__
I’m assuming OfA will have posted an ad riffing off this clip by next weekend…
Our twilight was enlivened by a series of Frankensteinian TZOOORP! BZZZZZZAATTT! ! ! flash-bangs as a primary overhead wire, but not our primary wire (praise Murphy the trickster god), tore loose and started a small fire further down the block. Over the next two hours, as the power dropped in and out, we lost multiple fuses and (it looks like) the only remaining kitchen outlet for our small electronics, such as the microwave. If nothing worse happens overnight, we’ll consider ourselves very fortunate.
(Also, for some reason, our thunder-phobic rescue dog Zevon was not at all worried about the giant manmade electrical bursts of noise and light. Dogs are mysterious critters, and I renamed this one after the Excitable Boy for good reason!)
How are things holding up for the rest of the Balloon Juice community, inside or outside the Sandy perimeter?
***********
ETA: Via Americablog:
__
What was that German portmaneau word for “a face that cries out for a fist in it”?
Lojasmo
Can I has Seattle GTG sometime between 11/29 and 12/01?
Poopyman
Well, there’s a subthread in the post below, but I’m thinking that since we’re on a well I might want to take a shower while we still have power.
See y’all in a bit, powergrid willing.
anibundel
Buzzfeed is down!
Thankfully, I prepared for this by living in a house with multiple cats.
feebog
Wishing all of you on the East coast safe haven through this storm. Beautiful day here in SoCal, looking like a nice week as well.
Captain C
Very windy here in a Zone C part of Brooklyn. Apparently, the Battery, Red Hook (Brooklyn), and Rockaway are getting hit very hard.
anibundel
@feebog:
Our living room bay window box is leaking. I see new windows in our very near future.
Raven
Keeping up with live reports from Hatteras and NYC on the hated Facebook.
Cambridge Chuck
After four hours’ power outage, we’re back on the grid — was supposed to do GOTV calls for Warren, but not tonight! We’ve lit a fire in the fireplace and opened a decent red. Think we’ve ducked the worst of it here — but still holding breath re: storm surges for beach dwellers.
Robin G.
Quiet in the midwest, but worried about friends and family in central Maryland. Also, Ocean City is looking pretty wrecked. There goes my childhood :-/
PeakVT
@anibundel: Win.
General Stuck
Video no worky for me. I just hope Obama’s FEMA is on the ball. For several reasons, some political. Romney will once again claim he is for a federal disaster agency before he was agin it.. And it was his beautiful existence that takes credit for all that is wholesome and good.
The weather is wonderful here, though with chilly nights and my early twentieth century salvaged from the wreck of the TItanic gas heater, once again dead as Caesar.
aimai
Man, Cambridge Chuck, I’m in cambridge too. No power outages here (yet!).
aimai
ranchandsyrup
Prayers and good thoughts sent to all of our Juiceboxes back east and for that matter everyone back east. Have a few FB people on my feed that are posting stuff like, “rethinking weathering the storm on Roosevelt Island” then getting angry at people who express concern. Ahhh, humanity.
Raven
Tweety’s crew is delirious. They think that an efficient response will make the fucking teabaggers see the err of their ways! As if.
EconWatcher
At least in my part of Northern Virginia (Fairfax), this seems to be turning out to be a big nothing. Power still on, and wind forecast to begin slowing down in an hour. My best to all those harder hit.
anibundel
Jesus, the people on CNN are all about to die aren’t they?
Yutsano
A co-worker was kind enough to give me her reds shedoesn’t like, so I am now the proud owner of a Cab, a pinot noir, and a malbec. I think I’m set for my birthday tomorrow.
Steeplejack (phone)
Power out since 5:30 in my corner of NoVa. Sitting in the dark drinking champagne and nibbling almonds and dark chocolate. The housecat was kneading her heated throw, hoping CPR would revive its warming properties, but now she is randomly zooming around and coming for reassuring skritches.
Don’t think I’ll really go into Internet withdrawal until tomorrow morning.
Wind about the same–30 mph gusting to 50 mph.
Redshift
Power flickered once (in NoVA), but other than that it’s been fine. For a while, there was a drip in an odd place — near the peak of the roof next to the fireplace, and then oddly enough, it stopped. I hope it’s nothing serious; I’ll have to have a look up there after the storm.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
Repost from previous thread:
Just over the Mason-Dixon line in PA, we’ve had steady rain and ~30 mph winds, with higher gusts all afternoon. I’m estimating it from the Beaufort Scale as a 7, according to the evidence from trees and branches moving). Seems like an unending nor’easter on steroids to me.
ETA Still have power and cable.
Hawes
Sandy squats upon us like a flatulent sumo wrestler and the lights are flickering here in CT. I await the coming plunge into darkness and the return to the Dark Ages: War, Pestilence, Famine…. Death.
