comment: >
  
  You should get out of the water if you want to warm up
context: I have ice on the inside of some of my windows and a space heater in my room that is barely keeping it above 60°F.
  I feel like I am living like a king right now. >
  
  I'm in California. I feel like a tool. >
  
  I'm in central CA, it actually has been below freezing at night. Xmas day is supposed to be 70 during the day though lol >
  
  I'm in the Bay. It was getting close to freezing about a week ago but now we're sitting at 62/42 for the next few days. >
  
  Yea, last week was miserable here too by California standards but also nothing to complain about compared to anyone else... >
  
  Yeah, true. My students were walking around wearing blankets telling me they were freezing. I told them they don't know what cold is. To be fair, neither do I, but I know it exists. >
  
  Cold is when you get frost bite walking from your front door to the mail box 50 feet away. >
  
  I believe it >
  
  I hate it! I live in the northwest. We never get this cold west of the cascades. >
  
  I'm so sorry! I'd send you a scarf if I could (it's all I can crochet!) >
  
  Was on a rez in ND last winter when we were snowed in. I was staying in a Katrina trailer apartment when we lost power for one day. I couldn’t imagine longer. >
  
  What is a Katrina trailer? >
  
  FEMA trailer used for emergency temporary housing such as after Hurricane Katrina >
  
  They're also full of poison, aren't they?
  Where never meant to be used forever and you find them everywhere. 
  Pretty sure the insulation is toxic >
  
  The wood off gasses things like formaldehyde. >
  
  I grew up on a ranch 50 miles west of the Pine Ridge Reservation. You will not find a bunch of poorer people than the people who live there. It is just massive poverty. It breaks my heart to hear this. My dad was one of the few ranchers who used to hire them for work on our ranch, (This was back in the early 60's, he sold the ranch around mid 60's). >
  
  In eastern Europe poor people buy clothes (per kg) thrown away by West / Middle Europeans to heat because it's cheaper than wood or coal >
  
  
  West Middle Europe
  
  Where? How many geographical subdivisions of Europe are there? >
  
  About 44. >
  
  I'm a pan cis semi crooked European. >
  
  This sous vide med rare free range dolphin safe American wishes you a happy new year. >
  
  I'm actually American too. I just did it for the laughter but you're too kind. >
  
  2021 Texas power grid failure, families were burning their furniture in their fireplace for warmth. 200 people died. >
  
  Jesus.  That’s so much worse than I heard about at the time. >
  
  They did an excellent job of sweeping this under the rug while crowing about evil liberal turbines. >
  
  Covid helped.  A great distraction >
  
  I used to live in SD and worked occasionally on the reservations. Things are much worse there than people realize.  Generations of these poor people were left on the shittiest, most remote land in the country with no rescourses or capital to change a goddamn thing. Forced assimilation and boarding schools with the "kill the Indian to save the man" mindset is still within the lifetime of the older residents. In many cases, the housing they're provided is trailers built with places like Florida in mind. Next to no insulation. The state government in South Dakota is all but openly hostile to them as are far too many of the residents. It's literally the poorest place in the US and it was made that way as a policy choice. >
  
  The final phase of the cultural genocide is blood quantum. Most tribes require 1/4th for enrollment, and we are at a point where a lot of children aren’t going to reach that number. Soon, all the reservations will be filled with Native people who can’t even claim to be Native. >
  
