(no subject)

[lapsedmodernist]

I am seriously worried about my relatives in Moscow, especially my aunt and uncle, who are in their seventies. It's been 107-108 degrees there this week already, now it has "fallen" to 103. No one in Moscow has air conditioners, all the fans are sold out, and peat bogs are burning on the outskirts of Moscow. Moscow is filled with smog, people are wearing masks, asthma sufferers are having a really bad time, toxic particles in air are 8 times the norm.

Things look very bad.

Comments

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

thanks; yes, they definitely do that, and I am pretty sure my uncle just keeps dipping his t-shirt in cold water and wearing it that way. And they mostly stay in their apartment. But still, that only goes so far, you know?

[mjmj.livejournal.com]

I just learned about the fires today when it popped up on google news (I don't have t.v.). I hope they are O.K. Something they might try at night is to put their pillows (one at a time?) into the freezer and then take them out at bedtime (I learned about this one as a tip for helping kids with fevers).

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

that's an interesting idea--is the point to make the pillows wet and cold or just cold? Meaning, should they put them in the freezer in, like, a plastic bag or just as they are? Although at this point I am more concerned about the CO level in Moscow's air that is like 9 times the acceptable level than the heat...

[mjmj.livejournal.com]

I think that it is just to make the pillows cold. I have never tried it due to lack of need, but I keep it in the back of my mind for whenever I hear of sick children that can't sleep with their fever.

Apparently, the heat is the problem now, not the fires and air. Much as it was in France when they had their heat wave a few years ago and Chicago a few years before that.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20100809/160126534.html

(Needless to say, the heat and lack of rain in Russia, the floods in Pakistan, the 100-square mile (three times the size of Manhattan) iceberg from Greenland (not Antarctica) are predicted extremes of weather as we merrily burn fossil fuels as fast as our economies can.)

[mjmj.livejournal.com]

P.S., There's this doctor's statement that particulates are the risk, not higher CO levels. He recommends that everyone use special masks (good luck getting those to everyone).

http://en.rian.ru/Environment/20100808/160118984.html

"Carbon monoxide is a noncumulative poison, fortunately. That is, it can not accumulate in tissues or, more precisely, in the blood. In addition, for any tangible effects you need very high doses and to be indoors. In terms of open space, being poisoned by carbon monoxide is practically unrealistic," Vodovozov said.

[jourdannex.livejournal.com]

Oh this is so horrible, you and your family are in my thoughts...

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

thanks...

[starkyld.livejournal.com]

Oh god. I've kind of been living under a rock news=wise lately, what with the dissertating and the parenting and all. I was vaguely aware that Moscow was having a heat wave, maybe from something you'd written, but didn't realise that it was still going on and that things had gotten this serious. I'm sorry to hear it and hope your family is safe.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

right after I posted I read this, too:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hfLmQApn5q-Qol4g7AQK6Q5xvp1AD9HCRD080

"Dachas can be lovely, but only if the forests around them aren't on fire."

pretty much :(

[biblionerd-girl.livejournal.com]

So sorry- hope everyone is ok. It's a dreadful situation. I read last week that drowning deaths were way up as people would do anything to beat the heat and aren't normally swimmers. Horrible.

[wolodymyr.livejournal.com]

With everyone here, hoping that your family makes it through this.

[anthrokeight.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh. That is very scary. I hope they're going to be okay; I'll think all my cooling thoughts their way.