We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
Everybody needs something to do during the few hours the storm passes, and probably in the darkness thereafter:
We do not mean to make light of storms, but definitely to make light of the hype around them (to which I spose we are contributing by even mentioning it). We can deal with storms, for heaven's sake - and much worse things than weather too. Hurricane Irene is weakening rapidly as I write:
The center expects Irene to be a minimal hurricane by the time it gets to New England.
Here are some interesting storm thoughts from one of my favorite modern authors, the late Walker Percy, via Potemra:
At one point [in Percy’s 1966 novel The Last Gentleman], Will recalls a date with a girl named Midge Auchincloss. The date is a disaster until the two are caught in a hurricane. “Though science taught that good environments were better than bad environments, it appeared to him that the opposite was the case. Take hurricanes, for example, certainly a bad environment if ever there was one. It was his impression that not just he but other people felt better in hurricanes,” Percy writes. The hurricane, it turns out, saved the day: “The hurricane blew away the sad, noxious particles which befoul the sorrowful old Eastern sky and Midge no longer felt obliged to keep her face stiff. They were able to talk. It was best of all when the hurricane’s eye came with its so-called ominous stillness. It was not ominous. Everything was yellow and still and charged up with value.”
Storms bring out the best in people.
Well, with some exceptions: Bill McKibben: Global warming to blame for Hurricane Irene. I just knew that was coming, but not before the dang storm even arrived. You know, if this one just blew out to sea like most of them, he'd never have mentioned it. What a putz. "Let no storm go to waste."
Additional good storm advice from our commenter Blick on this post.
As your readers have seen from other postings, we out in California not only have snow, we have lots of snow. 11 storms last year, averaging 6-10 inches each (the biggest one was nigh unto 24 inches).
And, yes. The news media has managed to be just as hysterical about our snow as they have been about your recent earthquake (we laugh, I say. We laugh!) and the impending hurricane.
Who are these people that they should equate discomfort with true tragedy? I'll wager you'll get downed power lines, telephone outages, a few broken windows and even some water on the streets. Most folks will do just fine. You're tough and will do whatever it takes to make something good out of this.
G-d bless, stay safe and be sure to thank Mrs. BD for the cookies she's baking, even now.
I have the greatest of confidence in you, Bird Dog, and the other maggiesfarmers. You will survive. And thrive. As a veteran of quite a few hurricanes in the past forty years, I will say that Ike was the worst one we endured. Blew right over us for more than six hours, Lordy, when they are right over you, they make a hellish racket.
Ike blew down our fences, but didn't blow off our roof. It was costly in the way of repairs, but our house is still sound around us. Ike is the reason, however, that we installed a whole house generator in 2010, since our power was out for twelve days, during which it was bloody hot.
I'm not going to hazard a guess as to how severe Irene will be, but Category Two down here is not a really severe hurricane. What bothered our area about Ike was the storm surge. Fox News is having a hissy about how huge Irene is, but then the news is their business.
Anyway, I wish you all the best. Stay safe as you can, now.
McKibben has proven to be willfully ignorant about climate science. But he has a good excuse - his books would not selll so well, his invited lectures would evaporate, and his carbon dioxide paranoia organization would not have as many members, media references, or public opportunities to prove themselve to be ignorant college students who want to sleep out in tents to call attention to themselves.
He's an embarrasment to Middlebury College, but they haven't realized it yet. They may never realize it, being a trendy liberal arts school with delusions of relevancy treading into the realm of science. But hey, he sure gets headlines!
Ironically, just as an increase in hurricanes is caused by global warming, so is a decrease in hurricanes. In fact, if storm intensity and frequency remain exactly the same, that's caused by global warming, too. It's too complicated to explain, so trust the experts.
Thanks T99. I was worried that it was hot in the summer and cold in the winter, and in the fall and spring you can't tell what the hell will happen, and whether I should be worried about that. Now that I know that it's all AGW, and can be solved by electing democrats, I'm sure I'll feel better.
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Assistant VIllage Idiot
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2011-08-27 19:06
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