Friday third world power grid links

by | Aug 9, 2024 | Cocktails, Daily Links | 117 comments

I now can check tornado off my list of disasters to experience. No damage to my house, but we’re without stable power (ETR is the 14th).

Are we still pretending it isn’t a cold at this point?

Why yes, I did send this to the girlfriend. And I have an opinion on the new Browns stadium location. I can walk there.

Because PA was feeling left out.

Not sure how they compare to ill tempered sea bass.

That’s a pretty shitty prank.

What could possibly go wrong?

Even the lack of power at home and a discounted ticket isn’t going to entice me to see this. I will absolutely watch it when it hits one of my streaming services.

Sorry all, due to technical difficulties (and author frustration) you’re on your own for music and cocktails (whiskey neat is the current trend here).

About The Author

Nephilium

Nephilium

Nephilium is a geek of multiple types living in the vast suburban forests of Cleveland.

117 Comments

  1. Rat on a train

    What could possibly go wrong?
    Why won’t you let my children in?

    • Drake

      I noticed that pharmaceuticals are not on the list.

    • The Other Kevin

      I’d shut down our gym if we had that law.

      • kinnath

        Does it prevent you from excluding all minors from the property?

      • The Other Kevin

        Our insurance prohibits anyone under 18, which we follow very strictly.

  2. The Late P Brooks

    Wait- I thought the so-called Browns just got a new stadium.

    • Nephilium

      You mean the stadium that was built for their return back in 1999? Remodeling that is the other primary option.

    • Ted S.

      1999, when the New Cleveland Browns started operations.

  3. Rat on a train

    I now can check tornado off my list of disasters to experience.
    I have earthquake, hurricane, and tornado for major natural disasters. I don’t want to experience volcano.

    • kinnath

      I only have derecho on my card.

      • Rat on a train

        Fortunately the 2012 derecho only knocked down some tree limbs in my neighborhood.

      • kinnath

        We’ve had 70ish mph straight line winds on three occasions since we built the house 19 years ago. I’ve had about 6 or 7 trees break (3 were total losses). No serious damage to the house.

        The derecho in 2020 produced 100+ mph winds less than 10 miles from my house. We got lucky that time.

      • Rat on a train

        That’s a bit windy. I’ve only had trees knocked down because of a lighting strike or excessive snow.

      • Suthenboy

        Derecho is on par with hurricane minus the water.

      • kinnath

        After the 2020 derecho, the media was mostly silent on the chaos and destruction in Iowa. Some wrote an article trying to explain to the coastal dweller that it was basically a 100 mile wide, straight line hurricane.

        In the midwest, these always seem to be driven by stormfronts. So we get water and potential flash floods, but nothing like the 10-20 inches that come with a hurricane.

        The derecho this summer started near where I live. So we got 60ish mph winds. It was over 100 mph by time it hit Illinois.

      • Suthenboy

        10-20 inches? Yikes, Katrina gave up to 30 feet in some places. The following one…Gustave?….gave lake Charles 15 or so feet if I remember right. Both were stone killers. None of the body counts on either were correct.

      • kinnath

        I meant . . . . per hour . . . .

        midwesterner hangs head in shame

      • The Last American Hero

        I’ve seen an amazing pair of baboons…

  4. Tundra

    Jesus, Neph, that looks like a close call. Gaia can be a real asshole.

    What could possibly go wrong?

    There were too many small businesses already.

    Are we still pretending it isn’t a cold at this point?

    I can’t believe people are still testing.

    Music.

    • Nephilium

      That picture is around the corner from my house. A couple blocks is close enough. I went from laughing off the warning (skies were partly cloudy, sun out, and light breezes) to getting into the basement in under 10 minutes (skies darkened, wind picked up, power went out).

      I’m right on the border of two areas with (apparently) stable power. Getting out and about is tough due to closed roads and unpowered traffic signals. Ice is becoming difficult to source, and I’ll likely need to write off a large amount of stuff from the chest freezer unless I can get more dry ice for it (or the power stabilizes enough for me to leave it plugged in for a while).

      • Mojeaux

        When the sky turns green, we’re still out watching until the sirens come on. And then we’re still out watching. We only go in when it starts to hail because we don’t want to get pummeled.

