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TexasEd

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by TexasEd

  1. Dan Bongino: https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/11/politics/bongino-consider-resigning-epstein-files
  2. The whole post did not show up for me but this is what I thought of:
  3. He literally said that he was in Oakland, which is not Austin
  4. Updates: I have several POCs in different areas that will need cleanup. I'm communicating with them on timing. I posted a link to one of the larger ones on the How you can help thread. I have relatives in Kerrville working the SAR. They are from a family of firefighters and local insurance. They and others are telling me that some of the smaller areas might be overlooked. I'll try to set people up with where help is needed the most. I have about 10 people who have sent me an initial "I'll help" message I will start posting information about timing and locations soon. When it's time to move we'll move some of the logistics coordination to direct communications.
  5. This looks like a legit organization to sign up to help. I’m going to contact them that I have some people that can come in for cleanup. They have other services they need help with. There will be other areas too. https://www.ranchradiomarketinggroup.com/hillcountrystrong if you want to help with other surly people send me a PM or post in the other thread
  6. Thanks for the warnings guys. I am slowly building a list of people willing to do back breaking work in the Texas heat under emotionally charged circumstances. The reminders that this is not for everyone are valid. I am also getting the on site contacts I need now to help line up the places to go that need help so we are expected when we show up. Also, not all the work is super physical. Sometimes it's washing the mud off dishes and stacking them, helping sort and clean family possessions, helping a homeowner with sorting things they point out. So if that's something you're up for hit me up. (It will still be muddy, hot and emotional). one of the guys that messaged pointed out that being bilingual is a special skill too so it's added on the list. If you message me let me know: home base (i.e. S Austin, San Marcos, Round Rock) level of experience with this kind of cleanup any special skills you have like plumber, electrician, construction knowledge, equipment operator any notable tools you have access to Bilingual?
  7. Would be appropriate if the people speaking were directly impacted by the flood but the fact is that their lack of critical thinking skills led to the death of innocent victims is another thing. Those campers did not vote for the leopards in this case, these speakers and local government people did.
  8. Morbid thought: Did he have Uvalde on his resume?
  9. Yeah, I think the anonymous stuff is premature. I'm working on a comms plan that will likely include either just text messages or an app like Telegram or Signal but it's too early for that. Right now I need to know the things I listed above, more specifically. Do you know a contact at locations that need cleanup. I'll start reaching out to Churches and civic orgs if we don't get contacts through our personal relationships. These contacts don't need to be posters here. These are the people that live in or have ties in the areas that need help. Volunteers to do the work. Right now your surly handle is good enough. I'm taking notes and later I'll get your contact information and reach out. If you send me a PM great, if not I'll reach back out. Posting here something like "I'm in for a work crew, I have a little/lot/no experience" is good enough. If we get 4 people who volunteer then I won't work as hard to find places to go as I will if we have 20 people. Later I'll get people matched up with partners, sites, dates and set up some way to communicate so that if we have 3 teams in an area and one needs a surge of help for something we can coordinate. If you message me let me know: home base (i.e. S Austin, San Marcos, Round Rock) level of experience with this kind of cleanup any special skills you have like plumber, electrician, construction knowledge, equipment operator any notable tools you have access to
  10. Quoting you in this thread. See above. @West Kerr Horn We'll get people ready when you need people to come in and clean up.
  11. Have you all read the Anthropic article on LLMs blackmailing the people that control them when faced with being shut down? https://www.theregister.com/2025/06/25/anthropic_ai_blackmail_study/
  12. Thanks for the responses. @Homesickhorn your post implies that you are in the Kerrville area. If so you can start feeling out how to compile a list of places that need help, some descriptions of what they need done, and when they are ready for people to start showing up. Obviously work crew is also needed. @SurlyGator thank you, let me think about the funding for a day or two. We'll need to buy cleaning supplies, gas, and maybe fans to donate. I don't want to take money until we're ready and be accountable for what we're going to do with it. (No bus ride from Bob here)
  13. there is no reaction for this post.
  14. Just an observation but we're back to an ineffective warning system. With the knowledge [some] people had and lack of a warning system I'm left wondering if a helicopter flying down the flood plane with a loud speaker was a viable option. But who orders that when the behavior of the town officials made it seem like they had no idea it was coming.
