#(The Texas Freeze of 2021)

[im-captain-basch]

They say it's supposed to be snowing next week...

#alex speaks #i love the cold but as someone who lived through The Great Texas Freeze Of 2021 i am concerned

[fluffypotatey]

welp, looks like we freezing again this winter 🙃

#yeah i'm pissed but mostly exhausted #you'd think that after learning about how careless govt officials were during the freeze in 2021 #and how careless they were during the pandemic arguing that the economy mattered more than the ppl dying #and how thoughtless they were as they said 'thoughts and prayers' to uvalde #how they said 'critical race theory indoctrinates the children' when they're going around spreading misinformation and fear tactics #oh sure #sure sure sure #it's moments like this where i wish i could just scream in public maybe throw things as well but you know...we'll just keep that inside #fuck party loyalties fuck 'southern heritage' fuck all of yall #politics #texas politics #texas #honestly what the fuck even is 'christian values' if you're just gonna vote for people who harm others fuck you

[startrailsiv]

Lessons from the Big Freeze

Lessons from the Big Freeze

In February 2021 Texas temperatures plunged into the single digits. This historic freeze also brought an ice storm. Such frigid weather is far from normal in the Lone Star State. Usually we’re enjoying paper-whites blooming and planning our spring garden. We don’t have snow plows standing by and our homes are not designed for extreme cold. Rather we typically worry more about the heat! This…

View On WordPress

#Dead Horse Canyon Saga Review #Indian Reservations #Readers&039; Favorite 5* reviews #self-sufficiency #Texas 2021 Freeze

[briethebish]

Valentine's first day of the Texas 2021 Freeze

#valentine's day #texas #freeze #2021

[psychoticwillgraham]

now all the weather channels/youtubers aren’t even giving a snowfall accumulation number anymore bc of the wind blows just slightly different, then it’ll push it up from STL and we’ll get close to a foot of snow. oh and now we’re getting A LOT of ice so. wonderful :))

#just a few days ago they were saying that this storm would be a concern but not like the one in two weeks #which would be the absolute worst case scenario which looks very likely it’ll happen #like a blizzard AND a deep deep freeze #but now this one is probably gonna end up getting us a blizzard warning bc of the 50mph+ winds 😬 #and after the storm next week we get a system EVERY 2-3 DAYS UNTIL FEBRUARY #that’ll dump 5 inches ish IN EACH STORM #so two feet of snow is NOT out of the question rn #Chloe already survived the great Texas deep freeze of 2021 #but that wasn’t snow #so this will be her first major snowstorm and I’ll have to do everything i can #to keep her warm #if it came down to it I’d honestly let myself freeze to death instead of her

[electionfraudking]

Really good heater in a pinch

Get a terracotta pot, stand it upside down on a couple bricks, and light a few tea lights underneath it

Heats up a whole room

#lore note can verify this after the texas freeze of 2021

[butchspace]

Hey Texans (and others in the US)!

We’re expected to have a freeze and harsh weather this week and/or next week (check your local forecast for specifics). Make sure you have some extra water storage, non perishable foods, blankets, and maybe some hand warmers in case our local or state power supply gets fucking destroyed again.

Make sure to at least set your heat to 55°F, keep cabinets with pipes in them open to allow heat in, and drip your faucets to help prevent pipes bursting.

It’s not anything to be scared about, and not likely to be as bad as 2021, but always better to prepared.

There might be snow in the panhandle today, though!

