Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.


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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Climate Change Quickie

By John Ballard


WeOccupyAmerica sent out this little string of messages. 



  • Stage 3 drought watering restrictions for Austin, Texas. http://t.co/yqzlCX05

  • Texas, Alaska and Hawaii? All basically run their own electric grid. http://t.co/p5QgJ5NA TX drought my destabilize their power next summer 

  • TX peaks at 67,000 megawatts. http://t.co/wsmP4en4 And they can import at most 860mw. Disaster waiting to happen. 

  • If TX takes another heat wave like this year power plants will be shut down - no cooling water. Statewide evacuations not impossible event. 

  • Point on TX power is this: We're one goof away from state becoming unlivable in summer, then 24 million #climate refugees become #occupiers


Short and not so sweet. Quite to the point.


I copied the links to save the reader having to look them up...


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? No more outdoor watering in Austin by spring? by Marty Toohey October 18, 2011



Austin could ban outdoor watering entirely by spring unless traditionally slow-moving City Hall overhauls its water policies in response to the region�s historic drought.


At a morning City Council work session, city water officials said the drought could force Austin into even more restrictive measures, with potentially far-reaching consequences that include the demise of many of the city�s trees, risks to the foundations of buildings and possibly even higher electric bills.


The city may have to declare so-called �stage 3� water restrictions, which have never been used and include an almost total ban on all watering, including with a hose. City officials say the move may be necessary to comply with new requirements they anticipate coming in spring from the Lower Colorado River Authority, a quasi-state agency that supplies most of Austin�s water.


The river authority is forecasting that the current drought will become the worst on record by spring. No one is clear exactly how much further Austin would have to cut back its water use then, but city officials say it could be a significant amount.



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?Texas, Alaska and Hawaii? All basically run their own electric grid.


  NERC_Interconnections_color[1]


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?NewsRelease --  August 02 2011 -- ERCOT sets new peak demand record



Austin, Aug.1, 2011 -- The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. (ERCOT), system operator for the state�s bulk transmission grid, set a new electricity demand record with 66,867 megawatts (MW) today between 4 and 5 p.m. and is expecting to break the record again this week.


�Due to the high temperatures and high electricity usage expected this week, we are continuing to request that consumers and businesses reduce their electricity use during peak electricity hours from 3 to 7 p.m. for Tuesday and the remainder of the week,� said Kent Saathoff, vice president of system planning and operations.


The new peak demand exceeds the previous all-time record of 65,776 MW (Aug. 23, 2010) by 1,091 MW. One megawatt of power is enough electricity to power about 200 homes in Texas during hot weather when air conditioners are running for long periods of time.


The peak demand forecast for Tuesday is 67,084 MW, as of Monday evening. Demand could go higher on Wednesday and Thursday. The forecast will be updated closer to real-time operating day.



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Am I connecting the wrong dots?
Don't record dust storms + more water restrictions = worse conditions?


This is not a far-fetched conclusion: 



We're one goof away from state becoming unlivable in summer,
then 24 million #climate refugees become #occupiers




Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. Ron BeasleyOctober 18, 2011 at 12:46 PM

    We will all pay the price for this when the refineries start shutting down because no power or water. The migration may be starting already - more Texas license plates here in Oregon than I have ever seen.

    ReplyDelete
  2. John BallardOctober 18, 2011 at 12:49 PM

    The next John Steinbeck is taking notes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ron BeasleyOctober 18, 2011 at 12:58 PM

    By the way John, Hawaii has little choice and the same probably applies to Alaska.

    ReplyDelete

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