With some 2.5 million households still without power following Super storm Sandy and night time temperatures dropping below freezing the Mayor of New York yesterday issued a warning to the cities residents about the dangers of hypothermia in a speech that can be read here; http://tinyurl.com/d6bjlsb
The cities main response though has been to set up a series of day time warming centres that can be found here; http://www.nyc.gov/html/misc/html/2012/warming_ctr.html
And night time shelters that can be found here; http://www.nyc.gov/html/misc/html/2012/overnight_shelter.html
Obviously the best advice is to use those shelters but failing that the best guide I've been able to find online about how to avoid hypothermia is this from WikiHow; http://www.wikihow.com/Prevent-Hypothermia which really can be summed up in four simple rules; Stay Dry, Stay out of the Wind, Avoid sleeping on the ground and Wear a hat.
As very few people in the affected areas have Internet access it would be useful if those who do print out this advice and pass it around as widely as possible. In fact it might helpful if the relief agencies could put together a short (2xA4) information pack including where to get help along with some basic advice such as how to avoid hypothermia and basic hygiene information. For example if you're living somewhere like Breezy Point where the water supply has been damaged and you don't have power to boil drinking water you can always purify it by added 8 drops of household (chlorine) bleach to every gallon of water and leaving it for 30 minutes. It will taste horrible but it won't kill you.
12:10 on 4/11/12.
Sunday, 4 November 2012
Saturday, 3 November 2012
How Terrible is This.
I feel I actually need to put out a public statement saying that Rihanna is under no obligation whatsoever to help out with the Sandy recovery operation. That's because from what I know of her seeing all those people suffering will make her want to try and pay for everything and nobody is that rich.
The rest of you though should seriously think about getting in touch with these people; https://www.redcross.org/donate/index.jsp?donateStep=2&itemId=prod10002 because with 1/5th of the US population having their lives seriously disrupted apparently they're looking for blood donors too.
17:05 on 3/11/12.
The rest of you though should seriously think about getting in touch with these people; https://www.redcross.org/donate/index.jsp?donateStep=2&itemId=prod10002 because with 1/5th of the US population having their lives seriously disrupted apparently they're looking for blood donors too.
17:05 on 3/11/12.
Friday, 2 November 2012
Apparently the Marathon's Off.
Although it didn't make it into the final edit I like to think the line that sealed it was my suggestion that Micheal Bloomberg should be force to run the entire 26.2m course dressed as the state of Florida. Hopefully we can still hold him to that promise.
03:20 on 3/11/12.
03:20 on 3/11/12.
That Bloomberg's a Bit of a One Isn't He.
After actively supporting Mitt Romney throughout the election campaign by trying to force the issue of gun control onto the Presidential agenda New York Mayor Micheal Bloomberg yesterday (1/11/12) sensationally switched sides and threw his support behind Barak Obama. Sadly I think this is only an indication that Bloomberg now intends to do everything in his power to make sure that the recovery from Sandy goes as badly as possible in the hope that his failure will be projected onto Obama nationally helping Mitt Romney to win. So publicly endorsing the guy he wants to see lose. You wouldn't think it would be that easy to tie Bloomberg to Chavez and Castro but look I just managed it with out using the world "authoritarian" once.
Of course the fact that last comment is a reference to recent Republican ads in Florida means that if pressed Bloomberg will deny everything and try to claim he's only trying to promote discussion about vote rigging. Unfortunately his play ties in perfectly with the Republican Party's play which today has seen Republican owned voter machines in Ohio recording votes for Obama when the voter wishes to select Romney. This is simply an attempt by the Republicans to give the Tea Party enough of a claim of irregularity on both sides so it becomes harder for the Democrats to prove the widespread fraud that will help the Republicans steal the election. The US Justice department have responded by announcing they will be sending a election observers to a number of states including Texas and Ohio. In the meantime everybody else is just wondering why the US can't use the pencil and paper that has served all other democracies so well for hundreds of years.
I do though I have to say that I am now starting to get a little worried about New Jersey. That's because the state was the most hard hit by Sandy and it's geography - basically being a series of small islands - means that even with all the money and personnel in the world it will take the longest to recover. A winter storm is predicted to hit them in the middle of next week so if they haven't got power back on by then (7-10 days is a reasonable estimate) they are seriously going to have to start thinking about evacuating people. Fortunately this should have little to no impact on the election because you simply evacuate people according to electoral district and then allow them to vote at the evacuation centres.
The important thing to remember though is try not to panic because in my experience panicking only ever leaves you with the same problems just with less energy to deal with them.
20:50 on 2/11/12.
