Scott's Random Thought for the Day (Impending Doom)



You may have heard about the two hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico right now. If you live in Florida like I do, you've heard about nothing else for the last 48 hours. Of course, we still don't if Hurricane Charley will hit here, and we certainly didn't know two days ago, but that's hasn't stopped the local news channels from whipping viewers into a frenzy with predictions of impending Armageddon. Of course keeping viewers in constant fear increases the chances that they will watch the local channel (TO SAVE THEIR VERY LIVES!!!), so I suppose it's to be expected. I just wish people would be more canny about spotting the bias. The local channels have done the same thing for every storm in the gulf in recent years, even coming up with graphics for storms that missed us by a hundred miles.

However, if you keep making the same prediction long enough you'll eventually be right, and 24 hours out it looks like Charley will actually hit Tampa Bay or nearby environs. I'm not all that worried about it. I'm not in an evacuation zone, and it looks like the worst of it will be rain and flooding, which shouldn't have much of an effect on my apartment.

I'm glad I don't live in a TV show, because if I did this is where they would cut to footage of me soaked and shivering, trying to keep my most prized possessions above the rapidly rising water.

I'm powering up my camera, so I'll probably take some photos of the carnage. It looks like the storm is hitting at night, so it will have to be all aftermath pics. I may go out tomorrow morning and just get some pictures of buildings around downtown, because it will be nearly deserted down there.

Just to tide you over, here's a picture of what happens when office fixtures decide to go trick or treating.



Actually my workstation all hurricane-proofed.

Posted: Thu - August 12, 2004 at      

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