Is it cold enough for 'ya (USA)?

[Winston OBoogie]

Can’t even have a common enemy anymore  :-\

The idiot who forgot to order that one resistor you need?

  "      "      "        "      "  discharge the HV B+ before poking about with the iron?


 

 

[JohnRoberts]

As Pogo famously observed, I have met the enemy and he is us.....

JR

 

[iturnknobs]

In Texas at least, this cold weather is inded political:

Former Texas governor Rick Perry suggests that going days without power is a sacrifice Texans should be willing to make if it means keeping federal regulators out of the state’s power grid.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/energy/article/Perry-says-Texans-wiling-to-suffer-blackouts-to-15956705.php?utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=referral

Rick Perry must have read my post.

edit: Texas needs to look at the power grip map of our country and ask themselves what the name of the country is that their state resides in.

 

[iturnknobs]

You know, I have to ask the three or four folks who've turned yet another thread into a political argument—who do you believe benefits from what you're doing? I don't know about everyone reading, but I assume folks in my position—just got my power back, house had gotten down to an internal temperature of 40, and my lights are flickering off and on even now as the winds are starting to get back up—might've gotten on GroupDIY for just a moment of relief.

I saw Brian's thread title and guessed it might've been a place to commiserate. Wrong again, I suppose.

Researching the cause of the polar vortex phenomenon also turns into a political discussion very quickly. GDIY has been a valuable resource for me and an "escape". With more time on my hands, I began to peruse the brewery. I found, contained in a helpful and educational forum, there were individuals who supported and advocated political policies that support profit and greed over the well-being of the majority of our country's citizens. I left Facebook in 2015 when the stupidity started to ramp up...then I found it here. There is, at times, hatred and conspiracy theories being recycled even here(documentable). People trying to use wit to explain their choices made by their amygdala need to be made aware or silenced. People are freezing right now because of greed and lizard brain choices. It doesn't have to be this way, but it is. Being nice doesn't fix these issues. May these people's pain transform into change through elections so they don't have to suffer again. I don't care who doesn't make money. Stop people from pushing selfish and false policies. Refer to my signature tag.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Apparently the WSJ and NYT are presenting competing versions of what happened (is happening) in TX. I wouldn't know since my post office is still closed and I haven't seen my WSJ for several days now. Not that their version is the only accurate one.

TX is a somewhat unique story, they joined the union reluctantly and some down there still claim independence (calling themselves the third coast).

It seem apparent that the lightly regulated power generation and transmission infrastructure was inadequately prepared for the cold. This is painfully obvious in hindsight but less so in light of their typical weather history. Anyone paying attention have seen TX struggle with these rare occasional harsh winter storms before. This is the worst I've seen for some time but still not as many deaths as some bad hurricanes they have suffered.

===

This too will pass but to add insult to injury some TX residents are being advised to boil water, without power.

I have my own water drama, I lost water pressure late last night. I was crawling around outside in the middle of the cold dark night looking for obvious suspects (like frozen pipes). The relatively good news but still bad news is that my water meter is not showing any flow since I checked it at 3AM last night. This is just another joy of living in small (poor) town MS (with crappy town water mains that are past due for upgrade). At least I dodged the ice storm attacks on my mains power drop, having electricity for heat is good, getting water back would be even better.

Good luck to all our TX friends. News reports this morning said power outages are down to less than a million homes, while there are probably still rolling blackouts in some affected areas. My niece in Houston got power back a couple days ago but not continuous power.

JR

 

[iturnknobs]

I have my own water drama, I lost water pressure late last night. I was crawling around outside in the middle of the cold dark night looking for obvious suspects (like frozen pipes). The relatively good news but still bad news is that my water meter is not showing any flow since I checked it at 3AM last night. This is just another joy of living in small (poor) town MS (with crappy town water mains that are past due for upgrade). At least I dodged the ice storm attacks on my mains power drop, having electricity for heat is good, getting water back would be even better.

Good luck to all our TX friends.

