Well, here we are once again! It is Sunday morning, and I am typing from my desk at home as I prepare for another work weekend.
As you all know, Hurricane Sandy is coming, and oh, this part of the nation has gone into its regular gyrations of screwing oneself into the ground with the impending FRANKENSTORM!
I want to know who in the media came up with this latest load of ignorant shit. They knew full well the below average population would go mad, rush out to the stores etc., etc.
Usually this happens in the winter time; from my years in Washington, and my sister will attest to it, if a snowflake even THINKS of hitting the ground, DC reacts like it's under nuclear attack.
Around here in Pennsylvania, almost the same thing.
Just in case you wonder, here's the current Hurricane wind speed probabilities. Reminder that a hurricane force wind is a sustained wind of 74 mph or above.
I'm not expert, but the feeling from me is that Sandy will be a tropical storm before it gets here. The conspiratorial bullshit idea that a storm from the west will make the FRANKENSTORM could occur, but snow? Come now; the temps are not going to fall anywhere near freezing in this area. Upper elevations, sure, it's possible, but again it's all about whipping the senseless masses into a frenzy.
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/zoom/hltimages.shtml
Now that's a link to projected rainfall over the next few days. Yes, I think we're gonna get some wet weather; we may get some flooding, and some wind issues. It happens; we survive, we wake up the next day, and we keep on going.
I will admit to making a few precautions of my own, just regular stocking up of a few things. Better to be safe than sorry, true...BUT THAT IS WHERE OUR COMMON SENSE KICKS IN AND EVERYONE ELSE'S FLIES AWAY!
I had to go to a nearby supermarket in a shopping center of some size yesterday to pick up a prescription. I had no need to get anything else at the moment, because I was headed to work. It was like rush hour on I-83 or Route 30 (for those in other parts of the world...think, "Kenmore Square after a Red Sox game." That should help.)
The store had a fair to moderate number of people buying things out, but it didn't look too bad. Then I saw the woman rush by with a big shopping cart layered with plastic bottles of water. Gonna be thirsty, sometime along? The Lowes was crammed with people, the parking lot jammed up with everyone laying in their supplies for the End of the World as We Know It...
This is what everyone does...I don't know who started the "bread, milk, toilet paper" scam, but it makes supermarkets and grocery stores wealthy. The populace, who have never known real privation (if their internet connection goes out for more than 2 minutes, they howl like raving valkyries), stock up for the BIG ONE.
Last night, I decided to drop into one near Harrisburg to pick up the extra stuff. Two bags, all I needed; empty shelves. No water jugs, but for two. Cases and cases of little bottles everywhere; even the artisan and pretentious water was gone.
Yes, someone's kidney are gonna collapse, aren't they?
Didn't go down the toilet paper aisle, but it didn't look as devastated. There was still bread on the shelves, in some sections. I think there was a run on doughnuts, though...hmmm...
Not so many there that time of night, but it was amusing.
I wonder if they have bunkers like we used to back in the 50's and 60's for when the Commies bomb us. Around here, I'd not be surprised. Make sure the AK-47's are locked and loaded, and there's five years of ammo ready, while you're at it there...I was on jury duty with a religious whackjob woman who was going on and on and on about canned water, three years of dry goods in her underground whatever...you would not be surprised to know this is "normal" around these parts.
Or do people do this, perhaps...as a big adventure? As fun? Maybe this is their form of fun...they don't have the life they wanted, so this is how they excite themselves.
Being a broadcaster, how's it going around here? The TV stations are all in their 2012 Storm of the Century mode yet again. I'm sure they've all staked out their territory, at the markets, the Home Depots, the Lowes', the hospitals, and their favored spots by the side of the road, where the low-level wannabe reports can do their impression of Jim Cantore every 15 minutes.
Radio-wise...I can't imagine there's going to be much. Since most stations are now automated, and on satellite programming, there is little in the way of local, real radio any longer.
