5 ms·

Not to mention low probability of natural disasters: Earthquakes, tornados, wild fire, hurricanes, etc.

politician 5y ago
Access to large amounts of fresh water.
theandrewbailey 5y ago
Half of Ohio is flat, and gets lots of storms that blow through the plains and prairies from the west, so not exactly low probability of tornadoes. Source: I grew up in central Ohio. Public schools made it a point to practice tornado drills. In addition, there was an old Cold War-era air raid siren a block from the house I grew up in that had been repurposed and tested for tornado warnings. One of these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9rRSY0dRIU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9rRSY0dRIU Edit: read about Xenia, Ohio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenia,_Ohio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenia,_Ohio > Xenia has a history of severe storm activity. According to local legend, the Shawnee referred to the area as "the place of the devil wind" or "the land of the crazy winds" (depending upon the translation). > On April 3, 1974, a tornado rated F5 on the Fujita scale cut a path directly through the middle of Xenia during the 1974 Super Outbreak > Xenia was struck by an F2 tornado on April 25, 1989, and again by an F4 tornado on September 20, 2000.
- eeeeeeehio 5y ago
  Even large, damaging tornadoes have quite localized impacts (max of maybe a mile in path width) -- and you don't generally do much more than stay up to building code in order to prepare for one. In contrast, earthquakes devastate entire areas and require substantial changes to building construction in order to protect against them. The probability of a large, damaging tornado at a particular spot in Ohio is quite small compared with the risk of damaging earthquakes in other locations. https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-probability-earthquake-will-occur-los-angeles-area-san-francisco-bay-area https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-probability-earthquake-will-o...
  - grayfaced 5y ago
    Tornado protection is mostly about avoiding damage in the periphery of a tornado. A building of that size can't realistically be protected from a direct hit of a major tornado. Proper engineering can protect a building from basically all earthquakes. Whether the contents inside are secured properly is a different matter and that's where most damage occurs.
  - CamperBob2 5y ago
    you don't generally do much more than stay up to building code in order to prepare for one. Interesting. I'm unfamiliar with building code provisions that are designed to mitigate the effects of tornadoes, which are arguably the most destructive force on Earth apart from an erupting volcano or a nuclear attack, on a semiconductor fab, which is arguably among the most sensitive and easily-disrupted facilities ever built. Any good sources for further reading?
mrfusion 5y ago
Low geopolitical risk is probably one of the best factors.
- sneak 5y ago
  - dang 5y ago
    We've asked you many times to stop posting flamebait to HN. If you keep doing it, we're going to have to ban you. I don't want to ban you, so please stop. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- mNovak 5y ago
  Fun fact, Ohio was supposedly high on the Soviet nuke target list, because of Wright Patterson AFB, which houses the Air Force Research Lab (and aliens). I have an old Soviet invasion map of central Ohio, marking all potential airfields etc.
  - robbintt 5y ago
    Yep - one of my classrooms in Ohio was in the old fallout shelter. I saw the signs with radioactive label every morning going into the building. The location is now demolished.
    - paulv 5y ago
      Same. My high school was very near a GE plant in northern Cincinnati and I frequently heard how we were a target because of that. Seems plausible but based on other comments in this post, it may have just been cold war propaganda.
  - xhrpost 5y ago
    Lol, growing up in Ohio I've heard this same thing but for various different reasons over the years. Would be interesting to see an authoritative source if one exists
asdff 5y ago
You just get different natural disasters. Flooding that could damage your basement and foundation and prevent you from accessing certain roads is a regular occurrence, some people are always pumping out their basements every time it rains. A bad roof you could get away with in California where it rains 5 x a year could quickly spiral into more expensive rot and repairs in places that see heavy rains. Storms can still fall trees onto your house or car. Snowstorms often don't stop your employer from demanding your presence in the office or schools from closing because we are supposedly hardy in the midwest, and increasingly as the weather gets milder, ice storms that manifest as rain during the day but dangerous ice as soon as the sun sets and temperatures fall, coating your car in an inch thick layer of ice when you leave for work in the morning. And plus when the west burns up in flames, the smoke plume wafts east and settles down on the midwest, giving you the bad air anyhow. Speaking of air quality, if you have any allergies, the midwest is also not for you. You get slammed from pollen both from a variety of seasonal weeds, as well as from the intensive agriculture performed in the region.
danielvaughn 5y ago
The first thing I thought about was tornados, actually. That Amazon facility in Missouri was just totally flattened back in December. Given the cost of manufacturing chips, it seems like it would be a huge loss if it was hit.
- renewedrebecca 5y ago
  Columbus doesn't typically get strong tornadoes, although with climate change, anything is possible.

