Texas power issues. Wind farms getting iced up (Part II)... 38

[Alistair_Heaton]

Never had an unexpected one in Riga. They have sometimes warned a week in advance the power will be out for a certain period and they have been true to there word. Normally they seem to have a 2 hour buffer and it goes on early. We have the dam near the city though which provides the power.

They are also very good at scheduling things at night.

The farm is on the end of a old Soviet line which apparently is in the league of dental floss as power transmission levels go. It goes down occasionally when there is adverse weather. I think the contract states they have 12 hours in the summer and 18 in the winter before you get a rebate. Never had one yet in the 4 years I have owned it.

I don't really expect it to have anywhere near the same level of trusted. We have wood fire. A wood fueled hot plate stove and oven A 150 ltr pressure tank on the water well which I can power the pump using a car. A old school well with a bucket. And freezer that's good for 36 hours -35 to -10 Deg C. If it was -10 outside I would just unplug the freezer and pull it outside. We could easily last a week if not 2 in -30 Deg C.

 

[RedSnake]

Feels a little backwards, should have been 12 hour in the winter and 18 in the summer.. ;-)

/A



“Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.“
Albert Einstein

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

I can only presume it's to get hardware on site. As far as I can tell they have local linesmen who have chainsaws and that sort of level of stuff. Then there is 8 depo's spread around the country basically there is 1 within an hour's drive of every where. And they hold snow ploughs as well and diggers etc and transformer stock and cable.

When the transformer down the road blew up the linesman was there in 30 mins. And the lorry with a new one and hiab turned up an hour half later all at 3 am in a howling gale. Took an hour to get the old one out and new one connected. So that group of houses was only out for 3 hours which I was pretty impressed with to be honest.

 

[RedSnake]

Yes it was.
I think that it is still a bit of the "Russian" way of doing it.
Here they would not have done something like that due to the risks involved in a middle of a storm.
If you compare it with UK or Scotland is there a big difference?

/A

“Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.“
Albert Einstein

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

The farm yes. More often.

Scotland it was extremely rare to get a cut. I can remember 2 in my childhood and university days.

Both of them though we're road vehicles taking power lines out.

The linesman was safe enough he had a highviz on and safety glasses.. And some state of the art insulated shoes which looked suspiciously like Chinese fake croc saddles. I was a tad concerned his feet were going to get frost bitten.

 

[Fischstabchen]

Dik,

It is written into the Cuban constitution that healthcare be provided by the government sort of how in communist Russia, emphasis was placed on supplying bread, sausage, and vodka to the public. My brother's wife was from communist Hungary and if a politician couldn't provide cheap bread, sausage, and vodka they were voted out. It is kind of funny how some governments try to suss out the cheapest solutions to keep people content.

 

[dik]

Sorry Fisch... I'm looking at the end result... just seems more civilised.

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[Fischstabchen]

Dik,

It is. One of the greatest failures in my opinion is the lack of universal healthcare. If Hillary had gotten elected, I think she could have and would finalize it and fix it since she and her husband were proponents of it 30 years ago. I hope this pandemic in the least puts a lot of class issues back onto the table. The unrest between parties and ethnic groups I believe has more to do with misplaced blame of class issues than real ideological differences. When things faulter, one side blames the other rather than the build up of systemic problems relating to the reduction in taxation of corporations and the rich.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

It hasn't really been mentioned this side of the pond. But how has the hospital system held up in the US?

Even with universal healthcare countries had huge issues with demand way way outstripping supply both of beds and manpower. Mate that work in that line are saying that there will be a huge lump of additional deaths coming up in the next 18 months because all the normal stuff they catch and treat has been missed for the last year. He is a gynaecologist consultant but reckons pretty much every flavour of specialisation is pretty much up there on emergency care and respiratory these days because they have all been doing it. As he puts it if a tractotomy needs put in on a patent on his table he won't be calling for another surgeon to come in and do it after the last year which he would have done 18 months ago.

 

[CWB1]

Stateside we didn't see any problems, tho no doubt hysterics here will claim the sky fell. During our six week shutdown elective procedures were cancelled so utilization rates dropped drastically, forcing many empty hospitals to close and layoff staff for a few weeks this time last April. The absurdity of the situation vs the political/media claims actually helped us return to normalcy very quickly in May and remain open/restriction free the last year despite the political muppets demanding otherwise. There was a small surge of patients needing elective work during May but doctors stateside tend to keep easy hours so the surge was easily absorbed by a small bit of OT and schedules were normal by mid-June. That said, in a population of 325M there's going to be hysterics hurting themselves and my wife and her colleagues do see insanity every few weeks - patients walking in with absurd levels of PPE, demanding their waiting room's IR camera be sanitized, and real health issues both mental and physical from folks remaining shut-in too long or avoiding the doc. Thankfully for her those are 1/1k and usually more of a laugh than a concern.

