Someone nuked Oklahoma by dreamtrove

http://classic.wunderground.com/US/Region/US/Temperature.html

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Saturday, July 16, 2011 1:21 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Allah be praised...

Oh, wait.

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

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Sunday, July 17, 2011 3:58 AM

"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." -- William Casey, Reagan's presidential campaign manager & CIA Director (from first staff meeting in 1981)

Looks like a typical summer day to me.

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Sunday, July 17, 2011 6:16 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Poor babies, I feel awful sorry for them (and any of you who happen to live near Ground Zero--the other one, that is!). I've been hearing about the weather and whincing. We're having the opposite so far: a colder-than-usual Summer. We were supposed to have the fog roll out and get into the 90s by next week, but they changed their mind and now it won't get over 80. We've had highs in the low-to-mid 70s (hee, hee, hee) and overcast/fog for over a week now. I love it. Wish we could ship it to the rest of the country. Sorry we can't, but my heart goes out to them.

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Sunday, July 17, 2011 10:20 AM

Meh, Austin's only 100º today - almost a cold front! I was out washing the dogs an hour ago. It's hot, but it's not *that* hot. Friday we had 107º and high humidity. Today feels almost mild by comparison.

What's really killing us is the lack of rain. I'm in survival mode with the trees right now, just struggling to even keep them ALIVE - they aren't growing at all, just barely keeping from dying. And if they go, I'm screwed. They're the only reason the A/C is able to keep it down to 79º inside, because I have so much shade over the house.

Everything around is brown and yellow. The yard looks as though it's been burned. But it will come back. I'll not lose the trees!

Reports say the last eight months are the driest ever recorded in Texas since they started recording such things.

Our lakes are going away. The lake I used to go sailing on 20 years ago is gone now. It's listed as less than 1% filled. This was a nice reservoir with a gravel bottom, wonderful for swimming and sailing. Now it's a dust bowl.

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Sunday, July 17, 2011 11:17 AM

BYTEMITE

Ouch. I know someone who lives in Oklahoma, and I'm not sure if they can afford AC very well. Maybe it's time to check on them.

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Sunday, July 17, 2011 2:32 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
Ouch. I know someone who lives in Oklahoma, and I'm not sure if they can afford AC very well. Maybe it's time to check on them.

Actually, that's a good idea.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Sunday, July 17, 2011 2:57 PM

BYTEMITE

Their AC is pretty bad from what I hear and they're mostly having to do without, but apparently they, their family, the dog, and the cat are all okay so far. Just hot and not very happy.

Hey Kwicko, glad to hear you guys are holding up under the temperatures and drought too.

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Sunday, July 17, 2011 3:53 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Bytemite:
Their AC is pretty bad from what I hear and they're mostly having to do without, but apparently they, their family, the dog, and the cat are all okay so far. Just hot and not very happy.

Hey Kwicko, glad to hear you guys are holding up under the temperatures and drought too.

It doesn't take too long living here to realize that there's a very good reason Mexicans take siestas in the afternoon! I always heard people grumbling about "lazy Mexicans" growing up, but once you're working in this kind of heat, you start understanding that it makes sense to get indoors during the hottest part of the day and rehydrate and cool down.

I'm lucky - the stuff I work with now requires an air-conditioned warehouse, so I get to keep it around 80º during the day. I spent years running print shops in metal warehouses with no A/C at all, with five BIG gas conveyor dryers pouring their heat into the shop as well. We put up a thermometer one day, just as a joke to see how hot it was getting. We tore it off the wall and threw it away when it hit 130ºF. Hey, at least it was out of the sun! :D

But yeah, when it's like this, you really have to plan your trips, figure out when you want to be out in it, how badly you really want to get out, etc. I've had the A/C unit die at my house, and it's brutal. You can't even get a decent night's sleep, and it took around a week to get it replaced. We went to the movies a lot, hung out at the mall during the evening, watched people ice skate, anywhere where it was cooler than home!

