already nervous in the Airborne service

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9woABVnFuc

 

[CougarKing]

Yikes.

From CBC via MSN news

Updated: Fri, 20 Jun 2014 12:08:33 GMT | By The Associated Press, cbc.ca
Great white shark population surging, study says

A report that scientists are calling one of the most comprehensive studies of great white sharks finds their numbers are surging in the ocean off the Eastern U.S. and Canada after decades of decline — bad news if you're a seal, but something experts say shouldn't instill fear in beachgoers this summer.

The study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, published this month in the journal PLOS ONE, says the population of the notoriously elusive fish has climbed since about 2000 in the western North Atlantic.

(...EDITED)

 

[daftandbarmy]

7.9 things to be afraid of on the West Coast:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/06/23/alaska-earthquake-sparks-tsunami-warning/

 

[a_majoor]

My candidate if I ever return to the southern americas: the candiru fish.

http://www.damninteresting.com/the-terrifying-toothpick-fish/

Swims up your urethra if you are urinating in the water, jams tiny barbs out of it's side to lock itself in, and proceeds to eat it's surroundings in search of a vein. We simply called them dickfish.

Your not the only one who is afraid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBxEyUtmhKs

 

[daftandbarmy]

Meanwhile, the big 'un is just around the corner...


What Are the Chances of a  Devastating Pandemic Occurring in the Next 50 Years?

Fairly likely.

Larry Brilliant discussed this issue during a 2006 TED talk. In the talk, he said that he had done a study with top epidemiologists. In that study, 90% of them said they thought there would be a pandemic within their children's or grandchildren's lifetimes, where:
•1 billion people would get sick
•165 million would die
•There would be a global recession and depression
•and there would be $1-3 trillion cost to the economy

And it's easy to see why. There are a few facets of modern society that make a devastating pandemic not only possible, but likely.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/quora/what-are-the-chances-of-a_b_3839785.html

 

[PMedMoe]

World's largest aquatic insect specimen reportedly found in China

What appears to be the world's largest flying aquatic insect was discovered earlier this month in China's Sichuan province, officials there say.

According to the Insect Museum of West China, an expedition to the outskirts of Chengdu in mid-July returned dobsonflies with 8.3-inch wingspans and "giant snake-like fangs." Previously, the largest-known aquatic insect was the South American helicopter damselfly, which had a wingspan measuring 7.5 inches.

More at link

   

 

[daftandbarmy]

Go Pork Scratchings!


Health myths busted: Can too much sleep kill you and is popcorn is good for you?

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/health-myths-busted-can-much-3902339#ixzz38Jnv0YHL
Follow us: @DailyMirror on Twitter | DailyMirror on Facebook


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/health-myths-busted-can-much-3902339

 

[a_majoor]

People with power and far too much time on their hands:

http://online.wsj.com/articles/offices-adopt-safety-protocols-meant-for-the-field-1406515193

Safety Cops Patrol the Office For High Heels
Companies Move Mandates Indoors; 'Avoid Bread'

By RACHEL FEINTZEIG and ALEXANDRA BERZON CONNECT
July 27, 2014 10:39 p.m. ET

For decades, companies have used films and videos to promote workplace safety. Now employers are taking them to the next level.
Kyle Bennett and his colleagues recently filled out cards issued by their employer describing the safety risks of a certain regular midday activity. "Walk across the street, enter restaurant, sit down, eat meal," one wrote, breaking down the task at hand.

So it goes for employees at mining giant Rio Tinto's Northern Utah operations—where all workers, including those like Mr. Bennett who works in a suburban office park outside Salt Lake City—must fill out cards analyzing the safety of their daily routines.

Safety awareness is serious business at workplaces such as construction sites, food manufacturing plants, mines and oil rigs, where equipment failures or other lapses can result in tragic accidents. For an employee in Rio Tinto's Utah copper mine, the mandate to document safety concerns might mean jotting down the least dangerous way of moving 1,700-ton electric shovels.

