There's been a wee bit on the news the past few days about snow, ice, and Atlanta. Which led to an almost intolerable run of "why up here in that would be nothing", until people finally seemed to wise up a bit and actually use the grey matter between their ears. As with so many things in life, it's all local. Follow me below the squigglie fluffy snowcloud dividerthingie fold after a word from our sponsor...
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I was born and raised in the Catskill Mountains, went to college in Rochester, NY then moved to Boston. Which is to say, I know winter. I know the secret to navigating icy walkways is walking flat-footed,and layers are the only way to dress from October to May. I learned to drive in snow and on icy mountain roads (learning to avoid the many, many deer without ending up in a ditch or the woods was an extra bonus lesson). With above-ground utility wires power outages in storms were a frequent occurrence, and I still keep flashlights in bedrooms and bathrooms, large pillar candles where I can get to them easily, and know all about not opening the fridge and freezer if the power goes out (unless it's the dead of winter when the outside can be used to keep things safely chilled). We have one more shovel than we have people because if a storm hits, even the guests can help :).
I also know that people living in the South don't know any of this, nor do their towns have the equipment or institutional knowledge to deal with snow and ice the way my town does. Snow tires? Salt and sand? Shovels and ice scrapers and the knowledge that if you have to stay in your car for an extended period of time, do NOT go to sleep with the engine running and please make sure your tailpipe isn't blocked!
On the other hand, my firsthand knowledge of tornado preparation consists of watching the Wizard of Oz and madly googling on my phone when we had a freak tornado warning last year. I'm sure my house is not adequately prepared in the case of wildfires, and I have no idea how to know if the volcano is actively erupting or whether landslides are a concern this season. The idea of earthquakes scare the bejeesus out of me.
Hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, mudslides, earthquakes, tsunamis, lighting strikes, floods, extremes of heat and cold, drought, etc. Are any of you thinking "Oh hey, earthquakes are easy, but hurricanes, now THOSE sound scary"? What sorts of environmental/weather-related events are common in your part of the world (or where you've lived before) and what advice do you have for those of us who have never experienced it before?
While you're thinking and commenting, don't forget potable water if your source may be unavailable or contaminated, and also water suitable for flushing toilets.
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything
without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do
not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down.
From Steveningen:
In Dave in Northridge's Top Comments diary last night, Dallasdoc shared a marvelous personal memory with us about Malvina Reynolds and Pete Seeger. I was very moved.
From Dave in Northridge:
In ericlewis0's diary about Congressman Grimm's balcony comment, ivorybill sums up the situation quite succinctly.
From TrueBlueMajority:
Subterranean had a masterpiece.
From BeninSC:
Flagged by rubyr, this comment by liberaldregs is in response to JNSD's question of how 'fundies' could vote for a woman.
Flagged by kumaneko (with a second fine comment!), this comment by This old man is a story of great love. In YellowFroggyAttack's fine first diary!
Flagged comments:
This one by blue aardvark, flagged by Vetwife
This one by bernardpliers, flagged by Mogolori.
This one by Crashing Vor, flagged by raincrow.
As always, we don't catch every "flag" so if you see a comment and want to say "top comment!" please send it to us!
From Yours Truly, brillig:
Two comments from kos' Immigration diary that sum up Republican thoughts, apparently: this one by a2nite and a followup by rhetoricus.
Top Mojo for yesterday, January 29th, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you
mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary
FAQing Top Mojo.
1) Think I read it in the NYT by Youffraita â 201
2) I'm watching this now. WOW! by TheMomCat â 198
3) two americas by Laurence Lewis â 137
4) That's going to leave a mark by JohnnyAppleseed â 128
5) A certain amount of thanks has to go to DiFi. by CwV â 128
6) The nicest thing I can say right now is that this by mrsgoo â 122
7) I think you give him too much credit. by Eileen B â 118
8) ha! RM: "you are amazing!" by jplanner â 115
9) The GOP has simply lost its collective mind.... by Morgan Sandlin â 114
10) Positively obscene. by commonmass â 106
11) Now throw in reactions to foods like by Horace Boothroyd III â 100
12) If your staff can't say, "Oh yes! She has by MarthaPeregrine â 97
13) You can't make this stuff up by blue aardvark â 96
14) What the fuck is wrong with people anymore? by jayden â 95
15) Time to change by pdkesq â 95
16) I smell a lawsuit. by zenbassoon â 93
17) If you are wealthy, you get away with murder by aaraujo â 90
18) Best of luck with your new business by VClib â 89
19) So far so good! by Benintn â 88
20) This is why Democrats fail repeatedly. by 3rdOption â 86
21) The Dems entire midterm election strategy ... by JohnnyAppleseed â 86
22) Watching this makes me remember my by cuphalffull â 83
23) Time for some legal problems in Harrison... by Trix â 83
24) They're going to try and smear by AnnetteK â 82
25) The Democrats are the natural majority. by CwV â 82
26) The full video by TheMomCat â 79
27) Ignore him. He's wrong. CNN has picked it up by Eileen B â 78
28) If you want to flip the House... by CenPhx â 77
29) Also, I have to give much credit to Dkos by Flyswatterbanjo â 76
30) Between Christie the Bully and by Puddytat â 73
31) not clapping hard enough by limpidglass â 73
Top Pictures for yesterday, January 29th. Click any image to be taken to the full comment. Thank you
jotter for the image magic!