Hurricane Ian’s “extremely dangerous” eyewall was moving onshore in southwest Florida late Wednesday morning, just hours after it grew into a Category 4 storm. It was packing sustained winds of 155 mph — making it just shy of a Category 5 hurricane, which is the most powerful storm possible.
Ian’s eyewall was moving onshore at Sanibel and Captiva islands and is forecast to make landfall Wednesday afternoon before moving over central Florida late Wednesday and Thursday, according to forecasters.
“Ian will cause catastrophic storm surge, winds, and flooding in the Florida peninsula soon,” the National Hurricane Center said in its 11 a.m. advisory.
About 2.5 million people were under mandatory evacuation orders as the hurricane started lashing the Florida peninsula with heavy rain and tropical-storm-force winds in the early hours of Wednesday. Strengthening of the storm overnight was “really, really significant,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a press conference. And emergency management directors in southwest Florida were preparing for – and expecting – a Category 5 hurricane, said Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
“This is gonna be a nasty, nasty day – two days,” DeSantis said.
Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg were among the cities bracing for the worst of the storm, but the latest forecasts suggested Ian would make landfall slightly further south, with the Ft. Myers region at risk of a possible direct hit. Given the size and strength of the hurricane and the storm surge it’s expected to drive into coastal areas, officials were clear that much of Florida remained at risk.
Life-threatening impacts are expected and power outages are occurring.
Ian tore across western Cuba on Tuesday with sustained winds up to 125 mph. Damage from the storm knocked Cuba’s power grid offline, leaving the entire country in the dark Wednesday morning.
The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore on Hurricane Ian’s path
Hurricane Ian is gathering strength and bearing down on Florida as the state races to finalize storm preparations and evacuate its most at-risk people ahead of expected landfall on Wednesday.
The enormous, Category 3 storm was already bringing impacts to Key West on Tuesday after it lashed Cuba with heavy rain and winds overnight and threatened storm surge, flash flooding and landslides.
Governor Ron DeSantis urged Floridians to heed warnings to evacuate to higher ground due to potential for “‘catastrophic flooding and life-threatening storm surge”. As of Tuesday, 2.5 million people in Florida were under evacuation orders.
The most recent weather models have the hurricane projected to make landfall south of Tampa Bay where storm surge could reach up to 12 ft (3.7 metres). Up to 24 inches (61cm) of rain is expected in some areas and wind speeds of 130 miles per hour (209km/h).
Emergency officials were warning that the life-threatening conditions would limit the potential for rescues once the storm arrived.
“You will be on your own,” St Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch warned.
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Tornado watch in effect for south and central Florida
A tornado watch has been issued for much of south and central Florida as Hurricane Ian approaches the state.
Hurricanes bring an elevated risk of tornados forming as high-intensity thunderstorms sweep through, even on the periphery of the storm.
Josh Marcus27 September 2022 23:30
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Footage shows people evacuating on Interstate 4
Traffic on Interstate 4 in Florida is bringing people eastward out of Tampa toward Orlando as people evacuate Hurricane Ian.
Footage shows cars travelling on the shoulder, which has been opened to provide more lane for movement.
Ethan Freedman27 September 2022 23:18
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The expected landfall and path of Hurricane Ian over the next few days
(NHC/NOAA)
Ethan Freedman27 September 2022 23:05
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Slow pace of the storm will bring big hazards
The slow track of the storm will bring extended periods of rain and wind to central Florida, National Hurricane Centre Acting Director Jamie Rhome said in a Tuesday afternoon update.
Extreme amounts of rain are expected over the next few days across a swath of Florida from Tampa up through Jacksonville.
“Be ready to be in place and stay there,” Mr Rhome said.
Ethan Freedman27 September 2022 22:54
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‘The time is now’
Kevin Guthrie, the director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management, urged people in evacuation zones to leave now, as the hurricane comes in and people run out of time.
In addition, as weather conditions worsen, first responders will not be able to respond to calls, making evacuations all the more important, Mr Guthrie said.
Ethan Freedman27 September 2022 22:48
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Low, flat areas at high risk for flooding
The low, flat areas near Florida’s coast are at serious risk of flood as Hurricane Ian hits the state as a major hurricane.
Ocean levels are expected to rise up to 12 ft (3.7 metres) in some areas, as more than 15 inches (38 centimetres) of rain hits much of the central part of the state.