Much nicer than Rick Perry's comment. Sounds like you can access some of your pipes. Turn the first/nearest faucet to your water main coming in. Grab a propane torch and work your way back from first faucet to main inlet. I would be surprised if the pipes are frozen in the ground down by you. I've done this many times in homes in WI and here in Illinois with success. Hang in there. There's warm weather coming towards us soon. Hopefully the same for you. I wish you well and I hope Texas realizes that cutting corners for profits ends in suffering... I heard it's warm in Cancun today(political news reference).

 

[JohnRoberts]

Much nicer than Rick Perry's comment.

Read my signature tag....

Sounds like you can access some of your pipes. Turn the first/nearest faucet to your water main coming in. Grab a propane torch and work your way back from first faucet to main inlet. I would be surprised if the pipes are frozen in the ground down by you. I've done this many times in homes in WI and here in Illinois with success. Hang in there.

I pretty much determined last night that.

Indeed pipes in the ground don't commonly freeze down here in my experience, albeit only 30+ years. I could hear water dripping/running in my crawlspace but I have experienced that before from significant ground water flows, like after several days of freezing rain storms with the sump pump turned off...Water accumulates in my crawl space.

It was above freezing, just barely at 3AM so I fired up my sump pump for a few hours to drain that swamp. I turned it off again this morning because the cheap vinyl discharge hose felt brittle. I had a blowout last week during above freezing temps.

After returning from my weekly food shopping I noticed I have water again, reduced pressure but water is good. 

There's warm weather coming towards us soon. Hopefully the same for you. I wish you well and I hope Texas realizes that cutting corners for profits ends in suffering... I heard it's warm in Cancun today(political news reference).

The deep cold wave appears to be past me (snowing right now in northern MS.), but still freezing over night temps forecast into the weekend.

Post office, still closed....

Keep warm and healthy...

JR 

 

[groselicain]

Let 'em freeze.

People are freezing right now because of greed and lizard brain choices.

Right, because it's that simple. Last night, I lay awake thinking of my friends in Austin and Houston who've been without power for days now. I couldn't shake your flippant, callous "Let 'em freeze" quip. I had no power again last night. At no point did I feel it necessary to attach an agenda to it.

You've grown quite fond of directing other members to your signature—have you read it? In the time I've been aware of your posts, I've never read anything you've written that made me feel as if you were concerned about people. In a perfect world, John wouldn't have gone out of his way to type a baiting comment about global warming—if that's what got you so upset, then you should know I agree with you. If you took a moment to come off the offensive—and that's very much the only tack I've seen you take here, seeking for those you disagree with to "be made aware or silenced," or more menacingly, that "[their] children suffer from their parents' decisions"—I think we could find a lot on which to agree. In fact, I know we could all find a lot on which to agree.

Therein lies the problem: that fewer and fewer want to come off the offensive, even for a moment. When you said you left facebook years ago, I felt for you. I left as well. I couldn't believe the way folks were treating one another, all because they felt as if they somehow possessed the singular truth to the exclusion of all others. I never dreamed I'd have to go to parents and tell them that they were peddling nonsense that was deepening the division they were so afraid of. If I may be honest with you, though, I believe you've started to become what you wanted to avoid. I want you to understand that I agree—there have been some downright foolish things said with purported authority here, and I can understand the desire to stand against it. I also don't want to sound as if I feel you're the only member that monopolizes the Brewery to argue—I didn't even want to single you out, but you pushed back against me and directed me to that signature. Then I lost sleep over that.

You are obviously a caring, deeply concerned person. I appreciate that more than I could ever express. I choose to believe that all the folks with such fiery dispositions care similarly. This world is not meant for those who are great of heart. I'm just begging you—if you want to see things change, don't give in to this attitude that the only way to change minds is through beating the other side senseless. As my dad is so fond of saying, "Don't wrestle with pigs."

I hope you're all warm and safe.

