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[Frumple]

Well... in (mostly) unrelated news, Limbaugh has apparently kicked the bucket. One of the primary drivers of right-wing radicalization and the continued moral debasement of conservatism in the US over the last few decades appears to have been took out by cancer.

Be interesting to see the effect on talk radio, I guess...

[TamerVirus]

A local Texan mayor got flak for posting

Spoiler: This encouraging message to his constituency on Facebook (click to show/hide)

ONLY THE STRONG WILL SURVIVE AND THE WEAK WILL PERISH IN THE UNENDING HOARFROST

[Dostoevsky]

While normally I don't like to comment on such things here, I do find "the weak will parish" to be an amusing typo.

[Kagus]

While normally I don't like to comment on such things here, I do find "the weak will parish" to be an amusing typo.

Same! I'm also impressed by him having two bottom lines--... It's like a double chin, but in writing.

[Lord Shonus]

- As noted by others, frozen turbines did end up a problem here but other parts of the world already have systems to deal with it and prevent freezing.

- Frozen machinery is actually a common problem across lots of power sources! Frozen machinery at natural gas plants, coal plants, and even one nuclear plant caused significant outages. Edit: forgot to mention that freezing of coal piles can also be a significant problem - up until this TX situation it was by large the main source of generation-side reliability problems. (The vast majority of reliability problems writ large remain in the realm of the transmission infrastructure such as power lines.)

From what I'm hearing, many of the fossil and nuke plants have their turbines outside for some reason, and this caused freezeups that any sanely-designed plant wouldn't have had.

[dragdeler]

-

[Duuvian]

If the ground gets cold enough to freeze, it's a good idea to run your taps at a trickle. That keeps water flowing through the pipes and reduces freezing. If your water has been shut off by the local water system to prevent freezing, that may not matter, but if you get water from a well or if it's still running it may help as long as any water hookup you are on hasn't requested water reservation.

I'm hoping Biden is sending some bottled water as I type this, because water service is out in places I hear and may be for days. They are boiling snow from outside.

[Iduno]

If the ground gets cold enough to freeze, it's a good idea to run your taps at a trickle. That keeps water flowing through the pipes and reduces freezing. If your water has been shut off by the local water system to prevent freezing, that may not matter, but if you get water from a well or if it's still running it may help as long as any water hookup you are on hasn't requested water reservation.

I'm hoping Biden is sending some bottled water as I type this, because water service is out in places I hear and may be for days. They are boiling snow from outside.

Yeah, we've had quite a few pipes burst here, because they bury them shallow enough that the regularly get exposed to the elements by rainstorms, etc. It's kind of bad in the summer where you can't get water significantly colder than the outdoor temperature, and a huge issue when it gets cold. I still have power, but haven't had water in a while. Looks like things should be better by Saturday, though. Who knows when pipes will get fixed.

[hector13]

On a scale of 1-10, how likely is it that the Republicans will now take climate change seriously?

[MrRoboto75]

On a scale of 1-10, how likely is it that the Republicans will now take climate change seriously?

-5

They're already blaming windmills even though its a state full of oil refineries.  This just confirms their belief that renewable energy is unreliable because sometimes the sun don't shine and the wind don't blow.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

They will take it seriously by demanding mass sterilization in China, India, and Africa before agreeing to any climate change measures.

[thompson]

They will take it seriously by demanding mass sterilization in China, India, and Africa before agreeing to any climate change measures.

... or worse.

[voliol]

-6 ”Look at how much snow we had in Texas, no way global warming is a thing!”

[delphonso]

-6 ”Look at how much snow we had in Texas, no way global warming is a thing!”

Already seen this from my facebook.

[McTraveller]

I don't understand the confusion of ideas indicated by that mayor's post.  People paid the utilities for service, and it is not rendered.  Isn't part of the payment, paying for availability?

Is helping your community in times of emergency really "socialism" and "expecting other people to provide for you?"

I find that a stretch.