Secrets of the City

I have had one in my home for years. I consider it a very inexpensive form of life insurance.

My apartment doesn’t even have fire sprinklers…so, no.

No I don’t. The reason? I own a 90 year old house. The chance that any gas could stay trapped long enough to kill a fly in that place is next to zero.

is it a multi-unit structure, alie?
because if so I’m pretty sure that’s straight-up illegal.

Wrong answer, yoshi. People have died of carbon monoxide posioning in new homes and old. It was nothing to do with the “tightness” of the building’s exterior. In fact, a drafty house may be more prone to backdrafting.

Dude, buy a detector!

Yep, 2 levels, built in the early 60’s. I’m sure there’s some magical loophole, though, that allows the landlord to not install them.

is it a duplex or like hallway-and-apartment-doors type building?
there could be a loophole, but I really doubt it.

I’m just saying if you want to wiggle out of your lease early you could always contact the fire department anonymously.

I’m no expert on sprinklers, aliecat, but the law will require your landlord to install detectors by Aug. 1, 2009.

Wayne, it’s a traditional apartment. I think there’s some loophole about the number of units or something. At least there’s an extinguisher on every floor. That’s something I guess.

Bob, is CO really a problem in a building that has hot water heat and electric appliances? Just curious.

Uhh none of the old apartments i’ve ever lived in have sprinklers

i currently live in a quadplex in lyndale and it has no sprinklers. the place is practically sinking into the ground.

I will go buy the CO detector for my place tonight. Thanks Bob!!

You’re welcome, vald!

Bob, is CO really a problem in a building that has hot water heat and electric appliances? Just curious.

As Jason woud say: Good Question! Your electric appliances pose no risk of CO exposure, but there is a good chance the hot water that heats your apartment comes from a gas-fired boiler in your building. If the exhaust system fails, then everyone in the building is at risk.

It’s happened before. That’s why I recommend eveyone to get a CO detector, wither they rent or own their home.

My apartment is right next to the boiler room. Thanks bob…I won’t be sleeping much after that.

I’ve had a CO detector for years, as well. One upstairs between the three bedrooms and one downstairs near the gas furnace, hot water heater, etc. When I was 8 years old the furnace in our house malfunctioned, spewing out CO. My then-4-year-old brother awoke with a pounding headache and struggled to get my mom out of bed. They found me unconscious on the floor and dragged me outside to fresh air. So I can honestly say my brother saved my life.

In other words, I’m with Bob. Everyone should have a CO detector.

A family friend and her husband died when their propane heater in their summer trailer malfunctioned. Sad.

There’s really no excuse *not* to have one other than not having a home.

Is CO more of a problem with only older furnaces or is it a risk across the board Bob?

As part of the home improvements we are doing, we have to put a carbon monoxide detector on every level of the house. I don’t really mind that, but the “within 10 feet of each bedroom” part is sort of a pain, particularly in an old house with limited outlets. Thank goodness for power strips, I guess.

Wow Jeremy!!!

My apartment is right next to the boiler room. Thanks bob…I won’t be sleeping much after that.

Look at the bright side Alie… the kittys would be “asleep” too. No eating your face off.

Across the board, sornie. This nice little video from Jason’s Station tells where you should place them.

Across the board, sornie. This nice little video from Jason’s Station tells where you should place them.

Sorry! Double Post Bob Strikes Again!

Across the board, sornie. This nice little video from Jason’s Station tells where you should place them.

Yep. In our case, both the house and the furnace that malfunctioned were brand spanking new.

I believe there are battery operated models, Connie, but I would choose a plug-in or directly wired model first.

I consider it a very inexpensive form of life insurance.

Not for me.

Cheapest hardwired I’ve seen that would work for me ~$175, plus I’d need to bring in an electrician to run wires (or learn to do it myself).

$400+ gets me a system that attaches a transmitter to a standard battery operated detector that can send a signal to a strobe.

Hence, I still haven’t put one in, and the smoke detectors that I do have are useless to me.

We got one for our wedding, two years ago. Still sitting in the box. I don’t know where to put it. I guess now we should find a place.

I don’t know where to put it.

Near where people sleep is the most important place, kc!

Not for me.

I know, and that sucks. If I ever hear (no pun intended) on a deal for CO/smoke detectors for deaf/HOH homeowners, you will be first to know.

I’d go to buy them sooner rather than later. I bought an extra wone for my place right after a CO poisoning death and they were very hard to find.

Basically agree w/ranty – we have one in the basement and one on the second floor where the bedrooms are.

