Skip to main content

Hurricane Flossie

I had the following conversation Sunday afternoon:

Lady we met on the beach: "So as an astronomer, have you been keeping track of the weather lately?"
Me: "Huh?"
Lady: "There's a hurricane coming this way."
Me: "Really? A hurricane?!"

Then I got this email:

Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students,

At the Director's orders IfA Hawaii (Big Island) facilities will be
evacuated for 24-hours starting 0700 14-Aug-2007 to ensure the safety of our employees and their families. While we expect to return to normal operations Wednesday 15-August-2007 in
the event that major damage is sustained please call the Manoa main office 808-956-8312 for further information. We will also use local radio stations KWXX 94.7 FM Hilo and KUPA 670 AM Hilo as needed.


Yup, Hurricane Flossie hit the Big Island about an hour ago. Flossie. What kind of a hurricane name is that?! It's windy here in Oahu, but no rain tonight. However, it's a very different story a couple islands over.

Comments

In the future all hurricanes will be named "LOOK-OUT-IT'S-COMIN'-RIGHT-FOR-US!!!"

Popular posts from this blog

A view from your shut down

The Daily Dish has been posting reader emails reporting on their " view from the shutdown ." If you think this doesn't affect you, or if you know all too well how bad this is, take a look at the growing collection of poignant stories. No one is in this alone except for the nutjobs in the House. I decided to email Andrew with my own view. I plan to send a similar letter to my congressperson. Dear Andrew, I am a professor of astronomy at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). The CfA houses one of the largest, if not the largest collection of PhD astronomers in the United States, with over 300 professional astronomers and roughly 100 doctoral and predoctoral students on a small campus a few blocks west of Harvard Yard. Under the umbrella of the CfA are about 20 Harvard astronomy professors, and 50 tenure-track Smithsonian researchers. A large fraction of the latter are civil servants currently on furlough and unable to come to work. In total, 147 FTEs

back-talk begins

me: "owen, come here. it's time to get a new diaper" him, sprinting down the hall with no pants on: "forget about it!" he's quoting benny the rabbit, a short-lived sesame street character who happens to be in his favorite "count with me" video. i'm turning my head, trying not to let him see me laugh, because his use and tone with the phrase are so spot-on.

The Long Con

Hiding in Plain Sight ESPN has a series of sports documentaries called 30 For 30. One of my favorites is called Broke  which is about how professional athletes often make tens of millions of dollars in their careers yet retire with nothing. One of the major "leaks" turns out to be con artists, who lure athletes into elaborate real estate schemes or business ventures. This naturally raises the question: In a tightly-knit social structure that is a sports team, how can con artists operate so effectively and extensively? The answer is quite simple: very few people taken in by con artists ever tell anyone what happened. Thus, con artists can operate out in the open with little fear of consequences because they are shielded by the collective silence of their victims. I can empathize with this. I've lost money in two different con schemes. One was when I was in college, and I received a phone call that I had won an all-expenses-paid trip to the Bahamas. All I needed to d