September 26, 2008
Words Can Not Describe...
How totally a$$ sucky the weather is in Manhattan today.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:03 AM | Comments (2)
September 25, 2008
The End of the World As We Know It: When "I Fart in Your General Direction"
...turns felonious.
...During fingerprinting, Cruz then allegedly moved closer to one of the officers and passed gas, the station reported. In the complaint, the investigating officer wrote that police noticed a "very strong" odor.
The alleged stunt led Cruz to be charged with another offense — battery on an officer — in addition to DUI and obstruction, WSAZ reported.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:16 AM | Comments (4)
September 19, 2008
In Texas, There May Actually Be Consequences
Hundreds of people whose beachfront homes were wrecked by Hurricane Ike may be barred from rebuilding under a little-noticed Texas law. And even those whose houses were spared could end up seeing them condemned by the state.
My sympathy meter's pegged, as regular Swillers know. Apparently, so is the guy's who wrote the law.
"We're talking about damn fools that have built houses on the edge of the sea for as long as man could remember and against every advice anyone has given," A.R. "Babe" Schwartz said.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 09:41 AM | Comments (2)
September 17, 2008
An Update From Julie in Houston
As an Ike survivor -- one who lives WAAAY inland, where it was relatively safe to "hunker down" -- I agree that the Galvestonites who stayed are a burger short of a Happy Meal. And worse is the PRESS who keeps lauding their "heroic" stories of what they went through (i.e. one family who had to WALK across the causeway two days after Ike. Hello -- if you'd left 3 days earlier, there were BUSSES!) The breaking point for me was two consecutive stories on a newscast Monday: the first showing the mayor's press conference that no one was allowed to come to or stay on Galveston; the next was the announcement that FEMA opened a distribution center on Galveston. Why would you need a distribution center on an island that no one can live on?? Eleven distribution centers for millions of people and they waste one on a spit of land that was a mandatory evacuation zone. And, by the way, where are our credit cards and gas cards like the Katrina survivors got? What are we, chopped liver? Sigh.Anyway, I posted an update in a comment on Ken's Ike post, if you want to take a peek. Thank you sooo much for the prayers and good wishes. It is getting me through a very trying time.
Julie
We're with ya, babe.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 08:13 PM | Comments (4)
September 14, 2008
I Am Hugely Relieved at the Good News
...coming out of Houston. It's been awful, but could have been so much worse and for that ~ and the safety of our dear friends ~ we are eternally grateful.
Now. A few words for the reported tens of thousands of MORONS who stayed on (barrier island!!!) Galveston:
Shut the F*CK up. They TOLD you to leave, your own natural human instincts should have TOLD you to leave, not to mention that Galveston's TRAGIC hurricane history should have given you a clue YOU SHOULD LEAVE, if your intelligence failed you on its own. I am truly sorry for your material losses. I know it's devastating and I grieve for you. But that's what happens on a barrier island and is to be EXPECTED.
If this had been IVAN ~ and you should be thanking whatever higher power you talk to that it was NOT ~ you would all be dead. Right. Now.
Instead, you're standing in line for supplies after endangering rescuers who had to haul you out of a soggy pile of lumber and complaining. As the woman did on NBC's weekend news just now to an exhausted Sheriff's deputy:
"There's ants in my shoes!"
Ants don't get an evac order. And be glad you're still in those shoes.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 07:18 PM | Comments (6)
September 12, 2008
Crap
Hurricane Ike is hours away from landfall on the upper Texas coast, and is already generating huge storm surges in Texas and Lousiana. Although still of Category 2 strength, Ike remains larger and more powerful than Category 5 Katrina or Category 5 Rita. As I discussed in yesterday's blog entry, a good measure of the storm surge potential is Integrated Kinetic Energy (IKE). Ike's Integrated Kinetic Energy has fallen from 149 Terajoules this morning to 124 at 3:30 pm EDT this afternoon. However, this is still larger than the total energy Katrina had at landfall, and Ike's storm surge potential rates a 5.1 on a scale of 1 to 6....According to the NOAA tide gauges, storm tides are running 6-8 feet above normal along the central Louisiana coast this afternoon. The nola.com web site is reporting that a 9 foot storm surge affected the Industial Canal in New Orleans. Extensive flooding of low lying towns outside the New Orleans levee system is occurring. Surge overtopped a St. Mary Parish levee near the town of Gordy, and a six-foot-wide breach was reported in a non-federal parish levee near the towns of Caernarvon, Scarsdale, White Ditch and Braithwaite.