The few that do have local programming (I'm talking commercial outlets here), may lay on some extra coverage and all that, but there isn't much left for actual reportage.
There are state-oriented outlets that might do better, and in the bigger cities they have enough staff to be on top of it. There will be some work on the NPR affiliates, but hopefully it will be measured, and not as alarmist as the rest.
Will this be a FRANKENSTORM? I don't think so; a little discomfort, a little lost power, but oh, the wailing creatures of comfort and habit will howl if their power goes out! Satellite dish got skewed by the wind? OH NOOOOOO!!! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE...!!!
And when the power comes back on, they'll rouse themselves from their coma and be on the horn to their Congressman demanding action.
We all do get way bent out of shape on this stuff. It goes back to my feeling we as a nation don't have a clue about real privation or suffering, unless...you lived through a natural disaster, a real one. Hurricane Katrina, and you were in New Orleans. The earthquake in San Fran. in '89...the tsunami that hit Fukushima last year...that kind of thing.
We don't know what it's like to be hungry...really hungry, starving even...to have no light, heat, power, etc. Of course we try to make people think we know, with post-Apocalyptic TV shows, movies and all that. Most of which either does not scratch the surface or makes it all so fanciful.
We do not know, and we should not make light of it. Somehow this mass consumption and mass buying mocks the whole thing, because we don't know when to stop. Or shut up.
Sometimes, we do get a fascination with the weather, because we ourselves do not have anything to do. Often that is because we're in it; we are relatively safe, but cannot do much.
I remember the Great Ice Storm of 1998 all too well. My then-wife and I had just moved to Maine the week before. Layers of ice, everywhere; I'd never seen anything like it. It was seriously dangerous; I could not even drive the short distance to the station I managed, because everything was stopped.
"Ya got powah?" was the mantra, and it was for real. We were lucky; we did not lose it, but huge swaths of the region were knocked out.
This was a real, serious storm. Everything stopped. And it stopped for days. I think it reminded people, especially those with the short memories about nature, and what it sometimes can do.
Kaitryth and I watched the Weather Channel a lot; I admit it was fascinating to watch how the channel handled themselves. Back then, it was 24 hours of weather, not a few hours of weather, silly talk shows and fake reality shows like it is now. What a fucking joke it now is.
Anyway, you can get drawn into that, as long as you remember where you are.
So that being said, I foresee a storm with some significant power; we're gonna get dumped on, and we might lose some power lines, some roofs, etc. I hope not; I never want to see that, and I don't want to see anyone lose their stuff. But it does happen.
I do not know where I will be; I could be called to duty, or I might be about here. If so, I suppose I'll do my own reporting and see how it all goes.
And stand back and watch the world go made for something that is a pin prick to third world residents. Oh, it could be fun...fun indeed.
Okay! It's now 10:21 am Eastern Time as I write this, back to work at WITF. My colleagues, Tim Lambert and Megan Lello are working it on 89.5, but I have not had time to really listen in; getting ready for very abbreviated sports reports for KYW 1060 in Philly.
I needless to say didn't sleep an awful lot; found plenty of things to do around the house while keeping an eye and ear out on things. Had a couple of minor power outages, but the electricity came right back on.
The worst of the storm has moved northward...
http://www1.whdh.com/video/7newslive
I haven't watched Boston TV in years, even when I go up to visit. Looks like they're doing their best. I give kudos to the NBC 4 crews in New York for doing a very good job, without sounding like they're covering the end of the world. A lot of local and some cable outlets could take lessons from those folks.
I finally awakened this morning to find still windy conditions and occasional bursts of rain. The house survived the night okay, and the property looks good. Couple of big downed limbs, but one of those was already headed for the ground anyway.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150275719565787.336997.552340786&saved#!/media/set/?set=a.10150275719565787.336997.552340786&type=1
Not a lot of exciting pictures, sorry to say. My old friend Alexandra who lives in NYC said Irene was all hype. She certainly still caused plenty of damage along the coast.