Of course the fact that last comment is a reference to recent Republican ads in Florida means that if pressed Bloomberg will deny everything and try to claim he's only trying to promote discussion about vote rigging. Unfortunately his play ties in perfectly with the Republican Party's play which today has seen Republican owned voter machines in Ohio recording votes for Obama when the voter wishes to select Romney. This is simply an attempt by the Republicans to give the Tea Party enough of a claim of irregularity on both sides so it becomes harder for the Democrats to prove the widespread fraud that will help the Republicans steal the election. The US Justice department have responded by announcing they will be sending a election observers to a number of states including Texas and Ohio. In the meantime everybody else is just wondering why the US can't use the pencil and paper that has served all other democracies so well for hundreds of years.
I do though I have to say that I am now starting to get a little worried about New Jersey. That's because the state was the most hard hit by Sandy and it's geography - basically being a series of small islands - means that even with all the money and personnel in the world it will take the longest to recover. A winter storm is predicted to hit them in the middle of next week so if they haven't got power back on by then (7-10 days is a reasonable estimate) they are seriously going to have to start thinking about evacuating people. Fortunately this should have little to no impact on the election because you simply evacuate people according to electoral district and then allow them to vote at the evacuation centres.
The important thing to remember though is try not to panic because in my experience panicking only ever leaves you with the same problems just with less energy to deal with them.
20:50 on 2/11/12.
All Hail the Whiskey!
And despite the deceptive packaging it most certainly was a whiskey although this close to a US Election I dare not speak it's name. However after mixing it with boiling water, sugar, lemon juice and erm, more whiskey it broke my cold to the point where today I was able to to the gym before lying myself down in a range of pastures in a vast number of colours. It's a bit annoying really because I was starting to enjoy the woozy and no it looks like I'm going to have to invent my own.
Oh and are NBC still doing that Hurricane Sandy live telethon because at this rate it looks like it's going to be a bigger disaster then the storm.
16:00 on 2/11/12.
Oh and are NBC still doing that Hurricane Sandy live telethon because at this rate it looks like it's going to be a bigger disaster then the storm.
16:00 on 2/11/12.
Thursday, 1 November 2012
Yeah I've Got a Cold.
And it's really putting woo into woozy at the moment. However it has served to remind me that homelessness and cold temperatures really do not mix. Following Superstorm Sandy there are currently around 7000 extra homeless people across the eastern United States with millions more without power and night time temperatures are expected to drop from around 40F (3C) to around 30F (-2C) over the coming days. So if you are in the US and you have some spare cash knocking about I strongly suggest you go and speak to these guys; https://www.redcross.org/donate/index.jsp?donateStep=2&itemId=prod10002
If you're not in the US I strongly suggest you go and speak to these guys; https://www.wfp.org/donate/fillthecup?icn=homepage-donate-cup&ici=big-button-link
Because in places like Haiti which was also struck by Sandy they already had mass homelessness and no electricity. Now they're dealing with things like a Cholera outbreak and a predicted food crisis following the destruction of a years worth of crops. No wonder the Brazilians who are currently charged with keeping the peace were so keen to have the island mentioned in the para-Olympic closing ceremony.
20:55 on 1/11/12.
If you're not in the US I strongly suggest you go and speak to these guys; https://www.wfp.org/donate/fillthecup?icn=homepage-donate-cup&ici=big-button-link
Because in places like Haiti which was also struck by Sandy they already had mass homelessness and no electricity. Now they're dealing with things like a Cholera outbreak and a predicted food crisis following the destruction of a years worth of crops. No wonder the Brazilians who are currently charged with keeping the peace were so keen to have the island mentioned in the para-Olympic closing ceremony.
20:55 on 1/11/12.
Chris Christie's in Trouble Then.
On Tuesday (30/10/12) in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy the Republican Governor of New Jersey broke with his party's campaign position and publicly congratulated Democrat President Obama for his response to the storm. This included making sure that declaration of a federal disaster zone (quite a bureaucratic process) was completed while the storm was hitting so all the federal funds and resources were available to help the moment the storm had passed. As New Jersey was undoubtedly the area most hard hit by the storm Obama visited the state yesterday in his role as President to see for himself the extent of the damage done and exactly what help was required to assist with the recovery.
In the hours before the President's visit New Jersey was hit by a second disaster when a gas main set fire to a number of houses in Mantoloking. As the area was cut off by floodwater the fire department had no option other then to watch the houses burn in scenes similar to the fire in Breezy Point in New York. To me this seemed like an attempt to put extra pressure on both Christie and Obama ahead of the meeting between the two men. For Christie's part it was simply meant to serve as a sharp warning that unless he got back to toeing the party line more accidents could happen. For Obama it was meant to get him talking about the Breezy Point fire in the hope he would reveal details about what if any investigation is going to take place because it turns out a lot of retired police live in Breezy Point.
