Hot Enough For Ya?

I just wanted to share the current weather in Calgary today…

It’s currently -36C (which for the ‘merican is -32.8F), with a chance of “even colder”.  We’ve got wind speeds of up to 22KM/h (a little over 13 miles/hour), which means the wind chill is approximately -47C (or the more impressive -53F).

For those who don’t know, wind chill is designed to tell you how cold it “feels”, and is useful to calculate how long until exposed flesh freezes.

While -47C isn’t a record, the theory says I’ve only got six degrees of separation from inviting Al Gore down here to enjoy some global warming first hand.  We can pitch a tent, he can sleep outside.

According to the wind chill calculation tables, at -47C, exposed flesh is already frozen, and psychiatric help should be sought immediately by anyone even considering going outside.

Jericho: The Home Game

Wired has an interesting story on Staging the Largest Terrorism-Response Drill in U.S. History.

The scene is supposed to simulate the effects of a “radiological dispersal device” — a dirty bomb.

Sounds like fun.

Victims are given an identity, symptoms, and vital signs, all printed on a card worn throughout the day. Over scrambled eggs and coffee, a group of twentysomethings have a good laugh over one of them being assigned “watery and bloody feces.” One woman wants to see a stranger’s gaping cranial wound.

You could do worse, I guess.

Australia issues travel warning against Canada

The website, which is run by Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, has Canada listed as a country where travellers should “exercise caution,” which is the second-lowest rating out of five – the highest being “do not travel.”

Several risks are listed, including:

  • Avalanches
  • Heavy Snow
  • Windchill
  • Forest Fires
  • Terrorist Attack
  • Celine Dion

Interestingly,

Countries listed as safer than Canada include China, Chile, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Belarus, Romania, South Korea, Ireland, Norway, Japan and Latvia.

Wow, that’s… special.