Hey, have you guys heard that as I type this right now it's illegal to be on the roads in Indianapolis?

I wish I was bullshitting you, but as sure as you could say "HOLY NANNY STATE, BATMAN!" there's a RED travel warning which means that it's illegal for anyone to be on the road unless they're an emergency vehicle or immediately seeking shelter. Yep, evidently Indianapolis is getting hit with the same kind of "blizzard" caliber snow that we've had over the last few days alongside with the crazy crippling cold that promises highs of around -10 and they've decided that in order to save people from themselves they literally have to strip their privleges to be outside and on the roads by declaring this state of emergency. Formal details available here >> http://fox59.com/2014/01/05/indianapoli ... z2paWXiP2A

You know, I've noticed over the years that the local/media has ramped up their coverage of SEVERE WEATHER to the point where it isn't just us laughing at poor Dane Placko standing in front of the giant salt pile, moreover every decent severe thunderstorm or snowstorm that brings more than 6" of snow is being covered like it's a life or death act of god OMFG EMERGENCY KEEP YOUR TELEVISION TUNED TO US AND AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS!!!!!!

During that #StormOfTheCentury on that one Mid-November Sunday that had the Bears game get delayed for a couple'a hours I remember being flabbergasted by watching the local CBS2 SPECIAL REPORT coverage of the storm. I had the volume off so I didn't hear what the message was, but I noticed that there was a distinct cycle of imagery starting with a disheveled weatherman with a clipboard standing in front of a giant radar super-zoomed-in on the red portion of the storm to the point where the whole screen was a giant menacing red, and then after he'd give you whatever info he was just handed they'd cut away to stock footage of destroyed homes in bumblefuck showing all of the carnage in one fell swoop before they came back to the clipboarded weatherman gesturing at the screen-sized giant red storm moving towards us as if the message was "we're all going to die unless you listne to us!"

so yeah tl;dr....is it just me or is society en masse getting a little bit crazy over the sensationalizing of strong/severe weather to the point where it's perhaps even beyond the cynical ratings grab motive and quite possibly straight-up programming us to be more and more used to awaiting instructions from our nanny state? i.e. whenever there's a forecast for a few inches of rain or 6"+ of snow we're being conditioned to turn on the TV and await instructions from the powers that be as to what we're supposed to do with our lives until the carnage passes?

i mean, yeah, obviously TV news has always jumped all over severe weather and whatnot.... and i get that sensationalizing = ratings.... but when you hear that the city of indianapolis is officially on lockdown because it's going to be cold and snowing.... isn't that a bit much as the british like to say?

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Not just Indy. NW Indiana is under the same deal.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I would usually agree with you on this one, Sini but when I hear -30 to -50 wind chills I don't have a problem with it. Hopefully, it keeps the idiots from going out to get smokes or a lottery ticket. People just don't have enough common sense.

That being said, my employer is expecting all of us to be at work tomorrow. And then heading outside to work.

I understand the hype, but it should be noted that the tornado from that storm did some serious damage in the Washington area. The hype is helpful at times when heeded. They should actually shut more places down during big snowfalls because there are all those people that think they need to be on the road when there's a foot of snow on the road.

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To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

yeah I have mixed feelings on the whole deal. I detest the concept of big brother directing our actions, but people are idiots and when they get stuck in a snow drift they are going to expect big brother to come get em out.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

dude, it doesn't take a brain surgeon / rocket scientist to realize that it's a good idea to be inside when it's -10 degrees out (fuck wind chills and heat indexes... they're just stupid hyperbole meant to sell sensationalized media coverage by convincing people that it's hotter/colder than it really is, you know, IT FEELS LIKE it's X degrees out there...." --- then why have temperatures in the first place if you're going to sell me an exaggerated # that you claim is what it really is out there?

but see matt, you're touching on the point that i find somewhat disturbing. yes, you wanna do your due diligence in warning the idiots that it's not a good idea to go out and do superfluous stuff in this weather.... but it's a whole different ball game to actually make it illegal to be outside in the wake of the weather. isn't part of freedom being allowed to do stupid things that might potentially harm yourself? i mean i'm allowed to go to the store and buy cigarettes and it doesn't exactly take the aforementioned brain surgeon / rocket scientist to realize that "anything you smoke will kill you"

i just worry that we're on a slippery slope where our privileges to leave our houses are gonna start being rescinded for various reasons.... and once it starts off with extreme stuff like terrorism and/or record low temperatures, once people get used to the paradigm of "things aren't normal therefore i have to stay home" --- well man.....sigh, you know? obviously i'm not going to run outside tomorrow and start streakiing like some feminist who thinks showing off her naked body makes an important political/social statement, but at the same time i always thought part of freedom was that i had the right to make my own decisions and therefore face the consequences for my actions, not the privilege to go outside unless condition X means that i have to stay inside until the TV/radio/internet tells me that it's formally/legally OK for me to leave the house.

so if we start saying "we have to do this in order to save some idiots from themselves" how long does it take for us to eventually get grouped in with the "idiots" ??? and fret not this isn't some tinfoil-hatted conspiracy theory like OMFG EVERYONE JOIN YOUR LOCAL MILITIA AND LOAD UP YOUR ARSENAL CUZ THE FEMA DEATH CAMPS ARE READY AND WE GOTTA STAND FOR WHAT WE BELIEVE IN AS AMERICANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! there ain't no revolution; c'est la vie..... but still at the same time i find it worrysome that society en masse is becoming more and more eager to present us with conditions where we have to "shelter in place" or "lockdown" or as many people have known it for years: "house arrest."

