Frankenstorm

[Absurdity]

I'm a Californian living in temporary exile in Washington, DC, and I am a little nervous about this whole Hurricane Sandy/Frankenstorm deal that is supposed to last from tomorrow until after Halloween. Plans are to hide away from any windows with plenty of alcohol and pray the power doesn't go out, otherwise I'll be really bored. Hopefully I will get a day or two off from work, though.


And for those of you not on the east coast of the US, here is what I am talking about:

Humans built a Frankenstorm factory and now we've got to live in it

 

[Grove]

Snowicane! All justifiable concerns aside, I am interested to see what happens when a nor'easter eats a hurricane.

http://jezebel.com/5955450/the-poss...source=jezebel_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

 

[Etheri]

Alright, I have no idea, genuinely. But to an outsider's first glance, this sounds like some more 'culture of fear'. Do you want some, too?

 

[TriflinThomas]

I'm jealous (sort of...). It's hot as fuck here in SoCal but, I would love to hole up during a hurricane and get baked.

 

[Solitaire U.]

Prelude to December 21.

 

[Vrecknidj]

Americans enjoy hype.

 

[EditorOne]

This is when the forgotten virtues of books-on-paper become clearer: A flashlight, a blanket, some books, plus wine, cheese and hard sausage and it's more like a picnic than a disaster.

The National Weather Service and other professional forecasting services have staked their futures on being right about the severity of this weather combination. If this fizzles, their credibility is shot. Cities and states are ordering evacuations and, in New York, a complete shutdown of the mass transit system, based on their predictions, so we're talking about massive needless expense if they're all wrong.

 

[Moocow]

It's all just hype, right?

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/hurricane-sandy-strikes-east-coast-gallery-1.1194577

 

[Architect]

That was crazy - and people on the East Coast think earthquakes are dangerous!

 

[snafupants]

Americans enjoy hype.

@Vrecknidj

Sure. Does over seven million without power still mean hype?

Does a state of emergency in multiple Eastern states mean hype?

Have you seen New York recently? The place is redolent of SeaWorld.

Nah, you're cool though. Americans love hype. I'm above it.

 

[Architect]

This is when the forgotten virtues of books-on-paper become clearer: A flashlight, a blanket, some books, plus wine, cheese and hard sausage and it's more like a picnic than a disaster.

My Kindle white has a 4 week battery time and includes front lighting, no flashlight needed. Plus I can get storm updates off the browser & 3G, win-win!

Just poking fun, I imagine a grandfather from the 1500's saying the same thing of the kids from the 1600's with their printing press books. "In my time sonny we didn't need books, we'd just play knucklebones." Going further back they probably thought that sitting around telling the same stories over again was the bomb.

The National Weather Service and other professional forecasting services have staked their futures on being right about the severity of this weather combination.

Seems they were right.

 

[snafupants]

Prelude to December 21.

Do you have any other baseless predictions that can be disproved in around two months?

 

[Absurdity]

DC got off easy. My housemates and I just got drunk on Sunday on the porch and even braved the storm to go out to a bar last night.

I'm not going to complain about two days off work

 

[Solitaire U.]

Do you have any other baseless predictions that can be disproved in around two months?

It was a joke. I forgot to include the

But I now realize it was wrong to make light of other people's misfortune. Please consider this my official apology:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KniUNdVZvH4&noredirect=1

 

[EditorOne]

They were right.

Meteorologists are an interesting bunch. It's all science and numbers -- except many of them take not-so-secret delight in extreme weather. The weather nerds on the Weather Channel were all agog because this particular combination of weather events had never been seen before, they had to remember people and property were in danger and even then they were almost chortling sometimes. It makes one hold back full commitment to their forecasts just a teensy bit. This time, though, they get to say "we told you so."
Apparently meteorologists made a determined and successful effort to motivate politicians to evacuate vulnerable areas. The warning was probably "you don't want another Katrina the week before the election.' It seems to have worked pretty well, although you always have somebody somewhere who just doesn't get the word or doesn't choose to believe that , with coastal storms, it's smarter to act on bad information and leave than it is to assume the information is bad and stay. Darwin again.