Indian Shores, Florida runs along a barrier island in the Tampa Bay area
(AFP via Getty Images)
Island Estate in Clearwater, Florida has a low-elevation group of islands with homes on them, which are at serious risk of flooding from Hurricane Ian
(AFP via Getty Images)
Ethan Freedman27 September 2022 22:45
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Dozens of school districts have closed
A total of 56 school districts in Florida have closed in anticipation of Hurricane Ian, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said at a press conference on Tuesday
Ethan Freedman27 September 2022 22:39
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DeSantis gives update on Ian
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is giving an update on Hurricane Ian as the state buckles down for the storm
Ethan Freedman27 September 2022 22:35
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Parkland trial called off for remainder of week due to Hurricane Ian
The sentencing trial of Parkland gunman Nikolas Cruz has been called off for the remainder of the week as Hurricane Ian continues on its path towards Florida. Judge Elizabeth Scherer announced on Tuesday afternoon that the court would be on recess on Wednesday and Thursday because of the incoming storm. Jurors will return to the courthouse on Monday. On Tuesday morning, the trial had been expected to carry on as planned with Broward County Courthouse saying that it had no plans to close at that time. However, Ian continued to strengthen throughout the day, with the category 3 storm already bringing impacts to Key West on Tuesday.
Ethan Freedman27 September 2022 22:28
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‘Project Phoenix’ anticipated major hurricane impact on Tampa
A planning exercise called “Project Phoenix” from 2009 simulated what would happen if a Category 5 hurricane hit the Tampa Bay area, the Associated Press reports.
The exercise helped local officials and businesses prepare for the impact of a potential major storm on the region, which has historically avoided a direct impact from most major hurricanes in the past century.
Hurricane Ian is expected to briefly reach Category 4 status before hitting Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm, with significant flooding, storm surge and wind potential.
Since the time when COVID first hit us in 2020, the virus has evolved significantly. During the second coronavirus wave, the delta variant claimed several lives and left a large population in distress. But following vaccination new emerging variants like the Omicron are causing less severe infections and more manageable symptoms. And many are of the view that now, COVID has become more like the seasonal flu. But the question is whether this assumption is actually true.
COVID and Flu – how similar and how different are they?
Both COVID-19 and the flu are contagious respiratory illnesses. While the first is caused by coronavirus, the latter is caused due to influenza viruses. Currently, it is not possible to distinguish the infections just by looking at the infections.
As of now, it is evident that symptoms alone cannot help differentiate between COVID and the flu. Like flu, new variants like the Omicron are said to cause mild symptoms like a sore throat, runny nose and fatigue. The only way to know whether you have COVID or flu is by getting yourself tested.
Moreover, due to vaccinations, some experts do believe that the worst is over and are comparing the deadly virus to the flu.
Which is more dangerous?
Though COVID is currently causing lesser dangerous symptoms, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s medical adviser disagrees with that COVID a less risky or less dangerous than the flu.
“I’m sorry — I just disagree,” he says.
“The severity of one compared to the other is really quite stark. And the potential to kill of one versus the other is really quite stark.”
Many like Fauci say that COVID-19 is still killing hundreds of people daily. Over 125,000 additional COVID deaths could occur over the next 12 months if deaths continue at that pace, Fauci highlights.
As compared to flu, which kills about 50,000 people during a bad season, COVID-19 is said to have already killed more than 1 million Americans and was the third leading cause of death in 2021.
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China has accused the United States of sending “very wrong, dangerous signals” on Taiwan after the US secretary of state told his Chinese counterpart on Friday that the maintenance of peace and stability over Taiwan was vitally important.
Taiwan was the focus of the 90-minute, “direct and honest” talks between the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and the Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, on the margins of the UN general assembly in New York, a US official told reporters.
“For our part, the secretary made crystal clear that – in accordance with our long-standing one-China policy, which again has not changed – the maintenance of peace and stability across the Strait is absolutely, vitally important,” the senior US administration official said.
China’s foreign ministry, in a statement on the meeting, said the US was sending “very wrong, dangerous signals” on Taiwan, and the more rampant Taiwan’s independence activity, the less likely there would be a peaceful settlement.
“The Taiwan issue is an internal Chinese matter, and the United States has no right to interfere in what method will be used to resolve it,” the ministry cited Wang as saying.
Tensions over Taiwan have soared after a visit there in August by the US House of Representatives speaker, Nancy Pelosi – which was followed by large-scale Chinese military drills – as well as a pledge by the US president, Joe Biden, to defend the self-governed island.
Biden’s statement was his most explicit to date about committing US troops to the defend the island. It was also the latest instance of his appearing to go beyond a longstanding US policy of “strategic ambiguity”, which does not make it clear whether the US would respond militarily to an attack on Taiwan.
The White House has insisted its Taiwan policy has not changed, but China said Biden’s remarks sent the wrong signal to those seeking an independent Taiwan.