  They should cancel blood requirements, no bloodlineses on earth are  "pure" >
  
  It’s more complicated than that. Being a recognized member of a tribe often means you’re legally entitled to land inheritance of tribal territory, among other things. Part of the idea of blood quantum and other requirements is to prevent people with no tribal education, no “personal ties” to the tribe, and/or who make no contributions to the tribe from being able to claim tribal lands or resources, as those are already scarce as it is. 
  My dad is native and was born and raised on a rez and went through “Indian school” and forced assimilation. He “chose” (quotes because it’s complicated) to leave the rez and joined the US Navy to fund his education. Because my brothers and I were born off the rez, we cannot be “card-carrying” members of our father’s tribe due to the tribal rules.  We can visit our family there and the people of the tribe recognize us as relatives of tribal members, but we (me and my siblings) cannot inherit the land parcel that my dad inherited from his parents as we (the kids) are not “official” tribe members.
  To this extent, I can kind of see why tribes have these rules - it would frankly be unfair if me & my siblings, who have only ever been to the rez once and were never truly active members of their community, could strain the tribe’s already limited resources by claiming inheritance to their land. Granted, we are lucky enough not to need any of that and we would never try - but my point is, it’s not about “purity”. It’s about needing to somehow ensure that the tribal resources benefit the members of the tribal community and ensure those resources are not depleted by people who make no contributions to the tribe’s economy,  development, or governance.
  On the other hand, the reason why my siblings and I have very little knowledge of our tribal customs is because of cultural genocide that my dad and his parents went through - being forced to stop speaking and writing their own language in “Indian schools” and things like that. And my dad wouldn’t have needed to seek economic and educational opportunities outside the tribe if not for the intentional forcing of native peoples onto infertile lands with limited resources, being forced to give up their ways of survival, and being forced into poverty, etc.
  So while blood quantum requirements can sound at first like a “purity” requirement and that sounds bad, it’s really more often a way for tribes to ensure that their inheritance and resources go to community members who contribute to the tribe, not just to anyone who can say “I have DNA from this tribe” - frankly they just don’t have the resources to be able to do that. I don’t think any tribe wants to exclude members or reduce their own numbers to extinction, but they’re in a tough spot having to allocate limited available resources to help their communities - so it’s really not unreasonable to think that people who leave their communities shouldn’t be able to drain the community’s resources.
  In short, there is no easy solution. If tribes allow more people to become members, sure they could increase their population numbers, but they then have to somehow support that increased population with virtually the same amount of resources and land as before.
  It’s frustrating and sad and honestly, it’s intentional on the US’s part: forcing natives to exclude their own members for their tribe’s survival is a very good way to ensure the continued genocide of indigenous peoples. 
  I wish I knew how to make things better, but I don’t. All I can say is please listen to native people about issues that affect them, listen to tribal representatives and leaders, and vote for US policies and leaders who want to give tribes their own voice and power to govern themselves, protect their lands, and help their people, and pay reparations which are centuries overdue. If there are public pow wows or other celebrations by tribes in your local area, consider visiting those and support their local economies by buying goods from native-owned businesses and services. They don’t want charity, but they do want to support themselves and each other and see their communities thrive again. Come with an open mind and willingness to learn about them and respect their culture and you will be welcomed and appreciated.
  Sorry for the wall of text & thanks to anyone who bothers to read it all! >
  
  I'm like 1/16th Armenian but I still care about the genocide of my ancestors. The one thats barley even discussed let alone has reparations and a support system for
  If anything blood purity tests just make the problems worse, encouraging tribe breeding just prunes the ability for culture to grow and history to pass on and limits the resources coming into the community, I almost winder if it was an intentional tool for trying to further genocide the first nations peoples. >
  
  As I said, it literally is part of the plan for genocide.
  And I’m not saying I don’t care, I do care deeply and have a lot of desire to know more about my dad’s tribal culture and beliefs - but the genocide has destroyed a lot of the resources and ability to do that. There are very few language preservation programs and the like to allow for education about such things.
  And it’s not as simple as getting more people in the tribe to generate more development - the lands tribes were forced onto (often illegally and coercively) are intentionally resource-poor and infertile lands. The reservation infrastructure - including hospitals, schools, and housing - was often promised in the “treaties” to be built and maintained indefinitely by the USA in exchange for cooperation - and the USA definitely does not uphold this in most cases and intentionally leaves tribes underfunded and underdeveloped to keep the natives poor, uneducated, and dependent upon scraps - or be forced to leave their tribes and assimilate. It is very intentional and purposeful, but the situation is complicated. Tribes are technically sovereign nations, but are basically hostage to the USA at the same time. Tribes cannot simply provide their limited resources to anyone who wants them - they literally do not have the space, money, food, or housing to provide this to everyone, even if they want to. It’s about trying to keep their culture and tribe alive and keep their communities active, and they can’t do that if their lands and resources are going to people who don’t contribute to the tribe’s development. If you don’t live on the reservation, it’s not unreasonable for the reservation to say you aren’t entitled to own their land. >
  
  People forget how it is up here. If you're not prepared, you die. My heart aches for them. >
  