Had my bacon saved once – a non-fatal accumulation occurred; alarm went off, incompletely combusting water-heater burn element fixed.

back to the sprinkler thing, that’s weird. I wonder what the number of units is or the specific rule on fire sprinklers?

my building has 7 units in it but has sprinklers. I wonder if that’s because it was renovated fairly recently (~12 years ago) or because it’s mixed-use with commercial tenants? I’m guessing maybe more of the latter, but who knows. I don’t have the time to look up the local fire codes right now.

I’m still surprised that the law is so “controversal” with some of the Strib article commentors.

bob, there are some people that will bristle anytime you tell them have to or can’t do something. they live in some kind of delusional libertarian fantasyland where any form of regulation is tantamount to either nanny-state communism or fascism, depending on whether or not you’re mandating or forbidding something.

I have one in my bedroom, the plug-in kind. I also used to always keep a fire escape ladder under my bed, but I game my last one to my parents. I need to get another one so I can get my animals out if anything happens in the night!

So, where do I get one, and how much do they cost? (Neither story bothered to provide that info, or I couldn’t find it).

I also have a rescue plan for our dog, if there’s an emergency, tara.

I thought this new law would get them more fired up, wayne.

So, where do I get one, and how much do they cost? (Neither story bothered to provide that info, or I couldn’t find it).

Roughly $20 for a basic model. You can get them at any hardware store, Target, Wal-Mart, etc. Even some grocery stories sell them. Mine is a plug-in model with a 9 volt battery backup in case of power failure.

You know, it’s a good idea to wear a hat in cold weather too. But should the government pass a law mandating that you wear one? Jesus people, you can pass along good ideas withoug passing laws making them mandatory. Unless you’re a leftist, then everything must be government regulated.

they live in some kind of delusional libertarian fantasyland where any form of regulation is tantamount to either nanny-state communism or fascism,

God damn those building codes! I’ll determine if I want to breath asbestos or have my house fall in on me with a 15 mph wind!

Unless you’re a leftist, then everything must be government regulated.

Actually, the right wing is just as regulation happy. They just tend to want to regulate different choices, like whether women can have an abortion or not and whether people of the same sex should marry.

People who didn’t like it should have griped louder before it became the law. Now’s too late to start.

and along comes dennis to demonstrate my point perfectly.

Actually, the right wing is just as regulation happy. They just tend to want to regulate different choices, like whether women can have an abortion or not and whether people of the same sex should marry.

I thought we were limited to one abortion derailment per week. I table referencing abortion in this thread until next week.

Darn, I was hoping to use my wire hanger / shop vac line again.

I wish someone would regulate hotdog condiments and the taxonomy of mixed drinks. Also the use of “literally.”

I was hoping to use my wire hanger / shop vac line again.

Tough crowd.

Kurtis if you can regulate condiments then I would like to outlaw pickles. They’re gross and their pickle juice soaks into my fries. It makes me as angry as Beefus.

We will be installing a CO detector. I’m ashamed to admit that we pulled both of our smoke detectors down years ago because they were alarm happy.

Misuse of the word “literally” literally makes me want to scream.

Now you’ve crossed the line, Kurtis. Stay. Away. from. my. condiments.

And being the rebel that I am, I ate a hot dog yesterday with ketchup, relish, and mustard. Take That!

Now bring the hate.

Kramarczuk’s Deli has a brand of Polish mustard I’m just wild about…yum!

People who put ketchup on their hotdogs are troglodytes. Literally.

I like emerald relish and celery salt on my HebNats, but nothing else…

I prefer my hotdogs with no condiments. Is that a bad thing?
Also, I enjoy corn dogs. I had one for dinner last night.

I like my dogs naked too. Exception is at the Dome… then I get a cheese cup to dip it in. mmmm cheesy dome dogs…

When they are good hot dogs, no, Bix. Yes, I like corn dogs, too. Especially dipped in biodiesel!

My skin did feel a little scalely after I ate the hot dog. Literally.
Why you gotta call me names?

Maaaaaxxxxx, Kurtis is calling me names.

*fake cries*

Did somebody say they need some wire hangers? Cause I got a bunch.

mb, you would like naked ‘dogs.

You’re sick, mb. Sick, sick, sick.

(please tell me someone gets what cartoon I’m referencing)

hot dogs and abortion jokes… man, its good to be alive.

kwatt, I saw your doppelganger at SA this afternoon. He was buying a pack of Merits.

We all know that couldn’t have been our Kevs, as his views have no Merit.

Sorry, couldn’t resisit..

please tell me someone gets what cartoon I’m referencing

“Ha ha, Biff! I’m going to the vet to get tutored!”

Was that the one?

