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Hurricane Irene Prompts Unprecedented Evacuation of NYC

oxide7 links this bit of sobering news, as reported by the International Business Times: "For the first time, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has ordered a mandatory evacuation of 300,000 residents of the cities coastal areas as Hurricane Irene barrels up the East Coast. Buses and subways prepared to shut on Saturday as Hurricane Irene approaches as well. All New Jersey rail service will be suspended from noon Saturday, while the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will institute a shutdown of trains and buses starting at the same time. The suspension will include subways, buses, the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad and Access-A-Ride. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will suspend PATH train service at noon as well. 'This is a mandatory evacuation,' Bloomberg said. 'By five o'clock tomorrow you have to be out. Waiting for the last minute is not a smart thing to do. This is life threatening.'" Good luck to everyone in the storm's path: Irene is big. (Hat tip to Matt Lord.) What, if anything, are you doing to prepare? Having spent more than an hour in worse-than-usual D.C. traffic after Tuesday's earthquake, I shudder to think of leaving New York in a rush. Update: 08/27 06:43 GMT by T : An anonymous reader points out the official evacuation map (PDF), on the swamped NYC server, and suggests "Lets mirror this file anywhere we can ... put it on all social media. Make these systems do what they were supposed to — help us. I'm in Long Island City ~100 yards from the East River in the orange (highest risk) area."

395 comments

  1. DC Traffic sucks... by mooingyak · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I've lived in or near NYC my entire life, and seen all kinds of NYC and LI traffic. Having said that, nothing I've been stuck in here has ever been worse than the times I've driven on I-95 between DC and Richmond during daylight hours.

    --
    William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
    1. Re:DC Traffic sucks... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Earthquakes, hurricanes. It is abundantly clear god has chosen sides in the New York gay marriage debate.

    2. Re:DC Traffic sucks... by mooingyak · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah he gets a little carried away with the whole happy dance thing.

      --
      William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
    3. Re:DC Traffic sucks... by Clsid · · Score: 0

      It's all the people going to Ikea/Potomac Mills that are to blame :P

    4. Re:DC Traffic sucks... by Dachannien · · Score: 0

      nothing I've been stuck in here has ever been worse than the times I've driven on I-95 between DC and Richmond during daylight hours.

      And "daylight hours" includes the weekends.

    5. Re:DC Traffic sucks... by niktemadur · · Score: 5, Informative

      "The Days of Prayer for Rain in the State of Texas refers to a designated three-day period from Friday, April 22, 2011, to Sunday, April 24, 2011, during which Texas governor Rick Perry asked that Texans pray for "the healing of our land [Texas]" and for an end to the drought."

      You know, Texas. Pious, tea bagging Red State. No gays allowed.

      "The drought became worse after the Days of Prayer. While only 15-17% of the state was undergoing exceptional drought during the Days of Prayer, the percentage grew to 50% a month later, and by late June, more than 70% of the state was experiencing exceptional drought conditions, a level at which it has stayed up to August 18, 2011."

      How you like them apples?

      --
      Lil' Thindime, lilting a lacrimose lament, krashes the kwaint konfines of Kokonino Kounty
    6. Re:DC Traffic sucks... by Pseudonym+Authority · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I blame those Keep Austin Weird "people".

    7. Re:DC Traffic sucks... by anagama · · Score: 1

      Ha! Karma!

      oh wait ...

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    8. Re:DC Traffic sucks... by DrSlinky · · Score: 0, Troll

      Earthquakes, hurricanes. It is abundantly clear god has chosen sides in the New York gay marriage debate.

      I'm no scientist, but I'm fairly certain both the epicenter of said earthquake, and the projected landfall of Hurricane Irene, are both in red states.

    9. Re:DC Traffic sucks... by Plunky · · Score: 2

      I'm no scientist either, but I'm fairly certain both the epicenter of said earthquake, and the projected landfall of Hurricane Irene, are both in the United States.

    10. Re:DC Traffic sucks... by jhoegl · · Score: 1

      Id say that it looks like normal weather during a drought season.

      Of course religious people will see everything except the April part, where "spring showers...". But whatever... whatever.

    11. Re:DC Traffic sucks... by Berfert · · Score: 1

      What you're saying is certainly true, but keep one thing in mind... they're shutting down the trains in New York (subway and metro north) on Saturday for the duration of the event. The amount of people that use mass transit dwarfs that of DC. The fact that it's closed is going to have a huge impact on the traffic,

    12. Re:DC Traffic sucks... by mooingyak · · Score: 1

      Yeah I'm not looking forward to commuting next week. Luckily my employer is very liberal about telecommuting.

      --
      William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
    13. Re:DC Traffic sucks... by steelfood · · Score: 1

      It's not New York. It's DC. It's a sign somebody is unhappy with what's going on there.

      New York and the rest of the eastern seaboard is just collateral damage.

      --
      "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
    14. Re:DC Traffic sucks... by istartedi · · Score: 1

      Meanwhile, California did nothing except impose water restrictions. Result? A near record Sierra snowfall. Reservoirs would be filled to the brim here, except that some of them are kept below capacity because the dams that hold them back are considered to be below seismic standards.

      --
      For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
    15. Re:DC Traffic sucks... by niktemadur · · Score: 1

      But whatever... whatever.

      Yeah. Name checking The Wrath Of God is a rusted, tired, cherry-picking exercise that cuts both ways.
      For every self-righteous Sodom and Gomorrah invocation, right wing moralists (FWIW, "moralist" and "moral" are not the same thing) miraculously forget that:

      Less than two weeks after LA and San Diego tilted the infamous recall election towards a republican governator, the worst forest fires in SoCal history occurred.
      Four hurricanes devastated Florida in 2004, when the state tilted yet another election towards a certain New England cowboy.
      Space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas, right over the ranch of some New England cowboy, in fact.

      The list of "omens" and "portents" cutting in every single direction goes on ad nauseam.

      This type of argument gained particular traction and nationwide dissemination with Falwell and Robertson. Using their own twisted sensibility, and since the East Coast earthquake was epicentered in Richmond VA, one could say the earth cracked open a bit to rapture Falwell's corpse downward.

      See? It can just go on and on...

      --
      Lil' Thindime, lilting a lacrimose lament, krashes the kwaint konfines of Kokonino Kounty
    16. Re:DC Traffic sucks... by TheTyrannyOfForcedRe · · Score: 1

      Texas. Pious, tea bagging Red State. No gays allowed.

      You've obviously never been to Austin. Check out 4th Street around 2am. You'll think you've been magically (and fabulously!) transported to The Castro in SF.

      --
      "Liechtenstein is the world's largest producer of sausage casings, potassium storage units, and false teeth."
    17. Re:DC Traffic sucks... by budgenator · · Score: 1

      It's not New York. It's DC. It's a sign somebody is unhappy with what's going on there.

      New York and the rest of the eastern seaboard is just collateral damage.

      Silly boy when you say "somebody is unhappy" it implies that most are happy,yet the reality is everybody is unhappy with whats going on in DC, in fact the word unhappy is probably sugar-coating the real sentiment. Now if by somebody is unhappy you mean God is unhappy, then he should just take on of the big rocks out there in space and drop it smack dab on the boil on the ass of America and be done with it.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
  2. But they don't have cars. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How can they get far enough to leave? Where will they stay? Why did the mayor wait so long?

    And will looters be running around with the theft equivalent of a Japanese fishing trawler? I mean, you can't take all your stuff with you. You could strip whole buildings.

    1. Re:But they don't have cars. by pyro_dude · · Score: 0
      NYC.gov specifies those areas of the city that are near enough to water to be in danger of serious floods.

      Mayor Bloomberg has stated in press conferences those in affected areas should move to higher ground; ie, non-affected areas, staying with friends and/or relatives in the boroughs or outside.

      There likely won't be lawlessness, the waters will recede and there will just be a lot of property damage. They are deploying a lot of police units to keep order in the city and crews are coming from out of state and those local to the area being lined up in teams to repair and clear damage and restore power to the affected areas.

      I'm still scared-- stockpiling on water and going to bunker down in my basement, as the projected path of the 'cane brings the eye with a near-direct hit over my residence. Just gotta tough it out and hope they can restore power in a reasonable period of time and damage to life and proprety is minimal.

      But don't pray for me.

      --
      --pyro_dude
    2. Re:But they don't have cars. by Inner_Child · · Score: 2

      I'm still scared-- stockpiling on water and going to bunker down in my basement, as the projected path of the 'cane brings the eye with a near-direct hit over my residence. Just gotta tough it out and hope they can restore power in a reasonable period of time and damage to life and proprety is minimal.

      I know what you mean; I'm in the same boat. I plan to stay safe in the basement until the worst of this storm is over. Of course it's not likely to help much, since I'm in Iowa. Still, better safe than sorry, right?

      Seriously though, I don't mean to make light of your predicament, and here's hoping the thing dissipates at least some before pounding the city.

      --
      Today is red jello day - all workers must eat all of their red jello. Failure to comply will result in five demerits.
    3. Re:But they don't have cars. by houstonbofh · · Score: 2

      The problem will be the storm surge in the subway tunnels flooding them, and a lot of the power conduits. That will take a long time to drain and repair. And Manhattan without power for a week? Not someplace I want to be...

    4. Re:But they don't have cars. by amRadioHed · · Score: 1

      I'm sure the mayor didn't wait any longer then he had to. Hurricane's are erratic. If you're going to evacuate Manhattan you'd better be pretty sure the hurricane's actually going to hit.

      --
      We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
    5. Re:But they don't have cars. by Anachragnome · · Score: 4, Funny

      "I'm still scared-- stockpiling on water and going to bunker down in my basement..."

      Dude. Flood. Basement. Dig?

    6. Re:But they don't have cars. by Gordonjcp · · Score: 3, Funny

      Is it not something like 120mph winds, though? Why are they causing this much disruption?

      Here in Scotland we call that January...

    7. Re:But they don't have cars. by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 1

      Are you buying your water or just filling containers with what comes out of the tap?

      --
      Jumpstart the tartan drive.
    8. Re:But they don't have cars. by dbIII · · Score: 1

      will looters be running around with the theft equivalent of a Japanese fishing trawler

      Who cares. There's no point being a corpse on a pile of cool stuff if there are other options.
      I'm watching this from the other side of the world in a place that gets big cyclones and at least this time I'm not getting the "don't these people know what's coming?" feeling as I watched the leadup to Katrina and the horrible aftermath. People in authority are taking it seriously instead of turning down offers of extra trains or leaving hundreds of buses behind.

    9. Re:But they don't have cars. by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

      Is it not something like 120mph winds, though?

      It is not something like 120mph winds. It's less than that now, and should drop down to the 50 mph range by the time it gets to New York, if it's even still a tropical weather event by then (small chance it'll dissipate completely before New York, larger chance of a weak tropical storm).

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    10. Re:But they don't have cars. by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 2

      I'm watching this from the other side of the world in a place that gets big cyclones and at least this time I'm not getting the "don't these people know what's coming?" feeling as I watched the leadup to Katrina and the horrible aftermath.

      Yah, when we went through Katrina, it was waaaay different. We only ordered a mandatory evacuation of the City, instead of a mandatory evacuation of low-lying areas.

      Didn't know that, did you? Yes, we executed our standard mandatory evacuation plan a couple days before Katrina hit. Worked exactly as designed, in that pretty much anyone who wanted to evacuate did.

      Note that the people who remained didn't remain because they had nowhere to go and no way to get there. They didn't evacuate because, for the most part, they remembered Betsy, and Katrina was a baby compared to Betsy.

      Note also that the majority of the Katrina damage in N'Awlins was a result of a levee breach. Unpredicatable, and unpredicted. Even worse, in the aftermath of Katrina, the authorities prevented people from returning to their homes in the area for a couple months. Much of the damage to individual houses would have been vastly reduced if people had been on hand as the floodwaters receded to clean things up, rather than leaving entire neighborhoods to (literally) rot for a month or two....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    11. Re:But they don't have cars. by cynyr · · Score: 1

      hmm those pesky maintained levees braking in unpredictable ways under lower loads than they have seen in the past...

      ohh wait, you mean no one wanted to fund the fixing of a critical piece of infrastructure? So pay to maintain/fix shit and things will be much better.

      --
      All of the above was encrypted with a Quad ROT-13 method. Unauthorized decryption is in violation of the DMCA.
    12. Re:But they don't have cars. by smpoole7 · · Score: 1

      New Orleans wasn't the only thing damaged by Katrina. Yes, New Orleans seemed to have survived the initial storm pretty well, but there were other areas around it -- up to and included the Gulf Coast of Mississippi -- that were nearly wiped out. The first day after the storm, in fact, the News Vultures had most of their cameras and Yakking Heads in outlying areas, and were planning to leave. It was only after the levees broke that they hauled back into N'Awlins.

      --
      Cogito, igitur comedam pizza.
    13. Re:But they don't have cars. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Won't digging make it worse?

    14. Re:But they don't have cars. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have no idea why this is funny rather than insightful? Shouldn't pyro_dude get out of his basement?

    15. Re:But they don't have cars. by steelfood · · Score: 3, Informative

      You weren't around for the blackout of '03 then I guess. It's no big deal unless you absolutely need refrigeration. But then that prompts all of the restaurants to cook and practically give away all of their food. It's better than letting it go to waste.

      Almost every large building has and will be running on backup generators. After the numerous generator critical failures during '03, it shouldn't be an issue anymore for anyone. Last time was bad because a lot of generators had been sitting around rusting for years without any use. For many such places, there were enough generators that failed to make it a pretty close call. This time, you won't have electricity to run your computer or AC, but your building's hallways, and any other bit of critical infrastructure, will.

      The biggest issue is water, which will only have enough pressure to reach around the 4th and 5th floors of most buildings. That's why people buy cases of bottled water and fill their tubs in advance. It's probably the most crucial thing. Though if you ask, people will help you fill up your buckets from their faucet on the first or second floor.

      The other major problem is powering back on. Last time, it had to be done in zones over several days. That was a pain. But most outer boroughs experience enough power loss enough times a year for it to be nothing more than a minor inconvenience. At least it's not the middle of a 100+ heat wave. That's when places usually suffer power loss.

      All in all, it can be a fairly pleasant experience.

      --
      "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
    16. Re:But they don't have cars. by demonlapin · · Score: 1

      It's not the wind, it's the water. Cf. Katrina in Mississippi; the storm winds weren't that bad, but they had been blowing for a long time and piled water up so that there was a 30-foot storm surge.

    17. Re:But they don't have cars. by demonlapin · · Score: 1

      There was plenty of money to maintain it. It's just that Louisiana isn't exactly known for having low corruption levels in government.

    18. Re:But they don't have cars. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Logged in as anon bc karma won't let me post more.

      We live 10 miles from the shore, this area never floods, but up to and until flooding starts we're taking refuge there. There are reports of Irene ripping off roofs from houses in the south already, and it may spawn tornados which can do the same, as well as projectiles flying through the windows and so on.

      So the basement seems like the best idea, and if it starts flooding we can move to the first floor.

    19. Re:But they don't have cars. by WuphonsReach · · Score: 1

      The problem will be the storm surge in the subway tunnels flooding them, and a lot of the power conduits. That will take a long time to drain and repair. And Manhattan without power for a week? Not someplace I want to be...

      Probably equivalent to the 2003 Northeast US blackout, which lasted for 36-48 hours in most areas.

      That was completely unexpected, this will have allowed ConEd and LIPA to plan for it to at least some degree.

      (Planning here for 24-72h without power.)

      --
      Wolde you bothe eate your cake, and have your cake?
    20. Re:But they don't have cars. by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      Are you buying your water or just filling containers with what comes out of the tap?

      There is a difference?

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    21. Re:But they don't have cars. by budgenator · · Score: 1

      Well since flooding is the major concern, being in the basement might not be the optimum place for safety. Being in an 8 foot deep basement with a blocked exit would really suck when the storm surge 12 feet.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    22. Re:But they don't have cars. by Gordonjcp · · Score: 1

      Don't build in a flood plain, then?

    23. Re:But they don't have cars. by demonlapin · · Score: 1

      It's not a flood plain; it's a coastline. Ocean water was blown onto land; the rains had little or nothing to do with it.

    24. Re:But they don't have cars. by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 1

      Tap water is clean and has less environmental costs than buying bottled water. It also one less thing you need to carry to from your car.

      --
      Jumpstart the tartan drive.
    25. Re:But they don't have cars. by RockDoctor · · Score: 1
      I think you misunderstood me - many "bottled" waters are filled from the regular tap water supply in the place where they're bottled.

      There is of course a non-trivial point ot remember :

      Tap water is ...

      IF, and only if you have tap water at you location. Which I gather large parts of non-urban America do not have, small parts of non-urban Europe do not have, and some places (like my current locale) are not going to get within 30km of without some significant new bits of plate tectonics.

      Damn - they sank the water boat this high-tide.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
    26. Re:But they don't have cars. by Midnight+Thunder · · Score: 1

      Certainly, but there are alternative solutions that include wells, rivers and rain water tanks (some found in Australia). Sure the water needs to be purified in a number of cases, but mainly only the amount needed for human consumption.

      --
      Jumpstart the tartan drive.
  3. Reminder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Reminder: Please save the hurricane jokes until people are mostly safe and/or completely fucked.

    1. Re:Reminder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Meh. Irene's already been downgraded to a cat 2.

      Yesterday, forecasts said it would be a cat 3 right now, and still be a cat 3 tomorrow. Current forecasts show it a cat 2 now, a cat 1 tomorrow, and a Tropical Storm when it hits Long Island.

      Tempest in a teapot, if you ask me.

    2. Re:Reminder by flonker · · Score: 1

      The states in Irene's path don't build for hurricanes as Florida does. So, in Florida, a cat 2 is something you sleep through, in New York, it can cause some damage.

      OTOH, I do agree. Tempest in a teapot. Damage will be severely localized, mostly right next to the shore, particularly at the point it makes landfall. Of course, that is where all of the reporters will put their cameras.

    3. Re:Reminder by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      Can you build a hurricane proof home? never dealt with hurricanes but in AR we get twisters all the time and if one of those bastards hits your place unless your ass is in an old Titan II missile silo your shit be pretty well fucked. The one that struck Vilonia even ripped up the entire street!

      So I can see you building a place that can take 60MPH winds but at 100MPH+ I just don't see how one could do it without making the thing look like a bomb shelter, and from the pics I've seen of FLA those houses sure don't look like bomb shelters.

      As for the people of NYC good luck, hope you manage to keep the looting to a minimum.It never fails to amaze me, the sheer stupidity of criminals who will risk everything for a widescreen, fucking idiots. We usually have to call out the guard after a twister because it doesn't matter that there are power lines snapping and trees and homes that could fall over if you look at them funny, stupid fucking criminals will be out there trying to snatch a widescreen.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    4. Re:Reminder by smpoole7 · · Score: 2

      Wrong. The NHC badly needs to come up with a tiered rating system for severe weather. The simple, cut-and-dried Category 1-5 scale doesn't cut it and desperately needs to be changed.

