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Article  https://little-flying-robots.ghost.io/we-have-to-stop-using-facebook-and-x-to-warn-people-about-disasters/   

"I wish I could tell you that Kerr County's dangerous over-reliance on a single, massively flawed social media platform was just a small-town Texas thing, an unfortunate but thankfully rare aberration in American disaster communications practices.

Unfortunately, it's not.

I suspect that the terrible truth is that far too many local authorities are now communicating important messages to the public exclusively via Facebook, Twitter, or some combination therein. And while I say this with the clear caveat that I've been unable to find little recent academic research or reporting on this issue, I've seen enough anecdotal evidence pointing in this direction to scare me.

It's 2025. We're living in a time when social media oligarchs have stopped even pretending to care about the greater good, their platforms have been intentionally engineered to hide non-brainrot information from its users, young people have largely fled to TikTok, and the federal government is starting to mandate using Twitter for official communications.

In other words, we may be glimpsing the leading edge of a big problem with how American local governments communicate with the public about stuff that can kill them. " very interesting article, the rest is at link


 

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Posted
On 7/18/2025 at 9:49 AM, bolverk said:

 

It's bizarre that certain people view physics and chemistry as "political." Sure, you might not agree with how public policy responds to basic scientific facts, and that's when things can get political, but you can't credibly deny that the climate is changing at this point. 

I don't want to derail the thread, but one clear example of change is tornado alley moving from Panhandle/Oklahoma/Kansas to Tennessee/Kentucky/Alabama. This is discussed in business level commercial real estate presentations by both metrology presenters and emergency response companies. (Flood/Disaster repair companies for example). 

So, if it's happening there at heavily conservative meeting, I struggle to understand why it isn't gaining traction elsewhere. Not saying it isn't, rather I don't comprehend why.

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Posted
I don't want to derail the thread, but one clear example of change is tornado alley moving from Panhandle/Oklahoma/Kansas to Tennessee/Kentucky/Alabama. This is discussed in business level commercial real estate presentations by both metrology presenters and emergency response companies. (Flood/Disaster repair companies for example). 
So, if it's happening there at heavily conservative meeting, I struggle to understand why it isn't gaining traction elsewhere. Not saying it isn't, rather I don't comprehend why.

The people with real money at stake discuss facts. Threats to your multimillion/billion dollar bottom line are apolitical.
But on an individual level? See the leopards eating people’s faces phenomenon. People flat-out act against their own (and their community’s) interests in favor of idiotic brainwashed performative bullshit.
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Posted
31 minutes ago, BearSchlong said:

Which is exactly why we need sirens.

If it were up to Meta they would find a way to sell each land/home owner their own personal flood gauge and set of sirens.

Or Google/Nest will sell you the Flood and Underwater Containment Kit - Universal, better known as the FUCK-U.  

It’ll happily monitor your water levels while collecting information to sell to your insurance company, will sporadically blare out ads for Pixel, and suddenly stop working in 3 years when Google decides to terminate the cloud service that operates it.  

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Posted
57 minutes ago, BearSchlong said:

Which is exactly why we need sirens.

If it were up to Meta they would find a way to sell each land/home owner their own personal flood gauge and set of sirens.

San Marcos restored 14 outdoor sirens to alert residents of weather dangers, with distinct signals for different emergencies.

SAN MARCOS, Texas — The Fourth of July flooding in Central Texas has highlighted the vital role of outdoor warning sirens in alerting residents to life-threatening emergencies.

The city of San Marcos maintains a network of 14 outdoor warning sirens, strategically positioned to notify the community about potential weather dangers. The system was first installed in 2011 following multiple floods in the region.

All 14 sirens are fully operational and feature new technology that issue distinct signals for various emergencies, allowing residents to discern the nature of a threat and take appropriate action. For example, separate sound patterns distinguish between tornadoes, wildfires and public safety threats.

There are now discussions to build more towers in the future as the city grows. 

“An additional 17 towers would have to be put in place to give us full coverage,” said Rob Fitch, the city’s director of emergency management.
“So we're in talks about financing and looking at a plan.”

https://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/san-marcos-flood-warning-system-sirens-upgraded/269-0d1cf0ab-d352-4ded-b3ed-840c036855a9
 

♥️

Not here to rehash anything at this point. It’s clear different places took initiative and some did not regarding sirens as part of the arsenal to warn people of flooding. 
 

