Air Quality in San Francisco is So Bad that Uber Drivers Are Selling Masks Out of Their Cars (recode.net) 204
California's devastating wildfires are causing unhealthy air conditions for locals breathing in harmful fumes. From a report: In San Francisco, which currently has the second-worst-rated air quality out of any city in the world, one driver was spotted selling N95 respirator masks for $5 apiece. That's significantly above market rate. Right now you can buy a 10-pack of similar masks for about $13 on Amazon. But considering the masks are sold out at many local stores, riders may be willing to dish out the cash for immediate access to the protective gear. Further reading: California needs to reinvent its fire policies, or the death and destruction will go on.
will uber blacklist drivers who sell them? force t (Score:2, Funny)
will uber blacklist drivers who sell them? force them to sell though the uber app?
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will uber blacklist drivers who sell them? force them to sell though the uber app?
Why? This proves they're contractors. Normal employees would get fired if they tried to do a side job on the clock.
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The air pollution is due to the current forest fires, friend. The air quality was excellent a month ago.
Re: will uber blacklist drivers who sell them? for (Score:2)
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Air quality in San Francisco is actually very excellent almost all of the time. They create lots of pollution, but it blows east 90% of the time and gives the valley and Sierra foothills bad air.
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Because.. uh... suburbs! Ya, suburbs are bad you know. They have clean streets, it's quiet, and you don't see any homeless people anywhere. Who could live like that? Meanwhile in the city there are these great museums near me. Ok, I've never actually gone to the museums, but if I were to go I'd rather they be in my neighborhood than have to take the train in.
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Suburban sprawl bad, okay? We can't say why, but it's bad. Oh, we'll point to things like having to develop roads, sewers, electrical infrastructure, etc. But we'll ignore the fact that the people living in the suburbs pay for that and pay to maintain it. And we'll ignore the state of all those things in our preferred alternative - the overcrowded shit hole cities.
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At least it is for me.....
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Electronics tech* 90% of electricians have NFI how most things in a car work whether they have a wire attached or not. But on that note, I am going to rebuild the top half of my 2003 chevy malibu's engine today. Took 6 hours to get down to the problem and I assume 6-8 hours to get back into operation. Every shop I towed it to said $2500 to even start because they couldn't figure out what the issue was from the sound. I tried to tell them the rocker bolt lifted out of the head. You could clearly hear it, and
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Assuming your right, that bolt is a symptom. If you don't fix the root cause, it will happen again.
Could just be a collapsed lifter was causing the valve train to hammer. Those bolts don't just fail.
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aluminum head. it pulled strait out, bad design there is 1.5 inches above with the rocker seat and rocker. and not big enough around giving enough surface area on the threads. Using time-serts to fix it but i think i will be replacing the engine within a year.
If you have to say who is the bumpkin... (Score:2)
We live in the city because we don't want to deal with country bumpkins.
I have been all over the world and lived in both small and large metro areas (some internationally).
You can get great restaurants, great shops, and a beach for vastly less money in many cities now.
In fact at this point not only would I not LIVE in SF, but after years of visiting SF every year for conferences I refuse to even TRAVEL to SF any longer.
Any way you look at it, you are the bumpkin and the rube (Rubelbumkin if you will) by ch
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I would have to agree and say that the average resident of Manhattan and San Francisco are vastly more provincial than the country bumpkin.
Re:If you have to say who is the bumpkin... (Score:4, Insightful)
If someone thinks the world ends at the border of their hometown, they are a HICK, even if their hometown is NYC.
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It's the ever-growing realization that they are inconsequential muppets leading a meaningless existence.
Raging against some manufactured -ism, group of -ists, or even the big bad Orange Man himself gives them a fulfilling purpose.
When the real world turns away and refuses to pay attention to them, they instead attack each other in a frothing, churning display of one-upsmanship as each subset tries to establish itself as more victimized, more woke, and more worthy of attention.
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When the real world turns
You don't have a monopoly on what is the "real world". They are as much "real world" as you are.
Re:Green acres is the place for me ... NOT (Score:5, Interesting)
Why has this polarizing stupidity become regularly modded up here?
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Banning straws, "sanctuary" state, endless regulations, cities filled with people living in tents on the sidewalk, streets covered in human shit and needles, all while whole towns burn amid yearly wildfires. Hotel California is rotten.
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call someone a name.. complain that the person you called a name called someone a name. THIS is what he was talking about...
