Puzzles? Puzzles. Puzzles!

and then, two months later....

this guy talks insanely fast but this is solid info on electrical outrages in the US.

If you’re looking at Texas right now and thinking, “It seems pretty bad that a state’s electrical grid can fail overnight from a snowstorm,” I have news for you. It’s so much worse than you could ever imagine. Don’t be a heartless idiot and blame ‘red state voters;’ it’s red states, blue states, purple states, green states, everywhere is in crisis.

In 2017, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave our energy grid a D+, because almost all of it was built in the 1950s and 60s with a 50-year life expectancy, and we’re 10 to 20 years past that. Across the country, 640,000 miles of high voltage lines run at full capacity at almost all times, which is way more than the grid was designed to handle, and Texas in particular has one of the worst ratios between planned and real capacity.

It’s so bad that the US Government has said that if just nine of America’s 55,000 electrical substations are brought down, it could cause a coast-to-coast blackout lasting 18 months or more. And testimony from the executive director of Task Force on National and Homeland Security has said that a prolonged collapse of the electrical grid could result in the death of up to 90% of the American population. [screenshot in the video has highlighted text from this source, saying: “a prolonged collapse of this nation’s electrical grid—through starvation, disease, and societal collapse—could result in the death of up to 90% of the American population.”]

Today, the US has more power outages than any other developed country. And that’s because 68% of the electricity in the US is managed by investor-owned privatized utility companies [the source I found said it’s actually 72%], and updating their systems cuts into their profits, so they don’t do anything until something fails. And when things do fail, and, for example, start massive wildfires in California, guess who pays for it? Mostly taxpayers. 

Texas relies 88% on coal and natural gas, yet they are trying to blame their current problems on renewables/Green New Deal.

WINTERIZING YOUR GODDAMNED POWER GRID

I keep thinking about this tweet, how meaningful and reassuring it was that when one pillar of my childhoods crumbled, the others stepped forward to show they would continue to shoulder the remaining weight all their own.

And this phrase in particular — “I do not think these things of you” — is such a quintessential Piercian refrain. It’s direct in a way that cuts to the core of the argument. It’s a little old fashioned, a bit clunky in its plainness. It acknowledges the distasteful power an argument may hold while simultaneously denying it room to breathe.

I keep hearing that thing Tammy said about Alanna and Kel—which itself is not particularly meaningful to me—playing in my head over and over like a mantra. Because it’s catchy.

“Alanna prefers “Sir” because she was making a point. Kel prefers “Lady Knight” because she’s making a different point.”

…The clarity! The concision! The oddly plain, repetitive twist, easily avoided, that nonetheless persists and makes you stumble.

The statement cuts straight to the point, but it leaves space for you to draw the conclusion yourself. It’s instructive but not pedagogical. It’s a bit awkward, but somehow that works in its favor.

YIKES

That's me in the spotlight

“Oh come on it can;t be that b-”

Water Himbo

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