Weird weather

figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
I was without power for 30 hours. My cable internet is still out. My parents are still without power, but they've got a whole house generator.

I'm fucking exhausted from the heat. It's still over 81F in my apartment, and it's been that hot or worse for about a full day. I didn't get any good sleep last night. I was hoping to let things cool off before trying to sleep again, but the cooling isn't going as fast as it's like, so I'm going to take a cool shower and lay down.
 
IronBrig4

IronBrig4

I'm not sure how things are in your area, but try going to a library during the day. They're a high priority for electricity and they're free to boot.
 
Sparhawk

Sparhawk

IronBrig4 said:
We didn’t lose power except for some very brief outages overnight. We lost water pressure for a few hours. About the only problem is AT&T still hasn’t restored wireless.
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We had power almost all day yesterday, other than during the two short power losses kept internet whole day. Lost power several times overnight, lost internet sometime overnight. Kept power all day, finally got internet back around 9pm tonight. Lost cell around 10am today, other parts of town are still good, we’ve only have 2 bars currently, usually 4 inside house.
 
Frank

Frank

It's like 34 degrees outside (Celcius) and I would rather eat a fresh turd than go out under that sun.

I saw pictures of the middle of the night in Death Valley and it was 115 F.

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Fuck that. Dying of heat stroke in the dead of night sounds like a blast.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
Fuck all the Texas politicians and billionaires who allowed the power grid to fail this badly and take so long to repair.

I've got power, and cell reception, so that makes me one of the lucky ones. Entergy still doesn't have an estimate for areas close enough that even my chronically ill ass could walk to them. Just a vague promise of most customers probably having power before July 14th. Holy shit, potentially a week without power for areas a few hundred yards from an 8 lane highway? That's fucking absurd! I was a week without power after Ike, but that was in a nearly rural area that was still developing.

Centerpoint is saying that this is the biggest outage they've ever had, and that's really saying something when Ike and Harvey did so much more damage to everything else. I don't think there's any valid excuse for the current state of Texas's electrical grid.

EDIT: Just got cable internet back while I was writing this rant on my phone.
 
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Frank

Frank

Texas's lack of regulations and the seemingly never-ending ultra bitcoin farms and AI datacenters probably aren't helping things.
 
sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

I took the last half of the day off to pick up Ralph and get him out of the house. Took him to tractor supply and let him smell all the animal food. Man, I should have taken him there as a puppy more often. I got the most female attention in one day than I have in years.

Then, an hour after we got back the power finally came back on.
 
Sparhawk

Sparhawk

Makes perfect sense when looked at from an electrical standpoint. The electrical grid between all the downtown stuff is much more protected and hardened to the elements, so less had to happen to get it back up and going. Almost all the rest of the greater Houston area has elevated and exposed transmission wires. Easily taken down by falling trees, strong winds, and downed poles. I’ve never understood why Houston hasn’t worked harder toward getting the utilities moved underground.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
Bubble181 said:
I *think* the answer may ahve something to do with money. Or maybe greed. Possibly disinterest. Also, money.
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It's also about politics. While the primary reason that energy companies are allowed to do a terrible job is because it makes them, and the politicians they bribe, a lot of money, there's also a certain level of Republicans wanting to screw over Democrats and minorities.

Exclusive: Lina Hidalgo refutes Dan Patrick’s claims that she did not request aid for Harris County for Hurricane Beryl

The short version is that Texas Governor Greg Abbott left the country before the storm hit, and acting governor Dan Patrick didn't know established procedure, and now Republicans are trying to slander any Democrat involved. They do this every fucking time a natural disaster hits. The news covers Houston, because that's where most of the people are, and the Republicans at the state level blame Democrats at the city/county level, despite the fact that the areas surrounding Houston, which are largely Republican controlled, have it just as bad, if not worse, because of the state level decisions that have allowed the power grid to degrade into the sad state it currently is in. Yet, somehow the Republican voters in towns outside of Houston, in counties other than Harris, somehow think that their problems are being caused by Democrats.

I am so sick and tired of politicians intentionally sabotaging essential infrastructure.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
A thunderstorm rolled through this afternoon. The thunder was causing my anxiety to spike, like it used to, and then my power went out again. I got an automated text telling me my power was out, and that my estimated restoration time was 5pm on July 15th. Which led to me having a panic attack. Thankfully my power was restored after only an hour and a half, but I've had a really shitty afternoon.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
figmentPez said:
A thunderstorm rolled through this afternoon. The thunder was causing my anxiety to spike, like it used to, and then my power went out again. I got an automated text telling me my power was out, and that my estimated restoration time was 5pm on July 15th. Which led to me having a panic attack. Thankfully my power was restored after only an hour and a half, but I've had a really shitty afternoon.
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If your power is going to be out for days at any point, I will come get you and you can couch surf at my place until it blows over, if you need to. As long as you're cool with dogs and cats.
 
figmentPez

figmentPez

Staff member
GasBandit said:
If your power is going to be out for days at any point, I will come get you and you can couch surf at my place until it blows over, if you need to. As long as you're cool with dogs and cats.
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I like dogs and cats, my allergies don't. Allergies are why I didn't just immediately head over to my parents' house, who have a whole house generator. I'd be cool there, but possibly struggling to breathe. We were talking about what we might do to have me comfortable there, or in my sister's recently renovated house.

I appreciate the offer, though.
 
Bubble181

Bubble181

So a heavy storm front moved through here recently, and (amongst other things, like a church tower), it took out 9 high voltage pylons between the city and the generators. You know, the big 20-ton stuff.
We all still have power because, you know, our grid is actually worth something and has redundancies. Now, for urgent repairs and such, they're asking us to "minimize power use" between 09h and 18h this weekend. Postpone the laundry, don't charge your car, you know.
And the comments! Facebook makes it sound like we're being catapulted back to the Stone Age!
And I can't help but think of you guys stuck without power for 24 hours or more in a heatwave, and just....I can't comprehend the selfishness and self-importance of these people. Do your laundry in the evening,maybe turn off a light, for fuck's sake, how hard is that?
 
PatrThom

PatrThom

People saying that when Abbott took off on Monday for his Asian "Economic Development Trip," he took Jason Ryan, Centerpoint's Energy Executive and Vice President of Regulatory Services & Government Affairs, with him as part of his entourage. You'd think that would make communication faster, but nooo...

--Patrick
 
sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

Fuck Abbott. He left me cold and hot for a week at a time. While he fucked around with emergency aid he would later get. He did not ask for emergency aid from the Federal Government for 2 fucking days this time. And he cronies in the power industry did not call in linemen from other states before the storm hit like normal.

My dog damned near died because of their maleficence.
 
Bubble181

Bubble181

Southern Europe and Eastern Eastern Europe are also hit by a heat wave.
In the meantime, around here, people are yelling global warming is fake because this summer is never been above 30° and we've had so much rain and no sun and... Ugh.
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
Bubble181 said:
Southern Europe and Eastern Eastern Europe are also hit by a heat wave.
In the meantime, around here, people are yelling global warming is fake because this summer is never been above 30° and we've had so much rain and no sun and... Ugh.
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But I thought there was nevehr a fehking sun in belzsjhemm?!
 
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