La Salle Explorers

[innocentbystander]

We all have problems rat. Quite often the problems we have in our life, are self-imposed. As you (correctly) said.

A 90 minute wait for food in Honolulu was not really a problem for us.

[hedge]

I wish you had a 90 day wait for your next food...

[10ac]

C

[Jungle Rat]

Agreed. A bit lacking

[eCat]

got my daughter moved into Bama this weekend. This year she is in an on campus apartment with 2 other girls. Its not really too different from a dorm but there are only 12 units in the building and each room has a balcony, plus their own washer and dryer. Pretty nice compare to the crap I lived in. At my age the heat just zaps me. It was probably 92 or so degrees with typical Alabama humidity and I was soaked carrying boxes up those stairs. We went over to the MIL's lake house afterwards which is the first time I have visited it and I was all excited to fish but it was so damn hot I just sat around.

Why does anyone move to Florida? Give me 40 degrees over 90 degrees any day of the week.

on the way home I listened to a podcast about Washington. Dude was a horrible military leader. This is going to be kinda long but its educational.

First, he was the catalyst to start the 7 year war between Britain and France (the French and Indian war in the colonies) by being the second in command of a discovery mission that led to the slaughter of French soldiers who were delivering a message.

Later after that war started, he did have a shining moment where he again was second in command and fought with the General who was leading the troops into a French ambush. During the heat of the battle he rode up to argue with the British commander who was shot during the argument, then the guns centered on Washington whose horse was shot out from under him, he mounted another horse and while doing so a bullet ripped thru his coat but missed him - and from that moment where troops were watching him argue with a general and then have a horse shot out from under him in a hail of bullets, he became a celebrated "American" hero. But the British refused to promote him to a leadership role because they felt all American soldiers, still under British rule, were rogues and undisciplined - and they even had a song about it "Yankee Doodle" , so that was actually written as an insult to American military leadership and Washington in particular. They had no uniforms so they would distinguish themselves by putting a feather in their hat......

So the Brits are getting their ass bankrupted fighting the French (remember, Washington played a huge role in that war starting) so they are taxing the shit out of everyone including the states. The British mindset was how dare the Americans earn revenue from cotton, whiskey, agriculture, etc without contributing back to England? But the British had a formal policy of taxation where every taxed region had representation in Parliament. Hence the Americans, who were still considered British but were not a formalized British state, were pissed at the idea of taxation without representation.

Washington's father was a failed tobacco farmer who died just before Washington was to go to England to get a formal education. As a result Washington had a chip on his shoulder in regard to distinguished Gentlemen and wanted desperately to be one. Washington married Martha who was a widower with 300 slaves, and so Washington when he wasn't tear assing around the country had multiple interests including tobacco which got hit hard by taxes imposed by England.

So speed this up a few years, Washington is still the most celebrated military American representative for doing that single act - so apparently there was like zero competition and now he is pissed because he can't get wealthy due to these British taxes eating him up, so he joins in with the Enlightenment and Liberty causes, this whole idea that everyone is born with certain rights, and they move on to declaring independence.

But we have this idea, or at least I did of Washington being this great military mind who fought the greatest standing army in the world, outnumbered and with no resources, and by sheer will leads this rag tag group of men to victory

The reality is whenever that was the case, Washington got his ass kicked by the British. There were a few instances of victories, but mainly the only time Washington was victorious is when he had equal or a larger number of forces. He had Cornwallace cornered with 18K troops to Cornwallace's 9K, and those 9K were fighting malaria and dysentery. Another issue is the leader of the British Forces was George Jermaine, a failed military leader who tried to run the war from London in an era where messages would take 1 to 4 months. They would tell a British General to take a city and not know whether he had been successful until a change of weather had occurred. Jermaine would replace every General that questioned his orders and Jermaine had no idea how to fight a war in a land he'd never set foot in.

Also, the French who were still pissed at England, recognized the Colonies as an independent country and as an ally - as a result the British declared war with the French, this pissed off Spain and the Netherlands so they declared war on Britain. So they had to fight a battle on multiple fronts, coming off a 7 year war that nearly bankrupted them in the first place.

Oddly enough, after the American independence, Great Britain went on to the greatest colonial expansion in the modern world, setting the stage for the British Empire

And Washington goes on to being President because he is essentially the John Calipari of American Generals.

