How are you guys doin?

[einride]

also in my heart of hearts i secretly think it is a little bit funny that the world is ending because y'all are currently experiencing a tenth of what we experience every day of every winter

feel free to pay it back by making fun of us when we inevitably have +35 degrees for entire summers and droughts and wildfires

 

[einride]

 

[NAD]

It's about infrastructure not able to handle uncommon temperature extremes. Texas can't do 0 degrees just like Europe couldn't do 105 degree days in 2003 when 50,000+ people died. 105 degrees is a normal summer day for me.

Get used to it though, people. This shit ain't goin' away until after humanity dies off and mercifully allows Earth to live her best life once again (new on the dating scene, freshly divorced from a bad relationship, and hot as shit).

 

[Tide In Mind Out]

One thing I've always wanted in my house (if I ever have one) is a woodburning stove. A lot of people here do have fireplaces, but I've never seen a woodburning stove in anyone's house here. Maryland winters in Derick's parents' basement were totally fine thanks to that stove.

 

[NAD]

Yeah, I really want one of those as well, and I've had a location picked out for it for years. Also, that Kreator album showed up last week (also on my list for years, but much cheaper than a woodburning stove).

 

[J.]

I think Im one of the few but this weather has been awesome. I never lost power (so far), or if I did I was at work where there is heat. Pipes havent busted. Ive driven to work every day. The dog loves his first snow experience.

Either Im crazy, lucky, or just deal with shit like a fucking Man.

The biggest disturbance is that the mail stopped because they are pansies. What happened to "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"?

 

[Tide In Mind Out]

The weather is awesome, but it's only awesome outside where it belongs. Went and checked on my apartment this afternoon and the power was out again. Some of the ice inside my window had melted, though. At least we're done with the negative digits now.

 

[J.]

Houston is supposed to get hit with another storm tonight. Im about to head to work for 12 hours. Thats 12 hours in the heat with internet and very few workers. WOOHOO!

By the way, how do you northerners deal with cars that dont want to start? My old girl is very hesitant to start. Is there spomething I can do or do I just turn the key and pray?

 

[NAD]

Speaking of Texas, question for yous twos Cara and Dreamlord (and Opeth35 if he ever returns): do you consider yourselves part of the Southwest or the South? I ask because in California it's a geographical thing (the deserts are in the Southwest, the rest of the state is the West), but in Texas this border between South and Southwest seems more ambiguous and historically it has morphed over the years.

Arizona and New Mexico are of course the Southwest. But for the rest of this region I'm trying to figure out if this is a geographic thing, or an identity thing. Or both. Or neither! My one visit to Texas certainly felt like the Southwest, but I was in the western part of the state.

 

[Tide In Mind Out]

I think of the western half of Texas as part of the Southwest, both geographically and culturally. The rest is the South, I guess, but I don't really feel I'm in "the dirty South" until crossing from Louisiana into Mississippi.

 

[einride]

By the way, how do you northerners deal with cars that dont want to start? My old girl is very hesitant to start. Is there spomething I can do or do I just turn the key and pray?

every single car here has a block heater installed and we have outlets in garages and parking lots with timers so it heats up the engine for a couple of hours before you're leaving

that said, due to reasons i haven't really been using the block heaters in my cars for a couple of years and i have been doing alright so the only real answer is have a car that can deal with it and keep yer battery charged and don't be afraid to run the starter for maybe 20 seconds at a time if it needs it

even my craptastic french citroen c4 generally starts up okay even in -20C so i don't know, maybe it's time to buy a new battery dude

on some of the really old jalopies i've owned it has been helpful to hold down the gas about halfway while starting to give it a little bit more juice immediately when it wants to start

 

[einride]

It's about infrastructure not able to handle uncommon temperature extremes. Texas can't do 0 degrees just like Europe couldn't do 105 degree days in 2003 when 50,000+ people died. 105 degrees is a normal summer day for me.

yeah man i realize this

one of our major problems in the future is probably going to be forest fires. we had a taste of that a couple summers ago with a super dry and hot summer leading to a number of pretty large forest fires which we were woefully underprepared to deal with. we had volunteer grandpas fighting fires with fuckin watering cans.