Tell your friend in OK to look into doing the same. Also, strips of t-shirt, wetted and put into the freezer, then draped around your neck or worn like a headband, WILL cool you down for a bit.

All in all, this summer doesn't really feel WORSE than others, just a lot drier. We've got a chance for rain the next few days. I just bathed two dogs and washed both cars in hopes that it will indeed rain!

ETA: BTW, Byte, do they at least have lots of fans in the house? It's not enough, but it can help. I'd consider buying a window A/C unit and putting it in one of the bedrooms and just all sleeping in one room for the time being, too. You can usually get those for $129 or so for a small one.

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Sunday, July 17, 2011 4:13 PM

BYTEMITE

Well, they're pretty far from anywhere, very rural. And they're lucky to be able to afford an internet connection. So, they probably don't have many fans, and probably not any plans to get any.

When it's this hot, aren't fans just going to move the hot air around? I guess if you're sweaty it'll help the evaporation which will cool you, but otherwise I'm not sure.

Quote:
All in all, this summer doesn't really feel WORSE than others, just a lot drier. We've got a chance for rain the next few days. I just bathed two dogs and washed both cars in hopes that it will indeed rain!

We're all hoping for it. Anywhere needs rain it's you guys.

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Sunday, July 17, 2011 7:55 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

Quicko, I'm sad that you guys are so dry, the idea of my favorite places to play in the water disappearing is a horrid one and very unpleasant. I hope you get more rain soon and your lake fills back up for you.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Monday, July 18, 2011 7:19 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Having been California born-and-bred, I had no concept of REAL heat or REAL humidity, so once I asked how people survive in high-humidity, high-heat environments. I was told you go from your air-conditioned house to your air-conditioned car to the air-conditioned office/mall/theater/store. I was aghast at the mere concept of spending all that time indoors and in air conditioning. We have a tiny window air conditioner for the living room...I use it maybe three, four times a year when it gets NEAR 100 outside!

I'm glad I live in California. The map shows it; the West (which dries out like you described every year) is the only semi-cool place in the country from the looks of it. We were scheduled to go into the 90s this week but they changed their minds, apparently the fog isn't ready to desert us quite yet, so now the forecast is for a high of 82 on the hottest day this week. HOW I wish I could send some fog to you guys! We just got out of an official drought, when watering your lawn was illegal, etc., and this year we not only caught up, we had overflowing reservoirs. Would like to send you some of THAT, too!

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Monday, July 18, 2011 8:41 AM

Yiiiiick.

It's friggin HOT out there - remember I live in Michigan, land of the ice and snow where the cold winds blow, hell, my niece still thinks we're a bunch of vikings who live next to the north pole!

And mind you, although I handle cold well, all the prosthetics and whatnot make it harder for me to shed heat, so I start wilting at 70F, okay ?

And it's fucking 90F+ out there, GAACCCKKK...
Hell, I covered 2am to 6am this morning and it was 78F-72F the whole damn time, I signed off and laid under the AC vent in shorts and a T-shirt for like an hour, bleh.

Annnnd the pollen count, let's not even SPEAK of the pollen count, blarg!

Not to mention running all over in a car with no A/C handling various issues and activist backing, and the usual screwed up behavior from a full moon weekend, pfftthhhhhh

As I said to my ex yesterday, if Jack Murphy rides my ass any harder, imma hafta buy him a saddle!

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Monday, July 18, 2011 9:37 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Oh shit, Frem, I feel awful for you. Bad enough to endure all that heat without having to deal with the added effects. I dreaded Summer coming when I was wearing that damned boot; luckily it came off before then (whew!), and I HATED the Summer I had to spend with my arm in a brace.

I'm a total woos when it comes to heat; I can handle cold fine (as long as there's no snow...), but heat, as you said, I just wilt at anything over 70. Used to think it's because I sleep outdoors, but now I think (given my ever-so-skinny hubby is always COLD) it's the extra pounds I haven't managed to shed. Either way, I both sympathize AND empathize; hope this breaks soon for everyone's sake.