      In real life, the size of a storm (Irene is HUGE), how fast it's moving (wildcard, we're not sure yet) and the tide levels at the time of landfall (good chance that they'll be at high tide) are all key factors. Even if Irene has dropped to tropical depression status by the time it hits Long Island, NY, it could still cause major destruction and loss of life, because it's going to piss megatons of rain, hour after hour, on an area that's not used to that kind of precipitation.

      A large tropical storm, especially if it hits an unprepared area, can cause more chaos than a major hurricane that hits an area that's used to it.

      Yes, the news media needs to quit being so sensational, and there's no doubt that they overhyped Irene. But speaking as someone who's made it through several hurricanes, they're no fun. At all. When I was living in NC, Fran followed I-95 up through Raleigh. We had hurricane-force gusts where I lived (to the west of Fayetteville/Ft. Bragg), but we still lost power for about a week, and there was significant damage all over the area. One of my friends was very nearly killed when he was blown dozens of feet through his back yard.

      And remember, all of this was well away from the "center" or "eye" of the hurricane.

      Today's joke: I moved to Alabama, in part, to get away from hurricanes. Not only have I -- thus far -- had to endure Ivan and Katrina, the big fun here is tornadoes, as witness the horrible storms of April 27th. And this makes the point, too, about focusing on intensities, instead of all conditions ... the tornado that hit our neighborhood the morning of April 27th was "only" a little F1 or F2, and in fact, was dissipating by the time it passed over us. It still ripped my neighbor's house, two doors up, off the foundation. It was a total loss. Thank God, no one in our little neighborhood was hurt (the neighbors in question were on vacation at the time), but trust me, there's nothing quite like waking up to the sound of a freight train and the whole house shaking. :)

      Yes, the news media sensationalizes these things. Yes, they focus entirely too much on simple category numbers. And yes, governments tend to overreact, too, but part of that is "CYA" (or "CTA," I guess). Strong storms are unpredictable, and even when they're dissipating, you can get terrible effects in localized areas. There's no way to predict precisely where these effects will occur. Safer just to tell people to get out of town for a few days.

      But don't dismiss Irene just because she's "only" a category 1 or a strong tropical storm as she moves up the East coast. Unless she stays well off shore, you're going to be surprised at the damage. Speaking from experience.

      --
      Cogito, igitur comedam pizza.
    5. Re:Reminder by tp1024 · · Score: 1

      Somewhere I read, that an F3 tornado can blow even a well-anchored house from its foundations.

      I guess, when your house needs an anchor, you're doing it wrong.

    6. Re:Reminder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Top Ten Reasons Hurricane Season is Like Christmas

      10. Decorating the house (boarding up windows).
      9. Dragging out boxes that haven't been used since last season (camping gear, flashlights).
      8. Last minute shopping in crowded stores.
      7. Regular TV shows pre-empted for "specials".
      6. Family coming to stay with you.
      5. Family and friends from out-of-state calling.
      4. Buying food you don't normally buy ... and in large quantities.
      3. Days off from work.
      2. Candles.

      1 And the number one reason Hurricane Season is like Christmas...At some point you know you're going to have a tree in your house!

    7. Re:Reminder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And now it's a Cat 1, and expected to stay one for the duration.

    8. Re:Reminder by smpoole7 · · Score: 1

      Sure. There are freak effects that are impossible to predict. Like I said, the little tornado that hit our neighborhood was dissipating (the official NWS track actually shows it dying out approximately 1/4-1/2 mile before hitting our street), but we had considerable damage -- mostly roofs. But a freak wind must have hit my neighbor's house. Another neighbor said he saw a little funnel whip right into the house, knock it back about 10 feet, then head over the railroad tracks behind it, shattering a bunch of little pine trees. After that, it truly dissipated and went away. No further damage.

      The only safe place to be when an F4 or F5 hits is somewhere else. :) Second best is a deep, strong shelter

      --
      Cogito, igitur comedam pizza.
    9. Re:Reminder by cynyr · · Score: 1

      There is a bit of a difference between a hurricane and a tornado. Tornadoes tend to have very very strong updrafts in the middle, and this is what causes much of the damage. Even if you try to anchor the roof down to the building, you are talking a lot of force when it goes over your home. In both cases there is a lot of debris flying through the air.

      Just to compare the EF and Category scales a bit. EF0 65-85 MPH, Cat1 74-94 Fairly similar, but go to the top of the scale, EF5 >200 MPH, and Cat 5 >155MPH, there is a bit of a difference there.

      Earthen dome homes would survive the winds great, but no so much the flooding/storm surge.

      --
      All of the above was encrypted with a Quad ROT-13 method. Unauthorized decryption is in violation of the DMCA.
    10. Re:Reminder by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In real life, the size of a storm (Irene is HUGE),

        All that matters is how hard it hits me. (That sounds mean, I know, but it's true. When it comes to damage to my home, it only matters how hard Irene hits... my home. Not whether or not it hits x00 miles away too.)

      how fast it's moving (wildcard, we're not sure yet)

      Watch the forecasts. 14-20 mph.

        and the tide levels at the time of landfall (good chance that they'll be at high tide) are all key factors.

      Only matters along the shoreline. Which is evacuated anyway.

    11. Re:Reminder by tp1024 · · Score: 2

      Or a properly constructed building like St. Johns Hospital. That and several other large buildings have been struck by F5 tornadoes, without major structural damage and no wind-related fatalities. (5 patients on ventilators suffocated in St. Johns when the power cut out and emergency generators failed as well.) All that despite the fact that such large structures are much more vulnerable and exposed to wind than smaller structures.

      Americans are pretending that tornadoes are an act of a vengeful god or something, and there is no use to do anything about them anyway. But in fact, the reason why you see endless rows of houses reduced to slaps of concrete by tornadoes - as most recently in Joplin - is lousy and inappropriate building standards first and foremost.

      If you are building a house in an area that is very well known to be tornado-prone, which cannot structurally survive a tornado, you've only got yourself to blame when a slap of concrete is all that is left after one of them strikes.

      I sincerely apologize should that comment hit too close to home.

    12. Re:Reminder by flonker · · Score: 3, Informative

      In Florida, homes are theoretically built to survive up to category 3 storms. After that, it's a question of how far you are from the shore, and how far you are from the eye of the storm, and whether or not there was any non-approved construction. Even newer trailer homes are built to survive hurricanes. The eye-wall has the most intense winds, which is followed by an eerie calm for a few hours, followed by some more of the most intense winds. Wind speed dies off rapidly as you get farther away from the eye-wall.

      As far as building techniques are concerned, the main thing is windows are required to be "hurricane windows", meaning that they will stop a 10-foot long, 15-pound, wooden 2x4 traveling at 100 miles flying through the air (they break in the process), and have a film on them so that when they break, they don't shatter into small sharpened projectiles. Roofs also have some additional structural support so that they don't get pulled off. (Simpson Ties) And there are some things regarding elevation above sea level.

    13. Re:Reminder by demonlapin · · Score: 1

      This St. John's Hospital? Yeah, that's structurally intact, but most of the windows are gone and I imagine a lot of the stuff inside isn't much better. Theoretically, you could have building codes that require people to build their homes with foot-thick pillars of concrete and rebar, but you're going to get a lot of pushback about the cost and the ugliness, and the tornadoes are still going to trash them.

    14. Re:Reminder by tp1024 · · Score: 1

      You don't need that thick walls or any pillars for small houses - because you have very different forces acting on those than on high-rise buildings. Some reasonable walls made of reinforced concrete won't get blown away and flattened - no matter what tornado they are facing (they'll also survive when hit by a tree, if it's not absurdly large - but those should not be allowed in such areas anyway).

      Sure, depending on the type of building the roof will be gone and you may have a lot of water coming in through the windows, but that's easy to repair. You wouldn't have hundreds of dead people, the damage would be much easier to repair and when you're not trying to survive a tornado the concrete walls help a lot with both insulation and temperature-buffering to keep rooms cool without air-conditioning at least for part of the day. All this can be pre-fabbed and the main cost of a house is in real-estate anyway - so it's not about cost, it's about refusing to prepare for the local weather (and, often enough, blaming the consequences on climate change).

    15. Re:Reminder by Miamicanes · · Score: 1

      LOL. A direct hit by a category 1 hurricane in South Florida is like a snow day in upstate New York. We get up, look outside, and agonize about whether we're going to look silly for staying home from work if it doesn't get at least a little bit worse.

      The biggest problem with "Tornado Alley" is the fact that houses there are built like shit. They're hot-glued matchsticks with stapled-on waferboard. I think Florida *trailers* have more stringent building standards than most of the midwest. If Kansas adopted Dade County building codes, people there would barely notice F1 and F2 tornadoes anymore. If you want proof, look at Florida. We have more tornadoes per square mile per year than any state in the country. The difference is, a F1 or F2 tornado that strikes HERE makes a bigger impact on Youtube & Twitter than it does to actual buildings, because a small tornado is basically 10 seconds of a real hurricane hitting a building that by law has to be designed to survive a direct hit by a category 3 hurricane without major damage to its interior.

      A F5 tornado is nothing to sneer at, ever... but if a F5 tornado hit a neighborhood built to post-Andrew "Florida" standards, you'd have lots of badly-damaged homes. If the same tornado hit a neighborhood built to "Kansas" standards, you'd be left with a grassy field and holes where the basements used to be.

    16. Re:Reminder by Miamicanes · · Score: 2

      > Can you build a hurricane proof home?

      Yes. Build the walls and roof from reinforced concrete using ICF, use impact-glass windows rated for large missiles, then put shutters over the windows anyway. Put concrete walls between the garage and interior of your house, and isolate the attic space above the garage from the rest of your house. The idea is to ensure that if/when the garage door gets blown in, the wind can't get to the rest of your house.

    17. Re:Reminder by Miamicanes · · Score: 1

      ^^^ Just to add to that... here are some pics of a hurricane-proof house in Hawaii being constructed with a reinforced-concrete hip roof (12-in-4 pitch, just like most wood roofs in Florida). Totally and completely normal-looking, but nothing short of a nuclear bomb is going to make a dent in it:

      http://www.wdcicf.com/Makiki-Home/Makiki-Home15.htm

      Another reinforced concrete hip roof (3 pics -- ICF foam, rebar placed, concrete poured):

      http://www.quadlock.com/images/decking/Pitched_ICF_Roof_01.jpg

      http://www.quadlock.com/images/decking/Pitched_ICF_Roof_02.jpg

      http://www.quadlock.com/images/decking/Pitched_ICF_Roof_03.jpg

      At the more affordable end of the spectrum, if you want the benefits of a concrete roof, but can't afford to go all the way, as long as you can keep the spans between loadbearing walls down to something sane & reasonable (say, around 18-24 feet), it's fairly affordable to build the house with a cast in place reinforced concrete attic floor, then simply build a conventional wood roof atop the parapet wall surrounding it (the same way you'd build it atop the tie beams in conventional Florida construction). The wood roof might get shredded by a hurricane, but the concrete deck below will keep the rest of your house intact.

    18. Re:Reminder by budgenator · · Score: 1

      Ive seen a brick veneered, concrete building that had a large trash dumpster thrown through the third story wall, try and engineer for events like that!

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
  4. Some aren't leaving by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 1

    My brother is running a mainframe in northern New Jersey. He's staying.

    --
    "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
    1. Re:Some aren't leaving by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      I tried to buy a generator today...they were all sold out everywhere. I did manage to buy a chain saw.

      I've already volunteered to help with communications once the phones go down. (I'm a ham radio operator, and am charging up radios right now.) Any hams who are available, I heartily suggest you contact your local Emergency Coordinator with days/times available. Also let him know if your emergency comms experience. If you don't know who your EC is, go to the ARRL website. http://www.arrl.org/news/arrl-hq-emergency-response-team-gears-up-for-hurricane-irene

    2. Re:Some aren't leaving by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What the fuck is he going to do when the rains come in and his precious System/370 goes floating right out the fucking door and down the Hudson?

    3. Re:Some aren't leaving by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 3, Informative

      Counting the 5 grand bonus he's getting for staying?

      --
      "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
    4. Re:Some aren't leaving by anagama · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I remember when I was kid, the power would go out for days at a time in the winter occasionally. Granted, rural area in the Pacific NW (70s), and we just cooked on our woodstove (*), and I realize not everyone can have that sort of setup, but I sort of cringe at all the people going out and buying generators and such as if they'd die should the TV or computer not function. Honestly, power outages always seemed kind of fun, and I miss them. The grid seems much less likely to have outages, and those we have rarely last more than 10 minutes, at least here in town rather than out in the county.

      (*) While I realize that one can consider a woodstove to be an energy generator akin to an electricity generator, the big difference is that people pile up enough wood for winter, but (hopefully) people don't store enough gas for winter. So even with a generator, you're going to be running out for gas in any long term outage.

      --
      What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
    5. Re:Some aren't leaving by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      Ya, I'd stay too for that payout. Hazard pay can be nice.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    6. Re:Some aren't leaving by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I remember when I was a kid, dad bought a freaking chainsaw a little sooner than hours before the storm, they have been strongly predicting this for a week or more, and you wait for today to try and buy a generator?

      good luck buddy

    7. Re:Some aren't leaving by Miamicanes · · Score: 5, Informative

      After Hurricane Wilma, I had no power for almost four weeks.

      Four. Fucking. Weeks.

      I didn't live out in BFE, either... I lived in Coral Gables, which is about as hardcore "Central Dade County" as you can get.

      That said, here's a big, huge tip for anybody who wants to be able to run a window air conditioner from a generator -- all things equal, the magic minimum is around 3,600 watts. I'd recommend 4200-4800 minimum. Why?

      1. The generator's wattage is a polite fiction. The number printed on the box is roughly what it can output for about 5 minutes before Bad Things Happen. The REAL power output it can SUSTAIN is about 80% of that amount, maybe less.

      2. Most generators have split-phase power, which is a nice way of saying that the big number printed by the box is kind of divided between two outlets. So your "4800-watt" generator is really more like 2400 watts (max) per outlet (which translates into about 1800 watts per outlet sustained). A small window air conditioner draws about 1200-1500 running watts, and needs about 1800 watts to start up.

      Now, the half & half rule isn't quite set in stone... you can usually get away with drawing about 2400 watts (sustained) from a single outlet on a "4000-watt" generator with no load on the other outlet, but then you run into the next problem:

      3. Generator run times are usually quoted at "50% load". If you have an air conditioner connected to one outlet of a 4KW generator, it's not really a "50% load", even if it's the only thing you're running. Why? Unbalanced loads make your fuel economy go WAY down. It won't quite suck down as much gas as a 100% load, but from my own experience, it'll act kind of like an 80-90% load fuel-wise. So if you're going to run a window air conditioner from a 4KW generator, you might as well plug the refrigerator (or another small air conditioner) into the other outlet and enjoy it, because at that point it will barely make a dent in your fuel use.

      That said, don't go hog wild and buy a 10KW generator without a good reason. Especially not a cheap one. Most cheap generators do a really bad job of throttling down to accommodate reduced loads, and will burn almost as much gas with a nightlight as they will with a 50% load. It's a balancing act, and it's an important one, because if you're going to be feeding a generator for a few days, let alone a few weeks, a $40-50/day gas habit quickly becomes painful.

      Oh, I almost forgot... there's one last catch...

      4. Generators and UPSes don't get along. At all. 99.9% of the UPSes you can buy at a retail store will ignore electricity from a generator, will run 100% from the battery until it's drained, and shut down. There ARE expensive inverter-type generators that can charge a UPS, and UPSes that can charge from a cheap generator, but both are likely to cost more than it's worth spending.

      4b. Generators and some DC power supplies don't get along very well, either. It's hit-or-miss, and hard to tell which power supplies are generator-unfriendly without testing them. Some will operate very, very inefficiently, and some won't work at all. The problem is that cheap (non inverter-type) generators don't output sine waves, and their "dirty" output doesn't play nicely with switching-type power supplies. You MIGHT be able to get around this by "double conversion". After Wilma, I had to power my DSL modem by plugging a 12v adapter into an outlet (which gave me a fake cigarette lighter rated at 1000mA), then plugged an inverter into it (giving me a 110v outlet), then plugged the DSL modem's power supply into the inverter. Ugly in countless ways, but it got me back online.

      4c. As a corollary to 4b, most cheap generators suck at battery-charging.

      The moral: if you don't need air conditioning, and can afford it, buy an inverter-type generator. They'll play nicely with power supplies (but your UPS might still get bitchy), and low-RPM expensive inverter-type generators also tend to be the quietest and most fuel efficient. Apparently, Honda makes some o

    8. Re:Some aren't leaving by RobbieThe1st · · Score: 5, Informative

      Most of this is correct, but the problem with low-quality output on cheaper generators is not the lack of sine-wave output. Any AC motor will, by definition, put out a nice, true sine wave. The problem, however, is frequency. As frequency output is directly linked to engine speed, a generator loping or at the wrong speed will produce a not-60 cycle output, which UPS's are often designed to watch for and switch to battery.
      Modern computer power supples on the other hand, are designed to handle 100-240V, 47-63hz, so a few hz off won't matter at all.

      Low-quality inverters put out 60hz, "modified sine-wave" output - something akin to a square-wave with a positive and negative cycle. They work great with modern electronics(though they hum), but motors don't like it.
      High-quality, "true-sine" inverters put out just that... more or less.

    9. Re:Some aren't leaving by amRadioHed · · Score: 1

      AC and your computer, those are the reasons you have a generator? I would think that your refrigerator would be the highest priority. Is there a reason you don't mention that?

      --
      We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
    10. Re:Some aren't leaving by Miamicanes · · Score: 4, Interesting

      ^^^ That reminds me of another caveat -- inrush current. Powerful fans, in particular, are hard to use with generators -- even big ones. I have a Vornado fan (circa 1995) that can almost blow the bark off of a tree when it's running at full speed. My first generator (a 4-stroke 2000-watt baby generator like the one I described above) couldn't run it. I plugged it into the extension cord, turned it on (after starting the generator and letting it stabilize), and the generator literally rocked about 3 inches in the air on one side and choked to a halt as though an invisible hand just grabbed the spinning rotor and forced it to stop. The same generator was able to start a cheap window box fan... but ONLY if I quickly turned the knob from "off" to "medium" and allowed it to stabilize before turning it up to 'high'. If I went directly from "off" to "high", it would stall the generator.

      The microwave oven was another thing that the generator didn't like *at all*. I tried using the microwave with generator #2 (5600-watt Craftsman). It worked, but both the microwave and generator made really bad-sounding noises (hard to describe, kind of a buzzing hum that was REALLY loud), and I decided to just forget about trying to use the microwave on generator power due to worries that it would damage the oven, the generator, or both.

      That reminds me... if you're in the hurricane's path, do all your laundry now. You can run a washing machine from a generator, but even a whole-house 24-kW Generac is going to struggle with an electric dryer. I don't know about the northeast, but in Florida, clothes lines just don't work during the summer. You can leave clothes hanging on them all day, and they'll STILL be damp when the sun goes down. Post-Wilma, my coworkers and I had to bring damp clothes to the office and hang them on makeshift clotheslines between cubes to get them to dry out in the air conditioning.

    11. Re:Some aren't leaving by Anachragnome · · Score: 3, Interesting

      "I would think that your refrigerator would be the highest priority. Is there a reason you don't mention that?"