Also, too, no Monday Night Football.
anibundel
@EconWatcher:
I’m in Fairfax. Have I mentioned that our living room is leaking?
Also the siding came off the neighbor’s house and blew into our yard. We quietly put it back into their yard, in hopes that it might be a clue to check their siding–as when a piece of their roof came off in July, we did not do that and they seem to have no clue it happened.
No we haven’t had any 4 story apartment buildings collapse, but that doesn’t mean this is a big nothing.
General Stuck
Don’t nobody go fishing.
Hawes
@Raven: Right, because if there’s one thing you can use to convince a Teatard of something, it’s empirical evidence.
Mary G
I’ve just switched from the Weather Channel to MSNBC and I think I’ll change back. The difference in tone is amazing.
Here in So Cal it’s 69 degrees and sunny. I feel a little guilty. I hope all of you are safe and sound either hunkered down or evacuated.
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
Had a little electrical excitement outside earlier. Somehow they fixed it without cutting anybody’s power.
Right now I’m feeling the house start to shake and list like an old ship in the wind, while the loathsome Chuck Todd lectures me on the political implications of hurricanes.
Maybe the power will go out soon.
Raven
@anibundel: Keef Hartley Born to Die, smokin guitar.
John PM
We have a high wind and flood advisery for downtown Chicago for the next 24 hours. My office is far enough away from the Lake so I do not have to worry about flooding, but 60 mph winds through the skyscrapers will make for tough going. Fortunately, I early voted for Obama and Tammy Duckworth today, so one less thing to worry about. Hope everyone on the East Coast comes through ok.
sfinny
Very windy here just north of NYC. Power went on and off for a while, but has been OK for the last hour. Figured I would turn the computer on to check email and BJ while I still have it.
cathyx
@Yutsano: Which will be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd?
El Cid
So is this finally Obama’s opportunity to activate all the ACORN-run FEMA camps and round up all the gun owners so that he can invite UN occupation forces to impose Shanana Law?
geg6
It’s been raining all day, they say about an inch so far. We expect, when it’s all over (they say Thursday), we’ll have gotten another 5-6. Over the last hour, the winds have really picked up and it’s really blowing out there. Anticipated winds of 40-50 mph. Local weather says the worst will come through from 9pm to 9am. And this is in Pittsburgh!
My OFA leader says we should all think about volunteering en masse for any disaster relief locally, at least until the worst is over. There will definitely be flooding of all the rivers and creeks and, with the Monongahela getting a foot of snow down in WVA, the big rivers (the Mon, the Allegheny and the Ohio) will hit flood stage, I’m guessing.
I have a lot of friends who live in low lying riverfront neighborhoods and towns. I’m worried for some of them. If we don’t lose electricity and Beaver doesn’t lose electricity, I’ll call the local OFA and see if volunteers are needed and if we’re going to make a joint effort.
PurpleGirl
Wind speed has been increasing and rain also increasing where I am. No power problems. From my windows I can’t really see our grounds very well so I won’t know about downed tree branches and such until I can go out.
Periodically it feels like my building is swaying. Weird sensation.
anibundel
@PeakVT:
Gawker is also down. But I assume that’s only ironically.
jnfr
I live outside Denver, and other than a few bits of lingering snow from last week, the weather is calm and sunny. Supposed to get up into the 70s and stay warm all week.
I’m watching the storm coverage because I have friends in the area of peril, but it’s weird to not be the one in a dangerous blizzard.
I think the ocean is angry, not that I’m superstitious or anything (much).
GregB
@Raven:
I have already seen a Newt-memed photo that states: Obama didn’t come back for Benghazi but he rush back for Sandy!
With a big picture of that pasty faced shitheel grinning from ear to ear.
Greg
It wouldn’t be fair to attribute this position to Gov. Romney now, because he’s almost certainly had 14 different positions on it since then. Spin the roulette wheel again! (Not really a fair roulette wheel, though. It always lands on stupid.)
Raven
@GregB: Oh yea.
? Martin
Battery Park now 12.54′ and still climbing. That’s a foot above what NHC and NWS predicted and still climbing at 2′ per hour. Half of that is normal tides. The other half is surge. High tide is in an hour or two so the rate of tidal increase should be diminishing now.
JGabriel
The previous record for a storm surge in Manhattan was set in 1821 at 11.2 feet. It flooded the city up to Canal Street.
The latest storm surge measure is at 12.75 feet, and high tide is still an hour away.
.
redshirt
@El Cid: About time. I’ve soooo been waiting for some good old Sharia Law.
guachi
Here in Laurel, MD (midway between DC and Baltimore) it’s been rainy (but not too bad) and windy (but not too bad). It’s not much worse than a typical all day rain.