Know how bad a woos I am? My computer weather station says it's 75 out there; I have some stuff I've been wanting to clean up in the back yard. No WAY am I going out there now, I'm sweating just thinking about it (and we don't have high humidity out here!). Total coward, especially when so many others are going about their usual business despite MUCH worse heat!

This is the kind of heat where you start getting death tolls, isn't it? Please not.

ETA: Can hear the TV behind me in the living room: 110 in Minneapolis tomorrow!!!! Jezus Kriste that's AFGHANISTAN Summer temperatures! (Tho' admittedly there's NO humidity there...)

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Monday, July 18, 2011 10:59 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Niki2:
This is the kind of heat where you start getting death tolls, isn't it? Please not.

I hope not...

Baltimore gas and electric used to have the oh-so-wonderful habit of shutting off folks with delinquent/late bills as soon as the temperature passed 90F (in order to "encourage" them to pay up, and with *what*, I'd like to know!), a lot of whom were elderly folk with fixed incomes that couldn't keep up with their endless rate increases.
"Oh people are using too much, we need a rate increase!"
"Oh people aren't using enough, we need a rate increase!"
"Oh no, we had another outage cause we pocketed all the maintanence money, we need a rate increase!"

This kills a handful of folk every year in Baltimore, as does the whole forced-labor snow shovelling thing, which also seems to kill about a dozen or so here every year, that I hear about, mind - all in the name of greed, greed, greed.

DTE doesn't seem much better, what with sayin the infrastructure is public and they're not responsible for it when it needs work, but then claiming it's theirs when they profit from it - end result has been fires and blackouts, the last of which left some folk without power for ten plus days, which is wholly unacceptable - and I am sure that puny little $25.00USD credit not only meant dick to families with ruined groceries in the fridge, it was worse than an insult to businesses who lost in one case near sixteen thou in inventory...
One of the errands I was running was for a smaller shop who's meat was thawing rapidly, and would not be safe to refreeze, so he decided to try recouping some of his loss by having a BBQ out front in the parking lot, and as we're dragging another grill into place he starts worrying about the legal issues and endless motherfucking nitpicks and just how many codes he's about to break...
And I looked him right in the eye and said "FUCK THE LAW" - "People make laws to protect people, their rights and their stuff, when 'The Law' becomes more important than those things at the expense of them, it's not law, it's oppression and tyranny!" - and so on and so forth, and we finally found a kinda-sorta-dodge by instead of charging, simply putting a donation bucket by the counter.

Between his ruinous "insurance" (which of course rakes him over on every payment) and the pathetic pittance they'll offer, and the contents of the donation bucket, it looks like his business is gonna make it, though it'll be tight - and we seem to have accidently converted him to anarchism, cause it was his appeal to us which resulted in the manpower and gear to pull this off.
Speakin of, maybe it's just me, but is there *ANY* Anarchist who *doesn't* own a BBQ grill ?
We exected to have three or four, and got fifteen, way more than we needed!

Also given winter outages and how many of us have a generator squirrelled away, we managed to save a couple other businessfolk that way too, and be damned to DTE - of course, guess who hadda unwinterize em and get em up and running, usually while kneeling on hot pavement at the time ?

This flim-flam rule shit is pissing me off though, not just with DTE considering ownership of the lines as how best benefits them at the moment, and the whole deal of how the sidewalk is considered public when THEY want it to be, or private when THEY want it to be...

But the local law seems to have the same goddamn idea about the complexes internal road - when they wanna issue a ticket, they consider it public, and when they don't wanna enforce, they consider it private, or vice versa as conditional to how best benefits THEM.

And I am very heartily sick of that bullshit, and in concordance with the property owner am putting the boot down, this is PRIVATE PROPERTY, and if they come here playing that crap while I am on duty - *I* will ticket THEM, and we're gonna have ourselves a to-do about it, oh yes we will.
(They drove in here for no reason whatever, and ticketed a maintanence truck used exclusively within the complex, on our private property, out of personal ire or vendetta against our maintanence chief, just to be dicks)

And the next time DTE claims those lines are public and they are not responsible for maintaining them - imma have a chat with Dingell the Dingbat about seizing some chunk of their profit, since they're using "public" lines and I think we deserve a cut, which will then be used to patch the goddamn things before someone gets hurt - well, more than have already.