 

[Absurdity]

 

[Proletar]

The storm was made by Obama to point out that the republican model is bad at handling disasters.

 

[catatonic]

The storm was made by Obama to point out that the republican model is bad at handling disasters.

Hahaha

:smiley_emoticons_mr

 

[Architect]

They were right.

Meteorologists are an interesting bunch. It's all science and numbers -- except many of them take not-so-secret delight in extreme weather. The weather nerds on the Weather Channel were all agog because this particular combination of weather events had never been seen before, they had to remember people and property were in danger and even then they were almost chortling sometimes.

I'll admit to being a bit of a weather nerd. I've got a fancy station in my back yard and followed the storm from the Weather Channel youtube feed. Don't know why I like it.

 

[BigApplePi]

Since I live in an apartment in the middle of New York City, my wife persuaded me to leave the house early Sunday instead of Monday knowing travel during a storm was not a good idea. So I am here Tuesday. If you are interested, ask me what I'm experiencing. If you aren't don't hesitate to avoid asking.

 

[Solitaire U.]

@BigApplePi

What are you experiencing?

 

[snafupants]

I'll admit to being a bit of a weather nerd. I've got a fancy station in my back yard and followed the storm from the Weather Channel youtube feed. Don't know why I like it.

@Architect

I've heard that INTPs like systems and ideas that retain mystery and repel swift and accurate prediction, categorization or description. It's basically assured stimulation in its complexity and conceptual slipperiness. I'm getting into probability theory for similar reasons; I like feeling overwhelmed initially, in some giant ocean of unexplored ideas with perhaps some rudimentary supplies. Maybe that's the underlying attraction. Or maybe I just need to dispel my inferiority complex towards math and statistics, who knows? I'm not sure what I'm saying anymore.

 

[Architect]

As a information and measurement junkie it gives me another data feed. I have a 24/7 low power computer logging and saving at 1m intervals plus a dedicated screen with graphs. For example, last night I heard a drip in the eaves; rain or dew? Not earth shattering but it would stick in my head. A quick glance at my screen this morning showed zero rain and heavy dew, I'll need to squeegee off the car windows.

This is a professional station capable of sending data to NOAA, you might wonder why bother? One reason is that I do send data to NOAA, and also I get much higher fidelity than anything I can get from the stations. They just report a few variables, but here I get my precise data (at my house) for solar, UV, dew, soil moisture, and of course all the rest of the usual variables.

Also learning how weather works, such as what made Sandy into such a monster storm, is quite satisfying.

 

[snafupants]

As a information and measurement junkie it gives me another data feed.

@Architect

Yeah, but what motivates the need to parse complex data?

One layer deeper I believe it's that data is dynamic and satisfyingly complex.

You can mold data with different hypotheses...because it's complex.

Also learning how weather works, such as what made Sandy into such a monster storm, is quite satisfying.

There again, I feel the complexity is the real attractor.

It's not the object (i.e., weather) per se but rather the convolution of that intellectual entity.

Let's suppose weather was really simple to understand - there goes the interest.

 

[BigApplePi]

This is a BIG city (Manhattan). Half the city has no electricity. The other half is quite disrupted. I am fortunate to be in Zone D (high ground). Those in Zone A by the water got swamped and knocked out and still are (Wednesday). Where I am (in the middle) there was modest rain and not very high winds. The damage is due to the tidal wave. Killed transportation.

But everyone is busy working on it. All my Tuesday appointments were cancelled. I showed up for my first Wednesday and the party I was to meet no showed. Had trouble getting there (56th street) as the wind bent a giant crane (57th street) up at the top of 75 stories. If it fell it would "go through the street below like a knife through butter" killing the electricity, water and stream pipes below. So the police have it cordoned off for blocks around. I had to ask the cop to let me through.

My 2nd appointment today ... the dentist just called me. He was there but none of his assistants showed. I know I'm leaving stuff out, so feel free to ask more. Every TV channel has the city events and I got tired of watching it all day. At least we have electricity.

