Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler I got hit by the blackout...Did you?

Its hot like hell. My buildings air con is mostlikely out till Monday. Died after the blackout. I think its time for a landline. I have not have one for 10 years. I was incommunicado for 2 days.
It was great that some people took the liberty to try to direct traffic amidst the chaos. Hats off to them.

I was without power for about 18 hrs here in TO. and yeah, they are telling us not to use airconditioners for the next few days, and to go easy on power consumption, so it's definately hot in here!

We may pay through the nose here in CA, but at least they dont just shut it all off

Anyone heard yet what caused it? Ive heard everything from its Ohio's fault, to someone tripped on a wire

Cranked my amp to 11. Sorry.

Lost power for about 5 hours on Thursday, then rolling blackouts hit twice on Friday with the power being out for about ten hours. I expect more of the same today.

I can't believe how good people are being at traffic lights. I had to attend a funeral yesterday and most of the major intersections in Burlington were out. Everyone treated them as four way stops and although it was slow it was steady.

Biggest problem is lack of air conditioning, yesterday was 32c but the humidex made it feel like 37c. People in apartments have my sympathy, lets hope it gets fixed by Monday.

Initial reports today say they are looking at the Cleveland area.

Fact is the power grid on both sides of the border has been neglected for years, this was a situation that was not unexpected.

stay cool.

Out west we're running real generators instead of large hamster farms in wheels so we haven't had the same troubles.

Axiom was insulated in some surreal blanket - no powerouts here (okay - it went out at 2:30 am for less than an hour, but that was it.) The *one* gas station in Dwight had line ups of over 2 hours for most of the day - that is, until it ran out of gas!! But we were just fine. We use a heat pump, so we were able to even keep the airconditioning running without taxing the grid. But the real question is - where does the power come from in Dwight? North, South, East and West - power was out in every other direction. Weird, eh?

canada knows their most valuable export (axiom speakers) had to keep up and running, and keep making them more money. so just down the street they had about 300 government workers on treadmills running to supply the factory with power. dont you read the news?

Oy! If you're going to quote the news, at least quote it correctly. It wasn't 300 government workers. It was 300 canadian star-nosed moles. Those little suckers just keep going, ang going, and...

Ok... I'm really curious... what is "hot like hell" ?

I'm not diminishing the severity of the catastrophe, but I am really curious what someone from the northeast terms "hot like hell." Mainly, because I've had plans to move there - but they keep getting delayed.

Here in Austin, TX the temp is usually about 110 in the shade of my porch (by the thermometer that hangs there)... I also live with window unit A/C's... if you know how those work - then you know *my* pain.

Anyway - I hope you and loved ones were safe during this. It might make you feel better that there are others that live in awful heat like that every day, and don't quite die. (I drive vintage european cars - so no a/c in those at all).

cheers!

I snowboard during my summer months if I can. Like last summer year I was in Chile snowboarding in the Andes at 12,000+ feet. Anything more than 5 degrees is hot.

I have central air in my unit and it wasnt working. Umm..how hot..enough that I was sweating in my sleep.
My fishies were complaining and sitting at the bottom of my tank. I drop some nice cold water and they went bonkers. Poor fishy.

It's hard to sympathize with those folk in the North East when the temp routinely breaks 100 degrees here in Texas (DFW).

yeah but you're used to that heat.

for you, it would be like going to work in -30C weather.
its a routine thing here, while if you're not used to the temps, they feel alot worse.

Gotta love the San francisco Bay Area sometimes. 50 degrees F is cold, and 100 is hot (low humidity, of course). But where do I go many weekends? Sacramento, where 100 is average it seems, for many months of the year...

There's a big difference though....your over 100 temps are dry heat. I'll take 110 and dry over 90 and humid. The humidity is what really kills you.

That reminds me of one of my favorite Mark Twain quotes..."The coldest winter I ever had was the summer I spent in San Francisco!"

Oh yes, I know this. I count myself fortunate on that one. However, I do feel very, very cold when it's 40 degrees out. :-)

Tell me about that humidity. You folks in Texas don't have it any worse than many people on the east coast. The company I work for has its headquarters in the D.C. area and I visit there once a year, usually in the summer. Thank goodness the hotels are air conditioned.

