Was a Florida hurricane correspondent for Surfline.com for a few years. I've been caught in a few. First the wind comes in blowing in one direction for several hours. Then the eye passes over and things go quiet. The sun comes out birds sing and people wander out of doors to asses[s] damage. Make sure your car is allright. Surfers bike/walk to the beach to check out the swells and wind. Then as the eye wall passes you run back in doors as the wind comes in from the opposite direction. Roofs blown free come back at you. Everything that was blown off is returned as the wind swings around. If you're actually hunkered down on the coast you do a lot of praying. There are no athiests in a hurricane. As it all subsides and if the damage isn't to great it's time to go surfing. If you're an older surfer like me you have to be more aware of your physical limitations. It's easy to die in big waves. A 55 year old high school teacher (like me) died in New Symrna Beach yesterday. If it's a Class I you'll generally be allright. Less so as you move up the scale. Class IV and above? Run like hell. At any rate the waves are calling so I'm out for my second session of the day...In that light, Governor Christie says:
"Get the hell off the beach.... You've maximized your tan..."
"You've maximized your tan..." really applies independently of the hurricane. Come on, Jersey kids. Enough!
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56 comments:
Christie is a future President. So, is Paul Ryan. Other than that I cannot see any GOP in the White House, perhaps, Romney might get through.
No other exceptions. This is why the super K-street consultants are planning the first 100-days of the 2nd term.
Hurricane Irene also showed the leadership of the POTUS. The news are about him at FEMA. Can you imagine something like that for Perry, Bachman, Gingrich, Palin, etc.? You cannot. So, the voters know: Relect the POTUS.
AP- it was a photo shoot. The guy is no leader. Now be a good little troll and go back to your cave.
These surfers try my patience. If you want to ride out the storm, go right ahead. But instead of playing in the surf, how about instead picking up a hammer and helping someone secure his property?
What a culture of pantywaists we have become. At the risk of inciting a panic. I'd like to remind that we're all gonna die, eventually. There are no precautions you can take to reduce the risk, it's guaranteed, like taxes. I applaud the surfer dude, and the lookyloos. Just because it's called a hurricane, and our fearless leaders are scared to death, does not mean it's dangerous. Recent history shows that the wisdom of our leaders is something to be used as a counter-indicator of what to do. Live!
Christie was a good US attorney and is a good governor. Fat prejudice probably excludes him from becoming President. However, we often elect the opposite personality of a failed president. And, in that regard, Christie is the prototype.
I'm from New Jersey...I will adjust...
Courtesy John Gorka.
Funny how obama shows up at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and they have a name plate all made up for him.
AP, if you and your people think you know everything, how come you were so wrong about the last elections? Maybe you're full of shit.
When I was a kid in FL we used to go out to St. Pete Beach and body surf after big storms and 'canes - except for when we evacuated to FL or TX.
I can't even imagine what my parents were thinking when I took off on my Lemon Pealer (5 speed!) wearing a bathing suit right after the storm passed....
-XC
Funny how obama shows up at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and they have a name plate all made up for him.
Well,otherwise how would he know where to sit? Imagine the confusion!!
He reminds me of the E-Trade Baby...."See. Here is my 'serious' face."
Re: surfer dudes. I don't care if you want to put your life in danger surfing in a storm and get the thrill of your life. Just don't expect other people to put themselves in danger trying to save your self indulgent butt.
Same thing goes for the morons who decide to climb the glacier laden mountains in my area...in the winter...in a storm....and then expect search and rescue to save their sorry butts.
You take the chance....you take the consequences.
@Sixty Grit - Basically my posting was an extended tweet. I wasn't obsessing over syntax, spelling or the form and construction of the paragraph(s). Might I suggest that Sixty Grit get a life? Preferrably a real one. Sheesh...
I enjoyed watching the surfers come out for the hurricane in Miami this week. It made the waves a lot bigger than they had been before. Of course, Miami didn't get very much more than some wind and rain.
As for the hurricane, if it were a measly class 1 hurricane hitting, say, Mississippi/Alabama, I don't think they would be talking about it every second of every day. Sheesh! So sick of hearing about this thing.
That little performance has made more people think of Christie in the same vein as Nanny Bloomberg and Cuomo, in the sense that, once he gets past cost-cutting, Christie looks a lot more Leftish than most imagine.
Ann Coulter's political wet dream may turn out to be only that.
America's Politico said...
The news are about him at FEMA.
Are?
And where did we learn English?
Cornwall or Yorkshire?
if it were a measly class 1 hurricane hitting, say, Mississippi/Alabama, I don't think they would be talking about it every second of every day. Sheesh! So sick of hearing about this thing.
