Hurricane Watch

[PaulR]

I am hoping the storm passes through without major damage through my town.  My Parents report to me that there is a big tree blocking the street.  But they have power.  So......it looks like everything will be fine. 

My sister is also doing fine in Brooklyn.  So it's all good on every front!  Hoping it stays that way!

[Mirror Image]

Well, however the media overreacts, or people are't impressed with a Cat.1 hurricane, doesn't change the fact that I have alot of clean up to do.

First image is a tree that is about 80 - 85 feet tall and it's roots are taller than I am.
Second is my chicken house covered in large limbs.

True, none of this changes the damage that it does, but my point is simple: natural disasters, whether severe or not, are apart of our existence. They happen whether we're ready for them or not, but I don't appreciate the media blowing this thing out of proportion, which is why I don't watch the news. They're as clueless as they come and in this type of situation, I would only listen to the weather stations anyway.

You're lucky its not as bad as the media made it out to be. Be thankful that some trees were knocked down, because a hurricane with enough wind velocity could rip a house apart in a matter of minutes.

[karlhenning]

This is a different situation to, say, someone blowing Koechlin all out of proportion ; )  It's the nature of weather that (a) you cannot exactly predict the strength of certain events in the future, generally, and (b) you cannot exactly predict where, e.g., Irene would make landfall.  I don't consider that the media "blew this out of proportion"; I consider that they did the public a fair service by stressing how serious a worst-case scenario would be, and their (entirely understandable) uncertainty as to the exact track.  If you wanted to help Greg with his clean-up, rather than kvetch at the media for "blowing things out of proportion" — as if you were disappointed that it was not worse than it has been (and for a lot of people without power in Connecticut, it's been quite bad enough, thank you very much) — that's a different matter.

So, not enough fatalities in this storm to justify the attention, in your view?

[Mirror Image]

This is a different situation to, say, someone blowing Koechlin all out of proportion ; )  It's the nature of weather that (a) you cannot exactly predict the strength of certain events in the future, generally, and (b) you cannot exactly predict where, e.g., Irene would make landfall.  I don't consider that the media "blew this out of proportion"; I consider that they did the public a fair service by stressing how serious a worst-case scenario would be, and their (entirely understandable) uncertainty as to the exact track.  If you wanted to help Greg with his clean-up, rather than kvetch at the media for "blowing things out of proportion" — as if you were disappointed that it was not worse than it has been (and for a lot of people without power in Connecticut, it's been quite bad enough, thank you very much) — that's a different matter.

So, not enough fatalities in this storm to justify the attention, in your view?

I see you missed my point entirely. My point, Karl, is that we're all fortunate it's not as bad as the media made it out to be. As I said, it still doesn't change the fact that power lines are down, people are without power, trees have fallen down, etc. all of the things that come with a storm such as this.

I really don't appreciate your implication that I'm disappointed that this storm didn't do much damage or even kill people. No, you sir are out-of-line and don't know what the hell you're talking about. Why would I wish for terrible things to happen? I sometimes don't understand you at all, Karl, but you've got a lot of damn nerve to think I'm somehow disappointed it didn't do more damage. That's just stupid of you to say.

[TheGSMoeller]

The media did help us on this one, keeping us informed about when the worst of the storm was going to hit, who to call for power outages, etc...I don't watch news, I prefer to read it (newspapers, magazines, etc.) but yesterday it helped.

Just went to Lowes to buy some supplies to fix my fence, and over 100 people were in line for generators. I feel fortunate my power was never lost.

In terms of the power of storms, I never judge based on its status or labeling, but more on its after effects. I agree the 5.8 earthquake we experienced last Tuesday was less powerful than many across the world, but it doesn't change the fact that it did some damage, and to some people it was devastating enough to cost them money for repairs, or put them out of work for a few days. I doubt they want to hear how weak it was.
Hurricane Irene was a Category 1 when it hit VA, 3 people were killed because of falling trees, two of them were inside their homes thinking they were safe. I doubt the families of those victims want to hear that it was "just a Category 1 Hurricane, it could have been worse."

Doesn't anyone remember the "Deadly Escalators" stories in the 80s of kids getting stuck in escalators? The media was making people scared to ride them. You always have to watch the media and understand that their job is not only to inform the public, but to keep the public watching, which in turn, makes the networks money. I always find it ridiculous that networks send their reporters to the shores and have them almost fall down in 80mph winds just to show its viewers the power of Mother Nature, but it's the amount of info that could possibly save my and my families lives that keeps me watching. Until I own my very own Doppler radar, I'll use ABCs, or NBCs,.....

[Mirror Image]

The media did help us on this one, keeping us informed about when the worst of the storm was going to hit, who to call for power outages, etc...I don't watch news, I prefer to read it (newspapers, magazines, etc.) but yesterday it helped.

Just went to Lowes to buy some supplies to fix my fence, and over 100 people were in line for generators. I feel fortunate my power was never lost.

In terms of the power of storms, I never judge based on its status or labeling, but more on its after effects. I agree the 5.8 earthquake we experienced last Tuesday was less powerful than many across the world, but it doesn't change the fact that it did some damage, and to some people it was devastating enough to cost them money for repairs, or put them out of work for a few days. I doubt they want to hear how weak it was.

Hurricane Irene was a Category 1 when it hit VA, 3 people were killed because of falling trees, two of them were inside their homes thinking they were safe. I doubt the families of those victims want to hear that it was "just a Category 1 Hurricane, it could have been worse."