In a phone call with Biden in July, the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, warned about Taiwan, saying “those who play with fire will perish by it”.
The state department had said earlier that Blinken’s meeting with Wang was part of a US effort to “maintain open lines of communication and manage competition responsibly”, and the senior official said Blinken had reiterated US openness to “cooperating with China on matters of global concern”.
Blinken also “highlighted the implications” if China were to provide material support to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or engage in wholesale sanctions evasion, the official added.
US officials have in the past said they had seen no evidence of China providing such support.
Blinken “underscored that the United States and China and the international community have an obligation to work to counter the effects of that invasion and also to deter Russia from taking further provocative actions”, the official said.
China sees Taiwan as one of its provinces. Beijing has long vowed to bring Taiwan under its control and has not ruled out the use of force to do so. Taiwan’s government strongly objects to China’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s 23 million people can decide its future.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry, responding to the meeting between Blinken and Wang, said China’s “recent provocative actions” had made the Taiwan Strait a focus of discussion, and China was trying to “confuse the international audience with arguments and criticisms that contradict reality.”
Blinken’s meeting with Wang was preceded by one between the foreign ministers of the Quad grouping of Australia, India, Japan and the US, which issued a statement, referring to the Indo-Pacific, saying that “we strongly oppose any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo or increase tensions in the region”.
Since Pelosi’s visit “China has taken a number of provocative steps that have by design acted to change the status quo”, the US official said.
The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, will discuss Taiwan security during bilateral meetings with the leaders of US allies Japan and South Korea when she visits them next week, another US official said.
Daniel Russel, the top US diplomat for Asia under president Barack Obama, said the fact Blinken and Wang had met was important after the turbulence brought by Pelosi’s visit, and hopefully some progress would have been made towards arranging a meeting between Xi and Biden on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in November, which would be their first in-person as leaders.
“Wang and Blinken’s decision to meet in New York does not guarantee the November summit will go smoothly or that it will even occur,” said Russel, now with the Asia Society. “But had they been unable to meet, it would have meant the prospects for a summit in November were poor.”
Is Asteroid 2022 QF2, which is going to make its closest approach to planet Earth today, dangerous? Here is all we need to know.
A dangerous asteroid is approaching Earth today, September 11! According to the information provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Small-Body database and Center For Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), departments of NASA, an asteroid named 2022 QF2 which is 140-foot wide is approaching Earth today. The asteroid was spotted on August 19, 2022 and will have a closest Earth approach of 45,40,000 MI/KM. Is the asteroid 2022 QF2 dangerous for Earth?
As per the information, the asteroid 2022 QF2 is currently not dangerous for our planet as it will make a safe passage across the Earth and will not strike us. However, the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) telescope is keeping a vigilant eye on the space rock, so if something goes wrong, the information will be provided immediately.
About NEOWISE
The Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) is a tech marvel telescope run by NASA. It is an infrared astronomy space telescope which has been tasked with finding as many asteroids in the solar system as possible. The telescope has spotted the asteroid 2002 QF2.
About Asteroids
An asteroid is a relatively small, inactive body orbiting the Sun. Asteroids are typically composed of rocky, dusty, and metallic materials. Most orbit within the main asteroid belt, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, but some follow paths that circulate into the inner solar system (including near-Earth asteroids), while others remain outside the orbit of Neptune.
It is very rare that any asteroid is able to reach the surface of the Earth as it starts burning as soon as it enters the atmospheric layer of the planet. The size of the asteroid needs to be very big to be able to survive the fire and reach Earth’s surface.
However, if any asteroid happens to strike our planet, it can easily destroy the place or area it strikes with the impact. Further, the shockwaves and seismic activities caused by it will generate a plethora of problems for nearby regions as well.
The remnants of Hurricane Kay are just a day away from bringing significant rainfall to parched areas of Southern California and southwest Arizona — but the downpours may end up being too much of a good thing.
Forecasters say areas of flash flooding are probable in the region Friday through Sunday. The interior mountains of Southern California could see up to 5 inches of rain, an exceptional amount.
“Confidence remains high for a significant rainfall event across this region,” the National Weather Service said in an online discussion Thursday.
The storm’s remnants could also bring gusty winds and dangerous surf conditions to coastal areas of Southern California.
A Category 1 hurricane with 85 mph winds, Kay is expected to make landfall on the west-central coast of Baja California in Mexico Thursday evening. The storm is weakening and forecast to be downgraded to a tropical storm on Friday.
Blamed for at least three deaths over Baja California, Kay continues to be a major rain-producer.
