Probably Human

Over The Waves by Setsuko Matsushima

YOU GOT IT!

This one is for you.

Where I live 108°F with 80% humidity with no wind is normal.

Pacific North West is dealing historic best waves 35-40°C or 95-105°F.

First of all. Don't make fun of them for bitching about the heat. Just like Texas isn't built for a freeze and our pipes burst, Pacific North West isn't built for heat and a lot of their homes don't have AC.

If you live somewhere with a high humidity like 80+ HUMIDITY IS NOT YOUR FRIEND. The "humidity makes it feel cooler" is a lie once it gets beyond a point.

If you live somewhere with a lower humidity, misters are nice to cool off outside.

Once you get over 90°F (32°C) a fan will not help you. It's just pushing around hot air. (I mean if you can't afford a small AC unit because they're expensive as hell, by all means a fan is better than nothing).

If you have pets, those portable AC units aren't safe. If your pets destroy the outtake thing, it'll leak CO2. Window units are safer.

Window AC units will let mosquitoes or other small bugs in. Sucks, but that's life.

Now is not the time to me modest. If you have to cover for religious reasons, by all means. If you don't, I've seen people wear short shorts and a swim top. It's not trashy if it keeps you from getting heat stroke.

If you do have to cover up for religious reasons, look for elephant pants or something similar. They're made with a breathable material.

Shade is better than no shade, but that shit it just diet sun after some point. Don't think shade will save you from heat stroke.

I know the "drink your water" is a fun meme now, but if you're sweating excessively you need electrolytes. Drink Gatorade, Powerade, or Pedialite PLEASE. I don't care if you're fucking sitting in one spot all day. That shit WILL save you from heat stroke.

Most importantly. RESEARCH THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HEAT STROKE AND HEAT EXHAUSTION PLEASE!

If you're diabetic and can't drink Gatorade, mix water, fruit juice, and either lite salt or pink salt

If you can afford it, cover windows with thick curtains to insulate the house

If you have tile floors, lay on them with skin to tile contact. If you don't, laying your head on cool counters works too.

If the temperature where you're at is hotter than your body temperature, don't wear heat wicking clothing. Moisture wicking is safe though.

Check your medication labels. Many make you more susceptible to sun and heat

-Room temperature water will get into your body faster. This is something I learned doing marching band in high summer in Georgia, and it saved all of our asses. Sip it, don't gulp it, especially if you're getting into the red; same goes for whatever fluid you're drinking. And just in general drink during the day.

-If you are moving from an air conditioned space to an un-air conditioned space, if at all possible try to make the shift gradual. When my dad and I were working outside and in un-ac houses a few years ago, he'd turn the air down to low in the truck about ten-fifteen minutes before we got where we were going. This way your body doesn't go from low low temps to high temps. S'bad for you.

-If you can, keep your lights off during the day. Light bulbs may not generate a lot of heat, but the difference is noticeable when it gets hot enough. I literally only turn my bedroom light on in the evening when it gets too dark.

Don't be afraid to just like... pour water on yourself if you need to. The evaporation will cool you off.

Put your hand to the cement for 15 seconds. If you can't handle the heat, it'll burn your dog's paws. Don't let them walk on it.

Dogs with flat faces are more prone to heat stroke. Don't leave them out unsupervised.

Frozen fruit is delicious in water.

Wet/Cold hat/handkerchief on your head/neck will help you stay cool.

Pickle juice is great for electrolytes! You can even make pickle juice Popsicles!

Heat exhaustion is more, "drink water and get you cooled off." Heat stroke is more "Oh my god call 911."

Image Description provided by @loveize

[Image description: an infographic showing the difference between heat exhaustion and heat stroke. The graphic is labeled "Heat Dangers: First Warning." Signs of heat exhaustion: faint or dizzy, excessive sweating, cool, pale, clammy skin, rapid, weak pulse, muscle cramps. If you think you or someone else may be experiencing heat exhaustion, get to a cool, air-conditioned place, drink water if conscious, and take a cool shower or use cold compress. Signs of heat stroke: throbbing headache, no sweating, red, hot, dry skin, rapid, strong pulse, may lose consciousness. If you think you or someone else may be experiencing heat stroke, call 911. End description]

Be safe.