The last two years, I visited a friend in Baltimore while I was in the area and spent the night at his house. No A/C, sweating like crazy -- even with a fan blowing directly at me. Makes me wonder how those Pilgrims survived out there.

I'll take California weather anytime.

Okay Peter, I see why this year it was a hotel in Bethesda instead.

No dry heat here. We get plenty of moisture from the Gulf. You must be confusing Texas with Arizona or Nevada where the heat truely is dry. And yes, when the temp drops below 40, I run for the fireplace.

Last week we had a brief hail storm in the middle of a 100F weather. And this is by no means totally unusual here in DFW -- another crazy thing of the Texas Prairie.

Sushi, here in Hurst, not only did we have hail, we also had near hurricane force winds that did much damage. I haven't seen winds that high since I left Louisiana.

We had a similar storm last week as well, though the central Phoenix area was largely immune. The heat island effect has reached the point that the heat prevents cloud forming so we're no longer getting any rain, even when the areas around us are. It was weird to see the rain collection in the suburbs with several inches and gail force winds, while we barely came up as trace in the city itself. The heat bakes off the clouds.

The last time I remember daytime rain was when I was a kid. Though the 120 degree heat is all too familiar...

You're all a bunch of pansies!

pansies?! I bet an earthquake would send you dashing tuck-tailed under the nearest table.

But..but...but your heat is a dry heat! Wow 120! that is some crazy weather. Lots of time spent indoors watching movies an listening to music eh'?

Yes, we Californians know to stand in doorways, not cower under tables....

Dry heat or not, when it gets over 110 it's crazy. I've been at the river (Colorado, of course) a couple times when it was 123-124 according to the digital thermometer in my truck mirror. It makes you wonder how ANYTHING can survive out there.

You should update your earthquake survival skills to the new millenium. The last thing you want is a door slamming into you during an earthquake -- and taking out your head, arms, legs, etc... Best to be in a hallway. You've got a nice space to cower in. And if the apartment collapses, at least you've got that wine to drink...

Hallway. Right. What possible benefit could there be to standing in a hallway as opposed to a doorway? I think I can stop a door. I know I can't stop masonry.

Best to run out in an open field.

Don't be so sure. If the earthquake is big enough and moving in the right direction (say, parallel to the doorway), that door can swing closed with a really high velocity. (Earthquakes can have enough force to pick up large buses and toss them a large distance.)

Hollow doors, like the ones in question, are less dangerous than solid ones, but I'd rather not have to deal with them.

Don't be worried, folks. California is sinking into the ocean anyway. So are my homeland islands of Japan.

I thought it was the East coast that was sinking, and the West was rising ? New research ? ?
Besides, as long as they keep making more Hawaiian islands, I'm good to go...

Run ? Come on Bill, you should know we Cali boys don't run... We're too cool to run... hahaha
Besides, with all the new "Earthquake Subs", I can't tell the real thing from the neighbors 'movie of the week' anymore ???

mwc,

Pretty much! I move very quickly from one air conditioned space to the next and spend a lot of time on my couch.

It's definitely cool to run in an earthquake. Run outside and watch all the transformers popping, shooting green lightning up into the sky. Very cool!

In the Northridge quake several years ago now, I was asleep in my bed (a waterbed at the time). It was around 4:30 in the morning, as I recall, and I remember waking up to the rumbling. I saw flashes of light outside my window (the transformers popping), heard the noise, felt the bed sloshing all over the place, and thought to myself, "The world's ending. That's nice...."

Needless to say, I am not the quickest to wake up under any circumstances...

Not a lot of open fields in the city or residential areas.

I have lived in California my whole life, the Northridge quake scared the crap out of me, and I was 30 miles from the epicenter.

curtis

There were several near my house when I was growing up in the suburbs. Of course, they were kind of underneath high tension wires...

I guess the open fields are few and far between in soCal, but my classroom (HS teacher) borders the football field so that's where I'll be if it's day time and if it's night I'll be in the backyard holding onto one of my scrawny trees.

My wife grew up in Whittier and was eating cereal when the big Whittier quake struck. The epicenter was a mile or two away. She says it felt like a giant picked up their house and started slamming it into the ground. She still talks about how all the cabinet doors came off their hinges and floated around the room. Caused extensive damage to the house. She insits that you can't run in a big earthquake, but I say BS - see you outside.