I have several dopplegangers. Someday I’m going to invite them all over and we’ll have a dopplegangbang.

No, it’s the one where there’s a cow wearing a chef’s hat and he’s grilling something and his other two cow friends walk up and say, “You’re sick, Jesse. Sick, sick, sick!”

Far Side… I’m familiar as I had a t-shirt with that exact cartooon. At the bottom corner there was a little drawing of a cow eating a burger saying it tasted like chicken.

Cat, only communists put ketchup on their hotdogs.

If you ban ketchup on hot dogs only communists and outlaws will have ketchup on their hotdogs.

In other news, Cat is a communist outlaw.

The Plochman’s Chicago Fire mustard wtih tabasco is yummy on a turkey dog.

The only thing fit to be on my hot dogs is mustard. And the only hot dogs I’ll eat are No Name, at least they look like they have actual meat in them.

Thousand Hills Cattle Co makes a very good grass fed local hot dog. Available at Kowalskis and Farm in the Market.

Sornie- I enjoy the Hebrew Nationals now and again. I trust the Jews to make a good all beef dog with no filler.

If we’re talking sausages, Kramarczuk’s Ukrainian is to die for. Great, subtle flavor. It is a crime to let ketchup into the same room as this sausage.

Here is my condiment take. You put any condiment on things that lack flavor or the flavor is undesirable. I’m thinking the gallons of ketchup to swill down liver here. However, a good hotdog, sausage, or bratwurst should stand on its own. If it doesn’t put whatever you want on it because you’re just covering up the terrible taste of whatever it is you’re eating. If you cannot eat steak without a-1 steak sauce, you need to find better steak.

Here’s my take on condiments: Don’t wear white when liberally applying mustard to your hotdog, you’ll lose everytime.

dougG, my thoughts exactly.
condiments are 4 BADMEATS

This thread was about CO detectors, right? Then sausages. Now it’s about MONSTERS.

Sometimes condiments are a useful contrast or counterpoint to the strong flavor of a particular food item. For example the buttery richness of lobster is well augmented by the tang of good mayonaise. Lobster roll… mmm. Hotdogs vary in flavor, some of the best have a very strong black pepper flavor which is contrasted nicely with a good sweet ketchup. There is another added bonus of the richness of the fatty meat being cut by the slight acidity of the tomato. So there.

I hate condiments. I’m really Zen about my food.

Yeah. We got one-a them, but whenever we plug it in, it immediately goes off beeping like nuts, so we just leave it on the floor near the outlet. That’s like having it installed.

That’s a bunch of bull nanny state crap! No government on earth’s gonna tell of what to do.

Yeah. We got one-a them, but whenever we plug it in, it immediately goes off beeping like nuts, so we just leave it on the floor near the outlet. That’s like having it installed.

Buy another one, tpitman. It can’t save your family’s lives if it’s not plugged in. Like the early smoke alarms, some of the first CO detectors were over-sensitive. Besides, you should replace every five years or so anyway. Fork up the $20.

Berfus, we all know you live with your parents, so if they want a CO dector, you will get one.

No i actually live in a house next door to my dad. My dad inherited it when my uncle died and said i could live here for now. Neither i or my dad have smoke alarms rather than carbon minoxide detectors.

Neither i or my dad have smoke alarms rather than carbon minoxide detectors.

Does this sentence mean that you don’t have neither smoke nor CO detectors or does it mean that you have smoke detectors but not CO detectors?

I can forgive some of your punctuation and grammar issues due to the use of a mobile browser. But what the hell is with that last sentence?

And what was up with mine? That “don’t” shouldn’t have been there.

Miller: Don’ encourage use of his mobile browser. No good can come of it.

I bailed yesterday before the commie name calling. Sillies.

Of course I’m a muthaf%^in’ ketchup on my hotdog commie outlaw. Ya’ll are just realizing that now? And I thought we were friends. Sheesh!

don’ = don’t.

Sorry i should’ve said let alone carbon minoxide detectors

Why would someone not have smoke detectors on purpose? That just seems really dumb and immature.

Dear KC,
I just answered my own question.
Hugs and Kittens,
KC

We don’t have smoke detectors because they’re a nuisance.

I disable my smoke detector because I like to live on the edge.

As are stop signs.
And locks.
And seatbelts.

Goddamn traffic lights tellin’ me when I can & can’t go!

SMASH THE STATE!!!!!

We don’t have smoke detectors because they’re a nuisance.

Unlike a fire in the middle of the night, right?

Freakin’ ozone layer, protecting me from the sun and stuff. That’s some BS!

yeah, and while we’re on the topic, fuck my skin! stop keepin all that harmful shit out of my body! I can take it!

that’s why I got the worst sunburn ever a couple weekends ago. YEAH SECOND DEGREE BURNS AND HORRIBLE PAIN!