  I would also add Re-Member’s heating assistance fund. I worked for them on PRR and they do good work and deliver firewood/pay off propane bills all winter every year - donate here >
  
  Canadian here: wear 3 sets of clothes if you have to to stay warm.  Sweat pants and hoodies from Costco are cheap and a godsend.
  Any car will have a heater you can use, just don't use it in a closed garage.
  Public buildings are heated.
  If you have youtube, a Swedish or Finnish candle is a great way to efficiently cook and stay warm without wasting huge amounts of wood.
  If your house is getting too cold, drain the pipes!
  Blankets kick ass, and you can curl up.
  Now is a great time to actually help the homeless. >
  
  Long John's tucked into each other, a layer of sweats tucked in, a heavy Hoodie. Tight socks with the long John's tucked in, heavy woolen socks with the sweats tucked in. A freezer jacket underneath snowpants with bib and a 3-in-1 jacket on top. 
  Insulated boots and multiple pairs of isulated gloves that you can rotate on a heat source. 
  I can stay outside in -40C digging out and winching cars from the ditch for hours like this. Don't always need the 3-in-1. Can get very warm. 
  High-vis jackets are usually much cheaper than other options for the warmth they provide. >
  
  If you need good mobility, I skip long johns and other tight fitting, and stick with just multiple layers of sweats and hoodies with a waterproof coveralls when I work -40C.  Used to do oil patch for 12-16hr days.
  My reason was the friction between long johns and other layers becomes tiring.  But oil patch is all climbing on steel.
  If you're mostly static, your method is better because it's probably fewer layers and less heavy. >
  
  I hope the national guard can get to them. >
  
  ~~They won't. Natives aren't cared for. Just look at South Dakota. They're openly hostile with their Natives.~~
  They are receiving care, based on the comment under mine. >
  
  The article clearly states:
  "South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem has mobilised the state's National Guard to haul firewood from a nearby national forest to the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe.
  The troops will also help dig out tribal members trapped in the snow, which began dumping on the region a fortnight ago." >
  
  Oh, you thought climate change only meant Global Warming..? >
  
  Just make sure to wash your blankets thoroughly, don't want a repeat of last time... >
  
  Not sure this is allowed, but:
  Pine Ridge Reservation donation drive for blankets, heaters, and fuel >
  
  Could we not airdrop some supplies to them? >
  
  Absolutely. As long as conditions are safe to fly. >
  
  You may be surprised the conditions crews would be willing to fly in for rescue type missions. I was helicopter aircrew in the military. >
  
  Former volunteer firefighter and ain't that the truth. I've run into some really sketch buildings back in the day; sometimes for pets. I'm ex-military as well; it's the mission. As the Coast Guard says, you've got to go out, you don't have to come home. >
  
  Despite all the cool guy assault flights I'd been on, taking someone home just always felt the best.
  There was a time in Afghanistan, there was an avalanche in some border outpost in Pakistan(?) and they were in need of rescue. We were put on notice for the potential mission.
  Everybody, "Dope, we're in, send us."  No questions asked. 
  It was very high altitude, like, calls were being made to find aircrew oxygen systems kind of high altitude and cold weather clothing.  
  We lost the mission to a CH-47 squadron because it was so high our CH-53Es may not have been able to make enough power to lift off with passengers. 47s edged us out on high altitude performance. >
  
  What psychopath would feel better about hurting and killing people than about helping people???? Like I'm concerned that you even need to state this. >
  
  Ha. I mean, I've flown assault flights with regular grunts (American, Britsh, Iraqi and Afghans), Seals, MarSoc, DEA, CIA, Task Force 66 (guilty of war crimes, turns out (so that's why they never had prisoners)). The kind of invigorating stuff that you know you're getting shot at on the way in. The stuff of action movies.
  But flying out to some dusty FOB to pick up a cabin full of grunts, with all they're gear shoehorned until the center cabin between them, to fly them back to Bastion so they can catch a flight home. That kind of basic logistics nobody is going to write a best seller about. It's the kind of thing people forget about. It's kind of like, I got to send them off. Have fun at home, boys. >
  
  Bless them, I'm in Tennessee, and it's 7 here. >
  
  Hear hear I’m in the Great Lakes and it’s barely -3