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Comment by hshdhdhehd | Hacker News Reader

> Non Emergency

I guess in a nuclear reactor there is a lingual shift and the word emergency cant be used for just any old 911 call.

Like how Australians apparently call a jellyfish bite "uncomfortable"

Aussie surfer here, the stings typically are uncomfortable. Some of the deadlier ones can be close to painless and only result in itching and result in you dying from respiratory failure 24 hours later. Others are downright painful with even strong opiate based pain killers struggling to cut through the pain.

Also it's in a way normalised to happen in a few places with beaches. There are vinegar stations every 100m or so. Basically a "yes, it will happen to a few of you".

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fexternal-prev...

Just fyi, they don't put vinegars at the beaches anymore, apparently it makes it worse (well I haven't seen any for a long while)

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-08/vinegar-makes-box-jel...

Townsville's Strand has a number of them for example. (Really bad lighting, but I believe it's that green board: https://maps.app.goo.gl/x7gggCjGwxVqDBx79?g_st=ac) I went down the Qld coast a couple of weeks ago and they're still very common.

Is the deadly itchy one of those tiny box jellyfish? More than sharks or crocs, this is why I was an absolute coward and decided not to get in the water in Queensland. There are lots of ways to die, but I'd prefer not to blame myself in my last moments.

Oceans are dangerous, but it's the water that's most likely to get you, even in Australia.

If you ever become prime Minister of Australia, and find yourself on an oceanside bombing range, don't go spear fishing.

Hahaha eeesh that 2nd sentence took a turn

There's no significant immediate threat to life or well-being. It's simply not an emergency. We're all constantly exposed to some ionizing radiation. It's a question of how much.

In this case, not much. It's still an exposure event and absolutely worth giving medical attention to assess continued exposure levels from ingested contamination and generally be overly cautious. But that doesn't mean it's ultimately going to be a significant factor in this workers risk for radiation induced disease. It's certainly better than living in the vicinity of coal mining and processing plants.

It isn't an emergency. It was an accident that required medical attention.

If you fell in a lake and accidentally ingested some wayer known to contain some pathagen dangerous to humans, you might seek medical care, but I don't think most people would consider that an emergency. This is similar.

Nah this is literally just not an emergency. The water isn't very radioactive.

Or how Brits call a civil war "trouble"

We’re not that flippant, they’re ‘troubles’, indicating ’ongoing concern’.

In American English, troubles doesn't mean anything different than trouble, so we not only miss the meaning of your protestations, but to us it seems like your downplaying it even more.

it doesn't mean anything different in American english, he said it himself - Brits consider events involving the murder of (Irish, Palestinian, etc.) civilians as ’ongoing concern(s)’

I never says that, you sanctimonious twat.

Similar to how “math” becomes “maths”

A bite requires teeth. Sharks bite. Snakes bite. Bees and wasps sting. Jellyfish and bluebottles sting.

Not sure about spiders. Are their fangs considered to be teeth? Platypus have venomous spurs, not sure what that’s called.

Spiders bite. I've never heard it called anything else.

Spiders bite with their fangs, much like vampires bite with their fangs, they don't sting. I might call the tarantula "hair" that makes you itch a sting, but I would feel a bit silly calling it that.

Mosquitos bite with their nose.

They bite (and suck) with their (elongated and specialized) mouthparts. Insects don’t have noses (they breathe through their skin and smell primarily with their antennae).

Oh I thought I couldn't hate them anymore and I learn this. My leg currently has large hives on it from multiple bites, the antihistamines I have are doing bugger all.

and blackflies/moshka just eat you

i mean it might be a medical emergency but not a reactor emergency?

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