#I'm back
15 messages in this thread
Well, it's Monday morning and all is closed and everybody is still
trapped; roads beyond the main drags are impassable because in between the 26"
of snow in two batches (front and back side of the storm) it changed to
freezing rain, putting ice under everything. It was the lowest barometer ever
recorded in North America at or near sea level, by the way–28.23 when it hit
NYC. Very weird, particularly since some of it was a thunder and lightning
blizzard, and in a snow thunderstorm precip falls in the same amount as it does
in a rain thunderstorm–only 1" of rain is 6" of snow!
Not too bad around here, though. Lots of contractors live in these hills
and one just down the road has his own bulldozer, so I should be completely dug
out by later on today, and it's supposed to be in the forties tomorrow and the
mid fifties by Wednesday. With nobody traveling there's been little real damage
here and we're built for these shots, so we had no electricity problems (the
electricity only goes out here on clear, warm summer nights for absolutely no
reason whatsoever) and about the only folks who will get creamed are the peach
farmers who get creamed every couple of years anyway.
Most bizarre was Columbia, Maryland, just west of Baltimore. In the middle
of the worst of the blizzard Sunday morning they had a 2.7 earthquake! Not
exactly a biggie, but it wasn't something they needed (particularly since until
recently they never knew there was any kind of seismic activity there). I still
think there may not be; that's been heavily developed and I wonder if they just
undermined some limestone or water far below. Well, it panicked several
ex-Californians worse than the storm!
Biggest problem will be getting milk for the baby. I expect to be able to
get out later today with no problems, but the big milk areas were harder hit
than us and may not be able to get to the stores yet….
Jack:
Well, this is going to be the talk for the coming century. "Why, I
remember the storm of '93…"
I just can't believe Florida. First Hugo rips up the south end and now
this storm rips up the north end–and floods most of the west coast to boot!
You talk of Disneyland, I wonder what happened at Disney World.
I watched one poor guy on the news who said that up until 2 a.m. the
forecasters were saying 20 mph winds and cold. The next thing he knew they
were up to their kneecaps in seawater and the next wave took their house!
Except for power I wasn't too concerned about you folks in the boonies.
Y'all are a pretty sulf sufficient bunch–bulldozer, you say. And the
pantywaists in D.C. are crying over a foot of snow.
-Ed
Well, the schools STILL aren't open here, which makes everybody except my
oldest son unhappy, because the school bus route through the valleys and back
roads isn't safe yet. With more rain and overnight temps near freezing, we're
not sure just when things will get back to normal here.
Florida got creamed; Florida gets creamed more than it likes to think (sort
of like California and big quakes) and much more than it prepares for. The
scandal is that the folks in south Florida still are living in temp quarters,
trailers and such, this long after Andrew!
I've often said I'd love a place on the water, but every once in a while a
storm like this last one or a hurricane comes up and you remember why you're on
the highest ground around.
I'm supposed to drive up to New York for an SF convention this weekend; I
hope things will level out enough for me to make it up there and back again.
Snow doesn't bother me much, but this ice is a terror. Raining all day today
and then it'll freeze solid tonight.
Speaking of Quakes in CA……After growing up there, I find it entirely
amusing when the folks in Columbia, MD became so frantic after a few minor
tremors…..The news even began reporting emergency procedures if the "Big One"
should hit……Give me a break {g} About 10-15 pages of California telephone
books are devoted just to earthquakes. We had drills in school, akin to the
old "We're under attack" drills.
According to the experts, Columbia may have a minor fault that will
occaisionally act up…..So the East isn't immune….Stopped a lot of
California jokes at the office {g}.
Yes, it's just more of the usual panic. I thought the "what to do if the
big one hits" spots on the local news were hilarious. My wife and I almost died
laughing at them. I guess they're terrified in Columbia that they might get a
really big one, like maybe 3.5….
There are two eastern faults that are really serious. Both run essentially
east-west and go all the way to the continental edge in the mid-Atlantic. Those
are trouble. One's in northern Quebec and can go to magnitude 7, the other is
in and right through Charleston, SC, and it's been as mean as the other two of
the Big Three–the San Andreas and New Madrid.
