Quarantine Diaries: Day 343

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4 Million Texans Without Power Amid Grid Collapse, As Second Storm Nears

A Glimpse of America’s Future: Climate Change Means Trouble for Power Grids


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Coronavirus News, Analysis, and Opinion:

Dutch crisis as court orders end to Covid curfew

Dr. Fauci shifts the timeline on when the general public will be able to get a vaccine

Parosmia: 'The smells and tastes we still miss, long after Covid'

Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, and Debt:

High food prices are part of a ‘one-two punch’ for struggling Americans

FUD, hold my beer: Bitcoin consumes ‘more electricity than Argentina’

‘Dramatic and risky’ — and a shot at Dubai? Saudi Arabia issues bold business ultimatum to pull regional HQ offices into the kingdom

At Least 12 Deaths Tied to Winter Storm Uri as Millions Remain Without Power in Texas and Some Lose Water, Too

Politics:

White House Will Leave Decision Whether To Prosecute Trump Up To DOJ

Ted Cruz's Tweet About California Energy Shortages Comes Back To Haunt Him

NAACP Sues Trump and Giuliani

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday morning in Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, alleges that Trump and Giuliani, in collaboration with the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, conspired to incite the riots to keep Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. It claims they did so in violation of the Ku Klux Klan Act, a Reconstruction-era statute designed to protect both formerly enslaved African Americans and lawmakers in Congress from white supremacist violence.

Former President Trump faces serious criminal, civil investigations after White House

While the Capitol riot investigation and the Georgia probe are the most recent investigations, perhaps the most serious criminal case Trump faces is likely the one that has been conducted for several years by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. …
…Vance’s persistence in seeking Trump’s tax returns — which the former president has refused to voluntarily make public for years – could be a sign of how strong the prosecutor believes his case to be.

Japan's LDP party invites women to 'look, not talk' at key meetings

Only Half of Americans Have Heard Of ‘Cancel Culture’

Pizzagate’s Violent Legacy

The gunman who terrorized a D.C. pizzeria is out of prison. The QAnon conspiracy theories he helped unleash are out of control.

Serendipity:

Spy pixels in emails have become endemic

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Badge thanks to @arcange



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12 comments
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I'm originally from Buffalo and can share the sentiments of today's meme. 😀

Concerning Cruz's re-surfaced tweet I thought he was back then remarking on frequent service failures during normal day-to-day operations not under the stress of severe weather, or no?

It's clear that California has an established trend of out-migration.

Texas is a net gainer for 2020.

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At the time, California was gripped by a major heat wave and implementing its first rolling power blackouts since 2001.

So heat then, cold now.

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Ah, gotcha.

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Did the heat wave break power plants and lines? Or only increase demand? If only the latter I'd say comparing one remark to the other is in the same ballpark, but not directly on point. As a Minnesotan you're likely aware that winter storms can directly cripple infrastructure even with good planning in places where they are frequent.

If the grid actually didn't function because of the extreme heat then I'd agree it's apples-to-apples. Maybe it did happen that way. I haven't dug into the details.

I don't like to see politicians use natural disasters for political games in the thick of the events anyway. On that basis I don't think Senator Cruz's comment was a great one.

Still, I am very pleased to live in Arizona right now. And would definitely choose Texas over either California or New York. Many former Californians have agreed over the past few years.

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I think in California some the transmission grid went offline because of fires. In Texas at least some of the problems have been due to cutting corners with the infrastructure (i.e., not spending money to winterize the network) following deregulation.

I’ve looked at Arizona (Prescott in particular) but the precarious water situation in all of the Southwest is concerning. My wife has family in Northern California, Oregon, and Washington state so those are maybes but I’ve never experienced an earthquake (other than sleeping through one a few years ago when visiting), but have zero interest in Southern California. I on the other hand have family in New Jersey but its cost of living is nuts.

Meh, maybe @revisesociology has the right idea, move to a yurt in Portugal. 😅

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I love yurts. Especially hexayurts. Someday I may build a hexayurt compound on a desert acreage.

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It is pretty funny seeing the pictures from Texas. I mean obviously the power outages and all of that is horrible, but these people are just not prepared at all. Why would they be I guess. The warmest clothes most of them have is their dress flannel for Sunday. :)

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I'm not laughing so much as worrying about them. They're not prepared, they're not conditioned for this type of weather, and there's a very real chance of people dying due to stupidity or lack of resources. Or both!

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(Edited)

Yeah, several dozen deaths already down there.

It's got me thinking about preparing better for the possibility of losing heat up here. We have plenty of firewood but most fireplaces do a piss-poor job of providing residential heat. Gotta look into getting a couple of Mr. Buddy propane units or maybe a kerosene heater. Years ago in a rental house when the furnace died mid-winter the landlord brought over a kerosene heater until the furnace could be replaced. Didn't make the house warm but did at least make it tolerable.

!BEER

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