Open Thread – Shark!
No, The Mudflats hasn’t “jumped the shark.” This picture was taken on a street in Puerto Rico after Irene passed through. Another good reason not to go swimming after a hurricane.
Sending good thoughts to all Mudflatters on the east coast. Stay safe.
UPDATE:
OK, we were wrong. Mudflats DID jump the shark. Turns out this “too good to be true” photo was (wait for it) too good to be true. Behold the miracle of Photoshop! We’ll give it an A for effort and believability, and ourselves a less flattering grade for not checking. Hope all are weathering the storm.
Still without power here in Eastern CT. I’m sitting at the Goodyear tire place using their wifi while they give me new tires. I had brought my laptop to work to plug in and saw these guys had wifi! They earned my business on the spot.
Finding a place to shower has been difficult. I did discover yesterday, that there was plenty of hot water in my garden hose that had been out in the sun all day. Bingo! Hot water for a shower in the yard! Have soap, will travel! Of course, it wasn’t a nakkie shower, but I got clean nonetheless 😉
They say that 70% of this side of the state is dark. 60% of my town is dark. It’s 85 degrees in the daytime and it’s beautiful and the nights cool down to about 60. Perfect for sleeping. I’ll be moving to the futon because I have a waterbed… and it needs electricity to stay warm. Hypothermia is not something you want to wake up to… or not wake up to.
See you all in a few days!!
someone is a lot better with photo manipulation than I.
I was on the sunny Kenai River this afternoon just south of Kenai Lake at Cooper Landing – the weather just couldn’t have been better – watching the real thing, salmon coming up to spawn.
I’m sure we’ll get the tail ends of the hurricane winds and rains in about ten days – we always do.
double take there…. I thought you were offering gopher tortise pie !
I’ve been watching the coverage of Irene very closely, having many friends on Long Island and in NYC as well as family in Philadelphia (who are, fortunately, safe). I’ve read many comments about how the danger of the storm was overblown and that the government and media should not have scared people for no reason. I, for one, am grateful that officials at all levels of government chose to err on the side of caution and prepare for the worst.
I live near Rochester, NY and the clouds that covered my town until about 7 pm tonight accompanied by 45 mph wind gusts were part of the storm…whose center was more than 350 MILES AWAY. Many areas that expected far more damage, like parts of NYC, were spared the worst, thankfully. However, if you look at some of the photos and video of towns from the Carolinas to the Canadian border, you will know that, while this storm may not have been a category 4 or 5, it did tremendous damage to an immense area of our country. Approximately 4.5 million people lost power and many will not get it back for days or even weeks. Thousands have lost their homes and businesses, and at least 11 have lost their lives. The worst devastation of this storm seems to have come, not from the wind, but from the flooding, and hit the inland areas far harder than the coast. Some areas will not see the worst of the flooding for another day or two, as the rainwater makes its way through the streams and rivers into the residential areas.
The sheer size and duration of Irene has caused historic destruction to an immense part of our country. Take a look at some of the photos and video of the storm (many photos can be found at the Weather Channel website) and I guarantee that your heart will break.
If you are religious in any way, please say a prayer for the tens of millions of people affected by this terrible storm. If you can spare a few dollars, please consider making a contribution to organizations like the Red Cross, which will be kept very busy for the foreseeable future, bringing aid and comfort to many suffering communities.
My thoughts and prayers go to the many mudpups and their families and friends in the path of Irene. Best of luck in recovering from the storm and please know that there is a community of people around the world who hold you in our hearts.
Thanks for the Irene updates, all you mudpups with boots on the ground.
Mama and daddy didn’t get any rain, and not much wind. The houseboat is fine, but daddy has developed some motion sickness, bless his heart. Acupressure bracelets bring him some relief.
Youngest sister near DC had artworks left cockywobble on the walls by the earthquake while she was in Haiti with her family. Got home in time to hunker down for Irene. Power wasn’t out long. Sister can walk to the hospital where she works as a physical therapist, so she took some shifts for folks who live further out. Lots of little bits and pieces of tree debris in her yard, but no real damage.
*giant sigh of relief*
Plenty of sunshine and no rain or wind in the forest this weekend. We had a visitor the likes of which I haven’t seen in more than 20 years, also, too! Have you ever seen a gopher tortoise? One stopped by for a lettuce lunch. I’m still grinning, and taking it as a good omen. 🙂
Care to share some gopher tortoise joy?
“The gopher tortoise belongs to a group of terrestrial tortoises that originated in North America 60 million years ago, making it one of the oldest living species.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4PovbJ9VqU
L’Shalom,
thatcrowwoman
Sydney or some other Australian city said earlier this year that some bull sharks were swimming around town. Thems the little nasties that can survive in freshwater as well as saltwater.Bull sharks were the likely culprits of fatal attacks in New Jersey early last century. They were quite a ways inland and upstream.
If I remember my triva correctly, a bull shark was caught in Arkansas…..
An interesting (if not “must read”) on Perry…
“Dear Yankee — Eight things you ought to know before you start writing stories about Rick Perry. You’re welcome.” [by Paul Burka] http://www.texasmonthly.com/2011-08-01/btl.php
Don’t know if I should laugh or cry. beth.
