Texas Storms

[Ed Rooney]

On 18/02/2021 at 21:47, Phil said:

Thanks for the thoughts.   It's been a mess all over Texas.  Locally it was couple mornings at 5 deg F / -15 C with several inches of snow and ice accumulation. We've not had temps above freezing for several days.  We've had snow before but not this bitterly cold for this long in many decades.  

 

 

Phil, when I lived in DFW working for American Airlines, they never had winters like this. The problem was those 100 degree days in summer. We did sometimes get what was called a "Blue Northern," icy weather that came down across the heartland from Canada. I remember a couple of impressive hail storms too. I liked the Texans I dealt with. I'm a streetwise guy from Brooklyn and I found most Texans had courtly manners. 

[John Mitchell]

19 hours ago, Mr Standfast said:

 

 

My son has had power for 48 hours, no water yet.

 

My friend in Texas seems to have weathered the storm well -- no broken pipes, loss of power. etc. He says that temps are warming up today where he is but shelves are bare in the stores. Hopefully extreme weather events won't become the norm, although it looks as if they probably will.

[Phil]

A brief update.

 

Power mostly restored in my central region of Tx as far as I can determine.  

The sun is out with local temp now 57 F / 13 C and the ice and snow is quickly melting.

 

Biggest issue continues to be the water supplies.  The water treatment/distribution systems were damaged.  Austin (30 mi/48km south of me) have lost/leaked hundreds of millions of gallons of water from their systems due to weather damages.  It takes a long time to locate and make repairs, refill and restart the systems, and lab test the water quality.  Some still have no water pressure at all.  Potable water has been trucked in and local water distribution centers have been setup for those without water.  Otherwise for those of us with water pressure we remain under "boil water" advisories for drinking/food prep water.

  

[Mr Standfast]

Yup, still no water in Austin. HEB was open and stocked. Warmer weather is helping!

[spacecadet]

On 19/02/2021 at 17:43, MizBrown said:

I highly recommend the BBC for less biased news in either direction.  

Naturally I'd agree with that.

Every time I think about unblocking some contributors they remind me why I did it in the first place (of course I only see the posts if they're quoted).

Seeing bias in BBC reporting says more about the person who "sees" it that about the BBC. We still have the equivalent of the fairness doctrine here.

[spacecadet]

duplicate

Edited February 21, 2021 by spacecadet

[spacecadet]

On 19/02/2021 at 12:09, NYCat said:

What do we have to do to convince people to stay off politics here? A little snarky remark gets things started and it escalates. I don't want to have to stay away to have some politics-free time when I get up in the AM.

 

Paulette

I'm with you, but see above. You can block contributors. A shame but in one case I had to do it some time ago.

Edited February 21, 2021 by spacecadet

[MizBrown]

18 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

Naturally I'd agree with that.

Every time I think about unblocking some contributors they remind me why I did it in the first place (of course I only see the posts if they're quoted).

Seeing bias in BBC reporting says more about the person who "sees" it that about the BBC. We still have the equivalent of the fairness doctrine here.

 

One of the great pleasures of the BBC is that they don't take the US as seriously as CNN or Fox.  (A British friend here watches Fox in horrified fascination).  The programs on Asia, the Business in Africa series, the Travel Show show me the parts of the world that aren't well covered in the US. 

 

I rather wish the US had the gap year travel tradition of Australia and at least some of the European countries.  And I was also thinking about the value of college level education -- if nothing else, it shows you that the world is a bigger and more complex place than you learned in grade school and high school, at least in the US.

 

Even after ten years, my British friend and I occasionally shock each other with our national forms of humor.

Edited February 21, 2021 by MizBrown
clarity

[John Mitchell]

1 hour ago, MizBrown said:

 

One of the great pleasures of the BBC is that they don't take the US as seriously as CNN or Fox.  (A British friend here watches Fox in horrified fascination).  The programs on Asia, the Business in Africa series, the Travel Show show me the parts of the world that aren't well covered in the US. 

 

I rather wish the US had the gap year travel tradition of Australia and at least some of the European countries.  And I was also thinking about the value of college level education -- if nothing else, it shows you that the world is a bigger and more complex place than you learned in grade school and high school, at least in the US.

 

Even after ten years, my British friend and I occasionally shock each other with our national forms of humor.

 

I used to take a small shortwave radio with me when travelling in Latin America. Radio Canada International and the BBC World Service always had good news coverage. Radio Havana was a favourite as well -- great music among other things. I was a big shortwave fan as a kid as well. There's something "romantic" about listening to shortwave, especially in faraway places. In some respects, travel was more enjoyable before e-mail and the Web came along. I used to like falling off the map.

[MizBrown]

2 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

I used to take a small shortwave radio with me when travelling in Latin America. Radio Canada International and the BBC World Service always had good news coverage. Radio Havana was a favourite as well -- great music among other things. I was a big shortwave fan as a kid as well. There's something "romantic" about listening to shortwave, especially in faraway places. In some respects, travel was more enjoyable before e-mail and the Web came along. I used to like falling off the map.

