Why are there still 65,000 customers without electricity in Florida?

by philg

Hurricane Idalia came through northern Florida on Wednesday, August 30. Roughly 250,000 customers lost power. The situation at 10:00 am today, three days later:

It looks as though much of the problem is with two areas served by coop power companies (the numbers below are total customers then customers out):

They’re serving counties that were in the direct path of the storm. I’m wondering if they don’t have the hurricane-hardened infrastructure that we have in South Florida, where hurricanes regularly occur. Our transmission lines here are high above any trees that might fall. Delivery to neighborhoods is via underground cables. Is the problem up north simply that fallen trees have cut vulnerable lines? “About 40,000 linemen” were pre-positioned for Idalia, as for Hurricane Ian. But it seems as though the problem of restoration is tougher, at least on a per-customer basis (the affected counties are sparsely populated so maybe an entire power grid has to be reconstructed to restore 10,000 or 20,000 customers).

As the Bobs asked in Office Space, what is it that the 40,000 linemen actually do?

Separately, with all of the progress that has been made since Joe Biden took office, why don’t we have a gender-neutral term to replace “lineman”? What about electric grid workers who identify with one of the other 73 gender IDs recognized by Science?

Related:

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Taskflation with Task Rabbit

by philg

After placing an order for delivery from IKEA, the company’s software automatically pinged me with an offer for assembly from Taskrabbit.

August 27:

Today:

That’s 142 percent inflation in less than a week. Bidenomics or do IKEA and Task Rabbit together underestimate how long it takes to put together IKEA furniture? (in this case it was an outdoor cabinet/bookshelf, a TV stand, and four inserts for the Kallax bookshelves)

The fine print on the estimate says “depends on the Tasker you select,” but I don’t remember selecting anyone. The taskrabbit site chose for me.

(I will say that the guy who showed up did a good job. I’m not sure that he could have worked substantially faster. Maybe the idea was that someone was going to accept this job for $15/hr including the Taskrabbit markup? And perhaps the estimate didn’t include the “trust & support fee”?)

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11 percent inflation in a 3 percent world

by philg

We’ve been in our house for a little over a year and it is time to order some additional furniture. I spent a little time on the web sites from which I ordered a 1-1.5 years ago and, for those products that are still offered, compared prices.

A chair that I ordered a year ago for $179:

The same chair today, offered at $199:

Up 11 percent in our world of 3 percent (official) inflation.

How about IKEA? Here’s a shelf that we ordered in May 2022 for $200:

It’s now $260. Inflation of 30 percent in less than 1.5 years.

The $50 chair?

Now $65, also up by 30 percent:

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Medical School 2020, Year 4, Week 12-24 (Interview Trail)

by philg

After a long hiatus due to my laziness and the author being a resident, here’s an addition to Medical School 2020… It’s the fall of 2019. SARS-CoV-2 is just beginning to build mindshare in Asia. Our hero is looking for a job…

Three months off for interviews, each of which is progressively less exciting.

There are three classes of surgery programs: academic, community, and hybrid. Academic programs typically require at least two years of research in addition to the 5 PGY (post graduate) years. Our hospital’s residents warn that academic programs struggle to deliver case volumes for training. Residents may participate in complex robotic whipples, but won’t learn bread and butter procedures. The best opportunities are grabbed by fellows, who don’t exist in community programs. Many academic programs ship residents off to satellite community hospitals with higher case volumes that enable better training for going into general practice.

My first interview is at a community program in a comfortable suburb of a Northeast city. After checking into the Best Western, I walk around the main street for an hour before I head back to change into business casual attire for the evening reception at a local bar. Three other likely applicants are waiting in the lobby for the 6:30 pm shuttle.

An applicant from a Southwestern DO school explains that he doesn’t know much about the program or the area. “Beggars can’t be choosers. I’m just happy to get an interview.” An applicant from a prestigious medical school is less grateful. “I don’t expect to go to a place like this,” she says, “I’m using it for practice.”

