this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2025
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[–] Reality_Suit@lemmy.world 253 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I live in the US and I will suffer, but I really want the rest of the world to give us hell. Fuck Trumpler and president Muskrat.

[–] madame_gaymes@programming.dev 79 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If other countries decide to bomb or invade us, please start with the south east

[–] werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 34 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Maralago, then Disneyland, from there, probably Texas, Alabama, the bad Carolina and then Montana. The animaniacs should jump into a cool song for this.

[–] Ledericas@lemm.ee 19 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

once canadians/Europeans/ S.americans stopped vacationing there, florida will probably be dead before that happens. since retirees dont benefit the state in anyways, and is more likely to soak up all the tax money anyways indirectly

[–] madame_gaymes@programming.dev 4 points 1 week ago

lmao, yes. I would love to see the "Angrimaniacs" version.

[–] Dead_or_Alive@lemmy.world -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

What the fuck did Disneyland have to do with Trump?

They were targeted by MAGA, Facists and Desantis for being too woke and allowing gay pride days etc.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

They're kissing the ring now.

I was criticized when I told people not to let Disney be the flag bearer of progress. They're only ever been following market trends, not leading them.

[–] Dead_or_Alive@lemmy.world 0 points 1 week ago

I’m sure they are kissing the ring because progressives are all too happy to abandon them.

Who cares if they follow the market as long as they are headed in the right direction. They are a business, they will act as the market dictates.

[–] douglasg14b@lemmy.world 22 points 1 week ago (5 children)

As long as they don't cut off gas to the PNW. Almost all the natural gas we use comes from Canada, and the majority of the voters there didn't vote for this.

That would be fucking brutal, no heat or cooking gas.

[–] spidermanchild@sh.itjust.works 44 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It's always the right time to switch to heat pumps and induction stoves. Gas is terrible.

[–] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 week ago (4 children)

Gas is terrible until the power grid goes down in the middle of winter.

Electric should definitely be the main go to but we should all have gas hookup for a backup heat source in my opinion.

[–] yetAnotherUser@discuss.tchncs.de 26 points 1 week ago (3 children)

That's excessive compared to the extremely low risk of a blackout in developed countries (excluding the United States which has regular blackouts). To illustrate:

US households spent 5.5 hours without electricity on average in 2022. Excluding major events like hurricanes, the number drops to 2.1 hours.

German households spent a whopping 12.2 minutes without electricity on average in 2022.

A portable gas heater, blankets and a camping stove are completely sufficient for the average person considering most longer power outages last for a couple of hours at worst. Exceedingly rare longer blackouts will always have a government aid program, such as a heated gym with free food, near your location.

The only one's who should really prepare for blackouts are:

  • the government
  • people who live hours away from civilization with very limited infrastructure connecting them
[–] rustyricotta@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I agree, though here's my anecdote from the PNW.

We've had a couple storms this winter. One of them I lost power for 4 hours, but a friend of mine in the next town over was out 4 days. And some didn't lose at all, so it varies. Power outages like this aren't too rare every year.

It doesn't bode well for our freezers, but we don't get cold enough to be anything other than cold and inconvenient. Easily remedied by temporary solutions you mentioned.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Yeah here in the Midwest my area lost power due to the polar vortex around the winter solstice a few years back. Did it suck? Yeah. But towels under doors, ready to eat food, candles, and lots of blankets made it merely unpleasant. You absolutely should have supplies for situations like that. At some point I'd also like to keep drinking water supplies. Your emergency preparedness kit is generally best to keep at "bearable" levels for a few days. The goal is to ride it out, not to experience full comfort.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 3 points 1 week ago

We were without power for almost a week during an ice storm a few years ago. There was no government shelter that I ever heard about. We had to stay at a friend's house.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Breaking news: some countries have higher and lower population densities.

[–] SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Until you discover that the gas infrastructure and your home heather need electricity to function. You better have an old fashion gas stove as backup that you can use until gas pressure drops too much. You could get bottles of gas and a camping heater but every year people die because they use these indoors and get CO poisoning so be careful.

[–] spacesatan@leminal.space 5 points 1 week ago

Are you sure you're not thinking of generators? All the popular propane heaters in the US have CO shutoffs. There's not really a point to using a heater outdoors in the first place unless it's one of the huge ones that take a 20 pound tank and very obviously shouldn't be used indoors.

[–] socsa@piefed.social 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Trust me, I would love to get ride of gas, but my stove does work fine without power. Also, utilities generally don't go down because of weather, since they have backup power on site.

[–] SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

Normally they should have backup, but places like Texas saved a few bucks on backups and their maintenance so their gas lines went down too. That was in the 2021 power crisis. Deregulations and increasingly weird weather is a bad combination.

