Hurricane Sandy

You forgot the other one: if it happens to me, it's somebody else's fault, as well. It's definitely not mine!

Sign of a mature mind: owning up to your own fault... and the lack thereof. And, extending the same to others.

So, yeah: as long as the storm hits others, and they start complaining... well, it's their own fault. And, if it hits me, and I start complaining, it's the government's/ charities' fault for not getting here quick enough, dammit! Let's none of us own up to the fact that freaking huge, chaotic weather patterns happen... and stuff just gets messed up as a result.

Ergo: ultimately... blame and fault is a useless pastime to play. But, hey: if it helps you to not focus on the mess your life is, have at it. Rage is a good way to handle grief or loss. And, smugness is a fine ego-cement in the short term, so... knock yourself out (but, be aware that smugness tends to have a longer term price tag with interest).

edited 2nd Nov '12 4:35:24 PM by Euodiachloris

^ Truefax.

People will usually settle where other people are at and it's not like these sorts of things happen with such high rate of frequency that only the most foolhardy diehards would choose to settle there. It's beachfront stuff; typically viewed as prime real estate.

I know some people who said the damage was the fault of the New Yorkers, since Toronto didn't get much more than some wind and rain. I just pointed out that while Toronto was barely affected (6000 without power in a city of 2.5 million) we got the edge of the storm while New York City was getting the brunt of the storm. Then I found out that their parents (who are fine and back here now) were in New York during the storm. I just wanted to smack them.

EDIT: I have to clarify a bit. Rob Ford, Toronto's mayor (who's basically torpedoed his own reputation) way overestimated the possible damage, so that's where I think my 'friends' got their ideas from.

edited 2nd Nov '12 5:09:00 PM by Zendervai

The fact is that some people can't just leave. Maybe they don't want to impose on family or neighbors.

But if they stayed "because looters", then it's kinda their own fault.

NYC Marathon canceled aster public backlash.

For those who may not know, Bloomberg had decided to continue holding the Marathon on Sunday, despite the damage from Sandy, but public backlash caused Marathon officials to go and cancel the event.

Gov. Christie signs order to ration gas in 12 N.J. counties.

Welp. I wonder how long it will take until gas is properly resupplied? :/

My boss thinks it will take a week.

It's a bit creepy. Anchors are talking with a straight face about how the city could use the marathon money, the tourism, the morale, etc.

On the plus side, the hotel rooms that were booked ahead for the race (preventing storm victims from checking in) are being donated to charity.

edited 2nd Nov '12 8:03:52 PM by johnnyfog

Posting this from the YF Sandy thread◊

It's basically saying "Yo wtf was that dudes, get your shits together" to the power companies that have let so many people without juice?

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/02/14884300-sandy-death-toll-in-us-rises-to-109-there-could-be-more-bloomberg-warns?lite

Not good... could have been much worse.

My boss had the power come back on for him a couple hours ago. He got lucky; down the street from him it's still black.

That stinks of politics to me (which would be business as usual in Albany). You simply can't prepare for every possible catastrophe, especially the worse-than-usual.

edited 2nd Nov '12 10:59:14 PM by Elle

I'm not sure I follow the logic of that letter. I would imagine that any reasonable preparation would take into account that the utilities fail? Isn't that the kind of thing that the preparations are for?

@rmctagg: Bah, it hasn't been that long. When I was in the midwest, we had an ice storm that took out power for nearly two months.

About that snarky letter to the power companies: how does yelling and beating them around the head make the repairs on the ground that much quicker to do, again? <eyebrow raise>

Still have no power. I know that Con-Ed has more important areas to work on, but what is driving me crazy is that for me to get power, they just need to fix like 1-2 more trees, but they are never there .

Not sure what exactly Cuomo is trying to accomplish, or if he even understands what kind of systems, responsibilities, and fail-safes the Power Companies have. I'd understand his anger if it was directed at some clusterfuck like the time half the east coast suffered a black-out due to a glitch in the power system, but this is a completely different issue.

The power may not even come back for weeks in some areas. Not because of incompetence or poor planning, but because of a lack of manpower and resources to respond to such a massive catastrophe. Whenever Guam gets hit by one of the bigger storms, it usually takes up to several months before all of the damage to utilities is repaired (or a almost a whole freaking YEAR in Typhoon Paka's case!) And we're just a small island in the Pacific less than a hundred miles wide or across - imagine the mammoth task ahead for the repair crews as they have to hunt down every single downed power pole, every damaged underground cable, every flooded power box... simply put, it's no simple fix.

I imagine the power company field techs are gonna be racking in the Overtime pay like no tomorrow for the next several weeks...

edited 3rd Nov '12 9:59:07 AM by SgtRicko

Agreed. Power infrastructure is a complete fucker to fix if something like a hurricane caused flood hits it. Anyone who thinks and says it is an overnight job to repair and refurbish if a really big event like Sandy hits it is either an arsehole or a politician trying to score points.

edited 3rd Nov '12 1:58:32 PM by TamH70

I personally seen the shit-ton of damage caused by it. On my street alonge, like 5 trees have fallen. And on Sunday, when I was getting supplies for it, the tide was up to the park and water was starting to flood, thank God my families boat did not end up ona house.

Cuomo's just being his usual populist self. He's very slick (it's one of the reasons I dislike him) and dishonest, but he knows what people want to hear.

Well he is part of the Kennedy Family.

edited 3rd Nov '12 6:52:37 PM by DeviantBraeburn

Wait what? How the hell did that happen. I never heard about that.

Jesus, is there anyone who isn't related to the Kennedys?

He married the 7th daughter of Robert Kennedy and had two kids. Although they divorced in 2011 (so does that make him an ex-Kennedy?)