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Hurricane Chief: "Megadisaster is Coming"

Z

Zwhaler

macrumors 604
Original poster
Jun 10, 2006
7,302
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14467407/?GT1=8404

Well, I have to say this is kind of scary. I also must say that I saw it coming, and I knew it would be just a matter of time before something like this will happen. I think that Global Warming is largely responsible for these type of things. Has anyone out there seen Al Gore's "An Inconveinent Truth"? Great movie, and it covers everything in terms of Global Warming, and more importantly, how a Megadisaster such as one that is expected to hit the us is possible. Wow. Any comments?
 
Oh I know, we've had so many hurricanes this year. I can't beleive we are still alive. :eek: How on earth will we survive another!

Let's just try to scare some more people, ok? "Big hurricane will hit US in the FUTURE. Be very affraid.
 
This is totally lame and sensationalistic.

As I pointed out in another thread, the number of hurricanes this year has been FAR below normal and we've not had even ONE hurricane make landfall in the US. So people like this guy are starved for attention, especially compared to last year, which is starting to look more and more like a sheer statistical anomaly in terms of the number of hurricanes that occurred (a number which broke a 70 year old record, to be sure, but it just goes to show that there were tons of hurricanes even back in the 1930s).

And everything is inevitable. Of COURSE there will be a worse hurricane than Katrina.

Ooh, ooh! I have a prediction: In the future, everyone will die.
 
Climate change is real and it can't be a good thing, but what the Hell is the point of that article? Of course there will eventually be a natural disaster worse than Katrina...whoever thinks otherwise is kidding themselves. Of course there will be more terrorist attacks somewhere in the world, of course people will die of cancer, of course cars crash. This article is just spreading fear and gaining fame for the "Hurricane chief".

This "culture of fear" thing really gets out of hand rather often...
 
elfin buddy said:
Climate change is real and it can't be a good thing, but what the Hell is the point of that article? Of course there will eventually be a natural disaster worse than Katrina...whoever thinks otherwise is kidding themselves. Of course there will be more terrorist attacks somewhere in the world, of course people will die of cancer, of course cars crash. This article is just spreading fear and gaining fame for the "Hurricane chief".

This "culture of fear" thing really gets out of hand rather often...
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Know what, your right. Strange but that kinda freaked me out but now I realize its just a pointless article stating that something that is obviously inevitable will happen.

News Flash: Everyone will die!
 
It was also an interview with The Hurricane Guy. Of course he's going to be all amped up about hurricanes.

It's like asking John Madden what he thinks about football -- you're going to get an earful.
 
You're right. We just shouldn't worry about disasters. Maybe if we don't print articles like this, they wouldn't ever happen. Talk about hype!

I bet if the media hadn't been reporting so much about hurricane danger, Katrina wouldn't have even happened. It's better just to ignore any possible threat.

:rolleyes:
 
wordmunger said:
You're right. We just shouldn't worry about disasters. Maybe if we don't print articles like this, they wouldn't ever happen. Talk about hype!

I bet if the media hadn't been reporting so much about hurricane danger, Katrina wouldn't have even happened. It's better just to ignore any possible threat.

:rolleyes:
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I had two points...

1) The article states the obvious.
2) The article unnecessarily spreads fear and uncertainty.

There's nothing wrong with thinking about the future and preparing for the worst. There is something wrong with making people afraid to sleep at night for fear of dying in the most horrific hurricane imaginable. See the differrence?
 
elfin buddy said:
1) The article states the obvious.
Click to expand...
Obvious to only 40% of coast residents, apparently.

He is mystified by a study that found 60 percent of people in hurricane-prone U.S. coastal areas have no hurricane plan — which to disaster managers means up to a week’s worth of food and water squirreled away, a kit with flashlights and other gear and an established evacuation route to higher ground.
Click to expand...

elfin buddy said:
2) The article unnecessarily spreads fear and uncertainty.
Click to expand...
If the message of the article is obvious, then it's not spreading anything, right? ;)
 
Gawd I don't know why everyone is so obsessed with global warming and public transport.

Firstly, the earth warming is part of a 10,000 year NATURAL cycle. If we want to look after our planet we should at LEAST let it continue it's own climate cycle.

Secondly, all this about public transport, a bus has nearly 200 times the emissions of your average car, which also happens to have roughly the same emissions of a sit-on lawnmower.

In fact there are more toxins emitted during a cremation than a new Ford Focus (the most popular car) travelling at 70 MHP for four hours.
 
Killyp said:
In fact there are more toxins emitted during a cremation than a new Ford Focus (the most popular car) travelling at 70 MHP for four hours.
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I'd wager that more people commute than are cremated daily.

I would also wager to say that if a new Ford Focus is emitting x toxins more than a cremation than there are a huge number of cars with WORSE emissions that are already on the road driving every day.
 