      Not needed.

      The first few days after a natural disaster, everyone is eating BBQ cooked over an open fire. Eat all the meat before it goes bad (and drink all the beer before it gets warm!). I know that sounds trailer-trash, but trust me, everyone is thinking the same thing when they get into such a situation.

      After the Loma Prieta Earthquake, my whole street was pretty much a three-day block party. Most gas lines were broken, water was hard to come by, EVERYONE had a freezer of meat, no electricity for weeks and the weather was awesome. Nobody could get anywhere, including work. Lot of drinking, lot of good food and a lot of people in exactly the same boat as I. Earthquake aside (not to mention the demolished house), it was actually kind of nice.

      Besides, which would you prefer to do--keep yourself comfortable, or a bunch of dead animals comfortable?

    12. Re:Some aren't leaving by kestasjk · · Score: 1

      "The mainframe stays, I stay.." How much for the movie rights?

      --
      // MD_Update(&m,buf,j);
    13. Re:Some aren't leaving by Hadlock · · Score: 1

      Any comments on those DIY-ers that mount a lawn mower engine and a car alternator to a piece of plywood?

      --
      moox. for a new generation.
    14. Re:Some aren't leaving by adolf · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Seconded on the inverter-type generators. They're very expensive to buy, per-watt, but they'll pay for themselves in fuel (and noise and weight) if you use them much.

      After a flood which killed a bunch of underground electrical infrastructure, I was charged with keeping a generator online on top of a 12-story building to power some local law enforcement radio gear.

      At first, we had a smallish Honda with an inverter. This drove a UPS and the gear just fine, and had a small fuel tank which would keep it running almost 24 hours.

      So, about every 20 hours I trundled up the stairs to refuel the thing. It was a pain, but it worked. It was light-weight and quiet, even under load.

      Then, it died. No idea why it died, but it failed to start. (But it wasn't my generator, and I didn't have the tools to work on it. But the oil was good, so I'm sure whatever happened was simple to fix.)

      So we brought up a replacement -- a 5,000 Watt conventional unit. This thing failed to drive a UPS, and needed a lot more fuel twice as often to keep it running. I have no idea how much it weighed but it, and the fuel, got a lot heavier with every flight of stairs, and it made the same hard-to-shout-over racket whether it was doing work or just loafing along. Keeping that thing fed with fuel every 8-12 hours really fucked up my sleep habits that week.

      This experience has taught me that if I ever buy a generator for my own household purposes (which I should: we get tornados, floods, and blizzards here), it'll either be a big, fixed Generac running from natural gas, or a portable unit built around an inverter.

    15. Re:Some aren't leaving by Hadlock · · Score: 5, Interesting

      re: block party - the three streets of my neighborhood (Dallas, Texas) were out of power for almost two days recently from a spring storm. I was amazed at how friendly everyone was, just coping with the power outage and telling stories *gasp* being sociable. It was about 95F with 100% humidity at 10pm, and the entire neighborhood was out and about, sitting on the front porch with coolers full of ice and beer from the one corner store in the area that had power. I met all sorts of great new neighbors who lived around me. Sadly once the power (and more importantly) AC kicked back on, everyone went back inside and I haven't seen any of them since.
       
      The neighborhood is full of houses with giant front porches and swing benches, with manicured outdoor seating areas in the front of the house. If you go north about 10 miles where houses were built after 1970 when AC became cheap and readily available, there's a striking complete lack of front porches, or even trees in the front yard. Technology like air conditioning has isolated neighbors, yet the internet brings complete strangers together.

      --
      moox. for a new generation.
    16. Re:Some aren't leaving by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You didn't answer the question. What's he going to do when his mainframe is floating away? Some $5000 bonus that he hasn't been paid yet won't do him any good when his mainframe has sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

    17. Re:Some aren't leaving by dbIII · · Score: 2

      5. Running a PC directly from a generator without some kind of UPS or voltage conditioning is very bad news. I had to replace a few power supplies on a few Sun machines from someone that did that because they were in a hurry.

    18. Re:Some aren't leaving by Kell+Bengal · · Score: 5, Funny

      Cue the movie trailer guy:
      In the eye of the Hurricane...

      "... latest forecasts say that hurricane Irene is going to strike Long Island within 24 hours."

      a dedicated system administrator...

      "This box has 1000 days uptime. It's not going down on my watch!"

      ... fights against the power of nature.

      "Johnny, we're being evacuated - we have to go!"
      "No! The mainframe stays; I stay!"

      One man. One server. One mission.

      Coming this summer... Irene.

      --
      Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
      altslashdot.org: The future of slashdot.
    19. Re:Some aren't leaving by Miamicanes · · Score: 1

      >AC and your computer, those are the reasons you have a generator? I would think that your refrigerator
      > would be the highest priority. Is there a reason you don't mention that?

      My refrigerator's current contents: an open pack of pre-cooked microwaveable bacon, 4 slices of pizza in a ziploc bag, an open quart of milk of unknown expiration date, a tub of margarine, about a dozen 2-liter bottles of diet Mountain Dew, a few dozen cans of diet Mountain Dew, and my kitty's Prednisolone suspension. My freezer has an open box of Eggo waffles, a few frozen fettucine alfredo dinners, a box with frozen hamburgers of which I've actually eaten 2 or 3 out of 8, and a frozen unopened tub of Chi-Chi's taco meat I bought on sale 2-for-1 and froze.

      Had this been a real hurricane, my "refrigerator" would have been a 5-gallon Igloo cooler 2/3 filled with ice that has a bucket-tray that can rest on top on the inside (away from the contents). My kitty's prednisolone and an 8-oz box of milk (for tomorrow's breakfast) goes in the tray, his water comes out the spigot from the melted ice, and ice for (now warm) diet Mountain Dew comes from the top. Maybe a couple of frozen (now thawing) hamburgers for the grill if Taco Bell, BK, and/or Wendys haven't re-opened yet.

      Post-Wilma, I just ate out for every meal. The *last* thing I was going to do after coming home from work tired, sleep-deprived, stressed out, and grumpy was spend an hour cooking food with camping equipment when there were perfectly good operating restaurants a few miles away. It's obviously prudent to have enough food on hand for a few days, but let's be real... even after fsck'ing *Andrew*, there were open restaurants (or further south, guys selling food from trucks) within a few days. In fact, after Andrew, I developed an active aversion to cooking, because going to Publix (in Florida, all grocery stores are "Publix") was absolute *hell*, with lines stretching from the cash registers to the rear of the store. I finally got to the point where I just drove 10-20 miles north to do my grocery shopping, because it was less frustrating than dealing with the local zoo in my own neighborhood. Ditto, for Wilma. My own neighborhood was a mess, but my office (in Doral) was at the edge of sanity, and semi-normalcy was just 10 minutes and 2 exits down the Turnpike from there.

      As for A/C, hell fsck'in YEAH. This is SOUTH FLORIDA we're talking about. Without air conditioning, this state would be uninhabitable by civilized people who have to be at the office at 9am, work productively all day, and do it again tomorrow. It's impossible to function in an environment where it's 90+ degrees at 100% humidity and you can't sleep at night due to the heat & noise from 20 lawnmower-loud generators running within a half-block radius. This isn't the old south where people could get away with spending summer afternoons sipping lemonade on the verandah and swimming in the watering hole. Take a heaping mound of New York, stir in a pound of Los Angeles, jack up the humidity to 100%, then make it rain all day. That's South Florida in the summer.

    20. Re:Some aren't leaving by Miamicanes · · Score: 1

      Honestly, unless you have a junkyard in your back yard, you'll probably spend the same amount of money and end up with a better solution by buying a $200 4-cycle generator from China at Amazon & having it overnighted with Prime shipping for $3.99 more. At least the cheap generator will run for 4-8 hours on a single tank of gas, and it's almost inconceivable that anything you could cobble together for less money could possibly be better, safer, or "not profoundly worse in every meaningful and conceivable way". If you're truly handy with mechanical engine repairs, buy a used generator from a suburbanite on Craigslist for a hundred bucks that probably needs little more than cleaning and oil.

    21. Re:Some aren't leaving by laejoh · · Score: 1

      I insist on the hero be called Protagonist and that he wears the xkcd shirt in his honor!

    22. Re:Some aren't leaving by i.r.id10t · · Score: 1

      If you can leave a car or riding mower running, check car stereo places and such for an inverter. Get some low wattage fans from wally world, and a few LED lights. Doing this let me keep the fridge going, a little tv (unplug fridge for an hour, just leave it closed) and the wife and kids sane at night here in N Florida.

      Of course I now have a 7500w generator, run it for an hour every couple of months Just In Case. Also have a "window shaker" AC unit sitting in its box...

      --
      Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
    23. Re:Some aren't leaving by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That reminds me... if you're in the hurricane's path, do all your laundry now. You can run a washing machine from a generator, but...

      You can do laundry by hand in a bucket full of water with a bit of detergent -- and hang it up to dry... y'know, they way things used to be done before 'modern conveniences'. 8-)

    24. Re:Some aren't leaving by mikael · · Score: 1

      We had a 10 KiloWatt trip switch on our mains power supply. Doing two things like having the cooker and the washing machine/dryer (combined machine) on at the same time would cause the trip switch to cut out. Not fun having to find our way to the back end of the basement in the dark.

      Energy rating websites will list the power needs of big appliances (dryers and cookers, fridges and air-cons are the hungriest).

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    25. Re:Some aren't leaving by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or you could bring a sleeping bag to your office. Either way, really.

    26. Re:Some aren't leaving by Miamicanes · · Score: 1

      > and hang it up to dry

      You didn't read the entire paragraph. In Florida, clotheslines basically don't work because it's too rainy, too humid, and the actual temperature isn't high enough to overcome the humidity and meaningfully dry out the clothes. If you did nothing besides dedicate a week of your life to managing clothes on a clothesline, you might be able to get them to the point where they were only slightly (but perceptibly) damp, but that's kind of hard to do when you ALSO have to be at work at 9am the next morning, and won't be home until 7pm if you're lucky.

      Leave the clothes hanging in your absence, and they'll get rained on during the afternoon. Put a tarp over the clothes to keep the rain off, and they'll now be in a shadow and won't get hot enough to remotely overcome the 99% humidity. Try leaving them out overnight, and the dew will make them wet again. And when you finally get them to "kind of" dry out by taking them into an air-conditioned room to finish drying, they'll be so stiff, you'll feel like your T-shirt is going to crack when you try and unfold it.

    27. Re:Some aren't leaving by Miamicanes · · Score: 1

      I'm sure nobody will ever read this since it's an old thread by now, but I actually spent Sunday researching inverter-type generators.

      I was shocked. They're actually semi-affordable now. Back in 2004, you couldn't even *fantasize* about buying an inverter-type generator big enough to run an air conditioner, let alone other stuff at the same time. Now, you can buy one like the Ramsond Sinemate 2500 for a hair under $600. If I were doing it again today, that's almost certainly the one I'd buy instead knowing what I now know about how much it costs to run a 5.6kW generator that gulps 10-15 gallons of near-$4 gas per day.

      It's too bad nobody makes a 2000-watt (RMS) inverter that can be powered by a pair of 110v outlets from a single small generator (one from each phase). If I could buy something like that for a hundred bucks or so, that would be an awesome compromise. I could combine the two wimpy outputs of my small generator into a single clean 1800-watt power source that could run my air conditioner, and power my laptop, a second monitor, and some lights. It wouldn't have the variable-speed capabilities of a real inverter generator, but I'd be using nearly 100% of its RMS output with almost no waste anyway... and it would be sipping a gallon of gas every 5-6 hours instead of gulping 5 gallons every 8-10 hours. If it had terminals to attach a deep-cycle 12v battery that it could use to compensate for surges and recharge when the air conditioner is cycled off, it would be almost perfect.

    28. Re:Some aren't leaving by adolf · · Score: 1

      (I write that at the top of a lot of my posts, too. I'm often surprised at the replies I get anyway.)

      Actually, your laptop and second monitor should work fine from a generator, since they've both got switching power supplies. Lights and AC are also a no-brainer: The lights are (mostly!) resistive once turned on and don't care at all what you feed them, while the AC is just a motor driving a motor (which is close to ideal).

      Besides, your computer and AC loads are not as static as you think they are. The AC cycles on and off when it can, and a modern computer uses a fraction of its fully-utilized power when idling (which it is usually doing most of the time, for most people). The only constant you have is lighting, and getting good lighting from a generator is boatloads of easy.

      So if your wish were granted, I feel you'd be missing out on the best parts of having an inverter-based generator, while also having all of the detriments of having a conventional generator.

      Having a feedback loop (as in the case of the Honda I wrote about) to modulate the throttle based on load is a huge win: While conventional small generators strive to operate at precisely 3600RPM, the Honda was perfectly able to modulate its speed based on power demand and literally just sipped gasoline.

      If you really think you'll be able to utilize a generator at near 100% most of the time, there's no point in using an inverter as that's just an extra layer of inefficiency. If you're at substantially less than 100% load much of the time, as I strongly suspect you would be, it makes more sense to have a proper variable-speed inverter-based set with feedback for the throttle.

      All said, I don't wish for a 240V -> 120V "inverter" at all, as I simply don't see any benefit to such a system other than adding complexity and expense without practical merit.

    29. Re:Some aren't leaving by Miamicanes · · Score: 1

      Well... there IS one practical real-world problem it would solve -- limits due to split phase and load asymmetry. I can't run an air conditioner on the "2kW" generator now, because it can really only output about 800-900 watts (RMS) per outlet. Combining both with an inverter that grabbed the power from each of the two phases would smooth over that detail, and being able to draw extra surge current from a battery when necessary (to start up the air conditioner when the compressor cycles on) would mean I could get away with a MUCH smaller generator than I'd have to otherwise have. Basically, instead of having a generator that changes its output to be efficient, I'd have a generator that's slightly undersized with respect to its peak needs, but relies on a battery for those peak needs & has more or less 100% of its output fully utilized the remainder of the time.

      An air conditioner load might not literally be 100% constant, but in Florida during the summer, it comes pretty close to it. When my central AC broke 2 years ago & I had to live with the window unit for 2 weeks waiting for the city to issue the building permit for the new unit, it ran more or less nonstop from about 7am until 2am... and cycled off for maybe 10 minutes per hour during the remaining hours.

      Hmmm. I wonder about the viability of just sticking a ~2 farad supercapacitor between the transformer and inverter for smoothing over surge current needs instead of a battery. I know supercapacitors have gotten dirt cheap, but I'm pretty sure that assumption goes flying out the window the moment you start talking about dozens and hundreds of amperes instead of something like a few thousand milliamperes.

    30. Re:Some aren't leaving by adolf · · Score: 1

      Why not just use both 120V legs to get 240V, and use a step-down transformer to bring things back down to 120V?

      It's not as geeky as an AC -> DC -> AC conversion system where batteries or capacitors are employed to help smooth out the peaks, but it's cheaper, more available, simpler, and I dare say more efficient.

      I'd guess it'd give you an honest 15A on a single 120V outlet. Whether or not that's enough for the startup load of your AC compressor I can't say, but it's a hell of a good start in the right direction. If it's not enough, adding flywheel mass to the system would help with instantaneous loads like that, and still be simpler than building an hybrid inverter.

      Any old 1:2 transformer with windings that are rated for sufficient current and voltage will work. They're available off-the-shelf in much of the rest of the world (to let US and other 120V appliances run at 240V), so it's like they're exactly rare...

      If I needed such a thing, I'd start with Ebay, and work outward from there.

  5. firearms by niko9 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    One thing (of many) I am doing that most public officials, the media and emergency management officials always fail to talk about: cleaning and inspecting my firearms.

    1. Re:firearms by Kenja · · Score: 5, Funny

      So... you're going to shoot the hurricane?

      --

      "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    2. Re:firearms by The+Dawn+Of+Time · · Score: 5, Funny

      Hopefully he aims for the eye. That's the weak spot.

    3. Re:firearms by arkane1234 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ummm you don't clean and inspect them on a regular basis?
      I'm being serious...

      --
      -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
    4. Re:firearms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Is that a metaphor for "masturbating"?

    5. Re:firearms by GaryOlson · · Score: 3, Funny

      Just like they do in Texas -- sit on the porch and shoot anything that moves.

      --
      Every mans' island needs an ocean; choose your ocean carefully.
    6. Re:firearms by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 0, Troll

      They don't actually do that in Texas.

      Now, panicked limousine liberals might have their hired armed security dudes do that for them, though.

    7. Re:firearms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Right, because what we need after a disaster is a peckerwood who wants to shoot anyone that looks at him funny.
       
      Lord, the Second Amendment was WRITTEN for jerks like you. You should be forced to choose 'twixt them shootin' irons, and being enrolled in "a well-regulated militia".

    8. Re:firearms by qzjul · · Score: 1

      Probably to shoot down any trees that try flying at his house...

    9. Re:firearms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would do you a lot of good in NYC and DC. Have fun dropping the soap. And get off my rooftop.

    10. Re:firearms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So... you're going to shoot the hurricane?

      I'm going to assume you're being facetious but in case you're not or (inevitably) someone else doesn't get it: It's for looters.

      Remember Katrina/New Orleans?

    11. Re:firearms by houstonbofh · · Score: 2

      Funny. No one did that when Ike passed through... But don't let the facts get in the way of a good rant or anything.

    12. Re:firearms by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      We do not. Wind blows a hell of a lot around and the lawn would be a solid sea of lead...

      - Dan.

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    13. Re:firearms by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      *Guilty*

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    14. Re:firearms by wesleyjconnor · · Score: 1

      this would be for the looting(ers) wouldnt it?

    15. Re:firearms by RobbieThe1st · · Score: 1

      And that's a bad thing? I mean, you probably wouldn't have too many weeds growing...

    16. Re:firearms by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      Wait until it's close up for maximum damage.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    17. Re:firearms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So... you're going to shoot the hurricane?

      The trick is to shoot it in the eye.

    18. Re:firearms by epyT-R · · Score: 2

      He'll know when he hits it because it'll flicker with inverted colors like in contra. then when he destroys it it'll just spontaneously explode into a million flickering sprites.

    19. Re:firearms by DerekLyons · · Score: 1, Funny

      That's because masturbation isn't a prerequisite for disaster preparedness. If it makes you feel better, go for it, but don't delude yourself that it's useful.

    20. Re:firearms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So... you're going to shoot the hurricane?

      Smartass. He's referring to the fact that violence and looting are a serious concern in emergency conditions such as these. Don't even get me started on the FEMA concentration camps...

    21. Re:firearms by Capt.+Skinny · · Score: 2, Insightful

      ...because as we all know, property is more valuable than life and limb.

    22. Re:firearms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yeah...usa at its best....

    23. Re:firearms by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      They say too much Lead is bad for your health. *Grin*

      - Dan.

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    24. Re:firearms by Hylandr · · Score: 1
      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    25. Re:firearms by Calydor · · Score: 1

      This gives a whole new meaning to 'shooting the breeze'.

      --
      -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    26. Re:firearms by Mia'cova · · Score: 1

      Happy hunting :)

    27. Re:firearms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But masturbation is useful in a crisis! It calms the nerves.

