OT - Anyone planning to evacuate from Irene?

Actually, this was the first time that Christie said something that I didn't feel like putting my fist through the TV. Perhaps his bruatal way will actually reach some people who otherwise would have stayed. Don't get me wrong - people who stay put in spite of the rather dire situation deserve to drown, but you can be sure that we'll send in the national guard or something of the sort to rescue them, putting the rescuers at risk and spending our tax money. So, Christie saying yesterday, "It's 4:30 in the afternoon. You've gotten all the tan you are going to get. It's time to get off the beach. Now." Was OK with me.

I'll go back to hating every word that comes out of the Fat Fuck's mouth on Monday.

That is the eye of the hurricane. The sun should be shining in it too.

John

Lame attempt at humor there. Ed said that he might have to dump 40 lbs of striped bass and bluefish if he has to pack up and leave for a while.

You used the phrase 'leave *for* Irene' which can be interpreted to mean 'leave away from Irene' or 'leave with Irene as a destination'.

I figured I could get some excellent frozen fish if I snagged it from Ed. :)

'Course the 'transportation charge' would be significant.

(...)

(...)

Propane grill, striped bass, beverage of choice all in the same place at the same time.

Coincidence? I Think Not!

Irene is late with her right turn though. Looks like we shall know much more by tomorrow afternoon. Now sending 'safety waves' in your direction. :)

--Winston

C'mon. You know how Jerseyans will react to that. The tourists may be influenced, but we natives will think, "Shove it up your big, fat ass. I'll stay as long as I want."

That's an interesting gadget. Thanks.

Nah, the eye is nowhere near here yet, and won't be until the wee hours of the morning.

Jeez, I hope they don't add to the wind velocity. d8-)

Thanks for the thought. It doesn't seem that it will be that bad here.

As I twit filter him, I didn't see that. A client gave me a couple pounds of striped bass last month and I was in heaven for awhile. Vurry good.

I did? I don't even -know- the woman.

The penalties for unrefrigeration are high, too.

She speaks highly of you.

Provided it would last on the return trip. Yum!

It was pretty much a non event at our house. We did get a lot of rain, but not close to the prediction of 12 to 14 inches. The creek is up and out of its banks, but it has been higher as a result of thunderstorms. The power stayed on which is good as I can hear the sump pump running every once in a while. Still pretty breezy outside, but looking from the house I can not see any trees or limbs down.

Dan

=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Dan

Our power was out 5am Sunday through 10pm Sunday. Cable & internet were out from about 11am to a few minutes after the power came back (I'm thinking Time Warner doesn't have enough backup power). My generator carried the load for my house and ran three neighbors' sump pumps as well.

We (the neighbors and I) consumed a pint of bourbon.

All in all, it could have been much worse for me. One of my customers, in East Brunswick, has five feet of water in his (finished and furnished) basement.

All it takes is one failed UPS on a CATV system to take everything down. BTDT, and repaired the pole mounted UPS in the shop.

=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 Dan

The cable stayed up for about five hours after the power failed. I don't think this was an equipment failure, I think it was undersized batteries. Ever seen the batteries in a Verizon central office? They're about as big as a small house. And next to them is the multi- fueled generator.

What really burns me is that the Time Warner guy (in Buffalo, NY) who ansered the phone last night, a full eight hours after the failure, had absolutely zero information on the nature of the failure. Couldn't tell me the size of the affected area, couldn't give me a clue about who was working where to fix it, Nothing. This is the 21st century. The Information Age. They advertise high-end, broadband, business- class service (and yes, I am a business customer). They simply don't know how to deal with this kind of event. And that's not acceptable.

That's the problem with high technology. It doesn't take much to get knocked back to the stone age...

Richard

Now you're going overboard. But yes, few of the travelers who know only the NJ Turnpike have any idea how wooded this state is, and how much farmland there is.

Even around Princeton, once you get past the developments, most of the land is farms.

The benefits depend somewhat on whether you're connected. d8-)

You must be around Spruce Run somewhere.

Right. One of my high school friends in Princeton was the son of Sam the Plumber. Tell me there's no mafia. d8-)

Dangerous people, especially when they form a posse...

Do you expect the cable company to have a generator every half mile? Where would they put them so no one could steal them, yet be easy to refuel and service?

Sigh. In a major outage it's difficult to determine the affected area. The calls aren't taken by the people doing the work in the field. I worked in CATV for four years, and despised the idiots who interrupted my crews to demand that they stop what they are doing, to go fix the outage at their house, when they are already working on the outage.

What do you think they can do after major damage, and just how long do you think the UPS batteries should last? They could make it bulletproof, if everyone was willing to pay a couple thousand dollars a month to pay for the equipment, and upkeep. Five hours is a lot longer than the average power outage for a cable system, so you just have a bunch of sour grapes.

If you don't like the way they do business, raise the capital and build your own broadband backbone and TV headend. Figure a minimum of 20 million dollars to get started. Then there are the franchise fees, OSHA to deal with, and all the utilities you'll have to share the right of way with. You'll need some great corporate communications lawyers, as well as ones who can work with the FAA and the EPA.