This hurricane season has been too lame. Usually would have had three storms send east coast triple overhead swells by now. If your house gets hit, blame me ; I pray for surf.
 
aristobrat said:
Obvious to only 40% of coast residents, apparently.
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Actually, I would think it should be obvious to anyone with half a brain that sometime, there will be a worse storm than Katrina.

aristobrat said:
If the message of the article is obvious, then it's not spreading anything, right? ;)
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The article states the obvious, but does so in such a manner as to incite fear in the public. Also, by making a news item out of something so obvious, its relevance is artificially emboldened and the fear of it grows. Calling it a "Megadisaster" doesn't help either ;)

Take the recent plane-bombing scare as an example. Even though there was no evidence that anything was going to happen for at least a while yet (and the authorities had been tracking the case for many months already), they decided to make a huge public show about it to scare the crap out of everyone. While very productive for politics, such a move is counterproductive to society.

Same thing applies with this "Megadisaster". The press should use more tact when reporting things like this.
 
Killyp said:
Gawd I don't know why everyone is so obsessed with global warming and public transport.

Firstly, the earth warming is part of a 10,000 year NATURAL cycle. If we want to look after our planet we should at LEAST let it continue it's own climate cycle.
Click to expand...

Whew, I was thinking about applying for a postdoc in climate modeling, but I'm glad the whole global warming issue has been solved.

Hmm, I guess I need some suggestions for a new career path. I can't sing, so that's out. Gardening might be nice.

crackpip
 
Sharewaredemon said:
I'd wager that more people commute than are cremated daily.

I would also wager to say that if a new Ford Focus is emitting x toxins more than a cremation than there are a huge number of cars with WORSE emissions that are already on the road driving every day.
Click to expand...


I was making a point. Cars don't emit anywhere as near as many emissions as people think.

Diesels are actually the worst. The emit carcinogenic (cancer causing) chemicals, along with very very large amounts of pure carbon. They do emit less carbon dioxide gas though.
 
Living in Floriduh, the storms have been tremendous. People rarely take the lightning serious but we have hundreds, maybe thousands of lightning strikes per minute during thunderstorms.

Having experienced 3 of the 4 hurricanes to hit Floriduh in 2004, I don't think too many people need to read something to know that hurricanes are dangerous and that the weather is increasing in intensity.

Who needs to hear it? The federal and state governments need to hear it. FEMA is the disaster and the insurance companies are reaping benefits. Nationwide, my insurer, raised rates 71 %. Yes, they paid out a lot, but not to me. Most of the insurance companies are reporting record profits. They're also denying any flooding that's happened because of hurricanes. Floriduh's government has passed a law to protect the insurance companies, which forces each homeowner to also buy flood insurance.

Will anyone do anything about global warming? Perhaps, but very slowly because it's not in their monetary interests. It's going to cost us more to do the right thing. The government cares--very little. The power companies and car companies care even less. Don't ask if the coal, natural gas, and petroleum providers care.
 
We're going to get a really bad hurricane, and it's going to pass over 1,000 miles of land to destroy St. Louis, and here's why:

In August 2001, my sister moved to New York for college. 9/11 happened.
In August 2005, my sister moved to New Orleans for law school. Katrina happened.
In September, 2005, being a displaced Katrina victim, she was invited back to New York by a law school up there, so she took that offer and went back to NYC. A couple months later, while not a huge disaster, she became very sick and was in the hospital for a week.
In May 2006, my sister moved to Washington, DC for a summer internship. They got all of that flooding.
Now, here we are in August 2006 and she recentely moved home to St. Louis to finish up law school here. Something's bound to happen.

So why are we in for a hurricane? Any time she moves, sh*t happens. :D
 
yg17 said:
We're going to get a really bad hurricane, and it's going to pass over 1,000 miles of land to destroy St. Louis, and here's why:

In August 2001, my sister moved to New York for college. 9/11 happened.
In August 2005, my sister moved to New Orleans for law school. Katrina happened.
In September, 2005, being a displaced Katrina victim, she was invited back to New York by a law school up there, so she took that offer and went back to NYC. A couple months later, while not a huge disaster, she became very sick and was in the hospital for a week.
In May 2006, my sister moved to Washington, DC for a summer internship. They got all of that flooding.
Now, here we are in August 2006 and she recentely moved home to St. Louis to finish up law school here. Something's bound to happen.

So why are we in for a hurricane? Any time she moves, sh*t happens. :D
Click to expand...

