Embarrassing bust.

Photos taken minutes after cancellation of the Trump “rally” in Des Moines, which was on its way to becoming an embarrassing bust. Note the lack of severe weather, which was cited as the reason for cancellation. Rough day for Team Trump. pic.twitter.com/03RG1i7SNv

— David Kochel (@ddkochel) May 13, 2023

On this rainy Saturday evening, I've found 8 TikToks for your delectation. Let me know what you like.

1. A nice time-lapse of mural painting.

2. And our flag was still there.

3. He embodies healthy habits.

4. When you need a prosthetic eye, do you get something that matches your working eye?

5. The cool kids may belong back in the office, but for this guy, it's an anxiety hellscape.

6. Dad talks about mountain properties.

7. The joy Dad feels when he gets to tell the same joke he always tells.

8. Dressing for the occasion.

When Biden said "looks like a tornado, they don't call them that anymore," he was trying to think of the word "derecho."

It's fake news to write "Biden twisted inside out as he claims people don't say 'tornado' anymore" (which is a headline in The Washington Examiner).

"The members of Congress know, from their colleagues in Congress that, uh, you know, the, looks like a tornado, they don't call them that anymore, that hit the crops and wetlands in the middle of the country, in Iowa and Nevada. It's just across the board."

I just learned the word myself a few weeks ago, blogged here. 

He was referring to the storms, last year, I presume. Here's the Wikipedia article, "August 2020 Midwest derecho."

On August 10–11, 2020, a powerful derecho swept across the Midwestern United States — predominantly eastern Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana. It caused high winds and spawned an outbreak of weak tornadoes.... The greatest damage occurred in eastern Iowa, and northern Illinois, where multiple tornadoes touched down.... Terry Dusky, chief executive officer of electrical infrastructure company ITC Midwest, described the storm damage as "...equivalent of a 40-mile wide tornado that rolled over 100 miles of the state."

Now, there is something dumb about Biden's statement. He said "Nevada" when he meant Nebraska. 

"Powerful Tornado Hits Nashville, Leaving at Least 9 Dead Across Tennessee."

The NYT reports.

“It’s not looking good right now. We still have several people missing, a lot of loved ones calling in wanting us to locate their family,” Sheriff Eddie Farris of Putnam County told a local news station, WKRN. “We certainly hope that number doesn’t go up, but it’s not looking real promising at this point.”...

“Downtown is devastated,” Chris Conte, a local reporter, said.

Very sad!

Here's a photograph — from the front page at the NYT website — by Mark Humphrey/Associated Press.

Our Tornado.

"The devastation is incredible."

"The devastation is incredible." #Alabama #tornado kills at least 23 https://t.co/JO3wAWy5s4 #AlabamaTornadoes pic.twitter.com/Peebh9ozH2

— Fire Engineering (@fireengineering) March 4, 2019

Video shows destruction in Beauregard, Alabama after #tornado leaves at least 22 people dead, according to officials in #LeeCounty. https://t.co/hGIE2J1cs1 pic.twitter.com/K6V8hPRwFZ

— Washington News Line (@WashNewsLine) March 4, 2019

Must everything be about Trump?

Here's a story in The Washington Post, "2018 will be the first year with no violent tornadoes in the United States." A "violent tornado" is at the EF4 or EF5 level, and the modern record-keeping began in 1950, so this is interesting good news. There's nothing in the article about global warming or climate change to make the good news seem more like bad news. We're told there are "many causes" for the lack of violent tornados, but the only one mentioned is the unusually high pressure last spring.

Trump arrived first from someone who was trying to mock the way other people always bring in Trump:

AIEEE!!!!

Global warming is destroying our violent tornados! Oh the humanity!

(Maybe it's Trump's fault, too.)

That guy gets a grim talking-to:

I see from this comment that you are as dull and childish as I thought from a different series of comments. Again you demonstrate the regressive's inability to tell make believe from reality. Child, you cannot criticize others for something that does not exist (duh!). The only reference here to climate change or your savior is in your imagination. Intellectually, you are still in diapers.

The first commenter replied:

Sorry. I'm just trying to fit in at Post-land, where everything is the fault of global warming, Donald Trump, or both.

Speaking of childish and on the anti-Trump front, CadetBoneSpurs wrote:

There has been a F-5 (highest level on the Fart scale) in DC all year.

ADDED: Here's another example from The Washington Post: "More science than you think is retracted. Even more should be." It is what the headline suggests, an article about published scientific papers that have to be retracted. It's not about Trump in any way. But in the comments, we get:

Can you imagine Fox News or Trump ever retracting anything? I can't.

I've seen the Post do it but Trump say he was wrong? No way...

God, Donny, can never be wrong for he is the second coming. I do not know however what sewer he is coming from.

Snopes takes on the man mowing his lawn while a tornado rages in the background...

... and marks it true.

“I literally took the picture to show my mum and dad in South Africa, ‘Look there’s a tornado,’ and now everyone is like, ‘Why is your husband mowing the lawn?”‘ Cecilia Wessels said Saturday....

3 storm chasers die chasing a tornado. And not from the tornado.

"The cause of the crash remained under investigation. It was raining at the time of the collision, and there did not appear to be any tire skid marks, Sgt. John Gonzalez, a department spokesman, said...."

Today, apps on smartphones provide real-time data, making storm chasing a pursuit accessible to all — seasoned professionals and trained meteorologists, as well as homegrown enthusiasts with a thirst for thrills and the celebrity that comes with posting dramatic videos on YouTube.

“That information — available to everyone — says to a lot of people, ‘Let’s go chase this storm,’” [said Tim Marshall, a meteorologist and engineer at an engineering firm in Irving, Tex., who has been chasing severe storms since 1977.] “Back in the early days, I would have a storm to myself. Today, that would not happen.”