      Some crazy non-masturbator is itching to shoot somebody, and I'm looking for a snack and taking a nap.

    28. Re:firearms by QuasiSteve · · Score: 1

      Shit, I'm no fan of firearms (cue/queue the "only outlaws" crowd), but you seem to be catching a lot of flack for a perfectly reasonable line of thought if you already have a handgun anyway.

      Like it or not, there will be looting. The riots in London weren't too long ago and that was with people still semi-around to somewhat protect things. Who's going to protect property in an evacuation, exactly? Is Bloomberg going to devote one half of the forces at his disposal (does that include the national reserve now?) to evacuation and the other to protection? Does that mean he's going to put some portion in harm's way?

      Of course that same evacuation also complicates the matter for you... how are you going to defend your home if you've just been mandatorily evacuated? Or are you going to refuse and will threaten to shoot the evacuation personnel if they try to force you?

      Anyway, the storm should last for just a day or two and there will very likely be bigger worries than somebody's 72" plasma TV having been looted by some guy now gored onto a billboard by a tree branch 5 blocks down.

    29. Re:firearms by dbet · · Score: 1

      I'm curious what kind of bubble you live in to think that owning a gun to protect yourself from looters is even a remotely bad idea.

    30. Re:firearms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Err, am I missing something here? How on earth are firearms going to protect you? Surely even if you have stocked up on all the other necessities (fuel, food, blankets) you're not going to *murder* to protect them?

      Can't help but wonder if my European viewpoint is a little naive, but most in other countries individuals get through similar disasters without having to tool up.

    31. Re:firearms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you mean euphemism?

    32. Re:firearms by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      My property is more valuable than some looter's life and limb.

      Sure, life is unfair and the world is unequal. But getting your head turned into a canoe is a real risk if you try to take what belongs to someone else during a natural disaster. If this weren't true, there would be a lot more looting.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    33. Re:firearms by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      You're supposed to inspect them prior to each use. You clean them after each use.

      You're also supposed to keep them in good condition so in an emergency you can just grab them up and fire them. But if you suspect use is coming up, then they should by all means receive further cleaning and inspection.

      Gun oil evaporates enough to lubricate poorly after just three days. If you have a gun meant to be lubricated without grease (like the 1911, say) then you need to oil it every three days or so. But if you stored it, you might put some grease on some surfaces, and then you'd want to break it down and clean it again before firing.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    34. Re:firearms by kyrsjo · · Score: 1

      Somehow loosing a TV seems like a *much* smaller issue than ending up as a murderer, and I have a feeling that if (hand-)guns where more common in the UK, there would be a lot more deaths as people tried to "protect themselves".

    35. Re:firearms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Surely even if you have stocked up on all the other necessities (fuel, food, blankets) you're not going to *murder* to protect them?

      You call it murder.

      I call it not allowing a group of thugs to rape and murder my wife and daughter. Oh, yeah, and I'm not going to let them take our food and water either and just hope they're "real nice guys" who will only rob us.

    36. Re:firearms by slackbheep · · Score: 1

      Don't shoot till you see the white of its eye.

    37. Re:firearms by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Or, there might be several shooting incidents, and the people tempted to become looters getting a little clue and calming down.

    38. Re:firearms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry but if a gun doesn't stop the looters, then the bullet will. And nothing of value will be lost.

    39. Re:firearms by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

      how are you going to defend your home if you've just been mandatorily evacuated?

      "Mandatory evacuation" does NOT mean "we're sending the cops around to force you to leave".

      It means "if you don't leave, don't call the cops begging for rescue when things go to hell"....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    40. Re:firearms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Americans are funny.

    41. Re:firearms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You deserve to die.

    42. Re:firearms by subreality · · Score: 2

      Gun oil evaporates enough to lubricate poorly after just three days.

      Quit using CLP. :) It's designed for military use where their guns are maintained frequently. Or Kroil... it's designed to creep, not to stay.

      I use Tetra. I had a rifle in storage for over a year and when I inspected it before use, I found the oil still right where it should be. Mobil 1 also works well in this regard, as do many heavier-weight gun oils.

    43. Re:firearms by cosm · · Score: 1

      Here in North Carolina, whenever we have a state of emergency declared it is illigal to be outside with firearms! :P

      Needless to say if somebody's breaking the law and trying to harm/kill us, we kindly disregard that silly law.

      --
      'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
    44. Re:firearms by Frenchman113 · · Score: 1

      But is it worth more than your life? The first thing all these "GONNA GET MAH GUNZ!!11!1!!eleven!" guys forget is that swinging around a gun is a great way to get shot in the back. Especially since the average looter will probably be an impoverished black guy with significant experience in killing people on the street.

    45. Re:firearms by Frenchman113 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that'll do you a great deal of good when they decide to just shoot you first. Of course, all the morons going around gung-ho about their guns completely forget that, if they have guns, then almost certainly criminals will more more and better guns, seeing as they're an essential part of their "business".

      Or were you imagining killing some poor unprepared guy walking down the street who really couldn't care less about your deranged mental situation?

    46. Re:firearms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      are you talking about masturbation or firearms?

    47. Re:firearms by WillAdams · · Score: 1

      You do understand that ``regulated'' in this context means trained for field maneuvers, and ``the militia'' as created by the Militia Act of 1903 consists of every able-bodied male citizen of at least 17 and under 45 years of age who are not members of the National Guard or Naval Militia.

      ``When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. '' --- Thomas Jefferson

      --
      Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
    48. Re:firearms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      After Andrew in 92 the national guard took away the body of a looter with no questions asked.

    49. Re:firearms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      getting your head turned into a canoe is a real risk if you try to take what belongs to someone else during a natural disaster

      That's no more of an excuse to exact life-threatening revenge on looters than caveat emptor is an excuse to screw over your customers.

    50. Re:firearms by canadian_right · · Score: 2

      I just can't imagine living in a society that thinks a firearm is a useful tool in an emergency. Yes, we have bad guys, but we don't have this wild west world view that makes shooting people who are only stealing ok. Only protecting people warrants using lethal force. Our bad guys are very unlikely to try to kill us to get our stuff. We just call the police. I don't know anyone who's moral beliefs support killing to protect property.

      We had some bad wild fires last year, and there was a big evacuation. There was some theft, but no one died. The police did a pretty good job protecting the town.

      --
      Anarchists never rule
    51. Re:firearms by canadian_right · · Score: 1

      Can't speak for the other fellow, but I live in a place that places human life quite a bit above property. I would never consider killing someone who was stealing my possessions. Only if the bad guy was threatening to harm an innocent person would I even consider using lethal force. Where I live, and it isn't a bubble, looters are trying to steal your stuff, not hurt anyone. If the situation is dangerous enough to need an evacuation it is too dangerous for me to hang around to shoot looters any ways.

      --
      Anarchists never rule
    52. Re:firearms by Beyond_GoodandEvil · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that'll do you a great deal of good when they decide to just shoot you first. Of course, all the morons going around gung-ho about their guns completely forget that, if they have guns, then almost certainly criminals will more more and better guns, seeing as they're an essential part of their "business".
      Yes, b/c criminals are known for their excellent marksmenship. And if they were going to shoot why would they "the criminals" hesitate to shoot an unarmed man? Do you think they have some honor among thieves that leads them to not shoot unarmed people? Hint: They are criminals, not boy scouts.

      --
      I laughed at the weak who considered themselves good because they lacked claws.
    53. Re:firearms by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Yeah well, assholes always advertise. Someone who's trying to feed his family will do better to rob a supermarket and someone who has a supermarket would do better to let their insurance cover damages. I don't have so much stuff that I'd be worth looting; the trouble you could potentially get into wouldn't be worth what you could steal. It would make more sense (if you were trying to turn a profit) to jack some new stuff, not my old stuff, from someone with some new stuff. I do all my shopping at yard sales or harbor freight etc. now.

      Heh heh, harbor freight etc. Now that would be an awesome business.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    54. Re:firearms by pyro_peter_911 · · Score: 1

      I just can't imagine living in a society that thinks a firearm is a useful tool in an emergency.

      I guess your imagination isn't very good.

      Yes, we have bad guys, but we don't have this wild west world view that makes shooting people who are only stealing ok. Only protecting people warrants using lethal force. We just call the police. I don't know anyone who's moral beliefs support killing to protect property.

      Sometimes protecting your stuff is the same as protecting people.

      Generators sprout legs and walk away around here when the power goes out. Should I let someone carry off my generator that powers my water well and my refrigerator? I know! I'll feed my kids with my Moral Superiority!

      When you're stealing my property, you're stealing the fraction of my life that I worked to acquire that property.

      Peter

    55. Re:firearms by gangien · · Score: 1

      Go for the eyes boo!

    56. Re:firearms by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But is it worth more than your life?

      Yes.

      swinging around a gun is a great way to get shot in the back. Especially since the average looter will probably be an impoverished black guy with significant experience in killing people on the street

      Or not.

    57. Re:firearms by SockPuppetOfTheWeek · · Score: 1

      So abortion isn't legal in Canada?

      Oh... human life is only "quite a bit above property" when it's trying to steal said property. Gotcha.

      You're a fucking moron.

      Try stealing my shit and I'll kill you. It's that simple. YOU value your life, not me; try not stealing my shit and see how that works out.

    58. Re:firearms by Fjandr · · Score: 1

      Hadn't you heard? Only criminals and cops can use firearms effectively. Anyone else is a moron who has absolutely no idea what they're doing, and will more than likely kill their entire family and themselves accidentally the first time they attempt to use their firearm.

      If you're not a cop and own a firearm, you are obviously completely deranged and a danger to everyone around you. It doesn't matter if you are the most responsible person in the world prior; picking up a firearm instantly turns you into an indiscriminate killer. Except if you have to defend yourself. Then you will lose any ability to effectively operate said firearm. It must be true, because millions of people believe it.

      Also, criminals have better guns because, well, they do. That's why we need to ban cheap guns, because they're obviously better. After all, a Saturday night special wouldn't be the firearm of choice for the common criminal if it weren't superior to anything else on the market. In addition, they will likely have a case of assault rifles in their trunk, because everyone knows you can walk into any gun store or show and pick up an assault rifle. I mean, assault weapon, which is not actually an automatic weapon, but one that I want other people to believe is automatic because it helps my emotional argument. It looks scary, so it must be more deadly than a standard rifle even though it has identical ballistic characteristics. Yes, looks really do kill when it comes to firearms. True story.

  6. Send some to TX! by thebra · · Score: 1

    Man I could go for some hurricane rain here in DFW. But seriously stay safe, don't end up a darwin award. Don't be stupid.

    1. Re:Send some to TX! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AC without AC seconds your comment! Haven't seen a drop up here in Richardson.

    2. Re:Send some to TX! by Hylandr · · Score: 1

      Austin, Lord help us...

      - Dan.

      --
      ~ People that think they are better than anyone else for any reason are the cause of all the strife in the world.
    3. Re:Send some to TX! by Hadlock · · Score: 1

      I saw the pics of lake travis pretty much completely dry a few years ago. I'm surprised the green movement didn't fund some sort of lake dredging party while it was down so low. Brings a new meaning to "shovel ready project" ;)

      --
      moox. for a new generation.
  7. Mandatory? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So, what happens if someone stays behind? And what about those who are in jail?

    (Thankfully I don't live on the East coast.)

    1. Re:Mandatory? by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 1

      And what about those who are in jail?

      It's one way of using Climate Change to save the taxpayers' hard earned money.

      --
      "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
    2. Re:Mandatory? by StormyMonday · · Score: 1

      Those who stay behind get automatic nominations for a Darwin Award.

      --
      Welcome to the Turing Tarpit, where everything is possible but nothing interesting is easy.
  8. Was a mandatory evacuation of Slashdot ordered? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    cause this place is dead....

    I'm in NYC. My plan is to tie some things down on my roof and order some more alcohol.

  9. A continent away, but on edge by StefanJ · · Score: 1

    It's sunny and beautiful in Oregon, but I'm checking the news regularly.

    My sister lives on Long Island full time, my brother weekdays; they live on either side of Irene's current projected path through Nassau County. It's odd and disquieting to see the line going through familiar places like Hempstead and Muttontown.

    Two cousins live in NYC, one far enough south in Manhattan to be in the "B" Zone.

    Batten down the hatches, folks. Don't do anything stupid.

    And remember: Creamed Eels, Wadded Beef and Corn Nog don't keep without refrigeration!

  10. Why of why by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 1, Funny

    Isn't Bush sending troops to rescue the poor black people of New Orleans from certain death? He's a redneck Texas cowboy racist is why!

    Wait! It's 2011? And this is New York and Bush is gone?

    Never mind........past the hummus and pita chips.

    --
    "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
    1. Re:Why of why by ArsonSmith · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's ok, if anything bad happens they'll still find a way to blame Bush.

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
    2. Re:Why of why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      BARACK oBAMA hATES BLaCK PEopLE!

      Huh?

    3. Re:Why of why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, he did set the precedent for moronic Texan governors to become president .. and (lookout), here comes Perry!

    4. Re:Why of why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, no they won't blame Bush. Know why? Because the current administration replaced all the frat boy cronies that Bush larded into every fucking office with actual competent people. See current FEMA administrator, Craig Fugate, who had actual experience in emergency response management prior to the job, and not some jerk-off job managing horse shows.
       
      If something goes wrong that can be blamed on incompetence, failure to plan, lack of coordination, or just plain "I don't give a shit", you can bet the administration will man up and take responsibility. That's unlikely to come to pass, with adults running the show now.

    5. Re:Why of why by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This was named insightful? What happened to Commander Taco. I generally don't come to /. to read political mudslinging.

      I used to come here to read facts, followed by robust debate.

  11. It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 5, Informative

    Title says it all. Cat-2.

    It has a slim chance of being a hurricane still when it gets to New York.

    It has a slightly better chance of 50 knot wind-speeds by then.

    And it has a decent chance of being a weak tropical storm.

    In other words, not even worth evacuating for....

    For reference, I live in the Big Easy - I've sat out Cat-2 storms before, more than once.

    But from the looks of it, this storm is being blown all out of proportion....

    --

    "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    1. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 1

      And you've got Abita Beer to ease your fears......:^)

      --
      "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
    2. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

      And you've got Abita Beer to ease your fears......:^)

      Matter of fact, just picked up a sixpack of Turbodog yesterday....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    3. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by arkane1234 · · Score: 1

      You're thinking about previous hurricanes, and you would be right about those. This one is sustaining it's energy, and probably keeping it alive with water temps.
      It's size is bigger than most as well.

      You live in an area that has seen more than one hurricane head-on. New York city on the other hand built their very infrastructure on the basis which if the wind blows they have to fix something. I'm of course being figurative, but they're right up against the water, have stuff underground that is electric, and pack more people per square inch than nearly any place in America. It's just begging for a beating... and for the last 250+ years things have been moderately quiet...

      --
      -- This space for lease, low setup fee, inquire within!
    4. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pretty standard overhyped response for anything to do with New York City.

    5. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by siride · · Score: 4, Informative

      Flood is a big concern still, as is storm surge. Due to interaction with a trough in SE Canada, a large area of heavy rain will spread out ahead of the storm and keep raining over areas for potentially as long as 24 hours. Many of these areas have already had significant rains during the summer, leading to saturated ground before the storm even gets there. Some gusty winds can thus easily knock down trees and powerlines (for the areas where that's a concern). Flooding is definitely going to be a problem.

      Media hype is...well, very disappointing. They focus on the wrong problems in the wrong area and in their zeal for ratings, they completely distort reality.

    6. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by siride · · Score: 1

      New York has nor'easters, which can be gusty and have storm surge and flooding. Granted, they are often worse further north than NYC, but they aren't rare in NYC either.

    7. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Category is a poor measure of storm surge, which is the actual danger here.

      People love to categorize things. Something about the way our brains work makes us want to fit everything into a neat little box -- this thing is rock, that's R&B, that's dieselpunk.

      But the world doesn't work that way, so unless you're an actual technical expert in the field, leave the analysis alone and pay attention to e.g. the NOAA Watch and Warning products, which are meant to inform the layperson about the actual danger presents. Because Category is a measure of a single attribute of a complex system, and doesn't represent the full reality of the situation.

    8. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by artor3 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      NYC isn't quite as accustomed to hurricanes as NOLA. Imagine how NOLA would handle a noreaster dumping four feet of snow on you, and you'll get a better feel for the severity.

    9. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's not the storm itself that will cause damage, it's the rise in sea level. New Orleans has, when it isn't failing in the worst of conditions, a pretty good levy system. There's a lot of people along the southern coast of Long Island that haven't been around long enough to remember the last time their town or peninsula was under water during a storm, and probably wouldn't do a very good job of dealing with it. And Manhattan residents... Jesus, they're ready to riot if a Starbucks locks its doors.

    10. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Mod parent up. The asswipe who says "It's only a Category 2" is the guy clinging to his roof the next day waiting for someone to rescue him.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    11. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by O('_')O_Bush · · Score: 1

      More sensationalist bullshit. Storm surge is caused by low pressure and primarily wind speed. Hurricane categories are measures of windspeed, and are directly related to storm surge as well.

      No matter how "large" this hurricane is, it isn't pushing much air or creating a large storm surge. The biggest worry is that it will rain a lot because it isn't moving terribly fast, but coastal areas are typically good at handling rain, and most all of these areas have been hit by far worse storms than this.

      This hurricane is going to be a spit and nothing more. The media ran out of Libya and earthquake to hype, so they're moving on to the next "big" thing, this hurricane.

      Its really pathetic. I heard on the radio this morning that this Cat 2 storm is the "storm of a generation" or some bullshit. My generation has seen 3 Cat 5 hurricanes make directly landfall over my house, and more Cat 2's and 3's than I care to remember. Bunch. Of. Bullshit.

      --
      while(1) attack(People.Sandy);
    12. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Alien+Being · · Score: 2

      OTOH, NYC is about 100 years overdue for an enema.

    13. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by cultiv8 · · Score: 1

      You forget how everyone from DC to NYC reacted to the earthquake...

      --
      sysadmins and parents of newborns get the same amount of sleep.
    14. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by DigiShaman · · Score: 1, Troll

      Oh come on! Let's just say what everyone else knows. No one has, so I'll just say it. It's political, period. Pure and simple. We have DC and NY along with other eastern coast cities that generally vote Democrat. And guess the types of media that is in the tank for them? Wild guess anyone? This is nothing more than a hype so at the end of the day, the politicians come out as heros for putting their own neck on the line and getting their hands dirty.

      If we can ride out Ike, i'm sure the rest of you should have less trouble with Irene. Good luck, and be safe.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    15. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by CPNABEND · · Score: 1

      Yup, the eye is collapsing, and the wind speed is dropping,,,, But it is still 951MB

      --
      My wife doesn't listen to me either...
    16. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by jjoelc · · Score: 1

      While I have family on the outer banks in NC, and I wish everyone the best... I can't help but think that poor Irene doesn't have a chance of living up to the media coverage... The sad part isn't that the media has latched onto it and is hyping it to no end. (We're used to that, after all...) But that it really is a prime example of "The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf". Hype it up and it fails to meet expectations, and nobody will believe you next time... When it IS that bad.