Above all else, this changing the rules in the middle of the game shit is pissin me off, especially what with Gov-assisted private monopolies (Power companies, etc) and captive markets (Insurance, etc) - cause if the rules don't apply to EVERYONE, then they apply to NO ONE, is the way I see it.

The simplest act of revolt is noncompliance.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Monday, July 18, 2011 12:02 PM

Another reason we need to keep our clean water. I mean, no one is going cool off in their bottled water cooler.

Seriously... you want to trade this

For this

By looking for answers here

A little lower

Yep. That, is our future... with our heads up the ass of the past: Gas. It's a blast.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Monday, July 18, 2011 4:45 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

I agree with you DT, its really scary.

Frem, that is so sad about the hot and the cold. People are so mean in this world.

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 6:55 AM

There's no excuse for this, none.

Longest heat wave since 1995 bakes Detroit; power still out for thousands
http://www.freep.com/article/20110719/NEWS05/110719009/Longest-heat-wa
ve-since-1995-bakes-Detroit-power-still-out-thousands

Quote:
More than 31,000 homes in metro Detroit remained without power early today as the Midwest’s massive heat wave continues.
Power is expected to be restored to most by the end of the day, DTE spokesman Scott Simons said.

They've BEEN saying that, every day, for damn near two WEEKS, mind you.

As for gratuitous acts of meanness, Riona, here's another one, courtesy of Genessee County.

Genesee County woman in Snyder recall effort sues over tiny petition space
http://www.detnews.com/article/20110719/METRO/107190356/Genesee-County
-woman-in-Snyder-recall-effort-sues-over-tiny-petition-space

Quote:
Denise Miller of Linden sued the director of Genesee County Parks and the head ranger in federal court Monday, challenging the constitutionality of the park system's policy preventing petitioning without a permit.

She alleges that parks officials told her that she couldn't collect signatures without a permit and restricted her to a 3-by-3-foot space in a remote part of the 135-acre Linden County Park.

Soon as I heard about that, I called Divine, a lawyer who works with Gus - she keeps track of various protests and acts as legal counsel for many protesters via subcontract with orgs like the ACLU, but here's the thing...
One thing she keeps track of is what protest happens where, and what the response was, so if certain officials display "unusual tolerance" for one type of protest, while dropping the jackboot on others, she can yoink them then and there for bias, you see ?

And she's got a LIST of other protests at that park who were not subjected to this bullshit, and technically this is not a protest, it's an official fucking recall effort for a politician who has violated his oath of service and acted in contravention of the will of his constituents, which is a more protected thing than free speech, though they oughta be equal, I know.

S'funny, the various police involved in vehicle forfeiture just moved their closed door auction spot even further north, cause they seem to have the idea that there's a sixty mile radius around site three where NO act of jackassery will go unchallenged - which ain't true, or I'd be too damn busy to run a business and a life besides, but it amuses me to no end that they think so.

Said forfeiture racket involves jumping on someone with a nice car and accusing them of being in a "known drug/prostitution area" and seizing their vehicle, for which the cops don't have to actually charge, or even accuse them of a crime, which makes it all but impossible to recover the vehicle since without charges there's no way to protest innocence, and the expense of trying often outweighs the value of the car.
Then the car is sold at a closed doors, secret location (for "security" reasons, yeah, right) so-called "auction" only the cops know about, and usually sold to them for the hefty bid of five bucks or so....
One of the cops involved in the previous city council fiasco, the one who threatened to burn me to death with his taser - that was where he got both the house he was living in, and the spiffy little sports car he was driving, and when due to his looting and reselling drugs from the evidence room, those forfeiture provisions were applied to HIM, he went freakin berserk about it - I must admit a hefty amount of Shadenfreude on my part there, cause I wanted them to see what that shit-sandwich tasted like, oh yes I did!
Unfortunately for him, his threat was overheard and witnessed by someone from another agency approaching from the side, and thanks be cause I really thought I might have to shoot him, and you *KNOW* that when up against the gang in blue, self defense is no defense, grrrr.

