What To Do In A Thunderstorm by BBC News

“Thunderbolts and lightning can be very frightening, but how best to stay safe when a storm breaks? The recent hot weather has led to thunderstorms.”

BBC News

“Thunderstorms are short, sharp and shocking – for some literally. For if you can hear the clouds rumbling, chances are the storm is close enough to for you to be struck by lightning – it can strike up to 10 miles away from the centre of a storm.

Count the seconds between seeing lightning and hearing thunder – if it’s less than 30 seconds, there’s a threat.

If thunderstorms are forecast, postpone or cancel outdoor activities – especially golf and rod fishing. If a storm is approaching, take cover inside or in a car with the windows wound up – sheds, isolated trees and convertibles do not afford sufficient protection.

Boaters and swimmers should get to shore as quickly as possible, as water conducts electricity. So too do metal pipes and phone lines. Only make calls in an emergency, and best put off baths, showers and dish washing, in case lightning strikes the house and sends a jolt of electricity through the metal plumbing.

The Met Office also advises unplugging appliances, as lightning can cause power surges. If the lights go out, use a torch, rather than the naked flame of a candle. For this would pose quite a nasty fire risk.

Stay low

If caught outside in a thunderstorm, find a low spot away from trees, fences, and poles. If your skin tingles and hair stands on end, lightning is about to strike. Crouch down, balancing on the balls of your feet, placing hands on knees with head between them. This makes you into the smallest target possible, and minimises contact with the ground.

Do not put up an umbrella or use a mobile phone – the metal directs the current into the body. The British Medical Journal last month illustrated the dangers with the case of a 15-year-old struck while using her mobile – she suffered a cardiac arrest, burst eardrum and a year on she has to use a wheelchair.

If someone has been hit by lightning, call for help as they’ll need urgent medical attention. It’s safe to touch them – people struck by lightning carry no electrical charge that can shock other people.

Check for a pulse and for breathing – if you know first aid, begin artificial respiration and CPR if necessary. If they’re breathing, check for other possible injuries. Lightning strike victims have burns in two places – where the electric shock entered and then left the body, usually the soles of the feet. They may have broken bones or loss of hearing or sight.

What NOT to do by BBC NewsBe wary of venturing out too soon – the BBC Weather Centre advises waiting 30 minutes after the last flash, as over half of lightning deaths occur after the thunderstorm has passed.

While the forecast storms will bring much-needed rain to the parched South-East, the sudden dump of water poses the risk of flash flooding. If waters start to rise, head for higher ground. Don’t try to drive to safety, as most flash flood deaths occur in vehicles.

And one final tip – it’s a myth that lightning never strikes the same place twice. Now be careful out there. “

To read the original article on BBC News, please click here.


How Solar Flares Are Affecting Our Bodies by Dena Ventrudo

According to Heather Carlini C.M.Ht, “…solar activity is known to influence human consciousness. Solar flares affect the Central Nervous System (stomach lining), all brain activity (including equilibrium), along with human behaviour and all psycho-physiological (mental-emotional-physical) response. Solar flares can cause us to be nervous, anxious, worrisome, jittery, dizzy, shaky, irritable, lethargic, exhausted, have short term memory problems, heart palpitations, feel nauseous, queasy, and to have prolonged head pressure and headaches.”

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Hurricane Irene Damage Evident as Flooding Recedes- Vermont Takes A Devastating Hit

| by Michael Hill,Samantha Henry, Associated Press

“Of the 11 towns that had been severed from the outside world, the final one to be reached by rescuers was tiny Wardsboro, a village of 850 in the Green Mountains. The community is little more than a post office and some houses standing along Route 100, a highway popular in the fall with tourists searching out autumn colors. The National Guard continued to ferry supplies to mountain towns that had no electricity, no telephone service and limited transportation in or out. Eight helicopters were expected to arrive Wednesday with food, blankets, tarps and drinking water.” How To Help With Relief Efforts Included Inside- PLEASE HELP!!!!!!