But ....but....its New York CITY!!! Center of the universe. The most important part of the WORLD. The home to the smartest, bestest everything!!!
Why, if the subways shut down, the ripples of horror go all the way to ...oh I don't know...Ely Nevada or something.
/wink
But ....but....its New York CITY!!!
:) Yes, people from NY think NY is the center of the universe. It's part of their particular charm.
Katrina was a mess and was devastating even without the hysteria about NOLA. Gulfport, Ms was half wiped out. NOLA problems were a good bit about mismanagement rather than the storm.
@Sixty Grit (et al) - Here's an example of "surf" writing that people pay me money for. It's considered and edited rather than a 30 second posting on a rather obscure blog (No offense Ann. I LOVE your blog and am a daily reader). I even throw in an allusion to the Duke of Wellington and the playing fields of Eton.
http://www.surfline.com/travel/tripwire/tripwire.cfm?id=1262
Hurricane Irene also showed the leadership of the POTUS. The news are about him at FEMA.
Uh.....howz that.....ya know... jobs/economy thingy going?
"As for the hurricane, if it were a measly class 1 hurricane hitting, say, Mississippi/Alabama, I don't think they would be talking about it every second of every day."
srsly. First the east coasters freak out about an earthquake that was no big deal.
Then they shut down NYC and talk for days about a CAT 1 hurricane.
I thought Christie was funny--and he got people's attention. He is correct, too, after 4:30pm, you're not going to tan any more.
"But ....but....its New York CITY!!! Center of the universe. The most important part of the WORLD. The home to the smartest, bestest everything!!!"
You're right. I live here.
I know you poor souls stranded in Left Testicle, Kansas or whatever other God-forsaken backwater fate has cruelly stuck you in have to occasionally vent your swollen spleens of the anger and miserable jealousy that has built up over the years over the fact that we in New York are superior to you in every way. We're charitable souls, here. We can see how unfortunate your lot in life is, so we don't mind you taking a few pot shots on the days when you're not grilling racoons or going to church or dragging your trailers out of flood waters, or whatever the hell you people do to pass the interminable time between your cursed births and merciful deaths.
So let fly. We can take it.
Oh, in case it's not obvious, I'll give my previous comment a SATIRE tag.
This post reminds me of "Lucifer's Hammer" an SF novel by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, published in 1977, nearly four centuries ago as measured in Moore's Law years. It's about the life-extinguishing crash of a comet in the Pacific Ocean, which causes a mile-high tsunami on the Leftist Coast.
Part of the story is about all the surfer dudes and dudettes rushing towards the ocean instead of away so they can ride the curl of the Big One. That part ends with the last one still standing as he splats against the upper floors of a high-rise apartment building in Brentwood, about five miles inland.
Which now also reminds me of the lyrics of "Head Like a Hole" by Nine Inch Nails:
"Bow down before the one you serve
You're going to get what you deserve"
Does Anderson Cooper deliberating mess up his hair during Hurricanes?
It's been quite a few years since I've grilled a raccoon. It's not like we do that stuff every day, you know.
deliberately
Left Testicle, Kansas
That was pretty good.
the anger and miserable jealousy that has built up over the years over the fact that we in New York are superior to you in every way.
Bwhahahahaha. You're a funny man.
Seriously. Everyone has to live somewhere. Even NYC.
I'm from Right Testicle, Pennsylvania myself.
There's actually little to like about New York anymore. I live here for a job, and because I don't drive which makes life pretty difficult in a non-pedestrian place.
Someday I'll get out of this shithole. The taxes alone are enough to invalidate all of NYC's good points.
There is a video of a Fox News guy describing some "foam" that he is tasting and smelling and submerged in during the storm.
It was shit. And it is hilarious.
New York has a magnetic pull on the young. Having been young once I understand. But beyond a certain age what's the point? All that hassle...and for what? Those who follow certain career paths and must be there are excused of course.
ricpic said...
"New York has a magnetic pull on the young."
Two strong magnets--getting rich and getting laid.
We can see how unfortunate your lot in life is, so we don't mind you taking a few pot shots on the days when you're not grilling racoons...
Hey, there's no need to drag garage into this.
@Sixty Grit. I typed the original posting from an automobile on a phone rolling down the road in the passenger seat. And immediately I attract the only (Godwin's Law)posting Nazi in all of Althouse Land. What are the odds? Too funny.
"Hey, there's no need to drag garage into this."
Garage only gets to eat a racoon if he hits one with one of his many expensive German cars.