Doesn't anyone remember the "Deadly Escalators" stories in the 80s of kids getting stuck in escalators? The media was making people scared to ride them. You always have to watch the media and understand that their job is not only to inform the public, but to keep the public watching, which in turn, makes the networks money. I always find it ridiculous that networks send their reporters to the shores and have them almost fall down in 80mph winds just to show its viewers the power of Mother Nature, but it's the amount of info that could possibly save my and my families lives that keeps me watching. Until I own my very own Doppler radar, I'll use ABCs, or NBCs,.....

I still think the implication that was being made towards me that I was disappointed that people weren't killed or that I thought the damage was insignificant crosses the line. My beef was with the media and the media only. I'm not going to apologize for voicing my opinion in this regard, but I think I deserve an apology from Karl who completely misinterpreted my point and turned the whole thing on me making me out to be some sick individual who sits idly by to hear about the latest death tally.

By the way, Greg, for what it's worth, I'm sorry to hear about the damage done to your property. This is unfortunate. I remember a terrible windstorm a couple of years ago that blew a tree so hard it fell onto the side of my home. Thank goodness for home insurance. The damage wasn't too bad, but it doesn't change the fact that it happened.

[drogulus]

     I called Walgreen's and a person answered!

     You're open? Yes

     All day? As far as I know

     Yeah, so there's a hurricane, a tree fell down, but we're open. In TX Perry would have the populace on their knees blubbering to the Weather Bot for mercy, mercy..... We are, at the state level, Not Worthy. Flo at Walgreen's is not impressed, however. She asked if I wanted a flu shot?

[Gurn Blanston]

     I called Walgreen's and a person answered!

     You're open? Yes

     All day? As far as I know

     Yeah, so there's a hurricane, a tree fell down, but we're open. In TX Perry would have the populace on their knees blubbering to the Weather Bot for mercy, mercy.....We are, at the state level,  Not Worthy. Flo at Walgreen's is not impressed, however. She asked if I wanted a flu shot?

Nah, Ernie, you can screw with Perry all you want (I do), but the people of Texas don't blubber to anyone, thank you very much. It wasn't US that whined about what we lost in the last couple hurricanes. There were whiners indeed, but none of them were Texans. I lost the roof off my house in Ike, I didn't ask anyone to come help me fix it, I went up on top and fixed it my own damn self. And was without power for 10 days, then, and in 2005 when Rita came through and knocked down over 100,000 trees including a dozen across my driveway. I got out my chainsaw and sawed them up and rolled the pieces out of the way. Me and a couple million other people here. And we never asked the Feds (that is; you) for a lick of help.

So watch your shit. Perry is absolutely the shits, but he has nothing to do with us.

[DavidW]

Ernie while you blubber about some rain, Texans are used to tornadoes, extreme drought, hail the size of golf balls, flooding, and having to drive hundreds of miles to go anywhere.  In MA, people are used to eating donuts, lobsters and driving very badly.

[drogulus]

     

So watch your shit. Perry is absolutely the shits, but he has nothing to do with us.

    Yeah, the Inuits voted him in.

    I said Perry would have etc. Only some Texicans would follow his lead, enough to put him in office. I'm aware there are reasonable people there, too.

   

[Gurn Blanston]

     

    Yeah, the Inuits voted him in.

    I said Perry would have etc. Only some Texicans would follow his lead, enough to put him in office. I'm aware there are reasonable people there, too.

   

Must have been them, it sure as hell wasn't me.

Just like the media anywhere else, the ultra-reasonable people here outnumber the assholes 100/1, but you never hear about them. Still, you know better...

[drogulus]

     Coming back from Walgreen's I saw a tree that was almost down. The sidewalk next to it was pushed up. I saw many downed branches strewn about on the street. The power flickered twice, and my router required a reboot. So far so good.

[Gurn Blanston]

     Coming back from Walgreen's I saw a tree that was almost down. The sidewalk next to it was pushed up. I saw many downed branches strewn about on the street. The power flickered twice, and my router required a reboot. So far so good.

Yeah, if that's as bad as it gets, you're in luck! Did you get a lot of rain? I just talked to my brother in Vermont and he said just a couple inches there. We are about 175 mi from the ocean and the last 2 (Rita '05 and Ike '08) did as much damage here as they did at the shore. You can't hardly tell how bad it's going to be.

[drogulus]

    I don't really know how bad things are because I don't have the TV on and Arlington is on high ground. I do hear sirens and fire trucks going by.

    TV on: Boston Mayor Menino is explaining the situation in the city. It sounds like wooah awhhpo innah ssshhhhitty o Bahston guahh, which is better than expected, I guess.

[Herman]

My beef was with the media and the media only.

It's pretty obvious the media need a big story every week, one that'll keep people locked to their tv's, and Irene was the story of this weekend. Even in Europe there is a lot of coverage, because the media expect a lot of spectacular footage. If that doesn't happen, it's on to the next disaster / victory / Hollywood catastrophe

[drogulus]

     I think the media are doing what they should be doing. I can't think of anything I'd do differently...maybe use a high whiney voice, just to break up the monotony.

     

[Herman]

     I think the media are doing what they should be doing. I can't think of anything I'd do differently...maybe use a high whiney voice, just to break up the monotony.

   

How naive. The media are about making you watch tv, not about information.

[karlhenning]

How naive. The media are about making you watch tv, not about information.

I don't think the axis is that tidy.  Fact is, I got some good information from the media on this occasion.

I just had a wicked fantasy that you had just posted:

Mirror Image is about making you listen to Koechlin, not about information.

; )

[snyprrr]

SUN 5:30 pm

Just got back.

It got nice and tropical around 1am,... times like this remind me that peoples of all ages have experienced this same feeling,... it was very primative there at 1am, with the power out, the sky looking very bright. The gusts were impressive, the rain constant.

This morning, all was back to summer. Hardly any trace of a storm.

[Lethevich]