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Even with the bad air in San Francisco from the fire, San Fran is better on its worst day than Mumbai is on its best day.
Come on now, that's not fair! Mumbai has been at it a lot longer than SanFran. Give the Ptogressives a bit more time and they'll see Mumbai's poor air quality levels and raise them with having to have crews sweep up piles of used dope syringes every morning nefore the morning commute.
That smell in SanFran is the smell of Progressive Utopian visions attempted in real life. See also: Detroit and Chicago.It's also looking like Seattle and Portland are also in the running to join the list of failed heavily-Prog
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Too bad. Sorry about your education.
California has nothing to do with these policies (Score:3, Insightful)
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California did not stop the forest service from doing controlled burns... ever. I live in a wooded area in California (mostly National Forest surrounds me, some state parks) and there have been controlled burns every year since I've lived here (42 years).
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While the controlled burns and clearing haven't stopped, they've absolutely been reduced. Every article I've read so far has confirmed this. However, it doesn't sound like a one issue problem. (ie the California government is stopping the forest management from doing controlled burns) It sounds like there are multiple agencies involved, and they may have contradictory agendas. If air quality is important to one, and controlled burns harm air quality,then it's hard to justify burning. Additionally, more
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If they were playing "catch up" at first, then it's quite reasonable that the controlled burns have been reduce.
The last time around there were several different fires, and the federal policy was "if it was started by natural causes, let it burn". This would be "sort of" reasonable if it wasn't following after a decades long policy of "snuff every fire as soon as you see it". They do (did?) have a policy that fires should be restrained from developed areas, even if they started naturally, but this means t
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Specific
https://www.sanluisobispo.com/... [sanluisobispo.com]
lots more
https://www.google.com/search?... [google.com]
Don't let facts get in the way of your faith.
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Facts?
These articles don't say anything about the Forest Service being prevented from doing controlled burns.
Re:California has nothing to do with these policie (Score:4, Informative)
Facts?
These articles don't say anything about the Forest Service being prevented from doing controlled burns.
vs
The U.S. Forest Service was sued when it tried to create a six-mile fuel break and eventually dropped the project. The opposition from environmental organizations was out of concerns that they would affect “sensitive habitat.” The Santa Barbara County fire chief is now calling for the creation of a network of fuel breaks to provide a frontline defense against future major fires, but these efforts also face pushback.
Read more here: https://www.sanluisobispo.com/... [sanluisobispo.com]
Being a lying sack of shit work well for you ?
Re: California has nothing to do with these polici (Score:2)
That says nothing about controlled burns.
Try basic reading comprehension.
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That says nothing about controlled burns.
Try basic reading comprehension.
Sorry yesterday was the day I dealt with people that couldn't admit they were wrong.
Today just isn't your day.
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Sorry, I have to butt in here. I unfortunately ended up in the NDOC's custody. I ended up at a fire camp. You learn a lot about forest fires and how to prevent them there. Clear cutting, and get this.. Controlled burning... Is the only way to create a fire break. And when you clear cut you create slash piles that are then burnt in a controlled fashion.
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There's a big difference between clear cutting a small area to create a fire break, and clear cutting a large area. Unfortunately, since the same word can be used to describe either action, you can't rely on stories that just use that term. But when a logging company talks about clear cutting, they frequently mean an area large enough to maximize their profit. Am I sure that was what was meant? No. But logging companies have a very bad, not even really checkered, history. Naturally, they're in it for
Re: California has nothing to do with these polici (Score:2)
That says nothing about California suing
Re: California has nothing to do with these polici (Score:2)
Screw the habitat. All the wildlife in the world is not worth the life of a single human and we just burned aluve 71 of them due to this negligence.
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The San Louis Obispo Tribune is a right wing rag ? Who knew ?
Is everyone that disagrees with you an agent of the right wing ?
Oh Here it is
" which was advocating turning over the forests to logging companies."
Logging companies are evil. Smack My Head how could I have missed that the people with the most understanding and greatest reason to manage a forest would be infinitely worse than watching it go up in flames because it was badly managed / sarcasm
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Don't logging companies have some cut/new plants ratio they have to follow by law? I remember something about it when I was a kid but that was a lot of drugs ago.
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IIRC, it depends on the contract. And often the contract doesn't specify that any particular proportion of the replants be the species that were removed. And often it doesn't even specify that any particular proportion of the replants survive a couple of years. Sometimes it does specify such things, and if there are decent enforcement mechanisms, that produces a much better result.
