What's mildly irritating you today?

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Ugh. I went to my 20th reunion. It was a mistake.

Believe that.

[Griff]

Humans are weird. I prefer the company of dogs, bikes, and saws, which I'm told were actually invented by humans.

[Gravdigr]

As I get older, everything seems to be to damn loud.

I thought I was supposed to go deef in m'dotage.

[Clodfobble]

Neighbors are having a pool put in. On the one hand, it's kind of cool to watch, and the hole they've got so far provided a very clear object lesson to the kids about why we don't have basements in Texas: there's about 18 inches of dirt, and after that, it's solid limestone. But that means I've had to listen to a steady soundtrack of jackhammering for the last two days. Really hope today's the last day.

[Gravdigr]

...and hell no you can't use the pool!!

[Clodfobble]

Psh... Don't need to. We have 3 neighborhood pools within walking distance, and another 4 that are just a few minutes by car. If it's raining and you don't mind paying, you have your choice of 8-10 indoor pools within a 15-minute radius. It's not a luxury item around here, just a home insurance hazard.

[Gravdigr]

Damn. I'm not aware of any public pools. Do wave pools count?

Ya got no pool, and you wanna swim around here, ya go to a motel. One that has a pool.

ETA: Or the creek.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Really hope today's the last day.

Reader, it wasn't.

[BigV]

It's a deeeeep pool.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Reader, it wasn't.

Do they hit ground water too?

[Gravdigr]

Undercover fracking?

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Do they hit ground water too?

Not in this part of town. There are areas of central Austin that you theoretically could, within the basin of the Edwards Aquifer. There are warning signs all over town about the dangers of dumping there.

[xoxoxoBruce]

That looks like a great resource, but vulnerable.

[Clodfobble]

With the recent torrential rains, the water treatment facilities were overwhelmed and Austin was put on a "boil water" notice for over a week. That's never happened before that I can recall. I kept thinking that this is how the apocalypse starts: something mundane that just... keeps... going, and suddenly you're a month without clean water and the next shipment of bottled water from the north doesn't arrive and it's instant chaos.

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

With the recent torrential rains, the water treatment facilities were overwhelmed and Austin was put on a "boil water" notice for over a week. That's never happened before that I can recall. I kept thinking that this is how the apocalypse starts: something mundane that just... keeps... going, and suddenly you're a month without clean water and the next shipment of bottled water from the north doesn't arrive and it's instant chaos.

That reminded me of the maxim that we're only ever four meals away from anarchy, at least on this side of the Atlantic. Read on:

Riots: Remember the Four Meal Rule

Britain is only ever four meals away from anarchy. So says MI5 and they know a thing or two about public order.
It's a powerful maxim and one that reminds us that lurking in the inner recesses of the minds of many of the people who might pass us every day in the street is the thought that given half a chance, they'd change all this.
Most of the time, most people don't riot. Regular meals, satellite TV, reasonable prospects and faint hope keep anarchic feelings at bay. Rioting takes effort and planning.
But apparent calm can change all too quickly. Witness the behaviour after a cargo ship spewed up its contents on the south coast of England a few years ago.
Within hours, apparently respectable people could be seen carting off consumer goods. One chap trundled off with a motorbike.
Other people's behaviour often determines our own. We make think we're individuals but given the right circumstances, many of us could behave badly.

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