Make Hay While the Sun Shines

Nothing to report off in the Atlantic right now. No destruction imminent. In the game of Hurricane Roulette, no one enjoys seeing another city suffer, but everyone who lives in the Hurricane Zone is glad when one skirts their locale.

After every hurricane, there's at least one report of a house that sustained no damage while bearing the worst of the storm. Invariably, these houses are domes. Makes perfect sense. The wind has no corner to grab, like a roof edge, gable or dormer. So why the hell aren't we building more dome houses in hurricane and tornado-prone areas? Insurance rates would drop for coastal dwellers and the federal bailout would be minimized. The house pictured, while a little grand, is one of those that weathered tough storms and came out relatively unscathed.


I'm sure this idea could be mass produced on the cheap, especially for poverty stricken and hurricane ravaged areas like Haiti, the DR and Cuba.

Next Up: Hurricane Ike and Tina Turner's Greatest Hits

The National Hurricane Center announced this morning that henceforth, all tropical storms and hurricanes are available for sponsorship.

Asked why a corporate entity would want to be associated with death and disaster, NHC spokesman Chuck Neanderthal offered, “It’s about awareness. If we can get more people to go to our website, monitor a current storm system and prepare themselves for upcoming storms, we will have done our part.”


The rates for sponsorship were not disclosed, but Neanderthal suggested that as a storm’s intensity increases, the price to be associated with that storm would also increase.

“Clearly a mere tropical depression will not be as valuable as a Category 5 monster headed for New Orleans that will be in the press for days,” said Neanderthal.

Bill Ray Cyrus, who purchased the naming rights for Tropical Storm Hanna currently churning in The Bahamas, said, “It’s a win-win. My daughter’s merchandise sales go up as young people are educated about emergency preparedness. What’s not to love about this?"

Purple Clouds Majesty

In the aftermath of Tropical Storm Fay, we loaded five trash bins and two giant bags with downed limbs and assorted tree castoffs. As the final remnants of the storm are crossing the Panhandle, the southern bands of the system leaving Central Florida are quite pretty. The distant rumblings of thunder this evening called me outdoors to witness the beauty of nature's anger.
If clouds are your thing, you'll enjoy rock photographer Ross Halfin's travel section. He spends a lot of time flying around the world in First Class, shooting out the window. The guy is good.

Because "Umbrella" is a Silly Word

You ever wonder how something got its name? Me too. As I was preparing to walk from the car to the store, I found a long-neglected umbrella under the seat and used it, as Tropical Storm Fay would've soaked me through in the 15 second walk. And I start wondering why it's called an umbrella, and then as the word is repeated in my head, it eventually sounds nonsensical, like any word you repeat over and over again. So, I renamed it.

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Raining on Your Parade

I know people save for a long time for that family trip to Disneyworld. Or the convention planner schedules the big annual to-do a year in advance, reserving tickets to the attractions and arranging excursions to Kennedy Space Center and whatnot. But now is not the time to make that trip if you're dreaming of orange groves and getting a tan. (Actually, orange groves are pretty much a thing of the past, unless you go out to the sticks.) You can count on late August to December to be a crapshoot if you’re expecting that fabled sunny Florida weather, not that it isn’t still nice even when we’re experiencing a tropical storm. (If you watch the local news, you’d swear the Apocalypse had arrived. Super Viper Doppler Digital Death Watch in 3D, with 4—count ‘em— FOUR meteorologists in studio to zoom down to your street level to let you know it’s raining where you live. They also love to report live from the beach in their rain gear, scolding others who are on the beach, as if that Bachelor's Degree in Communications makes them better equipped for rainy beach survival than you.)

On the plus side, you’ll have the rides to yourselves. You can just wear a swimsuit and a shirt as it’s still warm. And if you do get here and it’s raining, remember, it’s only water.