Universal Chat Thread

[Moonface]

Just reporting in. The storm seems to be near the end for me. We've suffered no water intrusion or wind damage so far. We have lost power, but we have solar and battery backups, so we've been doing okay, this time around. I mean, I have an internet connection, which is more than I can say about last time.

Glad to hear that you and your family are safe! Sucks about the power loss but at least you have some backups, although are any of those useful for keeping stuff like the fridge running or are you just having to hope the power comes back before the stuff inside it starts going bad?

Yeah hoping it's passed you guys by now and really hoping y'all have come out with minimal damage or something similar to Maniak. Seen some videos now and terrible for the areas being affected badly.

I don't know where the stupid thing is currently but I'm guessing it's still somewhere near because I just left class and it's absolutely pouring and the wind is pretty bad too. Of course I didn't think it would rain so my umbrella is in my car...

[Maniakkid25]

Yeah, a lot of people around me weren't nearly as fortunate as me. One of my coworkers had their carport flip over on to their roof, and my Team Leader had at least a foot of water intrusion, and don't get me started on the barrier islands. It's bad.

Power came back today, actually, but the solar and batteries were running the fridge through the power loss, so everything inside it was okay. Same for my family's office (they all work from home). I didn't plug my stuff in until we had power fully back because I didn't want to drain the batteries.

[Moonface]

Did the carport damage the roof badly or just get stuck up there? Sorry to hear about your team leader having that much water intrusion; I'm guessing they live far from where you do considering you had no water troubles?

That's good that you didn't have to really worry about power for critical things then. How long would those backups have lasted before actually running out of juice?

[Maniakkid25]

I don't know the exact state of it, but from the description she gave, the carport folded its way up there. And yeah, the team leader lives nowhere near me, but I have an advantageous position because the foundation is 9 ft above the ground.

Between me not being an idiot with power usage and the solar recharging the batteries, probably indefinitely. I made sure to not plug in any of my crap until we confirmed a power connection to the grid specificially for that reason.

[Moonface]

9ft?! Hot damn I don't think I've seen a house anywhere in Florida that high off the ground. XD


I just saw this ad and my first thought was gender bent Shaggy wants to fix up my garage: 

[Maniakkid25]

Well, it's not like, on stilts, or anything silly like that. It's just the foundation wall is 9 ft tall compared to where the canal is, so the water has to climb A LOT to get up to me. So far, I'm 3 for 3 (Ian, Helene, and Milton)

[Moonface]

It's funny that your place is near a canal and that high up from it when I've only seen houses near water in Florida just get slapped onto the ground surrounding it with absolutely no extra elevation or protections in place. Seems like your family actually found a place by some water that was built by people with some actual foresight.

[Maniakkid25]

Well, yeah, it was built with actual foresight; it's a completely new-built home, so my parents put planning into it. It's got hurricane-grade windows so that we don't have to put shutters up, etc.

[Moonface]

Well, yeah, it was built with actual foresight; it's a completely new-built home, so my parents put planning into it. It's got hurricane-grade windows so that we don't have to put shutters up, etc.

So does that mean if a hurricane were to yeet debris at the window it wouldn't necessarily break? I didn't know windows could be that strong unless they were bulletproof or something.

[Maniakkid25]

Even if it was glass (which I doubt it is), tempered glass is surprisingly resistant to blunt force. The short reason is "because physics"; the long reason requires an explanation in materials science, dynamics, and glass-making. That being said, that strength comes at a price. A small rock of porcelain chucked at some tempered glass can break it. Because physics. This is why Rescue Hammers exist, ppl. Buy one, and hope you never need it.

I'm actually surprised you didn't realize this. Surely, as a wrestling fan, you know of Shane McMahon's botched stunt where he gets suplexed through panes of glass. Now, granted, Plexiglas is bullet-resistant...  if you have a good inch-and-a-half of it. That is absurdly thick; riot shields aren't anywhere near that thick. At thicknesses you or I would normally come across, Plexiglas'll break just like any other glass. Even if it does take 4 slams to do it.

[Moonface]

Even if it was glass (which I doubt it is), tempered glass is surprisingly resistant to blunt force. The short reason is "because physics"; the long reason requires an explanation in materials science, dynamics, and glass-making. That being said, that strength comes at a price. A small rock of porcelain chucked at some tempered glass can break it. Because physics. This is why Rescue Hammers exist, ppl. Buy one, and hope you never need it.

I'm actually surprised you didn't realize this. Surely, as a wrestling fan, you know of Shane McMahon's botched stunt where he gets suplexed through panes of glass. Now, granted, Plexiglas is bullet-resistant...  if you have a good inch-and-a-half of it. That is absurdly thick; riot shields aren't anywhere near that thick. At thicknesses you or I would normally come across, Plexiglas'll break just like any other glass. Even if it does take 4 slams to do it.

Tempered glass is the same stuff where if you lay it on tile you're very likely to break it right? I see pictures all the time of people who broke the glass panel for their PC build because they chose to either lay it down or they dinged it on the very corner of the glass.

I didn't think of the Shane McMahon thing but that's a good point. It's been a while since that crossed my mind.

[Maniakkid25]

Looking it up, tempered glass is the more common option, but the usual use case you hear about is car door windows. See, tempered glass has an interesting property: when it breaks, it shatters completely. Now, that sounds like a basic property of glass, but actually, regular glass is suprisingly dangerous when it breaks because it tends to form long, sharp shards of glass that can seriously injure you if you aren't careful. This is why people tell you to never pick up broken glass bare-handed.

Tempered glass, on the other hand, breaks into lots and lots of tiny fragments, which have the surprising tendency to not lacerate the shit out of you. This makes it ideal for car windows, because if the unthinkable happens, the window shatters and doesn't hurt anyone severely. There is a reason for this property, but it has to do with things like "internal stresses", and I'd need to go over a bit of materials science to explain what that means.

[Moonface]

This is why people tell you to never pick up broken glass bare-handed.

If I had a dollar for every time I have picked up pieces of glass from a broken bottle at work it'd probably add up to my hourly wage...
Granted, I only ever pick up the really big bits that you can easily grab the flat sides of while avoiding the breakpoints, but still.

[Maniakkid25]

Right with you, there.

So, my flight to Paris ended up getting delayed by 3 HOURS, and as a no-thought reaction, I rebooked the flight before I thought "wait, what about my checked bag?!" So now I have to hope the agent told me the correct information when she said that my bag should transfer to the new flight, because I will be without clothes if it doesn't!

[Moonface]

So, my flight to Paris ended up getting delayed by 3 HOURS, and as a no-thought reaction, I rebooked the flight before I thought "wait, what about my checked bag?!" So now I have to hope the agent told me the correct information when she said that my bag should transfer to the new flight, because I will be without clothes if it doesn't!

If it doesn't transfer won't it just arrive on the delayed flight at the same airport instead? Last time I had baggage on a different flight to me it arrived later than I did and the airline just delivered my bags to my location. Hopefully that would happen for you but if not are you too far from the airport to collect the bag if it shows up with the original flight instead of your new one?