[extropy-chat] hurricane frances

[Spike]

> Harvey Newstrom
> Subject: Re: [extropy-chat] hurricane frances
...
> 
> Spike, trees are already down in my home town of Melbourne now.  They 
> are predicting sustained winds of over 100 MPH for over 24 
> hours.  Did you see the pictures from hurricane Charley?...

I did, and that is a perfect introduction to my point.
Some Floridians live in storm surge areas, in tar paper
shacks, in mobile homes.  Sure these guys need to get 
the hailllll outta Dodge.  

But most Floridians need to assess their positions in
a sober logical way.  Most Floridians live in sturdy
cinder block houses with steel truss anchors and foundation
bolts.  They built them that way because they live in
hurricane country.  My beef is that the governments
and news made people think they were *legally required*
to leave their homes, MANDATORY evacuation and so forth.  
I say to hell with that.  If I build my home to stand 
against a hurricane, then I intend to STAY IN IT, and
I don't care what the local constabulary says.

You may recall my rant against requiring smoke detectors.
This situation is a little like that.  As they are installed,
on the ceilings, smoke detectors have batteries in them that 
run out after a couple years, then they start to chirp, the 
battery must be replaced, even if it is in the middle of 
the night, by climbing upon a ladder or other structure.  If 
the homeowner is in any one of the following categories
{elderly, clumsy, stoned, sleepy, drunk, sick, epileptic,
cocky, weak, blind or stupid (and who among us has never been
in one or more of these categories at some time?)} then the 
law has introduced more risk to that homeowner than they 
would have had with no smoke detectors at all, particularly 
if the homeowner doesn't smoke! 

In the storm sitch, many if not most Floridians are living in 
damn sturdy houses, with all the trees trimmed and all the debris
carefully picked up.  To order these people out onto the freeway
where there may or may not be adequate fuel, water, food and medical
supplies on the route, is silly and dangerous.  It introduces
more risk than the storm.

Nowthen, to sharpen my criticism of the news media and to
offer a solution, please read on.

The news agencies create the illusion of greater destruction
than is actually the case.  They need to, thats the nature
of the business.  They must show images of a structure that
has blown over, a devastated trailer park, those dramatic
videos of blowing palm trees.  But the majority of homes come thru
with little damage, perhaps a broken window here or a few shingles
torn off there, an aluminum awning that lands somewhere in the 
next county, nothing serious.

Remember the earthquake of 89?  Did you watch the news that 
time?  Didn't they make it look like the whole San Francisco
Bay was on fire?  My poor parents, they already have bad
nerves.  But the damage was fairly localized, with the rest 
of us suffering only minor damage.

Heres my proposal.  Let a group of volunteers set up a webcam
in their neighbor's house, looking back at their own house.
Then when an earthquake hits or a storm comes, everyone can
log on and take a *random survey* of the local homes.
In 89, the ExIers could have quickly learned that over 99% 
homes stood up fine, a broken window here, a masonry crack
there, most homes suffering no damage.  The news artificially
concentrates the damage scenes, making look a lot worse than
it really is.  A random walk thru neighborhood videos might
have you searching for hours before one found *any* earthquake
damage, and I suspect the same for serious hurricane damage.  

Right now *most of those evacuated Florida neighborhoods*
are doing just fine, and heres the worst part for those who
fled: they have a few neighbors who calmly assessed their
risks, and decided to board up the windows, picked up
the plastic lawn flamingos, set in a few days supplies,
told the sheriff to go to mind his own business.  Those people
are having the time of their lives!  They may have holed up
with their sweethearts, they're in there in the dark
playing strip twister, trying for the world record in
olympic copulation, or whatever.  They're riding out that storm,
doing all those things they did when they first met but are
now usually too busy or too distracted to do.  No TV, no
internet, no video games, not a single luxury.  Like Robinson
Caruso, it's primitive as can be.  Wouldn't you like to do that 
for a couple days?  I would.

I urge people to look around at their house and think.  In
many cases the right answer is STAND FIRM soldier!  Hold
your ground.  Thats what both sets of my parents decided
to do, not far from Melbourne.  I don't like to think of
them down there playing naked twister (ewww), but I wouldn't
be at all surprised if that is what they are doing right
this minute, as Frances rages outside.

spike