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May 10, 2007 That was the headline blasted on AOL's main page today, along with the sub-heading, "Storm Season Gets an Early Start". Naturally, I was interested to see who was rendering this obviously important opinion, that a tropical storm occurring a few weeks before the official start of storm season is some ominous indication of trouble to come. The placement of this tag line on the main page of AOL in bold letters certainly indicated that it must be from a seasoned scientist or another expert in weather patterns. The fine webmasters at AOL would certainly not give such preeminence to a statement made by just anybody. No, this was clearly an authority to be respected, so I clicked on the link wanting to know as much as possible. Inside I learned that subtropical storm Andrea is churning off of the Georgia coast, that its winds are battering the shoreline. I also learned that the National Hurricane Center believes the storm, "...wouldn't pose much of a threat." Hmmm, interesting comment really, since it does not seem to mesh with the headline which managed to get me to this point in my reading. Later on, I learned that an actual "senior hurricane specialist" said that it is actually not unusual for storms such as Andrea to form outside of what is considered "hurricane season," which runs from June 1 through November 30. The specialist went on to remark, "What we call hurricane season is a totally man made creation. Nature doesn't always pay attention to that." Now, I'm not certain exactly what training and experience it takes to become a "senior hurricane specialist," and I have to admit I am not entirely sure why anyone would want to become one of these, but I still respect the opinions of such people. I'm guessing the even more senior hurricane specialists, or the head hurricane specialist, would not promote just anyone to this position. I bet there are scads of junior hurricane specialists who endlessly compete for the precious few openings for the coveted "senior" status. I'm sure there are special privileges which go along with the title, probably the keys to the senior specialist bathroom or something like that. Something was still missing, though. I thought again about that prominently displayed bolded message in quotes which sucked me in: "I Don't Think It's a Good Sign". Its implication was enormous. If someone truly felt this storm was a harbinger of death and destruction to come, I had to know who it was and what they felt could be done about it. Who exactly does not think this was a good sign? Are there other signs which are also "not good"? Am I missing something? Perhaps this statement was uttered by a gifted religious leader, with a direct pipeline to God, who knows the Apocalypse is at hand. I had to know more. The article provided me snippets of information of wind damage, waves lapping beach stairwells and a couple of rescued kayakers. I found the story of the kayakers to be quite interesting. How exactly does someone get surprised by a subtropical storm? I'm no senior hurricane expert mind you, but I'm certain these storms take some time to form and grow. They are not like tornadoes, or maybe even earthquakes, which can strike without warning. One would think there would be plenty of advance notice of high winds and waves; maybe these kayakers considered that to be ideal kayaking weather. It kind of reminds me of ice fisherman up north, who like to go out on some frozen body of water in the middle of winter, cut a hole in the ice, and wait for a hungry fish to bite. (I have to admit, I'm not entirely sure why people like to fish on a bright, sunny summer day. The idea that there are people who enjoy this activity when it's about twelve degrees blows my mind. That's what I like about the world, though---it takes all kinds of people to make it work.) Anyway, it happens every year, the weather starts to warm up and there are invariably some geniuses who just have to get that last bit of ice fishing out of their system before spring truly arrives (thankfully, I seem to have achieved this objective at birth--or at conception for the right to life crowd). I've heard stories of people who even drive their vehicles on to melting ice. It is usually about this time that a harsh lesson of the relationship between air temperature and its impact on the status of H2O is delivered, usually at the cost of taxpayers dollars when the rescue crew is dispatched to pull some angler's Chevy, as well as the frosty angler himself, out of what was just ice but is now something more liquid in nature. It seems kayakers and fisherman may have something in common. People like this make me wonder if watching too much television is really that bad. I mean if "American Idol" could keep these guys amused a little longer, some wasted time, money and lives could certainly be avoided. But I digress. I did finally learn who uttered the the dark warning of what the early season storm means. Apparently, I had missed it in my first review of the article, primarily because I was expecting someone else. It was a 24 year old souvenir shop employee, on her cigarette break, who provided the in depth analysis and conclusion that was so powerful it made AOL's main page as the bolded tag line for the storm coverage. A warning to all that the weak hurricane season of last summer and fall would be paid for in spades this year. The young lady added, "It's not even hurricane season, that's kind of scary." If she keeps this kind of analysis up, mark my words, she's headed for that senior hurricane specialist position in no time. I'm betting she bypasses the junior level altogether. Ah well, the catch phrase did manage to sucker me in, that's for sure. I should certainly know by now all of the little tricks the media, even on line media, uses to garner attention and keep its agenda moving forward. I should know better, but I certainly did not in this instance. Perhaps I'd make a good ice fisherman after all. ------------ About the author: Ed Abraham is a concerned citizen living in flyover country, U.S.A., who happens to be truly disgusted by the loss of common sense in our society and is doing all he can to try to reinstall it. Email: eabra@myway.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal). |
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