Are people that stupid and/or arrogant today?

[mtgianni]

Quite a few years back I belonged to the local wilderness search and rescue unit.
Every year we had a banquet and voted on who was going to win the wilderness idiot of the year award. Never lacked for candidates. This was back when this state was blessed with a serious lack of city slickers.
They come in all shapes and sizes and have been around for a very long time.
Note: when I was young I was guilty of pushing the limits, taking unnecessary risks and generally acting a fool. We learn by doing and I would venture to say many of the old salts on this forum were once not so bright as we are now.

When I lived outside Grace Idaho in the 70's, it was not uncommon to have feet of snow on the ground. I recall measurements being how many wires were showing on a 5 wire fence. It was a pass time of many teens to take their trucks out and open a road after a storm and hours before a plow got there. The difference was that you had people who lived and drove in snow and ice for over 6 months every year.

 

[oldbrownhat]

A friend just sent me this drone video of lakefeont houses in Ontario. Doesn't look real. Like a miniature movie set that's just been sprayed down with ice!

Canada: drone footage shows row of lakefront houses frozen over - YouTube

 

[DeplorabusUnum]

I would love to answer that question, but I just came back from a 3-day ban...

They say the best thing to do is get right back on that horse, don't they?

 

[vipermd]

Living in the UP of Mi in the winter can be a bit troublesome at times. Previously I used to be on call and lives were on the line. Blizzard- not pleasant, but someones life may depend on my presence. Yes I have all the emergency gear in the Tahoe- summer or winter, since I do not know when a vehicle malfunction, deer smashed in the grill, or black ice, and cell phones are a joke at best. I know well about black ice, 1995, 4 wheel drive, 10 mph, I ended up on my roof in a 5 foot ditch. A few days before Christmas we had snow for 36 hrs, 17 mph wind with 35 mph gusts, with temps as low as -12, even the Rottie did not want to go out and he loves the snow. Fortunately none of my neighbors or their families needed help, and I got to stay warm. If the weather dictates that it is going to be bad, I do not need the pizza. If someone needs help, I will go and have since 1975. Be Safe!

 

[OLDSTER]

To answer the OPs post---YEP!!

 

[glenwolde]

It doesn't help that every other week the weather people declare we're about to have the storm of the century and then it turns out to be no big deal after all. It's like the boy who cried wolf. People begin to tune out the warnings and decide to drive to Canada during a real blizzard.

That's true. They even invented naming winter storms just to sensationalize it. That's not the NWS. It's the private media trying to put on a "show".

"The National Weather Service does not name winter storms because a winter storm's impact can vary from one location to another, and storms can weaken and redevelop, making it difficult to define where one ends and another begins." -NWS

I also hate that stupid "42 million people at risk...". Weather systems can be very large and cover a lot of area. It means nothing, it just sounds ominous.

 

[Telecaster]

"Donner, party of seven, your table is ready."

 

[venomballistics]

So I should cancel my hunting trip and we can all sit around at home.

Nope

I'd say a hunting trip is a better course of action.
UV for sunlight kills pathogens while avoiding confined spaces reduces transmission.
Winter drives folks indoors to breathe on each other, that's why it's always been the cold and flu season.

 

[venomballistics]

There is little doubt that Southwest have some hard questions to answer. Their own staff are saying that their IT system for scheduling is so stone age it cannot cope. When you cannot issue instructions to your workers, you have a problem.

I flew back to Las Vegas from Mexico yesterday (direct flight, thankfully) and the ramp at Terminal 1 was full of Southwest aircraft. How many of them had pilots and cabin staff to crew them I cannot say.

Bleeding edge ain't so hot either.
Google's junk drawer is rife with equipment failure to the extent that most work arounds are standard operating procedure rather than the systems that were actually meant to be.