Tweet of the Week – February 20, 2021

11 responses to “Tweet of the Week – February 20, 2021”

1. Forestwood

   February 20, 2021 at 8:42 PM

   I heard Texas was having a hard time. Thoughts are with you, Alejandro. Stay warm and safe. Hope the severe weather eases up.

   Reply
   • Alejandro De La Garza

     February 20, 2021 at 10:14 PM

     Thank you, Amanda. Most of us made it through the chaos intact. In my area on Saturday, temperatures finally rose above freezing for the first time in a week. Now many people are dealing with boil water notices and damage to homes and businesses because of burst pipes and myriad other weather-related causes.

     The psychological and emotional damage, however, will take longer from which to recover. This ordeal stressed out people more than anything else; much of it due to an incompetent state government and a derelict infrastructure that should have been better prepared to handle such a crisis. No, Texas doesn’t fall victim to such wicked winter storms very often, but we do experience cold winters every year; particularly in the northwestern part of the state. The utilities network – if the state insists on remaining a power island, dependent upon no one else – shouldn’t have failed like this. With the second largest population (after California) and second largest land area (after Alaska), Texas is very affluent and diverse. The state legislature maintains a billion-dollar “rainy day” fund, which is designated for a variety of emergencies. I believe Winter Storm Uri more than qualified as an emergency.

     I’m one of the few people I know who did not lose power or have to boil water. And I now personally believe all Texas residents should be forgiven their utility bills for the month of February. That “rainy day” fund could take care of that.

     Reply
     • Forestwood

       February 20, 2021 at 10:17 PM

       That fund could and should be put to use. Is there any solar or renewables initiative – not that it would help much in snowy storms, unless it was wind power?
       I don’t understand about the burst pipes. Are people turning their taps on when the pipes are frozen?
     • Alejandro De La Garza

       February 20, 2021 at 10:28 PM

       I don’t know how solar and wind power expenses play out. But the state legislature is dominated by right-wingers who view green energy as evil and socialistic. Sometimes it’s difficult to combat ignorance and stupidity with even the best of well-structured arguments.

       I think the vast majority of people turned on their taps to low-level streams to prevent pipe freezing. I did, along with keeping cabinet doors open to allow heat to get closer to the pipes. But in many structures, water service was also disrupted; meaning people couldn’t even get that much and with no power, the pipes beneath sinks would freeze up anyway. It was a dire, no-win situation for so many people.
     • Forestwood

       February 20, 2021 at 10:47 PM

       It would happen to me if I lived there as I am a novice at living in cold climates. We don’t have such problems here. If you need to know how to take care of yourself in 90+ temps, I am your person!
     • Alejandro De La Garza

       February 21, 2021 at 12:00 AM

       I’m sure I heard that Australia gets snow, particularly in the far southern regions, well away from the equator. You don’t have to give me advice on living with torrid temperatures! I’ve dealt with that my entire life. I used to go out jogging in 90+° temperatures. I’d take a bottle of water with me and wear nothing more than running shorts and shoes; come back dripping like a mineral spring, but it always felt good!
     • Forestwood

       February 21, 2021 at 4:56 AM

       There is some snow on a few tall mountains in Tassie and On the border between NewSouthWales and Queensland. But very very little abd nowhere near here. Glad to hear you know how to take care of yourself but was that dry or humid heat? And I probably don’t have to tell you about wearing spf 50 sunscreen? Or the appropriate time of the day? And to wear long sleeved running gear and a hat!!!
     • Alejandro De La Garza

       February 21, 2021 at 9:14 PM

       I guess it would have been humid heat. I’m about 400 miles (644 km) from the Gulf of México, but the air here does get rather torpid. Several years ago a Canadian acquaintance asked me if it snows in Texas and I almost laughed. But I realized he had spent his entire life in Canada, and I know that images of Texas don’t include cold weather.

       I never donned SPF before running outdoors, but I did carry a bottle of water and paced myself. Long sleeves?! Never while running! Almost 100% of the time I was bare-chested and perhaps wore a cap, but never long sleeves.
     • Forestwood

       February 21, 2021 at 9:53 PM

       Interesting, Alejandro. Did you ever get sunburnt in those days? I did in my youth and so did many other Australians of that era. We all now have skin damage or skin cancers of various forms. Australia has the highest rates of skin cancer in the world. Hence the campaign in the 70s to slip slop slap which meant slip on a sunshirt or long sleeves, slop on sunscreen, spf 20 was about the highest we had then, now we have spf 50, which is very high protection sunscreen, and finally the third part of the slogan was Slap on a hat. Hats became mandatory in the late nineties for school kids. No hat, no play in the playground. People from overseas think it is strange when they see kids and adults here swimming with clothes on but they are long sleeved shirts, but it is usually a lycra fabric, which is protective but holds it shape when wet.
       I actually dont like to wear too much sunscreen, as it blocks my facial pores, but I always wear a hat. And alway some kind of sleeve, otherwise my shoulders can get burnt in as little as 10 minutes in our sun. Even early in the morning. There is an example of kids swimming in sunshirts here https://forestwoodfolkart.wordpress.com/2019/12/29/christmas-in-australia/
       I think the ozone layer is thinner here and in New Zealand, so we get burnt easier. Something tourists get caught up on… and look like red lobsters….
     • Alejandro De La Garza

       February 21, 2021 at 10:24 PM

       I never got sunburned while out jogging, but I did have a few sunburns in a swimming pool environment; at least one really bad one in my childhood and one severe in my 20s. I didn’t know Australians had such a high rate of skin cancer and I certainly didn’t know they swam in such full-coverage attire. I feel that rates of carcinoma will rise as temperatures around the globe rise.
     • Forestwood

       February 21, 2021 at 11:51 PM

       Indeed they will rise and indeed they have! The Moth is always getting skin cancers burnt off and needless to say he spent all his youth outdoors with no sunscreen.

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