Slightly cooler, but humid. [76F and 83%RH at 6am]
Spent yesterday at the beach, which was surreal considering what was going on east of us. The beaches were mostly empty too, to my surprise.
The pictures and video that are coming out of the Bahamas are shocking. It’s been a while since we had good video of such a devastating storm. Waves washing the second story windows should convince anyone that evacuation is the better part of valor, if that’s what you might be facing.
There are reports of “price gouging” coming out of Fla. I’m of the opinion that laws prohibiting charging more than the usual rate when un-usual events are happening are un-American and counter productive. Let the business earn the opprobrium if that’s what people decide is fair. Otherwise, let those without the ability to plan pay those who have the ability for the privilege of their ignorance and lack of self control.
Complaining about expensive bottled water WHEN IT’S COMING OUT OF YOUR TAP is about as stupid as stupid gets. Gas is a <i>bit</i> different, as it can be difficult to store safely, but if you are motivated you can do so. I did, and do. If it’s a priority, you will find a way to do it. If it’s not, then you will pay the tax.
If there are any new readers, let me point out that I live in a hurricane zone, have been through several, and THAT’S WHY I PREP.
Read through anything tagged with prepping related tags. Read the comments. Learn it for next time, as there will surely be a next time.
Also, accept that there are some things that are out of your control and you will just have to deal with them as best you can. That’s another good reason to have resources set aside, so you can adapt.
Speaking of which… my mom decided that the best thing to do was fly into Florida EARLY this year. She’s in Sarasota as of YESTERDAY, so should be ok unless things go very wrong with the storm track. However, I’m reaching out to MY resources, with a ‘heads up’ that I might need some sort of help in that regard if things go pear shaped. She doesn’t “believe” in preparedness of any sort and so I find myself in the (not completely unusual) position of having a loved one firmly in my darwin column, and yet I can’t actually leave her there if push comes to shove. I hope to convince her to do her shopping today, and to pick up some extra, if it’s even available. (FWIW, I was under the impression that her flight would be canceled and she’d stay safely in Chicago, I was shocked to get her text that she had landed in Sarasota. No idea what she was thinking.)
If you are in the threatened area, please take what time you have and do what is needed to ensure you have the best chance at safety. If you are not directly threatened by this storm, take it as a warning- there will be other storms, quakes, floods, tornadoes, riots, pipeline explosions, derailments, plagues, and pestilence. Get prepped.
nick
added- looks like Dorian has started to turn north. That is good news for Florida but it’s still gonna be a mess up the coast and central regions. Freaking thing sat for 40 hours on the Bahamas. That is nuts.
I’ll be outside doing auction pickup and delivery most of today. I did get a little sun on my back of neck and top of head, despite my best efforts to avoid it. Kinda itchy this morning. Kids are gonna be in misery.
n
Fun, fun…
Coming home for lunch, just as I got out of the train I heard a huge *BANG*. Sounded much worse than an accident, more like a huge plate of metal falling a long ways onto concrete. Ok, look around, see nothing, start walking home.
I walk up to the main street, and there’s a pedestrian tunnel under the street. On the other side, a bunch of kids walking home for lunch – they just got out of school for their lunch break. I don’t think anything of it, walk into the tunnel, and from the other side a fat firecracker flies in to join me *BANG*.
JEEZUM – that was loud. I came boiling out of the tunnel to a bunch of shocked faces. I honestly don’t think they knew anyone was in there. It was a bunch of 13-14 year old guys trying to show off to a bunch of 13-14 year old girls. Most of the boys were typical Eastern European stock, which preserves a culture of over-the-top macho stupidity. When you read about some teenager wrapping his car around a tree at 150mph, usually taking his girlfriend with him, it’s a good bet his family is from Kosovo/Serbia/Bosnia/Croatia. So this is just the kind of dumb stunt they would pull.
Of course, “it wasn’t me” “it wasn’t me” “it wasn’t me” – all innocent looks. No way to figure out who to blame. Which is probably a good thing: I didn’t know my adrenaline level could go that high. I nearly punched the first kid I saw, and I was ready to seriously hurt someone. Took me a solid hour to climb down off that adrenaline high.