Access to large amounts of fresh water.

Half of Ohio is flat, and gets lots of storms that blow through the plains and prairies from the west, so not exactly low probability of tornadoes. Source: I grew up in central Ohio. Public schools made it a point to practice tornado drills. In addition, there was an old Cold War-era air raid siren a block from the house I grew up in that had been repurposed and tested for tornado warnings. One of these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9rRSY0dRIU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9rRSY0dRIU Edit: read about Xenia, Ohio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenia,_Ohio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenia,_Ohio > Xenia has a history of severe storm activity. According to local legend, the Shawnee referred to the area as "the place of the devil wind" or "the land of the crazy winds" (depending upon the translation). > On April 3, 1974, a tornado rated F5 on the Fujita scale cut a path directly through the middle of Xenia during the 1974 Super Outbreak > Xenia was struck by an F2 tornado on April 25, 1989, and again by an F4 tornado on September 20, 2000.

eeeeeeehio 5y ago
Even large, damaging tornadoes have quite localized impacts (max of maybe a mile in path width) -- and you don't generally do much more than stay up to building code in order to prepare for one. In contrast, earthquakes devastate entire areas and require substantial changes to building construction in order to protect against them. The probability of a large, damaging tornado at a particular spot in Ohio is quite small compared with the risk of damaging earthquakes in other locations. https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-probability-earthquake-will-occur-los-angeles-area-san-francisco-bay-area https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/what-probability-earthquake-will-o...
- grayfaced 5y ago
  Tornado protection is mostly about avoiding damage in the periphery of a tornado. A building of that size can't realistically be protected from a direct hit of a major tornado. Proper engineering can protect a building from basically all earthquakes. Whether the contents inside are secured properly is a different matter and that's where most damage occurs.
- CamperBob2 5y ago
  you don't generally do much more than stay up to building code in order to prepare for one. Interesting. I'm unfamiliar with building code provisions that are designed to mitigate the effects of tornadoes, which are arguably the most destructive force on Earth apart from an erupting volcano or a nuclear attack, on a semiconductor fab, which is arguably among the most sensitive and easily-disrupted facilities ever built. Any good sources for further reading?

mrfusion 5y ago

Low geopolitical risk is probably one of the best factors.

sneak 5y ago
- dang 5y ago
  We've asked you many times to stop posting flamebait to HN. If you keep doing it, we're going to have to ban you. I don't want to ban you, so please stop. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
mNovak 5y ago
Fun fact, Ohio was supposedly high on the Soviet nuke target list, because of Wright Patterson AFB, which houses the Air Force Research Lab (and aliens). I have an old Soviet invasion map of central Ohio, marking all potential airfields etc.
- robbintt 5y ago
  Yep - one of my classrooms in Ohio was in the old fallout shelter. I saw the signs with radioactive label every morning going into the building. The location is now demolished.
  - paulv 5y ago
    Same. My high school was very near a GE plant in northern Cincinnati and I frequently heard how we were a target because of that. Seems plausible but based on other comments in this post, it may have just been cold war propaganda.
- xhrpost 5y ago
  Lol, growing up in Ohio I've heard this same thing but for various different reasons over the years. Would be interesting to see an authoritative source if one exists

asdff 5y ago

You just get different natural disasters. Flooding that could damage your basement and foundation and prevent you from accessing certain roads is a regular occurrence, some people are always pumping out their basements every time it rains. A bad roof you could get away with in California where it rains 5 x a year could quickly spiral into more expensive rot and repairs in places that see heavy rains. Storms can still fall trees onto your house or car. Snowstorms often don't stop your employer from demanding your presence in the office or schools from closing because we are supposedly hardy in the midwest, and increasingly as the weather gets milder, ice storms that manifest as rain during the day but dangerous ice as soon as the sun sets and temperatures fall, coating your car in an inch thick layer of ice when you leave for work in the morning. And plus when the west burns up in flames, the smoke plume wafts east and settles down on the midwest, giving you the bad air anyhow. Speaking of air quality, if you have any allergies, the midwest is also not for you. You get slammed from pollen both from a variety of seasonal weeds, as well as from the intensive agriculture performed in the region.

danielvaughn 5y ago

The first thing I thought about was tornados, actually. That Amazon facility in Missouri was just totally flattened back in December. Given the cost of manufacturing chips, it seems like it would be a huge loss if it was hit.

renewedrebecca 5y ago
Columbus doesn't typically get strong tornadoes, although with climate change, anything is possible.