Lights flickered, but even that’s normal for any rain storm.
My mother in Dover, DE got bombed with rain but it wasn’t very windy.
Looks like flooding is going to be the worst thing we get, barring a power outage. Keeping fingers crossed.
Darkrose
Worried about y’all on the other coast.
anibundel
@Raven:
Seriously, Erin Burnett is slowly drowning before our eyes, and no one is doing anything about it.
tworivers
I have to say, I’m a little less confident about Warren winning the MA senate than I was 2 weeks ago. I still think her chances are good, but I think some of Brown’s slimy dishonest attack ads (he’s got a new batch that are particularly appalling) have started their toll.
Was down on the South Shore driving around Marshfield and Scituate and saw a lot of Brown for MA sings ( his catchphrase on the sign: “He’s for us” – which leads me to ask “Yeah, but who do you mean by “us”? Wealthy Republican suburbanites?).
Am kinda burned out on elections at this point(and have volunteered for Warren on several occasions already), but this last week is going to count a lot, I think. No rest for the wicked (pissah liberal).
arguingwithsignposts
@anibundel:
Bwahahaha.
That’s the best news I’ve heard all day!
Madeline
Just got a robopolled by Rasmussen here in WI. The first half of the poll had you press one for O, and two for RMoney. Second half they switched it. Is that normal? I almost accidentally pressed one for Rmoney as better for the economy.
Yutsano
@cathyx: I think I’ll drink the malbec first. Or last. It ain’t cheap.
? Martin
From Dr. Jeff:
As of now it’s 12.5′, two feet above the record, and still climbing. According to him, that’s also 2′ above the level that will flood the subway system down there. If true, that’s not a couple feet of water to pump out, that’s floor to ceiling flooding for probably a hundred miles of subway lines, electrical rooms, work spaces, and so on. The amount of space carved out from below sea level in Manhattan is staggering.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Raven:
Halfbreed is a great album. Find YouTube videos yourself. I’m out of action.
Ed in NJ
Lights flickering, just waiting to lose power at this point. Very scary, high winds here in North/Central Jersey, but no flooding, thank FSM. Trees are swaying, parts of the siding are flying off the house. Wife and kids are scared. Trying to remain calm for them.
aimai
@tworivers:
I agree, its too close to call and the asshole vote is resurgent. The only thing to do is GOTV. I’m going to be doing it all weekend and poll watching/head counting on election day. We are going to drag every cambridge voter to the polls directly. But its going to take a lot to overcome the spite voters in the suburbs.
aimai
Redshift
@Madeline: I had that in one robopoll I got. I think it’s pretty common, since there’s a slight advantage to being listed first.
nellcote
PBO and FEMA have been full on practicing for NYC hurricanes since 2009.
RossinDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
I’m in Birmingham, Alabama & +2 cervezas.
Headed home to Derroit in the morning after doing 2 hours’ work here. Getting through to a travel agency is a small hassle. Microscopic, actually compared to the challenges of those facing 20′ waves all of a sudden.
I have confidence in our soc1@l1st governmental jack booted FEMA thugs to do their best, and deepest sympathies for those going through hell right now.
Raven
@Steeplejack (phone): I’ve got the vinyl and digital. Sacked is awesome with Mayall firing Keith.
anibundel
As for that “Frankenstorm” name:
http://bit.ly/SX1GVS
Redshift
@EconWatcher: Are you sure? The forecast I just saw said the hurricane-force winds are supposed to start around 10pm.
22over7
Cantore was standing out at the Battery, and while the expert in the studio was yammering on and on and on, the water started to rise rapidly. Cantore kept trying to cut studio expert off, saying, “Really, I think I need to move my crew out of here.”
Studio expert: “Well, yes, when we started talking, water wasn’t around your knees! That’s really interesting! Can you tell us, Jim, about….”
Poor Cantore. He finally got rid of studio expert and, I’m sure, got himself and his crew the hell out of there.
Kool Earl
Christie using storm to take down a political foe? Many reports about Christie blasting Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford (who Christie has an ongoing battle with) for supposedly encouraging people in Atlantic City to take local shelter rather than evacuate, but according to this story, Langford did encourage people to evacuate
cathyx
@Yutsano: Yes, definitely drink the best first, you’ll appreciate it more.
moonbat
Hunkered down in South Philly after hearing the eye of the hurricane is headed straight for us. Supposedly it will be safe to stick our head out of doors by 7 a.m. tomorrow. Right now it sounds like a freight train wants to come in my bathroom window….
Larryb
Anne,
There’s another kind?
? Martin
@JGabriel: The surge in Kings Point is over 16′ now. The long island sound really piles up when the storm comes in at just the right angle.
Battery is now 13.04′. Jesus, what a mess.
JGabriel
__
__
Storm Surge in Battery Park NYC up to 13.04 feet!