  15. I don't know much about search, rescue and recovery except that it is only one of the early stages of disaster recovery. It seems to be well covered right now by people who know that space. In 7-14 days when the recovery is done those groups will leave and the survivors will be left trying to figure out what needs to be done next and trying to figure out how to move forward. One of the main next steps is cleanup. There are others like health and welfare (medical and counseling) and rebuilding but the one that seems to be the hardest in the midst of the grief is cleanup. We can help organize the manpower for targeted cleanup of properties impacted. That is the light demolition, debris removal, initial stabilization, cleaning, sorting of household effects, and providing cleaning materials for property owners affected by disasters. One of the goals is to minimize out of pocket expenses for cleanup so they can focus funds on rebuilding. To be effective we need to be organized. I've done the work before and you can end up wasting a lot of time if you're not organized. There are several aspects/things we need: Coordinator on the ground. @InkaUtexas says we have some contacts in Kerr County. Other places are affected too like Georgetown and Sandy Creek, we could help there if we get contacts. When to go. If they are still doing recovery you'll get in the way. Some areas are not ready for cleanup yet but others are. Where to go. We want to know the addresses and property owners we will work with ahead of time. I've done the show up and drive down the streets to find people that need help. Sometimes that is great and they get used to it after you've been there a while but they are probably a little overwhelmed and suspicious at the same time so if you can get that coordinator to tell you an address and the people that will be there it will help a lot. I've also done the drive up and check in at a table and they give you a job that a 10 year old could do like pick up trash or sorting used clothes donations while you have all your gear in your truck. If you have a site prearranged you'll be more effective. What to bring. Depending on the site you might need chainsaws, generators, water pumps or even heavy equipment. There are standard lists of PPE and tools for demo work. We will also need cleaning equipment, mops, bleach, trash bags, etc. Who is going. You can overwhelm a small job with too many people. We need effective teams of a few people each that can work independently on small jobs or swarm on a larger job. Scaling people to what the job needs is important. The more people we have the more teams we can deploy and tackle different kinds of jobs. What am I looking for: Points of contact to coordinate cleanup crews on site or people that know the area can put us in contact with people that need help so we can plan the jobs On site Volunteers. Those with experience can be a crew lead and newcomers can bring their muscle, sturdy gloves and surly attitude Organizers to help match teams with jobs, make sure they have the right gear, don't have any FEMA restrictions, etc. Logistics support - organizing the collection supplies and being able to move them where they are needed. A lockable enclosed trailer would be a huge help. @BurntEyes knows more about this. So if you're done bitching about what's wrong let's turn that into actually doing something productive. If we can get this done right then we can build the muscle memory to respond to other things in the future in a more effective way. @immamac for awareness
  16. Surly Response. Look for a new thread soon.
  17. Ok, after talking to a couple of people I'm looking in to organizing a Surly Response team. I'm writing up more details and may create a separate post on it because we will need to crowdsource people with different talents to do it. First stage may just be a volunteer cleanup group but we can expand to other areas to.
  18. I think it refers to the old video game on Atari called Adventure. It was also referred to in the movie Ready Player 1
  19. So the stories don't line up. Abbott said the state had “assets, resources and personnel” in place two days before a flood tore through the Hill Country. In place for what, the flood that they didn't know was coming? (Insert MTG joke here) If they knew a flood was coming two days ahead of time you would think that they would have raised the alarm but we still have hundreds of dead. So either the Governor pre-positioned disaster recovery “assets, resources and personnel” ahead of time in a prescient act of preparedness for something the Mayor was not aware of or Abbott is bullshitting. Insert the comic of the two red buttons with "Abbott knew the flood was coming but kept it on the DL" and "Abbott is lying"
  20. Yeah I get it. If there are areas that are not working recovery cleanup can start there. I think there were some houses in Travis County affected, I'll look into that too. I don't have any desire to get in the way of recovery but not all locations are facing the same challenges. Edit: Also Georgetown
  21. @InkaUtexas I'm in the experienced and capable of physically helping group. I worked in La Grange in 2017? and to a lesser extent in Wimberly. I Have the tools, gear and knowledge I know how to be self-sufficient and not create issues My company will even pay me for a day of volunteer work I just need to know when is the right time So please keep people like me informed because it does take planning on packing, getting others to go with you and making sure you have the PPE and other supplies you need. If there is another thread or group for work parties let me know. Edit: I can get off half of Friday and work through the weekend. Edit 2: I'm not in the recovery group but the debris removal/cleanup group. When it's time to get the houses cleaned out, remove debris, etc. Sometimes you have to wait for insurance green light and other times you just need the pictures to document before you start cleanup.
  22. No free speech because Grok can't restrain from reflecting Elon's racism.
  23. Same day meeting:
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