Another old friend Ardyth rode out the storm on Long Island, in the mandatory evac. zone: she reports they had power nearly all night, some heavy waves washed over the boardwalk onto the beach, but flooding has closed a number of highways. So no one's going much of anywhere.
Irene is now a tropical storm, but still can cause trouble as it blasts through New England and into Canada. But it looks like we came out of it without too much difficulty.
Anyway, I do not expect to blog much more about the storm, unless something really unusual happens. I did this mostly as an exercise of my skillz; keeps you busy and going.
I well remember the days when we had to go mad trying to rig any possible way of getting information, begging, borrowing and pirating if need be. The Internet has made it easier, though not always perfect.
Looks like we're cool...now back to your regularly scheduled blog...haha!
A pretty quiet evening on the whole for this part of the Mid-Atlantic; my guess is we in the midstate are going to get off reasonably lightly.
The past 2-1/2 hours have had light to moderate rains and breezy conditions, but nothing serious. That could change as the night goes on.
http://www.my9tv.com/subindex/news/live_video
An interesting steady cam on the Jersey Shore somewhere...the sound of the wind, the rain hitting the camera and the ground is different. There are some voices, but I don't know if they're camera minders or people just out for "fun."
http://www.weather.com/tv/tvshows/Livestream
The Weather Channel has done pretty well on the coverage today and tonight, mostly because the Drama Queens aren't on much, if at all. The people who do the real work are at it, and it's good work so far.
Now if you've watched any of this, the closer to shore you are the more dangerous this is. Then, there are some people who have no clue whatsoever:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY4gJoKwtAQ&feature=player_embedded&has_verified=1
What do you want to bet someone's gonna demand that idiot be charged for indecent exposure? Actually, the whole world now knows he's a moron, so that should be enough shame for him...do have to admit though, it was pretty funny.
Twitterverse for me is pretty quiet, don't have a lot of followers. Some of the comments and re-tweets are pretty funny. A literary agent named JC reports her cousin in Vermont is terrified she will die.
Um...as a native Vermonter, the storm's not going up there...she stands a better chance of being butted by an irate deer while jogging than dying from the storm.
I'm so having too much fun...no specific duties until tomorrow morning. Quiet day at WITF, covering KYW Sports...wall to wall weather coverage of course: Phillies game postponed, Union match postponed, just about everything shut down and done till the storm passes through.
I thought tonight might be a good stretch of my skills as a blogger, to keep you in the loop. Just for fun more than anything; right now, pretty quiet. Still very light rain, and the wind has again picked up, but nothing too terrible at this point.
The cats are pretty calm about it all; you can generally tell if something's up, based on their behavior. Baldrick I think was a bit worried early on yesterday, but now everyone's laid back.
Hell, even the deer are back...more pics on my new folder on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/tory.gates
Yeah, having too much fun here...I will see what else there is to do while listening and checking in on things.
If you're in the zone, I wish you safety through this time and to be careful.
1 million w/o power in the Mid-Atlantic, heavy gusts in Virginia; I'd check with friends down in the VA/DC region earlier...it's getting a bit more hairy now, I'm sure.
Okay...again, be safe!
Well, this should be a very interesting blog, and I'm sure a good game of Whack-A-Troll is going to come out of it.
First, let me get what pisses me off out of the way...the most immediate part.
I made the mistake of reading the Letters to the Editor section of the Harrisburg Patriot-News, or as I call it, "The Rag." Generally, I consider nearly every newspaper published in this region as nothing more than a rag; the York papers are among the worst I've ever come across, and the Patriot-News isn't too far off.
Like most daily papers, they will print the most outrageous and idiotic letters, knowing they will piss people off, make them write more letters and by way of that, sell more papers. They don't care that a lot of these letter writers are barely literate, and have been fed a steady diet of media ignorance from TV, radio and the Internet.