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I definitely see your point, Sini.

i'm debating on whether i should head in to work tomorrow... im really only concerned with going out at 5pm and trying to start my car that has been sitting in -10 degree weather all day

For a lot of the southern states 6 inches of snow would be reason to shut down their whole state. Mostly because in places like Atlanta and Florida they don't have a lot of snow removal equipment. Outside of the city of Chicago snow removal is generally excellent in the Chicago suburbs. The 18 inch storm 3 years ago was one of those days when only plows, emergency vehicles and 4 wheel drive vehicles should have been on the road until the roads were properly cleared. Too many people are in a hurry to go nowhere when you have a storm like that it's not as though anyone else can get anywhere either. Emergency people and snow plow guys are really the only people who need to be out until the roads are cleared. People congesting the roadways when the roads aren't clear are only blocking the path for emergency vehicles.

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To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

so youre saying if a large volcano erupted halfway around the world and the jetstream buried chicago and atlanta in 10ft of ash, chicago will be far better equipped to handle it?

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

yeah hey in retrospect i re-read my 2nd post and it kinda seems like i'm jumping down your throat a la some vintage SHARKian "Uh Matt, here's why you're wrong..." stuff, however I really didn't mean to single you out and come off like i was "attacking" your view as wrong/etc.

I was merely trying to better communicate my perspective of the slippery slope using your perspective as. example, the equivalent of the standardized "if you've got nothing to hide you've got nothing to worry about" response to contemporary privacy concerns.

so yeah in the immortal words of r-kelly "this is business it ain't personalllllllllllllll...."

tl;dr for both of my posts = i'm not digging the recent trend over the last ~1-2 years of various parts of society going on full-on formal "lockdown" or better yet "shelter in place" as a response to atypical/potentially-dangerous "situation X" --- remember that old battle cry circa the early 00s where if you stop doing [american-thing-X] you're letting the terrorists win? welp here we are in the bottom of the 5th and in terms of who's winning let's just say that when i go to ballgames you midaswell call me johngy cuz i've got a big ol stack of scorecards to show that i've always been keeping score =D

as for the actual score..... go google it. i'm too busy watching the game to tell you!

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I have to give drinky credit for this tweet:


Matt Abbatacola ‏@MattAbbatacola 4 Jan

Winter Weather Advisory during winter

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Wait a second, YOU follow drinky on Twitter? My world has been turned upside down. Very disappointing, JORR.

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Nope. It was a re-tweet.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

i dont think they are forcing people to stay in their house. theyre just closing the roads, which everyone always tells me is a privilege to have in the first place.

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

Its not that they are trying to stop you from going anywhere, there are basically saying if you get stuck, we cant come and help you...and thus, you might die.

But feel free to walk down the street

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Pussification of America...

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how? the county doesnt want to pay for the rescues. if anything, this is more hardcore america.

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

There is nobody out today. It's awesome. Dropped the dog off at day care, grocery shopped, did some christmas returns. Mr Spaulding is home. This is a great day.

you pay for doggie day care? a chain at ace hardware is like $20 and it lasts as long as the tree lives...

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

The better question is why did you drop the dog off at day care if your husband is home?

All preparation for turning Indiana into a huge FEMA camp.

No. He's saying that when Rahm tells you to not drive in the 10 feet of ash you should scream about "big guberment"

You want me to put the dog outside today? Or talk her for a walk? It's fucking cold Ike.

We take her 1-2 times a month usually on a Friday. I never thought I'd do something like that but my dog is, uh, high energy. She gets walked, run, or played with for about 1.5 - 2 hours a day. I use it when it's bad weather or I just don't want to do it. I'm so thankful for it, and she loves it.

They also do the "not allowed on the roads" thing in Ohio when we lived there too, don't know if they still do.

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if you dont want it to freeze to death then just use a shovel. get a new dog in the spring when you can leave it chained to the tree out back where all dogs belong.

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

I would gather most dog owners are sucking it up and taking their dog for a walk or letting them out in the yard to piss for a minute. But that's just me.

Its not about the owners sucking it up, its about keeping the pets healthy. Taking a dog for a walk in this sort of cold is just as dangerous for them as it is humans. They could easily get frostbite on their pads in a matter of minutes.

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Gov. Mike Pence another big government Republican.
Indiana is the most northern state of the Confederacy.

sounds like a fantastic day for all non-dog owners across the country...

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.