4 ms·

Welcome to the third world country known as California, where we can't even get reliable electric service. Used to be the shining star of progress in the world

by vanniv 7y ago

Welcome to the third world country known as California, where we can't even get reliable electric service. Used to be the shining star of progress in the world, now this.

jvagner 7y ago
I’m moving back to SF on Nov 1 for work. It’s bemusing to watch the fire, electrical and BART outages this week. I’ve had CA related travel stays cancelled twice for PG&E outages. Looking for a place to stay/live, too.. if anyone here can help. Will be on Embarcadero, but I like the east bay, and beyond.
- vanniv 7y ago
  I'm sorry. I'm in So Cal, myself, but I'm really trying to escape. Have been starting to seriously investigate options outside of CA. It's just becoming so oppressively broken here.
- malyk 7y ago
  Check out AC Transit Transbay Bus routes and live near one of those in Alameda/Oakland/Berkeley. Here in north oakland I have a 45 minute commute with a seat every day on the bus.
  - jvagner 7y ago
    Yes. Back in the day, I commuted to SOMA from Lafayette -- had that worked out quite nicely. I'll be starting from Oakland, found a spot to land that will give me a little time to work through market availabilities to find the right place. But what you suggest is more or less what I'm aiming for, with Lafayette/WC as a possible extension if I can keep the home-to-BART commute easy. I do like to get up at 430am and BART early, which opens things up a bit.
TaylorAlexander 7y ago
I’m born and raised in California and have always lived here so I say this very much as a Californian, but that is such a California thing to say power outages make us like a third world country. (I’m laughing, not scolding.)
campfireveteran 7y ago
I'm currently in Paradise. PG&E's PSPSes are not notified consistently or accurately. The power is on as of 10/26/2019 1:35 am, but it may go out at any minute. Also, they don't seem to follow the conditions around the HV lines with actual risks... power was on during high heat periods with winds and low humidity, but out during lower heat. Decay is slow and gradual to people who live here all of the time. If you're like Chris Hedges and live abroad for some years and come back, the decline is noticeable over a longer timescale. (Slowly boiled frog.) And then there are folks like Chalmers Johnson who predicted empire and democracy are mutually exclusive, and you can see the current US military budget, undeclared wars and hundreds of bases around the world. Some examples of decline include: - massive corruption of the political establishment - crackdowns on publishers and journalists who don't tow the establishment line - apathy of the middle (low voter turn-out) - electing demagogues - crumbling infrastructure: roads, bridges - rust belt / lack of manufacturing - declining birth rates - rising xenophobia, provincialism and nationalism - increase in volatility and political polarization of average people - grotesque inequality with millions of homeless - questioning capitalism bifurcating into leaning either towards fascism or socialism - magical, tribal belief cults like flat-earth, anti-vaxx and conspiracy theorists - highest incarceration rate on Earth (per capita) except Seychelles - clueless leadership/elite class who cling ever more to utopian nonsense like libertarianism, meritocracy, consumerism, and technological progress/fashion - national debt leading to insolvency
- codyb 7y ago
  Voter turnout’s low because we live in an oligarchy where only special interests are represented, votes don’t matter (even when they’re not suppressed), and the will of the people isn’t heard in our chambers and halls of governance. That’s why 65 million people vote for Clinton and we end up with Trump despite 3 million less votes. It’s why pluralities of Americans support things like assault weapons bans but Mitch McConnell won’t even bring bills to the floor. It’s why we get extreme gerrymandering in states like N. Carolina, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. The country is being hollowed out from within, the middle class is in steady decline, and our once great institutions are being privatized and sold off to the highest bidder. It’s Milton Friedman and his Chicago boys wet dream and it’s only possible when the people aren’t represented and it’s going to have terrible repercussions in the United States just like it did in every other place that forced it upon its citizens. We need to get rid of undemocratic institutions like the electoral college and Senate, expand the number of reps in the House of Representatives, drastically reduce the amount of money in politics, root out corruption, and make voting easier to access. Unfortunately the Republican party wants none of those to pass in a system they can only continue to game further to win. It’s a pretty depressing reality.
JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
California has grown quite a bit in the past few decades. Some of these problems didn't exist in decades past. Also, California gets less precipitation than prior decades. Those aren't failures of the people of California. It wasn't like they chose to change the amount of rainfall that would occur.
- Data_Junkie 7y ago
  Oh please. That's so ignorant. It's been raining fine, it's horrid people that are new.
  - JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
    "The period between late 2011 and 2014 was the driest in California history since record-keeping began" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droughts_in_California https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droughts_in_California
    - Data_Junkie 7y ago
      The fire isn't because of lack of rain. Nothing has changed, but time and people. People are causing this, not nature.
- vanniv 7y ago
  The last few years have actually been uncharacteristically wet by historical standards. That's actually why this fire season is so bad. The problem isn't that too many people moved to California, the problem is that California has been aggressively blocking anything that might be construed as development, meaning that conditions just keep worsening everywhere.