      • Nephilium

        It’s been 30 some years since the last tornado touchdown even in the same neighborhood. Up here they aren’t common.

        Now when they say to stay off the roads due to snow, that’s when the locals ignore the warnings. Ice we treat as the dangerous threat it is.

  5. DEG

    ETR is the 14th

    Wow. Sorry. Hopefully it goes a little faster than that.

    I’m glad to hear at least everyone is OK and there is no damage to your house.

  6. slumbrew

    How much public money are they going to slosh at a new stadium?

    • Nephilium

      That’s the sticking point of the negotiations. Cleveland finched first and out the details of their offering into the public asking the Browns to respond by a specified deadline. Brook Park is pulling for it, as it’s a big empty eyesore now.

  7. OBJ FRANKELSON

    I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if thousands of Maryland small business plans suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly canceled.

    • Grummun

      “I followed the laws and regulations” is not a deterministic defense when the plaintiff’s lawyer is waving a broken bloody 7-year old in front of the jury, screaming “negligence!”

  8. Drake

    My son and I enjoyed playing Borderlands. (Borderlands 2 was the best) I agree – I’ll wait to see it for free eventually just to see how bad it it.

    • R C Dean

      Yeah, me too. When I heard they were doing a movie, I thought “Hey, that could be a lot of fun!”.

      Then I saw a trailer. Oof. I’ll still watch it eventually. Probably.

  9. OBJ FRANKELSON

    “This law is a giant win for the consumer ambulance chasers,” said Jonathan Lieberman, a principal at the Law Firm of Stein Sperling in Rockville.

    FIFY, Johnny.

  10. The Late P Brooks

    As Lieberman explained, the upcoming law will no longer allow liability waivers to shield businesses from lawsuits resulting from their negligence.

    No unintended consequences in sight.

    • Grumbletarian

      According to Lieberman, the new law excludes:

      Lodging establishments (unless the attraction covered by the waiver is open to the public)
      State or local government units leasing land to recreational facilities
      Health club services for adults

      Of course. Rules for thee, etc.

  11. Shpip

    Dear Lucas: My boyfriend of three years is obsessed with watching the NFL.

    I sometimes forget that there are people who didn’t attend a college with a decent football program.

    • Rat on a train

      Haven’t lost a game since 1992.

    • Mojeaux

      A long time ago in a romancelandia far away, there was a review posted at a popular American review blog of a book set at the University of Alabama, specifically, in their football program. This book was written by a Brit. She got almost NOTHING right and the book was reviewed harshly. The non-USians didn’t get the fuss. So what, just a little rinky dink college football team. No big. Then somebody said, “Roll Tide!” and the non-USians thought that was a reference to menstruation.

      Um.

      They had to be schooled on the American college football culture, and by the way, the University of Alabama is not exactly rinky-dink. That was the most glorious day that blog ever had. Nothing brings out and unites a bunch of Americans more than the world shitting on our football.

    • Nephilium

      Some of us never even attended college. I kind of default to tOSU because my dad went there, and it’s easy up here.

    • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

      I attended a college without a football program (unless you count the European black-and-white ball variety, in which we were highly-ranked, along with swimming). It was a deliberate choice.

    • R C Dean

      If memory serves, my undergrad college team lost all of their games my freshman and senior years. They had no business being in Division 1.

  12. Mojeaux

    So X just suspended @ukgov’s account for violating its rules. LOL

    God bless Elon.

    • The Other Kevin

      Excellent.

    • slumbrew

      So great.

    • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

      Wrong account, sorry to say

      The real one (gray check) is https://x.com/GOVUK

      • Mojeaux

        DAMMIT! I even tried to fact-check that.

    • The Other Kevin

      There are people who think the real Kamala has a drinking problem. She does seem drunk to me at times, anyone else think so?

      • Drake

        Oh yeah – although permanently sedated on mood meds is at least as likely.

      • Suthenboy

        For a long time I was very good friends with alcohol. We had kind of a nasty falling out and dont speak anymore but…yeah, she is drunk. That is not speculation.

  13. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    My dad is middle-of-the road when it comes to COVID nonsense. He got a couple of boosters. Anyhoo, he goes on cruises a couple times a year and he gets sick every single time.