The storm is projected to bring 6 to 10 inches of rain to much of the peninsula, with localized amounts of up to 15 inches. Near the coast, Kay is expected to whip up large waves and dangerous rip currents, with a damaging storm surge, or rise in ocean water above normally dry land, possible as well.
Tropical storm warnings have been hoisted for the entirety of Baja California’s coastline, even on its eastern side, which rests on the Gulf of California. This is because Kay is a large hurricane; tropical-storm-force winds (39-plus mph) extend up to 230 miles from its center, while hurricane-force winds (74-plus mph) extend 35 miles from the center.
Effects on the Southwest United States
Kay is expected to further weaken and bend away from the Mexican coast as it gets closer to bone-dry Southern California. Still, winds from the southwest will drag Kay’s moisture into the region, first bringing with it cloud cover that will help to end the prolonged, record-setting heat wave.
Driest, wettest, hottest: Sacramento’s troubling trifecta of extremes
The hurricane’s remnants will also carry unusual amounts of moisture that could help ameliorate the ongoing drought across Southern California. Some thunderstorms associated with Kay have already started rumbling near Riverside, Calif., bringing isolated heavy rain and lightning.
Although the rain is needed, the National Weather Service is cautioning that Kay’s arrival will not be without its dangers.
“Despite those positives, it’s never a good thing to get too much rain all at once, a trait all too common among slow-moving tropical storms,” the Weather Service wrote.
Hurricanes are moving more slowly — which makes them even more dangerous
Precipitable water, a measure of atmospheric moisture, is forecast to be over 2 inches across parts of Southern California by late Friday. That is five standard deviations above the norm for the region at this time of year, meaning it is very rare.
Flash flooding is most likely in narrow slot canyons, in urbanized areas like San Diego, Palm Springs, Calif., and Yuma, Ariz., and over burn scars, where fire has stripped away vegetation and water tends to rapidly run off rather than soaking into the ground.
Flood watches have been hoisted from central Southern California into western Arizona, and the Weather Service has placed a large swath of Southern California and an increasing portion of southwestern Arizona in the slight- to moderate-risk zone for flash flooding from Friday to Saturday morning.
Rainfall amounts of more than 2 inches are likely in the zone covered by the flood watch, with up to 4 or 5 inches possible on the east slopes of mountains, where winds from the east will intensify the precipitation.
Updated rainfall potential through Sunday from the moisture from tropical cyclone Kay. The greatest potential for heavy rainfall and flash flooding is for the east slopes of the mountains and adjacent deserts areas for Friday afternoon and night. #cawx pic.twitter.com/JzaWihbf2k
— NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) September 8, 2022
In San Diego, an inch or less of rain is expected, mostly falling Friday into Saturday morning. But, being along the coast will bring a separate set of hazards. The Weather Service is warning of dangerous rip currents and an elevated surf of 3 to 6 feet, along with the possibility of gusty winds up to 40 miles per hour.
In Los Angeles, the Weather Service predicts 0.25 to 0.75 inches of rain, with 1 to 2 inches in the mountains to its east, mostly falling Friday night into Saturday.
Some beneficial rain could reach as far north as the southern San Joaquin Valley before precipitation gradually dissipates on Sunday.
While Kay won’t come close to making landfall in California, it will still bring strong winds on Friday that will enhance the local fire danger. Gusts on the Laguna Mountains east of San Diego could exceed 70 mph, which will help feed any blazes.
Thunderstorms could also bring dangerous cloud-to-ground lightning that could ignite wildfires in the region — though any downpours from Kay may help quash some of them.
Kay is not the first tropical system to affect California, but such occurrences in the state are fairly rare. They typically originate from the remnants of tropical storms and hurricanes, as is the case with Kay, rather than direct strikes.
No named system has ever made landfall in California, though an unnamed storm in 1939 crossed the coast around Long Beach, bringing tropical storm conditions.
California’s most notable encounter with a tropical system was probably in 1976 when Tropical Storm Kathleen, previously a hurricane over the ocean, entered south-central California from Mexico. Kathleen unleashed a maximum rainfall of nearly 15 inches, a state record. The storm caused severe damage in Ocotillo, Calif., and was blamed for 12 deaths in the United States.
The much-loved hacking tool has a new incarnation, released to coincide with the Def Con hacking conference this year, and creator Darren Kitchen was on hand to explain it to The Verge. We tested out some of the new features and found that the latest edition is more dangerous than ever.
What is it?
To the human eye, the USB Rubber Ducky looks like an unremarkable USB flash drive. Plug it into a computer, though, and the machine sees it as a USB keyboard — which means it accepts keystroke commands from the device just as if a person was typing them in.