The degree to which you are able to run is inversely proportional to the rate at which the ground is oscillating.

Picture a moving walkway (like those found at airports) that either jumps up and down (z-axis), side to side (x-axis), forward and backward (y-axis), or a combination of the three by as much as 1 foot up to 5 times a second. Still think you can run?

I was working for Xerox at the time, and my office was in Woodland Hills. The quake tipped over 300-400lbs printers/copiers.....moved a 300lbs scanner unit 20 feet.

Also in bed at the time when it hit.....woke up and said to myself "wow, this is a good one." And then it kept going, got stronger, and I said "Crap....this is THE one!!!" Got out of the bed and into the doorway. Heard a couple things fall off the window sill. I can only imagine what the people in Northridge felt.

Yeah. I remember seeing the footage on TV, and thinking how lucky we were... the only damage we had was a picture frame that my dad stepped on. (we were in Redondo Beach).

I vaguely remember the Northridge earthquake. If it hadn't been for Peter shaking me awake and telling me to get in the hallway, I would've slept right through it.

I moved to LA 8 months after Northridge, so I missed it. I've felt a few quakes since I've moved here, and must say, coming from a part of the country that doesn't have them (Maine) - it's truly unnerving. You grow up with the basic knowledge that the ground is the ground and it doesn't move. When it starts shaking on it's own, it's a really helpless feeling. Over the past nine years, I've finally gotten to the point where it doesn't freak me too much anymore, but then again, I've not felt anything like Northridge yet either.

As far as the weather in the Norhteast...it SUCKS. You have about 2-3 months of enjoyable weather each year. The rest of the year simply bites. Freezing cold from Dec-Mar (with snow starting as early as November, and lasting as late as April routinely). Then from late June - late August it's high 80's-100 with humidity you can drink with a straw. Sucks, sucks, sucks.... I'll take a little ground rumbling over that anyday.

72 and sunny - EVERYDAY.

Yeah SoCal!

Snow is good. You just need something or someone to warm you up afterwards.

Yeah...I like the snow and the changing seasons...the humidity I could do without though.

"(we were in Redondo Beach)"
I was in Hermosa Beach at the time.

For those of you that don't know the LA beaches...Hermosa is the next beach north of Redondo.

Hey...we are only two hours or less from snow.

Where can you you ski in the morning and surf in the afternoon?

I can surf any time of day or year I like.... Oh, you mean the wet kind of surfing?

It appears Brahma is punishing me for teasing those in the East. A major pipeline has been severed, restricting the flow of gas into Phoenix. The net result is that 1 in 5 stations or so are out of gas and the few that are open have hour long lines and a price that has jumped $0.40 in a week.

Bugger.

I lived in Sacramento for over 28 years, and I would go to SF when it got real hot in the valley.

I think my fondest earthquake was the time I watched the ground literally form a wave just like water from the ripples. I never had or since seen that before. But I miss the mountains and ocens the most. Watching the seals and whales and otters was so relaxing. And I laugh when people in the midwest talk about "mountains" here, they never seen the Sierra Nevada or Rockies for that matter. But one thing the midwest has are tornado's and I don't know which one is worse. Riding a motorcycle here all year around is unheard of, not like CA.

Fondest earthquake....not the type of thing I'd think of having a fondness of...but then I guess I've never been in a real one either.

I actually don't mind the milder ones. I enjoy the adrenaline rush they provide. I don't even bother heading for cover if it's under a 4.0 on the richter scale.

I've lived in soCal my whole 35 years, except for two spent in Hawaii. California is changing, and not for the better. If you want to live in a welfare state with high taxes, high crime rates, graffiti everywhere, association Nazis, over regulation of everything, racial divisions, snobbery, smog, etc..., then CA is right for you.
I'm thinking northern Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, or Montana right now, but that kind of huge change doesn't sit well with the old lady.
Oh and don't forget the Grand Tetons, those mountains are spectacular.

Hey, don't lump us SF Bay Area dwellers in with your lot down in SoCal.