.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Raven
I just have the CD. Used to have the LP.
General Stuck
That second clip had the dumbest wingnut to be recorded in recent history. “people are worried about their power going out not about FEMA”. Iddiot.
It is anything that might help people that comes from the federal government is what they can’t stand. Because it busts the narrative of self reliance as depicted in numerous John Wayne movies, specially in the 50’s.
What these morons don’t get is that John Wayne was a big wimp that let John Ford stomp all over his fake man da manhood, and lead him around like his personal poodle.
James E. Powell
@El Cid:
And then he’ll be yelling at us to Get a Job.
peej
I’m in central Montgomery County, MD. I still have power (it’s blipped once), knock on wood. Not near any water that might flood. And the fact that I don’t have a basement is definitely a plus in this case. The power lines into our subdivision are buried, but the feeder lines into the area aren’t.
JGabriel
__
__
? Martin: Heh. Crossposted.
I’m surprised my power is still up here in midtown, same neighborhood as the Empire State Bldg.
gwangung
@anibundel:
Should we?
Madeline
@Redshift: Thanks – I thought it was a bit odd.
tworivers
@aimai:
I’m going canvassing this coming Saturday and will try to get time off from work next Tuesday to help get voters to the polls. You’re right that GOTV is probably going to be the difference in an election this close.
Brown definitely ain’t running on his record – his campaign strategy has been exclusively focused on tearing Elizabeth down. Hopefully voters will recognize this and realize what an empty suit he is.
JenJen
My favorite storm-related tweet so far comes via RuPaul:
Mr Stagger Lee
@Mary G: Don’t feel guilty, you may experience The Big One one day as well as anyone on the west coast, and we will get the support of the government and the help of the people*, and hopefully those loudmouths who constantly bitch about people living in regions where there are chances of disaster(whether it is a tornado, hurricane, high fire tsunamis or earthquakes) will have the decency to STFU.
* That statement is dependent on the election of President Obama and any others who are not Ayn Rand/Shock Doctrine devotees.
Oh BTW to be a Republican does one have to be an major league A-hole or born one?
PeakVT
@anibundel: I don’t think I can throw her an anvil from here.
ETA: Or did you mean help her not drown?
dmsilev
Google says that the word Anne Laurie is looking for is “backpfeifengesicht”.
JGabriel
Uh oh. My lights just blinked. Twice. I think a power outage might be coming soon.
? Martin
We have a friend who lives right at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Based on this photo, I’m guessing his ground floor is wrecked. He evaced out to family up in VT.
redshirt
Biggest difference for urban v. country storm happenings: Water. You don’t lose water during power outages in the city. In the country, you do. Which means not only no drinking water, but no toilet water, no showers, no dishes, no laundry. No water is a killer.
El Cid
Alan Simpson endorses Bob Kerrey over Deb Fischer.
No wait, that’s not it, those were actually my words, not the august Senator from Crankystan and Reaganvania.
Ah, here we go:
Simpson trusts that only Kerrey is the type of politician who could help
slashproperly reform Social Security and Medicare.Richard Fox
Wind is really howling in my neck of the woods, Prospect Park / Park Slope. I have a sinking feeling many trees in the park are going to be down. Hunkered down and just waiting for it all to die down. Ugh
MikeJ
@Lojasmo: Yes, we’ll plan a Seattle get together. If anyone is sober at the Montlake Ale House election night I’ll even see if we can talk about it then.
burnspbesq
Republikaner.
? Martin
@Mr Stagger Lee: Oh, yes. We Californian’s know our day of reckoning is coming. And for us, it’ll be an earthquake combined with a massive wildfire along with unexpected mudslides – all at the same time.
On the upside, it’ll be sunny and warm with no biting insects, so we’ll be fine.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
No word from John Cole for many hours – is power out in that part of WVA, or is he known to be up to something else?
Davis X. Machina
@tworivers: That’s the Irish Riviera. They’re Republicans because You Know Who are Democrats. Plymouth County luurrrvs Brownie.
MikeJ
@Richard Fox: I like the wundermap. Shows various weather stations. Most of Brooklyn only shows ~20mph, but out at JFK they have 50
PeakVT
NYC traffic cams are here. A lot of the ones in the Financial District are down, but some on West Street appear to show standing water on the road. The quality is abysmal, though, so its hard to say how much.
? Martin
Looks like the tidal surge may be close to cresting. 13.26′. Only going up about .05′ per 6 minutes, as opposed to .2′ per 6 minutes just half an hour ago. High tide is in 40 minutes, and the surge from the storm barely increased in the last few measurements. Should start dropping within an hour.
But damn, they were way low on their estimate.
MonkeyBoy
I was out doing some normal shopping and noticed people stocking up on toilet paper.