OUR COUNTRY IS 69% BY AREA THICC ASS FOREST. we're one of the most heavily forested countries in the world. when this shit starts happening on the regular we're fukked.

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

here in Central Illinois, we get the shitty heat and the shitty winter.
Fuck humidity!
We don't really get much snow

forest fires have to be the worst, glad we dont get that shit. but we also dont have forests, just corn, for as far as the eye can see.

 

[NAD]

I think of the western half of Texas as part of the Southwest, both geographically and culturally. The rest is the South, I guess, but I don't really feel I'm in "the dirty South" until crossing from Louisiana into Mississippi.

Excellent, thank you. Or as the great duo once said:

yeah man i realize this

one of our major problems in the future is probably going to be forest fires. we had a taste of that a couple summers ago with a super dry and hot summer leading to a number of pretty large forest fires which we were woefully underprepared to deal with. we had volunteer grandpas fighting fires with fuckin watering cans.

OUR COUNTRY IS 69% BY AREA THICC ASS FOREST. we're one of the most heavily forested countries in the world. when this shit starts happening on the regular we're fukked.

If there is anything good from the US West Coast 2020 fire season, I hope that lessons were learned on controlling/preventing these things. It was absolutely devastating, really felt like the Day of Lavos.

 

[J.]

Speaking of Texas, question for yous twos Cara and Dreamlord (and Opeth35 if he ever returns): do you consider yourselves part of the Southwest or the South? I ask because in California it's a geographical thing (the deserts are in the Southwest, the rest of the state is the West), but in Texas this border between South and Southwest seems more ambiguous and historically it has morphed over the years.

Arizona and New Mexico are of course the Southwest. But for the rest of this region I'm trying to figure out if this is a geographic thing, or an identity thing. Or both. Or neither! My one visit to Texas certainly felt like the Southwest, but I was in the western part of the state.

I saw this post and was gonna respond, but the last 24 hours have been odd, to say the least.

So first off, if your state/country is anything like Texas, you're totally awesome.

I consider western Texas part of the Southwest. Deserts, Mexicans, tumbleweed. It goes perfectly with Arizona, New Mexico and nasty as fuck green chile. I am not a fan of this part but that could be because I travelled to fucking Odessa, Lubbock and Amarillo constantly and hated it. Dirty fucking towns, smell of manure. El Paso is cool because they have good food, but lots of crime because they are on the border.

East Texas is totally different. It's lush forests and green, very similar to Tennessee. Very hilly. South east Texas is beautiful beaches with South Padre Island

So to answer your question, I see it more as a geographic thing. But there is some cultural stuff in there too, especially the border areas.

And Texas is not considered The South when people reference the Civil War North and South. We were more interested in kicking Mexico's ass.

oh and there's always Austin which is a mini-San Francisco full of hippies with blue hair

 

[Tide In Mind Out]

Not my building, but similar stuff is happening all over Dallas. More pipes expected to burst as temps rise and power/heat start to come back. Still at my father-in-law's, but checking on my apartment several times a day.


Old folks' home here in Irving.

 

[einride]

i've been feelin a little bad about making fun of the situation

i was readin the r/austin subreddit the other day just out of curiousity and shit is lookin pretty fucked up

i'm sorry and stay safe my texan friends

 

[Tide In Mind Out]

Thanks. My job finally decided it's a good idea to give at-home employees the rest of the week off to deal with this.

 

[MFJ]

i've been feelin a little bad about making fun of the situation

i was readin the r/austin subreddit the other day just out of curiousity and shit is lookin pretty fucked up

i'm sorry and stay safe my texan friends

The only comedy in this situation comes from the idiots who are blaming this on renewable energy and democratic policies (while under GOP leadership). That's bad enough, but then you have millions of people who accept that as the answer. Absolute madness.

 

[NAD]

@J. Excellent, thanks for all that. I feel like Johnny 5: "Input....INPUT!" And, of course:



@Cara: WTF holy hell that is insane. Alas! That looks like the frozen version of that X-file in a Floridian hurricane.

...and nasty as fuck green chile.

I'm not huge into the green chile thing (I prefer red sauce by far), however, I have consumed at least 100,000 chile rellenos throughout my life.