I worked in a supermarket for five years, and I never understood why people all turn into sheep and raid the bread and dairy aisles every time there's a damned flurry. If there's a real blizzard, and the power goes out, the milk's going to go bad anyway. And so will the bread.

Wouldn't you be better off with canned goods if you were snowed in?

Did anyone else think of this movie that's coming out sometime next year? The trailer looks pretty decent, but it's directed by the same guy who made Independence Day, so it might turn out to be teh suck.

I've never seen the use of salt in Texas. Lots of sand on the bridges, though. That way when the ice melts your car is covered in crud for the next six weeks.

Is it still Freedom Toast? I lost my "English-to-Ashcroft" decoder ring.

It was German Toast until World War I.

Do they have vehicle inspections in Georgia? I don't think they did when I lived there 5 years ago.

Georgia does. (At least around Atlanta, anyway) South Carolina doesn't.

The main reason stuff closes in the South when it snows even the smallest amount is that we don't have any snowplows. Snow that sticks to roads is so rare, it isn't cost effective to keep them.

Georgia always makes me laugh during the winter, but the DC area is just as bad. My brother's out there and he always laughs when the schools close because there's a forecast of a few inches of snow.

Well they just ousted Shevardnaze, so I guess they ought to be able to handle a little cold.

Not that Georgia? Someone rescue Alton Brown, quick!

Okay, if you are 80 years old and a resident of Atlanta:

It's cold right now. Start saving up $20 for a fan because in 6 months it's going to get really hot outside. I don't want my tax dollars going towards said fan, as we need to focus on the sewer problems. Ok, once again if you missed it the first time: SAVE NOW AND BUY YOUR OWN FAN.

I bring this up because our mayor spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of city resources buying fans for old people during the summer months. This was made out as some life-saving campaign. PSA: It gets hot in GA.

Even when it's just raining in Atlanta, I swear people drive even worse than normal. People tailgate, cut you off, pull out right in front of you.

Ice on bridges is the worst....of course, that was covered in drivers ed. because I'm a yankee.

Isn't southern drivers ed. pretty much "go pedal," "stop pedal" and "Jeff Gordon sucks?"

[2003-12-03 10:34:31 AM EatHam
Very few yankees drive into bridge abutments because it's too hot.]

Very, very funny!

Gawd.

I used to live in Atlanta - when this was going to happen they would run around like fricking chicken little...


/linving in MN now where it is drive or die

snow and ice really isn't that big of a deal- my chains
go in the truck on halloween, and come out on memorial
day. drive slow and easy, and keep a stock of canned goods and a little campstove on hand. and for cryin' out loud, calm down!
my favorite graffiti of all time on any highway sign is "Chains Required. Whips optional."...

Jaqqalax

Did anyone else think of this movie that's coming out sometime next year? The trailer looks pretty decent, but it's directed by the same guy who made Independence Day, so it might turn out to be teh suck.

I'll wait for the DVD. The IMDB plot description is contradictory: first global warming and then a farkin ice age? Which is it?

(thinks a film adaptation of Moorcock's The Ice Schooner would rock)

ramblin,

They closed Tech one day in the mid 90s because of the threat of snow. It ended up being in the 60s and sunny.

The culprit(s), according to the state police? Asshat SUV drivers who assume that 4-Wheel-Drive makes them immune to the laws of physics.


4WD/AWD allows you to maintain traction and keep the car going.

It doesn't do anything when you want to STOP a car on an icy road. It also does little to prevent skidding and spinouts.

Hope nothing like that happens in LA. LA drivers having to
deal with ice on the roads would decimate the population.
the news would be filled with our empty headed newscasters
making frowny-faces and reporting:

"Deadly Pileup Caused by Speeding Driver on Cell Phone"

"500 Incidents of Road Rage Kills Thousands"

My sister was on some secondary highway in Lawrenceville, GA (she's originally a New Englander so she knows how to drive in ice/snow) and passed a pick-up truck with a guy standing in the bag shoveling salt/sand onto the roadway. Needless to say, she wasn't comforted much by that sight, and to this day, we get a good laugh over it.

ProgrammerCat: Milk wouldn't go bad - put it on the deck, in the garage, etc. for "natural" refrigeration (one of the few benefits of winter)!

Thank god. It's been farking hot as hell down here all winter. My golf clubs need a rest.

AuntofDogface

ProgrammerCat: Milk wouldn't go bad - put it on the deck, in the garage, etc. for "natural" refrigeration (one of the few benefits of winter)!

That's right. I forgot you could do that for milk as well as beer. I haven't had milk in years, to be honest.

Could be worse. Try living in former-Soviet bloc Georgia for a month. They're not holding elections until January, and even the winner of that election will only govern half the country. The other half is split into "autonomous states" being led by guys who pretty much just stood up and said "I'm the leader now."

All that, plus the weather's crappy year-round.

Even when it's just raining in Atlanta, I swear people drive even worse than normal. People tailgate, cut you off, pull out right in front of you.

People in Atlanta drive like that all the time.

Whenever I see an unusually bad driver on I-85 here in South Carolina, I look at their license plate. About 9 times out of 10 it's a Georgia plate with a Metro Atlanta county on it.

I remember in college (Bemidji, MN) nailing quilts to the windows of the dorm and watching the digital weather channel inch down while we drank booze and sat around a space heater to stay warm.

"58.....59......60.....61.....62.....63....64......65 below zero with wind chill! New record!"

"Going to class?"

"Yeah, I have a test."

Aesc - "I've never seen the use of salt in Texas"

They mostly use BBQ sauce.
/All week...Try the steak.

GrammarPolice


Could be worse. Try living in former-Soviet bloc Georgia for a month. They're not holding elections until January, and even the winner of that election will only govern half the country. The other half is split into "autonomous states" being led by guys who pretty much just stood up and said "I'm the leader now."

