Quote from: MacWa77ace on Yesterday at 04:30:07 PMWow, 10 days without A/C in the summertime had me ready to decry the leadership and power company. Having myself recently endured survived 3 nights and 3 days here in SE Florida over Memorial Day weekend with a broken A/C. Saturday afternoon compressor fan motor went down on a holiday weekend of course. Inside temps were topping 95.

But then I looked up the weather forecast for Gary. Highs below 80 and lows in the mid 60's for the next week. In my AO with those temps we'd have the windows open and be wearing sweaters at night and appreciating the lovely weather.

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Today's temps in and around my house.

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Patio 97
Living room 76
Back bedroom 81
Attic 122

Gary 59 degree lows? That's January in Florida. 

No electricity for 10 days? That's a crime.

When we went through a hurricane that knocked out our power for almost two weeks in rural bumfuck nowhere, it was around this time of year and in the high nineties.  Before we lost power, the hurricane had been forecast to come in as far as we were, but not much farther.  To get a break from the heat after a day or two cooped up, we drove inland to Mechanicsville, a small city outside of Richmond the city folks still considered rural about a forty minute drive away from us, but it was also without power, so we kept driving.

Turned out all of Richmond had been hit and was out of power.  There was one Target open, dimly lit and doing cash-only business.  We bought some snacks and went home to our doublewide oven to bake some more.  At least the car ride was cool.  

Amazon has it free with trial audio book membership.

Wow, 10 days without A/C in the summertime had me ready to decry the leadership and power company. Having myself recently endured survived 3 nights and 3 days here in SE Florida over Memorial Day weekend with a broken A/C. Saturday afternoon compressor fan motor went down on a holiday weekend of course. Inside temps were topping 95.

But then I looked up the weather forecast for Gary. Highs below 80 and lows in the mid 60's for the next week. In my AO with those temps we'd have the windows open and be wearing sweaters at night and appreciating the lovely weather.

You cannot view this attachment.

Today's temps in and around my house.

You cannot view this attachment.

Patio 97
Living room 76
Back bedroom 81
Attic 122

Gary 59 degree lows? That's January in Florida. 

No electricity for 10 days? That's a crime.

Stuck in the third world. Just wondering if some kind soul might point me in the direction of a downloadable copy? I don't have a kindle. 

 Some valid but clear headed info. I ran several queries thru more than one AI. 

"A derecho on August 11, 2026, with winds up to 99 mph struck Northwest Indiana, causing NIPSCO's largest outage on record (over 300,000 customers initially). Gary was among the hardest-hit areas due to extensive pole and line damage plus debris that slowed repairs. By August 21–22 thousands of Gary customers (often 20,000+) remained without power; full restoration was targeted for August 25. Residents faced spoiled food, no air conditioning, closed schools and businesses, and extra hardship in a city where about one-third live in poverty. City, state, and federal aid included food distribution, charging stations, and emergency declarations.


Reports of crime and safety concerns
The total darkness (no streetlights) heightened fear of crime. Residents described conditions as "Gotham City," "pitch black for miles," and "extremely dangerous" at night, with some staying awake late to watch property.

Documented incidents include:
- Generator thefts: Multiple residents reported (or feared) generators being stolen from porches or left unsecured. One person said they stayed up until 4 a.m. guarding a $1,000 generator. Police stated the actual number was lower than social media claims—fewer than a dozen confirmed—and described many as crimes of opportunity involving unsecured equipment. Public service announcements encouraged reporting.
- Vehicle break-ins: At least one resident reported a car break-in, contributing to trauma and heightened vigilance.
- Gunfire at utility workers: On the night of August 14/15, a NIPSCO vehicle (a Jeep SUV used by crews surveying damage) was struck by gunfire in the 200 block of Rutledge Street. Bullets hit the rear window, a headrest, and the vehicle body; no one was injured. An off-duty officer was nearby but neither the workers nor the officer saw the shooter. Restoration work in Gary was temporarily paused for security assessment, then resumed the same day with coordination from Gary Police and additional Indiana State Police protection. Officials called it isolated and unacceptable; investigation continued with no arrests detailed in available reports. One later comment suggested it may have related to a nearby home-intrusion attempt, but this was not confirmed by authorities.

Looting of stores or widespread civil disorder: Major news outlets did not report confirmed mass looting of businesses. One social-media-linked caption referenced a resident claiming people had started looting after the storms, but this was not corroborated as large-scale store ransacking in mainstream coverage. Police focused public comments on generator thefts being lower than rumored rather than broader looting.

