# Irene



## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Patrolman _Almaviva_ may be dealing with hurricane Irene, which could explain why I haven't been chastised lately.

She is predicted to mess with my area Sunday and Monday - the rain mostly Sunday, wind both days. I find this intrusion annoying. She is a *tropical* storm; Vermont is NOT tropical. If she had any respect for latitudinal designations, she would head out to sea long before she got here.

:scold:


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## regressivetransphobe (May 16, 2011)

Same here. Surf's up.


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## Iforgotmypassword (May 16, 2011)

Yeah, she's beginning to throw some rain our way right now but she should hit some time tonight or tomorrow. I'm ready, I kinda like hurricanes.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Patrolman Almaviva is here, ready to chastise you as needed, Hilltroll.

About the matter at hand, I have this gut feeling that this hurricane will be a dud and is being propped up to increase news media sales and politicians' profiles.


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

Almaviva said:


> Patrolman Almaviva is here, ready to chastise you as needed, Hilltroll.
> 
> About the matter at hand, I have this gut feeling that this hurricane will be a dud and is being propped up to increase news media sales and politicians' profiles.


Those New York/Jersey reporters seemed to think it was the real deal, lamenting that all their cherished touristy beaches would be destroyed..

Anywhoo, it's expected to be rough here in Maryland tomorrow. I hope no trees fall on our house :O


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## samurai (Apr 22, 2011)

Almaviva said:


> Patrolman Almaviva is here, ready to chastise you as needed, Hilltroll.
> 
> About the matter at hand, I have this gut feeling that this hurricane will be a dud and is being propped up to increase news media sales and politicians' profiles.


If I were religious, Alma, I would say "From your mouth to God's ear". Instead. I'll just say that I hope you are right!


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

Stay safe all.


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## TxllxT (Mar 2, 2011)

With regard to hurricanes I've got the impression that the 'she'-versions are worse than the 'he'-versions.... I remember Katrina, but no man's name in my memory.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

TxllxT said:


> With regard to hurricanes I've got the impression that the 'she'-versions are worse than the 'he'-versions.... I remember Katrina, but no man's name in my memory.


*Andrew*

That one was kind of bad.

While typing this, I also summoned from memory _Hugo_ and _Floyd_ as well.

Also keep in mind that prior to 1979, ALL Atlantic/Caribbean hurricanes has feminine names.

I think the gravity of this one became clear when, prior to departing work on Friday, we were ORDERED to completely shut down and unplug all of our electronics.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Hugo; I was on a job in Charleston, fled from Hugo via commercial air. The airport was impressively calm. Some folks who fled west by car didn't go far enough.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Hurricanes are fun times until you go and lose your house!


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Chi_townPhilly said:


> I think the gravity of this one became clear when, prior to departing work on Friday, we were ORDERED to completely shut down and unplug all of our electronics.


OMG No electronics = no music!! A fate worse than death .. almost.

PS Seriously - I hope *Irene* fizzles out before she does too much damage. Stay safe all cousins across the pond.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Me and my big mouth. I said Irene would be a dud, and my neighborhood is without power for hours already, no way to tell when a fix will be in. No Internet, aarrghhhh! I'm at a Panera Bread using their free wi-fi, but will have to head back home soon.

No other damage, though. Fallen trees damaged power lines but none hit my home.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> Me and my big mouth. I said Irene would be a dud, and my neighborhood is without power for hours already, no way to tell when a fix will be in. No Internet, aarrghhhh! I'm at a Panera Bread using their free wi-fi, but will have to head back home soon.
> 
> No other damage, though. Fallen trees damaged power lines but none hit my home.




Alma - fingers crossed you & yours keep safe & of course everyone else as well.


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## schigolch (Jun 26, 2011)

I was supposed to take a flight to New York tomorrow, but it was cancelled. 

Guess it's kind of serious business over there.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

My mother lives in New York City. Her house is about 5 blocks from an evacuation zone although she's really not in danger since her house is much higher than sea level. The subways and buses have been shut down. She just attended a wedding yesterday, and most guests will be stranded for a few days since flights are shut down as well.