#death to ercot #Texas #there’s not meant to be precipitation but the cold can still burst pipes and stuff #I’m just focusing on Texans cuz I know were all scared of every winter now

[lumberjackloverboy-moved]

i wonder if people outside of texas realize how genuinely traumatized many Texans are from the 2021 freeze and the grip even suspected cold spells now have on us

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA for calling animal control to take my moms dogs?

look. hear me out.

when my mom and i were originally planning on moving, i told her no dogs. she could have any animal she wants, but i will not, under any circumstances, live with a dog. i told her she can wait till our elderly cat passes away (hes 18), and until i move out. ive never had good experiences living with dogs. yes, i know, its because of the owners not training them. im saying, in no uncertain terms, that my mom would be too lazy to train a dog. like i love this woman with my whole entire heart but i know her well enough to know she would give up after two weeks. and then i would be stuck living with a potentially destructive animal.

so what did she do literally a week after we had this conversation? adopt a stray. a pregnant stray. shes a big dog too. my mom is a full time caretaker for my grandparents, and she found the dog wandering around the neighborhood. so she started feeding the dog. and then the dog had 12 puppies. you read that right. TWELVE. PUPPIES. she managed to adopt out 7 of them, but she still has 5 out at my grandparents house, plus dogmom, AND dogdad. my mother has also adopted who we think is the father of the puppies.

i will say she is doing her best to care for the parents and the puppies. she spends most of her time in the yard with them, and she built a pen for the puppies that gives them a ton of room to run around whenever shes not there. they have blankets and she built a roof over the half of the pen where their beds are and she feeds them plenty.

the biggest issue i have with it is all the broken promises. she said she would take them to our local hardware store to set up an adoption table for them several months ago, when they were still small. never happened. this is something that this hardware store does frequently, to help lower the amount of strays in the area. my mom just chose not to do it. every opportunity to adopt them out or send them to a no-kill shelter that has come her way, she has chosen not to take, just because she doesnt want to make the effort.

here arises the main issue. we are down in texas, and there is supposed to be a freeze incoming in just a few days. a major freeze, like the one that knocked out our power grid back in 2021. and my mom has 7 outside dogs who are not allowed inside, as my grandparents are elderly and disabled. theyre not allowed at home either, since we still have our old ass cat and we arent allowed to have extra animals, as per our lease. and it would be hard to hide seven large dogs, anyway.

im concerned that if i dont do something, they will freeze to death out there. blankets can only do so much, and if theyre taken to an animal control shelter, maybe theyll at least have heating? and if the power does go out, theyll at least be safe from the elements. i know animal control is probably evil and calling them is likely a death sentence for an animal too. but the way i see it, its either animal control or die out in the cold.

this is literally the situation that those really depressing ASPCA commercials were written about, except this is my life.

so, WIBTA for calling animal control to take my moms dogs?

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

[thatlittleegyptologist]

Are we still clowning on the anons trying to tell you how awful living in Europe is? Because I (a USian) saw them spouting nonsense and was like 'Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones'. Several communities there do not have access to safe drinking water at all. Texas's insistence on building their own electric grid incompatible with the rest of the country's meant that about 246 died in the 2021 winter storm. I'm trying to move to the land of bones because the US? YIKES

The US is not without its problems infrastructure wise, yes. I don't think any country is in all honesty.

Though, I think I should address how anon seemed to be getting wires crossed about the situation in Europe:

Most homes here are maybe 100 years old at most, some 150 ish, but most only 40-70 years (something something rebuilding after two world wars). Of course, you get ones built earlier that people still live in. I've known several people in my life who lived in 16th century built homes with thatched roofs. My own home is about 60 years old.

'The buildings are crumbling' yeah, they're old...so they will. But they're not falling down so there's no issue. We make repairs!

Despite their age they do have all the mod cons! Yes, including the 16th century farm houses! You see with continuous settlement people repair and renovate the existing homes, so over the years things like electricity/central heating/plumbing etc have been added.

That said, depending on when stuff like electricity and plumbing was installed it can fail. Anon said that anecdotally a socket had blown. This could be due down to age. However, it can also be down to an american adapter being the wrong voltage for the european plug socket. That tends to make them short out. I've had two american friends at uni who had plug sockets short out on them when arriving in the UK because they used the wrong voltage adapters. Nothing to do with the wiring. Mostly to do with no checking voltage requirements. I've had to do the same when holidaying on the continent. If I take the wrong one I'm gonna damage something.