I would also like to add that beyond a certain temperature, cold water can genuinely be dangerous as a shock to your system. Roofers especially are often BARRED from drinking cold water, because going from nearly 40°C heat and then drinking something ice-cold can CAUSE ACTUAL SEIZURES.

Your best bet is lukewarm or slightly cool water, combined with wrapping an ice pack in some cloth and putting it on the back of your neck or tucking it into your belt.

And for the love of god if you have to go outside, wear BIG FLOPPY UGLY HATS as well as sunscreen. (Good Sunscreen. 60SPF minimum.) Sunburns retain heat and are Fucking Miserable on top of giving you cancer. Bad ones dry out your skin and can cause infections when you’re still sweating a lot and it gets into blisters.

Heat Stress is cumulative. If you are out trying to do the same thing Monday to Friday, something that you could manage on Monday is probably going to knock you flat on your ass on Friday if you don’t pace yourself.

Run the taps over your hands and feet. Blood is sent to the extremities to cool off, this helps the process and reduces swelling.

Cool baths! Water draws heat out more effectively than air, and this can cool off your whole body regardless of the humidity levels

Avoid doing anything physically strenuous during the hotter parts of the day.

It's not the End Times. It's not Armageddon, it's not Ragnarök, it's not the Heat Death of the Universe. It's climate change. We need to slow it, stop it, and eventually find ways to reverse it. It's the biggest single challenge our species has ever faced, needing cooperation and problem solving on a global scale - which we *are doing*. Not perfectly or smoothly or linearly, but how could we expect that? Figuring this out will be our crowning achievement as a species, it was never going to be easy!

But it's not going to end us. Humans will still be here in 1000 years, still humaning. The world will have changed a lot, for all sorts of reasons, but the sun will still rise and set. People will still be drinking cold beer and eating warm bread fresh from the oven, babies will still be gripping people's fingers with their tiny hands, people will be singing songs around campfires as the sun sets.

I live in a place that has been ravaged over millions of years by rising and falling sea levels, ice sheets, supervolcanoes - these hills look like they've always been here, but they are the ruins of previous aeons. They're covered in scars. That's what the world is. It dies, it's born, it goes on.

So this guy goes to college. In his dorm they all missed their pets from home. They’re lonely and miss the fuzzy cuddly creatures of their youths. So he and three other guys decide to get some hamsters as an easy pet while they’re at school. They create a weekly rotation for hamster care that means the five hamsters they’ve adopted are never too much of a burden for any one busy college lad to take care of.

But then.

The midwinter Holiday break.

And like many busy college lads in their early twenties they completely and utterly forget a crucial responsibility. So all four lads pack it up to go home. Each one forgets completely about their shared pact to love and care for a cluster of fuzzy adorable rodents.

By the time any of them realize they have violated their responsibility to care for these helpless creatures, it’s too late, they can’t get back to the dorm in time to avert their eventual starvation.

When the first lad arrives back on campus he does so with a heavy heart. He expects to see a cage of five starved and dead hamsters.

Instead.

He finds a cage with one massively engorged cannibal hamster surrounded by the feet and fur of its conquered victims. None of them realized rodents are omnivores. While the happy little fluff balls were content to eat pellets and live harmoniously together the social contract of non violence snapped when the pellets stopped flowing.

I will bury you quickly, making sure the elements have no time to get to you

I will drop you in a place that is itself getting buried by mother nature and is going to continue getting buried for at least another million years or so

I will make sure your body is not found, by man nor animal nor even plant or fungus

I will make sure there is no air where you are buried. I will remove your organic tissue from the Great Cycle of Life and Death forever, and return it directly to the rocks

I will let your tissue be replaced by crystal, turning you to stone.

Oh no no no NO