 

I sometimes watch the Cuban channel here.  My impression is that much of the population in Cuba now is black or mixed black and indigenous.   And the Cubans who were joining the Facebook Spanish language orchid group were living better than the Cuban average as portrayed on US media.  Only country that didn't have locals applying for the orchid group was Venezuela, which does appear to be in dire straits.  Bolivians, Cubans, Nicaraguans, Ecuadorians -- yep, though obviously not  poor citizens of these countries.  So Facebook gave me a side of Latin America that I wouldn't have seen unless I traveled in those countries and had some introductions.

 

Here, Cuba is just another country.  Met a Cuban endocrinologist who had accompanied his Nicaraguan students back home where they were sitting for Nicaraguan medical qualifying exams.

 

It's always more complicated on the ground.   When I can get out and about again, I want to photograph at Tomotoya, the agricultural coop, and at the dairy products factory.   Can get photos of the coffee grower's coop exterior before then as it's in walking distance of here.   Someone was looking for coffee coops.

[Mr Standfast]

So the water is back on in my sons part of Austin. Pressure is low and the reservoirs aren't full yet. The car washes that opened were told to close down!

[losdemas]

3 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

I used to take a small shortwave radio with me when travelling in Latin America. Radio Canada International and the BBC World Service always had good news coverage. Radio Havana was a favourite as well -- great music among other things. I was a big shortwave fan as a kid as well. There's something "romantic" about listening to shortwave, especially in faraway places. In some respects, travel was more enjoyable before e-mail and the Web came along. I used to like falling off the map.

 

Same here. I remember Poste Restante with fondness, too!

[John Mitchell]

1 hour ago, losdemas said:

 

Same here. I remember Poste Restante with fondness, too!

 

Yes, I always used to kiss letters goodbye before mailing them. 😉

[John Mitchell]

1 hour ago, MizBrown said:

 

I sometimes watch the Cuban channel here.  My impression is that much of the population in Cuba now is black or mixed black and indigenous.   And the Cubans who were joining the Facebook Spanish language orchid group were living better than the Cuban average as portrayed on US media.  Only country that didn't have locals applying for the orchid group was Venezuela, which does appear to be in dire straits.  Bolivians, Cubans, Nicaraguans, Ecuadorians -- yep, though obviously not  poor citizens of these countries.  So Facebook gave me a side of Latin America that I wouldn't have seen unless I traveled in those countries and had some introductions.

 

Here, Cuba is just another country.  Met a Cuban endocrinologist who had accompanied his Nicaraguan students back home where they were sitting for Nicaraguan medical qualifying exams.

 

It's always more complicated on the ground.   When I can get out and about again, I want to photograph at Tomotoya, the agricultural coop, and at the dairy products factory.   Can get photos of the coffee grower's coop exterior before then as it's in walking distance of here.   Someone was looking for coffee coops.

 

Canada never really demonized Cuba. Fidel Castro even came to Pierre Trudeau's funeral in 2000. They were good amigos of sorts. Castro also made a stopover in Vancouver once on his way home from somewhere because his plane wasn't allowed to land in the US. Mind you, Castro was no angel. He was a complicated character, and everything they say about him was probably true, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I'd definitely take some photos at the local coffee coop if I were you.

[MizBrown]

2 hours ago, John Mitchell said:

 

Canada never really demonized Cuba. Fidel Castro even came to Pierre Trudeau's funeral in 2000. They were good amigos of sorts. Castro also made a stopover in Vancouver once on his way home from somewhere because his plane wasn't allowed to land in the US. Mind you, Castro was no angel. He was a complicated character, and everything they say about him was probably true, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I'd definitely take some photos at the local coffee coop if I were you.

 

Canadians were visiting Cuba for winter vacations way before it was legal for people in the US to go there.  And my British friend really doesn't understand why the US is so terrified of socialism. 

 

I've taken photos inside the coop, but not just a straight exterior shot of the store and the warehouse and the signs.   They haven't been doing in house roasting in a while unless that changed relatively recently.  They have a Probat roaster, but started getting the beans roasted in Matagalpa for the local store and coffee shop.  The wholesale beans are probably shipped green to roasters outside Nicaragua.

 

 

I've heard it said of Daniel that he thought Castro was too rigid and that Allende was too indulgent of his enemies, and he wants to find somewhere in the middle.   I would love to get permission and access to take photos of Ortega and Rosario Murillo, but doubt that's ever going to be possible. 

[The Blinking Eye]

On 18/02/2021 at 14:51, meanderingemu said:

 

yeah not everyone is a good father.🙄

 

 

 

When I hear this about him being a good father, what is being a good father about thinking "self-first"? Modeling a lack of leadership? Not helping others? Beto immediately launched a phone bank and with the help of volunteers, called thousands of people, especially elderly folks to find out if they were okay and needed anything. They moved some of these people into warming shelters. Brought them food. Lives were saved.

[geogphotos]

They did say that global warming would bring more extreme and more variable weather to areas that were not prepared for it. 

 

Maybe time for Texas to ease off on the oil?