Cody

 

[pucho812]

Texas update from my family and friends.
Friends lost power, family lost power. It came back. But has come and gone, once or twice. This is in north, middle and south of the state.

Food supplies were ok but stores got ransacked. Reminds me of the toilet paper shortage we had out west when covid lockdowns started.  Basically people bought way more then they needed in panic mode.

What is interesting to me has been the lack of thinking. In an emergency you should assess the situation and formulate a plan. When I read about how food will spoil because the electricity is out from the local paper, I can’t understand how people are baffled about putting food outside to not spoil as it is below freezing....
stay safe out there, try and stay warm.

 

[cyrano]

I can’t understand how people are baffled about putting food outside to not spoil as it is below freezing....

Works on a household level. Doesn't work on a distribution level, as some food needs to be kept cool, but not frozen.

 

[pucho812]

Works on a household level. Doesn't work on a distribution level, as some food needs to be kept cool, but not frozen.

Exactly. I know many a household who didn’t even think of that

 

[CJ]

well the mars rover went pretty good,

i bet some of those braniacs could solve a power shortage pretty easily, but where's the glory in that?

 

[Sorr]

Back in the early 90's when working for a National radio broadcaster. We had this academic on the program. He said that the natural cycle was that we would be entering a mini ice age next century. However he said that overlaid on this cycle was the effects of the human activity of pollution and deforestation. Which would add an opposing pole if you like of warming.  So there were two factors at work.
Just a thought.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Back in the early 90's when working for a National radio broadcaster. We had this academic on the program. He said that the natural cycle was that we would be entering a mini ice age next century. However he said that overlaid on this cycle was the effects of the human activity of pollution and deforestation. Which would add an opposing pole if you like of warming.  So there were two factors at work.
Just a thought.

It is impossible to predict next ice age with any certainty, current estimates are calling for more like 100,000 years from now, not next century. 

===
The fragility of TX electrical supply raises many questions, as usual life gives us the test first, and answers only later.

JR

PS; I am seeing activity over at the post office so may get my first mail of the week, probably a boil water notice.

 

[cyrano]

I came across this vid. It's not directly related, but it points out a lot of the problems that result in situations like the one in Texas. It's brought by an American who lived in a lot of places outside of the US for fifteen years. It's about the culture shock when she came back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO5x_tJBn7w

It's also about "us" and "them". What I personally deem the biggest US problem. A problem that surfaces in this thread.

People are cold. It doesn't matter what colour they are. It doesn't matter who's to blame. The only thing that matters is to get through this mishap and avoid it in the future.

Watch the vid.

 

[crazydoc]

Joke my daughter sent me - Carnival Cruises is offering a deluxe trip where you leave senior citizens behind in the snow. It's called a Ted Cruise.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Joke my daughter sent me - Carnival Cruises is offering a deluxe trip where you leave senior citizens behind in the snow. It's called a Ted Cruise.

I don't attempt snarky partisan humor because you begin by offending roughly half the population. These play better in partisan echo chambers (are we there yet?)

====

back on topic I am pleased to report daytime temps are retuning closer to normal.

JR

 

[cyrano]

Wow. It took you three days and that's the best you can do?

Insult by proxy?

 

[crazydoc]

I don't attempt snarky partisan humor because you begin by offending roughly half the population. These play better in partisan echo chambers (are we there yet?)

JR

Partisan???  Nothing to do with left or right - the guy is just a run-of-the mill narcissistic political pawn who fucked up because he's incapable of grasping basic human empathy. If half the population isn't offended by his actions, so be it, and this country will remain in a deep pile of shit..

 

[JohnRoberts]

Wow. It took you three days and that's the best you can do?

Insult by proxy?

If I was going to reply in kind, I'd suggest a "Gov Cuomo Cruise" where the old people get mixed in with covid positive passengers, and buried at sea. 

I guess you guys are answering my question about whether this is a left leaning echo chamber.

JR

PS; My apologies for my bad partisan humor that I am pretty sure you guys won't appreciate.