    17. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by GNUALMAFUERTE · · Score: 3, Funny

      Cat-2? In 2011? Damn. I was expecting at least Cat5e.

      --
      WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
    18. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by NoobixCube · · Score: 2

      When Cyclone Yasi was in this area (North Queensland, I mean), Mackay was supposed to be evacuated because they expected a huge surge. It was a Category 5 storm sitting off the coast, and it was predicted to move in right with the king tide (the highest possible tide), THAT was the major concern. As it turned out, it stayed off coast, dropped to a 4 or something, and made landfall quite a ways north, in Tully. In that case, the storm surge was of no concern, and instead the phenomenal wind speeds ruined everything there.

      Media sensationalism really stretches these things out of proportion. That big doppler radar image of it? That means practically nothing. The storm LOOKS big, but the ones that are wrapped up tight with a large, clear eye are the ones to look out for. It's just dumping rain over a large area. Storm advice for the truly concerned: I have no idea what building standards are like there, they likely aren't meant to cope with strong winds, but you're not about to see skyscrapers uprooted. Just roll up or remove any canvas awnings, bring your garden furniture in, and tape your windows with Union Jack shapes. I doubt the storm will be so destructive as to warrant these measures.

      I know sitting through your first storm is a scary prospect, and the news doesn't help at all. Even though this isn't a big one, you should stock up on essentials that don't require electricity. A propane canister for your barbecue, a non-electric can opener, that sort of stuff. Make sure you bottle some water, though from what I hear you Americans have an aversion to tap water anyway, so that may be a non-issue. The last time you got a big rain dump probably technically qualified as a Cat 2, anyway. Cyclones, the Coriolic correlary to hurricanes, don't even usually get called anything more than a tropical storm, or a low, until they reach Category 3.

      It's a stressful time, if you've never been through anything similar, and the steps I've suggested are really more to make you feel like you're doing something. Your biggest problem will be a likely interruption to power, so charge your gadgets, and prepare to cook your noodles in a pot on the barbecue.

      --
      Admit it. You post strawman arguments as AC so you get modded Insightful for refuting them, rather than Troll
    19. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by NoobixCube · · Score: 1

      It's more about the government looking like it's doing something. Republicans let New Orleans nearly go the way of Atlantis, the Democrats will say "Look at how well our new standard procedure evacuation went!

      --
      Admit it. You post strawman arguments as AC so you get modded Insightful for refuting them, rather than Troll
    20. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly. I have been saying that since the beginning. The news, politicians, and everyday people are totally overreacting. Everyone is acting all panicky and insane.

      It's sad what our country has become. We're just a bunch of scared animals now, ready and willing to be corralled by whoever will lead the lemmings.

    21. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by darkmeridian · · Score: 1, Troll

      LOL. It's political in the sense that it would be fucking politically unsavory to let a huge financial center get washed away. Remember when Bush ignored Katrina and let a major hurricane hit a city that was below sea level without even a mandatory evacuation? And remember how that didn't play over well politically? That's what they're trying to avoid here.

      What kind of media? I don't know, the Pat Robertson media that blamed America for the earthquake damaging the Washington Monument? Fox News, which dominates the cable news industry but likes to complain about the liberal media? The Republican-run media, which somehow had everyone convinced that they were the underdogs facing off against the liberal media even though they had three branches of the government for eight years? LOL. Sarah Palin? Who complains about the liberal media even as she expresses her pain for the events of 9/11 even as she says that those who died weren't really Americans because they were East Coast elites?

      Yeah, I have no fucking clue what you're saying, either.

      --
      A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
    22. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by mooingyak · · Score: 1

      A year or two back they were warning us about how bad Hurricane Earl was going to be in the Northeast. Afterwards this photo, titled "Scenes of destruction from Hurricane Earl" started circulating.

      I suspect Irene will be irritating, but tolerable.

      Also, it's fantastic for me in that my mother-in-law is also named Irene. Lines up all kinds of easy jokes.

      --
      William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
    23. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by s2jcpete · · Score: 1

      Sure, because those are RARE here... Hurricane's on the other hand are not.

    24. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by moortak · · Score: 1

      Remember when Katrina made landfall it was only a category 3 and Wilma made landfall as a 5. Wilma is barely remembered. Where it hits matters much more than raw strength. They aren't evacuating the entire city, just the most vulnerable areas, which is simply good practice.

      --
      Xavier Rabourdin for president 2012
    25. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by jonwil · · Score: 1

      The real concern is not the wind, its the HUGE amount of rain that is going to be dumped (both because of the hurricane and because of other weather in the area) and the resulting storm surge/flooding.
      Think about what happened in Brisbane and how bad that was then imagine all the extra things NYC has (lots of tall skyscrapers, lots of aging medium rise apartment blocks, tunnels of all sorts underneath all parts of the city etc)

    26. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Capt.+Skinny · · Score: 2

      Perfect analogy. New Englanders scoff when they close roads in Virginia for a couple inches of snow, but it's necessary because they don't have the infrastructure to deal with it. This is no different.

    27. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Thanks for putting things in perspective.

      For reference, this is what one or two feet of snow did in the atacama desert earlier this summer:
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14067245

    28. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Capt.+Skinny · · Score: 1

      You can out politics and look straight at the media. Where do they live? New York, the center of the world.

    29. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

      Mod parent up!

      Now if it was a 4 or 5 with the eye near manhatten that would be very bad indeed.

      The biggest threat with a 1-2 cat hurricane is flooding. NYC can be paralzyed by a big storm surge as the salt water would flow through its 7 layers and take out electricity, internet, phone, and subways for MONTHS. But a 4 foot surge wont do that by any sense of the means if it is barely a 1 and the winds will be blowing the water away from Manhatten on the left side of the eye. The right side of the eye has wind blowing up and that is on the tip of Long Island.

      Huge flooding from saturated grounds in New England is what this will cause and yes it will suck. But it is not a Katrina by FAR. With that monster 5 storm we had 15 feet tidal surges and a city with an undersea altitude.

    30. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      250 years?

      Try 20.

    31. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by NoobixCube · · Score: 1

      True, I didn't consider the large amount of underground infrastructure. I'm just blasé about storms because of the overused sensationalism, and the number I've been through. Take the advice I gave with a grain of salt then, adapt it situationally, but the basics should still be adhered to: tape your windows, bring loose stuff inside, keep a disaster kit. My kit's prepared for anything short of the Chinese invading, and even then it won't be entirely useless. Spare batteries in many shapes and sizes, torches, first aide supplies, dried foods, two way radios (essentially toys, but better than nothing), prepaid 3G sims and modems for the two major carriers (last two storms each took out a different carrier in the region), a few tools like screwdrivers, pliers, a small saw, that sort of stuff. It's one shotgun short of a zombie kit; more than a little excessive, but I don't like to come up short when something does go wrong.

      --
      Admit it. You post strawman arguments as AC so you get modded Insightful for refuting them, rather than Troll
    32. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Solandri · · Score: 2

      Storm surge and flooding is a huge factor in large storms like this. The second deadliest Atlantic hurricane in recorded history was Hurricane Mitch in 1998. If you look at its storm track you'll notice the entire time it was over land, it was "only" a tropical storm or a tropical depression.

    33. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For reference, I live in the Big Easy - I've sat out Cat-2 storms before, more than once.

      Well, son, that's nice. When you lived through a couple Cat4s, a bunch of Cat3s and what not throughout Florida, Jamaica, and Hawaii , then Cat2s remind you of the Low setting on the ceiling fan. Even tropical storms kill.

      Have fun...

      KL

      (South Florida resident for 40 years)

    34. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Hadlock · · Score: 1

      If it were my job to keep people from dying in hurricanes in addition to the general welfare of the people, I'd be making a lot of noise, too.
       
      It's probably not a bad idea to push the squishy sad sack couch potatoes out of their comfort zone every once in a while. We spend so much time worrying about the best coupon deal to have pizza delivered to our houses, the "survival" portion of their brain has atrophied so badly that if some minor inconvenience like a tropical storm didn't roll through once a decade, we might actually end up like those caricatures in the pixar movie Wall-E.
       
      Cue the wistful waxing poetic about when men were men, and John Wayne was simply "average"...

      --
      moox. for a new generation.
    35. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by jo42 · · Score: 1

      What a bunch of limp wristed mamby-pamby little girls. Some rain and wind and they shut down NYC. Whatever happened to the hard living souls that crossed America in wagon trains? Americans today are so weak, wimpy and utterly useless.

    36. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by HBI · · Score: 1

      FFS, finally someone said this. I lived through at least two Cat 3 storms hitting the Jersey Shore in 76 and 85, I think. A Cat 2 was mixed in there. It was just not that big a deal. WTF is Bloomberg and the NY crew thinking? Talk about the wussification of America.

      --
      HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
    37. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by rts008 · · Score: 1

      Whatever happened to the hard living souls that crossed America in wagon trains?

      We were smart enough to get away from the hurricanes, and the looney tunes on the east coast, and settled 'out west'.
      But I can't explain California....don't know what happened there...

      --
      Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
    38. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, that's all well and good, but the last time a hurricane had the potential for this much damage up here in the northeast was Gloria in 1985. See, we simply don't get them, so our infrastructure (esp. home construction) is not designed for it.

      This would be like a Maine Nor'Easter barreling down on New Orleans to dump 20 inches of snow in less than 24 hours, and me telling you it's no biggie and they probably shouldn't even be closing schools for more than one day.

    39. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by SkyDude · · Score: 1

      Media hype is...well, very disappointing. They focus on the wrong problems in the wrong area and in their zeal for ratings, they completely distort reality.

      Yeah but it's lots of fun watching these people have on air orgasms while talking about the "big storm".

      --
      == First cross river, then insult alligator.
    40. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      OTOH, NYC is about 100 years overdue for an enema.

      Good time to flush that self-hating jew Bloomberg. He kisses the Muslim ass that would happily cut his head off.

    41. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      Whatever happened to the hard living souls that crossed America in wagon trains?

      The people in NYC are the other people who stayed behind.

      It explains quite a lot.

    42. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, you didn't. Hurricane Belle in 76 hit Long Island, not NJ. Jersey only got 50MPH winds from it. Gloria, in 85, had gusts near hurricane force. The last actual hurricane to hit Jersey was in 1944, and it caused catastrophic damage.

    43. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Cederic · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Out of curiousity are you a racist bigot or a religious one? Or both?

      Or to put it another way, just what the fuck does Bloomberg being a Jew have to do with anything? If he is one. (I don't actually know, because - get this - it doesn't fucking matter).

    44. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by LWATCDR · · Score: 1

      NHC has it as a one when it hits. The east coast is for the most part unprepared for this type of event and NYC can flood with only a 5 foot surge. I wouldn't diminish this storm. But it is funny when you think of all the people that said that people shouldn't live in Florida or New Orleans. Time to move NYC.

      --
      See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
    45. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

      Republicans let New Orleans nearly go the way of Atlantis, the Democrats will say "Look at how well our new standard procedure evacuation went!

      Hmm, the Mayor of New York is a Democrat. The Mayor of New Orleans was a...Democrat.

      New York is doing its "standard procedure evacuation". New Orleans did its "standard procedure evacuation" (which, note, included EVERYONE, not just the people in low-lying areas of the city).

      So, other than those differences (N.O. had a more complete evacuation plan, that was executed as intended), I fail to see how the Democrats are going to look better than the Republicans (who aren't involved in New York, and weren't involved in New Orleans).

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    46. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no you wouldn't. NYC has been struck in the past by storms with more power.

      This one was a category 1 before it even made landfall in the US. Shit.. I was around for Floyd (category 4) at the end of the 90s. That was way more disruptive. And it went up the coast to see NYC too. Guess which metropolis didn't impose a mandatory evacuation then..

    47. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Kildjean · · Score: 1

      You are a dumb ass. Hurricanes (along with Tornados) are the only atmospheric events that are categorized. Tropical Storms are not categorized. Further more according to NOAA Irene is still a Category 1 hurricane. Per NOAA www.noaa.gov:

      "...Irene Re-Emerges Over The Atlantic Ocean...Water Levels Rising In The Virginia Tidewater Region... Published: Sat, 27 Aug 2011 18:52:53 EDT
      At 7:00 p.m. EDT, the center of Hurricane Irene was located near latitude 36.5 north, longitude 75.8 west, or 35 miles southeast of Norfolk, V.A. Irene is moving toward the north-northeast near 16 mph and this motion accompanied by a gradual increase in forward speed is expected during the next day or so. On the current forecast track, the center of Irene will move near or over the Mid-Atlantic coast tonight and move over southern New England on Sunday. Irene is forecast to move into eastern Canada Sunday night. Maximum sustained winds remain near 80 mph with higher gusts. Irene is forecast to remain a hurricane as it moves near over the Mid-Atlantic coast and as it approaches New England. "

      --
      Nom de dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperie de connard d encule de ta mere.
    48. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      It's not so much the speed as it is the duration. Long Island might "only" get 50-75mph winds, but they'll be getting them for about 15-20 hours. And they'll be getting soaking rains. With the rain loosening the soil and the wind pushing long enough, trees will come down and objects will fly. Also, the storm's winds will push water along as it goes over the ocean and then push it up and onto the (formally dry) land. Irene might not be a Cat 2, but it's a HUGE Cat 1. A third of the eastern seaboard!

      Never underestimate a hurricane.

      Yes, I'm in Irene's path (though not the direct eye-line-of-fire) and yes I've taken precautions. Stay safe everyone!

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    49. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      Honestly, I don't think they could evacuate the whole city even if they really needed to. There are so many people who live in NYC and so few (relatively speaking) ways in and out. You'd need a week to evacuate at least. (If you did it in an orderly fashion. If you screamed "EVERYONE RUN NOW!!!!", people would be stuck trying to get out for weeks.)

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    50. Re:It's a CAT-2 storm, for god's sake... by mapkinase · · Score: 1

      Here in Montgomery County, MD, it's getting ridiculous. We have a long weak rain. That's it. Yet I could not buy a meal for Iftar, Masaajid were "officially" closed, profound lectures were made mentioning calamities.

      All because of a two-day long dripping.

      --
      I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
  12. Unprecedented? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Isn't it Category 2? (Ooo. 100 MPH winds.) And that's when it hits North Carolina. It will be 1 by the time it gets to NYC.

    And what unprecedented? You guys already evacuated everything for a weak earthquake that was 350 miles away.

    What is this? Overreact to distant disasters week?

    1. Re:Unprecedented? by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 1

      > Overreact to distant disasters week?

      Only a very small percentage of anything is getting evacuated.

  13. God bless America! by Max_W · · Score: 1

    We wish you well! Courage!

    1. Re:God bless America! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What you say?

      Which "God" do you speak of, and which "America" is it supposed to "bless"?

      And WHAT THE FUCK does this have to do with hurricane?

  14. PUSSYIES !! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A bunch of pussyies !! Ugly to boot !! Snookie anyone ?? Is that Weehawken's answer to ugly or what ??

  15. Keep perspective by Sierran · · Score: 4, Informative

    300,000 people and the 'affected areas' are a relatively small percentage of New York City. The vast majority of New Yorkers are doing what we normally do when doom is predicted - snark, ignore, and stock up on liquor and cigarettes.

    Seriously, though, there's no way New York City itself could be evacuated without something on the scale of Dunkirk. The thought of 8 million people trying to escape over a mere 4 or 5 Interstate-class roads makes a lot of us laugh at the idea of the 'go bag' that the authorities and preparedness obsessives keep talking about. If anything happened that was big enough to force a major evac on NYC, we'd be going nowhere so fast due to traffic we'd end up using all three changes of clothes just sitting in cars or in train stations or airports. So unless the 'crisis' is fairly personal, I plan on having lots of time to pack whatever's needed - or to make sure I have the requisite amount of booze and books to see me through the forting up!

    KEEP CALM
    AND
    CARRY ON

    --
    A hero is someone who knows when to run away. I am a hero. -Trent the Uncatchable
    1. Re:Keep perspective by dcollins · · Score: 1

      And this is why my partner & I got bicycles.

      --
      We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
    2. Re:Keep perspective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Depends on the need - if things got bad enough you could throw people on freight cars and cart them off. That said, I imagine that gasoline supplies are probably more of an issue for an evac than the interstates.

    3. Re:Keep perspective by Mia'cova · · Score: 1

      While what you say is probably true, I wonder if anyone has done simulations.. how long would it take to evacuate everyone? I wonder what the peak rate of evacuation could be. It'd be fun to read up to be prepared to poke technical holes in the next disaster movie..

    4. Re:Keep perspective by maswan · · Score: 1

      Back-of-a-napkin simulation, one train every other minute out of each penn and grand central, 5k per train (long trains with people standing), about 24h. So not terrible, but would require both lots of planning, lots of resources (especially enough rolling stock to get people to where is safe and then return empty in time to not have gaps in the schedule), and great execution.

      You could probably augment this by using the subway to get people out a bit and then having more places to change, depending a bit on where the bottlenecks are in the rail system. Also depends on how far they need to evacuate, are [some of] the endpoints of metro north good enough?

      Highways might help if few enough use them, but the problem there is that capacity goes down significantly once overloaded. But in terms of a mass evacuation, it'd probably be best if the roads were kept reasonably clear for buses and evacuations for the elderly and sick that can't stand upright for an hour or two.

    5. Re:Keep perspective by kels · · Score: 1

      Seriously, though, there's no way New York City itself could be evacuated without something on the scale of Dunkirk.

      Actually, it would be more than 20 times the size of Dunkirk. And that took 9 days. Hopefully there won't be anyone shooting at us, though, if it comes to that.

      --
      "I believe that the cult of the particular brings only death - for it bases order on likeness." St.-Exupery
    6. Re:Keep perspective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Homosexual.

    7. Re:Keep perspective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      YES I TOO

  16. First Agfanistan... by gmuslera · · Score: 0

    .. then Iraq, the next target will be South Africa. The war on terror will take good care of those damn butterflies.

  17. According to wunderground... by SvnLyrBrto · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... it's only supposed to be a category 1 by the time it reaches land, and down to tropical storm strength by the time it reached New York. When I lived in Florida, we didn't even lower the awnings for a cat 1.

    After this, and the hullabaloo over that 5.9 earthquake (I live in California now, and we laughed at the big deal they made out of it.), I think the east coast are being a massive bunch of drama queens.

    --
    Imagine all the people...
    1. Re:According to wunderground... by siride · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Or the media, rather. They love this. Hurricane headed for one of the biggest markets in the country. Even if it ends up being a dud, they can still spend a day going after the meteorologists who correctly predicted it, even when the media did not, and get their ratings fill. It's a win-win for them.

    2. Re:According to wunderground... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      After this, and the hullabaloo over that 5.9 earthquake (I live in California now, and we laughed at the big deal they made out of it.), I think the east coast are being a massive bunch of drama queens.

      Buildings on the east coast aren't built to withstand strong earthquakes, so it's a more than a little more serious over here. I'm sure you'd get a good guffaw if someone had died in a building collapse.

