Sunday, August 28, 2011

Hurricane Irene's crazy aunt Donna



As evidenced by the clip above, people's behaviors when faced with floods and cameras have not changed in 50 years. Same old stuff, but with prettier cars. 

The images are from Rockaway in the aftermath of Hurricane Donna in 1960. I particularly love the "oh shit how shall we get the car off the boardwalk" moment. 

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And... scene.

While the non stop news cycle continues to up-sell the hurricane storm, from our perch it was really no different than a regular storm, the type we have a couple times a year. Some trees fell on our street (which is not unusual) and there are small branches in the street. But to say this was a hurricane just doesn't seem right. Not that I wished for devastation, but I think that the media hype had people unnecessarily freaked out. Don't get me wrong, it's important not to be stupid (hurricane kayakers I'm talking to you), but to have the major networks (NBC, ABC, CBS) turn to 24 hour all news operations for 3 days seems a bit much. If you have to crash a wedding and broadcast live for no other reason than it was supposed to be a beach wedding that had to be moved inside, than perhaps it's time to return to the regularly scheduled programming.

So here we are, on the back end of a storm that produced its share of dumb reporting moments, from the aforementioned channel 4 wedding crash, to a reporter who unknowingly got covered in raw sewage. I think it's time for a nap - and than maybe, just maybe, a bit more of ridiculous non-news news coverage.

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Saturday, August 27, 2011

Irene (the incredible saga, as seen on TV)

There has been incessant media coverage about Hurricane Irene, and every time this happens it seems that is a big ado about nothing. So here is the blow by blow as it happens (or doesn't) as seen from our little perch across the Hudson.

We (sort of) followed instructions to put together a preparedness kit, modified to fit our needs as you can see below:



8:43 am - returned my mother's panicky phone call. I guess the news of impending doom and gloom have made it to South America. Great.

9:01 am - headed to Madame Claude for brunch. Had my usual bucket of cafe au lait. It was busier than usual for such an early hour. I guess they were not expecting that many people. There was a lot of available street parking - looks like quite a few people left (the rest went for early brunch it seems).

11 am - rain is starting. TV seems to be all weather all the time. Guessing they are peeing their pants in happiness.

11:24 am - Channel 4 (NBC affiliate) has officially run out of news to report and are now broadcasting live from someone's wedding in Long Branch, NJ. It seems that since it was supposed to be a beach wedding and now it is an indoor wedding, this merits live coverage. Reporter fumbling to comment on bride's dress, resulting in a report that is equal parts funny and pathetic.

11:29 am - rain subsiding. Some wind would be nice, since it's kinda hot. This is really boring. I'm going to bake some cookies. Back when something interesting happens.

12:12 pm - the rain stopped. It's hot and muggy. Our neighbor in the back seems to be mowing the grass.

1:53 pm - behold! Cookies!


3:24 pm - no rain, a bit cooler than earlier. News now downright silly and naked.

3:54 pm - funniest tweet I read thus far on the storm: "The Weather Channel has upgraded Irene from "unable to lift Gov Chris Christie" to "able to lift Gov Chris Christie." also "NC Gov says "Irene not as bad as originally thought." Meanwhile Guiness record for most people hiding under beds to be set in NYC."

4:44 pm - nope, still no rain.   a bit of rain. News continues to report on nothingness. Image of a man with an inflatable boat and two ores around Wall St. area - presumably waiting for the biblical floods.

7:30 pm - Got a pizza. Rain picking up. Watching Conviction and trying to spot the Ann Arbor (MI) locations. The Hurricane news cycle is now completely ridiculous.

9:39 pm - called my mom to let her know we are still alive. Rain is pretty steady now, and were it not for all the hooptla on the tee-vee I would say this is splendid sleeping weather.

10:20 pm - made some more ice. Would be a travesty to be without power and not be able to serve a chilled drink, no? Warm margaritas are simply not as delicious.

10:54 pm - it's been a long and non eventful day.  I'm going to follow the cat's lead and go to sleep



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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Plate Tectonics

We got ourselves an earthquake in New York City today.  

I was waiting for the uptown R train at the City Hall station to go meet a friend in the Village. I usually try to stand away from all the people for a better chance at a less crowded car and today I decided to walk forward to where the first or second subway car would stop. As I waited, the station started to fill up. Not crowded, but getting fuller. A few people were standing nearby.

As it is often the case with New York City subway stations, you can hear the rumble of traffic from the street above. I heard the beeping of a truck backing up. It stopped, and then I saw the fluorescent lights above my head start to shake a bit. I figured it must be the truck idling directly above my head. The shaking continued for several seconds, then intensified to where the lights were swaying back and forth.

It got creepy.

As the strong shaking continued, the steps down to the station started to groan, as if the dinosaur cast of Jurassic Park was giving chase to a group of unsuspecting tourists. It got really  loud for a split second. And then it was over. No one panicked or screamed. 

My train came and I left. It wasn’t until I got to where I was going and came above ground and saw the sidewalks crowded with office dwellers that it dawned on me that something significant had happened. Through my magical superpowers (eavesdropping on loud conversations) I gathered an earthquake hit New York.

And that’s my story. 

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