I expect CNN to send reporters to Fairbanks this winter, you know, to cover the snowstorms.

What is it that bothers you about the coverage? We are having one of the most active hurricane seasons on record, which I consider pretty newsworthy. And a hurricane in and of itself is fairly big news to be. However, my perspective may be skewed being that I lived in Florida for 25 someodd years and we still have a lot of friends and family there.

Do you have a different perspective?

Fuck Florida. Thats where the anti-christ lives (Jeb Bush).

Be nice. I'm flying to Miami in an hour and a half -- I hope.

Several times a year we have the tragic, tragic stories of people who apparently aren't aware that they live in an area that gets hit by hurricanes 3 times a year! We just saw this show last month; we'll see it again next month. I'm sure it's a big deal locally but it's hardly "breaking news" on CNN.

Yeah, you're right.

The fourth largest hurricane ever to hit the Eastern Seaboard. The one that might wipe out an entire city (a city many of us have been to), killing potentially hundreds of thousands of people, and destroying a number of oil fields (expect the price of gas to go up).

That's not news at all.

If you don't like it, change the channel, troll.

Every major hurricane is the biggest one in decades according to the nightly news. Who knows, maybe the sky really is falling this time.

The pressure dropped as low as 902 mb this afternoon but has risen to 908 mb as of 12 p.m. CDT. The 902 mb pressure reading was the 4th lowest on record in the Atlantic Basin. Stu Ostro explains the significance of pressure from his blog posted earlier today..."We look at pressures as a good barometer (pun intended) for intensity. The difference in pressure from one location to another, known as the pressure gradient, is associated with wind speed. There are other factors involved, but basically, the greater the pressure gradient in hurricanes, typically the higher the wind speed."

http://www.weather.com/newscenter/tropical/?from=wxcenter_news

"Every major hurricane is the biggest one in decades according to the nightly news"

Actually I've been impressed with how the weather guys handled it this morning. One example:

"This is now just a Category 4 storm - wind speeds are around 150mph. But let's not split hairs - this is still a powerful and destructive storm."

I think what you hear from the news folks before a hurricane is an attempt to be factual but not to put folks at ease. If the wind speeds were 105mph and they were saying "well it's slowed down a lot, and this is no longer a record-breaking storm" how many idiots would say "Oh, cool - then I won't evacuate"?

Sure *I* consider it evolution in action, but they may be softer-hearted than I.

Philo

> I'm flying to Miami

Flying back should be easy enough. You'll just need to put your hands in the pocket of your overcoat and hold your arms out - *whooosh*

I'm having flashbacks here to a Henry Rollins standup bit re. El Nino.

<paraphrased>
"And then you see these people who build their houses on a flood plain, and then a bad storm comes through and ... guess what, everything floods! they get on TV and they're like 'Everythin' wuz fine before thet El Nino come along. And now mah house is all washed away.' You IDIOT. You don't deserve to have a HOUSE. You should live in a CANOE."
</paraphrased>

Funny. Henry Rollins lives in downtown Manhattan.

When he's killed by terrorists, I'm going to do a standup bit about him.

Manhattan isn't hit by predictable terrorist attacks 3 times a year. But feel free to engage in hyperbole, Mr. "killing potentially hundreds of thousands of people." Look, I feel bad for the residents of the Gulf Coast and the 14 people who've died, but the arrival of a hurricane there is not unexpected. There is too much news hysteria associated with the event. It makes some of us jaded.

It's best to wait until he gets killed, MarkTAW. Otherwise he'd beat the shit out of you.