    3. Re:According to wunderground... by Clsid · · Score: 1

      It's just that nothing happens on the East coast, so people make a big deal out of this events :)

    4. Re:According to wunderground... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is it possible the over the top media coverage, evacuation orders, and city shutdowns is a part of keeping the populace under control? I don't mean keep the idiots off the levees or breaker walls type control, I mean keep people in fear of and reliance on state/fed agencies to tell them what to do. The super-hyped "you're in big danger unless you do what we say" is..... eh... hard to believe at times.

    5. Re:According to wunderground... by slimjim8094 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Good for you. We'll come and dump 4 feet of snow on you overnight, and "laugh at the big deal you make out of it" as you try desperately to dig yourselves out with no/not enough plows, shovels, snowblowers, and tire chains.

      Look. Different regions get different types of weather. How'd your last ice storm go? Because ours gave us a day or two of trouble. Same with the blizzard we had this winter - 4 feet of snow in one day, and cleared out the next. But that's because we plan for snow, ice, and harsh winters in general. Oh your car won't start? Should have used a block heater, how stupid of you. But you'll only need it once? Drama queen...

      In the Northeast, we don't get hurricanes, tornadoes, or earthquakes. In California, you don't get much snow or ice, or sub-zero temperatures (or tornadoes). So you have building codes that handle earthquakes, and we have plows and snowblowers. We plan for typical events, and don't waste our limited resources on highly unusual events. Neither of us would be very prepared for an F3 blowing through town, but are you going to call yourself a drama queen for being bummed that your house is a half-mile in the air?

      I think people do this to feel superior. I don't get it. But New Englanders were doing the same thing when DC shut down over 3 inches of snow, so it's not just you.

      --
      I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
    6. Re:According to wunderground... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the newscasters are the only people who cared about the earthquake. of course, us normal folk spoke about it over here but otherwise carried on with our lives as usual.

    7. Re:According to wunderground... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is a bit of drama, perhaps too much, and yeah, the media does love to get all breathless over these things. The thing to keep in mind, though, is that 24 or 36 hours ago, it wasn't at all clear that the eyewall was going to disappear and the storm was going to weaken. Wunderground (which I read too) was talking about 15 foot storm surges and the worst storm to impact the New York City/Long Island region since the 1930s. People in positions of power paid attention, for once, and made an effort to get across to all the media-jaded people that no, really, maybe we should be paying some attention. I think that, generally speaking, everybody's handling this reasonably well.

    8. Re:According to wunderground... by hrvatska · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's all relative. One area's once a century calamity is another area's semi-regular event. It all depends on what the local buildings and infrastructure are designed to handle.

    9. Re:According to wunderground... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You hit it square on the head. People like SvnLyrBrto are arrogant and want to feed their egos by putting other people down.

    10. Re:According to wunderground... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In a similar vein, frequent Category 1-2 hurricanes weed out the weaker structures in FL regularly, the NE has plenty of structures that haven't been weeded out and could be damaged by this.

    11. Re:According to wunderground... by bashibazouk · · Score: 1, Informative

      "In California, you don't get much snow or ice, or sub-zero temperatures"

      Uh...I would like to introduce you to this mountain range called the Sierra Nevada. Believe me, it snows there and gets quite cold...

    12. Re:According to wunderground... by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      In the Northeast, we don't get hurricanes, tornadoes, or earthquakes. In California, you don't get much snow or ice, or sub-zero temperatures (or tornadoes).

      Snow, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, big deal. When you get a volcano, then you get something you can talk about.

      Signed,
      Seattle Resident

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    13. Re:According to wunderground... by darkmeridian · · Score: 0

      Uh, huh. Sure. Sorry to say this, but New York is worth more than most of the shitty little cities on the West Coast. One day without the stock exchange and our economy would be in the shitter. One day with the stock brokers not being able to make it to work, and well, someone just lost a lot of money. NYC is a major center of modern finance and a discontinuity in service has major repercussions. A strong storm surge could knock out power to the Exchange, and then what? Better safe than sorry, I like to say, but I guess the idiots in California want to have it both ways. They want to laugh at those they perceive to overreact and also want to criticize President Bush when he failed to adequately react. You can't have it both ways.

      Oh, you know how hindsight is 20/20? A nuclear reactor in Virginia scrammed because of the earthquake. I guess you menly men don't worry about nuclear reactors reacting badly to earthquakes, but we liberal worryworts here tend to be concerned about stuff like that.

      When you lived in Florida, did you plan for Hurricane Andrew, or were you one of those idiots who got washed away and had to move to California?

      --
      A NYC lawyer blogs. http://www.chuangblog.com/
    14. Re:According to wunderground... by hjf · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Agreed. I live in the North-east Argentina. Buenos Aires has recently experienced some heavy storms in the past couple of years, which the media tends to exaggerate. They get crazy about 40-60mm rainfall. And I think to myself... gee, it hasn't rained that much in a while. I actually MISS when it rains like that.

      In the 2009-2010 summer (south hemisphere, remember) I heard El Niño was going to be stronger than usual. So I got myself a wireless rain meter. The first rain was good enough to test it. The second rain was 180mm in 1 night! 120mm in 3 hours alone.

      Next day? No power for a few hours and some flooded streets that were dry by the time power came back. That morning was a bit complicated but the afternoon was business as usual. Summer ended with almost 500mm rain, and the river, 50cm away from evacuation (3m is the average height, 6m is warning, 6,50 is evacuation. It's a wide river, over 2km wide and "only" 30m deep where I live... so rising for 6 to 6,50 takes a good deal of water).

    15. Re:According to wunderground... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Last time just a tropical storm went over Richmond a lot of people were still out of power a *month* later. We have a shitton of trees over here. Every few minutes you could here the cracking then a few seconds later the ground would shake from another huge 100' oak falling over.

      I don't think you have any idea.

    16. Re:According to wunderground... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Andrew was a category five hurricane. There is a vast difference between a one and a five. I live in Melbourne, Fl. And the GP remembers right. When a category one is on it's way in, you make sure your emergency water is topped off and make a run to fill your car's gas tank and that's about it. You test your shutters in case the storm strengthens unexpectedly; but if it stays a one, theres not much point in "battening down the hatches."

      But for a category five like Andrew? Yeah, you get the he'll out of dodge.

    17. Re:According to wunderground... by ArsonSmith · · Score: 4, Funny

      Volcanoes are nothing, wait till you mistake something for a small moon.

      Signed,
      Alderaan X-Resident

      --
      Paying taxes to buy civilization is like paying a hooker to buy love.
    18. Re:According to wunderground... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On the other hand. Half of New York City was completely unplowed and immobilized for over a week around New Years. Maybe the problem isn't regional weather in one location versus another, maybe the problem is just New York City.

    19. Re:According to wunderground... by seandiggity · · Score: 1

      How'd your last ice storm go? Because ours gave us a day or two of trouble. Same with the blizzard we had this winter - 4 feet of snow in one day, and cleared out the next.

      With the recession budget cuts adding to the problem, the snow was *not* "cleared out the next [day]", at least not anywhere I went in New England. If you'd like, I have photos to go along with my memories of ice piles up to my 2nd floor deck in New Haven. I drove 80 miles to work in some of the worst conditions I hope I'll ever experience, and I got a good cross-section of the conditions from college campuses to rural towns to suburbs to cities. Some of the richer towns had decent snow removal, and even there it was worse than usual.

      From what I can gather, this hurricane won't hit the Northeast anywhere near as hard as the big storms this past winter, and it certainly won't leave as lasting an impression. But don't downplay our winters, please. If anything, the cocky attitude amongst New Englanders adds to the problem and is a covenient cover for politicians looking to do the bare minimum to prepare and deal with winter storms.

      --
      Geeks like to think that they can ignore politics, you can leave politics alone, but politics won't leave you alone.-rms
    20. Re:According to wunderground... by steelfood · · Score: 2

      What's funnier is that natural disasters all necessitate approximately the same type of preparedness: water, food, and electrical source. And yet, everybody treats it like some major disaster when in all cases, it really isn't.

      The "mandatory evacuation" (because while it's "mandatory," the cops aren't going door-to-door asking people to leave, and while it's an evacuation, it usually involves going a couple of blocks up the street to the nearest school that's on slightly higher ground) is really just for flooding along coastal areas. When there's flooding, emergency vehicles might have trouble reaching people in need. I emphasize might. Some communities need it more than others; the people staring into the Atlantic are at greater risk than the people looking out at Brooklyn or New Jersey or even New York Harbor. Yet it's all treated the same. Again, getting emergency services to flooded areas is the problem, not necessarily the winds or the water itself.

      Now, there are bigger problems in Jersey and Long Island. They live in real houses there, that are built mostly with wood. And there's still the problem with flooding, as most of the area is quite low and flat.

      In the end, most of us hunker down, ride it out, laugh it off, and chalk it up to a changing world. It's as big a deal as it would be in other places that normally get hurricanes. The media would have you think otherwise, and by that, I mean we're running around flailing our arms and proclaiming the end of the world is nigh, but I'm pretty sure apart from the usual subway preachers working their usual lines, there's none of that here. In fact, we've had worst, with the microburst and tornadoes that ripped through the area some months ago. And we already had a recent period of 24-hour non-stop raining. It's just that we can and will be prepared this time around.

      People die in these things, sometimes because they do something stupid like going out to surf the swells, but sometimes also because they're unlucky when a 200 year-old tree falls on top of them. It's not a matter to be snarky over. The goal is to minimize life loss, not to point and laugh when other people are trying to attain the goal.

      --
      "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
    21. Re:According to wunderground... by steelfood · · Score: 1

      There's snow on the mountain. And then there's snow on your roof.

      --
      "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
    22. Re:According to wunderground... by steelfood · · Score: 1

      I don't like reply to myself, but I forgot to clarify: They are not the same thing.

      --
      "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
    23. Re:According to wunderground... by Walkingshark · · Score: 1

      ... it's only supposed to be a category 1 by the time it reaches land, and down to tropical storm strength by the time it reached New York. When I lived in Florida, we didn't even lower the awnings for a cat 1.

      After this, and the hullabaloo over that 5.9 earthquake (I live in California now, and we laughed at the big deal they made out of it.), I think the east coast are being a massive bunch of drama queens.

      This is a pretty common fallacy. People who live in an area where a certain disaster is common mock those who are experiencing a lesser version of that disaster, but in an area where it uncommon or even unheard of. They forget (or underestimate) the importance of building codes and other adaptive policy that make them more resilient to that kind of disaster, and don't really understand just how much of a difference things like this make. An earthquake that you can laugh off in Los Angeles would critically damage, say, Dallas, TX. A hurricane that Houston laughs off would level a city that isn't used to experiencing high winds and storm surge flooding.

      The best way to see this effect is to compare damage and fatalities between developed and poor countries. A bad storm can kill thousands with mud slides in South America, because their building codes don't exist. People just staple together whatever they can find to construct shelter and put it wherever they can get away with it.

      In this case, it seems chances are good this will just be a nasty storm, but if things go bad it could be a real mess.

      --
      The world you experience is only a close approximation of reality.
    24. Re:According to wunderground... by Walkingshark · · Score: 1

      I don't know, maybe we should try a few days without the stock market and see how we do. Maybe a 21 day cold turkey and then maintenance doses as needed to take the edge off withdrawal.

      Maybe it would drive a lot of the gamblers to Vegas where they belong.

      --
      The world you experience is only a close approximation of reality.
    25. Re:According to wunderground... by cstacy · · Score: 1

      After this, and the hullabaloo over that 5.9 earthquake (I live in California now, and we laughed at the big deal they made out of it.), I think the east coast are being a massive bunch of drama queens.

      Well, that earthquake cracked the foundation of my sister's house, threw pictures off the walls and stuff off the shelves, and moved the permanent kitchen appliances (stove, fridge) far enough that the kitchen cabinets could not be opened. That's just the damage that is obviously visible so far.

      Big bridges didn't fall down and roofs did not collapse, but it certainly was not "nothing".

    26. Re:According to wunderground... by Lehk228 · · Score: 1

      That was the media, everyone I know was all "lol chair fell over"

      --
      Snowden and Manning are heroes.
    27. Re:According to wunderground... by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

      Oh, you know how hindsight is 20/20? A nuclear reactor in Virginia scrammed because of the earthquake. [nytimes.com] I guess you menly men don't worry about nuclear reactors reacting badly to earthquakes, but we liberal worryworts here tend to be concerned about stuff like that.

      First, a nuclear reactor scramming is NOT a bad thing, necessarily. It's gotten a bad reputation from Fukushima, when it was done manually at a time it shouldn't have been done, but, on balance, an automatic scram is a good thing.

      Secondly, remember Katrina? Remember that nuclear power plant I can see from my rooftop (assuming my oak trees weren't in the way)?

      Yep, Katrina ran right over a nuclear power plant!! Remember the nation-wide coverage of the ensuing nuclear disaster? No? Because we didn't have one.

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    28. Re:According to wunderground... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mostly, the rest of the country watches in amusement as the East Coast Media find new-yet-still-tedious ways to congratulate each other on being the center of the universe. A hurricane ... that might hit NEW YORK! Oh, the humanity!

      Puh-leeze. Get over yourselves. You're a big city, with lots of people, we get it. Still just a fraction of the US, and just a tiny part of the world at large. I'm always amused when New Yorkers and New Englanders travel out of state and discover that the rest of the country barely knows anything about them, yet somehow manages to get on with their lives ...

    29. Re:According to wunderground... by massysett · · Score: 1

      As someone who has lived in Washington for several years now after having grown up in Denver, I have to agree that, at least in DC, nearly any kind of natural event is blown grossly out of proportion.

      Certainly earthquakes and hurricanes are not common in the DC area. But a few inches of snow is not an unusual occurrence. Some parts of the city handle it just fine--the Metro catches lots of hell but generally it handles a routine Washington snowfall with little difficulty. But seeing the panic that ensues after a minor snowfall is just ridiculous.

      Part of that might be because transportation networks in DC are overloaded even when the weather is perfect. Even a minor rainstorm slows all the traffic to a crawl.

      The hurricane will be at the level of a big rainstorm when it hits DC. It's something to watch out for, yes. Is it reason to clean out the supermarket shelves, or line up for gasoline (both of which were happening yesterday)? Not really.

      If someone from NOLA is laughing at us in DC, it's because we deserve it. Things really do get blown out of proportion.

    30. Re:According to wunderground... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right. In the Sierra Nevadas. Those don't make up the majority of California -- certainly not the heavily populated areas.

    31. Re:According to wunderground... by CrimsonAvenger · · Score: 1

      If someone from NOLA is laughing at us in DC, it's because we deserve it. Things really do get blown out of proportion.

      Yep. Even my daughter is wondering what all the excitement is about over a cat 1-2 hurricane....

      --

      "I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
    32. Re:According to wunderground... by kannibal_klown · · Score: 1

      Well, it was a very shallow earthquake which made a difference.

      All of this is because regions are not used to dealing with X. For comparison, if some quiet neighborhood had a drive-by shooting people would be losing their minds, while people in certain cities would be saying "who the hell cares, we have 3 per week." The same goes for weather or rain.

      Personally I didn't see what the big deal was with the earthquake. I felt the tremor in NJ where I work: I laughed, went back, and couldn't care less. 10 minutes later someone pulled the fire alarm because they realized most people didn't bother leaving their desk. And we remained evacuated for 45-60 minutes.

      Though I hear it did some damage to some Washington DC landmarks.

    33. Re:According to wunderground... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I live in southwest Riverside County - desert in S. Cal.

      About every 3 to 7 years, I get snowed in (and I do NOT live in the mountains). I have chains and a tractor to tow my vehichle to the road.

      During the last 20 years, residents of this part of Southern California have had earthquakes, wildfires, tornadoes, draught, floods, snow storms, ice storms, wind storms, and exploding meth labs. The only infrastructure is the local power co-op; and many do not have a phone line (and some of my neighbors cannot receive any cell station). Most of us have generators and hand-held radios, and our own wells.

      Get over your self, amateur.

    34. Re:According to wunderground... by esocid · · Score: 1

      NYC is being a bunch of drama queens. I read an article about idiots complaining about the quake in VA, with no mention of VA. Now a cat2 hurricane hits FL/SC/NC and a cat1 hits VA/MD and by the time it gets to NY it'll be a tropical storm. I'm in VA, sitting in my room, and looking out the window at the wind and rain. Bunch of babies.

      --
      Absolute power corrupts absolutely. indymedia
    35. Re:According to wunderground... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most east coasters - who haven't panicked over either, but recognized the dangers inherent in natural disasters which are extremely unusual for the area and for which neither our homes nor our emergency services are prepared - have largely come to the conclusion that quite a few Californians are simply being jerks.

      To get an idea of what's going on, imagine if there was a successful terrorist attack in Sacramento. Then a blizzard comes roaring down the coast and looks like it's going to hit LA. That's what's going on now. These are disasters that are commonplace in other areas, but are very rare here. We *know* we're not prepared for them. They're moderate (certainly not mild or trivial, CA posers notwithstanding) but unprepared and moderate can be deadly. So, you know, there's some concern.

    36. Re:According to wunderground... by tp1024 · · Score: 1

      The funny thing is, what you call "real houses" is what most Europeans would call a reinforced cardboard box ...

    37. Re:According to wunderground... by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      People die in these things, sometimes because they do something stupid like going out to surf the swells,

      Sure enough, the first life taken by Irene was a surfer in Florida. People, when they say that the waves the hurricane is producing are "killer", it's not an invitation, it's a warning!

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    38. Re:According to wunderground... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Try moving. Missouri has all of that, but you'll have cell service. Until a disaster strikes and everyone tries to use it at once, anyway.

    39. Re:According to wunderground... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are a contemptuous, stupid prick, with emphasis on the “stupid.” Florida is not NYC. I live in Manhattan. New York has a massive underground infrastructure, and is already low-lying to begin with. The entire electric power distribution system, public transportation (which actually means something here), steam, goods delivery — everything. Your fucking “awning” is irrelevant; the wind speeds, while important, are not the primary concern: it’s flooding. The implications of those underground systems being filled with seawater are catastrophic.

      Enjoy laughing at people in danger? Asshole.

  18. Hello from the front lines in Brooklyn by vmxeo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I'm writing this from the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, right near the edge of the evacuation zone 'C'. A good portion of the people here in the neighborhood of Dumbo near the water have either followed mandatory evacuation or have opted to leave on their own . Nearby low-lying Fulton Ferry and the much better situated Brooklyn Heights are ready to ride the storm out.

    I also happen to have the weekend on-call network emergency duty for a group of offices here in the neighborhood (trade into it weeks ago. Oops). We ran through a checklist today, including testing backup generators and going over contingency plans for flooding. In front of me is a cell phone, radio and keys to everything. Meanwhile, the city is doing a massive amount of prep work on its own. Talked to a number of friends and neighbors today and everyone who will be here is hunkered down.

    This is my first hurricane. Not sure how this is going to turn out, but everyone here is ready.

    Bring it Irene.

    1. Re:Hello from the front lines in Brooklyn by dcollins · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Bring it Irene."

      Rule #1: Do Not Taunt.

      --
      We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
    2. Re:Hello from the front lines in Brooklyn by mellon · · Score: 5, Funny

      Also, once you have Irene cornered, no monologueing.