We are not on a continental boundary here, and the faults we get are small
and tend to be caused by new folding, as the plate is being pushed westward
from the mid-Atlantic. The folding is quite slow and steady and so faults don't
tend to be large, severe, or all that deep. The most famous fault in the area
is the Chester Fault in eastern Pennsylvania, which goes off almost like
clockwork with 2.5 to 3.2 quakes every few years but never anything more. The
kind of slippage you have on a fault boundary such as the San Andreas or one so
huge it extends to the continental boundary almost 1000 miles out in the ocean
like Charleston is simply not likely here. Even in prehistoric times the
geologic evidence shows slow extrusions not massive cracks and eruptions.
But, then, we always used to crack that Columbia was Marin County East.
Now we know that the Rouse Company meant that they were going to do it
literally….
>>Snow doesn't bother me much, but this ice is a terror. Raining all day today
and then it'll freeze solid tonight.<<
Jack:
Talk like that is music to my ears. It just reinforces my decision to
move and never look back. I shudder when I think I almost moved to Florida
instead. (Too pedestrian, too red-neck and the infrastructure sucks)
I read some time ago that 80-90% of the US population lives within 25
miles of an ocean. I think the rest live on flood plains and in trailer parks.
We never learn.
-Ed
I live on a mountain. Or, at least, a high hill about as high as those in
San Francisco overlooking a mile-wide valley.
There's something wrong with almost everywhere anybody considers liveable.
I'm not so much worried about the storms of Florida but the bugs and sink holes
are far too much for me. The place is a subtropical swamp and no amount of
paving over or cosmetics is going to change that. On the other hand, they've
determined that Maryland's winters are just slightly too cold to support killer
bees or flying cockroaches while all of coastal California is not.
The storm that just passed (boy went back to school today) was indeed the
Storm of the Century, and almost on schedule–the last one of this magnitude in
winter was 1888, the one before 1777. I'll be gone before the next one, and we
don't have much hurricane or tornado or other such effects here, are on solid
ground, and it's no big deal.
San Francisco has a few problems for me as well. It's as humid as here so
it does my arthritus no good at all, and is one of the few places where, in
mid-July, you can be discovered frozen to death overnight beneath a blooming
rose bush. Here, at least, the weather's never boring and we have the top
weathermen in the nation here (we're on the jet stream and climatoligical
boundaries). Either you wind up in a mental home or you become a big shot
forecaster–most of the major weather services are founded and headed by
veterans of here, and all the major network weathermen were once local here.
Here it can snow on opening day but hit 70 in January; after a day today when
it didn't get to freezing we're due for upper forties tomorrow, fifties
Saturday, and possibly sixties by the start of the week. In May we suddenly get
hotter than the Caribbean and stay that way until the end of September. Makes
things interesting.
Jack:
I've read that there have been studies showing that the human machine
operates best at temperatures between 45 and 75 degrees F. That's just about
what it is here. You can count on fingers and toes the days it strays outside
of that range.
You're right that no place is perfect. If I had my druthers, I'd
travel where and when the weather suited me.
BTW, saw your letter on this months disk.
-Ed
Yes, I notice that mine and another letter with similar sentiments showed
up. I didn't think the nerd really answered the points and I hold the NAUTILUS
editors ultimately responsible for what's printed and they were conspicuously
silent, but by the resolution it appears that I and the other fellow
represented a rather large segment.
Now, if the nerd wants to use his/her own name and come on HERE and argue
politics, we're all game–but we'll have equal opportunity of access and reply
in this sort of environment.
By the way–you heard anything from Corel on the new project yet? I
haven't.
Jack:
I talked to Bill C. yesterday. They're putting the finishing touches
on it and it should ship as soon as the docs and discs are duplicated.
-Ed
The only reason I wondered about it was that I received about a week ago the
big mailer from Corel on their huge conference in Washington, D.C. in mid-May,
the climax of which is supposed to be the world premiere and intro of the very
product that, as of almost April, we haven't even gotten in beta yet!
Jack:
I know the fellow who is putting on the conference. Although the
references were couched in vague terms, I believe that all that will be shown
is an advanced Beta. Early Betas have already been made available along
marketing channels
I will probably join the forum section tonight and see what the latest
is.
BTW ver 3.0 was premiered last year in one of the regional seminars
that Rick holds in California.
-Ed
I'll check out the new section once I learn what number it is and can stick
it on TAPCIS.
Jack:
It's Section 11
-Ed