I guess the biggest problem if not the force of Irene (category 1 now), but the size. They expect a huge amount of rain on areas that have had record rainfall in August. Philadelphia is already 10.5 inches over average in August.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Thanks, Sospiro.

Although it may seem silly to complain since we're safe and nothing major happened while I heard of someone seriously injured in South Carolina, I was surprised at how much disruption this power outage that lasted for about 15 hours caused to my life.

Our dependance on energy and technology is scary.

It's been a while since I had to face almost a full day of power outage, and here is what I suddenly realized that I couldn't do:

- Car didn't have much gas. Oh well, pumps in gas stations couldn't pump gas. I was still able to get around, barely.
- I didn't have much cash. ATMs weren't working.
- I tried to mail a DVD to a friend in England. The Post Office had no power and was closed.
- I tried to trim my beard, but my trimmer is electric (outlet, not battery powered).
- Without the microwave I couldn't heat my breakfast (oh well, I did hit it using the gas range - it took much longer)
- Couldn't get a cup of coffee from the coffee machine
- Couldn't bake the salmon for lunch using the gas oven because it lights up electrically - but was able to do it using my gas grill outside
- The house was stuffy without the AC
- My cell phone had no service (my wife's did - it became our only contact with the external world)
- My land line is Vonage and since the Internet was down I had no phone
- The garage door is also electric and it took me a long time to get the somewhat rusty manual mechanism to work, not to forget how long it took me to find the key to the manual lock, lost in some drawer
- Couldn't get filtered water from the water dispenser on my fridge door
- No TV, no DVD player, no Internet. I was bored. I did read part of a novel.
- My friend who loves craft beer invited me over for dinner (there was power on his neighborhood). I bought a good craft beer to give him but couldn't chill it. We put it in his freezer and had it later, but it was supposed to go with the appetizers.
- My home alarm system ran out of battery power about 6 hours after the blackout (and it depends on the Vonage phone line anyway) so when I left to attend my friend's dinner party I was worried about someone taking advantage of the blackout to break into my home.

I know, I know, nothing that I couldn't survive (the above list does look like those "first world problems"); I was just thinking, a couple of more days and all my food would spoil in the freezer and fridge, I'd run out of gas, etc.

It just goes to say how vulnerable our modern society is. Kind of scary.

I looked up prices of generators. The cheapest ones are useless (last 4 or 5 hours, can't power a lot of stuff); they start getting better at $600 and much better at $1,200, but the really good ones that are permanently mounted outside and work on the gas line, kick in automatically, and can power the entire house including AC, freezer, fridge, lights, etc, cost installed about $5,000.

It's a lot of money for one or two power outages per year. But I was so impressed with the disruption that I may get one at some point.

One week without power would be sufficient to break the social code. We'd get looting, violent gangs, food distribution problems, etc.


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

Wow, Alma.  It makes me glad I live in the middle of a landlocked desert at 5,200 ft. elevation. I take it no one you know got hurt, though?

I've also found that having plenty of camping supplies (propane camp stove, propane lantern, instant coffee crystals, plenty of propane bottles, etc.) really helps during power outages. (Also, we don't bother with a water filter; the tap water out here in the Rockies/Great Basin is just fine as it is  ) We used to get frequent blackouts during the summer, when the generators would overheat or something, and heavy snow can frequently knock out power lines all day as well.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

To Alma & all affected by Irene. 

My condolences to people who have lost loved ones & to those who have been injured, get well soon. If your home has been damaged, hope you had insurance but if not I'm sure friends & relatives (& the government?) will help.

To those people who have been inconvenienced, hope everything is back to normal soon; it's frightening how dependent we are on electricity.

And look out for a baby-boom next May.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

sospiro said:


> To Alma & all affected by Irene.
> 
> My condolences to people who have lost loved ones & to those who have been injured, get well soon. If your home has been damaged, hope you had insurance but if not I'm sure friends & relatives (& the government?) will help.
> 
> ...