You've got to remember that just like any large company, the logging companies are in business to turn a maximal profit and t
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Logging companies have a very bad history when it comes to sustainably managing forests. They often prefer to clear-cut and replant with the economically most profitable species of tree, or just to not replant if their lease is going to run out. I.e., the act in the way that they see economically most profitable. I don't know whether you want to call that evil or not, but it's certainly not maximally beneficial to anyone except the logging company.
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Don't give them a permit to clear cut, fine them if they do. The forest service actually made a profit off of clearing trees up to the 70s no reason it can't again with the increased demand for lumber.
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I don't know whether you want to call that evil or not, but it's certainly not maximally beneficial to anyone except the logging company.
I don't know about "maximally beneficial", but surely it'd be better than the current yearly wildfires, where entire towns are being wiped out?
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You know, that really isn't clear. The towns wouldn't be there without the forest. If you remove the forest, then the reason for the town to exist goes away.
To an extent, you're correct, but the question is "Why are people living there anyway?". I suppose second or third generation residents might not be living there because of the environment...but I'm not at all sure that's correct. Most of the folks I've talked to liked the environment, and that's why they wanted to live there. But I don't usually k
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I don't believe California did that in recent history. In the past though it was indeed the policy nationwide to stamp out fires as swiftly as possible, which is not good forest management.
Now there is indeed talk that you could send in loggers to thin out dead trees. The real problem however is the excessive brush and undergrowth, and there's no economic incentive for a logging company to clear that out. Also the dead trees are not high quality wood, so logging companies really want to take out healthy
Re:California has nothing to do with these policie (Score:5, Insightful)
I just posted a bunch of links showing that yes that is ongoing.
Hell even as the fires are raging the Santa Barbara fire chief is still getting pushback on creating a firebreak.
Just by the evidence of the forests burning in massive conflagrations it's hard to see how you can say "Forest management in California is not in bad shape"
??? How come the far left will not regulate it? (Score:2, Troll)
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Come on, I would think that regulations should be used to stop all of that bad air. Issue solved.
I agree. Regulations should be used to stop all of that bad air, starting with building codes. It should be illegal to build a flammable house. Steel building, earth bag, rammed earth, compressed straw bale, cob, adobe... we have available to us numerous functional methods of construction which do not produce flammable structures, some of which are thousands of years old. They are literally as old as civilization.
Some of the first laws in California prohibited the starting of forest fires. But that was how
Re: ??? How come the far left will not regulate it (Score:2)
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Hillsides mean you risk hill slides. What you want IMO is a hill top, top of a gentle ridge, etc.
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Little-known fact; air quality not from fires (Score:3, Funny)
Actually San Francisco has finally opened the portal to Hell it has been trying to summon for ages by sacrificing homeless people and using Poop-Magics.
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Oh it is true (Score:2)
Please let it be true.
How else do you think Salesforce found room for a new tower? They are first to grab some of that coveted Hellscape.
And truth be told, it smells better down there than in Mission, plus the eternal fires are like the ULTIMATE in renewable energy.
Also say what you will about the Devil but at least Hel-train runs cars on time.
It's spreading VERY far (Score:2)
Not unusual mark-up for oddities (Score:5, Interesting)
In San Francisco, which currently has the second-worst-rated air quality out of any city in the world, one driver was spotted selling N95 respirator masks for $5 apiece. That's significantly above market rate. Right now you can buy a 10-pack of similar masks for about $13 on Amazon.
Truth is, under most circumstances you'd always buy shit cheaper at a supermarket or whatever and often in volume if it's non-perishable. Which means there's very little point at selling something at 30% or 50% mark-up. I've paid 5 euros at a camping grounds on the weekend for a pack of batteries that would normally cost 1 euro. How often would that happen, maybe once a month? You're not going to get rich making 4 euros/month selling batteries. They still wouldn't sell well for 2 euros/pack. At some point you have to cease looking at "rational" cost and look at lost opportunity costs. I was there, out of batteries, the nearest proper store was far away and the alternative was probably to not buy batteries at all. It wasn't a trap or anything like that, it was just a duuuuuuuh moment as I realized all the batteries were dead.
