Massive Pile Up In Fort Worth

[Pohemi]

Can you 2 morons of dumb and dumber stick to your P&N bunghole?
The adults are talking here but you just have to make shit political, like other states are in complete and total order but Texas is just in utter chaos.

Uhh...yeah? That's about the size of it.
Are you done screaming at the mirror yet?
How do you fit those giant shoes into that teeny little car? Impressive level of stupidity.

 

[MrSquished]

Uhh...yeah? That's about the size of it.
Are you done screaming at the mirror yet?
How do you fit those giant shoes into that teeny little car? Impressive level of stupidity.

Things feel really in order here actually. Took mass transit to the city. Totally punctual. Subways running great. Outdoor dining is in full force, though indoor dining is an option. Restaurants have water, no boil advisory necessary

Shit. Feels normal.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

With that same logic, the FD should not bust down your front door to go put out a fire in your house if they get a call from the alarm company.

Some decisions just make sense to do to save people from hardship. Clearly it was not in the company's interest to save anyone though, this was just an opportunity at gouging people out of their life savings or possibly even causing them to have to go bankrupt.

If someone else always knows what's best for you - why even have an income?

 

[Red Squirrel]

If someone else always knows what's best for you - why even have an income?

Huh that makes absolutely no sense.

This is about doing something reasonable not about making decisions for people. 99.99999% chance a customer would not be ok with paying a bill that'sin the thousands when their normal bill is in the low 100s or less and would rather there be a way to stop it from happening even if it means a short outage. Allowing a bill to rack up that high is just predatory.

At my work we have systems that can detect if a customer's PBX is making unusual long distance calls, which is indication that it may be hacked. When that happens we disable long distance until they can fix it, as it's better that than to end up getting nailed with a huge bill. Or how about credit card companies that can detect fraud and block a purchase. Same idea.

 

[snoopy7548]

Yup. Like I said, my neighbor across the street was the one who actually introduced me to Griddy and he definitely made it sound appealing. At the end though I was happy with my current 5 year contract of not having to worry about shit.

Had I gone with Griddy - theres zero question I would turn off the breaker and left town for a week for a surprise vacation.

He's definitely hurting, though I don't have the heart to ask him what bill he received.

And come back to $20k+ of water damage from burst pipes.

 

[Torn Mind]

And come back to $20k+ of water damage from burst pipes.

Shut off main, leave faucets open, drain all toilets. Done.

 

[Red Squirrel]

It's Texas, you throw up a 100w solar panel and wrap the water main with some copper wire and short it to the panel and call it a day. It's not like here where you only get about 7 hours of daylight. If you have more time to prepare you use a MPPT controller and a thermostat. You still want to shut it and drain the pipes, but you also want to keep the pipe warm that goes all the way to the main as that is still pressurized. I guess theft of solar panels is probably a big issue right now though? So probably don't want those out in the open, and they kinda have to be in order to work.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Shut off main, leave faucets open, drain all toilets. Done.

You have to have a bleeder valve too in order to drain the pipes, or they can still burst.

 

[ch33zw1z]

It's Texas, you throw up a 100w solar panel and wrap the water main with some copper wire and short it to the panel and call it a day. It's not like here where you only get about 7 hours of daylight. If you have more time to prepare you use a MPPT controller and a thermostat. You still want to shut it and drain the pipes, but you also want to keep the pipe warm that goes all the way to the main as that is still pressurized. I guess theft of solar panels is probably a big issue right now though? So probably don't want those out in the open, and they kinda have to be in order to work.

Lots of guns down there, guard your panels in shifts. Sounds like TWD or something tho, lol.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Lots of guns down there, guard your panels in shifts. Sounds like TWD or something tho, lol.

Lol true. You can also shoot bullets at a piezo electric transducer (BBQ igniter for example) to make electricity. Just need a good capacitor bank. Ok now I'm actually kinda curious if that would work... lol

 

[Red Squirrel]

There's now conspiracy theories that the snow is not real but some kind of plot by Bill Gates. lmao.

Texans Trying To Prove The Snow In Their State Isn't Real, But It's Just A Conspiracy Theory

But while people in Texas sought heat and shelter, another problem emerged online. Conspiracy theories of outlandish proportions claiming that the snow in the region is actually 'fake'.

www.indiatimes.com

 

[deadlyapp]

There's now conspiracy theories that the snow is not real but some kind of plot by Bill Gates. lmao.

Texans Trying To Prove The Snow In Their State Isn't Real, But It's Just A Conspiracy Theory

But while people in Texas sought heat and shelter, another problem emerged online. Conspiracy theories of outlandish proportions claiming that the snow in the region is actually 'fake'.

www.indiatimes.com

This is just people not knowing science and physics.

As far as your comparison to a fire department and electricity - not the same. I pay the fire department through taxes and expect them to do it. Sure, if you make electricity a public utility (which is what many states and cities have done) then you pay some certain amount of tax for that service and they have a monopoly. Texas didn't want that.

A better comparison would be an ambulance service. I don't know how canuckistan works, but ambulances are private services. I can choose whether or not I want to use an ambulance, knowing full well of the costs to do so. Now for most people who need one, they are in a state so bad they may die. Electricity isn't a service that will kill if you don't use it.

 

[K1052]

A better comparison would be an ambulance service. I don't know how canuckistan works, but ambulances are private services. I can choose whether or not I want to use an ambulance, knowing full well of the costs to do so.

This is not universally true. Municipalities and counties often have their own EMS services, sometimes slotted into the fire department. Though these systems do exist alongside other private services.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

And come back to $20k+ of water damage from burst pipes.

Shut off main, leave faucets open, drain all toilets. Done.