Is she visiting Orlando any time soon? :D
 
elfin buddy said:
Take the recent plane-bombing scare as an example. Even though there was no evidence that anything was going to happen for at least a while yet (and the authorities had been tracking the case for many months already), they decided to make a huge public show about it to scare the crap out of everyone. While very productive for politics, such a move is counterproductive to society.
Click to expand...
I'm with you there. A big liquid explosive plot is found right before an election. I don't think that even a blind pig would have much problem seeing the potential motivation behind that. :eek:

Where I get lost with your point is that I don't see anything nefarious behind Max Mayfield mentioning "mega-disaster" in an interview.

What was his motivation?
Is his performance review tied to hurricane deaths?
Is he running for office?
Is he getting a cheap thrill out of insiting fear in masses?

Or is he just a guy who's passionate enough about hurricanes to have worked there for 34 years and cares enough to be amazed and upset that even after Katrina, more people than not DON'T HAVE A HURRICANE PLAN?

You say the media should use more tact on this matter. I'm thinking that for the last few decades, that's exactly what they've done, and the results speak for themselves.

I also don't think that the article incited fear in any masses, but that's just me. If this story does whip up enough fear and discontent to make the cover of Time and Oprah does a show on it, I'll PayPal you enough money for some beer. :)
 
aristobrat said:
I'm with you there. A big liquid explosive plot is found right before an election. I don't think that even a blind pig would have much problem seeing the potential motivation behind that. :eek:
Click to expand...

I'm glad we see eye-to-eye on that one...wouldn't want this thread sent to the Political Forum, would we? ;)

aristobrat said:
Where I get lost with your point is that I don't see anything nefarious behind Max Mayfield mentioning "mega-disaster" in an interview.

What was his motivation?
Is his performance review tied to hurricane deaths?
Is he running for office?
Is he getting a cheap thrill out of insiting fear in masses?

Or is he just a guy who's passionate enough about hurricanes to have worked there for 34 years and cares enough to be amazed and upset that even after Katrina, more people than not DON'T HAVE A HURRICANE PLAN?
Click to expand...

I don't think I ever said that Mayfield was up to anything "nefarious". I did point out that this article will increase his fame, but it's hard to say whether or not that was his ultimate intention.

My main problem with this is not that the Hurricane Chief is doing his job and trying to spread awareness of hurricane dangers, but rather how the media is pumping it and pretending it's some sort of revelation that will change the world. They pump it like this because it boosts ratings and instils fear in the viewers/readers.

As a personal anecdote, the last time I was in the US, I awoke bright and early on the morning after my arrival and turned on the news to see what was happening in America. I think it was either ABC or NBC...maybe FOX...not quite sure. Anyway, there was no news. Instead there was a breaking report on snoring, urging all "sufferers" to see their doctor immediately, since snoring "is a sign of imminent collapse of your throat". I turned on the news (various stations) intermittently for the rest of the trip, and it was the same "terror is upon us" and "listen closely, this could save your life" programming. This article is just another example.

It really doesn't surprise me one bit that only 40% of hurricane-prone coastal regions have hurricane plans. Actually, wait, it does. It surprises me how high that number is! Fact of the matter is that most people don't plan ahead for disasters of any sort. How many people have planned and practised emergency exit routes in case of fire? Who reads the emergency pamphlets on aeroplanes (save out of boredom)? Who buys a generator and extra fuel in case of a power outage in the middle of winter? Who walks the streets wearing padded clothing in case they get hit by a car? Not that many, really. For some inexplicable reason, most people can't be bothered. 40% of anything is doing pretty good, in my books.

aristobrat said:
You say the media should use more tact on this matter. I'm thinking that for the last few decades, that's exactly what they've done, and the results speak for themselves.
Click to expand...

Not quite sure what you're getting at here. Could you please elaborate a bit?

aristobrat said:
I also don't think that the article incited fear in any masses, but that's just me. If this story does whip up enough fear and discontent to make the cover of Time and Oprah does a show on it, I'll PayPal you enough money for some beer. :)
Click to expand...

You're right. I don't think this article in and of itself will create mass hysteria and riots. It does, however, add to the growing list of "fears" that people are acquiring in the modern world. In fact, one could make a case for labelling articles like this as "terrorist propaganda" ;)

If what this article reports on ever does make it to the cover of Time and Oprah milks it too, I'll take you up on that beer. And I won't forget either ;) :)
 
mactastic said:
It was also an interview with The Hurricane Guy. Of course he's going to be all amped up about hurricanes.

It's like asking John Madden what he thinks about football -- you're going to get an earful.
Click to expand...

You mean John Madden doesn't talk about hurricanes?

"The hurricane...now when it...now when it...now when it hits the US, its gonna, its gonna be a lot of wind. Cause uh....cause uh...hurricanes, they are a lot of wind."
 
elfin buddy said:
I blame Bush for a lot of things, but who's blaming him here?
Click to expand...

I am! If Bush had tapped his email then this article would never had been published :rolleyes:
 
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