President Obama Has a Good Idea

[ymarkov]

WASHINGTON -- After his daughters got a snow day Wednesday, President Barack Obama wants to see a little bit of "flinty, Chicago toughness" applied locally.

"When it comes to the weather, folks in Washington don't seem to be able to handle things," a joking Obama told reporters Wednesday morning.

"My children's school was canceled today because of what? Some ice."
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1585670

(School was canceled here in Boston, too. Amazing, but every winter we have... winter! Snow and ice, yeah.)

Comments

[dlevey.livejournal.com]

Where I live, yesterday's snow cancellation seemed a bit overcautious. The road conditions during core school hours (and, in particular, transportation hours) were not pristine but passable without undue danger.

This morning, on the other hand, was an ice-covered nightmare. Schools were canceled today too, which was a good thing, but the call was made at 6:am rather than 6:pm the previous night. Seems backwards to me.

[murushi.livejournal.com]

Oh, c'mon! Why so grouchy? :-)

It all depends on what you're used to.

1. Jerusalem gets maybe a centimeter of snow once every few years. It's a life-stopping even, as far as Israelis are concerned. If there's snow, not only schools are canceled, but public transportation is canceled, supermarkets are closed... EVERYTHING is closed. The temperatures may drop to -1 C, or even -5 C (very rare). Brrrr! say Israelis and refuse to leave the house. My Canadian colleagues had a good laugh when I told them about it.

2. Here in southern Ontario -15 C is already very cold, and 15 cm of snow might be a show stopper. 20 cm of snow or -25 C is a sure show stopper. School is canceled. Even university sometimes is closed. Roads are awful, people can't stop complaining about how bad it is outside.

3. Friends of ours moved a few month ago from here to Manitoba. When registering her kids in the new school, our friends asked about "inclement weather policy": under what conditions classes are canceled usually? The principal couldn't understand what she's talking about. Well, she said, in St Catharines ON school was canceled if the temperatures dropped as low as -25 C and sometimes even -20 C, or if there was 15 or more of snow.

The principal had a good laugh. -25 in Manitoba is like -5 here in St Catharines - nothing to talk about. After a certain temperature (-30?) there's no more school buses and parents are responsible for driving the kids to school, but classes are almost never canceled.


So there, Washington DC "cold" to a Chicagoan is probably like St Catharines cold to a Manitoban - "just a little bit of ice".

[ben-shimon.livejournal.com]

Every year four natural disasters strike America. They are - winter, spring, summer and autumn.

[bringing-peace.livejournal.com]

I wish he had good ideas in other areas.
I can live with a snow day or two.