Toasty!

[perrykneeham]

Well, a real one, at least.

[mids]

Nothing wrong with being online married to a Russian model whose webcam never seems to work.

[perrykneeham]

Haha. Mrs. B and I were just walking the dogs and bumped into a lad that used to work for me. He's probably my age, nice bloke, but probably one of life's bachelors. He told us that he had recently married and Mrs.B and I could not look at each other. We knew what was coming next: the Thai or Filipina bride. FFS, he really is the classic pigeon: lives alone and has an elderly (92) mother in her own property. What do you think's going to happen, Pete?

We congratulated him and wished him well.

[voice]

Came across another great solution being put into use, Sand Batteries, stores excess energy to used with renewables to even out energy use.

Simple, cheep and effective

polarnightenergy.fi/sand-battery

[perrykneeham]

I see the bloody Arabs win out again then.

[mids]

I think only the Scands and the Commies have those direct heat/hot water systems so it would have to be converted back to electricity in wind and solar farms.

[voice]

An absolutely massive storm is about to devestate Florida, biggest ever to hit this area.

www.bbc.com/news/articles/czd13mezz7mo

Worth remembering at times like this the consequences of Trump gets back in next time this happens.

Project 2025 Proposes Eliminating Aid for Families and Businesses Rebuilding After Storms
As climate change makes extreme weather events more common and more costly for Americans, the far right’s new authoritarian playbook would leave communities with fewer resources to rebuild after disasters like Hurricanes

www.americanprogress.org/article/project-2025-proposes-eliminating-aid-for-families-and-businesses-rebuilding-after-storms/

[flatandy]

In fairness for this storm, despite an absolutely insane 20ft storm surge, the eye is going to hit the one bit of US coastline where nobody lives. It's basically just nothing swamp. So it will do less damage than it would almost anywhere else.

That's not to defend the Project 2025 stuff.

Although even then, I'm half sympathetic - at the moment the central government gets on the hook for bailing out communities who've built in stupid crappy places because they're cheap, and who can't get insurance. So removing all the emergency funds might be the only way to focus peoples' minds on the fact they're buying and building unsustainable properties in unsustainable locations and it's only getting worse as more homes get built in flood plains and swamps, and as temperatures rise.

The worst thing about the Project 2025 stuff is the complete angry denials about the problems of anthropogenic climate change.

But forcing the dumb residents of lowland Florida and Texas to stop building on the cheap and making sure they can handle storms - which, by the way, the more expensive coastal zones of the Carolinas are already doing, so it's not out of the question for people who're not dodging all responsibility and reality - is not actually something I'm completely against.

[flatandy]

So, as UncleJr brought up the latest hurricane, Milton, on another thread I think there are a few interesting things about it

- We're actually having relatively slow hurricane season for one that has such warm oceans. We're only up to "M". What is different is that there's a very high number making landfall in the US, which is a result of upper level wind patterns not behaving normally

- Milton was one of the most rapidly intensifying storms ever, and one of the strongest ever in the Gulf. Just because it weakened before landfall doesn't change that fact. Just makes Florida lucky.

- Florida also got incredibly lucky that the track moved south by about 50 miles. With the eye coming south of the entrance to Tampa Bay that meant the dominant winds in the bay were offshore and the water emptied out. If the eye had been further north, the direction of hurricane rotation would mean the winds would have pushed water into the bay with nowhere for it to go. That's the worst case scenario for storm surge which was dodged. But just by luck.

[voice]

It's been hugely depressing seeing the rights reaction to these two storms, this perpenisty they have to make everything a conspiracy is getting even more exaggerated these days, we're used to the fringes on the right being very unhinged, but hurricane conspiracies are out of control. When you have their candidates for the highest of offices saying the dems are controling the weather to cheat in the election, and their rubes buying it, something has gone terribly wrong with society.

[mids]

Nah, you're depressed that there hasn't been more death and destruction.

[flatandy]

Those of us who want to limit anthropogenic climate change want to do so in order to have more death and destruction, dontchaknow?

[flatandy]

As mentioned on the other thread - "Politician bellends start behaving like adults during an actual crisis but it never lasts long"

Ron DeSantis, politician bellend, was decrying conspiracy theories and telling everyone to evacuate and supporting FEMA and supporting the idea of getting help and so on and so forth. Now the hurricane has blown through and it's not as bad as expected and it's possible that Florida's insurance market might be able to keep functioning, he's back to being a bellend again.

www.politico.com/news/2024/10/10/ron-desantis-climate-change-hurricane-00183297