Triangle of Life

I have no idea if this guy's strategies are correct, but I pass on in case it ever becomes relevant to you.

EXTRACT FROM DOUG COPP'S ARTICLE ON THE: "TRIANGLE OF LIFE"
My name is Doug Copp. I am the Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI), the world's most experienced rescue team. The information in this article will save lives in an earthquake.

I have crawled inside 875 collapsed buildings, worked with rescue teams from 60 countries, founded rescue teams in several countries, and I am a member of many rescue teams from many countries.I was the United Nations expert in Disaster Mitigation for two years. I have worked at every major disaster in the world since 1985, except for simultaneous disasters.

The first building I ever crawled inside of was a school in Mexico City during the 1985 earthquake. Every child was under its desk. Every child was crushed to the thickness of their bones. They could have survived by lying down next to their desks in the aisles. It was obscene, unnecessary and I wondered why the children were not in the aisles. I didn't at the timeknow that the children were told to hide under something.

Simply stated, when buildings collapse, the weight of the ceilings falling upon the objects or furniture inside crushes these objects, leaving a space or void next to them. This space is what I call the "triangle of life". The larger the object, the stronger, the less it will compact. The less the object compacts, the larger the void, the greater the probability that the person who is using this void for safety will not be injured. The next time you watch collapsed buildings, on television, count the "triangles" you see formed. They are everywhere. It is the most common shape, you will see, in a collapsed building.

TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SAFETY

1) Most everyone who simply "ducks and covers" WHEN BUILDINGS COLLAPSE are crushed to death. People who get under objects, like desks or cars, are crushed.
2) Cats, dogs and babies often naturally curl up in the fetal position.You should too in an earthquake. It is a natural safety/survival instinct. You can survive in a smaller void. Get next to an object, next to a sofa, next to a large bulky object that will compress slightly but leave a void next to it.
3) Wooden buildings are the safest type of construction to be in during an earthquake. Wood is flexible and moves with the force of the earthquake. If the wooden building does collapse, large survival voids are created.Also, the wooden building has less concentrated, crushing weight. Brick buildings will break into individual bricks. Bricks will cause many injuries but less squashed bodies than concrete slabs.
4) If you are in bed during the night and an earthquake occurs, simply roll off the bed. A safe void will exist around the bed. Hotels can achieve a much greater survival rate in earthquakes, simply by posting a sign on The back of the door of every room telling occupants to lie down on the floor, next to the bottom of the bed during an earthquake.
5) If an earthquake happens and you cannot easily escape by getting out the door or window, then lie down and curl up in the fetal position next to a sofa, or large chair.
6) Most everyone who gets under a doorway when buildings collapse is killed. How? If you stand under a doorway and the doorjamb falls forward or backward you will be crushed by the ceiling above. If the door jam falls sideways you will be cut in half by the doorway. In either case, you will be killed!
7) Never go to the stairs. The stairs have a different "moment of frequency" (they swing separately from the main part of the building).The stairs and remainder of the building continuously bump into each other until structural failure of the stairs takes place. The people who get on stairs before they fail are chopped up by the stair treads – horribly mutilated. Even if the building doesn't collapse, stay away from the stairs. The stairs are a likely part of the building to be damaged. Even if the stairs are not collapsed by the earthquake, they may collapse later when overloaded by fleeing people. They should always be checked for safety, even when the rest of the building is not damaged.
8) Get Near the Outer Walls Of Buildings Or Outside Of Them If Possible - It is much better to be near the outside of the building rather than the interior. The farther inside you are from the outside perimeter of the building the greater the probability that your escape route will be blocked.
9) People inside of their vehicles are crushed when the road above falls in an earthquake and crushes their vehicles; which is exactly what happened with the slabs between the decks of the Nimitz Freeway. The victims of the San Francisco earthquake all stayed inside of their vehicles. They were all killed. They could have easily survived by getting out and sitting or lying next to their vehicles. Everyone killed would have survived if they had been able to get out of their cars and sit or lie next to them. All the crushed cars had voids 3 feet high next to them, except for the cars that had columns fall directly across them.
10) I discovered, while crawling inside of collapsed newspaper offices and other offices with a lot of paper, which does not compact.Large voids are found surrounding stacks of paper. [ed. newspaper is not dead!]