The alternative universe loonie bin includes a well-worn topic: the draft.
BRING BACK THE DRAFT!, proclaimed some woman a while back, and today another woman fired off her missive agreeing with it.
The latest loon did make a good point about our military being stretched to the limit...and so, she reasons, we need to send all our 18-year-olds into the military to confront an enemy she claims is "more evil than any we faced in WWII."
Yeah, right...
Guess what's wrong with this picture? You and I both know it.
A draft will be fraught with people trying to get out of it. The rich, powerful and connected will NEVER serve, except in Officer's Training School, and only then if they're assured they'll get their bars or oak leaves.
It will, as this latest atrocity we call a war on terror, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Vietnam, and hell, date it back to the Civil War, where this term came from: "A rich man's war, a poor man's fight."
I'm quite sure the letter writers are too old to serve, and most of their demon spawn probably are too.
The real "enemy" is one within...let's not forget how the Iraq and Afghan wars were started, on a false premise, and how they have been perpetuated.
Quite plainly, we need to end our role in this insanity. The Iraqi and Afghan leadership need to take over in their own country; yes, we made the mess, we need to advise and to help, but we do not need gigantic residual forces there.
Our troops need to come home, to rest, get extended leave, get paid, and get the respect they deserve.
But we don't need a draft.
I'm so sick of armchair quarterbacks claiming they know what's good for the planet, and rags like the Patriot-News just nodding their collective bobbleheads and printing it like gospel truth.
Just so you know: I am NOT a pacifist. As a Buddhist, fighting is not something we need to do for gain, or for sport. You fight to DEFEND, not to destroy because you can.
Everyone whines about the troops fighting for freedom...our freedom. But wait, we're not fighting here, we're fighting over there...for their freedom...though we are again trying to change parts of the world that don't understand us, and we'll never understand.
I am all for defending our homeland, and doing what we must within the law to do just that. Fine; we do not need to export war.
And that enemy within starts with the Bush Administration, and a political/military industrial complex that makes war a profiteering venture. Our troops would not be in the shape they're in if we did not fabricate an excuse to go to war.
I want our troops home, where they can recover, and know that we do respect them and thank them for their thankless job.
GROW UP, AMERICA...NOW.
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Okay, now that that's out of the way...Hurricane Irene...oh joy. Well, I'm a bit to the west of the danger zone in Pennsylvania, but we do have storm warnings for the area. Our eye goes to the east, as the seaboard is getting pounded by a Category 1 storm.
I think people have finally learned the lessons from Hurricane Katrina, and have got off the beaches and gone inland. Evacuation orders appear so far to have been followed; I am hopeful that the media will do a better job of handling the story.
The Weather Channel is on here at WITF, as I handle KYW Sports in Philly. That city is keeping it pretty much wall to wall weather coverage, as they should. I don't have much to do, except to keep up on the one game the Phillies will play; everything's battened down out there, and NY and Philadelphia are taking prudent and I think, correct precautions.
I have a lot of friends in NYC, and they're smart enough to know what to do; all the same, I hope everyone rides out the storm okay.
TWC is as usual putting their people in danger, and sometimes I think they go too far. I also don't care much for some of their "reporters." Some do a very good job, and are actual meteorologists; others are people I consider "Book Smart and Street Stupid."
I won't mention the one who nearly got herself killed during Katrina by stepping out into the full path of the storm from cover. Her "EEEEEEEEEE..." squeal was heard 'round the world; I couldn't imagine any trained meterologist doing something that dumb, but she did.
One of my XM colleagues (I was there for much of Katrina) called her a "drama queen." They have a few...like melonhead Al Roker and some of the others.
My aim will be to provide updates through the weekend, based on where I am. As I say, I'm really on the edge of the storm, but it will be interesting to see how things progress. Right now, the sun's shining, and we have some on and off rain this morning. We'll see how it goes.
I wish everyone well, in riding this one out.