Why? I guess some people are really phobic/fetishistic about their bathroom habits and if society breaks down for a few days (e.g. my local supermarket can’t sell anything when the power goes out) at least they will be prepared to wipe their asses even when they have no heat, power, or water.
Toilet paper hoarding seems to be a self-fulfilling problem. If there is a run on toilet paper then maybe you should get some before it all runs out or is no longer buyable.
Some say that when society truly breaks down toilet paper will be a high valuable commodity, tradable for canned food, guns, ammo, and wimmen.
burnspbesq
Holy crap. NYT:
weaselone
@tworivers:
It’s not exclusively based on attacking Warren. He’s also running on a hypothetical record on women’s issues. He’s proclaims himself for equal pay because he would have voted for Lily Ledbetter given the chance and is pro-choice. His actual voting record is mixed regarding abortion and he voted against the Paycheck Fairness Act.
Poopyman
@JenJen: Shaved her legs and then He was a She?
We’ve reached a sort of stasis here. Periodic surges of rain with gusting winds for a minute or two, then subsiding back to the dull roar. And we still have power! I think the main threat to the grid now is the soaking rains when the wind is still high. I’ll be really surprised if we still have power come sunrise.
But it sounds like we’re having a walk in the park compared to NYC.
anibundel
And my SIL has resorted to digging irrigation trenches to try and save her basement from flooding further.
anibundel
Why I Love Nate Silver:
RT @fivethirtyeight CAN’T BELIEVE METEOROLOGISTS USED MATH AND SCIENCE TO PREDICT THIS STORM. THEY MUST BE MAGIC WIZARDS.
Mr Stagger Lee
@? Martin: As an Washingtonian it will be Earthquake, mixed with volcanic activitiy producing a monstrous lahar or tsunami hitting the coast. And still the Seahawks will find a way to lose a game or the Mariners still can’t hit the broad side of the barn, even when they moved the fences in some more at Safeco. :-)
MikeJ
@Madeline:
Yeah, standard practice is to randomize for each question.
Baud
@MonkeyBoy:
I read somewhere that the first draft of Dune was about toilet paper, but the publishers made Frank Herbert change it.
Mr Stagger Lee
@MonkeyBoy: Which reminds me, how could people look fabulous on that TV show Revolution?
Baud
@anibundel:
You mean meteorologists don’t read David Brooks to determine whether Sandy is surging or has momentum?
Hill Dweller
Why is Chuck Todd still pretending Mitt-mentum exists?
Comrade Mary
Tree kills pedestrian in Queens.
Piece of Staples sign kills woman in Toronto. And it’s just wet and windy here, not as bad as you guys on the east coast.
? Martin
@burnspbesq: There are many difficult or impossible problems to solve when a storm is bearing down. Sometimes it just sort of works out.
Shana
@EconWatcher: From your mouth to god’s ear (as my truly wonderful mother-in-law is wont to say). I’m in Fairfax County too. We’ve had a couple of blips on the power front and are hoping that’s it too. Although we’ve gone away for the weekend and come back to all our appliances flashing when there was no weather issues at all, so who knows.
Poopyman
@Mr Stagger Lee: Same way cowboys on the old Westerns never had to pee.
nellcote
@burnspbesq:
yeah, it looks like a huge swinging dick over 57th St.
RossinDetroit, Rational Subjectivist
Holiday Inn WiFi blows. I give up. Going to sleep. Have another 6:00 am flight. Second day in a row.
Stay safe, everyone.
Robin G.
Does anyone know what’s happening with the NYC subways?
Also, Cole really needs to pop his head in and announce he’s alive. Once the ladyfriend gives him a break.
Felinious Wench
You guys stay dry and take care. I’m in Houston, raised in Galveston…may the Storm Gods be appeased soon for you!
The sound of the wind is scariest. Sounds like its alive and breathing.
SFAW
@? Martin:
Kings Point? You must have heard it on the news, because I can’t believe they’d let a BJer live there.
Shana
@anibundel: Sounds like your neighbors should be in an apartment instead of a house, if they are so unaware of what’s happening to the outside.
dead existentialist
@JGabriel: Holy shit! The storm has taken your trademark period.
Here
.
SFAW
@Yutsano:
Happy birthday, kid. And always try to stay as totes adorbs as you are.
feebog
Watching Big Ed on MSNBC and one of the first clips was of his Bigness, Chris Christy. He had nothing but praise for FEMA. Said President Obama called him about 2:00 p.m., just the two of them on the phone. Obama asked Christy if he had everything he needed and Christy told him he had. Obama told him if he needed anything in the next 48 hours to call him directly and call him first, no middlemen.
Martin O’Malley from Maryland was just on as well. Same message. It occurs to me that a quick, competent federal response to this mess might just remind a few undecided folks who has their back. Just sayin’.