[aTm]

Washington’s relative strength was strategy. He was tactically very bad, although also fighting at a decent disadvantage. Strategically he was good or at least good enough in a time where military leaders weren’t exactly always picked or promoted based on actual ability. Just look at the way you just described how the British Germain handled the strategy part. Washington was a better man to have in charge of your side in a war in the colonies than him even though Germain was an accomplished military officer while Washington was just some bumpkin Colonel from the bumfuck hinterlands by comparison.

[innocentbystander]

Washington’s relative strength was strategy. He was tactically very bad, although also fighting at a decent disadvantage. Strategically he was good or at least good enough in a time where military leaders weren’t exactly always picked or promoted based on actual ability. Just look at the way you just described how the British Germain handled the strategy part. Washington was a better man to have in charge of your side in a war in the colonies than him even though Germain was an accomplished military officer while Washington was just some bumpkin Colonel from the bumfuck hinterlands by comparison.

Agreed.

There really wasn't anything that King George or England could do to put down the Rebellion in the British Colonies. His Majesty's troops may have had numerical superiority in individual battles but overall, they were vastly outnumbered on the continent (and that includes the German/Hessian mercenaries that King George sent to help his Army) and logistically, he had to supply them from 3000 miles away. And that is on top of the fact that every single Continental Soldier over the age of 40 (may not have been too many) were either former British military or served as Colonial troops in the French and Indian war. These were not just disorganized farmers. These farmers were 100% literate, ex-military, Protestants, and business owners, who were in command of their 16 to 20 year old sons who stood right beside them on the line. They were very much the military equal of the British Army.

The expansion of the British Empire and all the rebellions that they put down along the way (many of which were in Africa and the Middle East) that was just British troops fighting Muslims and tribal leaders with armies of disorganized savages. So of course, they won those wars going away.

[sardis]

I've lived in the Carolinas for 30+ years and I still can't handle 90 degree weather. I won't exercise or golf if it's that hot.

...TBH, I don't exercise in any weather.

[Jungle Rat]

I'd take 90 over 20 any day.

[eCat]

Washington’s relative strength was strategy. He was tactically very bad, although also fighting at a decent disadvantage. Strategically he was good or at least good enough in a time where military leaders weren’t exactly always picked or promoted based on actual ability. Just look at the way you just described how the British Germain handled the strategy part. Washington was a better man to have in charge of your side in a war in the colonies than him even though Germain was an accomplished military officer while Washington was just some bumpkin Colonel from the bumfuck hinterlands by comparison.

I think the acceptance of guerilla warfare on our part played a huge role.

also as a preamble to the second amendment, which I think provides alot of clarity - American leaders were enraged at the idea of a standing British army patrolling their cities so they secretly started buying weapons from foreign countries and trained blacksmiths to make guns. Every citizen (every *male* citizen) was obligated to learn to shoot a weapon.

[sardis]

I'd take 90 over 20 any day.

Wife and two of my adult children headed to Hilton Head. I declined and went to the mountains

[Jungle Rat]

Horrible

[hedge]

I'm sure they know about your aversion to heat and chose their destination accordingly...

[eCat]

I'd take 90 over 20 any day.

Wife and two of my adult children headed to Hilton Head. I declined and went to the mountains

give me the mountains every time.

if I never see a beach again during the summer it will be too soon

[DooKSucks]

My father would bitch that air conditioning had made everyone -- himself included -- weak. There aren't many times when I walk outside and it's one of those Eastern NC summer days in the mid to high 90's with high humidity that I don't think of Daddy, smile and mumble to myself "damn air conditionnninnn' has made us alllll a bunch of pussssseesssss" because he said that thousands of times.

I worked outside during the summer as a kid and through college. I would die if I did that now. Heck, I would play 36 holes in this heat until a few years ago, but if I did that now, I would need an IV.

I remember Daddy talk about cleaning out grain bins or "barnin' " tobacco in July and August with temperatures in the bins and barns being over 105 degrees and then walk back to the house dreading the night because they didn't have air conditioning. The house had two overhead fans (one in the living room and one in the den) and one oscillating fan that they put in the "heater hall." Daddy said the nights were as bad as the workday because you would sit there soaking through your sheets in sweat.