Yup, I got a shutoff key for turning it off at the street level.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yup, I got a shutoff key for turning it off at the street level.

I've thought of trying to find a street key, would be good piece of mind knowing I can turn off my water at the outside valve if there was some kind of emergency. Super illegal though.... but mine is in the back yard so less obvious if I was doing it.

 

[FelixDeCat]

There's now conspiracy theories that the snow is not real but some kind of plot by Bill Gates. lmao.

Texans Trying To Prove The Snow In Their State Isn't Real, But It's Just A Conspiracy Theory

But while people in Texas sought heat and shelter, another problem emerged online. Conspiracy theories of outlandish proportions claiming that the snow in the region is actually 'fake'.

www.indiatimes.com

India Times - your source for pointing out a couple of crackpots to give the impression many think the same way.

eyeroll.gif

 

[Red Squirrel]

India Times - your source for pointing out a couple of crackpots to give the impression many think the same way.

eyeroll.gif

I'm not supporting the conspiracy theory just posting it because I think it's hilarious.

More articles on it:

TikTokers pushing conspiracy theory that snow in Texas is ‘fake’

Foil-capped TikTokers claim it was actually planted by the government.

nypost.com

Conspiracy theory claims Texas snow is ‘government-generated’

TikTok users attempt to prove recent snowfall ‘synthetic’ and part of sinister state plot

www.independent.co.uk

Fake snow? Conspiracy theories claim Texas frozen due to 'manipulated' weather

WION (World Is One News) brings latest & breaking news from South Asia, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and rest of the World in politics, business, economy, sports, lifestyle, science & technology with opinions & analysis.

www.wionews.com

 

[deadlyapp]

I've thought of trying to find a street key, would be good piece of mind knowing I can turn off my water at the outside valve if there was some kind of emergency. Super illegal though.... but mine is in the back yard so less obvious if I was doing it.

Nothing illegal about turning off your water at the mains meter

 

[Red Squirrel]

Nothing illegal about turning off your water at the mains meter

At the meter it's fine if you have one, since that's in the house, it's the outside part that is illegal as that is city property, but in a freeze situation it would be the best bet so you can depressurize all the way to the house. By turning it off inside only you still need to worry about the section of pipe leading up to the valve as that can still freeze.

 

[Meghan54]

At the meter it's fine if you have one, since that's in the house, it's the outside part that is illegal as that is city property, but in a freeze situation it would be the best bet so you can depressurize all the way to the house. By turning it off inside only you still need to worry about the section of pipe leading up to the valve as that can still freeze.

The meter IS the dividing line between city and private piping....typically. And it's NOT illegal to turn off your own damned water, even at the meter. Show me different.

OTOH....turning the water on after the city (or whoever is the controlling authority for your water) has legally shut it off (i.e. non-payment) is illegal.

 

[skull]

You guys are getting things confused some people have meters in the yard some people have meters in the house. You don't need the key to turn off on city side if meters in the pit in the yard. You need the key to turn off on city side if meters inside. Its not illegal to turn off the water in either case.

My meters inside when I moved into my house the water lady told me over a week to come out and turn the water on. I said thats not going to work I got a key I'll turn it on. She said sir you cant do that, I said what do you mean I can't I have the key. Shes like no your not allowed I said well I'm going to. When they finally came out to turn it on I told the meter lady what I did and showed her the pic I took of the meter before I turned it on she didn't care. She went off what it was at the time she was there and I got a free week of water. While that was technically illegal no one cares, its not illegal if your just turning it off.

 

[spacejamz]

Nothing illegal about turning off your water at the mains meter

In Bedford, TX (suburub between Dallas and Ft Worth), it was illegal to turn off your water at the curb but the city relaxed that when the pipes were bursting...they actually installed locks on the meter box so you couldn't even access the valve....

but based on this article, those homes should have another valve they should be able to access...but usually these valves are buried under the landscape and if you don't know where it is, you are screwed...

Homeowner Warns Others of City's Locked Water Meter Box

As more cities look to install smart water meters, one North Texas woman has a serious warning for homeowners.

www.nbcdfw.com

 

[deadlyapp]

Yeah - I've never seen it illegal to turn off the meter, but yes it's certainly illegal to turn it on if the utility turned it off due to non payment, etc.

Our neighbor has a key and turned off his water at the meter during the storm. We turned off only our incoming valve, which was at the house and left the meter on.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Maybe the rules differ by area. The valve on the outside is city property so I always assumed it was illegal to tamper with it. Either way do what you got to do in an emergency but you need a street key anyway which is basically a super long rod that can reach the valve underground. The danger with trying to play with that is if the valve has not been operated in decades it could potentially break. When I had to get my inside valve replaced the city had to come to turn it off at the yard and they had a hell of a time getting it to close. They charge a lot for it too. We don't have meters here unless you voluntarily want one. (it can make your water bill a bit lower) so I'm not sure what rules are about that, but since it's in your house and it just has a regular valve I imagine you can turn it off as long as you don't try anything funny like setting up a bypass valve.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

In Bedford, TX (suburub between Dallas and Ft Worth), it was illegal to turn off your water at the curb but the city relaxed that when the pipes were bursting...they actually installed locks on the meter box so you couldn't even access the valve....

but based on this article, those homes should have another valve they should be able to access...but usually these valves are buried under the landscape and if you don't know where it is, you are screwed...

Homeowner Warns Others of City's Locked Water Meter Box

As more cities look to install smart water meters, one North Texas woman has a serious warning for homeowners.

www.nbcdfw.com

That is pure and utter stupidity if true. If I ever had a pipe burst and there was a lock not allowing me to turn it off you can best believe their asses would be on the hook for any water charges whatsoever.