I am keenly interested in some of your ideas about where the sirens and such would be in place in Kerr county. I figure some of you Surlies are engineers. That would be a cool thread. I cannot be the only one that would like to see what some of y’all have come up with. Which is eons better than what Kerr County did. 

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Posted
19 minutes ago, Homercles said:

Or Google/Nest will sell you the Flood and Underwater Containment Kit - Universal, better known as the FUCK-U.  

It’ll happily monitor your water levels while collecting information to sell to your insurance company, will sporadically blare out ads for Pixel, and suddenly stop working in 3 years when Google decides to terminate the cloud service that operates it.  

I don't know how anyone who lives in a flood, heavy storm or tornado area doesn't own a NOAA alert radio. Below is an article and one of the top ones cost $80 delivered by Amazon. 

Popular Mechanics NOAA alert radio rankings

1620323746-pop-noaa-gallery-4-1620323738.thumb.jpg.981f89ad33ad7653c8197d2b0f1bf5ca.jpg

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Posted
36 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:


The people with real money at stake discuss facts. Threats to your multimillion/billion dollar bottom line are apolitical.
But on an individual level? See the leopards eating people’s faces phenomenon. People flat-out act against their own (and their community’s) interests in favor of idiotic brainwashed performative bullshit.

Well, if someone lives in the afflicted area how do you ignore the actual real world damage going on right around you? 

I get in broad strokes what you're trying to say, but this isn't scientific evidence on a paper that noone will read, it's your, your relative's or your neighbor's homes being destroyed. 

Posted
Well, if someone lives in the afflicted area how do you ignore the actual real world damage going on right around you? 
I get in broad strokes what you're trying to say, but this isn't scientific evidence on a paper that noone will read, it's your, your relative's or your neighbor's homes being destroyed. 

Oh, that’s easy, I’ve seen it firsthand: they blame Obama and Biden for not building flood control dams (no mention of where, of course, or the fact that it would condemn 10k acres of their neighbors land) etc., or for sinister weather modification that made the tornado happen. I’m not exaggerating here. This is actually their response.
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Posted
21 hours ago, Hagbard Celine said:

ai sez:

The words "gage" and "gauge" are often used interchangeably, but "gauge" is the more common and preferred spelling, especially in American English. Both words, when used as nouns, can refer to an instrument used for measurement or a standard by which something is measured. As verbs, they both mean to measure or estimate. While "gage" can be a variant spelling of "gauge," it also has some distinct, though often obsolete, meanings related to pledges and challenges, like a glove thrown down as a challenge in a duel. 

 

As a patent lawyer, gage/gauge is a word that I wind up using frequently.  I opt for gage because I'm less likely to have to retype it. 😬😬

Posted
46 minutes ago, BearSchlong said:

Bravo. And the enchiladas from the kitchen therein.

back in the 80s before the transpecos got trendy the evans' served up a mean cfs, mashed, corn, green beans and toast, w/ BOTH brown and cream gravy, for NINE DOLLARS

the original dining room was on the southeast corner and it was spartan, nothing like what it is now

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Posted
back in the 80s before the transpecos got trendy the evans' served up a mean cfs, mashed, corn, green beans and toast, w/ BOTH brown and cream gravy, for NINE DOLLARS
the original dining room was on the southeast corner and it was spartan, nothing like what it is now

That's the dining room I remember. My last visit was probably ‘93 ish.
Posted
6 hours ago, BearSchlong said:

Which is exactly why we need sirens.

If it were up to Meta they would find a way to sell each land/home owner their own personal flood gauge and set of sirens.

That's a lie.  We would make you watch a 30 second ad before the siren would activate 

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Posted
1 hour ago, Hagbard Celine said:

release the list of 157 that were missing and now not missing

given where this came from and the timing, 10pm on a saturday night?

release the list

Look if their names match up with Ethiopian Flight 302 that crashed in 2019 in which 157 people died…can we all just agree this is a simulation? Or that we are in hell? Or the only group of fuckers that sees the matrix? Is that why surly exists? We better stop fighting each other and band together then damnit. I hope we aren’t characters in some shitty sci-fi novel. 

Posted
46 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

If you're going to release that statement, it seems irresponsible to not say how many of the 157 were deemed safe and how many are recovered bodies.