[–] madame_gaymes@programming.dev 2 points 1 week ago (2 children)

If only there was some sort of invisible power we could harness from a large ball of fire 🤔

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Oh like a nuclear reactor? Wish those where still a thing...

[–] Litebit@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

he is talking about fusion reactor, specifically not fission.

[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 2 points 1 week ago

Well why can't we have both? Lets make boiling water sexy again.

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] madame_gaymes@programming.dev 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

There are these things called batteries, and they don't have to be made from Lithium.

Also, you could take it literally and burn wood to harness the warm energy surrounding it on a winter night.

[–] Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee -1 points 1 week ago

Batteries are expensive, and having a solar array and battery bank large enough to power your home all winter would be prohibitively expensive.

This is why we ideally have a wide range of energy sources. It's usually raining and windy in winter.

[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Gas heating doesn't work without electricity. Thermostat is electric, blower fan is electric. Modern furnaces even use electric ignition instead of running a pilot light.

[–] douglasg14b@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This is another one of those stupid feel-good statements where it feels good to say but completely hand waves away all the complexities of actually achieving this.

Never mind the massive financial barrier to get people to switch away from gas in the first place (which the majority of everyone is not going to be able to afford so how do you expect that to work?) where does this money come from?

But you now need to contend with electrical infrastructure changes to support that extra load. Where does this money come from?

Sure in theory this is a great idea I would love to switch to heat pumps as I'm sure many others would as well. However the cost is egregious ($30-50k). And unless it's supported with massive government subsidies (remember the US government just cut all subsidies for these sorts of things) then it's not going to happen because people just can't afford it.

It's not a "feel good statement", it's reality. Gas is terrible. It's responsible for a significant portion of climate change and gas stoves cause myriad health issues. This is basic stuff. Of course the transition isn't all sunshine and rainbows but electrification is far from some insurmountable ideal, and it can be quite cost effective.

The vast majority of HVAC equipment will be replaced on burnout, and when you do the economics of a new gas furnace (and almost certainly AC these days) vs an ASHP, it's simply not $30-50k extra. There are state and local incentives, the federal tax credits, utility incentives etc., but I agree the IRA programs are on thin ice (even though Biden awarded funds before leaving). I bought a high end cold climate heat pump for just a few grand more than my neighbor who bought a furnace/AC with similar operating costs. You can get a cheaper ASHP and furnace for something in between cost wise. My state has tripled cold climate heat pump incentives and they are now very competitive with gas systems. I work in the industry and live this every day, it's not some boondoggle, the grid updates necessary aren't as dramatic as headlines imply and are already well underway to support vehicle electrification and load growth/resiliency. The PNW is quite mild and people are willing to pay for AC anyway due to heat waves (and wildfire smoke), so going straight to heat pumps is a very cost effective solution. Folks are cancelling gas service left and right and the remaining users will be left with rising fixed costs. Plus as I led with, gas is terrible for your family and the climate (and locally where the wells are).

[–] Ledericas@lemm.ee 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)

worst comes to worst, they would.

[–] douglasg14b@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Oh I'm sure. And Trump and other MAGA would look on with glee because they hate the PNW.

[–] Dogiedog64@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The truly hilarious part is that all the cheap, shitty beer that these dumbfuck MAGAts drink is made with ingredients sourced from the PNW. They'd have to give up Bud, Busch, Miller and Coors.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Wait are yall a major wheat and rice producer?

[–] Dogiedog64@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I moreso meant hops, but yeah, the PNW does tons of grain as well. Alberta, specifically, produces (I believe) the majority in Canada. Trying to kill the PNW would cripple their alcoholic base.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Ain't Alberta east of the rockies?

And yeah I was under the impression that the grain was from Louisiana (rice) and the rocky rain shadow (wheat). I know here in the Mississippi basin we're mostly sticking to growing corn and soy as livestock feed

[–] Dogiedog64@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

You are correct that they're east of the Rockies. However, Alberta and Saskatchewan make upwards of 75% of Canada's farmland, so they produce Canada's grain. As for where beer companies get their grain, I have no doubt they try to get it from wherever is cheapest. In the Northern Midwest, that's likely from Canada, since it's closer than Louisiana or Mississippi, or any of the other southern states. I don't have the actual sales info to go off of, though.

[–] ThePantser@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Just the thing to enrage the masses. It'll be hard but the only thing that might change the mind of of MAGAt is suffering.

[–] AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today 5 points 1 week ago

The MAGAts know that the PNW doesn't like them, and will happily watch the PNW suffer, unfortunately.

[–] Someone@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 week ago

Oh, good idea. I'll pass it to my MLA.

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 week ago

Sounds like a good way to get them to rebel