Nor'easter
Today has been one of those days when the weather intervenes and dictates things: snow and more snow, all up and down New England. It's one of the largest accumulations of this year, a season in which snowfall has been unusually light--so far.
I've got visitors, and so I'm not planning any big posts today. But it's fun to have this day of snow, especially on a Sunday when most people don't really have to go anywhere, and we can sit around and read the paper, talk, eat, and generally do a lot of nothing without feeling much pressure to do any more than that. And tonight, when things clear a bit, we're even planning to go out to eat.
So, no "Outcasts of Poker Flat" action here, I'm glad to report. When I was a child, something about that tale and the images it evoked gripped my imagination: the band of assorted people trapped in a cabin in a blizzard, day after day of snow and a dwindling food supply, drifts piling ever higher as the windows were obscured and the hut became buried. What started out as a cozy idyll ended up a horror story.
Snow in New England ordinarily has its plusses, as long as we don't get too much of it. The ski areas have been hurting this year, and now they'll be happy for a while. The kids--well, the kids love it, except for the unfortunate timing of this particular storm, that comes on a weekend and means they don't get a longed-for snow day. The rest of us get to enjoy the beauty of it--let's face it, it's just not winter without snow, and this year's snow cover has been a sometime thing.
Today brings us a nor'easter, one of those colorful old-fashioned words that basically means a big winter storm, with wind. Not a good time to be out at sea, but with modern weather forecasting the commercial fishermen and anyone else who might think of going out there in February are given plenty of advance warning.
Unlike the Outcasts, we here on land have also got the modern conveniences of electricity (so far), heat, refrigerators stocked with food, a market down the street, and snowplows hard at work to clear the way. It makes the storm a pleasant interlude rather than a fearful encounter with an overwhelming and sometimes harsh nature. But it's still a reminder--although a relatively tame one--of how essentially vulnerable we all remain.
See you tomorrow!
posted by neo-neocon @ 5:40 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Lol.
If a neocon shot someone, they would be fishing his head from the lake and his body from a post hanging upside down.
In January, it was soooo warm one might have thought GLOOBAAL WARMING was occuring. Now we see that everything has a cycle and a balance, and that periods of unusual warmth are balanced by periods of unusual coldness. Of course, the idea of a natural balance goes against the propaganda line of "human vs nature".
I think the world can survive with raised ocean levels, they're still there in tsunami land aren't they? But the world can't survive under a perpetual ice age, no sirre.
And I tend to appreciate humanity's warmth burning goodness that has kept this planet from the ice age it was supposed to slip into, as a result of a long period of warmth.
After all the hype, it was much ado about (almost) nothing here. We went into the weekend hearing 8-14 inches. We got 3-4. South of us they got hit harder. We're far enough up that global warming sounds like a good idea.
We don't love the cold, but our protections against it. We appreciate our fireplaces and flannel very little in summer.
We got about a foot of "sneaux" hereabouts.
These are the times that make me wish I didn't have to wait at least 7 more years until I can retire to Hawaii...and it'll probably be more like 10.
I think you would admit that it keeps Southern and California riff-raff out, for the most part...
As Ace said, Big freaking deal. It's more newsworthy when Dick Cheney doesn't shoot someone. I think that usually means six more weeks of winter.
Nobody pocks with the Dark Lord of the Severrus, Cheney.
Another Dick Cheney Dark Lord of the Vice Admiralty, moment.
Q: But that's ridiculous. Are you saying that you don't know within the White House? What took you so long?
McClellan: Listen again to what I said. The first priority is making sure Mr. Whittington is receiving medical care. Secondary to that is making sure you get the facts together and then as quickly as possible provide that information to the public. Now, the Vice President agreed with Mrs. Armstrong that it was best that she provide that information publicly first --
Q: Understanding that, but he doesn't even --
Link
Now, how I wish Clellen would be honest with the jokers. Here is what he should have said, in all honesty.
"Look guys, I know you want to get the scoop and get it out fast, but we're not like that here at the White House. We don't irresponsibly leak information and refuse to spend the time fact checking our sources. We're not out to fool the American people with claims of 'fake but accurate'. So, yes, we do take our time, and I'm sorry you don't like it, but we don't operate like the White House Press Corps.
It is ridiculous to expect the elected Executive branch to have a propaganda 10 second sound bite 1 hour after something happens. We leave that to the media.
I know you guys don't like fact checking things and you want the stuff now, now, but Christ Al Mighty can you guys just Stop for once, and let us do our job and check the facts before we tell the American people something that we know is definitely true? I know that's a lot of to ask, but we're asking here."
The White House needs an intervention, they are being MURDERED by the media. And the media ain't even elected. There goes the balance of powers.
A nor'easter is called that because the winds come from the northeast, driving the water onto the land, most of which would be affected by winds (and water) driven from the northeast. The mouths of most rivers in Massachusetts point to the northeast, also. Flooding is a worse problem than the snow is.
Ymarsakar, that was a great response. I do that sort of thing in my head - hear the weak response from somebody, then develop my own sterling, witty one.
'Course nobody ever asks me to give a response ...
*sigh*
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