It’s now a couple of hours later, and my ears are still a bit numb, and ringing worse that the usual tinnitus. Another couple of points of hearing damage, hopefully temporary. I’ve had a phone call with the school administration, but the chances of any of the kids ratting out the actual culprits are pretty low. Anyway, not sure what I want from them. Any apology would be insincere. Have them volunteer to have their balls kicked up between their ears, so they don’t reproduce? Maybe.
There are reports of “price gouging” coming out of Fla. I’m of the opinion that laws prohibiting charging more than the usual rate when un-usual events are happening are un-American and counter productive.
The gas stations near Orlando airport are legally allowed to gouge under an agreement with the state, but any other permanent business is subject to fines.
I’m not in favor of the anti-gouging laws, but I’d report a Publix, Home Depot, Ace, etc. if I found an issue. Florida is an increasingly purple state, and the people who own and run those businesses need to get hip to what the politicians are doing to buy the votes of the ignorant.
Don’t like the laws? Get them changed ASAP.
Publix is marginally aware, but they backed a RINO for Governor last year, “Opie”, George W. Bush’s point man in Congress for the last attempt at an immigration deal.
As Obama said, “Elections have consequences.”
Before the laws, I don’t recall mainstream businesses goosing prices to “gouge” in hurricane situations. The intent was to shut down the fly-by-night roofers who preyed on the desperate in SW Florida after Charley. The road to Hell …
Didn’t hear anything back from the school, so I went down there. School director: “Didn’t happen on school grounds, so it’s a matter for the parents”. Which parents? Oh, they have no idea.
So I reported it to the police. Probably won’t achieve anything, but who knows? Maybe some kid will be willing to rat out the idiots.
The pictures and video that are coming out of the Bahamas are shocking.
The picture on The Drudge Report this morning is amazing and scary of a young girl walking through chest deep water holding her dog.
https://drudgereport.com/
Note: the picture comes from AP.
https://apnews.com/10633adb197f40f9bcbe584c0d9037a5
The really emphasizes to me that getting out is just not you, it is your loved ones also.
Brad, in your situation I’d probably have rammed all of the boys’ faces into a chain link fence. It serves as a sufficient punishment and further marks them in case there’s an attempt at denial. There’s a good chance I’d have done the same to the girls, as I’ve observed over the years that a lot of girls egg the boys on to stupid or criminal behavior but when caught pull the “but I didn’t do it!” card.
Dilbert: the new employee is awesome
https://dilbert.com/strip/2019-09-02
Yup, making the rest of us look bad !
Breaking Cat News: can’t find the cricket !
https://www.gocomics.com/breaking-cat-news/2019/09/03
As much as crickets drive me crazy, I can just imagine what they do to cats.
Yup, making the rest of us look bad !
Just wait. The new employee could be on drugs.
Don’t laugh. Our lead Wifi developer at Death Star Telephone turned out to be a big-time meth dealer.
“Criminologists Mislead Us” By Walter E.Williams
https://www.creators.com/read/walter-williams/09/19/criminologists-mislead-us
“John Paul Wright, professor at University of Cincinnati, and Matthew DeLisi professor at Iowa State University have penned a powerful article titled “What Criminologists Don’t Say, and Why,” in City Journal, Summer 2017. There is significant bias among criminologists. The reason for that bias is that political leanings of academic criminologists are liberal. Liberal criminologists outnumber their conservative counterparts by a ratio of 30-to-1. Ideology almost perfectly predicts the position of criminologists on issues from gun control to capital punishment to harsh sentencing. Liberal criminologists march in step for gun control, oppose punitive prison sentences, and are vehemently against the death penalty.”
Wow. Talk about corruption of a profession. They sound as bad as journalists.
@SteveF: I surely felt like it, but you can’t really do that. The stupid thing is that I didn’t take a pic of the idiots. I don’t think clearly under circumstances like that…
Sorry, but my read is that this woman deliberately wanted to push the limits.
A**hats are not just male and Millennial.
And the flight crew has the final word on the horse getting on the plane. Instead, they’re posing for friggin’ pictures. I would have asked for availability of another flight. Or a bus. Or a train. I don’t think Greyhound or Amtrak allow horses in passenger areas.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7423231/Miniature-horse-seen-board-flight-Chicago-Omaha-136-pound-mare-named-Flirty.html
Sorry, but my read is that this woman deliberately wanted to push the limits.