“Everything it types is trusted to the same degree as the user is trusted,” Kitchen told me, “so it takes advantage of the trust model built in, where computers have been taught to trust a human. And a computer knows that a human typically communicates with it through clicking and typing.”
Darren Kitchen with his creation, the USB Rubber DuckyPhoto by Corin Faife / The Verge
The original Rubber Ducky was released over 10 years ago and became a fan favorite among hackers (it was even featured in a Mr. Robot scene). There have been a number of incremental updates since then, but the newest Rubber Ducky makes a leap forward with a set of new features that make it far more flexible and powerful than before.
What can it do?
With the right approach, the possibilities are almost endless.
Already, previous versions of the Rubber Ducky could carry out attacks like creating a fake Windows pop-up box to harvest a user’s login credentials or causing Chrome to send all saved passwords to an attacker’s webserver. But these attacks had to be carefully crafted for specific operating systems and software versions and lacked the flexibility to work across platforms.
A new guidebook explains the subtleties of DuckyScript 3.0Photo by Corin Faife / The Verge
The newest Rubber Ducky aims to overcome these limitations. It ships with a major upgrade to the DuckyScript programming language, which is used to create the commands that the Rubber Ducky will enter into a target machine. While previous versions were mostly limited to writing keystroke sequences, DuckyScript 3.0 is a feature-rich language, letting users write functions, store variables, and use logic flow controls (i.e., if this… then that).
That means, for example, the new Ducky can run a test to see if it’s plugged into a Windows or Mac machine and conditionally execute code appropriate to each one or disable itself if it has been connected to the wrong target. It also can generate pseudorandom numbers and use them to add variable delay between keystrokes for a more human effect.
Perhaps most impressively, it can steal data from a target machine by encoding it in binary format and transmitting it through the signals meant to tell a keyboard when the CapsLock or NumLock LEDs should light up. With this method, an attacker could plug it in for a few seconds, tell someone, “Sorry, I guess that USB drive is broken,” and take it back with all their passwords saved.
How much of a threat is it?
In short, it could be a big one, but the need for physical device access means most people aren’t at risk of being a target.
According to Kitchen, the new Rubber Ducky was his company’s most in-demand product at Def Con, and the 500 or so units that Hak5 brought to the conference sold out on the first day. Safe to say, many hundreds of hackers have one already, and demand will likely continue for a while.
It also comes with an online development suite, which can be used to write and compile attack payloads, then load them onto the device. And it’s easy for users of the product to connect with a broader community: a “payload hub” section of the site makes it easy for hackers to share what they’ve created, and the Hak5 Discord is also active with conversation and helpful tips.
At a price of $59.99 per unit, it’s too expensive for most people to distribute in bulk — so it’s unlikely that someone will leave a handful of them scattered in your favorite cafe unless it’s known to be a hangout place for sensitive targets. That said, if you’re planning to plug in a USB device that you found lying out in a public place, think twice about it…
Could I use it myself?
The device is fairly simple to use, but if you don’t have any experience in writing or debugging code, there are a few things that could trip you up. In testing on a Mac, for a while, I couldn’t get the Ducky to enter the F4 key to open the launchpad, but I fixed it after making it identify itself with a different Apple keyboard device ID.
From that point, I was able to write a script so that, when plugged in, the Ducky would automatically launch Chrome, open a new browser window, navigate to The Verge’s homepage, then quickly close it again — all with no input from the laptop user. Not bad for just a few hours’ testing and something that could be easily modified to do something more nefarious than browse technology news.
LONDON, Aug 15 (Reuters) – Polio, a deadly disease that used to paralyze tens of thousands of children every year, is spreading in London, New York and Jerusalem for the first time in decades, spurring catch-up vaccination campaigns. read more
DREADED DISEASE
Polio terrified parents around the world for the first half of the 20th century. Affecting mainly children under five, it is often asymptomatic but can also cause symptoms including fever and vomiting. Around one in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis, and among those patients, up to 10% die.
There is no cure, but since a vaccine was found in the 1950s, polio is entirely preventable. Globally, the wild form of the disease has almost disappeared.
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Afghanistan and Pakistan are now the only countries where the highly infectious disease, spread mainly through contact with faecal matter, remains endemic. But this year, imported cases were also found in Malawi and Mozambique, the first in those countries since the 1990s. read more
DIFFERENT STRAINS
There are two main forms of poliovirus. Alongside the wild-type outlined above, there are also rare cases of what is known as vaccine-derived polio.
It is this second form detected in wastewater in the British capital, London, and in New York in the United States, with one case of paralysis reported in New York state. Genetically similar virus has also been found in Jerusalem, Israel, and scientists are working to understand the link, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) said.