They did quietly release Cory Maye today though, poor bastard.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 6:57 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Frem:

Quote:
"Oh people are using too much, we need a rate increase!"
"Oh people aren't using enough, we need a rate increase!"
"Oh no, we had another outage cause we pocketed all the maintanence money, we need a rate increase!"

You forgot the out-and-out fraud we experienced here in California regarding energy: "Hey, I know a sneaky way we can screw them over and get an even BIGGER rate increase!"

DT: In another thread, you said you feared change, yet here you are advocating for it. Respectfully, which is your real position?

And I maintain that no, we don't know if we have clean drinking water, depending on where we live. I'm lucky in that I DO know, given virtually all water in Marin comes from our own lakes and we have no heavy industry, but can anyone for whom that is not the case be positive their drinking water is truly safe?

How about as of December of last year:

Quote:
A new study has found levels of a toxic metal in the water supplies of Chicago and 35 other cities.

Each day, Chicago processes close to 1 billion gallons of drinking water from Lake Michigan. Before it reaches the tap, the water is treated and tested for hundreds of chemicals, including the metal chromium.

Now, a study of drinking water in 35 U.S. cities -- Chicago among them -- shows drinking water containing varying levels of a chromium compound called Hexavalent Chromium, or Chromium-6, which is a carcinogen.

.....

The U.S. EPA does limit the amount of chromium in water, but there are no specific lesser limits for Hexavelent Chromium. California is considering a proposal to regulate it at no more than .06 parts per billion.

A decade ago, activist Erin Brockovich sued California's Pacific Gas and Electric over Chromium-6 in the groundwater. Her fight was later told on the big screen.

More at http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=7853480

You remember Erin Brockovich? She's still at it. Most recently, as of June:

Quote:
Well-known environmental advocate Erin Brockovich is wading into the Camp Lejeune contaminated water issue.

Brockovich....has joined 22 national and state organizations in support of a bill that would make it easier for veterans and their families affected by contaminated water aboard base to receive medical assistance.

Brockovich also recently told reporters at a Wilmington meeting on advocacy issues that Camp Lejeune veterans have asked for her help.

“We need to look at what happened at Camp Lejeune, the ground water contamination,” she said. “Who’s been affected, find them all and make sure that we do everything possible to make their future a little bit brighter.”

more at http://www.enctoday.com/news/brockovich-92585-jdn-water-issue.html

So no, we not only don't KNOW if our drinking water is safe, in some cases it definitely ISN'T.

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 7:20 AM

You mean Enron, Niki ?

That was another Cassandra moment for me, as very slightly before the rolling blackouts started I happened upon evidence of chicanery, and internal documents showing they were faking lack of capacity, taking plants offline deliberately in order to do so.

And for trying to call it out, I generally got treated like PN, shouted down, dismissed and mocked - that was a different community, not this one, but it pissed me off all the same, you'd think folks would give a little credence when someone is right often enough to make bets on it(1) - but no, folks believe what they're told, or what they want to, even in the face of overwhelming evidence...
And at the time, I was also raising hell about AOL's "creative accounting" and buying out competing companies with essentially worthless "stock" then folding and liquidating them in a sort of ponzi-esque backfill - a practice which, despite being considered a "conspiracy theory" for the two straight YEARS I was going on about it, came to light when the folks behind it sold off to Time-Warner and fled the coop, resulting in TW taking a bath to the tune of well over 70Million bucks, and then the very folk who sneered at me were like "but we never knew", uh huh, riiiiight.
Where that's related is that having already sniffed a rat within Enron, I dug deeper and noticed their accounting practices were awful damn similar and howled a fit - mind you, this was again BEFORE even the first rolling blackout happened... and again, nobody would listen to a damn thing I said.
(Matter of fact, I think I may well still have the chatlogs of that particular conversation with Bonny and her friends)

I was pretty sore pissed about it when that bomb dropped at last, when had it been addressed when the matter was raised originally, so much harm could have been prevented - stuff like that is the reason I sound so bitter at times, yanno ?