Honestly, I feel that this is sometimes the exact opposite of the sunk cost fallacy - we've spent tons of money to get here but then we're going to skimp on the last dollars to actually take advantage of it. Like you go to a foreign country with airplane tickets and hotel and whatnot but then it's like should we really go out to eat or just grab some snacks from the local store. And I'm like the opportunity cost of going out to eat at a fancy Greek restaurant is just the cost of going out to a fancy restaurant, we've already paid for everything else. Yes in isolation we can go to McDonald's and it's a lot cheaper, but in total we're then paying a ton of money for the same shitty experience we could get at home. If we ever wanted to do it later, we'd have to re-sink the cost of going to Greece so the opportunity is "cheap" here and now. So... if you're about to step of out the taxi and see smog hell, is $5 worth it? I think yes.
Re: Not unusual mark-up for oddities (Score:2)
$20 is the minimum people give as a charity to a homeless person. $5 is nothing.
Solution: stop taking Uber or Lyft (Score:3)
Every trip you take with Uber or Lyft increases the miles per person travelled by 40-60 percent, on average.
Solution: use public transit, an e-bike, or an e-scooter, and buy a good air mask. And, based on the months we lived amongst forest fire smoke in Washington State, some goggles (the ski goggles help). Also, add some blinky lights, because smoke reduces visibility.
If you do drive, turn your air onto "recirculate" - you're just sucking in microparticles that aren't screened with auto air conditioning filters. You're going to need to replace your air filters as soon as this ends, by the way.
You are going to need a bigger mask (Score:2)
N95 face mask, meh.
You should get one of these half-mask respirators with particulate filters
https://www.jamestowndistribut... [jamestownd...butors.com]
I use a half mask with organic vapor cartridges for orchard spraying, and with it on, a person cannot even smell their own flatulence. The N95 is a toy.
Liberal Management Outcomes (Score:2)
ntr
N95 Masks are hard to find in the Bay Area (Score:2)
They sell out almost immediately. I've been trying to buy for the last three days. I've been to seven stores. Nobody has them. I could order them online but I need one now, not next week. When you figure what overnight shipping costs, $5 for a mask isn't a bad deal.
Re:Why does everything in California suck (Score:5, Informative)
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As a Californian, this map [airnowtech.org] makes me want to cry. This is not why I chose to pay the high taxes and cost-of-living here.
Re: Why does everything in California suck (Score:2)
Don't give them any ideas. If there's any place that would vote for such a motion, it's California.
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But they have to be enforced.
The way trash and waste builds up in city areas. Tent cities and parked RV are allowed in city areas with no enforcement.
That political view of using state laws extends to natural fuel and getting ready.
Laws and tax payers money would have to be used to prevent the build up of waste and junk.
Understand the dead tree issue and do something about it.
Building in zones near wildlands.
Do some fuel reduction projects.
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So, the wildfires in rural areas of California are caused by urban homeless people?
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So, the wildfires in rural areas of California are caused by urban homeless people?
It's possible for two different things to be symptoms of the same problem.
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So, the wildfires in rural areas of California are caused by urban homeless people?
Often, yes. Last year there were several wildfires in my county that were determined to be the result of "warming fires", set by local hobos, that got out of control.
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Fuel reduction in about 80% of the burnt areas is a federal responsibility.
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Don't worry about it.
Those Red state Republican enthusiasts hate California because it shows the liberal policies can lead to a great economy and a great place to live.
It shows the lies that are spun by the right for what they are.
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Typical Red state or Republican voter: lies about things that can be easily verified.
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Only if housing prices are taken into account, otherwise it's the 17th highest (and better than Texas [wikipedia.org]).
Why do you think housing prices are sky high? Hint: it's not because the economy is shit.
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And if the country was just the red states we would be like Eastern Europe given the poor levels of economic prosperity they seem to be able to provide (aside from Texas of course).
Of course this is a free country so feel free to feel to be as passionate as you want over how you personally feel it would be worth it to get rid of blue state inspired regulations even if it meant shedding the most prosperous parts of the country. I mean, who knows, maybe you'll get your dream. Just don't wonder why your Southe
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Whoops I think I may have inadvertently stepped into the wrong echo chamber.
Before I leave, let me say that California has its problems like everywhere, but it's the most populous state and gaining net population for a reason. It's simple logic that it can't be bad if so many people are so intent on living there.
I can tell that logic won't really fly there though so I am outta here ...
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California has an advantage that no other state or city (never mind Detroit) ever had: natural geography. Find me a city in the entire world with more temperate climate than San Francisco (that is, outdoor temperature close to 70 deg F year-around), and you will have found a city that can be run just as badly while people still flock to it.