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Tips For Hurricane Preparation: It Is Projected To Be A Stormy Season! by Dena Ventrudo

| by Dena Ventrudo

A Hurricane Watch means hurricane conditions are possible in the specified area of the watch, usually within 36 hours. A Hurricane Warning means Hurricane conditions are expected in the specified area of the warning, usually within 24 hours. Inside this article is a guideline of procedures laid out by the Red Cross. I ask that you take the time to not only read them all, but print them out and keep them someplace where everyone can read them, i.e. the refrigerator door.”

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Organic v. Monsanto By Danielle Magnuson

| by Danielle Magnuson

“Monsanto, which has acquired more than 20 of the nation’s biggest seed producers and sellers over the last decade, has long pursued a strict policy with its customers, obligating them to buy its bioengineered seeds every year rather than use them in multiple planting seasons. Farmers who disobey are blacklisted forever.”

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Hudson River Estuarine Sanctuary at Piermont Pier & Marsh by the Rockland Audubon Society

| by www.rocklandaudubon.org/piermont_pier.htm

The Piermont Pier & Marshes are located just north of Tallman Mountain State Park and south of the Tappan Zee Bridge (from which Piermont Pier can be seen)… In 1982 NOAA’s Office of Coastal Zone Management formally designated Piermont Marsh as part of a Federal Hudson River Estuarine Sanctuary to be administered by NYSDEC in cooperation with PIPC.”

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Giant Hogweed Spreading Across New York State, DEC Warns Of Burns and Blindness by The Huffington Post

| by The Huffington Post

“The giant hogweed is a stunning plant–reaching up to 12 feet tall with flowers as big as umbrellas– but it’s also dangerous. Its sap can cause third degree burns and blindness and New York environmental officials are worried the plant is spreading across the state at an alarming rate “If the sap gets on your skin and it’s exposed to sunlight . . . you end up with third-degree burns, oozing and scars,” Naja Kraus, the DEC’s Giant Hogweed Program coordinator, told The New York Post , adding, “If it gets in your eyes, you can go blind.””

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Stop Fracking & Save Our Water Supply by NoFracking.com

| by nofracking.com

“Hydraulic fracturing is commonly applied to wells drilled in low permeability reservoir rock. An estimated 90 percent of the natural gas wells in the United States use hydraulic fracturing to produce gas at economic rates. The fluid injected into the rock can be water, gels, foams, and compressed gases, including nitrogen, carbon dioxide and air. Various types of proppant are used, including sand, resin-coated sand, and man-made ceramics, depending on the type of permeability or grain strength needed. Sand containing naturally radioactive minerals is sometimes used so that the fracture trace along the wellbore can be measured…” Wikipedia.org

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Health Alert: Nyack Water Customers Told To Boil Water Before Using by William Demarest, Update by Village of Nyack, NY

| by William Demarest- Update: Village of Nyack, NY

“Customers of Nyack’s Water Department are being cautioned to boil their water before using it for drinking or cooking, possibly for the next three to five days, because of levels of bacteria that exceed health standards, according to a notice by the village. Water department crews, in response to the problem, are raising chlorine levels in the water at the Nyack treatment plant in West Nyack and they are flushing sections of the water system. About 15,000 customers–in Nyack, South Nyack, Central Nyack and the Palisades Center in West Nyack, NY–are affected.”

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Less Sunspot Activity Is Not A Climate Change Fix by Erin Podolak

| by Erin Podolak

“…The idea is that the lack of solar activity could propel Earth into the next “Little Ice Age” or even serve as a solution to global warming. There is some historical evidence of cooling events and solar activity decreases occurring at the same time, but the two types of events are not strongly correlated… Established scientific evidence shows that reduced solar activity produces a cooling effect on Earth of less than 0.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Certainly not enough to fix our global warming woes, particularly considering that scientists aren’t even sure yet that we are entering a decades long solar minimum.”

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