Big Ben and The London Eye are seen on a summer evening in London, Britain, June 15, 2022. REUTERS/Yann Tessier
Read More
While vaccine-derived polio is almost unheard of in the above locations, it is a known – albeit rare – threat in other countries, causing outbreaks every year, including 415 cases in Nigeria in 2021.
It stems from the use of an oral polio vaccine containing weakened live virus. After children are vaccinated, they shed virus in their faeces for a few weeks. In under-vaccinated communities, this can then spread and mutate back to a harmful version of the virus.
While countries including the Britain and the United States no longer use this live vaccine, others do – particularly to stop outbreaks – which allows for global spread, particularly as people began to travel again after COVID-19, experts said.
WHY NOW
But experts agree that the major driver behind both vaccine-derived and wild polio outbreaks remains under-vaccinated populations, said Derek Ehrhardt, global polio lead at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Vaccine hesitancy was a growing problem before the pandemic, then COVID-19 caused the worst disruption to routine immunization in a generation, according to the United Nations. read more
In 2020, there were 1,081 vaccine-derived polio cases, around three times as many as the previous year. In 2022 so far, there have been 177 cases, after major efforts to get polio vaccination campaigns back on track.
But the wastewater findings are still a wake-up call for parents with one key message, according to scientists around the world, including David Heymann, epidemiologist at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine: Protect children by getting them vaccinated.
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Reporting by Jennifer Rigby
Editing by Mark Heinrich
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
While we think that our home is our safe haven, in reality, it’s probably more dangerous than we realize.
Obvious things like gas-burning stoves and chemical cleaning products aside, there’s plenty of questionable stuff lying around that can inflict serious damage on us.
Recently, Reddit user Cool_Kid_Lit_Fam_Sam asked other people on the platform to list these potentially life-threatening household objects and that kickstarted a viral online discussion that has reached 4,400 comments and the number is still growing.
So we compiled some of the most popular replies and present them for your judgment—continue scrolling and upvote the ones you think we need to handle with great caution.
Oven cleaner. Had a friend of the family use it on a warm oven and breathed it in. Messed up her lungs and died in hospital.
queenofthemeeps , osseous Report
my mom used to boil a pot of bleach mixed with ammonia every saturday after cleaning. She said it was to “make the house smell clean” surprised im still alive
Icecreamkillax , Mathanki Kodavasal Report
My wife’s favorite pans.
See you with a metal utensil anywhere near it, and she will kill you.
DWBKC , Annie Spratt Report
Not sure if this is entirely related but i feel like it’s surprising that most people don’t know that you can’t put out a grease fire with water
themountainlotus , State Farm Report
I have an important story!!
When my dad was a kid, one of his good friends died by inhaling Pam cooking spray. The boy was a good, smart kid and just thought inhaling Pam would get you a little high, like sniffing a Sharpie or whatever. But Pam coats your lungs and very quickly suffocates you if you breathe it in. He had no idea how dangerous it was and he was dead in minutes. It was absolutely devastating for everyone who knew him.
TLDR; never ever inhale Pam and be very careful leaving it around kids! Make sure your kids are aware that it is deadly!
greenoctopusink , Mike Mozart Report
Candles. Just because they’re trendy and smell nice, doesn’t mean they’re not still a naked flame that can cause a housefire that can kill you in your sleep.
NeverCadburys , Katy Report
I used a mold removing product in my shower. Noticed a wierd unpleasant smell and didn’t feel well. Checked whats in the product and quickly realised I almost killed myself.
Moral of the story. Don’t pee in the shower or make sure you know your chemicals and how they can react with other chemicals… Or p**s.
SnarkoCockedYourWife , Henry Burrows Report
Pressure washers. The jet immediately penetrates the skin, injecting whatever’s inside the washer or lining the washer into the blood stream. Even new, first time use cases can cause severe damage to the body. Do NOT play with pressure washers.
anon , Peachtree Pressure Report
Wet floors, usually bathrooms. Anything that can make hitting your head easier can kill.
Also, rotten potatoes exhale a gas that can be bad if you are in a closed room with a fairly large amount of them. It can kill within seconds.
Brew did a video about it on YouTube.
Flowy_Aerie_77 , Charles Brewer Report
Cold and flu products/pain killers containing paracetamol . You’re suffering. You taken paracetamol, then lemsip, then more paracetamol, then more lemsip etc, before you know it you’ve had 8g of paracetamol. Your liver starts to fail.
Read medicine labels. Don’t mix paracetamol products.
