Hugh Laurie and the Band from TV doing a somewhat atypical version of the folk standard “Goodnight, Irene.” More typical versions come from Johnny Cash, Eric Clapton and Sinatra. My favorite is that “little ol’ fella with his shiny guitar,” Mississippi John Hurt, and of course the baseline is the great Leadbelly.
So, yes, Hurricane Irene is headed up the coast. As of this writing, Albany is expecting torrential rains and high winds, which might take me off the network for a little while.
Exactly how bad it’s likely to be is hard to gauge. There’s a principle within American media corporations, which are heavily based in New York City, that the newsworthiness of an event is directly related to its proximity to the Big Apple. Since Irene is scheduled to pass over NYC, many stations are in freak-out mode.
So I may be out of touch for a few days. Feel free to treat this as an open thread.
Take care out there.
This is a big, if not especially powerful hurricane. Irene’s outer cloud bands swept over us midafternoon yesterday and shut off our sunshine, while the eye was still way down in North Carolina. Winds are currently gusting to 40 mph here in Rochester (7:15 a.m. local time), the actual rain bands are only 40 miles to the east of us. We may or may not get wet here, but if it happens, it will be later this morning or early this afternoon.
We are being grazed by the northwest quadrant. No worries about tornados. The expected rain and wind are well within the parameters that we are used to from ordinary storm systems. Any power outages here are going to be brief and highly localized.
How long before some fundie douche says it’s Gawd’s wrath for gay marriage?
It’s already a blessing: http://scotteriology.wordpress.com/2011/08/28/glenn-beck-hurricane-irene-is-a-blessing-stock-food/
Bachmann has also put in her words on the subject (shocker!)
http://thedailywh.at/2011/08/29/quote-of-the-day-27/
Irresponsible fiscal policies cause natural disasters. Got it.
I like the way her spokesperson said that she made the comment “in jest”. Because – you know – you can’t blame such a wonderful, loving God for the bad things.
But it’s still an interesting comment. I mean, really, what does God have to do to get the attention of the politicians? How about just show up? That would probably work for the rest of us as well.
~Not intended to be a factual statement
At least she let the gays off the hook this time. I guess it’s back to being responsible for tsunamis.
I love Laurie’s versions of Puttin’ on the Ritz and Kickin’ Ass.
I’ve had a long night keeping the sump pump running with a little gas generator. Screw the food in the fridge, I didn’t want to have to pay for a pump-out and a new furnace. There has to be a better way…solar?
assuming the solar panels don’t blow away in the storm, sure.
Actually, I was thinking of a solar generator. The ‘juice’ is stored in a battery. As for roof-mounted panels, the folks in Florida are apparently already dealing with this issue:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/08/solar_panels_in.php
I like the idea of the roll-down shutter over the panels. Then you can roll it back up and get electricity when the storm is over. However this still assumes that the roof is left in tact. Maybe we just need a big roll-down encasement for the whole house…
Battery storage solar is very expensive. People almost always go grid-tied unless they are building more than maybe 1/2 mile from existing power lines. Of course it would have been nice since we lost power for a day but you can’t use the panels.
Irene has moved on. She flirted with us from a distance, dumping much rain on the county next door. We had not one single drop. Plenty of wind and downed tree limbs, though, but nothing more severe than we normally get in March and April every year.
Stay safe out there
My family still doesn’t have power back in NJ. I really hope they get it on soon or everything in the freezer will go bad. I guess that’s still better than what it could have done though.