I wouldn't mind going to Hartford, staging a coup d'etat, and turning Connecticut into an "autonomous state". I'd have a howling good time cutting taxes and amending the state constitution to abolish all forms of welfare before the Feds laid the smackdown on me.

Those of you from New England, who are old enough, will remember the Blizzard of '78. That storm really caught the DPW with it's pants down. It shut down the whole damn state of Mass for about 2 weeks. It was fun to see Rt 128 being clearing out car by car by a front loader.

2003-12-03 11:37:46 AM ProgrammerCat: Does your plan involve tarring and feathering Rowland? If so, I'm in... (Looks like the Feds are starting to crawl up his butt!!)

I could not imagine 65 degrees below zero. I'm getting a chill just thinking about it!!

Sounds like a great place to go to college.

Hey, guess what? People in the South don't drive any worse than people in any other part of the country. No better, either.

The funniest thing about the panic is the folks buying up all of the bread and milk. WTF? You think you're going to be stuck in your trailer...er...mobile home for so long that little Billy isn't going to have milk for his cornflakes a week from now? Hell, do what my dad did; Strap rubber boots to his feet and send him to the nearest Circle K for his milk and your carton of Camel Lights.

2003-12-03 11:38:58 AM szyska
Those of you from New England, who are old enough, will remember the Blizzard of '78. That storm really caught the DPW with it's pants down. It shut down the whole damn state of Mass for about 2 weeks. It was fun to see Rt 128 being clearing out car by car by a front loader.
*********************
I moved to Connecticut from MIAMI on 1/21/78. While I experienced some snow while growing up (lived in Northern VA), that was pretty wild!

AuntofDogface

2003-12-03 11:37:46 AM ProgrammerCat: Does your plan involve tarring and feathering Rowland? If so, I'm in...

I was thinking of impaling him within sight of a certain brass horse in Ghettobury. But we can break out the tar and feathers after I get my Vlad on. We'll use it on the legislators.

Programmer: I know of the horse of which you speak, however, we should tar and feather and then impale. hee hee

2003-12-03 11:38:58 AM szyska
Those of you from New England, who are old enough, will remember the Blizzard of '78. That storm really caught the DPW with it's pants down. It shut down the whole damn state of Mass for about 2 weeks. It was fun to see Rt 128 being clearing out car by car by a front loader.
*********************
I moved to Connecticut from MIAMI on 1/21/78. While I experienced some snow while growing up (lived in Northern VA), that was pretty wild!

**********
And the kicker was, my mom was about 9 months along.

AuntOfDogface

Programmer: I know of the horse of which you speak, however, we should tar and feather and then impale. hee hee

Sounds good to me. First Rowland, then the legislature, and then the tax assessors and collectors. Off the pigs!

What's even more amusing that GA drivers is the northerners who come down here and think they are invincible in the snow. Then end up in a ditch because they forgot a few simple facts:

We don't have residual salt buildups on and around our roads.

We have like 15 salt trucks in the entire state.

The sun comes out, melts the snow a little, then it freezes hard, forming black ice that stays for days. Getting ever blacker from being warmed and chilled a number of times.

Tire chains are illegal.

The roads weren't designed with winter weather in mind.

That's enough for now, but chew on that before making fun of us. We know we can't drive and just enjoy staying home with our family, and since this only happens a few times a year, it's like a little vacation. Go pee pee on someone else's party. :)

Nah, SC doesn't have inspections, but you can be pulled over for anything that the Trooper thinks is a hazard to other drivers. Lights that don't work, smoking car, dragging bumper. Though, apparently, the old rag in the gas tank is still okay.

that than than that huh

"If there's a real blizzard, and the power goes out, the milk's going to go bad anyway. And so will the bread."

nada, you can just set everything in a cooler outside and it will remain nice and cold. I was without power for 6 days in an ice storm. Those 32 degree toilet seats wake you up. The natural gas fueled water heater worked and was the only source of heat I had. I could make my own weather in my bathroom. Initially fog that would turn into rain. ITS LIKE A JUNGLE IN YOUR HOUSE!

I just RTFA and see no mention of panic. What went wrong with the AJC?

Here in Tennessee, most of our shiatty drivers are from Michigan. Go figure... GianteMartini hit the nail on the head. Our roads suck, end up with more ice than snow, and people still drive like ignorant fools.

wheatweasel, I did the same thing when without power for 6 days during that last biggie storm GA got.

It was cool. My pad was 70 degrees and 98% humidity. It was one of the few places in Atlanta that still used a boiler under the building for hot water, though they had come through years ago and cut out the old metal heaters. The benefit was running hot water for 2 days non-stop and it never getting cool.

Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee respond the same way. Last year when snow came to Nashville a day earlier than expected, it took me 4.5 hours to get home because of the stupid people who can't drive.....it normally takes me 30 minutes!

And I counted well over 100 abandoned cars on the side of the road, several accidents, and one snow man on the interstate!

Ridiculous.

szyska
Those of you from New England, who are old enough, will remember the Blizzard of '78. That storm really caught the DPW with it's pants down. It shut down the whole damn state of Mass for about 2 weeks. It was fun to see Rt 128 being clearing out car by car by a front loader.

My dad plowed residentially for years. That was the year the snow came down so fast, he has pictures of the tops of his fleet. We also have pictures of just the top of our house.

giantemartini

The sun comes out, melts the snow a little, then it freezes hard, forming black ice that stays for days. Getting ever blacker from being warmed and chilled a number of times.

I grew up and learned to drive in New England. I've been in NC for about 12 years now and I still can't stand the black ice. There's always some jack monkey riding my ass, but I do enjoy watching them slip sliding away in my rear view.