Another Halocene Human
@Madeline: Sounds like they’re trying to control for the bias towards pressing the first option, but are too cheap to actually call enough voters, resulting probably in a lot of botched responses.
SteveinMD
About 15 miles south of Baltimore we’re having a hell of a lot of wind and rain, but we still have power. Friends in several cities just south of here are not so lucky. We’re enjoying the lights and TV/internet while they last, and there’s a 9-week-old kitten in my lap who couldn’t care less about the big tree swaying around out behind the house.
Baud
@feebog:
Chris Christie doesn’t want to have to wait until 2020 to run for president. Expect him to be Obama’s biggest fan for the next week.
PurpleGirl
@burnspbesq: Yes, JGabriel noted in two threads below. The crane was inspected on Friday and passed. They have turned off electricity and gas in the area for fears that the crane will fall.
Anoniminous
Tried to get information from various live streaming TV sources and the screamy, frothy, drivel got to be too much.
How can people watch that shit?
aimai
@weaselone:
Didn’t he cosponser the blunt amendment? That’s not a mixed record on women’s issues–that’s a horrendous record. Fake votes to appease the MA constitutents don’t count for squat when your real votes are like the blunt amendment one, or trying to shiv financial regulation.
aimai
Angela
@Ed in NJ: Ed where are you? We have a house in Morristown that we have rented out, with an old tree in the back and I am kind of worried about the tree.
SteveinMD
Oops, spoke too soon. A piece of that tree just fell on my barbeque during a particularly good gust.
El Cid
We need to unskew the meteorology!
BonnyAnne
Everyone in the tall ship community is glued to the latest news about the Bounty. I’ve got my own opinions about the ship but that’s neither here nor there when two crew go over the side in a hurricane.
It’s sad for me in a more personal way than the rest of the weather-related news (don’t know anyone on the east coast). Didn’t sail with either of them myself, but everyone’s just a single step away from each other on the boats.
PeakVT
@feebog: See if they mention how Rmoney only called Republicans governors who might be affected. Of course, it’s pretty stupid for Romney to be bothering them in the first place, so in reality he treated the Republican governors worse.
Also, somebody should tell Senator Brown that he’s a legislator, not a member of the executive branch. The most helpful thing he can do at this point is stay out of the way.
Rosie Outlook
@General Stuck: Really? Titanic salvage? My son wanted to see that traveling Titanic exhibit and I unexpectedly found it absorbing. I was fascinated by the perfume samples that had held their scent after all those years.
Wet, cold, and windy in lovely central Ohio. My power’s on; it has to get really ugly for this street to go out. Thank the Lord.
JenJen
@Yutsano: Always, always, ALWAYS drink the Malbec first. Happy Birthday, love! Lord Stanley sends woofs and licks!
@anibundel: I absolutely adore the way Nate Silver is laughing at his critics, aka the entire Beltway Media. He’s a mensch.
Soonergrunt
@anibundel: Well, this IS Erin Burnett you’re talking about, so there’s probably the issue of desire to do something about it–or lack thereof.
MikeJ
@BonnyAnne: Were they not wearing harnesses? I realise they aren’t period acurate, but “one hand for the ship, one for yourself” only goes so far.
Another Halocene Human
@Kool Earl: Gaslighting.
Best response would be utter defiance from Atlantic City for his mendacity, culminating in epic GOTV in 2014 against anyone–including Ficus–who is run against him.
Worst case scenario, Christie is betting correctly that AC will have such damaged infrastructure that the city leadership will look bad for months, the population will scatter, and Christie will win cheap points with low-info conservative sludge in the NJ electorate (who always hated AC anyway because Hispanics).
scav
@MikeJ: I thought I heard it was a wave while evacuating to smaller boat, three over, one wrestled back.
Jeremy
I think Elizabeth Warren will win. The Polling I have seen has showed her with a lead. At this point I can’t see Brown winning because he would have to get a large amount of Obama voters.
Roger Moore
@? Martin:
That doesn’t sound right. First you get the wildfire, then you get the earthquake, and the mudslides wait until you’re starting to dig out, at which point they bury everything again. And you’re unfortunately only going to get the mudslide when it’s raining torrentially, so there won’t be beautiful sunshine.
PurpleGirl
@? Martin: A TV documentary was done on this incident. It was very interesting. Apparently, had the Citicorp building fallen, it would have gone down like a lever, straight down at a 45 degree angle, taking other buildings with it as it fell on top of them.
gex
@Mr Stagger Lee: Who are these people who think they are safe? I’m in the middle of the country in MN and we get wrecked by tornadoes and monster snow storms. Turns out weather events are everywhere!
Todd
Velshi intends to drown.
