Is Irene going to hit you?

Guys - you are still in all our thoughts and prayers - especially as there seems to be another one brewing SSW of Bermuda!

Stay safe.

Right now Atlantic City, NJ is getting nailed. Up here on LI most of the local buoys in the Dial-A-Buoy network are off line, but the one near Rockaway (NYC) is reporting winds about 39 kts with gusts to about 49 kts. Seas are running 17'. Unfortunately I won't get local land info, like if a tornado is spawned, because I cut my TV service when Cablevision raised my rate 300%. Normally I don't miss it, because TV is mostly just repeats and commercials, but at moments like this it would be kind of nice if to know if we should head for the basement.

Many thanks to K1W1, SeaEric and Loren Schweizer for their entirely cheap and personally-insulting responses. Was it my poor spelling and/or bad grammar that prompted the replies:

At least NYCAP123 had the decency to address some of the issues which I raised. I'm pretty sure that most of my fellow forum members here understood that I was alluding to all the problems / failures in the wake of Katrina.

But K1W1, SeaEric and Loren Schweizer obviously consider themselves to be some sort of special clan here? Did you have to cut palms and exchange your blood in some secret ritual? Do you share the same body tattoos situated in secret places? Do you have secret annual gatherings under the palm trees late into the night?

Back to the subject (ie. IRENE) then...

Certain area's have had mandatory evacuations for decades, such as the Florida Keys, coastal area's of South Florida, and further up the coast. Many people ignore the evacuation, and stay in their own homes and nothing is done by the authorities against them. They are encouraged to leave, but aren't forced to leave.

Hurricane shelters have also been set up for decades during hurricanes, many times they use School gyms and churches and places like that. These Buildings usually have very strong construction and very few windows and are more secure as well as the ability to hold many people. Some do allow pets. You can leave at anytime if you wish to do so at your free will.

Many people choose to go elsewhere and stay in a hotel and make a vacation out of it. Such as driving to the west coast of Florida. Other's choose to drive to a relative or friends house further inland or in a different city. But I would say that most states have sufficient amount of free shelters for anyone that chooses to use them.

Hope this answered your questions. What's with the attitude of your latest post?

Some things may have been lost in translation. I noted what seemed to be a bit of a condesending or critical attitude, but chose to address your misconceptions rather than get into a p--sing contest. Much more productive to educate rather than concentrate on what may just be cultural misunderstandings. The U.S. used to be a very well respected nation with citizens who were consided friends to most good people in the world. Many of our politicians got a bit full of themselves in recent years, but most of our citizens are sill the same people who the world (including the French) considered friends. We even had garbage going on about renaming French Fries. How stupid and beneath us was that?

maybe you should go to Paris for a couple of weeks and see how the french treat you... will put things into perspective!

i'd say airship rants are pretty typical of their attitude...

When did you go to France last time..? No, second thought, let´s keep the topic to Irene...

There's two ways to deal with people, i.e. bring them around or crush them. The first is a little more work, but well worth it when it works. The U.S. earned the reputation it got as bullies over the past decade or so. Unfortunately it obscured what good people we have here. People have got to learn that governments are not the people. Fortunately, the U.S. government changes radically every 4 to 8 years. Hopefully the French will learn to recognize that. I admit certain personal prejudices against the French, but I still meet each as an individual and I've met some I like just fine. Hey they brought us Bridget Bardot and some real nice wines. I'm not ready to give up.

"Fortunately, the U.S. government changes radically every 4 to 8 years."

fortunately indeed... only 15 months to go

We always hope, although usually we are disappointed.

Amen. And the economy will change with it.

indeed many are very disapointed with Hope n Change these days

cant' be worst...

you're right about costs, one of the candidate is aiming at raising $1B

Our Congress currently enjoys the highest dissatisfaction rating of any congress. Either they or the president will be going. Wouldn't it be sad or maybe ironic though if they both went and we ended up in the same situation again just in reverse. One party puts us into wars we have no business in, debt up to our eyeballs and destroys the world's economy, gets us universally hated and the other can't find their butts with both hands and has to ask permission to use it. They're all a bunch of clowns. I don't see any leaders in any bunch. Good luck kids. It's your world. Enjoy. Maybe we need to look to another country to come up with the superstar leaders of this political generation, because he (or she) is not here. Personally, I'm voting for Alfred E. Newman (Mad Magazine) for all political positions next time out. I'm totally disgusted with them all. Hey, it looks like Dick Cheney is angling for a comeback. Can anybody say 'End of the world'?

Despite the stream of off-topic personal rants... every so often there's one (like quoted here) that makes look for the 'like' button (ala FB)... well said CAP!

Well done Boys.
You took another thread (weather related) and politically highjacked it.

Simply amazing.
Accolades all around.

Well, Irene was pretty much done now anyway. So I guess there was still a lot of interest with not a lot more to add.
BTW, the latest I heard is that 18 people on the east coast lost their lives to Irene. That's 18 brothers, sons, fathers, sisters, daughters, mothers and friends. It's an easy storm to minimize because it landed in the middle of our coast and didn't live up to the hype the News gave it while trying to create news in the major population areas, Florida and NY. But it did impact a lot of lives and devastated more than a few. Let's remember them and all those who were devastated by this storm as we go to sleep tonight.

Yes from the Unions and Corporations that he exempted from Obamacare, the very said healthcare system he created, how is that Constitutional? If it's not good enough for his supporters, why would it be good enough for anyone else?