Pegapalooza!

Happy 4-0 Peg! I attended her gala party at the Avalon Hotel over the weekend. Much celebrating was had by all and I even bought a new frock (which made me look a little like Mrs Roper, but oh well). Sadly, my husband and I were escorted out by security before the party ended, but as I explained to the a-hole security guy, the bra in the pool was not mine.

The next day was spent lying in a darkened room and a Battlestar Galactica tivo-a-thon.

Gentrification = Frozen Yogurt

Anyone watching "Cranford" on PBS? I like a lot. I know...I'm hopeless...

If you are planning coming to the festivities out west, please give me a shout if you are coming to the Thursday BBQ. REM is playing at the Hollywood Bowl that night and parking will be a nightmare. I will try to organize some sort of carpooling. There's also some back routes for you to take to avoid the crazy traffic. Sigh.

Iain has been driving to work so I'm walking to work. Obviously the extra physical activity is probably good. Plus, I am getting a real street-level view of Hollywood. I walk down Hollywood Boulevard/Walk of Stars which sounds good. In reality, the Walk of Stars is a collection of grim tshirt and drug paraphernalia shops and smells like urine most of the time. Ah the smell of urine in the morning...brings me right back to London. And Brooklyn. Hollywood is supposedly gentrifying quickly, and there are a shocking number of fancy frozen yogurt shops, but there is very little glamour.

Mama likes grits

Picture above of us at Dodger game yesterday. Lovely day, but a couple setbacks: a woman sitting in front of us got hit in the face by a ball (Happy Mother's Day!) and her face exploded; it was far too sunny and my scalp is sunburned; and the Dodgers sucked ass. Still, the beer was free, thanks to my most generous employer. .

I was in Hotlanta last week for a work do held at the Georgia Aquarium. One of the conference rooms was attached to, yes, the shark tank. We all went bowling at night. There are pictures of me in a bowling shirt that makes me look like a lesbian Laverne De Fazio, if that's not redundant. I did get to spend time with friends from London (Sonia, Meara, Penny) which was awesome. We had a girls night out at a restaurant called Two Urban Licks: I had the scallops with smoked gouda grits and a Amador county Zin. Mmmm grits. Mama likes grits.



The jacaranda trees are in bloom in Los Angeles now. They have these massive totally surreal purple flowers. Showoffs.

The Anti-Bucket List

Things I’ve never done

- Heroin
- Watched a Woody Allen movie willingly
- Worn a tube top
- Cried when I don’t really mean it
- Eaten a bug (knowingly)
- Read a Thomas Friedman editorial and said to myself “wow!”
- Gone rock climbing
- Ordered something “extra spicy”

Crazed Vicious Animal Trifecta!

First the Killer Grizzly Bear, then the Man-eating Great White Shark, and today...I get this email from one of our editors:


"Ok it’s not a dingo but here’s the deal:

According to KCAL, a 14 month year old girl was playing at Alterra park in the City of Chino Hills when the nanny turned around and saw what she calls a coyote attacking the child.

They don’t have any other information at this time except to say there doesn’t seem to be much of a scene except an empty playground.

We’ll continue to monitor-"

UPDATE: I'm not f-ing around here, people. Here's the official press release from the police.

"SUMMARY:
On Friday, May 2, 2008, at approximately 10:30 a.m., a two-year old female toddler was playing in the sandbox at Altura Park in the City of Chino Hills. She was in the care of her babysitter. The babysitter suddenly heard her cry, looked up, and saw a lone coyote had bitten the toddler on the buttocks and was attempting to carry her away in its mouth. The babysitter grabbed the child and pulled it away from the coyote’s grasp. After the toddler was freed, the coyote ran off into the nearby brush. Chino Hills Deputies, along with San Bernardino County Animal Control conducted an area check for the coyote however they were unable to locate the animal. California State Fish and Game responded to the scene in an attempt to capture the animal.

The toddler sustained two small puncture wounds to the right buttocks area. She was transported to a local area hospital by paramedics for medical evaluation and treatment."

Laura - PorkChop better WATCH OUT. He's awfully succulent.