Several residents and their families are enjoying beer and finger food. A couple of attendings, including the program director, are chatting with applicants about hobbies. At 8:00 pm, the attendings leave to allow the residents to speak more candidly. “One important factor that I wish I had considered in applying for surgery residency is the level of trauma exposure,” explains a PGY4 (rising chief). “We are not a level 1 trauma center. We stabilize traumas en route to the main city trauma center. We get our sexy GSWs [gun shot wounds] in our fourth year rotation at the trauma center.” There are advantages: “You don’t get as many trauma cases, but you don’t have to spend half of your time being an amateur social worker.”

I wake up at 5:00 am for an early morning walk to the hospital for 6:00 am remarks over catered Chick-fil-A. The program director, a soft-spoken, humble 60-year-old MIS (minimally invasive surgery) surgeon, introduces himself and describes the unique opportunities at the program. One that appealed to me is the chief service. “We are proud to still offer a chief service. Three months of the year you will rotate on the chief service where you run the ship. You interview patients in clinic, and schedule them for surgery. You do the surgery. You manage their complications. You see them at their post-op visit. We also teach you about the intricacies of billing. There is an attending available for any issues, but this is your service.” He added, “This used to be commonplace at surgery residencies but has fallen out due to insurance issues and case volumes. The administration and I are confident enough in our residents to continue this opportunity.”

(What is not stressed is that the chief duties are mostly restricted to Medicaid patients. Care of the privately insured is overseen by more senior physicians.)

We had four 30-minute interviews with selected faculty. I interview with a young vascular surgeon who moved here because the cost of housing near her NYC fellowship was beyond her means. Most of my interview with the chair focused on his love of poker. I tried to steer our conversion back to medicine by alluding to the similarities between surgical decisions and the risk analysis with poker. “If you come here, we’ll have to invite you to our poker nights.” In my interview with the program director I ask him what he is most proud of. “I am proud that I would let any graduate of this program operate on my family.”

After the morning interviews, we have a Panera-catered lunch with residents popping in and out between cases. One interviewee is from a Seattle-based medical school, “My home residency program ships their 4th year out to Chicago for 2 months,” she said over our Panera-catered lunch. “They get 10 GSWs a day and hit their numbers in a few weeks.” The program director provides some concluding remarks. “I know this is early on in the interview process. Each of you is qualified and has an exciting surgical career ahead of you. Most of you will not come here, and that is okay. We would love to have you.” He continues, “I would like to leave you with two final thoughts: First, take a deep breath, you will match. Every applicant we interview is competitive and will match. Second, get excited. You have chosen an amazing path. You will play such an important role in the lives of others. The best surgeons are humble because they understand that we stand on the shoulders of giants whose achievements have allowed our patients to trust us. Honor this pact and safe travels.”

Those who don’t have to get on a plane immediately are invited on a 45-minute tour of the hospital, which is as close as an interviewee gets to patients or an operating room. I found these fascinating and always took the opportunity to join.

(Mostly because of a lack of interest in the geographical location, I did not rank this program highly in the Match and therefore I never learned how high they ranked me.)

Lanky Luke interviewed at a new Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited residency program started last year by a previously successful program director who had moved to a beachside hospital. The night before the interview the interns and residents got together at an upscale restaurant featuring an open bar. “The attendings were drunker than the interns! Everyone was hung over for the interview the next day, which thankfully didn’t start until 9:00 am.” Luke loved it. “Basically you just work with the attendings day in and out. The interns operate like crazy.” Our surgery chair, however, discouraged Luke from giving this program a high rank because it would be more difficult to get a job than if he went through a more established program.

Jane returns from boot camp and two back-to-back away rotations at military hospitals. After three months she has missed a lot of our class drama. I am also not up to date on the newest gossip. To mend this, we get lunch with Ambitious Al. Jane asks about Southern Steve. “Is he still with that ICU nurse?” Al laughs, “No, he’s been dating an M2, and they are getting engaged tonight.” He adds, “Y’all should come to the afterparty tonight!” Jane asks after our classmate who had suffered a stroke at age 10 and had some trouble with one hand and his gait (see Year 1, Week 31). Al responds, “He doesnt go here anymore.” (He dropped out during the third year.)