While central heating and air con are in abundance in Europe, not everyone needs air con. In Northern Europe, before climate change, we experience cold winters but mild summers so our homes needed good central heating and thick walls to keep the heat in. Which they have! However, now climate change is upon us...imagine living in a house where the walls are thick and trap heat but it's 40c outside and you don't have air con still because it's still too expensive a thing to install for 3 weeks use a year at best. That's why anon has seen Europeans complaining about being too hot. The temperatures are record breaking high, and because it's not normal for it to be like that we don't have air con. Southern Europe, where it's much warmer, is where homes more regularly have air con. Pretty much every commercial building, regardless of location or age, has some sort of air conditioning and central heating system.

The 'europeans don't have central heating' probably comes from the posts about how most of us are going to freeze to death this winter due to fuel prices/shortages. We have central heating, we just can't afford to put it on. Thanks to Pusheen (fameux dictateur Russe) invading Ukraine, gas prices in Europe have gone through the roof. In the winter I used to pay £75 for gas and electric per month. Now, I pay £120 for gas alone. I live alone. My consumption is less (I halved the time I have the heating on to save money so it's -3c and I only have the heating on 2 hours a day). Many more people are in a worse off state than me. They can't afford to heat their homes at all. Add in inflation, which has pushed food prices sky high, recession, and stagnant wages, and people are dying from not being able to put the heating on. They've got it anon, but they can't afford to use it and also eat.

Moving to the 'move somewhere without bones' part of it all. Europeans are fine digging up bones and mosaics. Happens all the time, I've no idea why anon thinks we'd need to move or why we'd be mad about it. It's our history! Part of continuously living in an area for centuries means that inevitably when you dig down for foundations you're gonna find bones. That's where the Archaeologists come in! Laws here dictate that an archaeological survey must be conducted on any build site, so that if there is something there it can be properly recorded! This is so we don't end up with what we currently have where it's like 'nope no idea what's down there' and the surprise is a WWII bomb or a roman cemetery, or even a plague pit.

Actually that last one is one I've experienced. When I was looking into archaeology as a degree I went to a dig site for a new shopping centre where they'd discovered victorian ruins, a medieval abbey destroyed by Henry VIII, and a plague pit all on the same site. An absolutely wild time. These guys had to be moved or secured before the actual building work could commence. You can still go down and see the plague pit if you know the right people because the building was built in a way that preserved it.

Anyway, the digging of graves is where everyone seems to get funny with regards to archaeology. They'll accuse archeologists of grave robbing or disturbing the dead and that's so far from the truth it's unreal.

Firstly, there's so much paperwork involved when remains are found. So much. 90% of the time archaeologists don't even deal with human remains because we're digging up buildings instead. I don't know why people seem to think 99% of our work is with the dead. It's not. After finding remains, then we have to decide what is safe for them. If we can leave them in situ we will. You excavate, analyse, record the find, and then cover them back up. People seem to think we're getting to the grave site and then removing everything to keep in a box. That's only done if the remains are in danger from the construction or agriculture that's being performed there. It's a choice between saving a person's remains, or letting them get destroyed by construction work. Which do you think is more respectful in that scenario?

We don't make that decision lightly either. So many elements are factored into the decision, including the safety of the site (will someone come along and steal for the antiquities black market? See: Egypt and the reasons mummies are moved to storage when found.) and how best to keep this person's dignity. We don't want to smash through remains with bulldozers and concrete. Where we can, like that famous McDonald's in Italy with the body in the floor, we keep them in situ so they do remain in their graves. In the UK, recently, there was a huge mosaic uncovered in a field by a farmer. Archaeologists excavated it, recorded it, took a load of photos, didn't disclose the precise location, covered it back up, and then told everyone 6 months after it has been discovered just to preserve the site.

