As Flames Surged, Order Prevailed Inside a Japan Airlines JetIn addition to a well-trained crew and an advanced plane, the safe evacuation of 367 passengers came down to a relative absence of panic. While a number of factors aided what many have called a miracle at Haneda Airport — a well-trained crew of 12; a veteran pilot with 12,000 hours of flight experience; advanced aircraft design and materials — the relative absence of panic onboard during the emergency procedure perhaps helped the most. “Even though I heard screams, mostly people were calm and didn’t stand up from their seats but kept sitting and waiting,” said Aruto Iwama, a passenger who gave a video interview to the newspaper The Guardian. “That’s why I think we were able to escape smoothly.” Anton Deibe, a 17-year-old passenger from Stockholm, agreed with that assessment, saying, “The cabin crew were very professional, but one could see even in their eyes that they were scared.” Still, he added, “no one ran ahead to save themselves. Everyone waited for instructions.”

Customers May Struggle to Get Clorox Wipes After a Damaging CyberattackThe company said a cyberattack discovered in August caused “wide-scale disruption” to its operations.

Not really.  I’d suggest making a list of dams in your general area, google them, and see when they were built, who administers them, and who owns the water stored inside them.  If you don’t know where to start, pull out a local map and identify reservoirs and popular recreational areas.  Look at the main water sources (rivers, creeks, etc.) and the topography of your area and see where stuff is flowing to and from.  Don’t just look at dams in your immediate area but, also, pay attention to what’s upstream as a dam failure upstream could easily overwhelm an otherwise good condition dam downstream.  Look up the history of major floods in your area (and supplement by asking folks who were alive and residing in the area fifty to sixty years ago.)  Stuff that caused flooding decades ago and was shored up then is likely to be a problem again at some point in the future. Anything that’s 50+ years old is probably something to be concerned about.  For more details, you could probably inquire further with whatever entity overseas the dam. Much of my knowledge about floods, dams, etc. in my area has been acquired by reading topo maps for hiking, spending time at recreational areas around creeks, rivers, and reservoirs, paying close attention to exhibits in visitor centers in said areas, and asking my mom a lot of questions about floods that took place in our area back in the 1960s.  In fact, I’ve noticed that a lot of the current dams in my area date to the 1970s, suggesting they were built as part of the regional flood control plan that was implemented following the 1960s floods. Part of the premise of the article is that dams built to withstand once-in-a-lifetime worst case scenarios in the mid-20th century are no longer storm worthy because climate change, in many instances, has made those former once-in-a-lifetime scenarios much more common, and the current worst case scenarios, when they happen, now will exceed the limits of those dams. Unfortunately, no easy answers here.  But some fairly simple (and fun!) research can at least give you some ideas of what type of incidents might be in your future. Hope this helps!

Is the Disaster in Libya Coming Soon to an Aging Dam Near You? In the United States, the second most prolific dam-builder after China, the average age of dams is 65 years old and an estimated 2,200 structures are at high risk of collapse.

Maui Sent an Evacuation Alert. Why Did So Few People Get It?The Hawaii wildfire offered insights into the promises and shortcomings of a wireless alert system that relies on cellphones for emergency warnings.

Definitely going to be chaotic for the next few days . . .  As Wildfire Nears, Entire Canadian City Is Ordered to EvacuateOfficials told residents to clear out of the Northwest Territories city of Yellowknife by Friday afternoon. Most were expected to flee south by road.

Season 9 is now available on Netflix for those of us who are perpetually a year behind on the series.  As has been the case with the last several seasons, great summertime viewing to get psyched up for winter camping.

Here’s a Look at the Water Crises That Might Be Coming to You SoonBangladesh, a river delta nation, is on the front line of climate change. Its coping strategies could offer lessons for the wider world.

How the Shortage of a $15 Cancer Drug Is Upending TreatmentOlder generic chemotherapy drugs remain scarce, forcing doctors to put a priority on the patients who have the best chance of survival.

Texas Heat Wave Shows No Signs of Letting UpA record-breaking heat wave is expected to worsen through the weekend as it spreads through nearby states. Officials in Texas asked residents to conserve electricity amid concerns that several days of triple-digit temperatures could strain the power grid. Early Friday, more than 100,000 homes and businesses were without power across Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, according to poweroutage.us, a website that tracks utilities.

Caribou Meat and Moon Signs: Inuit Lessons for Soldiers in the ArcticHumbled by centuries of fatal colonial expeditions, Canada’s military is learning Arctic survival strategies from the austere area’s only inhabitants. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/04/world/canada/canada-military-arctic-climate.html

Thanks, Eric!  I’ve attempted to repair the links and, at least on my end, they appear to be working correctly.  Please let me know if there is still a problem.

For Sunday 5/28 — Anybody know why it is no longer possible to start new threads in this forum?  In the meantime, posting here in the 5/15 news thread . . .  Everything You Need to Know About the Debt Ceiling https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/02/business/economy/us-debt-ceiling.html

For Wed 5/25 — It looks like ability to post new threads is not functioning this morning.  Maybe just a browser issue on my end. Typhoon Mawar Pounds Guam With High Winds, Knocking Out Power https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/24/us/typhoon-mawar-guam.html

Drug Shortages Near an All-Time High, Leading to RationingA worrisome scarcity of cancer drugs has heightened concerns about the troubled generic drug industry. Congress and the White House are seeking ways to address widespread supply problems. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/17/health/drug-shortages-cancer.html

Equipping Airplanes with Epi-Pens (from last week’s news) + an older article on in-flight medical emergencies for context: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/movement-equip-airplanes-epipens-gaining-traction-rcna82392 https://simpleflying.com/in-flight-medical-emergencies/ A good case study in Austere First Aid.

I use weather.gov (NOAA) to get a general overview of the weather, particularly for backcountry hiking, snowshoeing, and camping trips.  When “off-grid” I use the NOAA FM frequencies on my ham radio. If I want an hour-by-hour breakdown of the weather OR a long-term forecast, then I generally use Accuweather, which seems to work well enough.  Though, I suspect there are probably better options.