The fact that Ike's storm surge has reached such high levels 200-300 miles north of the storm is a very bad omen for the upper Texas and western Louisiana coasts. The latest forecast surge values from NOAA:
Shoreline of Galveston Bay... 15 to 22 feet
Bolivar Peninsula... 17 to 20 feet
Galveston Island... ... 14 to 17 feet
Gulf-facing coastline from Sargent to San Luis Pass... 8 to 14 feetI've given the mistaken impression that the Galveston sea wall will save the city from inundation. That is not the case. The wall merely protects the city from a frontal assault by the storm surge and the 20 foot waves likely to be on top of the surge. Ike will flood the city of Galveston.
Our hearts are with Texas.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 05:15 PM | Comments (4)
September 11, 2008
Friends in Danger and, For Once, It's Not Me or Rob
To our dearest friends Sharon and Julie,
Our thoughts and prayers are with you and yours. Treat Ike like you were Tina in divorce court ~ let him have it!
And keep yourselves safe.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 10:22 AM | Comments (8)
September 06, 2008
Ah Poop
She's going right over top of us in a few hours
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 03:52 PM | Comments (4)
September 05, 2008
Take Care Babalu!
Batten down, guys!
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 07:31 AM | Comments (8)
September 02, 2008
Howdy Hanna
We haven't had a coast scooter in a while.
I haven't minded.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:05 AM | Comments (1)
September 01, 2008
We're In One Piece, Thank You All
..for your good wishes! HUGELY appreciated, always.
Yippee!! Only a couple power burps in the latter part of the morning. And kudos to Gulf Power for that because along around 3 this morning, we starting rockin' and rollin, with sustained winds up over 50 mph and 70+mph gusts. Bucketloads of water, but it was the emergency radio warbling about tornadoes all night that did us in. We. Are. Zombies.
Sir Rob of Crab Lane, Appleton survived in fine shape, thank goodness, and is already photo blogging. I'll never forgive him for the cardinals. I'm sure we had our birdseed out before him and all we managed was a half-drowned field rat.
That's just wrong
Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:37 PM | Comments (8)
This One Line Should Terify EVERY American
...At least 12.5 percent of total U.S. refining capacity was shut down and other plants cut rates, while over 96 percent of U.S. Gulf oil production and 82 percent of natural gas production was offline.ONLY U.S. port?The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the only U.S. port capable of offloading the biggest oil tankers, halted all operations.
How do you spell "vuLnerable"?
Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:32 PM | Comments (2)
August 30, 2008
Exodus
major dad and I spent a quiet ride home from Mobile, just now. On I-10 East, we were surrounded by Mississippi and Louisiana license plates, the shoulder was dotted with broken down vehicles carrying the same and the Welcome Center was jammed. Sobering. And terribly sad. We may be on the eastern edge of the official cone, but my heart's with Rob and everyone to the west of us. And the hard right Ivan took ~ when we all thought he was heading to Biloxi ~ has taught us to play this like we were dead center. It wouldn't take long for us to be, should Gustav exercise his capricious side.
Note to self: if the family chariot will be required to perform evacuatory maneuvers, ascertain it can go further than 200 miles without exploding. There is considerably less stress that way.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 06:26 PM | Comments (9)
Ho Boy
That didn't long
DATA FROM AN AIR FORCE RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT GUSTAV CONTINUES TO RAPIDLY STRENGTHEN AND NOW HAS MAXIMUM WINDS NEAR 115 MPH...185 KM/HR WITH HIGHER GUSTS. THIS MAKES GUSTAV A DANGEROUS CATEGORY THREE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE.