I think of California as a very beautiful woman (geography) with terrible personality (government). Despite what people say, the personality only starts to grate on you w
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You mean our Mediterranean climate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]? Just click that link and then click on the map in the upper right. All those spots labeled "Cool-summer mediterranean climate" are basically San Francisco in terms of climate.
As for government, thank you for your input but please don't come here as we're very happy being the fifth largest economy in the world and have no interest having an economy like a Red state's (even Texas'). Given Red states history of poor governance we can do with
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If the map can't distinguish between San Francisco and Walnut Creek through the Caldecott tunnel, then it's not discriminating enough.
When it comes to climate, there's the "good enough" (a lot of people tolerate Florida or Hawaii weather), and there's the "best". Apparently my standards are higher than yours.
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"Apparently my standards are higher than yours."
Or maybe you don't have ability to recognize the wide swaths of territory that have a "Cool-summer mediterranean climate". I'm sorry I don't have a super detailed map you can zoom in on for you but I really don't care that your "standards" are so high. I've effectively shown that other parts of the country and world have similar climates to San Francisco and that's all I set out to do.
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I think nationally, San Diego is given way higher marks as having the best climate in the country, Los Angeles is arguably warmer and certainly less windy than San Francisco. Berkeley is fucking frigid most days because it gets the full blast of pacific air every afternoon.
Redwood City, Stanford both have far superior climates Stanford University exists 30 miles south of San Francisco for a reason, it could easily have been built in the city.
Curious if you have visited San Francisco outside
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It might depend on parts of San Diego (haven't spent enough time there to know), but in summer, it feels way too hot. This year might have been an anomaly, but the only livable part of California this summer was SF Bay Area (... kinda ironic now, I know).
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Northern California native here. I never ever said San Francisco has the best weather, you're making that bullshit up yourself. North of SF, Sonoma Country for instance, has much better weather.
It was the parent that dictated SF had the best weather, not me.
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Of course San Diego is not part of the "Cool-summer Mediterranean climate" zone I literally showed you. I thought you were so sensitive you could tell the difference...
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Adults are talking. Sheesh.
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"Adults are talking. Sheesh."
Which is probably why you should shush up.
All you've done is made uneducated claims and now you're trying to take the "I'm being the adult" high road.
Sorry, but you're the ignorant troll in this scenario.
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Don't let anyone lie to you, it is 63F in San Francisco most days, closer to 52F within 1 hour of sunset. 70F is a fairy dream. Also it's windy as fuck so even though it's 63F out and sunny, you typically need to find a wind break between 12 and 4:30pm if you aren't wearing a light jacket. It's 70F in my house without a heater, but it is certainly not 70F outside most days.
Sucking hot (Score:2)
I live in Alaska. Right now +28F outside. Some snow. Love it. Can't imagine 70-90 weather. Itchy. Bugs. Sweat.
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When it hits 50 in Alaska the bugs have 1 week to fly, fuck and reproduce. South of the Arctic circle the bugs are much more relaxed. Granting the mosquito is Minnesota's state bird. They're barely the size of sparrows though, small for you.
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SF does not represent California. It might be home to a lot of nutty people and appear in the news all the time, but it's not even the biggest city in NorCal. That title goes to San Jose.
The laws are reasonable for the most part. I've met conservatives who are surprised to hear that California has a castle doctrine.
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There are plenty of places with a similar climate to San Francisco that aren't as popular. There are huge cultural and economic reasons to move there.
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In the history of the entire world, nobody has ever abandoned a beach city. Learn your history.
Pacific Islanders did it all the time. South Americans too, and they had settlements far more worthy of being called cities. There are plenty of submerged ruins too.
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Same with air-filtering machines. I have one of those machines that sucks air through a hepa filter, then blows the air back into the room. It works fine, but it's hard to get a machine or filter while a major fire is burning.
Last year I needed a replacement filter, but since wildfires were burning nearby, the filters were sold out locally. So I had to order the replacement filter online, and it didn't arrive until after the wildfires were out.
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It's CA, use your bong to filter your breaths.
Change the water when it gets chunky.
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My roommate ordered those N95 masks through Amazon since we couldn't find a local store that sells them in SF.
Yikes! That's brave. Ordering PPE through Amazon that is. Especially as how amazon do nothing to stop companies selling counterfeit knockoff crap.
I don't know how it is in the US but in the UK you're much better off ordering from an industrial supply company. Similar price (excluding delivery), free next day delivery, and very very unlikely to not meet the requisite regulations. And will come comple
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Some people are homeless, and there aren't any public toilets, so what do you think?