Meanwhile, back at oil production, this is an ominous graph:
http://bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2011/08/chart-of-the-day-9.html
…and if you really want to dig into this:
http://www.energywatchgroup.org/fileadmin/global/pdf/EWG_Oilreport_Summary_10-2007.pdf
Powell takes on Cheney.
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2011/08/28/video-colin-powell-dick-cheney-takes-cheap-shots-in-new-book/
All of you who know me from my little contributions to The Mudflats are aware that I’m an organic consumer and a vegan. I’m very concerned about food issues, especially as they relate to not only human health, but the health of the biosphere.
I think GMO foods are appalling, and represent a serious threat to the future of our species, and many other species. The Obama administration has a terrible record on genetic modification of the food supply (and although I admire and support our president in many things, I write and petition the White House often about it).
Here’s an article about the latest debacle on that front:
http://healthfreedoms.org/2011/08/26/you-appointed-who-say-its-not-so/
What’s good for Monsanto (and Syngenta, and Bayer, and the rest of the chemical companies who don’t want us eating anything they can’t patent) is NOT what’s good for us.
thank you. my son weathered the storm in greenville nc which saw some damage one death and a lotta lotta water. someone who had stayed in their house in NC was visited by an otter, i wish there was a picture of that.
The frightening reality of today’s GOP embodied in Perry:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rick-perry-the-republicans-messiah/2011/08/26/gIQAGnY5gJ_story.html
The Palin is strong with this one….
Kathleen Parker gets it!
But does he tithe? I’m looking for the article that says he does NOT. What good church going Christian does not tithe? If anyone else finds that article, please post it. Thanks.
Is this article something along the lines of what you were looking for, Carol? beth.
“Governor Rick Perry: Big On Prayer, Not So Big On Charity” [by: Jason Cherkis and Andrea Stone]
snip] A review of his tax records from the mid-1990s through 2009 show the governor has contributed very little to charity. When he has, Perry has given mainly to charities connected to his family, and even then, his donations have sometimes been slight. An analysis by the San Antonio Express-News in mid-June reported that of his $2.68 million, Perry “gave half a percent to churches and religious organizations, or $14,243.” /snip (From HuffPo. Here: http://tinyurl.com/3gwqtfa )
Yeppers, that’s the one. Thanks, I know several people who need to see this, of course, it’s from HuffPo, hope they read it.
I haven’t left my apartment yet, but the only damage visible from Irene (thus far) is that one of the trees in the garden across the street had a branch snapped off.
More importantly, is Rick Perry using Texas taxpayers’ money for his campaign security? Looks like it:
http://www.care2.com/causes/texan-taxpayers-foot-the-bill-for-perrys-presidential-run.html
“After the Houston Chronicle, San Antonio Express and Austin American-Statesman sued the DPS, two Texas courts ruled that the records should be released. They were overturned last month by the state Supreme Court. But the case is still alive: the Supreme Court sent it back to a lower court, ordering DPS to cite precisely which records would put Perry in danger if they were released.
In the meantime, during a special session that ended July 1, the Texas Legislature, at Perry’s urging, added language to a school finance bill that will seal the governor’s travel records for 18 months — until after the 2012 presidential election. The measure would cover the records going forward, not those in the past, which have been the subject of the court fight.”
It’s 11:28 am here on the coast of CT, we got wind and rain but no major damage (just some branches off the tree in the backyard). The lights have flickered a couple of times, but not enough to make me have to reset my clocks, so… so far, so good!
Gah!!!! Cue the Palin/Faux News “Thisis Obama’s fault for not keeping us safe from sharks in the street” outrage machine in 3, 2, 1…..
Hope all the other east coast Mudpups are ok. Here in the Roanoke Valley (SW VA), we got a few wind gusts and no rain. On the down side, our house foundation has a crack in it, courtesy of the earthquake last week
We are about 5 hours north on NYC and we already have rain and the wind is starting!
Fake photo, though not to say things aren’t going to get a bit crazy here. Latest says storm should be here in full this afternoon, but even now it looks pretty ominous outside, deserted streets and the rain and wind are picking up. Stay safe everyone!
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/08/25/7476028-land-shark
Sorry, the pic is a shop job:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/hurricane-irene-photo-of-shark-swimming-in-street-is-fake/2011/08/26/gIQABHAvfJ_blog.html
But it doesn’t mean that people still shouldn’t take care. If there’s not any sharks, there will still be debris, sewage, and lots of nasty things.
So true.
With the wind and storm surges associated with this storm, there is bound to be a lot of debris in the water, much of which may be below the surface. Obviously, the storm and sanitary sewer systems all along the East Coast have been overwhelmed and the excess will flow into local bodies of water, which are flooding into residential areas. Between the debris and sewage, you have a delightful stew full of dangerous materials and pathogens that can cause all sorts of injuries and health problems.
I saw a video yesterday of the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn after a regular rainstorm. You could actually see a wave of raw sewage flowing down the canal as the sewers dumped their contents into the water. No doubt this type of thing is happening all along the coast and inland areas that are receiving the bulk of the flooding.
The northeast may not have concerns about water moccasins, but many of the areas along the southern part of the east coast may have them. Bottom line…stay out of the water!
Yikes. It’s just about to get to NYC. Hopefully for them, the storm surge will be less than predicted.
My goodness,I can’t even tell what direction yon shark was headed! It nust have some kind of tracking device for you to be able to know its location(guffaw).