As far as where this state is headed, I completely agree with you. I make a decent income, but I can't even think of buying a house anytime soon. A 1 bedroom, 1 bath home down the street from where I rent is going for -- get this -- $460k!! Unfriggin' believeable. And someone will buy it.

I've seen a lot of the western half of the country in the past 5 - 6 years. My favorites areas so far are listed below:

Coastal Oregon -- absolutely beautiful
Southern Utah -- Zion Nat'l Park (nuff said)
Western Wyoming -- Grand Tetons and Yellowstone
Nothern Idaho -- green everywhere
Washington -- practically the whole state

Oh, don't even get me started on the Bay area. Let me say one positive: people in northern California tend to be much more friendly than soCal people, but they are also much more likely to be totally whacked in the head. Well, I tried to be positive.

I'll give you that. But what's better: delusional and friendly, or jaded and bitchy?

I went to school in the SF Bay area, and grew up and presently live in the southbay area of LA.

Give me the people in northern ca, with the weather, beaches, mountains, of southern ca.....I will take it.

In reply to:

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Give me the people in northern ca, with the weather, beaches, mountains, of southern ca.....I will take it.

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I'd think the closest to that could be found down in Diego.

I'll second that. No question SD is the best of the three. But how about Butte, Montana or Couer D'Alene, Idaho?

pmbuko, JADED AND BITCHY?!
I see you have met my mother-in-law.

Couer D'Alene, Idaho is the town I had in mind when I mentioned liking northern Idaho. An old fur trapping town turned resort town with a small town feel. One of my good friends is from there. He says it's starting to turn yuppie, though.

The only town in Montana I know anything about is Missoula. Of all the far away places I can see myself living, that's one of them. It seems that the further into the boonies you get, you need a college nearby in order for the population to have any semblance of being the least bit liberal.

There are still plenty of places in California that seem "wild and untouched," however. Close to Yosemite and the greater Tahoe / Sierre Lakes Basin area come to mind.

Couer D'Alene is beautiful.
As far as liberal goes, I believe there are some Libertarians back east planning to move en masse to one of these unpopulated states in order to exert greater political influence. Apparently, the biggest drawback to Idaho (for the Libertarians) is the large Mormon population there.
Or did you mean liberal as in Adam Smith, laissez faire, and the enduring principles stated in the Constitution?
Certainly you did not mean liberal as in tree hugging, big gov't, social programs up the wazoo liberal, right?

Here's the definition of liberal that I mean most often when I use it:

liberal (lib'-er-al) adj.
favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others; broad-minded.

In particular, I prefer that people let others do as they please, as long as nobody is getting hurt. Smaller gov't is preferable, and I believe social programs should be handled at the state or community level. But environmental protection (a.k.a. "tree-hugging") should come from the top down.

And that's all the politics I care to get into right now.

I almost immediately regreted delving into politics. How about those Axioms, huh?

Lets talk about governors in SoCal.

I guess fondest is the wrong word, maybe most vidid is a better term for it. Oh, and nobody has even mentioned Lake Tahoe yet????? My most favorite ski area.

I mentioned the general Tahoe area somewhere up there (if you're looking in flat mode). My wife and I rent a nice cabin right on the lake near Cave Rock (south-east Nevada side) every winter. We invite a bunch of people to come along and split the cost with everyone. It's a pretty cheap way to have an awesome place to come back to after a day on the slopes.

Noooooooooo ... PLezzzzzzz.. No politics here..
This is a "No Politics Safe Zone"....
By the way, I gots to learn just how to get me one of these fancy id windows !? You go the best one going right now..

Don't even get me started on fancy id windows...

not anymore..... man that eye is scary...I didn't realize it moved (slow pause on it) until it was in the corner of my vision when I looking elsewhere...and it gave me the shivers..

If anyone is interested feel free in linking to any of this gifs for ID or your picture in your profile window.

http://www.spacelofts.com/gif/

Just don't crash my server

Hahaahaaa.. That's great !! I love this stuff..
Only I'm afraid I may have opened the proverbial Pandoras Box ??? "Quick, where's the duct tape ???"

I can see it now. Nobody will be able to read the posts due to the bouncing/blinking icons.

Dammit, I almost got Jen to start looking for a house. Don't tell her!!