    I’m just, like 🤐

  14. Suthenboy

    No damage. Good. For me – lost count of hurricanes, 3 tornadoes (lucky each time), one earthquake, no volcanoes, two wildfires, a few floods. I should probably stay away from volcanoes.

    I am assuming Lyles is vaccinated? That would be my first guess.

    Alligators are easy to find and catch.

    Bombs in toilets? The zillion self-writing jokes aside, who the fuck would do that?

    Tort law has always been a fucking train wreck. Every time I hear some pol campaigning about tort reform I think “Haven’t y’all finished fucking things up enough already?”

    • EvilSheldon

      Places where people take a shit are historically good spots for an ambush or an anti-personnel device. Everything that one knows about situational awareness and personal security tends to fly out the window when the turtlehead starts peeking…

    • Suthenboy

      It would be a good start Tommy.

  15. Gender Traitor

    So glad your home escaped damage, Neph! That’s WAY too close for comfort!

  16. rhywun

    ETR is the 14th

    WTF? A week without power… seriously?

    • Gender Traitor

      When the dry remnants of Hurricane Ike passed through Ohio in September ’08, we were without power for ten days. Weirdly, the cable was restored before the power was – TT had his PC running off the generator, and suddenly his antivirus software updated. The one saving grace was that after the wind subsided, the weather was perfect the entire time the power was out.

      • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

        Let’s roast the fuck out of the UK government and ensure none of us can ever enter that country again

      • The Other Kevin

        How many is that now? I have the UK and Canada on my no-go list.

      • KK, Plump & Unfiltered

        Australia, New Zealand

      • Suthenboy

        It saddens me very deeply to see this happening in the Anglosphere.

      • Drake

        Places like Hungary, Poland, and Russia are back on the list which feels weird having grown up in the 70s and 80s.

        Unless I’m not allowed to leave here…

  17. The Late P Brooks

    Another big win for the UAW?

    Automaker Stellantis plans to indefinitely lay off up to 2,450 U.S. factory workers later this year as it discontinues production of an older version of its Ram 1500 pickup truck in Michigan.

    The truck has been largely used as a low-cost pickup to sell to entry-level buyers and fleet customers since the automaker introduced a new generation of the Ram 1500 in 2018. It is produced alongside the Jeep Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer at the Warren Truck Assembly Plant, located near Detroit.

    ——-

    The discontinuation of the Ram 1500 “Classic” vehicle is not unexpected, but the company has not announced a vehicle to replace the truck. That is concerning for local governments, workers and the United Auto Workers union, which represents the plant.

    Another “affordable” vehicle becomes unaffordable to build? Or another example of a manufacturer telling people who just want a basic work truck for, you know, actual work to fuck off?

    • trshmnstr

      a manufacturer telling people who just want a basic work truck for, you know, actual work to fuck off

      You mean all the plastic doo dads, cheap electronic actuators and low quality interior materials doesn’t hold up to years of regular use by working men?

      *clicks submit on RockAuto order for plastic doo dads and cheap electronic actuators*

      • Grumbletarian

        Are you trying to suggest that not every vehicle needs 17 cameras placed all over the vehicle and a 20-inch touchscreen in the dash?

  18. trshmnstr

    No damage to my house, but we’re without stable power (ETR is the 14th).

    Glad to hear there wasn’t damage!

    That seems like an excessive amount of time. We lost power (some of the weirdest electrical behavior I’ve seen) when the tornado came through less than a mile north of us. It cut a 15 mile path through the power grid and hit our area the worst. We had power back after 8 hours. I guess y’all have some transformers on back order or something.

    • Suthenboy

      We recently had a drunk smack into a fire hydrant and that shut down a huge part of the water distribution system. It happened on a Friday afternoon. There were no spare fire hydrants to replace it and the wholesaler had to order one which wouldn’t be processed until the next Monday. Power is one thing…water is a different game.

    • Dr Mossy Lawn

      In Sandy we were down for 14 days… and a similar time for the Ice storm the previous year. I have a 15Kw PTO generator for my Kubota now. It takes a little while to set everything up (in the rain), but can run everything.

      • Sensei

        Same here in my part of northern NJ.

