Tornado Outbreak

I was planning on writing this post following the Brown's draft selection. Then they traded way back so they'll probably be picking around midnight now. That means this post was moved the ever present, "in the meantime." I may accidentally type exclamations in reaction to the picks.

Holy Hell, the Vikings took Christian Ponder?

See like that.

I prefer this to anything to do with the Royal Wedding*. I care a whole hell of a lot more about players becoming NFL players than some commoner becoming princess.

I took a midterm today. It sucked. I probably didn't do very well on it. I ended up guessing on a lot of the Multiple Choice questions. I think I did alright on the Essay portion. I really should have studied a lot more for it, but I just didn't.

This is about to take a heavy turn.

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There may be a new rival for the 1974 Super Outbreak. I don't think we'll every see an outbreak that will compare to 1974's in terms of EF5 tornadoes. There were 6 over a two day period and that would be about normal for a decade. However in the past few days there have been about 150ish tornadoes. There is a lot of confirming and investigating to be done to have a sure number. That is very close to the number of twisters in the 1974 outbreak. The death tolls are beginning to approach each other. That is probably the most disconcerting part of this.

It's 2011. We have Doppler radar. Media is more abundant. And most importantly warning times are much, much better than they were in 1974. Tornado Outbreaks will happen. However, the death tolls should never be as high as they once were. And they haven't been recent times, until recently. Something is going wrong in the system of Warning and it is putting people in danger that we shouldn't be in 40 years down the line.

I know I am personally desensitized to Tornado Warnings. I discussed this issue more in detail here. I know it's better to give some Tornado Warnings when there aren't Tornadoes than to not give Warnings when there aren't Tornadoes. It's hard to begrudge the NWS for some false warnings.

One action that I think should be taken is that the use of Tornado Sirens should be more localized. The National Weather Service changed their warning system within the past year so that warnings are no longer based on counties, but rather on Storm path. The local warning systems should reflect this change. There also shouldn't be areas that don't have sirens. I can't imagine Tornado Sirens are that expensive. If an area doesn't have one, it shouldn't be a terrible cost to the state to put one up.

I'd say in the past few years, I've been a Tornado warned county around 5 times a year. Whether the storm that gets the warning is near where I am or not, I hear the sirens. They have stopped producing any urgency for me and I know it's the same for a lot of other people. It's almost a "meh" reaction when I hear them off. The sirens can be going off, but if it doesn't look bad out my window, I don't change what I'm doing.

I don't see why it would be so tough to have control over individual siren control. Let the areas that will be affected by the storm hear the warning sirens and avoid diminishing their power.

Steps need to be taken. The high number of fatalities we've seen this April from Tornadoes is not acceptable in 2011. We have the Technology to keep Tornado deaths to a minimum and we need to ensure that is that is the case

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

*What will I bitch about when it's over?

Gaming Tuesday

I forgot to mention this two days ago, but this blog has now reached 200 posts. This milestone deserves some acknowledgment. So here it goes:

200

That's right the number two hundred with bold, italicized text, center aligned and bright red. Damn, I forgot an exclamation point. Now everything is ruined. And it's 50 more posts until I can reasonably try again. Well, it's actually 48 as this really my 202nd post.

On to the news

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Playstation Network apparently was crashed because of hackers. I can't really tell whether Sony is saying that hackers crashed it themselves or if Sony destroyed its own network to stop the hackers. Whatever actually happened, it's clear that hackers were able to get personal and confidential data.

It's not really that surprising that hackers would attack PSN though. Hackers are pretty pissed off at Sony for their heavy handed legal tactics against lone-wolf hackers. Also given the fact the the Playstation 3 has had some many problems with hackers means that is apparently an easy target.

PS3 gamers must be pissed of pretty badly though. Not only is personal data and potentially credit card data unaccounted for. Worse was that it happened in the midst of probably the biggest non-forth quarter gaming release date ever. How many times can you play through Portal 2 solo? PS3 may have gotten an exclusive Character for Mortal Kombat, but I can go online with my XBox.

I suspect this breach is going to cost Sony more than they won in their settlements against hackers. There are already lawsuits. I doubt Game Developers, especially those that made Mortal Kombat and Portal 2, are happy about what's going. Plus, this raise a huge red-flag for potential buyers about the security of the PS3.

Apparently, the PS3's attempts to sink Sony aren't quite done yet.


It looks to me like L.A. Noire is going to have a lot of RPG elements with it. I can't say that uniformly I don't get into RPGs, but a lot of the times I don't. I have a lot of faith in Rockstar though. It'll be hard to follow up Red Dead Redemption, but I suspect that this will be another fantastic game from them.


Peyton Hillis is going to be on the cover of Madden 12. He won a fan vote over Michael Vick. Not surprising really considering a lot of people* won't forgive him for what he did. This of course means that Hillis is now cursed. He could go the Michael Vick route who was one the cover in 2004. He could break his legs this season, then have a few good seasons, and then be sent to prison for a while. Or he could go the Eddie George Route. That would simply having his career fall off the cliff this year.

Let's hope those don't happen to him. He's all us Browns fans have right now. Maybe the curse can strike him in another area of life. His car could break down a lot or something.

*Note* Someone see about reanimating Professor Snape. He seemed pretty good at breaking curses.

I really need to get to studying for a midterm tomorrow as it's a quarter after eight and I haven't started yet.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

*I'm not one of those people

Memory Divisions

I don't particularly think my memory is that good. I feel like I've forgotten so much. Most people who know me would probably disagree with that though. However, I think it's a trick. I remember stupid shit about past situations. I may have forgotten loads about something, but I'm able to recall something small and it's assumed I remember more than I actually do.