The horse should be wearing a diaper; the owner should be required to hold the animal in her lap for the duration of the flight.
The horse should be wearing a diaper; the owner should be required to hold the animal in her lap for the duration of the flight.
A 136 lb *dog* would be an issue.
Again, the flight crew has final discretion over the animals getting on the plane, and, unless the plane was lightly loaded, they lacked the testicular fortitude to do the job in this situation.
Yes, that’s why they are both huge money losers nowadays.
“A Feminist Capitalist Professor Under Fire”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-feminist-capitalist-professor-under-fire-11567201511
“The students who demand her firing, Camille Paglia argues, take prosperity for granted, are socially undeveloped, and know little about Western history. Who’s Moses?”
We are goners.
And I like this comment.: “We are in trouble, enemies of the US won’t have any trouble marching onto our soil and taking over.”
“The new generation has no idea what stress is…..yet..”
If you read the article from the Drudge Report then you can see the entire article.
https://drudgereport.com/
And I like this comment.: “We are in trouble, enemies of the US won’t have any trouble marching onto our soil and taking over.”
The camps will need better Wifi and cell service than what we experienced in the convention center complex buildings in San Antonio this weekend, with thousands of nerds attempting to stream anime/porn simultaneously.
Not an insurmountable obstacle, but quite a tech challenge. Really fine grained control over Wifi will be necessary. All the camp bunks and mess hall tables will need to be the equivalent of the “couch” in the last Steve Jobs WWDC keynote.
And I like this comment.: “We are in trouble, enemies of the US won’t have any trouble marching onto our soil and taking over.”
I think /where/ they march in will make a difference. For them.
Have you seen the random map of Europe with the outline of Texas overlayed? With that scale in mind, start with Texas and expand East to include Alabama. Then west for Arizona. Now, roughly following State borders, go all the way to Canada. Hmm. About half or more of the entire country.
I think it would be like Napoleon trying to invade Russia. Has anyone successfully invaded Russia after the Rus [er, Vikings!] created the country in 800 or so AD? Yeah, they had a Mongol problem in the 1300’s. So did Europe. But other than that, I don’t recall at the moment.
But with a couple oceans to cross? Nah. We are not going to be invaded if we simply defend the border.
Defend the boarder? What is this concept you talk of?
But with a couple oceans to cross? Nah. We are not going to be invaded if we simply defend the border.
They are coming in across the southern border at 1.2 ? 1.3 ? million per year. That is an invasion.
That is an invasion.
Yes, it is.
They are coming in across the southern border at 1.2 ? 1.3 ? million per year. That is an invasion.
Decriminalize illegal immigration, and, within a year, you will have ten times that many Number One Sons fly in from India/China, show up at the border, walk across, and claim asylum.
To whoever recommended the Freehold book back in July, thanks! That was definitely the most thought-provoking book I’ve read recently. I found the actions of the “civilized” invaders from Earth to be comical compared to a truly civilized planet.
@Mark, read the others set on Graine… the one where the special ops team destroys the earth economy by crashing infrastructure has some thought provoking stuff in it too.
I really like his short series involving security contractors too. There is a scene involving mall security (offworld) that is hi-larious.
n
To whoever recommended the Freehold book back in July, thanks! That was definitely the most thought-provoking book I’ve read recently. I found the actions of the “civilized” invaders from Earth to be comical compared to a truly civilized planet.
It was not me but I am glad that you liked it. I have read it about 3 or 4 times. Williamson wrote a real winner with the Freehold book. And half of the followon books are good too.
He has another book that I like a lot also:
https://www.amazon.com/Long-Time-Until-Temporal-Displacement/dp/1476781729?tag=ttgnet-20
@Mark, read the others set on Graine… the one where the special ops team destroys the earth economy by crashing infrastructure has some thought provoking stuff in it too.
Scary stuff about disrupting a despotic nation who is invading a just nation:
https://www.amazon.com/Weapon-Freehold-Michael-Z-Williamson/dp/1416521186?tag=ttgnet-20