But now field-inspired safety protocols are migrating to the office, where hazards include dripping umbrellas, the height of high heels and hot cups of coffee.

At Chevron Corp. CVX -2.48%  , any worker at the company's San Ramon, Calif., headquarters can halt an activity he or she deems dangerous by whipping out a small white "stop work" card. Workers take the authority seriously; filming for a safety training video stopped when an employee noticed props scattered on the ground and invoked that power.

At the U.S. arm of food and beverage company Nestlé SA, NESN.VX -1.10% employees begin meetings by checking for hazards, like computer cords that can cause tripping, and reviewing emergency exit protocol. Workers are also expected to spot two safety incidents each month—such as someone holding elevator doors open.

At a company event held at a hotel, an assembled crowd of Nestlé workers audibly gasped when a hotel employee jumped up onto the stage instead of using an adjacent staircase.

"Everyone went 'Whoa,' " said Joanne Crawford, a marketing director in the company's Glendale, Calif., office. The chief executive of Nestlé USA made the worker leave the stage and ascend the correct way.

Safety-minded employees of Exxon Mobil Corp. XOM -4.17%  recently camped out near two stairways in the firm's Irving, Texas, headquarters to observe who held the handrails while going up and down, who carried too many items or ones too large, who was using their mobile phones and who was in a rush. The workers, members of a company safety and wellness committee, mostly just recorded the incidents, for fear they might startle someone and cause an injury.

"We will intervene if we can do so safely," said Glenn Murray, who coordinates the company's safety programs.

Corporate safety consultants and executives point out that strict rules for office safety can reduce injuries, cut down on workers' comp costs, make employees more aware of the dangers their colleagues in the field are facing and promote teamwork.

Yet worker-safety advocates say that not all office-safety programs represent the best use of resources.

"I don't really need some corporate executive to tell me to look both ways before I cross the street," said Mike Wright, who directs health and safety for the United Steelworkers, which represents workers in mines, steel plants, oil refineries and many other manufacturing plants. "I think a lot of it is just distraction."

Charles Bradford, a metals industry analyst, said that when he meets with investor-relations staff at large metals firms, they often start the meeting with a safety talk that sometimes strikes him as "a bit much."

"You have to assume that the people attending the meeting are smart enough to know where the exits are," Mr. Bradford said.

Fatalities and serious injuries occasionally occur in offices. Yet compared with other industries, the life of the office worker is deemed such a relatively safe one that government regulators don't step foot in to investigate unless called in due to a complaint or accident.

"I have never heard a vice president of finance say, 'I have to get my area together because OSHA might come in to inspect us,' " said Steve Simon, a safety consultant in California.


Skanska employees in New York do 'stretch and flex' exercises designed to prevent soft-tissue injuries. Andrew Spear for The Wall Street Journal
At the U.S. arm of Swedish builder Skanska SKA-B.SK -1.39%  AB, 8,300 workers at construction sites begin every morning with about five minutes of "stretch and flex," designed to prevent soft-tissue injuries like sprains. But the 1,400 employees who work at the company's corporate offices also do lunges and stretch their triceps—some in high heels or ties.

On a recent morning in New York, at the company's Empire State Building office, about 65 workers gathered in a hallway by the elevators and launched into quad stretches.

Margaret Billy Quandt—clad in pearls, a coral-colored dress and peep-toe stilettos—said she was initially taken aback by the exercise when she joined the company.

"I was like 'What is going on?'" said Ms. Quandt, a senior human resources director. Since then, she said, the company's safety focus has inspired her to rearrange her desk and multitask less.

"Our job site rules are the same as office rules," said Skanska USA Inc. CEO Mike McNally. While he initially thought the daily stretching exercise was "corny," he said he now finds it fun. It gets office workers out of their desk chairs, he said, and shows them the company cares about them.