[Editor: If his stroke symptoms prove to be mentally debilitating he can serve as a U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania.]

A few residency programs ask for a supplemental application, typically a two-page application with four questions. Examples: How would you deal with conflict of opinion between providers in the care of your patients? How would you approach one of your fellow residents not carrying his or her share of the workload? Oregon Health & Science University: “We value diversity in its many forms and strive to create an inclusive community.  Please let us know how you will both contribute to and learn from our community during your training at our program.  (250 words or less)”. Perhaps due to my failure to minor in Intersectionality as an undergraduate, I was not selected for an interview by OHSU.

The main drama and stress of this period is trying to match in the same city as Jane. She’s restricted to military hospitals and I’m restricted by being a white male with an above-average, but not top-one-percent score on Step 1 and 2. Neither of us can write our own tickets.

The rest of the book: http://fifthchance.com/MedicalSchool2020

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Hurricane Idalia, METAR edition

by philg

Here’s the part of the Florida coast where Hurricane Idalia arrived recently:

Notice that the area where the hurricane was predicted to make landfall, and actually did make landfall, is covered in wildlife refuges. In other words, no humans would ordinarily be resident in this area. What does it look like for pilots? There are two airports with weather stations: Tallahassee (KTLH) and Perry-Foley (KFPY):

How ugly did it get at Ron DeSantis’s house?

KTLH 301308Z AUTO 34028G40KT 2SM +RA BR FEW015 BKN036 OVC065 24/23 A2936 RMK AO2 PK WND 34040/1308

Winds 28 gusting 40 knots, 2 miles of visibility in heavy rain and mist, a broken layer of clouds at 3,600′ above the runway. That was around 9:08 am (1308 GMT).

What about around Perry-Foley, which is much closer to the water?

KFPY 301335Z AUTO 27033G48KT 2 1/2SM RA 25/24 A2904 RMK AO2 LTG DSNT SW T02450238
KFPY 301315Z AUTO 26037G51KT 2SM RA 25/24 A2894 RMK AO2 LTG DSNT NE T02480241
KFPY 301255Z AUTO 28050G74KT 1SM +VCTSRA 25/24 A2865 RMK AO2 LTG DSNT N AND NE P0071 T02470240
KFPY 301235Z AUTO 31044G68KT 1SM +VCTSRA 25/24 A2834 RMK AO2 LTG DSNT NE AND S P0063 T02460240
KFPY 301215Z AUTO 01054G74KT 1SM +TSRA OVC008 25/24 A2828 RMK AO2 LTG DSNT N AND NE P0029 T02470240
KFPY 301155Z AUTO 02043G62KT 1 1/4SM +RA OVC008 25/24 A2860 RMK AO2 LTG DSNT NE AND E P0046 6//// 7//// T02510240
KFPY 301135Z AUTO 04034G56KT 2 1/2SM VCTSRA OVC011 25/24 A2887 RMK AO2 P0029 T02510240
KFPY 301055Z AUTO 06030G42KT 1 3/4SM +RA SCT007 OVC013 A2913 RMK AO2 P0024
KFPY 301035Z AUTO 05024G36KT 4SM RA BKN008 OVC013 25/24 A2919 RMK AO2 P0008 T02520240
KFPY 301015Z AUTO 04019G29KT 3SM RA OVC008 25/24 A2927 RMK AO2 P0004 T02500240

About 2.5 hours of frightening wind, which peaked at 54 knots gusting 74. There was a heavy thunderstorm with rain and skies overcast at 800′ above the runway. “LTG DSNT” means “lightning distant”.

Cedar Key, Florida is a small collection of islands tenuously connected to the mainland with charming wooden buildings (i.e., dilapidated) that look like they could be blown away in a fresh breeze. Cedar Key was widely highlighted in hysterical media stories as likely to be wiped out by Idalia’s storm surge. Yet people refused to take a day for sightseeing in Orlando! “‘We Should Have Gotten Off the Island’: Cedar Key Residents Survived Idalia’s Wrath” (New York Times):

Hours after the waters of the Gulf of Mexico swept through her house, Donna Knight emerged in a windbreaker and boots to try to get her Chevy SUV to higher ground.