Granny DS was very miserly due to my grandfather dying in 1958 and having lived in abject poverty for most of her life until she met my grandfather, and she refused to buy an air conditioner long after they became readily available and affordable. Granny DS finally relented and bought a window air conditioner in July 1968, and they put the television in the narrow den by the back door. Dad said that for the first few nights my dad would shut off the den and sit around the air conditioner on full blast while watching television after dinner, but they had to stop because he would go in there covered in sweat and being unaccustomed to the cold air made himself sick from all of the cold air blowing over his sweat drenched body.

[eCat]

growing up we were only allowed A/C in August. We had a big ass Fedders window A/C unit that weighed like 175 pounds and we'd wrassle it into the living room window. It was 220V like a dryer.

The rest of the time we had this industrial fan - like the kind they put in warehouses, mounted in a room central to the house. It was so powerful it was hard to shut doors. We'd go to sleep with a 20mph wind in the house and that thing so loud you couldn't hear anything else.

You'd think I'd want a fan to sleep by now like many people but I can't stand it. Wife has to have a fan on all the time, even in winter. There have been many nights I've waited for her to go to sleep and then got up and turned that damn fan off. I do like nights when it gets down to like 60 degrees and highs in the day of mid to high 70's. That's perfect weather for sleeping with the windows open, and I don't mind a window fan. But we only like 10 days a year like that around here.

[eCat]

out of curiosity I tried to find a picture on the internet of the model we had and that led me down the rabbit hole of reading up on how these old A/C units that still work are in high demand because they supposedly cool better than the new units.

That led to the revelation that modern A/C units , especially the cheap one have a limit switch on them that doesn't get the full cooling potential from them. Apparently there is some setting if you are willing to take it apart that can be adjusted to raise the cooling capacity of those smaller window units.

[eCat]

not my ass - admittedly if I had the money I'd be in the Idaho panhandle right now, but you only deal with a fire once every 20 years.

-------------------


Science has provided America with a decent idea of which areas of our country will be most devastated by climate change, and which areas will be most insulated from the worst effects. Unfortunately, it seems that US population flows are going in the wrong direction – new census data shows a nation moving out of the safer areas and into some of the most dangerous places of all.

To quote Planes, Trains and Automobiles: we’re going the wrong way.

The Census Bureau’s new map of the last decade’s population trends shows big growth in the west and on the coasts – and declines in the inland east coast and Great Lakes region.

Now compare that map to ProPublica maps documenting the areas most at risk of extreme heat, wildfires and flooding, and you see the problem. While there has been some recent anecdotal evidence of pragmatic climate migration, overall the census data shows America’s population growth is shifting out of areas that may be the best refuges from the most extreme effects of climate change, and into many areas that are most at risk.

Put another way: if climate change were an enemy in a war, America is not fortifying our population in the safest places – the country’s population is moving into the areas most at risk of attack.

Some of the examples are genuinely mind-boggling. For instance, upstate New York is considered one of the country’s most insulated regions in the climate crisis – and yet almost all of upstate New York saw population either nearly flat or declining. At the same time, there were big population increases in and around the Texas Gulf coast, which is threatened by extreme heat and coastal flooding.

Similarly, Philadelphia is comparatively well situated in the climate crisis – but it saw only modest population growth of 5%. It was surpassed on the list of biggest cities by Phoenix, which saw an 11% population growth, despite that city facing some of the worst forms of extreme heat and drought in the entire country.

And then there is south Florida, which saw Miami clock in a 10% population increase despite the possibility that large swaths of the city could soon be underwater. Compare that to a place like Vermont, where the population growth was flat.

[hedge]

The house I grew up in (where my dad still lives) has a big attic fan that draws air upward into the attic. I've never seen the actual fan, but judging from the vents in the upstairs ceiling just below the fan, it's about the size of the warehouse fan eCat described. The house was built before central AC was a thing, so that was the main source of cooling. Probably didn't do much good when it was real hot, but in the spring and fall when temps were in the 60's and 70's, we'd open a few doors and windows and turn on the attic fan and it would pull the cool air in and circulate it all thru the house. The MIF's house, which was built around the same time as my dad's, also had one, but her husband took it out when they moved in and sheetrocked the opening where the fan had been. Wish he hadn't done that...

[eCat]

I had an attic fan in my house in Texas.

I've always wanted to put one in my house but the way its designed I'd have to put it in a room, not a hallway so I never have.