“A day without laughter is a day wasted.”
Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977, bio link)
Children of the fire - still developing from the first spark of creation
We have all been poisoned by carbon monoxide and we all will be again. There is no guesswork here. The degrees of oxidative stress begin slowly, imperceptible to some and as soon as exogenous concentrations of carbon monoxide are first inhaled. Internal oxygen displacement begins, even at the lowest levels.
You just can’t escape from the fact of combustion and carbon monoxide in the year 2012 or any year that we began exchanging stories and news events, even around the campfires of our “way-back” ancestors. Medical science tells us that we even produce our own CO endogenously and our body needs it. We couldn’t possibly achieve this unless we were a combustion system. And we must produce just the right amount to survive.
Early on we found fire, and moved a piece of it and used it for our purposes of light, protection from the beasts who feared fire, and for warmth of heat and cooking things to eat we had been eating raw. This respected guest could strike out and injure us or we could be careless or reckless and injure ourselves and/or others. Nothing has changed as we continue to reinvent fires of many kinds and fuel sources and find new ways to surprisingly poison ourselves and others; “ I didn’t know you couldn’t bring a barbeque inside?!”
The literature of fact, fiction, fables, historical theocracies and entertainment throughout the ages have placed fire in the hands of the Almighty and the big Demon, the wise man and the fool, the healer and afflicted. We have the threat of eternal fire looming over our spirits like a storm cloud intent on wrecking our plans, our dreams and our efforts.
Our spiritual leaders wield images of fire like a mighty sword into the burning images of pain that our first touch into the flame generated. We know it can burn us and leave lasting scars, and have us suffer the most painful of living deaths because we have all been burned and can relate.
The invisible poison has been as mysterious and pre-emptive as the ghosts of our cultures, striking down our kind in numbers as if in a wrath of punishments and, all unseen. Fire we can run from, but how do you run away from the ghost, the breath of fire?
Perhaps dust is the wrong analogy: Remember man, that thou art fire and into fire thou shall return, and on fire thou shall remain. Who is responsible for all this fire? Who is responsible for the air you breathe? Who tends your fires?
If you don’t test, you don’t know. Save a brother or sister or anyone, begin measuring your air today and be alerted to levels of carbon monoxide before you have already begun feeling symptoms of headache, nausea, dizziness, shortness of breath or worse. Bob Dwyer, CSME Carbon Monoxide Safety
CO News links
CO strikes housing complex - again
Gas cut off for carbon monoxide leak
WAVY-TV
Emergency crews were dispatched again to Swanson Homes for a carbon monoxide leak early Monday morning, according to the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority. PRHA's Deputy Executive Director Kathy Warren says firefighters ...
Someone makes own power, lives threatened
Tenants evacuated due to carbon monoxide
YNN
UTICA, N.Y. -- Several tenants of a Utica apartment building have been evacuated because of high levels of carbon monoxide detected inside. Utica Police say the owner of 500 Columbia Street contacted them to report that one of his tenants, the owner of ...
Video; SaskPower makes a CO safety plea
Carbon Monoxide A Hazard Year Round
swtvchannel
SaskPower is reminding you of the hazards of Carbon Monoxide and to take safety precautions in your home and workplace. Douglas Hird, Senior Engineer of Gas Codes and Standards for SaskPower, advises to make sure any gas ...
Medical Science and CO – “Given the right dose, then, it can heal silently, too.”
How Carbon Monoxide - The 'Silent Killer' - Can Save Lives
Business Insider - The Economist
But there is more to the silent killer, as CO is sometimes called. It is produced by many cells in the human body, where its molecules play a crucial role in activating enzymes involved in controlling the dilation of blood vessels, and thus blood flow.
Keeping CO safety on the forefront
MP's support for barbecue campaign
Carrick Today
Labour MP Sandra Osborne is backing the charity Carbon Monoxide Awareness in their national campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning from barbecues. Sandra said that the campaign was recently launched at ...
· Heart Rescue Now This link takes you to a very short video that is a practical demonstration on the proper usage of an AED. This video is tastefully done & demonstrates the step-by-step way one might be able to save a life.
· Please take CARBON MONOXIDE SAFETY CARE during all holiday and everyday activities.
· Carbon Monoxide Survivor A website made by poisoning survivors that brings a view that can only come from those that know what it is like to have been poisoned - as well as live with the long term impact.
· Consider low level protection for carbon monoxide and smoldering fire detection problems; don't leave anyone behind.
National Conference of State Legislatures
Carbon Monoxide Detectors State Statutes
Twenty-five U.S. states have statutes that require carbon monoxide detectors in certain residential buildings. Updated Nov. 2011
Alaska | Arkansas | California | Colorado | Connecticut | Florida | Georgia | Illinois | Maine | Maryland | Massachusetts| Michigan | Minnesota | Montana | New Jersey | New Hampshire | New York | North Carolina | Oregon | Rhode Island | Texas | Utah | Vermont | Virginia | Washington | Wisconsin | West Virginia
Google Maps to reference the locations referenced in these Internet headlines.
The following companies are acknowledged for their continued support of carbon monoxide safety education and this daily news blog. They may just have what you are looking for.
Fieldpiece Instruments
The Energy Conservatory
IntelliTec Colleges
CO Experts
Masimo (See the non-invasive RAD-57)
Mahugh Fire & Safety
ESCO Institute
TPI - Test Products International
Every Day is Carbon Monoxide Safety Day!