    • Nephilium

      The 14th is the timeline for the county. All of those downed poles in that picture are the problem here. Based on the original outage maps I saw, I was on a border of three different outages. One has been resolved.

      At least overnight Wednesday the power was stable, so we had things plugged in overnight.

      It’ll also be nice when our corner isn’t the detour route on both streets.

      • Sean

        Set up a lemonade stand.

        Glad your home is unscathed.

      • Nephilium

        Sean:

        Depending on the freezer situation, I may set up out there grilling everything I can Sunday.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    If you’re buying a truck for your crew of landscapers to drag a trailer loaded with lawnmowers and weedeaters around townon their rounds, do you really want leather seats and a big screen infotainment center?

    • Plinker762

      You need the seats with the built in back massager to relax after your crew ran over all of the customer’s sprinkler heads with the mower.

  20. The Wrath of ZWAAAAAAKKKK!!!

    Explosive Trap Toilet, or, The New Browns Bowl er, Stadium!

    You Be The Judge!

    • rhywun

      How avant-garde. 🙄

  21. grrizzly

    The Dems on Twitter are wallowing in conspiracy theories that Trump was involved in staging his assassination attempt. Barely any damage to his ear! Just one example.

    • trshmnstr

      Half of those people aren’t even putting together coherent sentences. Either leftist Twitter has their own language thats halfway to Pidgin, or those people are illiterate on top of being morons.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      This is how I feel when Michigan plays any of the big Florida schools, if only there were a way for everyone involved to lose.

    • R.J.

      “The case essentially revolved around the question of whether Ms. Oh’s complaints against A.C.L.U. managers added up to racism or were just harshly worded and occasionally belligerent criticisms of bosses who happened to be Black.
      In one instance, she told a manager that she was “afraid” to talk with him. In another, she said that she had considered a conversation with a superior to be “chastising.” And in a meeting, she repeated a satirical phrase likening her bosses’ behavior to suffering “beatings.”
      The final straw leading to Ms. Oh’s termination, according to the A.C.L.U., came when she wrote on social media that she was “physically repulsed” having to work for “incompetent/abusive bosses.”
      A.C.L.U. managers and their lawyers argued that the language Ms. Oh used may not have been overtly or intentionally racist, but that it nonetheless caused harm to Black employees. ”

      All she did was bitch about the bosses. I see no examples of racism. To Hell with the ACLU.

      • Mojeaux

        You would first have to assume that “abusive/incompetent bosses” == “black bosses.” So the ACLU first had to assume that to make the argument against her.

      • R C Dean

        Their argument is that anything that makes a black person feel bad is ipso facto racist.

    • B.P.

      Maybe they shouldn’t have bailed on freedom of association.

      Bake the cake, ACLU.

      • trshmnstr

        ^^ how I feel, too

      • Derpetologist

        ACLU lost me when they hired Chase Strangio:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQHW-hNUXzo

        her real name: Kate Bachrach

        What a shame, though there is some cosmic justice that women pretending to be men look just as absurd as men pretending to be women.

        Trans-pretenders: please, get help, or just save cosplay for weekends and conventions.

        Truly believing that you are trapped in the wrong body is a torture I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Reality can be cruel. It’s easier to change your insides than your outsides.

    • Suthenboy

      As I recall the ACLU swore off defending freedom of speech not that long ago.
      Didn’t they start out as legal defense for communists in the USA? They have occasionally done some good things but only by accident.

  22. KK, Plump & Unfiltered

    Iceland is on volcano watch again. My dad seems to attract volcanoes – he’s due to be in Iceland in a couple days on a cruise. He saw Kilauea and La Palma as well.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=804nPrAUAxg

  23. The Late P Brooks

    A.C.L.U. managers and their lawyers argued that the language Ms. Oh used may not have been overtly or intentionally racist, but that it nonetheless caused harm to Black employees. ”

    That seems like a clear and reasonable legal test.

    • R C Dean

      Hoo boy, that is a lot of felonies.

      Fortunately, the SS is just rolling in goodwill right now, with nary a PR disaster or catastrophic failure in sight.

      • Sensei

        Of which they will not be prosecuted.

        https://www.businessinsider.com/secret-service-busted-salon-use-bathroom-owner-2024-8

        On Thursday morning — the day after BI reached out to the agency for comment — the head of the Secret Service’s Boston-based field office called Powers to apologize, she said.