Thanks, Annie. I don't know of any injuries except one in South Carolina.
A friend of mine who lives in the UK has been inconvenienced as well since her DVD will be delayed by another week.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Kopachris said:


> Wow, Alma.  It makes me glad I live in the middle of a landlocked desert at 5,200 ft. elevation. I take it no one you know got hurt, though?
> 
> I've also found that having plenty of camping supplies (propane camp stove, propane lantern, instant coffee crystals, plenty of propane bottles, etc.) really helps during power outages. (Also, we don't bother with a water filter; the tap water out here in the Rockies/Great Basin is just fine as it is  ) We used to get frequent blackouts during the summer, when the generators would overheat or something, and heavy snow can frequently knock out power lines all day as well.


Thanks, and no, nobody got hurt.
With this, I have noticed how poorly prepared I am for any kind of emergency. We did have a 5.9 earthquake last week - again, nobody hurt, a few buildings with some minor damage. I'm a bit afraid of propane due to carbon dioxide. But I definitely need to prepare for myself and my family some sort of emergency kit.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

I spoke too soon. The newspaper this morning had a report of five deaths in my state; one of them, a 15-year-old girl.
I'm ashamed now of my bitching and complaining about the small inconvenience I went through.


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## GoneBaroque (Jun 16, 2011)

The latest report I received is 10 deaths. Irene is approaching where I live at this time. Some parts of the town are being evacuated due to a dam collapse. right now there is no rain and very low winds. Hoping for the best!


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

I live south of Baltimore, and we were pretty lucky... we didn't even lose power. It was just really hard to sleep last night, and when we woke up there were leaves and branches all over our driveway.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Final tally, 14 deaths.
6 in North Carolina
3 in Virginia
2 in New York
1 in Connecticut
1 in Florida
1 in Maryland

Youngest victim: 11-year-old boy crushed by a tree that fell on his house


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## Bix (Aug 12, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> Final tally, 14 deaths.
> 6 in North Carolina
> 3 in Virginia
> 2 in New York
> ...


This is very sad - I will think of these people.


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

I think I could deal with a power outage for a day or two. I have a battery-operated personal CD player, and an excellent battery-operated radio. I also have a reserve of non-perishable foodstuffs that aren't the tastiest- but would keep me in calories for a couple of days.

Fortunately, we kept our power here, so none of this was put to the test.

Yeah, I think I could endure a moderate power outage. What would be much more problematic is if we were without potable water. That's the thing that separates us most from temporary third-world status. A nice cool shower and some moist towels will help you get by without air-conditioning (as I discovered myself when I met Tropical Storm Ernesto in Ocean City, Maryland). However, my typical water-reserve consists of 4 gallons of "external-use only" water and two gallons of drinkable water. That likely works out to a day's supply. After that, I'd have problems...


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Our spare shower acts as a storeroom - lots of bottles of drinking water, rice, gas cannnisters for cooking. We also have emergcency getaway packs. We've been trying to buy a chemical toilet but they are all down in Christchurch.

This is a good list:emergency survival items


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> Final tally, 14 deaths.
> 6 in North Carolina
> 3 in Virginia
> 2 in New York
> ...


That's very sad.

I've not heard of hurricanes reaching that far north of the US before. Does it happen often & we just don't hear about it over here?


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

No, it doesn't happen often. New York City hasn't had one in decades.
The death tally is up to 21 now, with more people dying up North including one woman in Vermont.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

sospiro said:


> That's very sad.
> 
> I've not heard of hurricanes reaching that far north of the US before. Does it happen often & we just don't hear about it over here?


The storms usually turn out to sea before they get to New Jersey.

The Vermont river towns got more water than they could handle, but the wind mostly behaved itself.

Vermont was settled long before Edison, when moving water powered industry. So the settlements grew next to the rivers - and were attracted to places with falls or narrows. The land is so hilly that flood water in many populated places can't spread out much. It moves quickly, with that once sought after power much magnified.


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## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

The situation in Vermont made the news here in the UK:

*http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14705975*

As of this morning Irene was in Quebec. Clearly she is no southern belle. I wonder if a hurricane has ever made it as far as Newfoundland. That would be really messy because of all the icebergs.


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## GoneBaroque (Jun 16, 2011)

Irene passed by to the West of us leaving only minor flooding in low lying areas. could have been much worse.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

The death toll jumped today to 35.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> The death toll jumped today to 35.


All of this on Obama's watch, too!


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Hilltroll72 said:


> All of this on Obama's watch, too!


