StrangeSox

Legal challenge to Arpaio pardon begins

Houston’s ‘Wild West’ growth How the city's development may have contributed to devastating flooding Interesting article that goes into Houston's lack of zoning and how the booming construction there doesn't really take into account how to deal with large storms and potential flooding. The article doesn't touch on this aspect, but that same sort of unplanned rapid expansion contributes to the inability to properly and safely evacuate the area as well.

A guy I know who lives in Rockport sent me this list from nyt when I asked for charity suggestions for anyone looking https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/us/do...ties-scams.html Also this link https://www.nvoad.org/hurricane-harvey/hurr...ey-how-to-help/

It's a statistics thing https://water.usgs.gov/edu/100yearflood.html It could very well be coincidence, but just like the tobacco cancer link, once you get enough data piling up it's hard to ignore. Regardless, Coulter is a hack troll and her thoughts on climate change are not worth arguing over.

QUOTE (RockRaines @ Aug 29, 2017 -> 08:15 PM) Anyone see any info about donating things like clothes etc? I've heard before that it's better for relief groups to get cash donations so they can source everything more efficiently and locally rather than having to truck a bunch of canned goods or clothes across the country. I'm still looking for a good local charity though m

White caps on i-10

Sounds like a hell of an adventure

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Aug 29, 2017 -> 05:14 PM) I'm also not sure climate change directly results in cataclysmic storms except in bad movies. Blaming this storm on climate change feels like the inverse of the throngs who declare the entire idea of global warming bunk because of a 60 degree day in February. Edit- I screwed that up. I meant a 45 degree day in July. Whatever... Just like you can't say any one cancer case was caused by smoking but you can look at the effects in aggregate, you can do the same with global warming and natural disasters and shifting long-term weather patterns.

Nws is estimating that it'll be the worst economic natural disaster in history.

QUOTE (Alexeihyeess @ Aug 29, 2017 -> 12:05 PM) She didn't blame it on a lesbian mayor. She was just saying climate change isn't to blame for an Atlantic hurricane that is only remarkable for the densely populated area it hit. You gotta be really sensitive to think she's blaming it on the mayor. Setting aside Coulter's lame trolling, Cedar Bayou, Texas just passed 51.88 inches of rainfall from Harvey, setting a continental US record (with lots more still to come). It's the third "500 year" storm hitting Texas within three years. This isn't the normal weather pattern.

30% of Harris County (where Houston is located) is underwater.

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 29, 2017 -> 12:30 PM) SportsCenter‏Verified account @SportsCenter 15h15 hours ago Matthew Stafford, Lions agree to 5-yr deal that is expected to make him highest-paid player in NFL history, a team source told @AdamSchefter haha what in the world how is Stafford worthy of a contract like that?

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Aug 29, 2017 -> 02:21 PM) One inch of rain is roughly equal to ten inches of snow. I don't remember any 500 inch snowstorms. I was curious what the record for 24 hours of snowfall was. Turns out it was 100 inches in Capracotta, Italy two years ago. http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/10/europe/italy...cord/index.html

QUOTE (southsider2k5 @ Aug 29, 2017 -> 12:05 PM) I am pretty sure we have had this debate from time to time, but realistically with as many people who put themselves in harms way of natural disasters, there isn't a way to make things fully safe from 50 inches of rain everywhere that is at risk for this. this may be relevant

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Aug 29, 2017 -> 10:22 AM) Their child will likely look like this...

Good article from the NYT looking at an upcoming potentially landmark SCOTUS case regarding gerrymandering. The article really looks into how badly the deck got stacked in Wisconsin and expands to the problem nationwide from there. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/29/magazine...-math.html?_r=0 This was one of the reasons I was most looking forward to a liberal replacement for Scalia. Part of the reason our politics is so broken is that politicians choose their voters and are ultimately not particularly accountable. We'll see if the legal arguments in this case are enough to get Kennedy on board with the 4 liberals or not.

A law in Texas goes into effect on Friday that will limit the ability to sue insurance companies. Some lawyers and panels are urging people to file now ahead of the chance. http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/28/news/texas...bill/index.html

My friend's recording studio in Lakeview was featured in a segment on wgn last night http://seechicagotv.com/2017/08/28/music-m...ording-company/

Multiple missiles fired over northern Japan

My takeaway was that it was entertaining but continued the season's trend of being more and more of an standard action/comic book movie rather than something with more of the "intrigue" and trope-flipping. With Cersei predictably betraying the truce, it really highlights how dumb and pointless the whole adventure north of the wall was, but they needed to get the NK a dragon somehow I suppose.

Top Trump Organization executive reached out to Putin aide for help on business deal http://wapo.st/2iCBvLZ

ProPublica had a piece last year investigating how vulnerable Houston was to flooding from a hurricane. If anything, they underestimated the worst-case scenarios, but it's still an interesting read. Boomtown, Flood Town

Trump Associate Boasted That Moscow Deal ‘Will Get Donald Elected’

White House 'pressuring' intelligence officials to find Iran in violation of nuclear deal Intelligence analysts, chastened by the experience of the 2003 Iraq war, are said to be resisting the pressure to come up with evidence of Iranian violations

Video Shows Man Shooting At Crowd During Charlottesville Rally, With No Police Response Inexcusable that the police did absolutely nothing about the man who fired a gun at a crowd and then just strolled right past the police.