Most archaeological finds were discovered months before the public even knew about them in order to preserve the site and not get illegal traffickers trying to make money off things (again, the reason mummies in Egypt are moved to museums. it's for their safety not because no one wants them to be in their graves). We want these people and artefacts to rest in peace as much as you do. Believe it or not Archaeologists do care about the people and places they are tasked with uncovering and protecting. Sometimes you've got to move those bones because if you don't someone who doesn't care for anything but making a quick profit will dig that site and sell what they find.

Often it's a race between archaeologists discovering sites and therefore affording them security from getting disturbed, and traffickers digging in locations they know something might be and selling what they find to some rich bastard where it'll never see the light of day.

TL;DR: Europe isn't living in the Middle Ages, we're suffering from climate change and soaring fuel/food prices, and Archaeologists perform a vital job that isn't about grave robbing but about preserving and protecting the past from traffickers and giving those dead we do come across a voice in the present.

#this got long #but anon was too insistent on their bullshit yesterday that I wasn't in any mood to explain

[truthseeker-blogger]

Canning, Freezing, Dehydration, Food Preserving and Homesteading Facebook page

"I’ve seen many posts asking about storing empty jars. So I’m sharing the wisdom of my grandmother.

She taught me this in the 1960’s and I have been doing this ever since.

These jars are not sealed as this is water. It is clean water that can be used for washing or for consumption.

If you are concerned about stored water, remember, IT’S WATER. You can boil it before consuming it.

As long as your source is safe, the water should be safe.

These are my ‘empty’ canning jars. If you notice, they aren’t really empty. They are filled with water.

My grandmother always said that an empty jar takes up just as much space as a full one.

NEVER put an empty jar on the shelf. If you don’t have anything to can or store in it, fill it with clean water.

This has come in handy many times. In February 2021, here in Texas, we had a deep freeze. We were without power and water for about a week.

We kept warm with a fireplace and blankets. For water, I had my canning jars. Even the small 4oz jelly jars had water in them.

The stores were out of bottled water, so no one could get any for over a week.

I had some neighbors who knew I had jars full begging me for my water.

I had shared this wisdom nugget and been ridiculed for it.

I see posts in other groups and videos saying to stock up on bottled water.

I'm doing what my grandmother said. I’ll keep my empty jars full of water"

*Not my post * @truthseeker-blogger 😊

#facebook #Canning #Freezing #Dehydration #Food Preserving #Homesteading

[warcrimesimulator]

Almost three years since the deadly Texas blackout of 2021, a panel of judges from the First Court of Appeals in Houston has ruled that big power companies cannot be held liable for failure to provide electricity during the crisis. The reason is Texas’ deregulated energy market.

The decision seems likely to protect the companies from lawsuits filed against them after the blackout. It leaves the families of those who died unsure where next to seek justice.

In February 2021, a massive cold front descended on Texas, bringing days of ice and snow. The weather increased energy demand and reduced supply by freezing up power generators and the state’s natural gas supply chain. This led to a blackout that left millions of Texans without energy for nearly a week.

The state has said almost 250 people died in the winter storm and blackout, but some analysts call that a serious undercount.

Within days of the storm, Texans affected by the failure of the energy system began filing lawsuits. Some of those suits were brought against power generators whose plants had stopped working in the storm or had run out of fuel to generate electricity.

After years of legal process, a three-judge panel convened to decide on the merits of those lawsuits.

This week, Chief Justice Terry Adams issued the unanimous opinion of that panel that “Texas does not currently recognize a legal duty owed by wholesale power generators to retail customers to provide continuous electricity to the electric grid, and ultimately to the retail customers.”

The opinion states that big power generators “are now statutorily precluded by the legislature from having any direct relationship with retail customers of electricity.”

🤡

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Since we're heading into winter...

The Supreme Court of Texas narrowly decided Friday that sovereign immunity, which largely shields government agencies from civil lawsuits, also protects the operator of the Texas electric grid.