The other day, I was talking about the weather with a woman who might have been about 30 or so.

She got to describing the movie "Twister" (the special-effects laden tornado movie from 1996), and I said I'd never seen it. To lighten the mood, I said "I've seen 'The Wizard of Oz.'" To my utter amazement, she said "I haven't." How can you not have seen "The Wizard of Oz"?!

ADDED: In case you, like me, don't know "Twister," this is a good way to get up to speed:



AND: Nice to see Bill Paxton again. And Philip Seymour Hoffman.

HEY: There's also an Everything Wrong With for "The Wizard of Oz"!

"But it is amazing that this Texas tornado dislodged the bathtub with the woman in it, lofted into the air..."

"... and then apparently gently laid it back on the ground — with the woman unharmed."

I'm getting a late start here this morning, because we spent a wakeful hour in the middle of the night sitting in the basement...

... while tornadoes taunted our segment of Wisconsin.

I don't think I'd ever heard the tornado warning sirens go off repeatedly. Normally, they go off once, and you're supposed to respond and check media reports to figure out how long to stay in the basement. But last night, the sirens went off at least 3 times. I guess they were trying to wake more people up or to convince sluggish deniers to haul ourselves out of bed and go downstairs. I think this was the only time in over 30 years in Madison when I've gone down in the basement after getting in bed and falling asleep.

But fortunately, sleep loss and a late start to blogging are the only damage at Meadhouse, and I'm happy to see that no one in the area got hurt, though I see "at least 23 homes were damaged and at least six had their roofs torn off."

Wisconsin waterspouts — yesterday on Lake Michigan.

Near Kenosha:

Scenes from the smoke shop.

Photographed yesterday, at Knuckleheads on State Street. I especially like the "Don't steal or else" in the lower left of this photo (click to enlarge and see details):

Did Althouse ask permission before taking this picture and, if so, what did the man behind the counter say?
	No. Althouse wouldn't risk getting a "no."
	No. This picture is proof that she didn't, because he would have said no.
	Yes, and he said "no," but she took the picture anyway.
	Yes, and he said, "What's it to me? It's not my store."
	Yes, and he said, "Yeah, it's a free country. Knock yourself out."
	Yes, and he said, "Sure, and put it on your blog, Althouse."
	Yes, and he said, "Yes, and thanks for asking."
pollcode.com free polls

"Enough said!"

Not since "Snakes on a Plane" has there been such a perfect movie concept.

Via Throwing Things.

The Washington Post endeavors to explain the flag-displaying behavior of tornado-stricken Oklahomans.

"The flag-raising seemed to hearten the neighbors, as if to assure them they would emerge triumphant from this disaster...."

They are hung from skeletal trees denuded of leaves and bark, stuck in the doors of cars turned upside down and draped over pieces of twisted metal embedded in the ground.

The shot of red, white and blue flying in a landscape of ashen brown is startling and powerfully defiant, seeming to embody the mettle of the national anthem.

 ADDED: That prose is a far cry from "A View From Mrs. Thompson's."

Moore, OK is "the only city in the world to have taken a direct hit from an EF5 twister twice."

And the previous Moore tornado, in 1999, had higher winds (at 302 mph). The Moore tornado was wide — 1.3 miles — but not the widest tornado on record (which was 2.5 miles, in Hallam, Nebraska in 2004).

"Woman Finds Dog Lost During Tornado While Being Interviewed."

"A huge tornado, perhaps a mile wide, tore through towns near Oklahoma City on Monday, flattening homes and businesses..."

"... starting fires and sending residents scrambling to find friends and neighbors possibly buried in rubble. There were no immediate reports of injuries...."

11/11/11!

What will you do with all the eleventosity today?

Something special at 11 a.m. and 11 p.m.?

Are you going to keep talking about turning it up to 11 or are you going to get annoyed at people who are debasing the sublime by continually making the same aged rock-music reference?

For variety: Here's the Grateful Dead playing "The Eleven" in 1968.

But who's into variety, when the whole point is sameness? You've got those ones all lined up. Is that exciting? Are you the kind of person who finds lined up numbers exciting... like 999? Or 666?

If you think 11/11/11 is exciting, imagine how folks wet their pants over November 11, 1111, the most digitally lined-up day in the entire history of the world. Mankind will have to survive — and maintain its numerical system — until 11/11/11111 for there to be another day like that.

Did anything happen on 11/11/1111? Not according to Wikipedia's compendium of things that have happened on November 11ths. Perhaps the most interesting — for us Americans, anyway — event that took place on history's thousands of 11/11s is The Mayflower Compact, in 1620. And in 1930:

1930 – Patent number US1781541 is awarded to Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd for their invention, the Einstein refrigerator.

Albert Einstein invented the refrigerator?!

Speaking of cold, there's only one 11/11/11 event on that list. 11/11/1911, and the event is just that it was a very cold day in the Midwest. Well, it's 30° here in Madison, Wisconsin, and it's supposed to hit 41° at 11 when we reach maximum elevenosity. I think we can handle that.

ADDED: I'm getting justly slaughtered in the comments for not recognizing Veterans Day:



AND: I'm getting cold-shouldered in the comments for minimizing the weather event of 1911. From today's Wisconsin State Journal:

The freakishly warm and humid weather that sunny Saturday set the stage for Rock County's worst weather disaster....

Shortly before 2 p.m., it was 74 degrees. Then, in a matter of minutes, the temperature plummeted 10 degrees in downtown Janesville. By that night, it had fallen to zero.

A massive cold front had slammed into the warm air, unleashing a rash of storms and tornadoes throughout the Midwest.