That and I sure wouldn't want my name on a list if I were just out on a trip and no one knew where I was. It would be ridiculous to release names.

Posted
18 minutes ago, Hard Times said:

That and I sure wouldn't want my name on a list if I were just out on a trip and no one knew where I was. It would be ridiculous to release names.

Oh for sure, they shouldn't be releasing names outside of the families. And it's obviously great news...just poorly worded and unclear news.

Posted
1 hour ago, aggie08 said:

If you're going to release that statement, it seems irresponsible to not say how many of the 157 were deemed safe and how many are recovered bodies.

Well, the death toll hasn't been reported as having gone up.  I'm going to assume those "missing" are alive.

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Posted
19 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

Oh for sure, they shouldn't be releasing names outside of the families. And it's obviously great news...just poorly worded and unclear news.

And released a 10:30 on a Saturday night on Facebook.

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Posted
2 minutes ago, Captainant said:

And released a 10:30 on a Saturday night on Facebook.

If Facebook is good enough for flood warnings, its good enough for this. 

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Posted
12 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

So they haven’t been updating the missing list in real time or at least daily?  And just decided to give an “oh by the way” now?

No doubt.  If there were volunteers down there still searching thinking there were over 100 still missing and the leaders knew there were only 3, the volunteers should be rightfully pissed.

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Posted
No doubt.  If there were volunteers down there still searching thinking there were over 100 still missing and the leaders knew there were only 3, the volunteers should be rightfully pissed.

Are the three still missing girls from Mystic? I wasn’t sure they’d found all of them yet.
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Posted
2 hours ago, Hard Times said:

That and I sure wouldn't want my name on a list if I were just out on a trip and no one knew where I was. It would be ridiculous to release names.

the keepers of this list of names, which has not been identified or announced, would have, over the last 2 weeks, either attempted to locate or been in contact with the 'missing' and/or their relatives, friends, whoever

stories from around the country, from the relatives or friends of these 'missing', have been absent from the local, regional and/or national media

this does indicate maybe this list of people were never missing

so if the missing never existed, where the fuck did the list come from?

if not-missing people were not on a list of missing there is zero security risk of not publishing their names or asking for their permission to release their names

if that cohort does not represent 100% of the list redaction, what "category" does the other missing fall under?

and the moment this kerr 'release' is posted in the dt thread, someone (elvis) swoops in and declares time to close the thread?

this smells like alternative facts

Posted

I hate how conspiratorial I’ve become (looks like I’m not the only one) as we cannot trust what we are told by just about anyone any longer. 
 

has anyone seen news of people thought to be missing only to pop back up after their vacation ended?  
 

and why hasn’t the missing list been pared down daily or so with such notifications?

Posted

ksat is running this to ground

"Authorities have not yet provided details on how many missing individuals were confirmed safe or recovered by first responders.

KSAT has reached out to the city to determine the number of individuals who were verified as safe or recovered and is awaiting a response."

https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2025/07/20/missing-persons-count-in-kerr-county-drops-from-97-to-3-after-july-4-floods-officials-say/

Posted
1 hour ago, Pato del Muerto said:

I hate how conspiratorial I’ve become (looks like I’m not the only one) as we cannot trust what we are told by just about anyone any longer. 
 

has anyone seen news of people thought to be missing only to pop back up after their vacation ended?  
 

and why hasn’t the missing list been pared down daily or so with such notifications?

abbott had already halved the number and did so during a weekday

all kerrco/ville had to do was release this at a "normal time" to dispel the naysayers so it didn't look like they were trying to bury it

Posted
2 hours ago, Hagbard Celine said:

the keepers of this list of names, which has not been identified or announced, would have, over the last 2 weeks, either attempted to locate or been in contact with the 'missing' and/or their relatives, friends, whoever

stories from around the country, from the relatives or friends of these 'missing', have been absent from the local, regional and/or national media

this does indicate maybe this list of people were never missing

so if the missing never existed, where the fuck did the list come from?

if not-missing people were not on a list of missing there is zero security risk of not publishing their names or asking for their permission to release their names

if that cohort does not represent 100% of the list redaction, what "category" does the other missing fall under?

and the moment this kerr 'release' is posted in the dt thread, someone (elvis) swoops in and declares time to close the thread?

this smells like alternative facts

Dunno what you typed, can't read it.

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