(1) And yes, I make actual *money* on this, there's a couple groups which do political betting, pool, pick and direct - I made serious bank on the local election of Yousef Rabhi, which folk still look at me a little sideways for given how close that margin was, and that it was very local, for obvious reasons.
Although with the Gardasil fiasco I donated the profit off that to funds set up for the care and eventual burial of the victims, cause I wouldn't be able to look myself in the mirror for profiting off something so horrible.

-Frem
I do not serve the Blind God.

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 11:25 AM

28th day of triple-digit heat

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43790899/ns/weather/t/deaths-midwest-tied-
heat-wave/

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 5:16 PM

RIONAEIRE

Beir bua agus beannacht

Frem, I hope your lawyer friend can help that woman and others who should be allowed to petition at the park. Sure its not nearly as bad as people dying from heat exhaustion, but its not cool.

Maybe Erin Brockovich can take on the fracking issue?

"A completely coherant River means writers don't deliver" KatTaya

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 5:27 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Speaking of drought - look here -

http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 5:48 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

"Their AC is pretty bad from what I hear and they're mostly having to do without ..."

If it's central there's no fix, but if it's room they could huddle there and chill.

I have no AC but I work in an AC'd place. But unless your body temperature drops you can't sleep well, so every summer I go through a few months on little sleep.

I once asked an elderly neighbor how she got along in the past with no AC. She laughed and said - we just moved slower and took our time.

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 6:43 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 1kiki:
Speaking of drought - look here -

http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html

Yikes.

http://www.drought.unl.edu/dm/DM_state.htm?TX,S

I wish I could say I was even surprised by this. Texas has over 70% of the state in what is categorized as "Exceptional" drought conditions.

We *almost* got rain today. It clouded up, got dark, the winds picked up, then changed direction... then it all moved off to the west and the sun came back out. Our impermeable rain shield seems to be holding fast. :(

We've now had 34 days over 100º this year. We're on track to beat our all-time record of 68 days over 100º. Yee-freakin'-HAW, y'all.

As I said, the last eight months have been the driest such period ever recorded in Texas. Last fall, we got a tropical storm, which helped A BUNCH. I don't mean we got the *remnants* of a tropical storm; I mean we got an actual tropical storm. It was still at tropical storm strength when it hit Austin and parked for a day. We got more than 15" of rain in less than 24 hours. I loved it. I wish I could say I was worried about flooding, but I just wasn't. I'm hoping we get another one soon!

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Tuesday, July 19, 2011 7:12 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

I hope you do too.

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Wednesday, July 20, 2011 4:24 AM

Man, work tonight is gonna suuuuuck...
This keeps up, imma look to buyin a couple workmans kilts or something, cause damnnn, yanno ?

Oh, and freezie pops are like, badass, I'd forgotten till yesterday I had a bunch in the fridge cause they were on sale when I last went shopping, what luck - certainly one inexpensive and not too unhealthy (these are just frozen fruit juice, not HFCS and all that crap) way to beat the heat.

I'd hang rain dolls, but attempting to manipulate nature is against my theological beliefs - besides which, if one really could... THAT would wind up a disaster pretty quick due to peoples short sighted selfishness anyways.

Supposedly we got t-storms moving in tomorrow, but fat lotta good THAT is gonna do when they take out power (and thus peoples AC) and DTE sits around twiddling their goddamn thumbs hoping peoples desperation drums up support for another rate increase - which won't do jack shit but make them more money, certainly they won't fix the crumbling power infrastructure with it, grrrr.

-Frem

I do not serve the Blind God.

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Wednesday, July 20, 2011 6:52 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Yeah, Frem, THAT mess...which it will not surprise you never really got sorted. "THEY did it!", "no, THEY did it"...you know how that goes. I could have killed those guys; the majority of Californians KNEW something was fishy, but nobody listened who could do any good. Bad enough when they won't listen to someone who's been right all the time, but when they won't listen to a large segment of the population, it's truly sickening. I guess they were right to, tho', they certainly got away with it for the most part!