Overall, the prolonged outage created conditions of desperation and elevated property-crime risk (especially theft of generators) plus one violent incident targeting utility crews. Safety concerns were driven more by complete darkness and opportunistic theft than by organized or widespread looting. Local law enforcement increased presence around restoration crews, and residents adapted by securing valuables and staying vigilant.

Power restoration efforts continued with hundreds of workers, and full recovery for Gary was targeted for August 25. Residents and officials continued pressing for faster progress and better support amid the ongoing recovery."

Quote from: majorhavoc on Yesterday at 12:56:40 PM

Quote from: DarkAxel on Yesterday at 11:39:47 AMEven that unlocked article requires me to put in my email address to see it. The NYT is harvesting email and cookie data and selling it to data brokers. I'm very careful about opting out of such garbage when I sign up for things on the web, and it took me a lot of time and work to almost eliminate the amount of spam and scam emails I was getting everyday. One day I made the mistake of giving the NYT my email address to read an article, and afterward I was deluged by the kind of crap I didn't want junking up my inbox. I'm still working to fix the damage from that one article.

That I didn't realize.  I'll stop sharing those links.

It's no worries brother. Frustration was not directed at you at all. You didn't know.

I've had to block several news orgs in my Google news feed for this practice. Selling your data is slimy. But just the hassle if getting directed to a story you can't read is just annoying. Especially when hundreds, if not at least dozens, of other outlets are probably carrying the same story. Where you CAN read it without this hassle for free. 

Quote from: DarkAxel on Yesterday at 11:39:47 AMEven that unlocked article requires me to put in my email address to see it. The NYT is harvesting email and cookie data and selling it to data brokers. I'm very careful about opting out of such garbage when I sign up for things on the web, and it took me a lot of time and work to almost eliminate the amount of spam and scam emails I was getting everyday. One day I made the mistake of giving the NYT my email address to read an article, and afterward I was deluged by the kind of crap I didn't want junking up my inbox. I'm still working to fix the damage from that one article.

(DON'T CLICK ON THOSE EMAIL LINKS BELOW. THEY WON'T WORK.)

I feel you.

One trick that doesn't fix anything. But can help you identify who's selling your email:

Gmail Plus Addressing

If your Gmail address is:

patrick@gmail.com

You can give websites variations such as:

patrick+amazon@gmail.com
patrick+netflix@gmail.com
patrick+hotel@gmail.com

All of these still deliver to your normal Gmail inbox.

This lets you identify who may have shared or sold your address.

For example, if you sign up for a website using:

patrick+acme2026@gmail.com

and later receive spam addressed to that exact address, you have a strong indication that Acme—or someone they shared your address with—is the source.

One limitation: some websites reject addresses containing "+", while others strip the "+tag" before storing or sharing your email. In those cases, the tracking won't work.

Gmail also treats dots as irrelevant:

patrick@gmail.com
p.atrick@gmail.com
pa.trick@gmail.com

These all reach the same Gmail account, but dots are much less useful for tracking because companies commonly normalize them.

For tracking who leaks your address, use Gmail's "+companyname" format. It is the most practical method without creating separate Gmail accounts.

(Not sure if this works with other email addresses.)

Unfortunately, NY Times doesn't play nicely with the paywall defeaters, so I can't provide a stripped link to read it without an account.  

Quote from: DarkAxel on Yesterday at 11:39:47 AMEven that unlocked article requires me to put in my email address to see it. The NYT is harvesting email and cookie data and selling it to data brokers. I'm very careful about opting out of such garbage when I sign up for things on the web, and it took me a lot of time and work to almost eliminate the amount of spam and scam emails I was getting everyday. One day I made the mistake of giving the NYT my email address to read an article, and afterward I was deluged by the kind of crap I didn't want junking up my inbox. I'm still working to fix the damage from that one article.

That I didn't realize.  I'll stop sharing those links.

Even that unlocked article requires me to put in my email address to see it. The NYT is harvesting email and cookie data and selling it to data brokers. I'm very careful about opting out of such garbage when I sign up for things on the web, and it took me a lot of time and work to almost eliminate the amount of spam and scam emails I was getting everyday. One day I made the mistake of giving the NYT my email address to read an article, and afterward I was deluged by the kind of crap I didn't want junking up my inbox. I'm still working to fix the damage from that one article.