Im not too worried about a fire in the middle of the night but if cat found out where i live it’d be a different story.

Why would someone not have smoke detectors on purpose?

Define “on purpose.” I have smoke detectors that are completely useless for me. In fact, it was only by accident that I discovered that one of them had a dead battery, about 6 months after I moved in.

Im not too worried about a fire in the middle of the night but if cat found out where i live it’d be a different story.

This is a level of carelessness that even I’m not familiar with.

See, you can’t even hear them and you have them.

Did you change the battery?

Srsly Berfus?

If not agreeing with your philosophy leads you to this thinking, you’re more screwed up than I originally thought.

I’d step off if I were you about now.

Well, they came with the house. I’m pretty sure the inspector tested it at the time. Must have died between then and when I moved in.

But like I said, I still haven’t gotten a CO detector.

Will this change after your surgery? It might be one of those things that changes!

I was just joking cat. You all have to understand my family (mostly my dad) we have the government telling us how to live our lives.

I was just joking cat. You all have to understand my family (mostly my dad) we don’t like big brother telling up how to live our lives.

I’m going to assume there is another Berfus misstatement in the last comment, unless there is some government official who follows his father around and directs him where to drive to, what clothes to buy, etc.

we have the government telling us how to live our lives.

Otherwise known as house arrest?

Again, berfus, isn’t your employer a government agency?

Berfus endorses anarchy, I guess…

Wait, when did we learn of Berfus’ employment status?

He told us he was a bus drive Bix.

Will this change after your surgery? It might be one of those things that changes!

When I’m awake, yes (probably, most likely).

When I’m sleeping, no. I don’t know of anyone that sleeps with the processor on.

Interesting. I suppose it makes sense. Thanks!

You should totally get a helper monkey. He could let you know if the alarm was going off when you were asleep. And you would have a cool helper monkey.

the head coil would keep getting knocked off (It’s kept on by a magnet). Not to mention the behind the ear processor.

I suppose once I’m activated, and figure out how to use the stuff, there could be a mnspeak “technology happy hour”, or something.

The Bush Admin just banned helper monkeys in their newest ADA regulations revisions.

That’s it!

IMPEACH!

Did they really? That’s too bad.

When I was working with DHS’s Disability Services I went to a conference session on helper animals. I had no idea, at that time, how many different kinds of animals people used for a wide variety of needs. Quite amazing.

If I could, I would have a helper snake. Because that would just be so badass.

I guess you’ll have to go with a helper ferret then…

I think they were reclassified as semi-concealed weapons in 2003.

I’m very unhappy to hear this…

You could still use them at home, but places of public accommodation, under the new regs, are only required to accommodate service dogs.

I know it is MetroTransit’s policy to allow any animal as long as the owner states when asked if it is a helper animal. And the only question the drivers are supposed to ask is “is that a helper animal/dog/squirrel?” I wonder if that will change.

Could you put a dog suit on your helper monkey?

I know it is MetroTransit’s policy to allow any animal as long as the owner states when asked if it is a helper animal. And the only question the drivers are supposed to ask is “is that a helper animal/dog/squirrel?” I wonder if that will change.

What if it is apparent that the animal is not helping? Say your helper monkey is attacking you as you board the bus, then what?

kc, don’t be rediculous, helper monkeys should wear lederhosen!

Don’t know Bix. I really want to bring my not very well behaved half lab half rottie on the bus with us when we go drinking at friends’ houses. It would make our lives much better because we know the a lot of cabbies are not down with the dogs.

I was so excited by the idea of helper snakes that I wrote a story about them.

I can’t stand snakes. My dad’s farm is out in rattlesnake country and i worry about getting bit everytime i walk through the tall grass down there.

Wisconsin is rattle snake country?

Yeah right along the mississippi it is. Same goes for the Mn side

in the bluffs, in the south…
i came upon one a few years back. actually i never saw it but i did hear it.
that and coytoes. SE MN and SW WI are wild country

Ninjas and helper snakes are a can’t miss Max! Well done!

SE MN and SW WI are wild country

cue dueling banjos.

david, are you ignoring me?

I heard coyotes as a child in Sioux Falls. They’re a nuisance, but they usually don’t bother humans.

I hear that, Alie…

Berfus no stand snakes. Berfus spot snake, Berfus scram. SCRAM!

No, kc,

Just preoccupied with a 43 page QSR refresher module today. I’ll get back to you.

No Berfus see snake Berfus kill.(only if it’s poisonous)