The number of idiots who think it is so cool to catch peanuts in their mouth. The risk of it sailing into your lungs is far higher than you think.
Novel-Structure-2359 , cyclonebill Report
Because it hasn’t been said here yet … F*****G STAIRS I’ve fallen down stairs at my work , banged my head and woke up in the hospital…. I wasn’t running down them , one f*****g loose floor board on the edge made me fall down 6-8 steps
SexandPsychedelics , Ben Pugh Report
Magnets. Toddlers will put *anything* in their mouth. If they swallow one magnet, they’ll likely be fine. If they swallow two, they can have intestinal perforation. Without the words to communicate what’s wrong, it can easily be deadly
opossum-effigy Report
Car jack.
If it fails and you didn’t use jack stands, and you can’t bench press a couple thousand pounds….. you gonna die.
racerx21 , EricTheCarGuy Report
Apparently people can die from hair dryers catching fire. Because they sleep with them.
Reading warning labels on household objects really gets me questioning how humans aren’t all dead from idiocy.
chut2906 , Siyavula Education Report
A humidifier
I thought I cleaned it well but apparently you need to drown it in bleach and or hot water to get all that bacteria out from giving you a severe lung infection
TheRestIs_Confetti , HS You Report
Lift cords on blind windows. I’ve heard alot of stories of children getting tangled in them by the neck and dying. They have cordless blinds now so those are way better.
AlwaysShip , Matthew Paul Argall Report
you should clean ur toaster bc if too many bread crumbs collect they could actually catch fire thru the heat of the toaster.
joa_nh , Robert Couse-Baker Report
A toilet. Saw a picture once of a woman who stood on a toilet to change her bathroom lightbulb, the toilet broke in half and when she fell the toilet cut her back wide open and she bled out. You could see everything inside of her, brutal.
BoomHazard , dirtyboxface Report
Microwaves. There’s a reason they have a warning to not f**k with them even if they’re not plugged in- you can still absolutely get fried if you open it up to mess with it. You’re not safe just because it’s unplugged.
thewhitepearlreaper , Chris Lawrence Report
Cheap extension cords and power strips, especially ones without built in fail-safes that trip them if they are overloaded. The number of people who I see using those cheap, brown, dollar store extension cords, loading up every single available outlet, and leaving them plugged in 24/7 for years on end, makes me cringe.
emartinoo Report
Gas oven, we have cheapo oven where the stove top burner controls aren’t the ones you have to push in to release and adjust, the amount of times I have smelled the gas because someone brushed against the damn oven and slightly opened a valve on one of the burners…I’m just glad I have the doors open most of the time.
Don’t know if it counts but gas fireplace heaters are dangerous if they are not properly checked by a qualified maintenance tech, or in the case of my high school friend the gas appliance engineer took a bribe from the landlord’s son, and my friend died from carbon monoxide poisoning as a result, arseholes got suspended sentences but ten year probation.
outamyhead Report
Eye drops, like the kind that removes redness. Slipped into a drink for example even a small amounts can cause cardiac issues or even death as the vasoconstricting properties can stifle blood flow to the heart
–VoidHawk– Report
Food.
Improperly handling just about any food can easily kill you or leave you wishing you were dead.
Picker-Rick Report
Garage door opener – specifically the springs. Those springs have a crapload of tension in them and if you mess with them they can mess you up. I had a contractor working at the house and he set up his work area in the garage. While he was working, one of the springs just broke on its own. He was okay, but he said it was so loud he thought a car had crashed into the garage.
Thirty_Helens_Agree Report
People who are left handed using everyday items that were designed to be used with your right hand
seventh-death Report
My brother’s father in law died falling off a ladder. He wasn’t even high up, just fell badly. His wife (a nurse) tried CPR, but he didn’t make it. He had no other health problems
estherloveseevie Report
Lithium batteries, idk if this is a normal household object but it burnt my whole 3200 sq ft house in 30 mins
no-one-p , Ramesh NG Report
Dinner plate…..let me explain.
Went to sleep watching TV on the couch😴 Woke up and decided to go to bed but tripped over the vacuum cleaner and fell face forward onto the corner of the coffee table.
I had left my plate from dinner there. Plate broke in half as I fell and sliced me open from lower right rib the top of left pelvis.
60km ambulance ride, hospital and surgery to put me back together.
rastagizmo Report
Every electrical appliance and outlet because it only takes about 10ma of current to start causing a heart to stop beating. And most homes have at least 100 amp main breakers and I know my place has a 200 amp main, they won’t pop when it kills you either.
