All Hail Father Government
Gosh, the more I think about it, the more I feel like I should just join in the religion of government and just bow down and worship them. After all, did you know that with just a few hundred thousand dollars of money people earned, that government can actually stop ice from forming? Outside! During the winter! Really!
That’s what Charlotte is doing.
I’m writing this Wednesday evening. During the night tonight, there is a forecast for a light dusting of snow and perhaps 1/10″ ice. Tomorrow the high temperature is supposed to be around 40 degrees. For those (like government employees) who don’t understand physics, ice MELTS at temperatures above 32 degrees Fahrenheit. So IF there is any ice or snow during the night, it will be gone by about 9 or 10am.
But that’s not good enough for government. Instead, for around half a million dollars, the city (and many other counties in the area) are spreading WATER (mixed with a little salt) on the roads. And they’re spreading it 12 hours before the ice will come. So they can prevent ice from forming on the roads. That ice that MIGHT be there for as many as 8 hours.
Golly, is there anything father government can’t do if we just give them enough money? I’m so glad. I feel honored that I can work for months out of the year so I can pay government to spend a half million dollars to stop ice from forming on the road (maybe) for a few hours — most of which people would be asleep, anyway).
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hey buddy!..ty for the vis to my humble abode..see ya when I get back!…great work as always!:)
Spreading water on the road to prevent ice? Is that an oxymoron? Cause if it is cold enough for ice, won’t the water freeze?
Like Oddy, I don’t understand why they are mixing the salt with water. Why not just put the salt down and let it do what it’s suppose to do.
Thanks, Angel. And Oddy? It’s government. If they say they can do something, laws of physics do not apply! But it is actually salt water.
Oddy… the salt dissolved in water will prevent freezing.
Here in the north, we has a compound that is more like a chemical antifreeze syrup like substance they spray on the roads before a big snow or icing.
Now Ogre, I know ya’ll don’t get a lot of “winter weather” there in NC like we do here in the north, but in defense of the moron government in Charlotte… I’ve seen how ya’ll in the southern states drive on the ice, and even at night, a lot of property damage both to cars and trucks and non-vehicular objects, can happen. Also, I hate to pop anyone’s balloon… but weather reports are not always “reliable”. You could just as easily be at 30-20 degrees all day long… just think about it, a bunch of Southerner’s who don’t have a clue about driving on ice, making their way to work in rush hour on icy roads!!!! By the end of the day, you could have a whole lot of damage done. Sometimes precautions can be good. My biggest critcism… rather than spreading “water and salt”, they should be using the “syrup” which usually works for up to about 3 days or until it rains real good… no overnight freezing for 72 would be more productive in disaster prevention terms. I usually agree with you Ogre on most stuff, but on this I have to partially disagree based on weather prediction is really off most of the time and when I’m “south of the Mason-Dixon” and it snows or rains… I get off the roadway IMMEDIATELY and find someplace to sit and watch for the sake of amusement and my personal safety!!! LOL!!!.
Once again, I think we should just bow down to father government because we are too stupid to be responsible for our own actions.
Thank you, father government. Please, sir, may I have another.
They pulled the same thing here in the Triangle. And we pretty much got bupkiss.
You see, Teach, you and I are just too stupid. You know, MAYBE there would have been ice on the road. And if government hadn’t spend those hundreds of thousands of dollars, people would die. So government saved us from ourselves once again.
All hail father government — all knowing, all seeing, everything to everyone.
People were actually ticked off about the deicing. If the storm had come, they would still have been able to get to work. Not cool!
I wonder what they will do for the storm we are supposed to get Saturday? Waste another couple hundred thou?
Most certainly. But the storm from Saturday makes a bit more sense — here the snow may move in Sat morning and last all day. Sunday will be very cold, so the ice might actually stay around.
I’m not opposed to deicing — just when the ice is only going to be around for 1-2 hours, it’s pointless!
Storm pooped out. If the weathermen cannot predict accurately within 12 hours, how can we trust that people can tell us what the climate will be like in 10,50, 100 years?
Because they’re smarter than you and I? They didn’t really MEAN one to six inches. And maybe we didn’t get the 6 inches of snow because YOU were driving an evil SUV, which created too much warming!