• 4 Posts
  • 9 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 12th, 2023

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  • An easier way to reach the app in Android is the Google Play store. It’s named Austin 311 from City of Austin. Some negative reviews, though, like (20 Jan 2023) “You can’t report when your trash doesn’t get picked up - easily 99% of the reason I ever call 311” and (9 June 2022) “App sucks. The categories are very limited and hard to locate. I should be able to search on a keyword and your app suggests appropriate categories. Where do i report a malfunctioning pedestrian cross signal, for example. Very disappointing!”

    I just checked out the Web page. That has a search capability (I don’t see one in the app), both built in via a Search text box, and the browser’s own facility (except there are not many items per page). I think I prefer it, even on my phone.

    But the Android app at least has a map of recent reports, which is a nice feature; I don’t see it in the web page. It also has one central place to enter the reporter’s info; it looks like the Web page has it on each request.






  • Controlled burns, which are another alternative to controlling invasive plants in the area, often lead to reduced air quality and can compact the soil, Anderson said

    That’s kind of slanderous against controlled burns. There is reduced air quality while it’s burning, but the benefits can last years where the time of burning can last hours. I have not heard of compacting the soil as a drawback: a bit of Googling suggests that that’s a drawback of cutting with machinery instead. Furthermore, there are ecosystems that are adapted to having burns from time to time, so they can be useful if done right.

    However, the article mentions poison ivy. Goats can not only eat it, they actively like it, and their bodies destroy the urushiol (the irritant) so their milk is safe. Furthermore, for a burn of poison ivy: some people did that upwind of my sister and a lot of other people on a military base, and the results were Not Good.





  • pigeonberry@lemmy.worldtoAustin Texas Community@lemmy.worldHail
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    1 year ago

    Quarter-sized hail in Northwest Hills, and it was really loud against my garage door and on my roof… My new glass skylights did not have obvious cracks, but I’ll look in the morning. Lost both U-verse to my home and cell access via the nearby tower (T-Mobile, I think), but that didn’t last more than 10 minutes or so.

    It was nice to have heavy rain to wash crud off the roads, and I’m grateful for any rain, but a few hours of gentler rain would have been more useful.