“It came through — the whole ocean,” she said, describing a night of howling wind, frightening bangs and flying debris as Hurricane Idalia blew through Cedar Key, a conglomeration of tiny islands connected by bridges that juts three miles into the Gulf.

By noon on Wednesday, the center of the Category 3 storm had passed, and she and her 19-year-old son knew they had survived. “We should have gotten off the island,” she said.

Officials had estimated before Idalia made landfall that perhaps 100 people were riding out the storm on Cedar Key. It was unclear how many had left the island immediately afterward.

Not a great advertisement for the Florida K-12 system…

Ms. Knight, 62, a 20-year Cedar Key resident, had every intention of heeding the mandatory evacuation order ahead of Idalia, she said. “My bags were packed.” She just needed gas and groceries, and would join her husband and mother-in-law near Orlando.

But her son didn’t want to go. “I wasn’t going to leave him by himself,” she said.

This was the absolutely the most obvious place from which to evacuate and yet 100 people (out of 700 total population; the NYT fails to provide context) decided to stay (a “mandatory” evacuation order in Florida is not backed up by COVID lockdown police tactics).

How was it in Palm Beach County, you may ask? A little windy. Hot as hell if hell were also super humid (2-3 degrees above the historical average; 3-4 degrees below the historical record). Scattered thunderstorms (common in the summer anyway). I ended up on a bug-free boardwalk in the Everglades at the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, a 145,000-acre swamp. I’ve been on about 15 boardwalks in the Everglades and never been bothered by mosquitoes or other flying predators. This is one of the big mysteries of Florida!

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God wants you to identify as 2SLGBTQQIA+

by philg

From Needham, Maskachusetts, a suburb of Boston:

Some more images of the church where God speaks directly to humans:

(Sometimes the best way to “Dismantle Racism” is by first moving to a town that is 2 percent Black.)

The church reminds us that it is not Ukrainians who are fighting for their lives:

Speaking of Ukraine, another church in Needham:

Here’s what I think might be a 2SLGBTQQIA+ version of the Ukrainian flag:

What about back in Cambridge? A friend snapped this photo of Riverside Boat Club, which reminds folks that Black Lives Matter, that the trans-enhanced rainbow flag is our national symbol, and that the best way to support Ukraine is to stay safely in Maskachusetts while hanging up a flag.

Who can explain the intersection between Black and 2SLGBTQQIA+ on the boat club whose web site shows only white people? Perhaps a professor of Queer of Color Critique who will soon be working at Williams College:

The Program in Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies seeks a professor of Queer of Color Critique, field open, ideally with interdisciplinary scholarship. We also especially welcome those with additional interests in Disability Studies/Crip Theory, Feminist Technoscience Studies, and/or Migration Studies.

The candidate should be able to teach introductory courses, including WGSS 101 and a Foundations in Sexuality Studies seminar in addition to electives.

We are especially interested in candidates from historically underrepresented groups

Coronapanic is over in Maskachusetts? The August 10, 2023 job post:

We recognize that these are uncertain times with changing health and safety restrictions given the endemic nature of COVID-19 and other viral illnesses. This search will follow all state and college policies, and we anticipate collaborating with candidates to best navigate health and safety during the recruitment process.

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Climate Change alarmist spends $68 million on a sea level barrier island teardown

by philg

2020: “Jeff Bezos Commits $10 Billion to Address Climate Change” (New York Times)…

“Climate change is the biggest threat to our planet,” he wrote. “I want to work alongside others both to amplify known ways and to explore new ways of fighting the devastating impact of climate change on this planet we all share.”

2023: “Jeff Bezos revealed as buyer of $68M Indian Creek teardown” (The Real Deal)…

Billionaire Jeff Bezos, the third richest person in the world, reportedly paid $68 million to purchase a waterfront home in Miami’s Indian Creek Village.

The mansion Bezos reportedly purchased was built in 1965 and expanded in 1985. It spans nearly 9,300 square feet with three bedrooms and three bathrooms on a 2.8-acre lot.