by vanniv 7y ago

Welcome to the third world country known as California, where we can't even get reliable electric service. Used to be the shining star of progress in the world, now this.

jvagner 7y ago

I’m moving back to SF on Nov 1 for work. It’s bemusing to watch the fire, electrical and BART outages this week. I’ve had CA related travel stays cancelled twice for PG&E outages. Looking for a place to stay/live, too.. if anyone here can help. Will be on Embarcadero, but I like the east bay, and beyond.

vanniv 7y ago
I'm sorry. I'm in So Cal, myself, but I'm really trying to escape. Have been starting to seriously investigate options outside of CA. It's just becoming so oppressively broken here.
malyk 7y ago
Check out AC Transit Transbay Bus routes and live near one of those in Alameda/Oakland/Berkeley. Here in north oakland I have a 45 minute commute with a seat every day on the bus.
- jvagner 7y ago
  Yes. Back in the day, I commuted to SOMA from Lafayette -- had that worked out quite nicely. I'll be starting from Oakland, found a spot to land that will give me a little time to work through market availabilities to find the right place. But what you suggest is more or less what I'm aiming for, with Lafayette/WC as a possible extension if I can keep the home-to-BART commute easy. I do like to get up at 430am and BART early, which opens things up a bit.

TaylorAlexander 7y ago

I’m born and raised in California and have always lived here so I say this very much as a Californian, but that is such a California thing to say power outages make us like a third world country. (I’m laughing, not scolding.)

campfireveteran 7y ago

I'm currently in Paradise. PG&E's PSPSes are not notified consistently or accurately. The power is on as of 10/26/2019 1:35 am, but it may go out at any minute. Also, they don't seem to follow the conditions around the HV lines with actual risks... power was on during high heat periods with winds and low humidity, but out during lower heat. Decay is slow and gradual to people who live here all of the time. If you're like Chris Hedges and live abroad for some years and come back, the decline is noticeable over a longer timescale. (Slowly boiled frog.) And then there are folks like Chalmers Johnson who predicted empire and democracy are mutually exclusive, and you can see the current US military budget, undeclared wars and hundreds of bases around the world. Some examples of decline include: - massive corruption of the political establishment - crackdowns on publishers and journalists who don't tow the establishment line - apathy of the middle (low voter turn-out) - electing demagogues - crumbling infrastructure: roads, bridges - rust belt / lack of manufacturing - declining birth rates - rising xenophobia, provincialism and nationalism - increase in volatility and political polarization of average people - grotesque inequality with millions of homeless - questioning capitalism bifurcating into leaning either towards fascism or socialism - magical, tribal belief cults like flat-earth, anti-vaxx and conspiracy theorists - highest incarceration rate on Earth (per capita) except Seychelles - clueless leadership/elite class who cling ever more to utopian nonsense like libertarianism, meritocracy, consumerism, and technological progress/fashion - national debt leading to insolvency

codyb 7y ago
Voter turnout’s low because we live in an oligarchy where only special interests are represented, votes don’t matter (even when they’re not suppressed), and the will of the people isn’t heard in our chambers and halls of governance. That’s why 65 million people vote for Clinton and we end up with Trump despite 3 million less votes. It’s why pluralities of Americans support things like assault weapons bans but Mitch McConnell won’t even bring bills to the floor. It’s why we get extreme gerrymandering in states like N. Carolina, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. The country is being hollowed out from within, the middle class is in steady decline, and our once great institutions are being privatized and sold off to the highest bidder. It’s Milton Friedman and his Chicago boys wet dream and it’s only possible when the people aren’t represented and it’s going to have terrible repercussions in the United States just like it did in every other place that forced it upon its citizens. We need to get rid of undemocratic institutions like the electoral college and Senate, expand the number of reps in the House of Representatives, drastically reduce the amount of money in politics, root out corruption, and make voting easier to access. Unfortunately the Republican party wants none of those to pass in a system they can only continue to game further to win. It’s a pretty depressing reality.

JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago

California has grown quite a bit in the past few decades. Some of these problems didn't exist in decades past. Also, California gets less precipitation than prior decades. Those aren't failures of the people of California. It wasn't like they chose to change the amount of rainfall that would occur.

Data_Junkie 7y ago
Oh please. That's so ignorant. It's been raining fine, it's horrid people that are new.
- JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
  "The period between late 2011 and 2014 was the driest in California history since record-keeping began" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droughts_in_California https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droughts_in_California
  - Data_Junkie 7y ago
    The fire isn't because of lack of rain. Nothing has changed, but time and people. People are causing this, not nature.
vanniv 7y ago
The last few years have actually been uncharacteristically wet by historical standards. That's actually why this fire season is so bad. The problem isn't that too many people moved to California, the problem is that California has been aggressively blocking anything that might be construed as development, meaning that conditions just keep worsening everywhere.