Jump to content

flatdawgs

Certifiably Surly
  • Posts

    635
  • Joined

Everything posted by flatdawgs

  1. Fun Nauru fact - before their phosphate (guano) and therefore money ran out, they owned a tower in downtown Melbourne that the Aussies fondly called "Bird Shit House." Gotta love Australia.
  2. Sorry about this, but you know what I have to do now.
  3. Unfortunately, even in places like California or Washington state, where I am, it's difficult to pass laws mandating people do something to their property ex post facto - certainly without funding it (not disagreeing that it would be the smart thing to do, just that it's a tough political lift especially when most people are "yeah, that won't happen to me"). Hopefully something good like that will come out of this tragedy, but it didn't after the terrible East Bay fires several years ago. In most if not all fire-prone areas, at least up here and I'm sure in CA as well, this info is readily available but it's up to you to do it. I fully agree with you that it would be far better if it were required on all structures, but without getting too CR, pandemic out front shoulda told ya how well simple mandates can go over.
  4. I'm not an HVAC engineer either, just a lowly architect (more towers than homes) and former building science guy, but the short answer is yes, these vents exist and aren't terribly expensive. Title 24 (California building code) requires them in new/renovated construction IIRC. Even if you don't use them, wire mesh with openings no greater than 1/8 to 1/16 inch will do. You need baffles in addition for soffit and cornice vents. There are fire rated vent dampers with fusible links that close the damper when the temperature reaches a certain point; these are quite common for other reasons in commercial and multifamily construction, but wouldn't really prevent stray embers from entering. While embers certainly can cause fires very quickly if they enter, most structures are destroyed by the fire itself - and that's where non-combustible materials and "defensible space" around the home becomes very important. To @Sbbruin and all the others affected, my heart goes out to all of you. I know Altadena well - an ex-gf lives there and bought when we were still together; her house on the south side of town was spared by three homes. We're with you as you build your beautiful community back - my firm is already looking for ways we might be able to help. edit - good info, @Bevo - thanks!
  5. It's a little known but true geological fact that Peugeot Sound consists of a system of Fords, much as do similar sounds in Norway.
  6. There are a ton of fire-resistant building materials and claddings out there - anything suitable for type I or II construction (and even heavy and mass timber due to the fire protection obtained through char rate). Don't use insulated metal panels for external cladding even though they're allowed; that shit burns. Any exterior insulation - a good idea - should be mineral wool ("fluffy rocks") or other non-combustible material. Avoid having attics and soffits that need venting - again, this can be accomplished by exterior insulation or otherwise keeping them within the building envelope as conditioned (heated) space.
  7. If you sank anything large enough in the Culebra Cut or one of the entrances to the Canal it would be an issue; in one of the locks would've been as well until parallel locks were opened a few years ago. The channels are fairly narrow in the lake (still more than wide enough for passing ships and then some, so not all that simple to block), although you'd still be able to utilize it with shallower-draft ships were the main channel to be blocked. It's a surreal experience to pass through what is basically jungle on a ship. I'm not sure how much would've had to have been moved across the continental US to access the canal; both coasts have a robust naval presence as well as whatever private equipment would be necessary. Shipping anything there that can't be airlifted wouldn't take any longer with the Canal out of commission than with it open; you'd just send it from the appropriate coast. To really screw us (and the world), you'd take out all of the locks via drone, sabotage, missile, or whatever - no easy feat I'm sure, but the sudden draining of Lake Gatun (85 feet above sea level), grounding of any ships in the channels, and the loss of the locks would take years to recover from.
  8. What effect, then, could a ruling finding this to be the case have on people with dual citizenship? Clearly that would not fit any definition of "undivided allegiance"; just as clearly both participating states would have agreed to the acceptability of that within their respective territories. Right now, in most places citizenship by birth is sacrosanct and that by naturalization revocable (oh, hai Elon!), but if the tenet of "undivided allegiance" were upheld I could see a rogue court saying yeah, well, you can just dump that or lose your citizenship here (many nations, of course, already require this and do not allow for dual citizenship). Asking for a friend.... (Forgive the ignorance; I'm not a lawyer or a UT grad and as such am on Surly by sufferance alone, hoping to not have my residency revoked.)
  9. Username doesn't something something. Tites.
  10. flatdawgs

    Austin FC

    Depending on your schedule, you could catch a couple of group stage matches in the Club World Cup if you visited Seattle - last two are Sounders v PSG on 6/23 and 6/25 Inter v River Plate (and Driuzzi, lol). There are a few things to do locally between games, I think....
  11. There's a reason it's called Londongrad. Too many entrenched interests there even with various "divestitures" for the powers that be to care to do much about it. Fucking Canucks fans.
  12. I'd never heard of prayer before a game or other events - at least at non-religious schools - and had attended CFB games in probably 25-30 places around the country when I started dating my now ex, a South Carolinian. She took me to a Gamecock game and, yes, there was a pre-game prayer, which shocked me. This was about 25 years ago and it continues to this day as far as I know. Being naive and from the PNW, I was shocked that it was even allowable at a state school. I received an education on the difference between the deep South and my part of the country that day and on many others, on many different things.
  13. We have several large ports on the Pacific, you dumb fucking squidbilly.
  14. We'll (WA state) go to Canada, or better yet, Denmark. We're pretty hygge up here.
  15. Ex-g/f lives in Altadena about 2 miles from that fire - we don't talk much anymore but I hope she's followed Bruin the hell out of there.
  16. They have for years. They just don't like to talk aboot it, eh? Curling bonspiel oot front shoulda told ya.
  17. No worries, and apologies for the pedantry. The J = ZH sound is one reason somebody told me Portuguese sounded like a Russian trying to speak Spanish (to my partially trained ear that applies more to European Portuguese rather than Brazilian, due to the different cadence).
  18. *injustiça the J in Portuguese is also pronounced more like "zh", so "in-zhoo-stee-sah." but yes, you're correct about his complaint. Of course, he could be complaining about the Jews. He complains about a lot of things.
  19. I hate all those teams. Except Texas. Hook 'em! (no Oregon embiggens my heart)
  20. Note that these aren't all apples-to-apples comparisons. In a handful of states (WA with an already high minimum wage, as above - also CA, OR, AK, MT*, MN, and Guam), there is no tipped wage - the state's minimum wage or higher wage per locality is the minimum wage for all jobs. In other states, several of which are listed in the quote, the tipped position minimums still apply. (*MT has some exceptions based on business size)
  21. In Kirkenes (northern Norway) it was fireworks, no guns, unless the Russians down the way a bit decided to fire into the air - which they'd miss. Otherwise, no different here than a typical small town 4th of July, except for a fuckton of snow on the ground. The entire thing was people setting off their own fireworks, including "downtown", some quite impressive. Being Norway, nothing was actually open, so by 12.15am it was back inside. Happy New Year, ya Surly bastids. May 2025 beat all odds and be a great year for us all. Except that guy. You know who you are.
×
×
  • Create New...