My memories are never very stark either. I suppose that's just part of things being memories. I just wish some memories were clearer. I feel like I should be able to more clearly visual things that happened to me.

I don't really have a clearly defined first memory either. I have a very vague recollections of what I think is my 4th birthday and my Grandma being there. I don't ever know if that really happened. Grandma didn't come down for any other birthdays in memories. Also I remember walking into the wrong room on my first day of Kindergarten. I stood around for a while and no one payed attention to me. I must have figured it out because I went to the right class room.

The way I divide my memories and past experiences is not by age, but rather by school year. I can tell you what grade I was in when something happened most likely, but I couldn't tell you how old I was. This is a rather inconvenient way to divide things. A grade has no meaning to most people.

So that's something I want to know about. How do other people divide their past? If you want to, let me know in the comments.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael

Gloomy Gus

School isn't usually such a drag for me, but this quarter I'm really finding myself not wanting to bother with it. I don't want to get up and make the drive in Rush Hour traffic. I'm spacing out way more often than I usually do in class. I don't really know when assignments are due and they're sneaking up on me.

Part of this is that I missed the entirety of week three. When your classes only meet twice a week missing a week feels like a month. I feel way further behind than I actually am. I suppose I'm feeling a bit flustered with it even with dropping the one class.

I'm usually pretty obsessive about things like quizzes. However, last week I totally forgot about an online quiz and missed the time frame that I could take it in. I've never had that happen to me before. The closest I've come to something like that is not taking a quiz when I know the lowest will be dropped and I've already gotten enough with perfect scores.

Hopefully I'll get my ass in gear soon.

My annoyance level is increasing to dangerous levels about the Royal Wedding. There is so much that is way more worthy of attention. I don't care about Kate's dress or any of that nonsense. If the UK want to keep their Royal Family, ok, but why do we have to indulge them. In the U.S we certainly don't hold the products of generations of inbreeding in a place of acclaim. In fact we make them live in West Virginia*. Old bats with delusions of grandeur get a room in a nursing home not a palace.

That sounds rather nationalistic, which I suppose it is at least on this issue. Never having a royal family and fighting a war to be rid of one is pretty damn baller.

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael
*There's nothing wrong with West Virginia and I'm sure most people there aren't really inbreed**
**;-)

Life Drabbles

Today my family had the combo celebration to end all combo celebrations. It was the Easter/My Birthday/My Brother's Birthday extravaganza*. I ate way too much today. Huge lunch followed by cake and ice cream. Big dinner of leftovers. And I've just finished this. The only consequence so far is that I'm feeling lethargic.

I got loads of candy. We've done away with the Easter Baskets and we just have free-for-all** where we have to get our own candy. So I have a grocery bag full of candy to work on. I also got Gamestop Gift Cards from my siblings as Birthday presents along with two boxes of Peeps from my Sister.

I'm really looking forward to the new Okkervil River album. It's coming out May 10th. It was recently leaked, which sucks. However, it happens with almost everything. I still like to pretend to that it doesn't happen and wait for release day.

I'm still suffering from a lingering cough. It isn't constant any longer. Just sometimes I end up sounding like I have tuberculous. My lungs just don't want me to get well too quickly.

I've noticed that I accidentally capitalize a lot of letters I shouldn't when I type. I reach for the Shift Key far to often. It's like my typing securtiy blanket or something. I'm usually able to catch it pretty quickly, but still when proof reading stuff for, like, school I always notice that I do that a lot.

I'm about to fall asleep. My body wants food coma, so I'm going to call it a night.

Thanks for reading

-Michael

*I wasn't that extravagant
**It's cut-throat

Basically Jesus Was a Zombie

I did a post on my Sports specific blog today, so I don't think making this one super short is cheating on BEDA. Nothing to exciting happening today. I played a lot of FIFA and made a quick trip to Kroger.

I also became more annoyed about the media's ridiculous coverage of the Royal Wedding. I don't give a shit and I don't understand why anyone, even those in the UK, would. The royals just seem like an unnecessary waste of money. I feel like they only keep them around to keep us Americans entertained. That's funny because we fought a fucking war to be rid of them.

I really don't think it feels like it's Easter tomorrow. I don't really think about it as a holiday anymore. I mean it is basically ignored by most institutions, so nothing really changes.

Freddy the Racoon explains why we have this holiday that isn't observed by any secular institution:



-Michael

Suspending Disbelief

I'm a very movie illiterate person. Every time a conversation turns to that topic I end up lost and annoyed. This happens to me all the time:

"Have you seen *Insert Movie Title here*?"

"No"

"You need to"

"Ok"

I probably am not going to see whatever film is suggested in that scenario. It's not that I don't care that you're giving me movie advice. I just don't find movies to be something I like to fill my free time with. I'd much rater play video games, read, do things on the internet or watch whatever crap is on ESPN.

The biggest problem I have with movies is my own inability to suspend my disbelief while watching a movie. In a lot of films I can't get over the ridiculousness of it. Especially in Science-Fiction or Action films.

I can't suspend my disbelief watching Films or TV shows, but I absolutely can while reading a book. I think my brain likes filling the gray areas on it's own and Movies don't really allow for that. I like imagining Hogwarts or Winston Smith's apartment. In movies there's not that ambiguity. The scenery is absolute.

The type of movies I am most likely to enjoy are comedies, documentaries and films based on historical events. Comedy is already based in ridiculousness so I don't need to make my mind pretend that it's real. Documentaries of course depict the real world. Films that are based historical events at least have some basis from the real world.

I often feel like an oddity for not being a "movie person." So that's what I want to find out. Are you a movie buff? How big are films in your life? Is there anyone who feels the same way I do?

Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael