Civil War Statues?

[Sciencewoman]

I'd have to stay home all winter if I didn't drive when it snowed or was icy. *sigh*

I took drivers' ed. in December/January, on a stick shift car. At the time, I thought my parents were sadists, but I learned a lot about winter driving.

When I was going to school in Maryland, waiting/melting seemed to be way to deal with the snow, and we're used to salt trucks, sand trucks, plow trucks, etc. That makes a HUGE difference, and I think most northerners take those services for granted and don't realize that states with less need don't have access to all those interventions. No one can defy physics.

You're the second person who's told me they live right by the location of that NC picture. The first person is one of my chapter sisters who now lives in NC and said the same thing about the ice. I asked her about the explosion, but she didn't know. Do you know what happened, MC?

ETA: I almost forgot. I'm Sciencewoman. I CAN defy physics.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by Sciencewoman

When I was going to school in Maryland, waiting/melting seemed to be way to deal with the snow, and we're used to salt trucks, sand trucks, plow trucks, etc. That makes a HUGE difference, and I think most northerners take those services for granted and don't realize that states with less need don't have access to all those interventions. No one can defy physics.

This, exactly this. (Sciencewoman excepted from the last statement, of course.)

You're the second person who's told me they live right by the location of that NC picture. The first person is one of my chapter sisters who now lives in NC and said the same thing about the ice. I asked her about the explosion, but she didn't know. Do you know what happened, MC?

Why yes, I do indeed.

It wasn't an explosion. As I recall, that storm got bad—meaning the road got covered in a layer of ice (maybe 1/2 inch?)—surprisingly quickly. The woman driving that car, as with lots of the other cars in the picture, was trying to get up the hill, but as you've noted is usually the case, physics wouldn't cooperate. She kept trying though. I think some (well-intentioned but stupid) people might even have been trying to help her out by pushing while she tried to will the car—through her foot and the accelerator—up and over the hill.

Anyway, she tried to the point that things under the hood overheated and caught fire. And that was it for the car. Someone took the picture with her phone and sent it to a local TV station. And the rest is Facebook history.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by Sciencewoman

When I was going to school in Maryland, waiting/melting seemed to be way to deal with the snow, and we're used to salt trucks, sand trucks, plow trucks, etc. That makes a HUGE difference, and I think most northerners take those services for granted and don't realize that states with less need don't have access to all those interventions. No one can defy physics.

On the other hand, I've encountered extreme panic, stores and businesses shut down, and demands to stay off the road when it's basically just wet outside. When I lived in Houston, it rained one night and dipped slightly below 32 degrees for a couple hours, and my office was closed the next day and no one was on the road. People were amazed that I chose to be out driving around. One woman asked me why I was risking my life to shop for food