Tons of the stuff in our homes has some sort of plastic in it. They get hot and can give off fumes that will at the very least make us sick and may even start to smoke but not be hot enough to cause the smoke to rise to set off a smoke detector.
nightshade00013 , BBJ- Report
Inserting a copper penny into a screw-in fuse box circuit as a “temporary measure” until replacement fuses can be obtained.
Back2Bach Report
Due to certifications like UL, and GFCI outlets in kitchens and bathrooms, there is way more safety built into things than decades ago. Certain woodworking tools are the first to come to mind, but most people realize they are dangerous. Using a table saw wrong and having it launch a board at your face? Or pulling yourself down onto it could easily cause fatal injuries if someone isn’t around to offer quick medical assistance. Lathes, mills, or drill presses can be super dangerous if they snag any loose clothing or hair and pull you in. It seems the people who are least aware of the danger are people who are fairly new to using them so they know the basics but end up overconfident and assume they know everything they need to know.
robotmonkeyshark Report
A stovetop espresso maker.
The method of operation is the water in the bottom chamber boils, and the steam pressure pushes up the hot water through the coffee grounds into the upper pot.
There is only one safety on these things, and it’s the valve on the water tank. If the water is filled too high so it covers the valve, you’ve made a pipe bomb. If the coffee is ground too fine or tamped and the safety valve is blocked it WILL explode and send boiling coffee and water everywhere.
Luckily this is very easily avoidable. Never fill the water over the safety valve, and never tamp the coffee in the basket.
windowpuncher Report
I remember all the boilers being super dangerous when I was younger. I can’t really remember why because they where being fazed out in the UK when I was growing up but it was either carbon monoxide or they could blow up
Yaboijustlikesgoats Report
Smoke detectors, if you forget to change the battery or you don’t check if your smoke detector is still working, undetected smoke at night when you are sleeping could kill you.
manhalnet Report
Acetaminophen (Tylenol).
OD’ing on it only takes about twice the amount on the box’s directions, which is very low compared to other common medications. Its negative effects are kidney failure, which starts with kidney pains, but quite quickly leads to a painful death.
It is scarily common. People first take Tylenol for a good reason but they take too much, so they start feeling kidney pain, so they take more Tylenol for that kidney pain, because they think it’s harmless and should help to feel good. By the time it gets bad enough that they go to the ER, they’re already dead, their body just doesn’t know it yet.
Always follow medication directions, particularly on Tylenol.
ritswd Report
Too much of certain spices. Some spices contain small amounts of exotic substances, that when consumed too much of, can easily cause organ failure.
Grace_Dirig_body , brookpeterson Report
Cupboard door. One fast wrong turn and a lucky corner shot to the temple and you’re done.
wombatau Report
Used a grinder once. Never again. That thing constantly wanted to kill me due to the lopsided torque.
EconArch Report
The breaker box is about as dangerous as can be by design code changes.
Ariusrevenge Report
Red pepper flakes , if you inhale them on accident while taking a bite of food , your throat will close.
LOS ANGELES (KABC) — With the highly-infectious and immune-evasive BA.5 subvariant spreading rapidly, there’s a renewed push to get people vaccinated and boosted.
A new CDC study finds among those 50 and older, those unvaccinated are 29 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than those fully-vaccinated and double-boosted.
“If you haven’t gotten a shot in the last six months or in the year 2022, you need to get one now. It will protect you for the rest of the summer into the fall,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID response coordinator.
Genomics researcher Dr. Jasmine Plummer with Cedars-Sinai says the BA.5 variant is more transmissible because it contains spike protein mutations that prevent antibodies from neutralizing it.
“It has additional mutations that probably allow the virus itself to replicate faster,” she said.
But by the time vaccines targeting BA.5 arrive this fall, a different subvariant could be dominating. One possible threat is BA.2.75. Like its predecessor, this new subvariant contains even more spike protein mutations
And it can also efficiently make more copies of itself. Yet, Plummer said it’s not yet known how BA.2.75 disease severity compares to other subvariants.
“It could be another variant like what happened last summer. We had a variant that came up and then went back down over the summer,” Plummer said.
“If you wear a good mask, an N95 or a KN95, a mask that is well-fitted, it will protect you from being infected,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House chief medical advisor.
And starting today, University of California Irvine resumes its indoor mask policy on campus, making mask-wearing mandatory in all indoor spaces. The same at UCLA, with daily symptom monitoring also in effect.
Fauci adds a well-fitted medical or respirator mask will protect others as well.
“And if you are infected and asymptomatic, it would help in preventing you from spreading infection,” he said.
Fauci said active discussions are underway about whether the FDA will authorize a second booster vaccine for Americans under 50 years old. He said we should expect an answer soon.