I have a stock market meeting next week on 21st street. But right now there is no electricity below 39th street. No telling if things will be up by then. They say 7-10 days. When a disaster hits, one tries to recover. Actually I hate to say it, but there is a certain amount of fun when all of society has to break its routine.

 

[snafupants]

Actually I hate to say it, but there is a certain amount of fun when all of society has to break its routine.

@BigApplePi

That's very interesting. People seem to relish and crave disasters. At times they provoke them. I guess there's something exciting and vital about the chaos. Primordial maybe.

The real reason might be that humans actually feel constrained and hemmed in by society's fiats and expectations and so when those barriers are removed it's silently exhilarating.

There's something highly stimulating about 9/11 to most people. The fireballs and societal disruption. In a MPAA-rich culture, the incontinent violence appears to be almost sexual in its ability to thrill.

Maybe humanity will evolve more when it doesn't crave those catastrophes. Part of it's an escape from boredom and humdrum routine, certainly, but there's some schadenfreude there too.

 

[BigApplePi]

@BigApplePi

That's very interesting. People seem to relish and crave disasters. At times they provoke them. I guess there's something exciting and vital about the chaos. Primordial maybe.

The real reason might be that humans actually feel constrained and hemmed in by society's fiats and expectations and so when those barriers are removed it's silently exhilarating.

There's something highly stimulating about 9/11 to most people. The fireballs and societal disruption. In a MPAA-rich culture, the incontinent violence appears to be almost sexual in its ability to thrill.

Maybe humanity will evolve more when it doesn't crave those catastrophes. Part of it's an escape from boredom and humdrum routine, certainly, but there's some schadenfreude there too.

Agreed. In its simplest form, people crave change. Same ol' same ol' doesn't allow for evolutionary adjustments ... to make a highfalutin statement. After a disaster, you get to see how everything works and appreciate it. Don't tell me there's no joy in that.

It would be fun to jump off a cliff too. Isn't there a thought of that when you see one?* Somehow most people hold back though. Not sure why. ... Come to think of it I've seen people "safely" do exactly that. It's called hang gliding.
_______________________

*There is plenty of opportunity to experience that in this skyscraper city. How do you explain that unpleasant feeling I get in my crotch when I get too close to the edge and look down? Psychoanalyze that! There is a recent thread on this Forum about psychoanalysis. Maybe I should go there to get an answer.

 

[Architect]

Architect

Yeah, but what motivates the need to parse complex data?

A lifetime spent in measurement science? 25 years at least

 

[snafupants]

A lifetime spent in measurement science? 25 years at least

You're going in circles but you can't understand it yet - what motivates the quarter century in that job?

 

[Architect]

You're going in circles but you can't understand it yet - what motivates the quarter century in that job?

Lots of dough and they leave me alone?

 

[snafupants]

Agreed. In its simplest form, people crave change. Same ol' same ol' doesn't allow for evolutionary adjustments ... to make a highfalutin statement. After a disaster, you get to see how everything works and appreciate it. Don't tell me there's no joy in that.

I'm not claiming to be Saint Anthony over here.

Actually for most people pain is conflated with change. That has adaptive laurels and shortcomings.

The rattling of security that was 9/11 deeply troubled people. That lasted for some time, some grief supplanted that feeling, then (very brief) questioning occurred, then idiot anger swooped in.

There is plenty of opportunity to experience that in this skyscraper city. How do you explain that unpleasant feeling I get in my crotch when I get too close to the edge and look down? Psychoanalyze that! There is a recent thread on this Forum about psychoanalysis. Maybe I should go there to get an answer.

That's Schopenhauer's (and everybody's) Will to life in full effect. You can tightrope a curb and feel perfectly OK but that same procedure done between buildings will come saddled with that lead stomach feeling and profound psychic distress.

 

[Vrecknidj]

I have friends and relatives in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and New York. I understand how bad things are there.

But, yes, Americans do enjoy hype.

The two aren't mutually exclusive.