Worst.
Possible.
Path.

^{Bye bye Big Easy}

Despite the ensuing calamity, neither Katrina nor Rita were direct hits on New Orleans. In the hours after Katrina everyone was rejoicing that the city had dodged a bullet as the winds were a strong category 1 and the surge barely topped the leeves. Only after Biloxi and Pascegoula were being hit did the New Orleans levees break (I guess the local politicians had been spending their levee money on hookers and blow ).  New Orleans was flooded, Biloxi and Pascegoula were razed.

^{Mississippi 2005: What a direct hit looks like.}

Brendan Loy has more.
Shorter version:
If you are in New Orleans you need to be somewhere else.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 08:13 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Don is celebrating his ninth blogiversary in spectacular fashion.

Update 3: On the radio, I’m hearing phrases such as "stovepipe” and "half-mile wide.” I really may be communing with the spiders in my basement shortly.

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BURN 'EM!

A TEAM of Russian scientists has mysteriously lost contact with colleagues in the U.S. as they drill into a lake buried beneath the Antarctic ice for 20 million years.

^{Dramatic rendering by Agent Orange.}

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 03:48 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
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1 WHAT THE HELL IS THAT???

Posted by: Wonderduck at Sun Feb 5 09:40:34 2012 (DxepM)

2 That's one of the Old Gods.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Sun Feb 5 12:52:29 2012 (+rSRq)

3 Ah, something that belongs in the Moe-Moe Cthulu Encyclopedia Moe-Moe Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia! The Amazon preview doesn't include my favorite; I'll have to scan in the Shoggoth sometime.
Perhaps those Russians are now starring in the Living with Monster Girls comics Living with Monster Girls ... (and I hadn't known until just now that they're being turned into games)
-j

Posted by: J.Greely at Sun Feb 5 13:51:09 2012 (EJaOX)

4 I added NSFW tags at no extra charge.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sun Feb 5 13:53:52 2012 (EJaOX)

5 How did you do that? I didn't think we had the ability to edit comments.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Mon Feb 6 11:16:04 2012 (+rSRq)

6 We don't.
I copied and pasted it into the next comment along with his signature, added the tags then deleted the original. It defaulted back to #3 just like if a spam had been deleted. This is clumsy and runs the risk of people comment on the comment one deletes before one reposts it.

I didn't want to delete his comment but the links went to pages that would cause some  of my readers nosehairs to curl which would no doubt precipitate a fit of sneezing which could conceivably cause a lamp to get knocked over, thereby starting a fire which, if the reader is in an apartment complex could kill lots of innocents and precipitate a gas explosion thereby raining debris onto a nearby interstate thus causing a multi-car pile up that could conceivably include a truck carrying numerous prototype kill bots that due to damage to their programing might slaughter thousands and then make their way to the CDC  in Atlanta where they no doubt would unleash smallpox, marburg, Spanish influenza and airborne Ebola, starting a worldwide series of terrible pandemics killing millions and destroying civilization and ushering in a new Hobbesian dark age for the few scattered survivors.   

...and I just didn't want to have to deal with that.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Mon Feb 6 11:58:16 2012 (EJaOX)

7 Had I known that I was going to destroy civilization, I'd have added some creepy overspecialized Tumblr-porn links just to finish the survivors off in style.

(his editing technique was revealed by the hash at the end of the comment)

-j

Posted by: J Greely at Mon Feb 6 12:15:49 2012 (2XtN5)

8 I saw a picture recently, that I wish I could find again.

It was purportedly of the Lake Vostok drilling site, and prominently featured a large red transporter or crane or something with the words "Natural Environment Research Council" (a UK group that seems to be involved in the project) stenciled in white.

Only, somebody had 'shopped the last word into "Venture", instead.

Posted by: BigD at Wed Feb 8 19:34:48 2012 (qLkdZ)

9 BigD, eath_C0015_wings-of-light.jpg">this was pretty much what I though of when the news broke that they lost contact with the team.

Posted by: JP Gibb at Wed Feb 8 20:53:49 2012 (VSD03)

10 The hell? I swear that worked when I previewed it.

Posted by: JP Gibb at Wed Feb 8 20:55:00 2012 (VSD03)

11

You have to use BBCode. It looks like this:

(left-square-bracket)img="filepath"(right-square-bracket)

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Thu Feb 9 14:22:03 2012 (+rSRq)

12 However, don't do it. Deep linking a picture from someone else's server is rude.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Thu Feb 9 14:22:53 2012 (+rSRq)

13 That's the weird part, I was trying to link to the image, not display it (which is rude not only to the host, but often screws with the formatting in the comments too).

Posted by: JP Gibb at Thu Feb 9 21:37:03 2012 (VSD03)

14

The easiest way to do that is to just drop the URL inline:

http://ai.mee.nu/ 

The code here will automatically change it into a link.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Fri Feb 10 18:58:57 2012 (+rSRq)

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The debris field from the Tohaku quake/tsunami is now just west of Midway.

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Via ACE. A report that all 100 senators have been called into a security briefing regards the alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in DC.

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Well, we're still bewildered that we have power. No one in our immediate area aside from our neighborhood and an adjoining road does.

Most of the early part of today was spent cleaning up the yard.

This afternoon, I drove over to Newport News and later Virginia Beach to check on friends who weren't answering their phones...they are OK, modern landline phones don't work with no power.

Along the way I noted the damage, which consisted of a lot of blown down trees and missing signs.

Now, the storm lasted a LONG time here. It spawned tornadoes and its surge, which was abnormally high for storm of its intensity, came at the highest tide of the year. There was also a LOT of rain.

That..being...said...
As hurricanes go, this was a pretty gimp event.

This is Virginia, which happens to be in the coastal southeast. We are going to get hurricanes. I don't think that sustained hurricane force winds were actually recorded at ground level in Virginia. We actually endured a CAT 0.8. Such a storm ought not to have left just under a million people without power. It ought not to have collapsed a bridge. We wasted all that money on bailouts, and in the stimulus, and we didn't do jack for the actual infrastructure. Given the disruption and damage caused by this"hurricane by technicality", an actual CAT 4 or 5 storm would not have just left almost a million without power, it would have left nearly as many dead and shut down the whole state.

These were all lessons that ought to have been learned after Isabel. We've had 8 years.

It should be noted however, that there were some good points.  The storm drains which had been such a colossal failure during Isabel and Floyd and contributed to so much flooding, seemed to work very well this time except in areas that were very low lying anyway...and physics comes into play there.   So there was one civil engineering win.

In other good news, all that rain surely put out the fire Great Dismal Swamp so we don't...wait...what?...OH YOU ARE KIDDING ME!1!!

Grrr...Fires, earthquakes, storms...if there are suddenly swarms of bugs I'm gonna...

Oh good grief...

^{Bugnadoes!? In MY neighborhood?}

They don't show up well on the Blackberry camera but that's how thick the bugs are right now.

I'm off to work.

I hope everyone else is safe.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 12:06 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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It looks like flooding will continue to worsen in Chesapeake for a time, but aside from severe thunderstorms, the possibility of tornadoes and the strange phenomenon of the wind being worse in what should be the least dangerous quadrant the worst seems to be over or us.

The same can't be said for the rest of the country. Remember, we were having a mild drought when these rains came, the Northeast has been soaked already. The huge rain on saturated ground and the possibility of an 8 foot storm surge and a high tide arrival is going to be a very rude awakening to Northeasterners.  The storm is already reorganizing and strengthening a bit as I type this. Weather Nerd has more. 

North Carolina and Virginia took a hit but those still in its path may well get the worst of it.

If you are northeast of here, this storm is NOT spent and it is coming toward you.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 08:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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The storm is now offshore, but she held the worst waited for last. WNIS, which is broadcasting from Dominion Tower, is reporting the Elizabeth River is now topping the Norfolk seawall, financial district flooded. Dominion Tower parking garage is flooded. 
Caller reports hip high water in Fox Hill in Hampton.
Water mains have broken in Norfolk.

UPDATE: Nags Head reports that Albermarle Sound is overflowing and breaching the barrier island west to east....this will sweep everything out to sea.

UPDATE: Governor McDonnell  sez: 877,470 without power. 3 Deaths confirmed 1 in Richmond area. ALL major bridges and tunnels out of commission.

UPDATE: The storm is 30 miles offshore but the wind is the worse yet. House is shaking.  Radio reports Tidewater Drive is impassable. 6 inches of water in back yard. Reports on radio indicate LOTS of flooding.

UPDATE: I've just been informed that Wonderduck has better flooding pics.

 UPDATE: Wind sounds like thunder. Lights flickering. Sounds like branches are breaking. Bizarre that we get this now.

UPDATE: Radio says Midtown Tunnel not reopening. Great.

UPDATE: Radio says Richmond and Fredricksburg have a really large number of power outages.

21:41 UPDATE: The storm is more than 45 miles off shore and Naval Air Station Oceana STILL reports 69MPH wings in the "safe" quadrant. We've been getting the worst winds of the day since the storm passed offshore.

21:50 UPDATE: Radio Weather Dude says that the storm is strengthening as it passes over the water which is why we are getting more wind. There is a posibility that the Midtown Tunnel may open by Monday.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 07:21 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Portsmouth announced a curfew...to go into effect after the worst has passed.

The Portsmouth curfew was in effect as of 8 p.m. and was to be lifted at 8 a.m. Sunday. No person shall be on any public street between those hours unless for an emergency or essential purpose or operation of a business, the city said.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:47 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Info comes via WNIS.

No other info, but my commute to school from work has gotten longer.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 05:21 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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We had a break in the storm about an hour ago and as part of my overall policy of making bad decisions I ran out to move my car (which was being menaced by a steadily listing tree) and drove around the neighborhood for a few minutes.

15 -21 inches of rain is what they're saying.

Everything smells like rotting fish.

702,413 reported without power in VA. Our neighborhood is an anomaly that is not likely to last long.
 
The break in the storm is well and truly over. The winds are picking up rapidly and the rain is again coming down in sheets.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 05:06 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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This should not be news but...In marked contrast to The Weather Channel, the local network affiliates and the local Talk Station  (AM 790 WNIS) are doing a stellar job of reporting the situation. Dave Parker the Talk Host is a consummate professional.

Weather Nerd is doing a fine drama free coverage of this on a national level.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 01:55 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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2 tornadoes have touched down in Sandbridge, a lowlying area of Virginia Beach near the NC state line containing the northernmost of the sounds and barrier islands. A caller on the radio reports considerable damage. The area is in the no go zone, no responders will be sent till after the storm passes.

Tornado warnings a bit ago in Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk but they have been lifted.

Via 790AM WNIS: Brookridge Apts in Newport News has been stove by a tree. A child is reportedly pinned.
UPDATE: Chid is dead.

Winds are picking up substantially.

350,000 380,000 without power.

Caller on radio reports Blackwater River is flooding the town of Franklin which suffered so much in Floyd.

5 hours till maximum winds. It looks like the dead center will pass right over us. There is expected to be a 7 foot storm surge or greater and will coincide with high tide.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 01:07 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Aiee.
There is rain.

Wind here is 15-25 knots. Weather Channel dude is on TV in nearby VA Beach dramatically "staggering" against the gale.

Weather Channel meteorologists, the mimes of the 21st century.

_{Actual video of Weather Channel meteorologists.}

Caller on the radio from Kill Devil Hills (which the Weather Channel reports devastated) reports terrible carnage amongst the islands pine cones. The storm is serious but not catastrophic. They really needed to stop overhyping the wind angle once it became clear it was not a major wind event. This will only cause people to ignore them in the future.


Note though that there IS rain...a LOT of rain;  really impressive rain that has been remarkably steady for hours.
I do expect inland flooding to be terrible.
Irene's jaundiced eye should pass over in 5-7 hours, nearly coinciding with high tide. Coastal flooding is going to be as bad as Isabel or worse.
This is going to be bad enough without the winds,...
...or the weather mimes.

100,000+ without power already including the next neighborhood over. We'll loose it here soon enough.
I'm going to go get what may be my last shower for a few days.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 11:35 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Yeah yeah yeah, impending storm and all that...
...but you know what jumps out to me on this latest NOAA map?

Qaqortoq stands a chance of getting hit by a tropical storm. That just ain't right.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at 06:28 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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One good thing about the approaching hurricane. It will probably put out the huge peat fire in the Great Dismal Swamp which has been stinking up Southeastern VA periodically (dependent on wind direction). Some days its seemed like pea soup fog, but it's really smoke. It smells like wet dog with a hint of charcoal. This has gone on for weeks. 

Here's how it looks from the International Space Station:

...and here's how it looks going into the Monitor Merrimack Bridge Tunnel when the wind is blowing from the swamp.

Some days it's like living in Silent Hill.

So, this month we've had fires, earthquakes and now the hurricane.

Soon...

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