People are really weird when it comes to perceiving threats. You have to wonder how they survived until they could develop atomic weapons, because in general they “educate” themselves out of survival.

And yeah… feral cats can be nasty, especially in a pack. I’ve seen what they can do.

It’s like telling people that the cats outside my house are feral. It usually requires a blood donation before they understand what that really means.

And speaking of Koala Bears…. today’s newspaper article updating the fires was accompanied by a photo of a rescued Koala drinking from a bottle of water. He looked deceptively docile and cuddly.

Yup! Koala’s are EVIL! You take their hit away, and they are like a Heroin addict dry for a few days looking for a score.

As I’ve said to LadyMin… pretty much everything here will kill you, given the opportunity. Even the trees.

The National Weather Service has a chain of radio stations around the US on special frequencies. The receivers are cheap, and they can be turned on by an alert signal which is handy for tornadoes and other weather emergencies. Normally they repeat the local forecast on a loop, so no one would want to leave them on all the time.

As for your local “teddy bears” – they have huge claws man. They don’t need claws like that to climb trees or eat leaves, so they have to be considered weapons. I know from personal experience the damage that the relatively minor claws on domestic cats can do to the human body, so no one needs to convince me that koalas are psychos waiting to attack. There is a reason for those claws, and getting high on herbs can lead to the munchies.

I agree Bryan. I guess we’ll see what the Royal Commission finds when it finishes it’s report in a year or so. Probably to late to stop the next one. *sigh*

A preliminary report I happened across (via a friend) is that some people and animals actually died from asphyxiation rather than burns or toxic air. They had no oxygen. That’s like a fuel-air bomb or a nuke without the gamma radiation. Some flames rose over 80meters, and some fireballs were seen being hurled hundreds of meters. The more I learn, the more I am truly amazed there are any survivors at all.

You saw some of that in the San Diego fires, because eucalyptus is a very common shade tree in the county, especially in newer neighborhoods and along the roads in the more exclusive areas of the county. Santa Anas are hot and dry, so the vapor would be produced. The San Diego trees don’t grow as tall as those in Australia, normally topping out at 50 or 60 feet for old, established trees in Rancho Santa Fe which are probably 100 years old.