Well….my problems aren’t all the way resolved…but at least I was able to get enough money to get my sorry ass back online today.
Now…I got some serious catching up and posting to do. Too much happening, from Obama’s historic campaign to the usual right-wing asshattery, among others.
Give me some time, and I will get back up to speed.
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Heart(less) And The GenderBorg: Manufacturing Dissenting Opinion Since 1787 by Anthony on September 15th, 2008
Oh, but it would figure that the Feminist Sex Wars would blow up again in my absense.
From Gustav's Hammer To (Almost) Ike's Nuke (Why Hurricane Season Really SUCKS Right About Now) by Anthony on September 13th, 2008
Well...we go here in South Louisiana from getting smacked by Gustav's hammer to getting whacked by Ike's forearm shiver in less than a week.
Radar image of Hurricane Ike making landfall on Galveston Bay as a Category 2/Category 3 hurricane (via WeatherUnderground)
Some thoughts and prayers are in order for the folks in the Houston/Galveston and Golden Triangle (Beaumont/Port Arthur/Orange) areas that bore the full brunt of Ike's fury....and as bad as it was, it still could have been that much worse had the storm hit 20-30 miles west and had a few more hours of Gulf water to strengthen.
And a prayer for those in the Lake Charles/Cameron area would be thoughtful of you as well....they got hit pretty hard, too.
Now if we can get over the next 24 hours of playing Tornado Tag and the 40-50 mph wind gusts, it will be all clear up here.
Nothing near what we got with Gus, but considering that the storm went inland 250 miles to our west, still quite impressive.
The weather pros are telling us that the polar jet up north is going to get more active and start bringing some cooling fronts and westerlies down starting next week...so this may be the beginning of the end for this run of hurricanes raking the Gulf of late. Gee....I sincerely do hope so.
Just a quote from my favorite hurricane expert -- Jeff Masters of Weather Underground -- on the massive wallop that Ike brought to Southeast Texas...and how it could have been that much worse, if imaginable:
Although Ike caused heavy damage by flooding Galveston with a 12-foot storm surge, the city escaped destruction thanks to its 15.6-foot sea wall (the wall was built 17 feet high, but has since subsided about 2 feet). The surge was able to flow into Galveston Bay and flood the city from behind, but the wall prevented a head-on battering by the surge from the ocean side. Galveston was fortunate that Ike hit the city head-on, rather than just to the south. Ike's highest storm surge occurred about 50 miles to the northeast of Galveston, over a lightly-populated stretch of coast. Galveston was also lucky that Ike did not have another 12-24 hours over water. In the 12 hours prior to landfall, Ike's central pressure dropped 6 mb, and the storm began to rapidly organize and form a new eyewall. If Ike had had another 12-24 hours to complete this process, it would have been a Category 4 hurricane with 135-145 mph winds that likely would have destroyed Galveston. The GFDL model was consistently advertising this possibility, and it wasn't far off the mark. It was not clear to me until late last night that Ike would not destroy Galveston and kill thousands of people. Other hurricane scientists I conversed with yesterday were of the same opinion.
Imagine 120+ mph winds in downtown Houston, folks.....and you see how they escaped a nuke.
This is exactly why they say that if you are asked to evacuate, get the hell out. Hurricanes and cyclones are serious business.
...
How To Survive A Hurricane (Or, Gruesome Gus Pays SmackDog An Uninvited Visit) by Anthony on September 10th, 2008
Well...I've advertised it for so long, and here it is.
In case you have missed things, my region of the world in South Louisiana got a not so welcome but probably overdue visit from one of nature's most awesome forces...
...namely, Hurricane Gustav, which at one time threatened to bring catastrophic Category 4 or 5 winds to devastate our area, but fortunately weakened "only" to a "low-end" Cat 3 by the time it hit the Houma/Thibodeaux/Morgan City area of the Louisiana coast. The parenthesis is appropriate, because even a low-end Cat 3 can bring 100+mph winds to particular areas, and area where the eye crossed shore and immediately east of the center's path got the full fury of winds, rain, and storm surge.
Then, Gruesome Gus decided to make his presence felt in my own neck of the woods; though weakening as hurricanes do upon reaching land, he was still strong enough to cut a nice path of destruction across South Central Louisiana/Acadiana from southeast to northwest.
Click on the thumbnail for a larger image (via NHC Website)
By this time, his winds were barely hurricane force, but it kinda doesn't matter when it is right on top of you.....and trust me, he was literally on top of us. As in, the eye passing right over where I was.
Even more than one week later, we here are still feeling the full effects of the damage done, with some locations in Southeast Louisiana hit the hardest not being able ot gain electricity for WEEKS. Not days, Clones....WEEKS. For most of us, though, things are beginning to recover; electricity in our parish (St. Landry) is being gradually restored; and the usual sandbagging and gripping for federal aid and the efforts of FEMA is ongoing, yet in a smaller scale than the "Heck of a job, Brownie" fiasco during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the similar efforts with Hurricane Rita in Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas later that same year.
Of course, our great "liberal" media was agog with tales of the supposed death of New Orleans and how those star-crossed citizens would survive the supposed oncoming onslaught of Gustav. Would the levees hold?? (They did....barely.) Would the city be evacuated without the hitches that occured with Katrina?? (Yup....but some fools still stayed.) Would it get nearly as bad as Katrina?? (Actually, no....the winds were probably just as strong as with Katrina, but because of the angle of approach and the landfall further to the southwest of the Greater N'Awlins area, the effects weren't nearly as severe as it could have been.) And, most importantly, would the response of the usual government authorities be a bit more urgent and organized than the chaos of Katrina?? (That's still pending....our new guv Bobby Jindal has been pretty active in pressers in reassurance and advocating for our state and getting a bit critical of relief efforts; the federal response has been slightly better, if a bit muted.)