I've heard it's actually better to drink something hot, tho' I don't remember exactly why. Something about bringing your body temp up so the heat isn't so hard on you or something--I'm sure someone else can explain it. Me, when it gets hot I drink lots of fluids, but food or ice cream don't tempt me whatsoever...I just wilt and wait for it to pass. Don't get much done those days...

I DO have it beat over almsot everyone else, tho', since I sleep outside. I get whatever there is of nighttime cooling, little tho' that may be when it's REALLY hot.

Taking the huskies to the beach in a little while; for them, it's a blessing we even have our little window AC, they hang out in the living room and sleep through it. But if the tide is high enough early in the day we go to the dog park in Mill Valley which is right on the Bay; the huskies spend a lot of time in the Bay. Not swimming, mind you, huskies in general do NOT swim...or fetch...I think it's beneath them or something. They just stand chest-deep in it, looking stupid while all the water dogs (labs, etc.) swim around happily. Stupid huskies!

They'll appreciate going to the beach; I wouldn't go if it weren't for them, but I figure it's the least I can co. Will think of you all suffering while we're there, and send wishes things get better for you. Too bad EVERYONE doesn't have a beach to go to. Or a lake where they can swim.

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Wednesday, July 20, 2011 7:00 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Kiki, that chart is scarier than hell! We just got OUT of a several-year-long drought; before that we used to get regular rains nearly every year, some pretty disasterous even. Luckily the drought didn't do us any harm here at home, because we have a natural spring running under some people's houses on this street, which makes a mess but means we've never watered our lawn, even at the tail end of the drought.

It only broke lsat year,and with a vengeance, but it was NEVER as bad as what I see in other states now! My heart goes out to all of them, and those of you suffering it. Last week they were forecsting we'd hit 90 today, then they thought the fog would hold and took it down to 75, now it's back up to 85, and I think they've underestimated it 'cuz it's already hot at 10 am. We're headed for the beach. Jim said there wasn't even any fog in the City yesterday, which is tough on the poor San Franciscans. They NEVER get what we consider "real" heat; as when this has happened before, they'll walk around in sweaters and jackets anyway, not knowing how to deal with it.

It's funny...you cross the Golden Gate and it's the coldest it will be in Summer; over the first hill going North, it gets warmer even tho' Mill Valley still gets the fog and wind; over the second hill it gets warmer still in Corte Mader; over the next hill into San Rafael it gets hottest of all; then over subsequent hills it gets cooler up to the North. So we sit right in the "fry zone"--which I'm sure none outside Califonria would consider it, but to us it's damned unpleasant. Like I said, we're wooses.

But what I see in what you posted makes me absolutely astonished, and very, very sad.

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Wednesday, July 20, 2011 7:02 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Jezus, Mike, my heart goes out to you guys! Our drought was never THAT bad, and we've always had them periodically, alternating with heavy-rain years, so we're not surprised when it comes around. But it's never been THAT bad...I hope it breaks for you post haste!

Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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Wednesday, July 20, 2011 8:03 AM

mike

I posted sympathies earlier but it was deleted i see. Glitches persist.

Anyway, stay cool, hit the beach. And take the folks draining the water table like Picken out to see the Gulf and teach them the meaning of the term keelhaul.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

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Wednesday, July 20, 2011 1:13 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by dreamtrove:
mike

I posted sympathies earlier but it was deleted i see. Glitches persist.

Anyway, stay cool, hit the beach. And take the folks draining the water table like Picken out to see the Gulf and teach them the meaning of the term keelhaul.

That's what a ship is, you know - it's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship needs.

Appreciate that, DT. There are many things I'd like to see happen to Pickens; few of them involve water, because I'd hate to waste it on the likes of him!

"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservatives." - John Stuart Mill

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Wednesday, July 20, 2011 1:27 PM