Legalize
Goddamn, friends posting pics on Facebook of Ave. C at 14th Street – cars under water.
Jay C
20:52 here on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and outside of a few flickers of the lights, and disruptions of network broadcasting in favor of nonstop storm coverage, not much in the way of problems.
And believe me, if having to reprogram the TiVo is the worst we have to deal with from a hurricane, we won’t be complaining……
PurpleGirl
@Robin G.: They are still shut down. No word on when they will restart running. See MTA website: http://www.mta.info
Rosie Outlook
@Hawes: Your Internets are in the mail! *chortle*
Richard Fox
@MikeJ: funny how it seems so much stronger than 20mph. But I trust that map over what I am hearing. Thanks for the info.
Cermet
Most of my neigbors have lost power – we have it for now. By 2:00 AM, the center will pass a few mile NORTH (thank god) of us. Winds are bad only at times but the storm is 120-140 miles South-east of us in Maryland hitting poor NJ. Rain has been heavy but flooding isn’t too bad. Girlfriend thinks we will not make … sorry but can’t convince her otherwise. Hope we have power a little longer so I can activate the generator in the morning. That goodness someone is President who knows what they are doing!
West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)
@Ed in NJ: Best wishes, Ed. Hang in there!
gwangung
@Jay C: Well, knock on wood.
But I hope we don’t hear ANY bellyaching over how this was overhyped. This was serious stuff, no fooling.
nellcote
Anybody know if the building with the broken crane is a Trump property?
MikeJ
@Richard Fox: Here’s the detail from a wx station in Park Slope. the good news is the barometric pressure is on the way back up.
There’s a wind speed history chart that shows it peaking between 50-60.
weaselone
@aimai:
Hard to call it anything but mixed regardless of the Blunt amendment. It is still absolutely misleading of him to call himself pro-choice and incredibly idiotic for factcheck.org to say it’s true because he said he was.
PurpleGirl
@Richard Fox: I looked at the map. What are the numbers in yellow circles? It seems that those might be wind speeds and they were all high in 50-60 area.
Mnemosyne
@Roger Moore:
Not necessarily — remember the Laguna mudslides in 2005, which happened about four months after the torrential rains? It took that long for the water to seep down into the ground and loosen the surface, apparently.
ETA: Here’s the LA Times story about the same slide.
22over7
@Robin G.:
Weather Underground reports that subways are filling with water, fires have been reported, and they’ll be shut down at least until Wednesday, maybe longer.
That’s all on the lower east side, so other areas may not be bad. Cantore stands astride the flood like a colossus.
PurpleGirl
@nellcote: No, it’s not. And the crane was inspected on Friday and passed. It will (not) be fun to investigate what happened.
Richard Fox
@MikeJ: Mike– thanks so much for the info. I am obliged.
El Cid
None of this would have happened if not for the federal deficit.
Richard Fox
@PurpleGirl: wind speeds were in the 50’s, the yellow circle looks like temperature. Stay safe, btw.
max
Nothing here – about as expected. Started raining yesterday afternoon, hasn’t stopped since. But never hard enough to flood. Wind came up around 5 pm and there was some minor house noise and that was about it. (The derecho was much much worse.) Power: no blips even. Supposed to be blizzard conditions up in the hills (‘…the hills are alive with the sound of random gunfirrreeeeeee….’) but only about 18″ up there. Not a big deal, except of course if you’ve lived around here all your life and have the memory capacity of a goldfish, which apparently many people around here do.
The rescue dachshund is nervous but not near as freaked out as she is when they’re setting off the fireworks. (The other rescue dachshund is deaf so she doesn’t care, as long she gets her
garbage and floor lintfood.) The other not rescue dachshunds are annoyed that they didn’t get to go outside today. Outdoor kitty has holed up in the basement as he tends to do when the weather is bad. Because ladies, you can’t keep tomcat’s tomcat from catting about… unless it is uncomfy or something like that.NYC & NJ I see, on the other hand, are getting fucking creamed. OW. Hope this ends quickly and safely guys.
max
[‘Katrina Experience would be a good band name.’]
JenJen
Great pic via @pourmecoffee on Twitter:
Roger Moore
@Mnemosyne:
I guess you’re right. Like most Angelinos, I use the term “mud slide” imprecisely to talk about debris flows, which are a much bigger local hazard and occur predominantly in recent burn zones during heavy rain.
RedKitten
I’ve just realized something…if Obama does a fantastic job dealing with the damage in NYC, the teatards will bitch that it’s only because it’s a blue area and that if this had happened in a red state, he would have let them all drown. And if Obama botches the job, then EVERYBODY will bitch.
Poor fucker just can’t win, can he?
Redshift
@aimai: It’s like any other Republican in a moderate/liberal state or district — vote lockstep conservative when it matters, and he’s allowed plenty of dissenting votes when it won’t make any difference, and those are the ones he runs on.