    3. Re:Hello from the front lines in Brooklyn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hope Almondine stays open for you. You'll need the carbs and coffee to help keep things running!

    4. Re:Hello from the front lines in Brooklyn by vmxeo · · Score: 1

      Starbuck's is closed, Almondine is open: https://twitter.com/#!/ApronAnxiety/status/107444218556981248 No word on Brooklyn Roasting Company. I may need a almond croissant this morning.

    5. Re:Hello from the front lines in Brooklyn by Thing+1 · · Score: 1

      What do you call a lady from Japan with one leg?

      --
      I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
  19. Where's Snake Plissken by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 1

    When you need him?

    --
    "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
    1. Re:Where's Snake Plissken by macshit · · Score: 1

      He's escapin' !

      --
      We live, as we dream -- alone....
  20. Kisses by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hurricanes are just God blowing kisses.

  21. Hi, Philadelphia here by cultiv8 · · Score: 1

    Florida must be making fun of us the same way that Californians were making fun of us earlier this week. I don't care, we got better cheesesteaks than you. Whiz, wit. Represent.

    --
    sysadmins and parents of newborns get the same amount of sleep.
  22. Trees comin' down by Bayoudegradeable · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is going to be the first sustained wind even for most areas north of NC. MANY dead and weak branches and trees will be knocked down by Irene. I suspect a mess of power lines are gonna be knocked down. I doubt anyone is in grave peril here (it's too perilous!). But millions of folks will spend the weekend and longer without power. Trust a bayou dweller; get the stinky stuff out'cha freezer and fridge. After 3 days it gets nasty. Good luck.

    --
    Sig Registration Form 34c_766(a) submitted to Ministry of Signature Management. Approval pending.
    1. Re:Trees comin' down by siride · · Score: 1

      Did you forget about Isabel in 2003?

    2. Re:Trees comin' down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm fairly certain that everyone has forgotten about Isabel

    3. Re:Trees comin' down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trust a bayou dweller; get the stinky stuff out'cha freezer and fridge

      Sorry, buddy. When you get that for north, they put things in the fridge to warm them up.

    4. Re:Trees comin' down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And wind after lots of rain will mean lots of downed trees and lots of people without power. If it was only NY, we'd have lots of utility crews from other areas. But lots of utility crews will be going to other areas, too. I personally expect to be without power for a week or more, as I'm not on a heavily populated street. We've already lost power for a day from a prior storm this year. Every few years our street is be out of power for 2-3 days. Makes it hard to use my electric chain saw!

    5. Re:Trees comin' down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sure the territory farther north doesn't get branches knocked down by hurricane style storms. But more than wind can take out old dead branches. Far enough north and you hit territory where blizzards and ice storms do a fairly thorough job of taking care of such things. Not that it's looking like the regions that far north are in for too much on the wind side of the equation.

    6. Re:Trees comin' down by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is going to be the first sustained wind even[t] for most areas north of NC.

      First since when? ever or this year? (In 1985, Gloria hit Long Island as a high-Cat-1/low-Cat-2.)

  23. Storm Surge by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    Because the storm is so massive, there is expected to be a storm surge about one category higher than the storm actually arrives at.

    One analysis I read rated the chances of topping the manhattan flood wall at 20%. So not huge, but good enough odds that it warrants not killing people if you guess wrong.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Storm Surge by ajs · · Score: 1

      And keep in mind that (and I'm speaking as someone who grew up in a house that was literally 5 feet from the ocean in southeastern Mass) the impact of any hurricane or tropical whatnot on the Northeast is almost entirely determined by the state of the tide when it hits. If they're predicting it will make landfall during high tide, then that could be serious even if it were a tropical depression by the time it arrived.

  24. Getting a clue by stox · · Score: 4, Interesting

    What Category the storm is when it hits NYC is NOT the big issue. Wind damage is not what they are worried about. The size of the storm surge is the issue. NYC has an enormous amount of underground infrastructure. If water starts spilling into the subway system in quantity, the results would be catastrophic. See Chicago Flood, multiply by 1000.

    --
    "To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
    1. Re:Getting a clue by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 1

      Dude! Why do you think we have surfboards?

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_E9ebt1a_s

      --
      "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
    2. Re:Getting a clue by Nethead · · Score: 1

      If water starts spilling into the subway system in quantity, the results would be catastrophic.

      It could wash away some of the smell of piss?

      --
      -- I have a private email server in my basement.
  25. DC Earthquake by rudy_wayne · · Score: 2, Funny

    Here's a photo of the devastation resulting from Tuesday's earthquake in Washington DC

  26. subject by Legion303 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "the cities coastal areas"

    This is what journalism has come to. Writers who can't fucking write.

    1. Re:subject by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      retransmitting it verbatim with no editorial pride is what slashdot has come to.

      slashdot = stagnated

    2. Re:subject by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 1

      "the cities coastal areas"

      This is what journalism has come to. Writers who can't fucking write.

      What, are you 12? Anyone can make a typo, especially one that passes spell-check. You want to blame anyone, blame the editors it's their job to catch those things.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    3. Re:subject by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It comes fine through the spell checker. Weather or not to write area or areas doesn't matter, their both correct.

    4. Re:subject by ffreeloader · · Score: 2, Funny

      LOL. You beat me to it. Our educational system is producing politically correct idiots.

      I went back to school about a decade ago and the level of knowledge of the students shocked me. In the English classes I took 90 percent of the students couldn't write an intelligible sentence. They didn't know how to spell, how to use punctuation, or understand subject/verb agreement. They also couldn't deal with homophones such as: they're/their/there, are/our, your/you're, heel/heal, cite/site, right/write, cell/sell, allot/a_lot, allowed/aloud, etc....

      About half the people couldn't read their own papers and tell you what they were trying to say when asked what they meant to communicate. It was so bad you couldn't even help them edit their papers because they had forgotten/never_knew what they meant themselves. Their writing was complete gibberish.

      The foreign exchange students from China and Japan knew English better than the students who had gone through 12 years of classes related to the English language and spoken it all their lives.

      It's no wonder there are so many socialists today. The English comprehension level of so many people is so low they don't understand the implications of what they're told or read.

      --
      "while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude." de Tocqueville
    5. Re:subject by canajin56 · · Score: 1

      Perhaps I'm crazy, but I find that to be the most common kind of typo. I type the words I think, and while I rarely hit the wrong letters without immediately fixing it, my brain frequently hits the wrong entire word because it sounds similar. And so while I know the differences between there/their/they're and its/it's good luck getting the right one all the way from brain to fingers without having to slow down and think about the individual letters :(

      --
      ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI
    6. Re:subject by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Given up on Kristopeit500+ ?
      Or did /. finally kick all of you out?

      Kristofuckhead!

    7. Re:subject by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

      Hello Liberty One. Didn't know you've got a Slashdot account.

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    8. Re:subject by Cant+use+a+slash+wtf · · Score: 2

      Wow. I'm really impressed at how you managed to relate reading comprehension and writing skills to socialism.
      I really can't tell whether you actually believe what you just said or whether you're trolling.
      If it's the latter, then well done. You succeeded. Now get off slashdot.

    9. Re:subject by Twinbee · · Score: 1

      Crucially though, I think we all got the meaning. Thank FSM!

      --
      Why OpalCalc is the best Windows calc
    10. Re:subject by Twinbee · · Score: 1

      I know, it's amazing to think English is so full of inconsistencies that it makes us suffer so much.

      Then again, Esperanto is apparently only 4x quicker to learn because it's consistent and logical. 4x? pah.... what's a factor of four anyway.

      --
      Why OpalCalc is the best Windows calc
    11. Re:subject by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Get off slashdot." It's just that kind of open-mindedness self-styled liberals--and socialists--offer when criticizing the so-called close-mindedness of others. Freedom of speech as long as you're not in OUR forum, you conservative wrong-thinking bastards!

    12. Re:subject by Legion303 · · Score: 1

      Yes, anyone can make a typo. I do it myself. But that wasn't a typo.

    13. Re:subject by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL. You beat me to it. Our educational system is producing politically correct idiots.

      I went back to school about a decade ago and the level of knowledge of the students shocked me. In the English classes I took 90 percent of the students couldn't write an intelligible sentence. They didn't know how to spell, how to use punctuation, or understand subject/verb agreement. They also couldn't deal with homophones such as: they're/their/there, are/our, your/you're, heel/heal, cite/site, right/write, cell/sell, allot/a_lot, allowed/aloud, etc....

      About half the people couldn't read their own papers and tell you what they were trying to say when asked what they meant to communicate. It was so bad you couldn't even help them edit their papers because they had forgotten/never_knew what they meant themselves. Their writing was complete gibberish.

      The foreign exchange students from China and Japan knew English better than the students who had gone through 12 years of classes related to the English language and spoken it all their lives.

      It's no wonder there are so many socialists today. The English comprehension level of so many people is so low they don't understand the implications of what they're told or read.

      Obviously your science curriculum also needs a little work, since you clearly have no idea about what constitutes a causal link....

    14. Re:subject by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Our educational system is producing politically correct idiots.

      Political correctness has nothing to do with misusing cities versus city's. Could just be a spell check issue for all anyone knows.

      It's no wonder there are so many socialists today.

      Again, neither here nor there. Every camp has idiots. If you think yours doesn't you're just deluding yourself or cherry picking memories.

    15. Re:subject by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apparently you're not that good at English, either. I mean, consider that you can't stick to the topic and go off on an unrelated and unnecessary tangent in your conclusion... And, seeing as you've brought it up, please consider that capitalism and socialism are not mutually exclusive.

    16. Re:subject by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 1

      There is clearly a typo in what you quoted.
      If that's not your issue, then I have to assume you are objecting to a colloquial use of a technical term. Big deal. "Coastal areas" is a term that is not strictly defined. Even the state's own website uses the term in a similar fashion with the evac zones corresponding pretty closely to the "Coastal Area Boundaries" of that atlas.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
    17. Re:subject by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's no wonder there are so many socialists today. The English comprehension level of so many people is so low they don't understand the implications of what they're told or read.

      Funny. I was about to make the same excuse for all the right-wing conservatives I see today!

    18. Re:subject by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL. You beat me to it. Our educational system is producing politically correct idiots.

      I went back to school about a decade ago and the level of knowledge of the students shocked me. In the English classes I took 90 percent of the students couldn't write an intelligible sentence. They didn't know how to spell, how to use punctuation, or understand subject/verb agreement. They also couldn't deal with homophones such as: they're/their/there, are/our, your/you're, heel/heal, cite/site, right/write, cell/sell, allot/a_lot, allowed/aloud, etc....

      About half the people couldn't read their own papers and tell you what they were trying to say when asked what they meant to communicate. It was so bad you couldn't even help them edit their papers because they had forgotten/never_knew what they meant themselves. Their writing was complete gibberish.

      The foreign exchange students from China and Japan knew English better than the students who had gone through 12 years of classes related to the English language and spoken it all their lives.

      It's no wonder there are so many socialists today. The English comprehension level of so many people is so low they don't understand the implications of what they're told or read.

      When writing your paper in 5 mins increments to stop and fiddle with your iPod, your paper will suck

    19. Re:subject by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The government needs to do something! We need more funding for education!!!

    20. Re:subject by FallinWithStyle · · Score: 1

      It's not just English. I remember facepalming in an Econ 101 class back at KU. The professor was going over some basic equation like "P x M / Q = I". He was solving for one of the variables in the numerator, so he multiplied both sides by the denominator. There was an uproar in the auditorium, because many of the students didn't think this was correct. "Really, you're a freshman in college and you can't do basic algebra?" It was pretty embarrassing...

      --
      Does this smell like Chloroform to you?
    21. Re:subject by MichaelKristopeit426 · · Score: 1

      Apparently not. P.S. Rachel Kristopeit is a dog fucker.

      --
      I am not the real Michael Kristopeit.
    22. Re:subject by Legion303 · · Score: 1

      A typo is wehn you accidentally hit the wrong key or hit the right keys in the wrong order, as I've just demonstrated (that was in fact a legitimate typo, which I at first corrected and then changed back to illustrate the point). Using the wrong word entirely out of ignorance ("cities" vs. "city's"), however, is not a typo.

    23. Re:subject by Jah-Wren+Ryel · · Score: 1

      Lol. I can not believe you got a +5 for that bit of sophistry. For shame.

      --
      When information is power, privacy is freedom.
  27. Re:There's your damned nanny state... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually, yes, how dare they disallowing them to die?
    It's harming natural selection, and thereby harming all of our gene pool with retard garbage. Because it gives the dumb a unfair advantage of surviving despite not being able to sustain their own life.
    A baaaad idea.

    I think we should pull the warning labels off of everything, and let the problem solve itself.
    That would fix overpopulation too.
    (Yes, of course this can be abused just as well. So we can't just think it will magically go well and nobody will try to use it for his advantage. As a German, I can tell you a story about such abuse. ;)

  28. Evacuation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm from Staten Island and the block directly across the street from me is in hurricane "Zone A". I'm in Zone B, there's a Zone C, and the rest of the middle of the island isn't zoned at all.

    Bloomberg is evacuating all of Zone A, and they can either leave the island, or go to any friend or relatives house not in Zone A, or 5 designated evacuation centers. (5 public high schools, one of which I went to.)

    Here's a map for anyone in NYC to determine what zone you live in if you aren't aware:
    http://www.nyc.gov/html/oem/downloads/pdf/hurricane_map_english.pdf

  29. AS LONG AS IT KILLS SOME RATS, WHATS A FEW PEPS !! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Goddamm NYC is home to so many rats you'd think it was, uh, New York City OF RATS !! If it can drown even one tenth of one percent of a tenth of a percent of one percent, a few homeless, too, who can say it's a bad thing ?? Besides, this way you can suck out some more moolah from John Q. Taxpayer to pay off the corrupt office holders.

  30. Working during Nor'Easter at the WTC by wandazulu · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I was working in World Trade Center #1, on the 95th floor, during the nor'easter of 1992, which if I recall was the remains of a hurricane. It was quite an intense experience; we had the space-saving "rolling file cabinets" that were rolling back and forth on their own, with one finally derailing and spilling files onto the floor (guess who had the job of cleaning it up). Bathroom stall doors were opening and closing by themselves, you could hear a definite creaking from inside the walls, and they were always shutting down the express elevator due to flex.

    The thing that was really wild, though, and sadly not to be seen again, was looking out the window and being able to easily make out the other tower swaying as well. I had to keep telling myself "the buildings are designed for this...it's okay!" until it was time to go home.

    1. Re:Working during Nor'Easter at the WTC by ajs · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I had a similar experience in Boston one year. I was on the 40th floor of One Boston Place, near city hall, and there was a pretty bad wind storm moving through. We get those from time to time... just a freak burst of 60 mph winds with little or no storm associated. It's rare, but it happens.

      Anyway, the building was swaying and during the course of the day two things happened which I found amusing. First, we had one of those big green LED signs with news tickers scrolling over it. It was suspended from the ceiling by two cables and it was swinging back and forth dramatically. A co-worker had been looking at it somewhat queasily, and asked, "why is it moving so much?" In retrospect, she was looking for a comforting answer. I just thought about it for a second and gave her the most logical answer I could think of: "It's not." That took her a second to process and then she looked very unhappy.

      The other thing that happened was kind of unnerving to me. I was sitting in my chair, working on some code, and I stood up to get something. Next thing I knew, I was on the floor. I tried to get up again, and bang, I was on the floor again. My inner ear had just given up, but I had no idea until I tried to stand. It was odd because I'd spent years around the ocean, and never got sea sick or even a touch nauseous, but in this building I was incapacitated for a short time... no other symptoms, just the complete lack of balance.

    2. Re:Working during Nor'Easter at the WTC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was working in World Trade Center #1, on the 95th floor

      OMG! It's a ghost! A ghost is posting on Slashdot!

    3. Re:Working during Nor'Easter at the WTC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your buildings probably aren't designed for anything really strong, not If it's swaying that much in the wind. The Western Pacific and East Asia are probably the only places where buildings are designed for both earthquake and typhoons (hurricanes to mainlanders). Wind load is actually more of a consideration than quake load in these places, and they can get quakes above 8 and winds above 100 mph here.

  31. What are we doing (seriously) by Sierran · · Score: 1

    I can't speak for most. I can speak for the ten or twelve of us who compared notes at work today over the snark. Sure, we're being flip. But there's no sense being stupid. Things I'm doing which we all thought seemed like a good plan:

    1) Remembering that the winds aren't a big deal.
    2) Being happy I live in a high spot, so rather than evacuating:
    3) Stockpiling water (1-liter thermoplastic seltzer bottles ftw)
    4) Freezing some of those (thermal inertia ftw if we lose power, plus, tasty cold water)
    5) Making sure we have a week of food in the house for peeps *and* cats (check, I usually do, could prob. go 2 on what we have)
    6) Making sure I have cash in the house (ATMs might die if net/power goes)
    7) Making sure I have candles and lighters/matches
    8) Making sure I have adequate whisky!

    DONE.

    --
    A hero is someone who knows when to run away. I am a hero. -Trent the Uncatchable
  32. Re:There's your damned nanny state... by bky1701 · · Score: 2

    Large storm? It will be a tropical storm by the time it gets there, assuming it doesn't turn away. High probability of being killed? By what, exactly?

    Forcing people to evacuate for something that doesn't even qualify as alarming in most of the country is indeed a nanny state. But I can see you're so afraid of your own shadow, you don't mind armed men forcing people into the streets. There are counties you can go to where that is the norm, why don't you try them on for size.

  33. Evacuation zone 'A' by Zakabog · · Score: 1

    My office is in evacuation zone 'a' about a block from the beach on Staten Island. Shut down my PCs and put them on my desk just in case the place floods...

    I'm thinking this is likely going to be just a normal storm by the time it hits us, nothing major, some downed trees and powerlines. Kind of like what happened during the huge blizzards we had this past winter except without all the ice and snow. I'm moving my car away from under the trees so they don't crash on it but other than that I'm not to concerned.

  34. I commute by evil_aaronm · · Score: 1

    So I did what I normally do on a Friday: I cut out of town at 2:00 pm to drive back to the WNY area for the weekend. However, instead of taking my usual 86 / 17 route, which was nuts with traffic, I heard, I drove back roads following the upper Delaware scenic bypass and enjoyed the quiet, if slightly longer drive.

    I do hope my apartment is still standing when I head back. My office building - I can take it or leave it...

  35. Hurricane Fatigue by beadfulthings · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have a strong case of it, and the storm isn't supposed to hit here (Maryland) until Sunday at dawn. Thus far, I've been treated to:
    1) CNN showing the idiots surfing at Wrightsville Beach, NC. Why encourage it?
    2) An interview of some guy from the Discovery Channel with a supposedly hurricane-proof automobile.
    3) An ever increasing national media frenzy replete with dramatic, spooky music and lots of interviews with people whose opinions don't count for much.
    4) As the storm has decreased in power (so they can't rave about how Katrina-like it is), they've begun speculating about what the poor, benighted, ignorant citizens of New York will actually DO if they're stuck in their apartments for two or three days.
    5) An absolutely jaw-dropping interview with Candidate Ron Paul who opines that we should go back to the way hurricanes were handled in 1900. He hails from Galveston, where the most destructive hurricane ever recorded happened in 1900. In other words, he wants the states to help out with funeral pyres so affected cities can burn their dead without Federal intervention.