And Surfed, Sixty Grit seems to have a permanent and painful hemorrhoidal flare-up. I wouldn't take it personally.
You know what?
It wasn't bad practice!
What's wrong with putting your first responders in a position where they can respond. And, all the goofballs who don't know enough to stay indoors, to be forced to cope without having a subway system?
We should do rehearsals much more often!
GET OUT OF THE WAY!
Or as John Pinnette says: GET OUT OF THE LINE!
I'm sorry the East coast so irritates some, but here in upstate New York we are taking a pounding from this storm. True, it is not like stronger storms down south. It was a tropical storm by the time it got here. Nevertheless, there is flooding everywhere, lots of trees down, no electricity in many places. I have been lucky at my house so far, but all of my family and friends in the Catskills have no power, roads are closed, bridges are out, driveways are washed away and trees have smashed buildings, and my in-laws and friends downstate also have no electricity with trees down.
I doubt the federal government will offer us very much help. However, I think Cuomo, Bloomberg, Christie and other local officials are doing just fine. We took precautions yesterday and appreciated the news coverage even if it was 24/7 and hysterical at times. When isn't it in today's cable environment? Maybe a Category 1 elsewhere wouldn't get as much coverage, but snow in Texas does. It is covered because it is unusual.
Dear Mr. Surfed,
Should you not write, "Althouse-Land?" That may be, however, a slightly old-fashioned usage for modern style. You ought consider consulting the Chicago Manual. We would be pleased to know what you discover there.
Additionally, you omitted a space between the parenthesis after "Godwin's Law" and the following word, "posting."
My wife, a book editor of no little experience, stands ready to correct your copy for a small fee. She is currently engaged, preparing another author's manuscript for the press, so it might be six weeks before she could turn to your short pieces.
But it is worth the delay, if you intend to put your performances before such a critic as Sixty Grit. Since Dr. Johnson, there has not been so perspicacious a judge of writing, whose opinions every author ought to consider closely, and whose approbation is worth every trouble and expense.
Yours, &c.,
"Tim"
I'm as quick to criticize the nanny state as anyone, but I'm pretty sympathetic to Christy here. It would be nice to think that the guys on the beach are just taking a break after putting plywood on all their windows, cleaning the sparkplug in their generator, and doing an inventory on their two week supply of canned goods and water (after first checking all of their invalid neighbors are buttoned up as well). Buuuut having grown up in NJ, I'm betting that they're just morons.
Shanna is right , Irene passed over Florida, NC and left a trail of 14 death people but we only heard about Gotham
P.S.—My wife would be pleased to prepare Mr. Sixty Grit's writings, too, but for a higher fee. That is because this gentleman wrote more grammatical errors in fewer words than Mr. Surfed did, and every editor knows authors of these tendencies require closer correction.
Nanny Bloomberg is the ulitmate example of government gone amuck. Shutting the subway on Saturday at noon caused ecomomic devestation of an unbelievable proportion. Think of all the people who live paycheck to paycheck who lose three days pay when they can't get to work for the weekend. All the people who have to travel to take care of family members who don't live with them. Businesses that really take a big hit when they lose a whole weekend reciepts. This rich fuck dosen't give a shit. He just didn't want to look bad. He didn't wait for a disaster. He made one himself.
Fuck him a thousand million times.
@America's Politico:
Irene in NJ: Charlie Koetzle was up at 4 a.m. on Ocean City's boardwalk. Asked about damage, he mentioned a sign that blew down.
"The beach is still here, and there is lots of it," he said. "I don't think it was as bad as they said it was going to be."
No, Governor Nutcase who signs stupid environmental legislation delaying the use of fracking in the little-old Garden State and who shuts down NJ public transportation and evacuates Atlantic City in the face of Tropical Storm Irene will never get the conservative vote. Gosh, I hope that he isn't listening to Mayor "Snowman" Bloomberg.
This thread grows more offensive to me by the minute. Maybe the coasts were not devasated - but you know what? That is not true everywhere. My sister managed to call me on her cell a short while ago. Bridges are out everywhere and she is completely cut off -- it will take weeks to restore power, cable, get the roads open again. We have not been able to reach our parents (age 78 and 84). My father's 89 year old brother in Florida is wild with worry about him because he cant' get thru, I am getting messages from my cousin who is in a panic. We are all sure they are OK, they are hearty rural folks - my sister will go there tomorrow assuming she can get there (unsure at this point) but this was a major storm for us with much hardship and even loss of life and I really don't appreciate the dismissive attitude here. Have some compassion.
Mr. Sixty Grit has demonstrated, by his sublimity of style, just what a competent critic he is of others' use of the English language.
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