Not good at all if he's Three already.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:14 AM | Comments (3)
August 29, 2008
Hannah, You Little Hussy
Behold the words of Avila
THIS PATTERN SHOULD FORCE HANNA ON A SLOW SOUTHWESTERLY TRACK BEYOND THREE DAYS...BUT AT THE SAME TIME THE UPPER-LEVEL WINDS SHOULD WEAKEN THE CYCLONE. THE OFFICIAL FORECAST SHOWS A LITTLE BIT OF THE SOUTHWESTERLY MOTION BUT DOES NOT GO AS FAR SOUTH AS SHOWN BY MOST OF THE MODELS. IN FACT...THE GFS HAS JOINED THE REST OF THE GLOBAL MODELS IN BRINGING THE CYCLONE SOUTHWESTWARD. I PREFER TO WAIT FOR MORE MODEL RUNS BEFORE FORECAST SUCH A RARE BUT NOT UNIQUE TRACK TOWARD THE SOUTHWEST.
At this point she *looks* to stay Cat 1 for the near term...
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:54 AM
Morning Gus
From our friends Blake and Avila
A HIGH OVER THE OHIO VALLEY IS EXPECTED TO CAUSE
GUSTAV TO GRADUALLY BEND TO THE LEFT. HOWEVER...THERE IS A LARGE UNCERTAINTY IN THE TIMING AND SHARPNESS OF THE BEND. THE UKMET AND GFS HAVE HAD LARGE CHANGES TO THEIR FORECAST FROM THE PREVIOUS RUNS...AND GIVEN THE INCREASING MODEL SPREAD...WE'VE OPTED TO KEEP THE FORECAST SIMILAR TO THE PREVIOUS ONE. HOPEFULLY A G-IV MISSION LATER TODAY WILL HELP RESOLVE SOME OF THESE DIFFERENCES.AFTER THE STORM MOVES AWAY FROM JAMAICA...SIGNIFICANT INTENSIFICATION IS POSSIBLE. VERTICAL WIND SHEAR IS FORECAST TO BE VERY LIGHT DURING THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS...AND COMBINED WITH THE DEEP WARM CARIBBEAN WATERS...COULD PRODUCE A STRONG HURRICANE VERY QUICKLY. THE OFFICIAL FORECAST WILL SHOW RAPID INTENSIFICATION BEFORE IT REACHES WESTERN CUBA AND COULD BE CONSERVATIVE AS SOME MODELS SHOW CATEGORY FOUR STRENGTH AT THAT TIME.
Get out of Dodge, folks.
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:48 AM | Comments (1)
August 28, 2008
And a Good Time Is to Be Had By ALL
You all be careful out there...
UPDATE: In living color...
Adds to the drama, doncha think?
Good resources and discussions for those of us in the nervous-and-drinking-heavily zone:
NAVY page for Gustav, but has links to everything else going on. The upside to this vice the National Hurricane Center? The Navy updates in real time, the NHC on 3-5 hour cycles.
Weather Underground/Tropical page has all the models, forecast tracks, etc., laid out real pretty and accessible. For an interesting discussion, click on the "Dr. Jeff Masters' Wunderblog" column on the right hand side of the page. He offers up his expertise once or twice a day, PLUS there is an ongoing comment section that stretches out to thousands of entries under each post. The folks there are actual and/or ardent amateur meteorologists and I have learned tons from the back and forth there. If you want to read a REAL hurricane adventure (and have time for multiple pages of story with pics), try Dr. Jeff's "Flying Into Hurricane Hugo" link. What happens when a hurricane hunter loses an engine? Or two?
...The aircraft lurches out of control into a hard right bank. We plunge towards the ocean, our number three engine in flames. Debris hangs from the number four engine.The turbulence suddenly stops. The clouds part. The darkness lifts. We fall into the eye of Hurricane Hugo.
It's a great read.
Posted by tree hugging sister at 11:02 AM | Comments (1)
That Shifty Gustav
Now he's weaker and shifting westward
Keep dying, you Hun bastard!
Posted by Mr. Bingley at 06:12 AM | Comments (4)
August 26, 2008
Great News on the "Gustav" Prep Front!
major dad's Vienna Snausages ~ absoLUTELY essential and stockpiled during the 2004 hurricane season ~ are expiration dated for Nov. 2009, saving us a whopping 33¢ ea. replacement cost.
Yeah.
Buddy.
Back to the inventorying...
Posted by tree hugging sister at 01:42 PM | Comments (2)