 

 

[geogphotos]

On 22/02/2021 at 03:05, MizBrown said:

 

Canadians were visiting Cuba for winter vacations way before it was legal for people in the US to go there.  And my British friend really doesn't understand why the US is so terrified of socialism. 

 

 

 

 

Brainwashing. 

 

 

[NYCat]

On 19/02/2021 at 07:09, NYCat said:

What do we have to do to convince people to stay off politics here? A little snarky remark gets things started and it escalates. I don't want to have to stay away to have some politics-free time when I get up in the AM.

 

Paulette

 

I think it bears repeating.

 

Paulette

[MizBrown]

35 minutes ago, NYCat said:

 

I think it bears repeating.

 

Paulette

 

I suggested a social group since sometimes, I find I'm more interested in photography than recipes or even my own pets.  I think some other photography forums have these.   That might be useful in keeping politics out of the cute kitten threads and cute kittens out of the photography threads. 

 

Kinda on Alamy to decide how to handle some of us taking a certain pleasure in comparing political systems and some of us trying to tell the rest of us that this is naughty but talking about recipes, houses, and cats isn't.   Or that starting non-photo threads in a section for talking about pictures is okay fine.

 

Socializing happens -- and is very human, but maybe putting these thing in their own forum section would be more useful.  One area could be overtly for politics.  One could be for interior decoration, and one could be for recipes and another for cats.

 

Speaking of Texas storms, the system seems to have continued south and we're getting late season rain here which is very annoying.  Weather in the mountains can be cold this time of year (for the tropics), but heavy rain this time of year is unusual on this side of the country unless a volcano erupts and seeds the air with ash dust.

 

 

 

 

 

[The Blinking Eye]

Ah. I don't need to talk politics. 🙂

[MizBrown]

3 hours ago, The Blinking Eye said:

 

When I hear this about him being a good father, what is being a good father about thinking "self-first"? Modeling a lack of leadership? Not helping others? Beto immediately launched a phone bank and with the help of volunteers, called thousands of people, especially elderly folks to find out if they were okay and needed anything. They moved some of these people into warming shelters. Brought them food. Lives were saved.

 

Given that the pandemic is still a problem both in the US and Mexico, he could have gone to El Paso and studied how they did things right and kept their power on.  The girls would have been warm and wouldn't have faced a two week quarantine from school when they got back. 

 

The idea of traveling to Cancun and believing you're safe because....why? when people are desperate enough for their jobs and returns on their investments that Mexico isn't testing people who come to Mexico, isn't requiring a test before entry, and isn't quarantining people because who wants to spend their vacation in quarantine, so yeah, Covid 19 will be all over the place in the tourist areas.  Mexico is having a problem getting vaccines.   I assume Cruz and family have had them.

 

The answer he'd get from El Paso wouldn't please his high ticket donors.  El Paso isn't on the almost all of Texas unregulated grid (ERGET, or whatever) and, after another cold snap around ten years ago winterized its generating equipment and didn't apparently lure the poor into gambling on natural gas prices.

 

The funnest thing about this all was that Texas has been getting some power from Mexico, which apparently also did things more sanely than the unregulated Texas grid and is n now helping the poor Gringos.

 

 

 

 

 

[MizBrown]

4 minutes ago, The Blinking Eye said:

Ah. I don't need to talk politics. 🙂

 

But four hours ago? 

 

[The Blinking Eye]

11 minutes ago, MizBrown said:

 

Given that the pandemic is still a problem both in the US and Mexico, he could have gone to El Paso and studied how they did things right and kept their power on.  The girls would have been warm and wouldn't have faced a two week quarantine from school when they got back. 

 

The idea of traveling to Cancun and believing you're safe because....why? when people are desperate enough for their jobs and returns on their investments that Mexico isn't testing people who come to Mexico, isn't requiring a test before entry, and isn't quarantining people because who wants to spend their vacation in quarantine, so yeah, Covid 19 will be all over the place in the tourist areas.  Mexico is having a problem getting vaccines.   I assume Cruz and family have had them.

 

The answer he'd get from El Paso wouldn't please his high ticket donors.  El Paso isn't on the almost all of Texas unregulated grid (ERGET, or whatever) and, after another cold snap around ten years ago winterized its generating equipment and didn't apparently lure the poor into gambling on natural gas prices.

 

The funnest thing about this all was that Texas has been getting some power from Mexico, which apparently also did things more sanely than the unregulated Texas grid and is n now helping the poor Gringos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I didn't understand was I thought we weren't supposed to fly during a pandemic. So the whole thing confused me and seems really bad modeling for public health standards. It didn't occur to me that the whole family would have been vaccinated. That also seems really poor form since most places only have enough vaccines for 75 and older.

[The Blinking Eye]

12 minutes ago, MizBrown said:

 

But four hours ago? 

 

 

Oh I can talk politics forever, and if I see a comment about it, I will naturally react. I just hadn't seen Paulette's comment so wasn't aware that was a taboo thing here, just like when I went on to talk about Stockimo and got shushed. In general, I don't censor myself, even if that's called for. I don't really believe in approving or disproving certain topics and controlling speech. But at the same, I come here mostly for photo talk and ignore the chatty personal threads.