But that's more of the general story, which can be found anywhere. What I am about to post here is a much more personal tale of how this particular left-wing Black man survived being in the face of a Cat 3 hurricane and surviving with my anatomy and most of my wits intact. It will take a while to go through, but I believe that it will be worth it.
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Friday, August 29th:
From my newly-acquired satellite dish, I see that Hurricane Gustav is blowing up off the western Cuba coast, and while there was original speculation about the track being a bit further east of where I am, all the signs are now looking towards a direct hit for South Central and Southeast Louisiana. I've survived some hurricanes passing through my area in the past (Danny in 1985, Andrew in 1992, Lili in 2002, Rita in 2005), but none nearly as severe or as direct as what is being forecasted for Gustav, with all that nice warm water of the Gulf of Mexico to maneuver through. I have only one thought in mind: How to get the HELL out of the way and view the storm from a safe distance....like, say, Houston or Atlanta.
Problem is, I still have to work that day, and my job hasn't decided what they will allow the workers to go home tommorrow to prepare for the storm....so I am pretty much locked in for now.
The rest of my family, though, decide to stick it out and stay; since they think that their homes are strong enough to weather the storm.
Now it should be noted that I and my family stay about 40 miles onshore of the coast (roughly 20 miles north of Lafayette in South Central Louisiana, in the city of Opelousas), so storm surge flooding won't be an issue; but the flooding rains and the high winds blowing down trees into powerlines, and the isolated threat of tornadoes most certainly will be huge issues. They would prefer for me to stay and stick it out, but they know about my particular panic about the weather, so they don't protest my decision....much.
Saturday, August 30:
Oh, good....Gustav's now up to 140 mph, and now confirmed to head straight for us. If I can get off work early enough, I could purchase a ticket for a Greyhound bus to Houston where I can survive the storm. Unfortunately, they don't close the store and allow us to go home to prepare until about 6:30 PM...and by the time I get to the Shell station that passes for a Greyhound stop, I get the first really bad news: The buses stopped running since 3 PM that afternoon, and no buses will be running until the storm passes. Awwww, shit....I guess I'll have to ride it out after all; but perhaps they will offer evacuation buses for those wanting to leave. Yeah, that's the ticket....just lend an ear to the radio and listen for any updates.
Sunday, August 31: (The adventure begins)
10 AM: ...
Hello, Stranger.... by Anthony on September 10th, 2008
Goodness....has it been that long since I last posted here????
Between work, my financial issues, and dodging Hurricane Gustav (and boy, oh, boy, do I have a story to tell you on that!!!), it's been tough sledding getting enough time to post.
Fortunately, I now have more or less permanent Internet access back via a new satellite Internet service (my big-ass dish adds a lot to my roof, doesn't it??), and my financial issues are being slowly dealt with...so I will be back to nearly normal posting now. At least, what I call \"normal\".
It is good to be back here, though....and I have so much ground to catch up with: from Sarah Quayle Palin and the media's attempt to annoint John McSame as our next President (hey, Senator Obama, it is perfectly OK to take off the gloves and attack now!!!), to the latest rumbles in the Feminist Sex Wars (featuring the usual shit-throwing from the GenderBorg hive); among other issues.
And with Hurricane Ike looking like he's gonna cut Louisiana a break and break off Texas instead; my anxiety meter isn't running so high. So...more racking and smacking.
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A Classic Smackdown of Antiporn "Feminist" Myopia: Jen Durbin Dissects Diana Russell by Anthony on August 8th, 2008
Major props for Iamcuriousblue for posting this to the BPPA; this is a perfect example of how antiporn fascists like Diana Russell cook the books to justify their biases.
On Behind the Crunch Again....And Notes on Kyle Payne by Renegade Evolution: “Vanilla Privilege” on September 15th, 2008
[...] From the Smackdog Chronicles [...]...
On Hello, Stranger.... by Wear Clean Draws » WGAF Files » smackdog is smacking my browser. harumph on September 10th, 2008
[...] well, Anthony, I tried to comment on your site re: Gustav, your work schedule, financial woes, etc. but after battling all the popups and clicking the comment link a bojangazillion times, nothing’s happening. http://ajkenn-rgclub.com/SDChronBlog2dot5/2008/09/10/hello-stranger/#respond [...]...
On Behind the Crunch Again....And Notes on Kyle Payne by Bookmarks about Activism on August 18th, 2008
[...] - bookmarked by 3 members originally found by TruePatriotAction on 2008-07-26 Behind the Crunch Again….And Notes on Kyle Payne [...]...
On Answering The Great Sex Positive Male Challenge From Nine Deuce (Take That, Witchy!!!) by LOL/ROTF/LMPPBFAO @ Witchy-Woo | The SmackDog Chronicles (Ver. 2.6) on August 3rd, 2008
[...] On Answering The Great Sex Positive Male Challenge From Nine Deuce (Take That, Witchy!!!) by The Sex Positive Male Challenge | Herd Watching on July 29th, 2008[...] called Rage Against the Man-chine put of a fairly amusing example of biased framing on the 27th. The SmackDog Chronicles refer to it as “The Sex Positive Male Challenge” and so will [...]... [...]...
On As Promised: Maggie Hays Shadow Boxing Pro-Porn Sand Castles (The Full Fisking) by Maggie Hays Knocks Down Her Pro-Porn Sand Castles: The Fisking (Part Deux) | The SmackDog Chronicles (Ver. 2.6) on August 3rd, 2008
[...] Tags: antiporn fascism, nothing but the fisk, Whackoid Antiporn Zealots Leave a comment Comment RSS Previous: As Promised: Maggie Hays Shadow Boxing Pro-Porn Sand Castles (The Full Fisking) [...]...
