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February 2

This is no longer just a drill

In many places emergency services hold drills from time to time where they simulate a major emergency so as to practice their skills and procedures in that situation and identify any areas where where improvement is needed.

But once in a while it actually happens that there is an emergency of that type during the exercise. If they're lucky, this means that they're already set up for the correct situation and can respond to it faster than usual.

I know of one example that meets that description, namely Operation Nanook#2011. What others have there been? --76.69.46.228 (talk) 03:00, 2 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

7 July 2005 London bombings#Conspiracy theories. A consultant was working on a "crisis management simulation drill" involving the same train stations that were actually bombed. Akld guy (talk) 00:24, 3 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Nice example! --76.69.46.228 (talk) 06:20, 3 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I have a related question. Once a month, in Holland the sirens go off to test them. Every time, some people will make the same old joke on Twitter that "If I wanted to bomb Holland, I'd do it the first Monday of the month at noon". But the joke is not very far from the truth, is it? Joepnl (talk) 00:42, 3 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

This reminds me of a murder attempt in the movie The Parallax View. Two men are talking in a valley below a dam, where someone drowned recently, which could happen if water was released from the dam. One of them goes up to the dam, comes back, says something like "I've asked Hector to play the alarm that they would use if they were releasing water." Then he adds something like "Only... there ain't no Hector", pulls a gun on the other man, tells him to stay where he is, and himself heads for higher ground. --76.69.46.228 (talk) 06:20, 3 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Different places use different days for their testing. Plus, you'd likely have supporting info emanating from news and/or government sources. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 01:25, 3 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

They could also use a different sound for the tests, like activating the siren for a shorter time. Do they? --76.69.46.228 (talk) 06:20, 3 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

If Magritte had painted a companion piece to his famous picture of a pipe, depicting a certain workshop implement, he could have titled it "This is not a drill". ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 21:31, 3 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

L'acte a déjà été accompli et ceci n'est pas une chignole. Ceci n’est pas un conte. DroneB (talk) 12:04, 4 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I wonder if Magritte was aware of the slang meaning of "une pipe", or indeed if it was current at that time? {The poster formerly known as 87.981.230.195} 90.217.251.247 (talk) 14:05, 4 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

LOL. Then, how to train the people to distinguish those from the actual alarm? "First Tuesday of the year we do the drill with the real sound, but don't worry, it's not real. Unless it is, but then we'll do a rendition of Staying Alive. For people who don't know the song, we'll.. " I can't wait for XKCD to spell this out. Joepnl (talk) 00:40, 5 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

At my workplace, the fire alarm is a bell sounding continuously for more than 20 seconds. When testing the alarms (not exactly the same as a drill), they will sound the alarm for less than 20 seconds (usually about 5). So if the alarm goes off, but cuts out after a few seconds, you know it was a test and can ignore it (well, either that or the fire alarm has burnt down). But if it keeps going, you evacuate. As for actual drills (as opposed to alarm tests) - I'm not sure why people need to distinguish between real and test ones. Just evacuate as you are supposed to, and then go back in when the all-clear is given. Iapetus (talk) 10:34, 5 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Back in the day, the "air-raid alarm" was one long and three short for the real thing, and three short and one long meant "all clear" and was also used for drills. —107.15.157.44 (talk) 19:13, 5 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hyaluronic Acid

My question is:

What constitutes "clinical strength" in Hyaluronic Acid? How is the amount present in a product measured? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.140.15.17 (talk) 22:52, 2 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

If you don't get an answer here, you might try the Science ref desk. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 00:17, 3 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

A supplier of hyaluronic acid specifies their injection-grade product by intrinsic viscosity 0.2-4.0 m³/kg (which is related to its molecular weight) and they assay it by measuring its infrared absorption spectrum to a standard "Ph. Eur. 7.0". This is a sample data sheet. The supplier's website provides technical notes ("Knowledges") and a contact point for inquiry. DroneB (talk) 11:52, 4 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]