 

[Fischstabchen]

CWB1,

I am one of those fools that had "way too much ppe". I bought a bunch of N95 and P100 filters, mask, and tyvek suits back in January and February. I loaded up on foodstock as well. I saw what was happening in China and Italy and it looked very bad. I don't regret any of it. After a few months, I just started ordering everything online instead. I haven't nor has my family gotten the virus. The average bill I saw for someone needing medical care was $40,000 and that is not counting longterm issues. People who got spanish flu and recovered had a 10 year shorter lifespan. COVID-19 I suspect is going to be something doctors ask about for awhile. My wife and I are now fully vaccinated so I don't regret being over cautious. I just write 2020 off as a shitty year.

The issues surrounding COVID-19 I believe are more economic than health related to most. Food lines in Houston were over a mile long. My brother said the same thing was happening in Minnesota. There was a huge treatment facility built for over flow after seeing what happened in Italy but fortunately that was never needed. A lot of medivacs flew into the medical district in Houston when it was bad. There were some counties that were very badly affected and had to send people to wherever. Latinos and african americans were disproportionately affected. When it was really bad, ambulances would get sent from hospital to hospital and sometimes just sat for hours waiting to find a place that would take their patient. It is a real tragedy that HIPPA laws prevented footage from inside hospitals from being released to show the general public how bad the situation was. I think the mindset of the politicians in Texas is that the situation is under control if the hospitals still have beds and are not completely overrun.

 

[dik]

Thanks, Fisch... it was politicised, and handled wrong...

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

Out of our 2 family group of 5 adults and 4 kids they all got it and tested positive but I tested negative 3 times over 2 weeks.

One of them is still suffering from 7 weeks ago after being taken out for a week with it. All the kids it was 24h of fever and headaches and coughing and then back out in the snow again. My kid was welded to me for 18 hours and i still didn't get it. I suspect I had it last year in Jan but quite how the Mrs and kid didn't get it then i don't know. Although due to my work environment i have a pretty bullet proof immune system and I am O neg where as everyone else is A+ or AB+ which apparently is an advantage.

 

[moon161]

It goes through a family so quick. My brother in laws kid got it from day care, and then the whole family. Some friends, 3 cases from boyfriend to girlfriend to her friend. My wife gave one of them a ride and is sure she'd have it if she wasn't vaccinated.

 

[Alistair_Heaton]

same with my lot.

A driver who delivers food to all the local council units went to visit family up north of a weekend. Felt a bit unwell on Monday while doing his delivery's went home lunch tue tested positive on Wed.

So it came home with the kids from school
.

And by Friday about 70% of the locals had come down with it. And by Monday the few of us that didn't get it and those in isolation were the only ones left.

There was a convoy of vans going to the old folks homes. They are now mothballing 2 out of 5 of them due to a rapid decrease in demand...

Stupid tossers now though have started wearing masks and washing there hands which they didn't before. And the most vocal anti vax has shut her mouth after I said she didn't need it now she had got the bug because so nobody cares if she is going to refuse to take it. She can't have it anyway for another 3 months.

 

[RedSnake]

My wife gave one of them a ride and is sure she'd have it if she wasn't vaccinated.

One of the early cases at work was a guy that went till and from work with three others he also worked with, in the same car.
Non of them got infected.
So nothing is for sure.

Best Regards A

“Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.“
Albert Einstein

 

[1503-44]

Daughter of my ex died in Houston 11 Jan, 39yrs. Blood pressure dropped to nothing in a few hours after a day of trying to get tested. For some unknown reason, no hospital room was readily available.

If you're not doing the smart things, then I hope you are lucky, very lucky.

 

[dik]

If you're not doing smart things, you are making it dangerous for those who are... I check my BP, temperature and oxygen SAT, daily...

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[hokie66]

Uncontrolled hypertension is a comorbidity for Covid. But hypotension, never heard of that being an issue.

 

[dik]

I would suggest that dead would be an example of hypotension...

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik