Hurricane Irma

[BubblyShell22]

Good to know. So then a hurricane will never be named Katrina or Andrew again since those were deadly hurricanes. You learn something new every day.

[The Deadman]

Yeah Harvey and possibly this one will definitely be retired after this season.

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by Katie

Like the year Katrina hit, if they run through all the names on a list for a certian year, they go to the Greek alphabet.

Have we ever even gotten to the Greek names other than in 2005? That was wild. I remember even at the end of the year we still had a named storm. Two that December. Only reason that list stopped was because the year did! (I'd thought we might start on the next list early in Jan. but they oddly stopped after Zeta died post-New Year.)



So Irma is edging eastward? This is good I hope for a portion of FL, even if just a little?

[plastroncafe]

Three confirmed deaths in Puerto Rico. 70% of people without power, 18% without access to running water, and 42% of the hospitals being operational.

[Refractive Reflections]

Good thing we have CNN to inform us, that maybe if this hurricane had a masculine name, maybe this gender-biased society would have taken Hurricane Irma more seriously:

(CNN)Apparently sexism isn't just a social problem -- if you're in the path of a hurricane, gender bias might actually kill you.

A study suggests people prepare differently for hurricanes depending on whether the storm has a male or female name.

"Feminine-named hurricanes (vs. masculine-named hurricanes) cause significantly more deaths, apparently because they lead to a lower perceived risk and consequently less preparedness," a team of researchers wrote in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In other words, a hurricane named "Priscilla" probably wouldn't be taken as seriously as a hurricane named "Bruno," which might spark more fear and prompt more people to flee.

Researchers backed up their claims with death rates from U.S. hurricanes from 1950 to 2012. (They also conducted experiments on how people would react to hypothetical male and female hurricanes -- more on that later.)

The study suggests that changing a severe hurricane's name from Charley to Eloise could nearly triple its death toll.

"For severe storms, where taking protective action would have the greatest potential to save lives, the masculinity-femininity of a hurricane's name predicted its death toll," the study said.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/01/health...rnd/index.html

[IndigoErth]

Saw that turn up on Google the other day, and via multiple sources... so it wasn't CNN's study, so why blame them. Not like they're the only ones who reported on it.

And if a study did find that some people seem to stupidly take a storm less seriously based on its name, so be it. Some humans are dumb like that. Survival of the fittest will take care of them.

Undoubtedly similar might happen with softer sounding male names vs more macho sounding. Only an idiot will judge it by its name, but... let said idiot go ahead with it.

[plastroncafe]

Unfortunately Survival of the Fittest really means Survival of the Just Fit Enough To Eek By.

The study on Female Named Storms being more deadly isn't some grand new revelation, it's from a 2014 paper.

You can read a dissection of the paper Here.

Or the paper itself Here.

It important to note that only female presenting names were used to name storms between 1950 and 1978, so that kind of skews the data a bit.

Honestly? There's just way too many variables to consider when one looks at the overall danger of a given storm.

The socio-economic background of the community. The severity of the storm. The infrastructure. Where the people in said community get their information.

I just read a transcript of a hard-right leaning talking head who told people not to worry about buying bottled water, because the stuff from the tap is fine.

Which, I'm sure in their neck of the woods it is...but that's not always the case. And might not be the case after the storm hits.

[Katie]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Have we ever even gotten to the Greek names other than in 2005? That was wild. I remember even at the end of the year we still had a named storm. Two that December. Only reason that list stopped was because the year did! (I'd thought we might start on the next list early in Jan. but they oddly stopped after Zeta died post-New Year.)



So Irma is edging eastward? This is good I hope for a portion of FL, even if just a little?

That was the only year besides the years with no naming convention that the Greek names were used.

There's still alot of play in the track. I see they have moved it back slightly to the west again so they have it running straight up the peninsula again.

I just hope it stays out of the Gulf. For my vacaton and home's sake. If it goes in the Gulf it will stay HUGE. Its already the longest lived Cat 5 in recorded Atlantic history.

[IndigoErth]

Bleh, that sucks that it moved back over. Best of luck with this thing...

Originally Posted by plastroncafe

I just read a transcript of a hard-right leaning talking head who told people not to worry about buying bottled water, because the stuff from the tap is fine.

He really didn't think that through nearly enough. Sure, if you already have old clean milk jugs or other containers you can fill up, do it. (And some news sources have been suggesting people do.) But as you said, post storm... then what? A little listeria (or whatever is more likely) goes a long way.

Those unsealed containers will also only keep for so long, of course. Better to use those first and still have some sealed ones for backup later.

[plastroncafe]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

He really didn't think that through nearly enough. Sure, if you already have old clean milk jugs or other containers you can fill up, do it. (And some news sources have been suggesting people do.) But as you said, post storm... then what? A little listeria (or whatever is more likely) goes a long way.

Those unsealed containers will also only keep for so long, of course. Better to use those first and still have some sealed ones for backup later.

Better their GI tract than mine. Honestly, anyone who considers him, or those like him, to be reliable or credible in any way only have themselves to blame.

[TigerClaw]

Here's video of Hurricane Irma from the ISS today, she's HUGE!

[The Deadman]

The fact anyone is talking about a study based on what named hurricanes are taken more seriously boggles my mind. We just had Harvey which devastated Houston and now Irma is about to unleash on Florida. Who cares. What's next, are we gonna waste time talking about how hurricanes with latino names arent taken seriously like Jose?

[Katie]

Nah, you missed the point. He posted that to be political. "Oh hai guiz! Isn't CNN such fake news! LOL. stupid feminists."

Never mind that plenty of other news outlets posted it as an interesting phenomenon and CNN didn't create the study

[The Deadman]

Everyone and their mother tried to make Harvey political and even then, that got annoying. Let's stick to what's important here and that's the safety of the people in the southeast.

[Shark_Blade]

Originally Posted by Refractive Reflections

Good thing we have CNN to inform us, that maybe if this hurricane had a masculine name, maybe this gender-biased society would have taken Hurricane Irma more seriously:



http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/01/health...rnd/index.html

Maybe they deserve to die due to their own stupidity. A hurricane is a hurricane, their own gender bias to the names doesn't change the danger it brings.

[plastroncafe]

Originally Posted by The Deadman

Everyone and their mother tried to make Harvey political and even then, that got annoying. Let's stick to what's important here and that's the safety of the people in the southeast.

Except that keeping those people safe IS political.
Infrastructure maintenance and upgrades are political.
Disaster relief is political.

All of that stuff comes from somewhere, and has to be paid for somehow.
A bunch of the lawmakers looking for funding for Houston denied similar funding for New York for the damage done by Sandy.

[TurtleWA]

Some are saying Harvey funding will be tied to funding "the wall." That sounds political to me and also reminds me of the following quote.
"You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before." -Rahm Emanuel

[Katie]

Originally Posted by The Deadman

Everyone and their mother tried to make Harvey political and even then, that got annoying. Let's stick to what's important here and that's the safety of the people in the southeast.

Everything's always political these days. There's a huge online laugh fest about that CNN story and on the other side, Rush Limbaugh basically said all the coverage if the hurricanes by media was part of a money grabbing conspiracy between the local news and retail stores. TLDR: he says hurricane coverage is fake news.

I am constantly amazed at what can be exploited to fit some narrative these days.

Both sides of the political spectrum have lost their minds.

[BubblyShell22]

Everything in our lives is going to be political nowadays. That's just the way things are and we just have to either deal with it or ignore it. I'm definitely more concerned about the safety of others, but certain things are funded by the government such as FEMA.

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by Katie

Both sides of the political spectrum have lost their minds.

That's what you get, when technology allows to develop "infobubbles" which unite people based on their "beliefs".

Before, people could be united by their beliefs, but they still were forced to interact with outside world, so their insanity / zelousness was kept in check, either because of ethics or because their day-to-day interactions were not allowed them to become completely brainwashed.

Nowadays, people can create an environment, where they can be surrounded by only like-minded individuals almost 24/7. Which allow their zealousness to grow and fester unchecked. Add to this default teenage maximalism and people who want to use others for their own gain (but not necessarily believing in whatever they are preaching), and you are in one heck of a ride.

Personally, I have grown weary of this left-right tug-o-war, and really want both radical sides of the spectrum to fall under the earth or something, because at this point it's not battle for progress or status quo, its just dickwaving contest, which doesn't lead to anything, but to more division, confusion and hatred. Both sides, have compromised themselves to the point, when they have become laughing stock for normal people, but I guess, it will take time to tide of insanity to die down.

Of course, it doesn't mean that this insanity is something new (idiots were always part of the humanity), but those unstable individuals, who could not influence a lot of people before and were mostly silent, nowadays receive a platform and a way to affect lives of other people. And this is a problem.

Sorry, for being slightly off-topic.