'ladies and gentlemen, this is not a test ... '

now pay attention:
hurricanes are known as 'typhoons' in the western pacific, 'cyclones' in the indian ocean, 'baguios' in the philippines and 'willy-willies' in australia.

highest storm surge - bathurst bay hurricane, australia, 1899. it was 13 meters (42 feet)!

deadliest - bangladesh cyclone of 1970. it killed 300,000 people.
- the deadliest hurricane in the united states struck galveston, texas, in 1900. a storm surge almost two stories high broke over the city, causing 20-foot (6.1-meter) floods and more than 8,000 deaths.

largest rainfall - cyclone denise, jan. 1966, 12 hours, 1144 millimeters - la reunion island in the indian ocean off the east coast of africa.

costliest - hurricane andrew in aug. 1992. the damage was estimated at $25 billion in parts of florida, louisiana, and georgia.

longest lasting - cyclone/typhoon john, aug.-sep., 1994, lasted 31 days. traveleing both the Northeast and Northwest Pacific basins.

largest - typhoon tip, northwest pacific, Oct., 1979, with a gale radius 1100 km..

fastest intensification - typhoon forrest deepened 100 millibars (976 to 876) in under 24 hours. in one day winds increased from 120 kph to 277 kph........

... we hope everybody gets the hell outta metry for katrina. she is big, bad and looks real pissed. we said it before, but the big easy has gotten off the hook for a long time. now it seems there's a good chance this broad's gonna fuck up the city a bit if she get's too close. it really is frustrating to be sitting up here in reno while friends, family and property, (which we have yet to occupy), are sitting in the crosshairs of this ex-wife-kinda-hurricane bitch, (ya know the kind, no direction, with an attitude, looking to kick somebody's ass and you just happen to be the one in the way).

well, my clan is heading in a caravan to my cousin's in arkansas in the morning so at least i know they'll be alright, but to just watch it go down with no control over anything is dreadful. and if the gods of drunkards and all things yat are smiling, katrina will catch a wave moving away from fat city. i don't wish others the horrid luck to fall in the path, i just want her to die wandering aimlessly in the gulf. fat chance of that tho, somebody's gonna get it.

... so s.a. and i are having a mini-mock hurricane party, wishing we were drinking anything but hurricanes in the quarter and toasting to dry ground and high hopes.

katrina is out there, lurkin' a ways off, and not predicted for landfall until sometime monday, thereabouts, but i got a bad feeling about this ...

(a few tunes we're playing that i'm sure they're not singin' down there ...)
the tragically hip - new orleans is sinking
t-bone walker - call it stormy monday
the scorpions - rock you like a hurricane
bob dylan - shelter from the storm
neil young - like a hurricane
katrina and the waves - i'm walking on sunshine
(mp3s via yousendit)

... as i finish this up they just told everybody in new orleans to get the fuck out .... she just got up to a '4'!!!!
uh-oh, (gulp) ... good luck ya'll ...