While I am sad to hear about any loss of life anywhere,...I don't see what a natural disaster has to do with anyone...I don't care either way but, really?...I pretty much lost my house and I blamed it on no one but Andrew...does the WH have some power over hurricanes that I've not been made aware of?...if so, please send a few Cat 2's my way!! My palms need the water and I sure need the excitement in my life!...if not, well..what a shame that western wind didn't blow the way it should have...it just could have taken this biotch away.


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

kv466 said:


> While I am sad to hear about any loss of life anywhere,...I don't see what a natural disaster has to do with anyone...I don't care either way but, really?...I pretty much lost my house and I blamed it on no one but Andrew...does the WH have some power over hurricanes that I've not been made aware of?...if so, please send a few Cat 2's my way!! My palms need the water and I sure need the excitement in my life!...if not, well..what a shame that western wind didn't blow the way it should have...it just could have taken this biotch away.


I'm pretty sure it a joke


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I hated it. I was just moving into college that day, and I walked through that wind and rain many times over to get meals, go to the school of music to practice, etc. Rain is nice, but not meant to be walked in.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Sucks for you costal peoples. Worst we get out here in the mountains is the occasional parking lot dust devil.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Couchie said:


> Sucks for you costal peoples. Worst we get out here in the mountains is the occasional parking lot dust devil.


But you have green monsters.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Ravellian said:


> I'm pretty sure it a joke


Yeah... maybe we need a sarcasm emoticon?

I've been complaining about the lack of some specific emoticons for awhile now. Is anybody listening up there?


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## jurianbai (Nov 23, 2008)

so many natural disasters over the year. Flood in Brisbane, EQ in Christchurch, Japan etc, I wonder if we have "emergency" member report watch. 

As always I hope everybody stay strong. We are watching here (and the NY stocks...)..
Overhere, hurricane Nanmadol is on action, in Phillipine and Taiwan.


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## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

Hilltroll72 said:


> Yeah... maybe we need a sarcasm emoticon?
> 
> I've been complaining about the lack of some specific emoticons for awhile now. Is anybody listening up there?


Somebody once did propose an emoticon for sarcasm. I can't remember what it looked like, though.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Hilltroll72 said:


> Yeah... maybe we need a sarcasm emoticon?
> 
> I've been complaining about the lack of some specific emoticons for awhile now. Is anybody listening up there?


We do have one. It's the rolling eyes one.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

That emoticon does not convey sarcasm anywhere near unequivocally enough. The one time I tried using it for a 'well maybe' purpose in a response it was interpreted more like 'listen to this BS' - or possibly 'what an *******'. People do not roll their eyes when expressing sarcasm. Maybe an 'in profile' head with pursed lips, and music notes issuing from them?

:wave:

[how do you interpret that emoticon in this context?]


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Hilltroll72 said:


> That emoticon does not convey sarcasm anywhere near unequivocally enough. The one time I tried using it for a 'well maybe' purpose in a response it was interpreted more like 'listen to this BS' - or possibly 'what an *******'. People do not roll their eyes when expressing sarcasm. Maybe an 'in profile' head with pursed lips, and music notes issuing from them?
> 
> :wave:
> 
> [how do you interpret that emoticon in this context?]


fsharpmajor came up with this, might work:

http://www.talkclassical.com/14729-sarcmark.html


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

There's also the percontination point (Unicode U+2E2E, in Supplemental Punctuation block):
"Your political opinion is extremely original⸮"

It was meant for rhetorical questions, but has also been used for irony and sarcasm.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Kopachris said:


> There's also the percontination point (Unicode U+2E2E, in Supplemental Punctuation block):
> "Your political opinion is extremely original⸮"
> 
> It was meant for rhetorical questions, but has also been used for irony and sarcasm.


Your suggestions, and the sarcmark, have the disadvantage (in my opinion) of not being pictographs, as emoticons are.

_I want my emoticon!_


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Hilltroll72 said:


> Your suggestions, and the sarcmark, have the disadvantage (in my opinion) of not being pictographs, as emoticons are.
> 
> _I want my emoticon!_




Or you might find one on here.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Could be one there, but my navigational skills are inadequate.


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