The 5-4 opinion will likely free the nonprofit corporation from lawsuits filed by thousands of Texans for deaths, injuries and damages following the deadly 2021 winter storm, unless lawyers find another way forward.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the power supply for most of Texas, qualifies for immunity because it “provides an essential governmental service,” Chief Justice Nathan Hecht wrote in the majority opinion. State law intended for ERCOT to have the power of an “arm of the State government,” Hecht wrote. If anyone is going to hold ERCOT accountable for its actions, Hecht wrote, it should be state regulators or the Legislature, not the courts.

Freezing temperatures gripped the state during the 2021 winter storm, straining the power supply so much that ERCOT called for cutting power to millions of homes and businesses to prevent the grid’s collapse. More than 200 people died. Experts estimated afterward that financial losses totaled between $80 billion and $130 billion, including physical damage and missed economic opportunity.

Thousands of residents accused ERCOT, power companies and distribution companies of failing to prepare for the freezing weather.

Lawyers expect the high court’s decision will allow ERCOT to be dismissed from the litigation, although it does not shield other defendants.

Attorney Mia Lorick, who represents some of those plaintiffs, said she sees only a slim possibility that lawyers could keep claims against ERCOT alive by arguing that their cases have differences that somehow skirt the sovereign immunity finding.

Majed Nachawati, whose firm is representing other plaintiffs in the related cases said, “The Texas Supreme Court’s decision is disappointing to say the least. People lost their lives and the only recourse to the citizens of Texas is to be able to go through the judicial process, and the judicial system, to try to remedy or right the wrong that occurred in this case. And if you can’t count on our judiciary to protect its citizens, I think we’re in a lot of trouble.”

Justices Jeff Boyd and John Devine, along with two others, disagreed that ERCOT has sovereign immunity. Purely private entities are clearly not sovereign, and making them so undermines the public trust, they wrote. The justices argued that “no statute designates ERCOT as a part of the government” and that courts should not be barred from hearing claims against it.

The ruling sprang from two cases filed against ERCOT. San Antonio’s municipally owned utility, CPS Energy, alleged that ERCOT mishandled the soaring price of power during the 2021 winter storm. And private equity investors at Panda Power Funds alleged that 10 years earlier ERCOT issued reports that misled them about how much power the grid needed.

ERCOT spokespersons issued a statement saying that the organization was pleased with the decision. CPS Energy said in a statement that it was disappointed but thankful that four justices agreed with the utility as it sought relief for customers. The utility said the litigation still led to “critical discussions at the highest levels that are necessary to improve our power grid and energy market.”

#us politics #news #texas #texas supreme court #ercot #the texas tribune #2023 #Electric Reliability Council of Texas #Chief Justice Nathan Hecht #Mia Lorick #Majed Nachawati #Justice Jeff Boyd #Justice John Devine #CPS Energy #winter weather #power outages #freezing #winter

[lonestarbattleship]

Since Texas is being hit by sub-freezing temperatures right now, I thought I'd share this photo of Galveston covered in snow.

It was photographed by Water's Edge Digital Photography and shared on their Facebook page: link

"Good morning!

With this arctic blast, I decided to share a photo from the last time we had snow on the island, back in February of 2021. It is an extremely rare occurrence of snow on the beach. I was lucky enough to get out for a couple of hours and capture the moment. Have a great day and stay warm.

Galveston, Texas"

#Galveston #Texas #snow #artic blast #January #2024 #my post

[ladyshinga]

Being a Texan who types too fast sucks, it means a lot of accidentally saying you don't trust Epcot when what you MEANT to say was Ercot. I'm so sorry, section of a Disney park, I didn't mean to blame you for the great Texas freeze of 2021, that wasn't u 😩😩😩

[eternalhealingau]

I don’t need to say much considering I drew this in a spur of the moment. But here’s some plot concerning him and Khrys’ kid.

Yes (in this AU) the 2021 Texas freeze happened due to this birth. Who knows if it’ll be brought upon by him, their first child, or even both.

I’ll never tell

#greek myth retellings #mpreg #simon petrikov #cw mpreg #tw mpreg #worlds collide #oc x canon