    Since I live in an area that gets the backlash of at least one good hurricane a year, here's what I've done to (gasp) protect myself:
    1) Listened to the governor and the state emergency people, as well as the local weather forecasts.
    2) Bought gas and hit the ATM.
    3) Laid in a good supply of food and snacks that don't need to be cooked--sandwich materials, fruit, cheese, cookies. Likewise laid in a bit of beer. And dry dog food for the dog. Bottled water for self and dog.
    4) Frozen up the picnic ice to add to the freezer if the electricity goes out.
    5) Made a mental note to charge everything up--laptop, Kindle, iPhone.
    6) Checked the flashlights and re-supplied on candles. The kind that Jewish people burn as memorials (that come in little glass jars) are available at grocery stores and make great, safe emergency candles. Blown the dust off the transistor radio and re-supplied it with fresh batteries.
    7) Gotten out some lightweight cotton clothes because if the power goes out, it will be hot, unbearably humid, and damp.
    8) Put my wellies by the front door.

    The practice of people from different regions comparing their various disasters is ludicrous. If you don't think so, try listening to somebody from North Dakota comparing their flood this year to Katrina. It's not worth bothering with unless you happen to work in emergency services. People begin to sound like idiots after a very short time.

    Tomorrow night, I'll probably go to bed. I'll be awakened by the storm sometime in the middle of the night, at which point I'll lie there and think about Nature's power and all that maudlin crap. Then, if it sounds bad, I'll get up and fill the bathtub with water (so I can flush), make sure the dog is OK, and curl up with a book until the lights go out--at which point I'll switch to my Kindle.

    The only thing I can't do is persuade the dog that it's OK to pee and crap on some newspaper. He's going to be tying himself in knots.

    --
    "Here's what's happening. You're starting to drive like your Dad..." - Red Green
    1. Re:Hurricane Fatigue by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

      I have a strong case of it, and the storm isn't supposed to hit here (Maryland) until Sunday at dawn. Thus far, I've been been glued to the tube and saturated myself by exposing myself to:

      There, fixed that for you. Seriously, don't blame the media for your inability to shut the tube off or change the damn channel.

    2. Re:Hurricane Fatigue by ajs · · Score: 1

      I have a strong case of it, and the storm isn't supposed to hit here (Maryland) until Sunday at dawn. Thus far, I've been treated to:
      1) CNN showing the idiots surfing at Wrightsville Beach, NC. Why encourage it?

      It will make zero difference. The 2 or three small hurricanes that I witnessed when I lived at my grandfather's cottage on the ocean, people were out sailboarding in the height of them. Media attention wasn't going to happen there, and yet there they were.

    3. Re:Hurricane Fatigue by xenobyte · · Score: 1

      1) CNN showing the idiots surfing at Wrightsville Beach, NC. Why encourage it?

      Darwin Award nominees, eh?

      Just let them have their fun! - Hopefully they'll go out with a big smile on their face!

      --
      "For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --
    4. Re:Hurricane Fatigue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you gotta make it political eh? you know calling the other side out and saying how you'll be listening to the authorities just makes you sound like the obedient puppydog they claim..

    5. Re:Hurricane Fatigue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only thing I can't do is persuade the dog that it's OK to pee and crap on some newspaper. He's going to be tying himself in knots.

      Just get some News Corp-Newspapers, animals shit on that gladly because they think it's a marking by another dog.

    6. Re:Hurricane Fatigue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, you it sounds really annoying how much you've been unwillingly subjected to all this hurricane scare journalism. This slashdot article is the first I've heard of Irene.

      Maybe you should watch less news.

    7. Re:Hurricane Fatigue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Let the dog see you pee on the newspaper a little.

    8. Re:Hurricane Fatigue by MSesow · · Score: 1

      I have a strong case of it, and the storm isn't supposed to hit here (Maryland) until Sunday at dawn. Thus far, I've been treated to:

      . . .

      2) An interview of some guy from the Discovery Channel with a supposedly hurricane-proof automobile.

      I think that would probably look something like this

    9. Re:Hurricane Fatigue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, all those so-called interviews occurred during one hour, when I abandoned work and turned on the TV while I was eating dinner. It had occurred to me that a lot of other stuff is going on--like the situation in Libya, whatever the hell that is that was going on at the casino in Mexico, the aftermath of the earthquake, and the fact that a journalist from my home state was discovered languishing in a prison in Tripoli, where he'd been for six months. Sometimes a little actual news airs out the brains.

  36. Inaccurate comparison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    While buildings are built strong for NYC, they are not designed for hurricanes and/or tornadoes as much as say... a place like Florida. To give slashdotters a comparison to help pull their heads out of their butts, New Yorkers might laugh at the roads being closed in South Carolina over an inch of snow, but holy fuck there are a lot of accidents in that day if they don't.

  37. Mandatory Earthquake Evacuation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Those are the worst. When they have mandatory evacuations 24 hours before a major earthquake.

    I hate those.

  38. Re:EMERGENCY QUESTION! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I haven't laughed this hard in a while, thank you.

  39. Queue looting by wesleyjconnor · · Score: 1

    Never mind the US dollar compared to AUD we have free stuff in aisles 1 through 34th street

  40. Subway emergency flood gates installed? by Animats · · Score: 1

    After 9/11, emergency flood gates were supposed to be installed in the NYC subway system. Water from fire hoses alone was enough to eventually completely flood the PATH tunnels to New Jersey. If the cement box that kept the Hudson River from pouring into the site had cracked open, the subway system would have flooded up to midtown. As of late 2010, some flood gates were being installed.

    The Pennsylvania Railroad tunnels to New Jersey already had flood gates (the PRR built to last), but they'd been neglected and weren't working. Amtrak has since fixed them.

  41. ...that sentence... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Buses and subways prepared to shut on Saturday as Hurricane Irene approaches as well.

    Is there more than one hurricane approaching?

  42. at least by mevets · · Score: 4, Funny

    the looters will get nice, clean firearms after they shoot your eejit head off.

  43. Don't let a crisis go to waste by wrightrocket · · Score: 1

    Don't let a crisis go to waste. Lots of money to be made!

  44. In terms of frequency and power supplies by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 2

    The magic required for a switching power supply to like variable frequencies is active PFC. When you have an active PFC, the power supply becomes voltage and frequency agnostic over quite a large range (usually even larger than stated).

    This mostly means newer power supplies. They have become more common since the EU has been requiring them. As you noted, essential all computer power supplies are active PFC these days and you find many of the wall wart/line lump adapters are that come with good electronics.

    Those should be happy with pretty much anything. Low voltage, high voltage, wrong current, non-sine wave, doesn't much matter to them they should work with it all.

    1. Re:In terms of frequency and power supplies by Agripa · · Score: 2

      What?

      Power supplies without active power factor correction use a full wave rectifier feeding a large input capacitor. The only thing they care about is peak voltage. You can run them from at least 50 to 400 hertz without issues of any kind and since they use a voltage doubler for 120 volts AC, they will also run fine on 340 volts DC. The only issues are that their poor harmonic related power factor is hard on some generating equipment (VA verse watts) and the ones with automatic input range switching could have problems if they get confused about what range to use.

      Some active power factor corrected power supplies are poorly designed and expect at least something resembling a sine wave at roughly the correct frequency. The well designed universal input ones will run on 90 to 270 volt AC or the appropriate level of DC up to 340 volts with any reasonable wave shape or frequency.

    2. Re:In terms of frequency and power supplies by budgenator · · Score: 1

      I have to disagree about using DC, theoretically it shouldn't matter, but practically, most don't have bridge rectifiers with enough capacity to run the diodes at 100% duty cycle.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    3. Re:In terms of frequency and power supplies by Agripa · · Score: 1

      Nobody should be using that small a cooling margin and in any case, the nonlinear losses are lower with DC making up for much of the difference.

  45. Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dear New York,
    It's barely a hurricane. Suck it up.

    Sincerely,
    Florida

  46. Crop circles? by Anachragnome · · Score: 1

    Did anyone else notice the two large circular cloud formations out over the central and western Gulf of Mexico visible in the summary link "Irene is Big"?
    http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/archives/2011/h2011_Irene.html

    Look closely at the image linked--there are two almost perfect circles of forming cloud, as well as a few smaller ones near the western-most circle.

    I've never seen clouds form like that. The one in the central Gulf almost seems to defy wind flow, as evidenced by the two "streaked" formations that go right over it. Perhaps the difference is simply altitude.

    My wife's first random guess was oil-booms (oil on the surface altering reflection rates and water-surface temps). Anyone else?

    Oh, and hey, there's a big hurricane headed toward you guys...

    1. Re:Crop circles? by Anachragnome · · Score: 1

      Should've mentioned which image (2nd image--GOES 13). Sorry.

  47. You guys are kind of assholes. by earache · · Score: 1

    I'm in Zone A in Brooklyn, part of the mandatory evacuation area. I live in a basement apartment that is sure to be flooded. I moved everything I couldn't live without out to a friend's today and am stacking everything else 2-3 feet above the floor just in case.

    I suppose more of you would be satisfied if it were a Cat-2 or Cat-3 when it hits NYC, somehow 70mph winds with 15-20 inches of rain and a 10-15 foot swell isn't enough for you. The economic hit of suspending the city for 2 days isn't enough for you. Do you want a Katrina disaster? I don't get it.

    Anyways, fuck you, back to packing for me.

    1. Re:You guys are kind of assholes. by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 1

      Anyways, fuck you, back to packing for me.

      That's the New Yawk spirit! :D

  48. Uploaded a copy if needed by mrmangosir · · Score: 1

    I have uploaded the PDF, to a seperate URL. Push it around social networks if you live in New York. If the original server goes down, people can use this one. Good luck all! http://coloniesonline.co.uk/hurricane_map_english.pdf

  49. Re:There's your damned nanny state... by Capt.+Skinny · · Score: 1

    It's harming natural selection

    No, it's presumption of unpreparedness and naivety. The people who want to stick around believe they are knowledgeable about the risks and have mitigated them, while the government telling them to leave wants to avoid sending out emergency responders in case the people are wrong (in legitimate concern for emergency responders' safety).

  50. NY Times Free this Weekend for Storm Coverage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    NYT Opened their paywall this weekend to provide storm coverage for all.

    Go NYT!

  51. Gotta get out a pray to the lord by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's the only way - it worked in Texas for Perry.

  52. Re:Water by epyT-R · · Score: 1

    lol.. seriously? by the time it gets up here it'll be a cat 1 or just a storm. hardly worth getting upset.

  53. be afraid...be very afraid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hurry!!! Waste no time!!! The world will end in moments!!!

    People who live in grass huts survive these kinds of storms and worse every year. The Caribbean and South Pacific get raked with these storms on a regular basis, without the panic and need to escalate to Code Red. It will rain. There will be flooding. There will be trees knocked down. There will be power outages. And there will be tomorrow. People who have infinitely less than we survive these storms. I'm sorry if you might miss a show because the tv is out. And it will be a damn shame if you have to eat peanut butter and jelly for a day or 2, rather than that steak that was ruined because the power went out.

    Let's just put on our big boy pants now, and stop acting like the little scared bitches that our government, by way of the media hysteria, wants us to be, so that they can gain a stronger control over us. Pee your pants if you must, but just change them and be a big boy again.

  54. BE AFRAID!!! BE VERY AFRAID!!!! by bobbybigshoe · · Score: 1

    We live in the industrial capital of the world, yet people who live in grass huts tremble less than we do at a storm? Caribbean and South Pacific residents get pounded year in and year out by storms far more destructive, but we are the ones running scared? It will rain. It will flood, Power will be lost. Trees will fall. And through it all, tomorrow will still come. In a few days, our lives will be restored. We will have had to suffer through a day or 2 of peanut butter and jelly, rather than the steak that was ruined. We will miss a tv show. Oh the humanity!!!! Put on your big boy pants, and grow up. Stop letting the government drive you further into fear, through the media, which allows them to gain more control over you. If you get scared, pee your pants if you must. Then change them, and get back to being a big boy. We have become a nation of whiny bitches, incapable of dealing with anything outside the limits of the norm. If something happens in your neighborhood, go out and help make it better. If a neighbor needs help, stop worrying about yourself, and get out there and help. Have to old lady who lives alone over, to ride out the storm with people who care. There is strength in numbers. A group is less likely to be scared. And when it is over, learn to be nice to your neighbors.

  55. Bloomberg by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wins the douche bag of the year award AGAIN. He's such a douche bag, when will New Yorkers show they have some brains and elect someone with a clue?

  56. blame the terrorists by Cyko_01 · · Score: 1

    oh and according to one jewish minister it's the homosexuals fault too.

  57. Map mirrored here: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    AC this late in the game will get buried by this many other comments (I love how articles on /. which don't require technical background get 10x the comments as the rest - oh how things have changed!) but I spent thirty seconds putting the map up on ifile.it. NYC server seems to be doing better though.

    http://ifile.it/6qbwh85/hurricane_map_english.pdf

    1. Re:Map mirrored here: by trinaryai · · Score: 1

      Ditto the parent. NYC Server still sluggish. I've added a mirror: http://hickoryservices.com/sites/default/upload/hurricane_map_english.pdf

  58. "of the cities coastal areas" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The summary says "of the cities coastal areas".
    As somebody who lives "only" three kilometres away from the beaches here in Australia, I wonder how far inland these coastal areas go they are evacuating now. And how much the height of their areas is compared with sea level. Anybody any ideas on this?

  59. Storm surge threat reference material by cjjjer · · Score: 1

    Some interesting articles on the how and why NY and surounding areas are at risk.

    Google earth rendering of the possible flooding (4.3m storm surge for a cat 2 hurricane)

    The one thing that the media and this model does not take into account is the underground infrastructure factor which could extend the flooding (underground) up to 2 miles further from the edge of the on land storm surge (the model only shows above ground).

    http://seaandskyny.com/2011/02/14/the-nyc-storm-surge-threat/

    http://seaandskyny.com/2011/02/09/the-scientific-significance-of-the-only-hurricane-ever-to-directly-hit-nyc/

    http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080730175524.htm

  60. Re:fixed that for you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's no wonder there are so many evangelical right-wingers today. The English comprehension level of so many people is so low they think everything is magical, so they can pick whatever magic story 'feels best'.

    There. Fixed that for you.

  61. Google Earth cloud-watching by vlueboy · · Score: 1

    Your PC makes the BEST presentation layer for admiring the satellite data, and it's free. Weather reports are free too, but are too quick, have weathermen covering the data, and can't be rotated to explorer at your leisure --you can even zoom into your local streets and look up to review cloud appearance from the ground.

    Fire up Google Earth and look at the radar / cloud pictures (probably close to real-time). Just tick the Weather "layer" and you can select which sublayers to enable, and even take JPEGs.

  62. Biggest Non-Event by Phoenix666 · · Score: 1

    in the last 10 years. The hysteria that the "News" is whipping up is much more dangerous than a little wind and rain.

    We live in a neighborhood in Brooklyn that is higher than the top of the Statue of Liberty, and yet the mouth-breathers were still panicking and fighting over bottled water in the supermarket. Can Fox News, CNN, and the others be held criminally liable for inciting to riot, because that's exactly what they're doing.

    Here's a thought: one of the feared aspects of a hurricane is lots of rain, which conveniently means if you want fresh water you can put a pot out your window and catch yourself some. And as far as food goes, most Americans are so fat they could live on their paunches for at least a month before they need to eat again.

    In short, it's. Going. To. Be. OK. Really.

    --
    Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
    1. Re:Biggest Non-Event by tp1024 · · Score: 1

      Yeah. The real danger is what happens, when something *really* bad is going to happen and ever more people just laugh those people out of the room. If I had been in Japan on March 11th, I don't know if I had taken the tsunami warnings seriously - there had been so many useless tsunami warnings since the big one in 2004 ...

      If something bad is going to happen in this one, it's seriously bad preparation ... but then again, that was the reason why Katrina became as bad as it was ...

  63. Re:EMERGENCY QUESTION! by SockPuppetOfTheWeek · · Score: 1

    Yeah, it's been a while since I'd seen that delicious copypasta.

  64. Re:EMERGENCY QUESTION! by zoloto · · Score: 1

    what the hell?

  65. Hurricane resources mirrored at google.org by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    includes evac areas for ny metro area:

    http://google.org/crisismap

  66. For those NOT in a hurricane area by guruevi · · Score: 1

    If you're like me and far enough from it so you're only forecast is rain & storm, you should still get provisions for a few days. I can live without power and survive even though it's going to be hot, humid and I have a newborn in the house.

    The US grid is simply not prepared to handle several sudden cuts from both power sources and power drains. NYC is a big power drain and has a few power sources as well.

    You may be out of the way from the natural forces but the forces of forgotten human greed extend well beyond it.

    --
    Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
  67. No clue by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    CNN showing the idiots surfing at Wrightsville Beach, NC. Why encourage it?

    Encourage surfing in pre or post-hurricane conditions? (No surfer actually wants to surf *during* a hurricane, as I'm sure you're aware.) As if they're doing something wrong or beyond their limits? You have no clue what you're talking about. I can guarantee you that the average east coast surfer has a much better understanding of hurricane surfing (and dealing with local hurricane conditions in general) than you, the governor, the cops, or even John Hope of the weather channel.

  68. Think again by dtmos · · Score: 1

    All that matters is how hard it hits me. (That sounds mean, I know, but it's true. When it comes to damage to my home, it only matters how hard Irene hits... my home. Not whether or not it hits x00 miles away too.)

    Err, no. You also care what happens to everyone else -- or, at least, you will. For just one trivial example, eventually you'll need to go out for supplies. How far will you have to go to find a gasoline station with gasoline -- and with electricity to pump it? When Hurricane Wilma hit south Florida in 2005, a metropolitan area of more than three million people was suddenly in that situation, and the social structure almost broke down as people discovered that the nearest gasoline was two or three counties away. So was fresh water, food, prescription medicines, roofing materials, replacement windows, cell phone coverage, and everything else people needed to get back on their feet.

    In short, you care "whether or not it hits x00 miles away too," because you will depend on your neighbors outside the damage area to help you recover from the storm.

  69. Mirror? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, instead of mirroring the link as the 'reader' so sagely suggested, let's link directly to it on the front page of Slashdot.

  70. Don't waste your time taping windows! by dtmos · · Score: 1

    Bring loose stuff inside, keep a disaster kit, sure. But don't spread that old saw about taping your windows. Taping your windows does absolutely nothing except waste your time: The tape doesn't keep the window from breaking when the 100 mph flying debris hits it, and the broken glass quickly shreds the tape.

    Use plywood, or aluminum hurricane shutters, instead.

  71. What am I doing to prepare? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Smiling to myself and being glad I live in tornado alley, safe from even the biggest hurricanes.

  72. Re:EMERGENCY QUESTION! by MichaelKristopeit426 · · Score: 1

    slashcrap = stagparty

    --
    I am not the real Michael Kristopeit.
  73. Leave the Bronx by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 1

    We got solar houses in enchanting New Mexico waiting for you.

    --
    Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?