As for the Breezy Point fire I'm now almost 100% certain that was an arson attack because if you were looking in the right places it fits perfectly into a pattern. First I Tweeted some sexual innuendo about things not coming up when I visited my doctor. Then about an hour later a construction crane went all floppy in Manhattan. Next Chris Brown (nicknamed Breezy) Tweeted some photograph which due to power cuts I've still not seen. About an hour later the facade of a building in Chelsea suddenly collapsed. Then after I'd gone to bed Chris Brown Tweeted a link to some website or another and about an hour later the fire broke out at Breezy Point. The hope was that ahead of the COP18/CMP8 the outside world would view this as me, Chris Brown and Rihanna (still sounds weird to say) having some massive argument and that argument being played out through the changing forces of the storm. The hope was that this would restart the very real debate that's been going on at the fringes (in the bars mainly) of the COP/CMP process since that Umbrella record came out about whether or not Rihanna controls the weather. The reason why this argument is so important to certain camps within the climate change/global warming debate is that with the evidence mounting up those who argue that climate change/global warming isn't a man-made phenomenon are really starting to run out of counter arguments. The Rihanna proposition makes for a perfect blocking tactic because while it is extremely unlikely that she does control the weather the vast gaps in our knowledge about things like the Quantum field and the Higgs Boson means it's impossible to definitively argue that she doesn't so the argument just goes round and round in circles wasting everybody's time and because it's Rihanna it drags in all the other stuff too. This is a bit of a shame because while I think it's a little strong to blame Sandy entirely on global warming things like melting ice caps causing increased sea levels have certainly been significant factors in the storm and the damage it's done.
To give you an idea of how stupid this Rihanna argument is getting within the COP/CMP process the most recent round saw the World Meteorological Organisation strip El Azizia in Libya of the hottest place on earth title and hand it instead to Death Valley in California, USA. The Gulf Monarchies responded to this by comparing it to Apollo's Curse while the Russians compared it to Dostoyevsky's the Idiot. So there you go a little bit of light reading to help with the recovery effort.
12:00 on 1/11/12
In the hours before the President's visit New Jersey was hit by a second disaster when a gas main set fire to a number of houses in Mantoloking. As the area was cut off by floodwater the fire department had no option other then to watch the houses burn in scenes similar to the fire in Breezy Point in New York. To me this seemed like an attempt to put extra pressure on both Christie and Obama ahead of the meeting between the two men. For Christie's part it was simply meant to serve as a sharp warning that unless he got back to toeing the party line more accidents could happen. For Obama it was meant to get him talking about the Breezy Point fire in the hope he would reveal details about what if any investigation is going to take place because it turns out a lot of retired police live in Breezy Point.
As for the Breezy Point fire I'm now almost 100% certain that was an arson attack because if you were looking in the right places it fits perfectly into a pattern. First I Tweeted some sexual innuendo about things not coming up when I visited my doctor. Then about an hour later a construction crane went all floppy in Manhattan. Next Chris Brown (nicknamed Breezy) Tweeted some photograph which due to power cuts I've still not seen. About an hour later the facade of a building in Chelsea suddenly collapsed. Then after I'd gone to bed Chris Brown Tweeted a link to some website or another and about an hour later the fire broke out at Breezy Point. The hope was that ahead of the COP18/CMP8 the outside world would view this as me, Chris Brown and Rihanna (still sounds weird to say) having some massive argument and that argument being played out through the changing forces of the storm. The hope was that this would restart the very real debate that's been going on at the fringes (in the bars mainly) of the COP/CMP process since that Umbrella record came out about whether or not Rihanna controls the weather. The reason why this argument is so important to certain camps within the climate change/global warming debate is that with the evidence mounting up those who argue that climate change/global warming isn't a man-made phenomenon are really starting to run out of counter arguments. The Rihanna proposition makes for a perfect blocking tactic because while it is extremely unlikely that she does control the weather the vast gaps in our knowledge about things like the Quantum field and the Higgs Boson means it's impossible to definitively argue that she doesn't so the argument just goes round and round in circles wasting everybody's time and because it's Rihanna it drags in all the other stuff too. This is a bit of a shame because while I think it's a little strong to blame Sandy entirely on global warming things like melting ice caps causing increased sea levels have certainly been significant factors in the storm and the damage it's done.
To give you an idea of how stupid this Rihanna argument is getting within the COP/CMP process the most recent round saw the World Meteorological Organisation strip El Azizia in Libya of the hottest place on earth title and hand it instead to Death Valley in California, USA. The Gulf Monarchies responded to this by comparing it to Apollo's Curse while the Russians compared it to Dostoyevsky's the Idiot. So there you go a little bit of light reading to help with the recovery effort.
12:00 on 1/11/12
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