At Rio Tinto's Kennecott copper mining subsidiary in Utah, employees have to put a wedge under the tires of company-owned vehicles, designed to stop them from rolling, even on flat ground. That written company policy stems from federal regulations for mine areas. The company decided to apply the rules across the board, said Mr. Bennett, Rio Tinto Kennecott's spokesman.

All workers are also required to fill out the daily safety tracking cards. The idea is to ensure that safety awareness permeates the entire company from the mine to the executive suite, Mr. Bennett said. He said that as an employee, "It's really critical for me to understand the culture and how I can contribute to it."

For some office workers, though, finding a hazard to write up every day at the office can be a challenge. Some resort to rehashing procedures for unplanned emergencies, such as earthquakes. Mr. Bennett says he sometimes tracks his lunch treks, noting on his safety card how he will control for every possible threat on the way, from flights of stairs to the busy intersection outside the office.

One of his colleagues recently wrote that to mitigate "choking hazards" during a lunch, she would "take small bites; avoid bread."

—John W. Miller contributed to this article.

Write to Rachel Feintzeig at rachel.feintzeig@wsj.com and Alexandra Berzon at alexandra.berzon@wsj.com

 

[stealthylizard]

That's the new reality of the civilian work force.  I have about 100 cards pre-written about the potential hazard of slips, trips and falls when walking.  There is only so much job safety analysis you can do about walking through farmer's fields for 3 years.

 

[cupper]

Someone want to explain how holding open an elevator door is a safety hazard?

There is a reason for the safety system that causes the door to not close or reopen when it encounters an object blocking it's path.

I know from personal experience that there can be some really stupid implementations of policy. Was written up on a job site a few years ago for not having my hard hat on. The fact that I took it off because I was looking out over the face of a 30' high retaining wall to take a photograph, and didn't want it to fall and hit the workers below didn't seem to be sufficient enough reason for the safety officer who happened to be there. After a 30 minute discussion in the Project Managers office we came to an amicable agreement that the report would be appropriately filled in the trash and that the safety officer should focus on actual safety violations such as the broken safety rail 10' from where I was taking the photo.

 

[stealthylizard]

Safety system could malfunction. 

Safety isn't about what "will" happen, it's about what "could" happen, or has happened because of someone being complacent or a general moron.  It's also why companies tend to hire people for safety that haven't been in the industry.  Everything to them is a potential safety hazard, even if the odds of it happening are astronomical.  The more time you spend on a job, the less hazardous everything starts to look.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Safety system could malfunction.

Happened about 20 years ago in the Lord Elgin in Ottawa. Brit tourist got caught  between the doors on the elevator and ended up getting decapitated.

 

[PMedMoe]

Check your unused spare rooms... 

Enormous wasps' nest covers bed in UK woman's spare bedroom

A gigantic nest made by 5000 wasps was the last thing a man expected to find on a bed in a rarely-used spare bedroom in his mother's home.

In order to make their nearly one-metre wide by about 45-centimetre nest over up to three months, the insects chewed through the single bed's mattress and pillows.

The woman, who lives in the Winchester home alone, had not been in the spare bedroom during this time.

.....

"In 45 years I have never seen anything like it. There must have been 5000 wasps. It's amazing that the woman didn't realise she was living with them."

More at link

Couldn't she hear them??

 

[theforcewithin]

Check your unused spare rooms... 

Enormous wasps' nest covers bed in UK woman's spare bedroom

A gigantic nest made by 5000 wasps was the last thing a man expected to find on a bed in a rarely-used spare bedroom in his mother's home.

In order to make their nearly one-metre wide by about 45-centimetre nest over up to three months, the insects chewed through the single bed's mattress and pillows.

The woman, who lives in the Winchester home alone, had not been in the spare bedroom during this time.

.....

"In 45 years I have never seen anything like it. There must have been 5000 wasps. It's amazing that the woman didn't realise she was living with them."

More at link

Couldn't she hear them??

I wouldn't even know how to start cleaning that up...

I guess at least it wasn't a nest of snakes slithering around the room. :S