        “He said to me everything that was done was done very wrong,” Powers said. “They were not supposed to tape my camera without permission. They were not supposed to enter the building without permission.”

        Powers said the Secret Service representative she spoke to offered to have the salon cleaned and pay her alarm company bill for the day. Powers said he also offered to visit and apologize in person over a cup of coffee.

        Powers said she’d take him up on it.

        At least they are admitting it. And in a shitty way trying to make up for it. That’s more than usual that happens here.

      • Tundra

        “Whoopsie! How about a latte?” seems pretty fucking lame.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    In a world of genuine freedom of association and employment at will, firing an employee for being a giant pain in the ass would never even come to the attention of the legal system.

  25. Derpetologist

    I went to the meet-the-teacher event at the charter school that just hired me. It’s not official as the bureaucracy moves at the speed of sloth, but since the principal helped me set up my classroom towards the end and assured me profusely I’d be teaching there, I feel it’s in the bag.

    The students, parents, and other teachers were excited to meet me. I felt like celebrity getting mobbed to sign autographs. They liked it when I showed them my old Army ID, NSA memento card, and a pic of my oil-cooled computer. And of course, my resemblance to Rasputin:

    https://platedlizard.blogspot.com/2024/05/who-wore-it-better-rambo-or-me.html

    Everything’s coming up Milhouse.

    • JaimeRoberto (carnitas/spicy salsa)

      Beware of the groupies.

      • Derpetologist

        If a woman tells you she’s 18 and looks 15, she’s 12.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9yBPcn8IqU

        The nice thing about young women is that know older women. Older single women.

    • Aloysious

      Rasputin???

      • Aloysious

        Well I screwed that joke right up.

        Anyway, congrats. Well done.

  26. kinnath

    The administration of shit for brains just keeps getting dumber and dumber.

    US to lift ban on offensive weapons sales to Saudi Arabia

    The Biden administration has decided to lift a ban on U.S. sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, the State Department said on Friday, reversing a three-year-old policy to pressure the kingdom to wind down the Yemen war.

    The State Department was lifting its suspension on certain transfers of air-to-ground munitions to Saudi Arabia, a senior department official confirmed. “We will consider new transfers on a typical case-by-case basis consistent with the Conventional Arms Transfer Policy,” the official said.

    • Sensei

      Look Boeing is having a tough time…

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      And the aircraft pictured is made by BAE, le sigh.

      /devil’s advocate on

      If we want the yobos that are messing with Red Sea shipping to stop, the Saudis are one of the best-positioned entities to do so (if you don’t mind a war crime or three).

      /devil’s advocate off

      • Suthenboy

        It appears to me the Obama policy (currently being pursued) is to deliberately create a world war. No place better to start it than the ME. In my opinion, yeah I know what that is worth, nearly everything they have done in the ME rises to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors. They dont need to be in power, they need to be in prison.

  27. Tundra

    My HP 8610 (which I loved) took a shit. Not sure I need color anymore since the girl is gone, but what are your thoughts about inkjet vs laser for home offices? We had a Brother laser at the old office that was un-killable. Feeder and duplex are important.

    Thoughts?

    • Sensei

      If you see this – l love my Brother laser. It’s duplex printing, but single sided scanning.

    • trshmnstr

      Laser unless you print enough to run though an entire inkjet cartridge before it dies. I have a 10 year old Canon color laser printer that still works like a charm. It’s mostly on homeschool worksheet duty these days.

  28. Suthenboy

    I am still chuckling but a bit disturbed by the limeys saying we cant have freedom of speech because they can hear us over there. Chuckling because I cant think of a ‘Fuck off and DIAF’ that really captures how I feel about that and disturbed because I can see the ruling party getting on board with it.
    If we dont shut this shit down soon I fear it will come to blows.

  29. Old Man With Candy

    Did everyone on the zoomies die?

    • Evan from Evansville

      Good question. Was thinking of trying again to see if my audio would work, but I’ve also had an odd day. Many ups and a (maybe fairly) big slip w my only US friend.

      Unsure my mood would translate well, but am tempted.

    • R.J.

      I’m asleep.