Last year, his parents, Mike and Jackie Bezos, purchased two waterfront homes in Coral Gables for $78 million.

Where is Indian Creek? See the top right corner:

Let’s hope that the new house is completed before sea level rise washes Miami Beach away!

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CNN found 50X more white gunmen than Black gunmen

by philg

Following this weekend’s unfortunate events in Jacksonville, Florida, a gun-loving friend sent me a CNN article and remarked on the phrase “white gunman” occurring within the first three words.

I used the Google to find the precise phrase “white gunman” on cnn.com:

158 results. Compare to “Black gunman”:

(Black Lives Matter, but Black capitalization does not; Google shows the same 3 results for “black gunman”.)

In other words, the reader of CNN would infer that there are 50 white gunmen in the U.S. for every Black gunman.

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Indoor, Outdoor, and Bearded Maskers in the Boston Area

by philg

Photos from August 21, 2023, Allston, Massachusetts (adjacent to Boston University):

My favorite, of course, is the surgical mask over full beard as a means of blocking out an aerosol virus. However, the most confusing are the outdoor maskers. The risk of being in a crowded city is so high that they need a mask when outdoors… yet they won’t move away from the crowded city. I guess the masked supermarket shoppers are also tough to explain. Why don’t they stay safe at home and let the Latinx essential delivery workers incur the risk of gathering groceries? (See The social justice of coronashutdowns)

I visited a friend in Brookline who warned his elderly mother to stay away from me because I was insufficiently cautious about the possibility of a SARS-CoV-2 infection (I had arrived from an oceanfront estate in Maine with about 3,000 square feet of space per person). A few minutes later, he decided that it would be too onerous to cook pasta at home, safe from COVID-19, on the high-end induction cooktop. So we then all went out to a cramped neighborhood Italian restaurant in which the elderly mom was within breathing distance of about 30 local humans (presumably not Covid heretics, however).

Both the mom, a Manhattan resident, and the grandkids spontaneously offered the opinion that Florida schools were terrible, partly due to the fact that reading was banned in Florida. Said grandkids had been removed from the Brookline, Maskachusetts public schools (one of the highest-rated districts in the state) due to being bored and the school system not having any gifted program. So they were paying private school tuition ($55,000+/year per student) on top of state income tax (banned by the FL constitution), state estate tax (also banned by the FL constitution, unless it can be credited toward federal), and property tax at a similar rate to what a typical FL county charges. I pointed out that Florida state law required every public school district to offer gifted education beginning in 2nd grade and that, if necessary, there was also the Big Hammer in which Florida high school kids can take online or in-person courses for free at any state-run college or university (and taxpayers have to buy them the textbooks as well!). Finally, the larger counties run magnet schools for those who are artistically or academically inclined (one of Miami’s is the #4-ranked public high school in the U.S.).

Related:

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Among the Covidians in Burlington, Vermont

by philg

Some photos from a recent trip to downtown Burlington, Vermont…

The front door of a state government building:

Inside a bookstore, a follower of CNN:

COVID-19 is dangerous enough that one should wear a mask, but not so dangerous that one should shop for books on Amazon?

We are informed that marijuana can cure almost any illness, yet below is a marijuana shopper who feels the need to protect him/her/zir/theirself via a mask (Fauci-approved cloth version). If he/she/ze/they is about to inhale healing cannabis, why does he/she/ze/they need to worry about a minor bug such as SARS-CoV-2? Note also the trans-enhanced rainbow flag on the front door.

Speaking of rainbow flags, nearly every merchant had one, but only some featured Black Lives Matters or Trans People Belong signs.

Note the tattoos behind the Sign of Justice:

The University of Vermont featured both indoor and outdoor maskers of the young/healthy/slender variety, but unfortunately I was too slow to get good photos. Even more upsetting: the “intentional intersectional space” was closed.

Shout-out to Heritage Aviation at KBTV for the usual awesome service. Also to U.S. Customs at Burlington for hassle-free clearance inbound from the Land of Blackface and Political Unity.

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