We just had that obnoxious Romney ad on TV here (okay, one of many) where a female voiceover talks about “they claim Romney opposes contraception, but it’s not true — he said…”
And yes, Romney did say those things, because he’s been on every side of every issue, but that saying that makes statements about him “not true” is a flat-out lie. I doubt anyone’s buying it except people who are looking for an excuse, though.
MikeJ
@RedKitten:
They’ll bitch that he sent the actual island of Manhattan to Kenya and replaced it with a chinese made replica full of people who will rush to Ohio to vote for the dusky usurper.
Don’t try to use any logic to determine what republicans will whine about. They don’t.
BonnyAnne
@MikeJ:
I have no doubt that they were up to that point — also they all had their overboard Mustang suits, etc etc. No point in trying to be authentic when riding out a storm! Unfortunately the wave came at the worst possible time, when they were all struggling to climb into the two life rafts.
As to whether they should have been there (rather than at the dock) is maybe not a topic I should go into today, what with the captain still being out there in the Atlantic somewhere. I will say, though: all the other east coast tall ships were strapped to docks. The ships were all in danger either way, but only option puts the crew out at sea.
tworivers
@Redshift:
Yep. He’s only “bipartisan” when his vote won’t affect the outcome.
When he voted with Dems for Dodd-Frank, he made sure the Dems watered the bill down (as if it wasn’t watered-down enough already) as a condition of his voting for it.
That’s not to mention the fact that he listed Scalia as one of his favorite justices during one of the debates.
I don’t know about y’all, but I don’t want a guy who admires Scalia in a position to potentially be a deciding vote for the next one or two Supreme Court justice nominations.
Raven
@MikeJ: Christie has been very positive about the presidents response.
Anne Laurie
@? Martin: Ugh. I worked on the 60th floor of Boston’s infamous John Hancock Tower all through the 90s, and while the mass damper had long since eliminated the giant-panes-of-glass-crashing-down-on-Copley-Pace issue, every breezy day still set the blinds swaying as the whole building ‘flexed’. I kept an extra set of SeaBands in my desk to offer seasick visitors… some of whom didn’t believe me until I told them to go check the water surfaces vibrating in the toilets.
If I were king, all public architects would be required to live & work in every building they put up for at least a year, because so much of what looks ‘exciting’ and ‘vibrant’ on paper is just hellish for the eventual inhabitants to work with, or around.
MikeJ
@BonnyAnne: If it were designed like a modern ship, I would say there’s no doubt that it should be out at sea. Since I know next to nothing about tall ships other than “ooh pretty” I don’t know the wisdom of it. There’s certainly less to run into at sea, but if that’s the way you’re going to go, you need to commit to staying on board.
JR
I’m pretty sure the word you’re looking for is “schadenfucker.”
SFAW
@Anne Laurie:
I think the swaying of skyscrapers is the nature of the beast, because (if I remember correctly) the downside to making a tall structure overly-stiff is significantly greater. I think the Sears Tower (or whatever it’s called these days) used to sway a foot or two in each direction, when the wind blew.
Re: the Hancock: one of my engineering professors said something about how its design was similar to an airfoil, and the negative pressure would help the windows to pop out. (Not sure the mass damper had an effect on window-pop.) He was a fairly sharp guy, but that does not necessarily mean he was correct.
(Disclaimer: I more-or-less sucked at statics and structures, was significantly better at thermo, fluid dynamics, mass flow, so my assessment regarding a structural issue might be off.)
Lojasmo
@MikeJ:
Thanky! Someplace with gluten free food for Mrs. Lojasmo would be great.
Also too, ale. (not gluten free) for me.
Cheers
Haydnseek
@nellcote: I’ve looked closely at the building and the crane, and can detect no fifteen-foot high tacky gold letters that spell “TRUMP,” so my guess would be no.
4jkb4ia
I got around to seeing the Daily Show interview with Nate, and this may be the best one of these I have seen. In the Charlie Rose interview Nate was being very serious and looking intently at the other pundits. In this one he was clearly having a good time and cracking jokes, and Jon Stewart actually had good questions although I’m not sure how much he actually talked about the book. Stewart got Nate to say that most campaign news is fake news. You couldn’t say that on Charlie Rose.
(I am absolutely buying Nate’s book. I hope that Subterranean Books is going to carry it. I am in some panic that I won’t be able to start “Winner-Take-All Politics” before the election, but I should make it.)
SRW1
@dmsilev:
Correct, though there is also the related option of “andere tragen ihren Arsch in der Hose”.
AnonPhenom
@dmsilev:
Everyone, sing along!
Medicine Man
The word you are looking for is backpfeifengesicht — face that is begging for a fist.